Mary Chapin Carpenter Album

(Mary Chapin Carpenter/John Jennings)

I'm going out tonight to find myself a friend
I need a welcome smile and the grasp of an open hand
Gonna sit for hours in a small dark place, catch up with a long lost face
And talk about how long it's really been

I'm going out tonight with perfume on my wrist
I'm need to find someone to show me what I've missed
And when I see that someone sittin' there, gonna tell your memory I don't care
If he offers something more than just a kiss

Underneath the moon so bright, I wanna fall tonight
Beneath a spell
Underneath the sky so clear, I wanna find someone waiting there
Who used to know me well

I'm going out tonight without a chaperone
I'm gonna leave that meddling heart of mine at home
'Cause it don't like crowds or closing time, neon blues or pickup lines
It makes me spend my Friday nights alone

Underneath the moon so bright
Underneath the sky so clear
I'm gonna tell myself that someone I adore
Is the one I'm with, ain't that what friends are for
'Cause my empty arms are open wide; I'm long on spite, and short on pride
And the old way isn't working anymore

I'm going out tonight to find myself a friend

(Al Lewis/Sylvester Bradford)

I'm all alone so come on over baby
Right now right now
I'm all alone so come on over baby
Right now right now
Oh don't make em wait child don't you hesitate
C'mon along c'mon along

I want to dance I need romance baby
Right now right now
I want to dance I need romance baby
Right now right now
Oh don't let me down child don't you mess around

Let's think of something to do and let's do it
Let's think of somewhere to go let's go
And when you put your lovin' arms around me
Oh you know how I love you so

I need a thrill say you will baby
Right now right now
I need a thrill say you will baby
Right now right now
Oh don't let me down child don't you mess around
C'mon along c'mon along

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Well I think of you sometimes at night
And sometimes it's still the same
The way that it was when I was the keeper of your flame
We all have our ghosts, we all have our doubts
I'm no different with you or without
But one thing's certain: only the names have changed

And I think of you sometimes baby
When an old friend gives a call
And to hear us talk you'd think I felt nothing at all
'Cause nothing remains that used to be yours
We all have our way of closing the door
But it takes some time to get up when you fall

But I'm the same sweet girl you couldn't get enough of
Way back when you pledged your love
And you'd drive to find me through the pouring rain
Now I hear all about your running around
Man you're a legend all over town
The more things change, the more they remain the same

Sometimes I wonder if you've ever heard
The sound of a broken heart
It ain't real pretty, it ain't the thing the nice folks talk about
And the hardest thing you'll ever have to do
Is face the one who's done it to you
His eye's like an angel's, they're so devout

But I'm the same sweet girl you couldn't get enough of
Way back when you pledged your love
And you'd drive to find me through the pouring rain
Now I hear all about your running around
Man you're a legend all over town
The more things change, the more they remain the same

Now I hear all about your running around
Man you're a legend all over town
The more things change, the more they remain the same

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

She threw her purse upon the bed
She looked around and shook her head
There's really nothing left, she said
There's nothing I ain't done
She wore your favorite dress tonight
She hoped her hair would catch the light
And you just sat there gettin' tight
On double shots of rum

You don't care what people say
They're gonna say it anyway
You don't hear what you can't use
It's always been the same old news
You don't beg and you don't plead
Or miss a thing that you don't need
She knew by the way you kissed her
When she's gone, you won't miss her

Morning comes on an old cat's paws
And when the sun hits the walls
The light's as bright as it ever was
After or before
And you wince as waking pounds your head
And you drag your arm across the bed
And the tangled sheets and the twisted spread
Fall onto the floor

And the kitchen table finds you silent
If you had a thought, now you can't find it
You take a long drag on your smoke
And taste your coffee growing cold
She didn't beg and you didn't plead
She knew exactly how to leave
The way she knew when you kissed her
When she's gone, you won't miss her

She didn't beg and you didn't plead
She knew exactly when to leave
The way she knew as you kissed her
When she's gone, you won't miss her

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

For years she's lived on her own
In a corner of the city
Twice a year she gets back home
Playing catch-up with the family

She tells her folks what they need to know
Her mother says she's much too thin
Her sisters ask about her beau
Her dad inquires, how's business been

She's thirty-three this time around
She's always been real good at listening
Her sense of humor never lets her down
Except sometimes there's something missing

Hey, middle ground
A place between up and down
She could be safe and sound
Oh, to know middle ground

For years she's been on her guard
She's kind of tense around the shoulders
She wonders why she works so hard
She counts the days 'til they promote her

She'll take a weekend now and then
To stay in bed and watch the reruns
She'll turn the phone off when guilt sets in
But Sunday always kinda leaves her let down

Hey, middle ground; a place between up and down
She could be safe and sound; oh, to know middle ground

She gave her heart away one time, and says that she hasn't seen it since
Love's a puzzle in her mind; the pieces match, but don't quite fit; hey...
And these days run thick or thin
It never rains, or else it's pouring
All her single friends are men
She thinks married girls are so damn boring

Hey, middle ground; a place between up and down
She could be safe and sound; oh, to know middle ground
Hey, middle ground; a place between up and down
She could be safe and sound; oh, to know middle ground
Oh, to know middle ground; oh, to know middle ground

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

When I spoke what was on my mind
I wasn't thinking of your heart
I wasn't thinking bout the things I said
That landed us so far apart
And now my world is ending baby
With a chance remark
No, you can't take love for granted

You look at me with your wounded eyes
And I look back with fear
There used to be such faith between us, now, darlin'
Now it's just not here
And the door was slammed hours ago
But it's still ringing in my ears
No, you can't take love for granted

It was a funny way to show I love you
A funny way to care
It's a funny thing to be without you
As empty as your stare

You can't take love for granted
It's got its own free will
It's got a mind of its own when it wants one, baby
And looks that can kill
One day you're in heaven darling
The next you feel like hell
No, you can't take love for granted

You can speak what's on your mind
If you've got a gambler's heart
You can be the truth incarnate
You can shoot straight in the dark
You can pull the moon down baby
With a lasso made of stars
But no, you can't take love for granted
No, you can't take love for granted no
Baby, don't take love for granted

(Mary-Chapin Carpenter)

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I'm gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou'sian' tonight

Well I never have wandered down to New Orleans
Never have drifted down a bayou stream
But I heard that music on the radio
And I swore some day I was gonna go
Down Highway 10 past Lafayette
To Baton Rouge and I won't forget
To send you a card with my regrets
'Cause I'm never gonna come back home

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I'm gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou'sian' tonight

They got a alligator stew and a crawfish pie
A golf storm blowin' into town tonight
Livin on the delta's quite a show
They got hurricane parties every time it blows
And here up north it's a cold cold rain
And there ain't no cure for my blues today
Except when the paper says: Beausoleil is coming into town
Baby let's go down

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I'm gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou'sian' tonight

Bring your mama, bring your papa, bring your sister too
They got lots of music and lots of room
When they play you a waltz from 1910
You gonna feel a little bit young again
Well you learned to dance with your rock'n'roll
You learned to swing with a do-si-do
But you learn to love at the fais-so-do
When you hear a little Jolie Blon

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I'm gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou'sian' tonight

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Late one night when the wind was still
Daddy brought the baby to the window sill
To see a bit of heaven shoot across the sky
The one and only time Daddy saw it fly

It came from the east just as bright as a torch
The neighbors had a party on their porch
Daddy rocked the baby, Mother said "amen"
When Halley came to visit in nineteen ten

Now back then Jackson was a real small town
And it's not every night a comet comes around
It was almost eighty years since its last time through
So I bet your mother would've said "amen" too

As its tail stretched out like a stardust streak
The papers wrote about it every day for a week
They wondered where it's going and where it's been
When Halley came to Jackson in 1910

Now Daddy told the baby sleeping in his arms
To dream a little dream of a comet's charms
And he made a little wish as she slept so sound
In nineteen eighty-six that wish came 'round

It came from the east, just as bright as a torch
She saw it in the sky from her daddy's porch
As heavenly sent as it was back then
When Halley came to Jackson in nineteen ten
Late one night when the wind was still

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

I can read your eyes just like a book
You tell me different, but I know that look
And I don't have to guess what's between the lines

So what in the world am I still doing here
You push me away when I get too near
Saying love's too simple to analyze

So why do I feel confused
Why do I feel so used
Like a worn-out thought you threw away
It wasn't what you said, it's what you didn't say

Where are the windows, where are the doors?
I haven't the key to your heart anymore
I haven't a clue to what's gone wrong

'Cause you look at me sometimes as if I weren't there
You say you're listening, but you never hear
The strains of silence have grown so strong

I never wanted to doubt you
But I'd be better off without you
I'm no good at looking the other way
It wasn't what you said, it's what you didn't say

So look at me one last time
With eyes that still know how to shine
Hold me like you won't let go
But you let go anyway

No one belongs where they're not wanted
You're just a ghost, and my heart is haunted
When I said goodbye, you didn't even beg me to stay
It wasn't what you said, it's what you didn't say
No baby, it wasn't what you said, it's what you didn't say

(Mary-Chapin Carpenter)

I'm standing here freezing at a phone booth baby
In the middle of God knows where
I got one quarter left your machine packs up
But baby I know you're there

And I just start crying ‘cause it makes no sense
To waste these words and twenty-five cents
On a losing game
Baby you win again

I've been turning it over and over again
Like a stone I'm waiting to wish on
I've been holding my breath just wondering when
You'll make some sort of decision
To let me in or let me go
I'll always lose if I never know
Where I fit in
Baby you win again

I can't be right if I'm always wrong
I can't stand up if I'm always kneeling
At your altar or at your throne
You could show just a little feeling
For who I am
Baby you win again

Last night I dreamed we were standing here
On the corner of love and heartache
You jumped into your car you found first gear
And baby I felt the earth shake
And I woke up trembling with my heart in my throat
'Cause there's never a look a word or a note
At the bitter end
Baby you win again

I can't be right if I'm always wrong
I can't stand up if I'm always kneeling
At your altar or at your throne
You could show just a little feeling
For who I am
Baby you win again
Baby you win again
Baby you win again

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

When I was young I spoke like a child, and I saw with a child's eyes
And an open door was to a girl like the stars are to the sky
It's funny how the world lives up to all your expectations
With adventures for the stout of heart, and the lure of the open spaces

There's 2 lanes running down this road, whichever side you're on
Accounts for where you want to go, or what you're running from
Back when darkness overtook me on a blind man's curve

I relied upon the moon, I relied upon the moon
I relied upon the moon and Saint Christopher
Now I've paid my dues cuz I have owed them, but I've paid a price sometimes
For being such a stubborn woman in such stubborn times

Now I've paid my dues cuz I have owed them, but I've paid a price sometimes
For being such a stubborn woman in such stubborn times
Now I have run from the arms of lovers, I've run from the eyes of friends
I have run from the hands of kindness, I've run just because I can

But now I'm grown and I speak like a woman and I see with a woman's eyes
And an open door is to me now like the saddest of goodbyes
It's too late for turning back, I pray for the heart and the nerve

And I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher

I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher