Mary Chapin Carpenter - Stones In The Road (1994) by Mary Chapin Carpenter (보컬) on maniadb.com

In this world there's a whole lot of trouble baby
In this world there's a whole lot of pain
In this world there's a whole lot of trouble but
A whole lot of ground to gain
Why take when you could be giving
Why watch as the world goes by
It's a hard enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly

In this world there's a whole lot of sorrow
In this world there's a whole lot of shame
In this world there's a whole lot of sorrow
And a whole lot of ground to gain
When you spend you whole life wishing
Wanting and wondering why
It's a long enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly

And in this world there's a whole lot of golden
In this world there's a whole lot of pain
In this world you've a soul for a compass
And a heart for a pair of wings
There's a star on the far horizon
Rising bright in an azure sky
For the rest of the time that you're given
Why walk when you can fly

I grew up in a house like this
You knew the groan of every stair
All the walls seemed to listen in
All the years seemed to take up air
And when you dreamed
it was of the wind blowing cold and hard
And in those dreams
you thought you lived in a house of cards
And I grew up in a town like this
You knew the names of every street
On the surface it looked so safe
But it was perilous underneath
That's the place where you shoved your doubts and
hid your ugly scars /
God forbid if word got out about your house of cards
And now I feel the wind about to blow
Baby I'm so scared
We're repeating the past instead of letting it go
And I don't want to go back there

Now we're standing here face to face
Afraid to move or else
I want to prop up this fragile place
But I can't do it all by myself
Cause when we dream
it's of the wind blowing cold and hard
And when we wake up we still live in a house of cards
When we dream it's of the wind blowing cold and hard
And when we wake up we still live in a house of cards

When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our livesThe classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eyeWe learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertimeReminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty mindsAnd the stones in the road shone like diamonds in the dustAnd then a voice called to us to make our way back home When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowdTo see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our townHis widow kneeled with all their children at the sacred burial groundAnd the TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down And the stones in the road flew out beneath our bicycle tiresWorlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home And now we drink our coffee on the run, we climb that ladder rung by rungWe are the daughters and the sons, and here's the line that's missing The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the streetWe give a dollar when we pass, and hope our eyes don't meetWe pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suiteWe kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt And the stones in the road fly out from beneath our wheelsAnother day, another deal, before we get back home And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they cameA thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know

She says it's been so long, she can't remember when
The mention of his name didn't make her feel again
That everything is possible and every day a brand new start
Yeah, love's something powerful when it finds a willing heart
Sometimes it's a fire burning out of control
Sometimes it's a candle burning long and low
All these years she never let it go
There's a keeper for every flame

There is someone in his past that he hasn't gotten over yet
Each day's like the last, he just misses what he can't forget
It's just an empty space where something used to be
Now he guards the gate, but he's lost the key
So no one enters, but no one leaves
There's a keeper for every flame

Thought my heart had broken, but it was just a little bruised
I thought love had spoken, I guess I was just confused
Sometimes we were a fire burning out of control
Sometimes we were nothing but a candle glow
But it never died, baby, how I know
There's a keeper for every flame

I have a heart
that's proud you bet
I have a mind
that won't forget
And I have arms
that are strong and yet
Tender when they wanna to be
Well you can be the
will that finds the way
And you can be the
one who saves the day
But show me tender
when it's time to say
Exactly how it ought to be

And I never would've
known it darlin'
If I hadn't known about you
You said everyone
can be a rock and roll like a river too

Well something happens
when you find someone
Who makes you feel like you
can do no wrong
No you don't have to
take the whole world on
Just be tender when you want be

And I never
would have known it baby
If I hadn't known about you
You said everyone
can be a rock and roll like a river too

So let the waters carry us away
Wave goodbye to the old parade
Baby when we're unafraid
To be tender when we want to be
All the waters wash our cares away
All that we can see are better days
Don't ever let me hesitate
To be tender when I want to be

Don't mean to get a little forward with you
Don't mean to get ahead of where we are
Don't mean to act a little nervous around you
I'm just a little nervous about my heart
'Cause it's been a while since I felt this feeling
That everything that you do gives me
It's been too long since somebody whispered
Oooh shut up and kiss me

Didn't expect to be in this position
Didn't expect to have to rise above
My reputation for cynicism
I've been a jaded lady when it comes to love
But oh baby just to feel this feeling
That everything that you do gives me
It's been too long since somebody whispered
Oooh shut up and kiss me

There's something about the silent type
Attracting me to you
All business baby, none of the hype
That no talker can live up too, woo woo

Come closer baby I can't hear you
Just another whisper if you please
Don't worry 'bout the details darlin'
You've got the kind of mind I love to read
Talk is cheap and baby time's expensive
So why waste another minute more ?
Life's too short to be so apprehensive
Love's as much the symptom as the cure
Oh baby when I feel this feeling
It's like genuine voodoo hits me
It's been too long since somebody whispered
Oh baby I can feel this feeling
That everything that you do gives me
It's been too long since somebody whispered
Oooh shut up and kiss me
Shut up and kiss me

You can have it, I don't want it,
and when you've got it, I'll be gone
It won't matter what you're saying
when the damage has all been done
Can't seem to keep the faith,
as if that's all I need to do
I'd rather walk away than take
what belongs to you
You can have it, I don't want it,
and when you've got it, I'll be gone
It won't matter what you're saying
when the damage has all been done
Some words will cut you down
like you were only in the way
Why should I stand ths ground,
it won't hurt as much to say
You can have it, I don't want it
, and when you've got it, I'll be gone
It won't matter what you're saying
when the damage has all been done
Sometimes we're blinded by the
very thing we need to see
I finally realized that you need
it more than you need me
You can have it, I don't want it,
and when you've got it, I'll be gone
It won't matter what you're saying
when the damage has all been done
The damage has all been done

The night is soft and silent, new moon at my door
There's nothing near as quiet as the light I'm looking for
And last time that it appeared he was lying next to me
Last time I felt this near to whispered ecstacy
And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure,
they must live on grander dreams
We rose and fell just like the tides,
he filled my heart and soul and I
Buried all my dreams for someone else to find in my pirate days

This world is kinder to the kind that won't look back
They are the chosen few, among us now, unbowed somehow
And one day he turned to me, and before I took one breath
I knew I would only see his shadow in what light was left
And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure,
they must live on grander dreams
And if I've seen his face since then,
it's only been in dreams my friend
Since I came to the end of my pirate days
And if I've called his name since then,
it's only been in dreams my friend
So I came to the end of my pirate days

I was standing on this
sidewalk in 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
When asked what my name
was there came no reply
They said I was a deaf and sightless half-wit boy
But Lewis was my name though I could not say it
I was born and raised in New Orleans
My spirit was wild so I let the river take it
On a barge and a prayer upstream

They searched for a mother
and they searched for a father
And they searched 'til they searched no more
The doctors put to rest their scientific test
And they named me John Doe No. 24
And they all shook their heads in pity
For a world so silent and dark
Well there's no doubt that life's a mystery
But so too is the human heart

And it was my heart's own perfume when
the crape jasmine
bloomed on St. Charles Avenue
Though I couldn't hear
the bells of the streetcars coming
By toeing the track I knew
And if I were an old man returning
With my satchel and pork pie hat
I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon
And I'd hit every one on Basin after that

The years kept passing as
they passed me around
From one state ward to another
Like I was an orphaned shoe
from the lost and found
Always missing the other
They gave me a harp last Christmas
And all the nurses took a dance
Lately I've been growing listless
Been dreaming again of the past
I'm wandering down
to the banks of the Great Big Muddy
Where the shotgun houses stand
I am seven years old and I feel my daddy
Reach out for my hand
While I drew breath no one missed me
So they won't on the day that I cease
Put a sprig of crape jasmine with me
To remind me of New Orleans
I was standing on this
sidewalk in 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois

I can tell by the way you're walking,
That you don't want company
I'll let you alone and I'll let you walk on
and in your own good time you'll be
Back where the sun can find you,
under the wise wishing tree
And with all of them made
we'll lie under the shade and call it a jubilee
And I can tell by the way you're talking,
that the past isn't letting you go
There's only so long you can take it all on,
then the wrongs gotta be on its own
And when you're ready to leave it behind you,
you'll look back and all that you'll see
Is the wreckage and rust
that you left in the dust on your way to the jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're listening,
that you're still expecting to hear
Your name being called like a summons to all
who have failed to account
For their doubts and their fears,
they can't add up to to much without you
And so if it were up to me I'd take hold of your hand
Saying come hear the band
play your song at the jubilee

And I can tell by the way you're searching,
for something you can't even name
That you haven't been able to come to the table,
simply glad that you came
When you feel like this try to imagine
that we're all like frail boats on the sea
Just scanning the night for that
great guiding light announcing the jubilee
And I can tell by the way
you're standing with your eyes filling with tears
That it's habit alone that keeps you turning for home,
even though your home is right here
Where the people who love you are gathered,
under the wise wishing tree
May we all be considered then
straight on delivered down to the jubilee
Because to people who love you are waiting,
and they'll wait just as long as need be
When we look back and say
those were halcyon days
We're talking about jubilee

Everywhere I see the signs, pointing one direction
No more twists or crooked turns, leaving room for doubt
Where I used to take the time for quiet and reflection
Now I only hear the noise of what I am without
I see them walking hand in hand,
and my eyes just want to linger
On those golden wedding bands,
wrapped around their fingers
By the time I turn away, I feel it once again
I'm back in this familiar place, outside looking in

Baby, all the tears between us couldn't fill the spaces
And all the word we grasped at, they just fell away
I kept waiting on forgiveness to fix the broken places
But nothing even like it ever came my way
And tonight I drove around,
and the street came up before me
I took a turn
and then I found this old house coming toward me
I heard the sound a heart must make
when a memory's caving in
Oh baby, what a hungry place, outside looking in

It's the hardest kind of need that never knows a reason
Are we such a lonely breed,
or just born in a lonely season
Baby, it's all in the eyes,
it's where the reckoning begins
It's where we linger like a sigh,
it's where we long to be pulled in
It's where we learn to say goodbye
without saying anything
Standing on the borderline, outside looking in

Baby where's that place where time stands still
I remember like a lover can
But I forget it like a leaver will
It's no place you can get to by yourself
You've got to love someone and they love you
Time will stop for nothing else
And memory plays tricks on us, the more we cling,
The less we trust
And the less we trust the more we hurt
And as time goes on it just gets worse
So baby where's that place where time stood still
It is under glass inside a frame
Was it over when you had your fill

And here we are with nothing but
But this emptiness inside of us
Your smile a fitting, final gesture
Wish I could have loved you better
Baby where's that place where time stands still
I remember like a lover can
But I forget it like a leaver will
It's the first time that you held my had
It's the smell and the taste and the fear and the thrill
It's everything I understand
And all the things I never will

If you ever need to hear a voice in the middle of the night
When it seems so black outside that you can't remember
Light ever shone on you or the ones
you love in this or another lifetime
And the voice you need to hear is the true
and the trusted kind, with a soft
Familiar rhythm in these swirling,
unsure times, when the waves are lapping in
And you're not sure you can swim,
well here's the lifeline
If you ever need to feel a hand take up your own
When you least expect but want
it more than you've ever known
Baby, here's that hand,
and baby's here's my voice that's calling
This is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love
If you ever need some proof that time
can heal your wounds, just step
Inside my heart and walk around these rooms;
where the shadows used to be,
You can feel as well as see how peace can hover
Time's been here to fix what's broken
with its power and the love that
Smashed us both to bits spent
its last few hours calling out your name,
And I thought, this is the kind of pain
from which we don't recover
But I'm standing here now with my heart held out to you
You would have thought a miracle was all that got us through
Well baby, all I know, all I know is I'm still standing
And this is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love, standing up for you baby, standing up for me
And I see you still and there's this catch in my throat;
And I just swallow hard till it leaves me
There's nothing in this world
that can change what we know
Still I know I am here if you ever need me
And this is love

If you ever think of me, let it be around twilight,
when the world has
Settled down, and the last round of sunlight
is waning in the sky as you
Sit and watch the night descending
A car will pass out front with lovers at the wheel,
a dog will bark out
Back, and children's voices peal over
and under the air, you've been there,
Lost in the remembering
If you ever wish for things that are only in the past
Just remember that the wrong things aren't supposed to last
Baby, it's over and done,
the rest is gonna come when you let it
And this is love, all that ever was and will be
This is love, when you let it baby, if you let it now
This is love, all that ever was and can be
This is love