Silver Wheels

Rolling through a PA night, somewhere between State College and Bethlehem.

Silver Wheels

Silver Eagle rollin’
through a Pennsylvania night
Past little farms asleep
inside their circled safety lights
Like little pools of righteousness
that stand against the dark
With help from a harvest moon
and a solitary star

They go to bed real early,
out west of Bethlehem
The towns close down
and the theory is that trouble can’t be found
Oh, you and I know better,
but why worry them with proof
We slide by on wings of eagles,
like an ill wind blowin’ through

(Chorus)
And we see the world on silver wheels
We are travelers and know
that life like this just can’t be real
Hi-ho silver wheels
Hi-o, hi-o
O-hi-o silver wheels

We see the bad - ignore the good,
because the good does not bring danger
So used to the unusual
that the normal seems a stranger
We can take the trash talk,
gangs and scams and all the jive
But the Good Word and a “God Bless you, Sir”
seem to take us by surprise

The things that are important here
seem easier to see
Could it be that we just need
something simple to believe?
Or are we just too jaded
by our travel and our big-time greed
That we don’t see the value
in living clean and good and free?

(Chorus)

They go to bed real early
Out west of Bethleham

© D. Dain, 1997.

Depression Era

A look at my possible future. Not all that far away.

Depression Era (Ref. Robert Herrick)

Scouting pottery
South, out of Zanesville
Shawnee, Corning
Down Route 13
What I do Saturday,
Sunday afternoons
Sneaking beer from the cooler
Hot stove league on the radio
Marty and it used to be Joe
I don’t collect myself
and don’t know much
But find what I can
and take it home to my Sweetie

No Weller or Roseville for me
It’s mud or china SPI
Chips oh so easy,
takes up too much room
Like me
And, like me, it mostly just sits there
Sometimes, putting a new piece up
I get shaky - knock another off the shelf
She doesn't mind
She knows I’m… past my prime
She says it's all a'hunting and a‘gathering
Just instinct --
And I'm thinking extinct
Why pottery? Pottery, for God’s sake.
I like beer and football

Any humor at all
that Herrick was born in Cheapside,
and like me, a fan of his betters?
My side is the junk stores
No fancy pants "Antique Mall"
My wallet needs a place where they may not know what they have
Some place where Old Time’s dying - not flying
Slinking 'round dusty bookcases
Sniffing out small pieces of the past
Nothing to make much of
But you can smile at it

Ah, there’s the old stuff
No virgins here, for sure
I see a possibility
A nicely painted salad plate,
pick it up and turn it over
and I’ve been fooled again
Made in not even Occupied Japan
I move on to the bud vase in the corner

© D. Dain, 2007.

Fools and Crows

Fools and Crows

Gets harder every time I hear it
Harder to imagine you
Out there feeding on your fury
All alone without a clue

You'd rather be caught dead than happy
Never speak a word unarmed
Always keep that pride aligned
Between your heart and any harm

I never thought that you would feel it
Never thought that you would fall
Under a pow'r that would do you damage
Leave you at it's beck and call

And it's the choices that we make
It's the promises we break
Honor is not anything you know
Seems doin' right is just for fools
Doin' right is just for fools
Doin' right is just for fools
... and Crows

I know how looks can be deceiving
It all depends upon the view
Still my music is my own
And we live with what we choose

You can lay your fate upon the furies
You can blame and you can scorn
You can lose track of your companions
And all that time and fear has worn

Now that I can see you better
I say distance suits you fine
I guess I never knew the danger
'til it left me far behind

'cause it's the choices that we make
It's the promises we break
Honor should be something that we know
Seems doin' right is just for fools
Ummm, doin' right is just for fools
Aw, doin' right is just for fools
... and Crows

© D. Dain, 1997.

Hard Time's Fallin'

Well, 1st lyric of '07. And, as you can tell, it's happy one -- not.

Hard Time's Fallin’

We had a meetin’
Listened to the lessons
Lessons that we ain’t learned jus’ yet
They tell me hard time's callin’
Hard time's fallin’
But we ain’t seen or heard ‘em yet

But they be a-comin’
I know it, I feel it
Hand in my pocket and ear to the track
We been way too willin’
To do the killin’
Can’t pull up and won't turn back
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huh-uh-uh-uh
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huhhhhh

We got "Power of Pride"
Might on our side
Now, who would Jesus bomb?
Love it or leave it
Hard to believe it
Another Vietnam

No President's daughter
No Senator's son
Gets the chance to cut and run
A rich man's war
A poor man's chore
And "God's" work is never done
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huh-uh-uh-uh
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huhhhhh

Listen people, listen
Might be a blessin' in the lesson
But we ain't even learned it yet
I tell ya hard time's callin’
Hard time's fallin’
And we ain’t seen nothin’ yet

They be a-comin’
I know it, I feel it
Hand in my pocket, ear to the track
Little birdie tol’ me
Then he tol’ me ag'in
Hard time's fallin', fallin’ fast
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huh-uh-uh-uh
Uh-huh-uh-huh, uh-huhhhhh

We had a meetin’
Listened to the lessons
Lessons we ain’t learned jus’ yet

© D. Dain, 2007.