Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more 'Cause when life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door Think this through with me Let me know your mind Whoa oh, what I want to know is are you kind
It's a buck dancer's choice my friends, better take my advice You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice Will you come with me Won't you come with me Whoa oh, what I want to know: will you come with me?
God damn, well I declare Have you seen the like Their walls are built of cannon balls Their motto is "don't tread on me"
Come hear Uncle John's Band Playing to the tide Come with me or go alone He's come to take his children home
It's the same story the crow told me, it's the only one he knows Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go Ain't no time to hate Barely time to wait Whoa oh, what I want to know: where does the time go?
I live in a silver mine and I call it Beggar's Tomb I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune Anybody's choice I can hear your voice Whoa oh, what I want to know: how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band By the riverside Got some things to talk about Here beside the rising tide
Come hear Uncle John's Band Playing to the tide Come along or go alone He's come to take his children home
Whoa oh, what I want to know: how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band By the riverside Got some things to talk about Here beside the rising tide
Come hear Uncle John's Band Playing to the tide Come along or go alone He's come to take his children home
I can't stay much longer, Melinda The sun is getting high I can't help you with your troubles If you won't help with mine
I gotta get down, I gotta get down Gotta get down to, to the mine
You keep me up just one more night I can't sleep here no more Little Ben clock says quarter to eight You kept me up till four
I gotta get down, I gotta get down Or I can't work there no more
A lotta poor man make a five dollar bill But keep him happy all the time Some other fella's makin' nothin' at all And you can hear him cry "Can I go, buddy, can I go down Take your shift at the mine?"
Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine That's where I mainly spend my time Make good money, five dollars a day Made any more, I might move away
Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues He can't win for losin' Lotta poor man got to walk the line Just to pay his union dues
I don't know now, I just don't know If I'm goin' back again I don't know now, I just don't know If I'm goin' back again I don't know now, I just don't know If I'm goin' back again
Rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb, you know better but I know him. Like I told you, what I said, Steal your face right off your head.
Now he's gone, now he's gone, Lord he's gone, he's gone. Like a steam locomotive, rollin' down the track He's gone, gone, nothin's gonna bring him back...He's gone.
Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride, hot as a pistol but cool inside. Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile, Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!!!!
Now he's gone, now he's gone Lord he's gone, he's gone. Like a steam locomotive, rollin' down the track He's gone, gone, nothin's gonna bring him back...He's gone.
Goin' where the wind don't blow so strange, Maybe off on some high cold mountain chain. Lost one round but the price wasn't anything, A knife in the back and more of the same.
Same old, rat in a drain ditch, caught on a limb, You know better but I know him. Like I told you, what I said, Steal your face right off your head.
Now he's gone, now he's gone Lord he's gone, he's gone. Like a steam locomotive, rollin' down the track He's gone, gone, nothin's gonna bring him back...He's gone.
I went down to the mountain, I was drinking some wine, Looked up in the heavens Lord I saw a mighty sign, Writt'n fire across the heaven, plain as black and white; Get prepared, there's gonna be a party tonight.
Uhuh, Hey! Saturday Night! Yeh, uhuh one more Saturday night, Hey Saturday night!
Everybody's dancin' down the local armory With a basement full of dynamite and live artillery. The temperature keeps risin', everybody gittin' high; Come the rockin' stroke of midnite, the whole place gonna fly.
Uhuh, Hey! Saturday Night! Yeh, uhuh one more Saturday night, Hey Saturday night!
Turn on channel six, the President comes on the news, Says, "I get no satisfaction, that's why I sing the blues." His wife say "Don't get crazy, Lord, you know just what to do, Crank up that old Victrola, put on them rockin' shoes."
Uhuh, Hey! Saturday Night! Yeh, uhuh one more Saturday night, Hey Saturday night!
Then God way up in heaven, for whatever it was worth, Thought He'd have a big old party, thought He'd call it planet Earth. Don't worry about tomorrow, Lord, you'll know it when it comes, When the rock and roll music meets the risin' sun.
We can share the women We can share the wine We can share what we got of yours 'Cause we done shared all of mine
Keep a rolling Just a mile to go Keep on rolling, my old buddy You're moving much too slow
I just jumped the watchman Right outside the fence Took his ring, four bucks in change Now ain't that heaven sent?
Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon Burns my eyes to see Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon Might as well be me
We used to play for silver Now we play for life One's for sport and one's for blood At the point of a knife Now the die is shaken Now the die must fall There ain't a winner in this game Who don't go home with all Not with all...
Leaving Texas Fourth day of July Sun so hot, clouds so low The eagles filled the sky
Catch the Detroit Lightning Out of Santa Fe Great Northern out of Cheyenne From sea to shining sea
Gotta get to Tulsa First train we can ride Got to settle one old score And one small point of pride...
Ain't no place a man can hide, Shannon Keep him from the sun Ain't no bed will give us rest, man, You keep us on the run
Jack Straw from Wichita Cut his buddy down Dug for him a shallow grave And layed his body down
Half a mile from Tucson By the morning light One man gone and another to go My old buddy you're moving much too slow
The news is out, all over town that you've been seen, out runnin' 'round. I know that I should leave her there, But then I just can't go, you win again. This heart of mine, could never see what everybody knows but me. Just trustin' you was my great sin, I just can't go, Lord You win again. What can I do, Lord, You win again.
Look for awhile at the China Cat Sunflower proud-walking jingle in the midnight sun Copper-dome Bodhi drip a silver kimono like a crazy-quilt stargown through a dream night wind
Krazy Kat peeking through a lace bandana like a one-eyed Cheshire like a diamond-eye Jack A leaf of all colors plays a golden string fiddle to a double-e waterfall over my back
Comic book colors on a violin river crying Leonardo words from out a silk trombone I rang a silent bell beneath a shower of pearls in the eagle wing palace of the Queen Chinee
You said you was hurtin', almost lost your mind; 'Cause the man you love, hurts you all the time. But when things go wrong, wrong with you... it hurts me too.
You love him a little more, when you ought to love him less. Why pick up behind him and take his best? 'Cause when things go wrong, wrong with you... it hurts me too.
You love another man; Oh, but I love you But you love him darlin', stick to him just about like glue. But when things go wrong, wrong with you... it hurts me too.
Well, he better leave you, or you best put him down. 'Cause you know, I just can't stand to see, see you pushed around. 'Cause when things go wrong, wrong with you... it hurts me too.
Sugar Magnolia blossom's blooming Head's all empty and I don't care Saw my baby down by the river Knew she'd have to come up soon for air
Sweet blossom come on under the willow We can have high times if you'll abide We can discover the wonders of nature Rolling in the rushes down by the riverside
She's got everything delightful She's got everything I need Takes the wheel when I'm seeing double Pays my ticket when I speed
She come skimming through rays of violet She can wade in a drop of dew She don't come and I don't follow Waits backstage while I sing to you
She can dance a Cajun rhythm Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive She's a summer love in the spring, fall and winter She can make happy any man alive
Sugar magnolia Ringin' that blue bell Caught up in sunlight Come on out singing I'll walk you in the sunshine Come on honey, come along with me
She's got everything delightful She's got everything I need A breeze in the pines in the summer night moonlight Crazy in the sunlight yes indeed
Sometimes when the cuckoo's crying When the moon is halfway down Sometimes when the night is dying I take me out and I wander round I wander round
Sunshine daydream Walkin through the tall trees Going where the wind goes Blooming like a red rose Breathing more freely Light out singing I'll walk you in the morning sunshine Sunshine daydream Walk you in the sunshine
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung Would you hear my voice come through the music Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken Perhaps they're better left unsung I don't know, don't really care Let there be songs to fill the air
(Chorus)
Ripple in still water When there is no pebble tossed Nor wind to blow
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty If your cup is full may it be again Let it be known there is a fountain That was not made by the hands of men
There is a road, no simple highway Between the dawn and the dark of night And if you go no one may follow That path is for your steps alone
(Chorus)
You who choose to lead must follow But if you fall you fall alone If you should stand then who's to guide you? If I knew the way I would take you home
Dark star, crashes Pouring its light into ashes Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis Searchlight casting, for faults in the clouds of delusion Shall we go, you and I while we can Through, the transitive nightfall of diamonds
Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of goodbye Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds
Saint Stephen with a rose, in and out of the garden he goes, Country garland in the wind and the rain, Wherever he goes the people all complain.
Stephen prospered in his time, well he may and he may decline. Did it matter, does it now? Stephen would answer if he only knew how. Wishing well with a golden bell, bucket hanging clear to hell, Hell halfway twixt now and then, Stephen fill it up and lower down and lower down again.
Lady finger, dipped in moonlight, writing "What for?" across the morning sky. Sunlight splatters, dawn with answer, darkness shrugs and bids the day good-bye.
Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow, What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned. Several seasons with their treasons, Wrap the babe in scarlet colors, call it your own. Did he doubt or did he try? Answers aplenty in the bye and bye, Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills, One man gathers what another man spills.
Saint Stephen will remain, all he's lost he shall regain, Seashore washed by the suds and foam, Been there so long, he's got to calling it home.
Fortune comes a crawlin', calliope woman, Spinnin' that curious sense of your own. Can you answer? Yes I can. But what would be the answer to the answer man?
