Cash Carter Hill - Tommy Prine

I was standing by the window On a cold and cloudy day When I saw the hearse come rolling To carry my mother away Will the circle be unbroken Bye and bye Lord bye and bye There's a better home a waiting In the sky Lord in the sky I said to the undertaker Undertaker please drive slow For this lady you are carrying Lord I hate to see her go Will the circle be unbroken Bye and bye Lord bye and bye There's a better home a waiting In the sky Lord in the sky Well I followed close behind her Tried to hold up and be brave But I could not hide my sorrow When they laid her in that grave Will the circle be unbroken Bye and bye Lord bye and bye There's a better home a waiting In the sky Lord in the sky I went back home that home was lonesome Since my mother, she was gone All my brothers and sisters crying What a home so sad and alone

I have picked wild roses Far into september But I had no one to give the flowers to I needed a celebration A September coronation And I admitted to myself I needed you I've watched the gentle winds change The colors shades of meadows I've seen the dew on flowers that had no name But I let my vase stay empty like my lonely empty heart Picking flowers for yourself is not the same Don't you think it's come our time to be together? Let's gather up our scattered words of love and make them rhyme Let's go pick some flowers and fill our empty vases Don't you think it's come our time? Would you take this small bouquet that leaves a fragrance on my fingers And a feeling that your love is close at hand Thank you for the flowers, now let's walk through the meadows Through the brook where our demands caress the sand Don't you think it's come our time to be together? Let's gather up our scattered words of love and make them rhyme Let's go pick some flowers now and fill our empty vases Don't you think it's come our time? Don't you think it's come our time?

Pretty paper Pretty ribbons of blue. (Spoken) man oh man, I just love christmas It's just so darn neat. I kinda wish every day was christmas, Except christmas eve and the fourth of july. We wouldn't want to miss out on the fireworks, would we? When I was a kid, we used to get the christmas catalog from montgomery wards in chicago. Sometimes we'd get it as early as late august. It was the big book of wishes, hopes and desires. My three brothers and I were allotted twenty-five bucks a piece, including tax. So I'd make up a different christmas list every night From the first of september 'til the twenty-forth of december. Matter of fact, let me present you with my christmas credentials. When I was three years old, at least that's what my mother told me, I ate an entire ornament. I ate a big red one, I thought it was an apple. They kinda freaked out and was gonna take me to the hospital But they couldn't stop me from laughing so they just left me alone. So I guess I still got that christmas in me all the time, you know? One year, I got a wooden roly-poly for christmas, You know the things you knock down and they bounce right back up. They made 'em out of wood back then, that's how old I am. Nowadays, they make 'em out of plastic. My mom says "they just don't make 'em like that anymore". and I says, "no ma they don't". Then there was the year I came home only eave from the army, From germany to marry my highschool sweetheart on the day after christmas. My little brother billy, who was twelve at the time, Had just gotten his first job so he was able to afford to buy some christmas presents For his brothers and his mom and dad out of his own pocket. Billy had a job selling subscriptions for the chicago tribune. He told me this guy named rocky would pick him up in a station wagon, Him and some other boys, and he'd take 'em out to some strange neighborhood And drop 'em off and he gave them this whole spiel to give their potential customers. Supposedly their little brother had won a free trip to our nation's capital washington, d.c., But he couldn't go on the trip if his older brother wouldn't accompany him So if you would please buy a subscription to the chicago tribune then my little brother will be happy. Wow, what a shyster! some people'll do anything to get to the whitehouse. Then there was the year that my mom and dad gave me my first guitar. Ah man it was gorgeous, I still got the thing. It was a like aqua blue. kinda dark aqua blue with a cream colored heart. was a silvertone from montgomery wards. the model was called kentucky blue and man when I saw that sitting under the tre Ust couldn't wait. First year so I didn't know how to play it, I'd just stand in from of the mirror with a string around my neck with that guitar and I'd try to look like elvis. Then my brother dave taught me a couple of chords, Now I'm here in your living room singing and talking to you. It's funny how things work out. So-a whyn't you go find a stranger and extend your hand to 'em. If you see somebody looks like they ain't doin' quite as well as you, slip 'em a buck, 'Specially if they don't ask for spare change. Go buy your honey a cuckoo clock or a musical snow shaking water ball, That when you wind it up it plays, "I want you, I need you, I love ya with all my heart." 'Cause after all, hell man, it's christmas. Away in a manger no crib for a bed. The little lord jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the sky look down where he lay. The little lord jesus asleep on the (1-2) hay. (Spoken) merry christmas everybody. (Words finally transcribed by fancy nancy)

Full blown silence in an empty room A former bride and a former groom A folding table and a folding chair A folded hand of poker there All new directions must go everywhere Big round people in a cool little square You can't cut it with a boat or a plane Man, it's gonna take a new train You'll be leaving on a new train Far away from this world of pain And when you look out your window, you'll see Your home, your baby, and your family No melted ice cubes in a paper cup Hell, you'll be happy, you'll be all shook up The friends that greet you will be simple and plain When you step down from that new train Collected volumes of history say Man makes mistakes most everyday The half a pound of chopped ground round Is still a burger when it goes downtown No faded photographs of yesterdays Are in the books that I read these days To fly away from that memory town You must keep both your feet on the ground 'Cause you'll be leaving on a new train Far away from this world of pain And when you look out your window you'll see Your home, your baby, and your family No melted ice cubes in a paper cup Hell, you'll be happy, you'll be all shook up The friends that greet you will be simple and plain When you step down from that new train I'll be leaving on a new train Far away from this world of pain The friends that greet me will be simple and plain When I step down from that new train New train, new train

In an Appalachian, Greyhound station She sits there waiting, in a family way "Goodbye brother, Tell Mom I love her Tell all the others, I'll write someday" From an teenage lover, to an unwed mother Kept undercover, like some bad dream While unwed fathers, they can't be bothered They run like water, from a mountain stream In a cold and gray town, a nurse say's "Lay down" 'This ain't no playground, and this ain't home' But someone's children, out having children In a gray stone building, they're all alone From an teenage lover, to an unwed mother Kept undercover, like some bad dream While unwed fathers, they can't be bothered They run like water, from a mountain stream On somewhere else bound, Smokey Mountain Greyhound She bows her head down, hummin' lullabies 'Your daddy never, meant to hurt you ever' 'He just don't live here, but you've got his eyes' From an teenage lover, to an unwed mother Kept undercover, like some bad dream While unwed fathers, they can't be bothered They run like water, from a mountain stream Well, they run like water, from a mountain stream

I saw you All dolled up Singing a song in your pickup truck You put me on a morning train You put me on a morning train Ain't no need to explain You put me on a morning train Hey, Hey, Brother Ray What'd you mean by "what'd I say" You put me on a morning train You put me on a morning train Ain't no need to explain You put me on a morning train If it's gonna rain And I wish that it would Just go ahead and rain Get it over for good If there's really a hole in that big blue sky Then move it on over and let me by Constantinople is a mighty long word Got three more letters than mockingbird You put me on a morning train You put me on a morning train Ain't no need to explain You put me on a morning train I like you with your make-up on All dolled up Singing a song You put me on a morning train You put me on a morning train Ain't no need to explain You put me on a morning train

All the snow has turned to water Christmas days have come and gone Broken toys and faded colors Are all that's left to linger on I hate graveyards and old oawn shops For they always bring me tears I can't forgive the way they robbed me Of my childhood souvenirs Memories, they can't be boughten They can't be won at carnivals for free Well it took me years to get those souvenirs And I don't know how they slipped away from me Broken hearts and dirty windows Make life difficult to see That's why last night and this morning Always look the same to me I hate reading old love letters For they always bring me tears I can't forget the way they robbed me Of my sweetheart's souvenirs Memories they can't be boughten They can't be won at carnivals for free Well it took me years to get those souvenirs And I don't know how they slipped away from me