The Lyric Poetry of Greg Greenway "how many lifetimes waited away"

C9 tuning Capo on 3

When I first started out, I kind of floated around,
I thought it might be better somewhere else

then they dragged me out.

I was mistaken. Then they gave me my good name.
They sent me off to school

when I could talk and move around.

I thought that they were joking

when they said, “ shut up, sit down.”

I was mistaken. Barely escaped with my good name.
I fell in love like people do, they said, “You want to be
happy?”

I said “I do.”

I was mistaken. Barely escaped with my good name

My good name, it’s all I’ve got,
says who I am, says who I’m not.
When I leave this world
I will escape with my good name.

I
went to see a banker, I need a loan to get clear.
He said, “man, you’ve got nothing.
I said, “That’s why I’m here.”
I was mistaken, barely escaped with my good name.
I got a job pretty easy, all the bosses at the top
said, “Forget what you’re hearing, keep buying that

Enron stock.”

I was mistaken. I think they escaped with my good name.

Chorus

What have I learned from the school of hard knocks.
Of all your possessions, everything you’re got.
Don’t be mistaken. All you’ve got is your good name.

Chorus.

C9 (CGDGCD) capo on 3

Goodbye, Rosa, the year has changed
the one when you left us, the one you became
the ones who remember, remember your name
and the day you would not be moved.

How many tumblers fell into place.
How many somedays just had to wait.
How many lifetimes waited away,

until the moment came down to you.

If you were big, strong, and threatening
it might not be the case

Like thousands before you blurred and erased.
But you were small and defenseless, the face of grace,
the moment it can down to you.

I can’t take no more, I won’t take no more.
I can’t take no more, I won’t take no more.
I can’t take no more, I won’t take no more.

Chorus

The year that this happened was ‘55.
I’d been born in Virginia, barely arrived.
In the bundle my fathers handed me to their surprise
were the ears to hear you.

I can’t take no more, I can’t take no more.
I can’t take no more, I won’t take no more.
I can’t take no more, I won’t take no more.

Chorus

the moment you would not be moved,
the moment it came down to you.

Piano
Halleluah, you look like spring
you and I’ve got work to do,
things to bury with those days of dark and cold.
No offense, but goodbye good riddence,
get up, boy, and get on down the road.
February, I can’t blame you,
but I was as stuck as a man can be.
All the good things I kept waiting at my door,
the bad walked right in, glad and smiling.
Get up, boy, and get on down the road.
The moon’s a golden sliver in the last patch of blue
fading west over the mountains,
I see my soul there with it while my feet are here in clay
meet you ‘round the other way.
You make your mistakes like anybody else,
they saved your place in the human race.
Get up boy and get on down the road

a cappella
I learned as a child there are two ways to see,
the world as it is and the way it could be.
Some people say, that’s just not my problem.
Some people do what must be done.
They see the hole in the fabric that must be sewn,
they see the way blockaded and they roll back the stone,
they see the day beyond the horizon
and they do what must be done

Some people do, do, do, what must be done,
they do what must be done
they see the day beyond the horizon
and they do what must be done.

I’ve seen the toll taken, the tears that were shed,
I’ve seen the journey started and the ripples spread,
Some people say that’s just not my problem,
Some people do what must be done.

Some people do, do, do, what must be done,
they do what must be done.
They see the day beyond the horizon
and they do what must be done.

Some people do, do, do, what must be done,
they do what must be done.
They see the way on that long road to freedom
and they do what must be done.

C9 no capo

Through my window, the first snowflake,
the most heavy one of all.
Nearly weightless, it still carries
every winter I recall
I sat inside here shivering
the mind can go that far.

If I’m strong enough to keep my feet
on this frozen ground
I will walk my way through winters past
and meet you as you are.

Through a doorway, I first saw you,
the most heavy time of all.
Nearly weightless, you had me floating
through every love I could recall.
I sat beside you trembling
the mind can go that far.

If I’m strong enough to keep my feet
on this rolling ground
I will walk my way through loves gone by
and meet you as you are.

Time reveals us all.

In the middle where I’ll meet you
that’s the lightest place of all.
When I’m weightless, no need to carry

the things that make us fall from grace
and lose that last discovering
that love can go that far.

If I’m strong enough to keep my feet
on this holy ground
I will walk my way through the past
and meet you as you are
my own discovering that love can go that far.

If I’m strong enough.
If I’m strong enough.
When I’m weightless.

Piano

Brave people, for all the right reasons,
so young and with God on their side,
will trade their futures for uniforms
offering up their lives
for bright flags on the holidays,
for words on hallowed halls,
for a fairy tale of evil and good,
for fables of right and wrong.

Brave people, there will always be reasons,
for everything good that they’ve known,
for the fading photographs, and the still life rooms
of the ones who will never come home,
to bright flags on the holidays,
parades for those still left,
to face the figures of the front page news
in the business of life and death,
who believe there will always be soldiers.

So talk to the ones who have been there
about glory on battlefields,
they’ll tell you about brothers beside them
in a moment of kill or be killed,
where all of the colors of the wide world
are crushed into black and white.
Like words on pages in history books
that could never contain one life.
So tell me a story of courage.

C9 Capo on 4th

Is it the moon that makes me sing.
Is it the song that keeps me wandering.
Is it the road stretched beneath the sky,
that keeps me in love with this mystery of life.

What is this fate that twists young men,
like a flight of swallows in a vagrant wind,
and steals their lives before they begin,
and spreads their love so far, so thin.

Where it leads, what design,
to even ask, I hear, it’s just a waste of time.
Where it leads, know it’s true,
somehow this mystery of life lead me to you.

And so my love, don’t make me choose,
don’t make a mistress out of the moon.
These songs keep saying that the road leads here.
Don’t turn my mystery into your fear.

Chorus

C9 capo on 5

I always wanted to be somebody,
I always wanted to be some one.
the topic of conversation,
my name on the tips of everyone’s tongue.
They would appreciate my own unique sense of humor,
the little things that make you you.
I always wanted to be somebody
why can’t that wish come true.

I always wanted to be somebody,
I always wanted to be some one.
the focus of the party,
“that’s right, he’s the one.”
They would accommodate all my needs, wants, and wishes,
which I’d express so graciously.
When I found out I was somebody
I’ll tell you how it was told to me.

Somebody better fix that thing.
Somebody made a mess last night.
Somebody better roll up their sleeves,
straighten up and fly right.
Your fondest dreams of fame and fortune,
keep ‘em to yourself.
When you find you are somebody,
you may want to be somebody else.

Somebody better talk to that boy,
get a clue what life’s all about.
Somebody better roll up their sleeves
and reach you hand down there
and get that stuff out.

Your fondest dreams of fame and fortune,
keep ‘em to yourself.
When you find you are somebody,
you may want to be somebody else.
you may want to be somebody,

anybody else.

Piano

One little form not filled out,
one thing left unsaid,
one little check that’s in the mail
and somebody’d like to see you dead

One little poke in the sore spot,
one little detail kept to yourself,
one wrong look in a barroom
and somebody’s threatening your health.

I don’t understand it
why people got to act that way
I don’t understand it
I don’t listen to a word they say
because I love everybody,
everybody, they love me
except my ex-girlfriends, most republicans,
and the state of Missouri.

One wrong name at the right time,
two things that don’t ring true,
one red sock in the white load
and they send lawyers after you.

Chorus

Maybe I should take a long look at myself,
I should reevaluate.
Or is it just my fate to alienate
an entire midwestern state.
My girlfriends, they might forgive me,
Republican’s we’re just going to have to get along,
and the state of Missouri hasn’t started to worry
because they’ve never heard this song.

Chorus