Concert Schedule    Our Catalog    Publicity Materials    Songwriting Tutorial    Send Us Mail

 

Being There

Song Lyrics


1. Hurricane (Steve Gillette)
©2006 Compass Rose Music / BMI

September, 1935 on Matagorda Key
Trapped between the railroad tracks and the unforgiving sea.
Six hundred fifty workers with the W.P.A.
When the road boss got the warning that a storm was on the way.

Everyone will tell you when the mercury is falling
You got to get out, ‘cause nothing will remain.
But they had nowhere to run, there was no higher ground
Nothin' to do but hold on and hope to god the company sent the train.

It was a hurricane, a hurricane
With the rising wind and the driving rain.
And the wall of water took out forty miles of roadbed,
And four hundred souls on Mr. Flagler's train.

They put together a special at Homestead Yard
With plenty of room for everyone aboard.
They backed her all the way down the Western Extension
But with the bridges out there was no way to reach the men at Matagorda.

But there were people running everywhere, shouting above the wind
The wailing of the wires and the rumble of the engine
Save as many as you can, and reach for the throttle
And the wave, like a mountain, rose up and swept them all away.

It was a hurricane, a hurricane
With nails in the wind and rocks in the rain,
And the wall of water took out forty miles of roadbed
And four hundred souls on Mr. Flagler's train.

It was a hurricane, a hurricane
With the howling wind and the drowning rain.
And the wall of water took out forty miles of roadbed
And four hundred souls on Mr. Flagler's train.

2. The Road Through the Woods (Rudyard Kipling / Cindy Mangsen)
©2006 Compass Rose Music / BMI

There was a road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you never would know
There was a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.

It lies underneath the coppice and heath
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few.)

You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road
But there is no road through the woods.

3. Concertina Garden Medley (traditional)
(Instrumental only)

4. The Kid With the Comic Book (Trevor Mills)
©2003 Compass Rose Music / BMI

The Earth was shipped in a cellophane wrapper to a
God-like kid by Galactic Courier.
He'd placed an order from the back of a comic book he'd read
When he should have been in school

He had a project due in his
Socioanthroecogeobio and creationism course
That he should have been working on
Instead of playing games with his gang of omnipotent pals.

The project was due in 100,000 years which can
Hardly be contrued as near enough time
To populate a planet with intelligent beings
Who can live in a self-sustaining way

But he saw in the comic book an ad for a planet
with a species on the brink of developing intelligence,
They said it could be shipped in a cellophane wrapper.
He thought, "It's my ticket to an A"

Now it may seem to you that 100,000 years is a
Long time from where we are,
But a kid with a comic'll see a million years pass in a wink,
like the twinkling of a star.

So the kid put the Earth on the desk in his bedroom,
Underneath a heat lamp that he kept on a timer.
On the walls he'd made constellations out of stickers
That were stars that could glow in the dark

And he watched as the species on the brink of intelligence
Grew, found fire, built bombs and exploded them.
He cried when he learned that the killing was so often
Interspersed with the praising of his name.

So the kid reached out and turned up the heat lamp,
Took a magnifying glass from the shelf in the cupboard,
He searched the Earth for a symbolic little bush,
He focused and it burst into flames.

And when the bush was burning the people got the message and the
Leaders agreed to take responsibility and
Base their actions on a true accountability
And promise that they'd try to get along.

So the kid took the Earth to his teacher who looked and
Saw good work and the room for improvement.
"Not a bad first try, B-plus and excitement for your
Many more creations still to come.

So now the Earth is wrapped in bubble wrap there on the
Floor of the closet of the kid with the comic book.
His Mother looks in every now and again to
Ensure things will work out in the end.

And we're sure things will work out in the end.

5. Odd Man Out (Lou & Peter Berryman)
©1998 L & P Berryman / BMI

If your lover won't come over
and when you call they're ‘bout as warm as an ice cube
And your deck of cards is lost
and it's raining and there's nothing good on the boob tube
Here's a game you play alone
And you never have to leave the warmth of your armchair
It's your job to try and figure out which word in each grouping
Doesn't belong there

Harpo Ringo Zorro Julio
Zeppo Chico stucco Mario Groucho
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter
Saturn Neptune Pet World Uranus Pluto

One pair two pair mayonnaise three of a kind
Straight flush full house four of a kind straight flush
Car theft robbery mugging burglary
Romance hijack arson larceny hairbrush

Alpha beta gamma epsilon delta zeta theta Dracula sigma
Aries Virgo Leo Gemini Cancer Taurus Nissan Capricorn Libra
Monet Manet Van Gogh Salvidor Dali Sneezy Cezanne Delacroix Renoir
Earthquake typhoon mudslide hurricane romance blizzard firestorm tidal wave, nut bar

Sister brother father son-in-law uncle cousin nephew double-u daughter
Whiskey vodka champagne creme de menthe brandy ouzo pernod muscatel water
SE NW NE north by northwest due north due east Drew Barrymore due south
Headache earache heartburn stomach flu romance toothache sore throat muscle ache big mouth

Freon neon xenon Oregon cotton rayon orlon Alanon
Phone ring earring gold ring slobbering Hardees Wendy's rabies Burger King

Toaster freezer washer opener blender mixer anger vegetable steamer
Hipbone heelbone tailbone fibula cheekbone jawbone trombone scapula femur
Desk lamp flashlight lantern photoflood headlight domelight nightlight cellulite sun lamp
Puzzler baffler cypher cryptogram romance riddle mystery question mark off ramp

6. High Cotton (Jack Williams)
©2005 Jack Williams / BMI

Cotton stands open to the morning
Morning breaks loose from the night
Night runs grieving down the basin
The river takes a shine to the light
Light lifts the heat from the pasture
I love the warm feeling in my nose
Dusty red bull swats a deerfly
As he nibbles on the Cherokee Rose

Cotton, high cotton
The more I see, the less I know
The well runs deeper than the bucket goes
Swing high, swing low, high cotton

Cotton says "howdy" to the melon
Melon throws a shadow on the toad
Toad spies a purple snake-doctor
In a sunbeam laying cross the road
Road used to lead through the cotton
Before they turned the field into a mall
Mall ran our store out of business
And took a little family from us all

Cotton, high cotton
The more I see, the less I know
The well runs deeper than the bucket goes
Swing high, swing low, high cotton

Cotton gives shelter to the weevil
Weevil gives breakfast to the shrike
Shrike must kill but does no evil
Ask the sparrow on the thorny spike
Cotton saw the land turn to madness
A million souls buried in the clay
Freedom walks her fields in a sad dress
In my Dixie home far far away

Cotton, high cotton
The more I see, the less I know
The well runs deeper than the bucket goes
Swing high, swing low, where's a poor boy to go?
Easy come, easy go, high cotton

7. Mr. O’Reilly (Steve Gillette)
©2000 Compass Rose Music / BMI

Well, I believe the greatest thing to happen in the twentieth century
Was the day that Neil Armstrong set his foot upon the moon.
He was the right man with the right stuff.
He was hangin' in he was hangin' tough.
When he declared "The Eagle has landed." It was never a moment too soon.

Well he stepped out onto the platform, he was as thrilled as he could be.
But he still had something special on his mind.
He said, "This one's for you, Mr. O'Reilly."
Then he said, "It's another small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

He said, "This one's for you, Mr. O'Reilly."
"It's for the guys like you, tried and true, that we struggle and we strive."
"This one's for you, Mr. O'Reilly,
And the hopes and dreams of every man alive."

You see, O'Reilly was our next-door neighbor back in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
And he and his wife were takin' a nap one Sunday afternoon.
I was playing ball with my buddies, when a grounder bounced between my legs
And rolled up into the ivy underneath O'Reilly's room.

Well I went on up to retrieve it, and my ears could not believe it,
I heard Mrs. O'Reilly shoutin' like a voice from some cartoon.
She said, "You want me to do WHAT?"
"Hah, I'll do that, when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

So, this one's for you, Mr. O'Reilly.
It's for the guys like you, tried and true, that we struggle and we strive.
This one's for you, Mr. O'Reilly,
And the hopes and dreams of every man alive.

8. Nola (Felix Arndt) (Public Domain)
(Instrumental only)

9. J’Entends le Moulin / Two- Step d’Armand (traditional/Graham Townsend)
(Instrumental only)

10. The Vermont Waltz (Steve Gillette)
©2006 Compass Rose Music / BMI

This place is all of the world that I want
All of the best that I know.
With meadows and maples and mountains of marble
And waters as pure as the snow.
And green, green deep in the valley
To the truest blue of the sky.
Wherever I wander, I'll always come home
Home to my Vermont.

When the trees are ablaze with the colors of autumn
And all of the world comes to watch.
There are magical forms carved into the stone
Camel's Hump and Queechee Gorge and Smuggler's Notch.
And green, green deep in the valley, etc.

There's a shelter at the end of my journey
Like no other place on this earth.
From the road not taken, and the long trail winding
To the place where the rivers flow north.
And green, green deep in the valley, etc.

11. Homelessness (Lou & Peter Berryman)
© 2004 L & P Berryman / BMI

I never dreamed I'd ever be without a home to comfort me
Til a friend of mine this very Spring lost his whole house & everything
So now I know that life is strange, that all is luck and luck can change
And don't forget it's sad but true, next time around it could be you

One runaway truck, One slip in the muck
One stretch of bad luck, homeless
One family feud, one litigious old prude
One long bad mood, homeless
One toaster too hot, One investment that's not
One tiny blood clot, homeless
One decision on gin, One paycheck too thin
One dumb night of sin, homeless

My poor old pal is on the street, it's extra sad ‘cause he's so sweet
But even if he were a creep the lug should have a place to sleep
So anyway it's really true the next time around it could be you
And when you say how can it be, it could be worse, it could be me

One letter too strong, One adventure gone wrong
One sick leave too long, homeless
One knock on the door, One slippery floor
One nuclear war, homeless
One slip of the pen, One downsizing trend
One backstabbing friend, homeless
One identity thief, One flaky belief
One slice of bad beef, homeless

Once I did agree with you that fiscal plans make dreams come true
Now I know that I was nuts, that fate is a king and fate's a putz
For now I'd say that you'd be smart to squirrel away a shopping cart
And if they ever change your locks,
My cardboard box is your cardboard box

Mi cardboard box es su cardboard box

12. Darkness Comes (Brian Cutean, additional lyrics by Steve Gillette)
© 1994 Compass Rose Music / BMI

We were walkin' along the rocky, muddy shore of the river.
Low water, in a five-year drought.
I'm so grateful that the wait and the long night is over,
So thankful that she's given me the benefit of the doubt.

She used to tell me, "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."
She said that "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."

Courage doesn't mean that you'll never feel afraid
You've got to have the thunder if you want to have the rain.
Little wonder, when I found her, I lost my own sweet pain.

Every new sunrise, every rainbow sky's got a shine
That's never out of place.
But in our little town when the sun goes down,
There's an emptiness that's full of grace.

Singin' "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."
We're singin' "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."

Singin' "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."
We're singin' "Oh, oh, sometimes a darkness comes."

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

__Return to Steve & Cindy's Home Page