The Fading light The Fading Day Shadows widen into night The sun’s last color spray The hands, the painters hands and The hands that bend the clay Not a whispered word of them Not a whispered word remains A spring we did not look for slowly lengthening days A wind that’s not yet warm Calls the wintering birds away The vast expanse of sea shore The ocean’s ours alone The past we cannot have Unchosen ways, we cannot go (without pause go right into next part) Walls of snow and ice Separate and fall away Our slowly melting world Disappears into the sea Who can bear the weight of it The weight of all That used to be That used to be That used to be I feel the weight of it The weight of all of it Lately Chords: G maj 7, C maj 7 (repeat slowly until just before “not a whispered ..”) Am (I think) Bm Am G maj 7

(in B, SK fingers G with capo 4) (G C D) That old sun so lazy No way for the day to begin I watched bakers coming home And butchers, done with their night’s killing Steered my bike up one a rich man’s lawn Lay down had the best of that night’s tokes Filled my eyes with the night sky light And for a while I let go of the rope I don’t lie good like I used to I can’t sleep much now past dawn I see the pain that folks are carrying Been carrying mine around so long Wish I could find a sign of Jesus What I find makes me afraid The sun dies red and swollen every evening I die a little bit each day To watch her face when she was sleeping (Burned my dirty soul clean) I’m never gonna be that clean It’s not the top of the ladder that matters It’s the rungs in between The pale moon thin blue like a see through spoon Finally climbed up and over the wall It’s Hard to miss, even a half dish like this Is better Than no dish at all At the riverside where its so wide at night You might decide you’re staring out and over the sea There’s something they’re trying to hide on the other side that’s not right And there’s another side of me To watch Her face when she was sleeping (Burned my dirty soul clean) As close to the soul as I’ve been It’s not the top of the ladder that matters It’s the rungs in between Saw a boy five or four With his baseball cap turned back Trying to get his old man’s attention So he could climb up into his lap Made me think about my own boy Pretty close now to a man And my ma, had so much love for me And no idea who I am Gods good but he dont listen Or he don’t listen well My old man kept it all inside so long Now his insides are torn to hell It’s just like that man to find his way in To a song supposed to be about me Try to Scrape away old paint and what you find is Older paint underneath (bridge. Em, Bm, Am7, C + capo 4) Thinking about those days My heart beats a little slow If I’d lived the right way Would she have stayed (I don’t think so) That sun, good for nothing, no way for the day to begin I Watched bar maids coming home and butchers Done with their night’s killing I lay there on that fine front lawn Smoked up all the rest of my dope The grass got wet A backwards sunset, nad the horizon a burning rope. Eyes shut, breathing lightly Her face resting on her hands I had an angel who’d sleep beside me Then she found out who I am To watch her face when she was sleeping It made me want to get clean It’s not the top of the ladder that matters. (end on music)

The press of the past As winter begins I still see you pass by In crowds you’re not in The worn hands of trees All the years that they hold And it startles me To be suddenly old The holidays here All the green and the gold And I still feel the warm Of your hands On old things I hold Midnight mass christmas eve We sing songs you held dear (pause) Though no one has your voice (pause) Still it’s your voice I hear The snow faintly falls Nothing’s changed but the year I look cross the fields Where the sky meets the world And the world disappears The oak you planted is bare Her arms are veined with brown vines The words of your favorite prayer They're on my mind For me up north is done What it was all built on For me christmas was you For me christmas is gone The press of the past As winter begins I still see you pass In crowds you're not in.

The saved and the not saved We all walked together Cross the tracks, and down to the bank Brother Jobe in his robes walked out into The river. His robes floated up around him With his thumb he traced a cross on her forehead She closed her eyes, leaned her head back into his hands He looked up to heaven Said lord this one needs mending And then he lowered my sisters head in We sang old rock of ages And Sweet Easter Tree A woman swaying and praying Wrapped her old thin arms around me up on the bridge cars started stopping Rolling down windows to see We sang holy throne of glory and Sweet easter tree I thought, man, I’m not letting them Do that to do me. As a young boy I thought preaching was heavy Was still young when I tore out that page Now I'm old. And I hurt. I’ll tell you what’s heavy It's knowing, that it’s not going to change We sang Old rock of ages And sweet Easter tree Woman swaying and praying Wrapped her old thin arms around me Up on the bridge cars started stopping Folka leaning out their windows to see We sang Lamb I am for Jesus And Sweet easter tree And I thought man I’m not letting them do that to me.

Snow falling fast on the city Blanket of muffling white I walk across towards Central Park The only part of town that I like Eighth Ave is a melting mess Then solid cake icing begins A single pair of foot prints break the surface They lead to the park And I follow them in. Everything’s under a blanket It’s like the town’s gone to sleep for the night Huge slow snowflakes hang and Paint the air popcorn white In strawberry fields you stand swaying Looking up at John Lennon’s building You hug your arms with your arms but your face looks so warm Snowflakes melt when they land on your skin When they land on your skin When the moon rises blue in the morning I know it’s gonna be one of those days When I feel every punch that I’ve taken Hear all the dumb things I’ve said Looking back I know just what I’m seeing No point trying your number again This bars full of rednecks and losers I’m surprised how well I fit in. How well I fit in How well I fit in Those years in the city are melting The world doesn’t want to slow down Huge maple leaves lose something Turn to gold and dance to the ground Sunrise on tin roofs And a kernel of truth In all those old man Cliches Feel what you have when you have it You’ll fee where it was once it fades Once it fades Where it was once it fades

(SK plays in D, Capo 4, so sounding key F#) We stopped at split rock lighthouse To get a view of the bay Camping fee of 13 dollars There’s a lot of ways you can pay Aspen leaves like fingers trembling It took an act of will for me not to bend them And we walked for a mile on a beach made Of palm sized stones I could see that no place so vast and so clean Would ever feel like my home The great lake stretches for ever Like all the thing god has done wrong And the dark things in my I don’t want her to see That find their way into these songs So I talked her into moving to Texas As far south as we could get And the first time that we saw a live oak tree I knew there must be fight left in me yet Where the blanco and the guadalupe meet Rolls of of hay turning brown in the heat And the long lovely time that it takes the sun down here to set The hill country moon rises white as a tomb (formerly: views’ll tear your heart in two If you give in to regret) When it dies it dies red Like all the things god has done wrong And dark there in me I don’t want her to see That find its way into these songs I know she won’t want to be moving again But we’ll have to when the water is gone When our kid gets set free that I would like to see I hope we can hold out that long Pure country mandolin voices It’s like there’s angels still walking round And every lit light in Huntsville texas would dim Back then when they’d put a condemned man down There’s life in the candle I’m holding The waving flames both weak and warm And the hours when it seems that it’s not part of me I don’t know where they come from Somebody somewhere must have done something Or else the good lord just got it wrong Cause there’s dark things in me I don’t want her to see That find their way into these songs. That day at split rock lighthouse I heard a gull speak or I was insane Then a gale blew through just like the ranger warned you You looked up into the storm And let your mouth fill with rain.

shattered Things that turn are turning Might be the start of better days If the fires this fall don’t get her That field will fill the winter loft with hay How can it still surprise me How warm your face is when you smile The world will always be the world We just live here for a while. We’ll never get much from the back 8 That soil is mostly sand. Why'd You stay with me darlin that year I didn’t act much like a man. This farm sure is pretty when its covered up in snow What you said when we first found it Looks like a place Angels could grow. Sunshine falling round me Diamond Shattered shards of light Its morning and I’m still warm from you Still I wish it was still last night How can it still surprise me How warm your face is when you smile The world. The world is just the world And we just live here for a while. Praise god we built the birm up Or we’d have lost everything again Aren’t you glad we put in those live oaks Just look at the size of em How can it still surprise me The way your warm smile did last night The world. Hard Diamonds and shattered shards of light. In this world. There’s diamonds. Hard enough to shatter light.

D_m Gmin7 I see trees bend from where I sit C7 Fmaj 7 its cold but not as cold as it will get Bbmaj7 Gmin7 when the fire burns out and the sun has set A7 ??Emin7flat5?? (not sure) and the front rolls in (chords repeat for each verse, last time through it ends on D_m) too stoned to really get upset but I see now looking at the photograph you were already thinking of ending it while I was holding on to you sheets of rain like pains of glass memory and lightning flash then the wind subsides and the storm has passed and the whole wet world’s renewed I see the truth, or half of it the thing that’s hardest to accept is that I imagined it I imagined you bare tree limbs from where I sit it’s about as cold here now as it ever gets the fire’s burned out and the sun has set and the front has passed on through it’s passed on through

Stones along the shoreline are large as cars It’s the city but we’re here all alone when I bring that 10 cent ring that I found round her finger my heart is no longer my own but that river so young so strong up in the rockies gets to texas and it just ends so many misused minutes and misspent medicine (bridge) sun’s warmth wanes its fall again wings in waves I follow them follow them maple trees lake shore breeze dancing leaves fall all of them all of them (harmonica and guitar) train rattles through a town without you pavement punching up through my shoes black lake at night takes the city light and folds it just like the folds of time do but that river so young so strong up in the rockies in texas it’s tired and its old Still an hour yet till I get through this thursday already starting to jones. (harmonica and guitar) chords are A A maj 7 A7 A6 (repeated several times then on the "gets to texas and .." D Dm A F maj 7 E7 A (this is the "so many misused minutes, misspent medicine) Bridge A B7 C#7 D maj 7 E7 (repeat) now back to the top.

(Chelle) Ride away little doggie Ride away little one Ride away little doggie Go have you some fun That day is over Go live the next one Ride away little dog ride away (Sk) Ride away little dog Ride away little one Find hay and water And shade when you want Find the right heart A place the warm sun shines on Ride away ride away (Chelle) I didn’t see it coming Not by a mile Biggest eyes, sweetest child (Sk) IN this world to build something You pick up stones, heavy stones Carry them around for a while (one Bm chord, G Bm A in the above chorus, otherwise D G A throughout) (Chelle) Ride away little dowgee Ride away little one Ride away little doggie And have you some fun I’m not your momma But you are my son Ride away Little dog ride away (Sk) Ride away little doggie The waves and the foam Hoofprints disappear in wet sand That little boy we’d hear praying In his room all alone Will still be there when he’s a fine man (Chelle) Ride away little doggie Ride away little one Ride away little doggie Go have you some fun I miss those days But I'm glad that they're done Ride away little dog ride away (Sk) Ride away little doggie Little dog ride away You’ll come back home but Home won’t be the same Ride away little doggie Little dog days are done Come back a man (together): But you’ll still be our son (Chelle) I didn't see it coming Not by a mile Biggest eyes, sweetest child (Sk) This world built on nothing You pick up stones, heavy stones (together) Carry them around for a while