Joni Mitchell: "Amelia"

I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails
Across the bleak terrain
Like a hexagram of the heavens
Like the strings of this guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons
If it gets through to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture postcard charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But until you get there yourself
You never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Others just come to harm
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me
To kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea
Like me, she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that it is the truth
I spent my whole life
In clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on strange pillows
Of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms

Darrell Scott/Paul Brady: "Shattered Cross"

Neil Young: "Four Strong Winds"

with Willie Nelson

Lucinda Williams: "I Envy The Wind"

El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, Ca.
9/6/07

Jerry Jeff Walker: "Mr. Bojangles"

1991

Liam Clancy: "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce Hi"

"But For Ireland I'd Not Tell Her Name"

Dave Alvin: "Blue Wing"

with Tom Russell's "Rose of the San Joaquin" as an added bonus

Amos Lee: "Black River"

Jackson Browne: "Lives In The Balance"

with David Lindley, Graham Nash and David Crosby

Richard Thompson: "Dad's Gonna Kill Me"

"Dad" is current military slang for "Baghdad" among soldiers in Iraq.

"Dad's in a bad mood. Dad's got the blues.
It's someone else's mess that I didn't choose.
At least we're winning on the Fox Evening News.
Nobody loves me here."
--Richard Thompson (from "Dad's Gonna Kill Me ")

David Rovics: "Halliburton Boardroom Massacre"

Anne Byrne: "The Croppy Boy"

Bruce Springsteen: "My Hometown"

Rockefeller Center Plaza, New York City
9/28/07