Josh Ritter Album

All that love all those mistakes
What else can a poor man make?
So I gave up a life of crime
I gave it to a friend of mine
Something else was on my mind
The only ghost I'm haunted by
I hear her howling down below
Idaho oh Idaho

Wolves oh wolves oh can't you see?
Ain't no wolf can sing like me
And if it could then I suppose
He belongs in Idaho
Packs of dogs and cigarettes
For those who ain't done packing yet
My clothes are packed and I want to go
Idaho oh Idaho

Out at sea for seven years I got your letter in Tangier
Thought that I'd been on a boat
'Til that single word you wrote
That single word it landlocked me
Turned the masts to cedar trees
And the winds to gravel roads
Idaho oh Idaho

These chords are old but we shake hands
Cause I believe that they're the good guys
We can use all the help we can
So many minor chords outside
I fell in love with your sound
Oh I love to sing along with you
We got tunes we kicked around
We got a bucket that the tunes go through

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

Last night there was a horse in the road
I was twisting in the hairpin
My hands held on my mind let go
And back to you my heart went skipping
I found the inside of the road
Thought about the first time that I met you
All those glances that we stole
Sometimes if you want them then you've got to

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

They shot a Western south of here
They had him cornered in a canyon
And even his horse had disappeared
They said it got run down by a bad bad man
You're not a good shot but I'm worse
And there's so much where we ain't been yet
So swing up on this little horse
The only thing we'll hit is sunset

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

Me and Jiggs staring at the ceiling the stars above the radar range
Song from a station wagon laying foundations on the shadows of overpassingplanes
I'm feeling good, at seven o'clock we're gonna drive across the county line
And find Saturday night like an orphan child that the good days left behind

And I'm not sure we can make it stay
Sun's going down and its the end of the day

Me and my friends in the park drinking beer underneath the tree
Lying on your back as the sun goes down, you know it's perfect cause you've gotto leave
On a Saturday night in a town like this I forget all my songs about trains
A bar with a jukebox and you on my arm heaven and earth are pretty much the same

And I'm not sure i can make you stay
Sun's going down and its the end of the day

Later on sitting on the roof talking like the night could last all night
Like we are all half crazy and all at least half alright
Sitting on the porch playing Townes Van Zandt play guitar to burn off the hours
Till we climb the fences at the edge of town and paint our names on the watertowers

And I'm not sure we can make them stay
Sun's going down at the end of the day

Romero got married on the fifth of July
In our Lady of Immaculate Dawn
Could have got married in the revival man's tent
But there ain't no reviving what's gone
Slipped like a shadow from the family he made
In a little white house by the woods
Dropped the kids at the mission, with a rose for the virgin
She knew he was gone for good

It's a long way to Heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg
And that's still a long way from the place where we are
And if evil exists its a pair of train tracks
And the devil is a railroad car

Could have stayed somewhere but the train tracks kept going
And it seems like they always left soon
and the wolves that he ran with they moaned low and painful
sang sad misereres to the moon

(chorus)

Rose at the altar withered and wilted
Romero sank into a dream
He didn't make Heaven, he didn't make Harrisburg
He died in a hole in between
Some say that man is the root of all evil
Others say God's a drunkard for pain
Me I believe that the Garden of Eden
Was burned to make way for a train

At night we crossed the border following a Black robe
To the edge of the reservation—to Cataldo Mission
Where the saints and all the martyrs look down on dying converts
What makes the water holy she says is that that it's the closest thing to rain
I stole a mule from Anthony—I helped Anne up upon it
And we rode to Coeur d'Alene—through Harrison and Wallace
They were blasting out the tunnels—making way for the light of learning
When Jesus comes a'calling she said he's coming round the mountain on a train
It's my home—last night I dreamt that I grew wings
I found a place where they could hear me when I sing
We floated on to Hanford on a lumber boat up river
Past the fisheries and the milltowns like a stretch of future graveyards
She was driven to distraction—said I wonder what will happen
When they find out they're mistaken and the land is too changed to ever change
We waded through the marketplace—someone's ship had come in
There was silver and begonias—dynamite and cattle
There were hearts as big as apples and apples in the shape of Mary's heart
I said inside this gilded cage a songbird always looks so plain
It's my home—last night I dreamt that I grew wings
I found a place where they could hear me when I sing.
And so they came with cameras—breaking through the morning mist
Press and businessmen—tycoons—Episcopal philanthropists
Lost in their appraisal of the body of a woman
But all we saw were lowlands—clouds clung to mountains without strings
And at last we saw some people huddled up against
The rain that was descending like railroad spikes and hammers
They were headed for the border—walking and then running
Then they were gone into the fog but Anne said underneath their jackets she sawwings

Honey how you gonna make it on your own?
Honey how you gonna make it on your own?
When you wake up in the night
And see the stars just city lights
And you can't find home?

You act like you don't need nobody else
And you dance like you don't need nobody else
And all the other moths need light
To circle round while you just fly
Around yourself

Oh I stir my sugar with a spoon
And watch your white dress float around the room
I try to see what you're about
But even my candles are down and out

Honey why you gotta hide your face from me?
Honey why you gotta hide your face from me?
Will I starve in this eclipse while you treat every hungry kiss
Like one more mouth to feed?

I remember back in Illinois I found her
The lily of the valley the lily of the West was a rose
The daughter of the biggest big town banker
He kept her like a princess
I stole her like the Fort Knox gold

She used to pour Four Roses like it was going down the chimney
Like the bottle was on fire or the boiler was about to blow
She was up on the table when we hit Missouri
Dancing with a movie man he was holding her a little too close

La didi da da da da da da da!

He made her the star of the silent movies
But all she did was mouth the words all she did was mouth the words, "Oh no!"
And he cast me as the villain as the sheriff's worst enemy
I practiced falling off of buildings and out windows

La didi da da da da da da da!

The last time I saw she was tied to the train tracks
I was back there with the extras riding on a tiger roan
The villain on the left with the studio mustache
Winking at Lillian blowing kisses from the second row

La didi da da da da da da da!

[No lyrics]

All the other girls here are stars—you are the Northern Lights
They try to shine in through your curtains—you're too close and too bright
They try and they try but everything that they do
Is the ghost of a trace of a pale imitation of you
I'll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen
This party is made with the night air and the chance that a smile
Will wind its way from your face to one of the boys in your line
You act like you're hip to their tricks and you're strong
But a virgin Wurlitzer heart never once had a song
I'll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen
And I'll have you back by break of day
I'm going your way anyway
And if you'd like to come along
I'll be yours for a song
I know you are waiting and I know that it is not for me
But I'm here and I'm ready and I've saved you the passenger seat
I won't be your last dance just your last goodnight
Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied
I'll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen
So crawl up your trellis and quietly back into your room
And I'll coast down the length of your drive by the light of the moon
And the next time I see you—a new kind of hello
Both our hearts have a secret only both of us know
'bout the night that I drove you back home Kathleen

Once I knew a girl in the hard hard times
She made me a shirt out of fives and dimes
Now she's gone but when I wear it she crosses my mind
And if the best is for the best then the best is unkind

I realized that Illinois was more than I could stand
They say working's best cause poverty is hell on a man
Now I ride a lazy river through the Mississippi fan
And if the best is for the best then the best can be damned

I spent a few years on the Queen of Spain
She was a leaky little boat that went up in flames
When the boiler blew some people started naming names
But if the best is for the best
I guess the best is to blame

I spent a few more as the Cairo Crown
A heavyweight wrestler in the Midwest towns
But I was lonesome for a girl who could pin me down
They say the best is for the best but that's not what I've found

Now I listen to my sweetheart and I listen to my thirst
I don't spend time listening to other people's words
Sometimes they're right most times the reverse
They say the best is for the best when the best's for the worse

Once I knew a girl in the hard hard times
She made me a shirt out of fives and dimes
Now she's gone but when I wear it she crosses my mind
And if the best is for the best then the best is unkind

Peter said to Paul you know all those words we wrote
Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go
But now talking to God is Laurel begging
Hardy for a gun I got a girl in the war man I wonder what it is we done

Paul said to Peter you got to rock yourself a little harder
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire
But I got a girl in the war
Paul the only thing I know to do
Is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through

Because the keys to the Kingdom got lost inside the Kingdom
And the angels fly around in there but we can't see them I got a girl in the war
Paul I know that they can here me yell
If they can't find a way to help her they can go to Hell
If they can't find a way to help her they can go to Hell

Paul said to Peter you got to rock yourself a little harder
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire
But I got a girl in the war Paul her eyes are like champagne
They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain
They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain
They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain

I became a thin blue flame
Polished on a mountain range
And over hills and fields I flew
Wrapped up in a royal blue
I flew over Royal City last night
A bullfighter on the horns of a new moon's light Caesar's ghost
I saw the war-time tides
The prince of Denmark's father still and quiet
And the whole world was looking to get drowned
Trees were a fist shaking themselves at the clouds
I looked over curtains and it was then that I knew
Only a full house gonna make it through

I became a thin blue wire
That held the world above the fire
And so it was I saw behind
Heaven's just a thin blue line
If God's up there he's in a cold dark room
The heavenly host are just the cold dark moons
He bent down and made the world in seven days
And ever since he's been a'walking away
Mixing with nitrogen in lonely holes
Where neither seraphim or raindrops go
I see an old man wandering the halls alone
Only a full house gonna make a home

I became a thin blue stream
The smoke between asleep and dreams
And in that clear blue undertow
I saw Royal City far below
Borders soft with refugees
Streets a'swimming with amputees
It's a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart
It's getting harder and harder to tell them apart
Days are nights and the nights are long
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign
Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine
Now the wolves are howling at our door
Singing bout vengeance like it's the joy of the Lord
Bringing justice to the enemies not the other way round
They're guilty when killed and they're killed where they're found
If what's loosed on earth will be loosed up on high
It's a Hell of a Heaven we must go to when we die
Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance please
The fat man is crying on his hands and his knees
Back in the peacetime he caught roses on the stage
Now he twists indecision takes bourbon for rage
Lead pellets peppering aluminum
Halcyon, laudanum and Opium
Sings kiss thee hardy this poisoned cup
His winding sheet is busy winding up
In darkness he looks for the light that has died
But you need faith for the same reasons that it's so hard to find
And this whole thing is headed for a terrible wreck
And like good tragedy that's what we expect

At night I make plans for a city laid down
Like the hips of a girl on the spring covered ground
Spirals and capitals like the twist of a script
Streets named for heroes that could almost exist
The fruit trees of Eden and the gardens that seem
To float like the smoke from a lithium dream
Cedar trees growing in the cool of the squares
The young women walking in the portals of prayer
And the future glass buildings and the past an address
And the weddings in pollen and the wine bottomless
And all wrongs forgotten and all vengeance made right
The suffering verbs put to sleep in the night
The future descending like a bright chandelier
And the world just beginning and the guests in good cheer
In Royal City I fell into a trance
Oh it's hell to believe there ain't a hell of a chance

I woke beneath a clear blue sky
The sun a shout the breeze a sigh
My old hometown and the streets I knew
Were wrapped up in a royal blue
I heard my friends laughing out across the fields
The girls in the gloaming and the birds on the wheel
The raw smell of horses and the warm smell of hay
Cicadas electric in the heat of the day
A run of Three Sisters and the flush of the land
And the lake was a diamond in the valley's hand
The straight of the highway and the scattered out hearts
They were coming together they pulling apart
And angels everywhere were in my midst
In the ones that I loved in the ones that I kissed
I wondered what it was I'd been looking for up above
Heaven is so big there ain't no need to look up
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air
Only a full house gonna have a prayer

Birds beneath my window dustying their wings upon the lawn
I hear them in the morning light giving last amen to a migratory song
They're never looking round for me—their eyes are on the sky or the ground below
But I'd rather be the one who loves than to be loved and never even know
Hello blackbird hello starling
Winter's over be my darling
It's been a long time coming
But now the snow is gone
You were beautiful when I first saw your feathers and confectionery airs
Like the earth it up and promised you the stars but you really didn't care
I sang in exultation pulled the stops—you always looked a little bored
But I'm singing for the love of it—have mercy on the man who sings to be adored
Hello blackbird hello starling
Winter's over be my darling
It's been a long time coming
But now the snow is gone
OOOOOOOOH!
I'm underneath your window now—it's long after the birds have gone to roost
And I'm not sure if I'm singing for the love of it or for the love of you
But I've flown a long way honey hear my confession then I'll go
I'd rather be the one who loves than to be loved and never even know
Hello brown one hello blue one
Last night's feathers exchanged for new ones
Hello blackbird hello starling
Winter's over be my darling
It's been a long time coming
But now the snow is gone

Making my own city lights
Out of bourbon and the stars of a bar room fight
Face forward in the wind
If you don't know where it is but you know where it's been

Then it's leaving, leaving, leaving but I don't know where
Leaving, leaving, leaving but I don't know where

I tried to keep myself in line
I been bad but I seem to get back I every time
Now I come back and the place is all locked
Between the door knob and the doorbell, somebody talked

Now it's leaving, leaving, leaving but I don't know where
Leaving, leaving, leaving but I don't know where

Every time I turn around
Something else just floated away
There ain't a single thing that I've found
With wings that decided to stay

Maybe it's the place on the wall
Or maybe it's the space where the phone didn't call
or Maybe it's this thing in my chest
We'll know what it was by the hole that it left

Now it's leaving, leaving but I don't know where
Leaving, leaving, leaving but I don't know where