|
|
Blue Horse
1. These Hands
2. See What You're Made Of
3. Ponca City Blues
4. Slip Off the Line
5. What's a Baby to Do
6. I Told You in the Morning (Leavin Behind)
7. Me and Babe
8. Sunny Lady
9. Fool on a Corner
10. A Brief History of the 1st Iraq War (A Year in the Life)
11. Slide Under
7 Roads to 7 Songs (EP)
1. Old Limousine
2. Starvation Wages
3. Adah Leah
4. So Gone
5. As I Walk
6. Sweeter Lovin
7. Lynching Back East
Blue Horse
These Hands
How 'bout it, baby. You and me. All alone.
We got shaken down, you took higher ground,
now this ledge is all we own.
You won't look at me. You don't want to see
what moves me where I stand.
Please don't pull away. All I got to say is
take the love in these hands.
You say maybe. You say nothing. Then you're sorry. Now you cry.
You've been holding back. Now you're saying that
your love just wants to die.
Baby, where you been? Come and drink it in.
Let go those shifting sands.
Better think about what you'll do without
all the love in these hands.
We were deep in bed holding tight to have it all.
Now I'm held by the fear you don't feel me at all.
...solo...
Don't leave yet. You might forget.
You've been down this road before.
Yeah, you know the pain driving you insane
til you're screaming for the door.
If you don't work it out, shadows of your doubt
just wait in no man's land.
I'm against the wall. I can feel you fall.
Take ahold of these hands.
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
See What You're Made Of
So, how you going to leave your sweet Mama Earth,
lover of the sun, child of rain and dirt?
She feeds you life,
you poison her breast and eat while you watch her die away.
Now, if you can't taste the poison,
what are you made of?
Why d'you take it all, even what little is left,
then you grab your gun and look down your nose at theft?
How about your choices out on the street
while they watch you drive away?
When you find out later what you've got,
see what you're made of.
Wall to wall, we're locked in the human race.
So many colors, locked into one face.
Remember when you're hungry for hatred and blood,
when you kill a man, your brother dies first.
If you think you're alive when it's over,
see what you're made of.
Your brother. And your sister. And your Child.
So you're selling justice hand over fist.
You know she won't be one with you until she's kissed.
How many innocent are you taking down,
while you plead that you're only fighting crime?
Hey, you missed a bloodstain--
you can see what you're made of.
You can die in your money while scavengers stake their claim.
You can die in the arms of love without a name.
How 'bout the child who's looking at you?
If you turn away, is he just like you?
Turn around, see what you're made of.
You want me to think. You want me to think like you.
Mister, here's a headline: This is my home, too.
It's falling apart. Enough has been done.
Turn around.
Open your hand.
Think it's time to see what else you're made of.
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
Ponca City Blues
Yeah I got them Ponca City blues. There's no place you'd rather be.
You just livin' in the past, and you just won't set it free.
Every time I hold you, baby, I never know if you're holdin' me.
You say you need a little time, 'cause you got to let it run its course.
Well, take another look, 'cause you're sittin' on a runaway horse,
'round that vicious circle, straight into one more divorce.
If I didn't love you, babe, you know I wouldn't try so hard.
I'd of packed up long ago and sent you some kind of get well card.
I've been livin' for the day you live for love in your own back yard.
Come on, babe.
...solo...
Oh, come on, baby, don't you think you might just talk to somebody?
Oh, never mind. You don't want to go.
You don't understand, so what do I know?
I only cry a lot. I got to find a way to stop these
Ponca City blues. There's no place you'd rather be.
Yeah, you keep livin' in the past, and that ain't no place for me.
Guess it's time for me to think about someplace I'd rather be.
Someday, if you wake up, you'll see me in a flash.
You'll say, Who was that guy that used to take out the trash?
No more, babe. That's why I'm leavin' you. Today.
Now for the bad news. Ponca City ain't on my way.
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
Slip Off the Line
Well, you know there's going to come a time
when your life slips off the line.
And you can feel the whole world screaming
for what you own
for your time
for your flesh
til you feel like you're dreaming.
So you think you're going to find a way
to have it all and just not pay
til you see the world is only waiting
for what you own
for your time
for your flesh
til you know you are screaming.
What will it be?
Where you going to stand when you slip off the line?
...solo...
Then you see you're just like everyone.
Fine clothes on a skeleton.
On your arms are strapped the same long spoons.
All that food you can't reach to your mouth,
so nobody gets anything to eat.
So you run scared into the next room.
The same food, the same long spoons.
But now the hunger just grows deeper.
For a word, for a smile, for a touch.
They are feeding each other.
So, what will it be?
Where you going to stand when you slip off the line?
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
What's a Baby to Do
Oh, baby. What's a baby to do?
You ran around uptown, back down. By then we were through.
You said I never did satisfy. Look who's back. Tell me why.
Uh huh? Tell me, baby, what could you possibly do?
Oh, what's a baby, what's a baby, my baby to say?
Got to find me another real sweet lover who won't go away.
Well, I loved you once, and twice I tried,
but all I got were the nights I cried.
Baby, what can you say?
You roll your love like loaded dice. You thought you'd never lose.
What's the matter, bend your silver platter?
Can't hold nothin' on that thing but your own bad news?
Oh, baby, my baby to do?
You packed up, shacked up, and wound down singin' the blues.
You say bein' uptown is just alright,
You got the lowdown on my lonely nights,
So what are you doin' here, baby?
What are you gonna do?
You look so good.
...solo...
Well, I thought about it, baby. You ask me what I see.
Hell, I look back, hold back, memories are workin' on me.
You picked me up, and I got thrown.
My, oh, my, how this boy has grown.
Pretty baby, you tell me.
Yeah, you roll your love like loaded dice. You thought you'd never lose.
What's the matter, bend your silver platter?
Can't hold nothin' on that thing but your own bad news?
Oh, baby. What you gonna do?
Uptown, back down. And now look at you.
You want it all and a home.
It ain't no fun, is it, bein' alone?
For a minute I thought I was still lovin' you.
But that minute is over.
What's a baby to do?
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
I Told You in the Morning (Leavin Behind)
I told you in the morning after sweet, sweet lovin' I was leavin'.
I'm tired of all the things that never get done and all the dreams you don't believe
in.
I'm tired of the sweet, little lady, waiting for us to live
without ever knowing how time keeps movin' on,
and I don't want to be the one I'm leavin' behind.
I know I may be crazy, but I'm not half lazy, now that you know me.
And even if I could just hold it back, can you see me tryin' it one more time again?
Tell me, who in the world are you foolin', keepin' it to yourself,
holdin' on, until love just slips away,
and now I'm in a different place and movin' away.
Take it easy. Go ahead, you've got it made.
But now you're lookin' queasy. Your shadow ain't givin' you shade?
Oh, we had such a beginning. Time was standing still,
but I'm thinking the world keeps turnin' 'round, baby,
right down that road.
...solo...
Take it easy. Go ahead, you've got it made.
But now you're lookin' queasy. Your shadow ain't givin' you shade?
Tell me, who in the world are you foolin',
keepin' it to yourself, holdin' on,
until love just slips away,
and now I'm in a different place and movin' away.
I told you in the morning after sweet, sweet lovin' I was leavin'.
I'm tired of all the things that never get done and all the dreams you don't believe
in.
I'm tired of the sweet, little lady, waiting for us to live
without ever knowing how
time keeps movin', love keeps slippin', the world keeps rollin' on,
and I don't want to be the one I'm leavin' behind.
(c)(p) 1980, 2000 Rick Hart
Me and Babe
I know you, babe. You know how I treat you right.
I'm going to give you one squeeze in the evenin' and make it last all night.
And when the day comes stretchin' by the window sill,
I'll kiss your sleepy eyes til sunshine spills around you.
Oh yeah, around you.
I'm going to take your pretty hand and walk to the breakfast table,
spillin' coffee and kisses and flapjacks and wishes like two fools in a fable.
And with a look, be thinkin' 'bout the love we found
and like two damn kids pull the mornin' down around us.
Oh yeah, around us.
Your hand, my hand, ain't no shame
knowin' that we're never goin' to be the same inside us,
Oh, no, inside us.
...solo...
We're going to take that dusty road and walk down a long summer evenin'.
Between the crickets and laughter, them old wooden rafters will sway to our
breathin'.
And when the stars join in with us overhead,
silence will keep us warm and fed within us.
Oh, yeah, within us.
Your hand, my hand, ain't no shame
knowin' that we're never goin' to be the same inside us,
Oh, no, inside us.
You know me, babe. I know how you treat me right.
You're gettin' too close for talkin', and I'm thinkin' you just might
come dancin' music all around your laughin' kiss to the clothes on the ground around us.
Oh yeah, around us.
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
Sunny Lady
Sunny lady, don't you hear me say,
your love is only time away.
I feel it comin' day by day,
but hopin' and wishin' is leaving me lonely.
Hey, mama, don't you know why
I'm waitin' on the time to fly.
When I close'm I can see your eyes
lookin' right back into your one and only.
Hey, can you believe the love I'll see
when I get off of that plane,
comin' to me like the sun after rain?
You'll be chasin' my blues away.
Sunny lady, know your kiss is sweet.
I think it's 'bout time to meet.
Stand up on your pretty feet
and see if you can see me, now, up through the window.
You know I'm achin' for your touch,
and all the things you love so much.
So tired of this memory crutch,
so makin' that landing's like ridin' a rainbow.
Hey, can you believe the love I'll see
when I get off of that plane,
comin' to me like the sun after rain?
You'll be chasin' my blues away.
I'm thinkin' 'bout the love I'm missin',
dreamin' 'bout the lips I'm kissin',
walkin' through the days I spend without you.
Letter in my pocket just to feel you.
Hey, it's better than livin' without you.
...solo...
Sunny lady, gettin' closer now,
the only way that I know how.
Comin' to you up at 30 thou,
just about glidin' down into your lovin'.
Hey, can you believe the love you'll see
when I get off of that plane,
comin' to you like the sun after rain?
I'll be chasin' your blues away.
(c)(p) 2000 Rick Hart
Fool on a Corner
He's a fool on a corner, starin' at his shoes,
wonderin if there's any place he won't pay no dues.
Too tired of the travellin' to pick up any clues
Say, buddy, got a dollar and a dime?
He must have fallen off a dream and lost his way,
his will to love, and last week's pay.
The devil picks up after him along the way.
Say, Scratch, can't you gimme somethin' that ain't mine?
He's stuck between his laughing youth,
the yawning grave, and the twisted truth.
Another draft horse gone bad in the tooth.
Man, it happens all the time.
He's turned his life into an unwanted guest.
He don't care anymore if he's cursed or he's blest.
He's just fallin' apart so he can get some rest.
Say, Doc, put it over ice with a twist of lime.
People think he's crazy, say he'll never make it back.
But he didn't go far enough, so he's tangled up in slack.
You'd think a leap of faith meant fallin' through the cracks.
Say, Jesus, got a little bread, a little wine?
...solo...
He watched his heroes get shot and packaged under the flag
while the Constitution was bound and gagged,
and the guilty wept as they sold its rags.
Hey, jester, are you laughin', or are you cryin'?
Well, he would've run for office, but that'd be runnin' from the law.
He run a major corporation, but he'd have to grow a claw.
He'd be a man of vision, but he was blinded by what he saw.
Say, Bacchus, let me try some of your wine.
He's stuck between his laughing youth,
the yawning grave, and the twisted truth,
where self righteous perform like John Wilkes Booth.
Yeah. Time after time.
One more fool on a corner, empty pockets, empty hands.
You'd think he had enough to get up and make a stand.
How 'bout some travellin' music for that one man band?
Say, Monk, somethin' in 3-quarter time.
Maybe someday you can see him waxin' down his wings
and look in a child's eyes where there's no judgments or kings,
and chance what he's got left so he can hear love when it sings.
Man, it happens. All the time.
(c)(p) 1994, 2000 Rick Hart
A Brief History of the 1st Iraq War (A Year in the Life)
I was working on the day they hauled the factory away.
We just stood there, looking for a sign.
It said, "We moved overseas where the children work for free.
By the way, you're laid off, but you'll be fine."
So, I went to the bank, but the damn thing sank through the ground
while the band began to play.
I saw a dancing suit with his pockets full of loot, sing
"I guess I'll be on my way."
Somebody yelled, "Slob, why can't you hold a job!" while I was
standing in the Employment line.
A homeless cussed'em out while the counselor said
"I doubt you'll find a job for long time."
I walked outside into a driveby,
bullets flying and folks like falling clay.
I don't know why I did, but I grabbed the nearest kid and said
"I guess we'll be on our way."
The kid kicked and he swore til I dove through a door.
We looked up and saw an Army man. He said, "Be all you can be."
"Say, what the hell's that mean?"
"How 'bout a job?"
I took the pen from his hand.
Next thing I know, I'm praying for snow
smack dab in the middle of the East.
I was gonna ask why God's always on our side,
but we were busy feeding the beast.
Well, we fought for four days, then had a year of parades
for folks who live and die in their sleep.
We watch our leaders lie, but we never ask them why
we're the joke that history repeats.
You know, it's hard to laugh, sitting on this golden calf.
I guess I thought they gave a damn.
Well, I've had enough. I'll just get my stuff
and be on my way 'fore I forget who I am.
...solo...
When I jumped off the float, they grabbed me by the coat
and said, "The government's got another job for you.
Won't you be a poster boy for another little ploy?"
I said, "Man, don't you have a clue?"
He said, "The world just bends and breaks!
Why, with every step it shakes!
We've got to cover it, save it, for all mankind!"
I said "I'll have to pass.
You're just talking about you're ass.
You're talking about losin mine.
For what?"
When the Army let me go, I was knee deep in snow,
trying to find a place to make a stand.
Working in the city, dodgin' cons and pity,
trying to earn a buck and lend a hand.
Then I met a woman whose heart was strummin the music I love to play.
So we picked up my check, jumped in my old wreck.
She said, "I hope we can find our way."
She said, "We've got to make a better day, now,
for the huddled, the children, and the stray.
To keep the dark at bay."
(c)(p) 1992, 2000 Rick Hart
Slide Under
Baby's bridge is burnin' down. I can hear her graspin' for the ledge.
I jumped as it was fallin', but she's back there livin' on the edge.
So I get up and turn around, movin' through all the roadblocks on the way.
I guess it's time to wonder, why do you slide under all the things I say?
Easy street is full of holes, and now the road is long and cold.
When the night hangs from the branches, do you run or do you need someone to hold?
And when you run, what keeps you warm when there's nothin' left to crave?
Oh, you make me wonder, how did you slide under all the love I gave?
You never do let up to see what's leavin' you lonely.
So you come back, then you hold back, and you say that I am all wrong.
Leave my love and walk on, babe.
...solo...
First you call and cry, come back and try
washin' away the pain in the deep, sweet wetness of your kiss.
And I keep givin' you all the love you can steal til you're gone,
so, hell, there's nothin' left to miss.
Baby, everything we touch turns to fire,
and it burns only so long.
So now you don't want me to go. Baby, I'm gone.
Besides, you'll just hang there, stick out your thumb, and call it home.
Now, if you keep on lookin' down, you'll see just how I paid the cost.
You'll know when you go under,
'cause you can't slide under all the love you've lost.
You never do let up to see what's leavin' you lonely.
So you come back, then you hold back, and you say that I am all wrong.
Leave my love and walk on, baby.
You just call and cry, come back and try
washin' away the pain in the deep, sweet wetness of your kiss.
And I keep givin' you all the love you can steal til you're gone,
so, hell, there's nothin' left to miss.
Baby, everything we touch turns to fire,
and it burns only so long.
(c)(p) 1991, 2000 Rick Hart
7 Roads to 7 Songs (EP)
Old Limousine
I want to love you, baby, like an old limousine.
Easy on the curves, steady on the in-between.
Let's go to a place we both never seen.
Let me open your door, baby. Ease back on down.
Touch by button by kiss by touch by crown.
Let me rock your cradle all over. All over this town.
...solo...
They say money can't buy love. Guess I'll just have to see.
This is all I got left. When she left, all she left was me.
See, I spent all my love on the one who just walked out on me.
Let me love you by the hour, baby. Love you night and day.
Hell, I'd love you forever if there was only hell to pay.
So come on, sweet lady, let this old limo take you away.
(c)(p) 2002, 2004 Rick Hart
Starvation Wages
Babe, you promised me the promised land, sugar by the spoon,
honey by the valley, and trips to the moon.
A lifetime of good times for an "I do" and a kiss.
Tell me something, honey, was there something I missed?
Now I know things tend to come and go in stages,
but why you always got me working for starvation wages?
Do I look like a busboy cleaning up after your whims?
When you get pissed, why do you kick my shins?
And what's this big old chain with this little old bell?
Room service at the Heartbreak Hotel?
When I want to turn the sheets, you just turn the pages.
Don't you want to see what you get for these starvation wages?
solo...
Now, Napoleon and Josephine were a real famous couple.
But every time he looked at her, man, he was seeing double.
Men bowed in fear when they walked down the hall.
He had'em all by the throat. She had him by the balls.
Now, you can be king and own all the cages,
but you're in here with us if you're getting starvation wages.
Some people swear by love. They get happier by the minute.
Others say they're happy if they can just keep from getting in it.
Now, I ain't talking 'bout the difference between being poor and being rich,
'cause one man's angel is another man's bitch.
If wise men were happy, would they even be sages?
Or do they learn while they squirm through starvation wages?
(c)(p) 2002, 2004 Rick Hart
Adah Leah
She get me up in the morning,
she get me up at night.
She give me her sweet dream,
make everything alright.
Adah Leah. Standing right there.
Come here, Adah Leah.
Don't you go nowhere.
She make me happy in her laughter,
sad when she cry.
She my angel ever after,
she my deep blue sky.
Adah Leah. Standing right there.
Come here, Adah Leah.
Don't you go nowhere.
...solo...
Well, I give her all my love,
I give her all my time.
I meet her in the middle,
give her my last dime.
Adah Leah. Standing right there.
Come here, Adah Leah.
I ain't going nowhere.
(c)(p) 2002, 2004 Rick Hart
So Gone
I walked into the shop not knowing what I found.
Her shirt was all loose. Her hair was hanging down.
Then out walked the jackal with a straight faced grin,
talking to me like I was born to bend.
Why'd you do it baby? Why this way?
So gone.
I said he looks like something that the cat drug in.
I can see the mouse dangling under your chin.
You got all dressed up just to say goodbye.
How come you didn't know you didn't have to lie?
Why'd you do it baby? Why this way?
So gone.
solo...
Now what do I say to our little girl
when she asks why there ain't no room in your world?
You just stepped on us so you could hang your star.
When we look at the sky, we don't know where you are.
Why'd you do it baby? Why this way?
So gone.
(c)(p) 2002, 2004 Rick Hart
As I Walk
Babe, I been thinking. Long and hard.
About all your sweet loving, and how cold you lay your cards.
And I think about leaving, as I walk the boulevard.
By now, you're pissed off 'cause I ain't made it home.
But it won't take you long for you and your friend, to go out,
on your own.
When you fall into bed before breakfast, baby, you won't even know you're alone.
...solo...
Now you're running late for work, and I'm still not there.
You'll throw something 'cross the room, and cry til you stare.
Then you'll sit down in the silence, and wonder if I ever cared.
As I walk, I keep turning around.
Someday you'll be ready for love, like the woman I thought I found.
I got to keep walking, or I'll just lay my body down.
(c)(p) 2002, 2004 Rick Hart
Sweeter Lovin'
Sweeter lovin never reached through my soul.
Deeper kissing never took my control.
Now that I think about it, that ain't all.
Prettier eyes, babe, never looked through my gaze.
Softer talking never walked through my maze.
Now that we talk about it, one more thing...
When I met you, girl, I thought that you were leading me on.
But now I know you. Knowing is to give it all to you.
Oh, babe, I love you sweet as the night is long.
Tighter squeezing never lifted me up.
Fast flowing wine, lady, never quite filled my cup.
Ain't no sweeter lovin.
...solo...
When I met you, girl, I thought that you were leading me on.
But now I know you. Knowing is to give it all to you.
Oh, babe, I love you sweet as the night is long.
Tighter squeezing never lifted me up.
Fast flowing wine, lady, never quite filled my cup.
Ain't no sweeter lovin.
Deeper kissing, softer talking, prettier eyes babe,
don't mean a damn thing.
You standing up, baby, beats all them others lying down.
Us walking easy beats all that running around.
Ain't no sweeter lovin,
Ain't no sweeter lovin.
(c)(p) 1981 Rick Hart
Lynching Back East
Hey, man, there's a lynching going on back East. In the City of Brotherly Love.
They wouldn't let him speak. They held him. Framed him. And if that wasn't enough,
they fed him death row fear over 20 years while truth points back the other way.
Now they're trying to fry him quick as they can before the light shines on what they say.
He had no record. He was down with a bullet from the dead policeman's gun.
A few tampered witnesses later said they never saw the real shooter run.
Yeah, the lawyers and detectives and a hangin' judge cooked the evidence til it was done.
What's that tell you 'bout the long arm of the law when they don't want the guilty one?
It was a lynching case in old Alabam' that caused the Feds to first intervene.
Now, Federal law gives every state a rope, and man don't their hands look clean.
He only spoke with his heart, from the heart of his hood, to a city of brutal cops.
Of course they ain't all bad, but what makes it sad is that the city never made'em stop.
And then the FBI began to spy on the 15 year old kid.
And as he got older, the police got bolder, but the manchild never hid.
...solo...
It was a lynching case in old Alabam' that caused the Feds to first intervene.
Now, federal law gives every state a rope, and man don't their hands look clean.
Now I'd say most cops only want the real shooter who took one of their own,
and believe any man who speaks his mind should be learned from or left alone.
Now you might say there might be more deep inside his file,
but you got to admit, kill him or 'quit, a man first needs a fair trial.
Now, at what point do you really know when our leaders go too far?
And if you don't know exactly where that is, how in the hell do you know where you are?
'Cause now the real cop shooter has come to confess, but the judge don't have to see.
So how can we say the USA is the land of the free?
(c)(p) 2004 Rick Hart
All songs are (c) (p) 1980-2004 Rick Hart - All Rights Reserved
|
