Dar Williams

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Top Dar Williams, The Ocean

When I went to your town on the wide open shore,
Oh I must confess, I was drawn, I was drawn to the ocean,
I thought it spoke to me, it said, "Look at us,
We're not churches, not schools, not skating ponds, swimming pools,
And we have lost people, haven't we though?"
Oh, that's what the ocean can know of a body,
And that's when I came back to town, this town is a song about you.
You don't know how lucky you are, you don't know how much I adore you,
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.
I went back to the ocean today,
With my books and my papers I went to the rocks by the ocean,
But the weather changed quickly, oh the ocean said,
"What are you trying to find, i dont' care, I'm not kind,
I've bludgeoned your sailors, I've spat out their keepsakes,
Oh it's ashes to ashes, but always the ocean,"
But the ocean can't come to this town, this town is a song about you.
You don't know how lucky you are, you don't know how much I adore you,
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.
And the ones that can know you so well are the ones that can swallow you whole.
I have a good and I have an evil, I thought the ocean, the ocean thought nothing,
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.
I didn't go back today,
I wanted to show you that I was more land than water,
I went to pick flowers. I brought them to you,
Look at me, look at them, with their salt up the stem,
But you frowned when I smiled and I tried to arrange them,
You said, "Let me tell you the song of this town,"
You said, "Everything closes at five. After that, well, you just got the bars,
You don't know how precious you are, walking around with your little shoes dangling,
I am the one who lives with the ocean,
It's where we came from, you know, and sometimes I just want to go back,
After a day, we drink 'til we're drowning, walk to the ocean, wade in with our workboots,
Wade in our workboots, try to finish the job.
You don't know how precious you are, I am the one who lives with the ocean.

Top Dar Williams, The Christians And The Pagans

Amber called her uncle, said "We're up here for the holiday,
Jane and I were having Solstice, now we need a place to stay."
And her Christ-loving uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,
He watched his song hang candy canes all made with red dye number three.
He told his niece, "Its Christmas Eve, I know our life is not your style,"
She said, "Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you and its been awhile,"
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said,
Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses.
The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, "Is it try that youre a wtich?"
His mom jumped up and said, "The pies are burning," and she hit the kitchen,
And it was Jane who spoke, she said, "Its true, your cousins not a Christian,"
"But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share,
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere,"
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And where does magic come from? I think magics in the learning,
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.
When Amber tried to do the dishes, her aunt said, "Really, no, dont bother."
Ambers uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father.
He thought about his brother, how they hadnt spoken in a year,
He thought hed call him up and say, "Its Christmas and your daughters here."
He thought of fathers, sons and brothers, so his own son tug his sleeve, saying,
"Can I be a Pagan?" Dad said, "Well discuss it when they leave."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, and

Top Dar Williams, The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis Of A Co-ed

I'm not a leader, i'm not a left-wing rhetoric mobilizing force of one,
But there was a time way back, many years ago in college, don't laugh,
But I thought I was a radical, I ran the hemp Liberation League with my
boyfriend,
It was true love, with a common cause, and besides that, he was a Sagittarius.
We used to say that our love was like hemp rope, three times as strong as the
rope that you buy domestically,
And we would bond in the face of oppression from big business and the deans,
But I knew there was a problem, every time the group would meet everyone would
light up,
That made it difficult to discuss glaucoma and human rights, not to mention
chemotherapy.
Well sometimes, life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging,
And so I found him in the arms of a Student Against the Treacherous use of Fur,
And he gave no apology, he just turned to me, stoned out to the edge of
oblivion,
He didn't pull up the sheets and I think he even smiled as he said to me,
"Well, I guess our dreams went up in smoke."
And I said, No, our dreams went up in dreams, you stupid pothead,
And another thing, what kind of a name is Students Against the Treacherous Use
of Fur?
Fur is already dead, and besides, a name like that doesn't make a good acronym.
I am older now, I know the rise and gradual fall of a daily victory.
And I still write to my senators, saying they should legalize cannabis,
And I should know, cause I am a horticulturist, I have a husband and two
children out in Lexington, Mass.
And my ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out, because he's in a cult.

Top Dar Williams, The Blessings

If you're gonna get your heart broke, you better do it just right,
It's gotta be raining,a nd you gotta move your stuff that night,
And the only friend you can reach isn't a good friend at all,
And you know when he says "Now who dumped who?" that you never should have made that call.
I had the blessings, there's nobody there, there's nobody home,
Yeah the blessings, at the moment I was most alone
And aimless as a fulltime fool, the joke was on me,
I got all those birds flying off of that tree, and that's a blessing.
And the blessings were like poets that we never find time to know,
But when time stopped I found the place where the poets go.
And they said, "Here have some coffee, it's straight, black and very old,"
And they gave me sticks and rocks and stars and all that I could hold,
I had the blessings, a moment of peace even when the night ends,
Yeah the blessings, can we meet? Can we meet again,
At the crossroads of disaster and the imperfect smile,
With the angel in the streetlamp that blinks on as I walk on a mile, the blessings.
And the best ones were the ones I got to keep as I grew strong,
And the days that opened up until my whole life could belong,
And now I'm getting the answers, when I don't need them anymore,
I'm finding the pictures, and I finally know what I kept them for,
I remember, I can see them, see them smiling, see them stuck,
See them try, I wish them luck and all the blessings.
I was fast asleep at three in the morning when I got the payphone call,
And she said, "Did I wake you up," I said, "Hey, no, not at all."
And she said, "I got this suitcase and I don't know what to pack,"
And I said, "You can take anything you want, just wait and see,
It's not a release, not a reward, it's the blessings,
Its the gift of what you notice more,"
And I walked out and I watched her kick the big pile of the night,
And we sat down and we waited for that strange and empty light.
Yeah the blessings...
See them smiling, see them stuck,

Top Dar Williams, Southern California Wants To Be Western New York

There's a part of the country could drop off tomorrow in an earthquake,
Yeah it's out there on the cutting edge, the people move, the sidwalks shake.
And there's another part of the country with a land that gently creaks and thuds,
Where the heavy snows make faucets leak in bathrooms with free-standing tubs.
They're in houses that are haunted, the with kids who lie awake and think about
All the generations past who used to use that dripping sink.
And sometimes one place wants to slip into the other just to see
What it's like to trade its demons for the restless ghost of Mrs. Ogilvey,
She used to pick the mint from her front yard to dress the Sunday pork,
Sometimes southern California wants to be western New York.
It wants to have a family business in sheet metal or power tools,
It wants to have a diner where the coffee tastes like diesel fuel,
And it wants to find the glory of a town they say has hit the skids,
And it wants to have a snow day that will turn its parents into kids,
And it's embarrassed, but it's lusting after a SUNY student with mousy brown hair who is
Taking out the compost, making coffee in long underwear.
And southern California says to save a place, I'll meet you there,
And it tried to pack up its Miata, all it could fit was a prayer,
Sometimes the stakes are bogus, sometimes the fast lane hits a fork,
Sometimes southern California wants to be western New York.
Tempe, Arizona thinks the Everglades are greener and wetter,
And Washington, D. C. thinks that Atlanta integrated better,
But I think that southern California has more pain that we can say,
Cause it wants to travel back in time, but it just can't leave L. A.
But now I hear they've got a theme park planned, designed to make you gasp and say,
Oh, I bet that crumbling mill town was a booming mill town in its day,
And the old investors scoff at this, but the young ones hope they'll take a chance,
And they promise it will make more dough than Mickey Mouse in northern France,
And the planners planned an opening day, a town historian will host,
And the waitresses look like waitresses who want to leave for the west coast.
And they'll have puttering on rainy weekends, autumn days that make you feel sad,
They'll have hundred year old plumbing and the family you never had,
And a Hudson River clean-up concert and a bundle-bearing stork,

Top Dar Williams, All My Heroes Are Dead

You gotta admit Life magazine made 1968 look great,
My father said it sucked, everybody died.
All the troops you couldn't save, no one knew how to be brave,
He said sometimes you were afraid to turn your radio on.
It was enough to make you quit that peacenick scene.
Well I heard about leaders, yeah I hear they're no longer around
Cause peace was abandoned, and bravery hanged in his town.
And they passed down a sentence
For building on the beauty of some dream.
All my heroes are dead, I got them in my head, saying
Never again, never a war, no more fighting.
So I'll stay true to them, and they'll come home again,
I'll carry the light, follow the dream, I'll remember.
The '68 convention was a singing the times they are a-changing,
Well I guess they a-changed back.
Oh I miss those peaceful folk, love and humor when they spoke, hey
Phil Ochs you still sound great, should've stuck around to hear it.
They say that compact disc makes songs come true.
But Phil I never expected that I'd miss you like a friend,
Cause I never expected that we would be marching again.
And the soldiers of peace would tumble from this life as in a war.
All my heroes are dead, and all the books I read,
Said "This is greed, this is wrong, fight your war at home".
So I'll stay true to them, and they'll come home again,
I'll carry the light, follow the dream, I'll remember.
So back to the present passion, romance, love, or simply put a lack thereof.
Shall we go on?
I don't take it personally, it's our post-modern history,
You know since Nixon was impeached it's just been hard to commit,
So we cast our allegance left and right.
But I always believed that our souls would come through.
So I never expected that you'd take her home with you.
And I never detected, how hardened and not sorry you could be.
Don't you know?
All our heroes are dead, we got ourselves instead.
And oh my friend, all your lies, they won't do you.
You gotta stay true to them, and they'll come home again,
I miss them too, I miss them too, you know I miss them

Top Dar Williams, Anthem

Oh I fell in love, like they do in the magazines,
On a football field, it was a long daydream.
All my high school spent in faithful disbelief
I know that he looks dumb, but he's smart underneath.
They say I'm a bright kid, and I have a future,
With the Puritan blessing of Work to be done,
But to see him cradling that beer is all that I'm seeing.
But now it's college days, and now I'm driving home
With my list of books to read and that self-important tone
And my parents, I read them like the news
I know where they went wrong and they're not friends I would choose.
And there's a sunset over the mountains
I shout my scorn to the splendorous sky,
For how does this light compare to all the world suffering?
But now it's a working day, I've lain those gloves to rest.
And now I'm hanging over the sink with a pregnancy test.
You can relax, babe, results are negative.
Oh but how I thought of kids, who they'd be, about where we'd live.
And I saw them climbing up Break Neck Ridge.
They found the neighbors' woods for to make them their own,
And I'll see them dancing across the lawns of my homeland.
We found the town in sixteen forty-one,
For to farm and to pray and Metro North to run.
We took the fields, the marsh and the moon and the sun
We got to work before the day was done.
And I'll see them dancing across the lawns of my homeland.
I am an American.
From the fourth grade turkey pageant to the protest march I stand.
I am an American.
I know there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand.
Hey I know where I come from, but I have a question,
Shall we the people never come home?

Top Dar Williams, Calamity John

Come lovers, come loners, remember yourselves
As lusty tempestuous fools
When your dream was to conquer an ocean
From your small secretarial pools
When you stood at the gulf of unknowing
When you saw the great tundra of time
And you cried for the winds to come blowing
And you called a monsoon from the tides of the moon
'Cause the roads were all dusty and dry
Come lame dancing lonely tonight
When what should appear in the distance
Blown hither and yon it's Calamity John
And hes coming to sweep you away---Aye I Aye Ayy
He'll tear through the homefront, he'll lift you up laughing
He'll blow every signpost away
As the weather report says high drama
With a five percent chance that he'll stay
Now the floor starts to rock and the roof floats
And your friends say he's bad for your health
And they've warmed you about him on talk shows
So you told him to pack, hit the road, don't come back
And he says hey "Don't flatter yourself" ....and you say.....
I am closing my door to the storm
I am saving myself from its freedom
I have put the chain on, oh calamity john
I don't want you to dance me away---Aye I Aye Ayy
So its seven months later you've bolted your hair back
You're almost immune to the moon
And at parties you stay in the kitchen
Common sense with a big wooden spoon
All at once you can feel the storm coming
As you burst out into the old refrain
To the sound of America drumming
Call it pain, call it art, call it open your heart
Let it go let it fly, let it rain(Oh yeah)
He smiles and the clouds turn to black
With the wind through the flowers come blowing
The warning bell's on, "What's your name, Oh it's John",

Top Dar Williams, Stop Smoking

It's the start of a new life day.
Oh yeah, right, like I haven't heard that one before.
You know everything I try to quit I only want it some more.
So I let the weeds grow up, call them flowers of the common man.
But in my head, in my head, I can hear the gentle voices say,
'Stop smoking, take a deep breath and stop smoking
Then you can take more deep breaths, stop smoking.
Spend a few more days with your family and friends.
And if you want to keep hitting that high note, stop smoking.
And I won't do it for another soul.
No it's gotta be me. I want to say when and where
there's a mountain to climb.
And thank you very much, I want to waste my own time.
After his way and her way, and they left me in the darkest allies.
But it's time. I guess it's time, cause the voice is getting stronger still.
'Stop smoking, time to reach for higher realms, stop smoking.
Time to boycott Jesse Helms, stop smoking.
And then you can check 'NO' when they ask if you smoke.
And all that stuff feels great, stop smoking.
Well there's a door I ran away from for every door I tried.
And now I got my guilty conscience and I got my guilty pride.
And now you tell me that the world needs my hot blood, my wildest dreams.
And all that my mending bones and unschooled heart have to give.
So, big surprise, I just stopped smoking.
Yeah, la dee dah, now don't remind me. I think I'm going insane.
But I got the guts to leave the cult of beautiful pain.
Where I danced with seven veils of mysterious pollution.
And it's hard, I think it's hard, trying to find a life that I can live.
Janis Joplin, great spirit lost the wheel, stop running.
The center could not feel, start feeling.
I know life can make and break an acid queen.

Top Dar Williams, Closer To Me

You can leave this house, leave this town
Leave it all to me or you'll never leave the ground
Look at that tiny screen's too small for you
I think you should learn to dream just like the dreamers do
What can you do with a day?
What will you wake up and see?
The farther you get
The closer to me
Am I the habit you're too tired to break?
I want you to love me with every step you take
What can you do with a day?
What will you wake up and see?
The farther you get
The closer to me
Taj Mahal, Cameroon, back in time, to the moon
Frozen lake, cypress trees, Florida's missing keys
El Dorado, Spain or bust Eiffel Tower, Paris
Just find your way in
You can leave this house, leave this town
All that's left to chart
Is nothing less than your own heart
What can you do with a day?
What will you wake up and see?
The farther you get
The closer to me
Down the river, down the road, Little Rock, Tokyo
Dusty trail, Flagstaff, in a faded photograph
Thunderstorm, Golden Sands, Cape of Horn, Pakistan
Suriname, Highway One, Chinatown, smoking gun
Golden Gate, Baltic Sea, Painted Desert, Laramie
Taj Mahal, Cameroon, back in time, to the moon
Frozen lake, cypress trees, Florida's missing keys
El Dorado, Spain or bust, Eiffel Tower, Paris

Top Dar Williams, Echoes

Every time you love just a little
Take one step closer, solving a riddle
It echoes all over the world
Every time you opt in to kindness
Make one connection, used to divide us
It echoes all over the world
Ahh, ahh, ahh
Every time you choose one more morning
Goodness or meanness, life has one warning
It echoes all over the world
When a leader gets the hungry fed food
When you just make love inside your bedroom
It echoes all over the world
Ahh, ahh, ahh
Ahh, ahh, ahh
All over the world
Every time you love just a little
Take one step closer, solving a riddle
It echoes all over the world
It echoes all over the world
It echoes all over the world
It echoes all over the world
All over the world
And it echoes all over the world
And it echoes all over the world
It echoes all over the world
It echoes all over the world

Top Dar Williams, Hudson

If we're lucky we feel our lives know when the next scene arrives
So often we start in the middle and work our way out
We go to some gray sky diner for eggs and toast
New York Times or the New York Post
Then we take a ride through the valley of the shadow of death
But even for us New Yorkers
There's a time in every day
The river takes our breath away
And the Hudson, it holds the life
We thought we did it on our own
The river roads collect the tolls for the passage of our souls
Through silence, over woods, through flowers and snow
And past the George Washington Bridge
Down from the trails of Breakneck Ridge
The river's ancient path is sacred and slow
And as it swings through Harlem
It's every shade of blue
Into the city of the new brand new
And the Hudson yeah, it holds the life
We thought we did it on our own
I thought I had no sense of place or past
Time was too slow, but then too fast
The river takes us home at last
Where and when does the memory take hold
Mountain range in the Autumn cold
And I thought West Point was Camelot in the spring
If you're lucky you'll find something that reflects you
Helps you feel your life protects you
Cradles you and connects you to everything
This whole life I remember
As they begged them to itself
Never turn me into someone else
And the Hudson yeah, it holds the life
We thought we did it on our own
And the Hudson yeah, holds the life

Top Dar Williams, I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything

Oh, what have we here, he must be three or four
Checking out of the booth on his way back to war
And heâ€™s not looking for a father or a mother
Just a seven year old brother
On this match line border camp of refugees
I am the one who will remember everything
I am the one who will remember everything
So where are we now, he must be five or six
Just running around, hungry kids, sharpen sticks
And he will grow with pain, and fear, and jealousy
Taking in by school of zealotry
Who trained orphans to make orphans evermore
I am the one who will remember everything
I am the one who will remember everything
I am the one who will remember everything
I am the one who will remember everything
We drink the smoke, we ride the noise
We drink the smoke, we ride the noise
And you say itâ€™s necessary

Top Dar Williams, Empire

Who's afraid of the sun?
Who'd question the goodness of the mighty?
We who banish the threat
When your little ones all go nighty-nighty
Well, there's no time for doubt right now
And less time to explain
So get back on your horses
Kiss my ring, join our next campaign
And the Empire grows with the news that we're winning
With more fear to conquer
And more gold thread for spinning
Bright as the sun, shining on everyone
Some would say that we forced our words
And we find that ingenuously churlish
Words are just words
Don't be so pessimistic, weak and girlish
We like strong and happy people
Who don't think there's something wrong with pride
Work makes them free
And we spread that freedom far and wide
And the Empire grows, the seeds of its glory
For every five tanks, plant a sentimental story
Till they worship the sun
Even Christ loving ones
And we'll kill the terror who rises
And a million of their races
But when our people torture you
That's a few random cases
Don't question the sun, it doesn't help anyone
But the journalist cried out
"When it was too late to stop us
Everyone had awakened to the dream
They could enter our Colossus"
And now I'm right, here you said I'm right
There's nothing that can harm me
'Cause the sun never sets
On my dungeons or my army
And the Empire fell
On its own splintered axis
And the Emperor wanes
As the silver moon waxes
And the farmers will find our coins
In their strawberry fields
While somebody somewhere
Twists his ring as someone kneels
Oh where is the sun shining for everyone?

Top Dar Williams, Fishing In The Morning

Let's go fishing in the morning
Just like we've always gone
You can come inside and wake me up
We'll pack and leave by dawn
We will pack and leave by dawn
And you'll say, "I hear something"
And I'll say, "Never you mind"
It's just our two poles knockin' in the back seat
And your truck is running fine today
And everything is fine
And your truck will climb up slowly
And we'll see how far we've gone
And the hills will stretch before us
They all are rolling on and on
They all are rolling on and on
And the fish will watch our boat
With envy and with fear
Because we will live forever
And our days are slow and dear
And our days are slow and dear
We'll go fishing in the morning
Even though we've never gone
With two fishing poles in the backseat
We're the rolling on and on

Top Dar Williams, I Saw A Bird Fly Away

I asked the habitual party goer,
Just how high she thought she'd get?
And I asked the Ethereal Girls,
(Ethereal Girls)
If they were floating yet?
And so I asked the light of the day
"What's this rush for Heaven?"
And I saw a bird fly away and I could not ask again
The tabloid tainted actress knows
The myth of higher ground
The thing she got from playin' a nun
She got from sleepin' around
And so I asked the light of the day
"What's this rush for Heaven?"
And I saw a bird fly away and I could not ask again
Do you feelin' the mother [Incomprehensible]
The decaying in my tent?
I wonder whose laughin' at
And I've been running uphill
Panting, punching at the air
Fighting what's been pushing me down
Like I can't see it there
And so I asked the light of the day
"What's this rush for Heaven?"
And I saw a bird fly away and I could not ask again
And I saw all this climbing, climbing
Just as far from Heaven
And I saw a bird fly away and I started climbing again
Whose laughin' at
Do you feelin' the mother [Incomprehensible]

Top Dar Williams, It's Alright

I know change is a bad thing,
Breaks me down into a sorry sad thing
Not some iridescent grateful butterfly.
I'll resist with defiance,
Not the valor of a mystic silence,
I will fight the dizzy spiral of goodbye.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Please don't say you don't love me,
Never dangle any sword above me,
With the kind of change that severs me in two.
Give me amberizing glasses.
Could you slow it down like molasses,
As I salvage my old self away from you.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
Because I have seen insane things,
All those grand, historic paintings.
Morning light on polished swords and burnished pride.
Anxious smiles encased in whalebone,
Spines of steel from head to tailbone,
Cannons poised to blast the turning of the tide.
It's a sad and a strange thing.
But it's time and I am changing.
Into something good or bad, well that's your guess.
I'm my own sovereign nation,
Dedicated to a transformation,
Marching on with this target on my chest, oh yes,
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
And it's alright, it's alright, it's alright.

Top Dar Williams, I Have Been Around The World

Well you make my coffee, and itâ€™s only 3am, but soon Iâ€™m going on my way
And my time is almost up, I hold my coffee cup, we sit with nothing left to say
And I know that soon I will be touching down
In a shining city or a mountain town
I have been around the world, but all that I can see
Are these moments that we have, youâ€™re all the world to me
Well thereâ€™s always laughter, and the parties after, and the fond farewell will before I go
Leaving town, the window panes they flash like movie frames, the last scene in a picture show
But I know that I am not alone and you are the one that I can tell my stories to
I have been around the world, thereâ€™s so much there to see
And the story never ends youâ€™re all the world to me
Then I know there are times you think Iâ€™ve lost my way, but there is no way this can be true
Cause when Iâ€™m walking through, the door I look for you, youâ€™re all Iâ€™m looking for
And itâ€™s truer now then itâ€™s ever been and the lucky one that love has taken in
I have been around the world from sea to shining sea,
I wish that you were here. Youâ€™re all the world to me
I have been around the world from sea to shining sea

Top Dar Williams, I Love, I Love (traveling Ii)

I heard love can fall so hard, it can bury a kingdom
I heard it makes the spring appear out of season
It's a storm in a shadowbox, a force to be reckoned with,
When it finds you and find you, it will.
And I'd not believed it til I loved, I love
The rivers sing and stars awaken above me
And the wind and the moon in fits of restless conspiring
Turn night to heaven for you.
But I am going to a far, far land
I know it sure as I've a past and a future
With my maps on the table, you see, I have lost many things
So many I won't turn back.
And were I a deadwood ship, my heart a compass
I would leave with inanimate grace, no love could touch me
But I live and I know that I'll burn as I grow
Though it might break my heart to walk away and so
As a moon may adore you and remain, high moon
The wind may crown your head with leaves, and keep blowing
So I'll stop and I'll watch you, for I love, I love

Top Dar Williams, This Was Pompeii

I am thinking about the woman in a century of peace,
On a bright mosaic she is washing on her knees,
And she looks up at the black sky beyond the mountain tall,
She says, "Oh good, the rain is finally going to fall today."
This was Pompeii
And everyone has memories of the night that melted stone,
The neighbor's nightgown, the screaming on the phone,
And the tired man at the station says, "We can't tell who's alive,
All we ever know is that the tourists survive."
"Tra la, tra la," they say, they say,
"Let's Go Pompeii."
And I think about Pompeii when I feel an end is near,
Just before the rain and eveyr time you disappear,
And I think about a teacup, suspended and half served,
And all the scholars know is that it's perfectly preserved.
"Oh, oh," that's all, they say,
"This was Pompeii."
And as for my on kingdom, not a table leg was charred,
I simply lost my kingdom, 'cause I held it much too hard,
Once I had a sadness, the sadness turned to trust,
The trust turned into ashes and to lawyers and dust,
A century, a day,

Top Dar Williams, Mercy Of The Fallen

Oh, my fair North Star
I have held to you dearly
I had asked you to steer me
'Til one cloud scattered night
I got lost in my travels
I met Leo the lion
Met a king and met a giant
With their errant knight
There's the wind and the rain
And the mercy of the fallen
Who say they have no claim
To know what's right
There's the weak and the strong
And the beds that have no answers
And that's where I may rest my head tonight
I saw all the bright people
In imposing flocks they landed
And they got what they demanded
And they scratched at the ground
Then they flew, and the field
Grew as sweetly for the flightless
Who had longing yet despite this
They could hear every sound
There's the wind and the rain
And the mercy of the fallen
Who say they have no claim
To know what's right
If your sister or your brother
Were stumbling on their last mile
In a self-inflicted exile
We'd wish for them a humble friend
And I hope someday
That the best of Falstaff's planners
Give me seven half-filled manors
Where half-dreams may dream without end
There's the wind and the rain
And the mercy of the fallen
Who say, "Hey, it's not my place
To know what's right"
There's the weak and the strong
And the many stars that guide us

Top Dar Williams, Many Great Companions

I tried again, I went last night.
Another date was just not right.
And as I drove myself back home,
A little voice said just be alone,
But sometimes I think I see you in a crowd,
It's not picture perfect, but you're meant for me somehow,
And I'll miss you till I meet you,
I'll miss you till I meet you,
I miss you all the time.
I love the world just as it is.
And I won't lose my faith in it.
But there are days I think of you
Saying, 'hey, that's beautiful,
Yeah, I see it too.'
It all goes by so fast, like waving hands
You want to capture things,
find someone who understands,
And I'll miss you till I meet you,
I'll miss you till I meet you,
I miss you all the time.
Can you keep me awake?
I thought you could help,
Just to feel my way,
Find my better self.
I'll miss you, I'll miss you, I miss you all the time.
The morning's gone, all dreamed away,
But that's all right, it's Saturday,
When people think that they might see
The next chapter, their destiny.
And when Monday morning comes around,
I'll get the work done, but I'll listen for the sound.
And I'll miss you till I meet you,
I'll miss you till I meet you,
I miss you all the time.

Top Dar Williams, Book Of Love

Tell me what you see
Is it close to what you dreamed?
If I play a part can I be redeemed?
We pore through the passages
From leather volume shelves
But they only leave us wondering
Can we find ourselves
In the book of love? In the book of love?
Looking for the one, waiting on a day
Countless dinner parties
And all the games we play
All for some processional
A solemn wedding vow
A picture in a picture frame
That beauty can allow
In the book of love, in the book of love
And love becomes a temple
And we begin to fear
That an unfeeling oracle will say
You did come near
But you are not welcome here
This is who I am
All the places that I've been
The fondness and regret
Every love that I've been in
And I've played all the characters
The fool, the friend, the wife
And no matter what the ending is
The story of my life is the book of love
Is the book of love, is the book of love

Top Dar Williams, Arrival

Words and music by Dar Williams
My dad's a miracle and so's my mom.
They fly over the blue.
They finish their dinner and then they take one another's hand.
And off they go to find a broader point of view.
For it's a give and take beyond the ordinary.
What with all the cats and kid's that they've loved.

Top Dar Williams, Alleluia

Words and music by Dar Williams
Ron and Nancy got the house but Sid and Nancy rule
I died 8 years ago I'm still a legend at my high school
I stole a Chevy and I wrapped it round a tree
But that's OK cause no one's gonna make the next century
I'm up in heaven now they say I'm here to stay
Where the clouds are really puffy and the angels sing every day
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia, Wo-oh . . .
The cafeteria's got everything it's gonna drive me mad
Cause it looks just like a big Hawaiian party that my mother had
It's like the worst Elvis film I've ever seen
Technicolor luau all on technicolor green
There's camping trips and donkey rides and singing round the fire
And they signed me up for surfing
But they can't get me in the choir
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia, Wo-oh . . .
But there she was this morning getting fitted for her wings
Leather boots magenta hair and saying nasty things
I'd say she was an angel but it's stupid and it's obvious
I said you'll hate it here cause we're the only ones like us
It's crypto-fascist mania it's silicon deliria
Yeah, she said, you're right, but I like the cafeteria
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Hey God we're the bad kids we're so nasty mean and vile
God looks like a guidance counselor God's got that smile
God says, how could this be, that's really odd
I guess I'll have to check my records, silly me, you know, I'm only
God . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The waves are perfect and the sun will always shine
But there's got to be more to death than surfing all the time
I know the signs of self-destruction so I try to stop each new kid
Don't be like me, forever young, forever stupid
Yeah, I found love here but I'll bet you'll find it there
Where they don't always make the same joke
Gee you make a heavenly pair
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia

Top Dar Williams, Mark Rothko Song

Words and music by Dar Williams
The blue it speaks so full
It's like the beauty one can barely stand
Or too much things dropped in your hand
And there's a green like the peace
In your heart sometimes
Printed underneath the sheets of ashy snow
And there's a blue like where the urban angels go, very bright
Now the Calder mobile tips a biomorphic sphere
Then it swings its dangling pieces
round to other paintings here
Your behavior is so male
It's like you can't explain yourself to me
I think I'll ask Renoir to tea
For his flowers are as real as they are all the time
And the sunlight sets the furniture aglow
It's a pleasant time as far as people go, how far do they go?
Well his roses are perfect and his words have no wings
I know what he can give me and I like to know these things
I met her at the funeral
She said I don't know what he meant to me
I just know he affected me
An effect not unlike his art,
I believe
The service starts and we are in the know
He had so much to say but more to show, and ain't that true of life?
So we weep for a person who lived at great cost
Yet we barely knew his powers till we sensed that we had lost
A friend and I in a museum room
She says, "Look at Mark Rothko's side
Did you know about his suicide?
Some folks were born with a foot in the grave, but not me, of course"
And she smiles as if to say we're in the know
Then she names a coffee place where we can go, uptown
Now the painting is desperate, but the crowds wash away

Top Dar Williams, In Love But Not At Peace

Love took a long time, it followed me here
And it landed on light feet, and it whispered in my ear
Love spoke of my past as a valuable test
And smiled, and said she who loves last loves best
'Cause you know life is hard, but now you also know your mind,
So now you're going out to love, but on your own side this time
Where you still think of famine, and you still dig up train fare
And you won't mind the wrinkles, 'cause you know how they got there
In love but not at peace
In love but not at peace.
Once for me love was the boat inside of a bottle,
It felt like a gondola ride,
When you float with the nicknacks, and you don't hear a sound
Where the fish never lived, and you don't miss the ground
And the moon hangs above like a Valium pill
And I say I'll be fine, but I don't think that I will
But today I got work, and I like it that way
It's a case of a still life gone cinéma verité
In love but not at peace
In love but not at peace.
And I still need the beauty of words sung and spoken
And I live with the fear that my spirit will be broken
And that's the way I thought it would be
That's the way I always wanted it to be.
So I'll keep you wondering what time I'm arriving
And you'll drive me crazy with your backseat driving
And I'll talk in my sleep and you'll steal all the covers
We'll argue it out and we'll call ourselves lovers
And I'll stay in my body and you'll stay in your own
'Cause we know that we're born and we're dying alone.
So we turn out the light while the sirens are screaming
And we kiss for the waking, and then join the dreaming.
In love, but not at peace

Top Dar Williams, I Love, I Love

Top Dar Williams, Flinty Kind Of Woman

It's a small town life and I like it
'Cause the bad don't get in your way
There's an angry God gonna strike it
Yeah, that's what we pay him for, that's why we pray
Well I guess the angry God he was a-fishing
When Molly called me up with the news
Within the space of a week
Yeah, a pervert or a sex freak
Let the kids take a peek
That's more than a little cheek
No pun intended
Ay-yi-yipee-yipee-yi-yi-ay
Going east of Mississippi got a flinty kind of woman
And you don't act smart and you don't touch my children
If the young man wants to see the sun go down
Well there was no time fooling with the trifles
So there was no use in telling the men
They would just go running for their rifles
And then once you got him couldn't get him again
So Peg got a bolt of fishing tackle
And Marge got her gardening clips
And Sally LaBiche put her hound on a leash
And the timer on the quiche, she's kind of nouveau riche
But we like her
Ay-yi-yipee-yipee-yi-yi-ay
Going east of Mississippi got a flinty kind of woman
And you don't act fresh and you don't touch my children
If the young man wants to see the sun go down
It was the kids who spotted him a running
As we drove through the harbor fog
And that's when we got our engines gunning
'Cause we knew he was headed for the cranberry bog
We got our hip-high rubber boots strapped on
And Molly got the big flashlights out
And by the "Welcome to New England" sign
Got him with the fishing line
In the dark smell of brine
Betty said "This one is mine."
She is ruthless
Ay-yi-yipee-yipee-yi-yi-ay
Going east of Mississippi got a flinty kind of woman
And you just say no and you don't touch my children
If the young man wants to see the sun go down
Well we didn't have to drag him and a-jail him
'Cause you don't have to take it so far
When your roots go back to Old Salem
And you've got a local chapter of the DAR
Now I don't go tooting on my lobsters
'Cause your pride doesn't go with your plaid
But it's a victory won and it couldn't be done
By the hippy-dippy flaky-shaky fun-in-the-sun
Braless wonders
Ay-yi-yipee-yipee-yi-yi-ay
Going east of Mississippi got a flinty kind of woman
And you know your place and you don't touch my children
If the young man wants to see the sun go down

Top Dar Williams, Traveling Again

Words and music by Dar Williams
Have I got everything? Am I ready to go?
Is it going to be wild, is it gonna be the best time?
Or am I just a-saying so-o-o-o? Am I ready to go?
What do I hear when I say I hear the call of the road?
I think it started with driving, more speed, more deals, more
sky, more wheels
More things to leave behind, now it's all in a day for the
modern mind
And I am traveling again
Calling this a ghost town, and where is the heartland?
And I'm afraid, oh, was there any good reason, that I had to go
When all I know is I can never come back.
Traveling I made a friend, he had a trouble in his head
And all he could say's that he knew that the bottle
Drank the woman from his bed, from his bed
He said "I'm not gonna lose that way again."
But sober is just like driving, more joy, more dread, someone
turns her head
And smiles and disappears
He's gotta take it like it is, and it goes too fast
And he is just like me, caught in-between, no sage advisor
Does weary mean wiser?
And someday will I sing the mountains that carried me away away
From home and hometown boys like you?
Yeah, but what about us? Was it really that bad?
Oh it's hard to believe I want a highway roadstop
More than all the times we had, on little dirt roads
What am I reaching for that's better than a hand to hold?
It really was about driving, not fame, not wealth,
Not driving away from myself
It's just myself drove away from me
And now I gotta get it back and it goes so fast, so I am traveling
again
Sitting at the all-nite, picking up a pen
And I'm afraid, oh, was there any good reason
That I had to go, when all I know is I am all alone again
And you are the ghost town, and I am the heartland
And I can say, oh, that's a very good reason
That I had to go, but now all I know is I can never come back

Top Dar Williams, This Is Not The House That Pain Built

My house is hard to find, but I'll give you directions,
You can visit sometime, down where all that I built surrounds me
Just make sure your car's got good shocks
There's steep hills, there's potholes, there's rocks
I work in the garden, my son plays around me
Close the gate behind you, there's a horse that can't get out
I will see you first, is that all right
And can you remember, can you remember
This is not the house that pain built
This is not the house that pain built
I was drowning in something, I jumped in the rift
And you knew me back then, when I spat on my gift, but no
It's tough and it's tiring when you go it alone
I learned about wiring, I learned about stone
The building is done but the work's never through
And I won't give up, no how, it reminds me of who I am and where I am now
I remember myself, that's the work that I do
On a spring night when the snow is melting
You'll see two sets of footprints walking
Look at all the stars, and turn around, and walk home,
Slowly walk home.
This is not the house that pain built
That is not a house that pain ubilt
My friends all think that I holed up and hid
But I tell them I didn't, you know I don't think I did, no.
And this is where I let my pain go
This is where I let my pain go

Top Dar Williams, The Great Unknown

Words and music by Dar Williams
Once upon a time there was a nuclear family,
And we lived in a family time,
And we'd unite in a family way.
And off the ancient mountain,
They were splitting every nucleus.
They said "don't be alarmed,
Just don't try this at home."
And they were the mystery that made the world run
And we had the power, 'cause they were the sun
And we called them our heroes, and the future had come.
They said,"look at the light we're giving you,
And the darkness we're saving you from."
Soon they were bringing it into our showroom,
And they'd unveil it with it's title,
Bring your family, bring your family,
It's the Great Unknown.
You can look, but you can't fathom,
It's the Great Unknown.
I'm no ordinary princess, I was born in the cold war,
And my team is the Rockets.
Go team, it's a dangerous time.
And I dream of the moon and building lunar clone colonies.
And I build my peace with strength, that's the best weapon you've
got.
Oh, I am the brainchild, I am the mortar,
With a plastic trophy and an eating disorder,
And vision as big as a great big wall,
And they tell me that I'll move forward for the good of us all,
And the good of nuclear families all.
And they think I think I am important.
I know I never was, no I wasn't.
No I never, and how could I be?
It's the Great Unknown.
Now we've built it, now it's ticking,
It's the Great Unknown.
And I am your children, I am millions.
And I wanted to sell out, I wanted to try,
But you know the sky got too low, and the ocean got too high.
And I tried to take God into my own hands.
Am I too late? Is it over?
Have I sacrificed my family to the Great Unknown?
There's a war between my conscience and the Great Unknown.
So I walked out into the Gamma fields
Out in Mercury, Nevada.
Where I stood in circle and that circle started to pray.
And the wind at the nuclear test sights floats the data at the radiation.
From the underground testing,
Cross the line, you'll get arrested.
And we came from all over in a silent appeal
As the drill comes down like a presidential seal.
And we stand for the living, and we stand for the dead,
And we looked out to see your enemies,
And we see that you're looking all at us instead.
And you think I am being disruptive?
But no I'm running home, I'm running,
'Cause I'm trying to put the atom back together.
It's the Great Unknown.
I'm just trying to put the atom back together.

Top Dar Williams, The Babysitter's Here

Words and music by Dar Williams
Tonight was just great, she taught us the sign for peace
Now she's made us some popcorn, we've turned out the lights
And we're watching movies
I don't understand and she tries to explain
How a spaceship is riding through somebody's brain
And there's blood and guts and . . .
She's the best one that we've ever had
She sits on her hair and she's tall as my dad
And she tie-dyed my shirt and she pierced her own ear
And it's peace, man, cool, yeah, the babysitter's here.
Her boyfriend is Tom, but we call him the King of Romance.
He wears an American flag on the butt of his ripped up pants
and will they get married with kids of their own?
He says, "Not if she's going to college we won't"
And he kisses her, oh...
Someday I'll have a boyfriend just like that.
She's the best one that we've ever had
She sits on her hair and she's tall as my dad
And she got mad at dinner when Tom drank a beer
But peace, man, cool, hey, the babysitter's here.
And we all went to see her go dance at the high school
We made her a big card
And she told us that she'd be the unicorn wearing the pink
leotard, and
There she was leaping up just like she said
With a sparkling horn coming out of her head
And she's oh, oh, oh, oh
(I can't wait to give her the card, I can't wait to give her the card)
She's the best one . . .
(OK, so the play was called "The Unicorn" and she was the
unicorn so that means that the star was my babysitter.)
But it's Saturday night I can't sleep and we're watching the news.
She says, "Do me a favor don't go with a guy who would make you choose."
And I don't understand and she tries to explain
And all that mascara runs down in her pain
'Cause she's leaving me, oh
You're the best one that we've ever had,
You sit on your hair and you're tall as my dad
And I'll make you a picture for college next year
So hush now, Peace man, the babysitter's here,

Top Dar Williams, I Have Lost My Dreams

Stopped pretending,
happy ending,
everything I ever wanted,
stands in front of me.
I have lost my dreams.
I have lost my dreams.
Now they say i told the truth,
life beyond the burden of proof,
paper thin blue skies,
and windless feet.
I have lost my dreams.
I have lost my dreams.
Traffic crawling,
life is moving,
up through stately trees,
into their green please.
Find a new dream.
Find a new dream.
I have lost my dreams.

Top Dar Williams, When I Was A Boy

I won't forget when Peter Pan
Came to my house, took my hand
I said, "I was a boy"
I'm glad he didn't check
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives
Out on the pirate's deck
And I remember that night
When I'm leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me
It's not safe, someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home
When I was a boy
I scared the pants off of my mom
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don't know how I survived
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew
And you can walk me home
But I was a boy, too
I was a kid that you would like
Just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah
I never cared who saw
My neighbor come outside
To say, "Get your shirt,"
I said "No way, it's the last time
I'm not breaking any law"
And now I'm in this clothing store
And the signs say less is more
More that's tight means more to see
More for them, not more for me
That can't help me climb a tree in ten seconds flat
When I was a boy, see that picture? That was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change
They got pills to sell, they've got implants to put in
They've got implants to remove
But I am not forgetting
That I was a boy too
And like the woods where I would creep
It's a secret I can keep
Except when I'm tired
'Cept when I'm being caught off guard
And I've had a lonesome awful day
The conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies
Out in the backyard
And I so tell the man I'm with
About the other life I lived
And I say now you're top gun
I have lost and you have won
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you see
When I was a girl, my mom
And I we always talked
And I picked flowers
Everywhere that I walked
And I could always cry
Now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too
And you were just like me

Top Dar Williams, When Sal's Burned Down

Words and music by Dar Williams
Are we the fools for being suprised that a silence could end with no sound
Like the silent movie era like with snow like when Sal's burned
down
Well yeah there was noise but nothing to mark the passing on
Of that great unspoken chance we had found
Where the night's end came well-trod and familiar
Like the Charlie Chapin walk that fades to black
And there wasn't anyone trying to sell their souls
They were only trying to buy them back
They were only trying to buy them back
Well yeah there was a Sal he walked with bulging pockets round town
Either he was up to no good or he just got excited watching things burn down
Well I guess he got the idea if you hold a chunk of gold in your hand now
For once in your life you can throw some weight around
And Sal you slimeball sell-out how can we blame you
We all want something to put our fingers on
And you never know the true throne that you've lost
Till the vinyl barstools are gone
Till the vinyl barstools are gone
If you toss around some words you might say that
Sal was carrying a torch for the mob
But the mob's gone too yeah the only sign of them left
Is on every screen at the multiplex and we go there no prob hey
Cause there ain't no cowboys in this Connecticut town
No not anymore, no, not since Sal's burned down
Once you'd dip your tin cup down in the muse's watering hole
Or pioneer a new patch of common ground
Then you'd lie on your time-traveled bedroll
Quite amazed at the expansive terrain*
And if anyone said that you'd never have fame and fortune just
that bar
You know you'd ride that way again

Top Dar Williams, Family

Can you fix this? It's a broken heart.
It was fine, but it just fell apart.
It was mine, but now I give it to you,
Cause you can fix it, you know what to do.
Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,
You are my family.
We stood outside in the summer rain,
Different people with a common pain.
A simple box in that hard red clay,
Where we left him to always remain.
Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,
You are my family.
The child who played with the moon and stars,
Waves a snatch of hay in a common barn,
In the lonely house of Adam's fall
Lies a child, it's just a child that's all, crying
Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,

Top Dar Williams, February

I threw your keys in the water, I looked back,
Theyd frozen halfway down in the ice.
They froze up so quickly, the keys and their owners,
Even after the anger, it all turned silent, and
The everyday turned solitary,
So we came to February.
First we forgot where wed planted those bulbs last year,
Then we forgot that wed planted at all,
Then we forgot what plants are altogether,
and I blamed you for my freezing and forgetting and
The nights were long and cold and scary,
Can we live through February?
You know I think Christmas was a long red glare,
Shot up like a warning, we gave presents without cards,
And then the snow,
And then the snow came, we were always out shoveling,
And wed drop to sleep exhausted,
Then wed wake up, and its snowing.
And February was so long that it lasted into March
And found us walking a path alone together.
You stopped and pointed and you said, "Thats a crocus,"
And I said, "Whats a crocus?" and you said, "Its a flower,"
I tried to remember, but I said, "Whats a flower?"
You said, "I still love you."
The leaves were turning as we drove to the hardware store,
My new lover made me keys to the house,
And when we got home, well we just started chopping wood,
Because you never know how next year will be,
And well gather all our arms can carry,

Top Dar Williams, Iowa

I've never had a way with women, but the hills of Iowa make me wish that I could,
And Ive never found a way to say I love you, but if the chance came by, oh I, I would,
But way back where I come from, we never mean to bother,
We dont like to make our passions other peoples concern,
And we walk in the world of safe people, and at night we walk into our houses and burn.
Iowa oh ooo oh, Iowa oh ooooh ooo oh I-Iowa
How I long to fall just a little bit, to dance out of the lines and stray from the light,
But I fear that to fall in love with you is to fall from a great and gruesome height.
So I asked a friend about it, on a bad day, her husband had just left her,
She sat down on the chair he left behind, she said,
"What is love, where did it get me? Whoever thought of love is no friend of mine."
Ioway oh ooo oh, Iowa oh ooooh ooo oh I-Iowa
Once I had everything, I gave it up for the shoulder of your driveway and the words Ive never felt.
And so for you, I came this far across the tracks, ten miles above the limit, and with no seatbelt, and Id do it again,
For tonight I went running through the screen doors of discretion,
For I woke up from a nightmare that I could not stand to see,
You were a-wandering out on the hills of Iowa and you were not thinking of me.
Ioway oh ooo oh, Iowa oh ooooh ooo oh I-Iowa

Top Dar Williams, Mortal City

She never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City
The cold comes though evey crack she puts her hand up to
The radiator's broken, so she has to use electric heat.
And tonight was the first date with the brother of the guy she worked next to
He lived a couple streets awa
He listened, he had things to say
She asked him up for dinner sometime
Sometime was tonight
The radio gave updates on the ice storm while she made the dinner
They said, from all the talk, you shouldn't drive or even walk
And this just in -- We're asking everyone to turn off their power
They need it at the hostpital.
She ran around pulling plugs, then she called him up
Maybe now they shouldn't meet, he said that he would brave the streets
She met him at the door with a blanket and a candle
Saying, I heard it on the radio, I had to turn my power off.
He said you're not the only one, the streets were dark tonight,
It was like another century
With dim lamps and candles lighting up the icy trees and the clouds and a covered moon.
She said what kind of people make a city
Where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground?
I tell you something, I have this feeling that this city's dying
He said, it's not dying it's the people who are dying
She said, yes yes I think the people are dying and nobody cares.
We had all this technology our dreams were bold and vague
And then one city got bad planners, one city got the plague.
He asked why did you move here? She said, for the job
For the job and I've been so lonely here, so lonely
There's no one I can talk to, you know I don't even know your brother.
He smiled and said, sometimes at night I walk out by the river
The city's one big town, the water turns it upside down
people found this city because they love other people
They want their secretaries, they want their power lunches.
And think about tonight, I heard the same newscast you did
I unplugged everything, I looked out the window
And I think the city heard, I watched as one by one the lights went off
So they could give their power to the hospital
They ate in silence while she thought this over,
They sat together in a dark room in the Mortal City
Shifting in their blankets so they wouldn't get spaghetti on them.
Then came the awkward moment after dinner, what to do,
The ice was still falling, the streets were still dangerous
The cabs were not running and this neighborhood was not the greatest.
They both looked at the space where a couch would've been
She felt her stomach sink, she felt like she could hardly think
She said, I never should have rented this apartment in the Mortal City
The cold comes through eve crack I put my hand up to
The radiator doesn't work, I have to use electric heat.
That settled it, they would both sleep in her bed
It was a matter of survival.
She brought out teeshirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, hats
If there was ever any thought of what would happen in that bed tonight
There wa no question now
They could barely move
They were wrapped up like ornaments waiting for another season.
They lay in bed, they listened to the pelting ice
He said my brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet
I wished you liked this city
She said, maybe I do.
I think I have a special kind of hearing tonight
I hear the neighbors upstairs
I hear my heart beating
I hear one thousand hearts beating at the hospital
And one thousand hearts by their bedsides waiting
Saying that's my love in the white gown,
We are not lost in the Mortal City

Top Dar Williams, You're Aging Well

Words and music by Dar Williams
Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
Oh I don't like the signs that the signmakers made.
So I'm going to steal out with my paint and brushes
I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
She goes out and steals the King's English
And in the morning you wake up and the signs point to you
They say
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, "You're aging well."
Well I know a woman with a collection of sticks
She could fight back the hundreds of voices she heard
And she could poke at the greed, she could fend off her need
And with anger she found she could pound every word.
But one voice got through, caught her up by surprise
It said, "Don't hold us back we're the story you tell,"
And no sooner than spoken, a spell had been broken
And the voices before her were trumpets and tympani
Violins, basses and woodwinds and cellos, singing
"We're so glad that you finally made it here
You thought nobody cared, but we did, we could tell
And now you'll dance through the days while the orchestra plays
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging well."
Now when I was fifteen, oh I knew it was over
The road to enchantment was not mine to take
Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are
I was breaking the laws that the signmakers made.
And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
And that's not a story I was meant to survive
I was all out of choices, but the woman of voices
She turned round the corner with music around her,
She gave me the language that keeps me alive, she said:
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging, oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh and I am aging,

Top Dar Williams, Ireland

When the morning mist is rising
And the Hudson nearly blue
With the branches all a' blowing
And the sun comes sifting through
I stare with homesick wonder
For my thoughts all turn to you
And my memory fills with deeper greens and blues
And Ireland is always in the news
I called your struggle useless
And my home a battlefield
And I cursed the hope of moving
I left you all behind me
Crying that your fate was sealed
But the anger not the love here I did lose
And Ireland is always in the news
But now I'm having nightmares
For the picture will not fade
Of one hundred black umbrellas
Shining in a great parade
I guess I had it coming
It's a cold hard price I paid
For yes I did choose
To find my brother's funeral in the news
So don't you get your hopes up
But I think I'm coming home
For maybe there'll be freedom
With one more shoulder to that stone
I may end up a martyr
But I will not end alone
Oh your are a family that I can't refuse
Oh Ireland you're dying in the news

Top Dar Williams, Terrarium

It's another world we live in here so radical and clean
Every Saturday we protest things out on the campus green
And we came from far to find this place where hearts and minds are free
And we walk together on the grass in peaceful anarchy
Where the things we've amassed are undeniably surpassed
By the value of our goals and how high we can reach
So when no one can pass Professor Leon Siegel's class
It's okay because we still absorb the great things he can teach
We send our greetings from the terrarium
That earthy college paradise where kids can work and play
But you know that when we leave from this terrarium
We're told that we are going to save the world someday
It's another world we live in 'midst the placid greenery
We can talk about disaster and admire the scenery
When we cannot find an answer to our Nicaraguan war
We can order out for pizza and deliver it some more
But while nothing much gets done and what we do just looks like fun
You must remember what we do is more important than it sounds
For when a case is well done in Constitution 101
We know that bigger trials are possible to win on bigger grounds
We extend our greetings from the terrarium
That earthy college paradise where kids can work and play
But you know that when we leave from this terrarium
We're told that we are going to save the world someday
There's a fear that you will sell your dreams for stock and cut your hair
As you throw your graduation cap up in the real world air
Then you see a man in uniform approaching your best friend
As he shakes the woman's hand he says "We need a few good men"
And it really breaks your heart to know she majored in Greek art
And now your pacifistic friend asks for his card just like a queen
Yeah, but then you'll watch her smile and start to shred that little card apart
And the small white pieces flutter down like doves upon the green
We still get greetings from the terrarium
That earthy college paradise that we all loved and ran
And you know that now that we're gone from the terrarium
We may not save the world but we know that we'll do the best we can

Top Dar Williams, As Cool As I Am

Yea, there was a time I didnt like the love, I liked the climbers,
I was no sister then, I was running out of time and one liners,
And I was afraid, like you are when youre too young to know the time, and
So I watched the way you take your fear and hoard the horizon,
You point, you have a word for every woman you can lay your eyes on,
Like you own them just because you bought the time,
And you turn to me, you say you hope Im not threatened,
Oh -- Im not that petty, as cool as I am, I thought youd know this already,
I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women.
So now were at a club, you watch the woman dancing, she is drunk,
She is smiling and shes falling in a slow, descending funk,
And the whole bar is loud and proud and everybodys trying, yeah.
You play the artist, saying, "Is it how she moves, or how she looks?"
I say, its loneliness suspended to our own like grappling hooks,
And as long as shes got noise, shes fine.
But I could teach her how I learned to dance when the musics ended,
Oh -- and thats not petty, as cool as I am, I thought youd know this already,
I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women.
You tried to make me doubt, to make me guess, tried to make me feel like a little less,
Oh, I liked you when your soul was bared, I thought you knew how to be scared,
And now its amazing what you did to make me stay,
But truth is just like time, it catches up and it just keeps going,
And so Im leaving, you can find out how much better things can get,
And if it helps, Id say I feel a little worse than I did when we met,
So when you find someone else, you can try again, it might work next time,
You look out of the kitchen window and you shake your head and say low,
"If I could believe that stuff, Id say that woman has a halo,"
And I look out and say, "Yeah, shes really blond,"
And then I go outside and join the others, I am the others,
Oh -- and thats not easy, I dont know what you saw, I want somebody who sees me,

Top Dar Williams, The Honesty Room

Top Dar Williams, Promised Land

Tell me what you see
Is it close to what you dreamed
If I play a part
Can I be redeemed?
We pore through the passages
The leather volume shelves
But they only leave us wondering
Can we find ourselves
In the book of love, oh,
In the book of love
Looking for the one
Waiting on a day
Countless dinner parties
And all the games we play
Often sung processional
Solemn wedding vow
A picture in a picture frame
That beauty can allow
In the book of love, oh
In the book of love
And love becomes a temple
And we begin to feel
Then an unfeeling oracle
Will say you did come near
But you are not welcome here
This is who I am
All the places that I've been
Fondness and regret
Every love that I've been in
And I've played all the characters
The fool, the friend, the wife
And no matter what the ending is
The story of my life
Is the book of love, oh,
Is the book of love

Top Dar Williams, Out There

The summer ends and we wonder where we are
And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car
And you both look so young
And last night was hard, you said
You packed up every room
And then you cried and went to bed
But today you closed the door and said
"We have to get a move on.
It's just that time of year when we push ourselves ahead,
We push ourselves ahead."
And it was cloudy in the morning
And it rained as you drove away
And the same things looked different
It's the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer,
When you move to another place
And I feel like the neighbor's girl who will never be the same
She walked alone all spring,
She had a boyfriend when the summer came
And he gave her flowers in a lightning storm
They disappeared at night in green fields of silver corn
And sometime in July she just forgot that he was leaving
So when the fields were dying, she held on to his sleeves
She held on to his sleeves
And she doesn't want to let go
'Cause she won't know what she's up against
The classrooms and the smart girls
It's the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer
When you hang your flowers up to dry
And I had a dream it blows the autumn through my head
It felt like the first day of school
But I was going to the moon instead
And I walked down the hall
With the notebooks they got for me
My dad led me through the house
My mom drank instant coffee
And I knew that I would crash
But I didn't want to tell them
There are just some moments when your family makes sense
They just make sense
So I raised up my arms and my mother put the sweater on
We walked out on the dark and frozen grass
The end of the summer
It's the end of the summer
When you send your children to the moon
The summer ends and we wonder who we are
And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car
And today I passed the high school, the river, the maple tree
I passed the farms that made it
Through the last days of the century
And I knew that I was going to learn again
Again, in this less hazy light
I saw the fields beyond the fields
The fields beyond the fields
And the colors are much brighter now
It's like they really want to tell the truth
We give our testimony to the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer,
You can spin the light to gold.

Top Dar Williams, My Friends

"He's a quiet man," that's all she said
And he's a thoughtful man
It's just he likes to keep his thoughts up in his head
And we finally meet, and she tries to draw him out a bit
She says "He's writing something,
Hey now, why don't you talk about it?"
And he doesn't make a sound
He's just staring at his coffee
And I know there's all this beauty
And this greatness she'll defend
But I think it's in my friend
I have a friend in a bright and distant town
She's found a common balance
Where you do your work, and you do your love
And they pay you, and praise your many talents
Well I'm passing through, and we know we won't sleep
She laughs, puts up the tea
She says "You know I think you remember every part of me."
And the water starts to boil
And if I had a camera
Showing all the light we give
And showing where the light extends
I'd give it to my friends
Sometimes I see myself fine, sometimes I need a witness
And I like the whole truth
But there are nights I only need forgiveness
Sometimes they say "I don't know who you are
But let me walk with you some"
And I say "I am alone, that's all
You can't save me from all the wrong I've done."
But they're waiting just the same
With their flashlights and their semaphores
And I'll act like I have faith and like that faith never ends

Top Dar Williams, It's A War In There

Well you have been kind and I know it seems helpless
You smooth the ground, tear the knots all apart
You're helping me move from the inside to the outside
You're trying so hard and I can't even start
It's a war in there, it's a war in there
Well you peacemakers go to the same place as soldiers
If you want to make peace, well you gotta find the pain
And you bring your words but you're just like them, you're unprepared
Cause you don't know the terrain
It's a war in there, it's a war in there
And don't you know I'll never give you a medal
Made back on stateside in the central time zone
The one that they pin to the outside, to the outside
And it leads you all the way home
It's a war in there, it's a war in there

Top Dar Williams, Road Buddy

We passed the stores, we passed the hotels
Filled our car with gasoline
We drove that night, I saw the moon
Almost got us in an accident
And then at the rest stop
When that woman tried to steal my wallet
It felt like an adventure Isn't that what you would call it? I
sn't that what you would call it?
You're my road buddy, but I'm lonely all the time
I thought we'd be joking, having long talks on late night drives
But you drive so bad I lost my patience
So pass the chips and turn the station
This is not a romance with the road
Where the moss grows up the trees
To where the bird is rusty
I thought we'd find ecah story like a snakeskin or an arrowhead
But we onlys top at fastfood places
They hate thier jobs, I understand
They try to act familiar, but they're floating just above the land
And we are all floating
You're my road buddy, but I'm lonely all the time
I thought we'd show that friendship could be stronger than the crossroads
Double back I thought I heard the Tori sing,
I'll take that thing
This is not a romance with the road
In those cliffs are the same as in the magazines I have at home
And the tall grass reminds me of the same dreams I had at home
I thought life was a road and I wanted to begin it
I said, my friend and I going on a trip so I could only stop a minute
We go to the venting machines,
I want to watch these kids with their mother, sipping on their juice boxes and
smiling at each other,
and maybe that's their dad on the phone,
saying, hey mon, you couldn't wait, go ahead, have dinner, 'cause werre running
just a little late
But we're on our way
Road buddy, road buddy, I heard about the boxcars and the family of travelers
But there's real estate sides in the cornfields I know there's love,
I bet there's trouble
But you just can't spend a lifetime on the road And there's something I finally
faced
I finally think I come from someplace

Top Dar Williams, Party Generation

Words and music by Dar Williams
When he turned 34 but who's counting
He couldn't find anyone who wanted to party
So he walked around a playground with a bag of Mickey's Tallboys
And he heard the sound of laughter and he followed it for fifteen blocks
There was a house between Mavis and Water
They were out on the porch, they were inside playing quarters
And he said, "Don't you know the game Kazaam? It's a better game,
You point your elbow at someone and say somebody else's name
And it alternates whose turn it is and if you lose you drink."
They said "Man, you really make us think,
yeah you make us think and so:
Tonight we're gonna be the party
We will party all night long
We are the party generation
So have a seat, what's in the bag?
Party on.
Round about one or two it started winding down
And he knew what they needed- they needed donuts
So they walked out to Krispy Kruller's All Nite Sugar Palace
It was there in the doorway he said"Oh, well maybe not."
Inside there were six women talking
They were the most justified angry ex-girlfriends
And they swivelled around slowly like they saw something bad
Through the eyes i the back of their heads
Like he always knew they had
And they said "what a coincidence" ,and "Hey you're just the man,
We were saying that you did the best you could
You're fine we understand and so-
Tonight we're gonna be the party
We will party all night long
We are the party generation
You were the best but we'll survive
Party On
Oh yeah..........
Oh yeah..........
Woah-oh...........
In the morning they sent him home with a designated driver
And he lay down and thought about the whole night
And he looked up at the photo tha the bought at a junk shop
It was only fifty cents but he framed it and everything
It was the kind of party that you hope never ends
The lucky party boy surrounded by his friends
And they were all in pointed hats
Caught in a rebel birthday shout
And he was at the candles with his mom there to help him out
There was a lot that you could learn if you lay near them
Like if you listened you could hear them and he could hear them
They say:
tonight we're gonna be the party
We will party all night long
We are the party generation
So lift your head and blow em out
yeah
Oh yeah...
Oh yeah
Oh yeah..
Tonight we're gonna be the party
We will party all night long
We are the party generation
So lift your head lift your head
Party on

Top Dar Williams, What Do You Hear In These Sounds

Words and music by Dar Williams
I don't go to therapy to find out if I'm a freak
I go and I find the one and only answer every week
And it's just me and all the memories to follow
Down any course that fits within a fifty minute hour
And we fathom all the mysteries, explicit and inherent
When I hit a rut, she says to try the other parent
And she's so kind, I think she wants to tell me something,
But she knows that its much better if I get it for myself...
And she says
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah, What do you hear in these sounds?
And... Oooooooh,aaaaaaah
What do you hear in these sounds?????
I say I hear a doubt, with the voice of true believing
And the promises to stay, and the footsteps that are leaving
And she says "Oh", I say "What?"...she says "Exactly",
I say"What, you think I'm angry
Does that mean you think I'm angry?"
She says "Look, you come here every week
With jigsaw pieces of your past
Its all on little soundbytes and voices out of photographs
And that's all yours, that's the guide, that's the map
So tell me, where does the arrow point to?
WHO INVENTED ROSES?"
and.......
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah
What do you hear in these sounds?
And...Oooooooh,aaaaaaah
What do you hear in these sounds?????
And when I talk about therapy, I know what people think
That it only makes you selfish and in love with your shrink
But Oh how I loved everybody else
When I finally got to talk so much about myself............
And I wake up and I ask myself what state I'm in
And I say well I'm lucky, cause I am like East Berlin
I had this wall and what I knew of the free world
Was that I could see their fireworks
And I could hear their radio
And I thought that if we met, I would only start confessing
And they'd know that I was scared
They'd would know that I was guessing
But the wall came down and there they stood before me
With their stumbling and their mumbling
And their calling out just like me...and...
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah, The stories that nobody hears...and...
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah, and I collect these sounds in my ears...and
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah, that's what I hear in these sounds...and...
Oooooooh,aaaaaaah, that's what I hear in these......

Top Dar Williams, Teenagers, Kick Our Butts

When I grew up, well it felt great
I watched how others took their fate
Some felt afraid and undefended, so they got mean
And they pretended what they knew made them belong more than you.
I'm sure you know there's lots to learn
But that's not your fault, that's just your turn, yeah, yeah
Teenagers, kick our butts, tell us what the future will bring
Teenagers look at us, we have not solved everything
We drink and smoke to numb our pain
We read junk novels on the plane
We use authority for show so we can be a little smarter
We still can grow, and many do
It's when we stop we can't reach you
We feel the loss, you feel the blame
We're scared to lose, don't be the same, hey hey
Teenagers, kick our butts, tell us what the future will bring
Teenagers, look at us, we have not solved everything
The hometown brought its hero in
To speak at the high school gym
He took a breath, he took a chance
He strode up in his leather pants
And said, "Gee, thanks... but
I'm here today because I fought for what I felt and what I thought
They put me down they, were just wrong
And now it's they who don't belong, oh, oh
Teenagers, kick our butts, tell us what the future will bring
Teenagers look at us, we have not solved everything
And when the media tries to act your age
Don't be seduced, they're full of rage
Find your voice, do what it takes
Make sure you make lots of mistakes
And find the future that redeems
Give us hell, give us dreams
And grow and grow and grow
And someday when some teenagers come to kick your butts
Well then like I do try to
Love
Kick our butts
Love
Kick our butts
Oh I love

Top Dar Williams, And A God Descended

Step through his trampled wall, the unhinged door betrays it all, That far
within our faith we were all waiting. The broken glass reflects the haze, it
shines like endless holy days, Struggling to remember what they're
celebrating. Well a god decscended, And the real time ended. His light was
lifted just above the law, And now we have to live with what we did, with what
we saw. Well you mend your clothes and patch your roof and slivers of God's
SHATTERED TRUTH Grow tender as the grass in clean swept yards. But a savior
came and told us how the truth was all around us now, Abandon house and field
and gather up the stards, Well a god descended, And the real time ended. His
light was lifted just above the law, And now we have to live with what we did
with what we saw. You build your faith with strength and duty, Build your
love, but there's a beauty, Well you know the scriptures tell, There are a few
shards left in hell, And if we wanted God we had to follow, follow him down,
Him down. There were picture
s torn out of their frames and orgies where we lost our names, Ending all with
time's real desire. Well you ask how God can curse you thus, that's not a
question asked by us, We burnt our books and beds, we fear we've lost the
fire. And a God descended, ANd the real time ended. His light was lifted just

Top Dar Williams, After All

Go ahead, push your luck, find out how much love the world can hold,
Once upon a time I had control, and reigned my soul in tight. Well the
whole truth, it's like the story of a wave unfurled, But I held the evil of the
world, So I stopped the tide, froze it up from inside, and it felt like a
winter machine that you go through and then, you catch your breath and
winter starts again, And everyone else is spring bound. And when I chose
to live, there was no joy, it's just a line I crossed, it wasn't worth the pain
my death would cost, so I was not lost or found. And if I was to sleep, I
knew my family had more truth to tell. And so I traveled down a
whispering well, to know myself through them. Growing up, my mom had
a room full of books, and hid away in there, her father raging down a
spiral stair, 'til he found someone, most days his son, And sometimes I
think my father, too, was a refugee, I know they tried to keep their pain
from me, they could not see what it was for. But now I'm sleeping fine,
sometimes the truth is like a second chance, I am the daughter of a great
romance, and they are the children of the war. Well the sun rose, with so
many colors, it nearly broke my heart, It worked me over like a work of
art, and I was a part off all that. So go ahead, push your luck, say what it
is you gotta say to me, we will push on into that mystery, and it'll push
right back, and there are worse things than that, 'cause for every price,
and every penance that I could think of, it's better to have fallen in love,
than never to have fallen at all. 'Cause when you live in a world, well it
gets into, who you thought you'd be, and now I laugh at how the world

Top Dar Williams, If I Wrote You

Words and music by Dar Williams
I never thought you were the letter writing type
so now I see the words you chose the way you write
so I started to write back about the trees in the snow
and I saw a bird, couldn't see what it was but I thought you'd know
you always surprised me
Chorus:
And if I wrote You
If I wrote You
You wouldknow me
and you would not write me again
Verse:
And when the spring came and flooded all the streams
It's like how you got the night you told me all you dreams
And when the barn roof sagged after an icy bout
It's like how you got when you knew the truth was the only way out
but not the only way
Chorus:
And if I wrote you
If I wrote you
You wouldknow me
and you would not write me again
Verse:
We drew our arms around the bastard sons
We never would drink to the chosen ones
Well you know the way I left was not the way I planned
But I thought the world needed love and a steady hand
so I'm steady now
Chorus:
And I'm so happy
I had to tell you
And I love you
And you will not write me again
You will not write me again

Top Dar Williams, End Of The Summer

Top Dar Williams, The Green World

I wonder if Yoko Ono ever thought of staying solo, If she thought of other men
and if she doubted John Lennon, Worring that he'd distract her art. Sitting in
the Apple sessions, giving John her music lessons, Challenging the warring
nations with her paper installations, Did she guard her yoko human heart? Well
they could talk about me, yeah they could talk about me, Throw me to the velvet
dogs of pop star history, But I won't be your Yoko Ono if you're not good
enough for me. Some will give their love for fasion, others trade their gold
for passion, I don't have the goods to start with, never had the reins to part
with, Still I hope you'll take me seriously. Cause I think I could go deep as
the sea of Yoko, You don't know a person like me, I could sell your songs to
Nike, And for all you know, I could save your sould, As only true love can
change your mine, make you leave your screaming fans behind. When John called
the wind and opera, making love with chakra, When he said her voice would
carry, and when
he whispered old Chuck Berry, Only then would Yoko set him free. Fame will
come and vanish later, transcendental love is greater, I think if we had this
somehow, we'd be feeling famous right now, We'd be saying love is all you
need. And they could rag about me, yeah they could rag about me, Throw me to
the velvet dogs of pop star history, But I won't be your Yoko Ono if you're not
good enough for me, oh now I won't be your Yoko Ono if you're not good enough
for me.

Top Dar Williams, Liar

Out where the children all get their own rooms
Where they stir coffee with old silver spoons in their mansions
There's a girl that the whole town can see
Doesn't fit in but they all know that she understands them
And they want to know where the kid came from
She won't tell anyone
But they know she's a liar that's what they know
She's a liar that's what they know
You do what you have to do
Maybe you could be a liar too
There's a school where she goes everyday
Everything that you could want, if you pay you can find there
She came in with a dream and a plan
Learned how to use movie cameras and started to shine there
And they want to know where the kid came from
She won't tell anyone
But they know she's a liar that's what they know
She's a liar that's what they know
And if she had to
She could turn the camera right on you
As for the teachers they all knew her crime
When she was everyday always on time, they saw through her
She took the train from the city at dawn
Broke through the woods and she crept through the lawns to her future
So maybe they know where the kid came from
They won't tell anyone
And they know she's a liar, well, that's what they know
She's a liar just because
She reached higher they are so proud
Of their liar they are so proud
You do what you have to do

Top Dar Williams, My Better Self

I think I'd like to go back home
And take it easy
There's a woman that I'd like to get to know
Living there
Everybody seems to wonder what it's like down here
I gotta get away from this day to day runnin' around
Everybody knows this is nowhere
Everybody, everybody knows
Every time I think about back home
It's cool and breezy
I wish that I could be there right now
Passin' time
Everybody seems to wonder what it's like down here
I gotta get away from this day to day runnin' around
Everybody knows this is nowhere
Everybody, everybody knows
Everybody knows, knows
I think I'd like to go back home
And take it easy
There's a woman that I'd like to get to know
Living there
Everybody seems to wonder what it's like down here
I gotta get away from this day to day runnin' around
Everybody knows this is nowhere
Everybody, everybody knows
Everybody knows this is nowhere
Everybody knows, yeah, this is nowhere
Everybody knows

Top Dar Williams, In the Time of Gods

We shook the last drops from Glen Garioch's finest hour.
We sipped it like the blood of Burns.
Through the mountain thyme,
Belting Auld Lang Syne.
This is how I'll free myself.
I'll free myself.
You'll come to Wellfleet where the sun through fairy pines
Shines soft and gold as Chardonnay.
And then we'll retire,
Sitting by the fire.
This is how I'll free myself.
I'll free myself.
This vodka comes from rain descending from a single cloud.
These cherries ripened in the groves of the Hesperides
Where heroes lie.
I rolled my pant legs up for darting fish in tadpole ponds,
I picked the berries in the field,
Light pools in my glass,
Shines into the past.
This is how I'll, this is how I'll, how I'll free myself.

Top Dar Williams, Summerday

From the ship, we could see it in the distance
As the fog was finally lifting
We had come to the shores of Summerday
Gently landing, we jumped out on the sand
And found our way
Where the dirt was soft and black
We started digging a garden
And soon we found the woods that we'd
Call the forest of Arden for to play
When we came to Summerday
On the shores of Summerday
We will live in Summerday
And we climbed a stony mountain
We were boisterous then quiet
As we thought about what instruments to make
Soon we started to build the uilleann pipes
And fine guitars
Then we scouted out the hollows
For solitude and silence
And we found the places we could meet
By the blue and glassy river
Under stars where the paper lanterns sway
In the streets of Summerday
Trust the night and trust the day
Sun and moon of Summerday
We are pilgrims in the land between religions
We are following our children
And we paint in different colors every day
And if we're true to our hearts they will
Grow up and want to stay
We will work beside them as they
Build modest houses and
On a misty April morning
We'll rest the shovels on the fence
And die and become a summer day
Oh, the fields of Summerday
And the flowers of Summerday
They will live in Summerday
To the shores of Summerday
So we sail to Summerday

Top Dar Williams, Summer Child

The summer child is running, the summer child is running again.
The summer child is running, the summer child is running again
When you hear the feet and the sound of laughter,
Better step aside for the mayhem after
Here she comes, yeah the summer child is running again.
It's the stormy season, lighting flashes through the air
And the water bugs are busy spinning backwards in the rain.
The summer child is running, summer child is running again
The summer child is running, summer child is running again
And they're spinning out like old tin tops
One of them is down and all time stops,
Now she's up yeah the summer child is running again.
Come my freezing daughter, brave the icy water
Enter slowly under cherry blossoms,
Racing as you see the gates of summer.
There is time and time to come, underneath the golden sun,
And forever will melt slowly in a glass of lemonade.
And oh she's coming running, and oh she's coming running again,
The summer child is running, the summer child is running again.
Better have a seat, 'cause you won't run past her.
Try to take it in, every year she's faster.
Here she comes, yeah the summer child is running again.

Top Dar Williams, Storm King

The clouds will form a crown,
Circling the rocky mountaintop,
Telling us the rain is coming soon,
As we sail the river up and down
The storm king has borne the seasons all,
Worn them upon his brow,
He guides the watchful boats below,
I am the storm king now.
He is bemused, sometimes delighted,
Sees the trains, the hikers on the hill
In our progress and our industry
May we grow better still.
The storm king has seen us from above,
Rising up on the starboard bow
He knows the turning of the years
I am the storm king now.
The storm king has borne the seasons all,
Worn them upon his brow,
He guides the watchful boats below,
I am the storm king now.

Top Dar Williams, Midnight Radio

Rain falls hard, burns dry
A dream or a song
That hits you so hard
Filling you up and suddenly gone
Breathe feel love, give free, know in your soul
Like your blood knows the way
From your heart to your brain
Knows that you're whole
And you're shining, like the brightest star
A transmission on the midnight radio
And you're spinnin' like a forty-five
Ballerina dancing to your rock and roll
Here's to Patti and Tina and Yoko, Aretha
And Nona and Nico and me
And all the strange rock and rollers
You know you're doing all right
So hold on to each other
You gotta hold on tonight
And you're shinin' like the brightest star
A transmission on the midnight radio
And you're spinnin', your new forty-fives
All the misfits and the losers
Well, you know you're rock and rollers
Spinning to your rock and roll
Lift up your hands
Lift up your hands
Lift up your hands

Top Dar Williams, The Light And The Sea

Sitting out upon the waves, in darkness and upheaval
I was told that I alone would not know good and evil
Oh but in time but oh in time it came to me
As my shepherd fallen rise
I could turn and lift my eyes
To the light that distant light
There will always be
The light and the sea
Rolling seaâ€¦the light and me
And as the days rolled by I turned my wheel toward the thunder
Taking on a challenge that I knew could take me under
Oh..and it took me down and ohâ€¦it took me down
And it came to me
As I cursed the stem and sail
Because itâ€™s fate that I should fail
There is a lightâ€¦there is a light
There will always be the light and the sea
The rolling seaâ€¦the light and me
And it all comes downâ€¦down to me
To feel the presence of my soul
Amid the torrents and the cold
Of the sea..
And there will always be the light and the sea
The rolling seaâ€¦the light and me

Top Dar Williams, The Easy Way

I knew a guy
I thought he was my first love
But he had to decide
Between me and the one before
And she stacked it all up
Like a house of cards
Said if he didn't come back
He'd find her flattened on the floor
And though I went and lived in my own hell
Thought that I could die as well
I let him go where he thought he had to go
'Cause I never took
Heavy words for granted
And I never took
Undeserved advantage
No I never took
The easy way
So why don't you take it a little easy on me now?
Out on the road
I had so many questions
I thought I would explode
Just for some attention
Like an acolyte
I saw the flames of towering tapers
Almost proselytized by those gleaming piles of paper
Yeah I watched their power huddles
And their coats draped over puddles
And their, "trust me baby, I'm the one you need"
But I never took
Heavy words for granted
And I never took
Undeserved advantage
No I never took
The easy way
So why don't you take it a little easy on me now?
Cause we don't want to be the ones
Who lie, cheat, and slander
So we hold each other up to a higher standard
But I'll tell you what
I never try to make it hard
Because when your hard
Just to be hard
The only thing that's hard is you
So here's what I took
I kept the wine and laughter
Until every pack
It just grew up and ever after
Yeah, through the peaks and twisty canyons
I made many great companions
Best of all is the one who loves me like you do
But I never took
Heavy words for granted
And I never took
Undeserved advantage
No I never took
The easy way
So why don't you take it a little easy on me now?
'Cause I never took
Heavy words for granted
And it's much too late
To even want the shortcut
Yeah I never took
The easy way
So you can take it a little easy on me now.

Top Dar Williams, The Beauty Of The Rain

And you know the light is fading all too soon
You're just two umbrellas one late afternoon
You don't know the next thing you will say
This is your favorite kind of day
It has no walls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
And there's nothing wrong, but there is something more
And sometimes you wonder, what you love her for
She says, you've known her deepest fears
'Cause she's shown you a box of stained glass tears
It can't be all, the truth about the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
But when she gave you more to find
You let her think, she'd lost her mind
And that's all on you
Feeling helpless if she asked for help
Or scared you'd have to change yourself
And you can't deny this room will keep you warm
You can look out of your window at the storm
But you watch the phone and hope it rings
You'll take her any way she sings
Or how she calls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls

Top Dar Williams, Teen For God

Just this once
I will go to the front
I will let you all disagree
You won't last
All you've got is the past
And an overnight shotgun
That fucked up the dream
No excuses and no surprise
The real McCoy is a look in your eyes
I don't rate they, can alienate
This American selfish everything
We're the breakdown
I will break ground
On original sin
Suddenly I'm
On the right side
In the middle of nowhere again
I am in your hands
I don't mind 'cause I don't understand
I am in your hands
I want you all
To tell me who I am
Just tell me who I am
Just tell me who I
Just in case
It's an arrogant fate
'cause I know you all wanna see
Here's a test
And you're a dire bet
No one feels like you
And screams like me
(yeah)
All confusion and all control
The real McCoy isn't real anymore
I'm amazed at the innocent taste
of America's selfish everything
We're the breakdown
I will break ground
on original sin
Suddenly I'm
On the wrong side
In the middle of nowhere again
I am in your hands
I don't mind
'cause I don't understand
I am in your hands
I want you all
To tell me who I am
Just tell me who I am
Just tell me who I am
Somebody tell me
I am in your hands
I don't mind
I don't understand
I am in your hands
I don't mind
I don't mind
Oh I am in your hands
And I don't mind
'cause I don't understand
I am in your hands
I want you all
To tell me who I am
Just tell me who I am
(tell me who I am)
Just tell me who I am
Just tell me who I.. am
(tell me who I am)

Top Dar Williams, It Happens Every Day

The first part of every day for me is good, I've got the bus stop in my
neighborhood, Everything's on purpose, everywhere theygo, Hiding in my car and
running in the snow, Running with the friends they'll know for years, I've seen
it all from here, from here. It happens every day, before they go to school,
They play until the bus drives up beside my lan, And there's always been a
mother who waits till they are gone, Then she turns away, Happens every day.
Noon comes and turns this campus upside down, I watch the students in this
college town. You would think they're earefree, I have seen their trials,
Frowning into Shakespeare and practicing their smiles, Even underlining
Nabokov, When I am not in love, in love. It happens every day, with their
journals and cafes, Looking up at their reflections on the other wall, With
every new idea, wondering if they've changed at all, Then they turn away, it
happens every day. Life is as hard and as easy as they say, Walking the staps
we've chosen on this day. Some w
ill be outrageous, some have rarely shown, Some will walk like couples, some
quite alone. As I think about the world I see, They stare and smile at me, at
me. It happens every day, at the crossing of the street Looking out to see
what's new and what is still the same, And the only word for lovei s
everybody's name, And that will always stay, happens everyday. And every day

Top Dar Williams, O Canada Girls

If I did not dream who would you be
And if you did not dream who would I be
Yes there is gold in this mountain
This they cannot mine
Tell me who they need it for
I'll tell you now, they need me more
O Canada girls
I have seen you in your sweaters
In the late night sun at Winnipeg
Growing up with friends and so unhurried
With your secrets I believe
Kept in the longer sleeve
Oh girls
Highways seen from hotel windows
Pumping highway blood
If I say they run from fear
Are things much different standing here
O Canada girls
When I saw the geese flying north
I remembered the friends of my vision
And a sense I had of other wings
Like faith, light threaded through a psalm
Like our boys fleeing Vietnam
Oh girls
If I drove up eighty-seven
Up past Montreal
Following the bluest veins
Following through icy rains
Would I emerge in the present
And know just where to begin
I'm so sick of forgetting myself to remember who I am
And you say yeah, but why so cold, and so Canadian
I guess it's got to feel like some exodus
And if I succeed, well there will be more of us
And if I don't well I don't really know
Girls
Who have found our unsung nation
Where we left so much land to itself
That everyone had her own mountain
Well if you think of this girl and the dreams that made her
Write your secrets on hornet nest paper
And blow it high across the border
Cause if you did not dream, who would I be
And if I did not dream who would you be

Top Dar Williams, I Had No Right

God of the poor man, this is how the day began, Eight codefendants, I Daniel
Berrigan, And only a layman's batch of napalm. We pulled the draft files out,
We burned them in the parking lod, Better the files than the bodies of
children. I had no right but, for the love of you. I had no right, but for
the love of you. Many roads led here, walked with the suffering, Tom in
Guatemala, Philip in New Orleans It's a long road from law to justice. I went
to Vietnam, I went for peace, they dropped their bombs, Right where my
government knew I would be. I had no right, but for the love of you. I had no
right, but for the love of you. And all my country saw were priests who broke
the law. First it was question, then it was a mission, How to be American, how
to be a Christian, If the law is their cross, and the cross is burning.
Aaaaah--the love of you. Aaaaah--the love of you. God of the just, I'll never
win a peace prize, Falling like Jesus, now let the jury rise, It's all of us
versus all that paper. They
took the only way, they know who is on trial today, Deliaver us unto each
other this day-- I had no right, but for the love of you. I had no right but

Top Dar Williams, I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono

Top Dar Williams, We Learned The Sea

I am the captain and I have been told
That tomorrow we land and my ship has been sold
Now losing this boat is worth scarce a mention
I think of the crew, most of all the first ensign
For all we learned the sea
Guiding a ship, it takes more than your skill
It's the compass inside it's the strength of your will
The first ensign watched as tempests all tried me
I sang in the wind as if God were beside me
For all we learned the sea
You take the wheel one more time like I showed you
We've reached the strait once even I could not go through
I am the captain and I have been told
But I am not shaken, I am eight years old
And you are still young, but you'll understand
That the stars of the sea are the same for the land

Top Dar Williams, What Do You Love More Than Love

What Do You Love More Than Love
Well the mountain was so beautiful that This guy built a mall and pizza shack,
Yeah he built and ugly city because He wanted the mountain to love him back,
Hey what do you love more than love? Yeah, what do you love more than love?
When you know that you won't get your heart in that stone, When you drop your
tools and you stand alone, Hey what do you love more than love? Yeah what do
you love more than love? Well when my love felt like another addiction, I held
my breath and packed my bags, And I went to the land of the monastery, And the
sunshine children and the prayer flags, Hey what do you love more than love?
Yeah what do you love more than love? When you feel your soul go beyond your
skin, When you know that's the way that it's always been, Hey what do you love
more than love? Yeah what do you love more than love? Well I climbed a
mountain and I thought about attachment, I thought about the Buddhist King, He
said you can keep your superpower, It just short circuts my country, Hey what
do you lov
e more than love? Yeah what do you love more than love? When you question
what your desire is for, When you don't just figure that you just want more,
Hey what do you love more than love? Yeah what do you love more than love?
Well I love the way the world is your garden, You plant your seeds and you let
them grow, And you dig things out of the ground just like You'll take what
comes but you never know, And the mountain is so beautiful that We don't know
if we're any good at all, And we give your love when we think we still need it,
Yeah we give and give and fall and fall, Hey what do you love more than love?
Yeah what do you love more than love? When the giving is all that you ever get
back, Oh how-ow do you love like that? Can you tell me, oh how to love? Hey

Top Dar Williams, Playing To The Firmament

There are kids, lots of kids, who put the law inside a circle. As they jump, I
hope that you will, up and down, up and down. When did you came into this role
that you were cast in? When did dress-up turn to fasion? Throw your gown, up
and down. There's always the sky, let it hear what you're saying, for all that
you are saying. And let it take you apart, to the elements of praying. Til we
are only playing to the firmament. Til we are only playing to the firmament.
In the rain, in the rain, people rush around on cold streets. Here's a shell
to hear their heartbeats, very loud, very loud. Where's the pain, it's only
rain, it's only slowing down a workday. Only singing happy birthday to a
crowd, very loud. So turn on the sky, let it hear what you're saying, for all
that you are saying. And let it take you apart, to the elements of praying.
Til we are only playing to the firmament. Til we are only playing to the
firmament. And when did sex get so mean? When did crime get so clean? You
know, I j
ust can't seem to find my soul in this striving. And why not play to a dream?
You know, this world is too green for all this baaaad driving. What's the
rush? Dip your brush into this twilight. There are leaves upon the skylight,
trace your hand, trace your hand. Mr. Red, he shot a head, he shot a head
inside a circle. On a bad day who would you kill? Take a stand, trace your
hand. There's always the sky, let it hear what you're saying, for all that you
are saying. And let it take you apart, to the elements of praying. Til we are

Top Dar Williams, Spring Street

I'm sorry that I left you with your questions all alone, But I was too happy
driving, and too angry to drive home, I was thinking about the easy courage of
my distant friends, Saying I could let this bridge was hout and never make
amends, Can I blow this small town, make a big sound, Like the start of a film
noir postcard, Can I just forget the frames I shared with you? And I can't
believe what they're saying, They're saying I can change my mind, Start over on
Spring Street, I am welcome anytime. There are Spring Street storefront
daisies floating on their neon stems, There are new shirts on the clothes
racks, should I feel like one of them? I can find a small apartment where a
struggling artist died, And pretend because I pay the rent I know that pain
inside. Yeah, let's watch the tour bus stop and tell us, "Here's the scent of
a spring green life dream, Take the best part, write it in your caffeine
diary." And I can't believe what they're saying, They're saying I caan leave
tonight, Start over on Sprin
g Street, I am welcome anytime. This year April had a blizzard, just to show
she did not care, And the new dead leaves they made the trees look like
children with gray hair, But I'll push myself up through the dirt and shake my
petals free, I'm resolved to being born and so resigned to bravery, Yeah that
one wwho leaves this also grieves this, Too much rain on a prairie flood plain,
Houses floating, love is like that, we built on the river, yeah, And that's to
say, yeah I'm leaving, But I don't have to go there, I don't have to go to

Top Dar Williams, Go To The Woods

Rambling and rambling, rambling and rambling
It's the woods, what do you see?
In all the spooky shadows, in the forest of green
Is there a windy path, angry ass woman who will eat you?
Sad eyed lumberjack, savior who will greet you?
It's a different story for you and for me
Go to the woods, go to the woods and see
Out in the storybook land are many leagues of the wild
Wise and uncontainable as a windy haired child
There are the youth truth movements
And they're springing from the ground
Freak flag wavers and you cannot chop them down
Hey, it's the home of the brave
You'll get the threat of the free
Go to the woods, go to the woods and see
Are you afraid of the woods?
Are you afraid of the woods?
Are you afraid of the woods?
Are you afraid of the woods?
And if I was your memory, what would you do?
'Cause you know if you go back in time
There's something waiting for you
You've got your forest path, reading math, dappling of shade
You can just admit it, there's a promise that you made
And you can't have the past back, but you can hold me
Go to the woods, go to the woods and see
I am afraid of the woods
I am afraid of the woods
I am afraid of the woods
I am afraid of the woods
But what I fear more, what I fear most
More than the man, the beast, or the ghost
Is that the woods are disappearing
So when I go back, when I finally dare
You know the woods'll be gone
You know they just won't be there
Rambling and rambling, rambling and rambling

Top Dar Williams, The Business Of Things

It's a cold, cold time
It's a cold, cold time
And it makes me wonder
If I'll ever forget
How cold I?
How cold I and the world can be?
And the line gets drawn
And we draw the line
And we say it's only
The business of things
How can it be? How can it be
When it's you and me?
I can't live in the past
Hard shelled and moving fast
Change, it's the race car of time
Everyone nods along
I have done nothing wrong
And it feels like a crime
And it's a bright new day
It's a bright new day
And the crazy thing is
That I wish my old friend
Would say that it's fine

Top Dar Williams, Another Mystery

Another Mystery
Get off your catwalk, I want you to talk, To be the seer instead of the seen.
There is a flower, a leaning tower, and all the wonders stand in between. I
don't want to be another mystery, oh no, I don't want to see who's looking at
me, oh no, I wanna be the one to feel the sun, oh whoa, So if you want to see
the world with me, let's go. The alligator, the god that made her, And all the
creatures that got left behind, And Mycenae, Ave Maria, And everything you
gotta dig harder to find. I don't want to be a vapor of heavenly light,
Everybody guess if I'm an angel or sprite. I don't want to be another mystery,
oh no, I don't want to see who's looking at me, oh no, I wanna be the one to
feel the sun, oh whoa, So if you want to see the world wit hme, let's go. You
could pursue it, hell I could do it, I'll just be quiet when I get angry and
hurt, I'm stopping traffic, cinemagraphic, With my long black coat hanging down
in the dirt, And my hair clinging to my face in the rain, Like a goddess from
the cult of be
autiful pain, I do'nt want to be another mystery, I don't want to be another
mystery, I could cut you off with a shoulder of stone, Smoke all night and
leave the party alone, Screw myself with and inscrutable pout, But I just want
you to come and figure me out. I don't want to be another mystery, oh no, I
don't want to see who's looking at me, oh no, I wanna be the one to feel the
sun, oh whoa, So if you want to see the world with me, let's go. I don't want

Top Dar Williams, Calling The Moon

The moon wanted more of my night, I turned off the engine and the headlights,
The trees appeared as they'd never been gone, I promised the fields I'd return
form now on, And the moon kept on rising. I had no more to say, I put my
roadmaps away, And surendered the day. And I knokw you'll be calling me soon,
And if I don't answer, I'm calling the moon. Calling the moon, I was calling
her then, I'm wondering, will she take me again, Oh, I'm calling the moon.
When I called the moon back to me, I thought she wanted my beauty. I shone in
the best that vanity buys, I covered the path where my life turned to lies, And
the moon kept on rising. But I felt nothing at all, She comes when the empire
falls, And shines on crumbling walls. Calling the coon, by the name that she
hose, As Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten robes. Oh, I'm calling the moon,
Calling the moon-- "Oh, make sense of me, night, I can see so much from this
cold height." The moon said, "Oh darkness, my work is done. I've poured this
bottle of l
ight from the sun, But their anger keeps on rising. And they don't understand,
I've shon them all that I can, That the world is at hand. And I know they'll
be calling me soon, And if I don't answer I'm only the moon." I can see by her
light, THis one's going out to the moon tonight, Oh, I'm calling the moon.
Calling the moon, cause I know what it's worth, To tug at the seas and illumine

Top Dar Williams, The One Who Knows

A call from the grave, fortress of hell
Forsaken land where evils dwell
Killing with violence, reach for your gun
You cannot stop them it's time to run
No life is found, grisly remains
Zombified humans eating your brains
Writhing in torment, screaming in pain
Unspeakable horrors will drive you insane
Time standing still
They close in for the kill
Left to your fate
The hordes of hell await
Trapped in a maze you must escape
Standing in doorway a demonic shape
Barons of hell spewing green fire
Watching the blaze burn higher and higher
You're out of bullets but onwards they come
Your life is finished your time is done
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
Attacked by the thousands, now it's time to die
Shotgun blast straight to the head
Leave in your wake a trail of the dead
Servant under hell's command
Die among the lost and the damned
Knee deep in the dead
Death looming overhead
Hell breaks loose on earth
Demons unholy birth
The earth plunged into night
It's time for you to fight

Top Dar Williams, The Tide Falls Away

I walked a spiraling village one night
Drawn by the word of a bell or a light
Out on the flats saw it rose to a spire
It all becomes clear as the tide falls away
Parent and child and an ocean between
One is not heard and the other not seen
Too many bottles but each had a message inside
It all becomes clear as the tide falls away
It all becomes clear as the tide falls away
Lucky we are when the starts leave us singing
A hymn or a dirge when the surge of the ocean
Is gone, is gone
And the old woman just stares at her hands
So many heroes have crumbled to sand
All those cathedrals were merely by men
It all becomes clear as the tide falls away
It all becomes clear as the tide falls away

Top Dar Williams, You Rise And Meet The Day

We could pretend that we're walking on
Petals and light, golden light
Flaunting our love like a dance step mastered
Turning from left to right
But after all the colored lights are gone
Time will leave the ashes and the dawn
You rise and meet the day
I'm watching you go, it's like spying on hope
Ever onward with more to burn
Giving your hands and your heart
To the weave of the world, though it fights each turn
But you do not give up so easily
That's how I know you won't surrender me
You rise and meet the day
It's all I need, it's all I need to know, it's all I need to know
And I love you all the time
I had always feared that some
Gloomy ingratitude would seize me
But you have held the dream like every morning finds
A way to hang the sun up in the sky
And now I think I have it too
The greatest part I learned from you
You rise and meet the day
And I can see kids, maybe yours, maybe not
Oh, I can hear what they'll say
Laughing at pictures with the old-fashioned hats
And the clothes that we're wearing today
And they will know the true and humble power
Of love that made it through the darkest hour
You rise and meet the day

Top Dar Williams, This Earth

In my life on earth
the things I have invented have invented me
I found my industry
I am not alone
I fashion friends from precious scraps
they hold the light they bend to serve me
joking that they donâ€™t deserve me
after days of craft and care
I lift a sword and slice the air
Such has been my time upon this earthâ€¦this earth
Then my wife returns
more beautiful then when she left the night before
I show her things I made
The filigree of ferns, diamonds, snowflakes, tears of gold
She murmurs praise, a small caress; I smile to see her happiness
Silver webs with sand engrained
that catch and hold real drops of rain
Such has been my toil upon this earthâ€¦this earth
When Iâ€™m feeling vexed I go upstairs and bury something deep
Then stand back and push a button, from a distance watch the earth explode
This earth
I love this land of mortal men
They wake to know the fire again
The things we make, the things we feel,
Armored plates and molten steel

Top Dar Williams, Two Sides Of The River

Two sides of a river
The river rushes through
Two sides of a river
One for me and one for you
We can build a bridge or baby we can jump in
See what the river do
Two sides of a river
Great big river rushin' through
I know the tides of the river
Know how fast and how deep
I know the tides of a river
Hope and pray they don't shift in your sleep
?Cause the river bides its lonely loss
It has no vows to keep
I know the tides of a river
Pray, pray they don't shift in your sleep
I was a bride of the river
Before I ever met you
I was a bride of the river
Where it took me was all that I knew
Now I finally found a love to share my secrets with
Lots of things we can do
I was a bride of the river
That's where I learned to rock you
Now I finally found a love to share my secrets with
Lots of things we can do
I was a bride of the river

Top Dar Williams, Whispering Pines

(Ahhh)
If you find me in a gloom
(Ahhh)
Or catch me in a dream
(Ahhh)
Inside my lonely room
(Ahhh)
There is no in between
(Ohhh)
Whispering pines
(Ahhh)
Rising of the tide
(Ahhh)
If only one star shines
(Ahhh)
That's just enough to get inside
(Ahhh)
I will wait until it all goes 'round
With you in sight
The lost are found
Foghorn through the night
Callin' out to sea
Protect my only light
'Cause she once belonged to me
Let the waves rush in
(Oooh)
Let the seagulls cry
(Oooh)
For if I live again
(Oooh)
These hopes will never die
(Oooh)
I can feel you standing there
But I don't see anywhere
Standing by the well
(Standing by the well)
Wishing for the rains
(Wishing for the rains)
Reaching to the clouds
(Reaching to the clouds)
For nothing else remains
Drifting in a daze
(Drifting in a daze)
When evening will be done
Try looking through the haze
(Try looking through the haze)
At an empty house in the cold, cold sun
I will wait until it all goes 'round
With you in sight

Top Dar Williams, Write This Number Down

Write this number down, you can call it anytime
We have been waiting for the day that you would finally drop the dime
I praise the ones who persevere and seeking justice through the law
I caution there were those who fell to bend and the betrayed by what they saw
Some stood in halls of silence with icy hints of violence
When they to seek justice through the law
Iâ€™m witness to the comments and the institutions of the peoples rule
The parents take their kids to local parks and then their kids head off to school
You might see the same old story, greed, and profits, allegory I see kids who go to school
The vote for one the vote for all a right to silence one free call youâ€™ll need a warrant for that note.
She wonâ€™t sit in the back and yes weâ€™re still abolishing your slavery, every kind of slavery
So write this number down and know you wonâ€™t slip through the cracks.
Look over your shoulder thereâ€™s millions of us there to get your backs
You can play a crucial part, carry justice in your heart, and weâ€™ll be there to get your backs
Welcome to this land, yes we still have all those marble steps to climb

Top Dar Williams, The World's Not Falling Apart

Welcome to the golden age of speed with grace
Waiting for the angry gods to smite our race
I logged on to Africa in just one day
I opened a door and that's OK
It's not an end it's just a start, not an end it's just a start
Three, two, one
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me
I have watched the kids who make their scenes
I have met the riot grrls who print their 'zines
They write the word, they raise a thought
They say who they are, they try what they're not
'Cause life is such a changing art, life is such a changing art
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me
Because of me
The closest thing to God that I have heard, is when I knew I did not have the final word
You say the world has lost its love, I say embrace what it's made of
I'll snake a camera to your heart, I'll snake a camera to your heart.
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me
And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart, because of me

Top Dar Williams, So Close To My Heart

I never had a friend as close as you
so close to my heart
I dropped everything when you came through
so close to my heart
and I put my pens and my paint box aside
oh so close to my heart
and the river that ran down the rock face dried
oh so close to my heart
when you were close to my heart
It was an honor that you ran so free
so close to my heart
I thought I'd lost something forever, silly me
so close to my heart
but the place you hid in as bare as it seems
so close to my heart
It held my will in its infinite dreams
so close to my heart
when you were close to my heart
so now you're gone and now we'll both find our ways
so close to our hearts
by the forge that leaves a stamp on each day
so close to our hearts
and we'll long to make great things in our lives
so close to our hearts
and we'll wonder if what we make survives
oh to the beat of the heart
It's the work of the heart

Top Dar Williams, Your Fire Your Soul

Button up that shirt you're s'posed to wear,
don't forget your airline ticket or to brush your hair,
show that family that you care.
Could you wear something that celebrates
everything you love and maybe what your family hates,
cause that might be what it takes.
Cause that's your fire, that's your soul,
you shouldn't have to go.
That's your fire, that's your soul,
you shouldn't have to go.
First thing they say's "take off your shoes,"
and they'll say they want your story but they get confused,
by all those words you use.
A year ago your car went off a cliff,
and you saw an angel in midair, who said you'd live,
well that's a story you can give.
Cause that's your fire, that's your soul,
you shouldn't have to go.
That's your fire, that's your soul,
you shouldn't have to go.
And they say "you're family, you belong to us.
You can stay at home and have our love and trust.
Any day now one of us could die,
if we make you suffer don't you want to find out why,
cause we love to watch you try."
With your fire, your soul, your soul.
It's your fire, it's your fire,
it's your fire, it's your fire, it's your fire.
Then you'll fly home and get the flu,
and you'll keep staring at the ground you always do,
when they get their time with you.
You are not a punching bag my dear,
I think your darkest days should have some light this year,
oh I think you should stay right here.
With your fire and your soul you shouldn't have to go.
It's your fire, that's your soul, you shouldn't have to go.
That's your fire, that's your soul, you shouldn't have to go.

Top Dar Williams, Holly Tree

When the robin builds in the holly tree
It? s a sign of life, it? s gentle victory
Well, today as I set to go
I saw a nest in a tree hollow
Oh Emily, you? re a brave girl
With your husband gone to the other world
Sing a hymn while I light the fire
We? ll be joined by a heavenly choir
Here? s the tansy and the chamomile tea
For you to drink
As the pain increases, well, you only have to think
About a baby, we? ll save the baby
I placed a holly sprig by the doctor? s door
He has done this well and many times before
He? ll be careful which way he goes
But he? s been kind to us farm widows
And this I heard just the other day
That they came to buy, and you chose to stay
Soon a child will help you reap and sow
May he cast a long shadow
But you say the trials are coming
You have felt the gathering forces
And the galloping you hear
Is of one too many horses
But rest your head, my darling girl
There won? t be any danger
Any Christian ever loved an infant in a manger
Saves the baby, they? ll save the baby
Now the pastor comes, shakes the farmer? s hand
Says, the earth will bear like the promised land
You have heard the stories down below
But God will bless this farm hollow
Now the farmer? s wife shudders
Pulls the shawl up to her shoulder
Every time she nears the hearth she feels a little colder

Top Dar Williams, You Are Everyone

I went and found a house in the northern woods
And I was doing fine until the night
But then I couldn't take the sun in Los Angeles
Everything was blazing much too bright
I know that I should sit out on a darkened pier
Feeling the life that is not lived by chance
And yes I know it's just blousy old Hollywood
Jostling for one more song and dance
But you are everyone, you are everyone
I ever trusted, that never made a fool out of me
(You are everyone, you are everyone)
Early again today I rushed myself around
I thought that I would miss the morning train
Angry that I had lain in my bed too long
Watching all the patterns of the rain
So many trips I took to seek somebody out
Gaining some ground but maybe losing more
So many pages scrawled to justify myself
I don't know who I did that for
But you are everyone, you are everyone
I ever trusted, that never made a fool out of me
(You are everyone, you are everyone)
You took a couple pictures of me once
On some winter night long ago
Simply of me, you might not call them beautiful
I take them everywhere I go
But you are everyone, you are everyone
I ever trusted, that never made a fool out of me
(You are everyone, you are everyone)

Top Dar Williams, When It Gets That Way

When I want to go somewhere, I don't ask forgiveness
I just go where I like, and he knows that.
I walk alone into any party, I'm alone tonight
In that high-heeled ego old hat.
Oh blue night, laughter at the bell toll.
People move like streaks of charcoal.
Someone found a prince in the punchbowl.
But high times fizzle out in a change of heart,
And we know things fall apart.
The morning's off to a bad start.
It's raining. Have you had nights like this?
I run miles to his place, wake him up to look at his place.
I feel astray, and I love it when it gets that way.
The child is so young, they say that child is truly free
And with a mind of perpetual invention.
So why is it now I'm a grown-up, all grown up
And yet now I fly through the ceilings of convention?
Oh new friend, borne out of a mind-cloud.
Make believe and yet I laugh aloud.
I've cried when you have stood ground.
But sometimes playtimes are a ghost I've faced,
In that room that I've erased.
The air is empty and druglaced.
I am completely gone. Are you still with me, then?
With my head so big and awfully,
Take my hand and lead me softly,
And then you stay, and I love it when it gets that way.
And when I was crazy maybe I wanted, I wanted, I wanted to be steady as an iceberg,
And with nowhere fast a-going.
Now, now I can handle the danger zone with hailstones all a-flying,
And the crazy winds a-blowing.
These days I haven't been smoking my lungs brown,
Have that itch to turn my life around,
Maybe move on to a new town.
Cause good friends lifted me out of an early tomb.,
Pulled my life out from its doom,
Like sun into a big room
And where my roots have grown.
I really can't let go
Through the woods and through the fields climb
Up the mountain into nighttime, and

Top Dar Williams, I'll Miss You Till I Meet You

Top Dar Williams, Comfortably Numb - Ani Difranco

Hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
Well, I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again
Relax
I need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're sayin'
When I was a child, I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
Okay
It's just a little pinprick
There'll be no more ah-ha-ha
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going for the show
Come on, it's time to go
There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're sayin'
When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look, but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown, the dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb
I, I-I-I-I
I, I-I-I-I
I, I-I-I-I

Top Dar Williams, Troubled Times

When you think you've found something
Worth holding on to
Were you reaching for attention
Hoping she would notice you?
Collecting bottles and thrown away cans
Like she was returnable
One day would refill your hands
How she loved you, all you imagined
Fit so well into your plan
Maybe one day soon it will all come out
How you dream about each other sometimes
With the memory of how you once gave up
But you made it through the troubled times
Pining away every hour in your room
Rolling with the motion, waiting 'til it's opportune
Sitting there watching time fly past you
Why do tomorrow, what you could never do
How she loved you, all you imagined
Everything you put her through
Maybe one day soon it will all come out
How you dream about each other sometimes
With the memory of how you once gave up
But you made it through the troubled times
And it takes a lot of nerve to ask how she is doing
Start with a weak foundation, you will end in ruins
The ways the days and hours pass you'll never understand
Falling like rain through your hands
Maybe one day soon it will all come out
How you dream about each other sometimes
With the memory of how you once gave up
But you made it through the troubled times
Maybe one day soon it will all come out
How you dream about each other sometimes
With the memory of how you once gave up

Top Dar Williams, The Ballad Of Mary Magdalene

my name is mary magdalen
i come from palestine
please excuse these rags i'm in
i've fallen on hard times
but long ago i had my work
when i was in my prime
but i gave it up all for love
it was his career or mine
jesus loved me this i know
why on earth did i ever let him go
he was always faithful, he was always kind
but he walked off with this heart of mine
a love like this comes but once
this i do believe
and i'll not see his life again
as i live and breathe
and i'm sorry if i might offend
but i'll never see
how the tenderness i shared with him
became a herecy
jesus loved me this i know
why on earth did i ever let him go
he was always faithful, he was always kind
but he walked off with this heart of mine
and i remember nights we spent
whispering our creed
our rituals, our sacrament
the stars, our canopy
and there beneath an olive tree
we'd offer up our plate
god's creation, innocent
his arms surrounding me
jesus loves me this i know
why on earth did he ever have to go
he was always faithful, he was always kind
but he walked off with this heart of mine
he was always faithful, he was always kind

Top Dar Williams, The Beauty Of The Rain Is How It Falls

When you know the day is ending all too soon
You're just two umbrellas one late afternoon
You never know what you will say
This is your favorite kind of day
It has no walls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
And there's nothing wrong but there is something more
And sometimes you wonder what you love her for
She says you've known her deepest fears
'Cause she showed you a box of stained-glass tears
It can't be all, the truth about the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
But when she gave you more to find
You let her think she'd lost her mind
And that's all on you
Feeling helpless if she asked for help
Or scared you'd have to change yourself
And you can't deny this room will keep you warm.
You can look out of your window at the storm
But you watch the phone and hope it rings
You'll take her any way she sings
Or how she calls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
How it falls, how it falls, how it falls

Top Dar Williams, Starman

Dar recorded this for audiences online in 1998
Hey la la...Hey la la...
Didn't know what time it was, and the lights were low - ow - ow
I leaned back on my radio - o - o
Some cat was laying down some rock 'n' roll, "lotta soul", he said.
Then the loud sound did seem to fa - a - ade,
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of pha - a - ase,
That weren't no D.J., that was hazy cosmic jive.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it, 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile, he told me:
Let the children lose it, let the children use it,
Let all the children play.
I had to phone someone, so I picked on you - ou - ou
Hey, that's far out, so you heard tim too - oo - oo
Switch on the T.V., we may pick him on channel two.
Look out your window, I can see his ligh - igh - ight,
if we can sparkle he may land tonigh - igh - ight,
Don't tell your papa or he'll get us locked up in fright.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it, 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile, he told me:
Let the children lose it, let the children use it,
Let all the children boogie.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.
There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He's told us not to blow it, 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile, he told me:
Let the children lose it, let the children use it,
Let all the children play (learn, 2nd time)
repeat
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

Top Dar Williams, Play The Greed

I finally learned that the market's righteous holler
Comes from a pale face on a paper dollar
And I betcha got few bucks in your hemp wallet
So throw a tiny wrench in the fiber optic wires
Morals are cheap and you can be the buyers
We can let 'em poison and perish foreign lands
Or we can play the greed right into our hands
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Everybody says it can't happen here
Everybody says it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, things change and they all take credit
So ask why there's only forty songs on a station
And ask your cafe about their coffee's plantation
And why is it Arizona hasn't gone solar?
And tell your print shop that hemp grows faster
And it doesn't mean a back room clear cut disaster
The market doesn't care but it wants to understand
And you can play the greed right into your hands
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Smiling man says it can't happen here
Channel 4 says it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, the change comes and they all take credit
So roll up your pennies and do your battle
The chairman will start quoting Chief Seattle and
Put little tree frogs on their letterhead
'Cause the market resists and the market absorbs
With a five-pointed leaf on the cover of Forbes
The very same people turned valleys to dams
These are the ones that drain prairies to sand
And they'd just as soon you didn't know this land is your land
But we can play the world back into our hands
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Malcom's gonna say it can't happen here
Rupert's gonna say it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, things change and they'll always take the credit
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Oh, woah - oh, woah
Hell the change comes
Let's let 'em take the credit . . .

Top Dar Williams, Highway Patrolman

From Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number 8
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
I got a brother named Franky and Frank he ain't no good
Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
I get a call on the shortwave Franky's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way
CHORUS 1:
Yeah, me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good
Well Franky went in the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on dropping 'till it was like we were getting robbed
Franky came home in '68, and me, I took this job
CHORUS 2:
Yea we're laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying, teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family he ain't no friend of mine
Well the night was like any other, I got a call 'bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid lying on the floor lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his head
There was a girl crying at a table and it was Frank, they said
Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
But I must of done a hundred and ten through Michigan county that night
It was out at the crossroads, down round Willow bank
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through them county roads
'till a sign said Canadian border five miles from here
I pulled over to the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear
CHORUS 3:
Me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
Taking turns dancing with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good

Top Dar Williams, Bought And Sold

Well we're heading for a past that you leave not defend
Where the downtowns hold the sadness of you can't go back again
It's there you'll find the rust and debtors
Motel signs with missing letters
Cause there's a monster on the outskirts
Says it knows what your town needs
Then it eats it up like nothing and it won't spit out the seeds
And we can be the super shoppers
We can say we're really smart
We can say our town is doing fine without a beating heart
We can even say the money saved is all our own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold
And we're heading for a nasty business, keeps our country growing
Where the weapons that we're selling are the only seeds we're sowing
You get to blow the fruits of all your labors
Sell F-16's to all the neighbors
And we know that it's for money
And that's how the west gets bargained
You the know the last time this happened
Even Vietnam got jargoned
And you can say they're out to hunt you
You can say they're out to fish you
You can join a gang of restless boys
Or start your own militia
You can even say your violence is all your own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold
Well I look up to the people who are less bought than I
You can show them what you're selling
And they'll only ask you why
And their paychecks don't have lots of zeros
They're my friends and they're my heroes
And the TV sets are angry 'cause they just can't make 'em pay
But I like the way these people read the signs and walk away
And we can call ourselves the makers
And the keepers of the times
We can spend our sand dollars
And sand nickels and sand dimes
We can even say prosperity is all our own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold
We can even say our loneliness is all our own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold

Top Dar Williams, Better Things

Here's wishing you the bluest sky
And hoping something better comes tomorrow
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the doubt and sadness
I know that better things are on their way.
Here's hoping that the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you
Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on their way.
It's really good to see you rocking out
And having fun,
Living like you've just begun.
Accept your life and what it brings,
I hope tomorrow you find better things.
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.
Here's wishing you the bluest sky
And hoping something better comes tomorrow
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the drudge and sadness
I know that better things are on the way.
I know you've got a lot of good things happening up ahead.
The past is gone, it's all been said.
So here's to what the future brings,
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.

Top Dar Williams, Are You Out There

Words and music by Dar Williams
Perhaps I am a miscreation
No one knows the truth there is no future here
And you're the DJ speaks to my insomnia
And laughs at all I have to fear
Laughs at all I have to fear
You always play the madmen poets
Vinyl vision grungy bands
You never know who's still awake
You never know who understands and
Are you out there, can you hear this?
Jimmy Olson, Johnny Memphis,
I was out here listening all the time
And though the static walls surround me
You were out there and you found me
I was out here listening all the time
Last night we drank in parking lots
And why do we drink? I guess we do it cause
And when I turned your station on
You sounded more familiar than that party was
You were more familiar than that party
It's the first time I stayed up all night
It's getting light I hear the birds
I'm driving home on empty streets
I think I put my shirt on backwards
Are you out there, can you hear this
Jimmy Olson , Johnny Memphis
I was out here listening all the time
And though the static walls surround me
You were out there and you found me
I was out here listening all the time
And what's the future, who will choose it?
Politics of love and music
Underdogs who turn the tables
Indie versus major labels
There's so much to see through
Like our parents do more drugs than we do
Oh....
Corporate parents, corporate towns
I know every TV set that has them lit
They preach that I should save the world
They pray that I won't do a better job of it
Pray that I won't do a better job
So tonight I turned your station on just so I'd be understood
Instead another voice said I was just too late
And just no good....
Calling Olson, Calling Memphis
I am calling, can you hear this?
I was out here listening all the time
And I will write this down
and then I will not be alone again yeah
I was out here listening
Oh yeah I was out here listening

Top Dar Williams, Wilder Than Her

Well I'm wilder than her
And what else can I say
But I guess that's why she fell in love with me
She's a house on fire
She's got all those charms
I'm a house on fire, too
But I got four alarms
And I'm wilder than her
And it drives her out of her mind
I guess she thought that she was just one of a kind
But she's a summer storm
And I'm a hurricane
One just blows through town
One blows the town away
And I'm wilder than her
When we go drivin' in our cars
Racing through the night
She can drive as fast as me
But she stops at all the lights
She says it's 'cause I'm crazy
And she's probably right
But I think that the reason is that I'm twice as wild
And I'm wilder than her
And it drives her out of her mind
I guess she thought that she was just one of a kind
But dhe's a summer storm
And I'm a hurricane
One just blows through town
One blows the town away
And I'm wilder than her
But when she takes my hand
And she looks me in the eye
I see something that I've never seen in my life
She takes the fire
And turns it down low
She takes the night
And makes it not so cold
She takes the distance
And breaks it into miles
She makes my life just a little less wild
And I'm wilder than her
And it drives her out of her mind
I guess she thought that she was just one of a kind
But she's a summer storm
And I'm a hurricane
One just blows through town
One blows the town away
And I'm wilder than her

Top Dar Williams, Finlandia

This is my song
Oh god of all the nations
A song of peace
For lands afar and mine
This is my home
The country where my heart is
Here are my hopes
My dreams my holy shrine
But other hearts
In other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams
As true and high as mine
My countries skies
Are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams
On clover leaf and pine
But other lands
Have sunlight too and clover
And skies are everywhere
As blue as mine
Oh hear my song
Oh god of all the nations
A song of peace
For their land and for mine

Top Dar Williams, Farewell To The Old Me

How can I ask love to hold the mystery
When just look at me
It's all push and pull collateral
I don't want to be the one who gets the next surprise
I'll plan it out this time
Though I used to think that things were meant to be
So farewell to the old me
Farewell to the old me
My life is working better now
It's always changing anyhow
I danced a lot of nights until the grass was wet
It wasn't over yet
'Round 'bout 3 a.m. you made a friend
And I followed a lot of vital crazy thoughts
Because it's where the meaning was
And I tried to find it every other way
So farewell to the old me
Farewell to the old me
My life is getting better now
But always changing anyhow
But I can turn on the charm
Show them nothing more
Than what I've done before
It's nothing much new
But it'll do
'Cause I don't wanna be the one who makes you laugh out loud
I wanna make you proud
And you always said you knew what I could be
So farewell to the old me
Farewell to the old me
Farewell to the old me
My life is working better now
But always changing anyhow
Time
And the old me
Farewell to the old me

Top Dar Williams, College Girl

I'm not a leader
I'm not a left-wing,rehtoric,
mobilizing force of one
But but there was a time way back
many years ago in college
Don't laugh
but I thought I was a radical
I ran a hemp liberation league with my boyfriend
It was true love with a common cause
and besides that he was a sagittarius
We used to say that our love was like hemp rope
three times as strong as the rope that you buy domesticly
we would bond in the face of oppression from big business
and the Deans
But I knew there was a problem
every time the group would meet
everyone would light up
It made it difficult to discuss glaucoma and human rights,
not to mention chemotherapy
Well, sometimes life gives us lessons
sent in ridiculous packaging
So I found him in the arms of a "student
against the treacherous use of fur"
And he gave no apology
He just turned to me stoned out to the edge of oblivion
He didn't pull up the sheets and I think he even smiled
as the said to me: (spoken)
-Well, I guess our dreams went up in smoke.....Huhuh
-and I said:
-No, our dreams went up in dreams....you stupid pot-head
And another thing
What kind of a name is "students
against the treacherous use of fur"
Fur is already dead and besides
a name like that doesn't make a good acronym
I am older now
I know the rise and gradual fall of a daily victory
And I still write to my Senators saying they should
legalize cannabis and I should know
'Cause I am a horticulturist
I have a husband and two children out in Lexington, Mass.
And my ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out
Because he's in a cult

Top Dar Williams, Dar Williams

She never should have rented this apartment in the mortal city
The cold comes though every crack she puts her hand up to
The radiator's broken, so she has to use electric heat
And tonight was the first date with the brother of the guy she worked next to
He lived a couple streets away, he listened, he had things to say
She asked him up for dinner sometime, sometime was tonight
The radio gave updates on the ice storm while she made the dinner
They said, from all the talk, you shouldn't drive or even walk
And this just in, we're asking everyone to turn out their power
They need it at the hospital
She ran around pulling plugs, then she called him up
Maybe now they shouldn't meet, he said that he would brave the streets
She met him at the door with a blanket and a candle
Saying, "I heard it on the radio, I had to turn my power off"
He said, "You're not the only one, the streets were dark tonight
It was like another century
With dim lamps and candles lighting up the icy trees and the clouds and a covered moon"
She said, "What kind of people make a city
Where you can't see the sky and you can't feel the ground?
I tell you something, I have this feeling that this city's dying"
He said, "It's not dying, it's the people who are dying"
She said, "Yes, yes, I think the people are dying and nobody cares
"We got all this technology, our dreams bold and vague
And then one city got bad planners
One city got the plague"
He asked, "Why did you move here?" She said, "For the job
For the job, and I've been so lonely here, so lonely
There's no one I can talk to, you know, I don't even know your brother"
He smiled and said, "Sometimes at night I walk out by the river
The city's one big town, the water turns it upside-down
People found the city because they love other people
They want their secretaries, they want their power lunches
"And think about tonight, I heard the same newscast you did
I unplugged everything, I looked out the window
And I think the city heard
I watched as, one by one, the lights went off
So they could give their power to the hospital"
They ate in silence while she thought this over
They sat together in a dark room in the mortal city
Shifting in their blankets so they wouldn't get spaghetti on them
Then came the awkward moment after dinner, what to do
The ice was still falling, the streets were still dangerous
The cabs were not running, and this neighborhood was not the greatest
They both looked at the space where a couch would've been
She felt her stomach sink, she felt like she could hardly think
She said, "I never should have rented this apartment in the mortal city
The cold comes through every crack I put my hand up to
The radiator doesn't work, I have to use electric heat"
And that settled it, they would both sleep in her bed
It was a matter of survival
She brought out T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, and hats
If there was ever any thought of what would happen in that bed tonight
There was no question now
They could barely move
They were wrapped up like ornaments waiting for another season
They laid in bed and listened to the pelting ice
He said, "My brother's not a bad guy, he's just quiet
I wished you liked the city"
She said, "Maybe I do
"I think I have a special kind of hearing tonight
I hear the neighbors upstairs, I hear my heart beating
I hear one thousand hearts beating at the hospital
And one thousand hearts by their bedsides waiting
Saying, 'That's my love in the white gown'"
We are not lost in the mortal city

Top Dar Williams, Crystal Creek

You so fleet and youthful must have split a thousand apples.
Oh I watched you as you steadied first your heart then your breath
Venturing out you scanned a thousand blades of grass,
And when you drew your bowstring, it was a swift and cordial death.
As you stood in the wilderness
Did you feel the silence in the stillness?
That was me with you in the forest
For you knew the balances
The balances before us.
I was guarding Crystal, Crystal Creek
Oh a tree it's a record, a home of memories,
And every bird springs from an old master's canvas, full in flight.
And the pond I go to sparkles in a vast estuary,
And those men saw nothing staring drunken through their sites.
The one who spied me out as goods to plunder,
I had to show the world that he was not a true hunter.
That was me,
When he saw me naked,
He was interrupting,
Something sacred.
I was guarding Crystal, Crystal Creek.
And the newsmen circled leaving trails of cigarette butts
Machine-like up the hill to Crystal Creek.
"James," she said, "who would do this thing I've seen today,
I cannot hold my mic, my hands are shaking, knees are weak."
"They found a man and he was wrapped in a deerskin,
Riddled through with boxes of his friends' ammunition.
Turn the camera off," she said.
That was me.
Oh my noble animals,
You must act with reverence,
With reverence not like cannibals.

Top Dar Williams, I Will Free Myself

Top Dar Williams, You Will Ride With Me Tonight

Have you called before your time?
Rest your head against me I'm a friend to travelers.
Hold me tight my wings are strong,
Wrap your arms around me
It's a long way through the tunnel to the light.
Speeding through the fields of flowers,
Silver skies with distant showers
My sister brought them
All the seeds in spring were sown,
How the tendriled vines have grown
So full in Autumn
May I say you seem too strong,
Loose your silver hair
'Cause it's a long way through the tunnel to the light.
Fates are poised above the strings,
They know the span of life and wings,
You are not of them.
See the life these travelers chose
Highway lamps on open roads
That shine above them
Do your fingers want to feel
Tunnels made of dampened steel
And why pretend that you're so dull
May I say you're beautiful
It makes me want to turn this thing around,
You'll ride with me tonight,
You will ride with me tonight,

Top Dar Williams, Blue Light Of The Flame

How did we lose this great right?
Everything burns in our path
The balance we broke, left us running through smoke
You're at the blue light of the flame
As the earth melted the poles
I raise to mend the controls
And I work harder, fiercer and smarter
You're at the blue light of the flame
So, this is where it all end
With the flowers by your belt
And your friends come to you
As the light turns to dark
But the light shines through
Yes, when the hurricanes came
We were the Gods that we blame
We have all injured file, we feel our desire
You kneel at the blue light of the flame
Happy on rescue, somebody left you

Top Dar Williams, Beautiful Enemy

I saw your flag, another star, another stripe
What's your new bag? Something real or just some hype?
Tell me what have you sown
Have you prospered and grown?
Why shouldn't you have
Your moments of genius?
Just because our alliance broke
With no civil words between us?
Oh, my beautiful enemy, beautiful
I send my scorn and ridicule
You're not innocent
No, not innocent, no one's innocent
My nation's grand
Your name's not on any signs
It's so well-planned
And well groomed and yet sometimes
The past tornadoes through, people talk about you
Can't they see that your rein is steely and torturous?
I start thinking that I am sinking
Inside a hollow fortress
Oh, my enemy, beautiful enemy
My stride is slowed by memory
But not innocence, no not innocent
No one's innocent
In my furies I've dreamed
That juries denounce you
There I stand with the upper hand
But in order to trounce you
I just keep getting above myself
I just keep getting above myself
And so I'm worried but as I've stated
Things can be complicated
But you're my enemy
You're my enemy
You're my enemy
The future's bright
There are new things we will love
It feels so right
Let's not make up or rise above
Yes, we are more corrupted but happy and productive
We'll both live in our worlds of civilized people
Though I've heard that my brand new church
Has a slightly higher steeple
Oh my enemy, beautiful enemy
Hail to your vast hegemony
You're not innocent, I'm not innocent

Top Dar Williams, Buzzer

Top Dar Williams, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Dar Williams - When I was a Boy

Dar Williams - When I Was a Boy

Dar Williams - Jaqua Concert Hall - Eugene, OR - 1/16/13 - Full Set

Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents Dar Williams

The Ocean

Dar Williams - "I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything" (Live In-Studio)

Dar Williams - It's Alright

Dar Williams in Mahanoy City - November 5, 1994

Iowa (Traveling III) - Dar Williams (original recorded)

Dar Williams - What Do You Hear In These Sounds

After All - Dar Williams [sync'd lyrics]

Resisting Convention Panel - Dar Williams

The Christians and the Pagans - Dar Williams

When I Was a Boy by Dar Williams

Williams, Dar Filmography

Dar Williams - When I was a Boy

Dar Williams - When I Was a Boy

Dar Williams - Jaqua Concert Hall - Eugene, OR - 1/16/13 - Full Set

Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents Dar Williams

The Ocean

Dar Williams - "I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything" (Live In-Studio)

Dar Williams - It's Alright

Dar Williams in Mahanoy City - November 5, 1994

Iowa (Traveling III) - Dar Williams (original recorded)

Dar Williams - What Do You Hear In These Sounds

After All - Dar Williams [sync'd lyrics]

Resisting Convention Panel - Dar Williams

The Christians and the Pagans - Dar Williams

When I Was a Boy by Dar Williams

Comfortably Numb - Dar Williams & Ani DiFranco

Dar Williams - "Closer to Me"

Dar Williams - The Babysitter's Here

The Beauty Of The Rain - Dar Williams (+lyrics)

Dar Williams - After All

You're Aging Well by Dar Williams

Dar Williams "Are You Out There?" on SIRIUS XM

Dar Williams- February

Dar Williams - "As Cool As I Am" (official video)

Dar Williams - Buzzer

When I was a boy - dar Williams - Live Bush Hall - London - 05-03-2014

Dar Williams - AFTER ALL - live in concert Teaneck , New Joisey!

The Ocean - Dar Williams - Live - Bush Hall - London - 05.03.14

Dar Williams "The Mercy Of The Fallen" live at Paste

Dar Williams - Iowa (Live version)

DAR WILLIAMS - COMFORTABLY NUMB

Dar WIlliams - Iowa (Traveling III) live at SPACE in Evanston, IL 4-27-2012

Dar Williams - THE ONE WHO KNOWS - live in concert from Teaneck,NJ

Dar Williams and The Grand Slambovians - "Comfortably Numb" Live in Peekskill

Dar Williams - February

Dar Williams "Crystal Creek" Live on Soundcheck

Dar Williams - THE CHRISTIANS and THE PAGANS - live in concert from Teaneck, NJ

Dar Williams "The Hudson" Live Performance - Beautiful Live Recording

DAR WILLIAMS - iowa - HOUSING WORKS BOOKSTORE CAFE new york city OCTOBER 16 2010

Joan Osborne & Dar Williams - Comfortably Numb - Live at El Rey

Dar Williams "It's Alright" live at Paste

Dar Williams - The Babysitter's Here

MN Music Summit 2015 Keynote Address w/ Dar Williams

Dar Williams - Full Concert - 01/07/10 - Paste Magazine Offices (OFFICIAL)

Jepson Leadership Forum presents Dar Williams

Dar Williams - Full Performance - Radio Woodstock 100.1 - 8/25/15

Jen Ambrose opening for Dar Williams at The Rogue Theatre

2014-06-15 Dar Williams - Buttermilk Jamboree - Circle Pines Center - Delton MI

Loudon Wainwright III - Jaqua Concert Hall - Eugene, OR - 1/16/13 - Full Set

СТРИМ AGAR.IO

John Hiatt - Live at Soundstage

Amazin' Blue: Amazin' Race Fall 2012 Act I

Resisting Convention Panel - Q&A;

The Amazing Mr. J presents: MAGIC FOR CELEBRITIES!

Speak Out with Sandy Galef- Hudson Highland Fjord Trail

Open Culture Indian Point

Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing: The Very Best Of Dire Straits (Full Compilation) [1998]

The Performing Songwriter, Episode 7, Denise Moser and Andrew McKnight

1-16-15 Nicole Sandler Show - Weed & Music

LET IT BURN - The Coming Destruction of the USA?

ICW Worldwide Wrestling - Season 2 Episode 4 - Jackie Polo Vs. Noam Dar

Concert for Newtown

Measure 4 Measure's Class of 2013 Parents' Concert

Dar Williams Interview - TheBuzzAbout.com

Dar Williams- Backstage at Mountain Stage

Dar Williams lives green in the Hudson Valley