| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 4:08 | 
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You don't have to play me backwards
To get the meaning of my verse You don't have to die and go to hell To feel the devil's curse Well I thought my life was a photograph On the family Christmas card Kids all dressed in buttons and bows And lined up in the yard Were the golden days of childhood So lyrical and warm Or did the picture start to fade On the day that I was born I've seen them light the candles I've heard them bang the drum And I've cried Mama, I'm cold as ice! And I got no place to run Let the night begin there's a pop of skin And the sudden rush of scarlet There's a little boy riding on a goat's head And a little girl playing the harlot There's a sacrifice in an empty church Of sweet li'l baby Rose And a man in a mask from Mexico Is peeling off my clothes I've seen them light the candles I've heard them bang the drum And I've cried Mama, I'm cold as ice! And I got no place to run So I'm paying for protection Smoking out the truth Chasing recollections Nailing down the proof You don't have to play me backwards To get the meaning of my verse You don't have to die and go to hell To feel the devil's curse I'll stand before your altar And tell everything I know I've come to claim my childhood At the chapel of baby Rose I've seen them light the candles I've heard them bang the drum I've seen them light the candles I've heard them bang the drum |
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| 2. |
| 3:13 |
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(written by Janis Ian and Buddy Mondlock)
Just the pattern of sunlight on a building Just a flash in a window I was passing Just a frame in a movie I remembered Amsterdam Just the sound of a wheel in the gravel Just the click of a heel on the pavement Just a moment like any other moment Amsterdam I remember your lips, I remember your eyes And the taste of the kiss and your graceful goodbye You lied Goodbye Just the scent of perfume on the linen Just the print of a palm on the pillow Just the hint of the moon through the window Amsterdam Just a ghost in the steam on the mirror Just a shadow of motion in the water Just a need to look over my shoulder Amsterdam I remember your lips, I remember your eyes And the taste of the kiss and your graceful goodbye You lied Goodbye Just two lovers asleep in the silence as I watched from the door Just the weight of a heart as it's falling, nothing more I remember your lips, I remember your eyes And the taste of the kiss and your graceful goodbye You lied Goodbye |
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| 3. |
| 1:51 | 
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| 4. |
| 4:41 |
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When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our lives
The classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eye We learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertime Reminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty minds And the stones in the road we played like marbles in the dust Until a voice called for us to make our way back home When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town His widow kneeled with all her children at the sacred burial ground The TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down And the stones in the road flew out from our bicycle tires Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home And now we drink our coffee on the run and climb that ladder rung by rung We are the daughters and the sons and here's the line that's missing... The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the street We give a dollar when we pass and hope our eyes don't meet We pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suite We kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came A thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know Stones in the road |
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| 5. |
| 2:56 |
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Kneeling in the moonlight, gazing on the shore, the girl with the blue bouquet
What if you got it, what you're praying for? Careful what you pray You turn around, the old way is gone, you wonder how you will carry on All my pride I will lay aside, I will steal across the border for you Lying in the dusty shadows of your bed, dreaming on a clear blue sky Paying for something that you never even did, victim of a time gone by You turn around, everything has changed, familiar scenes have been rearranged All my life I will work and strive, I will steal across the border for you All my pride I will lay aside, I will steal across the border for you |
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| 6. |
| 2:51 |
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So it's time to set you free
Watch you sail away from me Though I'll miss you when you do I'm with you Turn your face into the wind Let your greatest dreams begin Take the high road, win or lose I'm with you I was there in the morning light With a love that would last And I'll be there on your darkest night When the sun's long gone and your heart is sinking fast When you stumble, when you fall When they back you to the wall After all the rest are through I'm with you So it's time to set you free Let you sail away from me I've done all that I can do I'm with you Take the high road, win or lose I'm with you |
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| 7. |
| 0:57 |
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So it's time to set you free
Watch you sail away from me Though I'll miss you when you do I'm with you Turn your face into the wind Let your greatest dreams begin Take the high road, win or lose I'm with you I was there in the morning light With a love that would last And I'll be there on your darkest night When the sun's long gone and your heart is sinking fast When you stumble, when you fall When they back you to the wall After all the rest are through I'm with you So it's time to set you free Let you sail away from me I've done all that I can do I'm with you Take the high road, win or lose I'm with you |
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| 8. |
| 3:49 |
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There are voices in the mirror, faces at the door
That open on the rivers we've never seen before Are there choices for the sparrow, or does he only fly High above the rivers that are pulling you and I Oh, there are strange rivers, rivers that we cannot see There are strange rivers who know our destiny There are strange rivers who brought your love to me He could have been a builder, he could have been the one Who turned his dreams to steel cathedrals in the sun He could have been a builder, until he bought the gun There are forces in that river that keep him on the run Oh, there are strange rivers, rivers that we cannot see There are strange rivers who know our destiny There are strange rivers who brought your love to me Have you ever turned the corner and wondered why you did? You haven't been that way since you were just a kid Nothing really happens and then you have to say You wonder what would happen had you gone the other way Oh, there are strange rivers, rivers that we cannot see There are strange rivers who know our destiny There are strange rivers who brought your love to me |
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| 9. |
| 4:27 |
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You were dreaming on a park bench
'Bout a broad highway somewhere When the music from the carillon Seemed to hurl your heart out there Past the scientific darkness Past the fireflies that float To an angel bending down To wrap you in her warmest coat And you ask, "What am I not doing?" She says "Your voice cannot command. In time, you will move mountains, And it will come through your hands." Still you argue for an option Still you angle for your case Like you wouldn't know a burning bush If it blew up in your face Yeah, we scheme about the future And we dream about the past When just a simple reaching out Might build a bridge that lasts And you ask, "What am I not doing?" She says "Your voice cannot command. In time, you will move mountains, And it will come through your hands." So whatever your hands find to do You must do with all your heart There are thoughts enough To blow men's minds and tear great worlds apart There's a healing touch to find you On that broad highway somewhere To lift you high As music flying Through the angel's hair. Don't ask what you are not doing Because your voice cannot command In time we will move mountains And it will come through your hands |
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| 10. |
| 3:20 |
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I had a dream I was following a barefoot girl
Beside a stream that flowed around the world And we spoke of many things though her mouth never moved As the most peculiar scenes were disappearing into view Oh what a dream beyond the realm of why Pretty little beings beneath the yawning sky Speaking of God as though they could define Music to the deaf and color to the blind or God to man And then the leaves became a thousand tears And I was on my knees in a crazy house of mirrors I couldn't find my face but a voice was drawing nearer Hush baby, sweet baby, hush don't you cry And I thought I woke and my mother was standing there And my heart broke as the ribbons in her hair Turned into highways surrounded and swirled Like a crown come down around a not so perfect world In the corner of the dream was the man with the blue guitar It had no strings but the music touched the stars And his long dark curls turned to gold before my eyes And the barefoot girl smiled off to the side and it was real Then a thousand birds took flight with a joyful noise And I heard the angels up on high rejoice I could see my face and I recognized the voice Hush baby, sweet baby, hush baby hush It's just a dream, one of those that goes on and on Scene after scene with the rhythm of a gypsy song When I really woke I was frozen in between I didn't know who I was, it was a dream inside a dream It's all a dream Oh what a dream I had a dream |
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| 11. |
| 4:16 |
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My house stands at the edge of glory
Steady as the seasons change Dreams of grace arise before me And they call me home again I went forth with no protection Through a fierce and blinding rain Seeking truth but not perfection Saw my father's face again Father, father can you hear me Through this swirl of thoughts unsaid All you wanted I did not know All you asked I tried to give My house stands at the edge of glory Steady as the seasons change Dreams of grace arise before me And they call me home again Take this hand that I hold out Meant to bridge the years apart Come in, come in from the howling wind To the clearing of my heart Still and lovely came the morning Gone was my father's face In my house a bright reflection New among my dreams of grace My house stands at the edge of glory Steady as the seasons change Dreams of grace arise before me And they call me home again |
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