THE LONG ROAD ALBUM LYRICS

THE LONG ROAD

Word and Music by Beth Wood
(EADGBD – Capo 2nd fret)

It’s getting so late I guess it’s early
no one else on the highway but the long loads
memories hang on showing no mercy
but you can’t outrun a feeling no matter how fast you go

on the long road
the long road
you can’t outrun what is already done
on the long road

I lived in a house on a crumbling hillside
our seeds just slept, summer fields lay fallow
time answered there to a different kind of tide
and it swept me away in a season of sorrow

on the long road
the long road
you can’t outrun what is already done
on the long road

we are all on it
we cannot see beyond it

I come to you now, I come in pieces
but I come to you whole, I come to you clean
Lay your yesterdays down, and when it don’t come easy
I will hold on to you, you can hold on to me

on the long road
the long road
you can’t outrun what is already done
on the long road
the long road
we will become what we will become
on the long road

GO NOW

Words and Music by Beth Wood
(DADGCE – capo 2nd fret)

I’ve been acting like my mother
wadded up Kleenex in my pocket
still I keep reaching for another
I don’t know how to stop it

I’ve been looking like my father
stone jaw under eyes like moss
you might be wondering what hides there
but nothing’s hidden, sometimes we just can’t talk

What do we do
now that everything’s changed somehow?
where do we go now?
go now

Under the canopy of moonlight
the imagination goes mustang wild
and you let it run because it feels right
you feed it just like when you were a child

Now it’s coordinates you’re after
ah, the geography of loss
but maps and compasses don’t matter
when grief is a river that we can’t cross

What do we do
now that everything’s changed somehow?
where do we go now?
go now

What do we do
now that everything’s changed?
go now

Little dog barks outside your window
neighbor lady in her front porch chair
some things will never change you know
come Monday she will still be there
come Monday
come Monday

CALL WHEN YOU GET HOME

Words and Music by Beth Wood
(CGDGBD – capo 3rd fret)

We have been saying goodbye
since the day that we met
and I thank my lucky stars
that the last time hasn’t happened yet
sometimes I need to tell you
your kindness in this world
has made me feel so much less alone
you said go follow your own road
and call when you get home

The deck is stacked against us
right here from the start
and yet still we ante up
the contents of our tender hearts
but I wouldn’t trade one moment
between you and me
of all the sweetness we have known
you said go follow your own road
and call when you get home

Call me when you need me
call me when you don’t
call me for no reason
just to say hello

There is a constant pulling feeling
in the center of my chest
it is the forward leaning ghost
of things that haven’t happened yet
in my right hand I hold the memories
in my left I hold the knowledge
that one day I will have to let you go
and you’ll go follow your own road

Call me when you need me
call me when you don’t
call me for no reason
just to say hello
and call when you get home

THE HARD WAY

Words and music by Beth Wood
(CGDGBD – Capo 4th fret)

Twenty-two years in a single-wide trailer
just about enough for a wide-eyed soul
she burned up her dreams and it smelled like failure
now she’s burning up the miles where the rubber meets the road

Nobody says it
nobody tells you
everything good is gonna come the hard way
everybody know it
nobody tells you
show me one thing good that didn’t come the hard way

Forty-four times he circled round the block
couldn’t find the courage to walk on in
saw her every day at the same coffee shop
but when she’d flash that smile he went into a tailspin

CHORUS

One day you learn a dream
is just an idea with wings
until you hold your breath
and decide to fly that thing

Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall
thrity-three minutes until the stroke of midnight
thought this damn year was gonna kill us all
now we gotta stare down the darkness to get back to the light

OLD THINGS

Words and Music by Beth Wood and Stephen Mougin
(CGDGBD – Capo 3rd fret)

An old fountain pen still warm from your hand writing memories
An old pocket-watch is ticking away on the shelf
A turntable spins and Lady Day’s singing a melody
Making me feel the heartache that she felt.

Stepping into this room like I’m stepping back in time
Back when life was simple
Standing here in my new dress wondering what it all means
cause you only like old things

yellowed guitar with rusty old strings in the corner
begging someone to take her and pick out a tune
framed photographs hung like a badge of honor
faces of friends and family light up the room

will I ever be part of your black and white world
why can’t life be simple
Standing here in full color wondering what it all means
cause you only like old things

It’s just like you to like old things it’s just like me to be new
It’s just like fate to leave me wishing you could treasure me, too
Standing here beside you, still wondering what it all means
cause you only like old things

PAINTED LINES

Words and Music by Beth Wood
(DADGBE – Capo 3rd fret)

There are nights when the moon shines in full bloom
and leads you on your way
drenching the path in silver and glass
and hope for the new light of day

I’m all alone and so far from home but
surrounded by new friends
I’m hooked on believing, pointed toward leaving
but the reverie never ends

I got a whole lot of faith
a little bit of trust
whole lot of falling down on my face
and getting back up
the occasional angel
comes right on time
I’m wearing my heart between the painted lines

I have overheard that it is absurd
for a woman to take to the road
but I’ve got a dream and it’s a part of me
it’s written in my DNA code

All I have is this song and the path that I’m on
and a hunger to spread these wings
I don’t own much but I’d give it all up
for one more moment of quickening

I got a whole lot of faith
a little bit of luck
whole lot of coming home on empty
and filling back up
my lover is an angel
who comes right on time
I’m wearing my heart between the painted lines

I’ve got a heart that aches for home
I’ve got a heart that aches to roam

I got a little bit of faith
a whole lot of trust
believing that it’s not too late
believing in love
I want to be someone’s angel
who comes right on time
I’m wearing my heart between the painted lines
I’m wearing my heart between the painted lines
I’m wearing my heart between the painted lines

HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS

Words and Music by Beth Wood
(CGCGCD)

Flying through the air you need no wings
high above everything
dreaming in a technicolor frame
of a swirling sea that has no name

You can’t sleep, can’t lie awake
you close your eyes for heaven’s sake
see the sun behind you, the sand between your toes
what’s to follow only heaven knows
heaven only knows

Here on earth we stumble and we stare
tripping over signs everywhere
a bargain that we never got to choose
when we love sometimes we lose

CHORUS

the only thing I know is real
is the way you make me feel

A photograph that’s washed in blue and green
feels like you’re in a dream
two hands in the shape of a heart
pulling us through the dark

CHORUS

LEAVING

Words and Music by Beth Wood and Kim Richey
(EADGBE – Capo 2nd fret)

Thinking I might take a trip to somewhere I have never been before
drive until I feel like stopping sleep, wake up, then drive a little more

leaving

maybe I’ll go somewhere in the northwest, I don’t mind a little rain
drink coffee in a book store in a seaside town where no one knows my name

leaving
I’m thinking about leaving

I could try Colorado where I’ve heard they have three hundred days of sun
I could find a cabin by a mountain stream, sit on my front porch swing and watch it run

leaving
I’m thinking about leaving
like I said I would

I close my eyes and tilt my head back, think about that magic time of day
when the late sun drenches everything in gold and the tall grass starts to sway

leaving