Country

I don't wanna win your heart and mind

or call you mine/ just say the word

If I take it back then I can stay the night

And occupy/ your part of the world

And the flag(s) that you wave

Stand against/ dependence day

fighting back is just your piece of mind

it’s half past 9/ I’ll go

You’re surrounded by some empty frames

That face won’t change/ I know

And all/ that’s asked of me

Is “you and whose army?”

everybody wants your country

but I don’t/ honest

just hate that you’re free

everybody wants your country

but I don’t/ wanna

Hear you hum “Let it Be”

The Color of Her Eyes

I got the color of her eyes all wrong

a very mellow drama in song

such a simple question/turned act of aggression

I got the color of your eyes all wrong 

In the evening, a game of charades

in the evening, no games should be played

one syllable, sounds like/a person, place that I might

and she rolls her limpid whites my way

I got the color of her eyes all wrong

I got the color or her eyes all wrong

when you were through/ mine were red, white, and blue

I got the color of her eyes all wrong

Later at your makeup mirror

tried to makeup a face to cheer ya

shouldn't make passes/ to a girl in sunglasses

'cause its 21 lashes per tear

When you were through/ mine were red, white and blue

I got the color of your eyes all wrong

Jawbone

Got some bad faith, but I ain't faithless

gotta bad spine, but I'm not spineless

a nervous system, and I'm 10 kinds of nervous

courage up/ cold is how we serve it 

Ya, I'm an ass, but I won't be the last

jawbone

You took my land, then you took my water

some Uncle Sam, ain't here but he oughta

you got some nerve, makes me just a lil' nervous

dog under dog/ gonna hit 'em with my purse 

I'm not the arm, but I am the hammer

you've done some harm, sorry did I stammer?

be the anvil, or else you're the anchor

won't ya stand still/ just wanna thank ya

Ya, I'm an ass, but I won't be the last

jawbone

Next Last Waltz

How long/ 'til the end of this waltz

A promised dance put on hold/ time's lost 

waiting for the end of this waltz

How long/ 'til the end of this night

You promised a hand to hold/ but how tight?

And I'm waiting for the end of the night

At the Oddfellows Hall/ a crushed velet ball

the bandleaders taken my plea

that gunnysack dress/ your hair such a mess

hey Mister, play Misty for me

How long/ 'til the end of our lives

A promised hand to gold/ and white

'Cause I'm waiting for the end of our lives

...guess the waiting will make you my wife

Everyone Sings

Wrote you a poem/ just like the prose

outlined love's decorem/ put you in the throes

called me a beginner/ laughed at my rhymes

can't take you to dinner/ taking nothing but your time 

Please don't ya bore us/ just get to the chorus

get to the part where everyone sings

skip all the details/ the memories where we failed

nobody wants a tarnished, old ring 

You said it was all filling/ a terse little verse

well it coulda been Dylan/ coulda been much worse

but I wrote you that poem/ just like the cliche

ya told me where I could store 'em/

and to call it a day 

get past the the sunrise/ skip to the dry eyes

skip to my lou/ louie lou-ie

straight to the first dance/ might be your last chance

to get to the part where you part when you die 

How Do You Do?

If, by chance, we pass on the street

a tip of the hat, a peck on the cheek

How familiar lips/ can linger in place

How does a hug/ not turn into/ a beautiful/

awkward/ embrace 

How do you do...this? 

You said since I met you, never felt so alone

Gifts of candy and cotton, just don't make it home

Strangers and lovers/ don't go through this

Acquaint myself with another/ a mariner's/

water words/ in prayer

that's just between friends 

If, by chance, I asked you to meet

for simple instruction, just to get on my feet

Maybe show me how/ how to hold my hands

touch my face/ and tilt it/ in such a way/ so I/

might understand 

How do you do...this?

Lubec, Not Lubbock

It's a town with a lot of churches/ and it needs every last one

Redemption store curses/ that's mispronounced my son

Ya'll up here from Texas/ where it's tough with a capital T

Not sure where that left us/ but sounds like Sesame Street 

It's Lubec, not Lubbock/ the war of whose got it worse

Your lone star, is coming/ but the sun shines on ours first 

There were girls to be had/ but they both left

To get closer to the sunset/ and away from all this wet

A recession of the sexes / maybe our turn to secede                                                      

They might mess with Texas/ but they wouldn't mess around with me

Ya think you got it bad, so/ think it makes y'all that                  

I ain't seen any cattle/ so maybe you're all hat

Straightening out trawler lines/ but the governor has his limits

Work with slack to earn the time / to get twisted for a minute

Watchin' you sip two fisted/ 'cause you're trying not to smoke'

While your laughing at all of the coasters/

ya know, there's another coast

At 18, I was so much smarter/  least by half says most 

Yes, you got here from there/ please act like you've been before