Damien Jurado

Standing with my feet deep in the ground
Was I nothing but a landslide in your mind?
Am I no one until someone calls me out?
Are you just pretending when we talk?

You should have seen me
Keeping watch at dawn

Picture now a car ride through the plains
Where east meets west and only sky remain
Were you faking death to only gain concern?
The cut out lights and signals told us wrong

You should have seen us
Carefree behind the wheel

Lover I am still here breaking chairs
Will I ever be the hero in your song
Or forever in your shadow so unseen?
Trapped between the lines that you write down?

You should have told me
Broken jaw and all
Crippled in your glory
Restless till my death

She walked in with sadness in her eyes
I could tell she'd been sleeping with the stars
"Well hello I'm dawn..."
"Yes I've seen you around..."
"I just live down from here..."

She has a dad she doesn't know
Who sends her letters with no return address...
"I don't know his name..."
"He don't know my face..."
"I am better off this way..."

On the weekends I drive her into town
In a car that I borrowed from my mom
She makes hotel beds
Where the sidewalks end
And I wait for her to come home...
Please come home

The one day she finally stops coming around
My best friend said she probably moved out of town
Not a letter was sent...
Not a phone call was made
And I hope she comes back here
Someday

He motioned to me from across the street
His arms waving madly "Come over to me"
I saw the panic as he approached
We both ran quickly to the house
Where the windows were shot out

He lay there bleeding on the floor
My mother beside him screaming "Dear Lord...
Someone shot my boy"

I held his hand till the ambulance came
Then onto a stretcher they took him away
I followed close from the car behind
The lights and the sirens both dull in my mind
November 9

Killed by a bullet from a jealous gun
It rattled his eyelids and pierced through his lungs
The damage now done

He was seem by her lover the night before
Swearing to kill him outside her door
To her defense my brother walked out
Raising his fist and screaming "Get out...
It's me she's with now!"

Hotel hospital the tears burned my eyes
I slipped into the nighttime and deep into dying
Without even trying

I would rather hide behind you or stand in your eclipse
The sun does not move e like it used to...
Neither do you

And Greenland I am with you... I was once unwanted.
In the front seats all with strangers I too was Earth's ceiling
I lost all feeling

And now I'm in your shadow
I am motionless
I am black

I'll be a crash landing who can change the landscape talking
And when I begin to stutter the land will be shaking
God will be clapping

When I left you alone to fight your battles
Of long winters and motels what went through your mind?
How is it that you made it? How is it that you noticed?
It wasn't me who was looking at you
Through foggy glass or windows... it was them.

I was out in Coolidge with my head on a counter
Drinking down my chance to ever return to anyone.
No I wasn't faking it... the hurt I felt was real
And all that was holy just slowly disappeared
Or just appeared in parking lots of truck stops.
The lights all blinking and now all I'm thinking is
"How the hell did I get here?"

Does your husband know that I call you sweetheart?
Does he know that I call you at all?
It's not like you are cheating we're only meeting
In hotels and not your home.
Would you change your last name to mine?
I think your kids will mind.

I was in the desert waving planes and burning phone books
To a tune that was famous the year I was born.
Do not leave me dancing alone.
Pick up the phone and call me lover
Say come and get me I am home...

I drove from Montesano to Aberdeen.
From Aberdeen to Pacific Beach.
A pocket full of wrong numbers.
Has anybody seen Shannon Rhoads?

I see her from the window of my memory
Standing like an angel down the hall.
I'll call when I get home this evening.
Has anybody seen Shannon Rhoads?

Some say she moved in with her lover.
The man her mother could not stand.
"Ma he only hits me when he's angry."
Has anybody seen Shannon Rhoads?

Four miles from the highway they found her.
Lying in the tall grass by the road.
Murdered by the hands of her lover.
Goodbye, goodbye, Shannon Rhoads.

Yesterday I went out to her grave site
The same day that her lover stood his trial
At her grave I stood there and remembered
All my days with Shannon Rhodes.

There goes your man
There goes your man
He's walking by, and shaking like a leaf
There goes your man

Here comes your death
Here comes your death
Keeping our breath safely in the trees
Here comes your death

Come now, you widow
Come now, you widow
Com and rest, so quiet in the meadow
Here comes your man

I stood alone there in the driveway
Till I saw your headlights fade
Disappear
Burn out like stars
A Chevrolet train that rolls in the night

I must have had a hundred nightmares
Of you falling asleep at the wheel
I send my prayers
Where are you now?
I am still here and going nowhere

Here is a photo of our first baby
Here is a photo of our wedding day
Nothing has changed
My love still the same
I am still here and here I remain

When you come back we'll have a party
We'll hang up the christmas lights
You'll be my bride
I'll be your groom
I miss you so much please make it home soon

Your mother said that you called this morning
"Tell him I love him, but won't be returning"

This gasoline makes on fine drink
All I need is trouble
Flicker in the sunlight dawn
They'll find my dead body cold
I used to wither just like winter
And now all I am is useless

So now is the time
To say all I wished I could have said
But I can't get my tongue out
And I can't get my sword to work
I'll just talk loads of bullshit anyhow

Your mother in torn garments
Like Jesus Christ denied
Blood in all her pockets
And you inside her eyes

Let's shut it down

Let's kill the lights

I quit my job
I moved away
I kept in touch
With all my old friends

From time to time
I hear about you
Are you still married?
Are you still happy?

How about your sister
Is she still running?
I ran into her
Last year in Denton

She spoke so quiet
Like I remember
I asked about you
She gave no answer

I'd always planned
To come back for you
But we both know how
You'd never leave

In a landslide

I can hear you...

Hear you walk away

First came the scream and blood on the floor
The alcohol and magazines
In my flashlight you were a star
A razor blade that cuts you clean

Smile for the camera take off that dress
Twenty dollars for a kiss
It's me who made you
It's me who will take you

I am not an evil man
I just have a habit I can't kick
It starts with an urge
And ends with picking up the phone
I ain't finished yet

The cowboy of Omaha drives with his three kids
To the house where they live, where you been

This country will know us by name
This country will know us by name

We've been out driving and seeing the sights
The land of Nebraska is beautiful at night

This country will know us by name
This country will know us by name

Our car was the ship and daddy the captain
He let us steer and pretend we were driving

This country will know us by name
This country will know us by name
This country will know me by name

I fell in love with a girl of nineteen
A black-haired girl i called abilene
'young girl, where's your husband?'
'sadly,' she replied, 'i do not have one.'
'then it's you i'll marry with your parents' permission.'

'no, fine sir, they will not let me marry
For i am a young girl
And you are a man without money.'
'then i'll come by your window
Tonight when they both will be sleeping

Outside your window
In a carriage, i will be waiting
They'll awake, find you gone,
Rub their eyes, and think they're dreaming.'
And never did they think
That their abilene would leave them

'now, fine sir, where is it you shall take me?
Is it in the mountains high
Or is it the deep blue sea?'

From the window to the doorway
This is the way we planned our escape
Five miles of road, three hours of conversation
My feet & ears could only take so much

From texas to ohio is too long a walk
Even if it's with someone you love
Five miles in the walk you already want to do them in

Through the heat & humidity
My mind keeps going back to the first time i met you
How weeks after dating, i could never get ahold of you

'i don't know where she's at
You should try calling back tomorrow'

From the window to the threshhold
This is the way we learn from our mistakes
You leave all your friends for someone you think you love

Through the for the better and the worse
My mind keeps going back to the first time i met you
How weeks after dating, i could never get ahold of you

'i don't know where she's at
You should try calling back tomorrow'

I am looking at a beautiful window
That window is your eyes
And the only time i saw rainfall
Was the day your mother died

And i am looking at a beautiful rainbow
The rainbow is your smile
O, the only time i heard laughter
Was the day i took you as my bride

I am looking at a beautiful window
The window is your eyes
O, the only time i saw rainfall
Was the day your mother died

And i am walking with my Savior
My Savior walks with me
O, He will guide me up to heaven
Where you & i shall meet