Lyrics/Official Apology

I don't know why I put in the record liner notes that if you wanted "lyrics" come to the website. Todd Steed, a Knoxville legend and great songwriter in his own "right" told me once: "Lyric sheets are for wimps." Well, Dylan never had one on any album that I know of and I wondered whether it wouldn't /doesn't take away a little from the "listening experience" (if any of you still listen to records) when one follows along with the lyrics while MUSIC is playing...

On the other hand, I was wanting to work up a Nick Lowe song for the set with the Commonwealth, and found the lyrics COULD NOT BE HAD ON THE NET, which means they weren't anywhere of course. Turns out, they were on the record jacket, so what do I know? So if you want 'em, here they are.

Upside Downside - Lyrics

It Didn't Take Too Long

It didn't take too long before I ran out of things to say
You know my baby and me we were going out on our first date
And I hope she's not the kind that likes to make a man wait.

It didn't take too long before I ran out of whiskey and gin
We're getting closer to her house and its right around the very next bend
I gotta loosen her up or she ain't never gonna let me in.

It didn't take too long
It didn't take too long
It didn't take too long before I knew how longi it would take.

Because she's panting and she's screaming
And the windows they are steaming
And the things I hear her saying man,
I think she's really meaning
It didn't take too long before I knew how long it would take.

It didn't take too long until I realized what I fell in
When she threw me on the floor and she loved me like a champion
Hey that little girl won herself a golden band….

It didn't take too long….

Raised by the Graves

I born in a town that the industry built in the tired dirt of the Tidewater
To a hard headed man who had the good luck to marry a decent man's daughter
And from my earliest days I could tell things were bad-
President's they were resigning.
And I was raised by the Graves

I wore my brother's close because our house it was cold
With a cry of "pennies make dollars"
And we settled down so far from that down
That God only knows if you holler.
And on the back of the farm there was an old graveyard
Where I used to play as a child.
And I was raised by the graves.

Well I struck out at home and I went on my own into a world that has already past me
And I married a woman a lot like my mom and I act a lot like my daddy.
But when its time to go home I'll head back to the farm
Where the names will all be familiar.
Because I was raised by the graves.

The Way

Midnight and I'm feeling alright, but my baby is tired
We drove down to a party in town
And I should of known I was gonna drink too hard.
The windy road when I'm driving it home
Every twist and turn
I've had enough of the way I was
Seems like by now its time to learn
The way.

The back porch where we first kissed is where we said so long
I headed out to find what it is that makes a man want to come back home.
The windy road when I'm driving it home
Every twist and turn
I've had enough of the way I was
Seems like by now its time to learn
The way.

The West is right and the East is left when you're headed South
The sun will rise and the sun will set another day, another chance to figure out
The windy road when you're driving it home
Each and every turn
I've had enough of the way I was
Seems like by now its time to learn
The way.

Pull Your Load

I don't care if the weight is heavy,
Or the rocks are in the road;
You're feet are flat or your engine's burned
You've got to pull your load.

Pull Your load-
If you don't then don't come back
Pull Your load-
Your rope is showing slack.
You ain't doing what you're told:
Pull Your Load.

Don't tell me that you're trying
It gets you nothing you can hold.
Try me if I'm lying, son
You're gonna pull your load.

Pull Your load-
You don't get nothing free
Pull Your load-
I'll be damned if you'll use me.
You ain't doin' what you're told.
Pull your load.

Don't ask your brother to help you,
Or your sister who's been sold.
She tried to make it easy
And she didn't pull her load.

Second Chance

I don't want to fight,
Sometimes I'm always right.
I'd love to change it but you know I can't so
I need a second chance.

I know I'll do you wrong,
That's why I wrote this song.
I hate to ask you so far in advance but
I need a second chance.

I came into this world alone
And I've always felt on my own.
(repeat)

My reputation is
Not how I want to live.
And how I'm living isn't worth a damn so
I need a second chance.

I saw her downtown,
I guess she's happy now.
I, myself have found some true romance so
I got a second chance.

I came into this world alone
And I finally found a home

Chill, Relax, Now

Chill.

Relax.

Now.

Amtrak Crescent

Well the Amtrak Crescent is a north bound train
When you can't afford to stay no more in New Orleans
So I bought the cheapest ticket and I carried my clothes
And the blood beneath my eyes from a broken nose
When life goes wrong this train goes on and on
When life goes wrong this train goes on

Well there aint no ham like the Birming-ham
To make a fella wanna stay in Alabam
But I crossed into Georgia into Eastern Time
And dared to eat a peach to take it off my mind
When life goes wrong this train goes on

Somewhere between right and wrong
Somehow I manage to keep moving on
Searching for any place but where I am
and a first and second chance

At stop in Charlotte found a hogs leg joint
Seemed like forever 'til we reached High Point
Now Lynchburg to Danville that's a ghost filled rail
If you listen you can hear the engineer's wife wail
When life goes wrong this train goes on

Better say Manassas if you say Bull Run
Or in Virginia you won't get along with anyone
But just across the river you can change your tune
Like all the politicians there in DC do
When life goes wrong they just go on
Chorus

It used to be pretty on the Eastern Shore
Now its more New York down to Baltimore
It took so much effort just to move this train
Why does everything around me have to look the same?
Like when life goes wrong, it just goes on and on

Angels Dwell

Down in the basement where I spend my time
Cheating solitaire and stealing rhymes
When I'm thinking that I'm all tapped out
She gives me something just to sing about.

Can't be more broken than I've already broke
Can't be more hopeless when I don't have hope.
When she sees that I just don't care
She still finds me something when there's nothing there.

Saints alive and Saints be praised
Angels dwell among us still these days

For the crooked smile on her face
For the perfect fit of her embrace
For the wind moved by our parting wave
That stays behind my back and keeps me safe.

Saints alive and Saints be praised
Angels dwell among us still these days

Ciderville Saturday Night

Well I'm out on the dance floor having a good time
Dancing with a girl who is not mine
Her beau gets mad and we shake hands
And leave that barn as only best friends can
Ciderville Saturday Night.

Sneak out to the car for to smoke a little wood
Makes the band sound better and the girls look good
Just two sips from a Fort Marx jar
Keeps the bass sound round and the banjo sharp
Ciderville Saturday Night.

On Saturday night the only thing I pray
Is that my baby looks right and the cops the other way
I'm headed back home to my own time
With a CD changer and a strip mall shine
A Saturday night.
Another Ciderville Saturday night.

I've Got a Plan

I've got a plan to be such a man
That you will see that I was worth having.
And by living well it'll put you through hell
Knowing that once you had totally had me.
And right from the start
It's falling apart.

Because now you're with him
Like we might have been-
A house and a garden in east Massachusetts.
The cod and the bean, bitter and mean
What else can you grow where the soil is useless?
And right from the start
You're falling apart.

And so here we are at the end of the bar
Talking of old friends and casually drinking.
Every move that I move you see right through
And it feels so good when you know what I'm thinking.
And right from the start
We're falling apart.
But right up to the end
I want yens to hold me, …….

Red Ball Express

I jumped straight at it when I had the chance,
I joined the army and I went to France
At Roosevelt's request.
Two weeks of sitting in the mud
Made me lie to the man that I could drive a truck
For the Red Ball Express.

All we do is keep it rolling on
Trading bodies for petroleum
Heating rations on the manifold
And never sleep enough to dream about home

Benzedrined and looking through cat eyes
Of a deuce and a half and a days supply
Of jerry cans in back
Aint no secret how the generals felt.
"Fuck the men they can eat their belts
but the tanks they must have gas"

All we do is keep it rolling on
Trading bodies for petroleum
Heating rations on the manifold
And never sleep enough to dream about home…

The gears are sticking and the pressure's low
I felt the bump that means its time to go
Another twenty miles.
Thirty-six hours and I still ain't slept
I'm hearing voices talk inside my head
In Burma Shaving rhyme…

All we do is keep it rolling on
Trading bodies for petroleum
Heating rations on the manifold
Even now I've never felt that old

Because fifty years later and you don't forget
Being eighteen and scared to death
In a world that's changing fast
Now my own son sends his own son off
To fight the next fight to be fought
And the Red Ball brings me back…..

For Jack Tymon

May your back be straight and your fingers ten.
My your cup be full when you say when.
May your parents be so that they always let you grow.
And may your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know.

May your schooling be good, and if its not
May the times be easy and you still smart.
May your friendships be so that they almost feel like home
And your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know.

And may you have the joy of passing something on
Like the laugh of your father or the courage of your mom.
But if that never happens and you end up alone
May your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know