GORDON LIGHTFOOT
THE WAY I FEEL
(United Artists UAS-6587)
June/1967
Gordon Lightfoot - vocal/guitar/piano
Charlie McCoy - guitar/harmonica/vibes/cello
Red Shea - guitar
John Stockfish - bass
Kenneth Buttrey - drums/percussion
Recorded: 1967 in Nashville
1.
WALLS
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
I'm not ashamed to say that I've loved you well
I'm not ashamed to let you know
I'm just a name that's all scratched upon your wall
You used it well but what the hell that's what walls are for
I'm not ashamed to listen to the fast falling rain
In the morning upon my window
I'm not afraid to cry I'm not ashamed to try
To be your friend once again that's what friends are for
Friends are for sorting out the hangups that we hide
Walls are for shutting out the love we feel inside
I'm not ashamed no to talk it over once again
To rearrange my vocabulary
But I can't seem to find any words to change your mind
Because I left them all behind and that's what words are for
[ ac.guitar ]
Words are for explaining the mistakes we might have made
Names are for calling when there's nothing left to say
I'm not ashamed no to say I've loved you well
I'm not ashamed and yet I know
I'm just a name that's all scratched upon your wall
You used it well but what the hell that's what walls are for
[ ac.guitar ]
I'm not ashamed of wearing out my old gray socks
Or chasing you around the backwoods I'm not ashamed to darn
Not too proud to find some yarn
To sew them up once again that's what socks are for
**********
2.
IF YOU GOT IT
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
If you got it don't lose it girl it's got to be
The one creative thing that's left for you and me
If you find it don't lose it on the very next day
Lock it in your soul and throw the key away
So don't you let it go let it stay let it grow
Like the snow don't let it melt away
If you find it then give it girl with all your mind
Forget about yourself you're not the losing kind
If you get it then keep it cool don't let it die
You may only see it once don't let it pass you by
So don't you let it go let it stay let it grow...
**********
3.
SOFTLY
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Softly she comes whispers the breeze with her passing
In secret love she is laughing softly she comes in the night
Softly she sighs sweetly she lies never sleeping
Her fragance all in my keeping softly she comes in the night
Down the darkened hall I hear her footsteps on my stair
Then she is in my arms once more
Then softly she goes her shining lips in the shadows
Whisper goodbye at my window softly she goes in the dawn
Down the darkened hall I hear...
**********
4.
CROSSROADS
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
When first I did appear upon this native soil
All up and down this country at labor I did toil
I slumbered in the moonlight and I rose with the sun
I rambled through the canyons where the cold rivers run
When first I did come down where the land meets the sea
The people said who are you and what would your name be
I said I have no home and I am no man's son
It was inland I was born and from inland that I come
In the good land I was young and I was strong
No one dared to call me son happy just to see my day's work done
See my day's work done
[ harmonica ]
So I swung an axe as a timberjack and I worked the Quebec mines
And on the golden prairie I rode the big combines
I sailed the maritime waters of many a seaport town
Built the highways and the byways to the western salmon grounds
I've gazed upon the good times I've seen the bad times too
Felt many a cold and bitter wind and many a morning dew
I've watched the country growing like a fair and mighty thing
And on the still of a summer night I've heard the mountains ring
In the good land I was young and I was strong...
[ harmonica ]
But now the seeds are planted and the gates are open wide
The old ways are forgotten there's no place left to hide
And the legacy I'm leaving you's not very hard to find
You'll see it all around you at this crossroads of time
In the sweet soil it's a growing at the crossroads of time
**********
5.
MINOR BALLAD
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Beyond the wild misty mountain within the valley so free
There dwells a maid with a heart so mellow
Soft as the wind and wild as the sea
When will you love me as I love Thee
I have no gold to give her nor gowns of soft crimson hue
Nor poems of love nor rhymes to bring her
Into my heart so strong so true
When will you love me as I love you
[ cello ]
Beyond the wild misty mountain...
**********
6.
GO GO AROUND
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Alone upon the sidewalks of despair twas there she wandered
With her suitacase in her hand her fate she pondered
Only a go go girl in love with someone who didn't care
She met him on a night so rare
When her friends were there and the band was groovin'
When he gave a glance that said how much he would like to meet her
How was she to know at the time he would mistreat her
In her cage she danced for him although a hundred eyes were turned her way
And before the set was through he knew she would be his loved one
Only a go go girl in love with someone who didn't care
Only twenty one she was a young girl just in from somewhere
[ ac.guitar ]
He's playing up in Michigan in a group they call the Intended
With a kiss and a promise he was gone the song was ended
But as she walks she waits for him the pavement is a shoulder for her tears
But in her heart she knows there is no way she can hope to change him
Only a go go girl in love with someone who didn't care
Only twenty one she was a young girl just in from somewhere
Only a go go girl in love with someone who didn't care
Only a go go girl in love
**********
7.
ROSANNA
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Rosanna makes my day begin
With kisses for a kind and coffee on a silver tray
She sees the shape I'm in and if she would ever break away
I'd follow close behind her cause Rosanna yes Rosanna rules my heart
Rosanna knows the times I keep
A fire softly glows and the shadows lick the walls
She knows when I'm asleep the dinner's served at eight o'clock on time
And all is well by nine cause Rosanna yes Rosanna rules my heart
Rosanna moves across the floor
Her perfume fills the air as she walks beside my easy chair
I touch her hand once more and I may never sleep again
I like the bag she put me in
Rosanna knows the ways of a man
But not the way I feel I don't really care what happens now
It's catch me if you can for no matter what occasion should arise
She likes to sympathize cause Rosanna yes Rosanna rules my heart
**********
8.
HOME FROM THE FOREST
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '67 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
Oh the neon lights were flashing and the icy wind did blow
The water seeped into his shoes and the drizzle turned to snow
His eyes were red his hopes were dead and the wine was running low
And the old man came home from the forest
His tears fell on the sidewalk as he stumbled to the street
A dozen faces stopped to stare but no one stopped to speak
For his castle was a hallway and the bottle was his friend
And the old man stumbled in from the forest
Up a dark and dingy staircase the old man made his way
His ragged coat around him as upon his cot he lay
And he wondered how it happened that he'd ended up this way
Getting lost like a fool in the forest
And as he lay there sleeping a vision did appear
Upon his mantle shining the face of one so dear
Who'd loved him in the springtime of a long forgotten year
When the wildflowers did bloom in the forest
She touched his grizzled fingers as she called him by his name
And then he heard the joyful sound of children at their games
In an old house on a hillside in some forgotten town
Where the river runs down from the forest
With a mighty roar the big jet soars above the canyon streets
And the con men con but life goes on for the city never sleeps
And to an old forgotten soldier the dawn will come no more
For the old man has come home from the forest
**********
9.
I'LL BE ALRIGHT
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '66 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
I'll be alright I'll be alright if I don't have to smile
If I don't have to face the morning sunrise for a while
I'll get along you know I'll take tomorrow with a grin
If I never have to think about her love again
And I won't mind if words are spoken in empty love song
As long as I don't have to hear
I'll be alright if I don't have to face the world again
And if I never love again I'll be alright
[ ac.guitar ]
Last night she gave the final word she said her last goodbye
And disappeared forever in the world outside
One kiss and then she took her leave to go I know not where
Into the misty shadows of the midnight air
But I won't mind if words are spoken...
And if I never love again I'll be alright
**********
10.
SONG FOR A WINTER'S NIGHT
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '67 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
The lamp is burning low upon my table top the snow is softly falling
The air is still in the silence of my room I hear your voice softly calling
If I could only have you near to breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love on this winter night with you
The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead my glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon the page the words of love you sent me
If I could know within my heart that you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love on this winter night with you
The fire is dying now my lamp is growing dim the shades of night are lifting
The morning light steals across my window pane where webs of snow are drifting
If I could only have you near to breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love and to be once again with you
To be once again with you
**********
11.
CANADIAN RAILROAD TRILOGY
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '67 Early Morning Music, SESAC »
There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
But time has no beginnings and the history has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forest tall
Built the mines mills and factories for the good of us all
And when the young man's fancy was turning to the spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
And many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay
For they looked in the future and what did they see
They saw an iron road running from the sea to the sea
Bringin' the goods to the young growin' land
All up from the seaports and into their hands
Look away said they across this mighty land
From the eastern shore to the western strand
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open her heart let the life blood flow
Gotta get on our way cause we're movin' too slow
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails...
Gotta get on our way cause we're movin' too slow
Behind the blue rockies the sun is declining
The stars they come stealing at the close of the day
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping
Beyond the dark oceans in a place far away
We are the navies who work upon the railway
Swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun
Living on stew and drinking bad whiskey
Bending our backs till the long days are done
We are the navies who work upon the railway
We are the navies who work upon the railway
Swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun
Laying down track and building the bridges
Bending our backs till the railroad is done
Soover the mountains and over the plains
Into the muskeg and into the rain
Up the St Lawrence all the way to Gaspe
Swinging our hammers and drawing our pay
Laying em in and tying 'em down
Away to the bunkhouse and into the town
A dollar a day and a place for my head
A drink to the living a toast to the dead
Oh the song of the future has been sung all the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand all the world at our command
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil
For there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
When many a the dead men too silent to be real
**********
12.
WAY I FEEL
(Gordon Lightfoot)
« © '65 WB Music, ASCAP »
The way I feel is like a robin
Whose babes have flown to come no more
Like a tall oak tree alone and crying
When the birds have flown and the nest is bare
Now a woman Lord is like a young bird
And the tall oak tree is a young man's heart
Among its boughs you'll find her nesting
When the nights are cool she is warm and dry
Your coat of green it will protect her
Her wings will flow your love will too
But all too soon your mighty branches
Will cease to hold her she'll fly from you
[ harmonica ]
Have wings to fly and follow you
If you'll pray for me I'll fly away I'll fly away
**********