LAST OF THE TRUE BELIEVERS



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The Last Of The True Believers

 (Nanci Griffith)


Oh, he said it was the sound of the winter callin'
from up around the bend
Or it could be the cry of your restless heart
for the love of your long lost friends
Me, I think it's just the summertime and the heat of these Texas winds
They keep on slappin' my face with dust so thick
that the tears won't roll again

(chorus)
Last of the true believers
Have you grown weary all alone?
You could go home again...home again...home
Last of the true believers
You pack your things and go back home
You could go home again...home again...home
Oh he said, "you can't stay away forever
'cause they say love doesn't last that long
and the ghost of the one that you loved the best is bound to be long gone
So you fall for the one you believe in and take pride in the heart you hold
'Cause when the wintertime pounds upon your door...
it's shelter from the cold".

(repeat chorus)

There's a shadow on our wall where I once stood with him in mind
And there is an empty space beside him
where I do take my rest at night
Oh, I will be the last of the true believers... if truth is his heart to lend
'Cause the wintertime sure looks cold to me... comin' up around the bend

(repeat chorus)

(tag)
Oh, I could go home again... home again... home
Well, it looks like home again... home again... home
Oh, I could go home again... home again... home
Well, he brings me home again... home again... home...

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Love At The Five And 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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St. Olav's Gate

 (Tom Russell)


Drinking black market vodka in the back of the Scottsman's saloon
Then it's red meat and whiskey like a coyote drunk on the moon
Outside in Oslo the buskers' all sing the same tune
And it's Waltzin' Matilda while the bagpipes play old Clare de Lune

She was a lady, she came down from Bergen she said
She spoke little English, they laughed and drank whiskey instead
In the mornin' he found it... a rose with a note on his plate
It said, "meet me at midnight on the corner of St. Olav's Gate"

(chorus)
Here's to the ladys you love and don't see again
The night is warm whiskey... the mornin's a cold bitter wind
The blue eyed madonna leaves town while the drunken man waits
Leaves him standing alone in the shadows of St. Olav's Gate
(repeat chorus)

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More Than A Whisper

 (Nanci Griffith/Bobby Nelson)


How I wish that you would call... we have not spoken since last fall
now that smokey conversation's come and gone
Do I just read between your line?
Or could it be this winter wine?... so sweet upon my tongue tonight
recalls your tender eyes

(chorus)
O, I need more than a whisper... so much more than a whisper
It takes more than a whisper to wake this weary fool
Give me more than a whisper... if you're sayin' I love you
'cuz it's the whispers I have never understood
It's snowin' up in the northlands... I read your warm words from the plains
while the poets say that I should never be thinkin' of you this way
They say that I misread your lines 'cuz I've been lonely all my life
and here I'm reachin' for some silver and leavin' my heart out in the fire

(repeat chorus)

I will drink my winter wine... when I get home I'll change my mind
I'll only whisper that I love you in those smokey bars at night
And though the poets say I'm lonely... there's still this woman here inside
and I've never been a fool when my heart was on the line

(repeat chorus)

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Banks Of The Pontchartrain

 (Nanci Griffith)


I'm goin' back where my garden blooms all year
Where the wintertime speaks softly in the fallin' rain
I'm goin' back to my green eyed lover there
and we will dance along the banks of old Lake Pontchartrain

Oh, I've grown pale beneath the streets of Montreal
Where the voices ring like bells in French-Canadian
And the rivers stand imprisoned till the thaws
I am alone at night and dream of my own Pontchartrain

(chorus)
Take me to the station... I am late to catch my southbound train
Oh, I'm gonna call my cousin Libby
she will be waiting by the tracks when I roll in
I'm gonna roll across America
just to stand beside my Pontchartrain again
These old rails shake like thunder through the night
Soon I'll have my green eyed lover's arms to comfort me
Oh, I can see my cousin Libby by his side
her hair will flow in waves like on Lake Pontchartrain

(repeat chorus)

I'm goin' back where my garden blooms all year
Where the wintertime speaks softly in the fallin' rain
I'm goin' back to my green eyed lover there
and we will dance along the banks of old Lake Pontchartrain
yes, we will dance along the banks of old Lake Pontchartrain
we will dance along the banks of old Lake Pontchartrain
and here comes the train

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Lookin' For The Time(Working Girl)

 (Nanci Griffith)


Well, I work this corner from eleven to five
the hands get cold around midnight
You're askin' me if I've got the time... well I don't know
but you're wastin' mine tonight

(chorus)
Whoa... you say you're looking for the time
Well, I'm a workin' girl... you just wasted mine
If you ain't got money... take it down the avenue
'cuz I ain't got time for you... until daylight
This sidewalk ice is cold as steel...
I'm not Dorothy... I can't click my heels
One of these days I'll move to L.A.
where the nights stay warm and the boys come out to play

(repeat chorus)

(break)
Don't the snow light up the midnight sky
The snow plows roll and the limos fly
Don't cha know it's just another night

Oh, once I had a lover who treated me right
he lived so wrong he's doin' ninety-nine
Oh, I wish you had the money and I had the time
'Cuz I'd just let those limos slide on by

(repeat chorus twice)

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Goin' Gone

 (Pat Alger/Bill Dale/Fred Koller)


There's a lighthouse in the harbour
Giving guidance with it's light
But, I had no one to return to
as I wandered through the night

From the first time that I saw you
Standing silent by the shore
I knew my search was over
and I would look for love no more

(chorus)
Deep in the waters of love I am falling
Sinking like a stone
Deep in my heart I can hear love callin'
Goin' once, goin twice, goin' gone
Goin' once, goin twice, goin' gone
There's a ship on the horizon
Makin' it's way against the wind
From the place where I stand watching
I swear my ship is coming in

(repeat chorus to fade out)

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One Of These Days

 (Nanci Griffith)


We walk along the Hudson when it snows here in Manhattan
seems we've lived our lives so out of place
You touch my cheek and I do wonder how this happened
that two young lovers could pack their dreams and move from the Texas Plains

(chorus)
Oh, I'm gonna take us back where we belong
Where you can see it in the stars that the weather's comin' on
One of these days
Now, our Daddy's grew cotton... spittin' dust of a mornin'
we met on a school bus rollin' thru the Autumn fields our Daddy's raised
Beneath a hot August sky... our Mothers waved goodbye
my Daddy tipped his hat with a tear in his eye
when we left for the city where the sun rarely shines
it was a 'hunard' and two in the shade

(repeat chorus)

Hey, do you wanna take a cab uptown?... watch the skaters go
'round and around
we could talk about leavin' this town some other day
And I suppose we look like natives here... this middle aged couple with silver hair
and on cold winter nights this love we share is still a 'hunard' and two
in the shade

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Love's Found A Shoulder

 (Nanci Griffith)


My friends think I'm crazy and maybe it's true
'cuz I'll go on and love you this way
Though I have discovered that you love another
and hardly remember my name

(chorus)
My youth was so crazy... my heart was so lazy
Love never could stand me still
But, love's found a shoulder now that I'm older
with plenty of time to kill
(break)
I wish you well for your new love
'Cuz true love is so hard to hold
You'll be the one that I dream of
'till I find a love of my own

Now, here I am standin' in the cold winter rain
if hearts were of wool I'd be warm
I've known some kind hearts and I've touched a few
though I never claim one for my own

(repeat chorus)

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Fly By Night

 (Nanci Griffith)


Oh, its just another summer mornin', Baby, somewhere in this town
the heat is rising
Oh, I know where you spent last night so you can stop apologizing
You say that you've been out... just lookin' around this town
I don't wanna know just exactly what you've found
Because tonight I'm goin' out on these streets and watch the lonely hearts
go flyin'

Don't they fly by night
Yeah tonight I'm goin' out on these streets and watch the lonely hearts
go flyin'

I'll be standin' on the corner watchin' the men folk go by
I don't wanna touch 'em honey, I'll look them in the eye
and say, "Tonight I am out on these streets to watch the lonely hearts
go flyin"

Oh, I never put a chain upon your heart or tried to make you walk the
line for me
Only a fool would want a heart that needs a chain to keep it restin'
here beside of me
You say you wished I cared what you did with your time
But what's your time is yours and tonight is gonna be mine
And I'm goin' out on these streets tonight
to watch the lonely hearts go flyin'
Don't they fly by night
I'm going out on these streets tonight
to watch the lonely hearts go flyin'

I'm comin' out of your pocket and into my own
I'm gonna have a stonger heart when I round the bend for home
Now I'm goin' out on these streets tonight
to watch the lonely hearts go flyin'
Don't they fly by night
I'm going out on these streets tonight
to watch the lonely hearts go flyin'
I'll be standin' on the corner watchin' the men folk go by
I don't wanna touch 'em honey, I'll look them in the eye
and say, "Tonight I am out on these streets to watch the lonely hearts
go flyin"
Oh, they fly by night
I'm going out on these streets tonight to watch the lonely hearts go flyin'

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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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