SONG LYRICS
(Second Time Album, Alphabetical Listing)
A Wind Is Comin’
1. Looks like a wind is comin’
Looks like she’ll really blow.
I will follow your invisible trail
I will take it as it goes.
2. CHO Will you take me to the east
Into my sweetheart’s loving arms?
Or to the west and through the trails
And to the mountain’s magic charms?
3. Take me to a brave new place
Gusts my world has never seen
I will follow your windy trail
Bouncing, clacking like an old tin can.
4. Some would curse your sudden swell
“Idiot wind”, in rhyme and song
Your restless breeze and forceful way
Will take me to.. where I belong
5. Looks like a wind is comin’
Looks like she’ll really blow.
So I will follow your invisible trail
I will take it as it goes.
Fooled Me Once
1. It comes in waves at any time…. comes when you are sleepin’
Like when you hear an old-time song, wakes you when you’re dreamin.
Now you know just how it feels when someone leaves you all alone
You taught me well. I know that pain, just won’t let you go
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2. CHO Just like you to change your mind. You need me now, you say
Fooled me once, but not this time, so wipe that tear away.
3. It’s been a while and now you’re blue. You tell me that you’re sorry.
Please don’t tell me how you’ve changed, I’ve heard all those stories
You walked away for someone new, now you want back in, oh, no
You’re up you’re down, you’re inside out. just can’t let it go.
How Brightly You Shine
1. When the world’s upside-down
You feel helpless and small
When there’s no end in sight
Nothing stopping your fall.
2. It’s hard to imagine
All the hurt you’ve been through
When one of life’s moments
Brought you nothing that’s good
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3. CHO Take a long look inside
To a place way down deep
See how brightly you shine
That’s what others can see
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4. When that wall closes in
Don’t let that special glow fade
That’s the key that will lock
The pain and darkness away.
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I Don’t Brake for Squirrels
1. I was fussin’ with a switch on my new ride
The ragtop curled up and locked behind
Thinkin’ this just seemed like one fine day
I took a left turned on to Mathews Way.
2. Suddenly I hit the brakes real hard
A squirrel danced in front of the car
I steered away, and swerved… I tried to miss
But spun around and wound up in a ditch.
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3. CHO I don’t brake for squirrels, and the dangerous games they play
They run. Stop. Turn. Stop. Run the other way
It happens in a second. The choices aren’t so great
Skid around, hit some tree….. or accelerate.
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4. As I sat there in a daze beside the road
Realized that I was not alone.
Other cars were scattered across the lanes
Everything had stopped on Mathews Way.
5. One car was over on its side
Another dripping green stuff next to mine
People looking angry, numb, and frayed
Checking out the damage on Mathews Way
I Was There
1. I was there with Leonardo, when he sketched Vitruvian Man.
With siblings down at Kitty Hawk, when wheels left the sand.
With bleary-eyed inventors, working through the night.
Searching for a missing link, beneath the basement light.
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2. Few would recognize me, for I move along through time.
I only come to those that dare put it on the line.
Weary from the struggle, down on bended knee.
Ignoring their frustrations, thinking what could be.
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3. CHO I am hope and passion, I am a young man’s dream.
I’ll be there for every journey, every breathless leap.
I am hope and passion, I am a young man’s dream.
I’ll be there for every journey, every breathless leap.
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4. If you stare in wonder, at words from Whitman’s pen,
Or marvel at the climber, making his ascent.
The honesty’s unmistakable when dreamers meet their truth.
Man once hid inside a cave, and now he walks the moon.
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5. Should you choose to take to flight, or tug a monster’s tail,
One thing’s sure-a timid hand, might never set to sail.
But if you reach up high, to a place meant just for you,
I’ll be like a raging fire, to help it all come true.
Lineman’s Song
1. The Sunday showdown finally here an hour or so away
Week 18, and no retreat, there was a game to play
The lineman walked across the chalk, pawed his sharp cleats in
Down into the tired grass, now bending in the wind.
2. So many times he’d tried to leave this unforgiving game
But like some small pathetic moth, keeps running to the flames
He watched his teammates jog on by as they took the field in two’s
He’d guard those boys the best he could, then spring the runner loose.
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3. CHO All the game balls, hits and years wore thin his safe veneer
Lately he’d been barely hanging on
To a small-town country boy, the bright lights seemed unreal
Now he wants to shout how he really feels…
4. He shuffled past the coach’s bark “go get me ten” the cry.
At the set, he glanced across into the Monster’s eyes
A frothing grim and angry mass, no doubt this must be him
Word had spread around the league, you don’t mess with The Finn.
5. At the snap the Monster pounced, the lineman staked his mark
The seconds seemed to pass so slow, his grip would come apart
He panted, huffed and tried his best, but couldn’t hold his ground
The Monster’s strength was just too much. The lineman tumbled down.
6. At fourth and 1, he made a pledge “whatever it will take”
His move was quick, in a moment’s blink he took the game away
He pushed and shoved and led his man in safely for the score
Then fell into a pile of joy, he’d not take one hit more
7. As he lay there in a heap, his thoughts turned way inside
He’d live to fight another week with sweat, and hurt and pride
One more time he’d have a chance to feel just like a king
One more time to try again to wear the winner’s ring.
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Scattered
1. The car door locked at the very time I saw the keys on a seat inside.
Oh …. locked out again
The memory’s shot. I can’t recall where I’m supposed to be right now
Oh … that fog again.
2. CHO I’m scattered. Scattered.
I run in all directions at one time.
Scattered. Scattered.
Up each day to work from 9 til 9
3. The plans I made are in a mess, up at dawn, no time to rest
Oh …. that clock again
Missed my turn on the drive today, mind was drifting far away
Oh … missed again.
4. CHO I’m scattered. Scattered.
I run in all directions at one time.
I’m scattered. Scattered.
Up each day to work from 9 til 9
5. Rushing through an endless day, the work I did was in too late
Oh …. I’ll start again
Oh, to be on a beach somewhere, with just the sun and the ocean air
….
6. Out the door for a dinner date, Got the time but forgot the place
Oh … “I’m dead again.
The memory’s shot, I can’t recall, where I’m supposed to be right now
Oh … that fog again.
Seabird
1. Up in the sky, with wings of light gray,
I watched as a seabird came floating my way.
He set on the sand, and shook off his flight,
Then moved down the beach, in morning’s first light.
2. He strutted around as if he were king.
He picked and he poked at a small wooden stick.
He’d fooled all the others with deception before,
The stick looked like food so he’d fool ‘em some more.
3. CHO A: Look all around, and soon you will see
A treasure’s not always where it looks to be.
If you let go, and seek out new ground,
A feast will await you, and those all around.
4. That seabird chased any bird that would dare
Come near his stick. It was his not to share.
A faux-food treasure with honeycomb holes.
It may not be real, but it’s his piece of gold.
5. CHO B:The other birds wanted to share in his gain,
But the seabird’s mirage let none to attain.
One morsel of secrets he held in that beak.
They wandered away, to leave him in peace.
6. Then one gull began shrieking and chirping.
He jumped to the air, his discovery circling.
To show the whole flock where to look for some food,
Trumpeting loudly so all’d be included.
7. CHO C:When all of those birds arrived at the spot,
The seabird came by now seeking his lot.
The others turned on him, and sent him away.
And followed the gull that shared in his prey.
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8. False to himself, and the others around,
Protecting his status, no treasure he found.
A king without kindness, is a king on his own.
The one that can lead will inherit the throne.
Second Time
1. The early morning fog was lifting
Driving on a switchback road
An old song played to my tapping finger
Playin’ on the radio.
2. We had a fight, words were spoken
The magic left without a trace
But now I know just where I’m goin’
Can’t wipe this grin off my face.
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3. CHO
Like a circle closing
Like a fire that keeps you warm
Like a voice inside gently calling
The second time …. better than before.
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4. Passing farms and picket fences
I thought about a gambler’s creed
Behind bad luck, if you take your chances
What comes next is twice as sweet
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5. Sunday coffee, trading glances
I’m twice the man I used to be
I do believe in second chances
One for her, one for me.
​
Solitary Star
1. When just a young boy, I’d gaze up at the sky.
I’d watch every night when one star caught my eye
It was stuck way in deep, in a crowd so it seemed
Caught in the path of a white, starry stream.
2. I watched as that star calmly drifted so slow
To a place way up high, where no others would go
In its own space, and away from the rest
I watched its glow brighten, seemed carefree at last.
3. CHO A
Now sometimes I think of that star breaking free
It was just like my own life has turned out to be
Always at home, away from the crowd
Away from the towers and bright lights downtown.
4. Some time ago, I took a deep breath
Turned down a good job to start on a new path
Away from the hearth and towards the unknown
Racing ahead, with just spirit and hope
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INSTRUMENTAL BREAK
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5. I’ve done it alone and I’ve done it my way
Followed that star where it moved every day
Away from the rush, right from the start
A solitary life that has followed the heart
6. CHO B
It’s true that I’ve made some mistakes to be sure
But I’m not one designed to be safe and secure,
Now when I watch for that star that broke free
It shines like a mirror, right back at me.
The Old 29
1. There’s a fast-food place, where the people used to wait
There’s a street now, where the rails used to be
A blackbird is picking at something on the ground
As he sits there in the bushes and the weeds
2. I remember playin’ catch down near the gate
It seemed like those summers didn’t end
The depot still stands there, but it’s broken and faded
It was third base back then
3. CHO
What ever happened to the old twenty-nine?
Anybody know?
She’d rumble in from somewhere, then rumble out again
One thing’s for sure,
She’s not comin’ through here anymore.
4. A misty-eyed young man, barely 18 years old
Said his goodbyes from that train
He was off to the city to find his own way
Seeking his fortune and fame.
BREAK
5. The years have passed by, that seems a lifetime ago.
But that boy, he’s sittin’ here today.
He strums his guitar, while he looks for the tracks
Where he and his buddies once played.
The Trade
1. It was a night down on the Delta, all God’s creatures ran
Through the shadows and far away.
They felt the chill of a demon’s breath, so scattered many miles
Ran to live another day
A man walked along a path, eyes fixed, and all alone
A guitar slung behind his back, the night cut to his bones.
2. Who needs a soul, Dan Finn thought, picking up the pace
At midnight he’d make the trade
Seemed just like the perfect plan to Daniel’s state of mind.
“Just wait. Wait and hear me play.”
The Crossroads stood before him, now peeking from in between the trees.
“Hey you Johnsons” he laughed “you aint got nuthin’ on me”.
3. Beside a tree straight ahead, sat a bent and feeble man
Seemed like someone Daniel knew
“I’m lookin’ for the hoodoo trade” came Daniel’s nervous words.
“It’s one the Devil must approve”.
The man stood up, cast an empty, hollow gaze.
His black piercing eyes flashing Hellfire, and yet Dan stayed
4. Take my hand said the man, now looking ten feet tall
Dan complied…. waiting for a sting.
“I’ve taken what I need from you”, and now you have your trade”
“Funny”, Daniel thought “didn’t feel a thing”.
Come with me now, beckoned Satan with a grin,
That night in the woods was the last on earth for young Dan Finn.
5. Daniel cried and argued for his gift would go unused.
Crying “hey, we had a deal”.
But he knew those pleas were hopeless, and he’d never get to play.
His fate forever sealed
Conned and fooled. His special dream denied.
No way back. He was trapped… til the end of time.