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One More Time Around

by Scott Cook

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1.
This guitar came from a timber, from the body of a tree Through the workshop of a luthier, now it's on loan to me And it's good company after dinner, and it fits my hands just fine But some day another singer with a pair of hands like mine Will coax out songs much prettier still hiding in its strings And sing stronger, braver words than I could ever sing And folks are gonna love it, of this I'm almost sure So I'll take good care of it, cause I'm borrowing it from her Pass it along, pass it along May it land in careful hands when we're gone You carry it for a moment But time won't loan it to you for long You don't own it, pass it along This here is my country, sometimes it's hard to recognize it But I count myself lucky, to have been born inside it And I'm grateful for the rights others struggled hard to win And you can be sure I'm gonna fight when they try to take 'em back again Oh, and everywhere are teachers, though some fell along the way The words they said still reach us, just like you're teaching me here today And you may not speak it loud, but it's clear in what you do And I hope to make you proud, because I borrowed it from you Seems these days we're in a hurry, to grab up all that's left to use Putting patents on discovery, making seeds that don't reproduce If our vision is so narrow, seeing only bought and sold We'll end up like the pharaohs, buried with their gold We've all pushed this thing along, we've all been guided by our fear But the river sings a song we've gotta be quieter to hear It's in every child's face, new and hopeful as a stem Best be gentle with this place, cause we're borrowing it from them
2.
Remember when we played among the trees? Threw pinecones and skinned our knees Built forts out of sticks and boats out of paper and wood And the days lasted so long Lots of games had their own song And up until dinnertime, we had the run of the neighbourhood There was a rainbow in a piece of glass Dewdrops in the tall grass Dark smells and shade, and a puddle of water in an old rubber tire And a hiding place inside it And anywhere your bones fit And inside every story with something to fight against, and someone to admire And the TV signed off at night But you could read with a flashlight And games just took cards, or chalk, or jacks and a ball We played grown-up with candy smokes And hockey cards in our bike spokes Climbing a maple tree, the seeds would helicopter as they fall We'd always known it, but if we knew what it was worth Would we have traded it for trinkets from the company store? I ain't saying it was heaven, but at least it was earth We don't taste much of that anymore What weight pulled our kites down? What fear drove us from the playground? Convinced us there's only one game and the point is to win it? What modesty clipped our wings? Traded our dreams for things? Led from leaf-covered trails to a road with no poetry in it? And can we find our way back somehow? Or has our imagination failed us now? With the world at our fingertips, doors locked and shades drawn Can we catch a wild breeze again? Are there still far-aways on the wind? Stories worth believing, dreams worth betting everything on?
3.
A dark-eyed girl with a load of hurt Mama always said be careful Took most of it with her, didn't leave a word Mama always said, be careful with your love Sometimes the truth's too hard to learn Mama always said be careful Can't face it straight, you find a way to turn Mama always said, be careful with your love All jacked up on Saturday night Mama always said be careful She'll be a stranger in Sunday's light Mama always said, be careful with your love Too late for the cops, you're hopin' Mama always said be careful Foot on the gas and one eye open Mama always said, be careful with your love Oh, Mama always told you, boy It's you I'm thinking of You're my pride and joy Be careful with your love It'd break her hear to see her boy this way Mama always said be careful A whole two-six to get through the day Mama always said, be careful with your love And the girly bars that you walk past Mama always said be careful Got a hollow face in the window glass Mama always said, be careful with your love You got two eyes and you got two lungs Mama always said be careful You only got one heart, just that one Mama always said, be careful with your love
4.
Thought of you up in the timberline Where the cool wide open starts You're there whenever I clear my mind There whenever I ask my heart And there beside the snow-fed creek sliding clear along Laughing with the clapping leaves and the kingfisher's song And again along the weary way down Thinking of someday, baby, when we're back around Thought of you in the dusky air With the day's journey just begun Thought of the autumn in your hair And the way you wear that setting sun Thought of all the miles I'm going, all the time we tried And how long we held on, knowing that I had to leave and why Wondered if different reasons might be found Someday, baby, when we're back around Thought of you when I heard last call When the hour's hungry for a kiss I'm tired of barrooms and alcohol You used to take me home 'fore it came to this There's a couple young girls making out right in front of their fellas And the guys think it's all about trying to make 'em jealous But when she dips her down close to the ground She whispers, "someday, baby, when we're back around" Thought of you rollin' through Michigan With her turquoise lakes and her peeping toads Getting around to wishin' again For someone like you to share these roads I guess we did right parting, but right's still hard to feel Now I can't hold you darling, so I just hold this wheel And dream through the time zones and towns To someday, baby, when we're back around I just dream through the time zones and towns To someday, baby, when we're back around
5.
We don't know how we got here Tell stories because we forget Probably never know what's out there If we haven't found out yet Life's clues fly by thick and fast And you can't watch the movie again You don't know the plot, if you're a good guy or not And you don't find out in the end It don't always turn out like it should Despite what some folks say Here's hoping things tip for the good But it could really go either way Each word you let loose from your lips And every dollar that you spend You don't know where it lands, or what'll come of your plans And you don't find out in the end What if I'd given more? What if you hadn't missed your flight? What if the Axis had won the war? What if I would've called that night? There's madness in the land The dogs are at the door This could well be our last stand Though they've probably said that before May be nothing we can do to turn it back now But who knows, so how can you give in? You just pick a side, and let your bet ride You don't find out in the end You just pick a side, and let your bet ride You don't find out in the end
6.
I was tired of talking to myself Tired of young girls talkin' crazy Said, what I need now is a full-grown woman Why you wanna be my baby? And I was staring at my shoes when she took me by surprise Saying "Use your imagination, babe, improvise" Unbroken buckskin mare Wildest thing I've seen Tear down an engine all by herself Sometimes she starts a fire with gasoline I'm falling fast, and it's hard to disguise She says, "Use your imagination, babe, improvise" You can put down your best-laid plans Plot your whole life through But love's not something you can go out and find If you're lucky, love finds you Out here past the edge of my maps, there's nothing I recognize She says, "Use your imagination, babe, improvise" When the world's changed the locks Windows are boarded shut When your castle becomes your cage When your highway becomes a rut When you can't see new horizons with your old eyes Use your imagination, babe, improvise I've heard there's two kinds of women'll get you And I suspect it's true One kind makes you feel like home One scares the hell out of you I say show me how to love you, and she replies "Use your imagination, babe"
7.
Rain on concrete, worn out and beat Tired of hearing people talk We're all rushing by in our hurry to die When music spills out down the block And I dream I am somewhere people know what I mean Where the rain falls grey but the wind blows green And I know it ain't true, but what's a poor boy to do? Broke, and so far from home The winners and losers, the hustlers and users, Jostle and make deals and shout And the all-night cafes, and the storefront displays Promise what this town can put out She's had her way with so many men Leaves 'em on the sidewalk when their money's all spent With nothing but time, and an old cardboard sign That says, "Broke, and so far from home" It's in the blue TV light that shines every night For people with no time to cook It's in the billy clubs and gas The way we walk past each other and don't even look The way we eat when we're not hungry, drink when we're not dry Need religion when we're hard up, and dollars when we die And the whole sad mess is just like me, I guess Broke, and so far from home When it all comes crashing, only compassion Might save you, but it's a tenuous thing To empty yourself to see anyone else Like a bell must be empty to ring Whatever you've done and wherever you've been You're never so free as when you go all in And you hear yourself singing, empty and ringing Broke, and so far from home
8.
New Grist 03:22
Tune up the strings, rosin the bow It'll sing if you touch it just right And you can almost feel In the kerosene glow Our ancestors dancing with us tonight Dust off the old tunes, there's life in 'em still Sun-kissed, new grist for the old mill Plant in the spring, gather in fall Cellars full of jars and brown-bagged seeds This land's got food and work for us all If you like flowers, gotta pull some weeds Dust off the old ways, there's life in 'em still Sun-kissed, new grist for the old mill Bluebird days, wood for the stove Your company and all that time makes Summer dancing all the sweeter Hearing creek music and drinking sunshine Dust off your old boots, there's life in 'em still Sun-kissed, new grist for the old mill The old struggle, again begun Learning to sing our healing songs Learning that we are the very ones We've been waiting for all along Dust off your old dreams, there's life in 'em still Sun-kissed, new grist for the old mill
9.
Down by the river, junior year, walking with my girl We came upon a place There in the tall grass where a couple had been making love And they left the mark of their embrace I said to her, "Looks like they had some fun" She said to me, "Let's do the same" And still I taste her kisses and her freckles in the sun When I play the poet game A young man in the hill country, the year of '22 Went to see his future bride She lived in a rough old shack that poverty blew through And she invited him inside She'd been cooking, ashamed and feeling sad She could only offer him bread and her name Grandpa said that it was the best gift a fella ever had And he taught me the poet game I had a friend who drank too much and played too much guitar And we sure got along Reel-to-reels rolled across the country near and far Filled with letters, poems, and songs But these days he won't talk to me, and he won't tell me why I miss him every time I hear his name I don't know what he's doing, don't know how our friendship died While we played the poet game The fall rain was pounding down on an old New Hampshire mill And the river wild and high I was talking to her while leaves blew down with a sudden chill There was wildness in her eyes We made love like we'd been waiting all of our lives for this Strangers know no shame But she had to leave at dawn, and with a sticky farewell kiss She left me to play the poet game I watched my country turn into a coast-to-coast strip mall and I cried out in a song: If we could do all that in thirty years, please tell me you all Why does good change take so long? Why does the color of your skin or who you choose to love Still lead to such anger and pain? And why do I think it's any help for me to still dream of Playing the poet game? Sirens wail above the fields, another soul gone down Another Sun about to rise I've lost track of my mistakes, like birds they fly around And darken half my skies To all of those I've hurt, I beg you to forgive me I to you will freely do the same There were just so many things I didn't see, with my eyes turned inside Playing the poet game I walk out at night to take a leak underneath the stars Yeah, that's the life for me There's Orion and the Pleiades and I guess that must be Mars All as clear as we long to be I've sung what I was given, some was bad and some was good And I never will know from where it came And if I had it all to do again I am not sure I would Play the poet game
10.
Magnolia in the mild breeze, roadway stretching south My thoughts scatter like wild geese, and the words fall from my mouth I'm missing where I've been, and yearning for where I'm bound Spin the wheel again, one more time around I thought of the islands, a canoe in the morning mist Thought of waking up smiling, thought of leaving all of this Burning through the scenery wore my brakes right down Gotta listen to the machinery, to make it one more time around One more time around There's joy in the daylight, courage in every start Landscapes to fill my sight and music to fill my heart And when the band kicks harder, troubles come unwound Swing your partner, one more time around One more time around Lucky to have the friends I've known, these songs to sing and this earth to ride Got this sweet life on loan, couldn't keep it if I tried Just a day's worth of air, feet worth of ground Somebody's lettin' it ride somewhere, one more time around One more time around, One more time around

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Scott Cook's fourth album, containing nine original songs and a cover of Greg Brown's "The Poet Game". The physical CD includes a 36-page booklet with some of Cook's thoughts and the words and chords to the songs.

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released July 28, 2013

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Scott Cook Edmonton, Alberta

Canada's prairie balladeer Scott Cook has managed to distil the stories collected over years of near-incessant touring across Canada, the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia into straight-talking, keenly observant verse. All the hard miles notwithstanding, he still believes that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world. ... more

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