THE FIX (2019)

The Fix

Can’t ask the grocery man

Can’t ask the cops

Can’t ask your granddad

He’s out back fixing clocks

Tried to ask the bus driver

He said stay behind the line

Can’t ask anybody with a watch

About running out of time

All I wanna know

What I’m really trying to say

How we ever gonna learn

To live any other way

And I could win a Nobel prize

If I had the fix

But all I got are these songs

And a few good magic tricks

Can’t ask the newspaper

But I can ask the books

History’s gonna frown on me

For caring so much about my looks

Cause I know I should

Put my body on the line

Make no mistake they’ll knock you down

And kick you as you rise

No road is easy

But where’s the road

I can’t even find my feet

Let alone where I’m going

I’m supposed to tear down

These walls made of bricks

But all I got are these songs

And a few good magic tricks

Can’t ask the bartender

She’s making drinks

Can’t ask my dog

I have no idea what he thinks

Can’t ask the president

This much I know

What’s it mean to hold on

What’s it look like to let go

Maybe I should run for something

Get into politics

But all I got are these songs

And a few good magic tricks

You Want Nothing

You said you want nothing

The kind you find at your door

Taped up in a cardboard box

What a thrill what a bore

You said you want nothing

Delivered by the end of the day

Break open that padded envelope

Throw it away

Where to find true love

Where to find piece of mind

You can find anything online

Beside the dollar sign

You said you want nothing

A gift for dear old dad

Wrap it up and when he sees it

He’ll be happy, he’ll be so glad

You said you want nothing

On sale til the end of the day

Buy one get one free

Nothing, ending up in the ocean

Cause nothing is free

Where to find true love

Where to find piece of mind

You can find anything online

Beside the dollar sign

You said you want nothing

Until that’s all there is

Don’t Land On Me

If she was a bird I wouldn’t be a bird

I’d be something else

I’d probably be a cactus in the desert out West

Waiting on the rain like all the rest

She’d be a bird in the sky so fine

Looking for a place to rest her wings

I’d be growing from the desert ground

With spines up and down

So don’t you try and land on me

And if she was a rocket ship

And I was a planet out there

I’d be shining bright all through the night

In the middle of nowhere

And oh what a pretty rocket ship

From my planet I can see

But there’s no air

To breathe down here

So don’t you try and land on me

If she was a boat sailing fast

And I was an island in the blue

My coast would be full of ghosts

From old ships wrecked passing through

Well I’m just land that’s all I am

Surrounded by rocks in the sea

If you get too close you’ll get a hole in your boat

So don’t you try and land on me

Wake You Up With Light

Julia and Mary, Lucinda and Louise

They all danced on the limbs

Of the old white old tree

And me like the breeze

Blowing wild and free

This New England rain

Makes rivers out of streams

And I hear her wading in the water after me

I said honey it’s almost autumn

How can you still be green

Some other season I’ll say it all just right

The way the setting sun

Lets you know it’s almost night

Or maybe I’ll be the morning

And wake you up with light

Wake you up with light

Julia and Mary, Lucinda and Louise

All blown away just like the autumn leaves

And me beneath the white oak tree

Singing Jubilee

Softly singing Jubilee

Sarah DeLane

I was in New York City

Thinking what a pity

That Ray and Louise moved on

I took a walk around the block

Turned the corner and saw

A newspaper man

Taking photographs

Of a girl in pearls

I knew her face

And there was no mistaking

All those auburn curls

She lived down the road

We were ten years old

The best friend that I had

Her dad was an army man

In Afghanistan

Came home in a moving van

Oh Sarah DeLane

From a little town she came

Outside of Spokane

Childhood friends playing in the rain

Oh Sarah DeLane

Lived in a house with a weather vane

And it rained for days

When she when away

In the stores

And corners of the streets

The fashion magazines

Are on the shelf

Full of high end clothes

And perfect noses

And tips for your health

And when I see her on the page

It feels just like

A friendly wave from the past

She made it big

And it made me think

Of how time moves so fast

From the bus stops in queens

To the magazines

Her eyes looked just the same

And I can’t help but smile to myself

Whenever I read her name

Oh Sarah DeLane

From a little town she came

Outside of Spokane

Childhood friends playing in the rain

Oh Sarah DeLane

Lived in a house with a weather vane

And it rained for days

When she when away

I walked on by

As the flashing light

Of the camera lit the scene

I had a strange feeling

The smile on her face

Wasn’t for the camera

But for me

Then as sure as you’re born

As sure as the sun shine’s warm

She glanced at me

And with a wink of her eye

She said hello and goodbye

And thanks for the memories

Oh Sarah DeLane

From a little town she came

Outside of Spokane

Childhood friends playing in the rain

Oh Sarah DeLane

Lived in a house with a weather vane

And it rained for days

When she when away

Bristol Hill

She sits beneath the sycamore tree

In the silence of the leaves

While the house of God grieves

She couldn’t grieve there anymore

Couldn’t grieve there anymore

She threw her bible in the river

On the third day of the war

The preacher came

And her doorbell he rang

She just let it ring

What words could he bring

She couldn’t hear it anymore

Couldn’t hear it anymore

She threw her bible in the river

On the third day of the war

The politicians voice

Came on the radio

Where we fight God will go

We’ll stand against the foe

She couldn’t stand it anymore

Couldn’t stand it anymore

Them all standing next to Jesus

While the kids hit the floor

Way out on the side

Of the old Bristol Hill

A thousand graves to fill

And the sycamores are still

There’s no reason anymore

She threw her bible in the river

On the third day of the war

Spare Change

Every time I get a little spare change

I lose a dime and try to sing out of my range

Every night I get a little less rest

Turn out the light

Realize that I’m still dressed

But sometimes when the thunder’s right

And lightning strikes inside I feel alright

Knowing I’m just going for the ride

Every time I get a little bit strange

I find a rhyme for a highway I can’t change

I see the sign, forty miles til we’re there

The road is wide and there’s a song

In this Colorado air

But sometimes when the thunder’s right

And lightning strikes inside I feel alright

Knowing I’m just going for the ride

To The River

The orchard was full of bees

Down in the garden

She was on her knees

By some great fortune

I saw her there

Overalls and braided hair

She was looking over my way

We both smiled and she did say

She said where did you come from

Won’t you tell me true?

I said I come from a little old town

Where in the hollows there’s not a sound

Where the water runs good and clean

I can show you if you know what I mean

I said where did you come from

Won’t you tell me true?

I said I come from big city lights

Where the cars pass by my window at night

And on the steps all along my street

All the folks sit in the summer heat

We made eyes and she said

My name is Annabelle

I said that’s swell

You got a mighty fine garden

For a city girl

The next day all the flowers

That were in bloom

They were in my room

I said I’ll take you to the city

And I’ll take you to the river

Yeah I’ll take you to the city

And I’ll take you to the river

I’ll take you to the city

And I’ll take you to the river

Since Mille’s Been Gone

The houses are going up on hillsides

The old timers don’t seem to mind

Cause business is booming in the valley

And Rose’s cooking is still fine

She said the parades are all gone here

And the city folk don’t put down their phones

But the Delaware is clean

And I know God’s listening

Cause he sent that tornado to my home

Don’t you know some will go

Where the red wine flows

Others walk along the river

Singing an old song

Since Mille’s been gone

Somewhere beneath that field of grass

My grandfather’s bomb shelter lay

That’s where my mother hid

When she was just a kid

But oh, the Russians never came

Now the attic’s moved

Into her childhood bedroom

And outside there’s a dog tied to a tree

But the lake is still clean

And I know God’s listening

Cause she sent the punch line to me

Don’t you know some will go

Where the red wine flows

Others walk along the river

Singing an old song

Since Mille’s been gone

Mille worked a Woolworth’s in Brooklyn

Charlie was a Catskills ladies man

One day they fell in love like in the movies

The next day we dropped the bomb on Japan

And everybody went down to the river

Cause that’s where life goes on and on

And if only a farewell could ring on like a bell

Maybe we’d remember what is gone

Don’t you know some will go

Where the red wine flows

Others walk along the river

Singing an old song

Since Mille’s been gone

Beautiful Decay

He sang his song like he was twenty five

For more than seventy years he’s been alive

I stood in the crowd and tears I cried

Next to a girl who was swinging

Her hips side to side

Beautiful decay

The body breaks down a little more each day

Oh life is like death’s beautiful bride

But the song lives on after the singer has died

Hank was on the radio

Apologizing for canceling the show

His back was out and the doctors said no

But he wished he could

And he thought we should know

And the sound of his voice it broke my heart

Like his body and his soul were being torn apart

That snake oil habit had him shining bright

Like a falling star across a purple sky

Beautiful decay

The body breaks down a little more each day

Oh life is like death’s beautiful bride

But the song lives on after the singer has died

The world is born and the world decays

And I’m left wondering what to do and say

I can sing for the midwife counting toes

And on the casket of the world

I can lay my rose

Beautiful decay

The body breaks down a little more each day

Oh life is like death’s beautiful bride

But the song lives on after the singer has died