Big Year
They said it's gonna be a big year / They threw a party out on Sundance Square / I took a trip while I was standing / And the clock struck twelve / I hitched a ride to the Twilite Lounge / I saw some friends, was asked to settle down / But I was flying so she drug me out / And then things got weird. // Yeah it's gonna be a big year / Whatever's coming it can meet me here / I ain't brave, but I ain't scared. / Come what may. / I'll face it with an open heart / An open mind and my broken art. / There's no future written in the stars / That cannot be rewritten. // Bad news started pouring down / It kept on raining, it's still raining now / But here and there the sun peaks out / Behind the clouds. / And there were places that I thought I'd see / Some lovely faces that I'd planned to meet / Some music-making and songs to sing / In harmony // Still, it's gonna be a big year / Whatever's coming it can meet me here / I ain't brave, but I ain't scared. / Come what may. / I'll face it with an open heart / An open mind and my broken art. / There's no future written in the stars / That cannot be rewritten. // And off into the night we went / And the walls came down / What could be and what exists / Are ours to create as we choose. // Yeah they said it'd be a big year / They threw a party out on Sundance Square / I took a trip while I was standing there / And then things got weird.
The Lonesome Friends of Science
written by John Prine
The lonesome friends of science say / The world will end most any day / Well, if it does then that's okay / 'Cause I don't live here anyway / I live down deep inside my head / Where long ago I made my bed / I get my mail in Tennessee / My wife, my dog and my family / Uh-huh. // Now, poor ol' planet Pluto now / He never stood a chance no how / When he got uninvited to / The interplanetary dance / Once a mighty planet there / Now just an ordinary star / Hanging out in Hollywood / In some ol' funky sushi bar. // The lonesome friends of science say / The world will end most any day / Well, if it does then that's okay / 'Cause I don't live here anyway / I live down deep inside my head / Where long ago I made my bed / I get my mail in Tennessee / My wife, my dog, my kids and me / Uh-huh // The Vulcan lives in Birmingham / Sometimes he just don't give a damn / His head is full of bumble bees / His pride hangs down below his knees / Venus left him long ago / For a guy named Mars from Idaho / The Vulcan sent a wedding gift / A three-legged stool and a wheelchair lift / Uh-huh. // The lonesome friends of science say / This world will end most any day / Well, if it does then that's okay / 'Cause I don't live here anyway / I live down deep inside my head / Where long ago I made my bed / I get my mail in Tennessee / My wife, my dog, my kids and me / Uh-huh, uh-huh// Those bastards in their white lab coats / Who experiment with mountain goats / Should leave the Universe alone / It's not their business, not their home / I go to sleep and it never rains / My dog predicts hurricanes / She can smell a storm a mile away / That's all the news we have today / Uh-huh. // The lonesome friends of science say / This world will end most any day / Well, if it does then that's okay / 'Cause I don't live here anyway / I live down deep inside my head / Where long ago I made my bed / I get my mail in Tennessee / My wife, my dog, my kids and me / Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Dusty Passports & Empty Beds
If hindsight is 2020 / I hope to never look back again / Cause my eyes have done seen plenty / And my heart's about as heavy as it can stand. // We had to say goodbye to John Prine / And Paul English / Billy Joe and Jerry Jeff / Said hello to hard times / And lean living / Dusty passports / And empty beds. // Dusty passports and empty beds / This old world / Tilts and spins. / And makes it's way around again. // Had to face some demons / Tried to break some chains / Only to find ourselves tied up again. / And as the year was ending / When it seemed we'd made it through / Charley Pride died with three more weeks to go. // Dusty passports and empty beds / This old world / Tilts and spins. / And makes it's way around again. // If hindsight is 2020 / I hope to never look back again / Let this old world keep on spinning / As it makes it's way around again / Again and again.
Ey Brother
It's a wild world ey brother / Yes I saw the news today / Guess we've said it every day / But it's a wild world ey brother // Just gets wilder every day / Just gets wilder every day / Hard to see how things could change for the better / Yeah it's a wild world ey brother // And if it all goes to hell / Or if we wind up in jail / For not doing as we're told / At least we'll be standing with each other / Yeah it's a wild world ey brother. // It's a wild world ey brother / Yes I saw the news today / Guess we'll have to wait and see / It's a wild world ey brother // Probably always been this way / Probably just the human race / If the world's a stage and life's a play / It's probably always been this way // And if they merge us with machines / Or we're blown to smithereens / And this life on earth is done / At least we'll have stood by each other / Yeah it's a wild world ey brother // But if this crazy world don't end / If somehow love and reason win / Then we can smile at each other and / Say it's a wild world ey brother / Yeah then we'll laugh with each other / Say it's a wild world ey brother.
Thanksgiving Night
It's Thanksgiving night / Had my dinner in a diner / It's Thanksgiving night / Had my dinner in a diner / I worked all day / Gonna sleep alright. // The coffee was cold / But it got warmer / The coffee was cold / But it got warmer / The food weren't from home / But it cured my hunger // We can't stay eight years old forever / It's just like you're told / The years each pass faster. // So thankful to be with you tonight / Though it ain't like old days / We still got our choice of pies / Yeah we're alright. / All we know to do is make it. / Yeah, I'm so thankful for tonight. // Couldn't see her face / But I think she was smiling / Couldn't see her face / But I think she was smiling / And as she turned away / She said she'd be there 'til morning. // Saw a truck driving man / In a corner booth with his family / Saw a truck driving man / In a corner booth with his family / But the man at the bar, he was alone. // We can't stay eight years old forever / It's just like you're told / The years each pass faster / So thankful to be with you tonight / Though it ain't like old days / We still got our choice of pies / Yeah we're alright. / All we know to do is make it. / Yeah, I'm so thankful for tonight. // It's Thanksgiving night / Had my dinner in a diner.
Only To Be Songs
Were you singing bout me / When you were pouring out your sad heart? / Said you don't want to stop / And the sad songs keep flowing from your pen / With the falling each teardrop. / And were you thinking of me / When you were singing bout that dark room? / Oh how I hate to presume / I know I'm not the only one / Who's fallen at least a little from / A morning, evening, afternoon, or night with you. // We went walking / Talking 'bout the beauty and the magic / Of the natural world around us. / Sat on an old park bench / Deeply breathed each other in / Made love on the kitchen floor past dawn. / And now it's broken / Choking on the madness, 'neath the weight / Of the heavy days we're living / What a shame to think / That you and I are / Only to be songs. // Were you winking at me / When you were standing neath those bright lights? / With that smile so wide / And me grinning like a fool / And falling a little more for you / Eaten up and tryng to hide this lovesick. // We went walking / Talking 'bout the beauty and the magic / Of the natural world around us. / Sat on an old park bench / Deeply breathed each other in / Made love on the kitchen floor past dawn. / And now it's broken / Choking on the madness, 'neath the weight / Of the heavy days we're living / What a shame to think / That you and I are / Only to be songs. // Will you write about me / Like you wrote to me this morning / There's no play at all / And all the warmth is gone / And I don't know who you are / And you don't know me. // Yeah now it's broken / Choking on the madness, 'neath the weight / Of the heavy days we're living / What a shame to think / That you and I are / Only to be songs.
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
The sun is still shining over all of the land / It shines on the good, it shines on the bad, / And one of these days that 'ol sun is gonna set on us all. / There ain't no thing that ain't been done / Outside the days of that ancient old sun. // So have a party, have the best time / Take a long toke, pour the good wine / For tomorrow we die. // And there ain't an ocean, the moon ain't explored / Over their waters, she's pulled and she's poured / And the song that they sing is old as the sun. / They dance with the stars in the sky / And many ship sailed that won't sail tonight // So have a party, have the best time / Take a long toke, pour the good wine / For tomorrow we die. // On a bluff overlooking the pain of the world / A young girl sits crying, another gets stoned / And two brothers fight to the death over who's getting paid / A rich old king moves through the crowd / He lifts up his voice and they all gather round // Eat, drink, and be merry, my friends, / To ignore is a priveledge not everyone has / With some food in your belly, and a roof overhead / And some clean water flowing, and a dance in your step, // Have a party, have the best time / Take a long toke, pour the good wine / Have a party, have the best time / Take a long toke, pour the good wine / For tomorrow we die. / Tomorrow….
John's Songs
I's down in Dublin, TX in quarantine / When I heard the news that John Prine died / My little niece could see I's sad / And she asked if I's alright / I told her one of my favorite songwriters / Had just passed away / She hugged me tight and hid her eyes / And said, “I'm so, so sorry, but you still have us anyway.” / And I thought, “You know, she's right.” // Life's for the living / Death's for the dead / So who's to say we won't get / To see 'ol John again / Now he's got his rock n roll band in heaven / And I've got you / And we still got John's songs / To help us make it through. // Now I'd never had a vodka ginger ale before / But I thought if it's good enough for John in heaven / It's good enough for me here stuck indoors / And as the Handsome Johnny's flowed / Any my tears they did too / My broken heart couldn't help but smile / At the wisdom from the little girl. / Life's for the living / Death's for the dead / So who's to say we won't get / To see 'ol John again / Now he's got his nine mile cigarette / And I've got you / And we still got Johm's songs / To help us make it through. // Now somewhere 'round / Handsome Johnny four or five / This simple melody started / Humming behind my bloodshot eyes / Cause good music's medicine / And wise words a salve / Yeah Brother Prine sure blessed us all / Before he headed on up to town. // Life's for the living / Death's for the dead / And who's to say we won't get / To see 'ol John again / Now he's got to shake God's hand / And I've got you / And we still got all them songs / He left to help us through. / Yeah we still got all John's songs / To help us make it through.