Ten Year Night

There is no one else around
The road is quiet, the only sound
Is wind that sounds like cars that sound like breathing
The desert air is hot and dry
Two lanes weaving earth and sky
The stars are all that's keeping time 'til morning

And I turn and look beside me
And you're sleeping like a baby
And you haven't heard a word that I've been saying
And the way you look tonight
Fast asleep in the dashboard light
Well I can't speak
That's how I feel

CHORUS
Open your eyes and look at me, and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through
I'm telling you
Take it from me
Take it from me

We're ten years older, I know we are
Than the night we met in that downtown bar
You thought I was some kind of star
That's what you said
I felt your skin, I felt the heat
As you pulled me out into the street
And you kissed me there 'til I was weak
'Cause I asked you to

And later on on your kitchen floor
Two flights above the grocery store
I felt things I never felt before, and I still do

CHORUS

Going eighty on the highway
We're all rushing somewhere
But the way I feel tonight
It's like I'm already there

CHORUS

END OF THE DAY

I used to hear him sing in a Bleecker Street bar
On that tiny stage with a borrowed guitar
His voice cut through like a speeding car
Tearing through the deals of the brokers at the bar

Then he sold everything for a Wall Street wage
A rich man's money is a rich man's cage
Pockets full of gold and a dead man's face
There was life in those eyes, now there's not a trace

CHORUS
How much did it cost you
How much did you pay
And are you sorry at the end of the day
Are you sorry at the end of the day


She used to be a friend and a wife and a daughter
Now she's walked on everybody like she's walking on water
She'll kiss you on the mouth while she takes what you give her
Better turn the other cheek when she walks away forever

'Cause you're just another rung on the ladder to the top
And once she started climbing she couldn't ever stop
With her entourage around her she sits on her throne
But she's the queen of nothing now, she's sitting all alone

CHORUS

And you found out what you wanted
Well it isn't what you need
And you curse this train you're riding
You curse it but you never leave
Well there's a way, there's a way

CHORUS (2x)

I used to hear him sing in a Bleecker Street bar
On that tiny stage with a borrowed guitar
His voice cut through like a speeding car
Tearing through the deals of the brokers at the bar
Tearing through the deals of the brokers at the bar . . .

ONE GOOD REASON

Woke up scared in the middle of the night
He reached for the bottle and turned on the light
Looked at the clock, this can't be right
I'm not dreaming

Turned on the TV and the radio
Elvis rocked and Elvis rolled
While Jesus on his radio show
Said pack your bags, we're leaving

CHORUS
There's a line I've crossed somewhere
I left the best of me back there
Never thought I'd end up here
Guess all the best things disappear

Whiskey is his water and it's made in hell
From the bottom of his barrel to the bottom of his well
Nothing in his room but an empty shell
And he's not dreaming

A drunkard's regrets are a dime a dozen
A thousand cures and a thousand poisons
Even Elvis couldn't find one good reason
To keep believing

CHORUS

Guess she thought she had nothing to lose
When she told him he had to choose
Nice idea but they both knew
That she'd be leaving

Jesus said seek and you shall find
He doesn't think it's true this time
Some things you look for you never find
Like one good reason

CHORUS

FIVE IN THE MORNING

Five in the morning, lying in bed
Listening to the thunderstorm in her head
Looks around the room as she opens her eyes
Pictures on the mantle of a life gone by
She's been sleeping a long time

Quiet now, everyone still asleep
She can feel her heart beating, she can hear herself breathe
Her mother told her to be a dark mystery
But the darkness is out of control and she can't see
But at least she's alive

CHORUS
She's gonna hit the ground running from this dead end street
Saved by the power of her own two feet
Remembering a song from long ago
It's around and around, it's the way things go
The way things go

Shivers in the cold, slips on her clothes
Walks downstairs, icy wind blows
Face to face inside the front door
It's not a crime to need more
There's something I'm looking for

If you leave now you can never come back
You're throwing us away, you can't do that
I'm falling like a leaf from the family tree
I don't need you the way you need me
You need me

CHORUS (2x)

Five in the morning, lying in bed
Listening to the thunderstorm in her head

PROMISE ME

Let me sit beside you, take a good long look at you
I'll memorize you so I always find you
Smiling at me in my rear view
In the broken white line that takes me from you

CHORUS
Promise me you'll wait for me
And kiss me one more time
Give me all your lonely nights
I'll keep 'em here with mine
I'll keep 'em here with mine

If I could stay in one place I know what I'd do
I'd make my living in my love with you
But I work on these stages and I live everywhere
And it's everywhere that I want you

CHORUS

Listen for me when I'm away
I'll be singing to you

It feels like I just got home yesterday
Now I'm packed and I'm ready with nothing to say
I'm counting the white lines, the measures of road time
They're broken in pieces like my heart today

CHORUS

TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON

Enough with the mood lighting, I'm not in the mood
Apparently I don't have the right attitude
Do you think this is a seance, maybe that's what we need
Then we could channel some of the dead air between you and me

Dry your new age tears, let's stick to the facts
Don't need your phony pearls of wisdom, you can have them back
Don't want your earnest sympathy, keep it to yourself
If I'm gonna be alone I'd rather be my myself

CHORUS
Turn the lights back on
Turn the lights back on
That trusting girl you knew is dead and gone
She's dead and gone

You've read The Road Less Traveled
You think you know everything
A little knowledge can be such a dangerous thing
If you'd look in the mirror I could tell you what you'd see
It'd be a real education, tuition's free

How could you just sit there all those years
And watch me throw away
Everything I wanted and worked for
And the dreams I couldn't even say
Didn't it ever occur to you to once ask me why
I guess it didn't, and I think that's maybe worse than a lie

CHORUS

I was deaf, dumb and blind when I came to you
I trusted you, you said I was supposed to
But you couldn't understand me, you couldn't even see
Your hand before your face, much less me
So you told me all this stuff about you, pretended it was about me
And I'd have been better off with nothing

CHORUS (2x)

JUST YOU TONIGHT

It's not the altitude that takes my breath away
And makes my body think the air's too thin
It's not the bourbon you've been drinking
That burns the autumn leaves against my skin

CHORUS
It's just you, you tonight
And the music you heard in me somehow
It's just you, you tonight
And I swear to you I'm listening now

It's not a fable that gives meaning
To the language my heart speaks to you
It's not a road map that tells me I've come home
Lying here in the quiet next to you

CHORUS

When you whisper my name
It's like I can hear all these melodies I used to know
I remember them from long ago

CHORUS

FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE

Remember when they took him in the middle of the night
And nobody told you where he'd gone
Death came in with morning light
And touched your father's hand
In a hospital uptown, where your mother sat alone

For two weeks no one told you, as if it never happened
You held the hope that he was still alive
The funeral was over, no way to say goodbye
You've never had a chance to show the tears you hold inside
You hold inside

CHORUS
I want to make it up to you somehow
Maybe there's something I have I could give you now
There's so many things you never had
Maybe it doesn't have to hurt so bad
For once in your life

There's so much that I wanted that you could never give
I just never got that I was stronger than you
It wasn't a fair fight, you bleeding on the ground
And me standing over you waiting for another round

I would tell you that I'm sorry, but I know what you would say
'Cause I think that you forgave me long ago
I really don't know why, I don't think I deserve it
Maybe a person forgives so they don't have to be alone
Be alone . . . be alone

CHORUS

In our home movie I remember we're sitting in the sun
I'm crying, you're smiling at this girl of your own
And you're posing me for the camera and everyone around
And I can feel that smile even now
Even now . . . even now

CHORUS

SOMEWHERE OUT THERE
by Steve Earle

Somewhere out there in the world tonight
Just out of my reach
I hear your heart beat
It's coming in loud and clear tonight
Pounding in my brain
Calling out your name

And in the darkness something binds you to me
So that I can find you
When you want me I will be there waiting on you
Somewhere out there

Somewhere out there in your heart tonight
Where I have never gone
You are not alone
It's tearing me apart all right
But darling what can I do
When I'm so far from you

And when I lay me down to sleep
My one and only prayer is you'll keep
Safe from harm until I get wherever you are
Somewhere out there
Somewhere out there

And if you're sad or if you're lonely
If you're scared or if you're only
Tired of fighting, seeking shelter
Just hold on, I'm somewhere out there
Somewhere out there

Somewhere out there in the world tonight
Just out of your reach
You'll hear my heart beat
You'll hear my heart beat
You'll hear my heart beat