NICE MAMA #4 Early in the morning and the sun still down Packin' my bag getting out of this town Hey hey, I'm moving on Won't live another minute inside these walls The freight train whistles and the highway calls Hey hey, I'm moving on Now I paid my penalty in sorrow and shame It'll always hurt a little when I hear your name But for now, I'm moving on Now the story is over and the night games played Let the sun shine in and the memories fade Hey hey, I'm moving on And I know I coulda done so much better I never claimed I wasn't wrong And you know I could put this all in a letter But I like the way it feels in a song Well we made some love and we had some fun But it's good to know when a thing is done Hey hey, I'm moving on Early in the morning and the sun still down Packin' my bag getting out of this town Hey hey, I'm moving on And I know I coulda done so much better I never claimed I wasn't wrong And you know I coulda put this all in a letter But I like the way it feels in a song Once you held my hand looked in my eyes Said tender words, but now I realize It's time, I'm moving on Now the streets are empty and the city is dead And I'm gone already inside my head Hey hey, I'm moving on So long, I'm moving on Farewell, I'm moving on.

THE LUCKY ONES We are the lucky ones, get to be in the show  We are the lucky ones, for a minute before we go  Just one in a million makes it through the door We are the lucky ones, get to shake it out on the floor We are the lucky ones on a 1-chord groove  In the tempo of life, don’t it make you wanna move We are the lucky ones, all here tonight Let’s be lucky ones Till the morning light So love pain joy hurt life, ain’t complicated We are fated to breathe and feel  I said love pain joy hurt life, ain’t complicated  We are fated to be real  We are the lucky ones, get to play the game Could win could lose, it’s really all the same We are the lucky ones, get to take this ride  Rolling in a rowboat, on an ocean tide So love pain joy hurt life, ain’t complicated We are fated to breathe and feel  Said love pain joy hurt life, ain’t complicated  We are fated to be real  We are the lucky ones, on the planet Earth Just a little bit of sunlight, little water little dirt We are the lucky ones, from a mama torn  We are the lucky ones, we get to be born So shake it, shake it, honey, shake it good  Said shake it, shake it, honey, you know you should  I said shake it, shake it, honey, shake it good  Said shake it, shake it, honey, you know you should  Oooh, ooh

'33' They've given their lectures and smiled at their guests They're through being confessors, they've turned out the light They've suffered through papers and graded their tests And the history professors are drinking tonight Yes, the history professors are drinking tonight Bartender bartender, bring me a beer For I've labored all day in the factory of minds And I don't need reminders of sweet oils and thyme And I don't want a bottle of bourgeois ideas Just a Rolling Rock A Rock to Roll Down my tongue through my throat To my old white man Soul "From the Glass-Lined Tanks of Old Latrobe We Tender this Premium Beer For your Enjoyment As a Tribute to your Good Taste It Comes From the Mountain Springs To you, to you … 33" 33, to you, 33 They're boyishly sleazy and charmingly broke With the sweet sad aroma of middle aged men They can puncture your thesis with an erudite joke And the history professors are shit-faced again Yes, the history professors are shit-faced again Bartender bartender, bring me a beer For I've cooked until dry where ideas go to die And I want to remember that life is just cruel And I don't want a bottle of "honey, how cool" Just a Rolling Rock A Rock to Roll Down my tongue through my throat To my White Devil Soul "From the Glass-Lined Tanks of Old Latrobe We Tender this Premium Beer For your Enjoyment As a Tribute to your Good Taste It Comes From the Mountain Springs To you, to you … 33" 33, to you, 33

PERFECT Late at night I climb the stair Just to watch you sleeping there Fix the blanket, touch your hair Hold your hand Get a cup of water from the sink In case you need a drink And this is what I think My little man You're perfect, I hope you never change But I know you got to Turn into something new Be what you are Yeah perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you must Go on shine, never rust Be my star In the daylight, things move fast You blink, a day has passed But this love was made to last My little friend In your head sometimes, a fire burns And you get confused in your twists and turns But you're the boy who always learns In the end You're perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you will You're not made to stand still But to run Yeah perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you will I'm just happy that you'll still Be my son. Sometimes you wander, sometimes you're lost Your car stalls out, your ship gets tossed Hardly seems worth it to pay the cost Of this circus ride And you'll know laughter, and you'll know loss You'll be beaten down, you'll be the boss And we'll be together, when we finally cross That ocean wide You're perfect, I hope you never change But I know you got to Turn into something new Be what you are Yeah perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you must Go on shine, never rust Be my star You're perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you will You're not made to stand still But to run Yeah perfect, I hope you never change But I know that you will I'm just happy that you'll still Be my son.

STEAL AWAY A long time ago in Pennsylvania Lights turned out time to go to sleep Ringing through the winter darkness Gospel songs sung clear and deep "Steal away, to Jesus" Sang the man with the big bass voice Steal away, all the way home Sang the man to the two little boys "I ain't got long to stay here" Didn't get than then So little I knew "I ain't got long to stay here" I sing that again And I know it's true "Steal away, to Jesus" That's my Dad, putting me to bed "Steal away, all the way home" And that lonesome sound is still in my head "I ain't got long to stay here" Didn't get than then So little I knew "I ain't got long to stay here" I sing that again And I know it's true And a long time from now when my race is ending Maybe you'll sing that song for me Sing it through the winter darkness As by and by my soul slips free "Steal away, to Jesus" That's my Dad, putting me to bed "Steal away, all the way home" That lonesome sound is still in my head That lonesome sound is still in my head

BOTTOMLAND Tupelo honey gum Dark purple fruit in summer sun That many songbirds consume While I sit in the shade Of our lonely room Heart breaking, awaking I lay here Waiting for the sky to change You're nowhere Trying to rearrange The twisted path that brought us south The cutting words flying out my mouth Heart breaking, awaking The razor sharp edges The trees' shadow casts Let's fly away Leave it all in the past At the Honey Island Swamp Tell stories of half men And beasts of yore Such legends we create When we can't help but want Want so much more Heart breaking, awaking The razor sharp edges The tree’s shadow casts Let’s fly away Leave it all in the past Rise up rise out From cold dark waters A forever gift To our son and daughter

CRY ‘EM ALL NOW This cage we built for ourselves Let’s bust out somehow All the tears we never cried Let’s cry ‘em all now This long and lonely highway That we’ve been traveling down Can’t we find a place to stop When we hit the next town This dance that we’ve been doing for so long Maybe it’s time for a break This dream that we’ve been wandering through Maybe it’s time to wake For all the busted dreams, mistakes we made, And twisted paths our lives would not allow All the tears we never cried Let’s cry ‘em all now And one day, not too far away Two other people may sit here And say the same things that we say And we are them, and they are we, We just go on and on, round and round, Spinning it up, dropping it down Sparkling eyes in a hidden face Shining stars in endless space When the sheep all stand together In a lonesome field out in the rain A wolf is bound to come along Eyes full of hunger and pain You can’t pretend the day won’t end The darkness has to find us both somehow All the tears we never cried Let’s cry ‘em all now.

ONE STUPID SONG I'm so fuckin' pissed That the world isn't fair That true love always hurts And there's pain everywhere In my head things feel right But in the world they're so wrong And it don't even make poetry Just one stupid song And I'm so goddamn tired Of just going into work My students are a pain in the ass My boss is sometimes a jerk And I got no solution Just a drunken sing-along No action, no plan Just one stupid song One stupid song was all that I got For a whole year of heartbreak and hurt Dragging things fair and nice through the dirt Just to do my little dance One stupid song is all that remains No sonnet for you ladies and lords Just a sweet simple tune and some chords That's my big romance And I'm so fuckin' sorry For all the shit that I did Lyin' here at the bottom Of that long slippery slope that I slid All the tears and the drama Lyin' awake all night long Didn't even get me no masterpiece Just one stupid song One stupid song was all that I got For a whole year of heartbreak and hurt Dragging things fair and nice through the dirt Just to do my little dance One stupid song is all that remains No sonnet for you ladies and lords Just a sweet simple tune and some chords That's my big romance That's my big romance.

THE THING ABOUT LOVE IS Well the thing about love is That it don’t always work out good Things go wrong Paths get crossed People mean well But they don’t always do what they should So boy you just go on and on and on Go on and on and on You keep walking on. And the thing about heartache Is the pain never really gets right You just learn to bear it You learn to abide But many years later It still wakes you up in the night So boy we just gotta go on and on and on Go on and on and on You keep walking on. And I’m sorry I left you on your own And you had to figure all this out alone But you did alright Put up a good fight Got a little bit ripped and a little bit torn But it’s gotta be better than never being born And the thing about faith is There is always someone to care And the ones that love you The ones that hang true Come what may those ones will always be there So boy we'll just go on and on and on Go on and on and on You keep walking on. We just go on and on and on Go on and on and on And keep walking on.