THE BEST OF NANCI GRIFFITH/THE MCA YEARS



Track Listing:



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Trouble In The Fields

 (Nanci Griffith)


Baby I know that we've got trouble in the fields
When the bankers swarm like locust out there turning away our yield
The trains roll by our silos, silver in the rain
They leave our pockets full of nothing
But our dreams and the golden grain

Have you seen the folks in line downtown at the station
They're all buying their ticket out and talking the great depression
Our parents had their hard times fifty years ago
When they stood out in these empty fields in dust as deep as snow

(chorus)
And all this trouble in our fields
If this rain can fall, these wounds can heal
They'll never take our native soil
But if we sell that new John Deere
And then we'll work these crops with sweat and tears
You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields
There's a book up on the shelf about the dust bowl days
And there's a little bit of you and a little bit of me
In the photos on every page
Now our children live in the city and they rest upon our shoulders
They never want the rain to fall or the weather to get colder

(repeat chorus)

You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields

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From A Distance

 (Julie Gold)


From a distance the world looks blue and green
And the snow-capped mountains white
From a distance the ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight

From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man

From a distance we all have enough
And no one is in need
There are no guns, no bombs, no diseases
No hungry mouths to feed

From a distance we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of home, playing songs of peace
They're the songs of every man
God is watching us, God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance

From a distance you look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance I can't comprehend
What all this war is for

From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man

It's the hope of hopes, It's the love of loves
It's the song of every man

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Speed Of The Sound Of Lonliness

 (John Prine)


You come home late
And you come home early
You come on big
When you're feelin' small
You come home straight
And you come home curly
Sometimes you don't come home at all

(chorus)
So what in the world's come over you?
What in heavens name have you done?
You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You're out there runnin'
Just to be on the run
Well, I got a heart that burns with a fever
And I got a worried and a jealous mind
Well how can a love
That will last forever
Get left so far behind?

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Love At The Five Dime

 (Nanci Griffith)


Rita was sixteen years... hazel eyes and chestnut hair
she made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime

(chorus)
They'd sing, "Dance a little closer to me... dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me... it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie played the steel guitar and his mama cried 'cuz he played in the bars
And kept young Rita out late at night
So, they married up in Abilene... lost a child in Tennessee
still, that love survived

(repeat chorus)

One of the boys in Eddie's band... took a shine to Rita's hands
so, Eddie ran off with the bass man's wife
Oh' but he was back by June... singin' a different tune
And sportin' Miss Rita back by his side

(repeat chorus){He sang}

Eddie travelled with the barroom bands... till arthritis took his hands
now he sells insurance on the side
Rita's got a house to keep... dimestore novels and a love so sweet
they dance to the radio late at night

(repeat chorus)
(repeat 1st verse)

they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime

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Listen To The Radio

 (Nanci Griffith)


I am leaving Mississippi in the evening rain
These Delta towns wear satin gowns
in a high beamed frame
Loretta Lynn guides my hands through the radio
Where would I be in times like these
without the songs Loretta wrote?

(chorus)
When you can't find a friend
you've still got the radio
When you can't find a friend
you've still got the radio
Radio . . . listen to the radio
Radio . . . listen to the radio
I left a handsome two stepped good ole boy in
Tennessee
Now, he's sittin' on the sofa, lookin' for his supper,
wonderin' what's become of me
I've got a double-o-eighteen Martin guitar in the
back seat of the car
Hey, I'm leaving Mississippi . . .
With the radio on

(repeat chorus)

There's a moon across the border in the Louisiana
sky
I smell the Pontchartrain, I hear Silver Wings
then, away Merle Haggard flies
That good ole boy will find a Band of Gold
on the stereo
Hey, then my Mama's gonna call and say,
"Where's she gone?"
He'll say, "Down the road with the radio on."

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Gulf Coast Highway

 (James Hooker/Nanci Griffith/Danny Flowers)


Gulf Coast Highway
He worked the rails
He worked the rice fields
With their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the
Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we've ever owned
Is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he'll catch
some blackbird's wing
Then he will fly away to Heaven come
some sweet blue bonnet spring

She walked through springtime
When I was home
The days were sweet
The nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would
come... the flowers fade
This old house felt so alone
When the work took me away
And when she dies she says, she'll
catch some blackbirds wing
Then she will fly away to Heaven come
some sweet blue bonnet spring

Highway 90
The jobs are gone
We tend our garden
We set the sun
This is the only place on earth
blue bonnets grow
Once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say, we'll
catch some blackbirds wing
Then we will fly away to Heaven come
some sweet blue bonnet spring

And when we die we say, we'll
catch some blackbirds wing
We will fly away together come
some sweet blue bonnet spring

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I Wish It Would Rain

 (Nanci Griffith)


(chorus)
Oh, I wish it would rain
And wash my face clean
I want to find some dark cloud to
hide in here
Love in a memory
Sparkled like diamonds
When the diamonds fall... they burn
like tears
When the diamonds fall... they burn
like tears
Once I had a love from the
Georgia pines
Who only cared for me
I wanna find that love of twenty-two
Here at thirty-three
I've got a heart on my right
One on my left... neither suits my needs
No, the one I love lives a-way out West
And he never will need me

(repeat chorus)

I'm gonna pack up my two steppin' shoes
And head for the Gulf Coast plains
I wanna walk the streets of my
own hometown
Where everybody knows my name
I wanna ride the waves down
in Galveston
When the hurricanes blow in
'Cuz that Gulf Coast water tastes
sweet as wine
When your heart's rollin' home in
the wind

(repeat chorus)

When the diamonds fall darlin'... they
burn like tears

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Ford Econoline

 (Nanci Griffith)


She drove west from Salt Lake City to the California coastline
She hit the San Diego Freeway doing sixty miles an hour
She had a husband on her bumper
She had five restless children
She was singing sweet as a mockingbird in that Ford Econoline

(chorus )
She's the salt of the earth
Straight from the bosom of the Mormon church
With a voice like wine
Cruising along in that Ford Econoline
Now her husband was a gambler, he was a Salt Lake City rambler
He built a golden cage around his silver-throated wife
Too many nights he left her crying with his cheating and his lying
But his big mistake was him buying her that Ford Econoline

(repeat chorus twice)

Now she sings her songs around this country
From Seattle to Montgomery
Those kids are grown and that rounder knows
You cannot cage your wife
Along the back roads of our nation, she's become a living legend
She drives a Coupe DeVille but her heart rides still
In that Ford Econoline
She drives a Coup DeVille but her heart rides still
In that Ford Econoline

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If Wishes Were Changes

 (Nanci Griffith/James Hooker)


I wish that you loved me
the way that I love you
I wish I had Angels
who sang in my dreams
If wishes were changes
we'd all live in roses
and there wouldn't be children
who cried in their sleep

He wishes I loved him
the way that I love you
If wishes were changes
I'd dry all his tears
If wishes were changes
I'd make him my anchor
He'd be my Angel
who sang through the years

(chorus)
So long to the blue days of wishing
If wishes were changes
there'd be no goodbyes
So long to the heart I have given
Cuz wishing won't bring back
the love in your eyes
I wish that I had your
wings of desire
I wish I had seen you
as I see you now
I wouldn't feel sorrow
you've left here inside me
But, wishing won't change
right from wrong for you now

(repeat chorus)

(first verse repeat)

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The Wing And The Wheel

 (Nanci Griffith)


The wing and the wheel... they carry things away
whether it's me that does the leavin' or the love that flies away
The moon outside my window looks so lonely tonight
oh, there's a chunk out of it's middle... big enough for an old fool to hide

Where are all the dreamers... that I used know?
We used to linger beneath street lamps in the halos and the smoke
The wing and the wheel... came to carry them away
now they all live out in the suburbs where their dreams
are in their children at play

There's a pale sky in the east... all the stars are in the west
Oh, here's to all the dreamers... may our open hearts find rest
The wing and the wheel are gonna carry us along
And we'll have memories for company... long after the songs are gone

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Late Night Grande Hotel

 (Nanci Griffith)


I'm working on a morning flight to anywhere but here
I'm watching this evening fire burn away my tears
All my life I've left my troubles by the door
Leavin' is all I've ever known before

(chorus)
It's not the way you hold me
when the sun goes down
It's not the way you call my name that left me
stranded on the ground
It's not the way you say you hear my heart
when the music ends
I am just learning how to fly away again
It's not the way you say you hear my heart
when the music ends
I am just learning how to fly away again
And maybe you were thinkin'
that you thought you knew me well
But, no one ever knows the heart of anyone else
I feel like Garbo in this late night grande hotel
Cause living alone is all I've ever done well

(repeat chorus twice)

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From Clare To Here

 (Ralph McTell)


Four who shared this room and
we were caught up in the crack
Sleeping late on Sundays
and we never got to Mass

(chorus)
It's a long way from Clare to here
It's a long way from Clare to here
It's a long, long way
It get's further by the day
It's a long, long way from Clare to here
When Friday comes around
we're only into fighting
My Ma would like a letter home but
I'm too tired for writing

(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)

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It's Just Another Morning Here

 (Nanci Griffith)


The telephone is ringin' in the middle of the night
And I pull the bed clothes higher
Will it stop calling out if I turn on the light?
I'm afraid of these shadows here
'Cuz my past is truly frightening
And I'm afraid of the warmth in the down
of a feathered heart in flight

(chorus)
It's just another morning here (it's morning)
It's just another morning here
It's just another morning here (it's morning)
And it's a miracle that it comes around
every day of the year
The neighbours scream and their baby cries
I'm hiding in the corner
I won't be them, pray I won't be them one day
Maybe it's just the breath of August
so hot upon my shoulder
Or an open window for a winged heart
to fly away

(repeat chorus)

The telephone is ringin' in the middle of the night
I pull the bed clothes higher
Will it stop calling out if I turn on the light?
I'm afraid of these shadows here
'Cuz my past is truly frightening
And I'm afraid of the warmth in the down
of a feathered heart in flight

(repeat chorus twice to fade out)

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Tumble And Fall

 (Nanci Griffith)


You're a late night conversation
A telephone call and an inspiration
For a heart to recall . . . how to tumble and fall
My friends all say I'm lazy
I'm clumsy at love and I'm middle aged-crazy
I stumble along . . . with a tumble and fall

(chorus)
Maybe I'll come back to my senses
And come back to you where the fences are mended
Maybe love is a quite whisper after all
Maybe love is a heart that gives you harmony
When you can't recall the melody to the song
You're just singin' along
Oh, I'll sing along . . . to your tumble and fall
I remember San Francisco
The chill of the moon through an open window
And the beat of your heart . . . to a tumble and fall
You say, I'm a little somethin' you've always needed
You're tried and true and I should believe in
The strength of your arms . . . when I tumble and fall

(repeat chorus)

(tag)
Yes, I'll sing along . . . with the tumble and fall
Oh, I'll sing along . . . to the tumble and fall.

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There's A Light Beyond These Woods (Mary Margaret)

 (Nanci Griffith)


There's a light beyond these woods, Mary Margaret.
Do you think that we will go there,
and see what makes it shine, Mary Margaret?
It's almost morning, and we've talked all night,
You know we've made big plans for ten-year-olds,
you and I.

Have you met my new boy friend, Margaret?
His name is John, and he rides my bus to school,
and he holds my hand.
He's fourteen, he's my older man.
But we'll still be the best of friends,
the three of us, Margaret, John, and I.

Let's go to New York City, Margaret!
We'll hide out in the subways
and drink the poets' wine, oh,
But I had John, so you went and I stayed behind.
But you were home in time for the senior prom,
when we lost John.

The fantasies we plan, I'm living them now.
All the dreams we sang when we knew how,
well, they haven't changed.
There's never been two friends like you and me,
Mary Margaret.

It's nice to see your family growing, Margaret.
Your daughter and your husband there,
they really treat you right . . .
but we've talked all night
And what about the light, that glowed beyond
our woods when we were ten?
You were the rambler then.

The fantasies we planned, well, Maggie,
I'm living them now.
All the dreams we sang, oh, we damn sure knew
how . . . but I haven't changed.
There'll never be two friends like you and me,
Maggie, can't you see?

There's a light beyond your woods, Mary Margaret.

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Outbound Plane

 (Nanci Griffith/Tom Russell)


I don't wanna be standing here
With this ticket for this outbound plane
Oh, I've been here before
Somehow this doesn't feel the same
Talk is cheap
So we could talk all night long
And we may never figure out just
where your love went wrong

(chorus)
'Cuz I don't wanna be standin' here
Don't wanna be talkin' here
And I don't really care who's to blame
'Cuz if love won't fly on it's own
free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane
The old folks say
That love's not forever anymore
Because these young people walk
away from love alone
To pace the floor
Young or old I say that love is still the same
You may walk away from love but
you'll fall head and heels again

(repeat chorus)

Two lonely hearts in this airport
knowing
Neither cares where that other
heart is going
But, if love won't fly on it's own
free will... it's gonna catch that
outbound plane

That frown you're wearing's
Just you're halo turned upside down
Where is the laughter we once
shared back in the lost and found?
These broken wings are gonna leave
me here to stand my ground
You can have this ticket for that
lonely plane that's flying out

(repeat chorus)

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Lone Star State Of Mind

 (Fred Koller, Patrick Alger, Gene Levine)


Your phone call took my by surprise
Gee, it's been a long, long time
Since those hot and humid Texas nights
When we went swimm'n in the tide

Corpus Christi seems so far away
And I'm not talk'n 'bout the miles
And there ain't much I wouldn't give today
Just to see one of your smiles

(chorus)
But here I sit alone in Denver
Sipp'n the California wine
And I've got all night to remember you
I'm in a lone star state of mind
I just saw John Wayne on the Late, Late Show
Save the girl and ride away
And I was hoping as the credits rolled
He'd make it back to her someday

(repeat chorus)

It's a thousand miles or more
From here to your front door
I'd be there tomorrow if I left today
And I'd just pack up my guitar
You know it's really not that far
When you called you said I'd have a place to stay

(repeat chorus)

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It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go

 (Nanci Griffith)


I am a backseat driver from America
They drive to the left on Falls Road
The man at the wheel's name is Seamus
We pass a child on the corner he knows
And Seamus says, "Now, what chance has that
kid got?"
And I say from the back, "I don't know."
He says, "There's barbed wire at all of these exits . . .
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid
to go."

(chorus)
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in (Belfast) for
these kids to go
(Chicago)
(This world)
A cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
he's the only trash here I see
And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
in the night when his children should sleep
But, they slip to their window and they see him
And they think that white hood's all they need

(repeat chorus)

I was a child in the sixties
dreams could be held through TV
With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther
Oh, I believed, I believed . . . I BELIEVED
Now, I am the backseat driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war, . . . I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road

(repeat chorus)

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Road To Aberdeen

 (Nanci Griffith)


Oh, I thought I saw my mother's eyes
On the road to Aberdeen
And they did shine above a stranger's smile
The color of the sea
And one day I'll take my mother there
To see what I have seen
The eyes of her great grandfather
On the road to Aberdeen

I thought I heard my father's voice
Along the coast of Wales
Singing sweet of tenor in a Cardiff pub
With the wind the gust of gales

One day I'll take my father there
To sing the harmony
He'll sing high above the water
In his grandfather's voice he'll sing

(chorus)
Old land you are holy
To the children 'cross the sea
Old land may the seas understand
We are all one family
In a flower shop in Amsterdam
I saw grandmother's hands
They were the finest pale of porcelain
With a small gold wedding band
And the tulip that I purchased there
Is pressed up on a page
In a book of psalms grandmother saved
From her grandmother's Holland days

Now my sister has grandmother's hands
And the skin of ivory
While my brother has my mother's eyes
They're the color of the sea

Me, I have my father's voice (and his legs)
To the coast of Wales I sing
And I do cherish these remembrances
On this road to Aberdeen

(repeat chorus)

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Deadwood, South Dakota

 (Eric Taylor)


Well, the good times scratched a laugh
from the lungs of the young men
In a Deadwood saloon, South Dakota afternoon
And the old ones by the door
with their heads on their chests,
they told lies about whiskey on a womans breath

Yes, and some tell the story of young Mickey Free
Who lost an eye to a buck deer in the Tongue River Valley
Oh and some tell the story of California Joe
Who sent word through the Black Hills
there was a mountain of gold

(chorus)
And the gold she lay cold in their pockets
And the sun she sets down on the trees
And they thank the Lord
for the land that they live in
Where the white man does as he pleases
Some flat-shoed fool from the East comes a-runnin'
With some news that he'd read in some St. Joseph paper
And it was "Drinks all around" cause the news he was tellin'
was the one they called Crazy
has been caught and been dealt with

And the Easterner he read the news from the paper
And the old ones moved closer so's they could hear better
"Well it says here that Crazy Horse
was killed while trying to escape,
and that was some time last September,
it don't give the exact date"

(repeat chorus)
Where the white man does as he pleases

Then the talk turned back to whiskey and women
And cold nights on the plains, Lord
and fightin' them indians
And the Easterner he says he'll have one more
'fore he goes
He gives the paper to the Crow boy
who sweeps up the floor

(repeat chorus)
Where the white man does as he pleases
Where the white man does as he pleases
As he wants to, as he pleases

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Drive-In Movies And Dashboard Lights

 (Nanci Griffith)


Sister had a crystal voice
She played a Silvertone from Montgomery Ward
Baez songs in Monroe hair
She sure could turn the boys' heads to stare
Swim wear saunter, tan and haunt them
that's all she learned in school
Books were for the other girls
and the other girls were fools
In Texas back in sixty-nine
it was drive-in movies and dashboard lights

Father waltzed her down the aisle
cuz college didn't suit her style
The sad truth was that she could barely read
but, if you'd told dear Father . . .
he wouldn't believe you
The telephone rang . . . it drove Mother insane
from the hearts left on the shelf
Sister's gone and she won't be home
Cuz she didn't take care of herself
In Texas back in sixty-nine
it was drive-in movies and dashboard lights

(chorus)
Where is she now?
The backseat Queen of fraternity
Where is she now?
She is heavy of thigh and light on integrity
Someone should've told her
when beauty's all you offer
Too soon the world discovers that your
beauty's gone
(It's gone . . .)
Mother can't you hear your daughter crying
Father wake up her youth is dying
Her kids are grown . . . Husband's gone away
it's a shame cuz she had such a lovely face
Can't you see she needed more
than, "Oh, what a pretty child"?
You never taught her truth from lie
all you told her was to smile
In Texas back in sixty-nine
it was drive-in movies and dashboard lights

(repeat chorus)

In Texas back in sixty-nine
it was drive-in movies and dashboard . . . lights

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I Don't Wanna Talk About Love

 (Nanci Griffith/James Hooker)


I don't wanna talk about love
Cuz I've heard it before . . .
and it talks too loud
You can hear it in a disco midnight . . .
Shouting
I don't wanna think about it
Think about it
It comes dressed in its summer clothes
When you're traveling through the heart
of the winter's cold

I don't wanna talk about changes
Changes come of their own free will
And if you wanna talk about leavin'
Well, you've always walked . . .
And, you always will
Every time you talk about love
You talk about your yesterdays
Yesterday's washing away
with this morning's rain

I don't wanna talk about it
Cuz love has a voice of its own
If all we do is try to out shout it
. . . then the love is gone

(chorus)
I don't wanna talk about love now
I don't wanna talk about love now
I don't wanna talk about love now
I don't wanna talk about love now . . .
Can't you hear the voice of my heart
It calls your name in the middle of the night
It's always been a quiet voice
when it's breaking
I don't wanna talk about this love
This love was my saving grace
So, can't I just say that I love you . . .
and we'll call it a day?

(repeat chorus)

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So Long Ago

 (Nanci Griffith)


My daddy sent me off to Baton Rouge
in nineteen sixty-nine
He said our love was like a forest fire
and he'd end it with the miles
So you rode with us to Temple, Texas
where I did catch the train
I remember waving back at you
through a silted window pane

(chorus)
I said, "Fare thee well true love
of mine"
I said, "Fare thee well sweet lips
of wine"
And you said, "Fare thee well my
Texas rose"
And then you blew a kiss of
innocence as the train began to roll
... So long ago
You'd gone off to fight the war when
I returned from school
I traded in my innocence when the
springtime came to bloom
I married for my family... one night
I dreamed of you
And you were running from me in
the rain down on Congress Avenue

(repeat chorus)

I saw you once in a crowded bar...
it was Christmas time
I was frightened by the thunder of
our hearts in sixty nine
Because I live my life in whispers now
and I choose to live alone
So I slipped back to the avenue and
flipped my collar to the cold

(repeat chorus)

Where did we go?
That long ago?
So long ago

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