Insomniac Folklore

Ladies and Gentlemen, Insomniac Folklore.
Shhhhhhh.....

I sit down into the car seat, and I turn the stereo on,
and this tape it sounds so good, I want to accept this as prophecy
but you gotta accept the payment before you walk the streets of gold.

I’m finally leaving California,
I can hardly believe it’s true
I'm so excited, though you’d never know it
from my face.

I’m heading north to the future
to where my heart belongs.

I want to thank you for the cross Lord, thank you for the cup
thank you for the hardship and the coat over my arms.

Well bad coffee makes for good poetry
and good poetry prevents a moment lost and a moment saved
makes for a better life and a better life
lasts til eternity

Well I bet some of you out in the back row
Don’t even know
Why you’re here at this show.
So I’ve got something to say
before you all go
Lend me your ears and I’ll show you my soul

Well, if you sing it
It becomes a song
but it’s only folk music
When the Folks sing along!
So Sing!

Fa-la-HA-HA-HA-HA
HA-HA-HA-HA
Fa-la-HA-HA-HA-HA
HA-HA-HA

Well I bet some of you think it but you don’t really know
the way to your heart or the way to my soul
So I’ve got something to say
for rhythmical flow
Lend me your ears and let’s give it a go

Well, if you sing it
It becomes a song
but it’s only folk music
When the Folks sing along!
So Sing!

Well if you sing it
It’s prob’ly a song
but it’s only folk music when everybody sings!
So Sing!

“They were too young,”
is what they used to say
but the Good Lord didn’t see it that way
They got together that summer
last year of school comes soon and
they went together
all that senior year;
they graduated and got jobs.
They charted out their course and made it work
and blessed was the marriage.

They grew up and not apart.
They grew up and not apart.
They grew together grew together
Oh
They grew up and not apart.

On a rainy day
in the middle of December
they had their first, a baby boy
wide-eyed, full of wonder at the world
helped them see the world a little smaller -
kinda puts it all in perspective now, don’t it?

The next few years
they had a couple girls
and got a place out in the country
- Nothin’ fancy but it’s theirs -
Joy and tears mixed with
joy and years
and a Buick that sometimes runs

We were like
two old men
contemplating mortality
talking about
how we’d move
to opposing ends of the earth

And as long as we don't fall off the edge
and we don’t drownd in our own beaches
be assured
that we’d meet again.

You’d be a drifter and I a musician
now I guess we were never that different
and I won’t forget those late-night session
when we’d play our guitars

Broken the silence most sacred with sound

Well time will bend and runes will mend
and we will always be friends
And time will bend
these two old men
Let’s sing a song send the world to bed

Broken the silence, most sacred of sounds

My fingers they reach out miles ahead
feeling out the path in front of me
and I ride this train to where they meet

Betrayed by myself and by my friends
My feelings keep me locked up in my bed

I awake to an unfamiliar ceiling
I awake to an unfamiliar ceiling

There’s no telling where it’s taking me
this machine defeats and restrains me
I am afraid when it awakes
everything that's good it will take

I awake to an unfamiliar ceiling
Awake to an unfamiliar ceiling
Awake to an unfamiliar ceiling
I awake to an unfamiliar ceiling

Then it reaches out for me
Is this all that keeps my hand from reaching out
through this wall
my flesh evaporates
and the world is born anew

It rains on the sidewalk
It rains on the tree
It rains on the sidewalk
It rains on the tree

With no roof above me
Prob’ly rain on me.

There can be shelter
In times of storm
And peace
In times of war

And there is hope
When you’re done for

Father
I want to hold you
But you’re not flesh anymore
But one day
when I’m not flesh
I will hold you

Rest
All my loved ones
There’s nothing to fear.
For those
who are still faithful
Death is nowhere near

Seek
you shall find me
Knock
doors will open
Seek
you shall find me
Knock
doors will open
Seek
you shall find me
Knock
doors will open
Seek
you shall find me
Knock
doors will open

Seek...

I still love, love you
Or at least I want to.
Would you fulfill me
like a prophecy?
’Cause I’m tired, tired, tired
Of being so empty
Speak to me tenderly
Or destroy me.

’Cause I’m tired tired tired
Of waiting out my time to die
Make me useful
’Cause the world needs mending
’Cause the world needs mending

And your wounds me shine
through every vein in your body
Please come back for your bride
Fell asleep while I was waiting

Like when the sunset
makes the sea
extend past the horizon
it may not make sense now
but when you see it
It will.

Prophecy prophecy a dollar a day.

Lately I’ve been thinking
There’s some things I’d like to change
I’m dying in my own arms and I can’t break free.
Oh well.
Oh well.

I’d spit on my own grave
if that would make amends
I just don't believe
I deserve to be free.

Oh well.
Oh well.

This is the closest I’ll be to hell.

Grace is still amazing
This much I know.
You value me much more
Than I value myself.

I don’t know what I would do
with eternity
When I trade in my hat
for a crown

I don’t know what I would do
with a mansion
An apartment in town
would suit me just fine

But to truly be in Your presence,
now that would be nice.
Such is the kingdom
and the rest of my life.

And I don’t know what I would do
with eternity
I guess you would make
every day new
Just to be with my friends
and my wife
and to play
as children do
for such is the kingdom
and the rest
of my life.

And I’d visit my grandpa
and the other heros of old
like Johnny Cash
And John the Baptist
and David would dance
And we would write new songs
to sing to you
to sing to you now
for such is the kingdom
such is the kingdom
such is the kingdom
and the rest of my life.

Amen.

For this is the nature
of things yet to come
at the end of our days
we’ll sing praise
we’ll sing praise.

And the saddest thing about this kind of love
is that one day one of us will watch the other die

Until that happens
Until that happens

know I’m safe
know that I’m warm
know that I’ve come in from the storm