THE RING

You thank me all the time

But now it’s my turn

Cause truly a word of gratitude so due

Can’t go unheard

And it made me feel better

To have you there in my corner

My eyes cast so low

My face could not have been

Drawn longer

I know you’ve been impressed

You’ve seen me at my best

But oh, how it hurts

When I can’t hide my worst

Well thank-you for carrying on

For playing with me and this song

It made me feel better

We sat it out like some passing bad weather

My mind was like kid’s boxing gloves

The kind blown up with air

That are put away after play

And get limp just lying there

But you knew they’d fill up again

And you gave me your shoulder

And I got up in the ring

Because I had you there

In my corner

And I got up in the ring

Because I had you there

In my corner

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I AM AGLOW

I am aglow with thoughts of you

Are the stories that you told me true?

It doesn’t matter if they are

They are to me

I am aglow

Some might say these thoughts are wrong

That you might see yourself in this song

I hope that you don’t mind if you do

I am aglow with thoughts of you

Does it matter that what I remember might be

Just my own imagination painting scenes more pretty

Is it obvious? Does it show?

With thoughts of you I am aglow

Some might say I’m thinking in sin

So I’ll just sit back and take you in

You’re a map of a place; maybe someday I’ll go

With thoughts of you I am aglow

Does it matter that what I remember is not true

Does it matter that all I can think of is you

Does it matter that what I remember might be

Just my own imagination painting scenes more pretty

Is it obvious? Does it show?

With thoughts of you I am aglow.

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OLEANDER

Oleander, Oleander

Will you bloom again this spring?

I adored you

Then I ignored you

And now to me you’re everything

And those white blossoms that you gave freely

Are now just twinkles in your eye

Oh behold her

Oleander grows on the inside

She will forgive me

For I bring water

A sunny window to sit by

Oleander, I understand her

She’s just waiting for the time

To say it’s all right

Another season has brought us another chance

We’re together in this hot weather to dance

Oleander, I think you’re better

I think you made it through another winter.

Nothing has ended

It’s all been mended

It’s the way that it should be

You’re coming back

It was so lonely here just me

This time no promises of what’s to come

We’ll just live it for the day

Oleander I see you stand there and I know you’ll be ok

Oleander I think you’re better

I think you made it through another winter

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I’M A MOUNTAIN

Well now how did they get that lady on TV

Laughing so naturally

For a Wal-Mart ad

Is it not as bad as I thought?

There’s a woman sending poisonous mail

And they caught her now she’s sitting in jail

While the weather station forecasts hail

From the tropics

Oh I spent the day in a shopping mall

Through the biggest storm of the century

I’m a mountain

I’m a mountain like you said to be

The sports man and his double chin

Don’t listen to me in this state I’m in

Saying things about people that I don’t know

Well it’s just that way when you get hurt

And the things you need you’re made to work

You must decide if you will die or grow

Oh I spent the day in a shopping mall

Through the biggest storm of the century

I’m a mountain

Like you said to be

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GOIN’ OUT

When the days close on the memories that you’ve acquired

And your body cannot hold your soul inspired

You are here and not alone

Everybody has come home

There’s a bed made up upstairs

If you get tired

All the heaviness around you will get light

And your worry lifted up into the night

Left with nothing but pure love

Left with all you are made of

Can I stay around awhile

Is that all right?

Oh lives don’t end

Goin’ out to be brought back again

Our lives don’t end

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WILL HE BE WAITING FOR ME (lyrics by Dolly Parton)

I can still see that lonesome road stretched out before me

The road that led me out of his life

I can still feel the tears he cried on my shoulder

The day that I told him goodbye

I never should’ve left him

Never should’ve gone

Oh what a crazy fool I’ve been

Will he be waiting for me?

He will be, won’t he?

And will he take me back again?

He will be waiting for me

He will be won’t he?

Or will I find his love for me has faded and has died

He will be waiting for me

He will be won’t he?

Or will I find that this time

I’ll be the one to cry?

Shadows from the trees

Shade the path that I am walking

As I make my way up that winding road again

The smell of Mountain Laurel fills the air with sweet perfume

My heart beats faster as I reach my journey’s end

I wonder if he missed me

Wonder if he wants me

O wonder does he love me still

Will he be waiting for me?

He will be won’t he?

Oh how I hope he will

He will be waiting for me

He will be won’t he?

Or will I find his love for me has faded and had died

He will be waiting for me

He will be won’t he?

Or will I find that this time

I’ll be the one to cry?

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ESCARPMENT BLUES

If they blow a hole in my backyard

Everyone is gonna run away

The creeks won’t flow to the Great Lake below

Will the water in the wells still be ok?

We’ll need to build some new apartments

And I know we’re gonna have to fix the roads

But if we blow a hole in the escarpment

The wild ones won’t have anywhere to go

If they blow a hole in the backbone

The one that runs cross the muscles of the land

We might get a load of stone for the road

But I don’t know how much longer we can stand

We’ll keep driving on the Blind Line

If we don’t know where we want to go

Even knowledge that’s sound can get watered down

Truth can get sucked out the car window

We’re two-thirds water

What do we really need?

But sun, showers, soil and seed

We’re two-thirds water

The aquifers provide

Deep down in the rock

There’s a pearl inside

If they blow a hole in the backbone

The one that runs across the muscles of the land

We might get a load of stone for the road

But I don’t know how much longer we can stand.

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THE PHOENIX

It was a late-in-the-summer night

Nearing the end of a bumpy ride

Through the backstage parking lots of the country

We went past the cars at the fray

The cops on bikes

The security gate

Into the trees where the dark comes easy

See the light of the Venus shining

High over the mid-western plains

Is it telling you you gotta go?

That your heart’s been burning way to slow

I guess I’m the last to know again

But I will rise up, I will

Who was the Phoenix anyway?

Just some bird that flew away

And flies still

It was a late-in-the-summer day

The breeze had blown the clouds away

The fluttering ones were covering the fields

I’ve been walking by myself

I’ve been thinking about you again

Maybe one day I’ll tell you how I feel

See the light of the satellite tower

The only thing that’s blocking our view

Is it telling you what’s on my mind

That I think about you all the time

That I wish for it even thought I know not to.

I will rise up, I will

Who was that Phoenix anyway?

Just some bird that flew away

And flies still

Flies still

You know I will

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SALAMANDRE (lyrics by Kate Fenner)

Salamandre, Salamandre

Il faut m'aider comprendre

Touts les mysteres de la foret,

la carte secrete, l'arbre d'oree

Patientement, je vous attends,

Salamandre.

Salamandre, Salamandre,

Tout les deux, ensemble.

Ma solitude et mon ennui

ont disparu pendant la nuit.

Ca fait si longue ma vit soit lente,

Salamandre.

C'est vrai, un jour je serais roi.

Toute la France attend a moi.

Toutes mes paroles deviendront loi.

Mais maintenant, mon seul ami,

Venez-vite, je vous en prie,

Ma Salamandre.

Salamandre, Salamandre,

la nuit s'approche, je pense.

La lune sera notre chandelle--

Bienvenue, ma vie nouvelle.

Nos aventures nous attends,

Ma Salamandre

Roughly in English:

Salamander, you have to help me understand all the mysteries of the forest,

the secret map, the golden tree. I'm waiting for you patiently.

Salamander, the two of us together. My solitude and boredom disappeared overnight--I've led a lonely (slow) life for so long.

It's true, one day I'll be King. All of France awaits me. Every word I say will be made law. But for now, my only friend, please come quickly, I beg you.

Salamander, the night is approaching, I think. The moon will be our candle. Welcome to my new life--our adventures await us--my Salamander.

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LUTHER’S GOT THE BLUES (lyrics by Luther Wright)

I hate the city it brings me down

I’m a country boy I’m new to town

But I never really thought it was gonna be like that

Spent all my money, I’m busted flat

So I’m eating my dinners at the Sally Ann

Met a fellow named Charlie there, a fellow named Stan

And they laugh at my clothes and the way that I talk

Eight a.m. comes and I hit the streets and walk

And the bus stops, the doughnut shops

It’s raining out today like it’s never gonna stop

And I got the blues

I got nothing left to lose

There’s a hole in my shoe and my foot’s getting wet

And Nick at the arcade made me a bet

That by Saturday noon when my money’s all gone

I’ll be heading out of town like another sad, hard luck song

And all the faces on the streets got a look of fear

I can’t go home but I hate it here

Oh why’d I ever go and leave the farm anyway?

Thought the city my help me take my blues away

But the cars go by

Tonight I’ll stay dry

Sleeping underneath an awning and trying not to cry

I got the blues

I got nothing left to lose

My pappy used to have a little problem drinking scotch

He did a lot of stupid things

We used to hate to watch

But he’s cleaned up his act as a matter of fact

Although there’s something there we lost

We’re never going back

And I got the blues

I got nothing left to lose

And the concrete beneath my feet

Has got inside my soul and it’s sucking out the heat.

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HOW DEEP IN THE VALLEY

How deep in the valley must you go

To find what your footsteps already know

The way on is the way out

There are signs to follow

There is deep in the valley

And I’m bound to go

How deep in the valley must you stay

To know why your footsteps led you that way

The way on may be truly to stand in one place

And let the deep of the valley

Fill you will grace

And treat yourself lightly

Treat yourself kind

You’ve got nothing to worry on

You will be fine

You will leave this place laughing

And somebody will cry

There is deep in the valley

Wonder not why

Wonder not why go

Wonder not to stay

If it takes me and I follow

Or if I lead the way

It can come when it wants to

But it might have to wait

There is deep in the valley

I don’t hesitate

I don’t take it too lightly

But it don’t weigh down too low

There is high on the cliff top

And there are deep creeks below

There’s a green shade you can’t miss

Where the spring water flows

There is deep in the valley

And I’m bound to go

How deep in the valley must you go

To find what your footsteps already know

The way on is the way out

There are signs to follow

There is deep in the valley

And I’m bound to go.