People just don't see the way you see, boy Maybe you could change your name to Leeroy Give 'em something recognizable, In a newsbite-sizeable way I'm told it's all about the branding Not that old peace, love, and understanding And if honesty is as good as we say it is, How come it doesn't pay? Saskatchewan rappers sound like they're from Compton And for the reggae singers it's the Caribbean If you're country it's Houston or old San Antone Or any old place but your very own That's what they're callin' authentic Couldn't even say what they mean if they meant it They never told me their secrets, they never Let themselves be known But I've heard songs that broke my heart open wide Let all these tears spill out and let the light inside The drunken throng'll jump around to any old thing But a song strong enough for world-changing must be Clear as the moonlight, clear as a straight answer Play a song for the slow dancers Some sell it actin' sleazy Some sell it with free and easy Some sell it with bad sweaters and ironic moustaches Some sell it with porn And they're filling the air with all that traffic Trying to turn the revolution into a demographic Don't you think it's high time to lay it on the line? All they got is lines to lay it on But I've heard songs that wore their hearts on their sleeve Got some words on this napkin I really believe Under all the zippity-do-dah-dey Your heart & mine are longing to say something Clear as the moonlight, clear as a straight answer Play a song for the slow dancers They tell us that the industry's dying But I can assure you, good people, they're lying It's already dead, devoured its own head After killing all its brightest kids Thank God for the real singers I know House concerts, and community radio They'll only keep lying as long as we're listening What if nobody did? I've heard songs that told me I am not alone And the only life for me to live is my own Songs that held me in the palm of their hand And spoke to me in words that I understand Clear as the moonlight, clear as a straight answer Play a song for the slow dancers

Goin up to the country Come on along We're gonna leave behind our phones and watches Slip into our beards and moustaches Swim in our birthday suits Dance and get a little loose If you got the gin, I got the juice, come on along All this staring at a screen can't be good Let's go out into the trees and burn some wood We're gonna dirty up our hands Abandon our elaborate plans If you hear me, and you understand, come on along We're gonna learn things that can't be put in books Hang our hats on mother nature's hook Sit by a stream, and have a think Wash my face in mother nature's sink We got lots to eat and drink, come on along Good people, I believe, for what it's worth We're gonna make a little heaven right here on earth The New Best Friends will be swinging Carolyn Mark will be singing I got a big tent I'm bringing, come on along But I gotta warn ya, I've been known to hold hands and dance around in a circle You know I might even wear purple There'll be cowboys and hippies waltzing together There'll be a whole lot of "I haven't seen you in forever" If you can take the weather, come on along And it must be fifteen years ago by now A light went on in my head that never went out Saw how it all fit together with room for me Knew I'd always find family Ain't that a lucky place to be? Come on along If you still don't understand Somebody's gonna take you by the hand And they'll say, welcome home, my friend, welcome home Ain't this just about all there is to life? The mornings, the days, the evenings and the nights If you got love, you don't need a lot Every day is a gift you got So whether you're s'posed to work or not, come on along

Of all the known and unknown people and places, and tonight of all nights How is it that you and I are facing underneath a moon this bright? Leading or being led, we can never know Stones from distant ranges meet in a riverbed, gathered by the flow While we're side by side, let the wagers ride While we're in the sun, let your horses run Knowing what I know it's hard startin', this old world's so sick & sad But you make me wanna grow a garden, & you know that can't be bad I've been blind and selfish, but I'm hopin', while our paths entwine To keep my eyes wide open, and your heart with mine While we're side by side, let the wagers ride While we're in the sun, let your horses run

There's not many sounds as wild and lonesome As a far-away train in the night They used to carry my young mind with them off down the line And I'd shiver to think of the distance And some nights I'd walk out past the lights To gape at the stars and hear the highway whine I followed that high lonesome sound Been down some good roads and I've known some good friends After all that travelin' round Here I am high and lonesome again The songs of the open country And the words of the traveling men Drew my young eyes away toward the horizon They said a heart that always runs free Will never find rest but within The fleeting space between voices harmonizing Hank's playing on lousy speakers And every word that he sings is true Tonight it's just him and me, this storm, this stupor This hotel room, and these thoughts of you I don't know if I'm tired of always running Or just tired of always getting away I keep blowing through with nothing that I can call mine But there's something kindred and healing In the sound of a loon on the lake Or the cold whistle of the wind as it runs through the pines

When I came to the city I was green as green could be Didn't know myself, and hung on what they thought of me But I got a feeling these ain't my kind of folks They laughed at my clothes and not at my jokes And I wished I could fly a million miles from here The change in me is frightening to behold Cash burns holes in your pockets, work burns holes in your soul I can feel the eyes of the voiceless crowd Might even be scared to live out loud And just dream of being free a million miles from here Gone, gone, gone, gone ain't a place, no road'll take you there There's a few kinds of trouble just seem to follow me around They show their old faces any time that I slow down They followed me out to the golden coast Introduced themselves to those I loved the most And they'll be hounding me a million miles from here Some folks say there's a heaven up above And this vale of tears ain't no place to put your love Some other folks say the world's whatever they call it They say open your mind, and open your wallet And you'll wake up a million miles from here Gone, gone, gone, gone ain't a place, no road'll take you there Gone, gone, gone, gone ain't a place, there's no way to nowhere There's no such place, there's no such place, There's no such place as gone Wherever you go, there you go along There's no such place as gone In the country they're living like we all might have to do (and it might be real soon!) You taking care of me, me looking after you They said welcome home, what a sound to hear Welcome home, let go your fear But it feels like a million miles from here Gone, gone, gone, gone ain't a place, no road'll take you there Gone, gone, gone, gone ain't a place, there's no way to nowhere

It's a fine line 'tween making ends meet and sleeping in the rain Broke down and wishing you were back on that 8am train Seems like the screw keeps tightening every single day The Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away Well, they'll sell you a dream, loan you the money for a house And it don't matter if you can't make the payments when all the jobs head South See, they bet on both sides, so they win either way That's how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away We just hang around drinking coffee from a paper cup They say it'll trickle down, but it just keeps tricklin' up And the first hit's free, but after that you gotta pay That's how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away Well, they say there's a crisis, every TV's talking about How the same folks who got us into this need us to bail them out Guess when you're too big to fail, it means you're too big to pay Ain't it clever how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away Big men got big plans, big plans only expand They got no friends, only interests, little men are pawns in their hands And they send them to fight for reasons that aren't what they say Poor boys don't you know, the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away We just hang around drinking coffee from a paper cup They say it'll trickle down, but it just keeps tricklin' up Everybody gets a cut, and the newsmen just look the other way While the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away They been writing up laws for as long as they been stealing the land Make it so convoluted that ordinary folks can't understand And it's a grim reminder every year on Columbus Day Of just how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away We just hang around drinking coffee from a paper cup They say it'll trickle down, but it just keeps tricklin' up It's just bottom lines and lines on the map, people affected get no say That's how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away That's how the Lord giveth and the landlord taketh away

Lonely crescent moon tonight, I know you're bright on the other side But from here you're only an eyelid of light and a bit of empty sky Still you're quite a companion, especially for one who's got none, And I know you understand me, you've seen all the moonlit deeds I've done Yes, on all my moonlit rambles, yes on all my moonlit nights My dance partner when I staggered, you meant more than all the stars above And every time I catch your eye I can't help but think of the girl I love When you're wide open the world is written large, moon shadows play on the grass Your frosty halo casting a rainbow like the sun in my love's eyelash Shine on all my moonlit rambles, shine on all my moonlit nights You watch us run in place not knowing what we're racing to find I'm told you're a cold stone hung in space, but you feel like an eye in my mind Watching all my moonlit rambles, watching all my moonlit nights I poured my weary mind out to you, as if you knew how I'm thinking And now and then when I played the fool, I swore I saw you winking Here's to all my moonlit rambles, here's to all my moonlit nights

It's a warm moonlit night, let's walk out in it Seems these days we rarely do You and I are tired, but we got these minutes I wanna spend some with you These streets can feel so cold and distant You know I feel it in me too Any place, all we ever have are these very instants I wanna spend some with you How did we all get so beaten down? How'd we get so over run? Working so hard all these years now, Can't buy yourself another one It's hard to keep your head above the headlines Repeating lies 'til they sound true Those who say time is money want both of mine, I wanna spend some with you How did we all get so beaten down? How'd we get so over run? Sometimes a strong drink'll block it out And you buy yourself another one I'd turn it around if I had the power Maybe enough of us together do I may not see that day, but while I've got these hours I wanna spend some with you How did we all get so beaten down? How'd we get so over run? The ones you love are like a hometown You can't buy yourself another one It's a warm moonlit night, let's walk out in it Seems these days we rarely do You and I are tired, but we got these minutes I wanna spend some with you

Ray, I got the news in a motel room that rainy night And I wondered just what I'd been waiting for Wondered if I could write you a song you'd like And why I never wrote you one before You never were the kind to talk about your heart But you never let us doubt how much you cared Never liked to dress up, never tried to sound smart Never had much patience for folks who put on airs Never learned to swim, never learned to dance Never left the continent, through you drove its whole expanse While the country lost its way, somehow you stayed true A boy from Levering, Michigan, 1922 Takes a certain kind of man to farm for fifty years While the cost of living and corporate profits soar He just pushed on, bull-headed, we never saw his tears They don't make quite that kind of man no more Opened two hardware stores, made furniture by hand Carried mail while Grandma taught the kids in town When the money got tighter he had to sell off some land And when the big stores came, he had to close one of his down He watched the land he loved turn suspicious and cold Saw the countryside carved up by walls But he never bought the lies, never prejudged a soul Said don't the good book say “whosoever calls”? So go on, Ray, we're coming after you You passed through well, and that's all a man can do My dad's following, in time I'm going too Go on, Ray, we're coming after you He was an artist with wood and jerry-rigging things Hands gnarled from eighty years of hard use I saw him hit himself with a hammer, and he didn't even wince Somehow nine out of ten fingers made it through Had the kind of smarts you might call old-fashioned Built a hydro plant himself by trial and error He loved tractor shows, music boxes, clockworks and gadgets Built us a merry-go-round with a washing machine motor When he couldn't walk too far, it really slowed him down But he loved his work too much to stop He'd still plant a little crop in that old Michigan ground And ride his lawn tractor out to the wood shop So go on, Ray, we're coming after you You passed through well, and that's all a man can do My dad's following, in time I'm going too Go on, Ray, we're coming after you Last time I saw him he was leaving for South Dakota Taking a vanload of clothes on his own dime To a poor kids' school on the land of the Lakota I think he knew that trip would be his last time No one knows what it's like to lay this body down Though some folks say that they do I just know he went a long way, and came back around And there's a lot of people better off for him passing through Ray, they bought you a new chair just before you died We hoped you'd have a few more years at home But then you had to take another ambulance ride And I reckon you just didn't want to go Go on, Ray, we're coming after you You passed through well, and that's all a man can do My dad's following, in time I'm going too Go on, Ray, we're coming after you

Wanna find a new song and shake these city blues Set out at the break of day with a pair of sturdy shoes A pair of sturdy shoes, a bedroll and a knife Set out at the break of day to look for my life I don't feel at home here, or believe what they're talkin' Even when I walk alone I'm glad to be walkin' I'm glad to be walkin', and proud of you my company Even when I walk alone I take you all with me Around the bend a ways, sun is shining on the road And I can slow down this fevered pace, and I can lay down this load Nothing's as sure or scary as thinking makes it so All of 34 years old & what do I know? What do I know? Only what I've felt All of 34 years old, I played what I was dealt Around the bend a ways, sun is shining on the road And I can slow down this fevered pace, and I can lay down this load I thank my unknown maker, and try to take 'er slow Heart yearning, by going, learning where I have to go Where I have to go, and when to stay in place Heart yearning, by going, learning, stumbling into grace Around the bend a ways, sun is shining on the road And I can slow down this fevered pace, and I can lay down this load