lyrics from Long Way to Wander 

fish jumpin 

Earth around and air above 
what a lovely place to be in love 
fish jumpin, pollywogs wogglin 
insects getting it on and minds boggling 
well, smoke dragons, happy hounds waggin 
flies and butterflies ziggin and zaggin 
we could dance in the mud or just do whatever 
you and I could put our heads together 
and talk solutions or just talk silly 
sounding senses and sensibilities 
we could get high to complement the weather 
you and I could scatter our atoms together 
and see what different songs ring 
in the mingled spaces in between 

sunny sister, your shady eyes 
your dewy morning thoughts, your smooth tattooed sides 
we could kick the hack and dig the sunny weather 
you and I could wander down the winding road together 
and pick berries, explore and spelunk 
and wonder and gape and who woulda thunk it? 
why, fish jumpin, pollywogs wogglin 
insects getting it on and minds boggling 
well, smoke dragons, happy hounds waggin 
flies and butterflies ziggin and zaggin 
Earth around and air above 
what a lovely place to be in love 
we could raise a glass of wine and toast the weather 
you and I could scatter our atoms together 
and see what different songs ring 
in the mingled spaces in between 

we could make Chinese lamps and float em down the river 
hold each other with our bodies all a-quiver 
close the tent fly against the rainy weather 
you and I could zip our sleeping bags together 

my grandma 

my grandma's from Alabama, there 
after the letter 'v' comes 'dubya' 
and every time we play rummy, she says, 
"chile, I'm a-fixin' to whup ya" (and she usually does) 
going to the city school 
I was embarassed of my roots 
yet I never had enough 
to pull off the chaps or cowboy boots 
but the levels are all shifting now, 
it ain't about what's below and above ya 

working in the oil camps up north, 
it was cold and boring but the silences were big 
country boys and maritimers 
busted me up laughing but man, they were pigs 
two roughnecks got drunk one night 
and met some girls in town 
the road was iced and the truck 
went in the ditch when they came back around 
but they hotwired a Bobcat 
and drove drunk five miles an hour back to the rig 

some of my friends are out planting trees 
and other folks keep busy cutting them down 
and we all have our sympathies, 
the world mocks expectations all around 
but we can't carry old grudges, 
even if most of them are true 
by the same measure that you judge 
will it be measured against you 
the levels are all shifting now 
love the lost until they're found 

back home it was beautiful 
and effortless in the company of old friends 
we wiled away the weeks that way 
and got wilder on the weekends 
but I split from all that English 
and I turned from brown to green 
remembering the world 
outside of words and what they mean 
the story's getting wider now, let's 
take a look around here, not toward the end 

look back on the road, 
how is it that we've come this far? 
and how is it that we're so blessed 
to be exactly where we are? 

guanyin 

when I get down off of this mountain 
I don’t wanna lash out anymore from the anger in me 
and though it’s a hard road, harder than either of us know 
I won’t let myself be paralyzed by all of the paralysis I see 

pretty white Guanyin on a thick green mountain 
looking down at the world with the eyes of mercy 
and when I get down off of this mountain, 
I won’t let myself be stupefied by all of the stupidity I see 

when I get back home to see you 
I hope you’ll recognize a different man than before 
cause I’ve made choices, listened to quiet voices, 
and I know I can’t run all the same games anymore 
livin hard and loud, sometimes too proud 
trying to write our names across the sky 
seeing losers, and sickening people 
trying to remind myself, there but for the grace of God go I 

if I make it for September 
maybe I can get my shit together and go back to school 
but if I don’t, I’ll see you in Argentina 
we can head to the beaches when the summer dies down, 
leave the misty mountains when the weather gets cool 

keep rollin 

some days I have much to say 
and lots to think about in the evenings 
but it’s hard when it rains all day 
and old loves and my old mind are grieving me 
it’s inconstant and elusive 
even if you’ve found it once 
sifting water through your fingers 
getting back to the weeks and months 
when God got crazier every day 
and life kept widening and deepening 
each day to the next day, my 
hair grows longer and 
the days do too, 
shaking this feeling that I 
get from you 

just got to roll with the punches and the bad words 
roll, keep rollin, each day to the next day 
and sometimes Sunday morning 
still awake in a public park 
you get around to thinking like you couldn’t 
while it was still dark 
life before you unfolds naked, 
hazy as it is 
and you taste a fragile sweetness 
past the reckless bitter end 
and you get to feeling like a brand new person, 
staggering and wide-eyed as you are 

just got to roll with the punches and the bad words 
roll, keep rollin, each day to the next day 

worried blues 

I’ve got the worried blues 
I’ve got the worried blues 
I’ve got those old deep-down worried blues 
going where I’ve never been before 

going where I’ve never been before, and 
going where I’ve never been before 
going out further than I’ve ever been before, and 
hope the sun’ll keep shining on my mornings 

going where the chilly winds don’t blow, boys 
going where the chilly winds don’t blow 
going down south where those chilly winds don’t blow, and 
going where the climate suits my clothes 

somewhere I can hear the birds sing 
somewhere I can hear the birds sing 
somewhere I can hear those little birds sing 
poor old heart hanging on a string 

honey, babe I hope you understand 
honey, babe I hope you understand 
honey, babe I hope at least you understand 
if I was simple, then I wouldn’t be your man 

listen to that old engine roar 
listen to that old engine roar 
listen to that old, cold steel engine roar 
going where I’ve never been before 

when the lights go down 

been trying to put it down in rhyme since I don’t know when 
since Kerouac told me to speak up and Walt Whitman handed me the pen 
still never unscrewed it all, though 
plenty of things we’re better off to never ever know 
but I still wanna hear that secret something 
couldn’t really say what it is 
but it’s taken me all around the world 
and it keeps bringing me back to this 
bringing me back to this 

here I am after all 
just like any place it gets to feeling small 
so when the lights go down 
I slip out of the house and wander around 

I tried to chat up a lady last weekend 
but she apparently wasn’t you 
she wasn’t nearly so initially mystified by 
all the crazy things I do 
she didn’t call me a pervert 
she didn’t call me “baby” 
she didn’t call me, 
she just didn’t call me (and isn’t that life?) 
but I got a good dog named Rosco 
with light shiny fur 
he takes my mind off my lost lady 
though he could never replace her 
he could never replace her 

and here I am after all 
just like any place it gets to feeling small 
so when the lights go down 
I slip out of the house and wander around 

the bus song 

I dreamed I crossed the continent with poetry and speed 
robust and mythological on my chrome and black steed 
I woke up cramped in a tiny seat by a port-a-john that stunk 
with six or seven Southern sisters crying, “Mercy, you smell that funk?” 
I saw the rolling moonlit prairie and I knew I was glory-bound 
it’s just a shame we’ve gotta ride in on this flea-bitten Hound 

I got awakened by the singing of a drunk old nappy-head 
someone said “shut up” and that pissed off that sketchy dread 
he voiced his indignation to anyone who’d hear 
“none but the righteous shall survive,” he said, as he cracked another beer 
and stumbled off the bus in Windsor, thinking he was in Detroit 
the driver’d be as unforgiving as the border patrol boys 

well, I got off the bus in Michigan and that so-and-so left me behind 
similar high-school incidents flashed back across my mind 
‘cept only then, I didn’t have to sleep on the sidewalk in Traverse City 
as we all know, faceless corporations have no pity 
they left me luggage-less and sweatshirt-less but I was still doing alright 
at least until the sprinklers came on in the middle of the night 

soaked and battered but unbeaten, I got back on the bus 
and what I saw there made me wonder what’ll come of all of us 
they’d sifted through the human barrel and gathered such strange pickins 
the scene would only be complete with bleating sheep and chickens 
I saw the jobless and the vision-less, the pursuing and pursued 
the whole shuddering scene all about to come unglued 

dirty bathrooms and babies, I thought I’d seen it all 
there was an eighteen-year-old mother going through withdrawal 
there were Bible-belters arguing their doctrinal schisms 
there were also rednecks advocating vigilante-ism 
we were just outside of ludicrous and headed for profound 
on that armpit-smelling, leg-cramping, smoke-colored Hound 

we were kinda like a family cause we couldn’t choose each other 
there was a pretty former stripper who was kinda like our mother 
she started sharing food and stories, made us all get along 
and for a while even the size of my seat didn’t seem so wrong 
I could take all kinds of people, bad parenting aside 
at least until we took our shoes off, you could say I enjoyed the ride 

she managed to hold on to my faith come whatever 
the sane and honest few of us have to stick together 
but then the driver left our mom behind and showed himself to be 
another inconsiderate so-and-so like the one who left me 
for a while I forgot everything I thought I’d learned 
I wished there was a Day of Judgment so we could laugh as he burned 

by the time we reached Vancouver it was all that I could do 
not to jump up and start singing songs to that oceanic blue 
I wandered down the street and bought a bag of that kind leaf 
had a smoke and donned my backpack with an exhale of relief 
I’m not saying I’m regretting, just the next time around 
I’m gonna ride that old Green Tortoise cause at least you can lay down 

moonlight avenue 

well I’m movin, down to moonlight avenue 
yeah, I’m movin, down to moonlight avenue 
droppin all o’ my worries down in a well so deep 
you can say what you will about the company I keep 
cause I’m movin, down to moonlight avenue 

when I was livin back on that lamp-lit boulevard 
when I was livin back on that lamp-lit boulevard 
sharing close quarters with the sheep and the goats 
feeling the tightening of the noose around my throat 
when I was livin back on that lamp-lit boulevard 

well I’m leavin, pawn off my silver watch and chain 
yeah, I’m leavin, gonna pawn my silver watch and chain 
I've just gotten so tired of tightening my belt 
tryin at feelin the way I thought I should've felt 
I’m leavin, pawn off my silver watch and chain 

so lonesome 

all day on blacktop roads, ballcap for want of shade 
sleeping out nights alone, curled up in forest glades 
so lonesome sometimes I could almost quit 
wonder where my lady is, to talk to as we walk through it 
and I can hear heavenly music, comin out amplified 
cumulous clouds and canola fields stretch out gold and wide 
and that strange dislocation, waiting on rides and in laundromats 
gets easier to take when you remember that 
old curious feeling you used to get 
staring off down highways, and watching vapor trails from jets 
and looking up a moonlit creek I was feeling like my younger self 
itching to go and yearning to be understood by someone else 
I took love so seriously, even though I was just a kid 
nobody set out to hurt me, it just wound up that a few girls did 
but keep in mind you came in alone, and you’ll go out alone 
you can’t hold people to your plans, or measure yourself by their standards 
it gets easier and less to say, leaving lovers and friends 
the same thing that fills your heart today may break it in the end 
so lonesome sometimes, feeling beat-up and looking like hell 
wonder where my lady is, wonder if she’d mind my smell now 

so lonesome sometimes, that old feeling echoes back a sweet reminder 
wonder where my lady is, wonder if I’ll ever find her 
so long, so long, so long solo… 

long way to wander 

back when I was younger, and even goofier 
me and some friends of mine went off to the woods to have ourselves a camping trip 
and in addition to the tents and sleeping bags and tarps and lawnchairs and firewood, 
a potentially-dangerous cookstove and Frisbees and hacky-sacks and Trix cereal and beer, 
we took along a little one-inch-by-two-inch rectangle of paper 
and found we didn’t need so much beer 

that night we laughed ourselves breathless 
and got scared, and staggered in the woods, eyes all lit up 
and when we had no other choice but to lie down 
we saw our bodies join with the Earth, and saw the trees dance 

in the morning these people came by and gave us the bum’s rush 
left us to wander down the road, and through the woods 
and contemplate the tiny mosses and lichens and mushrooms and flowers and dewdrops 
and the tall bearded trees, and wonder just how it all came to be 
and just how it was that somebody could own land 

one of these days I’ll go rollin back 
to all the things I forgot to write down 
for now I’ll keep on wandering along 
itching in my shoes, don’t know where I’m bound 

and this walking rhythm reminds me of my buddy Raoul 
he’s forty-something, from Venice 
he’s got a handlebar moustache even wider than his smile 
he’d walked across who knows how many countries, 
and the locals everywhere thought he was hilarious 
no shoes, only a small bag and a guitar across his back 

well, fortunately I had a guitar too 
this little cardboard three-quarter-size with a Nike swoosh on it 
that I picked up in Chiang Mai for fifteen bucks 
ended up giving it away to a kid in Bangkok who wanted to learn 
but in the meantime it sure came in handy on that boat ride 

and you had to listen real carefully to hear them 
over the roar of the old diesel engine 
that the boatman had to keep bailing out as it flooded with river-water 
and we rolled down that muddy Mekong 
and sang all the English songs he knew 
and couldn’t think of anybody in the world we’d rather be 
although I did consider being the boatman 

and offhand I asked him, “hey man, you own a boat?” 
he says “I’m a Venetian, I have five boats!” 
and later on in that Indian restaurant in Luang Phabang he was on fire, 
making toast after toast, yelling out for “more Beer Lao! More chapattis!” 
and the shine in his eye made me wonder 
whether he’d spent the night with that Israeli girl 
or whether he’d somehow temporarily unlocked that great unspeakable mystery 
or whether he was just drunk, or all three 

and the last time I saw him I was rushing to catch a bus 
the two of us crammed painfully into one of those little 
cage-like, sidecar-like contraptions that rides alongside a motorbike 
and I was aching to be leaving so soon, 
with so much left to see and do, 
and I turned around to the road behind me 
and took the picture on the cover of this record 
and I hugged my brother goodbye and ran for the bus 
forgetting that this was Laos, and after all a schedule is just paper, 
and in any case you can’t be going anywhere without the tunes! 
so I had a half-hour to cool my heels while the boys got the tape deck half-working 
and wowing and fluttering we disco’d off into that great, vine-tangled thatch-hut night 

and every now and then I get to thinking about him 
and wonder where he is, and what he’s doing 
him and all the other folks we’ve split paths from back along the way 
Tom Uduoj, where are ya? 
and how about Craig Smart? 
and that Danish punk Christian Plaschke? 
and Heather Kehe and Isaac Marquez? 
one of these days, I’m gonna roll on down to Eugene, 
and ask around, and find you 

out on a curving road it’s a different situation 
white lines count the seconds of your life rolling by 
peeling back the gears and stripping away the years 
and like a fresh young thing you still know how to cry 

one of these days I’ll go rollin back 
to all the things I left lying around 
for now I’ll keep on wandering along 
long way to go, don’t know where I’m bound 

wayside 

my friend, wait by the wayside 
linger awhile by the wayside and see 
I’ll come wandering by there in no time 
wait by the wayside for me 

when we walk along singing 
when we walk along singing we’ll see 
voices are stronger and sweeter in harmony 
wait by the wayside for me 

sometimes things can get dangerous 
sometimes it can be so hard to see 
but the road’s not so dark when we walk it together 
wait by the wayside for me