Still Shining - Lyrics
1 - Cuttin’ Through
Like a shot coming straight from you, off the rafters in the room
Ricocheted around the afternoon
And it broke everything that was built up like a shattered old tea cup
Now there's too many pieces to sweep up
And you know once the verdict's read and the final drop's been bled
It don't matter what you are or what you said
Unless, you stop and second guess a way out of this mess
And I really wish you would, I must confess
Chorus:
In a way, everything you do comes back on you
No one can say when it's coming ‘round and cuttin’ through
Forget what you cannot change and keep the rest of it in range
Flying straight can feel so strange
But when another dawn does break and you hear the robins wake
Remember there are always roads to take (Chorus)
Like a shot coming straight from you, off the rafters in the room
(As the gravel spits and the wheels go 'round, super jets make sonic sounds)
Ricocheted around the afternoon
(Winds are whipping at the sails like twenty angry tropic gales)
And it broke everything that was built up like a shattered old tea cup
(Frieght train grinding on the tracks of scattered truths and artifacts)
And now we're waiting for the sun to come up (Chorus)
(Stories change so many times they may as well be nursery rhymes)
The gravel spits as the wheels go 'round, super jets make sonic sounds
Wind is whipping at the sails like twenty angry tropic gales
Freight train grinding on the tracks of scattered truths and artifacts
Stories change so many times they may as well be nursery rhymes
The gravel spits as the wheels go 'round, super jets make sonic sounds
Wind is whipping at the sails like twenty angry tropic gales
Freight train grinding on the tracks of scattered truths and artifacts
Stories change so many times they may as well be nursery rhymes
2 - Dreams
Three a.m. phone is buzzing, flights are canceled, all this cussin’
Back to bed is where to be but disappointment buries me
Too many years have gone by, like a great big water slide
Tried to get back to “the days” but instead stuck in this haze
One was older, both are too, they are beacons so are you
Guiding lights behind the cloud too many roads left unplowed
Seems this planning was a waste, we never got a taste
And now we’re stuck between what to do and those dreams that don’t come true
Chorus:
I had a cool lime drink
On shattered ice
And a place to sink
Wasted, high and laughing
But in a blink
These dreams, they can come crashing
One pm phone is ringing, where are you? well, I’m here singing
About the early morning call that put me back in these four walls
So many dream of the heat when the road’s an icy sheet
Not shoveling inches in the snow instead of basking in the glow (Chorus)
Work the angle, line the shot, tip the scales and pick your spot
Draw it up, plan and scheme any way to get that dream
But they say the best laid plans can slip right through your hands
And then you’re back at square one, not burning one in the sun (Chorus)
Three a.m. phone is buzzing, flights are canceled, all this cussin’
Back to bed’s where to be but disappointment buries me
Too many years have gone by, like a great big water slide
Tried to get back to “the days” but instead stuck in this haze
All stuck in this haze, dreams they can come crashin’…crashin…
3 - Still Shining
Got caught in the middle giving advice
When it hit the fan they all scattered like mice
Walls closing in and we haven’t seen twenty
Yet winter’s still young, we know there’s still plenty
Everyone’s gone man, it happened so quick
Like a vanishing act in some old magic trick
These days can be even darker than night
Most of the wise ones already took flight
Chorus:
It’s a great sunrise
A burst in the sky
Beat down again
Like it was July
A big old moon
Above like a king
Still shining on everything
Might take a trip and go back there in time
Away from all the bustle and the agin’ lines
Warm in the day, t-shirts at night
The last one to sleep is first up with the light
Drained all the fun and the blood in my veins
Went flying on wings and racing for trains
Got caught in a trap I set for myself
With questions like nick-knacks all over the shelves (Chorus)
Afraid to be old, too old to be young
I keep searching for something new to be sung
And watch them go off just like sailors to sea
With them they bring the best part of me (Chorus)
4 - Toward the Sea
Whatever road you travel know some things unravel
Send you spinning like a top across the ice
And if you choose to go, it don’t matter fast or slow
If it don’t work once then try it twice
Chorus:
Away you go, somewhere in your head you know
Nowhere they can find you and you’re free
A nameless town there’s nobody else around
Sailing from the harbor toward the sea
Spin your wheels, walk in place it’s two steps up then hit erase
Nothing ever happens here so, what the use of all that fear
There’s a case out in the trunk and another stashed beneath the bunk
Batten down the front’s arrived, hope we make it out alive (Chorus)
Never failing to escape you’re halfway there when things take shape
Rising like the morning tide twelve feet deep, a mile wide
Help me down I got too high then point me back up toward the sky
Fill this just beneath the rim while I crawl out there on that limb
5 - Angel ‘Round the Bend
Bitter moon, weekend won’t come too soon
Rolling on from yesterday
It only seems smooth sailing in my dreams
And there’s really nothing left to say
A different view is what it takes to make it through
Turn away and face the sun
So, lick those wounds, slow bleeding afternoon
And take that heartache on the run
Chorus:
It wasn’t very long ago
Hold it down, let it go
Release is gently watch it in the wind
Steady on the road again
An endless search for a true friend
Maybe there’s an angel ‘round the bend
Sail away pay and the price it takes to play
And keep your heart locked in your chest
Conscience wakes and shines a light on past mistakes
And puts your meddle to the test
A mind gone wild, got the focus of a child
There’s a bottle neck here every night
Heavy wind, may not make it home again
Either do it wrong or do it right (Chorus)
So, try my name, but nothing ever stays the same
There’s too much water ‘neath this bridge
Stone cold, stuck between bought and sold
And dizzy dancing on the ridge
Gone at last, the final fragments of the past
There’s more than one shot at this game
Trusting you was really all I knew
And when it breaks it ain't be the same (Chorus)
6 - Cold Canyon
Have you ever looked and swore you saw an angel
Or fallen for a stranger on a train
Taken back and wounded by a memory
That’s running through the forest in your brain
All broken winged and scattered on the highway
Run down in a lane you know you don’t belong
Crippled by indifference that surrounds you
Or frozen by the message in a song
Chorus:
Cold, Coal Canyon
Echoes all around
In an old ghost town
There’s something about the dawn, there’s no describing
The quietude that brings a ray of hope
Early morning pieces fit together
And then it’s back out on the wrong end of the rope (Chorus)
Have you ever looked and swore you saw an angel
And been taken by the glitter and the glow
Floating in the air just like a bubble
Forgetting almost everything you know (Chorus)
7 - Flying High
Running from the shot give it everything you got
While those barkers are barking in your ear
Try and keep it steady, keep it at the ready
And go running on anything but fear
Taken by the tone left there standing all alone
Lost from somewhere you hardly can recall
The last impression reigns of the bluster and the stains
And the profane echoes in the halls
Chorus:
Steal away and play, burn away the day
Somewhere in your mind
Happy fool, so cool, by the tidal pool
On the sand but flying high
You know the evening sky never told a lie
It’s as true as the craters on the moon
Trust is like a crystal or a loaded pistol
Lock it safely ‘neath the floorboards of your room (Chorus)
Been avoiding all the news its always lose, lose, lose
You know, winning used to put ‘em in the seats
Don’t know what’s true now, after all we’ve been through
Is this the pilot or an old repeat (Chorus)
Caught up in the middle of another unsolved riddle
Make it precious, keep it simple, set it free
Just before you know there’s another unknown poet
Writing verses from their obscurity (Chorus)
8 - The Sandwich Man
Well, he went creeping down, down to the bullpen grounds
No one knows just why or how pigs fly
And he told them to follow him and led ‘em away
Then he lit the fuse and vanished like a gamma ray
Like a fishing lore he had his own draw
He don’t know the game and he can’t tell the score
But then the sky came crashin’ men were running around
When the diamond dust had settled he could not be found
Chorus:
Now the Sandwich Man’s got you banned
Led you down, down, down, down, down to the Badlands
Mr. Charade has been made
With Oatmeal Brain melting in the rain
He said, “you can drag me down the hall to the electric chair
Or build a big gallows out in town square
But don’t take this game and my brothers too
Ya gotta know this little circus traces right back to you” (Chorus)
I’m goin’ away now, for at least seven days
I can’t say why, cause I don’t really know
But the Sandwich Man and Mr. Charade…
Well, they’re with Oatmeal walkin’ backwards in their pity parade (Chorus)
9 - Something in the Air
Well, we’re blinded by sound
Lost and then found
Another wave rushes over the shore
And then poof, just like that
You’re tipping your hat
Like nothing matters anymore
Somewhere on a distant mountain
Above the clouds and higher than the sun
Hear the voices echo in the distance
Where the river runs
Chorus:
Down low, the sun’s about to go
Don’t know if you care
But there’s something in the air
We were on fire
And burned it out quick
Man, how fleeting is time
And it wasn’t so long
when we were so young
with nothing but mountains to climb
Gone is the sound of tiny voices
The ones imbedded somewhere in your head
You wrote it down so you could read it
And everything was said (Chorus)
Now we’ve gone a million miles
God knows how many styles
And somehow, ended up here
A little wiser I guess
But you know that SOS
Sometimes really ain't so clear
Clear out of woods in the deep forest
Clear up from depths deep of the sea
Clear flying sailing through the blue sky
Above a willow tree (Chorus)
10 - Tomorrow
Only once, been around a lifetime and its only once
Like a Golden Glover going down for the count
Draw ‘em in, knock ‘em out
Electric jolt, shock through the system like a lightning bolt
Dart through the heart now getting weak at the knees
Like a tiny vessel on high seas
Chorus:
Don’t wanna go
Don’t wanna venture out into the evening so,
Unless you say it, so I know
That you’ll be waiting here tomorrow
A restless boy went reaching for you like his favorite toy
Like fools we played until the evening burned out
Left no questions and no doubt
Hide and seek or maybe slowly dancing cheek to cheek
Softly swaying in the evening breeze
To distant drums and melodies (Chorus)
Bridge:
Bitterness won’t find you
There’s a glow that can’t be chilled
Above a million wildflowers on the hill
Pull me close, I can’t get my fix and I can’t get my dose
Can’t feel my fingers I can’t feel my toes
Isn’t that the way love goes (Chorus)
11 - Once or Twice
Walking a muddy lane after a morning rain
Blue sky shining through the limbs and falling droplets, puddling
This cycle must be broke, down like rain, up like smoke
Always taken by the wind flying high then tumbling
Same old story, different place another town, another face
Someone tried to find a dream morning broke, sidewalks steamed
It don’t matter where you go, somewhere here or Mexico
Promises mean everything, let ‘em ride and let ‘em ring
Chorus
Once or twice you’ve been there
Once or twice before
No candle on the table
No handle on the door
Once or twice you got there
Each time you went down
Here we go again my friend
Welcome back to town
Can’t quit looking for the sign that burns so bright your eyes go blind
But then you turn a second late, goodbye luck, hello fate
Waiting at a traffic light the timing’s right, the moon is bright
Song on the radio says ride the wind, so away you go (Chorus)
The morning light is shining down the darkened well
Through the branches in the woods where the shadows fell
Same old story just been told another one left in the cold
Ridden hard and back again, new beginning, same old end
All the chapters in between only lead to closing scenes
Déjà vu again somehow, you’d think you might have learned by now (Chorus)