Your mother used to take the cure
She kept plastic on the furniture in the living room
You used to tell your friends
If you never saw that place again it's be too soon

But your college beau
didn't seem so bad
So you brought him home
to Mom and Dad
Like you're supposed to do
But he wouldn't account for himself
And he got along better
with the hired help
Than he did with you.

no big loss, I don't suppose
brush it away like a fly off a rose
we're all bound to miss a time or two Iolanthe

Your father always held his ground
He never liked you hanging round with the lesser kind
He suffered not the weak
And he was never loath to speak his twisted mind.

He liked to watch an evening pass
Clinking the ice in his bourbon glass while you played your scales
With eyes that burned right through
He would say he always knew you were bound to fail.

(chorus)
Shake it off and let it go
Brush it away til the light it shows
We can't help what came before
Iolanthe

Well who's that standing there?
Watcha been doing lately?
Your clothes not long outta style
You gave us all quite a scare
But the years were hardly wasted
Only missing for a while
Don't sweat the losses, let em go
Toss em all out where the tall grass grows
We're all bound to get our share
Iolanthe

Off And Running

Answer me when I call to you
What became of the life I knew
Tell me why I can't be free
Tell me what you expect of me
I'm so down about it
I can't sleep at night
I sit watching the bugs as they bounce off the light

Answer me when I'm calling out
Tell me what's all the noise about
Explain to me the rules of love
Tell me just what I'm guilty of
I somehow I must've missed it
I never knew I was blind
Repeat it real slow so I get it this time

(chorus)
I'm off and running to take what's mine
I'm off and running again

I 'm off and running
To take what's mine
I'm off and running
And I won't get caught this time
With my soul on empty and my face to the wind
I'm off and running
I'm off and running again

Answer me when I call your name
What'd you do with my ball and chain?
I'm out here in the open air
And I can't find it anywhere
And I'm so lost without it
It was such a part of me
I guess I'll get along
How hard can it be?

Fuller Brush Man

When I was maybe three or four
The Fuller Brush man would knock at the door
He'd always tell me, "Boy, you're gonna miss the fun!
Time you're old enough the honky-tonks'll all be gone."

Momma had no sense with cars
She drove a Sunbeam and she drove it hard
Left her stranded time and again
Didn't matter, you could do that then

And they danced on the rooftops
Let their hearts run wild
Such a sight to the eyes of a child

We were used to all the best
The man from U.N.C.L.E. and the Wild, Wild West
We ruled the skies from a backyard swing
Nothing that flies could've stopped that thing

While they danced on the rooftops
Let their hearts run wild
Such a sight to the eyes of a child

Blood-stained blacktops twist up between the wheels
Before we knew it it was all too real
The voice of reason confined to the past
And all that mattered was to get there fast
So we could dance on the rooftops
Let our hearts run wild (hearts run wild)

Should it all come down to your last thin dime
You can dial that number one more time
But the phone won't ring 'cause the line's gone dead
It's lost in history
Like I said, it's gone

So now we give it all we got
Pick em up at daycare in a state of shock
Frayed at the edges and torn at the seams
It rarely happens in our wildest dreams
That we dance on the rooftops, let our hearts run wild
And it ain't for the sake of the child

You don't too often see a sunbeam anymore
You never see a Fuller Brush man or a dinosaur
The voice of reason rules with an iron fist
Please forgive me if I'm not prepared to handle this

Calling out
To the dying daylight
The shadows of the mountains
Bringing on the night

The old folks like to whisper
He favors your side in his face
When he gets a little older
He's going to lead a merry chase

(chorus)
When I'm all alone it's all right
It Isn't going to wound my pride
If anyone can claim they're all right
So can I

I wrecked the El Camino
Would have been DWI
So I just walked off and left it
Laying on its side
The troopers found it in the morning
And they said it's purely luck I wasn't killed
I probably ought to quit my drinking
But I don't believe I will

(chorus)

He used to ask about you
About a million times a day
I got so tired of trying to answer
I just turned my head away
Now he don't pay me much attention
He's not asking anymore
I guess he'd probably know you
If you walked back in the door

Calling out to the empty night
Watching as the snowflakes
Come dancing round the light
Dancing up against the window
It's like they're peeking through the glass
And they hover for a moment
And then they fall on past
Calling out

*

*

*
     *

Bills are paid but it makes no difference
To the gods that seem to rule our home
Heat shut off for no known reason
This old building's got a mind of its own

I can tell your footsteps on the stairs from three flights up
I know the jingling of your keys
You won't hear no and you don't look back and you can't slow down
These days you don't have much to say to me.

In another town what would fetch a good living
Here is barely hand to mouth
So I'm going out and get a U-Haul trailer
Drag it down the turnpike south

Where the Garden State gives way to the real world
Falls away in the rearview mirror
We'll mend our wounds and wait out the winter
Down across the Delaware

We get along in a manner of speaking
We barely have to speak at all
Small talk over take-out pizza
Silently passing in the hall
Post-It notes... and opposite shifts
Once in a blue moon we'll wake up in the same room
Thankful for these thy many gifts

We run by night, we live it and breathe it
We're the best of the best and I just don't care
I'll mend my wounds and wait out the winter
Down across the Delaware
And I'll see you in the spring
When the chill don't cut so deep
I'll be back around to give this town another crack at me.

I heard a voice today I swore I knew
From somewhere down in the southern sticks
I turned around to see some ragged stranger
Bummin change on the uptown six
And I froze like a stone
Could I ever get that low?
Turned my face to the window
There by the grace of God I go

Where the Garden State gives way to the real world
Falls away in the rearview mirror
I'll mend my wounds and wait out the winter
Down across the Delaware

Flatter than a tabletop
Makes you wonder why they stopped here
Wagon must have lost a wheel or they lacked ambition one
On the great migration west
Separated from the rest
Though they might have tried their best
They never caught the sun
So they sunk some roots down in the dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town around here
And when the dust had all but cleared
They called it Levelland, the pride of man
In Levelland

Granddad grew the dryland wheat
Stood on his own two feet
His mind got incomplete and they put in the home
Daddy's cotton grows so high
Sucks the water table dry
Rolling sprinklers circle round
Bleedin' it to the bone
And I won't be here when it comes a day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me in Levelland
They don't understand me out in Levelland

And I watch those jet trails carving up that big blue sky
Coast to coasters watch 'em go
And I never would blame 'em one damn bit
If they never looked down on this
Not much here they'd wanna know
Just Levelland
Far as you can point your hand
Nothin' but Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair
Back before the central air
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
Don't think she's seen the sky
Since we got the satellite dish and
I can hear the marching band
Doin' the best they can
They're playing "Smoke on the Water", "Joy to the World"
I've paid off all my debts
Got some change left over yet and I'm
Gettin' on a whisper jet
I'm gonna fly as far as I can get from
Levelland, doin' the best I can
Out in Levelland - imagine that

You come back now, looking for a clue
Expecting everybody to fall all over you
If you missed it so, this one-light town
Why'd you go and leave with the snow coming down?

(chorus)
I was chasing after what was mine
No explaining, there was no more time
One more winter would've been my last
I could feel it slipping from my grasp

You come back now, and you don't look bad
You must've made the best of the time you had
Since you cut and run, like they said you would
And we got along without you just as best we could

(chorus)
Well I don't expect you'll ever see
But you're not my maker and you don't judge me
One more winter would've been my last
And I don't go dwelling on my past

I could not sit here listening to the wind against these walls
I still hear it whistling in the whispers of them all

And I come back now, but I won't stay long
There hasn't much changed since I been gone
No I won't stay long, you need not fear
I just came back to see if I had ever been here.

(chorus)
I could not be like one of them
Faces shrunken from the bitter wind
Their righteous rage, their jealous fear
One more winter won't find me here

i n s t r u m e n t a l *
           *    
     *     *
*     *

*   *
*  
     *

Whatever it is won't go down easy
Keeps on rearing its ugly head again
But I could use a rayolight
Had enough of this mindless fight
Right now we're both too tired to win

(chorus)
I propose we shed these clothes
And rest this thing
Find us a place where the creeks run clear
And the phone don't ring

These old rough edges we keep finding
Sooner or later they'll wear down smooth and shiny

(chorus)

There's traffic on the street
It's getting pale in the east
We'll be all right for now at least

There's a rayolight stabbing through
Could be we learned a trick or two
As the streetlights fade we can pull the shades
And rest this thing
Find us a place where the creeks runs clear
and the phone don't ring
These old rough edges we keep finding
Just got to work 'em a while till they wear down
smooth and shiny

Rayolight (Repeat to fade)

I woke up in a strange world
I can aptly describe
It's like the streets of a town where I lived
When I was too young to drive
It all looks so Familiar
But I can't find my way
I must have got lost in the back yard
When I went out to play

Don't open my eyes
To nothing like truth
Just leave it all lost in the wind
Let it hide in the blindness of youth

The facts of the matter
Most likely will always remain
And I guess I'll be lost in the back yard
Till I get home again

If somebody's calling,
it don't mean a thing
If I don't feel like talking,
I'll just let it ring
I Move along slowly and
I watch my back
And you tell me I'm crazy,
but I don't believe that

No, I'm right here now,
just a shade off plum
I get that way,
though it worries you some
Right here now and I know my mind
It won't be long a wandering

I remember a ball game I
watched as a kid
Neglecting my homework
as I often did
Joe Namath scored on a seven-yard run
His knees barely held him,
but they got the job done
And there'd be no last call if they elected me king
And if you were here with me, I'd tell you these things

But I'm right here now...
Just a shade off plum
I get that way though it worries you some
Right here now and I know my mind
And it won't be long a wandering

Outside it's raining soaking the ground
It started last evening and it's still coming down
I move along slowly and I watch my back
And you tell me I'm crazy, but I don't believe that
No, I'm right here now...
Right here now

There's an old magic eight ball next to my plate
And I ask it a question regarding my fate
It says, "reply hazy, please try again,"
It won't say where I'm going, it don't know where I've been

But I'm right here now, just a shade off plum
I get that way, it worries me none
Right here now and I know my mind
It won't be long a wandering

transcribed by Latenorther, dedicated to the most literate musician on the planet,
James

"You tell me I'm crazy, but I (sure as hell) don't believe that!"

Don't expect no favors, nothing in return
Tell all your cross-eyed neighbors that it's none of their concern
Open the shades Melinda, let in the outside air
I'm deep in doubt and I can't get out, and it must be dark in there
I wanna walk with you in the morning mist
Though I should be home by now
And there must be some way outta this
I was thinking you'd know how
And my judgement may be shaky
And my shoes are soaking through
'Cause the weeds are wet and I haven't yet made any sense of you

All the midnight angels
Fold their wings by dawn
The same old wild-eyed strangers sit and watch em till they're gone
I let the night unravel, forget my vain pursuits
"Cept to feel that gray rock gravel
On your road beneath my boots

I wanna walk with you in the changing light
When the shadows twist and play
And the ghosts that kept me out all night
We can chase em all away
And the talk of those that wonder
And the talk of those that curse
Let em have their thrill, they'll need it
We'll be no more for the worse

Shine your eyes upon me, whisper long and low
Mindful of the longing that we ever more may know

Up the ridge on past you, looking down below
You can see the stacks of Danville when the clouds don't hang so low
Should you take a mind to, won't you join me there
Open the shades Melinda, let in the outside air...