Love Will Give You the World
Through the waiting days, all the colors fall
They fall and rise again
Like the rocking horse riding across the open fields
Now there’s a big parade and I can see you in the crowd
The new wine flows until the twilight comes again
There’s a blue star, and your hands are warm
Do you remember the words you said to me?
Love will give you the world, and take it away
Love will give you the world, and take it all away
And round and back again
New Bright Way
You got me spinning round from the words that you said to me
As we walked out of the restaurant and down the old side street
It was almost like a dream where the lost are all found
Faces shining in the sun, friendly voices all around
Oh, it’s a new bright way stretching out ahead
A town called Penitence on the map that we’ve got inside
No deceivers are allowed, no shadowlands of Roman pride
Did you hear that song that the busker played as we walked on by?
How on earth did he know your name in this air electrified?
I’m still spinning round, from the words that you said to me
You showed me a world that I had to see, you showed me the strangest town
I could almost hear those ghosts from the music hall
As we got back to the interstate and headed south from Montreal
Oh, It’s a new bright way stretching out ahead
A New Star
Well time and tide have come together now
And these black waves come crashing on your bow
Well it’s funny how these things come to pass
And tomorrow is so long ago
You call out as the rain and thunder wails
I don’t know what’s true in your fairy tales
But I can see something in your crying eyes
And you say “Won’t you take me home?”
Now I thought that I had seen them all
And then I saw your new star
Instead of watching them fall
It’s good to have a new star in the sky
Lost in your dreams I can’t say no to you
We drank the wine but we’re still wrapped in blue
Two riders at night, we push on to the dawn
And you say “won’t you take me home?”
One Day in the Sun
I started on the wrong foot, the old folks said to me
Born under the wrong sign, my father lost at sea
My mother left when I was ten, I never had a home
I had to make it by myself, cause I was all alone.
Funny how it comes around, rising up and falling down
You never know what kind of race you’re gonna have to run
I got the hand I’m gonna play, I’ll never throw my cards away
Cause I know I’m gonna have my one day in the sun
I grew up sad and lonely, in trouble all the time
But still I was an honest man—I never stole a dime
I found out for myself what it was to be a man
I went to sea, I traveled far, I saw the foreign lands
After that I came back, but I was still alone
Got a job down on the docks and worked my fingers to the bone
“Money can’t buy happiness,” someone said to me
And that sounds pretty good until you try to live on your dreams
Then out of the blue I met her as she tried to wave a cab
We struck a conversation and I guess I made her laugh
She took my hand and we walked through Boston in the snow
And on that very day she said “I’ll never let you go.”
My cards all came up lucky, and fortune smiled on me
And since that moment I’ve had every day in the sun.
Ovation
When the crowd leaves you behind
I’m gonna give you your ovation
When the world won’t look twice
I’m gonna give you your ovation
When the light comes through the trees
I’m gonna give you your ovation
In a town at the edge of the sea
I’m gonna give you your ovation
Phantom Town
You know they still talk about the day
That he came driving into town
They said “Son, when you moving on?”
But he just turned away and said
“I’m right where I belong”
In a phantom town
Where the ghosts of dreams walk everywhere
In a phantom town
Where a friendly word is kind of rare
In a phantom town
Are you going to stand up or fade away?
In a phantom town
As the iron rust turns to silver gray
They made their plans to get him out of the way
Some wires pulled, sand in the engine case
They found his car by the railroad tracks
An old man smiled and said “he’s gone, but I think he’s coming back”
To a phantom town……
A Rare Thing
Called away by some war or another
Just the same as it was for the others
The reasons don’t matter now
I’m just torn away from this rare thing I found
It was the last dance before we go away
It was the last time I could gaze at your face
It was a rare thing that we had found
It was a rare thing that we had found
I couldn’t give you a ring of gold
But I held you close when you were cold
We read aloud by the firelight
I treasured every moment you were in my sight
It was the last dance before we go away
It was the last time I could gaze at your face
It was a rare thing that we had found
It was a rare thing that we had found
An ocean away I’m going
Leaving you was not my choice
An ocean away I’m going
Away from the sound of your gentle voice
I remember the dress you’d wear
And the black ribbon tied up in your hair
Your strange smile at everything
And that caoineadh song you’d always sing
The Refraction Point of Waves
Through the forest in wintertime
Past the windmills, by the old county line
To the ocean, syncopate and rhyme
Where the waves break over the waterline