Альбом Rodney Crowell

The hour is early
The whole world is quiet
A beautiful morning's about to ignite
I'm ready for danger
I'm ready for fire
I'm ready for something to lift me up higher

Life's been good, I guess
My ragged old heart's been blessed
With so much more than meets the eye
I've got a past I won't soon forget
You ain't seen nothing yet
I'm still learning how to fly

It's your dreams that die hard
With these habits to break
You can't let down your guard
When there's so much at stake
I'm halfway to heaven, halfway to hell
But I might roll a seven
You never can tell

Life's been good it's true
When I'm feeling just like new
The same old rules need not apply
I've got a past full of sticks and stones
And a good feeling in my bones
I'm still learning how to fly

I wanna go faster
I don't wanna slow down
I don't wanna get off of this merrygoround
I wanna be reckless
I wanna be vain
I wanna make love like a runaway train

Life's been good I said
I'm 10,000 miles ahead
The day I rest is the day I die
I've got a past like a broken wing
But you ain't seen anything
I'm still learning how to fly
I'm still learning how to fly

Cool as a rule you don't learn in no school
You can't brown nose the teacher from a dunce hat stool
It's the hum and the rhythm of the birds and the bees
The momma's and the poppa's and the monkeys in the trees
Brothers and the sisters living life on the street
Play the hunch pull the punch you'll never get beat
By the junk food tattooed white dude true blued
Honky with an attitude coming unglued

Fate's right hand.....I don't understand at all

Billy loves women like a junky loves dope
Give him just enough rope, the monkey's gonna choke
She's a Bill Blass combo maxed out mombo
D.K.N.Y. caught him in a lie
Ken Starr word man were talking absurd
Spending forty million dollars just to give the man the bird
He's a king she's a queen the rap won't stick
Get it on with a rubber and you won't get sick

Fate's right hand.....I don't understand at all

Redrum dot com dim sum smart bombs
Double cappuccino and a heart like a tom tom
Ozone long gone that's it I quit
Natural inclination says enough of this
brat pack black jack heart attack crack
We need another news channel like a hole in the back
There's a 187 on the 405
We all go to heaven on a hard disk drive

Fate's right hand.....I don't understand at all

Hard rain fish seine hurricane Jane
Don't forget about Carla when you're talkin' about the poon tang
Slow song on the bone rec hall dance
Double date Debbie with a pole in my pants
First comes love like it always did
Or we wouldn't be talkin' bout The Houston kid
Po-dunk piss-chunk old dead skunk drunk
Trot-line Freddy's got his dogs in the trunk
Fate's right hand...I don't under stand at all
Fate's right hand...man I don't understand at all

I could shed my skin and in the blink of an eye I could fly fly fly
Tie my dreams up in a sack and lay my head down on the track and die die die
My life's been so sweet I just can't stand it
I must admit I've made out like a bandit

Last night's conversation with a real good friend of mine drinkin' wine wine wine
Said fifty years of livin' and your worst mistake's forgivin' just a time, time, time
One man's lust for life brings world reknown
And the next guy can't get two feet off the ground... he's earthbound

Earthbound... hear the wind throught the tops of the trees
Earthboound... summer sun nearly ninety degrees
Earthbound... big ol' moon sinking down... think I might stick around
I'm earthbound

I knew love once way back when she had almond eyes and olive skin
And long black hair
She was Irish Spanish mix breed I was southeast Texas hayseed
We were almost there
Her Daddy did not like my kind around
And true love took the next train out of town... earthbound

Earthbound... where there's fathers and daughters in pain
Earthbound... mama's boy walking home in the rain
Earthbound... like a ship run aground think I might stick around
I'm earthbound

With each new day that passes I'm in need of thicker glasses but it's all ok
Someday I'll be leavin' but I just can't help believing that it's not today, hey
Every golden moment I have found
I've done my best to run right in the ground... earthbound

Earthbound... see the sky big and beautiful blue
Earthbound... fallen angels come callin' to you
Earthbound... keepin' close to the ground, think I might stick around

Earthbound... Tom Waits, Aretha Franklin, Mary Karr
Earthbound... Walter Kronkite, Seamus Heaney, Ringo Starr
Earthbound... The Dalai Lahma and Charlie Brown make me wanna stick around
I'm earthbound

It's time to go inward take a look at myself
Time to make the most of the time that I've got left
Prison bars imagined are no less solid steel

Time to go inward would you believe that I'm afraid
To stare down the barrel of the choices that I've made
The ghost of bad decisions make mountains out of everything I feel

Outside my window the wind weaves a path through the trees
The moon takes a shine to the shadows that fall on the leaves

It's time to go inward Hmmmmm
I don't know if I can do it after all that I've become
I've been a fool for money but it's vanity that always leaves me flat

It's time to go inward man I hope I have the nerve
To take an inventory of the causes that I serve
They say a man without a conscience is like a man without a country or something like that

It's time to go inward time to be still
If I don't do it now I don't believe I ever will
My mind is like a chatterbox whose noise pollutes the pathways to my soul

Time to go inward time to get a grip
Time to put an end to one long bad acid trip
I'm all out of excuses now for the way I've let my choices take a toll

Jesus and Buddah and Krishna and Minnie Pearl knew
To do unto other the things you want done unto you

It's time to go inward and take a look at me
Try to make some sense of life's illusions that I see
And try to solve the riddle of what it is I have to offer to this world

There's a man in me
He's cold and he's hard
He's got an eye for deception
He's always on guard
He's swimming in concrete
And drowning in fear
And he keeps it all locked in his heart

This man is a tyrant, a fault findin' hack
You can't tell him nothing
There's no turnin' back
He leaves blood on the highway and scattered debris
He crawls from the wreckage but he still doesn't see
He's alive
The man is jive

There's a man in the mirror
I don't like his looks
His teeth they are crooked
His hands are like hooks
He speaks 4 letter language
'Cause his mind is so small
His voice is like venom
I don't like him at all
God, I gotta get away from the man in me

She says
Now what are you afraid of?
There's no need to judge
You know I can help you
But you won't even budge
Pretty flowers surround you but all you can smell is a rat
She says
Now why you insist on your head in the sand
Building walls all around you, you don't understand
That these ways are outmoded, but all you can change is your hat
The man in me don't wanna know nothing about that

There's a man in the closet
He wants to come out
He wants to be noticed
But he's so full of doubt
He wants to be well known and famous
But he's so filled with pride
The keys to his fortune stay locked up inside
Can it be the man in me?

She says
Now what are you afraid of?
There's nothing to fear
You want me to help
But you won't let me near
In your heart you can hear me
But all you believe are your eyes
Tell me why you're convinced
That a fist in your face is all you deserve
From love you've misplaced
The truth is salvation
But all you believe in are lies
The man in me wants to believe, but he won't even try

There's man in me, and he's so full of hate
He's so misdirected
He thinks it's too late
He pours salt on the wounds
Only Time wants to heal
He's dyin' inside
And he don't wanna feel
Anything
The man is strange
Man

The New York City winter comes in cold grey sheets of steel
A numbness in his hands and feet is all that he can feel
Alcohol and sterno turns a doorway to a bed
And the ghost of who he might have been lives on inside his head

In a canyon made of brownstone on a sidewalk icy black
He wanders nearly barefoot with his righteousness intact
A man of many mansions in a cardboard box replete
And he lies sleeping with an angel while his heart pretends to beat

Ah the wind blows down on Lonely Street like an ice pick through the air
Midst the Sunday times and thr coffee grinds and thrwino's in Times Square
Five flights up on Easy Street you know she's safe and warm
And way down low 'neath a foot of snow he's a-ridin' out the storm

I offered him my winter coat, politely he refused
Like an educated man he spoke with words I seldom use
He said I don't need pity for these choices are my own
He bowed his head just slightly and then quietly moved along

Ah the wind blows down on Lonely Street like an ice pick through the air
Midst the Sunday times and the coffee grinds and the wino's in Times Square
Five flights up on Easy Street you know she's safe and warm
And way down low 'neath a foot of snow he's a-ridin' out the storm

Well its not like he's a victim of the homeless life he stalks
Nor helpless to get back across the fine line that he walks
Riding out the storm means yesterday's already spent
Tomorrow don't mean nothing it won't even make a dent

Ah the wind blows down on Lonely Street like an ice pick through the air
Midst the Sunday times and the coffee grinds and the wino's in Times Square
Five flights up on Easy Street you know she's safe and warm
And way down low 'neath a foot of snow he's a-ridin' out the storm

Ridin' out, ridin' out, ridin' out
Ridin' out, ridin' out, ridin' out
Ridin' out, ridin' out, ridin' out
Ridin' out, ridin' out, ridin' out

My self importance is a god forsaken bore
I aim for heaven but I wake up on the floor

I'd take up with rattlesnakes to get my point across
And I'd argue with a parking brake to show 'em who's the boss
It's my intention to inspire instead I'm preachin' to the choir

I had some money but I blew it livin' high
My wine and women were the best that you could buy
I tried to prove myself a man of certain taste
But all I've got to show you now is written on my face
I'm not someone you'd admire but I'm still preachin' to the choir

I'm born a lion but I don't believe it fits
I'm no King of the jungle out here livin' by my wits
This morning's paper called for romance on a whim
And I reckon I'd believe 'em if they told me sink or swim
I'm under water not on fire but I'm still preachin' to the choir

Baytown Texas there's a fisherman I knew
He read the bible and he spit tobacco too
He said that crap about the rod you spare to spoil the child
Well it's only propaganda meant to keep you in denial
Go on and follow your desire but he was preachin' to the choir

Time is of the essence when you're hangin' by a thread
And the answer to your questions won't unravel in your head
When you're staring at forever from the edge of life's abyss
Ain't no one gonna tell you how it all came down to this
If you say different your a liar but I'm just preachin' to the choir

When I'm standing at St Peter's gate and trying to slip on in
I might as well plead guilty to the worst of who I've been
I used to like to think I had a special way with words
But right now I'm convinced I've more in common with the birds
Until my situation's dire I'll keep on preachin to the choir
Hey I'm not ready to retire so I'll keep on preachin' to the choir

To make the world a better place like dreamers often will
We left our bed of roses to push that rock up hill
The way we went about our task proved destined for to fail
Who we thought we were .. don't ask .. there's no way you can tell

It's a different world now...to say the least
The sun comes up from in the west and sets down in the east
The stars are out there shining but just where we can not say
It's a different world now like night and day

In the name of self defense we built bombs to prove a point
And we'd drop them on our neighbors when their nose got out of joint
To sell the same hamburger rain forests had to go
"Hell, we don't need no air to breathe but just don't tell us no"

It's a different world now... without a doubt
The raindrops fall to heaven and the tides go rolling out
The rivers flow like powdered milk and the wind blows with a wheeze
It's a different world now there are no trees

I take a look around and I see ice caps in your eyes
Desert where the swamp should be cold black canvas skies
I take a look around and I see crossbones on a rose
How we let this come to be seems no one really knows

In life's rich beauty pageant we put children on a stage
Said flash your soft white belly child but just don't act your age
Sell sex like cotton candy to young and old alike
When you'ved outlived the fantasy then you can take a hike

It's a different world now... but what to do
We had our fifteen minutes and we blew it right on cue
We used up mother nature like a twenty dollar whore
It's a different world now .... there ain't no more

I don't want to wind up bitter lost inside a silent rage
Or become like Rilke's panther out here locked up in a cage
The old man I've been talkin' to has cotton in his ears
But then who am I to blame him I've had mine stopped up for years
Singing come on funny feelin'

L.A. hits my windshield like some Armageddon sprawl
Plantin' palm trees in the desert makes no sense to me at all
In a science fiction world where walkin' wounded leave their mark
I just took my place among them tryin' to find a place to park
Singing come on funny feelin'

The funny feeling comes when you're in love with everyone
And all your races have been run or laid to rest
So get this freakin' anvil off my chest
Come on funny feelin'

The funny feelin' knows the way the whole thing comes and goes
It make's you stop and smell the roses if you're smart
So get this freakin' anvil off my heart
Come on funny feelin'

So it's not like I'm not blessed with something special in my world
Just around the next dark corner there's a blue eyed dancin' girl
Who love me like tomorrow comes with everything I need
And I just have to pay attention where this road I'm on might lead
I'm thinkin' come on funny feelin'

The funny feeling knows the truth the eye for eye & tooth for tooth
It's something way back in your youth you should not second guess
The funny feeling never lies it's there to open up your eyes
And make you stop and realize you're blessed
So get this frickin' anvil off my chest
Come on funny feelin'
Come on funny feelin'
Come on funny feelin'
Come on funny feelin'

We don't want to say goodbye we don't want to feel that empty
But it's time to face the dawn head on
Then there's something in the wind when the days go getting shorter
And the nights run cold and clear down here

Takin' each new day to give what we need to do our part
We'll keep learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart

And we never will forget it's a privilege to remember
The sound of days gone past will last
And we can see you in the stars come some vivid night in November
And with the last few leaves that fall recall

Surely each new day will give what we need to do our part
To keep learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart

Oh you beautiful one so clearly a gift life had designs of its own
To set you adrift

So go lightly where you must travel soft upon new wings
You will never be alone go on
When we cannot understand when we cannot find new meaning
We'll seek out the ones you loved and love

Taking each new day to give what we need to do our part
We'll keep learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart
We're just learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart

When the winds of change hit hard and knock you off your guard
And you find out there's a serpent in the grass
Though forked tongues might speak if truth is what you seek
This too will pass

When you're all tied up in knots and your friends are taking shots
And the sun comes up and kicks you in the ass
When your stumbling down the aisle and you feel like you're on trial
This too will pass

Sometimes you've gotta go down the middle of the road
Where compromise puts speed bumps in your path
If you know what you won't let no one say you don't
This too will pass

Sometimes you gotta crawl through the middle of it all
But don't compromise your heart for something crass
When everything you do just feels like nothing new
This too will pass

When your all locked up in shame be careful who you blame
This too will pass

Goodnight George