Serenades
for Those of Us Left Behind
Six Songs·Advance Promo·Not for Sale
Six people who will tell you they are doing all right.
01She's Not Lost
VERSE 1 Dad's been out since six o'clock Walking every row Mama's got a bucket and a flashlight And a voice the whole county knows CHORUS We looked everywhere And she was never there She's been under the porch the whole day long She's not lost. We are. VERSE 2 Uncle Ray says check the creek Grandma says the fox Somebody's got a theory about the neighbor's dog And somebody's counting the flock CHORUS We looked everywhere And she was never there She's been under the porch the whole day long She's not lost. We are. BRIDGE We been hollering her name across the field And she's been following the shade She's got a route, she's had it all her life And it don't include the creek VERSE 3 The little one sat down and quit Right there in the dirt And after about a minute of nobody moving Out she come and went to work FINAL CHORUS We looked everywhere And she was never there She's been under the porch the whole day long She's not lost OUTRO She's not lost She's not lost Sit down in the dirt And she's not lost
02Unclaimed
VERSE 1 Item one, a paperback, the corner turned at forty She was almost finished, wants to know how it ends. Item two, one glove, left hand, hardly worn Her hand will be cold today, and I'll be okay CHORUS Tag it, bag it, shelve it, date it. Ninety days, then it's ours. I do all right down here (that's right, I do all right) I do all right down here (it's true, I do all right) VERSE 2 Item three, a kid's coat, green, and the zipper's gone. They've got a house full of them. They'll forget this one Item four, a ring, no stone, and inside says forever. Some folks mean it and some just like the sound. PRE-CHORUS And damn it, the heat is down in here again. CHORUS 2 Tag it, bag it, shelve it, date it. Ninety days and then it's ours. I keep a shelf for stuff with a name on the cuff That shelf's the long one (that shelf is fine) BRIDGE Walked down here at nineteen, looking for that old brown case Worn brass corners and my name on the lid At the counter they said, ninety days and it's ours. No one here cries at Lot 49 so I filled out a form And I started at 3-49 HALF CHORUS Tag it, bag it, shelve it, date it. Ninety days and then it's ours. VERSE 3 Item one, a jacket, brown, and one button gone. Item two, a watch, stopped, at ten past three. Item three, a ledger, blue, barely filled in, My handwriting's in it, I don't remember that at all. PRE-CHORUS 2 And there's no coffee in the machine today. OUTRO Tag it, bag it, shelve it, date it. Ninety days and then it's ours Ninety days and then it's mine I do all right down here (no doubt, I do all right) I do all right down here (sure enough, I do all right) I do all right down here (you bet, I do all right) I do all right down here (that's right, I do all right) I do all right down here (oh yeah, I do all right) I do all right down here (I've got it great, I do all right) I do all right down here (you bet I do, I do all right) I do all right down here (all in all, I do all right) SLOWING I've got the whole world at my fingers (and yeah, I do all right)
03I Can Still Spell Your Name
VERSE 1 You sat two rows over for a year We had nothing much to say You had a coat with the sleeves too long And then you moved away CHORUS I never knew you well And I can still spell your name I couldn't pick you out of ten photographs And I can still spell your name VERSE 2 You weren't a friend, you were just near Which is most of what a school is I've lost people that I loved a great deal more And their names have disappeared CHORUS I never knew you well And I can still spell your name I couldn't pick you out of ten photographs And I can still spell your name BRIDGE It isn't you I want, I want the year When I still had everyone to meet And nobody had turned out yet And I hadn't either VERSE 3 I looked you up one time and stopped And I didn't want to find out You're better as a coat with the sleeves too long Than whatever I'd have found out FINAL CHORUS I never knew you well And I can still spell your name I couldn't pick you out of ten photographs And I can still spell it OUTRO I can still spell your name I can still spell your name I never knew you at all And I can still spell your name
04It Came Out Wrong
VERSE 1 There's a stairwell at the back of the building And it answers when you talk I go down there on my break And that's where I do my work CHORUS I've been practising Eleven years of practising The echo's got it word for word And she's never heard a thing VERSE 2 I've got it down to ninety seconds And I never lose my place I know where to leave a gap for her And what goes in that space CHORUS I've been practising Eleven years of practising The echo's got it word for word And she's never heard a thing BRIDGE Saturday I said it To her, in the kitchen Not the stairwell version Something else came out VERSE 3 I lost it in the middle and I started again And I said a word I didn't plan And my hands were doing something stupid And that's the one she understood FINAL CHORUS I've been practising Eleven years of practising The echo's got it word for word And she never needed one OUTRO It came out wrong It came out wrong Eleven years of practising And it came out wrong
05She's Not Waiting
VERSE 1 They brought her down the mountain in a crate And built a room to keep her cold Everybody says the same thing when they see her That she doesn't look that old CHORUS We all say that she's arrested But she finished. She just rested. She is not waiting to be woken We're the ones who can't go home VERSE 2 There's a queue that goes around the building On a Tuesday, in the rain Everyone comes out a little quieter And nobody says what changed CHORUS We all say that she's arrested But she finished. She just rested. She is not waiting to be woken We're the ones who can't go home BRIDGE They put a little card beside the exhibit With a guess at her age And what she might have eaten And not one word about the fact she lived it VERSE 3 A kid put her whole hand flat against the glass And her mother pulled her back And the kid said why, she isn't going to mind And nobody had an answer to that FINAL CHORUS We all say that she's arrested But she finished. She just rested. She is not waiting to be woken We're the ones who can't go home OUTRO She's not waiting She's not waiting We're the ones in the room And she's not waiting
06Somebody's Up
VERSE 1 There's a light on the second floor The same one every night I don't slow down, I don't look twice And I've never got it right CHORUS Somebody's up behind that curtain And I'm never going to know I could knock and I could ask and I'd be certain So I don't, and I go VERSE 2 Maybe it's a man who can't sleep Maybe it's a kid Maybe it's a bulb somebody left And nobody ever did CHORUS Somebody's up behind that curtain And I'm never going to know I could knock and I could ask and I'd be certain So I don't, and I go BRIDGE I've been wondering about that room for years And I've been wandering right past I could have had the answer any night I like it better as a light VERSE 3 I drove past it again last night Still burning, same as ever One of these days it's going to go out And I'll drive past it forever FINAL CHORUS Somebody's up behind that curtain And I'm never going to know I could knock and I could ask and I'd be certain So I don't OUTRO Somebody's up Somebody's up I could go and find out And somebody's up