OUR TURN TO SHINE
I’m the last of my kind
an incandescent life from another time
Slow to turn on I won’t last long
sort of like this old song
I’ll be replaced by an LED
820 lumens like a new TV
Find ‘em at a Lowes Home Improvement
part of the next youth movement
Energy efficient for decades to come
by the time it goes dark, I’ll be gone
I’m a dinosaur made of glass and tin
take me out screw a new one in
CHORUS But for now, I’ll light the way
Brighten up your every day
If only for a short time…it’s still my turn to shine
I can chase away the night
I’m the perfect reading light
Whether it’s an old newspaper
or an Elmore Leonard caper
When I’m done reuse my glass
and those tiny little wires of brass
Can’t do much with a broken filament
when it’s no longer radiant
CHORUS
BRIDGE: I’ve been flickering for a little while
I’m on my last mile
Let me illuminate your smile
before I go out of style
In the days before lamps
we’d sit around the camps
Looked to the fire
for all we desired
Maybe that day will return
when all we will burn
Is ourselves in the sun
CHORUS: We’ll let it light our way
Brighten up our every day
Woahhh-oo …for the rest of time
it’s our turn to shine. it’s our turn to shine....
HOW SWEET YOUR DREAMS
How sweet your dreams dear, how sweet your dreams
Even though everything is coming apart at the seams
How sweet your dreams how sound your sleep
I pray the lord your soul to keep
How sweet your breaths, dear, slow, soft and warm
Calm and unaware of…the oncoming storm
How sweet your kisses, how bright your smile
I will watch over you now and all the while
CHORUS Lying next to me as darkness nears
And the weight of the world disappears
don’t what I did before you came along
I just know you’re the right
to this world’s every wrong
How sweet your tears dear rolling down your cheek
Tell me why you cry …what makes you weep?
How strong your hold dear, your hold on my heart
I’ll chase the nightmares hiding in the dark
CHORUS
REPEAT FIRST VERSE
WHY CAN'T THAT BE ENOUGH
I could use a little color, can’t always stand up straight
In my dilapidated charm rusted latches on my gate
I am where the pavement ends
On the coldest lake in Michigan
I am where I’ve always been where I always wait
Up here, you’re off the grid. A little off the rails
Off to the dock with one of those India pale ales
No shaving and no showers
Staring at the stars for hours
I am the times of your life. Every breath you exhale
CHORUS I am here for you, waiting patiently
Though my fire has gone out and my edges rough to touch.
I’m a part of you and you of me
Why can’t that be enough? Why can’t that be enough?
Once you fell into the marsh in your Sunday best
Later wandered in the woods alone scared me half to death
And the time you almost burned me down
Leaving embers lying on the ground
I am your silence and your secrets always to be kept
As hard headed as the hardwood floors never wipe your shoes
A backwoods and bare-foot life is the one you often choose
To say that it’s roughing it
Well, that does’t quite cover it
I’m a test of your survival watching your every move
CHORUS
BRIDGE You think you’re building character
While my walls are falling down
You drive up every weekend
Then you turn right back around
It leaves me feeling empty and it leaves me feeling old
Don’t forget to blow my pipes out before it gets too cold
Well, I hear you plan to knock me down
put a new one in my place
With all the comforts of your life so you don’t feel so far away
You’ll work so hard to get that prize
If only you would realize
You really don’t need all that much at the end of the day
CHORUS
CONTENT
Caught a cold when I wasn’t even chasin’ it
Saw the light when i wasn’t even facin’ it
Found myself when I wasn’t even lost
Built a bridge that I still have never crossed
Tried to escape without really ever leavin’
I was telling the truth while make-believin’
The harder I look at things seems the less I see
Went searching for a forest all I found was a tree
CHORUS It’s a simple life in a complex world
I want what’s mine and you want what’s yours
But when you’re all by yourself
and the money’s all spent
Are you gonna leave this world completely content
Used to sit in a room trying to think out of the box
If I only knew more about bonds and stocks
I’m on the fence between the future and the past
Watching time pass slowly but I think it’s gaining fast
Sometimes I wish that I had smoked more dope
Read more books and maybe used less soap
Gone to sleep later, planted more trees
Learned a language to say fromage instead of cheese
CHORUS
BRIDGE: Whether it’s a paradox or a paradigm
A pair of twos or a pair of nines
a full house beats three kings every single time and
close only counts in shuffle board and land mines
Is it possible to hate the very thing you love?
Possible to be full yet never, never get enough?
Am i at the bottom while I’m climbing to the top
I’m about to get going but I think its time to stop
CHORUS
IN THE LIGHT
At times we all burn out like a torch or an old oil lamp
Our flame extinguished, our potential left untapped
Maybe it’s the stress of living or the weight of work
How do we measure up when we don’t feel our worth
We search and search for answers, even the slightest trace
Something that can help us find our way out of this dark place
CHORUS: Without light what do we do?
Without light we all have fear
Without light our eyes, our eyes are blind
When we cry no one sees our tears
Naked in our own truth all our selves exposed
We try and try to make our way out of the deep shadows
In the stark contrast between the day and night
Every second is a battle, every minute is a fight
CHORUS
Do we really understand the secrets each of us keep
Even when those closest to us sink down so deep
Will a smile or a kind word touch a heart that’s achin’?
Is this how we can provide some illumination?
CHORUS: In the light we all can see In the light we all can shine
In the light there is a ray, a ray of hope
That can heal us all in time
MIDNIGHTVILLE
Walking round in midnightville the roads don’t lead nowhere
The houses have all gone dark crumblin’ into thin air
Walking on the cracked concrete the lights barely flicker above
Wandering the red brick streets searching for some kind of love
I ain’t looking for a touch or even a kiss
Maybe just a little push to get me outta this
Walking round in midnightville the trains they rumble along
Car by car and stop by stop the same old troubled song
Walking round among these once proud hourlies
Line after line of all the closed down factories
I ain’t asking for someone to have my back
Maybe just a little ambition it’s what some say I lack
BRIDGE: Hate has joined us here
and fear rules the day
A hollow shell now where we dwell lies in decay
Oppressed, distressed, regressed
all while we’re wakin up
hints and glints and tints on the side of a shakin’ cup
Hands that shake and take the stake
out of the ground
Hearts that break yet embrace what’s going down
Walking round in this old town faded walls and faded lives
Wish I could just keep walkin’ and kiss this place goodbye
I ain’t asking for tears no sympathy
Maybe just a little hope for what’s left inside of me
I ain’t looking for a touch or even a kiss
Maybe just a little push to get me outta this
I ain’t asking for someone to have my back
Maybe just a little ambition it’s what some say I lack
I ain’t asking for tears no sympathy
Maybe just a little hope for what’s left inside of me
PIONEERS
Where would we be without pioneers?
Standing in one place for thousands of years
All those before us in all walks of life
Who took on the challenge well aware of the price
CHORUS: The spirit of the dreamers
The visionary schemers
For those who looked out and never looked away
You’re what we wish we could be
We’d like to see what you see
And you’re what we wish we could be
She was a teacher and she taught us all
To look beyond our own four walls
She was a teacher and so much more
With the dream of a lifetime but a lifetime so short
CHORUS
BRIDGE: To answer the call, to risk it all
leaps of faith some times staring death in the face
The questioning and the uncertainty.
Seeing only possibility
We look to the future now with tear soaked eyes
And a pain so great it could paralyze
Just when we think we can’t go on anymore
The spirit inside us blows open the door
CHORUS
A LITTLE FARTHER DOWN THE ROAD
CHORUS: A little farther down the road I’m on
A little farther down the way
I wish that I could see
The path in front of me
A little farther down the r-o-a--d
Youth is certainly wasted on the young
Kind of like a song that’s waiting to be sung
Growin’ up too damn fast
Trying to out run the past
With all the answers on the tip of our tongue
CHORUS: A little farther down the road I’m on
A little farther down the way
Weigh the wrong and right
The darkness and the light
A little farther down the r-o-a-d
I try to do good things because I’ve done some bad
Left some tears behind along this broken path
I have no bucket list
And no longer a clenched fist
Looking forward to no longer looking back
BRIDGE: Down the road a piece, down the road a while
One foot in front of the other, mile after mile
Down the road we move or down the road we go
With a lifetime’s worth of baggage
behind us still in tow
When all the flowers have been dried and pressed
And this world has not heard my last breath
I’ll look back on it all
Wishin’ winter could turn back into fall
Just once more before I lay me down for my final rest
CHORUS:A little farther down the road I’m on
A little farther down the way
I cannot clearly see
The place where I will be
A little farther down the r-o-a-d
A little farther down the r-o-a-d
A little farther down the road
THE LINE BETWEEN US
Let’s give it a rest tonight
All the yelling and screamin’…I got no appetite
I don’t want to give in
To this feeling I have that’ll start it all over again
Well, I’m tired of hearing it go round and round
I’m about to put my heel and toe back on the ground
It’s been a long time coming but now it’s true
That the line gets wider, it just gets wider
between me and you… between me and you.
Oh,thinkin’ back to when we started out
When the job and mortgages were all it was about
I couldn’t hold my tongue…
I could hold a drink even though our love
was on the brink
Well, we tried to find shelter in each others’ arms
We did but we also did each other so much harm
Our days just run from black to blue
and the line gets wider, it just gets wider
between me and you…between me and you.
BRIDGE: Maybe it’s the lines on the highway,
the lines on your face
where you sign your name,
the line that leaves no trace
Long lines you wait in, line items that you deduct
Then you finally realize that you fucked it up
What do we do now today
With all the broken pieces of our lives that have chipped away
What doesn’t kill you just hurts instead
makes you want to take back everything you said
Well they say it’s this that makes you strong
I been through it and I say that’s dead wrong
Our words hurt worse than any punch we threw
And the line gets wider, it just gets wider
between me and you … between me and you
Let’s give it a rest tonight
All the yelling and screamin’…I got no appetite
NO WAY TO LIVE
I sleep on the sidewalk the cracks in my back
All my possessions in clear plastic sack
I got holes in my pockets and my shoes are untied
The cold’s moving in and there’s no place to hide
I don’t ask for much I’m just lookin’ for change
Years of living this life have clouded my brain
But I’m reading my book as I sit by the curb
Most people figure I’m somewhat disturbed
CHORUS Why can’t turn your life around, they ask
Why can’t you turn life around?
It’s a question I hear every day of the year
Why can’t you turn life around?
Don’t judge me or think I’m just down on my luck
It’s like a Catch22 that’s where I‘m stuck
No training to speak of, job prospects are dim
I could eat on my wages but couldn’t pay rent
My skin’s turned to leather, my eyes have gone dark
Can you look past it all and see deep in my heart
I used to have goals and I used to make plans
Now I sit here hoping someone gives me hand
CHORUS Why can’t turn your life around, they ask
Why can’t you turn life around?
It’s no way to live and there’s nothing to give
Why can’t you turn life around?
I’m somebody’s daughter, I’m somebody’s son
Someone who played on your street carefree in the sun
I might’ve been through a war or run away from it all
Watched over your kids as they’re learning to crawl
My story is told on a handwritten sign
it’s the only thing left I can truly call mine
To protect me from rain I sleep under a bridge
I have no idea how far I am from the edge
CHORUS Why can’t turn your life around, they ask
Why can’t you turn life around?
When you’re always on guard, eye contact is hard
Why can’t you turn life around?
Maybe I got a will and I still have a voice
do you really think I am out here by choice
I pray to god and I hope he can hear
That I ain’t in this place this time next year.
CHORUS Why can’t turn your life around, they ask
Why can’t you turn life around
It’s no way to live and there’s nothing to give
Why can’t you turn life around