 Walking on the World (2007)
1) Walking on the World
Spent last night on a lonesome red-eye flight
But I don't get down, doesn't get me down
Taxi no, boy my ride is rumbling low
Beneath the ground - the Underground
It ain't hard to find the avenue the Bard
Is living on, and he's living on
When in Rome, we will meet by Peter's dome
At the break of dawn, the break of dawn
Maybe you're above the Great Beyond
But I must get me gone
I will spend my time walking on the world
I'm alone, but those hostels take me home
And they give me love
I was called to the cliffs of Gimmelwald
But then I had to shove
I ain't got no sedentary style
I kiss, I wave, I smile
I will spend my time walking on the world
Even the telephone
Won't tell you where I've been
Even the photographs
Won't show you what I've seen
I hit my jet with my appetite all whet
But the damage done
As I lift my eyes to those orange Spanish skies
And the copper sun
2) Hole In The Sky (Mandolin Man)
There's a hole in the sky where your voice gets through
There's a harmony high on a ridge of blue
There's a hole in my heart since the day you died
Brother every single melody cried
Backbeat of mine
You lost your buck ninety-nine
But I am telling you
buddy you're the best damn groove I ever got into
Those lights go down
Upon your high lonesome sound
The crowd roars, One more tune
Won't you come on back and do
What you were born to do - you ain't through
My old F-5
You have kept me alive
While I've been stuck at school
You taught me all the changes
And the bluegrass rules
You're the Mandolin Man and I miss you so
When you're picking and singing your Bill Monroe
You're the Mandolin Man, baby what went wrong
Made you sing a lackadaisical song
You're the Mandolin Man and I can't let go
It's like I looked in the eyes of a Vince Van Gogh
You were born with your hand on a mandolin
You were born in the back of the Station Inn
I remember when I was a tough little kid
I wanted to do everything you did
3) Falling In
In a deep, dark pub in the back of London
I fell in love and I lost my cool
With a beer in hand and the jukebox humming
A little Liverpool
We all went out on a Thursday evening
And I just tried to be myself
But the drinks got poured and the talk got flowing
And I was someone else
Hey, could you make up your heart
I'd like to begin
Love is spreading her arms
I'm falling in
Her cheeks were red and her hair was crimson
Her eyes would laugh and her mouth would smile
And I washed in her like a river Jordan
For a little while
My heart was young with an old demeanor
My heart was grey and my heart was bored
But you never know it until you've seen her
What you're looking for
She's the patch of grass underneath my snowfall
In my iron sky she's a streak of blue
She's the toes of the trees underneath my sidewalk
And she's breaking through
You're breaking through
4) Flirting
In the shadows of the party
There's a little game we play
If you're licking all the competition
Feel free to walk this way
I'm looking around for the honey
Who can start my pickup truck
She stands right there with chocolate hair
Come on and wish me luck
I am sipping on her wine
She is nibbling on my food
I am swinging on her vine
She is swinging on my mood
We are dying to be captured
We are dying to be free
I am flirting with disaster
And disaster is flirting with me
There's a couple little fundamentals
When you walk Seduction Street
There's a flurry of indifference
If the eyes should ever meet
You're flipping your hair in the craziest contortions
I recall the golden rule:
If she's looking oh so fine
She will treat you oh so cruel
You consult your lighter
I re-engage myself
I start a temporary conversation
I stick it back on the shelf
You gave it away pretty honey
You were looking at my shirt
We've done the dance, enough romance
It's time to get me hurt
I am flirting with disaster
And I do not think I should
All my friends are getting plastered
And she's looking so damn good
I thought I could outlast her
But she will not let me win
I am suavely looking past her
But my cool is wearing thin
Like a bright red Stratocaster
She is curving on me now
And I'm sure I must have asked her
But I could not say just how
I acknowledge her the master
I am falling to my knees
I am flirting with disaster
Disaster is flirting with me
5) The Fleece
Hold me close, October
Let me dance, you gracious May
I will love you both the same
Thinking about my lovelies
A pair of petals, on my knees
My timing always is to blame
Help me now
I never, never need the one I want
Teach me now
I never, never want the one I need
You left your fleece at my place
I drape that fleece across my face
On lonely nights when you're not there
And we're riding on the prairie
When I die, just bury me
Deep within your ocean hair
I was sold
When I saw you pull your ponytail through your hat
I've been told
Don't you ever, ever lose a girl like that
So hold me close, October
Let me dance, you gracious May
I will love you both the same
6) Keep The River On Your Right
On a hell of a morning
In a hell of a life
Do you try to get it right
With your heart full of suburbs
And your head full of cars
Do you wonder where you are
Keep the river on your right
Darlin' everything in sight
Is a poor indication
There's a lesson you will learn
Love is not at every turn
But you will find your love
When all the same conversations
Leave you sick to your soul
And the laughter leaves you cold
Take that road to New Orleans
Wash you off a couple years
And the way you'll smile
When you are shifting gears
Keep the river on your right
When the stars are out of sight
And the moon is a-waning...
7) Assassination Blues
I did what I did
I said what I said
I did what I said I would do
I want you to know
Before I go
I was always just thinking of you
You gave me these assassination
Assassination blues
Me and my scotch
We sit and we watch
Your movie again and again
Both of us know
The way it will go
But I rewind when it gets to the end
I came to your dorm
Friendly and warm
I tried to be normal and fun
But your face said no
Your friends said go
And me I had nowhere to run
A one-way ticket to Hartford please
I did what I did
I said what I said
I did what I said I would do
8) What I Mind
I don't mind the standing line
I don't mind the waiting
I don't mind this killing time
I don't mind it baby
What I mind is all the time that I can't get back
What I mind are those days that you've painted black
I don't mind experience
I don't mind the learning
I can fall and get back up
If my feet start burning
Chorus
I don't mind the kisses baby
The ones that you permitted
Didn't work out anyway
Our lips they never fitted
Chorus
9) Regulation Blues
There's a place down in hell
Where the people never yell
They just smile as they tell you
"You will have to check your bag"
I was randomly selected
It was for my own protection
I could strangle both the pilots
With my mandolin strap
You are right, they are wrong
But you are weak and they are strong
They have guns and you do not
Or if you do you have a lot
Of explaining to do
Curse your planes, curse your rules
And curse your brains
They are full of friendly skies
Robot people on the rise
Could you help me
Help me lose
These regulation blues
10) Critical Eye
Mary please come in, Mary please sit down
Now am I to understand we'll be working from the ground up?
Your procedure is outlined right here in chapter three
So just lay your body back, leave everything to me
Mary don't you cry
You ain't gonna die
A little here, a little there and baby I'll be satisfied
Mary don't you scream
Life is but a dream
Ain't it good to be alive
When you're living in a critical eye
Now may I suggest just a little off the hips
You've got to harden up that chest, soften up those lips
Living in a critical eye
Let's see what we can do about these subtle little sins
Don't you worry none, this is where the fun begins
Living in a critical eye
11) My House
My house is in the mountains
My house is by the sea
My house is just the next place I will be
I've got a house on Bourbon Street
I live on the bayou to be
When fever is ragin', I'll marry a Cajun
And maybe I'll give her the key
Chorus
I've got a house and it's way down South
Where the food is honestly good
I'll work it all off with a run and a half
Through my New England neighborhood
I've got a flat in Londontown
I catch all the cheap matinees
That's what I did with a couple of quid
On those rainy Saturdays
Chorus
As the sun sets in my wine glass
There's pesto on my plate
In the old Cinque Terre, I call 'Bonasera'
To Isabelle, she's my waitress
Now I live up in Scandinavia
I board on the fjord in June
I don't know where you live
But I swear if you give me an address
I'll be there soon
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