OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS
I've been siftin' through the layers
Of dusty books and faded papers
They tell a story I used to know
And it was one that happened so long ago
repeat chorus
The finest hour that I have seen
Is the one that comes between
The edge of night and the break of day
It's when the darkness rolls away
repeat chorus twice
I've seen the sun blaze the breast of the countryside
I've seen her huddled in a winter freeze
And I've run cross paths of a thousand lives
Among the cactus and the white birch trees
Avloc ran a waterfront bar
Vito, he was the king of thieves
And Michael was a rock 'n roll hood from the Odessa plains
Now, all of them were my kind
Wild and damn near free
But, a Woman of the Phoenix is the medicine they need
She came from Spencer
Across the hill
She said her Pa had sent her
'Cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter
She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favours
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labour
But the times were hard Lord
The jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally's
She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her Pa had died
The word come down from Spencer
So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her
They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... Tecumseh Valley
(repeat first verse)
(repeat chorus)
(bridge)
Bicycles squeezed down alley ways into view
And towels warmed on oven doors
To not freeze
Was the only thing to do
I wonder if we kept to the fair warning
'Cause I can see it in the flowers
Dyin' on the window sill
I know we must be out by tomorrow mornin'
But am I goin' 'gainst my will
(repeat chorus)
(bridge)
(repeat last verse)
(repeat chorus)
There's nothin' you can send me my own true love
There is nothin' I'm wishin' to be ownin'
Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled
From across that lonesome ocean
Ah, but I just thought you might want somethin' fine
Made of silver or of golden
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona
If I had the stars of the darkest night
And the diamonds from the deepest ocean
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss
That's all I wish to be ownin'
I might be gone a long ole time
And it's only that I'm askin'
Is there somethin' I can send you
To remember me by?
To make your time more easy passin'?
How can, how can you ask me again?
It only brings me sorrow
The same thing I would want today
I would want again tomorrow
Oh, I got a letter on a lonesome day
It was from his ship a-sailin'
Sayin' I don't know when I'll be comin' back again
It depends on how I'm feelin'
If you my love must think that-a-way
I'm sure your mind is a-roamin'
I'm sure your thoughts are not with me
But with the country where you're goin'
So take heed, take heed of the western wind
Take heed of stormy weather
And yes there is somethin' you can send back to me
Spanish boots of Spanish leather
(repeat chorus)
It almost breaks my heart
when I think of my family
I told them I'd be coming home with my
pockets full of green
(repeat chorus)
The only time I feel alright
is when I'm into drinking
It can sort of ease the pain of it and it
levels out my thinking
(repeat chorus)
I sometimes hear the fiddles play,
maybe it's just a notion
I dream I see white horses dance upon
that other ocean
(repeat chorus)
(repeat chorus)
And I had me a buddy back home
But he started out to roam
And I hear he's out by Frisco Bay
And, sometimes, when I've had a few
His old voice comes ringin' through
And I'm goin' out to see him some old day
If you see me passin' by
And you sit and you wonder why
And you wish that you were a rambler, too
Just nail your shoes to the kitchen floor
Lace 'em up and bar the door
Thank your stars for the roof that's over you
(repeat chorus)
(repeat chorus)
(bridge)
Somewhere in the distance
The city lights do shine
The sidewalks gleam with neon dreams
That call from time to time
When my children's children
Ask me why I didn't go
They say the heart of any town
Is the people that you've known
They'll always call you home
(repeat chorus)
Strung out and hung out to dry
Laughin' under the line
It's not such a dignified place
But he really don't mind
He says with his feet on the ground
He'd have nothin' to say
Claims he likes it up there
And he'll only come down in the rain
(repeat chorus)
You can read him as clear as the wall
Where he once wrote his name
It was right next to hers
But he'll only come down in the rain
He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singing songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder I don't know
(repeat chorus)
Now he's traded off his Martin
Though his troubles aren't all over
His feet are almost frozen and the sun is sinking low
Won't you listen to me Brother, if you ever loved your Mother
Please pull off on the shoulder, if you're goin' Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder down by Boulder Dam today
How the short time together lasts so long
Makes me strong
As two weeks came and went then you and I were gone
Living on
For it seems our love was destined
to be caught in other nets
But the love we held so brief
I'd chance again without regret
Yes, standing by the road has been my song before
Much too long
But now somehow I'm forced to
see me there once more
And that's the song
For my waking thoughts of you are
but extensions of the dream
Without you here beside me
I'll never know all that they mean
As the morning light stretched in across my bed
I thought of you
Remembering your laughing eyes and all we said
I love you too
As all my thoughts of you pass 'fore my face a thousand times
The way they race my heart... I cannot say it all in lines
(repeat chorus){she}
(bridge)
They've never seen the northern lights
Never seen a hawk on the wing
Never seen the spring hit the Great Divide
And they ain't ever heard old Camp Cookie sing
Now, I read up the last of my letter
And tore of the stamp for Black Jim
Little Dougie rode up to relieve me
He just looked at my letter and grinned
(repeat chorus){they}
(repeat bridge){they}
(repeat chorus)
Do you think the blooms departed
From the cheeks you thought so fair?
Do you think I've grown cold hearted
Beneath the load of woman's cares?
(repeat chorus twice)
Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Where are you goin' my baby my own?