Skipping Like a Stone

In June you’ll be skipping like a stone
Back out on the road, with all your summer friends
In June you’ll be making love with the sun
Like you’ve always done, like you always will

I know white boys ain’t your thing, can’t say that I blame you
All I have is what I bring, I ain’t one to beg you, I ain’t one to shame you

I know February is my only chance
To win you back again, and keep you from the cold
I know when the frost comes creeping in
All this desert sand, will feel like some old dream

Life won’t let up, nobody ever said it was
You’d wanna give it up, only if you could, only if you could

In June you’ll be skipping like a stone
Like you’ve always done, like you always will

© 2015 John Craigie

Burn That Dress

He don’t bother me at all, now that he’s dead
Arms up like a criminal at the foot of the bed
You can stop trembling, you don’t need to scream
I’ll stop trembling come morning

And this’ll all blow over, winds do blow
And the feeling will be fine as long as the feeling doesn’t grow
And we’ll be alright, we’ll be alright I guess
But first thing, we gotta burn that dress

When I caught you your eyes were all pupil, you’re dress was on the floor
You looked scared girl, he looked more
You don’t have to apologize, you’ve done nothing wrong
When you were that dress girl all bets are off

And this’ll all blow over, winds do blow
And the feeling will be fine as long as the feeling doesn’t grow
And we’ll be alright, we’ll be alright I guess
But first thing, we gotta burn that dress

We’ll take the first bus out of town, get far from here
Lay off the molly for a while, get our heads clear
They’ll come running for me, they won’t come that fast
I ain’t the first one to do this, Lord knows I won’t be the last

And this’ll all blow over, winds do blow
And the feeling will be fine as long as the feeling doesn’t grow
And we’ll be alright, we’ll be alright I guess
But first thing, we gotta burn that dress

© 2015 John Craigie

Vast Dead Forest

They kept the bars open late that night
We were just sitting around waiting for a dead man to die
And on my guitar someone painted a night sky
And it bled onto the strings into the wood

I fell asleep on a cold train headed west
Listening to Coltrane with my head against your breasts
And outside a forest fire made a perfect sunset
That’s how it is, that’s how it goes, that’s how it’s done

Open your eyes, all of your fears are a lie
You’ve come too far now to give up control
For this year is still so young, and there are songs desperate to be sung
And there is rain we must convince to fall

I know she’ll wait for me at the end of the road
In some vast dead forest she will hold me as I go
Just cause you’re a loner doesn’t mean you set out to be all alone
It doesn’t mean you didn’t wish for one more

Open your eyes, all of your fears are a lie
You’ve come too far now to give up control
For this year is still so young, and there are songs desperate to be sung
And there is rain we must convince to fall

© 2015 John Craigie

Mourning You

I still got sand in my eyelids
I’ve been looking for a tragedy
Something to tear out this cycle
something to blow off these leaves

So this death will feel more natural
Spin ‘em off into the blue
I never gave up on nothing, child
But there’s more to life than mourning you

Your mama said she slept with a Beatle
Sounds better than saying she slept with Ringo
Either way your standards are higher babe
Either way I should have known

That your father he has his delusions
Your mama writes out all of his blues
I’ll be gone tomorrow baby
There’s more to life than mourning you

When you’re born somebody will hold you
When we die I guess we hope for the same
A little bit jaded on blue sky
A little bit afraid of the flame

I know this road is wide open
Making way for something new
Kiss your photo throw it into the fire babe
There’s more to life than mourning you

© 2015 John Craigie

Catalina

When I was a baby, mama put me on her knee
Said we lost your daddy, out to the lonesome sea
We’d go down at sunset, I’d smell daddy on the breeze
Gathered all the seashells that crawled from the lonesome sea

I left home too early, mama didn’t make a sound
Her new man was the devil, didn’t want me around
I put my thumb to the highway, I got a ride eventually
We drove off and said nothing, just stared at the lonesome sea

Made my way through the Yukon, Yukon ain’t no home
Just kept falling southward, running from daddy’s ghost
I wanted to keep it quiet, I knew what I’d need
Clean slate in the lower 48, far from the lonesome sea

I tried to be a good girl, good girl’s what I am
Some things you can run from, some things you can’t
Most days it was easy, didn’t even bother me
But even the smallest puddle smells like the lonesome sea

They pulled me out of flathead lake, said they saved me just in time
Thought I was crazy for swimming so far especially when they found out why
They put me in these four walls, four walls can’t hold me
We’ll be swimming together soon, out in the lonesome sea

© 2015 John Craigie

Cactus

When you crawled out of the fire
Did you feel like you were born again
Did it wash away your sins
Like some poor man’s baptism

And when you dove into the darkness
With Andromeda at your back
Did you search for another savior
One who wouldn’t recognize you in your new skin

Shame on me, shame on me
And all that I do, all that do
If I could melt all of your snow
If I could bring this desert to you
Would you walk with me where the cactus blooms

When you lost all of your chances
And you washed back up on shore
With all your failures drowned behind you
And all your restlessness and all your apathy long gone

Shame on me, shame on me
And all that I do, all that do
If I could melt all of your snow
And shake the scorpions out of your shoes
Would you walk with me where the cactus blooms

© 2015 John Craigie

Bisbee

I’m singing to the bird with the broken wing that lives in your heart
And to every dark bruise that won’t heal or even fade at all

They say you apologized when you came out of the womb
So aware of the pain, so close to the wound
Still I wonder, should I wait for you

I’m singing to your ancient voice that lies buried deep in your chest
Cause the deeper we walk into this valley, I know the less sunshine we will get

My whiskey girl, 40 years you’ve been true
My sweet 39 I suppose will have to do
Still I wonder, should I wait for you

I asked for this in some mescaline haze
I wanted to go with you, but I didn’t know how short you would stay

No one’s coming tonight, it’s cold it’s dark and it’s late
I won’t keep you long standing angelically by them gates

I ain’t no Romeo, but it’s as close as I’ll ever be
I tear out my brains just to set my soul free
Still I wonder, did you wait for me

© 2015 John Craigie

Coldest Colorado

I give my two weeks in two weeks, guess it’s way past its time
I never crossed that white river, never felt the other side

Or the coldest Colorado, or the hottest Louisi Ann
Or the driest Mojave, I will write you when I can
Every songbird sings its tune, as it chases the waning moon
And I can’t follow something that does not move

I’ve been walking these same streets, I’ve been under this old spell
And in all honesty, I fear purgatory more than I fear hell

Or the coldest Colorado, or the hottest Louisi Ann
Or the driest Mojave, I will write you when I can
Every songbird sings its tune, as it chases the waning moon
And I can’t follow something that does not move

All this education, still only one thing that I know
Sometimes you gotta break someone else’s heart
So you can grow your own

Or the coldest Colorado, or the hottest Louisi Ann
Or the driest Mojave, I will write you when I can
Every songbird sings its tune, as it chases the waning moon
And I can’t follow something that does not move

© 2015 John Craigie

My Darkest Lover

All of my songs been thrown far and wide
Some of them may have reached you, darling most of them have tried
On your quiet street, your attic so tall
Surely you heard me singing, somehow through it all

That haunted house we used to sleep in
I heard they fixed it up now it just blends right in
You loved the ghosts, cause they gave you proof
I loved the ghosts, darling but they only came out for you

And you’ll walk yourself down the aisle
If you ever walk at all, if you ever walk at all
And you’ll give birth to your child, with nothing but a smile
If you ever smile at all, my darkest lover

Something must linger with ya, if your blood still runs
But you can forget me now, you’ve remembered long enough
We used to fear the road would take my life, but now I know
Of course I’ll die out here, darling where else would I die

And I’m sleeping on the tracks tonight, warmed by some recent train
You’re warmed by some new man, I guess
I just wanted to know if you were still in love with movement
Cause darling I’m still obsessed
Or did you find your rest
My darkest lover

© 2015 John Craigie

Vondelpark

The bells in the Tower of Pisa are tuned to the key of C
If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me
Europe don’t know how much I want
But Europe, she knows what I need

In some burned out cathedral, in some ancient tomb
Down under ground but still lit by the moon
These Notre Dame goddesses march by the river’s edge
And midnight still feels like noon

And them nights when I wake up and I don’t know where I am
I know I’ve chosen the right life
You be in charge of the days, I’ll be in charge of the nights

Amsterdam is lawless, Amsterdam is flawless
All the tourists hang in Vondelpark
Some of them are riding, some are psilocybing
Some are waiting for it to get dark

And these sunsets last longer than in my past
Maybe it’s just the trip that I’m on
There’s tobacco in these joints, they round out the points
In my brain, and my heart and my lungs

And them nights when I wake up and I don’t know where I am
I know I’ve chosen the right life
You be in charge of the days, I’ll be in charge of the nights

I wrote a song about Van Gogh, about his ear about his ho
About all the ways a man can leave this world
I flirt with the Parisians, I flirt with the Italians
In the end I know I’ll end up with the one American girl

I miss your broken Frances, I miss your jellyfish sting
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you
Don’t let ‘em call you apathetic, it’s the curse of our generation
But I’ll heal you, I will heal you, I will heal you

And them nights when I wake up and I don’t know where I am
I know I’ve chosen the right life
You be in charge of the days, I’ll be in charge of the nights

© 2015 John Craigie