A Long Way

I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes since I left Blacksburg
Had 2 pots of coffee with that roadside waitress girl
Rained all the way, clear on past Pontchartrain
But I never thought about turning around

Stopped for the night, when I reached New Orleans
Old Bourbon St. was shining like some cheap-ass dime store ring
And as daylight fell upon it, I was westward bound
with no money in my pocket and my head a-hanging down

It's a long long road down to galveston
when you're running on the rims my friend
I tried to leave, but I went back again
It's a long long road to Galveston

Don't know if I ever got there and if so how I got out
There's a lot of ways a man can hide himself and still be found
There's miles of roads behind me could be millions more ahead
If I keep the pedal to the floorboard and the music in my head

It's a long long road down to galveston
when you're running on the rims my friend
I tried to leave, but I went back again
It's a long long road to Galveston

Came to back where I started, passed the Johnson County line
My hands were sweaty on the wheel, Kansas City just behind
Burned through my last cigarette rolled up the windows
the skies were getting heavy it had started snow

dang

Musta been a million miles
to the sunset last night
dark clouds piled
from skyline to skyline
and I harmonized with the thunderheads
made my bed, and lied in it.

Now I'm waking to a black night
stars shine, but I don't see em
frost forms by the open window
and I breathe fog into the air
I wish the fires burned brighter
up in heaven.

I'm Not

I'm not the fool on the hill
who paces in place
when he should be sitting still
you ask for a cure
and they give you a pill
I'm not the fool on the hill

I'm not a bird in the sky
just a murmur of breath
as our lives pass us by
but if I'm gonna live,
well then I'm gonna die
But, I'm not a bird in the sky


I'm not a preacher of men
not a scholar, or poet
but I like to pretend
sometimes i get stories
and I put them to pen
But, I'm not a preacher of men

No, I'm not the man in my songs
I'm just a fool
who goes blathering on
'bout the places I've seen
and the things that I've done
But I'm not the man in my songs

Gut string guit-ring

dancin' hat and drinkin shoes
elevator goin up, or goin down blues
a few truths and a noose is proof
for shootin out the moon

mirrors and beards and flashlight tag
you're it when you're illuminated.


the car has it's own lane, the bike it's own life
and mine is a twisted cardboard figure
so figure that out.
short stories of quarries and queries about
where you'll be when the man comes down

sitting on a gut string guitar hamstringed and ringing
pure tone. 

the majestic

I thought about dropping into lee jackosn tonight
going for a short four hour drive down some curvy gravel road
watch the landmines explode under different colors
it would have been a long time before I looked out the window, or watched tires float by
one at a time.

gravyboatcaptain

spent sheets and weeks

leaked and tweaked to finite

regret.

Whiskey Reefer and Dreams

Whiskey, Reefer, and Dreams
The only things that keep me free
Took my heart out to dry beside the reeds
And I'm still feelin' fine

When I was ten they sent a law man after me
Said, 'you'll be in jail son, by the time you're 17'
I don't bother them, but they won't let me be
It's a worry on my mind

It's that road you can't leave
It's those nights you can't sleep
It's that ether that you breathe
pulling you down

I've been lost on every road I've ever been on
I've lost cash on every deal I've ever bet on
I never know which way I'm headin
at any particular time

Cuz every bird is seeking oxygen
Every man is what he hasn't spent
Every life is just an accident
Every death is just a door

It's that road you can't leave
It's those nights you can't sleep
It's that ether that you breathe
pulling you down