THE WEATHER INSIDE ALBUM LYRICS

Words and Music by Beth Wood
DADGBE

She scoops the little girl up
In her arms
Wraps her in trust
When everything’s wrong
You can see this little house shaking
From down the block some days
So they stand on the corner waiting
For the city bus to drive them away

From the weather inside this house
The weather inside
They’ve got to find some place to ride it out

It was half a world away
Not yet twenty one
Haircut and a shave
New boots and a gun
A tender heart will harden
That’s what everybody knows
But they don’t tell you killing don’t make a man
It only makes a ghost

And the weather inside this house
The weather inside
He’s got to find some way to ride it out

There’s a faded old map with tear-stained pages,
And an old photograph on the kitchen table
Of a wide-eyed girl who thought a brave soldier would save her

She thinks of leaving
Now and again
But the wheel of seasons
Continues to spin
And for all of the darkening clouds
There have been days of warming sun
She remembers when they made those vows
Never to be undone
By the weather inside this house
The weather inside
They’ve got to find some way to ride it out

The weather inside this house
The weather inside
They’ve got to find some way to ride it out
Together inside this house

The weather inside this house

THE NEW KID

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDGBD

All these little people belonging in their rows
The blackboard stretching on for miles
I am the new kid in the hand-me-down clothes
Trying to conjure up a smile

We came from Texas with the tumbleweeds and dust
No, I did not ride a horse to school
We do not own oil wells, but my grandma does
I wonder if that might make me the tiniest bit cool

And will I always be the new kid?
Wondering how this goes
Trying to figure out how to do this
I am the new kid and it shows
I am the new kid

First love burned me and I had to move on
And then love brought me to my knees
When I wasn’t looking, something real came along
And I know it’s right but no one said it would be easy

Will I always be the new kid?
Wondering how this goes
Trying to figure out how we do this
I am the new kid and it shows
I am the new kid

Somehow someone always reaches out a hand
Someone always says, “I understand, are you okay?”
I guess I am

Then the phone call came in the middle of the night
Shattering what was left of our sleep
Everything changes in the blink of an eye
What we think is ours is never ours to keep

All these people belonging in their rows
The grey sky stretching on and on
Black limousines and ill-fitting clothes
And I am still standing here trying to be strong
Will I always be the new kid?
Wondering how this goes
Trying to figure out how to do this
I am the new kid
And I’m wondering how this goes
How the hell will I get through this?
I’m still the new kid, I suppose
I am the new kid

ALL I CAN DO

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGAD

I’ve been trying to think how to tell you
I would be sad to see you go
But in the middle of all my thinking
You slipped out through the window

And I’m not the only one
Who’s ever walked around in a haze
I’m trapped in a dream where I get lost
I can’t wake up, can’t see my way

If all I can do is write this down
If all I can do is sing my heart out
If all I can do is shake my fists up at the clouds
Then that’s what I’ll do now

We knew this day was coming
Yeah we knew there would be hell to pay
I could sense it like an avalanche
But I never knew what to say

So I tried too hard to make you laugh
It’s just I was so scared for you
And joy is the one thing we can have
To keep for ourselves and give away, too

If all I can do is scream and shout
If all I can do is write my heart out
If all I can do is shake my fists up at the clouds,
Then that’s what I’ll do now

Wherever you are,
I hope it’s not so hard

If all is can do is cry this out
If all I can do is live my life out loud
If all I can do is look up to the clouds
Then that’s what I’ll do now

BACKROADS

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – EADGBD

It’s an interstate world
I am a backroads girl
Chewing on the heart of every matter
Here it’s all neon and noise
But I am denim and turquoise
I’m trying to find the meaning in all the chatter

6 am the alarm rings
I can’t move this heavy load
The world is spinning, a new day beginning
You go on ahead, but I’m gonna take the back roads

I have tried to match the speed
But my nature intercedes
I think of what I should have said two days later
I can’t make the words come
Got no daggers on my tongue
And I am useless without my pen and paper

Your thoughts come at me like laser beams
But mine don’t fly the way of the crow
The moment’s demanding a little understanding
You go on ahead, but I’m gonna take the back roads

Always running two steps behind
Truth be told, lately I don’t mind

It’s a mystery where we go when we die
But some folks try and crack that code
You can spend your attention looking for redemption
You go on ahead, but I’m gonna take the back roads

CALICO

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBD

When I was a girl, nothing in this world meant anything to me
except my pony
We found him by the side of the road, his mama lying lifeless on the highway
So we took him home
We thought we did a good deed that day
But the fact is that he rescued me, it went the other way

O Calico, running through the fields we would go
Grass growing high, together we would fly
My Calico, my Calico

Times back then were tough, Mama said we never had enough
But we got by
One day I came home, the barn was empty, Calico was gone,
So I ran inside
Dad sat with a sad look on his face
We looked out the window and watched them drive away

O Calico, running through the fields we would go
Grass growing high, together we would fly
My Calico, my Calico

And now I know that they did what had to be done
But a little girl can only stand there with her riding boots on

That little girl is gone, mama too and dad lives in a home
I see him every day
Don’t know if he knows who I am, he doesn’t seem to recognize my face
But that’s ok
Because sometimes when I turn around to go
He pulls me closer to him and whispers, “Calico”

O Calico, running through the fields we would go
Grass growing high, together we would fly
My Calico, he was our Calico

COYOTE PRAYER

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDGBD

I see you, lone coyote
Looking for scraps in these bare suburban fields
Pencil-thin with silver eyes of empty
This spirit-hungry city at your heels

Grey ghost in the moonlight
Slipping in between the dust-worn sage
I close my eyes, you fade into the night
Talisman from a long-ago age

Won’t you take me
To the ridgeline
Where you sing your ancient song
And wash me in your water,
Wash me in your water
Until I belong

Vulture, take your offering
On the thermals riding high, come on down
No apology tucked in your dark wing
Silent as the blood run on the ground

Won’t you take me
To the cliff face
On the shoulder of your arid song
And wash me in your water, wash me in your water
Until I belong

I belong to the mountain, I belong to the sun
I see you, lone coyote, you belong to no one
I belong to the plains, I belong to the sea
When I cannot find my home, I am the lone coyote

Won’t you take me
To the shadows
Where your brothers found communion in a song
And wash me in your water, wash me in your water
Until I belong

DOING THIS DANCE

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBD

Crazy old rooster crowing all night long
He thinks he’s hot shit but his clocks are all wrong
Ain’t it just like me, baby, I do the same thing to you
On and on and on about my feelings until your face turns blue

Here we go, watch us now,
Tiptoe around the room
Stepping in, stepping out,
Laugh out loud, howl at the moon

Doin’ this dance all of my life with you
Feels like I’m doin’ this dance all of my life with you
All my life, all my life with you

Sometimes you come to a place you can’t get across
Full of broken glass and barbed-wire and your compass is lost
Ain’t it just like you, baby, you wave from the other side
But I know you’ll jump back over if I just bide my time

Here we go, watch us now,
Shuffling across the floor
Holding loose, holding tight
Running, coming back for more

Doin’ this dance all of my life with you
Feels like I’m doin’ this dance all of my life with you
All my life, all my life with you

Sometimes we fall
But baby, don’t we all?
We pick each other up and we go on
We may have four left feet
But when we meet,
Lord what a song!

Here we go, watch us now
Twirling, spinning through the air
Turn around, close my eyes
Falling back on a dare…

Doin’ this dance all of my life with you
Feels like I’m doin’ this dance all of my life with you
All my life, all my life with you

EVERYTHING FALLS AWAY

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDGBD

It’s 3am, I hear your call
Pulling me out of my slumber
I don’t know where you are, it don’t matter at all
‘Cause baby, you’ve got my number

And every time I hear your voice
Everything falls…
Everything falls, everything falls
Everything falls away

Now I feel like a fake ’cause I’m losing my faith
Holding on to those old doubts
But you shook me awake and you showed me the strength
And you reminded me how

That every time I hear your voice
Everything falls…
Everything falls, everything falls
Everything falls away

Every nightmare, every tear
Falls away when I can hear
The sound of your voice whispering in my ear

Everything falls…
Everything falls, everything falls
Everything falls away

It’s 3 a.m., I hear your call
Pulling me out of my slumber
I don’t know where you are, it don’t matter at all
‘Cause baby, you’ve got my number

THE HOUSE THAT MADE ME

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CDDGCE

It doesn’t seem right
They painted the back fence white
And the basketball goal
Replaced by a weathervane pole
Shiny new cars in the driveway
Where we all used to play

Here I am a stranger in a strange land
I guess that’s how they always said it would be
I can see that now from where I stand
All alone in front of the house that made me

We would cut these summer lawns
In the hours before dawn
Then we’d run wild and we would roam
But at 6 o’clock we would come home
To a mother and father at a kitchen table
Nowadays that seems like a miracle

Here I am a stranger in a strange land
I guess that’s how they always said it would be
I can see that now from where I stand
All alone in front of the house that made me

Here’s the red bird house hanging from above
Where the fragile little babies cried out for love
And I watched the mean old blue jay scoop them up
One by one by one
And my heart just came undone

I feel like that kid
that I always did
somehow everything’s changed
and somehow everything’s the same

Here I am a stranger in a strange land
I guess that’s how they always said it would be
I can see that now from where I stand
All alone in front of the house that made me

This is the house that made me

CLOSE YOUR EYES, HERE WE GO

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGBD

Just a little baby, brother three years old
Father went to fight in the war
A headstrong Texas lady took us on the road
In the cradle of our nation so weary and so poor
And everywhere we went there was a candle
A spark of kindness in every window
She said, “This world gives you nothing you can’t handle
Close your eyes, little children, here we go”

They crossed the chilly river frozen in their boots
Following commands from above
He asked God to forgive him for what he had to do
And then he gave the order to march on
And everywhere they looked there was fiery shrapnel
Flying metal in the air, blood on the snow
He said, “this world gives you nothing you can’t handle
Close your eyes, boys, here we go”

So many lost that day
So few who walked away

Then he came home to us, his journey hard and long
We waited at the station for the train
nervousness ran through us, but she was steady, she was strong
Ready to receive him and begin again
And everywhere she looked there were families
No stranger here to this heavy sorrow
She said, “This world gives you nothing you can’t handle
Close your eyes, girl, here we go
Close your eyes, girl, here we go

GET GOOD

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – DADGCE

Thought I knew Empty
Then I woke up on a stranger’s floor
In the sparkling city
I couldn’t recall what I came here for
Empty, I thought I knew you
I thought I understood
You think you know Empty?
well hold on, hold on, this is gonna get good

Thought I knew Lonely
But that was before I had seen your face
Now I think of you only
The shape of your absence filling all of my days
Lonely, I thought I knew you
I thought I understood
You think you know Lonely?
well hold on, hold on, this is gonna get good

And everything
I thought I knew
Is just a feather in the wind
I reach out my hand
I watch it go
Yeah it slips away again

Thought I knew Beauty
Then a thousand colors exploded across the sky
Like the world was talking to me
Telling me wonder is in no short supply
Beauty, I thought I knew you
I thought I understood
You think you know Beauty?
Well hold on, hold on, this is gonna get good

And everything
We think we know
Is just a particle of sand
The time comes in
We hold on tight
But it’s slipping through our hands

You think you know something
Well hold on, hold on
You think you know something?
Hold on, hold on this is gonna get good

GOODBYE BLUE

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – CGDGCD

So well I came to know the poison
That it tasted like home to me
It took a walk in a land so foreign
For my weary eyes to see

That if bitter is all that you’re tasting
Then you will soon forget the sweet
And that feeling that your heart is breaking
Becomes a medicine you need, so

Goodbye, blue
I’m letting go of you
Goodbye, blue

It takes a strong will to unravel
All these judgments we hand down
From the worn grooves of the gavel
To the things we never say out loud

But what if the poison were imagined?
And what if love were mine to choose?
What if after all I’m not so fragile,
And time is all I have to lose?  Then

Goodbye, blue
I’m letting go of you
Goodbye, blue

I am letting go of you
Though you have been good company
I’ve got some joy to attend to
You won’t be hearing from me

Goodbye, blue
I’m letting go of you
Goodbye, blue

MILES FOR BREAKFAST

Words and Music by Beth Wood
Tuning – Standard

Woke up this morning, first thing that I heard
Was the buzzing of a jewel-colored hummingbird
But something else was louder, warm sun on the stones
The sound that filled my ears was the familiar call of home

And I regret I have to leave you with the morning light
But I eat miles for breakfast, I eat miles
I eat miles for breakfast, honey,
Coffee on the side

I have always been a leaver, it’s engrained within
I am called to love and called away from love again
Then this restlessness inside my chest beats its wings
And I’m out there on the highway like some lonesome tumbleweed

And I thank you for the company, but I’ve got to take a ride
‘Cause I eat miles for breakfast, I eat miles
I eat miles for breakfast, honey,
Coffee on the side

The kindness of a stranger is a beautiful pearl
Every time you find it, it’s a tiny miracle

To this weary traveler, you are an angel in the night
But I eat miles for breakfast, I eat miles
I eat miles for breakfast, honey,
Coffee on the side