1. |
'Til Next Time
02:36
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Leaving on a sunny Friday morning
Scattered goodbyes heavy in the air
I walk the couple blocks back home
tears in my eyes, they hit the road
I knew it was coming but I'm never prepared
'til the next time we find ourselves together again
may life treat you graciously, my friends
Go see the places that you've never seen
Meet people and you'll change each other's lives
Pick all the notes that lift your hearts
Let other's notes fill empty parts
The harmonies grow sweeter with time
I'm leaving on my own new path in moments
Forking off to my new endeavors
The tunes that I find down the road
will be built upon the common notes
that rang so true when we played them together
Just remember, while we're all apart I'll miss you
but I'm carrying with me everything we've shared
and until we meet again, wherever that may be
I'm looking forward to seeing you there
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2. |
How'd You Get Here?
03:21
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Staggered staccatos of memory follows
a score that drags too long, left on repeat
The rose petals fall 'fore you remember to smell them
When next spring approaches, oh, will you be free?
Restlessness resonates through each broken melody
The faultlines expand and the ground, it does shake
It was written so pretty in plans for recovery
Now darkness envelopes you, confounding your way
Well, the notes they do follow you or you follow them
You step on each other in utter confusion
And where is this switch to provide you a pause?
You'll no longer need it when it's no longer lost
Slits in the string that you laid down to lead you back
stare at you, challenging - "How'd you get here?"
You sang your surroundings so loud as you travelled
with your eyes closed so tight, while your path disappeared
In the dark now, just trembling or running into walls
Cursing, embarrassed with each clumsy fall
Too many details left out from your songs
But just as you must keep singing, you must keep walking on
Staggered staccatos of memory follows
a score that drags too long, left on repeat
The rose petals fall 'fore you remember to smell them
When next spring approaches, oh, will you be free?
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3. |
To Mold New Lungs
04:04
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Indistinguishable endings
separate beginnings
connected as they flow
In the images that fly past
through the window in the time that
seems to go so slow
When everything is relative and nothing's solid ground
and looking back's the only way to tell what's up or down
Confusion is second nature, inconsistency is first
Changing too many variables at once is sure to make things worse
Rearranging all the pieces
finding lost hope in the creases
buried by careless folds
Reaping moments from a timeline
to point to just to feel fine
when life spins out of control
Never knowing when or where the next dip will come from
Time puts on a blindfold and encourages you to run
No matter how often you stumble it just keeps tickin' on
Whether you're on your feet or on your knees, it still drags you along
And it just don't matter, it just don't matter, it just don't matter now
It just don't matter, it just don't matter, it just don't matter how
you pull yourself up, dust your boots off, get your shit together and go
It's just another move you have to make
This struggle is your own
Now each memory's another
difference in what you've discovered
between the present and the past
Now you've built another person
What they've done you weren't certain
that you could ever do
Now each breath fills a lung that breathes in deeper than before
Taking in and giving out each new life that's been formed
from molds you've made of tiny specks of dirt that seemed useless
Sometimes the things you need to most are built from what you thought was shit
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4. |
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5. |
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6. |
Gonna Pay
03:45
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So many winds are blowing from so many ways
even before I step outside, back and forth I sway
If you see me sitting somewhere, it's not 'cause I plan to stay
It's just that I haven't yet been blown away
If I could slow down time
you'd probably find
me rushin' anyway
Well, I told you I can't do it, I said I'd walk away
but if your love is a gamble, babe, well, I can't help but play
So I'm all in on the next hand though they tell me I should stay
"You're gonna bust! You always rush! You know you're gonna pay!"
But if I could turn back time
you'd probably find
me bettin' anyway
I'm giving up my vices, oh the line I'll walk is straight
I'm thinking back and stopping to make sure my debts are paid
I'm keeping my eyes forward, trying not to go astray
But peace of mind is hard to find and you know I just can't wait
If I could slow down time
you'd probably find
If I could slow down time
I know you'd find
me rushin' anyway
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7. |
Uncharted Sentences
03:35
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When the rooster crows at the break of dawn will you wrap your arms tighter around me?
I've not slept a wink, all I've done is dreamt a memory to keep what you've allowed me
On a foreign roof a thousand miles away I laid with you, it started
In the ends of trials, with the jury hung, we moved on, our sentences uncharted
I know nothing of this land
All I've ever been is blind
Everything I see around me is nameless
I feel ashamed and terrified
but I can't live if not to try
For to toil or to dive, there's consequences
In the spaces that I've traded, storms and lessons I've evaded, time has put a lot of sorrow on my head
In the spaces above cities that I've loved and shared with you I will keep the words that didn't go unsaid
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8. |
Ain't No Better Day
03:09
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Oh there ain't no better day than today to give your love
Oh there ain't no better day than today to give your love
Oh there ain't no better day than today to give your love
Well, I'm right here and I just can't get enough
I'm leaving out this place soon heading back to where I'm from
Put my hat on top my head and get on back to what's begun
Oh I'll be there when you want me and I'll be gone when you're done
Oh, babe, I tell you that I just can't get enough
I was lonesome when you found me, I'll be lonesome when you're gone
I ain't asking you to save me, just to hold me in your arms
And if I start to hating you can turn the love back on
Oh I tell ya that I just can't get enough
The snow's about to fall soon, we'll be trying to keep warm
You can bundle up, sit by the fire, keep out of the storm
But if you need someone to hold you late at night, that's what I'm for
Oh did I tell you that I just can't get enough
Oh I write my life in chapters tied together through my songs
It's the only way I know where the transitions belong
If you'd lend me your accompaniment, we could move on right along
I'll sing it loudly that I just can't get enough
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9. |
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10. |
Patient Man
03:20
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Oh my darling
What are we doing here?
Are there things to learn
in this precarious turning
ride that we can't steer
I have lost so much
of all I thought I'd found
Some was stolen,
some went spoiled,
some lay scattered on the ground
Now I stand with you
confused as I ever been
Not sure what I am anymore
Not sure where I fit in
All I've got are contradictions
laid out absolute
Can you see through that
a little deeper to the truth?
Oh my darling
You know I'm not a patient man
Through I try to calm my worried mind
the best that I can
I'm strung up tighter
than the strings I'm strummin' on
If I could only ring as true as them
I could never go wrong
But I'm not made of steel
though I often try to be
The urgency I feel
it has always haunted me
It sends me spinning aimless
I don't know where I'll end up
But right now I'm here with you
and that's enough
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11. |
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The mirrors in our eyes
distort the things we see outside
I want to hide, you want to die
we both feel selfish, we're both ashamed
And we are hopeless, seeking help
but what we touch just turns to dust
blowing back into our eyes
But we try
And my stomach's been in knots
rotting away inside myself
I can't find the words to say
and this is happening to everyone else in different ways
It's not your fault
I'm not even sure who you are
but I know we're falling apart
So close, yet so far
These words are murky like the feelings they're attached to in my heart
We fight so violently to rip them out, to make a brand new start
But they keep coming back to haunt us, keeping us awake at night
assaulting all our senses, 'til we've lost the will to fight
And we've been close to giving up, we've been praying for the time
But we won't let ourselves surrender, no it's not our time to die
I hope you know that I love you
I hope you know that I care
You're not one single person
You're every good thing that I've shared
We all seek something we've been denied, things we've never found
all these years that we've been searching, we've been wanderin' around
But if we ever can believe something's better around the bend
that we can make it if we try, that this isn't the end
my arms are open for your body, for your mind, for your soul
and I can't promise, I'm not perfect, I'm just here
and I'm your friend
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12. |
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I swore I wouldn't write about heartbreaks again
But I find myself detached from everything
Feelings polar opposites, they swing back and forth
Like a tornado, I wreck everything I touch
And I care, I care, I swear I do
but, wow, it must not seem like it
I hurt people I care dearly for
and I just cannot stop this shit
I got stuck inside a question that I could not find an answer for
Fumbling around the room, no lights and I can't find the door
I'm knocking shit everywhere, why can't I find the switch
to lighten up the room a bit and clean up some of this
(is this even possible to fix)
(oh god I hope it's possible to fix)
It happened to me countless times before, I remember what it's like
I never thought that I would be the person on the other side
I didn't try to start the ball in motion, but I reached out my hand
I fell head over heels and now I can't even stand
Because I don't know if every decision I've made has been the right one
but I've had to trust myself and I can say
that I'm sorry, but I needed this
My only ever-lasting regret is that the triggers won't be something you forget
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13. |
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Don't think about that river, love, it'll only bring you tears
It'll be freezing up soon like a heart made hard by all its fears
And I'll be on the road, far away from you and this place
I can't stay here with these souvenirs of a chance we didn't take
I'll be heading west to miss the winter, the first in all my life
I'll keep my back turned to the cold and I'll try and catch a ride
away from all the ice and snow, the blankets and the gloves
My hearts to cold already, I've got to try and let it thaw
But please don't write me, I don't want to read your words
I'm not saying this just to make you hurt
But it's all that I can do to pick this tune I play for you
I'm not angry but I sure am feeling blue
I'll meet new people, I'll see old faces I haven't seen in so long
I'll make new stories, tell the old, someday they'll all have their songs
And some songs shine with brightness, others try to dull the pain
It's just another sedative coursing warm through my veins
And I'll be back to Pittsburgh, I'm too rooted to stay away
I can't say when it will happen, but I know I'll see you again one day
and some things will be different, others will remain the same
I can't predict the ways in which this current will change
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14. |
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The weather's already changing, turning cold with thinning air
Now I'm in a state of waiting 'til I get up out of here
Three long months of purgatory, staring at the date
Afraid to start anything new, I've got time but it's too late
Nothing here seems possible with both ends burning fast
The future is uncertainty, more hopeful than the past
The present is a combination, blurred but well defined
Shifting patterns only viewable once left behind
Questions form, perspectives warp, the static isn't real
Dynamics push and pull the vacuum, popping out the seal
Making everything more complicated than it once had seemed
Variables I'd glossed over before keep changing the meaning
If I find something on the road, I wonder if I'll notice
or save it for another time when I forget the context
Changing what was present to another memory
A non-existent story that I made from fantasy
But how much does it matter if the pieces stay in tact
or reshape through the future, fluid fictions of the past
If I should leave this city and find solace on the way
then I'll meet up with those stories in the future's open space
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15. |
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I can't promise you too much right now, I'm only good for rambling
I gotta tell the truth, I'm mostly down inside myself
I can't stay in one place right now so I'm just gonna move
Don't count on me, I will not follow through
It goes in waves, it oscillates, I don't always set the intervals
I try to find the patterns in the fields
But all too often I get stuck inside and can't get out
Trapped in the cycle, limits set the route
So I'm leaving here for some time, get the distance that I need
Force the changes that I really need to see
Don't think that I don't love you just because I had to leave
Everywhere I go I'll carry what you've given me
Expectations have left me hopeless while I deny they exist
This brutal list of options that I didn't write is limited
But I've yet to rip it up, throw it scattered in the wind
Meaningless concessions appear and I just get drawn in
So I'll change the setting, change the context, I'll burn the list
I'll pack up my guitar and bounce around some for a bit
I'm not expecting this to fix me, no, I'm not really broke
I just need to confuse the patterns, I just need to confuse home
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16. |
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It's not to say where I am headed
It wouldn't do no one no good anyway
It's all a crapshoot, just a poor man's gamble
Make a guess, nothing to lose, everything to gain
Rise with the sun, feel the cold air demanding
open passage to restricted lungs
Breathe deeper for to let it all in
Wide awake, another day has just begun
Don't be said, friends, when I leave you
It breaks my heart to hear you're feeling alone
We'll meet again sometime down the road
You're the only thing I want to call home
The possibilities sit on a platter
not waiting to be chosen, they just exist
Pick a piece and let the change unfold
The choices are all that matter, they're all there is
There's a bar right along the traintracks
There's a beach at the end of the road
There's red cedar in a swamp in Florence
There's something there wherever you go
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17. |
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I left New Orleans searching home, the one that I'd confused
trying to sort out the battles I'd won and accept that you have to lose
Care-free days on Frenchmen, wine by the fire at night
'til that fire swallowed my good friend, everything got quiet
Then I headed back to Pittsburgh to try to find the ground
Put my feet down, figure things out in my old, familiar town
Maybe it's just too damn familiar or maybe I confused more than home
I still love this city with all my heart but I just gotta go
Most days the road ahead of me seems to lead to nowhere
Passively walking along, not sure where I'll end up
It's the days I realize I lead myself, see through the fog of despair
that keep me trudging along when the road becomes so rough
From the Greyhound stop in Florence to the idling truck in New Orleans
life seemed so new, a different view, I was ready to try again
But somewhere I lost perspective, vision skewed through twisted glass
After all the times it's happened, I still re-enact the past
Well, I know it's not the city, it's the story I create
No matter where I lead me, I'm still there, I make my fate
I sing a song, tell myself "Don't Quit", and just keep pressing on
All I got is time to try 'til all my time is gone
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18. |
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Don't worry too much about me
I'll catch up eventually
if only for fleeting moments strewn across a length of years
our paths will cross, I can see it from here
So often I'm too far ahead or oh so far behind
looking for something I can't name and I don't know how to find
I'm rarely in sync and I often look lost
but I'm moving and I don't have plans to stop
All the waves that wash the shore, they build themselves and crash
Momentary peaks decline, but they also lead you back
I've dwelled upon the highs and lows, focused on extremes
Only win or loss, I lost sight of what's between
So, no wonder I go back and forth, hitting limits every way
Never sure if I'm on the path or if I've gone astray
I'll just keep wandering through the moments learning from every dead-end
and I'll see you when our paths cross again
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