Brett Dennen Album

There ain't no reason things are this way.
It's how they always been and they intend to stay.
I can't explain why we live this way.
We do it every day.

Preachers on the podium speaking of saints.
Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change.
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape,
Cursing my name.

I gotta a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same,
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing,
You can spend your whole life working for something,
Just to have it taken away.

People walk around pushing back their debts,
Wearing paychecks like necklaces and bracelets,
Talking about nothing, not thinking about death,
Every little heartbeat, every little breath.

People walk a tightrope on a razors edge.
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons.
It could be a bomb, or a bullet, or a pen,
Or a thought, or a word, or a sentence.

There ain't no reason things are this way.
Its how they've always been and they intend to stay.
I don't know why I say the things I say,
But I say them anyway.

But love will come set me free.
Love will come set me free, I do believe.
Love will come set me free, I know it will.
Love will come set me free, yes.

Prison walls still standing tall.
Some things never change at all.
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all.
Keep on building bombs, gonna drop them all.

Working your fingers bare to the bone.
Breaking' your back, make you sell your soul.
Like a lung, it's filled with coal,
Suffocating slow.

The wind blows wild and I may move.
But politicians lie and I am not fooled.
You don't need no reason or a three piece suit,
To argue the truth.

The air on my skin and the world under my toes
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes
Chaos and commotion wherever I go,
Love I try to follow.

Love will come set me free
Love will come set me free, I do believe
Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set me free, yes

There ain't no reason things are this way.
Its how they've always been and they intend to stay.
I can't explain why we live this way.
We do it every day.

When I heard the news,
my heart fell on the floor.
I was on a plane on my way to Baltimore.
In these troubled times it's hard enough as it is.
My soul has a known a better life than this.

I wonder how so many can be in so much pain,
while others don't seem to feel a thing.
Then I curse my whiteness
and I get so damn depressed.
In a world of suffering,
why should I be so blessed?

I heard about a women who lives in Colorado.
She built a monument of sorts behind the garage door,
where everyday she prays for all whom are born
and all whose souls have passed on.
Sometimes my trouble gets so thick,
I can't see how I'm gonna get through it.
But, then I'd rather be stuck up in a tree
then be tied to it.

There is so much more.

I don't feel comfortable with the way my clothes fit.
I cant get used to my body's limits.
I got some fancy shoes to try and kick away these blues.
They cost a lot of money but they aren't worth a thing.
I wanna free my feet from the broken glass and concrete.
I need to get out of this city.
Lay upon the ground stare a hole in the sky,
wondering where I go when I die.
...When I die.

When I arrived in my own set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

Alongside my innocence I laid in bed awake
Conflicted in these chains with the impetus of age
But like a phantom she crept across the floor and out the window
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

From this place on the mantle my heart was taken down
Scattered in a thousand little pieces on the ground
And out below the streetlamp like an orphan with a halo
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

'Cause it won't last - the worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And sometimes it takes more than a lifetime to know
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

The confidence is full with your faith etched in stone
And I let clean comfort you from the wild unknown
So bury your burning hatred like a hatchet in snow
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

If you have a broken heart or a battered soul
Find something to hold on to or to let go
To help you through the hard nights like a flask filled with hope
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

'Cause it won't last - your worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And it always hurts the worst when it's the ones we love the most
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

Sometimes your path is marked in the sky
Sometimes you're forced to fit in between the lines
Sometimes all that you can do is say no
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

I said, when I arrived in my own set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know
I said, Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know
We said, Darlin' do not fear

only wanted to be closer to you
i thought i had something to prove
instead i fled with my superstition
because you are a woman

now i was told since before i could speak
a mans emotions are what make him weak
i come to you more or less a humble man
because you are a woman

and i find most of the time i'm lost inside my own mind
i look all over, all over to find
it dont keep me satisfied

all the conquests that i construe
fail miserably in front of you
have you ever been loved my such a charasmatic fool?
and i'm a sucker for your love

the self-centered strutted crowd the side walk
parade and pose with phones and paper cups
you walk like truth through a world of fiction
because you are a woman

and i find most of the time it's all inside my mind
i look all over, all over to find
it dont keep me satisfied

and i find most of the time i miss the way your body coils around mine
the slope of your shoulders
the curve of your spine
because you are a woman

i change my strings and pack my suitcase
i'm always leaving for some other place
but i return to you again and again
because you are a woman
because you are a woman

well the witches stare with their limbs akimbo
silhouettes of statues up in the window
call me to come here with a crooked crescendo
but i don't

devotees dance among the pantomime on the promenade
into a tabernacle on the lawn
but i don't follow

because she's mine, she's mine, she's mine, all mine
yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm

midnight moved across the people's park
and i fled the fire like a spinning spark
up onto a porch in the dark
she was waiting right there for me

she knows that my hands are empty
as i go past the mothers of envy
and i don't have to fumble in the dark for my keys

i believe she's mine, she's mine, she's mine, all mine
yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm

the pupils gather in the yard
around the pulpit made of cards
and waited for their leader's words
but his words didn't make much sense

his mouth spat out a fist of daggers
and his tongue swirled in a southern swagger
and i looked at all the people gathered
but they were all in a trance

and she's mine, she's mine, she's mine, all mine
yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm

i was thrown before the court of canes
tossed my soul to the furnace flames
where all my heros had been slain, exiled, or put in prison

because they rose above the mess
and because their power posed a threat
and because they spoke of something else
when everybody else didn't

the music fills the space between
the deities and the prophecies
of our bodies pressed seamlessly
silent in the shade

she looks at me so fearlessly
and i take it all too seriously
but it all becomes so clear to me
and makes me understand

that she's mine, she's mine, she's mine, all mine
yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm

yeah she's mine, all mine, all mine, all mine
yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm

yeah she's mine, mine, mine, mmm
yeah she's mine

When the sky is falling from above you
And the wind is raging from the coast
And you want someone who truly loves you
I will be the one who loves you the most

When the masquerades in burlesque falls
But come too ordinary to boast
You complain about the rain and hurting calls
I will be the one who loves you the most
I will be the one who loves you the most

When the women with their stolen graces
Don't invite you to play host
To their daughters with fake faces
I will be the one who loves you the most

When all the debutants desert you
All the doorways are all closed
And all the harlequins who've hurt you
I will be the one who loves you the most
I will be the one who loves you the most

When you'll suit a sneering swank beside you
And leave you hollow like a ghost
And you just want somebody to come find you
I will be the one who loves you the most
I will be the one who loves you the most

When you forgive your imperfections
And you've auctioned all your clothes
And you look to see your true reflection
You will be the one who loves you the most
You will be the one who loves you the most
You will be the one who loves you the most

well i dreamed i went out a wanderin'
i heard promises become fables forgotten
i saw bridges stretchin' out across the water
and towers pushing taller

i knew my reality was clearly defined
by the fences put up around my mind
i watched them thicken into walls over time
taller than any boarder line
i saw civilizations deemed insignificant
i saw people's history tatooed on their skin
i saw families taken from their land
dynasties shattered and stolen

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution

in all the burdens of centuries accrue
that get passed along to every generation's youth
and all the allegories told in lieu of truth
i watched them grow wild and spread like the flu

i saw the rise of an untamed industry
i watched machines paint a paper economy
i saw my own self stand right in front of me
and i didn't do a thing

i saw poisons pushed in the street
and prescription pills mingling in the mezzanine
with a whole host of wealth of doctors and pharmaceutical companies
still poor people were dying from disease

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution

and i broke down at the break of dawn
I saw new meaning in the clouds above the Pentagon
as real as the hollocaust as stong as the Parthanon
visions of Sudan Iraq and Vietnam

i stood silent upon a flooded levy
and stared at the ruins of a merchant city
and the president who came to dine with the noble elite
he didnt do a thing

i saw three ships come sailing in
through the passage of the CARIBBEAN
i saw children coming home in coffins
millions marching on washington

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when, when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution

Momma got to worrying because her boy left home in a hurry again
Her photographs are fading, she keeps a box in the closet full of negatives
Well, I left a note on the floor in my room
I've always been stubborn and late to bloom
I had to lay down my load, my burdens are my own
It's a coming of age when you feel it you know

When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
and I know, I know

I was longing on a short summer night when I had the urge to leave
I went out to find my muse with a eight in my pocket and a craving for some cajun blues
I was following my follies when I saw her aboard the river queen
I was courting my frail lady all the way to New Orleans
But I was swoon by a luminous tomb so I climbed the roof and gave that woman my croon
I had to tell her all I know, my business is my own
It's a coming of age when you feel it you know

When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
And I know, I know

When you feel
When you feel it you know
When you feel
When you feel it you know
When you feel
When you feel it you know
When you feel
When you feel it

Well, mamma got to worrying she said "Now boy, I stay up late wondering where you been!
Oh, soon your gonna have to give in no you can't live forever the way that you been."
Oh, mamma I'm not trying to do not wrong I had to learn this is the way I get along
It's a life that I chose, my reasons are my own
It's a coming of age when you feel it you know

When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
I know, I know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know
When you feel it you know

So Long, my misery
I don't need you
you've only caused me grief
forgive me if I fall asleep
I haven't slept in centuries

Daylight lives like a burden for me
so I escape
sent it strewn about the street
beyond the ruins of my ancestry
far past the pages of my disbelief
I rose from my moat
like a ghost from a grave
sunken in the salty eyes of the wandering displaced
I was heading through the mist across the golden gate
all of my rebellions fall into the fog of fate

So long my misery
I don't need you
you've only caused me grief
forgive me if I fall asleep
I haven't slept in centuries

Spring time came again
and Icarus fell
I flew past the numb lipped nuns who'll never tell
the secrets of the sailors and their 7 year spell
I will not fall, nor will my wings ever melt
if I could I would wash all these wounds away
I would surround your room with a sense of mental grace
I would paint your portrait over everything mundane
more colorful than Easter Sunday

so long my misery
I don't need you
you've only caused me grief
forgive me if I fall asleep
I haven't slept in centuries

put me on a boat
leave my inhibitions at bay
my mind is spilling
but I haven't much to say
I was running through the canyons
pulse the echoes of your name
you were laughing at me like
the sun laughs at a flame
put me on a page in a book of beginnings
let me scroll me through old volumes of ancient teachings
let me reveal in all of these forgotten feelings
lay me with the wretched in the arms of my queen

so long sweet misery
I don't need you
you've only caused me grief
forgive me if I fall asleep
I haven't slept in centuries
(x2)
no I haven't slept in centuries
I haven't slept in centuries

Yeah
In the womb of winter, summer seems a myth
In my desperation I throw my faith into the wind
Born to a world where it is a fight just to fit in
From the cradle to the grave, it never ends

Someday, someday in a cloud of gray
I will, I'll make my great escape

So many ways to walk upon the earth
I trace my footsteps to the place of my birth
So what do you do with all your precious time
So many ways in which to reach for the sky

Someday, someday in a cloud of gray
I will, I'll make my great escape
Someday, someday in a cloud of gray
I will, I'll make my great escape

Say, little bit by little bit, someday

I may be weary but I am not weak
I can sing a song of suffering
Maybe a song unsung is dancing on the tip of your tongue
My salvation's ahead of me
I can feel it calling me
I know that I, I know that I will be ready

Someday, someday in a cloud of gray
I will, I'll make my great escape
Someday, someday in a cloud of gray
I will, I'll make my great escape

The highway bends like my lover's leg
Pulls me in like a wick draws a flame
She don't bother to remember my name
We don't talk of such things

I'll kiss you once
Baby, I'll kiss you twice
But I can't kiss you for the rest of your life
'Cause I'm not fit to be the man that makes you a wife

Baby, baby its just my foolish plight

Whatever road I may go down
If it bends, if it don't know how
I ain't stopped since I left my home town
And I can't slow down

I do what any man can to survive
Work a day or maybe even night
But I can't work inside for some 9-5
Honey not in this life

Whatever road I may go down
If it bends, if it don't know how
I ain't stopped since I left my hometown
And I can't slow down

Brown bodies
Bent at the waist
Frozen in a field as I drive by
In my unconscious pace

Freedom is not a state of mind
Nor is it a united state
Oh, and it sure ain't my escape

Whatever road I may go down
If it bends, if it don't know how
I ain't stopped since I left my hometown
And I can't slow down

No no no oh no

And I can't slow down

No oh no
Oh, lord

And I can't slow down

Oh baby won't you come with me
I'll tell you where I'm going
Over the meadow, down by the stream
Under the shade of a fig tree

So won't you come along
Won't you come along
Well, come with me
Underneath the shade
The shade of a fig tree

And it won't take long
It won't take long
'Till you'll be beside me
Shake it mama, shake
Shake me up in my tree
Well, shake me up in my tree

Oh the sunlight streaks across the meadow
Comes speaking through the canopy
The shadow suggests the shape of my interests
Under your fig leaf

So won't you come along
Won't you come along
Well, come with me
Underneath the shade
The shade of a fig tree

And it won't take long
It won't take long
'Till you'll be beside me
Shake it mama, shake
Shake me up in my tree
Shake me up in my tree

Mmm
Alright

So won't you come a long
Won't you come along
Well, come with me
Underneath the shade
The shade of a fig tree

And it won't take long
It won't take long
'Till you'll be beside me, baby
Shake it mama, shake
Shake me up in my tree
Yes, shake me up in my tree

Uprooting's heavy on the tree
And nature has been good to thee
You've been sittin' pretty with your prudence on your paw swingin'
I've been barking up the wrong tree

So won't you come along
Won't you come along
Well, come with me
Underneath the shade
The shade of a fig tree

And it won't, and it won't
And it won't take long
'Till you'll be beside me, baby
Shake it mama shake
Shake me up in my tree
Oh, shake me up in my tree
Shake me up in my tree >

i am a dreamer
and i'm a lover
i've been let down
and i've loved and lost
i've been alone
i've been far from home

follow your heart
follow your heart
follow your heart
and you won't get lost

i've been a poor man
i've been a rich man
i made a fortune
and i paid the cost
i've had some good friends
they come and go

follow your heart
follow your heart
follow your heart
and you won't get lost

i've been cheated
i've been defeated
i've played the game
and i've been double crossed
every friend of mine
has been in hard times

follow your heart
follow your heart
follow your heart
and you won't get lost

[No lyrics]