1.

Lot Like Me

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

He was a long tall stranger from way down south where he'd left his life behind
He had a big old Gibson and a pickup truck and Shenandoah eyes
And I remember him sittin' in that local bar where I earned my pay each night
Singing my songs to empty chairs and going home half tight

So the nights rolled by like headlights shinin' on a lonesome strip of tar
I kept his word of kindness close to me like a pick on my guitar
And we talked about the singers and the songs we loved
And the songs we'd most forgot
In that rundown bar they'd make last call and I'd never want to stop

Cause I was livin' on nothin' but a young girl's dreams
With my cowboy boots and my old six string
Hitchin' my wagon to a star dreamin' of leavin' those local bars
When I'd get him up at closin' time
For a couple of songs and a chance to shine
Like the star that he longed to be he looked a hell of a lot like me
[ harmonica ]
Well he'd played a lot of places where the only wages were food and beer for free
No fancy licks but he had him a gift for the kinds of songs he'd sing
But you do what you can to be a satisfied man just to have your piece of mind
So he gave it all up for a government job where the paychecks come on time

So now he comes to the bar to hear me play guitar and to share a drink or two
And we sit swappin' tales of where we've been and what we'd rather do
There's a wealth of dangers when you're talkin' to strangers
And I meet them all the time
But my heart knew better than my head when I looked into those yes

Cause I was livin' on nothin' but a young girl's dreams...
[ fiddle - harmonica ]
Well maybe I'll quit when I've got me a kid and a place to call my own
But tonight there ain't nobody there waitin' up for me at home
It's a hell of a way to live from day to day not knowin' where you're bound
But the look in his eyes made me realize I was glad for the life I'd found

Cause I was livin' on nothin' but a young girl's dreams...

**********

2.

Other Streets And Other Towns

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

The whippoorwills were cryin' in the fallin' rain
Far away a whistle hailed a passin' train
Out in the country summer was almost gone
The fields were turnin' rusty and the hills were turnin' brown

Now I think of you when summer stars are on the rise
I think of you with a bottle of wine and lazy eyes
Playin' rock and roll songs on an old guitar
Gettin' drunk and sleeping out in my backyard

Now sometimes I just lie awake and I hear the wind
Blowin' through the seasons of my heart again
My dreams are mostly lost and found on other streets in other towns
But babe you know I still look out for you

The cars were all abandoned on the city streets
When snow had left us stranded then we used our feet
And wound up drinkin' whiskey in a crowded bar
And now when it starts stormin' I wonder where you are

Cause you said that I was crazy to believe in you
You said to never trust a man who sings the blues
Well trust and that old guitar was all you'd ever need
If you found a way to love the girl in me

Now sometimes I just lie awake...
[ guitar ]
Other boys I knew were just like shiny dimes
Tossed and spent they came and went a hundred times
Nothin' was as rough on me as giving up on you
Now it seems like every bar in town's got boys who sing the blues

Sometimes I just lie awake...
Now sometimes I just lie awake...

**********

3.

Hometown Girl

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

Years ago in my hometown
I was a headstrong girl and a heartstrong one
We'd ride all summer with the top rolled down
Through the sleepy streets of that Jersey town
Now I knew girls when I was sixteen
Could make a smart boy stutter turn a nice boy mean
And the boys made the girls into homecoming queens
Married each other instead of their dreams

These days I'm mostly out on my own looking for someplace that I can call home
Late at night or just before dawnn I pretend you're with me now
It never seemed so hard before what happened to that hometown girl

The seasons changed in my hometown the way they changed in yours
The windows opened up to the spring like every spring before
And I ran with boys who weren't like you I was young but somehow I knew
The difference between a man and a fool sometimes I think that could've been you

These days I'm mostly out on my own...

Hometown girls are like hometown dreams some start fading others stay keen
I won't forget you but I'll let you be love never was that kind to me

Late at night or just before down I pretend you're with me now
You had your madness and you had your charms but only when your heart allowed
And my heart just won't allow no more what happened to that hometown girl

**********

4.

Downtown Train

Tom Waits

© Jalma Music, ASCAP

Outside another yellow moon has punched a hole in the night time
I climb through the window and down to the street I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full with all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothin' that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Oh be careful of them in the dark
And if I was the one you chose to be your only one
Oh baby now can't you hear me now

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night is just the same
You leave me lonely now

I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the fourway
You watch them as they fall oh they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival but they'll never win you back

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night every night is just the same
You leave me lonely
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night every night is just the same
Upon a downtown train
[ guitar ]
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night is just the same
You leave me lonely
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where all my dreams just fall like the rain
Upon a downtown train

**********

5.

Family Hands

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

Last Sunday we got in the car and we drove
To the town you were raised in your boyhood home
The trees were just turning up on the ridge
And this was your valley when you were a kid

You showed me the railroad that your daddy worked on
As we neared the old house where your granny lives on
She's nearing ninety years now with her daughters by her side
Who tend the places in the heart where loneliness can hide

Raised by the women who were stronger than you know
A patchwork quilt of mem'ry only women could have sewn
The threads were stitched by family hands protected from the moth
By your mother and her mother the weavers of your cloth

Your grandmother owned a gun in 1932
When times were bad just everywhere you said she used it too
And the life and times of everyone are traced inside their palms
Her skin may be so weathered but her grip is still so strong
And I see your eyes belong to her and too your mama too
A slice of Virginia sky the clearest shade of blue
[ ac.guitar ]
Raised by the women who were stronger...
[ ac.guitar ]
And a rich man you might never be they'd love you just the same
They've handed down so much to you besides your Christian name
And the spoken word won't heal you like the laying on of hands
Belonging to the ones who raised you to a man

Raised by the women who were stronger...

**********

6.

Road Is Just A Road

Mary Chapin Carpenter - John Jennings

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

He pulled out in a cloud of dust laying rubber and spewing rust
And on any road he'd take
He'd have his foot on the pedal and my heart on the brake
Underneath the smooth tar curves a road is only dust and dirt
On a lonely interchange the signs all look the same

Cause a road is just a road and a feeling's just a feeling
No matter where you go from Waterloo to Wichita
A road is just a road that the one you love is leaving on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago

His wheels spun out of sight of me believing that I'd set him free
But I'd heard the voice of the prisoner aaying he couldn't get enough of her
You go by land you go by air you go by sea hell I don't care
You can go any way you choose wearing out the soles of your traveling shoes

And a road is just a road and a feeling's just a feeling
No matter where you go from Bangor Maine to Bakersfield
A road is just a road that the one you love is leaving on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago
[ guitar ]
And every sleepless night I see him screaming by the scenery
Not noticing another mile that's rolled down between him and me

Cause a road is just a road and a feeling's just a feeling
No matter where you go from Saskatoon to San Antone
A road is just a road that the one you love is leaving on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago

Yes a road is just a road and a feeling's just a feeling
No matter where you go from San Bernardino to St Marie
A road is just a road that the one you love is leaving on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago

**********

7.

Come On Home

Mary Ann Kennedy - Pat Bunch - Pam Rose

© Choy La Rue Music, BMI / Flamingo Rose Music, BMI / Pat Bunch Publ, BMI

Pat Bunch Publishing, BMI / Warner-Tamerlane Publishing, BMI �

Slowly as you look at me in your eyes I can't believe
All the things I'm seeing now plain as day to me somehow
Oh love come on home

Promises a heart can keep happiness is you and me
Never was a dream so right love has finally come in sight
Oh love come on home

You fit into my life and you seem so right like someone planned it
You give yourself to me and you give so easily
Seems like you always understand

Everything says you're the one time is shining like the sun
Telling my heart what to say growing old with you someday
Oh love come on home
[ fiddle ]
You give yourself to me and you give so easily
Seems like you always understand

Everything says you're the one...
Oh love come on home oh love come on home
Oh love come on home

**********

8.

Waltz

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

Fetch me a glass let's fill it with fine romance
Pour slow the wine then let your eyes kiss mine
You you with the charming eyes lately I've found myself truly beguiled
If this is a waltz then I can't refuse to dance with a man like you

She must be fine she must be enchantingly kind
And she must be fair and never reveal that she cares
Then then when you've got her heart spin her around till she begs you to stop
But this is a waltz and no lady refuses to dance with a man like you

And if she inquires the meaning of love
You'll silence her words with a glance
And if she desires to wonder and pause
You'll charmingly ask her to dance
[ fiddle ]
You promised me that you would forever be kind
And if meant to be our love would find comfort in time
Now now that you feel no more how could I follow you out to the floor
And now it's the waltz but I have to refuse to dance with a man like you
But this is your waltz and you'll find someone new to dance with a man
To dance with a man like you

**********

9.

Just Because

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

Have you ever loved someone you knew nothing of
Except you'd seen the light inside their eyes
Have you ever loved someone just because
Nothing felt so easy or so right

And I think of you like the others do wondering if you think of me
And if you do if you really do who is it that you see
Have you ever loved whether right or wrong
Have you ever loved someone just because

Have you ever tried to speak the truth instead of lie
When it seemed you had everything to lose
Have you ever tried to stand your ground instead of hide
When staying only made you look a fool

And I stayed by you though I think I knew it wouldn't change a thing
Changes come to hearts with ease but they come so hard to me
Have you ever tried to make it last not knowing why
Except you had to try just because

And every day that passes now I suppose I'm gettin' older
Wiser with the things I've done but I hope I don't grow colder

And now I see the ones, who've lost too much they swear they're done
With love and all the chance it brings for pain
But have you ever touched and by itself it was enough
to make you want to reach out once again

And I'll touch you when I need a friend or just a small reminder
That I haven't grown too cold to feel you penetrate my armor
Have you ever loved whether right or wrong
Have you ever loved someone just because
Have you ever loved someone just because

**********

10.

Heroes And Heroines

Mary Chapin Carpenter

© April Music, ASCAP / Get A Real Job Music, ASCAP

Heroes and heroines are scarcer than they've ever been
So much more to lose than win the distance never greater
Way back when you made history by flying planes across the sea
Embarking on your odyssey you put away the danger

Heaven bless the one who flies a pioneer on frontier skies
The world was dark and your only mark was the light of the northern star
I imagine what was in your eyes the seeds of rust and days gone by
Your wings hang in a gallery sky I wonder how you're flying

Way out on the western plains the snow drifts high and the dust wind burns
The chinooks blow their winds across the mountains
A life that's never safe and dry rodeos and ridin' high
Ladies and their men get by on six-guns and white lightning

Heaven bless them on the road those drifters and their dreams of gold
The world was wide and cowboy's soul could span the whole horizon
I imagine what was in your eyes the dust and the dirt under outlaw skies
A piece of land and a stubborn mind were the only things worth havin'
[ ac.guitar ]
Now they say the moon is dust and ash California's made of cash
We're waitin' for those hills to crash into the sparkling waters
Rain and snow and sun and wind you roamed the earth and you spread your wings
And long ago my heroes' dreams belonged to all God's creatures

Heaven bless the ones who sleep the ones who laugh and the ones who weep
Heaven bless the ones who keep their bearings strong and certain
And Lord help the fool who said you'd better quit while you're ahead
A dreamer born is a hero bred on earth and up in heaven
And Lord help the fool who said you'd better quit while you're ahead
A dreamer born is a hero bred on earth and up in heaven

**********