Phil Vassar Album

(Phil Vassar/Craig Wiseman)

I was ten,
I was thin,
I was playing first base 
with a secondhand glove and dirt on my face
In nowhere, Virginia
Who'd ever figure that kid in the yard would go very far
It was 419 Lakewood , had no silverspoons
Just an old beat up upright that played out of tune
Now I'm singin' and living the life that I love
And when I count my blessings I thank God I was 
An American child

An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild 
Born inside an American child

Seven pounds, three ounces, she's got my nose
And she's into my heart as deep as it goes
With a promise that's more than just someone's last name
Anyone's equal, in late August came
An American child

An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild 
Born inside an American child

My grandfather would have been eighty today
But in '45 he fell down beside an American child

An American child
Oh, an American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild born inside an American child

(Phil Vassar/Robert Byrne)

One twenty-two fifty nine Oak Drive
Rolls off my tongue like a nursery rhyme
Wooden numbers on the front of your house
Where we fell in love 
Little things they stick in my mind
Like they happened yesterday after all this time
The way it turned out 
I never would've thought
I'd remember so much

But why is my heart so weak
And my memory so strong
Somebody give me one good reason
Love is too short

And forgettin's so long
Somewhere, someday down the road maybe I won't care
But when something so right goes so wrong
Love is too short and forgettin's so long

Is there anyone who would please 
Tell me where's my checkbook and my car keys
If it wasn't sewn onto my shoulders
I'da lost my head
Well there's a whole lotta things I forget to do
But I amaze myself when it comes to you
I know nothin' 'bout now 
But I know plenty 'bout way back then

'Cause when I think I got it all behind me
And I'm movin' along
You're right there to remind me 
Love is too short

And forgettin's so long
Somewhere, someday down the road maybe I won't care
But when something so right goes so wrong
Love is too short and forgettin's so long

But why is my heart so weak and my memory so strong
Somebody give me one good reason love is too short

And forgettin's so long
Somewhere, someday down the road maybe I won't care
But when something so right goes so wrong
Love is too short and forgettin's so long
Forgettin's so long

(Phil Vassar/Freddy Miles)

We could sit around and talk about the ins and outs
Of why we shouldn't take a chance
Be so afraid it's gonna rain we sit and miss a sunny day
To avoid the circumstance
There's a million and one reasons we could run
But it's too late for that

Time's wastin' it ain't waitin' for us
I know that we can make it
We can make it with a little luck

Call me crazy that might be go ahead
And laugh at me
But I still believe that dreams come true
So let's forget the past the times we could 
But didn't dance
It's all come down to me and you
We're right here and right now baby
There's no doubt
We have what it takes to do it, but

Time's wastin' it ain't waitin' for us
I know that we can make it
We can make it with a little luck

Girl, we only have to trust in our love
We've got memories to make,
For heaven's sake, baby
Let's not forsake another moment, 'cause

Time's wastin' it ain't waitin' for us
I know that we can make it
We can make it with a little luck

Time's wastin' it ain't waitin' for us
I know that we can make it
We can make it with a little luck

(Phil Vassar/Annie Roboff)

I suppose I could stop it now
And say I didn't need it anyhow
Just walk away and let it go
Tip my hat and try to play it cool
To keep myself from being made a fool
I could pretend you don't already know that

I'm already gone
I never thought I'd cross over the line
But it's way too late 
And your love is just too strong
And I'm already gone

There's no doubt about how I feel
Both my hands are off the wheel
So now it's really up to you
This is something that I've never done
You know I've always been the first to run
But girl this time there's nothin'
I can do 'cause

I'm already gone
I never thought I'd cross over the line
But it's way too late 
And your love is just too strong
And I'm already gone

I tried so hard to keep the walls from fallin'
I found a hiding place and told my heart to wait but

I'm already gone
I never thought I'd cross over the line
But it's way too late 
And your love is just too strong
And I'm already gone

(Phil Vassar/Steve Mandile/Jerry Vandiver)

If you're headin' south on
Georgia one twenty-nine
Straight into Athens past the Clark County line
There's an old Texaco right across
From the Athens Woolworth
Billy Joe Taylor's underneath that lift
There ain't a car on the planet that he can't fix
He swears on his chrome-plated ratchet
That his heaven on earth

Well, he can make a rusty muffler purr like a kitten
Or an old Nash Rambler top out at one-fifty
Georgia's never seen a man more at peace
Than when Billy's got his hands in 
Athen's Grease

Six days a week, he's a man on a mission
He's the redneck Picasso of 
The manual transmission
And the only man in town who can make 
Charlie Vincent's van go
When the sun goes down
And the day is endin'
Billy's still rockin' with a rack and pinion
Long as that boy's at work, well he's right at home

Well, he can make a rusty muffler purr like a kitten
Or an old Nash Rambler top out at one-fifty
Georgia's never seen a man more at peace
Than when Billy's got his hands in 
Athen's Grease

Well, he's a rotatin,' lug nuttin,'
Spark pluggin' good ole boy
With his name on his shirt
And Thelma Lou Taylor likes to hang out at the station
'Cause she loves to watch him work

Well, he can make a rusty muffler purr like a kitten
Or an old Nash Rambler top out at one-fifty
Georgia's never seen a man more at peace
Than when Billy's got his hands in 
Athen's Grease

Yeah, Georgia's never seen a man more at peace
Than when Billy's got his hands in
Athen's grease

(Phil Vassar/Brett James)

Well maybe lately I've been acting a little bit strange
And maybe there's a few things
I need to explain
So what if I call you at work for now reason
And I sent you those flowers today
So what if my friends tell me 
They never see me
And everyone's sayin' I've changed

If you think I always think about you
And I dream about you day and night
If you think for a moment I can't live without you
And maybe I've fallen in love with you
Baby, you're right
Baby, you're right

Somehow, somewhere I went and crossed
Over the line
And I let you see the man that was hiding inside
It's highly irregular, I must confess
No this usually isn't my style
Oh I know my heart's beatin' out of my chest
And I just can't do nothin' but smile

If you think I always think about you
And I dream about you day and night
If you think for a moment I can't live without you
And maybe I've fallen in love with you
Baby, you're right
Baby, you're right

Baby, you're so wrong if you think
That you're holdin' on just a little too tight
But, if you're believin' that I'm never leavin' you
Baby, you're right

If you think I always think about you
And I dream about you day and night
If you think for a moment I can't live without you
And maybe I've fallen in love with you
If you think that I'm hopeless without you
There's no way I can put up a fight
If you think for a moment I can't live without you
And maybe I've fallen in love with you
Baby, you're right

(Phil Vassar/Rodney Clawsen/Julie Vassar)

Never seen the Mona Lisa
Never walked across the moon
Never been to Casa Blanca
But I've been to Cancun
I'll never make the Fortune 500 
On what I get paid

Please don't pity me, 
'Cause I've got everything I need

Life don't get no better
I could live forever and never top this
Oh, I'm in poll position
Got a sweet suspicion there ain't nothin' 
I've missed
Baby look at us
Standing in the middle of this ultimate love

When I was seventeen I shook 
Joe Namath's hand
Once I won karaoke singin' "Piano Man"
One time in Vegas I won me 700 bucks
That's all real cool stuff but it don't
Measure up

Life don't get no better
I could live forever and never top this
Oh, I'm in poll position
Got a sweet suspicion there ain't nothin' 
I've missed
Baby look at us
Standing in the middle of this ultimate love

Well, I don't know too much, but I know this love
Is bigger than the both of us

Life don't get no better
I could live forever and never top this
Oh, I'm in poll position
Got a sweet suspicion that there ain't nothin' 
I've missed
Baby look at us
Standing in the middle of this ultimate love

(Phil Vassar/Connie Harrington/Julie Vassar)

In the spring I dreamed of summer
To feel the sunlight on my skin
But in the heat I'd start to hunger 
For that autumn chill again
I always spent my time anticipating
Things to come
But now I wish that I could slow the
World down just this once and 

Stand still
I'm right where I wanna be
Holding you in the middle of the moment
Of my life
The way I feel
I don't care what's in front of me
Or what's behind me I just wanna
Stop the wheel
And stand still

I have driven by a sunset
Let it pass without a glance
I took so many things for granted
Counting on a second chance
But touching you right now is something
I don't wanna miss
I know my finest hour is the one I'm living in

Stand still
I'm right where I wanna be
Holding you in the middle of the moment
Of my life
The way I feel
I don't care what's in front of me
Or what's behind me I just wanna
Stop the wheel
And stand still

Stand still
I'm right where I wanna be
Holding you in the middle of the moment
Of my life
The way I feel
I don't care what's in front of me
Or what's behind me I just wanna
Stop the wheel
And stand still

Oh baby, I just wanna stop the wheel
And stand still

(Phil Vassar/Rob Thomas)

My moment of need was my finest hour 
But all I needed was someone to make me 
Turn myself around
I could see by the way we never talk 
And how we're always separated 
By the room
'til all the walls come tumblin' down
Seems to me that we should touch
Let me know if that's askin' for too much

If I was someone you love
You'd be shaken by now
If I was someone you need we'd be better now
If I was someone you cared for 
You'd be holdin' me
They say you'll do the damnedest things you
Could ever think of 
For someone you love
It ain't easy but it's worth it in the end
Let's try again my friend, the sum of all
The love is greater than
All these pieces that are lyin' on the floor
And all the words we're sayin' now can't
Change the ones we've said before
So we smile and let it go
You tell me you love me but I know

If I was someone you love
You'd be shaken by now
If I was someone you need we'd be better now
If I was someone you cared for 
You'd be holdin' me
They say you'll do the damndest things you
Could ever think of 
For someone you love

If I was someone you love
You'd be shaken by now
If I was someone you need we'd be better now
If I was someone you cared for 
You'd be holding me
If I was someone that mattered 
You'd disagree

They say you'll do the damnedest things you 
Could ever think
They say you'll do the damnedest things you 
Could ever think of for someone you love
Someone you love
Yeah, you're someone I love
Girl, I'd do anything

(Phil Vassar/Julie Vassar)

It's been three days, two hours
And a minute
Since she blasted off breaking every speed limit
As fast and far away from me
As she could get
Well, she said, you'll straighten up one way or another
The Don't Mess With Texas bumper 
Sticker on the bumper
Said it all as she drove off into the red sunset
She was right and I've learned my lesson
Here on out, I'm a man on a mission

Houston, we have a problem
If you can put a man on the moon
I'm sure there's something you can do
To help a love a little off course
Well, I'm losin' her, heaven knows I can't do that 
I need her back
So come in Houston, we have a problem

She left with a suitcase full of resentment
She told me that I was afraid
Of commitment
She said don't call me baby, I'll call you
Well it's been days and I ain't 
Heard nothing
Somebody's just got to do something

Houston, we have a problem
If you can put a man on the moon
I'm sure there's something you can do
To help a love a little off course
Well, I'm losin' her, heaven knows I can't do that 
I need her back
So come in Houston, we have a problem

If I could do anything I would give everything 
To make her come home
I only need a chance to say if 
I could find a way
To let her know, come in 

Houston, we have a problem
If you can put a man on the moon
I'm sure there's something you can do
To help a love a little off course
I'm losin' her, heaven knows I can't do that 
I need her back
So come in Houston, we have a problem

(Phil Vassar/Tim Nichols)

I went back in time today a box I thought
I'd thrown away
Had fallen off the basement shelf,
I tripped and almost hurt myself
Scattered there across the floor
A New Year's Eve hat from '94
Ticket stubs to Billy Joel and pictures
From the Sugar Bowl
Some of these souvenirs I remember
Mostly I don't 
It's funny how time reduces a keepsake 
To a footnote

The wheres and the whens that meant
So much then
Have gracefully moved along
My memory had mercy on me and let me go on
Considering everything you meant I thought
I never would forget

Here's us dancing on your birthday
July 29th or 28th
The song was "Always and Forever,"
I'm not sure but I remember
That's the night we first made love
The passion captured both of us
It held us, then it set us free,
This is all that's left of you and me
A cardboard treasure chest with a diary
Of two lovers
Now it's a dusty old box no different 
From the others

The wheres and the whens that meant
So much then
Have gracefully moved along
My memory had mercy on me and let me go on
Considering everything you meant I thought
I never would forget

My memory had mercy on me and let me go on
Considering everything you meant I thought

(Phil Vassar/Julie Vassar/Jeff Wood)

You'll never know, how much you touch my soul
You're so beautiful and I'm so gone
Please understand, I'm only just a man
But I'll give you all I am
From here and now on

I'll be the one
The one you hold
I'll wrap my love around you until time
Grows old
That ray of faith
That glimpse of sun
Baby, only everything
I'll be the one

Trust this much, I'll always believe in us
And I'll never give it up
For anything ever

I'll be the one
The one you hold
I'll wrap my love around you until time
Grows old
That ray of faith
That glimpse of sun
Baby, only everything
I'll be the one

Lay down beside me
Right down here beside me
There's so much inside girl
And I want to share it with you 
My love, whatever I do

I'll be the one
The one you hold
I'll wrap my love around you until time
Grows old
That ray of faith
That glimpse of sun
Baby, only everything
I'll be the one

I'll be the one