The Note

I don’t like writing sad songs. I understand that some folks want to (as someone said to me) “experience the full range of human emotion” but I’ve had all the sadness I’ll ever need, I don’t have to go searching for it.

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

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

She Was Gone

1-5-4 in D
D
one day she was crawling on the floor
A
in a pale green onesie
G D A
everything she found straight in her mouth or up her nose
G A
one day she was crawling on the floor
G A D
and the next day I looked down and she was gone

one day she was riding her tricycle
backwards around the yard
getting madder by the minute ’cause it didn’t work
one day she was riding her trike
and the next day I looked out and she was gone

one day she was painting her nails
in alternating polka dots
foreseeable fuchsia and lavender different each hand
one day she was painting her nails
and the next day I looked in and she was gone

A
every time I turn away
G
five years gone like yesterday
A
and every time I look at you
G D
my little girl’s gone and turned into someone new

D
one day she walked down the aisle
A
I wanted to cry but I managed to smile
G D A
we had a dance and some cake and champagne, all of us together
G A G A
one minute she was there and the next, I looked back…

The Way You Do

G tenor capo 1 play in C

C    G    F    G    • F    C    F    G
0230 0023 2333 0023   2333 0230 2333 0023

You know everything I think and everything I do
Every word I speak before it’s spoken
Back when I was small You could see it all
You could see the ways that I was broken

You can see inside me See the things I’m not
See the things I want to try to be
I don’t understand It’s beyond my reach
How it is that you can really see me
F C G F
No matter where I go Up above or down below
Even in the darkest night You’re the brightest light

All the ways you love me All the ways you care
Like trying to count the grains of sand
You know when I’m anxious When I lie awake
I feel the gentle comfort of your hand

You know I mean no harm I try to do what’s right
I slip and fall and hurt myself, and you
But I know you still see How very hard I try
In everything I think and say and do
F C G F
No matter where I go Up above or down below
Even in the darkest night You’re the brightest light

Back when I was small You could see it all
I was broken but you could see right through
You know that I’ll keep trying For as long as I may live
Someday I’ll see myself the way you do

Fancy Tie Knot

intro C G G C

thought I was a snappy dresser
then I met you, eyeful of your natural style
nothing I could do
your fancy tie knot sharp lapels
pocket square design • Italia
man you’re looking fine • your fancy tie knot Rolex watch
studded pinky ring • thought I was a snappy dresser but
I don’t know a thing

my double-Windsor silk Garcia
hid inside my coat; your double-breasted mohair suit
really got my goat
your fancy tie knot sharp lapels
pocket square design • Italian loafers razor creases
man you’re looking fine • your fancy tie knot Rolex watch
studded pinky ring • thought I was a snappy dresser but
I don’t know a thing

some tie a fancy bow
or stick it with a pin, when they see your fan
they take it on the chin
your fancy tie knot sharp lapels
pocket square design • Italian loafers razor creases
man you’re looking fine • your fancy tie knot Rolex watch
studded pinky ring • thought I was a snappy dresser but
I don’t know a thing
thought I was a snappy dresser but
I don’t know a thing

beautiful carelessly sultry


bass hats boom chuck
there are no nouns in this song


hey beautiful carelessly sultry
lazily bright above
enthusiastically tightly warmly
dizzy madly of

anxiously silly beside
awkwardly even between
boldly moving to measure up
beyond reluctantly seen

chorus

silently tender despite
carefully crazy about
seldom recklessly foolish though
truthfully empty without

chorus

eventually happy within
perfectly better at
briefly bravely brightly blindly
joyously wonderful that

chorus, then
enthusiastically tightly warmly
dizzy madly of

Like Old Times

Bowling alley’s having disco nights   &nbs
Play Donna Summer, get your shoes for free
Get some nachos, cold drink     Bowl a few games, whatcha think?
Be like old times, you and me

Sit on the dock, drop a line     Go for a dip, water’s fine
Our swinging rope’s still tied to that big oak tree
You scare the fish off with your smelly feet     Lona’s diner’s got all we can eat
Be like old times, you and me

I know you’ve got a lot to do
Folks in the city all depending on you
Come when you can, just for the day
Be like old times, even if you can’t stay

Fair’s next month, a whole week     Setting up in the meadow on Bear Creek
Might be muddy, have to wait and see
We’ll hit the dime toss, win it all     Set a record for Skeeball
Be like old times, you and me
Chorus, then bridge
        It’s getting old; Nothing to do since you moved away
        I know you miss it too; We both know you been gone too long

Go by the Dew Drop, have a beer     Gimme cap at the John Deere
Seem like every time we go they got something for free
Get muddy in my old Ford     Go see Leroy, get our ears lowered
Be like old times,

verse
C Em7 FM7 Fm7
C Fm7 Em7 C G
C Em7 FM7 Fm7
C Fm7 Em7 C

chorus
FM7 Fm7 C
FM7 Fm7 C G

bridge
F Em7 x3
Fm7 Em7 Ebm7 Dm7

ending
C Fm7 Em7 C
F [0230 0233]
C
X3

bass
verse
C E F Eb
C F E C G
C E F Eb
C F E C

chorus
F Eb C
F Eb C G

bridge
F E x3
F E Eb D

ending
C F E C F A F
C F E C F Ab F
C F E C

River Song

A happy song.

The tenor guitar has opened up a whole world of experimentation for me. I’m finally, after a lifetime of musical muddling, noodling with stuff just because it sounds good, without even knowing what chords I’m playing sometimes.

capo 2 or open?
C7 [0323] F
F7 [3230] Bbmaj7 [2300]

Walking along by the river a song keeps on singing itself to me
Pouring it out of my head there’s no doubt what it’s trying to get me to see
It’s no surprise sparkling blue eyes come to my mind as it sings
Flashes of white from the river that write the magical lyrical wings
Walking along by the river a song keeps on singing itself to me

Walk through the
Just a bit more and I’ll come to your door and invite you to come walk along
River and grasses each moment that passes is filled with the joy of the birds
I’m well aware that golden brown hair is weaving itself through the words
Walk through the meadow and I know where I’ll go to find the rest of the song

[repeat 1st verse]

All These Walls

People spend a lot of time fussing and fuming about things they can’t change. Like I used to. This isn’t about what’s in the news, it’s about what’s in my head.

capo 3 A E G D [keyboard C G Bb F] tenor G D F C G F

C           G
  all these walls
Bb          F
  beat your head
            C
  till they fall
C           G      G
  all these walls

beat the drum
till they come
beat your head
all these walls

take your time
don’t take mine
beat the drum
all these walls

climb up high
touch the sky
till they fall
all these walls

all these walls
beat your head
till they fall
all these walls

climb up high
touch the sky
till they fall
all these walls (x3)

My Favorite Dreams

Another 6-minute wonder (that is, about 6 minutes to write.) I spent 5 of them searching in vain for one more word that rhymes with dreams, then rearranged it so I didn’t have to.

When the subject is my Best Beloved, it just isn’t that hard. I’ll never know if they’re any good because I don’t care as long as they make her smile.

capo 4 A 1-5-4
The music begins You take my hand
Every step Carefully planned
Move round the floor Floating, it seems
Dancing with you In my favorite dreams

A walk on the beach Holding your hand
Sun in your hair Toes in the sand
Out on the waves Sunset gleams
Walking with you In my favorite dreams

My favorite dreams Come true every day
They all start with you And end the same way
In beautiful colors Or shades of grey
My favorite dreams Come true every day

I’m older than dirt You’re not far behind
But I love you for more Than your beautiful mind
Sitting together My heart still steams
Holding you close In my favorite dreams
chorus

My favorite dreams Come true every day