1. |
Song to Sing
03:34
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There’s a time in my life
When I didn’t know just who I was
Well it wasn’t all that long ago
It happens every so often
There’s a place in my town
Where I go just to be alone
And I go there every now and then
I go there quite a bit these days
There’s a girl that I love
And I married her when I was young
And I’d marry her over again
She is my very best friend
There’s a poem that I read
The beauty reached down to my soul
And it made me question how I think
I want to see how poets see
There’s a story that I know
About a woman who gave all she had
But I hoard all of the things I’ve got
Lord please come soften my heart
There’s a movie that I’ve seen
And it talks all about jealousy
But I do not want to envy
I want to be content with me
There’s a word that I say
When it’s time for me to pray
Jesus are you really hearing me?
Lord, please, come quickly
There’s a song that I sing
A song of love and beauty
But I sing that song just for me
We all need a song to sing
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2. |
Oklahoma
02:58
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I know what I know about that old rubber coat
That you would wear in autumn
I know that I know
Got two birds and a mouth
It’s not a disease just a light on a house
I’m not like those kids wearing tinsel and crowns
On the first day of summer
I go where I go
I got my mom and my dad
It’s not that it’s all that bad just kinda rough
I ran it felt like forever
It must have been for years
With a bird on my shoulder and a thorn in my heal
I ran from my village straight on into the hills
Because I was told that I have to leave my country and my home
For Oklahoma the Promise Land
I’m just a kid
My family’s all dead
In a new place with no wife or kids
In Oklahoma the Promise Land
I’m just a kid
No family alive
All my people gone
No hope left
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3. |
Macon
04:29
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I knew a man from Georgia
He’d walk alone through the night
He’d sit ‘neath the stars and the cherry blossoms
Goodness and hope on his mind
He had a wife named Carol Sue
He had but now she is long gone
Her brother he came and he started screamin’
Telling the Georgia-man off
Say Sorry, say sorry
Anger was always his problem
You could see it there on his face
The brother he ran when our man start swingin’
Punching a tree
Breaking his hand
He looked up to the heavens
Felt convicted and knew he done wrong
So he went to church stole the Holy Water
Trying to baptize his song
I’m sorry, so sorry
Repentance is what he was seeking
He needed to find some new peace
So he’d ask forgiveness from the sons and daughters
Of every last person he’d meet
The fathers in the Catholic Churches
Told him he should pray fifty times
Instead he’d just steal all their Holy Water
And walk alone every night
I’m sorry, so sorry
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4. |
Mountains
03:38
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I love how big you are
You’re bigger than I know
When I stare at you from far away
I study your details
Every crack and every rock
The leaves, the trees and animals
I don’t understand how
Plates could shift and move so that
You could grow up so high
Theoretically I’d move you with just a little prayer
I would talk to God
And you would move from here to there
Theoretically I’d move you
By asking, Father please
I love how big you are
I love how big you are
You shoot up towards the sky
But I know just where you start and end
I look up at your peak
The light is blinding me
So beautiful it makes me shiver
I don’t understand how
You could be so tall that
The air is cold and thin up there
Theoretically I’d move you with just a little prayer
I would talk to God
And you would move from here to there
Theoretically I’d move you
By asking, Father please
I love how big you are
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5. |
Lake Michigan
02:35
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In the summer or in the spring
You should come to Chicago
I’ll take you to the beach
And I’ll show you all the sounds the waves can make
As they rise and hit the shore of the lake
Lake Michigan
In the summer or in the spring
You should come to Chicago
And ride bikes with me
And we’ll ride bikes down Elston Avenue
We won’t make plans just see what happens
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6. |
Iron Mountain
03:05
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I will stay here in the town where I was born
And I will wait for the weather to get warm
I work real hard and wait for the ground to thaw
I love this place
My home is Iron Mountain
I saw a car with a license plate from Idaho
They were passing through when they stopped and asked me
“Son, How far do we need to go until we reach Mackinaw?”
But I, I don’t need to travel
My home is Iron Mountain
I love the trees they seem to go one for days
The air is pure and clean, I love to feel the breeze
I’ve been to Milwaukee
I’ve been to the Twin Cities
But I love this place
My home is Iron Mountain
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7. |
Childlike
02:19
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In the back of the room
The shadows are all around me
Near the table with the broken legs
And I know that it sounds unkind
But I’m a bare mattress
Ruined far too many sheets
A clear image of you as blankets around me
I don’t know
Hallelujah
Then I reached the sea
You glory was shining brightly
Across an ocean or so
With the waves crashing on the bow
I’m a cartographer
Drawing maps unto the Lord
You know my hands will get tired
And my life will run it’s course
But maybe
Just maybe
A baby
Will come
I don’t know
I hope so
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8. |
Chains
02:02
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I’ve been working all day
To move the things that the Lord put in our way
I’ve been walking all night
For a chance to find a spot in the fading light
I just can’t loose
Although you want me to
The bird with the broken beak
Has been trying to sing a sad, sad song to me
And I’ve been singing too
As I put these rocks in the back of these pick up trucks
I just can’t loose
Although you want me to
I just can’t loose
You know I love ya too
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9. |
Better
03:08
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I don’t know how to be a better man
But I’m trying hard to be a better man
Buy you know it comes real hard for me
You told me of your God who calls me friend
But it’s be so long since I have had a friend
I don’t know what that means for me
But I know that Jesus loves me
What will I do when they let me go?
My family is gone and I don’t know
If there is a place to welcome me
What do the people think of me?
I’m not sad
I’m just lonely
There’s a joy running deep through me
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10. |
Wedding Band
04:37
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I picked you from the airport
Been so long since you’ve been here
But I always love to have you home my dear
You jump into the front seat
And you look down at my hand
You start to cry and I don’t understand
You said “Where’s your wedding ring”
And the tears they fill your eyes
“Dad what’s happening? Why isn’t mom here?”
Let me tell you a story
Back when we got married and I was only 19
Had a gold ring that your mother bought for me
But then one day it shattered
When I was working in the mill
The pieces gone, never to rebuild
When I told your mom that night
The tears they filled my eyes I said “I’m so sorry”
But your mother grabbed a pen
And drew on me a wedding band
Back when you were little and I had that accident
The car crash where I nearly lost my friend
My left side started swelling
They cut the ring right off my hand
And I laid there in that hospital bed
When your mom came in that night
The tears they filled her eyes she said “I’m so sorry”
And then she grabbed a pen
And drew on me a wedding band
Now to last October I was fishing with my friends
In a cabin that we rented near Moorhead
After a couple hours I look down at my hand
The ring gone and we searched but couldn’t find it
As I drove back home that night
The tears they filled my eyes
I was so sorry but I just walked in with a pen
Said “draw on me my wedding band”
Well now I got this new ring on a chain around my neck
Hopefully I will not lose it again
Your mom is at home cooking your favorite meal for us
So let’s get going
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11. |
Summer
02:58
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Walk through the woods with the leaves underfoot
It smells like summer
Sweat, heat and dirt
And the fireflies brighten up the night
On the horizon a hundred flashing lights
And we’ll sit close to the fire
To keep the mosquitoes away
The smoke hits our skin and we’ll smell like it for days
On our unwashed hair and our dirty skin
It will remind us where we have been
Let’s just lay here
Oh, lay here
On our backs looking up
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Families Chicago, Illinois
Families is a group of folk story tellers, with souls of grass and minds made out of the mountains, weaving personal tales from the Bible. Families is about community, folklore, and the Kingdom.
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