GHOSTWRITER ALBUM LYRICS

HOLIDAY

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGAD – capo 4

Every year I shed you like a skin
To fall to the ground and be scattered by the wind
But I know you’ll keep coming back
Your grand entrance like some aphrodisiac

And I love to watch you exit the scene
Walking away in slow-motion in your dirty blue jeans
Something about you just loves to walk away
But I don’t care about none of that ’cause your kiss is like a holiday

I am still the same rain-soaked girl
Who came at you with the force of a tilt-a-whirl
And you are still the same wall of man
I’ll be climbing you any way that I can

Chorus

All these years I’ve been in this damn town,
You’re the one good thing I’ve ever found
And then lost and then found and then lost and then found again

And I love to watch you exit the scene
You’ll come back smelling of horses, sweat, and gasoline
Something about you just loves to walk away
But I don’t care about none of that ‘cause your kiss is like a holiday

SAID AND DONE

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGCE – capo 2nd fret

The airport lovers are clinging for dear life
Holding on to eachother until their knuckles turn white
Staring out this window, it’s so heavy on my mind
The quilted texas landscape and all the things I left behind

All the things I never said
All the things I never did
The conversations that I fled
The silent teardrops that I hid
Can it all be said and done
Can it all be said and done when you love someone

Today I thought I saw a stream fisherman
Could have been my grandfather’s apparition
I turned back around and there was nobody there
Now he’s flying high on the back of a great blue heron somewhere

But all the things we never said
All the things we never did
The conversations that we fled
The silent teardrops that we hid
Can it all be said and done
Can it all be said and done when you love someone

I don’t want to wait for my dying day
To say all the things I meant to say

Yesterday you told me about your canyon friend
How he climbed down in it and he never came out again
It’s not every day that we talk about such things
Now he’s floating high above the canyon on some eagle’s wings

But all the things you never said
All the things you never did
The conversations that you fled
The silent teardrops that you hid
Can it all be said and done
Can it all be said and done when you love someone

COMPANY MAN

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDCBD – 3rd fret

My company man
Doing the best he can
He works so hard every single day
So he can make his own way

My company man
Knows exactly who I am
I come home from running wild and free
He opens up his arms to me

Yeah, he gonna come rescue me
With some of his sweet company
It’s all I need, it’s all I need

My company man
Got a fancy retirement plan
He make his dime and put it all away
Gonna save it for some rainy day

My company man
Always seems to understand
I just got to live life in my own way
And I’m taking it day by day by day

Chorus

My momma told me about a company man
Said hold on to him for as long as you can
He know a thing or two about loyalty
He gonna treat you just like royalty

Chorus

My company man
doing the best he can…

ALL THE WAY FROM HERE

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBE – capo 4

The day they could not bring you back
I heard your voice inside my head
everything I knew just faded to black
but you said go on, girl, you go ahead

That’s how I knew that you’d go on
That’s how I knew that I would carry on
This is how I hold you dear
All the way from here

We just stood around and stared
At the ground that would become your bed
We could hear your laughter everywhere
And your voice echoed inside my head

Chorus

Can you hear me?

And then I knew that I’d go on
And then I knew that I would carry on
This is how I hold you dear
All the way from here

EARTHBOUND

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBD

Drove out to the edge of the city
To watch the meteorites
They were so quick and pretty
But they’re hell on the satellites

Shooting stars all around us
Never known nothing but sky
And their impermanence surrounds us
Melting in crooked lines

She’ll tell you that it feels better
To be free and unfettered
Next breath she’ll beg you to tether
Her down — she’s earthbound

Bright things never seem to last
They fade out for all of us to see
Anything that’s gonna fly that fast
Is lucky to go gracefully

Chorus

Just like those shooting stars coming down
She’s earthbound

Funny thing, but to hear her tell it,
It’s written in the sky for us to see
We’re all loose diamonds on black velvet
We scatter so easily

MOUTH ON ME

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – Standard

You walk into a room like you know just what you’ve got
You walk out like you don’t even have to try
And I sit here with my stomach in a knot
There’s something gripping about this thing between you and I

And I dare you to put your money where your mouth is
Your money where your mouth is

Forget everybody else and just look into my eyes
We’ve got somewhere to go and it’s way past commonplace
Don’t make a sound, let’s not analyze
Let’s not make words out of this eloquence between you and I

Chorus

If you tell me ain’t got no money
That don’t matter, honey, because my love is for free
If you tell me ain’t got no money
Then just put your mouth on me

Now you don’t have to break the skin to get under it
You don’t have to listen for the rain to be lulled to sleep
And you don’t have to call my name for my attention
You just look my way and you roll back your eyes

Chorus

If you tell me ain’t got no money
That don’t matter, honey, because my love is for free
If you tell me ain’t got no money
Then just put your mouth on me

Just put your money where your mouth is

POISON ARROW

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDGBD – capo 4

Well, I let her down again
This is the game nobody wins
I’ve been this way for my whole life
I am drawn into the absence of light

So I stumble and I fall
And I know she’s heard it all
There’s not a thing that I could say
To make her shadow of a doubt fade away

I do my best to walk the straight and narrow
To keep my eyes focused on that straight line
Next thing you know, here comes that poison arrow
I lose my footing just like every other time

I’m not a complicated man
Though I’ve played the lion and the lamb
I play the fool most of the time
Trying to navigate the course of my decline

She is worth her weight in gold
Her memory is my gift to hold
If you see her, say hello
This old man, he understands she had to go

Chorus

I guess I let her down again

GHOSTWRITER

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGCE – capo 4

I am the ghostwriter of my father’s biography
He is the blue-highway rider, he’s driving in front of me
I have been commissioned by the blood that’s in my veins
It’s a daughterly mission, it is fatherly ingrained
(Footnotes for random esoterica
and the birds of greater North America)
In the corner weaving stories like a spider,
I am the ghostwriter

I am the ghostwriter of my mother’s biography
Her warm heart inside her, she is blazing in front of me
I have been commissioned by the days that brought us here
It’s a daughterly mission grown stronger by the year
(Footnote for all the late night kitchen-talking
and a warning of occasional sleep-walking)
In the corner weaving stories like a spider,
I am the ghostwriter

I am the ghostwriter of my brother’s biography
He is the fearless base-slider, he’s rounding third in front of me
I have been commissioned by our common history
It’s a sisterly mission, we’re the same but so differently
(Footnote for days spent laughing until it hurt
and the involuntary hand-me-down shirts)
In the corner weaving stories like a spider,
I am the ghostwriter
I am the ghostwriter
I am the ghost
I am

DOWN AGAIN

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBD

There is no way to make sense of this
To divide the burdens that we bear
There is no pile, there is no grocery list
Pick through the water, sift through the air

We have all laid down with love and woken up with sin
Here I am, I’m going down again

In the beginning it was just a game
The first to go, the first to run
Endlessly haunted by the ghost of blame
That’s shared by two but held by none

And this blanket of regret fits me like a skin
Here I am, I’m going down again

I’m going down with the freaks and the clowns
I’ve packed my bags, I’m here to stay
We’re going down, we’ve lost our ground
Did it ever belong to us anyway?

We have all laid down with love and woken up with sin
Here I am, I’m going down again

THESE ARMS OF MINE

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – Standard

You do what you need to do
I will stand here beside you
Don’t go thinking I would hurt you
Or leave you for something new
Time will bend you, time will break you
But you must go where time will take you
And with every mistake, you
Come out better when it’s through

Somewhere deep inside your mind
There is a peace that you will find
With or without these arms of mine
With or without these arms of mine

So take these tears to quench your thirst
Lord knows you’ve seen me at my worst
I won’t be the last and I was not the first
To let you go
Time will hand us bitter days
But my love for you remains unphased
And I’ll walk this world to find a million ways
To let you know

Chorus

These arms may feel strong, they may feel like home
But sometimes arms were made to be outgrown

We’ve seen many things come to pass
I’m humbled by the hourglass
And I know enough to know this will last
As long as I remain
Sure as rain I will be standing here
Watching over you from far or near
And you will always be as dear
To me as you have been

Chorus

ELEPHANT SONG

Words and music by Beth Wood
Tuning – Standard

Children lined up, peanuts in hand
Hey Mr. Elephant, I wonder if he’ll stand on my toes
Who knows?
He has not chosen this
But there is a hint of bliss
As they smile and circle this
Ringside,
a joyride
A giant miles from home
But somehow, some way,
His mind does not roam anymore
Like it did before
When he could not ignore this strange place
But you can see it in his face
That his sadness has been replaced with
Gladness. I’ll tell you this –
If I were in his shoes,
I’d want to be surrounded,
I’d want to be loved by children, too.
Wouldn’t you?