Lyrics
The Opined Few (2016)
Lyrics written by Scott Heron except "Make Me Down a Pallet on Your Floor" (Traditional on "Can't Go On").
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Don't Forget the Sparrows
Winters come and winters go
But sorrow we may always know even in the thaw
When times are tough when times are bad
Think about the love that you know you have and reciprocate
A willow hangs in the morning sun
There's a whisper in the wind when the day is done and a light I hope you follow
I hear a black dog barking in the afternoon
Drunkard man howlin' at the moon and soon
Gonna wish I told you
Don't forget the sparrows
You can take your pride, you can put it away
No one's gonna bother with it anyway, they ain't listening
There's a new day coming, coming fast
Hoping that tomorrow you can make it last
Gonna wish I told you
Don't forget the sparrows
Winters come and winters go
But sorrow we will always know even in the thaw
There's a new day coming and it's coming fast
Hoping that tomorrow you can make it last but it won't
Now I wish I told you
Don't forget the sparrows
Can't Go On
Working along the muddy banks and we don't much pay
How do you put a dollar sign on the end of a working man's day?
Can't go on living this old way
You wake in the morning 'bout 5 o'clock, you got them shackles on
Sun goes down and evening comes you know that you'd be gone
Can't go on living this old way
Chorus
I've been waiting on the midnight
I've been waiting for the starlight
I've been waiting for a long while
Just to walk that mile
If you're going up the river
Won't you bring me with you
Gonna make our way cross
Where the water's cool
On the road and on the run, hiding from the law
Folks you pass all through and through don't know what they just saw
Can't go on living this old way
Well, sleep all day, run all night, looking for the line
When Mason comes and Dixies goes, you don't know what you'll find
Can't go on living this old way
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet on your floor
Make me down a pallet soft and low
I've been running everywhere but home
White Cedar
Well I hope you don't have a mind to follow my lead
It'll bring you in circles or at best to the white cedar trees
Now I've been a'rambling both feet and mind
But I never got very far
Obligation and worry never suited me well
I'll leave it all up to the stars
When I was young I was innocent, the mind of a child
Some they may say nothing's changed
Well I hope they're not right and I know I'm not wrong
That the past can still be rearranged
So if I gave you my word and I took all my time
Would it mean all that much to you now
Now I've been a'rambling my shoes and my tongue
And pulling the sweat from my brow
Try So Hard
I went to the river on a Friday night
Threw everything but the fish don't bite
I guess I'll pack my rod and go
Walking down the road I just happened to know
That the leaves on the trees never hung so low
For a joker such as me
I'm wishing I'd 'a' stayed but I had to get by
You know the sun don't shine when there ain't no sky
I keep looking for the light
Chorus
I try so hard but I don't do so well
Stuck on the road between heaven and hell
Ain't no mistake and it ain't a sin
When we lose ourselves nobody wins
I left that city in a cloud of smoke
Didn't care whether I was rich or broke
I left the money there to burn
I found a little place by the edge of the lake
I had to find what's good for goodness sake
And that's good enough for me
Now it's one more chance 'neath the city lights
I'm not staying here without a fight
It's time to pack my bags and go home
I'm waiting for the bus just to take me away
And I'm bound for the woman with the sweetest ways
I'll be back before tonight
Declaration
Corn shucking in the morning
Working late in the evening
I've been saving just to buy a little place
On the edge of town where the rats don't race
On the edge of town where the rats don't race
I'll bake my bread and bag my beans
Homemade wine ain't as hard as it seems
Well water's free and there ain't no price
To a starlit sky on a saturday night
Well water's free and there ain't no price
To a starlit sky on a saturday night
Well water's free, you won't pay
For a sunny road on a summer day
So take my money and cut the cards
And leave the gambling men to drown in the bars
I can hear my dad as he used to say
There ain't an honest man without honest pay
Ain't no honest man without honest pay
Well it's a pity and it's a shame
When we trade our time for capital gain
Don't forget that the corn don't mind
If you can't quite pay your rent on time
Don't forget that the corn don't mind
If you can't quite pay your rent on time
Don't forget that the corn don't care
If you're short on your rent or your trolley fare