OPHIUCHUS

LYRICS

1. OPHIUCHUS

I am the Medicine Man
I do what I can
For the guilty and the pure
With a poison or a cure

Heal thine own self
Or don’t refuse help
Kneel where she knelt
Fall where he fell
I promise you this
All will be well.

Oh God
From your view behind the stars
What were you thinking leaving us in charge?
What must you see in us?

I am the Serpent Bearer
I am the Holy Terror
Fear is the disease
The cure is on your knees

Walk out of the door
If you think you know more
It may make you cry
But everything will die
But not everything
Was sick before

Oh God
From your view behind the stars
What were you thinking leaving us in charge?
What must you see in us?
Would it really be such a mistake
To make this sacrifice to the Snake
Tell me, Ophiuchus

2. I DESERVE TO BE FORGIVEN

I’ve been rock-bottom for more than a couple
Of wonderful women who turned out to be excellent mothers
and I was certainly holding the wheel on some bad roads
For one or two others who never recovered

I’ve lied and cheated and stolen and gambled
And showed up to formal events woefully underdressed
And on several occasions of utmost import
I must confess to not doing my best

But I deserve to be forgiven
For doing the things that I did
And being the things that I was
I deserve to be forgiven
If I don’t then nobody does

I lost my temper and said things to someone
I never wanted to hurt and now they’re gone from my life
And though I know I’ve been blessed and I try to be grateful
I still left Mexico without my sweet wife
and still can’t find Larry’s knife

I deserve to be forgiven
Even by the judge and the district attorney
and even by all of my exes
I deserve to be forgiven
By the fine citizens of Beaumont, Texas

I deserve to be forgiven
For telling the lies that I told
And smoking the things that I smoked
I deserve to be forgiven
For breaking the hearts that I broke

I deserve to be forgiven
Just like you, me and Yoko and Judas
And Uncle Ricky and everyone else
I deserve to be forgiven
So forgive me for forgiving myself.

3. RULES OF WAR

Rule #1:
Don’t get caught
Don’t tell the people what’s been sold
Don’t tell them what they bought
Zip your lip
Get a grip
Load the ship
As long as we all comply
The War will never die

Rule #2:
Do whatever it takes
To start it and maintain it
No matter the stakes
Who will cry
Who will die
in the eyes
of who will be left behind
Rule #3:
Pay no mind

World Peace of mind
Give it time.
Give it time.
Enjoy your Life
Stay in line.
Stay in line.
Say a prayer
We’ll be fair
Don’t you dare compare
The wrong and right
Just know the War will never die.

Back to the rules
The next one is 4:
It says if there’s no blood on your hands
The sin is not yours
Don’t you sweat
Check your head
Fellas, don’t forget
Rule #5:
The War must survive.

World Peace of mind
Give it time.
Give it time.
Enjoy your Life
Stay in line.
Stay in line.
Say a prayer
All is fair
Don’t you dare despair
When you ponder why
The War will never die
Because the War will never die

4. DREAM SONG

I had a dream
That I was the wind
No idea where I’d begun
No notion of how I would end
Pulled through trees and tacked by mountains high.
Against the sails and under the birds as they fly

When I awoke there was no more wind
The air was still and quiet
And it was always just within
My dream from which I never wake.

I had a dream
That I was light
Changing my very nature
Depending on who looked just right
Bleeding out colors calling my shift
Making love to the leaves, my sacred gift

When I awoke there was no more light
It was cold and dark
Beyond the deepest night
In my dream from which I never wake

I had a dream
That I was the truth
Hidden away while everyone looked for proof
It was cold, dark, quiet and still without light or wind
The loneliest feeling that has ever been.

When I awoke everything was true.

5. CROOKED ROADS

I know life ain’t been what you expected
You’ve been abused, refused and neglected
And I know you didn’t plan to spend all day in bed
And I thought that if I just worked hard
And did all the things my tribe said makes you smart
That I’d have no real problem paying off this debt
But I ain’t been able to make a dent in it yet.

It could be better it could be worse
That’s just something folks say. It’s just words
It’s true for gods and grass and comets and salesmen and fish
This is the best life that I can remember
We’re gonna see the other side of the sixth of December
Til then all power and guidance and wisdom to Dr. Sarah Bick
Take care of my baby’s head and send her back home to me quick

All the dead ends and fairweather friends
We can never see until the road bends
Sure as the ocean longs for the shore
I thank God for the crooked roads
The clouded nights and the busted boats
If they brought me to you, that’s all I needed them for.

6. ASCETIC SLEEP SONG NO. 4

The picture’s sunk into the frame
The helicopters sing your name
I want You and everything else
I want to know how I can help.

Here we are in the sea again
It happens when each day begins
Satin and pills keep the light away
The warm cocoon where our stories stay

where all the kerosene will vaporize
before the wick’s ever set alight

Des Moines was always the end of the rainbow
In a strip mall parking lot watching corn grow
Far away from the cops on the beat
I said I’d wait, but not in this heat

I’m scratching at the door again
It happens when each days begins
I knew what I had bargained for
but I thought I could unlock the door

You said I could just wait it out
You bought the gas to drive me south
But I don’t know what I’m waiting for
Here again, scratching at your door

Des Moines was always the end of the rainbow
In a strip mall parking lot watching corn grow
Far away from the weekend retreats
in your arms where our crooked hearts meet

7. RUSHING BACK

Every little thing comes rushing back.

8. SPHERE SHIFT

[The Cosmic Sphere moves
At a different rate than
The point of zenith.]

9. ONE MILLION CHILDREN

You said stay at your own risk
When you knew the only way out was blocked.
The only light on the path comes from the missiles overhead.
You said to find the key myself
But it’s not the door that’s locked
It’s the cycle of hatred in the hearts of the dead.

There are angels in hell
One Million Children
Does that Ring a bell?

There is poison down in the roots
But you just set fire to the petals
You call it maintenance to kill a few here and there.
The crime is being born in prison
While the settlement never settles
And you can’t stop the flames climbing into the air.

There are angels in hell
One Million Children
Does that Ring a bell?

Attributes of God’s Mercy
Execution style point blank
Flood the tunnels and black out the sky
Now nothing can remain here
Under the tread of a tired tank
From the River to the Sea, we all will die.

Adonai El
Adonai El
Deliver these Angels from Hell

Nosei Avon
Nosei va-fesha
Nosei ve-Chata’a

10. LAST KING OF THE BLUES

I buried my youth in Manhattan

My chains in Tennessee

Just because you ain’t in jail

That don’t mean that you’re free

The road’s in smoke behind me

I’m looking at the stars for a sign

Well anger comes and goes

But the sadness never leaves

And no one really knows

What another man believes

So if seeing is believing, child, 

suppose I might as well be blind

Cos these troubled times have got me

Pacing the floor 

No matter where I am looking

I gotta keep one eye on the door

Make a stop by Mary Ellen's

For a shot of green chartreuse          

Then I'm heading down to Clarksdale

For an appointment with The Last King Of The Blues

There’s no east or west anymore

Just above and down below

And what tomorrow’s got in store 

it seems best that we don't know

Now I'm listening to the ghosts in the wind       

Calling from those old cotton fields   

They’re singing for a beauty 

It's a longing for a peace

It's still hoping for the hilltop

And a touch of sweet release

It's a Song of ancient wounds

That even time could never heal 

I ain't pleading with the mother

I ain't preaching to the choir

But look around us, brother

The water's getting higher,

Gonna keep my heart wide open

and tune out all the news

And I just pulled into Clarksdale

For a 4 o’clock with The Last King Of The Blues

His castle is a shotgun shack,

His throne a threadbare chesterfield

His a crown a gray pork pie, truth is his shield

He says "The minute a man is born you know he's old enough to die,

Tread lightly on the ground, son" 

then he looks up at the sky

I only came for some redemption

for a sin I didn’t choose

But when I hear him speak 

I know I've got too much to lose 

There’s still miles and miles to go

to get this weight off of my back

He takes a sip and squints an eye 

Like I'm not the first who's asked, 

He smiles like some witch doctor

Who is rising from the past 

And with a lowdown Shaman vision

Stomps a downbeat on the tracks

The Father of the Rail Song and the Queen of the Romani Gypsies

Are dead and alive, side by side in Meridian Mississippi

And there's a false Prince up in Memphis, wearing Carl Perkins’ stolen shoes

but you gotta get off those paved roads if you wanna get time with 

The Last King of the Blues

11. FORGIVE YOURSELF

Ain’t no telling what the hell you was thinking

Ain’t no reason to worry bout it now

Let it roll down the tracks

Give yourself a little slack

Ain’t no bringing him back anyhow

Forgive yourself.

Ain’t nothing we can do for Bilbo

It’s for the family from here on out

Gotta re-recalibrate

Gotta push away the plate

And get your headlights pointed South.

Forgive yourself.

Can’t change nothing bout the judge’s gavel

Ain’t no lawyer gonna turn back the time

It’s just the price that you pay

When you’re living that way

Only question is a nickel or a dime

Forgive yourself

You been told a million times to leave it

You know the Devil ain’t gonna let it go

And if your Mama gets the chance

She’s gonna beat you out your pants

But if you get out this mess you gotta know

Forgive yourself.

12. WINTER COMES FOR MARY

Winter comes for every leaf

Not yet has one ever been excused

The cold has never known defeat

The dirt

Never

Refused.

The cards all blue the dresses black

Every word uttered even once aloud

Is too late to take back

And lost

Among 

The crowd.

But who 

Who could ask for more time?

Who deserves it if not you

Who could ask for more time?

If not you, then no one should ever seek

Another sunrise through the snow

Another quiet moment or wasted day

Only hope remains to know

Beyond 

These roles

We play.

Winter comes for every leaf

But this is not the first tree we’ve fled

We’ll be grains along the beach

And letters

Never 

Read.

13. INVOCATION

Precious Vibrations

Don’t lift your foot off the pedal

I don’t want the Music to end.

Show me the ripple that extends from the wave

Unbroken from the ocean

Now you’re free to drown

I’ll be one less soul anyone cares to save

Immersed in the foam

Lost in the flow of the found

If I were stronger

Your Songs would be longer

I’d seal the door and hold you captive

And drain every note from your heart.

Precious vibrations

Don’t lift your foot off the pedal

I don’t want the Song to end.

THE HARVEST

LYRICS

(all songs written by LH Halliburton)

Harvest

Standing in the field, with my back to the wind

And now it’s a dry as it’s ever been

No rain in the mountains or down here on the flats

And I don’t know to say how long this drought will last

And it’s been a month of Sundays since a drop of water fell

Some say that springtime is when life will begin

But I think it’s in the fall with the harvest coming in

Plant your seeds down in Mother Earth

With tender love and care for all your worth

Hoeing the ground, praying for rain

Cause putting in the work is worth the pain

And you don’t really have much choice; you have already staked your claim

Some say that springtime is when life will begin

But I think it’s in the fall with harvest coming in

New Orleans Going Down

Sound the warning

No one hears

Early morning

Water mixed with tears

Children wondering 

Why their mamas cry

High wind and thunder

Lightning in the sky

2’ and rising on Bourbon Street

Watch your step or you may drown

Better count your blessings before you leave

The great city of New Orleans

Going down

On the rooftop

Higher ground

You see a helicopter

Better flag it down

Rising above it

Old life left below

Stuck in that shelter

Nowhere left to go

4’ and rising on Esplanade

Better grab hold of something before you drown

Gotta count your blessings if you can get out safe

The great city of New Orleans

Going down

6’ and rising in the Lower Ninth Ward

Swim like hell before you drown

Trying to count my blessing but oh my lord

Great city of New Orleans

Going down

Lost Prayers

In a sudden hesitation

Right out of thin air

I saw how I live my life

On a wing and a prayer.

In a moment of confusion

A time of regret

A search for redemption

I haven’t found yet.

Give me a sign

Show me the way

I’ve read your book

All you had to say                                                 

I confess my transgressions

It’s all I can bear

As I search through the heavens

For my lost prayers

Kind of makes me wonder

Is there really any help up there

Is anybody listening 

to my prayers

Cos it’s often been said

That the answers will come

But I’ve yet to find proof

From anyone

Give me a sign

Show me the way

I’ve read your book

Is that all you got to say                                        

I confess my transgressions

It’s all I can bear

As I search through the heavens

­

Til the River No Longer Flows

Gonna climb every mountain

Sail every sea

Find the powers that be

Drop a coin in every fountain

Set all the wishes free

Get what’s coming to me

Hit the ground already running 

Trying to make up time

Back to those I left behind

I gotta keep on going

With little peace of mind

Knowing that ain’t worth a dime

I am weary now

Searching for the answers

Highs and lows

I aint’ giving up

I’ll take all the chances

Til the River no longer flows

Every bump in the road

Makes me want to turn around

Lay my burden down

Let someone else take this load

If it falls to the ground

And I no longer bound

I am weary now

Searching for the answers

Highs and lows

I aint’ giving up

I’ll take all the chances

Til the River no longer flows

Mississippi

To know Mississippi is the understand the world

This child of calamity 

This flag left unfurled

One day I know that her struggle will end

But today I can’t say

What I will portend

Dark days

Dark nights

Lest you lay down your torches 

And turn on your lights

Your day is coming as sure as can be

So stop all your running and come home to see

Mississippi

The Delta’s gonna shine like a National guitar

To forgive is divine 

So lower your bars

Give yourself a treat, it’s that home you once loved

Go on and plant your feet 

in that Mississippi mud

You grandfather’s graves 

are calling you home

The flowers you saved

Are left all alone

The Blues are growing slow under a Magnolia tree

So stop all your running

Come home to see

Mississippi

Here To Stay

Want to be on a one-way train

Somewhere where it never rains

Where the sun is always in the sky

And no one ever says goodbye

Let me out on level ground

Even when there’s nobody else around

Then you can be on your way

And you can come again another day

But don’t worry when the sun goes down

I’ll be here when it comes back around

I’m here to stay

Lately I’ve been on my knees

Praying for a summer breeze

To come melt this ice away

From the gray cold light of day

Although this feels like home

I’m still here all alone

You can come see me any chance you get

But I haven’t seen you yet

But don’t worry when the sun goes down

I’ll still be here when it comes back around

I’m here to stay

I’ve been looking out for a full moon

In the middle of the afternoon

Just passing my time away

Trying to make it through another day

Wondering if you’ll be back

If you’ll come around the bend on the railroad track

But everyday when the train goes by 

You’re not here, and I don’t know why

But don’t worry when the sun goes down

I’ll be here when it comes back around

I’m here to stay

TWENTY-THREE

Lyrics

Cry

written by S.A. Wolfe

When you can’t describe it – 

The pain that you feel, 

That’s when you know 

That the love it was real. 

Everything’s changing 

Like has always been true – 

The moon and the tides; 

The heartbreak and you. 

There’s nothing that can be done. 

There’s no one to fight. 

No use trying to run, 

No point in trying to hide. 

All you can do is cry. 

Cry Cry Cry Cry. 

I know you’re hurting, 

But that’s all I can say. 

Because you know 

That we don’t all hurt the same way. 

But we’re all in the same boat, 

Down this river we go. 

And you’ve got to find your way 

To get back into the flow. 

I’ll give you cover, 

If it makes you feel shy, 

And when there comes another 

Sad goodbye 

Know that I got you 

And know that you always can cry. 

Cry Cry Cry 

Cry Cry Cry Cry 

Nobody wants that part, 

But everyone needs to love. 

So you open up your heart, 

But sometimes the pain is too much. 

You know that you should 

And I wish that you would 

I’m telling you the truth 

That it just feels so good when you cry.

Truck Drivin Man 

written by Mark Mann 

Walked a step behind her 

In her mind her soul’s a thunder bird 

Eaten by coyotes in the desert by the drinking water 

Walked and talked and wondered 

In her mind she’s high above the world 

High above the ashes of the trade that he handcrafted for her. 

That old truck drivin man 

Didn’t walk beside her 

In his mind he’d soon divide her 

Beaten like scatterbones and laid out on the pavement 

Taken through Corinthians 

Defeated by Egyptians 

Better get old Nat in here 

The lizard’s in the kitchen 

Walked and talked and wondered 

Now she’s dolled up in her turquoise best 

Never saw it coming or the gun next to the man beside her 

She walked and talked and wondered 

In her mind her soul’s a thunderbird 

Eaten by coyotes in the desert by the shifting sands 

Lightning turned to thunder 

Soon the rigor mortis sets on in 

Threw her in a grave behind the shiny new convention center 

She walked and talked and wondered 

In her mind her mind her soul’s a thunderbird 

Eaten by coyotes in the desert by the drinking water 

Take me down where the truck went dead 

I was just about to call you 

There’s a special bond between a momma and a daughter 

Taken down by your intuition and a broken bottle 

A trucker’s intuition was the reason I was stuck down there. 

The Moon is Going Down 

written by Ryan B. Case 

Lost in a feeling that's fleeting 

Like all desperate moments in time 

They're changing the lies they're repeating 

The naked are leading the blind 

The ghosts in the trees have all vanished 

and no one can say where they've gone 

The old men are screaming in Spanish 

while their children go chasing the dawn 

Still you look like this angel before me 

and I find hopefulness I've never known 

and the moon is going down so slow. 

Outside these walls of resistance 

they're all arguing about the cost 

while an old woman off in the distance 

sings you cannot replace what is lost 

the silence is somewhat surprising 

oh, the dance of the whole damned affair 

red eyes meet orange horizons 

choking and gasping for air 

The ending is anticlimactic 

as endings so often are 

the voice through the radio static 

calls it the death of a falling star 

Yet you look like this angel before me 

and I find hopefulness I've never known 

and the moon is going down so slow.

Late Nite Radio 

Written by S.A. Wolfe 

Keep it in between the lines. 

Hold on, this will all be over soon. 

Billboard ads and exit signs 

hide the careless yellow moon. 

I won’t forget the lake house. 

Please don’t forget the Coney Island song 

I’ll just go shut the lights out. 

I’ll always want you. I’ve wanted you all along. 

Late Nite Radio 

Play a song I know 

So I can sing along 

So I can pretend that I’ve done nothing wrong. 

I won’t regret the movies. 

Please don’t regret you gave me Beauregard. 

I know it’s all so confusing, 

but I never meant to hurt him. I know you never mean to break my heart. 

Late Nite Radio 

Play a song she knows 

So she can sing along 

So she can pretend that she’s done nothing wrong. 

Late Nite Radio 

Play a song we know 

So we can sing along 

So we can pretend 

So Purple  

Written by S.A. Wolfe and Seth Fox 

Red and blue 

It’s a simple combination but a different radiation from 

Me and you 

When we strip away the egos and through the forest we goes 

Dancing like kids in the rain 

Seeing through the pleasure and pain 

to the truth that’s always been 

You and I could be so purple 

You and I could be so purple 

Pulling away 

Like a shift from where you’re standing but your zenith is demanding of you 

Everyday 

Coming and going from the River that keeps flowing 

Out in the ocean to dissipate 

Up in the sky to precipitate 

then we start all over again 

You and I could be so purple 

You and I could be so purple 

You and me 

on a circle not a ribbon with no need to be forgiven baby 

can’t you see 

that the wall is an illusion and it’s causing us confusion 

we’re just holding on to a lie 

thinking it helps us to get by 

But when we let go and get it right 

You and I will be so purple 

You and I will be so purple

Kings for Sale 

Lyrics

Paper Piano 

(S.A. Wolfe & A. Lott) 

Every good boy does a little bit better 

when they practice their scales after school. 

And every little girl’s got nothing left to wear, 

and who could ever know that you’re cool. 

Hair always tangled, fingers always crossed. 

Stars always spangled, eyes always lost. 

She wrote the keys on the door. 

She spilled the cookies on the floor. 

And did you never play a Paper Piano? 

And did you never ride a bike with no wheels? 

Did you never use a milk jug for a baseball glove? 

Could you ever know how happiness feels? 

Everybody knows when you ain’t got nothing 

that you ain’t got nothing to fear. 

I put on my Liberties and grab a good book, 

get on my best mule and ride outta here. 

Oranges on the TV screen, cigarettes on the porch 

Sunday dress on a sewing machine, braided mane on a horse. 

Go on and dye your blood blood red. 

I’m gonna hunt us down some water and bread. 

And did you never play a Paper Piano? 

And did you never ride a bike with no wheels? 

Did you never use a milk jug for a baseball glove? 

Could you ever know how happiness feels? 

They could put a fence around anything. 

It’s just a matter of posts. 

You could put your butter on my guitar strings, 

but that ain’t gonna make them toast. 

I’m gonna fall down a wishing well. 

I’m gonna get me a whole buncha change. 

I’m gonna burn down that old pawn shop 

and fall asleep in the rain. 

And did you never play a Paper Piano? 

And did you never love a man before me? 

Because I never knew a damn thing til I saw you smile, 

and I never knew how good it could be. 

Carpenter 

(S.A. Wolfe) 

You said you thought you kinda loved me. 

That’s something I don’t think I could help. 

Now you’re drunk at my bar with another homeless Nashville rock star 

And I wish you’d just go somewhere else. 

Cos Christ knows you bring out the worst in me, 

so I don’t know why you’re so surprised. 

Cos I don’t really know what happened here. 

I have no excuse for my behavior. 

But I was never much of a carpenter. 

I wouldn’t make you much of a savior. 

You got some good things going for you 

underneath your empty swimming pool eyes. 

You got a blank check torn up in your smile, 

like the most believable of your lies. 

And Christ knows that I’ve let you down again, 

but I can’t be on the cross tonight. 

Cos I don’t really know what happened here. 

I have no excuse for my behavior. 

But I was never much of a carpenter. 

I wouldn’t make you much of a savior. 

And Christ knows we’ve all been betrayed by a kiss. 

Ah, but maybe, baby, I’m just too human for all of this. 

Cos I don’t really know what happened here. 

I have no excuse for my behavior. 

But I was never much of a carpenter. 

I wouldn’t make you much of a savior. 

Dirty Girl 

(S.A. Wolfe) 

Dirty Girl, Dirty Girl, come with me to New Orleans. 

We’ll go on down to Oxford Square 

at Christmas time and see ol’ Jimbo there. 

Then at the Graduate, you gon and messed up my hair. 

Say, do you remember what we did in Oxford Square? 

Dirty Girl, Dirty Girl, come with me to New Orleans. 

We’ll stop off round bout old Clarksdale 

at the Repass, where everybody’s dressed so well. 

Razorblade and Shankerman and Kings for Sale 

Ain’t nothing we can do, it’s all for the family now, in old Clarksdale. 

Dirty Girl, Dirty Girl, come with me to New Orleans. 

Take me out in Jackson town 

to The Underground with Mr. Nutty Brown, 

F.Jones and tired bones and rain falling down. 

Hey, don’t tell nobody what we did in Jackson town. 

Dirty Girl, Dirty Girl, come with me to New Orleans. 

When we get there we’ll get some Good Voodoo 

Some tasso and trombone, some gator too. 

Ah, you know I took the long way home like I always do. 

846 miles in a rental car with me, the Pope, and you. 

About My Falling 

(S.A. Wolfe) 

the right thing to say 

just a few days too late 

and again your grace is shown 

water displacement 

a print for The Basement 

and the cover of a standard is blown 

and I prefer to have my dinner for lunch 

and dessert when I start 

and I prefer to use the metric system 

when it comes to matters of the heart 

but you broke all my beakers apart 

and I’ve misplaced my conversion chart 

liquid antibiotics 

cough suppressing narcotics 

holding court at the mission on my birthday 

pedialite and cigarettes 

bags full of cash and regrets 

with a good faith mistake what is there to say 

and I’d like to think that my problems 

come down to ambition more than facility 

and I’d like to think that my falling 

is just a natural decline in my mobility 

but that would excuse me from my own scrutiny 

so that this might go on into perpetuity 

Cemetery Blues 

(B.W. Goodwin Jr.) 

I can’t shake you and your 

Cemetery Blues. 

I tried to sleep but you’re eating me alive. 

I can’t miss you. 

Don’t miss me. 

It’s hard to leave when you can’t be seen. 

I’d be alright if I could sleep through the night, 

and not wake up to tell you 

I’d be ok if I could walk through the day. 

I’d be just fine if I could keep you alive. 

Mrs. Ernst’s Piano 

(M.J. West) 

The neighborhood was changing. 

They say it was going down. 

They were putting up new houses east of town. 

Now, Mrs. Ernst gave piano lessons Sunday afternoons 

to the children of the neighborhood. She’d teach simple tunes. 

At the old pianola, they’d hammer and they’d pound, 

while Mrs. Ernst’s husband read the paper with a frown. 

Mrs. Ernst had a visit from a neighbor, Mr. Gunn. 

Mr. Gunn wanted piano lessons for his son. 

Mrs. Ernst said “I must think it over.” He asked her “Why?” 

She said “I have my reasons, sir. Thank you, and goodbye.” 

Mrs. Ernst’s husband, he had fixed views. 

He saw the world as black and white, and he saw no subtler hues. 

Mr. Gunn was surely black, but Mrs. Ernst, she thought 

“A child is a child, and children should be taught.” 

So that evening Mrs. Ernst asked her husband if she might 

give piano lessons to a black child. “Surely it’d be alright.” 

Mr. Ernst answered her in no uncertain terms 

“Over my dead body!” said Mr. Ernst. 

“Over my dead body!” Mr. Ernst replied. 

“Over my dead body!” he said, and soon after, he died. 

Now, Mrs. Ernst, a widow, did what must be done, 

and gave piano lessons to Mr. Gunn’s son. 

Now Mrs. Ernst still gives piano lessons Sunday afternoons 

at the old pianola in her living room. 

While Mrs. Ernst’s husband looks down at her from a frame, 

and she knows he wouldn’t like it, but she does it all the same. 

Fault Lines 

(E.H. Puckett) 

Running north to south I promise you 

when you’re just west of The Great Divide. 

And is your heart and mind reminding you 

you were better off alive? 

Love is the real that’s sentimental 

when you’re trapped behind your new found walls. 

And I’m not getting any better. 

In fact, I can barely move at all. 

You break a promise that you never made at all. 

San Andreas, hell, I guess it’s not your fault. 

Oh, you remap the landscape, 

but then you float into the sea. 

While you reshape the Cascade Mountains, 

and there’s nothing I can do but leave you be. 

I guess we both knew this would happen. 

I should have known what you would say. 

But beneath your trembling depths, there’s heaven. 

And it’s strange now, all I can do is look away. 

You break a promise that you never made at all. 

San Andreas, hell, I guess it’s not your fault. 

Steel Wires 

(S.A. Wolfe & A. Lott) 

The world walks all over you 

You walk all over me. 

I’m a beggar that you’re kind to. 

And fear is an ocean, 

so stay on the island. 

and every time you talk, 

Your conversations turn into tragedies. 

The old car cleans up nice. 

And marriage turns men into butlers. 

Love is just a clay pot 

in a burned down New Orleans hotel. 

Steel Wires could open the door. 

Set fire to fire, and push me back again. 

Your tragedies become mere dinner talk 

Nobody’s horse is gonna live forever. 

And I’m a schoolboy, mister, play me a cover song. 

But this was not my decision, 

so don’t ask have I changed my mind. 

Steel Wires could open the door. 

Set fire to fire, and push me back again. 

The Bluesman plays The River. 

The walls bleed black with mold. 

And Jazz is always running out of incense. 

And politics will be. 

Hang a flag on your window, 

put the blood over the door. 

Steel Wires could open the door. 

Set fire to fire and push me back again. 

Light your cigars and stare at my wife. 

Drink your poison. 

Enjoy my life. 

O’ Magnolia 

(S.A. Wolfe) 

O’ Magnolia, it’s long past time to change your regalia. 

But keep the blue for the Scottish Seas, and for the warm gulf breeze. 

Stubborn as it may be, keep the blue for the bravery. 

Discard the stars and bars you hid behind when you meant slavery. 

O’ Magnolia 

O’ Magnolia, keep the red for the warnings we need: 

the hurricanes and hunger and heat, and the blood and lessons of defeat. 

See the bright and shining stars for what they really are, 

and from where they truly come – from the fertile earth of our hearts. 

O’ Magnolia 

O’ Magnolia, you are not just the crimes of you fathers. 

And until you forgive yourself, you will never know all your wealth. 

But the world will embrace your new display, and cheer you on towards a new day 

to grow strong and sound with your roots in the ground, with your trunk and your 

branches the only Gray. 

O’ Magnolia 

O’ Magnolia, let the white that you pride be your Petals. 

But keep the blue for the Choctaw tears, and know redemption will still take years. 

Painful as it may be, keep the red and its strength to remind 

Unlock the chains you’ve kept your mighty hills and trees and rivers behind 

and be free. 

O’ Magnolia