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I've got my shoes on, baby I'm heading out the door Change in my pocket You won't see me anymore
And if I've been a burden I will lighten your load If I've been a burden I'll walk on down that road
When we first met you looked a little sad I gave you my loving, gave you all I had But as time passed that look came back to your eye As time passed that look was saying goodbye
They say life's a highway but they won't say where it goes I think I know by now, that's why I walk real slow And once in a while when I find a place to rest I try to bring a smile, I try my very best
Picked tobacco in Tillsonburg Laid track in The Pas I’ve been a logger and a bedspread cutter Step ahead of the law
I’ve always been a loner And I see you are a loner too I’ve always been a loner I’d like to be alone with you
I could have been a lawyer Raking in piles of dough But I preferred living by my own code So the dough came in slow
I lived in a room so small Even the mice looked tall Roaches in the ashtrays In the sink and in the walls
I see you every day in the same café Typing on your iPad You sit alone and drink a cup of coffee You look a little sad
I see you are a loner And I’m a loner too I’ve always been a loner I’d like to be alone with you
I’ll miss the mountains I’ll miss the plains I’ll miss the sunlight I’ll miss the rain But of all the beauty earth can boast Honey, it’s you I’ll miss the most
Honey, when I finally give up the ghost It’s you I’ll miss the most When I’m singing with the heavenly host It’s you I’ll miss the most
I’ll miss the summer and the cool of our lakes I’ll miss the winter and the heat our loving makes I’ll miss the ocean, I’ll miss the coast But, honey, it’s you I’ll miss the most
When I stumble, when I fall It’s you I’ll miss most of all
I’ll miss the house, I’ll miss the car I’ll miss the bed where we came as we are I’ll miss the mornings of talk and toast But, honey, it’s you I’ll miss the most
“As tu de beurre?” “Mais oui,” je dit. I pass her the butter and she sits down with me We’re in a small cafė on Rue St. Denis We’re talkin’ joual and I know what she means
Talkin’ joual in Montreal Singin’ “Mon Pays” and the blues Tearin’ down the walls of our solitude If only she’d been lonely too
On a soap box stage a chansonnier Chante un chanson de Claude Leveillé She tells me her name is Marie-France And after a while we dance to Georges Brassens
Back in her room she plays Charlebois The words to “Lindbergh” fill me with awe And I fall into a dream as I lay back on her bed Mais pourquoi faut-il que ce n’est qu’un rêve?
Un pays compris de nous deux Tu peut le voir dans mes yeux I had a dream, it’s coming true One country for me and you
My name’s John Hornby, I live in the Barren Lands Far from the city, from civilised man They made me use my gun during World War One Now I walk alone, I watch the river run
Call me crazy or don’t call me at all You can keep your Charleston, I’d rather crawl Three miles around a lake to eat the last of my bait Dragging my frozen leg until it doesn’t ache
And I wish to God I’d never seen this country Whose beauty can steal your very soul It’s a land of feast or famine Where I starved before I froze
What some men suffer for the sake of fame I did for nothing, just to keep me sane Back to my cabin, to boil a pot of snow Then back to my traps again because you never know
I’d rather take my life than bring our world of strife To here where the candle light cuts the dark like a knife
Sun on the ocean, the world’s a blur He may be watching but you can’t be sure The moon’s rivers are cold and dry When lovers part there are tears in their eyes
Oh, lonely, so lonely Ah, what a shame Oh, lonely, so lonely That’s love by another name
Dog’s in the manger, the cat’s a stray Looked like such a good time for the mice to play Too bad, baby, someone found out You hear him whisper but you see him shout
Moon on the water, wind in the trees A man’s cologne is on the breeze You close your windows, you shut your door You hear his footsteps coming back for more
I’ve been dissed, I’ve been disowned I’ve been dismissed and I’ve been alone I’ve been blinded by the light So when I left I thought I’d be all right
Aw, give me one more chance Next time around, I’ll learn how to dance To your tune I’ll get down on my knees and I’ll worship you I’ll do anything you want me to do Aw, give me one more chance
Give me your word and I’ll give you my voice Show me the way and I’ll make that choice Tell me to suffer and you’ll hear my cry I got no excuse, I got alibi
Looking up at a cloudless sky I wish you could tell me the reason why And staring back from empty space I wish you could whisper your hiding place
And give me one more chance Give me a second chance Give me another chance
I was born when the war was news Hiroshima, Nagasaki too Burning bodies, six million Jews I was four for the Korean War I was a man for Viet Nam And that's the story of how my life began
So I got married, and had a kid I was hoping I'd be rid Of that unsettled feeling in everything I did But I was wrong, the marriage didn't last very long Unlike the fear we had of the atom bomb And that's the story of how my life drifted
And then there were other lovers and other fears When we parted, not a tear Like the Soviet Union, I just disappeared But times have changed and so have I Now there’s other wars for other guys And that’s the story of how my life shifted
I made some choices I’d never choose It took twenty years but I paid my dues I met a good woman and she healed my bruise And looking back on all those bombs and guns The best thing I ever did was I stuck by someone And that's the story of how my life goes on
There’s my house so white and my willow tree I used to climb out my window and down it when I had to get free There’s my yellow dog and my calico cat in the sky And there’s my mommy and my daddy, and there am I
There’s my favourite field and my favourite creek We were pirates every summer and we sailed it when we had to get free There’s my gang of friends, you see they’re waving goodbye And there’s my mommy and my daddy, and there am I
There’s my dad and me walking down the street He puts his hand on my shoulder and he tells me he’s got to get free He’s a poet, you see, and poets can’t live a lie I say I understand, and then I cry
There’s my mom There’s my dad Best I ever had
Well, my mom’s an artist, she tells me to paint what I see So I draw my white house and my willow tree And though the people are sticks and the colour runs outside the lines There’s my mommy and my daddy, and there am I
He knew the danger Of talking too quickly of love Yet he’d tell a stranger The stranger had hated enough
And he tried to find the best in mankind Even when we played rough Maybe that’s why we spilled his blood on a hill And sent him home on the wings of a dove
By the sweat on his brow By the dust in his mouth By the way that he cried out loud I know he cried for us I know he cried for us
Born in a manger A rabbi who worked with his hands He was the changer Who gave us all a chance
But when we heard his beautiful word Some of us said that’s too tough Maybe that’s why we spilled his blood on a hill And sent him home on the wings of a dove
By the sun in his eyes By the flies on his skin By the way he died for us I know he lives within I know he lives within
I’ve got the blues, I’ve got them bad I’ve got the blues, worst I’ve ever had If these blues don’t kill me Gonna drive me mad
When I was young, women knocking down my door When I was young, I could hardly keep score Ah, but now that I’m old They don’t want me no more
When the sun shines, future’s bright and bold When the sun shines, streets are paved with gold Ah, but the sun don’t shine When you’re grey and old
The gift of life is like a parking sign It’s a gift all right, but there’s a hell of a fine If you stay too long Why, you wind up dying
At the end of the road there’s a muddy ditch There’s a pile of trash and a rusted fridge There’s a river flowing by But there ain’t no bridge