+ Threshing Time

When I was just a toe head boy no more than ten
Working on my daddy’s farm it was hard to find a friend
August held a Christmas charm, the grain grew tall and then
After months of endless toil, it was threshing time again

Mama and her sisters prepared the week ahead
Chocolate cakes, lemon pies, salads to be spread
Neighbors came from nearby farms, the work all done by hand
When they hauled in those stacks of grain, it was threshing time again

Chorus:

Threshing time was a time to share the laughter and the pain
Stories were all woven in the reaping of the grain
Guitar and the fiddle filled the evening air
Aunt Loretta played accordion, it was threshing time again

One year daddy told the story of how he met ma
He was at the country dance when he saw her walking up
His callused hand touched her downy skin as he offered lemonade
Her blue eyes smiled back at him, they were married the next may

Repeat chorus x 2

+ Pas De Deux

You take my hand and lead me to the dance floor
You wrap your arm around my waist
You pull me close our eyes meet one another
And so begins our pas de deux

Chorus:

Bodies locked our hips begin to sway
As if they were made to move this way
A push a pull a dip a spin a twirl
You bring out the woman inside this girl

I feel your breath skin hot to my touch
Excitement grows I feel like I can fly
With every step we move a little deeper
Instinctively, thigh to thigh

Bodies locked our hips begin to sway
As if they were made to move this way
A push a pull your hand gives me the cue
We need no word
it’s a pas de deux
A pas de deux for me and you
C’est un pas de deux pour toi et moi

+ Cottonwood Creek

Meadowlark sings at the break of dawn
I stretch as I rise just to hear his song
Powder sugar frosting on the foothill peaks
Turn from purple majesty to light rose pink
Coyote prints leaving just a trace
A rattlesnake stretches out to sun his face
We give him lots of room let him lie in peace
As another day unfolds down on cottonwood creek

Chorus

On Cottonwood Creek the dogs run free
Golden grass sways in the autumn breeze
Coyotes howl as the sun sinks low
So we make our way back home
We make our home down on Cottonwood Creek
We make our home down on Cottonwood Creek
Our cabin looks cozy as we round the turn
Smoke rises up in a curious curl
Dinner on the stove not a worry to speak
Just another day of paradise on Cottonwood Creek

Bridge:

And the moon, she fades away
Sky’s so bright I have to turn away
Leaves blaze green and gold
On the cottonwoods that line the creek that lead us home
On the cottonwoods that line the creek that lead us home
On Cottonwood Creek, on Cottonwood Creek
We make our home down on Cottonwood Creek
We make our home down on Cottonwood Creek

+ Beyond Good and Evil

You want me to sing a sad song
For when you’re feeling blue
You’re leaving me tomorrow
Life is calling for you

I’ve held the hand of dying
I watched babies born
We’ve rolled through alpine meadows
And run from their storms

Chorus:

It’s beyond good and evil
It’s beyond right and wrong
Your love is all I’ve needed
I’ll never be alone (Instrumental break vs & chorus)

I’ve washed the feet of homeless
I’ve looked into their glaze veiled eyes
I’ve watched you grow to manhood
A gift to call you mine

It’s beyond good and evil
It’s beyond faith and hope
I would rather light a candle
Than curse the dark
(Repeat 1st chorus)

You want me to sing… a sad… song

+ Kiss You Goodnight

Slammed the door in spite the morning that I left
I know how you hate to fight, it leaves you so depressed
Can’t explain the darkness deep inside
That pushes me to punch those pretty buttons you can’t hide

Now I sit in darkness, hang on borrowed time
Feel so cold and hollow trapped here in this mine
I’d give anything to hold you in my arms
Drown my face in your gold hair
breathe your warmth and charms

How many nights have I laid my head to rest
Praying to the lord the words my Mamma said

Don’t let your anger go down with the sun
Always kiss the ones you love before the day is done
Wish I had kissed you goodnight
Should have kissed you goodnight
If I live to see the light of day
I promise I will change my ways and
Kiss you good night

Chorus:

Every day grows longer as hope turns to despair
It’s hard to think tomorrow with no light and little air
Funny how the dark brings with it clearer sight
That somehow through the grace of God
We will all survive

How many nights have I laid my head to rest
Praying to the Lord the words my mamma said

Chorus:

Don’t let your anger go down with the sun
Always kiss the ones you love before the day is done
Wish I could kiss you good night
I want to kiss you good night
If I live to see the light of day
I promise I have changed my ways I’ll
Kiss you goodnight

+ Liza Jane

Name is Clara Brown
Got my(mah) head held high
Two feet on the ground
I lost my family
They sold my babies right out from under me

Now I’m Free
But they say I have to leave behind Ol’ Kentucky
Heading west I’ll cook and clean
On a wagon train to Cherry Creek

Chorus:
I Don’t ask why
If it takes my whole life
I swear before I die
I’m gonna find
My ‘Liza Jane

I did Washin’ for the miners (minas)
In Clear Creek County
Saved the gold
Left in the pockets of the trousa’s I’d wash and fold

I owned land in Central City
Gave colored folk a start when it wasn’t easy
At the end of the civil war
I went back East and helped (a plenty) more

Chorus:

I don’t ask Why
If it takes my whole life
I swear before I die
I’m gonna find
My ‘Liza Jane

At the age of 82
I found Eliza Brewer
My dream come true
She came to Denver to live with me
Spent my final days with Eliza and my grandbaby

+ Stories Never Told

In the Gold Rush days of Ketchikan
Where the salmon jump the creek
Fishnet stockings torn, heels and skirts
At Dolly’s house (those ladies aim to) please

He came down from a Klondike mine
Dressed head to toe in dust and grime
Hungry, thirsty, chilled like stone
He knows he’ll spend all that he brought home

Chorus:

Two bucks for warmth and comfort
Whiskey costs a little more
They serve as long as he has gold
And listen to his stories, (never told)

His stash of gold ran short one night
Walkin’ home he vowed to make things right
But he met with a bullet to his head
On the dirt trail through the woods
The next day found him dead

Chorus:

The die is cast, dreams set aside
They read the look in their eyes
History books show no names
They die alone, no one to blame

Chorus
Repeat

+ Land of the Midnight Sun

In fevered rush they came in droves
Blind desire to be rich in gold
They boldly blazed and broke new trail
To shed their past and all it held
Some found their gold in women
Others lost it all in booze
In the land of the midnight sun
It’s always win or lose
In the land of the midnight sun
(The land of the midnight sun)

The only view is paradise the eagle takes its wing
I hear the songs of the whales
Precious treasures from the deep
They have no care or worry
We surface creatures keep
Over polychrome mountains we climb so high
I’m filled with a stillness I never find

But in the land of the midnight sun
The land of the midnight sun
Instrumental break

Icy peaks sweep the sky
Above the clouds Denali lies
We find what wings can do
My spirit one with you
In the land of the midnight sun
(The land of the midnight sun
In the land of the midnight sun

+ Feels Like Home

I’ll always be longing for you, come what may
I promise my heart will be true, blue skies or rain
Wherever we roam, it feels like home… with you

Sippin’ café au lait in Chamonix
And Morocco, how I loved their mint tea
A run in Aspen at the break of dawn
My life is more complete since you came along

And I’ll always be longing for you, come what may
I promise my heart will be true, blue skies or rain
Wherever we roam, it feels like home…. with you

No matter how close or far,
Seems we’re always too far apart
Maybe heaven is a place of mind
Where I’ll be happy away from your arms
Long after I’m gone, I’ll still belong….. to you

As I look into your eyes of gray
I will always remember the way
You smiled at me as we said “I do”
We’re gonna make all our dreams come true

I’ll always be longing for you, come what may
I promise my heart will be true, blue skies or rain
Wherever we go, I’ll always be home…. (with you)
I’ll always be longing for you

+ The Banjo Man

Her name was Phillis Wheatley
From Africa she came
They captured her and thousands more
And shackled them in chains
To work the fields of the Americas
West Indies sugar cane
They called for her and other girls
But never used their names

Through the darkened depths
there rose a lovely melody
the banjo man cut through it all
as he made his banjo ring
they never broke her spirit
though they certainly did try
she kept her pride, her hope and joy
tucked with his tune deep inside

I will bend, but I will not break
I will shake these chains of blues away
I know I’ll find a way to get through anything
As long as I have the tune of the banjo man
Hear his banjo ring

She landed in America, to Boston Town they came
Never got to thank him, never knew his name
She was sold to a rich family
And she learned to write and read
She wrote to the rhythm of the tune he played
While they were out at sea

Chorus:

One Christmas eve she walked the streets
A slave she was no more
When something on display caught her eye inside the store
She asked the man to take it down and he played the melody
Of the tune she carried for so long in her memory

Chorus:

I will bend, but I will not break
I will shake these chains of blues away
I know the moment my heart was finally freed
The night I found the banjo man and I heard
His banjo ring

Yes, I know the moment, my heart was finally free
The night I found the banjo man and he played his tune
That Christmas eve

+ Paint The Sky

My name is Georgia, Georgia O’Keeffe
I live in the desert, its treasures I reap
I‘ve painted mountains, flowers, bones that have dried
Above all these other things, I paint the sky.

Growin’ up in Wisconsin, I soon learned to see
The shapes and the colors, and light around me
Moved to New York City to learn what they’d teach
Found it’s not what you know, but love that inspires the reach

I paint the sky, clouds floating by
Sometimes wispy fluffy, soft and white
Other times threatening nature’s might

Lush flowers, vivid colors, fluid lines
Soothing, sensual all at the same time

Moved to New Mexico to make a fresh start
An ocean of land and light captured my heart
I’d watch the Padernal, the blackbirds that fly
Sleep under a sea of stars and I’d paint the sky

Chorus:
Other times threatening nature’s might
Guess what keeps me coming back for more
Is never knowing what’s in store

My name is Georgia
I live in the desert
I’ve painted mountains and bones that have dried
But how I love those clouds floating by……