Casually Moves On- Written by Matthew B. Mayes , Noel Felty

 

She led you to a place with water and seed, 

still you remain just one stride behind. 

It makes no sense your mourning song, 

so she casually moves on. 

And you remain, you remain just one stride behind. 

You remain just one stride behind. 

 

The forest is old for all to behold. 

Life just a dot in the scope of time. 

A minute could be ten thousand years,

it all depends on how you time your days. 

And you remain, you remain just one stride behind. 

You remain just one stride behind.

 

Led you to a place, water and seed

Led you to a place, now you down on your knees.

 

Fade in, fade out or fade away, like the desert radio. 

Stretches of highway with no one on them. 

I am no one on them.

 

Casually moves on.

Casually moves on.

​

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By & By - Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

This life is changing by and by
This world is changing by and by
Plant a seed and then you watch it die
Where will I be a by and by
I’m livin’ on a rock a rock that rolls
And it’s rollin’ right over my poor soul

 

Choose your creed by and by
It’s what you make it by and by
Just an answer to the question why
Will there be a by and by
Everybody keeps their faith afloat
In the same old river just a different boat

 

CHO
There’s a spirit soarin’ so listen to the cannons roaring
Everything that we’re destroying now open your eyes
‘Cause if we share the same mother how do we kill our brother?
Never ever to recover just gone, gone, gone, forever

 

A better time by and by
A better place by and by 

Nothin’ beats a failure but a try
There’s got to be a by and by
There’s gonna be a price to pay 

For livin’ out your stoic ways

 

CHO

 

In the by and by (repeats x 4)

​

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Breckenridge- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

​

I’ve been trying to take my show to Breckenridge Colorado. 

There’s a stone still unturned, under a bridge that slowly burns. 

The water in our well is dry, the conversations turning wry. 

I need to pick you up, or shake you off, and get on with my life...

You burned in my head last night, your body glowing by the candlelight. 

Living to regret the day, I ever let her go 

Maybe it was in poor taste, the way she laid my soul to waste 

Darling was it the thrill of the chase, or are you just that cold?

 

Baby, you don’t give a damn about me, you don’t give a damn about me. 

You don’t give a damn about me I’m just a thorn in your side.

Well I’ve been trying to take my show to Breckenridge Colorado. 

Some things you have to learn and some you never know baby. 

The water in our well is dry, the conversations turning wry 

I’m gonna pick you up, or shake you off, and get on with my life

 

You don’t give a damn about me, you don’t give a damn about me. 

You don’t give a damn about me I’m just a thorn in your side

​

​

Flight of the Lorax- Written By Matthew B. Mayes, Bickerstaff

 

One man walking on a dusty road

One woman tried to follow

They split trails miles ago

You don’t see ‘em round here no more

 

One boy standing next to the major

Four in the black, one in the tan

Wasn’t his best day up on the rifle range

Target graded by the major’s hand

 

Chorus

You got the whole world out there hanging in the balance

While you’re searching for the way you think it ought to be

Ain’t no time for soul searching brother

Won’t you take a deep breath, of the way it is

 

Climbing up a tree that ain’t finished growing

Gotta keep reaching, time is surely wastin’

Never too tall to take a hell of a fall

From all those high places …

 

One man flies down on the eastern coast

One man sips whiskey while his time flies by

Someday when the Lorax shows up at my door

We’re all gonna fly through that hole in the sky

 

Chorus

​

 

On Trial- Written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

I got a friend that turned on me

Just because I follow my dreams

Just because I say what I mean, I’m on trial

Maybe it’s a sign of my sign

Maybe I have lost my mind

Hopefully it will ease in time cause I’m on trial

 

California girl she moved down south

Taste another peach in your mouth

Every now and then we hang out and I’m on trial

Sometimes you’re alone to do what you do

Sometimes you’re alone if you’re untrue

Damn sure alone if you’re a fool, and I’m on trial

 

When the storm comes it will blow you over

To the place where you swear that nobody knows you

 

Chorus

Someday I’m gonna head to the mountains

Way on back where the red bud grows

You might say that’s an illusion, I’ll be there this I know

Every now and then ride into town just to let my guitar play

Hanging on the bank of the French Broad River

with my cane pole in the shade

And when the sun sets low, there’ll be a satisfied soul

Waiting there for me I know

 

So you say I’m not who I think I am

But I am who you think I am

Something ‘bout that I don’t understand

and I’m on trial

I’m on trial for the things I do

I’m on trial for being true

To myself and all my fools yeah we’re on trial

 

Chorus

​

 

Ballad of Lucy Edenfield- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

Lucy was a country girl from down around Biloxi

Packed her life and headed down to New Orleans

Couldn’t work the farm, couldn’t be like her mama

Wither away in a factory

 

Bus was beating down some backwoods highway

Carrying Lucy and all of her dreams

Mama used to take her to church on Sundays

Jesus never taught her not to be naïve

 

It’s hard to see with stars in your eyes

It’s hard to tell the truth from the lies

Harder not to hang your head down and cry

 

Chorus

Lucy don’t ya know, those angels are coming

Picking you up so you can fly, fly, fly

Lucy don’t you know your gonna see those angels

The day you’re born and the day you die

 

Lucy took a turn on the lost side of town

Where dreams die there, never to be found

Too young to die, too old to go home

Another star is crashing on that cold, hard ground

 

It’s hard to see with stars in your eyes

It’s hard to tell the truth from the lies

Harder not to hang your head down and cry

 

Chorus

​

Hopkins County Stew- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

Well Grandpa Taylor had a big black pot 

cooking out back the house

His eyes would glisten and I would listen 

to the stories of Sneaky Mouse

Smoke was a whirlin’ I was stirring ‘til my face was blue

Just saving my soul for that first bowl of that Hopkins County Stew, you bet

 

Last Spring ole Bub decided to go fishing you might say

I’ll catch up to him down the road when my bones give away

With age comes wisdom, with wisdom comes truth

Learned a lot about living give a first place ribbon

To that Hopkins County Stew, you bet

 

Well variety is the spice of strife so the history book will prove

We’re all in the stewpot now, the witch has made the brew

Some food for thought, some food for life

Might change this ball of blue

Like giving the world its first dose of that Hopkins County Stew, you bet

 

I’m living in a stewpot, hell threw in the pepper, now it’s getting hot … 

And I’m living

​

 

 

The Real Thing- Written By Matthew B Mayes

 

I’m sitting on a sidewalk in Boone

I ain’t got nothing better to do

Mr. S sings a song or two

and “That’s Amore”

We rolled and rallied here a time or two

Probably end up downtown before we’re through

You got coke, you got the real thing

 

Chastain, Atlanta, GA

I went to see the Allman Brothers play

I didn’t leave quite the same way

Cause I was smokin’ in a blaze of glory

Well they rolled up a number and they sent it my way

I sure do love to hear the Brothers play

You hear that, you hear the real thing

 

I guess an island drunk is all I am

I been sitting at the bar mixing black and tans

I can’t say much for the shape I’m in

I ain’t drunk, I’m just drinking*

You can ride so high on a planeload of fools

And one day son, you run out of fuel

When you hit ground, son that’s the real thing

 

*lyric by Albert Collins

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​

Narrow Line- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

Sugarloaf Mountain claims a stubborn man

Sweat drips from his brow, scars cover his calloused hands

Told him of my dreams and things I wished to do

He told me his, and what it would take to see them through

His colors are black and white, always tries to do what’s right

Picture of a self-made man that walks that Narrow Line

 

You’re a lot like Charlie, Anderson that is

Working on the farm, raising six kids

Said he was a hippie back in ‘72

I guess from him I might have learned a thing or two

Lets his dogs run at night, wakes up with the morning light

Grows his eats and makes his wine, walks that Narrow Line

 

Settle for unhappiness and slowly start to die

Hiding in the shadows with ghosts in your eyes

Yeah you’re nearly out of time, you got no reason got no rhyme

Never too late to change your fate and walk that Narrow Line

 

Shake a rock shake a rock, shake a roll shake a roll

Never gonna stop trying to satisfy my troubled soul

Someday down the road I’m gonna move up in the hills

Get myself some land where my blood and sweat can spill

Let my dogs run at night, wake up with the morning light

Sing my songs of humble man and walk that Narrow Line

​

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Cindi- Written By Matthew B Mayes

 

Cindi ran around the haystack

I ran round to meet her

She pulled up her petticoat

I whipped out for George

Get along home Cindi, Cindi

Get along home Cindi, Cindi, your mama’s calling you

 

Cindi had a wrist watch

She swallowed it one day

Now she’s taking Epsom salt

To pass that time away

Get along home Cindi, Cindi

Get along home Cindi, Cindi, your mama’s calling you

 

Well the Epsom salt it did not work

Time it did not pass

If you want to know the time of day

Just look up Cindi’s uncle

Now get along home Cindi, Cindi …

Now get along home Cindi, Cindi …

Now get along home Cindi, Cindi …

Get along home Cindi, Cindi your mama’s calling you

​

​

Lies- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

A man once told me a scary story 

‘bout a soul at the gates of hell

His blind words, they burned right through me

Oh what lies a man will tell

 

My friend once told me, you’re wasting time here

But I know a place that would suit you well

I know it’s fine right where I’m standing

Oh what lies a man will tell

 

Get a hold of your dreams

Don’t let no one take them away from you

Get a hold of your dreams

Someday they might come true

 

Strange game my mind keeps playing

Pin the donkey on the devil’s tail

He tried to steal, all my dreams from me

Oh what lies a man will tell

 

Get a hold of your dreams

Don’t let no one take ‘em away from you

Get a hold of your dreams

Someday they might come true, and that’s for sure

Oh what lies a man will tell

Oh what lies a man will tell

Oh what lies a man will tell

Oh what lies, lies, lies, lies

​

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Modern Creek- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

Modern Creek was born in the mountains

His water of life nurtured the plains

A little dry Indian summer

My native brothers would dance for rain

Modern Creek, Modern Creek

 

Modern Creek loved the country on Sundays

Where common folk washed away their sins

Used his strength to grind corn for the people

Cooled her children with the summer swim

Modern Creek, Modern Creek

 

Modern Creek meandered to the city

He saw hell for the very first time

Death was dancing to the tune of a dollar

Ugly truth, industrial lie

 

Modern Creek, Modern Creek

Modern Creek, Modern Creek

​

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Blue Agave- Written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

Cooling into the vernal equinox

Yeah the whole damn world, gone to pot

Stepping out on my back porch to see what I might see

There’s a yard dog in my garbage staring back at me

Blue Agave, Blue Agave

 

Subsidize me to keep my seed

Fatten my wallet while there’s mouths to feed

If there’s a hell some folks sure belong

Drink from that well you fool ‘til it’s all gone

 

Don’t go swimming, in that rotten bay

Don’t let your skin feel the sun’s burning rays

There’s a toxic playground, where my children play

While that greedy, selfish bastard, takes us all away

 

Berries on my vines, they are dying

People giving up without trying

It’s all over but the crying

Old man tequila say, it’s a Blue Agave day

 

Send your soul down the barber pole and take it out your hide

 

Picture a place too dark to see

Picture a world too caught to be free

Picture all the things that will never be

Never be, never ever be

Old man tequila say it’s a Blue Agave day

Another day, and I hit the bottom of the bottle

Old man tequila say it’s a Blue Agave day

Another day, and I hit the bottom of the bottle

Old man tequila say, it’s a Blue Agave day

​

​

Catch 22- Written by Mayes, Felty

 

Walkin’ hand in hand thru a tunnel of darkness

End up on the road of gravel and dirt

With a wink of an eye

from the devil’s temptress

Put a crack in the wall that

crumbled down the fortress

So you live and you learn

from those that you trusted

Just a catch 22 … either way, you’re busted

 

Livin’ with the guilt a slow crucifixion

Nail your soul to the poles of self destruction

And your takin’ advantage of one’s position

Love taken for granted by that proposition

So you stand at the line you never would cross

Just a catch 22 … either way, you’ve lost

 

Where is love, where is love

Where is love in the heart of darkness?

Where is love, where is love

Where is love in the heart of darkness?

Kept hidden away from the light

 

A man’s got to stand by his convictions

Or life will twist you in a thousand directions

There is no perfection in perfect love

The wings are broken on the mournin’ dove

To err is human, to forgive is divine

Another catch 22 weighs upon my mind

​

​

Confusionville- Written by Mayes, Felty

 

This love is an irony we’ve come that far

‘Cause if I really loved you I wouldn’t change the way you are

Tell you the reason you need to change is ‘cause I love you

 

Looking for a place to find myself

End up in Confusionville

Give and give just ain’t enough

 

Need a change for the better

Woke up this morning looking in the mirror

What I see don’t look like me

What blurs the vision?

 

Hurting the one you love by being yourself

Reaching out your hands for the cards never dealt

Hurting the one you love by being yourself

This love is a paradox and here I am again

 

Looking for a place to find myself

End up in Confusionville

Looking for a place to find myself

Need a change for the better

REPEATS

 

Motel vampires sleeping all day

If you look into my heart you’ll probably find the stake

Sun goes down we awake hungry for our vices

Come on you could live forever

Who would want to?

​

By & By -Written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

This life is changing by and by
This world is changing by and by
Plant a seed then you watch it die
Where will I be by and by?
I’m livin’ on a rock, a rock that rolls
And it’s rollin’ right over my poor soul

 

Choose your creed by and by
It’s what you make it by and by
Just an answer to the question why
Will there be a by and by?
Everybody keeps their faith afloat
In the same old river just a different boat

 

CHO
There’s a spirit soarin’

Listen to the cannons roarin’
Everything that we’re destroying now open your eyes
If we share the same mother how do we kill our brother?
Never ever to recover just gone, gone, gone, forever

 

A better time by and by
A better place by and by 

Nothin’ beats a failure but a try
There’s got to be a by and by
There’s gonna be a price to pay 

For livin’ out your stoic ways

 

CHO

In the by and by (repeats x 4)

​

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Breckenridge- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

I’ve been trying to take my show to

Breckenridge, Colorado

There’s a stone still unturned under

a bridge that slowly burns

The water in our well is dry

The conversation is turning wry

I need to pick you up or shake you off

And get on with my life …

 

You burned in my head last night

Your body glowing by the candlelight

Living to regret the day I ever let her go

Maybe it was in poor taste

The way you laid my soul to waste

Darling, was it the thrill of the chase

or are you just that cold?

 

You don’t give a damn about me

You don’t give a damn about me

You don’t give a damn about me

I’m just a thorn in your side

 

Well, I’ve been trying to take my show to 

Breckenridge, Colorado

Some things you have to learn and

some you never know baby

The water in the well is dry

The conversation is turning wry

I’m gonna pick you up or shake you off

and get on with my life

​

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Drew’s Theme- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Well I’m staring at an empty bar room

Bottles on my table

Another life I chose to lead

Can you see ‘em crying on my shoulder?

Can you see me crying on mine?

Sometimes I wish I could lay down and die … Drew’s theme

 

The rain splatters on my windshield

Making patterns across my life once or twice

Well there’s bigger skies on the horizon

Probably bigger storms

But the days are prettier and so much longer

so much longer

so much longer

 

Well it’s another summer thunderstorm

Back to Georgia again

Gonna hang on my porch down in 

Macon with my friends

And I’ve been riding down I-77

Try to ease my load

Every bump I hit spills thoughts

of you in the road …

 

Drew’s theme x 3

​

​

Riddle- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

The wind blew south that day if I recall

Sitting in the bottom of the well

You’re not afraid to fall

Staring into the sun too long

never made him blind

Just his colors gray

 

Never needed music that had no soul

Never needed money

On a tree it won’t grow

Said he knew a man who’d never seen

A firefly flickering in a full moon night?

 

What has ears that don’t hear?

What has a heart that don’t feel?

What has eyes that don’t see?

Is that a riddle for you or me?

 

Blue sleepy mountains a child at play

They asked his mother who led him away

Well they said that he fell down in Georgia

a few years ago

But that he’d be back some day

 

‘Cause he’s got eyes that must see

He’s got ears that must hear

He’s got a heart that always felt

That that riddle was about himself

​

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Tying Things Together- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

I just watched another year slowly pass me by

Time’s winged chariot has surely made me wise

I’m still taking trips to understand my core

And I ain’t learned nothing yet I didn’t now before …

 

Tune carries my soul like a river carries silt

I’m living in some walls I could only build

Can you catch me when my race is run?

Like Icarus I’ll probably fly too close to the sun …

 

Tell me is this the way I’m supposed to live?

Can I see the signal that the keeper gives?

Is this the way I’m supposed to live?

Tying things together that don’t have any ends …

 

Now I wander down the road just looking for me

Most of the time I find the things I don’t want to see

You gotta be careful when you’re living near the bone

That you don’t end up growing old and dying all alone

​

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Lucky Day- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Today was your lucky day

Guess you’ll finally get your way

We said all there was to say a long time ago

Rise and fall like a song

left just as fast as we came along

Two rights making a wrong

on a road less travelled down

 

*Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

for time she is a flying

And that same flower that smiles today

tomorrow might be dying

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

for time she is a flying

And that same flower that smiles today

tomorrow might be dying!

 

**Just one more morning

I got to wake up with the blues

Pull myself out of bed

put on my walking shoes

Climb up on the hilltop

see what I can see

Whole world’s coming right down

in front of me

And I’m hung up on dreams I’m never gonna see

I’m hung up on dreams I’m never gonna see

 

**I got to get myself together

and put on a new face

Climb down from the hilltop baby

get back in the race

I’m hung up on dreams I’m never gonna see …

Yeah, I’m hung up on dreams I’m never gonna see …

 

Hang up your wedding gown

don’t be coy when you lay down

What you never lost now you’ve found

on comfort for your soul

I bet he steals your crown

chances baby I’ll still be around”

When the bell tolls there’s another round

when you’re hearts not made of gold

 

*“To the virgin, to make much of time,” Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

** “Dreams,” Gregg Allman

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Amorous (JC Live version) written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Season changing guess baby so am I 

I’m another year older maybe not another year wise 

I’m waking up from a bad dream and I’m right in another 

Life’s scattered me all over the place, 

I got to find a way to pull myself together

Never mind the weather

Mr. Toad took him a wild ride 

He’s been lost so long, ain’t nowhere left to hide 

Love made hard a simple plan 

Toss up your heart, see where it lands 

You put a golden band on your left hand and 

all the whiskey in the world can’t ease the pain of being a man

Can’t you understand?

 

Love made hard a simple plan 

Toss up your heart, see where it lands

You put a golden band on your left hand and 

all the whiskey in the world can’t ease the pain of being a man

 

LOOOOOOONG JAM 

 

This is the best part 

Fill your life you pain and suffer

Sacrifice great passion to your art

There’s no need to create more trouble or strife

Cause there’s enough already built here in life

 

That big roll of keys darling stuffed down in my pocket

I don’t know darling if my key fits no more

For over six years I been staring through your keyhole

My only way in now darling you unlock the door

 

From a frozen glass the fool gave his last toast

Now his jacket’s out there worn by a ghost

And the river of love a cheating sun has turned to stone

When I’m dead and gone dust will cover my bones

So I gave into the animals

Beneath the archways of pain

 

Never have I been so low

I don’t know if I’ll ever surface again

So I gave it to the animal

Beneath the archways of pain

 

Never have I been so low

I don’t know if I’ll ever surface again

YEAH

Oh, baby I wanna shake you down

Eat you alive

Like a smooth, sweet peach

Amorous

Amorous

Amorous

Amorous

Amorous

Amorous

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Paying The Fiddler- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Heavy realizations com’in down on me

Monkey’s gonna do what the monkey sees

Betcha don’t think as much of me

As you did when you first found me

Wishing I wasn’t the one to know

You were the one that told me so

In one ear and out the other

Now you’re gonna hear it again

(Interlude)

We had our random times

Danc’in in the kitchen to the wind chimes

Place to buy a beer on Sunday 

Was the hardest thing to find

The walls went up and the distance set in

Said I wasn’t putting any effort in

Just another game that no one wins

And the fiddler wants my soul

It must have been worth something

‘Cause I learned a lot from you

About what it’s gonna be like

If I want to make it through

 

This life 

Well I’m still walkin’ on my own

This life 

is turning out to be another of my songs

This life 

They never ever give you a second chance

This life

 is payin’ the fiddler for the dance

 

Well I’m probably no smarter than I was before

And I may never find what I’m looking for

Is your life ever a bore

Liv’in while you’re dying

And the thing that hurts most in the end

Is losing someone that might have been a friend

Just another game that no one wins

And the fiddler wants my soul

It must have been worth something

‘Cause I learned a lot from you

About what it’s gonna be like

If I want to make it through

CHO

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Whoville- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Becky Mountain looms over me in the dead of winter

Down in the valley, it looks like Whoville

And in the moonlight I can tell the lakes are frozen

Down in the valley, it looks like Whoville; looks like Whoville

See the clouds touching on the mountain tops …

 

From my front porch I can see Dunn’s Rock clearly

It sits 2,000 feet above Whoville

And it had to be a sacred place to the Cherokee

That was long before, they built Whoville; they built Whoville

Now the house lights cover up the mountain tops

 

Every time I hear it snow I know why I came here

Every time the seasons change the hour it grows nearer

Every time I have this dream I always wake up here

Now you’re telling me someone new is trying to steal Whoville …

 

Raven rides the thermals on a clear and icy day

He keeps the glad heart for all in Whoville

And high upon the Dragon’s Back you can feel

the moods and rhythms

Yes Grandmother Earth, she lives in Whoville; she lives in Whoville …

But she hardly never ever comes to town

CHO

​

​

Man in Your Band- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Every time I go to Colorado
My life just falls apart
Another beginning has come to an end
Before it had a chance to start
And with every phone call I could feel us drifting
Further and further apart

 

Well I went off to fight cause I had to go
And you had to stay behind
Now there's another man asleep in your bed
Playing my Jody Grind
If this wrenching in my guts would ever go away
Then I guess I'd be just fine

 

Well I didn't have much, but what I had
I was giving it all to you
I'm sorry about the way things started off
I never, ever meant to hurt you
You evened up the score, even ran it up more
Than you ever had to do

And I'm playing second fiddle to the man in your band
I don't know if he's better than me
But he's there and close at hand
And you sat there in my kitchen and I played you songs
I wrote
But this one I'm afraid you'll never know...

 

Well I'm standing on a corner in Boulder, Colorado;
God, I wish I could go home
I was way too stubborn to give in
Now I'm busted up all alone
I reckon' I’ve got the rest of my life
To figure out where I went wrong

 

But I ran into your old lover last night
Down at The Rack N Roll
I said it's funny I should see you here
There's something I want you to know
I just wish I could have been as cool as him
When it was time for letting you go

 

There's a mean ole dog follows me around
Breaking my peace of mind
And whatever it is I keep searching for
It's getting pretty hard to find
But there won't be a day goes by
You don't cross my mind

CHORUS

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Nothing’s For Certain- written by Mayes, Felty

 

Took a ride late last summer it was daylight’s darkest hour

An empty house full of memories and a yard covered in passion flowers

A crooked sun it blinds my eyes and I’ve had all I can stand

Water’s low, car’s running hot, on my way to see my old man

 

Clouds cast a shadow on the mountains

as I pass by the place where my mother lay

A silent voice speaks in my head and I can’t hear a word she’s saying

Round here you keep to yourself and you might believe what you’re told

The only secrets you discover are the ones that they want you to know

 

And I’m over the pain and I’m over the anger

I’m over the things that can happen

I’m over the falls and I’m over the failures

I’m out of the way but not over the hill …

 

Some things live in wide open spaces and some things will die in the past

Some things seem to live forever and some things are never meant to last

Soon you’ll have your last performance and when they lower the curtain

The only thing that is for certain is that nothing’s for certain

 

CHO

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Tumbleweed- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Blowing through Kansas where there’s nowhere to hide

Man keeps circling like a hawk in the sky …

St. Louis on St. Patrick’s Day

Whistling into Memphis sometime Friday

Nobody notices when he goes by

He’s got a hole in his show and a tear in his eye

Never stop …

 

Everybody’s going out to Colorado

Still searching for that Rocky Mountain high

Who’s really working, who’s really playing?

Some just milking the trust fund dry

Nobody notices when he goes by

Got a hole in his shoe and a tear in his eye

Never stop …

 

Tumbleweed, keeps on riding the western wind

Tumbleweed, don’t talk much about where he’s been

Tumbleweed, won’t you take me along for that ride

Tumbleweed, I said my, my, my how time flies by

 

Had a vision he was down at the old mill

Watching water pour over that rusted wheel

And he lost a sweet girl, Miss Rachel Hodges

And the longing man goes on pilgrimages

Nobody notices when he goes by

Got a hole in his shoe and a tear in his eye.

Never stop …

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Snakehandler- Written by Matthew B. Mayes, John Hamilton

 

It’s a pain, penalization program, put your heart through a blender

There’s enough evil slithering around and it don’t discriminate on gender

And I’ve seen a twisted woman bend a man ‘til he’ll break

Running him down all over town then take him for all she can take

Can I get a witness? Can I get a witness?

 

Had to sell my Jeep and fork out six months on back rent

Had my credit card maxed to the limit and away she went

I sold most of my stuff of the sidewalk; I gave the rest down to charity

Stuffed the rest of my life down in a duffle bag and that’s a harsh reality

Can I get a witness?

 

So don’t paint me in this lovely picture of how you and I might be

It’s only your interpretation of what you really want to see

 

Twenty eight and homeless, living out of my truck

Limping down the highway just a little down on my luck

And I’ll find me another woman to make me forget about you

Then I’ll be standing in front of mirror looking at the same old fool

Now, can I get a witness?

Yea, I’m just a snakehandler

I’m just a snakehandler

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Sam Clemens (Canagumbo)- written By Matthew B. Mayes

 

You might want to hold me but you don’t really know me

Am I half excited or just half lonely

You can make love to me but don’t start to love me

‘cause emotional prison is the worst kind of holding

 

I got some advice, several years ago

You know Janine told me, love’s waters run deep 

and I shouldn’t troll with such big hooks

if there’s nothing there I’m ever going to keep

 

I’ll always go where the grass is growing greener

Ripen my life like a berry on a vine

My life is reading like a Mark Twain novel

Unfolding on some great divide

You can’t make somebody be someplace they don’t want to be …

 

But every day, I try to hang on

Got a self-inflicted wound all the way to my bone

and I might be tragic, but my head is still clear

and I’ll never ask you for your pity or your fear

CHO

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Young- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

North Carolina, I-40 West, it was the 29th of July

A ray of hope with a Wisconsin tag gave a look as she went by

but she vanished up on my horizon like they always seem to do

If there’s a trick to understanding my life, well I haven’t got a clue

Said I haven’t got a clue

 

Well I’m sitting on the curb of the Blind Tiger with a couple of my old friends

Said all my songs were sounding sad and was I finally giving in

I said no one out there in that crowd understands about the sacrifice

All of the things worth having seem to have a lofty price

Sure seem to have a lofty price

 

And my face is starting to show the years of living on the run

I’m nothing like what I thought I’d be when I was still quite young

 

So don’t you say that I lost my edge, don’t you tell me that I lost my nerve

I’m not on my last leg yet, but I appreciate your concern

And my face is starting to show the lines from living on the run

 

I’m nothing like what I thought I’d be when I was still quite young

When I was still quite young

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Little Peace of Mind- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

Days go by, feelings for moving grow stronger

What is it we leave behind?

Just a fear of something we may be losing

Dew settles on the grass, sun melts it off

but the hands on the clock keep on spinning

 

When it’s all said and done

When there’s no place left for us to run

Good times become memories and bad things ease with time

And everybody needs just a little peace of mind

 

Fender on my van still ain’t painted

but let’s load up and limp on down the road

Place to make a stop they ain’t found easy

but there’s one more out there waiting for me I know

Woods they are my runway, strings they are my wings

and anybody who cares to listen can help me sing

CHO

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Two Things- written by Matthew B. Mayes

 

There are two things in this life that come unexpected

like getting struck by lighting and when a woman breaks your heart

If you can live through each of those the odds are in your favor,

that neither one will ever happen again …

You might somehow survive, you might lay you down and die

 

So you make your way out into the day even though it’s still gray

and there will be an hour or two that you’re doing pretty good

But when the sun hides in the mountains and the demons of the night

tear you into lonely pieces as you turn out your lights

and deep inside you’ll pray they would just go away

 

But lightning keeps crashing all around me

and it has been raining here for almost a whole year

There is no calm in the eye of the storm that you game me

so I’ll somehow survive, I may lay me down and die

 

Two things, man and woman, space and time

Two things, love and hate and live and die

Two things, man and woman, space and time

Two things, love and hate and live and die …

And you exchange a pair of rings but they’re only two things