letters Oh Heart Oh Highway architecture

The Dollar

The settling came slowly –
It kinda caught me unaware
Soon we could not get far without a house and a car
I said for you I would go anywhere

Now the roots are getting tangled, in all the dreams I hid
The sweet quiet life, the beautiful wife
You said "Together, baby, nothing we can't bear –
Oh just lay beside me here"

Chorus:
I gotta follow the dollar, I gotta follow the ears
As near as I can figure I'll be running this road for years
Give it up and find another way? I wouldn't know where to start
But leaving you this morning felt like tearing out my heart
Leaving you this morning felt like tearing out my heart

Things went quiet when I met you
And locked the world outside the door
Was a beautiful spark, and now the fire in my heart
Burns a different colour from before

But I still lose my faith. And I still search for trust
And you concede to live without the things I can't give
But soon there's gonna be a couple more of us
Soon there's gonna be a couple more

Chorus

I wish some power would split me in two
I'd be out chasing glory, I'd be lying with you
Oh, your infinite patience, oh, those presents from gas stations
And miles I've put behind me just hoping you'd find me

I got your picture on the dashboard
I got a suitcase by the bed
Whatever I've got, and whatever I'm not
Oh, my love, I meant the things I said
I'm gonna love you 'til my end

I gotta follow the dollar
Give it up and find another way


Parkdale Love Song

I woke to find the world was blooming
A Parkdale masterpiece in spring
Spray painted petals of acrylic
And a bed made out of brick

Now I'm still haunting these same alleys
Those Parkdale mornings on the stoop
I've come to truly love this city
But the colours fade here without you

Chorus:
Now drinking wine just makes me pine
And think back on when we were fine
Drinking whiskey makes me miss the way you feel
Now I've got choices, I've got friends
Got nights in Parkdale never end
But I've got memories too, and they all look like you

I find the time now just for walking – I find the time to sit and write
I watch the sun along the lakeshore
The water's lovely, but it doesn't feel quite right
You said I'd miss things like the ocean
I said "I won't be that cliché"
I was just buried in the motions – I just had to get away

Chorus

I sang to you that day, emboldened
"I do believe what comes is better than what came before"
We placed our bets and mine's still holding
Saying goodbye to you was never what I came here for

Chorus

 

Satellite

If this city were a system then she would be the sun
You don't fall in love with her, you just enter orbit... and hold on
I am just a satellite, lost floating in the void
I need your gravity to touch down now
To touch down now – to feel the ground beneath my feet

There'll be water where we land, leafy trees and rocky sand
But the blue up in the sky won't hold a candle to your eyes
I would make this world as lovely as your smile
I know you like a book, but I can't read you
And it's plain to see you're hungry, but it's not my place to feed you
So I'll spend the day beside you, then I'll walk the long road back alone
Holding on...

Chorus:
There were wild roses at the roadside, they were bending to be near you (trembling)
And although I couldn't see your face I swore that I could hear you, thinking "Goodbye"
"Babe, if there's a better way we haven't found it yet"
But I started missing you the day we met

Reality is cold here out in space, and you long for warming suns, and you love without a face
And every time you think the road is done, you turn around now and you're moving on
I get so tired of moving on
But I am just a satellite, lost floating in the rings
And to feel your arms around me, honey, that would mean everything
Would mean you're holding on
I see you in the distance but I can't reach you
You're shining like the sun, how could I hope to heat you?
So give me just today, love, and just one little piece of your tomorrow
And I'll be holding on...

Chorus

Sit with me on the beach and watch the stars
Outer space won't seem so cold from where you are
So I'll spend the night beside you
Then I'll walk the long road back alone
The city is a system and you're the sun
And I am just your satellite
I am just your satellite, so touch down now, touch down now
I am just your satellite (x2), holding on... (x2)

 

Gasoline

Gasoline – oh, gasoline
Bring my sweet baby back to me
Light leaves the sky like the love leaves her eyes
And I've been holding these thoughts now for miles

I left a song for her
In every small town between here and the shore
And oh how I've longed for her
On every cold night on some kind stranger's floor

Chorus:
But Ohio bleeds into Kentucky
Oh Lord, how I know that I'm lucky
But I drove through the day, I drove all through the night
Knowing you are the one thing that could make me feel right

Rye whiskey – oh, rye whiskey
Fill up this hole inside of me
Thought leaves the choice like the love leaves her voice
And I'll be holding my head now for miles

I've got so many big plans
I'll be fully renewed by the time I get back
I'll be smart, I'll be tough – I'll work hard, earn enough
Just one week please to sleep off the road

Chorus

Radio – oh, radio
Please send my voice to my baby back home
I've been waiting for weeks for a break in this heat
For a change in the leaves, for a bend in this road

For the fight in her eyes – for the love in her voice
At the touch of her hand all the thought leaves the choice
I'll be smart, I'll be tough – I'll work hard, earn enough
I've been holding these thoughts now for miles

Chorus

 

 

 

 

 

Bricks

By now the weather's changed
So many times and back again
The summer sun has come and gone
By now we know it won't be long

By now I've seen you change
The tiny lines upon your sleeping face
The winter snow rolls in and melts away
The way you look at me it lights my way

Chorus:
Can't build a house without the bricks
Without the mortar, stones, and sticks
One that can weather any kind of change
Every season, any sad heartache
You ask me, how we're gonna make it stand
with only sweat and tears and these two hands?
And I say "I got you, baby – I can do anything" (x2)

By then I'd learned to lose
I'd learned to cover every cut and bruise
On a heart so easily betrayed
So freely given and then led astray

By now I've learned to trust
To put the past away – just look at us
Let the ghosts go, they just fade away
When you look at me and light my day

Chorus

Make me better, make me true
Make me strong enough for you
Let these walls hold in the heat
Tell me I got you, baby, and you got me

I've settled down a lot
I've stopped my waiting for the shoe to drop
Hung up my suitcase and I made my bed
Started thinking 'bout the years ahead

By now I've seen you change
The tiny lines upon your sleeping face
The love that deepens past imagining
Light in my chest only your smile can bring

Chorus

 

Letters Home

Just one kiss to light the cold, take this heart and make it whole
I've been sitting here all night, just trying to write letters back home
But I'm missing the address, and the names now too, I guess...
I guess it's something of a mercy, how we are made to forget

Oh, I used to burn and brim with a heart so worn and thin
I used to beat and sing to save my life
I used to love the way my hands would sing with that sweet ache
Now I can barely hold on

I will admit, from time to time, you leap unbidden to my mind
In those brief unguarded moments, like a storm cloud rolling by
Then some days this seems to be just dragging out a broken dream
Then I think about those letters, what they will say about me

Oh, I used to float and run without a word to anyone
I used to sink deep down into it every night
I used to love the way your face would swim with that sweet ache
Now I can barely hold on

I could use this time alone, still I'm sticking by the phone
I've been sitting here all night, just trying to write down what I know
But before the week is out you'll be filling up this house
You'll be throwing open windows, watch my troubles all pour out

Oh, I'm gonna kiss that face and drink in all your shining grace
Missing you now, I sing with that sweet ache
I used to mourn the corners of this heart so thin and worn
Now I can barely hold on

 

The Signs

Trust so reckless, trust so rare
You drank to much and laid your secrets bare
I've seen you bend, I've seen you weep
Beneath those secrets that you keep
Could you really leave me now? Could you really let me down?

We walk the streets, walk through the snow
All filled with people got no place to go
I feel my breath cold on my lips
My shoulders high, my hands in fists
Carry close the source of pain, until you make it home again

Chorus:
Just don't look directly at the signs, that border the block in neon lights
Just stick to the sidewalk, you'll be fine.
I know we're crumbling to dust
I know you will go if you must

The night gets dark, the night gets cold
You're pushing on past the lump in your throat
And I'm following my last slim shred of hope
Heart on my sleeve, a beacon home
I can feel it giving way – please, can I make you stay?

The dark's more dark than you have known
There, spinning out through all your highs and your lows
Absent from grace, you fall to earth
The going's hard, the end is worse
Carry close the source of pain, until you make home again

Chorus

Could you really leave me now?
Could you really let me down?

Just don't look directly at the signs

 

After Sunrise

You ended my chapter the night we met –
I don't think that you knew
Oh, I felt a tiny light spark down in the truest corners of my heart
Page turn with the sunrise
All that was mine turned to face your warm glow
Sad poetry up and left me
Wonder and joy followed me home

I know that life is more than shiny nights out on your porch
I know we can muddle through – oh you taught me that too

I love every word, every line, of this great work we're writing
Verse built on verse
We're near or we're far, the better or the worse
My page turns every sunrise
All that is mine turns to face your warm glow
Word locks word to line, and you are mine
Filling up our sweet home

I know that life will need more than just rhyming from me
I know there's years to get through – oh you taught me that too.

I used to see the edges of my page
Like the scheme had been set
Now I marvel at the richness of each day
Since that night that we met

My page turns every sunrise 'cause you are mine
And I can feel that warm glow
Sad poetry sometimes finds me
But wonder and joy await me back home

I know our family will need all of the best that's in me.
I know we can build it true – oh you taught me that too

 

I Still Do

What good does it do?
Turning over moments of memory like maybe you're gonna find something new
And what if you should find
Some important moment, some pivotal choice, done different would make everything fine?

You think life's an adventure for me on the mainland
And maybe I've claimed that
But, if you think I've never once looked back to your shore
You're wrong, I still do

Easy to confuse,
What is is I'm missing when I'm missing the days when my days would end by lying with you
Black and white erase every hue
Hearts and bodies piled up in my bed, warm and weary nights, painting grey all over my blue

But I cannot ignore the truth.
Every heart that wound up in that pile was gonna break – I knew it. I still did it but I knew
And if it comforts you
I'll forget the street names and the sound of the waves, but I'll not forget the way I left you

You think life's an adventure for me on the mainland
And clearly I've tamed it
But if you think I've never once looked back to your shore
You're wrong, I still do

So unbidden memories of all the times you came for me
Erased now by my desperate need to believe I could not betray a friend
Easier to paint your face as the villain – Now, in any case,
I am far away from any place you could find me now, my friend

You think life's an adventure for me on the mainland
And maybe that's true
But if you think I've never once looked back to your shore
You're wrong, I still do

What good does it do?
Turning over moments of memory like maybe you're gonna find something new
And what if you should find
Some important moment, some pivotal choice, done different would make everything right?

 

All songs © Amy Campbell 2011. All right reserved.
Punctuation by Alice, because mine was atrocious.