Nanci Griffith: "St. Olaf's Gate"

drinking black market vodka
in the back of a scotsman's saloon
then it's red meat and whiskey
like a coyote drunk on the moon
outside in Oslo the buskers all play the same tune
it's Waltzing Matilda while the bagpipes play Au Clair de Lune
--tom russell

Kate Wolf: "Two-Way Waltz"

for two can
sometimes make one
that's stronger
than either alone
so dancers join hands
for the two-way waltz
but take the steps
on your own

Kate Wolf from 1980
with Nina Gerber and Rick Byars

Thomas Leeb: "Desert Pirate"

Dark Star Into An Eventual El Paso

Grateful Dead

Veneta, Oregon
8/27/72

Miles Davis/John Coltrane: "So What"

New York City
April 2, 1959

Portrait Of Tracy

Jaco Pastorius

Offenbach, Germany
1978

Take The "A" Train

Charles Mingus--double bass
Eric Dolphy--bass clarinet
Dannie Richmond--drums
Clifford Jordan--tenor saxophone
Jackie Byard--piano
Johnny Coles--trumpet

Oslo, Norway 1964

i ain't much to look at
ain't nothing to see
i've got a train waiting for me
i'm waiting for the A train

Wes Montgomery: "Round Midnight"

it begins to tell
'round midnight
i do pretty well
till after sundown
suppertime i'm feeling sad
but it really gets bad
'round midnight
--thelonious monk

Tomorrow Is A Long Time

Bob Dylan from 1970
New Morning out-take

if today was not an endless highway
if tonight was not a crooked trail
if tomorrow wasn't such a long time
then lonesome would mean nothing to me at all

Gordon Lightfoot/Johnny Cash: "For Lovin' Me"

8/14/69

and then someday
when your poor heart is on the mend
i just might pass this way again

Reno Nevada

Richard and Mimi Fariña
1965

Merry Christmas From The Family

Robert Earl Keen

hallejujah, everybody say "cheese"
merry christmas from the family
---------------------------------------------
the known universe
zombie apocalypse

Harry Partch: "Music Studio"

I have thrown the petty respectable life with all is comforts behind me after the effort to broaden and beautify it has destituted me and drained my stamina. All right--let me throw it behind without guile, without hoping either for a return to it or for a constant absence. After all, it did not request my efforts. The normal live body hopes for the respect and love of others, and enough of the world to bestow largesse. He hopes and he abandons hope by turn. In the first there is fire to live, but in the second there is greater peace.
--Harry Partch "

Keith Richards: "Hickory Wind"

Gram Parsons Tribute Concert

it's a hard way to find out that trouble is real
in a far away city with a far away feel
but it makes me feel better each time it begins
calling me home, hickory wind

Tom Paxton: "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues"

well i may be crazy but i think not
i swear to god that i smell pot
but who'd have pot in Vietnam?
he said whaddaya think you've been sittin' on?
these funny little plants
thousands of them
good god almighty
pastures of plenty

Joan Baez: "Steal Across The Border"

kneeling in the moonlight
gazing on the shore
the girl with the blue bouquet
what if you got it
what you're praying for?
careful what you pray
-------------------------------------
golden-winged warbler
white-winged dove

Robin Williamson: "The Parting Glass"

and all i've done for want of wit

to memory now i'll not recall

so fill for me the parting glass

good night and joy be with you all

Tom Russell: "Isaac Lewis"

sail on
sail on and on and on...

Nina Simone: "Who Knows Where The Time Goes"

across the morning sky
all the birds are leaving
how can they know
it's time for them to go?
before the winter fire
i will still be dreaming
i have no thought of time
for who knows where the time goes?
who knows where the time goes?

Eliza Gilkyson: "The Party's Over"

the party’s over
we had us a time
everybody got loaded
everybody looked fine
we emptied the coffers
of water and wine
the party’s over
we had a good time
we danced on the tables
midnight til dawn
til all the time was up
and the good stuff gone

Dougie MacLean: "Caledonia"

i don't know if you can see
the changes that have come over me
in these last few days i've been afraid
that i might drift away
so i've been telling old stories, singing songs
that make me think about where i came from
and that's the reason why i seem
so far away today
but let me tell you that i love you
that i think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me
and now i'm going home
if i should become a stranger
you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything i've ever had

Leaving Camp

"Leaving Camp" by Randy Rieman
2009 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Elko, Nevada

John Lennon: "Watching The Wheels"

i'm just sitting here

watching the wheels

go round and round

i really love

to watch them roll

no longer riding

on the merry-go-round

i just had to let it go

Done With Bonaparte

we've played in Hell
since Moscow burned
these cossacks tear us
piece by piece
our dead are strewn
a hundred leagues
though death would be
a sweet release
and our Grande Armee
is dressed in rags
a frozen starving
beggar band
like rats we steal
each other's scraps
fall to fighting
hand to hand
save my soul from evil
and heal this soldier's heart
i'll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
i'm done with Bonaparte

what dreams he made for us to dream
Spanish skies, Egyptian sands
the world was ours, we marched upon
our little Corporal's command
i lost an eye at Austerlitz
the sabre slash yet gives me pain
my one true love awaits me still
the flower of the Aquitaine
save my soul from evil
and heal this soldier's heart
i'll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
i'm done with Bonaparte

i pray for her who prays for me
a safe return to my belle France
we prayed these wars would end all wars
in war we know is no romance
i pray our child will never see
a little Corporal again
point toward a foreign shore
and captivate the hearts of men
save my soul from evil
and heal this soldier's heart
i'll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
i'm done with Bonaparte

Liam Clancy (1935--2009)

i fly a starship across the Universe divide
and when i reach the other side
i'll find a place to rest my spirit if i can
perhaps i may become a highwayman again
or i may simply be a single drop of rain
but i will remain and i'll be back again
and again and again and again and again

Liam Clancy
(9/2/1935--12/4/2009)
requiescat in pace

Roseanne Cash: "Girl From The North Country"

scandinavian tv
11/12/09

if you're traveling in the north country fair
where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
remember me to one who lives there
she once was a true love of mine

John Gorka: "The Gypsy Life"

with Kathy Mattea
and Mark O'Connor

you might like the gypsy life
you judge your progress
by the phases of the moon
get your compass
and your sharpest knife
'cause people love you
when they know
you're leaving soon

Away Out On The Mountain

Jimmie Rodgers
1927

i'll pack my grip for a farewell trip
kiss Susie Jane goodbye at the fountain
i'm going, says i, to the land of the sky
away out on the mountain

Bob Marley: "Concrete Jungle"

no sun will shine in my day today
the high yellow moon
won't come out to play
darkness has covered my light
and has changed my day into night
where is the love to be found?
won't someone tell me?
beause life must be
somewhere to be found
instead of a concrete jungle
where the living is hardest
o man you've got to do your best

Jefferson Airplane: "Today"

with you standing here
i could tell the world
what it means to love
to go on from here
i can't use words
they don't say enough

When The Ship Comes In

Bob Dylan with Joan Baez
Civil Rights March
Washington D.C.
August 30, 1963

oh the time will come up
when the winds will stop
and the breeze will cease
to be breathing
like the stillness in the wind
before a hurricane begins
the hour that the ship comes in

Trouble Every Day

The Mothers of Invention

1966

because there's no way
to delay that trouble
coming every day

La Colombe

why all these bugles crying for squads of young men drilled
to kill and to be killed and waiting by this train
why the orders loud and hoarse
why the engine's groaning cough
as it strains to drag us off into the holocaust
why crowds who sing and cry and shout and fling us flowers
and trade their right for ours to murder and to die
the dove has torn her wings so no more songs of love
we are not here to sing, we're here to kill the dove

why has this moment come when childhood has to die
when hope shrinks to a sigh and speech into a drum
why are they pale and still, young boys trained overnight
conscripts forced to fight and dressed in grey to kill
these rain clouds massing tight, this trainload battle bound
this moving burial ground sent thundering toward the night
the dove has torn her wings so no more songs of love
we are not here to sing, we're here to kill the dove

why statues towering brave above the last defeat
old word and lies repeat across the new made grave
why the same still birth that victory always brought
these hours of glory bought by men with mouths of earth
dead ash without a spark where cities glittered bright
for guns probe every light and crush it in the dark
the dove has torn her wings so no more songs of love
we are not here to sing, we're here to kill the dove

and why your face undone with jagged lines of tears
that gave in those first years all peace i ever won
your body in the gloom, the platform fading back
your shadow on the track, a flower on a tomb
and why these days ahead when i must let you cry
and live prepared to die as if our love were dead
the dove has torn her wings so no more songs of love
we are not here to sing, we're here to kill the dove

--jacques brel