All lyrics © Wes Weddell (Dusty Shadows Music, ASCAP): All Rights Reserved
Carry Me Home 1999
Oh, my young son, come in and close the door You’ve been running behind a distant shore You’ve been hiding among the rolling fields You’ve been something of a tender, broken seal Dusty blue skies cannot hide your weary grin And the moonlight seems to follow you, and when It tells your story to buy a little time I see the reason for starting off the line CHORUS: Can’t undo what must be done, And you can’t hide it when it comes I’d share my secrets, but there’s nothing I’ve concealed Behind this transitory fortress that shows more than I’ve revealed Ain’t it funny how we place our hearts in other people’s hands? Carry me home In the summer, you rise and face the day, And the autumn finds you looking either way On to winter, when you realize what you’ve done, And then springtime: you start it all again See me coming, smile across my face Watch in wonder as I keep a steady pace, Then I stop dead: try to turn around If you’ll listen, we’ll gather what I’ve found CHORUS Carry me home On the outside, nothing beats you down On the inside, it’s the other way around I have seen you slowly slip away, But I have felt you closer every day— Felt you closer every day Oh, my young son, come in and close the door You’ve been running behind a distant shore, But you’ve been laughing, and everyone can see that You’ve been singing, and you look all right to me CHORUS Carry me home—oh, won’t you Carry me home
Battlefields & Broken Deals 1999
Up and out and into breaking day, He was a high-strung feeler earning hell to pay Cut loose from the banner of the only way Hey—I need it In a hurry, anywhere to go He could hear ’em talkin’ to him on the radio With their cat-scratch ditties and a microphone Hey—conceited Take a look at what’s behind you: Battlefields and broken deals lie Scattered with the laughter and the tears It’s a lonely wait for one to find you It’s a long and dusty road my friend So pick it up and pack it in Ten minutes and a life to learn You’ve got a pit stop, quick drop, hairpin turn You’ve gotta take a little reset while the spirits churn Hey—depleted Time passes watchin’ nothin’ change Out back he was learnin’ how to play the game If it mattered to the masses then it wasn’t the same Hey—who cheated? Take a look at what’s behind us: Battlefields and broken deals lie Scattered with the laughter and the tears It’s a lonely wait for one to find us It’s a long and dusty road my friend So pick it up and pack it in; tonight I’m dreaming, comin’ home Tomorrow, I’m leaving on my own No one saw it comin’ when the morning light Came streamin’ through the window like a demon in flight If you’ll sign the dotted line I’ll take you there tonight Hey—be seated Tearing up convention with a silent flame Is a sense of satisfaction worth the price of fame? He had to beat the label just to win himself a name Hey—believe it! Take a look at what’s behind you Battlefields and broken deals lie Scattered with the laughter and the tears It’s a lonely wait for one to find you It’s a long and dusty road my friend So pick it up and pack it in; tonight I’m dreamin’, comin’ home Tomorrow, I’m leaving on my own
Feeling So Alive 1999
I took myself on down a lazy highway—I was feeling all right She was singing out the window on the passenger side In my rear view mirror dusty shadows wandered by the roadside Caught fifth and put my foot down, I was never feeling so alive She was something of a mystery to those who understood life Perhaps that’s why I treasured every single frantic moment she untied Somewhere in that brilliant smile I lost my inhibitions from the inside As her voice fell softly, I was never feeling so alive I’d been working at the river loading barges off to Lord knows where Trying to catch my breath and earn some money, maybe buy a little time Eight o’clock tomorrow I’ll be back among containers and the sun’s steady stare, But I lost that in the nighthawk circling, I was never feeling so alive There are moments in this crazy life when I don’t understand why And then there comes a time when everything, everywhere, just seems all right Where I’m going is uncertain and it’s been that way for some time But as we pushed along together, I was never feeling so alive I told her everything I’d ever known about myself, And when she looked at me she told me all the rest I wondered if I’d ever know too much to wonder, And she assured me: “That’d never come to pass” Light rain started falling as we traced our path back homeward through the sunset She had fallen silent as the windshield wipers pushed the drops aside Everything we’d passed before stood glistening anew without a regret In the pitter-pattered silence, I was never feeling so alive Yes, there were moments in this crazy life—I never understood why And then I’d turn around and blink my eyes and things just seemed so right Where I’ve landed if I’ve landed is uncertain, but I don’t mind It’s been one hell of a ride getting here, and I’m still ever feeling so alive It’s been one hell of a time getting here, and I’m still ever feeling so alive
Bittersweet Abyss Nov. 4-5, 2000; (A reflection on the weekend of Oct. 27-9, 2000)
Sunlight seeping through the blinds Makes me think I should get my lazy self outside, But something tells me I ought not to disappear, ’Cause, while it might not be so sunny later, you might not be here All I can ever remember wanting I’ve been holding close like crazy through the night When you find whatever stops your world from spinning You might surprise yourself by hanging on just as tightly CHORUS: They say perfection is impossible, but you take that as a challenge And anyway, the things they say—they rarely strike a chord with how I feel Too many times I find my mind off wandering, wasting time when I could be thinking about you And I kinda get excited at the off-chance you’re off thinking about me Yesterday was quite the norm Through twenty-twenty hindsight seems a calm before the storm That saw you come equipped with gentle disarray, And now I find I’m loath to have it any other way Nothing I say is making any sense, Even after I think I have thought it through I’m a jumbled mess-part bum and part desire, And I’ve nowhere else to place that blame but squarely on you CHORUS I check my watch and breathe a sigh of deep relief ’Cause I’ve got twenty minutes more that I can keep you in my reach Come twenty-one, I’ll border on a wreck I used to think things through, but this one’s not my problem yet Night is falling faster than it used to, And with it comes a bittersweet abyss I’ll stumble back into my planned existence, And patiently unravel for your sun to rise again CHORUS Tell me-are you out there thinking about me?
Her face, when she closed the door, said: “I don’t understand,” And, to be honest, I don’t really think she can Without seeing me as the one who won’t—the one who never has With eyebrows and questions raised, I’m defending my past Last time, I remember, a hundred shouts cleared the air All a part of the process; feeling empty and bare My thoughts drift toward the doorway, but then she asks me to wait And have a go at another round—don’t know what I can take If I stay tonight and everything turns out right, Then I could forget everything that was said Could you do the same? She sits by a window in an aged and weathered chair She sees equal parts night sky and her own reflected stare I’m thinking, “Maybe this one goes both ways,” but I’d give in to go on I’m becoming a martyr dying for my own cause And then where does that leave me? Where might I have left her? Every before and after sees a blinding unsure Someone shouts in the hallway; someone else slams a door Makes me think that I’m not alone here; makes me wish that I were If I stay tonight and everything turns out right, Then I could forget everything that was said Could you do the same? There’s a feeling I get sometimes—tends to drive me insane Once I learn what I’m feeling, I can’t give it a name Did I say what I thought I thought? Did I mean what I said? Watch me add to the worry that I build in my head In the end life keeps going, though I may beg it to rest Time sometimes has a funny way of curving the test I think she’ll end up happy, and I hope it’s with me Otherwise I’ll keep rolling on—find somewhere else to be If I stay tonight, and everything turns out all right, baby, Then I could forget everything that was said Could you do the same?
Yes We Are 1997
Another lonely afternoon watching shadows passing through The empty lot that stays next door to me Hanging pictures on the wall, impatience screaming for your call That isn’t tying up the phone; indeed, CHORUS: I’m probably losing something—God, I really hope it isn’t you Since we’ve been something I’ve been dying just to walk it in your shoes This sad lament just seems the only thing that I can find to ease my mind It might be, maybe, could we?— Well, she smiles and suddenly I find myself completely free of something That is simply better left behind, and when She steals my eye, my heart, my will—I start forgetting how to play my part Of something I’m not meant to be, and I agree CHORUS I’ll be darned Ten past the hour and I find her likeness trapped inside my mind, While I am hung up on a second thought And she comes riding into town, glowing splendidly around The very happy ending I have sought CHORUS Yes we are...
Looking Out For Me 2000
When I was nothing but a rock in the road I met a man who shared with me his secret way of carrying on He said: “Just take a number and hold it in your hand, And if you never let go and you never give it up then soon enough she’ll come around.” All my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I could find Someone taught it and I turned around and thought about it— Never hurt to try it on for size Some time later when I’d rolled on a while I thought about that curious man and something made me smile; I thought: “What made him shine so bright when he was just like me? And are those words that I have followed everything they seemed to be?” All my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I could grasp So take a second to reflect on what you have, And hope you haven’t left it in the past Won’t you humor me a moment while I sing my story Just like the other fools who’ve come before me? CHORUS: Can’t you hear the sound of the driving rain Beating down the path back home again? Can’t you feel the eyes of the weeping wind? If I knock will you let me in? I’ll sing you a song if you’ll let me stay here May be a traveler, but never was a stranger If you want to dance then you can lead I’m looking for those looking out for me Into the craziness I stormed on like a bull My pack was always empty, but my tank was always full I left behind what needed leaving, took whatever else And, with all the sights I happened by, you’d think I could have found myself But all my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I could see If you hide it I will look as far inside as I can, But only you can set it free One town I chanced upon stood full of empty space I asked a woman on her way if she would help explain, and she said: “You ask me just because it’s nothing you have seen, But with what the lot of us have been through nothingness is quite a treat!” All my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I could feel And that’s enough, ’cause I have learned that I can trust it, And there’s nothing to me yet to be revealed Won’t you humor me a moment while I sing my story Just like the other fools who’ve come before me? CHORUS Time continued passing like it should and always will I found myself off counting blessings, sitting on a hill The sun was shining on my back, a breeze ran through my hair, And I chalked another blessing up and sat without a care; and I thought: All my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I felt right Though this has grown and changed as I have, one thing stays the same I keep a well-determined line of sight Did not believe my eyes when someone called my name And that curious man who saw me off repeated his refrain He looked just like the weary tortoise who finally wins the race With a crumpled number in his fist and smiles across his face, and he said: “All my life I’ve been holding on To whatever I could catch, And I believe I can still reach what’s at the top If you’ll only help me bend the branch.” So, won’t you humor us a moment while we sing our chorus Just like the other fools who’ve come before us? CHORUS