Mark Erelli Album

[No lyrics]

Behind the house where I lived
Back when I was a kid
I played G.I. Joe beneath the tall pine trees
I'd fight imaginary wars
'Til my mom called from our back porch
And I'd come home covered in that pine pitch
From my head down to my knees

Too big to wrap my arms around
Surely older than I could count
Must have been there since the Mayflower crossed the sea
They'd been through blizzards and hurricanes
Summer droughts and freezing rain
Them pines would live forever
At least that's how it seemed to me

CHORUS:
Now what's become of the old pine woods
It's all gone and there's a brand new neighborhood
All for a buck they cut down all those trees
They subdivided all of my fondest memories

When those trucks came for my woods
I did everything I could
And it was war for real when school let out that June
I ripped down flags and I pulled up stakes
But what difference can one boy make
Them pines still fell like thunder on a summer afternoon

CHORUS

And I never became friends
With the families that moved in
They were different from us or so it seemed
I grew up and moved away
I just go home on holidays
But those tall and tangled pines
They're still falling in my dreams

We all want the greenest lawn
And a country club where we belong
And an SUV to get us there in style
But we don't keep track of what we've lost
We can't calculate the cost
When there's no place left for a boy's
Imagination to run wild

So what's become of the old pine woods
It's all gone and it's gone for good
All for a buck they cut down all those trees

[No lyrics]

(Mark Erelli)

I read the paper
I watch the news
It seems there's only pain and sufferin'
And there ain't much I can do
It's so senseless
I feel defenseless
So small

I could shut my windows
Bolt my doors
But if I don't feel safe enough
To speak my mind anymore
Then what's the use
I've nothing left to lose
And no farther to fall

(CHORUS)
So I'm gonna love
I'm gonna believe
I'm still gonna dream
But I'm gonna roll up my sleeves
Give everything until I've nothing left to give
That's the only way that I know how to live

It was a nightmare
No tongue can tell
The streets of New York city
Looked just like the gates of Hell
In a flash
The smoke and the ash
Falling down like rain

But they circled wagons
They gathered round
As they bravely pulled their brothers
And their sisters from the ground
And I know
I owe them more
Than to be afraid

(CHORUS)

Why seek vengeance?
What comes of war?
I know freedom has a price
But it doesn't keep score
It's too much to swallow
It's left me hollow
After all this time

I won't tell you
What to believe
Cause I'm too young to be so cynical
And too old to be naïve
Every action
Breeds a reaction
So let this be mine

It's written of in papers, books and magazines
For centuries adventurers set sail
In schooners, clippers, sloops and brigs and barquentines
O'er the deep blue ocean to prevail

Believing their dominion o'er the great salt sea
They'd snare the fish and smite the mighty whale
But for every man who lived to boast his victory
A score or more were thwarted by the gale

CHORUS:
As evenings curtain falls upon me like a shroud
I'm thinking of their cold eternal sleep
Beneath the waves far too many souls to count
Lost out in the darkness on the deep

There always will be men who sail the ocean blue
But the romance is a thing of history
In these hard times a man just does what he has to
Providing for his wife and family

Not long ago just off the coast of Provincetown
They found a radio beacon bobbing in a field of debris
Three days they did search but they never found
The crew who worked aboard the Candy B

Intro:

The American flag is tied to a fence on an overpass
With a homemade sign written in red, white and blue
And it reads "Welcome home, Jason Miller, Private First Class"
And I don't even know him but I'm grateful for any good news

What's become of my country torn by contradiction
The spirit of freedom propped up by a culture of fear
Where's it's unpatriotic to protest or even to question
Have we learned nothing from history or the last couple years

CHORUS:
And the rain pours down
On the fallow ground
And the fruited plain as barren as the sand
Is it not within our will
How long must we wait until
The seeds of peace find purchase in this land

He stood on the deck and he said we'd accomplished our mission
And he twisted the facts 'til he knew it could pass for the truth
Vengeance can fill any fool with conviction
But he can't wash the blood of the fallen from his cowboy boots

CHORUS

I will not be shamed into silence by partisan thunder
And I won't fall in line and march to the drums on the wind
How many more daughters and sons will we see plowed under
How much longer must we wait 'til the harvest comes in

'Til the sun shines down
On this hallowed ground
And the fruited plain so bountiful and grand
Is it not within our will
How long must we wait until
The seeds of peace find purchase in this land

Trouble come falling from the pure blue sky
Went down to the well but the well was dry
Wasn't nothing but a bucket and a hole in the ground
I pitched myself like a penny thrown
But my wish just echoed off of cold grey stone
Wasn't even enough water left to drown

I'm too weary to believe
A change is gonna come
Shelter me or leave me here
To wither in the sun
Undone
Undone

I tried to give more than I took
I heard the word and I read the book
And I listened close for to hear my saviour call
But as the lightning flashed and thunder broke
I couldn't help but wonder if I missed the joke
Did you prop me up just to watch me fall

I'm too weary to believe
A change is gonna come
Shelter me or leave me here
To wither in the sun
Undone

I'm too weary to believe
A change is gonna come
Shelter or forsake me here
Like your only son
Undone
Undone
Undone

[No lyrics]

It was a dry and dusty summer day
When that wagon train pulled in
Just three hours 'til the matinee
Was scheduled to begin
As the razorbacks unloaded the flats
A crowd did gather to see
The elephants tow the wagons back
To that empty lot on Barbour Street

And the canvasmen they dug right in
'Til on that spot where nothing had been
You could see the bigtop from miles around
When the circus came to Hartfordtown

The circus it was front page news
Back in Nineteen Forty-Four
Everyone was grateful for any excuse
To forget about the war
The sun beat down on the menagerie
In the cages the animals paced
There was orangeade and cotton candy
And a smile on every kid’s face

Each mother and father, each boy and girl
They couldn't wait to see the greatest show in the world
You could barely hear the orchestra, they cheered so loud
When the circus came to Hartfordtown

There were polar bears and panther cats
With great big fangs and claws
And the lions did a balancing act
To jubilant applause
Then a spotlight played on a platform set
So high up in the air
That everybody held their breath
And they prayed a silent prayer

All eyes were glued to the man on the wire
So nobody knew when the tent caught fire
Too slowly it dawned on the sold-out crowd
When the circus came to Hartfordtown The fire drew air and began to climb
The audience jumped from their seats
There was a stampede for the exit sign
And some fainted from the heat
There were heroes who did their best to help
The children escape the flames
And the others who managed to save themselves
They survived but were never the same

And some still remember how the animals cried
But there weren't any animals inside
Over 100 people trapped as the tent burned down
When the circus came to Hartfordtown

As a boy I lived on Barbour Street
Four blocks from that circus show
And I begged my parents, I got down on my knees
But they would not let me go
For they had grounded me, two weeks straight
Now I can’t even remember why
But I know the first time I ever prayed
Was when I saw that black smoke in the sky

And the war it was over in a year I guess
But the people in my town didn’t cheer like the rest
It still breaks our hearts to remember now

We are passing this world on to our kids
From the moment that they climb out of their cribs
We try to teach them well
And show them they are loved
But in the end all we can do
Is hope our best is good enough
For they'll witness how this life
Can be so beautiful and cruel
We can't shelter them forever
But if we show them all the tools
They might leave this place in
A little better shape than me and you
We are only passing through

Passing through
Passing through
We are only passing through
Passing through
Passing through
We are only passing through

We've been watching this world from our living rooms
It's been near 40 years since we walked on the moon
And this big blue ball keeps shrinking
And I don't know if that's good
But for better or for worse now
This whole world's our neighborhood
There's no place left to run to
Where you can stay above the fray
We all learn to need to get along
And not just get our way
Not only for each other but
For our children's children too
We are only passing through

CHORUS

I wonder sometimes what I will pass on
And how much can one voice do with just a song
Sometimes injustice and indifference
Are the only things I see
But I refuse to let my hope
Become the latest casualty
So I'll sing of love and truth
And try to practice all I preach
And if I can't change the world
I'll change the world within my reach
And what better place to start
Than here and now with me and you
We are only passing through

[No lyrics]