Nexus

44 Stories by Rosanne Cash

Sometimes I think Rosanne Cash is my favourite poet. For years her songs have given me peace. Joni Mitchell and Jan Arden also write meaningful songs with lyrics that are poems. I'm listening to Rosanne Cash tonight and I love this song ... she has lived and her years, experience and pain speak to me.

<em>44 Stories

Baptize her with bitter tears
til she knows your pain is real
Next time you see her on her knees
Don’t try to make a deal
Don’t stare her into silence
Or frozen point of view.
’cause she’s got 44 stories
She wants to tell them all to you

Welcome her to all your fears
And trust that she will cope
Give her one day of satisfaction
For a thousand years of hope
Don’t turn to dry your eyes
And lose your chance to look
’cause she’s got 44 stories
She wants to write them in a book

Wait until your memory clears
Then welcome her to roam
The desert of your misspent years
That led you to her home
Don’t hold her up to sunlight
She’ll melt into the blue
Don’t make her shout through static
If you want hear the truth
She’s got 44 stories
She’s got 44 stories
She’s got 44 stories
She wants to tell them all to you</em>

'Razor Valentine' Lyrics by Thea Gilmore

I love you like a whisper
I love you all alone
I love you like a murder babe
I'm burying the bones
I love you like the last shot
At the bottom of the bottle
I love you razor valentine

I love you like the dancing dust
I love you like the static
I love you like the tarmac
Loves the kiss of morning traffic
I love you like the factory smoke
Wraps it arms around the sky
I love you razor valentine

Oh I've been moving kind of slow don't you think so
Oh I've been taming bloody hearts into valentines

I love you like a ruin babe
I love you like a crime
I love you like a drunk
At the sound of closing time
I love you as the seconds on my tongue
Are running wild
I love you razor valentine.

- Thea Gilmore

'God Knows' by Thea Gilmore

This song is from the album 'Avalanche'

God Knows the direction
We're heading in tonight
God Knows god knows that when we're gone
They'll paint our shadows white
God Knows god knows most wars are lost
Before they even start
And God Knows god knows you'll count the cost
With blood or with your heart
With your heart
I know it all worked out wrong
I know the next line to your cradle song
God knows god knows the sky lit up
As the theatre closed down
And I think you know I still love you
You're still the brightest glow around

God knows god knows the seasons change
Summer came and went
God Knows god knows we've all got one
A favourite descent
And oh baby we'll soldier on
To the final righteous breath
But God Knows god knows the heart has gone
We've just got roses left
Roses left.

'You Were Here' by Sarah Harmer

A while back I wrote a post about 'Canadian Divas' and I've always meant to write one about the anti-divas.

One of my favourites is Sarah Harmer. I have seen her perform in one band or another since she was a teenager. She has developed into a great song-writer.

Her CD - 'You Were Here' was released in 2000. I love many of the songs on it, but, I especially love the sad lyrics on the song called 'You Were Here'.

You Were Here

are there no blinders on lights that blare
white noise on the eyes?
from gas station lots
and reflected ice glares
so that i can walk home
by moonlight alone

can we go up to where the wind howls
and stand alee against the trees?
they've grown up so tall that you can't see the house
it's a fortress now
but you know how it used to be

i could lie to myself
and say i like it
but i would love it if you were here

these words on paper smell like you
associated and random thought
on my lips words turn blue
evanescent feeling lost

i could lie to myself
and say i like it
but i would love it if you were here
i'm just sad for myself
because i know you're clear
but i would love it if you were here

i can just see you, show me your gardens
i thought you'd grow roses and grapes on low vines
i wanted to know you when we were both older
i thought there'd be more of those wonderful times

i could lie to myself
and say i like it
but i would love it if you were here
i'm just sad for myself
because i know you're clear
but i would love it if you were here
you were here
yes you were
yes you were

"White Flag" by Dido

White Flag

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you
I'll tell you that
But if I didn't say it
Well, I'd still have felt it
Where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess
And destruction to come back again
And I caused but nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of 'It's over'
Then I'm sure that that makes sense

Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet
As I'm sure we will
All that was then
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on

Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

'September When It Comes'

I love the album by <a href="http://www.rosannecash.com">'Rosanne Cash' </a>called Rules of Travel. Its a beautiful album with songs like poems. The first time I heard the song "September When It Comes", which is sung by her father Johnny Cash, it made me cry. Its about growing old and looking back over your life. It made me think of my father who passed away almost 20 years ago.

Here are the words to the song (written by Rosanne Cash and her husband John Levanthal)

<strong>September When It Comes</strong>

SEPTEMBER WHEN IT COMES
by Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal

There's a cross above the baby's bed
a savior in her dreams
but she was not delivered then
and the baby became me
There's a light inside the darkened room
a footstep on the stair
a door that I forever close
to leave those memories there

When the shadows lengthen
into a copper sun
first there's summer, then I'll let you in
September when it comes

I want to crawl outside these walls
close my eyes and see
fall into your heart and arms
touch your face and breathe
I cannot move a mountain now
I can no longer run
I cannot be who I was then
in a way I never was

I watch the clouds go sailing
watch the clock and sun
I watch myself depending on
September when it comes

When the shadows lengthen
and burn away the past
I will fly me like an angel to
a place where I can rest
When winds begin I'll let you in
September when it comes

©1997 Bug Music/BMI/Lev-a-tunes/ASCAP