James Taylor Album

We were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun.
Never give up, never slow down, never grow old, never ever die young.
Synchronized with the rising moon, even with the evening star,
they were true love written in stone, they were never alone, they were never that far apart.

And we who couldn't bear to believe they might make it, we got to close our eyes.
Cut up our losses into doable doses, ration our tears and sighs.
Oh, you could see them on the street on a Saturday night. Everyone used to run them down.
They're a little too sweet, they're a little too tight, not enough tough for this town.
Couldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole, no, it didn't seem to rattle at all.
They were glued together body and soul, that much more with their backs up against the wall.

Oh, hold them up, hold them up, never do let them fall
prey to the dust and the rust and the ruin that names us and claims us and shames us all.

I guess it had to happen someday soon- wasn't nothing to hold them down.
They would rise from among us like a big balloon, take the sky, forsake the ground.
Oh, yes, other hearts were broken, yeah, other dreams ran dry
but our golden ones sail on, sail on to another land beneath another sky.
(Let other hearts be broken, let other dreams run dry)
but our golden ones sail on, sail on to another land beneath another sky, beneath another sky.
Hold them up, hold them up, hold them up, hold them up, hold them up, hold them up...
(Hold them up, don't let them fall).

Me and T-Bone on the road to town, it's like I'm walking with a talking machine.
Just as soon as he thinks of something else, he won't wait to interrupt himself.
Must be something that he can't quite say, he just doesn't want to leave it that way.
Although he may not know it yet, unless I miss my bet,
he's just trying to forget what his heart remembers.

I see that T-Bone got an automobile, low-loping and open to the sky.
All night behind the hurricane wheel, riding in the eye.
All day underneath the hood, Mondo Bondo, plastic, wood.
He needs a mile of masking tape if he wants to keep his ship in shape,
someday to escape what his heart remembers, yes, what his heart remembers.

T-Bone's not alone, not alone, looks like he gets a second chance.
It's Mamarama and Lumalamalu want to take him to recovery dance.
He's looking like he gets his meat suit back, I guess he must have missed the crack attack.
Still he's riding for a fall 'cause it's written upon the wall,
that now he must recall what his heart remembers, what his heart remembers.

Some how this season always brings a picture of you
Baby Boom Baby
Holding on for everything you figure your due
Little turtle neck girl
Moon on your shoulder
Wind in your lovely hair
Oh what a night
We sat on the beach
And watched as the sun rose into the summer air

You said we couldn't miss what we never knew
Something about something that you had to do
Sitting on the sand with a hole in my shoe

I had no way of knowing where you might have been
Time goes by
All on my own I imagined you a life in-between
All on my own

I worked on a letter but it never made it out of my head
No
Some how reading your name
It wasn't the same as leaving the thing unsaid

How come I miss what I never knew
And drag out the past just to paint it blue
Spend my days with a dream of you

Oh after a fall
Here im trying to find our name on the wall
It was neither yours nor mine
It was something of the two combined
From a time spent out of time

I work hard to see that you remember my name
Nod your head yes
Do all I can to make you want to see me again
Oh what a night
Got a letter from the mail
Got a message from the telephone

Seems your working in town
Moving around
And living alone

Now I'm caught in the spot light
Walking the wire
My feet are frozen and my hearts on fire
What do I do if my dream comes true

Fetch down the fiddle, rosin up the bow, don't play me nothing on the radio.
Don't make me remember the Alamo, I'm feeling like a little bit of Cotton Eyed Joe.
No raging Cajun crawfish stew, fat batter coming in a Lumalamalu.
Boy howdy and howdy damn do, something like fine setting eyes on you.
Let me come down, I won't never go back up again, oh, hold me down.
Let me come home, I won't never go away no more, oh let me come down.

In a younger day back in Tennessee, the muddy Mississippi used to call to me,
float on a river and set yourself free.
Run from the farm and the family tree, run from the runaway boy.

So I've been all the places that I ever want to be, I've seen all the people that I ever want to see.
I'm sick and tired of being lonely and free, I'm ready today for what's waiting on me.
I'm gonna give up believing I was born to run, stop acting like a man that gets shot from a gun.
I'm putting down roots, I want to soak up sun and stay right here until my days are done.
Let me back down, I will never go up again. Hold me down, tie me on down.
Let me go home, I will never go away no more, oh let me come home, oh let me go down.

[Indecipherable grunting]

Beneath the tide the fishes glide, fin to fin and side to side.
For fishy love has now begun, fishy love, finny fun.

Paper moon, paper heart, pink balloon, work of art. Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Valentine's Day.
Bootleg gin, porkpie hat, dew Drop Inn, dirty rat, through the heart Cupid's dart, Valentine's Day.

Oh, day to repay the one that you love, Gentlemen, take off your hats as I speak thereof.
Just a brief break from the push and the shove, we may go a few rounds without boxing gloves.

Land your punch, I stand my ground, we break for lunch and a second round.
We set them up, we knock them down, Valentine's Day.

Me and you, you and him, him and her, us and them, we keep score love as war, Valentine's Day.

I lost my teeth, I lost my hair, I lost my mind, you don't care.
Love is war, all is fair on Valentine's Day.

In line, in line, it's all in line, my ducks are all in a row.
They do not change, they do not move, they have nowhere to go.
I've been talking to a friend of mine, he says making money's just a waste of time.
He's a lazy gent, he don't pay no rent, he's all bent out of shape from living in a tent.
It's hard to hear what he has to say cause everyone around me is just the same way.
More, more, Daddy gimme some, gimme some more, more, Daddy gimme some more.

Some kind of funny looking money machine it is, saddest looking people that I've ever seen.
Living in a hole, body and soul, strung out on the company dole.
One for a nickel and two for a dime, time may be money but your money won't buy time.

In line, in line, it's all in a line, my ducks are all in a row,
They do not shift, they do not move, they have nowhere to go.

Me and my flea we were down by the water, fell in a hole with Superman's daughter.
Living alone, chewing on a bone, pretty as homemade sin.
She had to be high by the look in her eye, her hands were wet and her mouth was dry.
The sun on the moon, the sun on the moon, the sun on the moon made a mighty nice light.
Bow wow wow, honk your horn.

In line, in line, it's all in a line, my ducks are all in a row,
They do not shift, they do not move, they have nowhere to go.
Sometimes I'm hungry, I don't know what to do. You can take a taco to Katama too.

Oh, Lord I feel fine today, walkin' on cloud nine today
I'm over that line today, happiness is finally mine today
I guess I'm just a lucky guy, and I'm prepared to tell you why
It's strictly on account of my sweet potato pie

I'm the fella that she loves the most, the main reason why she left the coast
She's my little girl Xenia, that much hotter then a jalapeno'
Tender like the night in June, sweeter then a honeymoon
Brighter then a silver spoon, just as crazy as a loon
Softer then a lullaby, deeper then the midnight sky
Soulful as a baby's cry, my sweet potato pie

I used to see her around the neighbourhood, wonder how she grew up so good
She belonged to Freddy and he was bad, I was never ready to make him mad
I'm glad I had to wait a while, a little bit too juvenile
I needed to refine my style, silk suite and a crocodile smile
She let the whole damn world go by, cause I just wanna testify
From now on it's me and my sweet potato pie

Those magic men the Magi, some people call them wise or Oriental, even kings.
Well anyway, those guys, they visited with Jesus, they sure enjoyed their stay.
Then warned in a dream of King Herod's scheme, they went home by another way.
Yes, they went home by another way, home by another way.
Maybe me and you can be wise guys too and go home by another way.
We can make it another way, safe home as they used to say.
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high and go home another way.

Steer clear of royal welcomes, avoid a big to-do.
A king who would slaughter the innocents will not cut a deal for you.
He really, really wants those presents, he'll comb your camel's fur
until his boys announce they've found trace amounts of your frankincense, gold and myrth.
Time to go home by another way, home by another way.
You have to figure the Gods, saying play the odds, and go home by another way.
We can make it another way, safe home as they used to say.
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high and go home another way.

Home is where they want you now,
you can more or less assume that you'll be welcome in the end.
Mustn't let King Herod haunt you so or fantasize his features when you're looking at a friend.
Well it pleasures me to be here and to sing this song tonight,
they tell me that life is a miracle and I figured that they're right.
But Herod's always out there, he's got our cards on file.
It's a lead pipe cinch, if we give an inch, old Herod likes to take a mile.
It's best to go home by another way, home by another way.
We got this far to a lucky star, but tomorrow is another day.
We can make it another way, safe home as they used to say.
Keep a weather eye to the chart on high and go home another way.

If I could go down now while the whole town is sleeping, see the sun creeping up on the hill,
I know the river and the railroad would run through the valley still.
I guess it never was much to look at, just a one-horse town,
the kind of place young people want to leave today,
store fronts pretty much boarded up, Main Street pretty much closed down.
The church bell still rings on Sunday, old folks still go, the young ones listen on the radio.
Saturday night nothing but a stray dog running wild like nobody's child.

And little by little, light after light, that's how it died.
They say you never go home again, that's no lie.
Its like a letter in the mail to a brother in jail,
it's a matter of time until you can do a little bit better time.

It used to be part of the heartland, awful proud and strong.
But deep, deep down peaceful and serene.
When people used to talk about the country that's what they used to mean.
I might go down come the weekend, go on my own,
drop off Annie and the baby, maybe drive alone.
Pay my last respects to a time that has all but gone.
We said, Mama come look at the mountain, fire in the sky, it's lit up like the Fourth of July,
the mill burning down, the jobs leaving town, the trains rolling by.

And little by little, light after light, that's how it died.
They say you never go home again, that's no lie.
Its like a letter in the mail to a brother in jail,
it's a matter of time until you can do a little bit better time.

And the light between us which we could not quite extinguish, which we see at dawn burns on.

First day of May, things are beginning, our side is winning, hip hip hooray.
Made in the shade, deep in the shadow, down by the meadow, lie in my arms.

And the moon will rise before our very eyes, we will rise too, I'll be with you.
It's a rite of spring, a horizontal thing, the sweetest sort of dance hidden in among the plants.

Ha ha ha ha, people are laughing, children are singing, come join the dance.

And the walls around us which we kept at such a cost
when we turned around came tumbling down.

Ha ha ha ha, she can't stop laughing, he can't stop singing, first day of May.