He is just a wild mustang,
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.
With one eye on the horizon,
the other on a place he calls home.

And it's a rough road that he travels,
but he know he'll reap all the seeds he's sown.
He is just a wild mustang
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.

He may fall and he may stumble,
but he never seems to let it keep him down.
Just gets back up, shakes off the dust,
and knows next time to run on truer ground.

He keeps his nose to the wind,
as if she was a tellin' which way to go.
He is just a wild mustang
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.

And he's never been the kind
who was content to stay.
To follow with the heard,
or be afraid to stray.

And there's never been a filly
who could ever tie him down,
for he knows just where he's goin',
but he don't know where he's bound.

He's searchin' for the answers
he has yet to comprehend.
He know's he'll need a love,
but for now he'd settle for a friend.

He's always been a loner,
though never really like to be alone.
he is just a wild mustang,
not roamin' where the other mustang roam.

When I was young I use to sit in my windowsill,
and smell the foundry late at night.
I could hear the rumble of the coal cars,
I could feel my parents fight.

Then I'd watch the trees dancing in the breeze,
while the moon played Peekaboo.
Life was just a game
on Maple Avenue.

And there were bright Winter mornings and long Summer nights,
but I never knew what they meant.
There were sermons on making time and money,
but it never made a dent.

Amid the factories there were dreams to please,
though you wondered if they'd ever come true.
It was hard to escape
from Maple Avenue.

Yet, somewhere inside of me,
where no one had ever been.
Below the goodness,
and above the sin.

Was a spark of silence,
that no one ever heard.
And I'd close my eyes and follow it
and savor every word.

And even without asking
it told me what to do.
It told me son, you've gotta run,
from Maple Avenue.

Now some of us were sinners,
none of us were saints.
Some of us were ***** and dreamless,
but we had no complaints.

We'd trade it all for just a glimpse
of what we might turn into.
But money only traded money
on Maple Avenue.

I've tried to get it all back again,
but it's not like it was before.
You can't come back into the pack,
when the ***** don't know her pups no more.

It's not a small thing for a man to die happy,
it's not a hard thing to do.
That's just one little thing I've learned
from Maple Avenue.

Magdalene's got scars from the back streets and bars.
Where the lust learns to lie, and the promises die.
She says, "There are no mistakes, my heart never breaks,
and when you're born you don't come with instructions."

Magdalene, she don't care with her two dollar stare.
She can get what she wants,  from her dives and her haunts.
She's one up in their game by making a name,
while the jukebox plays "Eve Of Destruction".

Magdalene never cries, so she says, but she lies.
A heart full of pain, another link in the chain.
Blames the world for her life, her addictions, her strife.
Says "I'd like to forgive, but why bother?"

When Magdalene was a child, raised battered and wild,
She tried to run from the ****, but there was just no escape.
Confusion set in when the book called it sin,
but it said to honor thy father.

I heard a tree fall in the forest.
I watched it drop down to It's humble grave.
I saw a star streak across the heavens,
and prayed to God for my soul to save.

Where are we going, what are we doing?
What is the purpose of this crazy game?
Who are the winners, or are there any losers,
or when we get there will we be the same?

I've made mistakes, tried to correct them,
then later on I'd laugh and wonder why.
When I was younger I longed for living,
but now I wonder when I'm going to die.

And in the mourning when it's all over,
when I find out if this was just a dream.
Will I discover I spent a lifetime,
wasted learning someone else's scheme?

Do you think I'm a Madman, do you say I'm a fool,
asking questions, dreaming dreams?
Everybody is wondering,  everybody is scared
of what tomorrow will bring.

There's a house for sale, previously owned by two people in love.
They were young and foolish, what were they thinking of?
But that was yesterday, now love has moved away.

There's a house for sale, you can almost hear the laughter that the children made.
In the backyard there's a swing where they once played.
But that was yesterday, now laughter has moved away.

What became of all the dreams they treasured?
Who would of thought their lives would come to this?
They always hoped their love would last forever.
Don't it break your heart to think about the kids?

Now there's a house for sale.
Maybe you can find what they were looking for,
a dream you can hold on to for evermore and never have to say
that love
has move
away.
House 4 Sale.

I may never know the reasons of the storm that passed my way.
Or the multitude of questions that lay at bay.
They await to pounce upon me like jungle cats at night,
while the din of distant drumming tests my might.

Ever now and then I get a glimpse of who I am,
and I feel myself evolving into man.
Amid the single bars and credit cards and reaching for the ring,
I close my eyes and realize I'm here to do one thing........ I'm here to sing.

I'm strung out on evaluation of what my life is worth,
and struggle with the narrow distance between death and birth.
They say love is never wasted, words so easily said,
so why is this empty feeling, still laying in my bed?

Hurry Darwin, hurry. I need a double dose of time.
To quickly re-arrange these chromosomes , to make me more the prime.
Selectors and Breeders are really all we are.
Evolvers;  Some will still be cheaters, and some will still set the bar.

Hungry for love
Starving for truth
Awaiting to be wanted
Searching for proof
Tossing the pebbles, watching the ripples run.

Open my heart
To someone's trust
Trying not to be dazzled
By a last chance for lust
Dispelling the myth that someone always ends up hurting someone.

Ain't it about time we learned how to live together?
Ain't it about time we carried each others heart?
I think that it's a crime not giving each other the gifts we were meant to give.
If love is all we need, ain't it about time we start?

Leaving old baggage
By the side of the road
Streamlining hearts
Lightening our load
Remembering to forget what we did not want to learn.

Looking for signs
Thinking we know
Planting the seeds
Hoping they'll grow
Blindly we watch, impatiently awaiting our turn.

It all started with a feeling, I guess.
A guilty glance across the table......well,  you know the rest.
She said she had to find herself,  and I did my best
to talk her out of goin'.

Let's get some help, maybe talk to a priest.
I begged and I pleaded, got down on my knees,
but she was gone in a flash, like lighting in the trees,
and left me there a fallin'.

And I just wanna know one thing,
why do broken hearts still cling,
maybe it's my low self esteem
that made me still want you.

When a love is lost and gone,
with no hope of holding on,
even when you know it's wrong,
why would you want to be with someone
who doesn't want to be with you?

Like a trophy on a mantle, a bird in a cage,
like a dog on a chain who always gets away.
I tried to keep her with me, but she just wouldn't stay.
Now, what was I thinkin'?

Lessons must be learned the hard way,  I guess.
I know I'll love again.....well, you know the rest.
The right lover leaves you, when no love is left,
the wrong one keeps you sinkin'.

There's a string of lonely telephone wires stretchin' for a hundred miles or so.
A hawk in a tree, looking down at me, he says that It's time to go.
And each little town that I'd pass through, fighting my way back home,
reminded me of what the cookie read, "Don't let your dreams turn to stone"

Now the waitress has a smile like she's from heaven, but it touches a devil in my soul.
There ain't nothin' you can do at thirty-seven, but keep singin' and hope you never grow old.
Time is a lie; you're here 'till you die. All you own is only on loan.
What else is there to do, but to get yourself through, and don't let your dreams turn to stone.

And if the errors of the past are all that you see when you close your eyes at night,
then hopeless and empty will another day be when you open your eyes come daylight.
And if you look around, and contentment is found amid the seeds you have sown,
then soon you'll find that come harvest time.......... your dreams have turned to stone.

Well, I'm followin' my heart down this long highway,  of gettin' off; I don't stand a chance.
Even if you don't want to face the music, you still gotta learn to dance.
My heart has the power. My soul has the wheel. It's takin' this body back home.
There's a sign up ahead and the words that it read were,  don't let your dreams turn to stone.

*Keokuk, IA   1986

I have wandered down this lonely path for 13,00 days,
searching 13,000 ways for something divine.
With one eye on the sunrise, the other on sunset,
hoping for the prize they said would be mine.

I have tried to be the singer, when I should have been the song.
I have tried to fight a river full of rage.
Looking for an island in a world I don't belong,
trying just to run the human race.

Running like a fool through fields of dreams,
I trip and fall upon the truth.
Posing as a player in some childish game
I learned of in my youth.

I have challenged Love and Passion, surrendered to It's sword,
while the blood of my soul poured to the ground.
Pledged allegiance to the Father Son and Holy Ghost,
awaiting for It's host to show me around.

I have tried to please the masses, when I should have pleased myself.
Feared a reaper though I'd never seen It's face.
And all the while a voice inside of me kept chanting on,
you must try to win the human race.

I have wandered down this lonely path, for 13,000 days,
searching 13,000 ways for something divine.
Believing that I know the way, I run the human race,
but no one truly knows what they will find.

Come, take my hand.
I know you think this is the end.
My sad, but wiser friend,
love will find you once again..........

You will have heartache, you will have pain.
And think the sun won't rise again.
But flowers bloom from Winter's sting.........There will be Spring.

The sleepless nights, the hazy days.
The emptiness that stays and stays.
One magic moment, your heart will sing.......There will be Spring.

I know these things to be true
for I've lost love much like you.
That is why you can rely on what I say.

There'll come a day when skies are blue,
no longer lost, love will find you.
One magic moment your heart will sing.........There will be Spring.

And when the tulips, are in bloom,
heartaches turn memories, and none too soon.
Maybe there'll be, someone like me.........There will be Spring.

Hard rain's a fallin', chillin' me to my bones.
Heart dark and black as Kentucky coal.
And there's just one sip left, of life's bitter wine

Come up a steep grade, something's on the other side.
All I know is to keep on, all I know to do is ride.
And there's just one sip left, of life's bitter wine

And I've been tryin' to lose me on someone elses highway.
Sneak out the back door, hope to get away
from the chains and the fetters of their misguided world.
Ones that they left me......when Daddy was a boy,
and Momma was a girl.

Woke up a sad day, I was all the way down.
Raked the leaves from my eyes, took a good look around....
at that one sip left,
of life's better wine.

Green lights are burnin', burnin' for me now.
Gonna chew my own troubles with an unwrinkled brow.
and wash it down, down, down,
with life's bitter wine.

I’ve done a lot of things worth doin'.
I ain't done yet I have to say.
Walked a million miles,
smelled the flowers on the way.

Finished feats I never dreamed of,
poured my heart out in a song.
Learned to love myself,
discovered there's no right or wrong.

Lost my parents and some good friends,
played the Blues, it set me free.
Found that life is hard.
But knowing that, made it so easy.

Won the love of a good woman,
by being just who I am.
No stranger to the pain,
but I'd do it all again.

Made my livin' playin' music.
Even wrote a song or two.
Climbed a mountain, slept out in the rain,
........but I've still got some catchin' up to do.
I've still got some catchin' up to do.

I'm takin' the back road home,
to find some home made apple pie.
Where my dreams are still hangin' on an old rope swing,
and every day is like the fourth of July.
And I'm takin' the back road home.

Sometimes I need to go to the well,
and drink in those lost memories.
Stare into the faces of a faded photograph,
and once again be as young as I please.
And I'm takin' the back road.......

........Home is where it all began,
home is where I go,
when I feel that cold and lonely wind begin to blow.
There's a candle in the window,
a smile on every face.
I'm just in time for supper,
I bow my head for grace.

I'm takin' the back road home,
So I won't lose my way.
Though it's long and winding and it takes more time,
there are rivers to cross and mountains to climb,
and I've been so long away.
And I'm takin' the back road home.