Real Life

I wanna live a real life on my own terms

I wanna live a real life where the fire burns

I wanna live a real life like the ones I see on my TV

I wanna live a real life wild and free

And when I look into the mirror

I wanna see clearer the dreams of a young man realized

I wanna live a real life

I wanna win the prize

I wanna live a real life get back to the land

And never look behind or try to understand

I wanna live a real life I wanna burn my phone

Say hi to my neighbors in another time zone

And when I look into the mirror

I wanna see clearer the dreams of a young man crystalize

I wanna live a real life

Take off the disguise

I wanna live a real life in a house on the shore

Salt water breezes blowin’ through my door

I wanna live a real life I want an instant upgrade

To the land of the living where all my debts are paid

And when I look into the mirror

I wanna see clearer the deeds of a grown man recognized

I wanna see a real life when I look into your eyes

I wanna see a real life reflected in your eyes

I wanna see a real life in your eyes

Autobiography

Dear Sally, remember me

I was the one you used to love

In the twentieth century

I’m trying to write my autobiography

And I can’t imagine why you weren’t good enough for me

So if you have the time, and if you wouldn’t mind

Write me

Dear Johnny, remember me

We rode across this sad and beautiful country

And we smoked and drank and laughed and saw

More than most people ever see

And I can’t imagine we you’re in the penitentiary

So if you have the time, and if you wouldn’t mind

Write me

And tell me why we were always mad, and never wanted what our fathers had

And why we made our mamas cry, can you tell me why

Can you tell me why

Can you tell me, Johnny

Who am I

Dear Annie, remember me

I was the one you swore you loved

And would always marry

We talked about the things we’d do

And the kind of people we would be

So I can’t imagine why you left me standing by the sea

So if you have the time, and if you wouldn’t mind

Write me

Dear God, remember me

I was the boy you used to love

That’s what everybody told me

But the more I looked around I thought

That it probably wasn’t true

And I can’t imagine why you let us do the things we do

So if you have the time, and you wouldn’t mind

Write me

And tell me why diseases came and people murder in your name

And are we really the ones to blame or is it all a game

Is it all a game

Cause if it’s all a game

We’re playing

Then tell me why

Dear Sally, remember me

I was the one you used to love

In the twentieth century

I’m trying to write my autobiography

The train of life

The train of life

Rolls down the track

It starts out slow

And you don’t look back

It picks up speed

As the night comes down

On the train of life

The wheels go ‘round

The train of life

Is never on time

Making stops

No reason or rhyme

Through dark of night

And blinding rain

No one knows

Who drives the train

One of these days

To a better place

We’ll make our way

One of these days

Though I don’t know when

We’ll be golden

Golden

The train of life

Sways and swerves

Rolls over rivers

Around blind curves

The conductor smiles

And gives no clue

If the light at the end of the tunnel

Is you

One of these days

To a better place

We’ll make our way

One of these days

Though I don’t know when

We’ll be golden

Golden

Firefly In a Thunderstorm

Sometimes I feel like a firefly in a thunderstorm

Lightening flashes, thunder crashes

Making me feel so small

You know it’s been raining so long

And I just wanna shine on

Sometimes I feel like a firefly in a thunderstorm   

Waiting for the rain to end

So I can go out and find a friend

It’s  been coming down for so long

And I just wanna shine on

Shine on, shine on, shine on, shine on

Sometimes I feel like a lightening bolt in a thunderstorm   

Brighter than a midnight train

Stronger than a hurricane

You know it don’t last too long

And I just wanna shine on   

Sometimes I feel like a firefly on a hot summer night

One in a million times a billion

Turning the dark to light       

You know it don’t last too long

And I just wanna shine on   

Shine on, shine on, shine on, shine on

Trombone John

You lived a childhood on a farm

Played your horn out in the barn

And when the banks came to repossess

You had more than anyone could guess

You spent your days fixin’ cars

And your share of nights behind bars

Carry on

Trombone John

You were here but now you’re gone

Late at night I can hear your song

Play it all night long

Trombone John

Then you fought the war across the sea

Came back home and you still weren't free

Sharecroppers son with an American gun

Milk and honey you had none       

You lost your home but you had to survive

So you played your horn at the corner dive

Carry on

Trombone John

You were here but now you’re gone

And late at night I can hear your song

Play it all night long

Trombone John

Nothing but blue skies, Night and day

In The Wee Small Hours and Purple Haze

But when the moon was high and the crowds had gone

In the midnight hour you'd play a song   

A song that lived down in your soul

Into the starry night you’d let it roll

Carry on Trombone John

You were here but now you’re gone

And late at night I can hear your song

Play it all night long

Trombone John

Love (And I Use that loosely)

From the corner of my eye to the barroom by the sea

Love and I use that loosely you’ve been a friend to me

From the corner of my mind sunlight flickers on a stream

Love and I use that loosely you taught me how to dream

And you can always take a ride when you feel afraid to fly

But don’t be staring down the headlights on the highway

When you are where you are tonight

Everything is still okay and that was good enough before

Love and I use that loosely is knocking at your door

And everything is in my eye from the bottom of the sea

Love and I use that loosely might be all you need

Love and I use that loosely might be all you need

Love and I use that loosely bring it home to me

Where the road unwinds

Lucks out, where did all the time go

Another stout foggin’ up the window

Turns out, everybody flies when you stop the merry-go-round

She walks down to the reservation

Looks around, cracks in the foundation

Comes down to a destination she never seems to find

Time lost and hassles on the phone

He just can’t stand to be alone

He needs to find a love so fine but he just ain’t got the time

Let’s go where the road unwinds

Get into the car we could drive all night

Wherever we stop will be just fine

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

He’s happy, he’s glad, he’s had what he needs but don’t

Ask him if he’s planted any seeds

He says that life is nothing more than what we see and what we want to be

But time is money and it’s time to make a fast buck

I heard him say then drive off in his pickup truck

And drive and drive not knowing where he’s going or really where he’s been

Let’s go where the road unwinds

Get into the car we could drive all night

Wherever we stop will be just fine

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

“Jump down, pick a bail of cotton

Turn around, pick a bail of hay”

Comes down, it’ll be forgotten until another day

Let’s go where the road unwinds

Get into the car we could drive all night

Wherever we stop will be just fine

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

Baby let’s go where the road unwinds

Queen of the rodeo

My name is Nick Wright and most of my life has been wrong

Where ever I was it seemed like I never belonged

And when I turned 18 with Molotov cocktails I fire bombed my school

When they asked why I replied with a smile cause the kids there all thought they were cool

Well they ain’t so cool anymore

I spent the next year in a state penitentiary room

I didn't many friends but I learned how to push on a broom

When I got out I was feeling pretty ugly so I tried on my momma’s clothes

I felt so much better in a tight fitting sweater and a pair of black pantyhose

Now they don’t call me Nick anymore

Born again, born again

How far would you go

To be born again

Queen of the rodeo

I got a job doing nails at a local salon

Everyone loved me and nobody ever caught on

Each day I would glide along the avenue catching the corners of eyes

At night I would stare out my 4th story window and watch all the people go by

Who would never come through my door

One day I worked late and rode on a train back home

Some boys with a blade and a chain wouldn’t leave me alone

But to their surprise I could accessorize and I wrapped that chain round their heads

Before I was done I’d cut ‘em and clipped ‘em and filed ‘em and painted ‘em red

Now they don’t bother no one no more

Born again, born again

How far would you go

To be born again

Queen of the rodeo

Back in my room at the state penitentiary for life

I think of my father the preacher and my mother his wife

I think of the time when I was 5 how I was told that Jesus died

For all my sins and all my crimes and how I was lucky just to be alive

When I was only five

Lucky to be alive

Born again, born again

How far would you go

To be born again

Queen of the rodeo

Augusta Lee

She sways on the porch in the summer rain

The Spanish moss is dripping wet

Her mama’s beers’ll light up the pain

That isn’t gone just yet

Night has fallen and the radio’s on

“Darlin you made me love you now your man has come”

This is the home of the blues the home of The Braves

The land of the free where Jesus saves

And the dreams of a lifetime meander

Like old pictures sort of fade away

And the little ones don’t understand her

But you can bet they will some day

So come on down, won’t you take me

Come and see the river with me

Come on down, won’t you take me Augusta Lee

She walks into the rain up to the driveway

And drives off in the pickup to the highway

And parks it in the playground of her old junior high

And sits there and and swings herself up to the sky

And she flies above the rain

And she flies past the fields of cain

She flies in that swing out past the dark of the night

She flies to make it make it alright

And the dreams of a lifetime meander

Like old pictures sort of fade away

And the little ones don’t understand her

But you can bet they will some day

So come on down, won’t you take me

Come and see the river with me

Come on down, won’t you take me Augusta Lee

But the morning brings the truth

Just like it always does

And the memory keeps her youth

Much brighter than it was

Still tomorrow’s another day

And by now tomorrow’s really today

The robins are singing, it’s time to stop swinging

So she gets up and walks away

And the dreams of a lifetime meander

Like old pictures sort of fade away

And the little ones don’t understand her

But you can bet they will some day

So come on down, won’t you take me

Come and see the river with me

Come on down, won’t you take me Augusta Lee

Have A Good Life

I want you to have a good life

Yeah I want you to have a good good life

If you need to walk out I won’t scream and shout

‘Cause I want you to have a good life

I know that you got a big heart

Yeah I swear you got the biggest big old heart

And to cause it to break would be a mistake

Cause I want you to have a good life

Last night I walked out in the rain

Last night I walked out into the rain

And it seemed such a cost

That you thought I was lost

‘Cause I want you to have a good life

I think I can hear that train whistle blow

Yeah I think off in the distance I can hear that train whistle blow

If you roll down the track and you don’t make it back

I want you to have a good life

If you roll down the track and you don’t make it back

I want you to have a good life

If you roll down the track and you can’t make it back

I want you to have a good life

Yeah I want you to have a good life