NO REMEDY

1. ALMOST MINE
2. GIVE MYSELF TO LOVE
3. SAFE HEART
4. HER NAME WAS MARY
5. OUTFIELD
6. YOUR DAD
7. NO REMEDY
8. MY ROOM
9. SCHOOL TEACHER
10. HOME TO ME
11. WINTER ROSE

Lyrics are in order of track listing. Scroll down to see them all

ALMOST MINE

When I think about you here’s what I think about
How you never walked in so you never walked out
And I think about you, playing such a cool part
What a burden to lay on your beautiful heart

I think about me how I always hung around
And I like to shut up just before I shut down
I think about things how they never worked out
And I always had hope and you always had doubt

You were gold in the river
Ripe on the vine
Like stars in the desert
You were always almost mine

I think of those days, not so long ago when
Nearly all of my clothes smelled like your skin
I think about how we cared a little too much
You were a little too kind with a delicate touch

I think about me how I’ll never be smart
And I’ll always hold on, and I’ll always fall hard
I think about fear, and the time that we stood
At the top of a high high wire and my balance was good

You were gold in the river
Ripe on the vine
Like stars in the desert
You were always almost mine

You were always just like gold in the river
Ripe on the vine
Close like stars in the desert
You were always almost mine

GIVE MYSELF TO LOVE

I’ve never been a hero and I doubt I’m gonna be heroic soon
I’m more like a coyote, running wild, running out of room
Or some days I’m a cyclone, spinning round and wrecking all I see
But you’ll be my salvation, the place I wanna spend eternity

And I just want to give myself to love
Love’ll keep my heart from giving up
I just want to give myself to love
And fade away

I read it in the paper or I saw it in a hipster magazine
We’re on the road to ruin now, and everything is worse than it might seem
But I love that stretch of highway, black so it’s reflecting all the stars
We’ll drive on in the darkness, no headlights, no oncoming cars

And I just want to give myself to love
Love’ll keep my heart from giving up
I just want to give myself to love
And fade away

I’ve never been a hero and I doubt I’m gonna be heroic now
We’d all save the world the only problem is that none of us knows how
So darlin I surrender, we can burn up just like napalm in the wind
You’ll be my salvation forever and forever more amen

SAFE HEART

The secret to a safe heart is knowing when to walk away
if you wanna have a safe heart, better learn what not to say
don’t talk about your dreams,   let your feelings go unheard
if you wanna have a safe heart,   don’t say a word

The secret to a safe heart, is giving in to every doubt
Never kiss a stranger when the lights have all gone out
never hold a hand, never find a song to sing
If you wanna have a safe heart don’t do a thing

HER NAME WAS MARY

Her name was Mary   Her name was marching through the snow
Her name was Mary   Wrapped up in skins of buffalo
You may have seen her  A painted plate, an Indian doll
Her name was Mary  I hear her call

She was a mother   She was a feather on the wind
She was a mother   Raised up a girl part-Indian
There by the river, she taught her daughter ancient songs
Her name was Mary   her will was strong

Ah ah ah     Ah ah ah   Ah ah ah   Ah ah ah

And there were others all made to live a paler life
So many others trade tomahawk for butter knife
In broken whispers, their stories fell on deafened ears
Her name was Mary, she disappears

Melodies that haunt me still Whistling like the whippoorwill
Howling like a wolf inside my heart

Her name was Mary, her blood is running thru my veins
Her name was Mary, and so some part of her remains
I have seen her, a picture hanging on the wall
Her name was Mary, I hear her call

Ah ah ah     Ah ah ah   Ah ah ah   Ah ah ah

OUTFIELD

We were playing kickball, it must have been 1982
We were ten years old, the sky was bright and blue
And I was terrified, cause I couldn’t catch or throw or kick
I was trembling, close to crying, and you must have noticed it cause you said

“Go on and pitch, you’re the best one we’ve got”
And I blinked and was confused but then you winked and I caught on
You were being a good friend,  trying to save me from   The terror of the outfield

And I left that summer, moved a thousand miles away
But we stayed close thru letters, it’s like we hardly missed a day
And all through high school, you remained my closest friend
We put our lives inside those envelopes, the paper and the pen

When did it happen, how’d we finally drift apart
Your letters, they stopped coming, but you were stamped upon my heart
And I’d remember, how you rescued me, and gave me shelter from the outfield

Years turn into decades, it happens much too fast
Like a red rubber kickball flying past

And when that call came, I was deep inside December
It was gray and it was raining, this is all I remember
There was something about a rope, a garage and how they found you
Oh but I am fairly certain holy light was all around you

My oldest friend how’d things ever get so bad?
Life was too much for your pure heart, and I’m trying to understand
But oh I regret it, how in the end I failed, Couldn’t save you from the outfield

It’s almost summer, and I’m thinking now of you
The lilacs all are blooming and the sky is back to blue
And I write your mother, and it feels good again
Getting back to stamps and envelopes, the paper and the pen

And I still think of kickball, how you saved my ass that day
If I could get a message to you, I’d demand another play
Or does the rulebook say we all must face alone   The terror of the outfield

YOUR DAD

When you were kid you drank it all in
The smell of his shirt the scratch of his chin, uh huh
He could shoot hoops, hit a ball too.
He could do everything better than you, uh huh

And he was your dad, larger than life
He was the man, your mom was his wife
He was your dad, just a little bit wild
You were scared when he yelled,
but you loved when he smiled

He taught you to catch, taught you to throw
Really he taught you ‘bout all you know, uh huh
Skipping a stone, tying a shoe,
He could do everything better than you, uh huh

He was your dad, you couldn’t change that
He loved your mom.  And he hated the cat
But he was your dad, the only one you got
Sometimes he was happy, sometimes he was not

And sometimes his sunshine would fade, then you’d get a rainy day
Gray skies that would not go away,  you’d see him on that rainy old day,
Listening to the radio

Maybe he’d drink, light up a smoke
Hit a foul mood, Tell a bad joke, uh huh
He’d take the car, stay gone all night
then he and your mom would get in a fight, uh huh

He was your dad, a regular guy,
he could make u laugh, he could make you cry cry cry
He was your dad, he was kinda old
He had gentle eyes, he had a heart of gold

He was your dad, larger than life
he was the man, your mom was his wife
he was your dad, he was a good one too
he probably had dreams you never knew

Listening to the radio,
Singing “Like a Rolling Stone,”
Thinking he was all alone

NO REMEDY

The glitter and the glue
on that homemade valentine
Spelled out please be mine
but that boy said no

Maybe he was mean
or just a little cruel
We were just in middle school
but my heart broke

I cried all thru history,
like it was some great tragedy
The teacher smiled at me, and said

Your love,  is gonna light on fire
Your heart is gonna burn burn burn
Your dreams are gonna take you higher
Your tears are how you learn learn learn

looking at you now
such a precious little girl
with a heart bare to the world
just like I had

There’s so much that you’ll do
so many things to learn
But some days are gonna hurt
and I can’t help that

No, there’s no remedy
there doesn’t need to be
You just wait and see

Your love,  is gonna light on fire
Your heart is gonna burn burn burn
Your dreams are gonna take you higher
Your tears are how you learn learn learn

MY ROOM

I’ve been spending time in my room
Sailing thru the sky
Such a crazy feeling
Dreaming I can fly

Just hanging out in my room
Laying on the floor
Sunlight through the window
Neighbor right next door

Can he see me through the glass
That’s a question I am never going to ask him

Ooooh

I go walking on the sidewalk
That runs along my street
Dodging all the trash cans
Mud upon my feet

Just walking on the sidewalk
Way to pass the time
Till I can return to
The room I know is mine

Don’t you wish that you were me
Shut the door and turn the key I’m flying

Ooooh

SCHOOL TEACHER

Crack an egg at the crack of dawn
She drinks a steaming cup of coffee then she’s gone
In twenty years of teaching school
Missus Logan’s hardly missed a day of work
Cause she knows all those kids depend on her

Listen up  Settle down
Most of these kids are from the poorer side of town
That’s okay,  that’s why she’s here
Cause when that spark lights up their eyes, well that’s enough
and they love her all the more because she’s tough

School teacher, Part warrior, part preacher
Sha na na na, in her quiet way she carries on daily
School teacher

Ham and cheese once again
Every lunch hour a stack of papers and a red pen
Still she gives a shout of joy
When she reads a fresh idea one kid had
Yeah even though the grammar’s pretty bad

School teacher, Part warrior, part preacher
Sha na na na, in her quiet way she carries on daily

And she’s doing all she can to make things better
She’s a superstar in loafers and a sweater

Close your books, shut the door
She takes a wet rag to the chalk dust on the chalkboard
Another day of shaping minds
Trying to guide them through the nouns and thru the verbs
They’ll forget more than half of what they learned
But they’ll remember how she taught them to work hard
And they’ll realize that helped to make them strong
They’ll remember how she cared with all her heart
And they’ll think about her years after she’s gone

HOME TO ME

I pray for the taxi, I pray for the train
I pray for the bus and I pray for the plane
I pray for the air and the wind and the rain
To bring you home to me

I pray with the sun as it rises each day
Pray with the sparrow, the wren and the jay
The leaves on the trees as they tremble and sway
To bring you home to me

My heart’s a drum that keeps beating
My soul still yearns
Love love return

I pray over coffee, I pour in the cream
Drown out the nightmares with shots of caffeine
And every breath now it feels like a scream
Come home to me

My heart’s a drum that keeps beating
The wide world burns
Love love return

I pray for the taxi, pray for the train
Pray for the bus and I pray for the plane
Pray for the air and the wind and the rain
To bring you home to me

WINTER ROSE

Take a winter rose
Pull it from the ground
Open up your heart and plant it

Will we find a way
To let the sorrow go
Or even try to understand it

Fly me high above the rain
Father I grow tired, I grow tired
Hide me far away from pain
Father I grow tired, I grow tired

Even when we talk
How we feel alone
Waves upon the shore, so fleeting

Still a winter rose
Is waiting to be found
Waiting to be found
Waiting to be found
Waiting to be found
Waiting to be found
Waiting