1. |
Bittersweet
04:56
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Making my way down through South Louisiana,
watching that sugar cane burn.
Sometimes you've gotta take the bitter with the sweet
when there's a lesson to be learned.
Met a dirt farmer, a down-to-earth philosopher, leaning on his fence.
He said, "this country with all it's wealth and potential seems to be lacking in common sense."
We've got to get up, get up, get up, get up, get up
Get out from under this...
This life is bittersweet.
"We can't keep living like this", she said, "we can't do this anymore.
You working three jobs, me going to school and the landlord at our door."
As the thunder rolled we pulled down the bottle we'd been saving for this day,
And we smashed it into pieces and made that money rain.
We've got to get up, get up, get up, get up, get up
Get out from under this.
It’s all we've ever known, it’s always been a hard road
For everyday heroes who shoulder our share of the load,
It’s all we’ve ever known.
Together, we are strong enough, together we will rise.
Cause there ain't no one gonna come and bail us out.
Our dignity is not for sale, our hearts are much to big to fail
And we'll keep getting up when we get knocked down.
I gave my best years to the company and they gave me my steady pay.
Shrinking my department made the shareholders happy,
so they thanked me with walking papers.
That night I walked through my front door like I'd been doing all these years,
And I sank down into my easy chair as my wife fought back the tears.
We're going to get up, get up, get up, get up, get up
Get out from under this.
It’s all we've ever known, it’s always been a hard road
for everyday heroes who shoulder our share of the load.
This life is bittersweet.
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2. |
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Stateside, this is all I know.
Where the engine of the working class meets the rigors of the road.
I have moved for lack of money, I’ve been moved for lack of love,
To contribute to the greater good, still ain’t good enough.
Out here there are no guardrails, there are only mileposts,
Falling by the wayside with the...
Ghosts of the American Road.
Hang tough, children...here we go again,
Once you’ve been uprooted you’re at the mercy of the wind.
I've been blown away by beauty from this paint-by-numbers life.
But, even the "road less travelled" has got billboards and traffic lights.
Drifting by unnoticed by all the mirrors and the smoke,
Whistling past the graveyard go the...
Ghosts of the American Road.
There's still a long way to go.
I’ve been to New England and down through the South,
The Midwest, the Rust Belt, the old Western towns.
I have looked in every corner, coast to coast ,
...and I keep seeing ghosts.
At a rest area on Route 66,
I saw a kid in the back of an old Pontiac.
With his whole life before him and a couple million miles to go,
He smiled and waved, then he faded to grey.
Now, I’m not focused on illusions, I am not lost in the past,
I’m just driving across America on a half a tank of gas.
The things that come to haunt us are the things we've come to know.
Kindred spirits, restless souls.
A disembodied voice on the phone.
If seeing is believing, we are...
Ghosts of the American Road
There's still a long way to go.
Someday I’ll find my way home.
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3. |
There You Go
04:48
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There is always something better waiting just up around the bend.
It might take all day for us to get there,
but there you are...
and there you go again,
bargaining with the wind
and going around the bend.
It's all what you believe, babe,
It's the wind, it's the road, it's the ride.
And, in that sacred in-between place,
We're gonna leave all your worries behind.
There is always something better waiting just up around the bend
There is always something better...there you go again.
Take the Great Ascension Freeway
That's a fine way to see your life...
Rolling by.
Tune out that cynical DJ,
cut the marionette strings.
Love will set you free, babe
Love will give us wings.
Everybody wants some love,
Everybody wants some love
Everybody wants some love
Everybody wants some love to pass along
It just goes on and on, so on we go further up the road.
There is always something better waiting just up around the bend
It might take all day just to get there,
but there you are...
There you go again.
There is always something better.
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4. |
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To catch a flight of fancy beneath a consequential sky
And blend into the landscape of the heartland countryside
Some old couple's on their front porch sipping lemonade
She rolls down the window to return a friendly wave
And we keep rolling on...
Tomorrow we'll be drifting through the Appalachian mist
By nightfall we'll be having supper with my cousins and their kids
Henry knows these mountains, says “if you come here seeking peace...
Don't hold back the river, let it flow, just let it be...”
And it keeps rolling on...
They say “there's no place like home.”
They say that everywhere I go.
We followed that Old Post Road up the rocky coast of Maine,
Captain Mac's gonna take his lobster boat out into Frenchman's Bay.
We'll be eating good tonight, at that house tucked in the woods.
She tells me, “Maybe we could stay here.”
I tell her, “Baby, I wish we could.”
And, we keep rolling on...
With the sunlight spraying diamonds, we ferry across Champlain,
By the time we got to Spencerport
Tears were streaming down her face.
She ran into her mother's arms, just like a little kid
Sometimes we go out of our way for a moment just like this.
They say “there's no place like home”.
They say this everywhere we go.
In a dream state she retraces all the places left behind.
She'd asked if I would wake her when we cross the Texas line.
So, I gently pressed her hand, she began to stir
I said, “We're almost home.”
She said, “I always thought we were.”
To catch a flight of fancy beneath a consequential sky
and blend into the landscape of the heartland countryside
Some old couple's on the front porch sipping lemonade
Waving at young lovers as the years just roll away.
They roll away.
And we keep rolling on....rolling home.
There's no place like home.
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Kevin Higgins Fairport, New York
On the outside I'm a melody tinker, a wistful poet, a framer of moments, a quixotic nomad, a sucker for love, a plunderer
for justice, a friend to those who’ll listen-an impudent ghost to those that won’t.
On the inside I’m a recovering cynic, a light house keeper under siege, a champion of lost causes, and by birthright-my own worst critic. Still, always happiest occupying creative space.
... more
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