GORDON LIGHTFOOT
BACK HERE ON EARTH
(United Artists UAS-6672)
November/1968
Produced by Elliot Mazer
1.
LONG WAY BACK HOME
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
From the railhead to the boatyard from the factory to the farm
From the mine to the millyard I've weathered with storms
From the barroom to the bedpost I've wasted my days
And all I have is my drink and the time left to think but the times slips away
Just look at my face when you tell me goodbye
You can see what I'm after by the look in my eye
Just walk away and leave me alone
It's a long way back home
Now in case you should ask me what it is that I've done
Well I say I'm a soldier who once had a son
But my son doesn't know me that's his right to choose
Oh say can you see my best friend is me I'm a friend I could use
Just look at my face...
Now the pages have faded the story grows cold
And the plot falls to ashes like the ruins of old
Those rats in my rafters they're after my shoes
And anything else they can find on the shelf I've said they could use
Just look at my face...
It's a long way back home
**********
2.
UNSETTLED WAYS
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Forgive me my unsettled ways
Don't linger in time or finger what's mine
Don't make me do what you wouldn't do yourself
Forgive me the bad things I do
Don't ask me to change or exchange what I am
For something else you know that wouldn't do
If time gets to heavy and you can no longer bear it
And you need someone to share it tell me girl I'll try to make amends
Forgive me the ways of my heart
Don't try to pretend or lend me your love
Don't ask of me what you wouldn't ask yourself
If time gets to heavy and you can no longer bear it
And you need someone to share it tell me girl I'll try to make amends
Forgive me my unsettled ways
Don't linger in time or finger what's mine
Don't make me do what you wouldn't do yourself
Don't make me do what you wouldn't do yourself
**********
3.
LONG THIN DAWN
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
That long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
I've seen the hills of Frisco and the streets of Montreal
In every town I've been to I've had someone to call
From Winnipeg to Edmonton Vancouver to St Paul
I've had so many good friends I couldn't miss them all
And that long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
Last night I came to Denver beneath the snow-capped ridge
I thought about my darling as I stood beneath the bridge
And there were times I made her cry but I guess by now she's learned
That any time I've wandered I always have returned
And that long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
Right now I'm on a highway just east of Omaha
Riding shotgun on the biggest rig you ever saw
With forty tons of pig iron and a trucker known as Bill
All the way to Windsor we've got some miles to kill
And that long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
While climbing up a hillside Bill drops 'er down a gear
And the engine sings so sweetly 'tis music to my ear
I tell him how I long to be just like him if I can
Driving like the restless wind across this precious land
And that long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
Says Bill the air is clean tonight as he puffs a big cigar
And if this rig keeps rolling my boy you'll travel far
But when you are a trucker you'll come to realize
The only thing a man can do is watch the world roll by
And that long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
That long thin dawn that long thin dawn is coming on again
**********
4.
BITTER GREEN
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Upon the Bitter Green she was the hills above the town
Echoed to the footsteps as soft as heather down
Waiting for her Master to kiss away her tears
Waiting through the years
Bitter Green they called her walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home
Some say he was a sailor who died away at sea
Some say he was a prisoner who never was set free
Lost upon the ocean he died there in the mist
Dreaming of the kiss
Bitter Green they called her...
[ guitar ]
But now that Bitter Green is gone the hills have turned to rust
There comes a weary stranger his tears fall in the dust
Kneeling by the churchyard in the autumn mist
Dreaming of the kiss
Bitter Green they called her...
Bitter Green they called her...
**********
5.
CIRCLE IS SMALL
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
It's alright for some but not alright for me
When the one that I'm loving slips around
You think it's fine to do things I cannot see
And you're doing it to me baby can't you see
That I know how it is
I can see it in your eyes and feel it in the way you kiss my lips
I can hear it in your voice whenever we are talking like this
I can see what you believe in when his name is mentioned and I die
I can watch the way you walk the way you talk the way you close your eyes
It's alright for some but not alright to be
Where the one that I'm loving can't be found
The city where we live might be quite large
But the circle is small why not tell us all
And then all of us will know
I can see it in your eyes...
It's alright to leave but not alright to lie
When you come home and you can't say where you've been
You think it's fine to do things I cannot see
And you're doing it to me baby can't you see
That I know how it is
I can see it in your eyes...
I can see it in your eyes...
**********
6.
MARIE CHRISTINE
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Have you seen the lighthouse shining from the rock
For the ship Marie Christine and all her gallant lot
Now have you seen the lighthouse oh we are close to land
Cried the brave young captain to his wretched band
Now have you seen the harbor cried Marie Christine
Have you seen the jagged rocks in the waters in between
Now have you seen the lighthouse oh save me if you can
For if you do I promise I'll never sail again
Now have you seen the lighthouse shining from the rock
Cried the brave young captain to his wretched lot
Now gather all your photographs and don your coats of blue
If anyone can save us now Marie Christine 'tis you
When I first saw Marie Christine the woman that she was
I ssigned aboard toman her sails and honor well her cause
I christened her with old champagne and I drove her to the west
Of all the men who sailed on her in truth I sailed her best
Have you seen the lighthouse...
Come all ye would be sailors
All ye would be sailors oh all ye would be sailors
If anyone can save us now Marie Christine 'tis you
If anyone can save us now Marie Christine 'tis you
**********
7.
COLD HANDS FROM NEW YORK
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
I came down from Albany to New York to find what I'd been missing
I looked across the river to the city where the windows all stood glistening
I stood listening
Into a tunnel I did rise like a grave inside but I was young and able
When I came out the other end ah through the smoke the winter light was feeble
Unreadable
I was optimistic though a cabbie told me where to go I thanked him
A face of white a face of brown here a smile there a look of danger
For a stranger
It was too unreal for me I found no one who trusted me
There was no man could offer me a cold hand from New York
Cold hands from New York
A voice within you cries won't someone please help me
I'll do the same for you one day if you should ever pass my way and need me
I came down to live alone in New York the city of the living
There were fortunes at my feet but most of men were taking none we giving
Or forgiving
Children ran and children played and roses grew in alleyways I saw them
There were men who lived in style and others who had died where no one knew them
Because they couldn't win
There were parks where old men slept and dingy rooms where babies crept unwanted
Till I began to ask myself if there was hope or if it mattered what the did
Or if they lived
It was too unreal for me...
I came down from Albany to New York to find what I'd been missing
I looked across the river to the city where the windows all stood glistening
I stood listening
There were prophets in the squares and people there who smiled and said forget it
There were lovers in the park and there was danger in the dark I felt it
So afraid of it
There were preachers of the word and poets who were never heard
I heard them
There were those who would not try to learn the measure of the lie
They're living
I heard a young musician play in a place where they paid you not to listen
I heard a woman scream for help while men stood by and offered their best wishes
That's how it is
It was too unreal for me...
**********
8.
AFFAIR ON 8TH AVENUE
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
The perfume that she wore was from some little store
On the down side of town
But it lingered on long after she'd gone I remember it well
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night
Her long flowing hair came softly undone and it lay all around
And she brushed it down as I stood by her side in the warmth of her love
And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And she told me a riddle I'll never forget
Then left with the answer I've never found yet
How long said she can a moment like this belong to someone
What's wrong what is right when to live or to die we must almost be born
So if you should ask me what secrets I hide
I'm only your lover don't make me decide
The perfume that she wore...
And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night
**********
9.
DON'T BEAT ME DOWN
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
When he was a man my father would stand I never saw him run
There wasn't anyone could make the man bend
And the strength of his will was the tool of his trade
And he did his work well
Till the powers that be took a liking to him
And they traded his body for a cold empty shell
Don't beat me down don't beat me down
I've got something to say don't you stand in my way
And don't beat me down
When I was a youth I found the truth in the eyes of a friend
There wasn't anyone could make the light dim
And we talked and we rambled and we gambled to win
And the learning was good
Till the powers that be to a liking to him
And they traded their fortunes for the sight of his blood
When I was a child my mother smiled at the cradle she bought
For the little tot she held to her breast
And the song that she sang was an anthem to love
It was all that I heard
Till the powers that be took a liking to me
And they told me that love was a four-letter word
Don't beat me down don't beat me down
I've got one life to live and that's all I can give
So don't beat me down
Now I've got a place got a worried face and the question in mind
Please let me find a reason somehow
Why some reap the harvest while other men die
And the joker runs wild
And if powers that be take a liking to us
Then we all must return to the ways of a child
We all must return to the ways of a child
So don't beat me down don't beat me down
I've got something to say don't you stand in my way
And don't beat me down
I've got one life to life and that's all I can give
So don't beat me down
Don't beat me down don't beat me down
**********
10.
GYPSY
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Step inside my tent said she I'd like to read you palm
Leave the dollar in the jar this won't take very long
Leave the circus noise behind close your eyes relax your mind
I'll tell you if you should quit now or if you should go on
Then I said now what do ya see she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Where'll I go what'll I be she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
She threw some sawdust in the air and her hands began to shake
She told me the town where I was born she almost knew the date
She lit a candle with her eyes and then she made the table rise
She took the dollar from the jar and then she guessed my weight
Then I said now what do ya see she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
You are so old, you are so wise deedlee-dum deedlee-dy
Give me a sign tell it to me she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Then she spoke most quietly deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
When you we a child at school they taught you quite a lot
You were told when you should speak and when you should not
You were taught to read and write to take your lessons home at night
A little knowledge serves you well but the golden rule does not
Then I said, now what do ya mean she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Where'll I go what'll I be she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Then when I came home that night to lie awake in bed
I thought of that old gypsy and the words that she had said
And now I see with due respect the more we learn the worse we get
So if you feel you've no regrets go have your fortune read
Then I said now what do ya mean she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Where'll I go what'll I be she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
You are so old you are so wise deedlee-dum deedlee-dy
Give me a sign tell it to me she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
Where'll I go what'll I be she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
You are so old, you are so wise deedlee-dum deedlee-dy
Give me a sign tell it to me she said deedlee-dum deedlee-dee
**********
11.
IF I COULD
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '68 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
If I could sing like the poets and kings of this world
If I could rise like the wind or the tides of the sea
I would sing you to sleep my love with sweet melody
And let you dream away till the morning light returned again
To take you away from me
If I could speak with the tongues of the masters of old
If I could tame all the fleeting perceptions I hold
Would I stand in the marketplace before
To be shouted down without any warning at all to be stood by the wall
And shot by the man in blue
If I could run with the grace of a sun-colored stallion
If I could fly like the great silver jets in the morning
If I caused the wind to change with one wave of my hand
And if I could play the final symphony and set it free
Would it mean anything to you
If I could stand like a rusty old man in his armor
If I could ride the steed that he rode in his time
I would turn his head away to the river
And let him wander through the meadow grass wild and free
For everyone to see
If I could sing like the poets and kings of this world
If I could rise like the wind or the tides of the sea
I would sing you to sleep my love with sweet melody
And let you dream away till the morning light returned again
To take you away from me
**********