Drunkard’s Walk by J.D. Hutchison (J.D. Hutchison Music Publishing / BMI)

Tell me brother tell me, it’s so hard to understand
Why you forsake your life to be a drunken-hearted man
A drunken-hearted man

High life and demon alcohol have ruined many men
Oh tell me my brother, would you be one of them
Would you be one of them

Your family that loves you, prays for you day and night
You treat them like a stranger and shun their good advice
And shun their good advice

Your mouth is full of promises, just so much empty talk
Your heart is with the bottle and the lonesome drunkard’s walk
The lonesome drunkard’s walk

When this earthly span has ended, then each must walk alone
To enter darker regions or rise to worlds unknown
Or rise to worlds unknown

High life and demon alcohol have ruined many men
Oh tell me my brother, would you be one of them
Would you be one of them

Hop Down Reel / Johnny Doherty’s Reel – 2:55 – Trad arr Tim O’Brien (No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP)

Beyond Tim O’Brien and Shawn Camp (No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / Camp Family Music / BMI)

Take my hand and we will go - beyond
What we’ll find we cannot know - beyond
Somewhere up around the bend
We might meet our maker then
We could find the rainbow’s end - beyond

Beyond - together we will ride
On angel wings across the great divide
Through the belly of the beast
Beyond the deserts and the seas
We will find eternal peace – beyond

Over on that other side – beyond
We can dry the tears we cried – beyond
In that distant promised land
Gonna shake the maker’s hand
Home of all immortal man – beyond

Beyond - together we will ride
On angel wings across the great divide
Through the belly of the beast
Beyond the deserts and the seas
We will find eternal peace – beyond

We cannot see it with our eyes – beyond
But my heart pulls me and it cries – beyond
I have a feeling in my soul
All the answers will unfold
We will see the ages roll – beyond

Beyond - together we will ride
On angel wings across the great divide
Through the belly of the beast
Beyond the deserts and the seas
We will find eternal peace – beyond

Through the belly of the beast
Beyond the deserts and the seas
We will find eternal peace – beyond
Beyond, beyond

Pastures of Plenty – Woody Guthrie (Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc / TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc / BMI)

It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed
My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road
Out of your Dust Bowl and westward we rolled
And your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold

I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes
I slept on the ground in the light of the moon
On the edge of the city you'll see us and then
We come with the dust and we go with the wind

California, Arizona, I harvest your crops
It’s North up to Oregon to gather your hops
Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine
To set on your table your light sparkling wine

Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground
From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down
Every state in the Union us migrants have been
We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win

It's always we rambled, that river and I
All along your green valley, I will work till I die
My land I'll defend with my life if it be
Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free

La Gringa Renee – 4:29 - Tim O’Brien (No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP)

Last Train From Poor Valley – Norman Blake (Act One Music Co Inc / BMI)

It was good one time, every thing was mighty fine
The coal tipples roared day and night
But things they got slow for no reason that I know
And the ill winds they hove into sight

The mines they all closed down, everybody just laid around
There wasn’t very much that you could do
Except stand in that line, get your ration scrip on time
Woman I could see it killin’ you

Now the soft new snows of December
Lightly fall my cabin round
Saw that last train from Poor Valley
Takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound

It’s been comin’ on, soon you would be gone
Leavin’ crossed your mind every day
Then you said to me, things are bad back home you see
I guess I’d better be on my way

Now the soft new snows of December
Lightly fall my cabin round
Saw that last train from Poor Valley
Takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound

I should blame you now but I never could somehow
A miner’s wife you weren’t cut out to be
It wasn’t what you thought, just some dream, Lord, you bought
When you left home and ran away with me

Now the soft new snows of December
Lightly fall my cabin round
Saw that last train from Poor Valley
Takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound
It was that last train from Poor Valley
Takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound

Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers / Interior Music Corp / BMI

Grandma’s hands clapped in church on Sunday morning
Grandma’s hands played a tambourine so well
Grandma’s hands used to issue out a warning
She’d say
Billy don’t you run so fast
Might fall on a piece of glass
Might be snakes there in that grass
Grandma’s hands

Grandma’s hands soothed a local unwed mother
Grandma’s hands used to ache sometimes and swell
Grandma’s hands used to lift her face and tell her, she’d say
Baby grandma understands
That you really love that man
Put yourself in Jesus’ hands
Grandma’s hands

Grandma’s hands used to hand me piece of candy’
Grandma’s hands picked me up each time I fell
Grandma’s hands boy they really came in handy, she’d say
Matty don’t you whip that boy
What you want to spank him for
He didn’t drop no apple core
But I don’t have grandma anymore
If I get to heaven I’ll look for my grandma’s hands

Where the River Meets the Road by Tim O'Brien / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

I came here from Ireland by way of Baltimore
I rode the train one hundred miles and and I walked one hundred more
I could smell the smoke a-pourin’ off those iron mills
Before I even saw the town from the top of Wheeling hill

Where the river meets the road, where the river meets the road
On the eastern bank of the Ohio, where the river meets the road

They’ve grown this town by leaps and bounds
Since they built that Cumberland road
The railroad came in fifty-three and they’re pushin’ on I’m told
They built a big old iron bridge that faces to the west
But I stayed here for a job of work, I think it worked out best

Where the river meets the road, where the river meets the road
On the eastern bank of the Ohio, where the river meets the road

I met a lass at Sunday Mass, she was singin’ in the choir
Her father worked as a blacksmith, with a bellows, hammer and fire
I started out as a roustabout, at night my back would throb
But I made a plan and I won her hand when I got my scrivener’s job

I tithe to church, I pay my bills and send the rest back home
I put roots down in Wheeling town and never more will roam
We’re raisin’ sons and daughters now, for them I will provide
I’ll teach them how to read and write and to walk these streets with pride

Where the river meets the road, where the river meets the road
On the eastern bank of the Ohio, where the river meets the road

When The Mist Clears Away by Larry Groce / Camp Run Publishing / ASCAP

The other morning at the sunrise
When the mist is on the hills and all around
I saw a beautiful grey haired woman
On the road as I drove into town
Well I pulled over and I asked her
If I could give her a lift upon her way
She said no thank you I’m almost home now
I’ll be alright when the mist clears away

Let the sunlight break through the darkness
And let the night turn to beautiful day
Don’t let the shadows turn into mountains
You’ll be all right when the mist clears away

The other evening long past the sundown
When the neon lights are flashing in the night
I saw a young man sit on a door step
That man was a pitiful sight
His eyes were bloodshot, his hands were trembling
I hesitated as I thought I heard him say
I know you lose some, I hope you win some
You’ll be alright when the mist clears away

I’ve been lonely, I’ve been angry
Sometimes I don’t know just which way to turn
I’ve been lazy, I’ve been jealous
Sometimes you know I think I’ll never learn
But deep inside me if I listen
There’s a tiny voice that always seems to say
Don’t be mistaken you’re not forsaken
You’ll be alright when the mist clears away

Let the sunlight break through the darkness
And let the night turn to beautiful day
Don’t let the shadows turn into mountains
You’ll be all right when the mist clears away

My Old Brown Coat And Me / Traditional arrangement Doc Williams / Altoona Music

Oh, the moon is out, the stars are bright, the larks are singin' free
Come listen while I sing about my old brown coat and me
I lived upon my father's farm til I was twenty-one
I took a farm then of my own and a man's life begun

I fell in love with Mary Brade, her father owned a store
There never was a girl beloved so tenderly before
But Mary Brade was very proud and haughty as could be
She 'oft times said that she'd never wed my old brown coat and me

I did not stop to plead the case for pleading was in vain;
I bade adieu to Mary Brade, never saw her face again
There's forty summers over my head, there's riches in my store;
My children play out on the green, my wife stands in the door
I've land enough, I've money enough, I've houses tall and high
There's not a squire in all the land can wear such clothes as I

Now, Mary Brade was very proud, she was haughty as could be
She was wedded to a lawyer's son who's name was Joe Talle
He wore a coat all shiny black, he looked so very grand
And Mary fancied he would make a noble and true man
Now, Mary's husband, he became a pirate on the sea
She 'oft times said, she'd wished she'd wed my old brown coat and me

Now, girls, when you are caused to choose the like that bends the knee
Then count the fate of Mary Brade, my old brown coat and me
Remember that an old brown coat, though not so very grand
Can cover up as warm a heart as any in the land

Windy Mountain by Curly Ray Cline / Unichappell Music Inc / BMI

Oh, how I’d like to be upon a windy mountain
Where the tree tops scrape the sky
Then I would forget all my worries and my troubles
I’ll just let the wind blow them by

How I love the sound of the wind when it’s howlin
Oh it blows my blues away
Makes me forget the girl that I’m lovin
Lets me forget until another day

How I’d like to be upon a windy mountain
Where the tree tops scrape the sky
There I would forget all my worries and my troubles
I’ll just let the wind blow them by

Let me hear the leaves on the trees when they are singing
Just a moment of relief is all care
For I’ve got no sorrow, heartache or sadness
As long as I can see the trees that sway

How I’d like to be upon a windy mountain
Where the tree tops scrape the sky
Then I would forget all my worries and my troubles
I’ll just let the wind blow them by

Oh friends bury me a way up on the mountain
Where that old wind will always blow
For I want to rest alone on a mountain
With the howlin wind that I love so

Tell my old lover in case you should see her
Just how much I love her she’ll never know
And that I’ve gone to rest away upon the mountain
Where the howling wind will always blow

How I’d like to be upon a windy mountain
Where the tree tops scrape the sky
There I would forget all my worries and my troubles
I’ll just let the wind blow them by

A Mountaineer Is Always Free - Tim O’Brien and Pierce Pettis / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / PolyGram International Publishing Inc / ASCAP

I’m one of the few, proud to be standing
I walked up the pier from the coffin ships landing
My clothes were just rags, no use in this weather
But my back was strong, my hands tough as leather

I climbed these hills ‘til I came to the spot where I stand
I cleared these fields and I pulled up the stumps with my hands
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

Took a Cherokee bride, she gave me five babies
I sang at the wakes I cried at the weddings
I taught all my children the songs of my youth
To dance to the fiddle and practice the truth

I carried them up on my shoulders to where they could see
The whole world before them just so they would know what it means
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

No kings and no landlords to treat us like beggars and thieves
There’s no one but God here to fear or to look down on me
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

– A Mountaineer Is Always Free – was co-written with Alabama singer songwriter Pierce Pettis, and it speaks of the immigrant’s pride in making a home and family in the new world. Pierce’s brain was firing away, and as he riffed ideas and I wrote them down and changed a few to make them rhyme. He remembered that the seal of the state of West Virginia contains the Latin – Montani Semper Liberi – and said excitedly, “There’s your song title.” This track is one of several featuring the bass of Viktor Krauss and the guitar of Darrell Scott, who at that point was my regular touring partner. Seamus Egan added low whistles

Into the West - Danny O’Keefe / Bicameral Songs, administered by Wild Rider Music / BMI

Like wild geese we all have flown
Those ancient lands we once called home
So many mother’s only sons
So many lover’s only ones
Gone away like all the rest
To find our fortunes in the west

Still a fire will always burn
A voice in the heart that cries return
Those emerald hills so far away
Will haunt us back again some day

The river’s long, the water’s wide
The west begins on the other side
Put a skip in your step now
Dry a tear from your eye
Turn around and wave goodbye
Brave the currents of time and tide
Till you’re safe on the other side
It’s a wild dream that never rests
It calls us all into the west

What takes us into mystery
We leave behind to history
Like every sun that rose at dawn
Into the west we all have gone

Still a fire will always burn
A voice in the heart that cries return
Those emerald hills so far away
Will haunt us back again some day

The river’s long, the water’s wide
The west begins on the other side
Put a skip in your step now
Dry a tear from your eye
Turn around and wave goodbye
Brave the currents of time and tide
Till you’re safe on the other side
It’s a wild dream that never rests
It calls us all into the west

- The great Danny O’Keefe wrote Into the West. In many cultures including the Irish, the notion of going to the west, like the setting sun, signifies death. In the case of the famine era Irish, those that remained home would hold a “wake” for those about to emigrate. It was an extreme formal goodbye, as most would not return in their lifetime, and they were symbolically dying to their home community with their departure. Danny’s beautiful lyric and wistful music really grab the emotions.

Down In the Willow Garden - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP

Down in the willow garden
Where me and my true love did meet
It was there we went a courting
My love fell off to sleep
I had a bottle of burgundy wine
My true love she did not know
It was there I murdered that dear little girl
Down on the banks below

I drew my saber through her
It was a bloody knife
I threw her into the river
It was an awful sight
My father often told me
That money would set me free
If I’d but murder that dear little girl
Whose name was Rose Connolly

Now he stands at his cabin door
Wiping his tear dimmed eye
Gazing on his own dear son
Upon the gallows high
My race is run beneath the sun
The devil is waiting for me
For I did murder that dear little girl
Whose name was Rose Connolly

-Paul Brady leads the vocal into some serious Irish ornamentation on the murder ballad Down In the Willow Garden. I studied his part, singing along in the car, for a couple months before trying to add my harmony part.

Lost Little Children
©1998 Tim O’Brien, Robin and Linda Williams
Songs of Dixie/BMI/Howdy Skies Music/Universal Music Corp /ASCAP

Where are my mama and daddy
They came a long time before me
Now we’ve come on the steamship Atlantic
From our home far across the stormy sea
I have their letter in my pocket
They said we would meet on the pier
But the day it is now almost over
With the darkness and cold drawing near

Will they know their lost little children
As they look for my face in the crowd
It’s been so long since they’ve seen me
And I wonder if they’ll know me now

We gave them our four pounds and twenty
One last look at the green rocky shore
They told us the new world has plenty
But we’d never see Sligo anymore

Will they know their lost little children
As they look for my face in the crowd
It’s been so long since they’ve seen me
And I wonder if they’ll know me now

Hold to my hand little brother
Be brave and try not to cry
We have a good father and mother
And soon we’ll be safe by their side

Will they know their lost little children
As they look for my face in the crowd
It’s been so long since they’ve seen me
And I wonder if they’ll know me now
(Repeat chorus)

-The entire Altan band, plus bass hero Todd Phillips, and my sister Mollie O’Brien accompanied me on Lost Little Children. That song was co-written with old friends and fine musicians Robin and Linda Williams about unaccompanied children arriving on American shores. Todd Phillips and Kelly Joe Phelps join me on John Riley, written with Texas songwriting icon Guy Clark about a little known chapter in American history.

John Riley - Tim O’Brien and Guy Clark
Howdy Skies Music/Forerunner Music, Inc./EMI/April/ASCAP

John Riley came from Galway town in the years of the Irish hunger
And he sailed away to America when the country was much younger
The place was strange and work was scarce and all he knew was farming
So he followed his other Irish friends to a job in the US Army

Adventure calls and some men run, and this is their sad story
Some get drunk on demon rum and some get drunk on glory

They marched down Texas way to the banks of the Rio Grande
They built a fort on the banks above to taunt old Santa Anna
They were treated bad, paid worse, and then the fighting started
The more they fought the less they thought of the damned old US Army

Adventure calls and some men run, and this is their sad story
Some get drunk on demon rum and some get drunk on glory

When the church bells rang on Sunday morn it set his soul a shiver
He saw the Senoritas washing’ their hair on the far side of the river
John Riley and two hundred more Irish mercenaries
Cast their lot, right or not, south of the Rio Grande

Adventure calls and some men run, and this is their sad story
Some get drunk on demon rum and some get drunk on glory

They fought bravely under the flag of the San Patricios
Till the Yankees soldiers beat them down at the battle of Churubusco
Then fifteen men were whipped like mules
And on the cheeks were hot iron branded
Made to dig the graves of fifty more, who a hanging fate had handed

Adventure calls and some men run, and this is their sad story
Some get drunk on demon rum and some get drunk on glory

John Riley stands and drinks alone at a bar in Vera Cruz
He wonders if it matters much if you win or if you lose
“I’m a man who can’t go home, a vagabond”, says he
“A victim of some wanderlust and divided loyalty”

Adventure calls and some men run, and this is their sad story
Some get drunk on demon rum and some get drunk on glory

-Todd Phillips and Kelly Joe Phelps join me on John Riley, written with Texas songwriting icon Guy Clark about a little known chapter in American history.

Lord McDonald / Cumberland Gap - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP. Frankie Gavin: fiddle; Tim O’Brien: mandolin; Earl Scruggs: banjo

-When I made a wish list of collaborators for this project, Earl Scruggs’s name came up. I had met Earl and his wife Louise a few times and felt bold enough to ask him. I called the Scrugg’s home phone, and Louise answered the phone. If you know Louise, you know she’s nearly all business. She asked what I wanted and I told her I hoped Earl might play on a track. She then asked, “What song?” I told her Soldiers Joy or Leather Britches (two tunes Earl had recorded with the Foggy Mountain Boys. She said, “Just a minute” and left me on hold, coming back a minute or so later. “Earl says he can’t play a solo on Leather Britches.” We scheduled a session and I was nervous to play not only with Scruggs but also with one of the very finest of Irish fiddlers, Frankie Gavin. Akira suggested we make it a medley of Lord McDonald (called Leather Britches in America) with Cumberland Gap, one of Earl’s classics.

The Ribbon In Your Hair – Tim O’Brien and Craig Fuller / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP / Cuchulainn Music/ BMI

Strollin’ on the strand one day, back in the fall of ‘49
The sun was sinkin’ in the west when somethin’ caught my eye
And through the dim and misty light I saw the ribbon in your hair
As you turned around I found true love then and there

We never even met that day, fate kept you and I apart
And though I traveled far and wide your vision filled my heart
Through the dark and stormy nights deep inside I always knew
I’d find the path that would lead me back to you

Now as I behold your bright eyes smilin’ back at me
It’s as if by fate’s decree that we have this love to share
You only have to take my hand to take me back in time
To the picture in my mind and the way the twilight shined upon
The ribbon in your hair

Now our home’s a holy place bathed in love’s abiding light
It warms my heart to hear you tell me how it feels so right
And may all lovers be like us and never rest until they find
The lasting love that can bring true piece of mind

Now as I behold your bright eyes smilin’ back at me
It’s as if by fate’s decree that we have this love to share
You only have to take my hand to take me back in time
To the picture in my mind and the way the twilight shined upon
The ribbon in your hair

-The Ribbon In Your Hair started as a story that flute player Joanie Madden told me, and morphed into a love song when I met Craig Fuller to co-write a song for this project. Craig was new to Nashville at the time, known to me as the singer with Pure Prairie League, and later with Little Feat. It became another vocal duet, this one with the powerful Maura O’Connell from Ennis, County Clare.

Wandering - Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP

My pathway leads into the west
They say it never really ends
These legs of mine weren’t made to rest
I let them take me where they send me wandering
As long as I remember I’ve been wandering
January to December I go wandering

No one asks the wind to blow
No one tells a bird to fly
No one tells me when to go
I don’t need a reason why I’m wanderin’
As long as I remember I’ve been wandering
January to December I go wandering

A hundred fifty years ago
The famine pushed us off the land
Now we live beside the road
You’ll see us in our caravans wandering
As long as I remember I’ve been wandering
January to December I go wandering

This life I lead is in my blood
It’s not for me to understand
There isn’t much I want to own
Take what I will, where I can, I’m wanderin’
As long as I remember I’ve been wandering
January to December wandering

My pathway leads into the west
They say it never really ends
These legs of mine weren’t made to rest
I let them take me where they send me wandering
As long as I remember I’ve been wandering
January to December I go wandering
Wanna know where I’ve been, I’m wandering

-Some of the most vital traditional Irish music comes from Irish Travelers, with the Doran, Fury, and Keenan families well represented. This subset of Irish culture is known for the buying and selling of horses, for their expertise in mending pots (hence their being called “tinkers”), and for continuing the oral traditions of old Ireland. I wrote Wandering one early morning at Ron Kavana’s house in London in their honor.

Nervous
Songwriter : Tim O'Brien
No Bad Ham Music, Admin by Bluewater Music, ASCAP

I get nervous about the guy in the next lane
Luggage space on the plane, about the bills I have to pay
How long the guests will stay, I’m nervous
I’ll get hungry when I’m walkin’ on the street
There’s nothing safe to eat, if I count my calories
It brings me to my knees

I’m nervous, I got a whole new kind of need
So nervous, better check my social feed
I watch TV on my phone, I’m afraid to be alone, I’m nervous

In this new world they say digital is best
But I need to take a rest, I just can’t find the fun
In all the zeros and the ones, I’m nervous
Every two minutes stuff pops up on my screen
I wonder what it means, ten times too much news
They’re tryin’ to confuse me

I’m nervous, I got a whole new kind of need
So nervous, better check my social feed
I watch TV on my phone, I’m afraid to be alone, I’m nervous

I’m nervous when I go out on a run
I can’t conceal my gun, they say this land is free
But they’re takin’ aim at me, I’m nervous
I’m just saying, I’m sick of POTUS tweets
Wish he’d be more discrete, just who is in control
Him or some Facebook troll

I’m nervous, I got a whole new kind of need
So nervous, better check my social feed
I watch TV on my phone, I’m afraid to be alone
I’m nervous, I got a whole new kind of need
So nervous, better check my social feed
I watch TV on my phone, I’m afraid to be alone
I’m nervous

Can You See Me, Sister?
Songwriter : Tim O'Brien
No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music, ASCAP

Spoken intro:
Some years after the death of his wife, Thomas Jefferson took his slave Sally Hemings as his consort. She had several children by Jefferson, and all those who survived were eventually granted their freedom. One of the younger sons, Madison, corresponded with his older, light skinned sister Harriet, who had married and passed into white Washington society. At some point she stopped returning his letters. This song imagines a chance encounter between the two on a street somewhere.

Can you see me sister, do you remember me
Can you feel my presence, I’m still on my knees
I can see you sister, oh how your life has changed
I’m still here in the shadows, you’re just out of range

Father can you help me now
The chains are gone but I still feel bound
Father please look down on me
Until the day that I feel free

Can you see me sister, in my shabby clothes
My life so different from the one you know
I do not blame you, for we share a name
If my skin was lighter I might do the same

Father can you help me now
The chains are gone but I still feel bound
Father please look down on me
Until the day that I feel free

Bought and sold like cattle
People just like us
Couldn’t look you in the eye
I could be whipped or worse

Mother can you help me now
The chains are gone but I still feel bound
Mother please look down on me
Until the day that I feel free

Father can you help me now
The chains are gone but I still feel bound
Father please look down on me
Until the day that I feel free

Can you see me sister

That’s How Every Empire Falls
Songwriter : R.B. Morris
Rich Mountain Bound / BMI

Caught a train from Alexandria
Just a broken man in flight
Running scared with his devils
Saying prayers all through the night
Oh but mercy can't find him
Not in the shadows where he calls
Forsaking all his better angels
That's how every empire falls

The bells ring out on Sunday morning
Like echoes from another time
All our innocence and yearning
And sense of wonder left behind
Oh gentle hearts remember
What was that story? Is it lost?
For when religion loses vision
That's how every empire falls.

He toasts his wife and all his family
The providence he brought to bear
They raise their glasses in his honor
Although this union they don't share
A man who lives among them
Was still a stranger to them all
For when the heart is never open
That's how every empire falls

Padlock the door and board the windows
Put the people in the street
"It's just my job, " he says "I'm sorry."
And draws a check, goes home to eat
But at night he tells his woman
"I know I hide behind the laws."
She says, "You're only taking orders."
That's how every empire falls.

A bitter wind blows through the country
A hard rain falls on the sea
If terror comes without a warning
There must be something we don't see
What fire begets this fire?
Like torches thrown into the straw
If no one asks, then no one answers
That's how every empire falls.

El Comedor
Songwriters : Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius
No Bad Ham Music,Admin by Bluewater Music,ASCAP/BMI

I can see la Frontera from where I stand - in line at el Comedor
Just over that wall is the promised land - in line at el Comedor
It’s a long, long way from my home to here
I was driven by hope and by fear
I pray to the Madre to hold back my tears - in line at el Comedor

I hold you and feed you here in my arms - in line at el Comedor
If I can stay strong I’ll keep you from harm - in line at el Comedor
We walk and we wait, we run and we ride
In daytime we rest and we hide
Now Coyote tells me be ready tonight - in line at el Comedor

We arrived here so hungry just three days ago - in line at el Comedor
We stand with our brothers, we met on the road - in line at el Comedor
Sister Cecilia welcomes us in
She leads us in prayer to begin
If we don’t move tonight she’ll feed us again - in line at el Comedor

La gringa vieja is small as I am - in line at el Comedor
She draws out the trail on the palm of my hand - in line at el Comedor
She says that the new moon will help me to see
Marks places where water will be
She tells me her friends will watch for me - in line at el Comedor

I can see la Frontera from where I stand - in line at el Comedor
Just over that wall is the promised land - in line at el Comedor

Pushing On Buttons (Staring At Screens)
Songwriter : Tim O’Brien
No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

Say hello to your neighbor look him in the eye
Reach out and shake his hand I’ll tell you why
This world can get lonesome, fearful and mean
When you spend all your time with your head in a screen

Pushin on buttons starin at screens
It’s bad for the heart it’s makin us mean
It washes the brain from what I have seen
Pushin on buttons starin at screens

Movable type and Guttenberg’s press
Made the world smaller improved it I guess
Same with the telegraph, phone and tv
But you hear what you hear, and see what you see

You put on the blinders, you don’t have to think
They can lead you to water and mostly you’ll drink
You’ll forget that you ever had a real choice
It’s a matter of time before you lose your own voice

Pushin on buttons starin at screens
It’s bad for the heart it’s makin us mean
It washes the brain from what I have seen
Pushin on buttons starin at screens

You can have all your socials, your hand held device
Give me a campfire some red beans and rice
Tell me a story from beginning to end
I’ll sit here and listen and call you my friend

Pushin on buttons starin at screens
It’s bad for the heart it’s makin us mean
It washes the brain from what I have seen
Pushin on buttons starin at screens

The Same Boat, Brother
Songwriters : Yip Harburg and Earl Robinson
WC Music Corp OBO Glocca Morra Music.

Oh the Lord looked down from his holy place
Said Lordy me what a sea of space
What a spot to launch the human race
So he built him a boat with a mixed up crew
With eyes of black and brown and blue
And that’s how come that you and I
Got just one world with just one sky

We’re in the same boat brother
Yes it’s the same boat brother
If you shake one end you’re gonna rock the other
It’s the same boat brother

Oh the boat rolled on through storm and grief
Past many a rock and many a reef
What kept them going was a great belief
They had to learn to navigate
‘Cause the human race was special freight
If we didn’t wanna be in Johah’s shoes
We’d better be mates on this here cruise

We’re in the same boat brother
It’s the same boat brother
If you shake one end you’re gonna rock the other
It’s the same boat brother

When the boilers blew somewhere in Spain
The keel was smashed in the far Ukraine
And the steam poured out from Oregon to Maine
It took some time for the crew to learn
What’s bad for the bow ain’t good for the stern
If a hatch takes fire in China Bay
Pearl Harbor’s deck’s gonna blaze away

‘Cause it’s the same boat brother, It’s the same boat brother
If you shake one end you’re gonna rock the other, It’s the same boat brother

Let the Horses Run
©2022 Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / admin by Bluewater / ASCAP

All week long the rain came down, last night the weather broke
Now the sun shine‘s down on new grass and steam comes up like smoke
There’s chores that I can finally do but I’ll leave them all undone
It’s time to open up the gate and let the horses run
Let the horses run, let the horses run
Time to open up the gate and let the horses run

I’ll leave the harness hanging up above the plow
It’s too wet for planting and it can wait for now
Winter’s finally over and Spring’s not quite begun
Time to open up the gates and let the horses run
Let the horses run, let the horses run
Time to open up the gate and let the horses run o

Out on the southwest corner there’s a fence I need to mend
But it’s really true I’m overdue to catch up with my friends
I’ll change my jeans and drive to town try to find some fun
Time to open up the gate and let the horses run l
Let the horses run let the horses run
Time to open up the gate and let the horses run

Thinkin’ Like a Fish ©2021 Tim O’Brien, Chris Davison, Donnie Davison, Ronnie Bowman / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Sony Countryside / Eclipse One Music / Whenever You’re Around Music / Anthem Entertainment Group / BMI

I can feel your footsteps sneakin’ up on me
I can see your shadow where no shadow used to be
Down here on the bottom, life is lookin’ up
I’m waitin’ on the real thing, right now I’ll call your bluff

I might take a nibble, take a closer look
But I can see the sunshine reflecting off your hook
I don’t want your frying pan, I won’t be your dish
I swim against the current, thinkin’ like a fish

I’d rather be here swimming underneath this waterfall
Than be another trophy just hangin’ on your wall
I’m older and I’m wiser, you know I ain’t no child
The only way I got this big is lovin’ free and wild

I might take a nibble, take a closer look
But I can see the sunshine reflecting off your hook
I don’t want your frying pan, I won’t be your dish
I swim against the current, thinkin’ like a fish

I think about my younger days when I was in school
Times I watched my best friend get played just like a fool
So watch out for that pretty thing, she catches lots of guys
But she might rip your cheek and throw you back, so look before you rise

I might take a nibble, take a closer look
But I can see the sunshine reflecting off your hook
I don’t want your frying pan, I won’t be your dish
I swim against the current, thinkin’ like a fish

The Pay’s a Lot Better Too ©2021 Tim O’Brien and Thomm Jutz – No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Thomm Songs / admin by Bluewater Music / SESAC

He was leaning on his shovel and rolled a smoke
Said listen here buddy this ain’t no joke
Takes about as long as this cigarette to tell you everything I know
It’s got nothing to do with being satisfied
Or liking the work that we do
And the pay’s a lot better too

A lot better too, a lot better too
The weather is better than six feet under
And the pay’s a lot better too

He said I’ve never really been anywhere
Reckon I never will
I couldn’t tell you if the grass is greener on the far side of the hill
But I keep my eyes open wide
This I know to be true
The weather is better than six feet under
And the pay’s a lot better too

A lot better too, a lot better too
The weather is better than six feet under
And the pay’s a lot better too

This is all the wisdom that you’re gonna get
From a hand-rolled Bugler cigarette
Next break we take I’ll roll another if you ain’t got it yet
If the job’s too hard you can quit today
Just see what that will do
But the weather is better than six feet under
And the pay’s a lot better too

A lot better too, a lot better too
The weather is better than six feet under
And the pay’s a lot better too

The Anchor ©2022 Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

They call me Uncle Walter but I don’t think that’s quite right
I’m more like some old worn-out slipper you wear after work at night
I won’t deny they called me America’s most trusted man
When you’re the voice of a hard-working team you do the best job you can

It was hard to be the anchor
To ride the shifting tide
The keep the big ship from sinking
Lord knows each night I tried

I covered every last bit of news that twenty-five minutes could handle
From Apollo Eleven to the Watergate, every triumph, every scandal
It lifted our hearts to see a man on the moon and to hear the Beatles sing
But it hurt to see the killings of JFK and Martin Luther King

It was hard to be the anchor
To ride the shifting tide
The keep the big ship from sinking
Lord knows each night I tried

Three networks played the national news at the same time every night
Frank Reynolds, David Brinkley and I had to balance the left and right
Back in the day we had a fairness rule, came down from the FCC
You had to cover both sides of the story so everyone could see

Now my time has come and gone, I watch from the heavens high
There’s only a few that will tell it true, most don’t even try
There’s an audience for every kind of news, shaped every kind of way
Salesmen play on our hopes and fears, and make us poor people pay

It was hard to be the anchor
To ride the shifting tide
The keep the big ship from sinking
Lord knows each night I tried (repeat chorus)

And that’s the way it is, Thursday September 8th, 2022

Diddleye Day ©2021 Tim O’Brien and Ronnie Bowman / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Sony Countryside / Eclipse One Music / Whenever You’re Around Music / BMI

I hear the rooster crow
Caffeine up and here I go
Lord I pray it’s a diddle-eye-day
Got me a list of honey do’s
I reach down to tie my shoes
I’m on my way, it’s a diddle-eye-day
Mm-mm it’s a diddle-eye-day

Diddle-eye-oh diddle-eye-aye
Diddle-eye-whistle diddle-eye-say
Diddle in the middle of the fiddle I play
Diddle-eye-day

Cool my feet down in the crick
Whittle a while on a hickory stick
Sing a little lick on a diddle-eye-day
Walk the dog, slop the hog
I might even saw some logs
Just because it’s a diddle-eye-day
Mm-mm it’s a diddle-eye-day

Diddle-eye-oh diddle-eye-aye
Diddle-eye-whistle diddle-eye-say
Diddle in the middle of the fiddle I play
Diddle-eye-day

Get your banjo sing me a song
Pass around that demi-john
Dance a step to old “Lost John”

Diddle-eye-oh diddle-eye-aye
Diddle-eye-whistle diddle-eye-say
Diddle in the middle of the fiddle I play
Diddle-eye-day

I Like cornbread I like beans
I like hangin’ in the bluegrass scene
Every day is a diddle-eye-day
Mm-mm it’s a diddle-eye-day

Goodbye Old Friend ©2021 Tim O’Brien and Ronnie Bowman / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Sony Countryside / Eclipse One Music / Whenever You’re Around Music / BMI

All of the hellos and goodbyes
Life happens somewhere between
There’s lessons you learn when you stumble and fall
There’s lessons from following dreams

There’s old times before and there’s after
So many things left behind
I’ll remember the sound of your laughter
And those moments are frozen in time

Goodbye old friend
No better words I can say
Goodbye old friend
I wish you well on your way

It’s a long, long way up this mountain
I followed and never asked why
Someday we’ll drink from a fountain
That never ever runs dry

Goodbye old friend
No better words I can say
Goodbye old friend
I wish you well on your way

Goodbye old friend
No better words I can say
Goodbye old friend
I wish you well on your way

Go Down To The Water - Words by Woody Guthrie, music by Billy Bragg / Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc./ BMG Songs / BMI

Go down to the water where the oil floats by
Drop your hair down and cry
Write with your finger there in the sand
Mail it out with the tide

Mail it out with the high and the low
Watch the marks there in the sand
Listen to the fog on the homeless waves
Feel the salt sea in your hands

Smell the sea wind, taste it on your lips
That foam that rolls over my lost ships
Write the letter once more in the sand
Where the breakers dip and the undertow slips

Kneel down and feel there at the water’s edge
Write our names there side by side
Look and listen to all those ships
That toss in the fog and in the tide

You can let down your hair when you kneel down there
Let me be the wind that pulls you hair
You be the man you made out of sand
And let your hands keep makin’ him there

When nobody’s lookin’ kiss your hand
Touch to the nose of your man in the sand
And lay down with your head there on his chest
Be nice be nice to your man in the sand

The Tulips On The Table - Dan Reeder / Weona Music o/b/o itself & Pleasant Company Publications / BMI

Tulips on the table mean that spring is on the way
The sun shines through the window like it hasn’t shown in days
And lately you don’t listen to a single thing I say
My baby don’t love me anymore

Chorus:
My baby don’t love me anymore
My baby don’t love me anymore
My baby don’t love me anymore
My baby don’t love me anymore

I come home from work and you say it’s nice to see you
I take off my jacket and say, “Nice to see you too.”
But I can’t help but notice you hate everything I do
My baby don’t love me anymore

Chorus

The kids are at your folks this weekend, it’s just you and me
We can do anything we want, we’re as free as we can be
But we can’t seem to pick a movie we both want to see
My baby don’t love me anymore

Chorus

Gimme Little Something Take Her Off My Mind - Tim O’Brien and Gary Nicholson / No Bad Ham Music / Gary Nicholson Music admin by Sony / ATV Music Publishing / ASCAP

Went to the doctor down on my knees
Cryin mercy doctor can you help me please
I got bad heart trouble and I’m sinkin fast
My breath’s so short it might be my last
Never been the kind to whine and complain
Just never knew a woman that could cause such pain
Put a limp in my walk, a hole in my soul
She left me spinnin all out of control

Just gimme little something take her off my mind
Something much stronger than whiskey or wine
Gotta be some drug I haven’t heard of yet
That can help a poor loser find a way to forget
I may never leave her memory behind
But I gotta have something take her off my mind
Yeah gimme little something take her off my mind

Threw out all the pictures up and down the hall
But I still see her face when I stare at the wall
Alone in the room where we used to sit
Her empty seat fills me with regret
I saw her walkin the streets with her new man
Smiling and laughin and holdin hands
Just like a knife it twists inside
The kind of hurt no man can hide

Chorus & solo on verse

Last chorus and repeat:
Just gimme little something take her off my mind
Something much stronger than whiskey or wine
Gotta be some drug I haven’t heard of yet
That can make a poor loser find a way to forget
I may never leave her memory behind (– to repeat chorus)
But I gotta have something take her off my mind
Yeah gimme little something take her off my mind
Gotta be some drug I haven’t heard of yet
That can make a poor loser find a way to forget
I may never leave her memory behind
But I gotta have something take her off my mind,
Yeah gimme little something take her off my mind
But I gotta have something take her off my mind,
Yeah gimme little something take her off my mind

Traditional arrnagement Tim O'Brien (NO Bad Ham Music, ASCAP)
Tim - fiddle, electric guitar
Trevor Hutchinson - bass
Gerry Paul - acoustic and electric guitar
John Gardner - drums

I’m A Mess For You – Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

Fox in back yard rears her pups, roses bloom and buttercups
Roof is leaking I don't care, love is here it's everywhere
In my shoes and in my pants, in my voice and crooked stance
In my ears and on my mind, on this page it burns and shines

I'm a mess for you, I’m a mess for you
I’m a big ol’ messy mess for you

Jan Renee, Trudy true, I guess I’m not through with you
Reach your arms out, touch my hand, rock me in this weary land
Pull the stopper from the jug, fill me, kiss me, give me hug
Keep me from the foggy dew, Jan Renee Trudy true

I'm a mess for you, I’m a mess for you
I’m a big ol’ messy mess for you

I kept my love all bottled up, I was afraid I’d use it up
Afraid my heart might soon run dry, someone might just hear me cry
Thought there wasn’t love to share, didn’t know love was everywhere
There's a big old bottle on the shelf, go ahead and pour some for yourself

I'm a mess for you, I’m a mess for you
I’m a big ol’ messy mess for you

As death resides behind his mask, so does love lie just in back
Of all the rushing dots and dashes that hide the truth where it still flashes
And love and truth and permanence they're solid ground they owe no rents
Even if we cannot see, love is with us always free

I'm a mess for you, I’m a mess for you, I'm a mess for you
I’m a mess for you, I’m a mess for you
I’m a big ol’ messy mess for you