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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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