Lyrics

1. Meeting Mairghread

It was coming up on quarter past two
On a night as black as stout
Walking down the Connemara road
A drop of whiskey on my lips to keep the cold out
When high on the hillside a flickering light
Led me off the highway and into the night
It was coming up on quarter past two
My head was thick with stout

Then as quick as you can whistle a tune
I had my feet atop that hill
There I found her in a circle of stone
A fire burning off the cool September chill
She was dressed all in garments of shimmering shear
Which much to my wondering eyes disappeared
Then as quick as you can whistle a tune
I had my feet in deeper still

I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread

Then as sure as I'm standing before you
She burst into song
And she danced about and tempted me sorely
But still I resisted, God-fearing and strong
˜til she settled herself there astride of my knee
And proceeded to Rum-Tiddle-Dum-Tiddle-Dee
Then as sure as I am standing before you
I did sing along

I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread

Well a sorrier gentleman waking
You never did see
With a headache and half a mile home
Stretching out like a gauntlet before me
I guess you can say that the bloom's off the rose
When your lady has left you and taken your clothes
With a half a mile of churchgoers waiting
Between home and me

I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread

2. Lost and Found

How did we get here?
Only God and Rand McNally know for sure
Still, the sunlight through the trees is kind
And the pull of what we've left behind
Is weaker than the tug of what's in store
So here we are
Hook the dog and park the car

We're lost and found
Sick to death of digging through
The same old worn-down tired-out ground
We're lost and found
So we hop in our escape pod
And we aim toward sunset
Until we run aground
Then you couldn't find our troubles with a hound
We're lost and found

You're my compass and sextant
And I'll follow you from now until the end
Because even when the road is strange
It feels like every coming change
Is welcome as a childhood friend
And they say that it's God's will
That nothing should be still

3. 451

451 -- it's bright and it's clean
451 is a shining machine
it's the color of smiles
an immortal old style

451 -- it's a happiness tree
451 is a conscience for free
it's a place in the sun
it's a terminal fun

when your ironclad pretenses rust
if you think you've been thinking too much
don't waste your time, get right in line
for a share of the american pie
cross your heart and cover your eyes
here's a sample free, pal, the drink's on me
raise your hand raise your flag raise a torch
and set us free

451 is dehydrated truth
451 is for the good of the youth
it's the closing of eyes
it's accepting the lies

451 is a tourniquet cure
451 -- so righteous and pure
it's a life under glass
it's a brave new past

it starts out so harmless, you know
when the school board says twain's got to go
it's for the kids, the trash is hid
but once that lesson itself has been learned
it gets easier and easier to burn
when you know you're right, you'll heat the night
to the temperature knowledge ignites: 451
Fahrenheit 451

4. This Winter Night

The wind's been building snowmen
They stand where they've been blown
This is the first old-fashioned winter
This love of ours has known

It's the kind our parents talked about
With their glasses full of wine
Exaggerations mingle, sentimental
For a simpler, colder time.

So leave me in the springtime when the crocus is in bloom
But stay with me this winter night and warm my lonely room

The weatherman's in heaven
It's the best he's ever seen
Record-setting Doppler weather radar
Spins like laundry on the screen

The snow stays on like family
When the invitation's cold
Coming back for second helpings
Telling stories that are getting old

When the winter drives you crazy
The snow might keep you sane
Cuz at least it's not December
And at least it isn't rain

So leave me in the springtime when the crocus is in bloom
But stay with me this winter night and warm my lonely room

5. Simple Fascination

A hundred and twenty paces past the signpost
Pick up the trail and follow to the east
Up to the old abandoned ring of houses
Standing in stony silence and in peace
Like the sleepless ghosts of dancing children
Misty fingers reaching toward the sea
Blanket the hills of heather, spilling whiteness
Over the blackened soil like breakfast tea

And you and I, in simple fascination
Stand side by side in the growing rain

A hundred and twenty paces past the signpost
Follow the sound of water to the west
Stopping to ask O'Malley his permission
He offers (in toothless Gaelic) his "God Bless"
Down a winding road of trash and treasure
Rusting red and dying, growing green
Soak in the water falling over heather
Drink in the pounding river, washing clean

And you and I, in simple fascination
Stand side by side in the growing rain.

6. Leather Shoes

Leather shoes, black and brown
Empty eyes, soles worn down
A thousand shoes spread across the floor
And the caption tells of a thousand thousand more
Fifty years since they were found
Empty eyes, soles worn down

So close your eyes, hold the rail
Stick your neck out and inhale
The smell of leather tongue and heel
So familiar, so real
At the smell of leather your defenses fail
So close your eyes and hold the rail

You've seen the pictures, you've read the words
Of the survivors, and you have heard
The fevered speeches of that famous man
With the little moustache and the master plan
Still it shakes you and you're unprepared
For the smell of leather in the air

Leather shoes, black and brown
Empty eyes, soles worn down
Empty eyes, soles worn down

7. Up Through the Snow

twelve months later she's had time to think
she's written it down on her body in ink
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow

at the tattoo parlor when they said it would hurt
she couldn't help laughing out loud
as she took off her shirt
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow

in the small of her back in the color of spring
on the first anniversary of this terrible thing
one small crocus reaches out for the sun
a promise that winter is ending and spring has begun
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow

8. Andy's Wedding

The rain came but the sunlight stayed
So we were hiding from the raindrops in the shade
And the string quartet still got paid
Though we made jokes about the sour notes they played
And the world was like a knock upon the door
So distant and insistent and so easy to ignore
And the best man's toast was made
And an orchard full of champagne glasses prayed
At Andy's wedding

Then the dance began and the bridesmaids grinned
And the groomsmen got ambitious in their gin
And the same requests kept pouring in
Til the DJ got the vinyl out and he began to spin
Tunes from 1954
And we hopped and bopped to the lemon drop and scuffled up the floor
From the dearest friends to the furthest kin
We were singing, we were soaking to the skin
At Andy's wedding

You said it didn't matter that it didn't match the pattern of your dreams
Noone could have planned it, cuz noone understands
It just comes rushing in and busting out the seams

Then the night was done and the guests were fried
The cummerbunds undone and the ties untied
The bride and groom disappeared inside
We were standing on the porch waiting for a ride
It was all the best of what's in store
A reunion and a union
Nothing less and something more
And we had to laugh with a kind of pride
That we'd been drinking drinks with the father of the bride
At Andy's wedding

9. Too Hot

It's too hot to work, too hot to think
Too hot for everything
Excepting just to lie around and stink
It would be fine, it would be nice
If we could slip into our swimsuits
Fill the cooler full of ice
Pack some kind of a picnic
With a blanket and a bottle of wine
Drive off into the country together
Find a shady tree for spending some time in one spot
Cuz it's hot

It's too hot to eat, too hot to stand
Too hot for packing up that picnic
In the way we might have planned
I'm getting nasty, getting mean
My head's been pounding
Since it got too hot for drinking my caffeine
So I'm looking for some kind of transfusion
To get the coffee level up in my blood
Until you find a suitable French Roast donor
I'll be chilling with the pigs in the mud
'til it's not quite so very hot

It's too hot to read, too hot to sleep
Too hot for counting scratchy woolen
Knitted-sweater wearing sheep
Too hot for sheets, too hot for clothes
Baby stop me when you see
How far this logically goes
Slide on over beside me
And we'll break this fever tonight
Fighting fire with fire
It might just work and it might just not
If it's too hot

10. Summer Doesn't Have a Reason

Got my coffee can of crawlers
How'd you like some yellow perch?
Got my tackle box and bobbers
We'll be home in time for church
So roll your dress up to your knees
Leave behind your Sunday shoes
Dance around this brook just as
graceful as you please
What's a city girl got to lose?

Summer doesn't have a reason
Summer doesn't tell you why
You can't analyze the season
It's a secret you can't buy
Summer doesn't tell you why

Somewhere the cars and trucks are fighting
Down that dark and lonesome freeway
But while the fish and flies are biting
That all seems so far away

How you wound up swimming, no one knows
Something must have happened to your feet
Check the trunk, you'll find a change of clothes
And there's a blanket on the seat
Kind of like a picnic on the seat

I guess this looks a bit suspicious
Kinda like I had it planned
Eating out and chasing fishes on a Sunday
I think the Lord would understand

11. Standing on Your Porch

Well I guess I should have called first
But it was easier to walk
And lately I can't trust the thing I might say
When I start to talk
I lost my mind on Monday
So it's been kind of a mindless week
And lately I can't trust the things I might say
Every time I start to speak

I don't really want to say the things I want to say to you
I've gotta take a minute more or so here now
Just to think this whole thing through
I want to find a way to say the things to make you think
You want to think you want me too
It's not really what I meant to say
But still it might be true

I guess I should have called first
I've got your number by the phone
I could have picked up the receiver
Could have listened for the tone
I could dial your number slowly
Count to five and say a prayer
But I was worried you might not be home
And I was terrified to think you might be there

I don't really want to say the things I want to say to you...

I'm glad you like the flowers that I brought, I thought you might
I thought you might have time for something
Well I know it's really nothing but I think you're really something
And there's something I should say
I think you're really something and I'd like to take you far away

I guess I should have called first
I could have written something down
I could have practiced through it slowly
So I could get the stupid message down
I'm so glad you're never going to hear this
I can't believe I almost rang the bell
But it's kinda like a dress rehearsal,
Standing on your porch talking to myself
And your neighbors haven't seemed to mind me
Standing on your porch.

12. Bittersweet

Your baby face
and your musical hands
Your love of life
And your steadfast aversion to plans
Had always seen you through
Until she called to tell you the news

Step back, slide into the bittersweet
It's a heavy fate but a precious weight
And it takes you completely inside
To the bittersweet

Now you're on the phone
Booking stage after stage
Gotta make it pay
To keep your hands out of minimum wage
To take that second job would be defeat
Nine months left to make ends meet

The old apartment
Is gonna have to make do
Put the bikes in the basement
To make way for Winnie-the-Pooh
Another wrinkle in your Kerouac style
Welcomed with a smile
With a smile

13. Golden Time

The sunset on the lake toward Wisconsin
Is heaven's kiss goodnight
And all the world is clear and bright and new
At the touch of the light

It's magic for a quarter hour
A hint of the divine
Take these moments gratefully, hold them dear
It's Golden Time

Everywhere she goes she can see him there
Everywhere he goes he can find her
Every word of love is a kind of prayer
And each breath of life together
Is Golden Time

He sees it in the grace of her motion
Such a bountiful surprise
She sees it in the laughter that always greets her
In the flash of his eyes

Sunsets fade away into memory
They dazzle and they're gone
But for those who light their own way
with faith and love The Golden Time goes on

14. Transistor Radio

Many years ago
Maybe a hundred, I wouldn't know
My Dad was a boy living by the sea
Sleeping in a room with no TV

Always planning plans
Sharp as a tack and good with his hands
He built it himself and when the lights were low
He'd play that old transistor radio

When the night falls turn the dial
A little baseball for awhile

Dialing in the Sox
Just like a safecracker tumbling locks
Takes a delicate touch shared by thieves and boys
Who need to tune in gold over background noise

The static of the stars
Whistle of Venus, the whisper of Mars
That crackle and hum never twice the same
Sliding in and stealing seconds out of every game

Fifty-seven stations
Stereo power amplification
It's louder than life, but it doesn't stand a show
Against my Dad's transistor radio
Against my Dad's transistor radio