Lyrics

Tim O'Brien Band

Diggin My Potatoes by Minnie Lawlars (Universal Music Publishing / BMI)

They been diggin’ my potatoes
Trampin’ on my vine
I’ve got a special plan for you baby
Lord it’s been restin’ on my mind

I don’t want no cabbage sprouts
Bring me a solid head
I’m supposed to call the wagon
If I catch him in my bed

Now my vines all are green by
Taters they’re all red
Never found a bruised one
Til I caught one in my bed

She powdered up her face
Water waved her hair
She grabbed a taxicab
Now she’s out across town somewhere

I’ve been all around
Lookin’ up and down
Lookin’ for that woman
I know she’s in this town

Went to town this morning
Left my gate unlatched
When I come on back home
There’s someone in my tater patch

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

Doney Gal Trad arr Tim O’Brien (No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP)

We’re alone doney gal in the rain and hail
Drivin’ them doggies on down the trail
It’s rain or shine, sleet or snow
Me and my doney gal we’re bound to go
It’s rain or shine, sleet or snow
Me and my doney gal we’re bound to go

Well a cowboys life is a dreary thing
It’s rope and brand and ride and sing
It’s up and gone before the break of day
Drivin’ them doggies on their weary way
It’s rain or shine, sleet or snow
Me and my doney gal we’re bound to go

We’ll laugh at the rain and yell at the hail
Drivin’ them doggies on down the trail
We’ll laugh at the wind the rain and snow
Til we reach the town of San Antonio
It’s rain or shine, sleet or snow
Me and my doney gal we’re bound to go

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

The Other Woman – Jan Fabricius and Tim O’Brien (Jan Fabricius / BMI / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP)

Don’t call me the other woman
I’m the one who’s still around
I sew his clothes, I make his dinner
Pick him up when he falls down

Our love was burning slow through all the years
But it would not burn out even through our tears

Don’t call me the other woman
I’m the one who’s still around
I sew his clothes, I make his dinner
Pick him up when he falls down

Maybe he broke her heart and she just couldn’t stay
When she gave up on him, that’s when he walked my way

Don’t call me the other woman
I’m the one who’s still around
I sew his clothes, I make his dinner
Pick him up when he falls down

When he’s sinking low I can pull him back
Try to heal his heart, push him back on track

Don’t call me the other woman
I’m the one who’s still around
I sew his clothes, I make his dinner
Pick him up when he falls down
Don’t call me the other woman
I’m the one who’s still around

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

My Love Lies In the Ground – Dirk Powell (Crying Bayou Music / BMI)

My love you lie in the cold, cold ground
In a grave not one week old
To kiss once more your cold, cold lips
I’d give my weight in gold, gold
I’d give my weight in gold

I can’t see clear to leave your side
I never more will roam
I’ll make my bed upon your grave
A pillow from your stone, stone
A pillow from your stone

There is no fire can warm me now
No blanket made of down
The warmth I feel is from your soul
Seepin’ through the ground, ground
Seepin’ through the ground

And I do not want a house of gold
Or a cold dark cave
I’ll make my home in the musty soil
That lies around your grave, grave
That lies around your grave

I can’t abide their laughter
It cuts me like a blade
I prefer the night owl call
And the rhythm of my spade, spade
The rhythm of my spade

Soon I’ll be at your side
Apart we’ll never be
And I won’t hear those above
That make a fool of me, me
That make a fool of me

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

Wind – Hal Cannon (H Random Music / ASCAP)

Wind, wind, clear me out
Pick me up, spin round about
Blow away what’s dry and dead
Take me to my cradle bed, oh wind

When the wind blows through my soul
It rips my heart and bores a hole
Sharp ice cycles made from air
Pierce me through my sleeps nightmare, oh wind

Wind you’ll make me crazy yet
My cheeks are red, my face is set
My frown it frozen right in place
A mad soul from the human race, oh wind

Wind that comes from years ago
Starts straight up from Mexico
Blowing hot it scolds and scolds,
Then whines unhappy in the cold, oh wind

The wind, its fury rips my roof,
It does not give an owl’s hoot
It takes what gives and leaves the rest
To come again to test and test, oh wind.

If it stops, where will I lean?
There’s nothing left, its laid me clean
This blowing came before my birth
It holds the axis of the earth, oh wind

Wind, wind, clear me out
Pick me up, spin round about
Blow away what’s dry and dead
Take me to my cradle bed, oh wind

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

Amazing Love – Dan Auerbach and Tim O’Brien (Profit Daniel / BMI
/ No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP)

I would swim the ocean
Climb the mountain high
Where you go I’ll follow
Never ask you why

I see you through the window before I turn the key
I thank the Lord He gave your amazing love to me

I never saw it comin
Never heard a sound
Never had a lover
Turn my life around

I see you through the window before I turn the key
I thank the Lord He gave your amazing love to me

I’ll be forever grateful
For the joy you bring
The only thing you’re missing
A pair of angel wings

I see you through the window before I turn the key
I thank the Lord He gave your amazing love to me
I see you through the window before I turn the key
I thank the Lord He gave your amazing love to me

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

Crooked Road – Tim O’Brien (Cornbread Nation / ASCAP)

I walk a crooked road and it leads me to tomorrow
Through all my joy and sorrow I walk a crooked road
I take the things I need, I leave the rest behind me
I use my heart to guide me as I walk this crooked road

When I go to work, I work the fields of summer
To take me through the winter when I go to work
And when I take my rest my family’s there beside me
Their love runs deep inside me when I go to work

When I kneel to pray for my father and mother
My sister and my brother when I kneel to pray
I pray for my heart, that it’s beatin’ strong inside me
It’s always there to guide me when I kneel to pray

And when I sing my song of the good times and grievin’
And the things that I believe in when I sing my song
My story’s much the same as the life that we’re all livin'
In the time that we’ve been given when I sing my song

When I say goodbye I’ll take your memory with me
You can sing this melody when I say goodbye
When a new face comes along you can seat him where you seat me
Treat him like you treat me when I say goodbye

Because I walk a crooked road and it leads me to tomorrow
Through all my joy and sorrow I walk a crooked road
I take the things I need, I leave the rest behind me
I use my heart to guide me as I walk this crooked road

Where The River Meets the Road

High Flyin’ Bird by Billy Edd Wheeler / Bexhill Music Corp / Quartet Music / ASCAP

There’s a high flying bird flying way up in the sky
And I wonder if she looks down as she flies on by
Flyin there so easy in the sky

Oh look at me lord
I’m rooted like a tree lord
Got those sit down, can’t cry
Oh lord I’m gonna die blues

The sun comes around it lights up the day now
And when he gets tired you know he just rolls on his way
From the east to the west he sees his God every day

Oh look at me lord
I’m rooted like a tree lord
Got those sit down, can’t cry
Oh lord I’m gonna die blues

I had a old mule she lived way down in the mine
She ain’t never seen the sun lord but she never stopped tryin
Then one day my mule she up and died

Oh look at me lord
I’m rooted like a tree lord
Got those sit down, can’t cry
Oh lord I’m gonna die blues

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

Guardian Angel by Tim O'Brien / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

I guess there’s no time when I can’t recall
That picture hanging up there on the wall
Of a little girl walking by a snake in the grass
And her guardian angel is guiding her past
I lost a big sister when the picture was new
Nineteen fifty-six just before I turned two
I took part of my memory, added stories and things
I made her my angel, she has her own wings
I made her my angel, she has her own wings

She would have held my hand, she would have called my name
Too young to remember I miss her the same
My guardian angel, I miss her the same

Don’t know much about her, there’s not much to know
Just six years of living then she had to go
My parents they grieved, somehow they moved on
And I grew up knowing my sister was gone
I found an old letter that my mom wrote that year
And each time I read it I shed a new tear
It helps me to feel some of what my parents felt then
I think of my own kids and feel it again
I think of my own kids and feel it again

I would have held her hand, I know I called her name
My guardian angel I miss her the same
She would have held my hand, she would have called my name
Too young to remember her, miss her the same
My guardian angel, I miss her the same
My guardian angel, I miss her the same

I guess there’s no time when I can’t recall
The picture a hanging up there on the wall

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

Friday, Sunday’s Coming by John Lilly / Beverly Lane Publishing / BMI

Well, they took Him and they hung Him up upon a tree,
With a crown of thorns on Calvary.
He lifted up His head just before He died,
“Forgive them, Father,” is what He cried, ‘cause

CHORUS
It’s Friday, Sunday’s coming,
It’s Friday, Sunday’s coming,
It’s Friday, Sunday’s coming,
Gonna rise up on that day.

Well, from that tree He went down to Hell,
And the things He suffered, no tongue can tell.
Spent three dark days and two lonely nights,
Then He stepped right out in the morning light, ‘cause

to CHORUS

Now, He walked and He talked like a natural man,
He was healing the sick with the touch of His hand.
“Cheer up, brother,” is what He said,
“Just like Me, you’ll rise from the dead,” ‘cause

to CHORUS

Well, nothing has changed ever since that time,
People live, they love, they suffer and die.
When my back is breaking and my poor heart bleeds,
I think about the promise that He left with me, said

to CHORUS (2x)

© 2007 by Beverly Lane Publishing (BMI)

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

Trad. arr. Tim O'Brien (No Bad Ham Music, ASCAP)
Nathaniel Smith - Cello
Tim O'Brien - Fiddle

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

Drunkard’s Grave by Johnnie Bailes, Walter Bailes, Zeke Clements, Muriel Deason Wright / Sony/ ATV Acuff Rose Music / BMI

I once knew a man owned houses and land
Was wealthy, noble and brave
Whiskey, beer and gin, got the best of him
Now he lays in a drunkard’s grave

Oh how lonely oh how sad
Just to think of the strong drink they crave
And then in the end lose their dearest friend
And lay in a drunkard’s grave

He had a lovin wife, he loved her more than life
And his younger days he tried to save
Took his first drink for fun, you see what it has done
He lays in a drunkard’s grave

Oh how lonely oh how sad
Just to think of the strong drink they crave
And then in the end lose their dearest friend
And lay in a drunkard’s grave

Let us pity them who drink, from their presence do not shrink
But pray to God that He their soul might save
Theirs will be an awful fate if they wait til it’s too late
For they’ll lay in the drunkard’s grave

Oh how lonely oh how sad
Just to think of the strong drink they crave
And then in the end lose their dearest friend
And lay in a drunkard’s grave

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

Few Old Memories by Hazel J. Dickens / Happy Valley Music / BMI

Just a few old memories slipped in through my door
Though I thought I had closed it so tightly before
I can’t understand it, why it should bother my mind
For it all belongs to another place and time

Just a few old keepsakes way back on the shelf
Though they don’t mean nothin’, why I’m surprised they’re left
Just a few old love letters with their edges all brown
And an old faded picture I keep turned upside down

Just a few old memories goin’ way back in time
Well I can hardly remember, I don’t know why I’m crying
No I can’t understand it, well I’m surprised at myself
First thing tomorrow morning I’ll clean off that shelf

Just a few old keepsakes way back on the shelf
No they don’t mean nothin’, well I’m surprised that they’re left
Just a few old love letters with their edges all brown
And an old faded picture I keep turned upside down

Little Annie (When The Springtime Comes Again) / A.P. Carter / APRS c/o Peer Music / BMI

Once more little Annie I must leave you
We shall part at the end of the lane
For you promised me little Annie
You’d be waiting when the springtime comes again

When the springtime comes o’er the mountains
And the wild flowers scatter o’er the plains
I shall watch for the leaves to return to the trees
And I’ll be waiting when the springtime comes again

When the sun shines down on the mountains
And the wild sheep wandering all alone
And the birds and the bees are a humming
Makes me think the springtime won’t be very long

When the springtime comes o’er the mountains
And the wild flowers scatter o’er the plains
I shall watch for the leaves to return to the trees
And I’ll be waiting when the springtime comes again

Now the springtime has come little Annie
I am on my way to the lane
For you promised me little Annie
You’d be waiting when the springtime comes again

When the springtime comes o’er the mountains
And the wild flowers scatter o’er the plains
I shall watch for the leaves to return to the trees
And I’ll be waiting when the springtime comes again

Ireland’s Green Shore - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP

One evening for pleasure I rambled
On the banks of some cold purling stream
I set down on a bed of primroses
And I gently fell into a dream
I dreamed that I saw a fair female
Her equal I never saw before
And I sighed for the loss of our country
As we stray there on Ireland’s green shore

Her cheeks were like two blooming roses
Her teeth were like ivory so white
Her eyes shone like two sparkling diamonds
Or the stars on some cold frosty night
She was dressed in the richest attire
And green was the mantle that she wore
All bound down with the hemlocks and the roses
As we stray there on Ireland’s green shore

Transgression of joy I awoken
I found this was only a dream
That pretty fair female had fled me
I longed to be slumbering again
May the heavens above be her guardian
Though I know I’ll never see her anymore
May the goldliest sunbeam shine upon her
As she lies sleeping on Ireland’s green shore

One evening for pleasure I rambled
On the banks of some cold purling stream
I set down on a bed of primroses
And I gently fell into a dream

Ireland’s Green Shore – fit the original concept perfectly and opens the recording. I learned it from an a capella version sung by Maggie Hammons from Webster County WV. It’s a prime example of the Irish “aisling” or “dream” song, and speaks longingly of a homeland that’s no longer within reach. I built my own version from a guitar tuning learned from Kelly Joe Phelps, adding Stuart Duncan’s fiddle, Edgar Meyer’s bass, and Kenny Malone’s percussion, before crowning it with Del McCoury’s harmony vocal.

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

The Crossing – Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP. Ronan Brown: uillean pipes; Seamus Egan: bodhran; Kenny Malone: percussion; Tim O’Brien: fiddle and mandola; Darrell Scott: guitar

The Crossing was written early one morning after a stormy overnight ferry trip from Fishguard (Wales) to Rosslare (Ireland). After landing, we drove to a B&B in Roscrae where we were to perform that evening. I took out my fiddle, which was tuned into open A (low strings to high – AEAE), and this tune just kind of emerged.

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.

Wagoner’s Lad - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP

The heart is the fortune of all women kind
They’re always controlled, they’re always confined
Controlled by their parents until they are wives
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives

I am a poor girl, my fortune is sad
I’ve always been courted by the wagoner’s lad
He courted my daily, by night and by day
Now his wagon is loaded and he’s going away

Your parents don’t like me because I am poor
They say I’m not worthy of entering your door
But I work for my living, my money’s my own
If they don’t like me, they can leave me alone

Your horses are hungry go feed them some hay
Come sit down here by me as long as you stay
My horses ain’t hungry, they won’t eat your hay
So fair thee well darlin. I’ll feed on my way

Your wagon needs greasin’, you whip is to mend
Come sit down here by me as long as you can
My wagon is greasy, my whip’s in my hand
So fair thee well darlin’ no longer to stand

The heart is the fortune of all women kind
They’re always controlled, they’re always confined
Controlled by their parents until they are wives
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives

-The melodies and lyrics of traditional songs have long been traded, adapted, and reshaped by musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. My fellow West Virginian Kathy Mattea represents the female role in the prototypical American frontier ballad Wagoner’s Lad.

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.

The Kid On the Mountain - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP. Darol Anger: mandola: Dermot Byrne: accordion; Mike Marshall: mandocello; Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh: fiddle; Tim O’Brien: mandolin; Ciaran Tourish: fiddle

-I learned Kid On the Mountain from my old friend Duck Baker in the mid 1970’s, This slip jig (9/8 time signature) was probably first recorded in New York by Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, and often played at imformal jam sessions. I met both Darol Anger and Mike Marshall when they were part of the David Grisman Quintet, and this version of the tune is appropriately arranged by Darol for multiple mandolins, with members of Altan (Ciaran Tourish, Maeraid Ni Mhaonaigh, and Dermot Byrne) joining in on fiddles and accordion.

That piece and two more were recorded at Mike Marshall’s home studio in Oakland CA. Mike not only engineered some of the tracks, he also cooked some wonderful food that kept us going throughout that day and evening.

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.

Ireland’s Green Shore - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP. Tim O’Brien: mandolin; Dirk Powell: banjo

-Dirk Powell is one of my favorite roots musicians and I’m proud to have collaborated with him on several projects over the years. I had already recorded the vocal version of Ireland’s Green Shore when Dirk arrived for some Nashville sessions, but we still recorded this mandolin and banjo version just because it felt right.

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.

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

I make a living from a circuit I made
Out of trial and error and gigs that I’ve played
It might be the money or the town that it’s in
But mostly it’s people make you come back again

There was one little place that I played every year
It’s outside of Pittsburgh, I know it’s still there
Just a little old Moose lodge, the crowd was okay
But you’d never get rich from the money they’d pay

It’s mostly been silent since Rod was around
But that place used to fill with a bluegrassy sound
And I’ll never forget the way he made me feel
A big man with a big heart, named Rod McNeil

You might arrive tired and dark in a gloom
Then he’d buy a big dinner and pay for your room
Pete Rowan would hug him and call him his dad
And that day the lonely road wasn’t so bad

“I saw this and said that I’d buy it for Tim,
Didn’t I Marty”, he’d say with a grin
Now I keep that toy fiddle on my windowsill
To remind me of Rod and those grey Pittsburgh hills

It’s mostly been silent since Rod was around
But that place used to fill with a bluegrassy sound
And I’ll never forget the way he made me feel
A big man with a big heart, named Rod McNeil

-Playing the musical circuit like I have for many years, you meet a lot of different people. Some folks seem larger than life and one such character was Rod McNeil, who promoted bluegrass shows at the Moose Lodge in Elizabeth PA. Rod brought folks together, providing a venue, building an audience, and treating the musicians with great care and respect. His concert series lost steam and ended a year of so after his passing, suggesting that he himself was the real attraction. Music and music people were Rod’s joy, and the melody of this song is borrowed from The Joy Of My Life, one of the first jigs I ever learned.

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.

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

A while ago I chanced to roam to the place my great granddaddy called home
It wasn’t that much I saw that day, but I learned I whole lot more along the way
I was goin’ to Ireland, retracing my family footsteps, diggin’ up roots
You could call ‘em tubers

The closer to the root of my family tree, the more people seemed to look like me
Saw a sign said Mollie O’Brien’s bar, I knew right then I couldn’t be that far
I went in there and asked for beer, he pours this black stuff, he says, “cheers”
“Guinness gives you strength”, he said, I’ll tell you friends it’s like drinkin’ bread
There’s a loaf in every pint, I started feelin’ strong, I felt like I wanted to sing

My whistle was wet and my tongue was loose when the barman asked how’d I choose
To travel such a long, long way on such a cold and rainy day
I said, “I’m goin’ up to Kingscourt town, that’s in County Cavan, just to look around
My great granddaddy came from there, I want to see if the old home place is still there.”
Well he shook his head up and down, and then side to side
And then he turned around and said
“A Cavan man then... you know, a lot of people wouldn’t admit to that”

I figured I’d save myself a little bit of hassle, booked a room nearby in a fancy castle
Had a hard time gettin’ my dinner there, it was full of these people with light blonde hair
Danish tourists...two big busloads of ‘em
Now the owner of the place, his hair was black, when I talked to him, I didn’t get much back
His people are what you’d call “West Brits”, they’re the ones that treated my people like dirt
That lead indirectly to the Irish civil war
I didn’t realize I’d come back for just a little bit more
That fella’s nose was way up in the air, but he took my money just the same

That night I dreamed I saw the ghost of the one I’d rather have as host
It was Tom O’Brien walkin’ round the cabin, west of Kingscourt town in County Cavan
Then the very next day in the hardware store, I met a cousin ten times removed or more
But he was no apparition, he weren’t no haint, he was sellin’ nuts and bolts and paint
I told him about our family connection, and he kinda stood there still, reflectin’
I could tell he wasn’t much impressed when he asked me with nary a trace of jest
He said, “How exactly may I help you sir?”
I just bought some nails and got the hell out of there

Then later that day after some detectin, I found the lane in the rural section
It matched the picture in my dad’s scrap book
And my heart beat faster as I drove up to look
The sun burst through the clouds just then
As I gazed down at the current residents
It was a little sheep dog and an old milk cow, guess the old home place is an old barn now
It’s ashes to ashes, dust to dust, thatched roof to tin roof, and tin roof to rust

-While much of the lyrical subject matter of the songs concerns emigration, and immigrants lives in the new world, there was room in The Crossing for something from my own personal experience. Taking a cue from prototypical folk singer Woody Guthrie and his “talking blues”, I wrote a little ditty about my early trips to Ireland. While the events in Talkin Cavan didn’t all occur on my first visit, they are generally true! About a year after the release of The Crossing, I was in a rental car shuttle in Albany NY, making conversation with the driver who had a Cork / Kerry accent. I told him I was a musician, he told me he’d only just arrived in the US. A few sentences later, he’d figured me out and said, “Oh you’re the guy from Cavan.”

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.

Yew Piney Mountain / Dusty Miller - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP. Seamus Egan: flute and tenor banjo; David Grier: guitar; Viktor Krauss: bass; Tim O’Brien: fiddle; Dirk Powell: five string banjo

. Dirk Powell and I recorded a medley of West Virginia tune Yew Piney Mountain and Bill Monroe’s Dusty Miller with the venerable Seamus Egan on wooden flute and David Grier on guitar.

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.

Old Christmas Day

©2022 Tim O’Brien and Thomm Jutz / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / Thomm Songs / SEASAC

Mike Bub / bass
Jamie Dick / drums
Shad Cobb / harmony vocal
Jan Fabricius / mandolin, harmony vocal
Thomm Jutz / guitar
Russ Pahl – steel guitar
Tim O’Brien / banjo, fiddle, vocal
Produced by Tim O’Brien
Recorded and mixed by Sean Sullivan at Cowboy Arms and the Butcher Shack, Nashville

The new and more scientifically accurate Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582. Eleven days shorter than the previous Julian calendar, it still labeled December 25th as Christmas, but the day that had been December 25th was now labeled January 6th.

(Of course, for most of the past 2 years, January 6th means something else. I even have a song about that - https://youtu.be/vObJv__H6yE - but let’s not go into that here.)

Britain and its colonies adopted the new calendar officially in 1752, but Protestants in America and elsewhere generally rejected anything to do with the Catholic church. Appalachia was especially slow to adopt the new system but started calling January 6th “Old Christmas”.

In remote mountain communities, a lot of Christmas folklore remained attached to January 6th. There were various beliefs – don’t throw out the ashes from the Old Christmas day fire until the next day; water turns into wine that day but it’s bad luck to taste it (drink beer or whiskey instead?); and a child born on Old Christmas day can heal the sick. It’s also good luck to eat a piece of pie or cake made by another person on Old Christmas day. So, bake stuff and try to get others to eat it and hope they offer you something that came from their oven. (The tradition of eating mince pies and fruit cakes made with whiskey came to America with the Scots Irish.) The calendar change also gave birth to the idea of “the twelve days of Christmas”, and in Appalachia, a tradition called “breakin’ up Christmas” emerged with people visiting family and friends for several days at a time.

One belief was that at midnight on Old Christmas Eve, the elder bushes bloom and animals talk to each other. The legend had to do with those animals’ presence at Jesus’s birth, and their being filled with the Holy Spirit once a year on that night. Thomm Jutz and I got together to write a song on January 5th, and this is the result. Thanks to Thomm for uncovering this bit of folklore. They say it’s bad luck to hear the animals talk on Old Christmas Eve, but we can still imagine what they might say!

Jan and I here at Howdy Skies Records world headquarters wish you a warm and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous New Year. One last thing, it’s good luck to keep your tree up until January 6th, but bad luck to leave it up past that date.

Old Christmas Day
©2022 Tim O’Brien and Thomm Jutz / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / Thomm Songs / SEASAC
In the middle of the night on old Christmas Eve
The elder bushes bloom while the people are asleep
The animals start talking and they have a lot to say
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day
Christmas Day, Christmas day
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day

The bears all take a break from their long winter nap
The birds talk to each other and the dog talks to the cat
If you couldn’t say a word all year, I wonder what you’d say
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day
Christmas Day, Christmas day
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day

The buzzards all are gathered out behind the barn
Telling buzzard stories, spinning buzzard yarn
They talk about the feast that they had yesterday
Roadkill for dinner on old Christmas day
Christmas Day, Christmas day
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day

The sheep and all the chickens, the cattle and the pigs
The rooster’s on the fence, the crickets play a jig
They’re airing every grievance, get their woes out of the way
Wrapping up another year on Old Christmas day
Christmas Day, Christmas day
In the middle of the winter night on old Christmas day--
Jan Fabricius
Tour manager-Tim O'Brien
615-943-4790
Howdy Skies Records
https://timobrien.net
Nashville, TN 37204

He Walked On

When You Pray (Move Your Feet)
Songwriter : Tim O’Brien
(No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music, ASCAP)

When you pray move your feet
Bring his love to the people you meet
Get out your chair, walk the street
When you pray move your feet

Feels like lightning in your hand, when you reach out to help your fellow man
Stronger and stronger the more you do, Each and every time you follow through

When you pray move your feet
Bring his love to the people you meet
Get outa your chair, walk the street
When you pray move your feet

I tell my lover everything I know, I bring her with me everywhere I go
It’s understood we’re hand in hand, It means much more when we take a stand
True love travels from heart to heart, It’s always there when you’re ready to start
Up a long and steep and winding road, Love gonna help you lift that load

When you pray move your feet
Bring his love to the people you meet
Get out your chair, walk the street
When you pray move your feet

When a hard wind blows and the clouds rain down, move your feet you make a joyful sound
The lord is listening he’s watching too, He’ll keep you safe and he’ll push you through
John Lewis is gone his words ring on, clap your hands help me sing his song
Move your feet ‘cause we can’t stop, until we reach that mountain top

When you pray move your feet
Bring his love to the people you meet
Get out your chair, walk the street
When you pray move your feet

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

He Walked On
Songwriter : Tim O’Brien
No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

He went out and walked the streets no one knew his name
He’d been here many times before but now was not the same
Music spilled from windows onto the sparkling air
A falling leaf came drifting and caught in his hair
And he walked on, he walked on

He came to the corner where five points used to meet
Past the Chinese grocery _ and on up the street
Brand new buildings going up and old ones coming down
Delivery trucks were rolling, spreading smoke around
And he walked on, he walked on

Maybe sometime later he’d try to write it down
Maybe find some old guitar to recreate the sound
Feel the grit between his fingers, eat food that tasted real
Hold his head and heart some way so he could really feel
And he walked on, he walked on

Then waiting for the light to change somehow his peace was shattered
Still smelled the fumes and heard the cries but now they hardly mattered
He thought of how preachers speak of heaven and of hell
He wondered was he in between but it was hard to tell
And he walked on, he kept on, he walked on

So much of this life he’d never really understand
How you could lose the grip on things you held right in your hand
Three hundred sixty different points that you can try to view
He never found the ending, there was always something new
and he walked on, he walked on

Maybe sometime later he’d try to write it down
Maybe find some old guitar to recreate the sound
Feel the grit between his fingers, eat food that tasted real
Hold his heart and heart some way so he could really feel
And he walked on, he walked on

He went out and walked the streets no one knew his name
He’d been here many times before but now was not the same
And he walked on, he walked on

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

I Breathe In
Songwriter : Tim O’Brien
No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

I breathe in and I reach out for you
I breathe out and call your name
I breathe in and I know I love you
I breathe out and you love me just the same

The only way I know to love you is with my soul and with my heart
I don’t claim to know love’s ending, I can’t find out where it starts
When I’m walking in the morning, when I’m talking to my friends
There’s a light that burns inside me, it’s a flame that never ends

I breathe in and I reach out for you
I breathe out and call your name
I breathe in and I know I love you
I breathe out and you love me just the same

If you see me from a distance, I’m the same man when I’m near
And my heart is always calling, event though you cannot hear
In the shadows growing longer, in the darkness spreading ‘round
In my dreams and in my waking, in the early morning sounds

I breathe in and I reach out for you
I breathe out and call your name
I breathe in and I know I love you
I breathe out and you love me just the same

Now the time has come to leave you, I’m gonna hurt to say goodbye
I’ll remember all our good times as the teardrops dim my eyes
It’s all just a part of the story, in our dying we can live
All the love that I am taking is all the love I have to give

I breathe in and I reach out for you
I breathe out and call your name
I breathe in and I know I love you
I breathe out and you love me just the same

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.

Sod Buster
Songwrtiter : Bill Caswell
Sony Tree Publishing / BMI

Lightnin’ struck, the team run wild
Tore up a harness and a brand-new plow
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

Runaway team, fence tore down
Kicking up dust all the way to town
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

Hard times, hard land, try to make a dime but I’ll be damned
Drought, heat and hail tend to get the upper hand
Scratch that ground pray for rain
Sometimes the trouble ain’t worth the pain
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

Beans and taters in the shed
If it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t get fed
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

Hard times hard land, try to make a dime but I’ll be damned
Drought heat and hail tend to get the upper hand
Wife took sick got the flu
Lord I’m doin’ all I can do
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

Four little kids down with mom
life’s got a way of handin out lumps
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, Sodbuster

Hard times, hard land, try to make a dime but I’ll be damned
Drought, heat and hail tend to get the upper hand
Scratch that ground pray for rain
Sometimes the trouble ain’t worth the pain
It’s a hard go trying to make a dollar, sodbuster

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

See You At At The Funeral
Songwriter : Tim O’Brien
No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

Some folks look at a stretch of road, think someday I’d like to go
Me and my family that’s all we know, that’s how it’s always been
Week after Easter we pack the truck, the trailer, the mules, the tents and such
Mama and the girls all wish us luck, say we’ll see you at the funeral

Down on Carny Street we’ll circle the wagons ‘round
Build a fire, set up the tent and stake the horses down
Bury the old ones, marry the young, laugh and cry and catch up some
Takes about a week to get it all done , we’ll see you at the funeral

Now it’s comin’ up first of May, all us Sherlocks headin’ up Nashville way
Just after Christmas she passed away, grandma was a hundred one
Shiela’s promised to Mickey Horan, I’ll give her away on Thursday morn
Next year this time be a baby born, we’ll see him at the funeral

Down on Carny Street we’ll circle the wagons ‘round
Build a fire, set up the tent and stake the horses down
Bury the old ones, marry the young, laugh and cry and catch up some
Takes about a week to get ‘er all done, we’ll see you at the funeral

Farmer’s mule’s too old to plow, I’ll trade him for a young mule now
He’ll give me cash and I’ll turn it around, sell his old nag down in town
A trader’s life is free as a dream, but cheap Ford tractors and gasoline
They’re shrinkin’ it down from full to lean, but we’ll see you at the funeral

Down on Carny Street we’ll circle the wagons ‘round
Build a fire, set up the tent and stake the horses down
Bury the old ones, marry the young, laugh and cry and catch up some
Takes about a week to get it all done, we’ll see you at the funeral

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

Five Miles In and One Mile Down
Songwriter : Dale Keys
Pouting Dog Music / ASCAP

Twenty nine dead down under the ground
Five miles in and one mile down
Five miles in and one mile down
Fire in the coal mine south of town
Too little too late we're asking why
Why it was that 29 died

Well way back when in '84
They told the owner of the mine you can't dig no more
You're breaking the rules and you gotta stop
Gotta think about the men bringing coal to the top
Gotta think about all those men who dig
But money's like mud to a corporate pig

Now the owner of the mine had cash in a stack
And a dirty politician who had his back
So he sent all the money up to DC
With a note that said rules ain't for me
The money changed hands and the rich men lied
Now there's a widow and her kids in an old double wide

An old double wide set back in the trees
Hound dog on the porch, widow on her knees
Prayin' to the lord now what'll I do
You took my man and I trusted you
I went to church, I sang in the choir
I prayed to you every wakin’ hour
You promised me everlasting life
Now I'm just a dead coal miner's wife

The owner of the mine didn’t seem to care
They found him slumped over in his chair
Said a hell of a way for a man to die
Gun in his lap bullet hole in his eye
They said it was him who let the hammer down
But his prints weren’t on the gun they found

Now, Judgment Day had come to pass
God dangled that man up above the shaft
The devil hollered up from down below
Send him on down, there's fire in the hole
Send him on down there’s fire in the hole
Send him on down we want his soul

So think about the miner when you turn on the light
Think about the miner when you wake at night
Pray for the miner when you're on your knees
Cause' number nine coal don't grow on trees

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

Ready On the Firing Line
Songwriter : J.D. Hutchison
J.D. Hutchison Music Publishing /BMI

Ready on the left, ready on the right, ready on the firing line

In this world you’ve got to be ready
Got to have everything just so
You’ve got to be ready just to hang around a
And you’ve got to be ready to go
You’ve got to be ready just to hear the word
You must be ready just to read the sign
You must be ready on the left, ready on the right, ready on the firing line

Sometimes when you fell all so stone alone
You can’t even find a place to sit down
It don’t make no never mind just how hard you look
There ain’t a true friend to be found
Get hip, a thing or two will put a buzz on you
It’ll help you not to waste your time
Just be ready on the left, ready on the right, ready on the firing line

When I think of sweet Jesus
Just hanging up on Calvary’s tree
He was just trying to keep on truckin
But they would not let him be
Sometimes I’m thinkin that it ain’t no use
It just ain’t no use in tryin

Cup of Sugar CD

Bear ©2022 Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / admin by Bluewater / ASCAP

Chorus:
I’m a bear he cried, but I’m more than that
There’s something you need to remember
I’m an integral community member, I’m neither tame nor feral
You ignore me at your peril, I’m a bear

Bear looked behind him and side to side
Saw a tree he could climb if he needed to hide
He’d been asleep all winter, of course he knew he stank
But he could smell that smoke a-coming from across the far creek bank

Chorus

Wood chips and stumps where the trees had been
Piles of rocks and logs so they’re building again
He growled “this world’s gone crazy, trying to close me in
I need more room to move” and then he reared back and roared again

Chorus

You won’t see me at the village fair
Ring in my nose, dancing round in the square
I’d rather drink muddy water, sleep in a hollow log
Than to have you try to train me, like some jumpin’ circus dog

Chorus

Heard gun shots out on the eastern plain
He turned west to the mountain and the driving rain
He said “someday I’ll fight ‘em, with my back turned to the wall
Until that day I’ll keep on walkin, keep on walking tall”

Chorus

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

Stuck In the Middle (Of Your Love) ©2022 / ASCAP / Camp Family Music / admin by Hipgnosis International a division of Big Deal Music / BMI

When you left I must have been sleepin’
Shoulda heard that squeakin’ ol’ screen door slam
When I woke up, was like you’d never even been there
You vanished into thin air and here I am

Now you’re gone, you don’t care
You could be anywhere under heaven above
I’m all alone, just scratchin’ on a fiddle
Still stuck in the middle of your love

I painted the walls, cleaned out the closet
Put down a deposit on a bedroom set
You disappeared while the paint was dryin’
I started into cryin’ and I ain’t quit yet

Now you’re gone, you don’t care
You could be anywhere under heaven above
I’m all alone, just scratchin’ on a fiddle
Still stuck in the middle of your love

I’m walkin’ down the street, my tail is draggin’
I fell off the wagon soon after you left
For all I know you already forgave me
You knew you couldn’t ever save me from myself

Now you’re gone, you don’t care
You could be anywhere under heaven above
I’m all alone, just scratchin’ on a fiddle
Still stuck in the middle of your love

I’m all alone, just scratchin’ on a fiddle

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

Cup of Sugar – ©2022 Tim O’Brien and Jonathon Byrd / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Jonathan Byrd Music / SESAC

My neighbor plays his music for our whole neighborhood.
Wouldn’t really mind the volume if his taste was any good.
He said he saw me on the TV, said he kind of liked my song.
I’ll be honest. It surprised me. Maybe he’s not always wrong.

I try to pick my battles, don’t want to start a war.
If I need a cup of sugar I’ll knock on my neighbor’s door.

I see him out a lot more often, now the weather’s nice again.
If people ever saw us talking they might even think we’re friends.
Twenty years, he’s been my neighbor, still don’t know what makes him tick.
One rule that I know to follow: don’t bring up politics.

I try to pick my battles, don’t want to start a war.
If I need a cup of sugar I’ll knock on my neighbor’s door.

We watched our kids grow up together called them in when it got dark outside.
I loaned him my tools, swam in his pool, bought casseroles when somebody died.

Now my neighbor’s on vacation on some western tourist trail.
I’ll cut his grass when it gets tall. I told him I’d take in his mail.
In this world there’s lots of trouble, doesn’t matter where you are.
Jesus said to love your neighbor but you don’t have to go that far.

I try to pick my battles, don’t want to start a war.
If I need a cup of sugar I’ll knock on my neighbor’s door.

Walk around that fence between us, won’t go running to the store
If I need a cup of sugar I’ll knock on my neighbor’s door.

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

Shout Lulu © 2022 Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

Shout little Lulu shout shout, I know what you’re shoutin’ bout
Shout Little Lulu shout your best, Old Bill Dorris gone the rest

Lulu is a nice old dog, needs no rabbit, needs no log
Border Collie eight years old, richest dog in town I’m told
How many nickels does it take to make little Lulu’s body shake
She’s got enough for you and me and my extended family

Shout little Lulu shout, shout
Shout little Lulu shout
Shout little Lulu shout, shout
I know what you’re shoutin’ bout

Old Bill Dorris died at home in 2020 all alone
When they read his will in probate court, Lulu barked a dog retort
Shout little Lulu shout, I know what you’re shoutin’ bout
Barkin’ out your thanks to Bill who left you millions in his will

Shout little Lulu shout, shout
Shout little Lulu shout
Shout little Lulu shout, shout
I know what you’re shoutin’ bout

Bill had extra fiberglass for Jack Kershaw to make a cast
Of the first grand Wizard of the KKK and a perfect spot for its display
It first appeared in ‘98 there right beside the interstate
A monument to white man fear, it stayed up more than 20 years

Shout little Lulu shout, shout
Shout little Lulu shout
Shout little Lulu shout, shout
I know what you’re shoutin’ bout

Took Lulu to Hogan Road where Nathan Forrest’s statue stood
She didn’t shout she didn’t beg, stood next to Forrest with lifted leg
Statue covered with paint ball pink, now it has a Lulu stink
Don’t know from white supremacy, just knows a place she likes to pee

Shout little Lulu shout shout, I know what you’re shoutin’ bout
Shoutin’ out your thanks to Bill who left you millions in his will
Shout little Lulu shout, I know what you’re shoutin’ bout
Shout little Lulu shout your best, Kershaw and Dorris gone to rest

Shout little Lulu shout, shout
Shout little Lulu shout
Shout little Lulu shout, shout
I know what you’re shoutin’ bout

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

She Can’t, He Won’t, and They’ll Never ©2021 Jan Fabricius and Tim O’Brien / BMI / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP

It’s one of those days he doesn’t feel like talking
He called in sick and then he took off walking
There’s a torn-up picture and a broken frame
He doesn’t answer when she calls his name
She wants to find the right words to say
To turn this back around

But she can’t, he won’t and they’ll never
She can’t, he won’t and they’ll never

She gets in her car and she shuts the door
She’s been sitting there for an hour or more
She doesn’t turn her head, doesn’t turn the key
She’s got no place that she wants to be
She wants to tell him he’ll have to leave
If he isn’t gonna change his ways

But she can’t, he won’t and they’ll never
She can’t, he won’t and they’ll never

She tells herself I never have my own time
Nothin here I can really call mine
Her folks are gone and the kids are grown
She could try to make it on her own
She wonders if she could ever live alone
She might not ever know

She can’t, he won’t and they’ll never
She can’t, he won’t and they’ll never

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

Little Lamb rewrite ©2022 Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / admin by Bluewater / ASCAP

Little Lamb little lamb looks like spring came back around
On the hillside you’re jumping up and down
Lifts my heart up to see you scamper once again
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

The winter’s long, it’s gets so dark and cold
It reminds me how I keep on getting old
I was young once, I won’t be young again
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

It’s just like magic how the seasons come and go
Reassures me in a way you’ll never know
Living and dying walk along hand in hand
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

Little Lamb little lamb looks like spring came back around
On the hillside you’re jumping up and down
Lifts my heart up to see you scamper once again
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

Sheep dog watching keeping you in line
Your mama too, she sees you’re doing fine
A year will go by, this’ll happen once again
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

Little Lamb, little lamb looks like spring came back around
On the hillside you’re jumping up and down
Lifts my heart up to see you scamper once again
You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

You wouldn’t understand little lamb little lamb

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

Gila Headwaters ©2022 Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius / No Bad Ham Music / Admin by Bluewater Music / ASCAP / Jan Fabricius Music / BMI

Drove all day and the next day
Out to old New Mexico
Took the trail of the Mountain spirit
To the home of Geronimo

(Chorus)
Where the Gila headwaters flow
Where the Gila headwaters flow

It’s a long way up the mountain
You will find an oasis there
You can soak in the healing water
You can breathe fresh mountain air

Chorus

Lay your body down in the bosom
Of your holy mother earth
Roll in the four directions
On the place of Geronimo‘s birth

Chorus

The medicine woman she told him
When you get there you will dance
To the beat of your Red Paint People
When you hear it just give it a chance

Chorus x 2

The wind blows up the canyon
The sun guides me where I go
Gonna roll in the four directions
Where the Gila headwaters flow

Chorus x 2

Pompadour

Pompadour - Tim O’Brien / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

They say that life’s a gamble, you can’t know what’s in store
Just when you think it’s one thing, another walks through the door
Thought nothing could surprise me, thought I’d seen it all before
Until that fateful morning I woke up with a pompadour

Most days I wake early, when the birdies start to sing
I’m beside a sleeping beauty, she’s the one who wears my ring
And I tried hard not to wake her, I got up and tiptoed out
But when I looked in the bathroom mirror I gave out a rowdy shout

Pompadour, it was a pompadour

It was not just some bed-head, it did not look like hell
I thought I might be dreaming so I pinched myself to tell
It was like a range of mountains, it swooped high before it fell
It looked like Christopher Walken run amuck with styling gel

Pompadour, a real pompadour

I started thinking different about how I’d spend my day
I would need a suit of rhinestones, that would be the only way
I’d write my name on the neck of my guitar in pearl inlay
It would be worth every penny of the dough I’d have to pay

My ideals were high and mighty but they didn’t last so long
As I read the morning paper things started going wrong
I ran my fingers through my hair and I did for too long
I flattened my pour pompadour but at least I got this song

Pompadour, I woke up with a pompadour

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

Whatever Happened To Me - Tim O’Brien and John Hadley / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / Hadley Six Music, admin by Sony / ATV Tree Publishing / BMI

I like to make my livin' playin' songs for you
If I wasn’t doin' this, I don’t know what I’d do
Short order cook in greasy spoon café
Part time house painter, drinkin' up my pay

My face in the mirror looks the same each day
It’s hard to see the changes when you measure time that way
Whatever happened to me?

I went to see the psychic, she said I’ve been expecting you
I’ll look in my crystal ball, you look in there too
Are you lookin' for someone? That’s my specialty
I said ok psychic, whatever happened to me?

My face in the mirror looks the same each day
It’s hard to see the changes when you measure time that way
Whatever happened to me?

Reminds of that nightclub where my friends and I would play
A man with lots of money tore it down one day
I’d like to buy all those bricks and build some kinda shrine
To the memory of the music and those dear old friends of mine

My face in the mirror looks the same each day
It’s hard to see the changes when you measure time that way
My face in the mirror looks the same each day
It’s hard to see the changes when you measure time that way
Whatever happened to me?

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

I Gotta Move - Tim O’Brien and John Hadley / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / Hadley Six Music, admin by Sony / ATV Tree Publishing / BMI

It takes a lot of work to put your home place up for sale
Fix everything that’s broken, stop the paper and the mail
I’m lookin for a smaller place, it won’t be hard to find
But anything that doesn’t fit I have to leave behind

Chorus:
I’ve gotta move that’s all I know
Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, everything must go
Out the door into the van
It’s sad, it’s true I gotta move, but I don’t think I can

I guess one way that I can start is sort stuff into piles
What I’ll keep and what I’ll toss it’s gonna take a while
I have a piano and a dog out in the yard
He loves this place, what can I say, he’s takin this real hard

I’ve got a lot of pictures to take down off the wall
Pack them into boxes, memories and all
I helped her find a new place, it’s fixed up pretty well
I think she’s ok with that sometimes it’s hard to tell

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

Ditty Boy Twang - Michael Hurley / Snocko Music / BMI / Administered by BMG Chrysalis

Hey come here all you women, listen to the ditty boy twang
Listen to the ditty boy twang, listen to the ditty boy twang
When you do that ditty boy twang, then you know you will be doin’ a thing

Hey I can’t stand it long, listen to the ditty boy twang
Listen to the ditty boy twang, listen to the ditty boy
When you do that ditty boy twang, then you know you will be doin’ a thing

Hey all you women workin’ on my nerves, listen to the ditty boy twang
Listen to the ditty boy twang, listen to the ditty that boy twang
Cause when you do the ditty boy twang, then you know you will be doin’ a thing

Hey mama don’t say unh-uh, just listen to my ditty boy twang
Listen to my … listen …
When you do that ditty boy twang, you know you will be doin’ a thing

I miss the old times when you used to … and you …
And then once in a while you … get a little weird …
I miss that, listen to the ditty boy twang

Well now kiss me zig-zag lightnin’, kiss my bones, listen to that ditty boy twang
Listen to that ditty boy twang, listen to the ditty boy twang
When you do that ditty boy twang, then you know you will be doin’ a thing

Well you must have some rounder, layin’ on your arm, layin’ in your arms
Listen to the ditty boy twang,
Listen to the ditty boy twang, listen to the ditty boy twang
When you do that ditty boy twang, then you know you will be doin’ a thing
Oh you’re doin that thing baby

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

Get Up Offa That Thing - Deanna Brown, Deidra Yvonne Jenkins and Yamma Brown
Dynatone Publishing Company (BMI)/ Administered by Unichappell Music Inc.

Get up offa that thing, dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, dance
Get up offa that dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing. try to release the pressure

Get up offa that thing, shake
Get up offa that thing and shake ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, shake ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, try to release the pressure

Get up off, good God y’all
Good God, God good y’all

Get up offa that thing, dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing , say it now
Get up offa that thing , shake ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, and, try to release the pressure

Get up, get up offa that thing and twist
Get up off, twist, ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, twist now
Good God y’all, good God y’all, God good y’all

Hey now all you Culchie hillbilly beboppers
Redneck Chawbacon clod hoppers
Grab your country crossroads gal
Swing it left and swing it now
Show the rich boys in this town
Swing it on up and sing it on down
Listen up now you Anoraks
Listen up, don’t talk back
Play my old time banjo now
I’m about to show you how now

Get up offa that thing, dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, swing
Twist and shout, shake, jam
Get up offa that thing, double thumb

(take it to the bridge)

Get up offa that thing, dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, twist and shout, shake
Get up offa that dance ‘til you feel better
Get up offa that thing, try to release the pressure

Get up, get up off, of that thing, get up
Giddy up off that thing

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

The Water Is Wise - Tim O’Brien and Sarah Jarosz / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP / SoRaw Music / BMI

Walking along the banks of a river
Starts out narrow and ends up so wide
Somewhere along you will find the right step-stones
Sooner or later you’ll cross to the other side

Chorus:
River starts way up in the mountains
Slowly falls all the way to the sea
In between so much twisting and turning
Winding its way until it runs free

I don’t know where I’m going but I know how I’ll get there
I’ll follow the laughing water all the way down
I’ll build me a boat and I’ll float down the middle
Just let the current take me where I’m bound

Chorus

River starts way up in the mountains
Slowly falls all the way to the sea
In between so much twisting and turning
Winding its way until it runs free

Chorus

I left a friend back there on the mountain
Made a new friend on this long and winding stream
The water is wise so just let it take you
Just let it take you into your dream

When I was younger I asked lots of questions
I asked and I asked but no one seemed to hear
But I was the one who should have been listening
Now I know I have nothing to fear

River starts way up in the mountains
Slowly falls all the way to the sea
In between so much twisting and turning
Winding its way until is runs free