Simple Life
Angels
Heart Of Indochine
Beautiful
Back When Ted Loved Sylvia
Mountain Of Sorrow
Old Hanoi | Before
I Love This Town
Rise To The Occasion
Love Conquers All
Last Train Home
Big Blue Ball Of War
Our Very Own |
| » Simple Life « |
(Nanci Griffith / Elizabeth Cook)
(chorus) I want a simple life
Like my mother
One true love for my older years
I don't want your wars
To take my children
I want a simple life…while I'm here
The sun and moon walk hand in hand together
Trading places shining on the truth
The moon moves the bottoms of the oceans
So, the sun can bring a farmer's hands to you
(chorus)
We all seek comfort in the light of day
And our tears can wash off in the rain
Everything we need is all around us
In simple time and simple ways
Mother nature talks
Whispering her thoughts
So the paths we choose to cross
Walk one more day
(chorus) |
| » Angels « |
(Tom Kimmel / Jennifer Kimball)
The touch of your hand will let me know
You'll take me in then let me go
If not for love why would we meet?
How is it turned two into one so easily?
We're lifted up by Angels
You understand, and you never say
How every plan could fade away
If not for love where would you be?
Ashes to dust, water to rust, away from me
(chorus) We're lifted up by Angels
Higher than the world
Strong enough to leave it
Bound to learn the secret
Angels never hurt
Close enough to heaven
Above the rain
Darkness cannot reach us
Let the Angels teach us
Only love remains
We're lifted up by Angels
Given wings to fly
Leave the night behind us
Trust the light to find us
Even as we rise
We're lifted up by Angels
(chorus) |
| » Heart Of Indochine « |
(Nanci Griffith)
I am on a Riverboat on the Saigon River
Where the music's too loud
While I try to have my dinner
Stories I've been told of 1954
When the bodies washed ashore from that distant war
My friend Michael came in '68
The bodies still floating
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all those souls of the American war
(chorus) Oh, deliver me to the river of souls
In the heart of Indochine
Deliver me to a River at Peace
In this twenty-first century
All those souls that floated free
In these dark war's waters
All the souls now swim together
The French the Viet Minh
Those American boys
The souls of the Saigon River
At peace in Indochine
I am in a caffe' in Ho Chi Minh City
My friend Bobby Muller is sitting with me
This traffic is maddening
In his wheelchair he's napping
I wonder at times, does he walk in his dreams?
Later I walked all the way from Tu Do Street
To the banks of the river
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all of the souls, of a River in Peace
(chorus)
Hoa binh…Hoa Binh, ("peace" in Vietnamese)
Peace in the Heart of Indochine |
| » Beautiful « |
(Nanci Griffith)
Here's a photograph of you in Woody Hermann's band
It was 1952, you were such a handsome man
One of you at a memorial with all of Hoagy's clan
And then you and my mother
Walking hand in hand
(chorus) And she was beautiful
And you played the piano
You were beautiful upon the keys
The world was beautiful
When the two of you were dancing
Beautiful, to me
You took a photograph of us, your ladies liberty
My hair was in the breeze and I played Carnegie
Grandmother read the sonnet of Emma Lazarus
She's only halfway in this picture
You took of all of us
(chorus)
You were a father to this lonely child
Though we are not related
You taught me how to write these notes upon a page
You were a soldier for your country in two of our wars
You played piano all your life
And you are beautiful
(chorus) |
| » Back When Ted Loved Sylvia « |
(Le Ann Etheridge)
They both wrote poetry
In fact, that was how they met
He was a Yorkshire man in Cambridge
She was from Massachusetts
They spoke and they fell in love
They kissed and picked daffodils
She came across the ocean
Just to bid her heart goodbye
The hawk next to his goddess
They were glorious to see
Back when Ted loved Sylvia
Close friends disapproved
Said they ought to wait
They did not care with all that said
And married nonetheless
They traveled and they taught
A life of academia
Typewriters and cocktails
Angry verses and sad pleas
Dutiful wife and mother
The poet behind her man
Back when Ted loved Sylvia
The tempests that were howling
And tearing them apart
Were forces that had been in place
To wreck them from the start
So she stayed home with the kids
Collecting poems in a jar
He had his lectures and soon a mistress
And left her all alone
Why did she end it all?
Was he just to blame?
There's only two that know for sure
And neither one remain
I don't need an answer
I prefer to read between the lines
Back when Ted loved Sylvia
Back when Ted loved Sylvia |
| » Mountain Of Sorrow « |
(Julie Gold)
Easy come, easy go
Anything but easy…though
You were here, now you're gone
That's the only thing I know
And it's just one more sorrow
To throw upon the heap
Mountain of sorrow…steep
What you see, the new me
Changing right before your eyes
Like a leaf on a tree
Letting go before she flies
And it's just one more sorrow
To throw upon the heap
Mountain of sorrow…steep
Mountain of sorrow
How high the top
Must I climb, must I climb
Ever blue
Mountain of sorrow
When I can I stop
And be fine
Knowing I'm over you?
Easy come, easy go
Anything but easy…though
Said goodbye, knowing I
Would have rather said hello
And it's just one more sorrow
To throw upon the heap
Mountain of sorrow…steep
Mountain of sorrow…steep |
| » Old Hanoi « |
(Nanci Griffith)
Where are all the Satchel Boys
Selling books outside the Metripole?
Books to read in English
Books of light and sorrows
Of this foreign land
They are gone
They've flown away
Where are all the cyclos
With their drivers pedaling grace?
Crowded out by motorbike
Confined to lesser space
In old Hanoi
They grew wings
They've flown away
(chorus) In the words of Graham Greene
Like the Quiet American
Searching these sacred streets
For old Hanoi
In all of these sacred things
That I've been blessed in life to see
I believe I'm in someone's dream
In history
Where is the eloquence
Of the ladies on their bicycles?
Dressed in their au dias
In the lotus flowered nights
Of Indochine
They rode to progress
They've flown away
(chorus)
Old Hanoi…searching for Indochine
Old Hanoi…cherchant l' Indochine
In old Hanoi
In old Hanoi |
| » Before « |
(Nanci Griffith / Le Ann Etheridge)
I dreamed of Louisiana
And a night in Lafayette
We had breakfast with Susanna
We were young and wild and left
(chorus) What's different here than in that dream
and in reality
Is we weren't afraid to fail in love
and we all believed in the dream
Before…Before
I dreamed of Manhattan
In a time before this war
It was snowing down on Bleecker Street
It was before you were a star
(chorus)
Now everything is twilight
It's a time too dark to see
It's fear of being what we were
And pondering the dream
Then I dreamed of Texas
And the Gulf Coast shores
I dreamed of who we used to be
And the hope we had before
(chorus) |
| » I Love This Town « |
(Clive Gregson)
I love this town… like an unmade bed
I love this town… of the living dead
I love this town… gonna paint it red
If I can spare a minute
I love this town… where curtains twitch
Where this door scratches… next door's itch
It's a pantomime… at fever pitch
And we can all be in it
People here are large as life
They know the whole world and his wife
From a razor's edge to a kitchen knife
They'll be glad to help you
I love this town… of hidden charms
Where no one means… you any harm
And if you sleep… through false alarms
No one here would blame you
I love this town… on the beaten track
Where nothing slips… between the cracks
Her rent's arrears… his heart attack
Now isn't that a shame, ooh!
Everyone's friendly to your face
And everybody knows their place
As long as you respect their space
You won't have to worry
The town hall clock is calling out
It's rush hour on the roundabout
Now I know without a doubt
It's the place for me…
I love this town… the dirty streets
It's a merry-go-round… with broken seats
Where silk and lace… and satin sheets
Are only dirty washing
I love this town… down on its knees
It's going under… by degrees
Still we can do… just as we please
As long as no one's watching
I love this town… I love this town…
I love this town… I love this town… |
| » Rise To The Occasion « |
(Ron Davies)
I'll never fall in love again
It's such a contradiction
To lose all control and common sense
And even intuition
You came along, with a strange new song
And the sweetest innovation
And you said, "One should never fall in love
But rise to the occasion"
To have loved and lost, I know the cost
I fell and almost drowned
If not for you, I'd have missed this view
From higher ground
Now we can touch the sky above
At the Angel's invitation
And we don't even have to fall in love
Just rise to the occasion
Love should be pure and free
A smiling inspiration
And one should never fall in love
But rise to the occasion |
| » Love Conquers All « |
(Nanci Griffith / Charley Stefl)
She's a brown skin girl from El Paso City
He's a sweet tempered soldier from Fort Bliss
They ran off one July evening
All concerned said this one is anyone's guess
(chorus) Love conquers all
Love conquers all
And to all concerned you'll survive that fall
Cause love conquers all
She's a rest home bride up in New Jersey
It's her first trip down the aisle, and it's his second time around
All concerned said she looked so pretty
Dressed in white though she's wheel chair bound
(chorus)
Whether you're young or old
Near or far
Down the road of life
Your chances are
To all concerned…love conquers all
She's a Muslim girl from Motor City
He's an uptight Irish Catholic boy
They found their love in a class on history
And the bells of Ann Arbor rang with joy
(chorus)
And it's love, love, love… love conquers all
Yes it's love, love, love… love conquers all |
| » Last Train Home « |
(Nanci Griffith)
By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Was the last song on your mind the day you left
You woke up in Nogales
With Tequila with her name across your chest
You've stumbled through the morning
In these border tourists' dusty avenues
Singing Everyday's The Hurting Kind
And everyday you live, you're Born to Lose.
(chorus) You missed the last train home
The whistle blew and now she's gone
West Texas dust beneath your nails
You're hammered down the heartbreak trail
And you've missed the last train home
That whistle blew…she's solid gone
Now, you're wandering El Paso
Searching for your broken heart and truth
She was all you ever had
And the only thing you ever had to lose
With a juke box playing Charlie Rich
You're lining up your shots at half past noon
You threw your ring across the bar
And sang along to Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues
(chorus)
Now don't go to Tulsa where she's bound
You'll end up six feet underground
Your ex-friend, Charlie's there abouts
He never missed the last train out
You missed the last train home
That whistle blew…she's solid gone
You missed the last train home
That whistle blew…she's solid gone |
| » Big Blue Ball Of War « |
(Nanci Griffith)
In 1914 this ball was at war
It went from Belgium on through Ireland
The Congo, then back home
This big blue ball of war spun on its own
Spinning history in lines of blood
When many souls fell off
(chorus) We all ride on (we all ride)
This big blue ball of war
Souls with tickets through the veil
We all ride on
We all ride on (we all ride)
This big blue ball of war
We choose to spin around and ride
This big blue ball of war
Almost a century, the blood has flowed
We've killed our men of peace around this ball
And refused to hear their ghosts
We spend our destinies in deeds of hate
Humanity upon this ball
Is just a bloody fall from grace
(chorus)
A reformation might just save us all
A voice of harmony and open heart
Where the women teach the song
These men of evil deed can be proven wrong
If we join hand to hand with Abraham
So not a soul falls off
(chorus) |
