Americana Rock & Roll Lyrics
Shame and Regret
We cannot continue, fall out, jump back, quit
And even if I could win you, we could never bury it
All heart, no legs, face down on the ground
I look away but what I've seen will follow me around
Your eyes sympathize, your voice is thin with care
And yet the last caress I gave hangs in the air
To forgive is not the same as to forget
You poison with blame my shame and regret
Had you spent the night, you might have grown to light to ever leave
You had to roll along the wrong to find a hill, pick up speed
A rumble of an avalanche, I tumbled through the whole affair
A whirlwind on your fingernail, I pulled you in the air
I hardly recognize my voice over this drone of lust
Until it fell I didn't know I carried so much trust
To forgive is not the same as to forget
You poison with blame my shame and regret
Shame and regret, oh it's a shame
I know how rarely you open those tender hands
How quickly they close up and slowly they spread again
You're so cautious with the drops you want to save
I see a bottle on the shelf when we're in the grave
Despite the awkward blush of how we now behave
You own the softest kiss and touch that I ever gave
To forgive is not the same as to forget
You poison with blame my shame and regret
Shame and regret, oh it's a shame
(C) Zoo Chernos 2014
Is it the Wind?
I've seen windmills spin around
And I've seen birds in the air
I've got a notion of the how's and the why's
But you I don't understand
Is it the wind that caused the things you do?
The wind that changed your mood?
Is it the wind that caused your change of heart?
The wind changed suddenly and so did you
Now loneliness has woken me
As night after night he has done
He knocks on my door at four in the morning
He stays and won't leave until dawn
He sits on the bed, I sit on the floor
He sways, we look at the walls
There's nothing to say that's truly new
I say things again because they're still true
It is the wind that blew me thoughts of you?
A ghost of a love that I knew?
Is it the wind that leaves the sudden chill?
The wind changed subtly, and so did you
I've seen the swell and fall of the ocean
And waves collapse in the sand
And I know the power in the currents below
But you I don't understand
Is it the wind that caused the things you do?
The wind that changed your mood?
Is it the wind that caused your change of heart?
The wind changed suddenly and so did you
(C) Zoo Chernos 2014
Nashville
I went to the zoo
With a basket of snakes and a Yankee kazoo
I came to see the twittering, flittering things
Get all riled up and fly against the cage
The keeper came by in the middle of my song
It wasn't a question, he asked me to move
And as I was leaving he said to me
"Ya'll come back real soon."
Well I just came from Nashville
The people sing five songs
Two about women and one about drinking
One about the good lord, and one about your ma and pa
You do all your travel on the train of cliches
It goes around in circles, you're never far
You could spend your whole life thinking five thoughts
Who doesn't have a word about the state of man?
I'll let you swim in my opinions
Bubble from the stomach, dribble out from the mouth
Run down the chest and head out to the South
I've played in the streets and I've played in the bars
Songs that you've heard, we're friends for an hour
Find your way out of the living room
Come out down on the street
Hear something new
Here's something new!
(C) Zoo Chernos 2014
Gatherings
Who does the paperwork for my anger?
And who has handed down the orders to shout?
As I approach the shopping scene, the herd gets tense but it does not flee
Again we have a relapse to the primitive fears of my last collapse
I am just one of these
You've paid to have a stranger praise your wants and your needs
Am I supposed to stand in line in clear view from the street?
We once laughed at the faces made
The action stays though the faces change
All your heartbreaking hides as though naked and ashamed
All your heartbreaking is the same
You're anchored to a faith you call immovable
I hope you're in a place where they'll feed you when you call
The hand divine you have placed before your eyes
And exalted the darkness
Now walk in it
Who fills the crowd with best intentions?
And who will guard the playgrounds after school?
The postman comes, the policeman waves, the trash goes out on Saturdays
But seething inside the well-labelled homes on well-paved streets
Are gatherings of carnivores
Gatherings of predators
Teeming dens of gatherings
(C) Zoo Chernos 2014
Turn This Train Around
You can throw all your sympathy cards out the window
The only thing from this train that will ever be found
Little lambs that trust what they're told
Every night die out in the cold
It's time to turn this train around
For every cloud that passes, I miss one on the other side of the trainEven in my dreams I'm afraid I'll never see open skies again
The power lines float up and down
Built by men who fear the ground
It's time to turn this train around
Turn this train around
Turn this train around
The iron is cheap, the engines don't sleep
The gears don't run on sympathyIt's time to turn this train around
I didn't load all the folds of your robes to be one of the bums that remains
And I won't be patient for an invitation to arrive from a choir on a silver tray
Enough hands are in pockets alone
To lift this train and head it home
It's time to turn this train around
Turn this train around
Turn this train aroundIt's clear to me from the little I see
We're a long way down the wrong way
It's time to turn this train around
(C) Zoo Chernos 2014