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The Usual lyrics

Rough and Rocky

Zipped up the bag, sealed the box

Closed the door and clicked the lock

Dropped the keys into the slot

Miles stretched before me

My possessions there to warn me

I’m all I’ve got

 Rollin’ through the heartland

‘Til the highway turned to quicksand

Sinking into the night

Got as far as Cleveland

Gassed up, left believing

I’d soon see the light

I would see the light

Lay me down lay me on the ground to sleep

Wake me up take me where I will not weep

 

My GPS won’t confess

That it’s got me in this mess

Keeps telling me to take a right

I’ve always swayed towards the left

Never made a move that was deft

Just steered clear with all my might

Sun and sleet, heat and snow

Doesn’t seem to matter where I go

I’m tossed like a log on rough seas

If I’ve come this far the hard way

I hope that means a better day

Lays in store for me

Is waiting somewhere for me

 

Lay me down lay me on the ground to sleep

Wake me up take me where I will not weep

 

Climbed the stairs, propped open the door

Stacked the boxes on the floor

Stared across the room

Another temporary home

Always been on the roam

Since I left the womb

The rode is rough and rocky

I’m walkin’ it talkin’ to myself

Sayin’ “just around the bend”

But the more I travel down it

There are things I’ve never found and it

Never seems to end

Never seems to end

 

Forget Everything You’ve Learned

She will do what she has to do

She will go where she wants to go

And you can’t stand in her way

She will say what she has to say

She will take all the time she needs

And you must sit and wait

 

The sad old story unfolds

As page after page is turned

And once the tale is told

Close the book and forget everything you’ve learned

 

If she cries, you cannot dry her eyes

If she falls, you must walk on by

There is nothing you can do

She will be who she has to be

She will see who she wants to see

You must accept the truth

 

The sad old story unfolds

As page after page is turned

And once the tale is told

Close the book and forget everything you’ve learned

 

She will head out on her own

She will spend some nights alone

And you must do the same

When you think of all you had

And those thoughts, they leave you sad

Just remember, there is no blame

 

The sad old story unfolds

As page after page is turned

And once the tale is told

Close the book and forget everything you’ve learned

 

Thursday Night Is Alright 

These days I carry a heavy load

Damn near breaks my back, leaves me feelin’ old

Try my best to get along

Don’t get much rest – still I try to stay strong

 I do things each and every day

Just for myself, to let me know that I’m ok

I go out with some friends of mine

Once a week we have a pretty good time

 

Thursday Night is alright

I smile for awhile before the night is through

Then Friday comes & I come undone

& I don’t know what to do

 

There were days so carefree

There were nights of seeming ecstasy

That all seems so long ago

So far away from what I now know

While I wait for things to turn around

While I wait for the answers to be found

I turn the only way I can

I embrace my friends, grab a helping hand

 

Thursday Night is alright

I’m not sour for an hour or two

Then Friday comes and I come undone

And I don’t know what I’m gonna do

 

There Will Come A Day

Deep in the night

We try to close our eyes

We can’t see what’s right

Our hearts are paralyzed

Draped on a bed of doubt

Never sure of what we want

The things we don’t talk about

Will return to haunt

 

Oh my sweet baby

You say “come what may”

Oh pretty baby

There will come a day

 

We live with no regard

For what we held dear

The past seems so scarred

The future so pure

 

Oh my sweet baby

You say “come what may”

But Oh pretty baby

There will come a day

 

As dawn ascends

There is still the pain

Of wounds that won’t heal

And the sorrow that remains

Oh my sweet baby

Still you say “come what may”

But Oh pretty baby

There will come a day

 

High

Pixilated

Creased and faded

But still smiling back at me

A wish only

To have known you

Maybe I will eventually

 

When the colors blaze

Turn pure white

Like the stars in the night

Way up high

 

Wind blowing

Water flowing

Rising only to descend

Our time together

I wanted forever

Together to transcend

 

The colors collide

Turn pure white

Like the snowing flying

From the sky

 

As I ramble

I sometimes wonder

Who has wandered here before

A kindred spirits

On the same road

Walking through the same door

 

The colors flame

Turn pure while

The light of day

Blinds my eye

The colors collide

Turn pure white

Like the snowing flying

From the sky

When the colors blaze

Turn pure white

Like the stars in the night

Way up high

 

I Want It Now

 I don’t want to wait

Can’t hesitate

Got too much layin’ on the line

If we debate

it’s gonna be too late

Don’t need to wait for a sign

 

Feels like it’s been a lifetime

Just about to lose my mind

I want it now

 

Gotta keep moving

Don’t have to stop and prove

I mean what I say and what I do

If you think too much about it

That’s when you start to doubt (it)

And you might as well say you’re through

 

Feels like it’s been a lifetime

Just about to lose my mind

I want it now

 

This train will soon be rollin’

Listen to that whistle blowin’

Gonna drive through the heart of the night

Happiness the destination

Will leave you at the station

If you can’t handle the ride

 

Ain’t gonna spend my lifetime

Just about to lose my mind

I want it now

 

City of Angles 

The Devils hunch across the bay

The Angels fly out in LA

I get cut when I go play

In the City of Angles

Lines are drawn, then intersected

Truth is told and then rejected

Common sense is neglected

In the City of Angles

 

Horizontal ways and vertical means

Cigarette butts and magazines

Hiss and hum of a million machines

In the city of Angles

Underneath a flat-top hedge

A jagged fence with a rusty edge

A bird of prey perched on a ledge

In the city of Angles

 

Times Square hypotenuse

The main commodity is abuse

There’s no shame and no excuse

In the City of Angles

Many ways of escalation

Many forms of elevation

Dubious anticipation

In the City of Angles

 

Taxi, truck, train wheels spinning ‘round

Manhole covers steamin’ on the ground

Sirens makin’ that circular sound

In the City of Angles

The Devils hunch across the bay

The Angels fly out in LA

I get cut when I play

So just leave me

Bleeding on Broadway

 

Mother Nature’s Son 

Black to white

Been a hard day’s night

Down the long and winding road

Where it goes, only tomorrow knows

They said “All you need is love”

All I needed was a sequined glove

And a little help from my friends

 

I bought a ticket to ride

Everybody’s got something to hide

They said “you got to carry that weight,

Hey and Hide your love away”

Twenty years ago today

I took some pills and was on my way

Just me and the paparazzi

 

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

Time to let me be

 

I loved my family

I tried to act naturally

I ended up with my nurse

As I spread across the universe

Looking down on Neverland

I could never be a nowhere man

But at least now you won’t see me

 

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

Time to let me be

 

In Plain Sight

He got up in the morning and he put on his pants

Stood at the window staring at his second chance

They let him out in April, 12 years in the can

More than enough to break a man

 

He didn’t know what happened, it was all a blur

The judge said “guilty”, that much was for sure

In general population, trying to figure out the frame

Doing all he could to clear his name

 

Now he’s hiding in plain sight

His mama’s crying that he’s alright

He’s still fighting for his life

There hiding in plain sight

 

When he heard the news that the evidence was wrong

He just kept singing that Merle Haggard song

“I’m a branded man, out in the cold”

He went in young and he left there old

 

He’s hiding in plain sight

His mama’s crying that he’s alright

He’s still fighting for his life

There hiding in plain sight

 

All men are guilty, some get away

Some are left to count the days

When the fog of time finally clears

How do you pay back a man for the lost years

 

You leave him hiding in plain sight

With his mama’s crying that he’s alright

He’s still fighting for his life

There hiding in plain sight

There hiding in plain sight

  

You

Baby, I’ve had this feeling

For a long long time

Some nights it sends me reeling

And I can’t control my mind

I think about what it would be

To be with you, with you

 

There’s no way of knowing

What the heart will do

It tries to keep from showing

What it knows is true

And the truth is I may well be

Without you, without you

 

Leaves are blowing

Across a cold November sky

Voices are calling

Is it hello or goodbye

I try to leave behind the thought

Of you, of you

But I can’t deny

You, deny you

 

Baby, I’ll have this feeling

For a long long time

  

The Way The Wind Blows

By the bridge

The water’s edge

We sat down

On a ledge

Watched the sun

Kiss the sea

Shorebirds cried

I touched your knee

 

Caught in the ebb and flow

Lost in the way the wind blows

 

Darkness came

So we turned

Faced a flame

That slowly burned

Gentle rain

In the night

We let go

With all our might

 

Caught in the ebb and flow

Lost in the way the wind blows

 

Down along

The harbor line

I was yours

You were mine

Then the flood

Swept away

What we had

That Summer day

 

Happy Man

Swinging sweet to the band

Dancin’til damn near dawn

We held hands

As we walked along the boulevard

No heavy conversation

Just the beauty of the night and you

If you told me right there right then

That my days were through

I would’ve died a happy man

 

Had no expectations

Didn’t know what lay in store

Sudden explanation

When you walked through the door

Groovin’ to the music

So easy and so free

Hadn’t felt that way in a long long time

And it reminded me

I could be a happy man

I could be a happy man

 

Flagged you down a cab

Searched for something to say

Hard to let you go

But I knew it had to be that way

Some day, sometime

When we will meet again

Now I really don’t mind

Waiting until then

‘cause then I’ll be a happy man

I will be a happy man

 

New Day

Time flies, years glide by

Still the memory won’t fade

Sitting on your Daddy’s shoulders in the Spring

Watching a parade

He can’t hold you up anymore

Like he used to do

Now your shoulders ache and your spirit breaks

But darlin’, you’re not through

 

You’ve got to keep moving

It’s the only way

To reach a new day

 

Mama carried on, cared for you

And did the best she could

She taught you how to live, how to give

How to cherish was is good

You thought she’d be around

To see you a lot farther down the line

Now she’s gone and it feels wrong

Regardless of divine design

 

Go on and grieve

But always believe

There will be a new day

 

Face the cold hard world

Brace for failure as you make it on your own

Wake up, shake the fear off, take a deep breath

Step into the unknown

But you ain’t exactly flyin’ blind

‘Cause there are voices that will guide

Let them lead you when you need to

When you hear them, there your strength will abide

 

You’ve got to keep moving

There’s no other way

To find a new day

 

I Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through

My treasures and my hopes are all beyond the blue

Where many friends and kin have gone on before

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

 

Over in Glory land, there is no dying there

The saints are shouting victory and singing everywhere

I hear the voice of them that I have heard before

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

 

Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you

If heaven’s not my home, oh, lord, what would I do

Angels beckon me to that golden door

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

 

Heaven’s expecting me, that’s one thing I know

I fixed it up with Jesus a long time ago

He will take me through though I am weak and poor

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

 

Oh, I have a loving mother over in Glory land

I don’t expect to stop until I kiss her hand

She’s gone on before, just waiting at heaven’s door

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

 

Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you

If heaven’s not my home, oh, lord, what would I do

Angels beckon me to that golden door

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore