Music

Way up on the mountain

I go to ease my mind

They pick their peaches free stone

And never rush for time

They don’t make too much money

But what they grow they eat

They got that local honey

On which I am so sweet

They got that local honey

On which I am so sweet

Down here in the valley

Every day’s the same

Alarm clock beeps and half asleep

You walk out in the rain

But there’s a place

I used to know

It’s not too far from town

Where they come alive with the bright sunrise

And sleep when the sun goes down

Some folks call them hippies

But call them what you will

They left their jobs in the corporate bog

For a homestead on the hill

You just take a right at the river bend

And hike up through the trees

And once you cross that rocky road

Just watch out for those bees

Away, away, away, child, away

O and one day I’ll return to thee, evermore

Away, away, away, child, away

O and one day I’ll return to you

An eroded road

Through a rusted gate

That fell into disuse

It fell into disuse

Kudzu strangled trees

The space the silence leaves

Time’s effect set loose

Time’s effect set loose

No such road will ever run between us

Scattered and undrawn by the billowing winds

The day and night will sing to us in chorus

The twilight always flickers at both ends

Until it fades away…

Leaves drift unswept

Grass crept unmown

But nothing else has changed

Nothing else has changed

I still recall the way

The once unbroken stone

And it all seems the same

It all still feels the same

I was born in the fall of a golden age

To a well-healed family

I had eleven brothers and sisters too

But none of them looked like me

None of them looked like me, o lord

None of them looked like me

None of them looked like me, o

Lord the days go by

I found a lover with a soul to match

And I thought we had the very same mind

The years went by in the blink of an eye

And I still don’t even know her half the time

Still don’t know her half the time, o lord

Still don’t know her half the time

Still don’t know her half the time, o

Lord the days go by

I had a little baby with a sweet apple grin

And he really got the best of me

I laid him out in a wide open field

And he grew into a big oak tree

Grew into a big oak tree, o lord

Grew into a big oak tree

Grew into a big oak tree, o

Lord the days go by

It’s gonna take a whole lot of storms to blow

It’s gonna take a whole lot of worms to sow

You’re gonna need a whole lot of dirt to hoe

You’ve got to have a whole lot of rain to grow

Lord, don’t I know

Every word must be spoken

Every heart must be broken

That it may be awoken

That it may be…

Lord don’t I know

The shadow of the crow

That turns the mid-day black

Leans in on the back

Lord don’t I know

Lord don’t I know

I tried to write paradise

Don’t move, let the wind speak—that’s paradise

Sold my raincoat for a guitar

Sold my guitar for a song

Sold my song for a penny

Tossing pennies to the rain

There’s a fruit so sweet

That I dare not eat it

It’s surrounded by a hornets’ nest

Its covered in the bramble and the briar

There’s a song that can’t be sung

It’ll burn your lungs

It’s a song of innocence

It can only be sung by an Illinois waitress

Gather up the songs

Gather up the stars

Gather up the faces

Gather for safe keeping

Let go the songs

Let go the stars

Let go of the faces

Let go and say goodbye

Run run river

Run run river to the sea

Whisper winds

Bring my baby back to me

Shine you light

Shine your light down on me

One more time

By the tracks of the train

I’ll be walking alone

I’ll be calling your name

All the long journey home

Through the red-eyed night

In the pouring rain

I’ll be walking alone

I’ll be coming on home

By the tracks of the train

All your life

Loved by another

Who knew you by heart

And you ignored for the others

Give back the photograph

Give back the picture frame

Some day, honey

You’ll come back home

And see the old room

You used to know

Look into your own two eyes

Listen to the sound of your name

words and music by Doug Ward

It’s a warm breeze a’blowin’,

that brings you back to mind;

and I think that there’s a lot that I could say to you…

I see your face a’shinin’ there,

and I wish that you were really here;

come back to me across these many long and lonely miles…

But it’s really just another tale

of one man’s love and how it paled,

after empty promises

and a short while.

And I see you’re just an autumn leaf

on a branch high-out-up-over me,

a single small reminder

of a springtime long ago.

And it’s really just another tale

of one man’s love and how it failed,

after empty promises

and a short while.

And I see you’re just a pretty leaf

in a book that someone pressed for me;

just a dry reminder that

the real thing blew away.

It’s a warm breeze a’blowin’,

that brings you back to mind;

and I think “goodbye”

is all I have to say…

Joanna, Joanna

Did your skies turned blue?

Joanna, Joanna

What about you?

I’ve been sitting here all day

Watching the clouds come and roll away

Whatever was there

Has vanished like a wisp in the air

Whatever I’d wanted

By word or by vow

Whatever it was you needed from me

Well I’d gladly give it now

Joanna, Joanna

Did your day break anew?

Joanna, Joanna

What about you?

And if we ever go back there

It’ll be a long time coming

Whatever we were running from

Has faded with the setting sun

In the dark I hear music

From outside my door

In the distance there’s a white ship

That’s just kissed the shore

Joanna, Joanna

Did your stars shine true?

Joanna, Joanna

What about you?

Joanna, Joanna

Did your stars shine true?

Joanna, Joanna

What about you?

Meadowlark in the meadow

With the blue sky above

Won’t you sing me back home

With a song that I love?

I’m drowsy and numb

And melting in air

Meadowlark in the meadow

Will you take me there?

Darkly I’ve listened

For many a time

And called you soft names

In many a rhyme

In the grasses and thickets

In the fruit trees wild

Meadowlark in the meadow

Mid-May’s first child

Meadowlark in the meadow

With the tall grass below

Won’t lighten my heart

With a song that I know

Away away

I’d fly with thee

On the shimmering wings

Of a sweet melody

For a cup of fine wine

And a purple stained mouth

Aged deep in the earth

In the sweet sunny south

That I might drink

And leave the world unseen

And with you fade away

In a forest dream

To fade far away

Dissolve and forget

The worrisome ways

The fever and fret

What among the leaves

We’re never to see

Meadowlark in the meadow

Come, let’s go free!

Meadowlark in the meadow

‘Neath the cool setting sun

Your beak has been twisted

From battles hard won

But still would you sing

The moon to up to her throne

Meadowlark in the meadow

Will you take me home?

words and music by Doug Ward

My Heart

Sings out the whistle of the steam train

As we’re coming round the mountain

On the 6:15 to Memphis

On the Chatahoochie line

She’s on a cannonball to Dallas

And I’m meeting her in Memphis

I just hope that this old train gets there on time

My Heart

Sings out the whistle of that old engine

As it echoes through the valleys

On the 6:15 to Memphis

On the Chatahoochie line

She’s on a one-way ride to Dallas

And I’m meeting her in Memphis

I just hope I get to see her one more time

My heart

Sings out the mournful song of leaving

At every stop and crossing

On the 6:15 to Memphis

On the Chatahoochie line

She wants a new life down in Dallas

Gonna beg her hand in Memphis

I just hope that this old train gets there on time

My heart

The cries of a child in the night

Cling to your hallway and door

The silence that follows

Chills you right down the core

We walk a thread so thin

And but for a gust of wind

There’s really nobody who you could save

Get up my poor boy, be brave

If fortune’s a virtue

Then she is a curious one

And he is a fool who

Tries too tight to hang on

We walk a thread so thin

And but for a gust of wind

There was really nobody you could save from the slide

Saddle up, my brave boy, and ride

Rock-a-bye baby

Sweet dreams await thee

When the wind blows

Nobody knows

We walk a thread so thin

And but for a gust of wind

I love you my baby, my sugar, my heart

Banish the day we would part

It’s once in a pale blue moon

The winds howl into your room

There was never anybody you could save from the fall

Get up my poor boy, and crawl