Sample of Week 3 - Folk Lyrics Submissions

With talent and beauty, the likes of Kalamazoo had never seen
She set off for Hollywood to seek her fame and fortune

and blue, baby blue are her eyes
bluer than the Aegean Sea
bluer than you and me
have you ever seen eyes so blue

but, the harsh surrealism of Hollywood proved too much to bear
she headed home - vowing to return

so, dream, baby, dream you're a movie star
queen of the silver screen
playing opposite of James Dean
they can't take away your dreams

After a few years of summer stock, she decided to give Hollywood another try
only to find her career dying on the cutting room's floor

so, cry, baby cry cause your heart is broke
first they said you hadn't paid your dues
now they say you're yesterday's news
you have every right to cry

So ,dream, baby, dream you're a movie star
queen of the silver screen
playing opposite of James Dean
they can't take away your dreams
 

Some nights I forget the neon
I'm just getting old, I guess
I tune in Paul Harvey on the Ham
and beat myself at chess

I'm lost on the weekends
lonely men and days off don't mix
life may be long, but it's mostly tail
I'm only alive from ten to six

lately, all the state troopers
are afraid I'll bend their ear
since they heard my poor Mabel passed on
they won't get coffee here

I'm lost on the weekends
lonely men and days off don't mix
life may be long, but it's mostly tail
I'm only alive from ten to six

life is a cheap marble chess set
can't tell the pieces apart
the game's almost over and
I don't know where to start

I'm lost on the weekends
lonely men and days off don't mix
life may look long, but it's mostly tail
I'm only alive from ten to six
 

Driving down the highway
With my foot down to the floor
The wind rushing through my hair
The future, what's in store 
For me and my life to be 
With no direction on the map
Every road leading to somewhere
The bridge between the gap

The world keeps spinning round and round 
No matter who we want to be 
the world keeps spinning round and round
No matter where we want to be

Cause time rolls on 
Young people want to grow up
But time carries on
Old people want to grow young 
But time will carry on
Time will carry on

An old man lying on his bed 
Outside it is so cold
Wondering what his life had become
What stories will be told
Of him in the future 
Of his life so filled with shame
Oh how he wishes he could live 
His life all over again

The world keeps spinning round and round
No matter who we want to be
The world keeps spinning round and round
No matter where we want to be

Cause time rolls on 
Young people want to grow up
But time carries on
Old people want to grow young 
But time will carry on
Time will carry on

So let's live every minute
Every second of each day
Like it will be the last
Song we'll ever play
The results of all our lives
Will ripple on forever
So let's make the best of it
Let time take us wherever

The world keeps spinning round and round
No matter who we want to be
The world keeps spinning round and round
No matter where we want to be

Cause time rolls on 
Young people want to grow up
But time carries on
Old people want to grow young 
But time will carry on
Time will carry on
 

The moon was Brute's dagger, the moon was a traitor's grin
winter trees like ancient antlers, unearthed by the wind

Down in Chitty Valley
poverty dug in like mesquite
Quinn recognized Daddy's face
from a poster on the street
a few more scars on his forehead
and a beard couldn't disguise
Dad's prison-pacing habit
or the stomach for death in his eyes
first Quinn wanted the bounty
then things played on his mind
so he hired on, riding shotgun
for the weekly Valley line
old man Chitty was tired
of losing payrolls in Quail Ravine
shotgun was a job no one wanted
but Quinn took luck for his queen

the moon was dealer calm, the moon was card cheat clever
it came and went as if timing, was the secret of forever

Daddy'd hung up his irons
for an honest life on the land
with time, him and Ma would make it
but clocks have blood on their hands
so when Quinn approached him
with the scheme of an inside man
he talked with Ma, then told Quinn
he was up for the plan
but Quinn aimed to doublecross
and fit Daddy for a frame 
collect both booty and bounty
and open a house of games
but while shooting the payroll lock
he killed the driver like a fool
Dad didn't show and Quinn couldn't recall
where he'd tied his mule

the moon was a boothill tree, the moon was a vulture's perch
it saw every death in the valley, without having to search

you can forgive posses when
wells are dry and dreams are fallow
even so, a knot is not a noose
and a mule is not a gallows
Quinn's poor mount bolted off
afraid, among the boulders
the mob returned on a muddy road
no back between its shoulders
Dad'd followed Ma's advice
slipping old man Chitty the score
by way of thanks Chitty gave Dad
Quinn's saddle and a fat reward
yeah, Ma and the moon are a pair
of queens from diff'rent decks
Dad still relies on Ma to shine
the moon just reflects

the moon was a paladin, the moon was a watchman's horn
under a cooling board of clouds, a mule began to mourn
 

I feel, the warmth of Summer fading,
Blue skies, the birds have long since flown,
Green leaves, slowly turning golden,
The wisps of fog are coming with the Fall,
The frost of night comes stealing in the Fall

Sunshine, yet soon it will be Winter,
Slowly, the beavers build their home,
Waiting, for snow and ice to touch them,
The fjord is filled with water in the Fall,
The logs are cut before the dawn of Fall

Post liner, cutting through deep water,
Bringing, a letter to a love,
Soon now, the nights will be much longer,
She'll have the fire to warm her in the Fall,
The frost will lace her window in the Fall
 

There was a time when I was the one then
And you had always been mine
You told me you loved me forever and I'd see
That love would always be kind
And after all that we've been through
When you'd ask me how
It's 'cause I loved you forever then and forever now

Lovin' was easy, so light and breezy
It was bound to take you away
Over an ocean of an emotion
And you with nothing to say
And through the silence of it all
When you'd wonder how
It's 'cause I loved you forever then and forever now

Chorus:
All those times when you were lonely
I remember well
And you had your reasons; always
But you wouldn't tell.

If love is a give/take, oh what a heartache
You'll find love slippin' away
With every reason for one of us leavin'
But I never saw it that way
And after all is said and done
And you ask me how
It's 'cause I loved you forever then and foreveer now
I loved you forever then and forever now.
 

The red flag is up
on the country mailbox
even here, there's gang graffiti
on fenceposts and rocks
the best antennaes
get a station or two
jet trails key fresh paint skies
scratching up the blue
young widows in black
farmhands missing thumbs
hard luck is a way of life
in the day she's from
still Mrs. Hawkins
she can't eat or sleep
waiting for old Jack to come 
in his postal jeep 

she knows it's the curse
of shaky times like these
seems there's forever some
trouble overseas
but she'll never know
why it's our sons
who are always called up first 
before foreign ones
she was thrown last week
from her worn saddle
when that nervous old nag
heard a  rattle
harvest halfway picked
mornings come and go
but with her binocs, she
waits for Jack to show

with his kid brother
she's been living alone
too proud to ask for rides
or to use a phone
O her father, too
served for Uncle Sam
her mom had said no mail's better
than a telegram
it had rained all day
and Jack was running late
her driveway was wet so he
brought it to her gate
the ink ran as she
read it in the rain alone
her eldest son was safe
and was coming home
 

Riding down the road in my Buick LaSabre
Watching the time go by and by
Thinking about the people I left behind me
Wish I could've said good-bye 

I want someone to be my angel
I want someone to be by my side
I need a man to call my own dear
Then I'll be just fine 

For, these are my stories and wishes
Dreamed but never to come true
Wish I could take them and make them whole
Then my life would be full 

Riding down the road in my Buick LaSabre
Watching the time go by and by
Thinking about the people I left behind me
Wish I could've said good-bye ooooooooh
Wish i could've said good-bye
 

That poor moon is bi-polar
gold one minute, blue the next
my hound keeps his nose to the wind
as if the night was hexed
I found this old key
in my uncle's coat pocket
there's a storm cellar by the well house
it just might unlock it
he was a secretive man
we all wear masks but he hid more
my family always wondered why
he never worked after the war
with Pa it was peach brandy
canned heat after Sunday Mass
I still recall him wringing his hands
waiting for that wine to be passed
me, I get the shakes just thinking 
of that last bottle of Jim Beam
should I have saved it to prove my will
or used it for kerosene
but if there was a reason for his slide
it wasn't just his patch
his eye was a fickle blue so they couldn't
make a glass one to match
after the cellar, I didn't know
what that key might be for
maybe his safe deposit down in Macon
or a duplicate for his Pugeot's door
then I remembered Pa'd seen him
with a candle and a wooden chest
walking out here the night before
he bid good-bye and headed west
my dog started running in circles
barking and pawing the dirt
I set my lantern on a hick'ry log
kissed the key and tore off my shirt
I couldn't stay calm 
I might be a rich man by dawn
with a mystery deed or a gunny sack
fulla bullion from Saigon
I dug it up with my boot
and a rusty piece of re-bar
only to find a bottle of brandy
and a shiny bronze star
I spit in my palm and worked the cap
shook my head and sat on that log
cursing the day I fed that Jim Beam
to my thirsty old dog 
 

It's 6 AM and I'm awake. 
This whole day I'd forsake 
But for the ray of hope you bring as though from the sky. 
You make my anxiety end. 
I'm so glad to call you my friend. 
So far away.  There you are, and here am I. 

I'd give anything to be there 
Placing flowers in your hair. 
Just to think it never might be makes me cry. 
Still, I know that someday 
You will finally come my way. 
But for now, there you are, and here am I. 

Is something wrong?  Let me know. 
We can talk about it, but I can't go 
To where you are.  And I know that you know why. 
I'd trade my world for love from you, 
But that's something you cannot do. 
So much for that.  There you are, and here am I. 

I'd give anything to be there 
Placing flowers in your hair. 
Just to think it never might be makes me cry. 
Still, I know that someday 
You will finally come my way, 
But for now there you are and here am I.