Anchor Up

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The poor devils threw down their shovels 
Lit the fuses the bosses said the truth is that there’s 
No going, ain’t no going back 
The road you’re walking is the road we’re owning 

Roots are drinking, the willow’s weeping 
The ground’s breaking, am I making it any better 
Feel like a feather caught up in the wind 
That’s surely gonna blow us all home 

But the wave it broke before you awoke 
And all you’ve left is a dream 
And the wind will blow this boat home 
If together we all pull the anchor up 

Deep down fathomless at the bottom 
Where the water is colder and darker 
And what’s down there breathing is not seeing 
Not hearing, not feeling the wind 

Build up the old town old friends cut the trees down 
Shiny new toys for pretty girls and boys 
But something’s missing like listless kissing 
Take the love out of your heart 
And shoot it into the ground 

But the wave it broke before you awoke 
And all you’ve left is a dream 
And the wind will blow this boat home 
If together we all pull the anchor up 

We gathered in town lord what we found 
Those liars threw the bellows is in the fire 
We called a meeting we called it cheating 
On that day this is what we sang 

The backs of the few will break 
If we don’t pull this weight

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                                //

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Good Friend 

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Maybe I’ll sing before I die 
Maybe I’ll grow wings and I’ll fly 
Troubled humble and true 
I could be a good friend to you 

When the wind comes a howling strong 
Come on in my kitchen safe and warm 
Like a guitar that stays in tune 
I could be a good friend to you 

To you, I could be a good friend to you 

When the dust of the day is settled and you sigh 
And you look at the truth dead in the eye 
And if what’s looking back it makes you blue 
I could be a good friend to you 

I could live a dream between these mountains 
and I could chase the tail of the day 
and we could do right as we pass through 
and I could be a good friend to you 

Maybe the seeds you hold 
In my garden can grow

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                                //

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Tennessee Breeze

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Marigold, she plants her flowers in rows 
And they grow around her feet 
Between her toes 

She sure does love this land 
Takes my hand and shows me the way 
She’s a Tennessee breeze 

Marigold, she grows the kisses she blows 
Carried by the wind they fall and are sewn 
Into the ground on which she stands 

She sure does love this land 
She takes my hand and shows me the way 
She’s a Tennessee breeze 

And everybody knows my sweet Marigold 
And everybody knows my sweet marigold 

Cause she shows us the way 
She’s a Tennessee breeze

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                                //

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Abbreviated Sun

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The moon brings the devil out of me 
As I walk down the windy streets of her soul 
The whole world seemed to sleep so quietly 
As we sang don’t look back and don’t let go 

But every time I get into 
The same old trouble I’ve been through 
I look for the answers in an empty well 
And try to tell what I can already tell 

The howling hounds that fill my mixed up mind 
Are muzzled on the brink of an endless night 
But tomorrow when there’s strangers at my door 
The dogs will be barking once more 

But every time that I go through 
The things I should and should not do 
I find myself breaking all the rules 
I wonder if she broke hers too 

Now the trees still stand 
The rivers are running 
But they’re flooding the land 
I know they roll and flow 
But I don’t care where they go 

Somewhere near a dream I opened my eyes 
And felt the spell upon the night 
And as I looked out the window that night 
Far away I saw a lonesome light 

I’ve read that light in a book before 
Across a bay where lovers play 
And as I laid my head to pray 
Beside me she awoke and walked away 

Now the trees still stand 
The rivers are running 
But they’re flooding the land 
I know they roll and flow 
But I don’t care where they go 

The moon abbreviates the sun 
‘Til the morning bells are rung 
She’s walking through the rain 
Down the road 
Singing her true love’s song 

Now the trees still stand 
The rivers are running 
But they’re flooding the land 
I know they roll and flow 
But I don’t care where they go

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                                //

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Long Time Coming

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Let the highways bleed and damn their roads 
You know that it’s a long time coming 
Everybody’s feeling it, everybody’s feeling it 
Coming on 

You can feel stirring in the dust out west 
You can feel it changing all the fears that you love best 
Change change the moments turn into days 

Change change 
You know that it’s a long time coming 
Everybody’s feeling it, everybody’s feeling it 
Coming on 

Past the overgrown homes roam the vagrant dreams 
Sleep in boxcars throw the seeds that grown between 
Change change, the yields turn the fields to gray 

Turned the water red the well is a tombstone 
Breathless in the river and the sky is on parole 
Change change the moments turn into days 

Let the highways bleed and damn their roads 
You know that it’s a long time coming 
Everybody’s feeling it, everybody’s feeling it 
Coming on 

As the tide grows higher than the hearts and homes 
Memories will rise out of the water and bone 
And change change the moments turn into days 
Change change, you know that it’s a long time coming

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