Say it all comes down to hate
Ah and wouldn't it be great
If all your enemies were evil
Pick'em out like a boll weavil
Ah but man is convoluted
And by simplicity we've polluted
The system of decision
It ain't a game of precision
A choice that's made with ease
Can be the greatest tease
We all want that black and white
But it ain't so easy, wrong and right

I saw colors while I lived
It's all my generation had to give
It never made me grow or think
Information brought us to the brink
Conflicting notions overwhelmed us
We found color less calamitous
Bright pink and neon green
No real meaning to gleam
A person's shaped by the age he's born in
And I saw colors while I lived.

You've heard of Old John Ford
Who lived like a Carolina Lord
He defied the king
But before that thing
He was the first man e'er to fly

Was fine bright day that drew out
To find a goose good, fat and stout
Into the woods he went
Rope in hand, by a creek he bent

A hunting man is patient, true
But when flock swam by he knew
He had too long waited
To be so easily sated
And one just would not do

So this clever fellow, a fine knot drew
And with his fine rope,
he slide down the *****
And into the water he swam

Arriving at the first fat goose
He slid the noose
Gently around the foot
And with no sudden motion
As to avoid commotion
On to the next he swam

When Old John Ford had counted nine
He figured that'd be just fine
And out of the water he sprang

In terror the geese sprang high
Said Ford "Oh I'm a clever guy"
But quickly the smile faded
For he hadn't anticipated
What a flock of nine can do

And I tell ya boy, he flew!

They took him high
Until to his earthly eye
The world looked small indeed
And he cursed his selfish greed

For days did they fly
With that greedy guy
And do you know what they did do?
They took him to Peru!

When no longer they he could carry
And I tell ya, this is scary
They dropped him there and then
And he fell into a dern bear den!

Said he, "this can't be worse,
I'll rectify this curse"
And stuck behind a cub
He grabbed it's little tail stub
And with his knife, he pricked it twice
And out from the den he was drug!

Then to find his geese nine
For after home did he pine
And for a few more days he flew
And back in Carolina what did he do?

He named that spot Goose Creek
And we call it that today

It's a studied eye that starts it off
That sees the ball and knocks it rough
But chance has had no love for thee
For tis Simmons bent the knee
His eye is quick, his arm is long
And it's a bead on first he's drawn
Quick! He's down into the dust
And quicker still the run's a bust
For Andrelton's had his way today
And made yet one more famous play

The shouts come now from those who won
And the chant is An-drel-ton

Life is rigid
Like the virus that rends the warm body frigid
Reality is wild
Like the hurtful question from a child
Fear drives you to contain it
But life needs chaos to sustain it
Unbridled imagination
A scary engine of creation
Cautious hearts yearn for limitation
But such a life's an empty imitation

With old Henry Knox we marched past river and rocks.
Twas 75 and Redcoats had to die.
So over them mountains came my Cannon and I.
The winter set my body to freeze and the cord cut through flesh with ease
As we marched on to Boston.
The rope burns my hands and the ice bites my feet
Frost bit feet and rope burned hand
But when we win, hell, will it be grand.
Them Redcoats thought no threat would e'er come nigh.
But look up high 'cause here come I. With cannon to make the Redcoat die.
With my frost bit feet and my rope burned hand.
And when we take to Boston, hell, but it will be grand.

He ain't too quaint
That forlorn saint
Sat atop that rain soaked wood
He drags on his cigar, long and good
Flannel shirt and mud smeared Jean
On hard work did he wean
No, he ain't too quaint
That forlorn saint
But the sun sure kissed him hard
And left his skin crack'd and chard
And his fiercest lover yet
Is his own cursed sweat
That runs tenderly on his skin
While he works hard to purge the sin
Of being born a working man

A chisel and a block of stone
Every blow vibrates to the bone
Sweat stings the eyes
I'll shape this man that I despise.
Each pound a declaration
I won't accept these deprivations
Shards break off and fly
Drawing blood that stains like dye
I'll draw a man out of this stone
As every blow vibrates to the bone.

It's the chaos that makes the orderly
And this I tell you solemnly
It's the crooked man that draws the straightest
The crazy eyes that make the greatest.
Beauty is from ugly spawned
The frog prince in a wild pond
The genius with his untamed hair
Wright Brothers with their crazy dare
An artist with a broken mind
Led out of chaos by this kind

Something about this dollar I'm spending
Makes me feel I could be never ending
It's amazing what we pay to feel less human for a day
My brain gets hazy
The world thinks I'm lazy
Hell, they may be be right
But I worked late tonight
So it's off to the bar I go
And let the alcohol flow
I'm drinking out tonight

There are mem'ries here
Layered deep
Like something inside had gone to sleep
The golden hair and the single eye
There was life impossible to deny
A crooked smile
Let's talk for a while
Tell me stories of the olden days
I'll form an image like a haze
There are roots here
Dust off the cobwebs, make it clear
Removed by a thousand miles
Like old and dusty files
But there are mem'ries here
Of golden hair and a single eye
But the day has come
The layers undone
And there am I
Tied to the golden hair and the single eye

Available to best offer
One life gently used
Comes with some people to which it's fused.
It's fine to function
Just needs someone with gumption
It's a bit slow on the take
Outcomes will rely on the effort you make
There's not much wrong with it
I just couldn't get along with it
I tried my best to make it thrive
Bust honestly it's just taken a nose dive
So if you think your the one to make it prosper
Just give me your best offer.

I stood at the edge of the chasm
Andy soul shook with spasm
The air was ****** from me
And with my own strength a fiend broke free
From the chasm it rose
And in the silence of my mind it carved it's prose
I felt the hollowness of fear
The beast drew near
It ****** the breath from my throat
So with my hand, in the air I wrote
"By what name do they call you?"
And with my own breath the beast responded
"Meaningless"

He hang it on a twang
In every line he sang
It came from the deepest part of nature
Not clothed in the eloquence of stature
The low thrumming of the guitar strings
Pulled the heart stronger than any man sings
The wild wail of the violin
Scooped up the heart and pulled again
The words he crafted
Conveyed a life that had him recanted
As though he had been the sin
And life had renounced him
The artist layers deep
And in my chair I'll keep
Slowly rotating the empty glass
As these feelings around me pass

Black and white and sepia tone
Clear distinctions to classify emotion
Passing moments, unclarified commotion
I'm sad to watch it fade away
Though I didn't feel much today
Tomorrow I'll find the filter
And I'll be sad today will wilter
Classify it with surroundings
A specific period sounding
Tie it to a visual anchor
Cars and clothing which we hankered
Markers now invisible
With these memories be indivisible
And I'll love those filters then
For the emotions they lend

Was for a dream that I would try
From Fate's fingers would I it pry
But Fate's a fickle master
And she can be a *******
So I'll earn it through my sweat
And that's a solid bet
Time alone can conceal
The victory life will deal
To those who work and sweat

Often have I pondered
The places I have wandered
And it's where the storms are stronger
That often stay with me.

In the heart of Minnesota
The ground will shake below ya
As the thunder rocks the Earth.

And the rain beats down in Cameroon
As strong as a monsoon
You'll hear it a mile away.

In places such as these a man will learn his place
He'll feel himself at nature's grace
As he's exposed as small.

When the sky grows dark
Deep within his soul he'll hark
And the creations of man will fade
For the Earth something bigger has made.

Lonesome the woodsman walked
And by his own mine was he mocked
It'd been weeks but felt like years
Since his mother's tongue did he hear
It's the kind of thing that cracks the brain
Makes the woodsman go insane
Any language here would be
The tongue of Euchee or of Cherokee
But Alexander Long a fugitive was made
When the Euchee he'd betrayed
The scar upon his bald head told
Of an Euchee warrior brave and bold
Who struck the vicious blow
And showed the hatred that would grow
Until Long did his crime commit
And violate the peaceful writ
And now an outlaw Long'd been made
And in Appalachia would stay he
In the home of the Cherokee.

My heart's moving with the violin
That slow sliding takes me back again
That kind of music tunes up with my soul
Perfectly captures my own eb and flow
Anger smoothly flows to sadness
Then moves right back, some kind of madness
Self hate mingles with condemnation
This music captures that sensation
So let me sit and contemplate these things
As the bow moves gently on those strings

Shall I on this path embark
Past these feelings dark
The tension grips the spine
For calm, the heart does pine
Nature says to sit and quake
And pray the Lord my soul to take
The Lord takes souls this is true
But I pray my soul he'll take through
Accompany me to the greener grass
Where nerves are no longer as weak as glass

Same conversation every day
But this moments passing anyway
So let's fill it with some meaning
While the day is still receding
These motions may be shallow
But we won't let the day lie fallow
For we've seen the weeds that grow
And it's enough for us to know
That a charade is better still
Than a moment left unfilled