Caedmon's Call Album

I think this place is swell
There's much familiar here
I get my laundry done
And I get home-cooked meals
When I'm feeling tired
I can turn off all the lights
Ignore the knocking on the door
Pretend I'm not alive

Chorus:

Daddy, it's Saturday
And I don't want to go outside
And mow the grass today
Would you love me just as much
If I was just your stupid kid
Would you love me just as much
If I was just your stupid kid

They tell me that I'm bright
Sometimes I think they're right
But I guess I'll never know
'Cause I won't go outside
Some days it's just so hot
And others it's so cold
Too much exposure to the sun
Would just make me look old

Repeat Chorus

Isn't this Saturday
Sure feels like Saturday
Wake me Saturday
Daddy, it's Saturday

And my mind wanders off
To things I've never seen
Are these walls higher than the cost of opportunity
I'm too big for my bed
And I've outgrown my shoes
But my fear of leaving
Is the one thing I just can't lose

Daddy, it's Saturday
And I don't want to go outside
And mow the grass today
Would you love me just as much
If I never got a job
And if I never left your house
Would I be of use to you
If I never amounted to much more
Than just your stupid kid
Would I love me just as much
If I was just your stupid kid

.:: Open Letter ::.

Well, I'm finding the green cleared from my eyes
I am young and I am deep within the woods
What I'm discovering is far from the land I've heard tell of
But I'm not so vain to think that I'm the first

The first to see and to turn their eyes away
And I know that's not a popular approach
And I'm also learning the rules to the game I'm supposed to play
And they are proving to be far beyond reproach

And just 'cause we subscribe to different paths
Doesn't give you right to just sit and laugh

Can you still see from whence you've come
'Cause I won't bow down to a place so low
I think that you're wrong and I think you're wrong
I hope you don't mind me saying so

It's not as though this truck's been up on blocks for years in my front yard
Waiting for the fuel of you to make it go
Well, I guess it all depends on who you answer to
Cause I still believe it's Who not what you know

Why don't you write me a letter or call me on the phone
Tell me of all the big important things we'll do
I know you're understanding of what freedom means to me
But I bet you won't mention how you'll hide me till I belong to you

All of these things you say I lack
You can keep just give my innocence back

If it comes right down to yes or no
Just lock the door and on my way I'll go

Well don't call us
We will call you

I mount up with waxen wings
High to reach the sun
And I am no further than
When I first begun

So I build a mount of Athos
To shape your form against the sky
With my home in your hands
To show all the people why
To show all the people why

Chorus:

Everything I do
It's not enough for you
Everything I do
It's not enough
It's not enough for you

In the garden of my pride
The lamented lime tree
Too stupid to cry for rain
fruitless and choked out by weeds

So I write a book of life
Using the best words I can find
for some struggler to snuggle up
When the world becomes unkind
When the world becomes unkind

Repeat Chorus

I find direction in east-bound clouds
And long for what they have
But when I step into its midst
Its substance I cannot grasp

So I paint a portrait of you
As if you had human disguise
With oil and canvas to be clay
To open up their eyes
Like you opened up my eyes

Repeat Chorus Twice

I am a bus driver and it's four in the morning
And I'm pressing out my clothes beside my bed
fourteen years been on the job
And with many miles behind
Still I'm up at 3:30 to make sure I'm there on time

My car gets me along just fine
To and from the station
But my castle is this Houston Metro bus
My first stop is Ashbury
The sign's been gone for years
All the same the people wait
'Cause they know that I'll be there

Chorus:

What would you say
If I told you that I won't be by today
Would you say that
I'm just a bus driver
And what do I know
Just a bus driver
And what do I know
Just a bus driver
And what do I know

I'm always there by 5:15
And lately I've been early
Judith likes to be in early to the bank
And she gives me conversation
And a token good for riding
And she's happy all alone

And then there's Charles in retail sales
And I hope they pay him well
for all the work that young man does
'Cause I've never seen the inside of a custom refrigerator
But I know that he's the first and last one there

Repeat Chorus

I wonder what they do all day
And their respective works
Suppose they give money and take money away
Still I'm just orbiting this town
With the post office my sun
I'm circling again

And I wonder how this world would be
If I was never here
To drive this bus around from Ashbury to Main
I suppose this town would be the same
With one bus less exhaust
But that bank and retail store
They just wouldn't be the same

But what can I see
from the limited confines of my bus driving seat
Only me
And I'm just a bus driver
And what do I know
I'm just a bus driver
And what do I know
Just a bus driver
And what do I know
Just a bus driver
So don't believe that
Just a bus driver
Well don't believe that
Just a bus driver
Well don't believe that
We're all just bus drivers
And it's time to go home

.:: Glory, Glory Lord ::.

Glory, glory Lord
We give You glory, Lord
Glory, glory Lord
You are the Mighty God

Sing to the Lord a new song
Sing His praise to the ends of the earth
Let every nation tell it, declare it
Till everyone has heard

.:: Staircase ::.

What do you say to my brother
My friend, then you've said that same thing to me
It's no big deal, she's just my sister
No need to compromise on your crude philosophy
My friend did you know you are my brother
And I know that what you say is what you've heard
I'm where and wearying and I'm worn
I scream until I cannot hear a word

But somehow in this life there is a peace that comes on me
But I throw conviction to the wind and set my anger free
And how can I expect this house to stand on the mud I've laid
'cause I'm tripping, falling on myself and the staircase that I've made

and where's the honor in that, where's the honor in that
C'mon brother can you tell me
Where's the honor in that, where's the honor in that
I can hear my sister ask me
"If this was a perfect world
Would brothers and sisters still act that way?
'Cause if this is righteousness
I'll settle for mediocrity any day."

I guess my tongue of pride has had it say
Why do I get so defensive anyway
Dumb pride, dumb luck, which is the cause
And I wonder which of these sustains a greater loss

But somehow in this life there is a peace that comes on me
But we throw conviction to the wind and set this anger free
And how can we expect this house to stand on the mud we've laid
We're tripping, falling on ourselves and the staircase that we've made

Oh who am I, and what is my family?
That days to come have even held a place for me
Can you hear me saying I will build a house for you
And you say 'First look to your neighbor's house.
There is much work to do.' If not then...

[No lyrics]

So many miles behind
Still I drive with the pedal down
I was off the map hours back
It's beneath the seat, I think
It's with two pennies and a match
And something else, I can't remember
But in the time that it would take to fish it out
I'll be another mile gone

And I feel so wrong
Trying to feel right
In light of all the things I've passed
You'd think that I'd have learned

Chorus:

This is not the land was promised me
Even as far as my eyes can see
I'm so wound up, Lord, I can't even breathe
And I don't want words
I just want some peace
Some peace, some peace

It seems I've misplaced my faith
'Cause it's 11:12, nothing's changed
Well, nothing except the channel I'm afraid
And the number there
No, it's the same
Oh, this must be the savior of the month
And what I must have
Where's the night gone?
'Cause I'm so tired and out of shape
You've gotta get me up
But I can't get up today

'Cause it's been so long
Since I've felt right
All the rote, rehearsal, proof
You'd think that I'd have learned

Repeat Chorus

Break me, break me, break me

This is not the land was promised me
Gotta get out of bed, get something to read
And I gotta feed my brother, not my eyes
If not, then I'll be all I despise

.:: I Waited ::.

I waited
For the Lord on High
I waited
And He heard my cry

He took me out, out of despair
And showed my where to walk
From fear into security
From quicksand into the light

I sing to let the people know
That I have been restored
So they will kneel and understand
To return and trust in the Lord

.:: Another 10 Miles ::.

I don't see what you see in me
I'm just flesh and bone
Many hours at the carousel,
Postcards from far from home
Sometimes I feel as useless as my empty words, old
president's dogs, clean paws, no dirt

What do these words mean?
Sometimes I just don't know.
Sometimes I just can't see
where it is I go- I waste
my whole day thinking over
things I've said and avoiding myself
like the plague in my head

I know that you see me and I know
You're about me, that's why You
let me roam
Another 10 miles, another 10 miles, another 10 miles

Where does this all lead, and
why must I follow it?
Nothing is black and white,
(even me, I must admit).
I jot down the facts and work
on consistency, but open up the
closet door; it's George, and
the cat, and me.

My shifting eyes like sands
cannot focus on the void,
concentration still,
"Get thee behind me, Freud."
I'm grasping at straws and
the bale is almost gone;
the fire's grown much too dim,
nights grow much too long-

I am holding things Yours, not mine
while I should cling to You like a
cow beneath the light of a highway sign.

It's a muggy night in Houston
And all the intersections are like full serve stations
I'm on my way to a familiar place
It's cold in Kansas city
And you can no more hear me that I can see your face
How I wish it was just you and me

We wouldn't have to talk about the crowd
We wouldn't have to talk so loud

I give you my life and all I am
But what have it to give
So I hand you a candid photograph of this little boy
'Cause I've nothing to my name
But I can give you that

I don't miss the driving
Seems like forever
And I'm always driving in my mind
And wearing out the road that gets me there

And I'm driving till my eyes just can't see straight
But I suppose that it's getting late

I may never find the sleep
I've lost all feeling in my hands and
Feet may touch the ground but
My mind's somewhere north of here

.:: Faith My Eyes ::.

As I survey the ground for ants
Looking for a place to sit and read
I'm reminded of the streets of my hometown
How they're much like this concrete that's warm beneath my feet

And how I'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
With a touch of my father just up around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
But more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

But if I must go
Things I trust will be better off without me
But I don't want to know
Life is better off a mystery

So keep'em coming these lines on the road
And keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load
And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

Hometown weather is on TV
I imagine the lives of the people living there
And I'm curious if they imagine me
Cause they just wanna leave; I wish that I could stay

And to visit places from my past
But only for an hour or so
Which is long enough to smell the air
To tell the tale and find the door

But I get turned around
I mistake some happiness for blessing
But I'm blessed as the poor
Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

So I'll sing a song of my hometown
I'll breathe the air and walk the streets
Maybe find a place to sit and read
And the ants are welcome company

And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.

[No lyrics]

.:: Clean Am I ::.

Clean am I before my Lord
Washed am I in his cleansing word
Though sin talons at my face
Though my lips breath curse and praise
Though verse of doubt I've too oft writ
The eyes of forgiveness see none of it

Clean am I before my Lord
Saved am I from doomsday's sword
Though thy love I've scarcely shown
Though I've wept when the cock hath crowed
Though stumbled have I in miry's pit
The pierced Savior's hand it washes it

Clean am I before my Lord
Mortality's river I shall ford
Drink will I of angel's food
Take hold the redemption of the rood
And drink the blood shed to remit
The sins of my soul, he sees none of it

Clean am I before my Lord
Washed am I in his cleansing word
Clean am I before my Lord
Saved am I from doomsday's sword
Clean am I before my Lord
Mortality's river I shall ford

Clean am I before my Lord
Clean am I before my Lord