they say the planes are grounded
we'll be here all night
left a nice warm hotel room
to make this flight
won't be the first time
I've slept sitting up
might as well have some coffee
you want a cup?
coffee? no, I don't think so
that'd just make it worse
you may have slept in airports before
but this is my first
I could sure use a drink, though
But first I need a phone
Gotta call my wife
Tell her I won't be home
There's a million roads through life
Not one's a sure bet
The best you can hope for
Is the path of least regret
I've got no one to call
No place I belong
No one's waitin' for me anywhere
Not for way too long
Made a choice and lost that life
Long time ago
Sittin' in an airport just like this
Watchin' the falling snow
My wife won't be waiting for me
Not after this call
I'm not headed home right now
Not goin' home at all
It's over between us
The spark we had is gone
No point in tryin' to bring it back
So I'm moving on
There's a million roads through life
Not one's a sure bet
The best you can hope for
Is the path of least regret
That's exactly the choice I made
So far in the past
Left a wife I didn't think I loved
For greener grass
But there's always another field
Just beyond the fence
After while the paths I chose
Stopped making sense
I don't know if I love her or not
Don't know my own heart
The past year something's changed
We just drifted apart
Tonight I stopped finding reasons
To keep it afloat
Just a whimper, not a bang
Like the man wrote
There's a million roads through life
Not one's a sure bet
The best you can hope for
Is the path of least regret
I wanted to change his mind
Didn't know what to say
I could've used some good advice
Before I left that day
But no one even tried
I'll never know for sure
If I might have gone back that night
And spent my life with her
Hope he's not trying to change my mind
Nothing he could say
I don't need anyone's advice
I can make my own way
But maybe I'll take my time
Nothin else to do
Sit a while and watch the snow
And think it all through
There's a million roads through life
Not one's a sure bet
The best you can hope for
Is the path of least regret
Category: tenor
I Wish I Had a Ukulele
Oh baby, I wish I had a ukulele
Driving me crazy
I wish I had a ukulele
My mandolin is in the same sonic range
But any acoustical engineer will tell you it’s just not the same
Oh baby, I wish I had a ukulele
I’ve got a piano
It’s actually an electronic keyboard
A friend bought when he went on vacation
So he wouldn’t be bored
We all know a piano makes a mahvelous sound
And every songwriter should have one around
But baby, I wish I had a ukulele
Bridge
My bass is like a musical anchor
I can play it night and day without the slightest bit of rancor
Those drums in the corner, I can’t do much with ’em
But I know they come in handy when you’re laying down a rhythm
Oh baby, I wish I had a ukulele
Driving me crazy
I wish I had a ukulele
Like many of you I’ve got a guitar
There’s a parlor size you can play pretty much wherever you are
But baby, I wish I had a ukulele
Oh baby, I wish I had a ukulele
Driving me crazy
I wish I had a ukulele
Thankful for God’s Creation
Bbmaj7 ┍┳┳┳┳┑ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │••┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃•┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Cm7 ┍┳┳┳┳┑ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Dm7 ┍┳┳┳┳┑ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │••┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Ebmaj7 ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 3 │••┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Gm7 ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 7 │••┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
C7 ┍┳┳┳┳┑ │┃┃┃•│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃•┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Bb C Dandelions growing on top of the hill, D Eb Mountains in the distance, wind blowing through the field, Bb C Warmth of the sun casting down from the sky, D Eb Birds fly up above, Clouds rolling by— C F What did I do To see such beauty? And what do I do To show how much I care? Bb G I’ve got to be thankful, Tell Jehovah in prayer C F That I’m thankful For the love that he shares. Bb G Stop, look around, Take a moment, and let it sink down C7 Eb F in my heart. Never take for granted all he’s done. Bb C I’ve got to be thankful. Bb D I’ve got to be thankful. Bb C So many colors now painted in the sky, D Eb What a beautiful canvas you’ve laid before my eyes! Bb C The sound of the river running into the night, D Eb The stars are dancing in the moon’s spotlight— C F What did I do To see such beauty? But I know what to do To show how much I care. Bb G I’ve got to be thankful, Tell Jehovah in prayer C F That I’m thankful For the love that he shares. Bb G Stop, look around, Take a moment, and let it sink down C7 Eb F in my heart. Never take for granted all he’s done. Bb C I’ve got to be thankful. Bb D I’ve got to be thankful.
Gm ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 5 │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 7 │••┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Gm/F# ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 5 │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │•┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 7 │┃•┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Gm/F ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 5 │•┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 7 │┃•┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Gm/E ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │•┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 5 │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ 7 │┃•┃┃│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ │┃┃••│ ┝╋╋╋╋┥ |
Gm F# [bass]
I see your wisdom and your strength,
F [bass] E [bass]
Your goodness in ev’rything, And how much you love.
Eb C F Bb
And I’m so thankful; I’ve got to be thankful.
Bb G
I’ve got to be thankful, Tell Jehovah in prayer
C F
That I’m thankful For the love that he shares.
Bb G
Stop, look around, Take a moment, and let it sink down
C7 Eb F
in my heart. Never take for granted all he’s done.
Bb D
I’ve got to be thankful.
Bb Eb
I’ve got to be thankful.
F Bb
We’ve got to be thankful.
Another Shore
notes
F Dm [2235] B♭ [2335] C Am [0223]
no intro, come in on Dark
F Dm B♭ F C
It’s dark out on that horizon The sea and the sky are blue and gray
F Dm B♭ C F
Behind me there’s a glow above the hills I’ll be gone before the break of day
Used to be a darkness in my life Soul stuck in a long dark night
Maybe somewhere past that horizon Is what I hope will help to put me right
B♭ F B♭ F C
I’ll take that ship wherever it goes where I’ll end up heaven knows
Am Dm Am Dm
nothing wrong with where I am but I’ve seen it all before
B♭ F C B♭ F
so I’ll take that ship and sail away and fi-ind another shore C B♭ F
The world is round, everyone knew From long before Columbus rode the foam
Circles have no end and no beginning No matter where you head you’re heading home
chorus C B♭ F
vagabonding, wanderlust, or travel whatever you call it’s all the same
restless rambling trek toward that horizon to see the world without a picture frame
chorus C B♭ F
Some folks are content to stay at home Some of us can barely keep still
Some of you might want to come along Down the road and over that next hill
chorus, repeat last line 2x
The Moon (by Fiona ER Canfield)
uke is tuned F but use mandolin fingerings as below
G Em C D
tat-da-dadadada tat-da-dadadada tat-da-dadadada
you’re a heartmaker, a light to everyone you know
have the world quaking, get a say in how the story goes
the perfect smile, in a lonely starless night
see it once in a while, it gives people life
C D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face you
Em D
in fact there’s no one who could take you
C D
they would never know what hit them
C D
disregard oxygen, take them all down again tonight
G Em
it’s no surprise
C D
the potential was clear from the start
G Em
see it in your eyes
C D
the best thing you can have is heart
slower
C D
you’ll be the moon someday
Em Em
you’ll be the moon someday
C D
you’ll be the moon someday
Em Em
you’ll be the moon someday
C D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face you
(you’ll be the moon someday)
Em D
in fact there’s no one who could take you
(you’ll be the moon someday)
C D
they would never know what hit them
(be the moon someday)
C D [no chord]
disregard oxygen, take them all down again tonight
C D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face you
(you’ll be the moon someday)
Em D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face you
(you’ll be the moon someday)
(tat-da-dadadada da da da da)
C D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face you
(you’ll be the moon someday)
(tat-da-dadadada da da da da)
Em D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face
C
you’ll be the moon someday
D
the moon the sun and stars can’t face
G
you’ll be the moon someday
Home Like No Place
G Em
Huddie sang about that old boll weevil
C D
And how that bug was looking for a home
G Em G Em
Every time I hear that song Seems he got it wrong
C D G
I know that old bug just liked to roam
Even Stephen Foster’s great plantation
And old folks at home were far away
How ever many times We all sing Stephen’s rhymes
He’s wandering creation to this day
C D G
Me and Stephen Foster and boll weevil
We’re travelers not looking for a home
Roads rambled, rivers crossed Some wanderers ain’t lost
We’re forty years from the milk and the honeycomb
Life ain’t some great eternal baseball game
There’s more for you and me than rounding third
Every child knows the poem There’s no place like home
Don’t you believe everything you’ve heard
chorus
Best beloved’s sitting by the fire
Simm’ring supper smell fills the air
But when Foster and the bug Look up from the rug
You’d best believe they’ll take you off somewhere
chorus, then
We’re forty years from the milk and the honeycomb
Huddie Ledbetter, Lead Belly, was such a great performer of folk music that the governor of Texas pardoned him after he’d served 7 years of a 30-year sentence for murder. If you grew up in California in the late 60s during the folk music revival, you knew this famous Leadbelly song about cotton farmers fighting against the seemingly indestructible weevil that destroyed cotton bolls, the seed capsule of the plant:
Boll Weevil
Now the first time I see the boll weevil
He’s a sittin’ in the square
Next time I see the boll weevil
Got all o’ his family there
Jus’ a-lookin’ for a home
Jus’ a-lookin’ for a home
In his 37 years in the early 1800s Stephen Foster wrote over 200 songs, many of which would be familiar to anyone who’s seen a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Oh Susanna
C G D
Oh Susanna, don’t you cry for me
G D G
For I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
Camptown Races
G D
Camptown ladies sing this song, doodah, doodah
G D G
Camptown racetrack five miles long, oh doodah day
Beautiful Dreamer
G C
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
D G
starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee
Old Folks at Home
Way down upon the Suwannee River,
Far, far away,
There’s where my heart is turning ever,
There’s where the old folks stay
The Note
C . . . G . . . Am . . . Em . . . F . . . C . . . F . . . G
She found his wallet and his keys . . . On the counter by the door
Folded neatly on the chair . . . She found his coat
Placed precisely in the center of the table
Was the lunch she’d packed for him the night before
But what she never found however hard she looked
She didn’t find the note
She found his wallet and his keys . . . On the counter by the door
Folded neatly on the chair . . . She found his coat
Placed precisely in the center of the table
Was the lunch she’d packed for him the night before
But what she never found however hard she looked
She didn’t find the note
They always leave a note, her mother said
It’s like want someone to know
It was a cry for help so you would come and save him
Maybe if you look a little harder, look somewhere
You haven’t thought of yet . . . You know how you can be
The pretty blonde named Audrey in her group
Said he probably just didn’t have the time
As if he were late to get down to the office
And in the rush it simply slipped his mind . . . His mind
Am . . . Em . . . F . . . C . . . F . . . C . . . F . . . G
He could have left it on the table with his lunch
Or maybe in the pocket of his coat
With his wallet on the counter by his keys by the back door
But he couldn’t leave a thing he never wrote
C . . . G . . . Am . . . Em . . . F . . . C . . . F . . . G
His wallet and his keys are in his dresser
In the sock drawer tucked away there in the back
Someone had thrown his lunch into the garbage
But that night she rummaged out the paper sack
It’s neatly folded, hanging in the closet
Slipped inside the pocket of his coat
She still has everything he ever left her
But she doesn’t have the words he never wrote
She doesn’t have the note
I don’t like writing sad songs. I’ve had all the sadness I’ll ever need, I don’t have to go searching for it.
Each Day Has Its Own Anxieties
capo 2
C
I know about the Paradise
F G
under God’s Kingdom,
C
And I believe with all my heart
F G
that better days will come.
Am G
But sometimes in this life, for me,
F C
It’s hard to see the things unseen,
Dm Em
To feel the love I know is there
F G
when my heart is in despair.
F G
But I know Jehovah’s near.
C Em
So I say a prayer from the heart.
F C
When worries overtake my mind,
F G
On his strength I can rely.
C Em
I’m not alone; I know he’s there.
F C
I have his words of comfort
F G
And true friends who really care.
F C Em Am
Yes, each day has its own anxieties.
F C
So I take one day at a time;
F C
Leave tomorrow until tomorrow;
F C F G C
Peace is what I find One day at a time.
C
So take these words I’ve said, my friend,
F G
And know that I care.
C
Focus on the joys in life,
F G
Not the burdens that we bear.
Am G
Think about what God has done.
F C
To show his love, he gave his Son.
Dm Em
So never doubt; keep trusting him.
F G
He gave his best so we could live.
F G
So don’t give in to fear.
C Em
Say a prayer from the heart.
F C
When worries overtake our mind,
F G
On his strength we can rely.
C Em
We’re not alone, for he is there.
F C
We have his words of comfort
F G
And true friends who really care.
F C Em Am
Yes, each day has its own anxieties.
A C
So take one day at a time;
F C
Leave tomorrow until tomorrow;
F C
Peace is what we’ll find
F G C
One day at a time—
F G C
One day at a time.
Bells
D A C G
I really don’t blame him he chose not to call
he’d been there for hours crouched in the hall
he sent me the message my heart tore in two
said someone was dead he said it was you
there should have been bells
so everyone would know
’cause the silence is killing me
since you had to go
Why didn’t I see you were so lost?
Would have done anything, paid any cost
But I never asked, and you never said
And some days I wish, it was me instead
chorus
no matter how black there’s always hope
but it’s hard to see at the end of your rope
in the middle of love now there’s a hole
silence so loud taking its toll
chorus x2
His mother picked up his sister from our house. She said he’s not answering his phone we have to go.
His mother, young enough to be my daughter, cut him down.
His sister ran to the neighbor, my friend: he’s dead he’s dead.
My friend knelt over him in the hallway for two hours doing CPR until the paramedics came. Two hours.
The paramedics worked for two hours before they gave up.
My friend texted me. He just didn’t have the strength for the phone call.
I told my wife. She cried.
We talked. We told our daughter. She cried. Her first death.
My wife said I have to be there. We went over.
We hugged everybody. Everybody hugged everybody.
There was no crying left.
Three months later I wrote this song.
I finally cried.
Check the Map
intro F Eb [0011]
F Eb
by a certain age should have more sense
F Bb C
I’ve seen it all a dozen times, done most of it twice
by a certain age should have more sense
F Bb C
I’ve seen it all a dozen times, done most of it twice
on the path for fifty years I know where to go
then I lose my mind and lose my way and wander off again
Bb C F
check the map to see where I went wrong
not the first time I’ve had to sing this song
Bb C F Bb
dying of thirst should have checked it first
Bb F
I know I should have known it all along
chorus
Eb Bb F
look around and realize you’re lost
Eb Bb C
look ahead and recognize the cost
C
and know you’re not the only one who’ll pay
I’ve had this map all my life
got it from my father when I was young
I put it in a drawer forgot it for too long
best to keep it handy for when I get off the path
chorus