1. |
Old Gods
03:46
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Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
And if you are meant to be mine, love
One day you’ll come home to me
But are you a trick of the memory
That the old gods are playing on me
Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
Your blue eyes are there when I close mine
I see your sweet face when I dream
My heart is all ragged in pieces
Bleeding at every seam
And are you a trick of the memory
That the old gods are playing on me
Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
I’m down on my knees at a crossing
Wondering which way to go
But all roads are dark through the valley
And I’ll learn to walk them alone
And are you a trick of the memory
That the old gods are playing on me
Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
No wine and no song can soothe me
I’m pierced by the arrows of pain
I’ll lay in the grass by the mountain
And summon the wind and the rain
And are you a trick of the memory
That the old gods are playing on me
Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
Carry my prayers on the ocean
Carry my prayers on the sea
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2. |
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Be careful with that bottle
When you have your first drink
The pull that it’ll have on you is
Stronger than you think
Don’t speed through a small town
Or push an empty tank
And when that farmer stops to give you gas
Be sure to tell him thanks
Always check the oil in your 20-year-old car
Before you leave for college or you won’t make it very far
Things you learn the hard way
Some lessons you can’t teach
Until you’re living through ‘em
The wisdom’s out of reach
Things you learn the hard way
Things you learn the hard way
Don’t get married in a church
called Mother of our Sorrows
‘Cause if it don’t feel right today
It won’t feel right tomorrow
A baby will not be enough
To get a man to stay
You can’t change or fix someone
You gotta let ‘em walk away
Don’t go to the dry well looking for a drink
Never leave your wedding band too close to the kitchen sink
Things you learn the hard way
Some lessons you can’t teach
Until you’re living through ‘em
The wisdom’s out of reach
Things you learn the hard way
Things you learn the hard way
When someone’s trust is broken
It’s not an easy thing to fix
And when Grandpa comes for dinner
Lord, don’t bring up politics
Be sure to call your Mama
Every Sunday after mass
You won’t be ready when you lose her
And it happens way too fast
Sometimes the deepest healing
Comes through the darkest night
And you can’t believe how often now
Your mother’s words were right
Things you learn the hard way
Some lessons you can’t teach
Until you’re living through ‘em
The wisdom’s out of reach
Things you learn the hard way
Things you learn the hard way
You ain’t never gonna forget
The things you learn the hard way
Things you learn the hard way
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3. |
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What is there in Little Rock at the Hilton Double Tree
Just a woman far from home a thousand miles out to sea
She walks over to the window, pulls the curtain shut
Pours three fingers of whiskey in a flimsy plastic cup
Sits down on the bedspread, takes off her wedding ring
If she does something dark enough he might just set her free
It’s her mother’s mother’s diamond in a shining golden band
Another woman who spent most her life loving the wrong man
If trouble comes a’ lookin’ she won’t be hard to find
She’s sitting in the hotel bar on her second glass of wine
She put a pretty dress on, wiped the tears out of her eyes
And if trouble comes a’lookin she won’t be hard to find
Just two floors down is Brother John from Our Lady of Grace
He is older now but handsome still with such a lonely face
He picked a hotel off the Interstate where even God won’t find him
Runs his fingers through the rosary and locks the door behind him
How was Christ so perfect, how on earth did he resist
The perfume on a woman’s neck, the softness of her lips
He burned and burned for years with the fire of devotion
But some things are impossible to stop once they’re in motion
If trouble comes a’lookin’ he won’t be hard to find
He’s sitting in the hotel bar on his second glass of wine
Across the empty room he glances up to meet her eyes
And if trouble comes a ‘lookin’ he won’t be hard to find
At quarter til the bartender will make the final call
She’ll slip down off her stool and sway slowly down the hall
And he’ll kiss her like she always wanted, back against the wall
And she’ll step out of her dress looking like Eve before the fall
If trouble comes a ‘lookin they won’t be hard to find
They’re tangled in each other’s arms in room 229
They’ve never strayed this far into the shadows of the night
And if trouble comes a’ lookin’ they won’t be hard to find
Not every infidelity is bound to end in shame
She’ll smile one month later when a letter bears his name
Brother John has gone to France and Italy to travel
Where all of his ideas of God will happily unravel
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4. |
Let 'Em Burn
05:08
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White picket fence, a quiet street
Faithful wife of fifteen years, mother of three
I go to church, I say my prayers
But I have never felt the breath of God in there
I followed every rule and played it safe
And I built myself a beautiful cage
The coffee’s hot, the kids asleep
This is the only time I feel like I can breathe
But late last night I locked the door
And cried myself to sleep on the bathroom floor
‘Cause I lit a match and held it to my yearning
And found out I was a house already burning
I’m on the edge of somethin’ wild
On the edge of somethin’ free
On the edge of somethin’ reckless
I get down on my knees
If you don’t recognize me
When I come back around
It’s cause all the things I thought I’d be
I let ‘em all burn to the ground
I let ‘em burn, I let ‘em burn
I never dreamed I’d start this war
When I was young I was so innocent and sure
I was afraid to be alone
So I wrote every vow of loyalty in stone
But is this the life I want for my own daughter?
Just tryin’ to keep her head about the water?
What if desire is a gift and not a sin?
What if this could be the start and not the end?
I’m on the edge of somethin’ wild
On the edge of somethin’ free
On the edge of somethin’ reckless
Yeah, I get down on my knees
If you don’t recognize me
When I come back around
It’s cause all the things I thought I’d be
I let ‘em all burn to the ground
I let ‘em burn, I let ‘em burn
I let ‘em burn, Mmmmm
I let ‘em burn, Burn, Ooooh—ooooh—ooooh…
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5. |
Cheap Seats
04:04
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Oh, I’ve been right where you are
Putting miles on my car
Driving to some dead-end job each day
Smiling for my tips
Picking up those extra shifts
Waitressing all my best years away
Some nights I’ll buy a ticket and sit alone
In the Mother Church up in the highest row
I’m in the cheap seats
Watching the big show
Hoping that one day I’ll look back and know
That every big dream
And every hard prayer
And every long road
Would deliver me up there
Singin’ for the cheap seats
Singin’ for the cheap seats
Halfway through a busy night
I get a song idea to write
And I slip out back to get the chorus down
Now table twenty eight
Is complaining about the wait
And my manager just shakes his head and frowns
I won’t let them have the best of me
One day I’ll quit this job and then they’ll see
I’m in the cheap seats
Watching the big show
Hoping that one day I’ll look back and know
That every big dream
And every hard prayer
And every long road
Would deliver me up there
Singin’ for the cheap seats
Singin’ for the cheap seats
I’m so hungry I can taste it
Want so badly just to make it
I’ve got a thousand songs inside me left to write
Gotta find my voice and use it
Set true North and do not lose it
And keep that candle burnin’ through the night
I want everything before I’m ready
And it’ll only come once I am standing steady
I’m in the cheap seats
Watching the big show
Hoping that one day I’ll look back and know
That every big dream
And every hard prayer
And every long road
Would deliver me up there
Singin’ for the cheap seats
Singin’ for the cheap seats
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6. |
Hometown Hero
04:58
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You should be with us now
You should be here
We should be sitting by the fire on our second round of beers
We opened the whiskey, we’re out back in the shop
We’re raising our glass to you, still numb from the shock
‘Cause you’re the only one who’s missing and it doesn’t feel right
You should be tucking in your baby girl and kissing her goodnight
Your son is full of questions about how Daddy got to heaven
We’re never thought you’d go this way, you were only twenty-seven
Our hometown hero’s in the news today
The flags are flying at half mast
We buried you on a clear blue All Saints Day
To the lonesome sound of trumpet playing taps
You went to Afghanistan
You were only 19
You never talked much about the things that you’d seen
You came back to your hometown to a start a new life
Had a couple of babies and a beautiful wife
But the demons that you lived with you hid well, we never saw
The guns that you kept loaded and the patches in the wall
She was in the kitchen making lunches and the kids were in their beds
And in a flash we lost you to the war inside your head
Our hometown hero’s in the news today
The flags are flying at half mast
We buried you on a clear blue All Saints Day
To the lonesome sound of trumpet playing taps
A father should never have to bury his own son
He throws a shovel full of dirt down and we follow one by one
Your kids are gonna grow up asking about you
How you could love someone and leave them and how
Both things could be true?
Our hometown hero’s in the news today
The flags are flying at half mast
We buried you on a clear blue All Saints Day
To the lonesome sound of trumpet playing taps
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7. |
Lost Woman's Prayer
04:23
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I used to pray for my life to be easy
Used to wish all my dreams would come true
I used to have it all planned to the minute
When you’re young that’s just what you do
Then I had my heart shattered and scattered
And I wandered the world on my own
And at a bar down South of the border
I met another girl drinkin’ alone
I felt that her spirit was kindred
And we traded stories ’til dawn
Of dead ends and dark times and lovers
The red wine poured out like a song
Sisterhood softens the edges
Of our burdens and worries and cares
And as the stars faded into the sunrise
She whispered the lost woman’s prayer
Grant you grace for the hard days
And may you be kind to yourself
Run reckless and headlong toward your biggest fears
Pull your dusty dreams down off the shelf
Let your life be of service
Turn your pain into purpose
Open your doors to the wind and the rain
And may you be forever changed
May you be forever changed
She caught a ride down to Cabo
And I didn’t see her for years
But we wrote the occasional letter
Confessing our hopes and our fears
There were weddings and bank loans and babies
Divorces and late-night phone calls
And through the ups and the downs
And the lost and the founds
I remembered that prayer through it all
Grant you grace for the hard days
And may you be kind to yourself
Run reckless and headlong toward your biggest fears
Pull your dusty dreams down off the shelf
Let your life be of service
Turn your pain into purpose
Open your doors to the wind and the rain
And may you be forever changed
May you be forever changed
On a night off of tour I called you
Said ‘Old friend, I am here in your town’
Had drinks down at Johnny’s on State Street
Can’t believe they haven’t torn this place down
We laughed til we cried and we gossiped and lied
When the bartender asked us our age
Let’s raise up our glass, here’s a toast to the past
And a toast as we turn a new page…
May you be forever changed
May we be forever changed
May we be forever changed
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8. |
Every Day In Faith
04:52
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Every day in faith I came
Every day in faith I came
And by some miracle beyond me I have found my way
‘cause every day in faith I came
Some lessons they were hard to learn
Some lessons they were hard to learn
But I thank my darkest teachers for the scars that I have earned
Some lessons they were hard to learn
If I’d seen the hills and valleys on the road
If I’d seen the hills and valleys on the road
I might’ve never had the courage to pack my bags and go
If I’d seen the hills and valleys on the road
I love you and I swear I always will
I love you and I swear I always will
I see you cross a crowded room and my heart it quickens still
I love you and I swear I always will
Every day in faith I came
Every day in faith I came
And by some miracle beyond me I have found my way
‘Cause every day in faith I came
And by some miracle beyond me I have found my way
‘Cause every day in faith I came
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9. |
Lightning In A Bottle
04:14
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The summer that I turned nineteen was a hundred shades of green
I just wanted to be seen
Heavy like the air before it rains, clean like grass and summer sage
I lost track of all the days
Warm like the sunshine on the pines, fresh tomatoes off the vine
Pickin’ peaches for the pie
Cold, like that first beer on my lips and those midnight skinny dips
Careful like your kiss
Lightning in a bottle, if only I had known
I’d be back here after twenty years driving down this road
Wondering where that girl has gone and how to bring her back
Missing life when it was easier and love when it was magic
Dark like that trail through the woods, sneaking out late when we could
My hand in yours fit good
Bright like Venus on the rise in the early morning sky
I grew up that night
Breathless, heart pounding in my chest, I placed your hand upon my breast and surrendered to the rest
Lightning in a bottle, if only I had known
I’d be back here after twenty years driving down this road
Wondering where that girl has gone and how to bring her back
Missing life when it was easier and love when it was magic
And every dream I had back then is finally coming true
But last night I found the letter that I kept for years from you
And I wonder if I lost something somewhere along the way
I came back to find the piece of my heart buried in this place
Lightning in a bottle, if only I had known
That summer flames burn out so just enjoy the afterglow
That time is touching all of us and the years are coming fast
Missing life when it was easier and love
Oh, love
Lightning in a bottle, if only I had known
I’d be back here after twenty years driving down this road
Wondering where that girl has gone and how to bring her back
Missing life when it was easier and love when it was magic
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10. |
Old North State
03:12
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Here’s to the land of the long leaf pine,
To the summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here’s to “Down Home,” the Old North State!
Here’s to the land of the cotton bloom white,
Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
‘Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!
Here’s to the land where the galax grows,
Where the rhododendron’s rosette glows,
Where soars Mount Mitchell’s summit great,
In the “Land of the Sky,” in the Old North State!
Here’s to the land where the maidens are fair,
Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!
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Emily Scott Robinson Nashville, Tennessee
www.emilyscottrobinson.com
Instagram: @emilyscottrobinson
Twitter: @emilyscottrobin
Facebook: @EmilyScottRobinson
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