The grapes of wrath are ripe
and we're all drunk off the wine
we'd get shovels and picks and rebuild '66
but theres nowhere to go this time

They say 'stay gold' but we all grow old
with stories left untold
Ive got miles to go before i sleep
and i carry a heavy load

the ghost of Tom Joad is still trying to fight
his soul my shadow and his cause still the right
look into their eyes ma its me that you'll see
im a travelin soldier seems like the last of the breed

3rd world is our world and its second to none
like russian roulette with a loaded mag in the gun
they take their chances im just takin' my time
lonely vagabond gypsy
still walkin the line

then Atlas shrugged
and the world fell down
no one made a sound
when it hit the ground

(c) 2011 CJG

Being Alone

Being alone is a hard thing to do
For many grand and different reasons
Some people cant handle the thoughts in their heads
So they seek out the crowds that drown the feelings
But I you know, im sure of one thing
If someone hates being alone
Then they will never be a healthy companion
B’cause they cant deal with them selves on their own
They seek out another, a crutch or a vice
To distract them from what is inside
It works for a season but never for long
B’cause inner troubles, unlike people, cannot be hid, or out ran
So I say if you say that you cant be happy alone
Then work on yourself ‘til you can.

It's sunshine and beaches, dolphins and sea shells
That keep me a long way from home
Its tequila and breezes blow'n cross this ol tarp
that keeps me from feeling alone

It's women, bad traffic and fresh broken hearts
That keep pushing me further away
But the Baja Cali playas
With 5 peso fish tacos
Quietly beg me to stay
(c) 2010 CJG

Sitting in a café in mexico
Listening to French songs on the radio
Drinking a pacifico and trying to remember how I got here

I think I caught the ship in San Francisco
After I caught the blues in Tennessee
And then I got kicked off down here in southern mexico
Yea, I think its finally coming back to me
And im
Sitting in a café in mexico
Listening to French songs on the radio
Drinking a pacifico and trying to remember how I got here

Well I watched Singyn ride the rail
so I jumped on that train
had close calls and broke some laws
never even felt the pain
ran all over town that night red paintbrushes in hand
I cant explain no more cuz I don’t think you’d understand

Well the ‘One Stop Mariachi Shop’
Is where we bought our leather vests
Tried our luck at bullfighting and lost but did our best
Found out roller skates don’t work when you’re on cobblestone
All out of pesos and I just want to go home
(c)2008 CJG

It has been a long time since I felt loved
So long, that I have forgotten the feeling
I remember the smile that would melt your soul
The passionate kiss that was completely intoxicating
I remember the pain, the pain is fresh
Wounds still healing, only to become scars
Like tattoos on the inside, forever present
The name now covered with an ocean
And flowers soon faded
Memories and beliefs forever under skin
Webs of deception, love and hate
Symbols of life, pictures of fate
The stars shine bright through the fire
Family over my heart, to stay
Loyalty and love to them forever
In my hands are freedom and liberty
Strength and courage close behind.
I do not regret the love I have given
And I have truly given it all
The good memories remain
The bad memories slowly fading
Healing begins as seasons change
(c) 2006 CJG

I'm forever destined to roam
Don’t think ill ever know a place
A place I can call home
I try so hard sometimes
But I don’t fit in
Im here and gone I keep moving on
Like a whistle in the wind

Maybe forever
Maybe just ‘till dawn
Maybe be ill head some place that I’ve never been
Maybe nobody will know I’m gone
I’ll take my chances
Ill take what’s mine
I live my life through the smiles
And the tears and the miles
Ain’t got nothing else on my mind

I'm forever if I'm a day
I'm just the leaving kind
But sometimes I find that I feel inclined to stay
I’ve been the loyal one
I’ve been the Judas kind
I think sometimes I can see it all
And other times I’m blind

- Cyrus James © 2013

I think I will walk out today, ill turn and look the other way
Put my darkest sunglasses on and stare directly at the sun
When I look back nothing ill see
But a bright white glare where you used to be
Our names scratched in to old concrete
And a lingering taste left not so sweet
Ill leave a note slipped under our front door
Each word more lost than the word before
Picture painted at a lonely pace
Now drawn in soft lines on your face
Lines that are now filled with tears
Memories of days and weeks and months and years
Time together spent so alone
A lesson ill learn on my own
Photos faded chipped and cracked and worn
Slowly decay beneath the burning sun
The sun will set on a forgotten grave
Where lies a piece of me that died that day
No stone marker there no epitaph
Overgrown with weeds but not far off the path
The path that you will walk if you search for me
The path that leads you to this old oak tree
Beneath I sit alone with pen in hand
I write this to you will you understand
You’ll forget me not though feelings fade
Ill pluck a flower as I walk away
Petal after petal and step after step
As the petals fall so days I will forget
I do not look back after the last one drops
For the last one tells me that she loves me not
(c)2008 CJG

Theres something in the back of my mind, sometimes it hard to find
Sometimes I don’t know where to turn
I don’t know who I am, remembering the places I came from
Looking through darkened glass
Am I what I have become
Damage I have left in my wake, Give and take, forever fake
Is this who I want to be
Never to be like you, created my own personality
Denying who I am, running from the person I was meant to be
(c)2003 CJG

I dont cry when it rains
dont always smile when the sun shines
ive seen my fair share of pain
and it helps me through the tough times
ive broke a couple of hearts along the way
had mine broken once or twice myself
thats just the way it goes they say
but i say

if life throws you a curve, you keep your eye on the ball
and if youre backed up and cards are stacked up
make sure you know where the hammer falls
some nights youll sleep with your boots on
and some days youll walk alone
but ive been there and i can still say with no shame
i dont cry when it rains

I dont cry when it rains
i guess i never really thought to
never been one for walking behind the crown
guess i was never really taught to
i dont always do what i should
I dont like to do what I'm told
I guess im just happy to live my life
with any luck I might die old.
(c) 2013 CJM

If I was a fish I'd swim up a river
I'd swim until i reached the end
And when I arrived I'd ask the old eagle to take me to see a friend

When we came upon her current location
The eagle would drop me right in
And when I came to I'd flop to the fish bowl
And sit quietly up on the rim

Then I'd tell her I missed her, quite dearly, Im sorry
That I want to be more than just friends
But alas, I'm a fish, oh I cant speak to women
So lonely round the bowl I'll just swim
(c) 2010 CJG

I love the way your hair falls down your face
And I love the way you feel in my embrace
If you were mine
I’d make you laugh all the time
Just to hear the sound

Me encanta la Mirada de tus ojos
Me fascina el sabor de tus labios
Ojala que tu quieres ser conmigo
Por que yo me veo contigo

Escucha amor
Eres todo que quiero
Y el mundo mio contigo sera completo
If you were mine
i’d make you laugh all the time
Just to hear the sound
(c) 2007 CJG

I know a beautiful Indian girl
She loves riding bicycles drunk
I wish I could bring her e'r where in a suitcase
But I'm afraid that she might lose her *****
It's balcony's, strippers and dollars for days
I tell you it's all in good fun
But if she takes out a knife and starts slicing your shirt
The best thing you can do is run
(c) 2010 CJG

Well ive been down and ive been out
And ive been a couple places I don’t like to talk about
Yea im mostly sober but sometimes im not
It don’t bother me what you think
I learned not to care a lot

ive lied to cheaters and ive cheated lovers
but I hold the ones that I love close
my best friends are like my brothers

I want to love you want you to love me too
But I’d have to destroy this distance yea
And that’s a **** hard thing to do

I saw the devil dressed up on tv
Askin me to send him money
like he gave a **** for me

then I saw jesus down on the street
gave a starving man everything he had
and he walked off with bare feet

ive cursed in churches
and ive prayed in bars
seen my share of real bad things
and ive earned a couple scars

ive made some mistakes
you know you have too
but you live and learn
or crash and burn
don’t think it wont happen to you
(c)2009 CJG

These thoughts cannot escape my mind, a hope for the future so very hard to find
As with each passing January day so does my love grow cold
And I am fighting, and I am losing
And I am searching for the answers but the pain has left me blind and so I stumble in the darkness no direction I can find, I have been tattooed with the ink of love and death, somebody told me that the scar was permanent
And I am fighting, but I am losing

Will you please pull the knife out of my back and plunge it deep into my chest and cut my heart out feel it beating and my soul will finally rest
If death could only find me then my life would be complete
For I have been run through the gauntlet and have ended on my knees

And I know you will find my life
You will find it in a million pieces strewn across the floor
And my heart a million pieces now
As I walk out that door
And as you pace the empty halls and gaze the empty walls
You will see inside the darkest room a picture hanging near
But do not look between the black and white for the scars are hiding there
My cards were nothing, empty, faceless, oh I was played for such a fool
And I am fighting, and I am losing

I wish I could have known that this was love, but I never would have guessed
That you would **** for life so fleeting and hate left unconfessed
And with damage only love can feel, with soul left obsolete
I find that life is just a casualty of truth found incomplete.
(c)2005 CJG

Old chair sitting broken in the corner
Dusty mirror hanging on the wall
Mamas in the kitchen making a cup of coffee
Daddy he’s just sleeping down the hall
Sisters in the back yard picking flowers
Brothers in the treehouse with a gun
I am watching all but they cant see me
And no one else around know what they’ve done

Old man shopping cart down by the river
Banker drives his Cadillac back home
His highrise overlooks a lifeless city
That which in his eyes does not seem lifeless at all
Twigs and sticks are gathered to build a heart of fire
Twigs and sticks or maybe sticks and stones
Give and take or crush and break the time that you fear after
You realize it was never there at all

Some of them will live and die without ever even knowing
And I have lived and died among them all
Bones will break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
And you will hear my voice after it all
(c) 2010 CJG

Old chair sittin' broken in the corner
a dusty mirror hangin' on the wall
mamma's in the kitchen makin' a cup of coffee
daddy, he's just sleeping down the hall
sisters in the backyard picking' flowers
brothers in the treehouse with a gun
and I am watching all, but they can't see me
no one else around knows what they've done

Some of them will live and die without ever even knowing
and I have lived and died among them all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all

old man shopping cart down by the river
the banker drives his cadillac back home
his high rise overlooks the lifeless city
that in his eyes does not seem lifeless at all
twigs and sticks have gathered to build a heart of fire
twigs and sticks or maybe sticks and stones
give or take or crush and break the time that you fear after
realize it was never there at all

Some of them will live and die without ever even knowing
and I have lived and died among them all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all
and you will hear my voice after it all
and you will hear my voice after it all
bones'll break and dust will make the pathways we walk after
and you will hear my voice after it all
(c) 2011 CJM

I went out searching' with nothing to find
went looking' for someone with no one in mind
last petal on a rose in the fall I feel alone
all the faces starin' back from the crowd reflect my own
I can't breathe without you here
I can't hold on, I need you near

Down this highway, lonesome road
life before me left untold
tell me something that I wonder
forever lost or just untouched
a wounded heart in two is cut
lost at sea, I'm going under

Through the darkness I feel you
in the silence I see you
turnin' slowly you fade away
your lips moving with nothing to say
reaching out without my hands
a voiceless call on nothing lands

I went out searching' with nothing to find
went looking' for someone with no one in mind
(c) 2008 CJM

Northbound sittin on a southbound train
No money in your pocket and youre left sittin in the rain
Two way ticket down a one way track
Don’t know where youre headed but you know you aint comin back

It feels like ive reached the bottom but its
Still a long way down
So I ask, the bartender
To pour me another round

Stars don’t have to fall for you to know that its night
Whats left is all you’ve got when youre all out of the right
Started at the ending don’t know where to begin
And so it goes, no one knows about the shape I'm in

It feels like ive reached the bottom but its
Still a long way down
So I ask, the bartender
To pour me another round
(CJM 2013)

I remember a time when everything was mine
My life was laid out, and direction taken
Then one day it disappeared and has not been seen since
I am at a place now that I have not been in a long time
Only now I am here with freedom
The only thing holding me back is me
I am slowly beginning to see that there is so very much more
than what I once thought possible
I feel intimidated yet very powerful at the same time
This place is not where I intended to end up
The longer I live, the more that I see
life is only as good as you make it
only as bad as you allow it to get
your strength and drive are what determines your future
integrity is earned, never given
nothing could replace what has been taken from me
If I could turn it all around again, I would not
For the struggle has shaped me into the person I am
Yesterday, right now, and tomorrow
As for today, I truly feel that there is nothing I cannot overcome
(c)2006 CJG

Youre just a sad girl in an old oil painting
and im just the artist who hates his old work
youre just another name in an old hotel register
and im just the lonely night clerk
youre just another story about another broken heart
and im just the stranger who made it a song
you were in the wrong place at the wrong perfect time
and I shouldve not come along

youre the last broken string on this pawn shop guitar
and im the kid through the window who wants it
im just a back street on the wrong side of town
and youre the dark mansion that haunts it
youre just a lost letter in an old dusty mailroom
and I am he who will never receive it
im the car on the tracks youre the train bout to crash
but I stay cause I do not believe it

youre just an iceberg sitting under the surface
and me, well im just the titanic
youre just a plane crashing fast into a mountain
and I sit inside without panic
Im just a blind man stepping off into traffic
And youre just the one calling me
You were just a nightmare on a dark stormy night
When all that I wanted were dreams

Oh, you’ve got nowhere to go
And I can see right through you
Gift or curse I don’t know
(c)2009 CJG

Luck

Some say a rainbow is lucky, but I am not sure if that’s so
Some say the number seven is lucky, but me, well I really don’t know
I once met a dog, and his name was “lucky” but he only had him three legs
Is that so unlucky? I only have two and ill still be walking for days.
Theres lucky charms, and bad lucky black cats
And Lucy, she lives down the block
Shes really quite pretty, and I might get lucky
If with these two legs I could talk
You see im quite un lucky, as you well know
For I was born without  tongue, and the tinyest mouth
and I cannot talk with lovely lucky Lucy
So here in my lawnchair Ill pout.

I went down to the river to try and find Maria,
but Maria wasn't there, I walked the bank for a while,
skipping stones I searched for miles, but you know, Maria was nowhere

Oh, Maria where did you go
Maria where did you go
Where did you go
Maria where have you gone

I went into the city, to try and find Maria, but in the city I only found despair,
skyscrapers streets and boardwalks, the empty sound of my feet on the sidewalk,
stares and glares were all I found there

so I walked down to the ocean, to try and find Maria,
and I found her, yes I found her there,
her soul was the waves in their crashing,
her voice was the breeze in her laughing,
and her tears were the mist softly floating in the salty air

Oh, Maria, I miss you so
Maria I miss you so
I miss you so
Maria I miss you so
(c)2011 CJM

Maybe it's the way that the rain came down today
made her smile go away and now it's gone
or maybe it's the way that I look at her and say
that I'm here today but won't be here for long

I don't want to talk about it
I just want to scream and shout it
I just wanna live without it all along
rearview mirror I see it fading
dark sunglasses, my eyes shading
yeah, the cover of the glazing and I'm gone

I stare into the mirror I already see it clearer
and I won't let it get nearer not this time
I separate the pain I cut the heart off from the brain
take the letters from a name no longer mine
(c) 2011 CJM

This town
This town
isn't so bad
it's not the worst town that i've ever had
I've been to the city
I've been to the hills
But there's no place like SUDS
If you're going for thrills
(c) 2010

*DISCLAMER: **** Suds

I've discovered a hole in the side of my heart
I think that's where all my love went
B'cause I've tried to love and been given my share
But inside my heart just feels spent

It's dark on the outside
Red in the middle
I think I know where my love's gone
My belly has stolen the love from my heart
and spent it on shots of Patrón
(c)2010 CJG

I hate to see her go
But there she is walking away
Sometimes I just don't know
I guess its better off that way

She laughs at everybody's jokes
the whole world makes her smile
I guess she just wants to be free
because nobody makes her...

nobody makes her cry but me

She left her key in the door
She left a note on the bed
Sometimes I cant make sense of all the things that run through my head
The tear drops on the paper are dry
so I know she's gone
maybe I'll see her later
maybe she was never here at all

She laughs at everybody's jokes
the whole world makes her smile
I guess she just wants to be free
because nobody makes her...

nobody makes her cry but me

(c) 2013 CJM

To Mis Hermanos:

I had a good day
ate some bird
wished i's with y'all
hugging sibs and rocking out
and drinking till we fall

but i am here
y'all were there
this distance gets me all frustrated
and getting tips all on my own is
highly overrated
(c)2010 CJG

I'll be the whiskey that you used to drink,
if you be the good thoughts that I like to think
I'll be the paper you write all of your tragic poems on,
if you promise me you'll sing them like they've never been sung.

I'll be your late night till the darkness turns to dawn,
if you will take my simple words and turn them into song
I'll be the one who sometimes makes you want to see red,
but you'll always be that gypsy tune runnin' through my head

Standin' on the front porch smoking' Camel cigarettes,
favorite cup of coffee hangin' 'round with your best friends
you are the life inside the painting that is hanging on the wall,  
and if I didn't come here to see you then I wouldn't come here at all

old suitcases and the guitar strings scattered round the floor,
knives drawing notebooks and a bucket of dreams sittin' by the door
I will be playin' this guitar for you as you fall asleep tonight,
and you'll hear it through those paper walls in the early mornin' light

you can find her at the depot but she ain't waiting' for no train,
you might find her in the attic starin' out at the rain
she is as lively as the colors of which most artists only dream,
she's seen the bitter side of life before and its jaded her it seems
(c) 2011 CJM

Pistols

I own seven hundred diff’rent types of lovely handguns
And twenty seven thousand more bullets
I like hunting deer, I like hunting unicorns
I like shooting guys with bad mullets
This pistol is loaded
Its under my pillow
And ill blow you to bits
If you sneak in my window.

Mother when you finally get to heaven
can you tell me just what you have found up there
and if you speak to Jesus, tell me
what he really said
because I think we lost it long ago down here

Now I don't mind what you tell me
but I don't know if it's all true
but you're going' and you'll see it
and I know you really care
that's why I wrote this note to give to you

Well, mother, when you find your place in heaven
just in case I never make it there
tell my old friend I can still hear the ringing of his laughter
and I often wish that he was still down here

Mother, when you look down on me from heaven
in the chance that you arrive while I'm still here
tell the angel at the door to leave the porch light on for me
because I know I'll need help finding my way there

Momma tell the angel at the door to leave the porch light on for me
because I know I'll need help finding my way there

© 2009 CJM

Rainboots

My my rainboots are made out of rubber,
But no, not the birth control kind.
They have quite the texture of blubber,
But for them a whale has not died.
Ive got several kinds in all different colors
All dotted and strip’ed and theyre mine.
Yes strangers get mad when I jump into puddles
But they're rain boots, and in rain, they shine.
(c)2010 CJG

They say life's a riddle
So I make it a rhyme
Is this word out of place?
Is that line out of time?

Did you start reading it over?
Will you do it again?
If you keep going backwards
You may not reach the end

They say life's a riddle
I say life's a rhyme.
(c) 2010 CJG

It's like Babylon in here
Music.
Pictures on canvas.
The girl to my left looks like Norma Jean.
Rose petals on the concrete floor.
Painted women dancing painted on the wall.
The rhythmic music softly drowns it all out...
(c) 2008 CJG

Don't think about the scars, no.
Don't think about tomorrow.
Just sit by the fire
And watch all the stars glow.
(c) 2008 CJG

Scary Sanchez

On a dusty old road in old mexico
I found myself face to face with a beetle
He was not so ugly, nor very good looking
Just something sort of there in the middle
And he hitched a ride in a small metal box
That I carry right here in my pocket
Not because I want to, but because he complained
About being too cramped in my locket

He told me his name was Scary Sanchez
And “sir” he said “don’t you forget it”
“Im headed up north from this desert below”
“nothing happens if I do not let it”
“ I see that your laughing” he said with a scowl
“that tequila will go to your head”
“you may tell this story but it wont be believed”
“because beetles cant talk when theyre dead”

I was born in the desert, over 30 years ago
rattlesnakes were thick as thieves there
ghosts of the ancient ones still roam
and i'd lay out on the porch at night
my hands stuffed in my pockets
listen to coyotes howl
I was 5 years old then
the days pass so quick
the years seem to escape us all somehow

I was raised in the rocky mountains
cold autumn wind and winters snow
my dad would play us kids the banjo
by the light of the fires glow
we all grow and theres so many things i miss
memories treasured till the end
live and learn
find the truth and watch it burn
maybe the answer is just blowing in the wind

and it seems to me that its time to leave
feels like saying goodbye to a dear old friend
the time has come what happened to forever young
oh i hope one day our paths will cross again.

life it doesnt always aim to shoot you straight
and that one lesson i have learned
the education of a wandering man
is the education i have earned
(c) 2012 CJG

Ive got boxes full of memories
Next to the mattress on the floor
My hat still hangs in the same place that
It always hung before
Nothings really changed much
Except now I wash my own clothes
And the hole I try to fill seems to get harder as it goes

Sometimes I miss her
Sometimes shes all that I can see
Theres times I think that life is set to make a fool right out of me
But sometimes I smile
When I think of a memory
Because shell always be texas to me

Theres not a highway I don’t see her
Houston on up to raton
The thoughts they fade into the cracks that have opened in these bones
Sometimes I find a bottle and crawl way down inside
Sometimes I sit and feel the pain to remember I'm alive.
© CJM 2014

Some days you've gotta read the story just to figure out your lines
and other days youve gotta write it just to save some time
so i sit here with my guitar and nothing much to say
but the melody keeps flowin on without me
sometimes it works that way

i like to be in full control but im the first to know to grow
sometimes you gotta learn to let things go
its hard to do im tellin you youre tellin me
sometimes i cant see
but all i can be
is me

some days you gotta read the story just to figure out your lines
some days youve gotta write the poem just to work out all the rhymes
some days the pen goes where the wind blows just so you survive
some times you just gotta watch the blood flow to remember youre alive.

(c)2013 CJM

Some say he died of a broken heart
some say he never had one from the start
some say he must've lost his soul
some say a lot of things, but some they'll never know

Some say they think he's lost his mind
others say "Nah, he's alright, yeah, he's doin' fine"
some call him a hypocrite, a liar, and a fool
but he just keeps on rollin' on ,yeah
cause he's just passin' through

some have walked miles and miles in the same shoes that he's worn
and others say they curse the day that this man was born
some judge him harshly
and some pretend that they don't care
but it's the ones who think they do no wrong
that make him wanna disappear

some say he's walkin' blind to all the places that he's been
some say the man he tries to be is lost, long gone with the wind
some say he moves too fast and others think he's lost control
but it's the ones who really know him say "he's just got a gypsy soul"
(c) 2010 CJM

I saw the look in her eyes
Caught my reflection in the tears that fell
Like rain from the stormy skies
But I had not a single word to say
Just left an echo in the silence
As I faded into grey

Because she's just a stranger
And I do not recall her face
Like a nickel laid on a railroad track
Lines gone without a trace
She's just a stranger
A memory I cannot recall
Like a whisper lost on the summer breeze
Before it made a sound at all

Was she a painter with no canvas
A poet left without a rhyme
Last grain of sand dropped through the hourglass
Or just a nightmare in my mind
I do not know why her empty shadow
Is the only thing I see
She may be somebody to someone
But all she is to me
Is just a stranger...

(c) 2013 CJM

Im a 2 upper.
Its just what i do.
You one up and one up
And i two up you.
You think you're all clever,
...That your one ups have class.
I could two up in my sleep
And still kick your ***.

You like 55's
Im a cool 57.
Your one up gets you purgatory
My two up gets me heaven
You could 'one up for days'
...I can two up for years
You'll lose every race
I've got two extra gears.

These two extra gears
May not seem like much.
Youre all just the hop
Im the skip and the jump
Youre riding the short bus of witty satire
...Youre playing pickup sticks
Im playing with fire.

Youre stuck in the mud
Youll never get out
Youre one ups are silly
My two ups have clout
I know youre all jealous
...My two up you desire
But accept your defeat
And from one ups, retire.


Im a new kind of genius
And now that its past.
You can take one of my two ups
And put your one up your *.
its all in good fun
...I mean you no harm
Who'd think someone so clever
Grew up on a farm.

Your one ups drink warm milk
And tip toe off to bed.
My two ups shoot whiskey
And smoke cigs in the shed.
Your one ups wake up crying
...And screaming for mom.
My two ups raise hell till
The nights early dawn.
Your one ups are old news
All wrinkled and grey.
My two ups run like the wind
So stay out of the way
Your one ups might speak german and
Arabic too.
Pero no tienen ritmo
como los que yo hablo do.

(c) 2011 CJG

It aint just the blue collar or the hands in the dirt

or the coal on the belt line or the paint on the shirt

or the dust from the cowboy and the cattle he's drivin'

or the eighteen wheels rollin and the gravel thats flyin'



my best friends named Sparky, he works in the mine
 six miles deep, come rain or come shine
 dont take lip from no one, ive seen him move fast
 give him some **** and he'll hand you your ***



I got a buddy called Outlaw, he rolls eighteen wheels
 sometimes nine in a corner with the logs on his heels 
he aint scared of nothin, says he dont like to fight
 says hes just exercisin' for the long haul tonight



my ol man swung a hammer for most of his life 
he earned blood sweat and tears
 but he came out alright 
might be a church in the city or a cabin far from town 
but he''ll die in his tool belts before he'll die sittin down.



it aint just the blue collar or the blood in the dirt,
or the coal beneath your skin or the scars from the work,
or the rope burns on your hands and yet you keep ridin


its just the breath thats the difference between livin and dyin.


(c) 2013 CJM

On the edge of her mind floats a world, it is a world that laughs and loves

It is a taste of life that she once had, a taste of times to come

Memories made and lost, paid with her heart the cost

A little piece for this mistake, a little piece for that

she paid in full the ransom, and her heart she got it back

You have but a chance, a moment in time
Your world is changed
Rapid decisions, don’t look back
You’ll never be the same

On the edge of the street sits a boy, a boy that loves to live

  He fights and yells and screams and cries to find out who he is

The mind has crumbled down, paid with his soul the cost

A touch of freedom on his lips, only to turn black

The cost of death, the price of life, a heart once whole is cracked
(c) 2005 CJG

Wont somebody tell me
why the world is so grey
I don't know if I can take it much longer anyway
I don't understand the evil men do
Oh, sometimes I just sit and imagine
like Lennon told us to

I don't know why, won't somebody try to help me
tell me please, tell me won't you try
I don't know why, won't somebody try to help me
tell me please
and look me in the eye

Can't take anymore, never settle the score
Oh, don't be alarmed if you sell yourself to the world
in the mirror you see a *****
how did it go wrong, all I've got is a song
and I feel like I lost my place
in a book called life and the pages kept flippin' along

I don't know why
and don't you tell me the answer is in the question
'cause I know that's a lie
(c) 2008 CJM

There’s a place out in the country with a path that’s traveled still
And the old men and women who have shared it all forever
Come a walking from beyond the tree covered hills
And as I watch them walk by they look at me with lifeless eyes
Like something was taken from them long ago
Old mans faded blue collar tattered and he stopped
And so I asked him where he was going
He just said ‘well son, I don’t know’

I sat for a while in my ’52 Chevy thinking about all that man told me
And I watched those ghosts roll by softly singing you are my sunshine
And it floated across the warm breeze lazily
As I lay down that night in bed could not forget what he had said
Sipping on a shot of whisky restlessly
So I pulled out my guitar, wrote down a few words in the dark
And then I told the story just as it was told to me

Aint no more coal left in the ground
Nevermore hear that lonesome train whistle sound
Tobacco aint dryin in the old shed anymore
Mason jars just sitting empty
Holler’s lonely as it can be
Good ol white lightning simply doesn’t strike here like before
(c) 2006 CJG

She said 'where you off to now, Tumbleweed"
I said "i got so many places to go,
it might be what i want it might be what i need
it might be the strangers touch ill never know"

its a lonely way to go the road is long you know
i walk the path of troubadours from long ago
the moon she is my light
the sun she is my night
the pen the only compass ive ever known.

Where you off to now, Tumbleweed
you set your course or you just blowin in the breeze
just like ships in darkness pass
too far to touch too close to last
to grow the soul you know you've got to plant a seed
Tumbleweed
(c) 2013 CJM

Don’t need no body tellin me
Nothing at all
Don’t need nobody to tell me
Nothing at all
Sometimes ya just gotta try it
And its my fault if I fall
Don’t need nobody tellin me
Nothing at all

Don’t need to call me on the phone
Don’t need to call me on the phone
Sometimes this ol boy needs to be left alone
Don’t need to call me on the phone

Don’t need you kissin me goodbye
Don’t need you kissin me goodbye
Just go on and walk away so you don’t see me cry
Don’t need you kissin me goodbye

Sorry if I curse too much
Sorry if I curse too much
Used to read the bible
But lately ive been out of touch
Sorry if I curse too much

Don’t need to tell me not to drink
Don’t need to tell me not to drink
You know I do my best thinkin
Sittin in a corner drinkin
Don’t need to ask me not to drink

Its just the kind of life I lead
Its just the kind of life I lead
Sometimes I win the fight and other times I bleed
But its just the kind of life I lead
© CJM 2012

money doesn't grow on trees so if you're selling' I ain't buyin'
and putting' your eggs in one basket wont keep the mocking bird from cryin'
a leopard cannot change its spots, not even in a New York minute
and a picture ain't worth a thousand words if theres nothin' painted in it

well I went on back to square one back up to the drawin' board
so come hell or high water I'm gonna keep kickin' that dead horse
yea I don't think that he'll mind much if we get down to brass tacks
these idle hands they are the devils tools and I know...

i got a pistol named curiosity so I gave it to the cat
if it ain't one thing its another and if it isn't then its that
they say that it takes two to tango, I say it only takes one to dance
and don't you make no bones about it 'cause its so...

you ain't playin' with a full deck, maybe we got off on the wrong foot
and I'll say this off the record, but I'll let you off the hook
just so we're on the same page, and you don't try and pass the buck
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and let you know...