Shawn Colvin Album

S. Colvin

Please no more therapy
Mother take care of me
Piece me together with a
Needle and thread
Wrap me in eiderdown
Lace from your wedding gown
Fold me and lay me down
On your bed
Or liken me to a shoe
Blackened and spit-shined through
Kicking back home to you
Smiling back home
Singing back home to you
Laughing back home to you
Dragging back home to you

I was so wary then
The ugly American
Thinner than oxygen
Tough as a whore
I said you can lie to me
I own what's inside of me
And nothing surprises me anymore
But forests in Germany
Kids in the Tuileries
Broken-down fortresses
In old Italy
And claiming his victory
Shrouded in mystery
He went running away with me

Back in our home New York
Walking these streets forlorn
We all in our uniforms
Black and black
Doing that slouch and jive
The artist must survive
We've got all we need we cried
And we don't look back
Thinking we had it made
Poised for the hit parade
Knee deep in accolades
The conceptual pair
But ever the malcontent
He left without incident
Vanished into thin air

Now I am always amazed
Words can fill up a page
Pages fill up the days
Between him and me
But the vows that we never keep
From bedrooms to business-speak
Make me remember how cheap
Words can be
And the letters I wrote you of
Were those of the desperate stuff
Like begging for love in a suicide threat
But I am too young to die
Too old for a lullaby
Too tired for life on the ledge

But I had a dream last night
Of lovers who walked the plank
Out on the edge of time
Amidst ridicule
They laughed as they rocked and reeled
Over the mining fields
Coming to rest on this ship of fools
But he just took polaroids
Of her smile in the light
Of the dawn of the menacing sky
And before they went overboard
She turned and held up a card
And it said Valentine

S. Colvin - J. Leventhal

I got a cool head doin' alright
But I been up here so long I was starving
For some hot spells, summer lights
Shinin' on your back roads
Tennessee

Somebody hit me hard
Right in my own backyard
Somebody put a hope lock on my heart
Runnin' down your back roads
Tennessee

Oh you got the banjos
And they play real slow
Not to me, not to me
I never heard such rock and roll
As on your back roads
Tennessee

Now I know you're not to blame
But you know that you should have
told me
That I would never be the same
After riding down your back roads
Tennessee

Somebody held me tight
Somebody tried to fight
Somebody raced out in the night
Runnin' down your back roads
Tennessee

Oh you kissed the soul of a rebel
In a Yankee girl
You got to me
I heard you callin' 'round the world
From your back roads
Tennessee

I saw somebody standin'
In a field with a crutch
Behind his rich southern daddy
With a Midas touch
They said be outta here by sundown
They said good luck
You might say I was the stranger
Who knew too much

Somebody took a hope lock from my heart
And threw it down your back roads
Tennessee

Oh you feel the north wind blow
That's only me
I want to hear some rock and roll
On your back roads
Tennessee

I'm not the bad city girl
Come down to rape you
I'm not the hometown queen
Who wants to save you
I heard you callin' to my soul
From your back roads
Tennessee

W. Zevon - J. Browne

Mamma where's your pretty little girl tonight
She's tryin' to run before she can walk
That's right
She's growing up
She's got a young man waiting
She's growing up
She's got a young man waiting

She's wide-eyed
She'll be streetwise
To the lies
And the jive talk
But she'll find true love
And tenderness on the block

Now daddy don't you ask her when
she's comin' home
When she's back don't ask her where
she's been
She's going out
She's got a young man waiting
She's going out
She's got a young man waiting

She'll be okay
Let her have her way
It's a long way
It's a long walk
But she'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
She's gonna find true love
She's gonna find true love
She's gonna find true love
And tenderness on the block

Now I know how much it hurts to see her go
But she's got a mind of her own you know
She's all grown-up
She's got a young man waiting
She's all grown-up
She's got a young man waiting

She was wide-eyed
Now she's streetwise
To the lies
And the jive talk
But she'll find true love
And tenderness on the block

She's gonna find true love

S. Colvin - L. Klein

Here we go again
Another round of blues
Several miles ago
I set down my angel shoes
On a lost highway
For a better view
Now in my mind's eye
All roads lead to you

Chorus:
So wherever you go
You better take care of me
This time
If you're gonna go
Remember me and all
This time

We had our bitter cheer
And sweet sorrow
We lost a lot today
We get it back tomorrow
I hear the sound of wheels
I know the rainbow's end
I see lights in a fat city
I feel love again

Chorus

All this time
I been makin' deals
Shades if black and white
On a Hollywood reel
All this time
I been missing
Something so real
All this time
I been a face in the crowd
Now I'm living in color
And laughing out loud
All these names
For just foolin' around
It's a new breakthrough
It's an old break down

We smoked a lot of hope
We did our cryin' , too
We're finally waking up
To what real love can do
Down a lost highway
Under the twilight moon
A chorus in your eyes
Another round of blues

Chorus

We had all
This time
We had all
This time

S. Colvin

I don't know what else to do
I would rather do anything
Than write this song for you
And perpetuate this thing
In my head, in my living room
With the usual arsenal
Of broken chords and rusty strings
To surrender all

And I don't like to be so weak
Retreating behind these lines
The same old tongue-in-cheek
Regretting that both are mine
And I don't like to live this way
This is really true
But I know better than to pray now
About what I just have to learn to do
But imagine the nerve of God
Letting me let you in
And I thought I could let you go in grace
I've gotta think again

Because right now I would be bought
and sold
To see your face somewhere
I would sell your sweet soul
Just to touch your crazy black gold hair
I don't care what's really real
I was someone that you'd heard of
I saw heaven in your eyes
And we made a deal
And that's what I know of love

Music, it never goes
But I told you I hate that shit
When people say"well you know
You got a song out of it"
But I don't know what else to do
I would rather be anywhere
Than here without you

S. Colvin - L. Klein

Maybe somewhere in the southern
hemisphere
There could be room for all this love
Where they've saved a place for innocence
And what is still mysterious
And their dreaming time
They're dreaming time

Because we've broken down the
wilderness
And we've blackened up the skies
And we cry 'cause we've got no vision left
While the smoke gets in our eyes
And there's no more time
And the dream is dying

But I love you baby
And I know you and I
Can find a way to heaven
Just like Orion in the sky
He's the long lost hero
He's the guardian of your son
But can he protect us baby
From all the sad things we've done

Now I know there's no sense in hiding
And we can't escape this war
And I have made my peace with dying
Down here on this killing floor
In a world gone blind
Where there's no more time

But I love you baby
And I know by and by
We gonna find a way to heaven
Just like Orion in the sky
He can walk upon the water
He can shine for everyone
But can he protect us baby
From all the sad things we've done

Is it too much to ask in a lifetime
For just one shot at happiness
Do you just have to laugh at the right lines
Until you come face to face
With the looking glass
To be reckoned with the sins of our time

I love you baby
I can see you and I
As we fly away together
Up to Orion in the sky
He's the last of the fallen angels
He's the light of the Southern Cross
Maybe he can take us baby
Back to the paradise we've lost

So I'll see you darlin'
Now fly baby, fly
Down across the Fiji Islands
To where the Seven Sisters cry
Gather all your dreams and take them
Somewhere so far out of reach
Follow the sword of the hunter, baby
And meet me on the beach
We are forever tied
Still on the run
To the medicine man
For all the sad, sad things
We've done

S. Colvin - J. Leventhal

Oh, my soul
Sometimes we don't know what to do
We work so hard
Being tough on our own
But now it's me and you
Let's give it up
Sad bones
'Cause we all fall on hard times
But you don't have to stand up all alone
Just put your hand in mine

Climb on
A back that's strong
Hey hey
You can git' what you want
Climb on
A back that's strong

If you could save me
A place in heaven
With a clean well-lighted room
I'll muscle up to Armageddon
And I'll wave to you darlin'
Be home soon
And if you could show me
The story of love
I would write it
Again and again
And then you could be
The woman you need
If you just let me be
The man that I am

Oh, I don't know
Sometimes we try too hard to see
But we got one down now
One more to go
That's when you say
To me

S. Colvin - Elly Brown

Full full moon and
That same sad nature
I wanna cover every inch of you
Like ink on paper
Like the blind parade of souls
Consumed by religion
I can't wait 'til I get you
In that defenseless position

Chorus:
When we set the prairie on fire
Oh we go down to the water
Naked and slow
You and me
And the heart of desire
We set the prairie on fire
How hard will the wind blow
How far will it go

When the feeling burns down
To one solitary color
The velocity of longing
Melting into each other
It's a song our fingers play
All at once and together
You can bet we never learned it
But we've known it forever

Oh I dreamed that we were flying
Carried up from the ashes
Black silhouettes of velvet
Against the crimson of passion
We can almost hear the echoes
From the smoldering meadow
It's the rapture of the angels
And the rage of the devil

Chorus

In the cool dusk of horses
Through the rusted wires of sleep
With our arms around midnight
We're headed for release
We go riding in the wind
We go riding in the dark
Go riding, riding

Chorus

S. Colvin - J. Leventhal

Jump into the night
Gas up and downshift
Cruise up the coast
On the FM drift
It's a crazy world
On the head of a pin

Some other time
Some other star
I might've cried but now
You only need to look so far
As the smile on my face
To see the shape I'm in

Try love in a bottle
Try love in a box
Play it all night long
Dance 'til you drop
And it sure got soul
It's not flesh and blood

I tried looking for love
But I guess it's true
You don't look for love
It's gonna look for you
Well you found me, honey
And you sound so good

You're the object
Of my affection
Not a dream
Or make believe
You're the object
Of my affection
Come to me

Now we see the women
In the photograph
Sweet Anne of mercy
And Sylvia Plath
For a thousand words
They for a life sentence

If we lined up all the girls
Who died in vain
We could walk on their heads
To hell and back again
But I got the big book
And antidepressants

You're the object
Of my affection
Not a phantom fantasy
You're the object
Of my affection
Come to me

You're the object
Of my affection
Not a toy with batteries
You're the object
Of my affection
Not a rescue remedy
You're the object
Of my affection
Come to me

S. Colvin

Jane it sure looks like rain
These Canadian plains
And their windblown hair
Jane the bruise colored clouds
The smell of the ground
In the ripening air

I have seen you
In your fluttering dress
And your dry face of steel
As you're dragging your red rowing boat
Cross the forever fields

See Jane something's gone dead
Inside my head
There's nothing but fear
Jane the rivers of grief
The tears of relief
Seem ages from here

Sometimes the beauty of life
Hits like lightening washing everything
clear
And these dimmers of doubt flicker
Fade out and disappear

But Jane that is a luxury
There are those of little faith it seems
And they beg for truth like charity
And I see them on every street corner

They are holding out one righteous hand
While the other leads the marching band
In the shadow hymn of the scratchman
Heed the message, kill the messenger

Jane I heard you found love
Wriggling up from the mud
On the shores of Granville
But Jane in the wink of an eye
The naysayers fly
Like hounds at your heels

Jane they'll whisper your name
And you won't feel the chains
And you won't see the moss
Oh, Jane there's an art to the game
The aesthetics of love
The athletics of loss

Sometimes someone drifts by
And our nets get entwined in the sea
And in time I might find
They still mean something to me

But Jane that is a luxury
There are those of little faith in me
And they pull me down like gravity
And I see them on every street corner

They are masters in the sleight of hand
They are dancers and they step so grand
To the shibboleth of Shadowland
Heed the message, kill the messenger

S. Colvin
I don't know why
The sky is so blue
And I don't know why
I'm so in love with you
But if there were no music
Then I would not get through
I don't know why
I know these things, but I do

I don't know why
But somewhere dreams come true
And I don't know where
But there will be a place for you
And every time you look that way
I would lay down my life for you
I don't know why
I know these things, but I do

I don't know why
But some are going to make you cry
And I don't know how
But I will get you by, I will try
They're not trying to cause you pain
They're just afraid of loving you
I don't know why
I know these things, but I do

I don't know why
The trees grow so tall
And I don't know why
I don't know anything at all
But if there were no music
Then I would not get through
I don't know why
I know these things, but I do
I don't know why
I know these things, but I do