A few years ago I bought my first guitar
I had no aspirations of becoming a star
I've never wanted to be recorded, produced, or sold
After you left I just needed something to hold

You're the only reason I play guitar
Playing is my way of healing your lost love scars
Sometimes I still wonder where you are
Yeah, you're the only reason I play guitar

Guitars are made for feeling
Guitars will stay around
Guitars are built for healing
My guitar won't let me down
Like you did, like you did, like you did

I must be at a crossroads in my life
Seems I can't tell the difference between wrong and right
And you ain't helping things by being gone
How I wish you could hear this guitar moan

You're the only reason I play guitar
Playing is my way of healing your lost love scars
Sometimes I still wonder where you are
Yeah, you're the only reason I play guitar

Guitars are made for feeling
Guitars will stay around
Guitars are built for healing
My guitar won't let me down
Like you did, like you did, like you did

You're the only reason I play guitar
Playing is my way of healing your lost love scars
Sometimes I still wonder where you are
Yeah, you're the only reason I play guitar

To cast a shadow, you gotta walk in the sun
but I sure ain't walkin' - I'm on the run
To get through tomorrow, you gotta live through today
But I sure ain't livin' - I'm fading away

But that's o.k.
That's o.k.
I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive

To find your happiness, you must first be free
But I sure ain't happy - 'cause I sure ain't free

I ain't free
I ain't free
But I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive

Too many miles separate me from my past
Too many years I've spent wandering
Too many days I sit and I look into my glass
And my past comes slowly thundering

I once loved one woman unconditionally
Planned to romance her endlessly

She left me
She left me
But I'm alive, I'm alive

Yeah, I'm still alive
I'm alive
I'm alive

I could go and open that Bible on my shelf
But I don't mind the coping
I'll keep these troubles to myself
Troubled nights are longer
Waning desperately
These blues are getting stronger
And they won't let me be

There's a church house over yonder
Out past the winding bend
For ne'er-do-wells and lesser men
Where they say freedom lives apart from sin
You can die there too and live again

Should have changed my ways
Released my pride before the slide

But there's only so many Sundays
Always six days ahead or six days behind
When you're serving yourself faith is harder to find
And after the fall you're just too weary to climb
There's only so many Sundays
With six days ahead and six days behind

I don't know nothin' of forgiveness or hope
But I know a little somethin'
About the end of a rope
I can take this pain
Embrace it endlessly
Never mind the rain
It keeps me company

There's a church house over yonder
Out past the winding bend
For ne'er-do-wells and lesser men
Where they say freedom lives apart from sin
You can die there too and live again

Should have changed my ways
Released my pride before the slide

But there's only so many Sundays
Always six days ahead or six days behind
When you're serving yourself faith is harder to find
And after the fall you're just too weary to climb
There's only so many Sundays
With six days ahead and six days behind

The last time I saw you was the very last time that I ever saw you
I'll never forget that look you gave me
Like you were looking at some stranger

There was something about your eyes like a thousand thorny sighs
You didn't say a word
To you, our love was absurd

Still, I want you to know that I never meant for you to hurt me
Today my good friend told me I've been waitin' to die
He's halfway right- I've been waitin' to live

We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna watch our freedom fly
We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna live now till we die

My heart beats a little faster
Every mile closer to home
My mind don't need a master
I think just fine on my own
The ocean looks much different now
Such a hopeful sight to see
As freedom bells are ringin' now
'Round Sierra Leone

We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna watch our freedom fly
We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna live now till we die

Well, I left half my pride
In those cotton fields
But I found all my spirit
And strengthened my own will
I made it through the sufferage
Never once alone
I trusted in the Father
And he has led me home

We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna watch our freedom fly
We're goin' down to Freetown
Gonna live now till we die

The distance between your heart and mine
Is like the farthest place on Earth
Far-off places come to mind
Like Jakarta, Tangiers, and Perth

Take a flight roundtrip on my dime
Then you'll know what your love is worth
For the the distance between your heart and mine
Is like the farthest place on Earth

©Jason Cole

on scheduless days of stifling heat
when orderless ranks of canines beat
up the backroad and down the street
into the wood and onto the steep

a glorious arbor among thankless trees
"forever" says the whispering breeze
never mind the never-stop bees
the nimble squirrel is playing freeze

if ever there were a guest-
a sitting stone
but never a guest in this place
my place alone

drenched inside the thicket
a thousand thorny dreams
closing in on me
clamping down on me
altogether surrounding me

as home begins its beckoning
I reason it's a reckoning
I reckon there's a reason
for everything

skyward a fleeting glimpse
of a foregone future forlorn
shatters like a shadow
that a light shines upon

I'm a penny on a train rail
I'm a balled up fist of rage
The number of my sorrows
Outnumber all my days
I've got lies in my veins
They rush faster when I smile
And for all the beds I've made
They're now coverin' up my eyes

I'm like dead people
I never got a second chance
And everything I've ever held
Was ripped right from my hands
Love she digs my grave
And hate he guards the hole
I've got five evil women's names
Tattooed 'cross my soul

I went down to the river
Where muddy water freely flows
Drowned my shallow mind
Felt my time-bomb heart explode
Above a storm-train appeared
On cloud-wheels it roared and rolled
I watched the colors spill
As it thrill-killed the last rainbow

Held a dying baby
There was somethin' about  his eyes
Made me feel some kind of feelin'
That cornered me inside
Sometimes I cry out at the moonlight
Just like a wolf out in the cold
Sometimes I pray for the daylight
Sometimes I pray the night unfolds

Remember the Book - the age-old Book
that said strong drink was raging?
Well of that strong drink I took
and I know I must be aging

Aging prematurely-
my thoughts have gone asunder
Torrid dreams and primal screams-
who wrote that Book, I wonder?

For you, I would reach up and pick the stars, as flowers of the night

Gathering near, gathering far
Lost in the wonder of what you are

I would fetch the clouds and stitch them together
A coat for your fears
Amid inclement weather

No torrid rain
No howling wind
Nothing could harm or chill you again

I say now as a man-
All that I am, was, and ever will be
Is yours for the taking

For you, my heart, my spirit, my soul
My love, for the breaking

Wake up every mornin'
Strap those work boots on
Alarm clock's alarmin'
Ain't no place like home
Time's already wastin'
Lord knows I want to stay
But the man is there waitin'
And I've got to have my pay

Gotta pay those taxes
Gotta pay my bills
Some folks live for workin'
I just work to live

Jimmy's got a good job
More than a decent wage
He built him a hot rod
Ain't ever seen the light of day
Yeah, he's got plenty money
Seems to have it made
Now he's got a second job
Saw him just today

Jimmy's lost his passion
Jimmy don't know his kids
Jimmy lives for workin'
Me, I work to live

I come from Alabama
Where all my kin folks fled
They left for a better life
At least that's what they said
And like a sheep I followed
Stayed within the fold
Now my life is mostly borrowed
On cards, and deeds, and notes

Need some satisfaction
I'm feelin' unfulfilled
Sick and tired of workin'
Gotta work to live

I've seen the future and now bear witness to what I've always known

Your love will be the death of me

And after they've buried my body, long and low, deep and dim
My spirit will rise to write verse again

I shall burst forth from this atmosphere
Far beyond this temporal sphere
To pen your name into eternity

©Jason Cole

It's no secret that liars love the most
It's no secret that most lovers lie
It's no wonder that many lovers leave
You stole all my thunder, and I can't even breathe

Here I go again, drowning hopes and strangling dreams
Here I go again, doubting love and dreading time
Here I go again, feeling helpless and obscene
Here you come again, running through my mind

There's no shame in saying what you feel
There's no shame in feeling all you say
There's no real pleasure in my knowing what you lost
You have no concept of just how much I cost

Here I go again, drowning hopes and strangling dreams
Here I go again, doubting love and dreading time
Here I go again, feeling helpless and obscene
Here you come again, running through my mind

Take back your promises, and the memory of your face
Take back your false tears, and your false commitment too
Take back those three words that now ring so cold
You that bled my believing heart, and stirred my immortal soul

Here I go again, drowning hopes and strangling dreams
Here I go again, doubting love and dreading time
Here I go again, feeling helpless and obscene
Here you come again, running through my mind

All these years have passed me by
And so it seems I've crossed the line
I'm puttin' all my weapons down
And I don't care if I die

The streetlights down in my hometown
Are burnin' up my better nights
The moonlight through my window now
Is lightin' up this wasted life

Don't try to console me
Cause all in all it's all the same
No one's got a hold on me
I ain't got nothin' to gain

There's a bad man down in the valley
And he's playin' my song
If I don't be there by mornin'
You'll know where I've gone

Old man in a rocking chair
Underneath a cloudless sky
I don't say nothin' - I just stare
Must be good to be alive

There little baby now don't you cry
You ain't seen the worst of it yet
You won't make it even if you try
Everyone has a very last breath

Don't try to console me
You ain't haunted by no midnight train
You only know the best of me
The worst is hidin' in my pain

There's a bad, bad man down in the valley
And he's playin' my song
If I don't be there by mornin'
You'll know where I've gone

Squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone
I've been fed up for so long
I had to write a proper breakup song
You've got your head in a hole
And your mind in the clouds
You have no earthly idea what your talkin' about
That's why I'm squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone

Squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone
I've been shushed up for so long
Think it's time I head to parts unknown
In the blink of a lie
I'll be movin' out
Somewhere clear out of sight of your mealy mouth
Yeah, I'm squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone

Squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone
I've been pent up for so long
Ain't nobody givin' this old dog a bone
Hey, little lady
Now, can't you see
That I'll never be your patsy or your property
I'm squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone

Squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone
I've been couched up for so long
Feel sorta like a stranger in my own home
What a sham, what a scam
What a full-blown farce
What a bottomless pit you call your heart
That's why I'm squared up, headlong and gettin' gone

Squared up, headlong, and gettin' gone
I've been fed up for so long
I had to write a proper breakup song
I'll tell ya, I ain't your subject
And you ain't my Queen
You can go back to your village finish livin' the dream...
Me, I'm squared up, I'm headlong, and I'm-a  gettin' gone

All my life
Been fallin' into love I thought was true
I'm not wise
I'm easy to be played for a fool
Dreams don't die
Bitter hearts left lonely sometimes do
I can't lie
I've broke a heart a time or two
For that I'm sorry
I didn't have a clue
Spread the news

I'm back to blue
It's nothin' new
It's the same old story I've grown used to
Never knew
How it feels
To hold someone who's gonna hold on too
The only thing in this life that I can count on
Is back to blue

Starry eyes
Never could see past the good in you
Grand disguise
You seemed so different
From my point of view
Some surprise
To find you're not the girl
I thought I knew
It's not right
You can't get back the love you lose
Why start all over
Find somebody new
It's no use

I'm back to blue
It's nothin' new
It's the same old story I've grown used to
Never knew
How it feels
To hold someone who's gonna hold on too
The only thing in this life that I can count on
Is back to blue

I've lost the best of me
I've found my destiny

I'm back to blue
It's nothin' new
It's the same old story I've grown used to
Never knew
How it feels
To hold someone who's gonna hold on too
The only thing in this life that I can count on
Is back to blue

I reached the edge of town
on a hot winter day
in the year of the dog

Drove past the schoolyard
where we used to play
king of the hill there in the fog

Saw my old friend
down at the local shake
he was talkin' about my loss

Said he could tell
by the lines in my face
that I had paid a heavy cost

I said "I came here lookin' for a revolution"
He said "You're just in time"

They're building them up
in my hometown
with foundations and all

But what goes up
will burn down
all good things must fall

I'm someone else now
with someone else's dreams
my will has its own will

It's kinda like a driver without a wheel
It's kinda like a fabric without a seam

I sparked the fire
while time stood still
oh, how I'd pined to watch it blaze

Within those flames
my fears were killed
all amends were made

Rode out of town
later that night
together with the wind

I have not yet
begun to fight
I'm ready to begin

I said "I came here lookin' for a revolution"
He said "You're just in time"

Devil wind, stealin' away my grin
Devil wind, takin' away my friends
Blowin' trouble through my mind and makin' me afraid again

I'm just another sinner
sadly out of reach
My behavior is consistent
I practice what I preach

Never have I intentionally hurt anyone
But evil's underrated it can get to anyone
And that old devil wind that's carrying it has got me on the run

Devil wind, stirrin' up big sin
Devil wind, cuttin' through my skin
Blowin' trouble through my mind and makin' me afraid again

I'm just another stranger
Tryin' to weather the storm alone
Seeking shelter from the danger
While searchin' for a home

Never have I intentionally hurt anyone
But evil's underrated it can get to anyone
And that old devil wind that's carrying it has got me on the run

Devil wind, dark dark wind
Devil wind, ****** crimson wind
Blowin' trouble through my mind and makin' me afraid again