Lyrics

One More Lullaby

you ask me have i been traveling
you ask me where now have i been
i’ve been across the western rivers
i will tell you what i’ve seen
towns left for dead beside the highway
when the highway went some different way
cities choking in exhaust
and trains stopped dead in the day

i’ve seen days so blue no robin’s egg
could ever seem but pale against the sky
drunk from a winter waterfall
seen the snow hard against the line
a woman in the prison of her misery
took the time to cure me of mine
a child said you’re the midnight traveler
and I’m sad to leave him behind

(chorus)
sometimes in the heart of darkness
sometimes in the heat of the night
i want to put a thousand miles
between myself and these aching eyes
sometimes the rain she sizzles
sometimes the wind she cries
sometimes i sit beneath the open sky
and sing out one more lullaby

i’ve seen the flag trampled in anger
wrapped around the bodies of the dead
used as a shield for soldiers
who would not have been there if the truth had been said
walked a highway in the dead of night
slept where the hoboes call their home
heard the jukebox in a hundred towns
a man asked where the music had gone

a cowboy buys a whiskey shoots it down
heads for the doorway, big gun in his hand
in the screaming of seagulls
there’s a choir singing across the land
stood for hours to hear the music play
seen a crowd walk by the music too
a white man with a gray gun shot a black man down
in the heat of the afternoon

thousands stand for hours in a stadium
cheering somebody’s broken bones
the winner is the one who ain’t torn limb from limb
somebody whispered “ain’t we just like Rome”
a gladiator in the locker room tells you he loves to play the game
one day he’s a hero, the next he’s gone
the crowd kept cheering the same

i stood in the city, rain a-pouring down
slept by the river in the sun
danced with a woman i barely believe
said goodby when the dance was done
i am young and i am old on this checkerboard
looking for a dream that will come true
hearing the song you’re singing
and singing it back to you