I met jessie in the country
on the third day of july
on a highway out near omaha
as the sun crept to the sky

i´d been sleeping ´neath the freeway
on the road to New Orleans
i was running on a memory
heading towards a dream

just standing on a corner
no stranger to the road
too tired to lift or carry
on more heavy load

my vision might be blurry
my mind it might be slow
but I could see an angel slowing down
to pick me up from far below

jessie oh jessie
quick come over here
the fields have all been burning
but there´s some life still left in there
the fire works are coming
they´ll write a message in the sky
jessie oh jessie
please don't pass me by

now the way a rambler travels
a suitcase is his home
the stranger is his family
his work it is the road

there are reasons for deciding lost
there are fortunes to be told
this ride is going into town
but the next one's driving on

the smoke curls through the sunlight
from a hand rolled cigarette I found
half smoked left in my wallet
by a girl, when I was seattle bound

i am standing at the entrance
highway marker 33
looking out across my kingdom
waiting for my destiny

for some reason i saw Jessie
about a mile up the road
and long before I'd see her smile
i´d want her to be my own

like honey on the lips
of a starving refugee
i could not believe this vision slowing down to look at me

jessie was a soldier
from the infantry reserve
headed off to south missouri
by her sergeant she was lured

for the rumors of a war like fire
raced throughout our native land
she had two days left before she must
report and take her stand

her face shone radiant in the morning light
which cut across the fields
as they lay parched in record heat and drought
till they the soul of man revealed

she said, "i would not be the first one to say I was afraid, but if you are traveling down this road I'm on
i'll be your soldier maid"

now the birthing of a nation
like the birthing of a child
begins somewhere between the dreams
and passions running wild
-
-oh, i would not cast a doubt
upon the answers that she gave
when i asked her which direction
lead from the cradle to the grave

times they might be many
days they might be long
the lonely miles between us
have made these memories strong

from the red clay cliffs of iowa
to the gulf at new orleans
there´s a ribbon of highway running out
and at each stop is the river queen

there always was a gamble on what ever road we´d run
the only promise being
we´ll face the morning sun

out along the highway running
i´ve many times this story told
but I would not trade a minute
for this tapestry of gold

times right now ain´t nothing like they used to be
times right now ain´t nothing like they used to be
i´m telling you all the truth
won´t you take it from me

i´ve seen better days but I´m putting up with these
i´ve seen better days but I´m putting up with these
i´d have a much better time
but these women are so hard to please

i´m born in the country so she thinks I´m easy to rule
i´m born in the country so she thinks I´m easy to rule
she tries to hitch me to a wagon
tries to drive me like a mule

i buy the groceries and I pay the rent
i buy the groceries and I pay the rent
she tries to get me to wash the clothes
but I got good common sense

i´ll give you sugar for sugar let you take salt for salt
i´ll give you sugar for sugar let you take salt for salt
if you can´t get along with me
it´s your own damn fault

she says she loves me but she keeps treating me mean
she says she loves me but she keeps treating me mean
she´s my daily though
she´s my nightly dream

sometimes I think she is too sweet to die
sometimes I think she is too sweet to die
other time I think
she ought to be buried alive

you ask me why i´m calling
so late, when all the leaves have fallen down
and the story´s in the paper
that´s been blown all over town

you ask me how I´m doing
with the new old fashioned picture
of my heart up on a shelf
is there anybody left to blame except myself

i say I´m going home
but I´m really on my own
cause with the love I´ve known
I´m undecided

cause if a one night stand
is the measure of a man
no wonder my promised land
is a house divided

standing still to keep from falling
the distance that you´ve traveled
since your feet once touched the ground
looking forward in the mirror
moving backwards towards the sound

and you know the voice keeps calling
through wind and rain and nights as still
as pictures you once scattered on your floor
in beggars sleeves are rolled the answers
with the key to every door

chr.

so, take me to a huddled home
lay me on the ground
cover me with golden leaves
while gypsies gather round

and if I wake tomorrow
to the bright light of the day
resurrect me from my sorrow
and send me on my way

chr

my gramma sits and spins her memories away
forgotten reams of daydreams up upon the shelf will stay
she fell for a sailor from the merchant marines
who played banjo for his captain out on the mediterranean sea
she was just sixteen when her mama went away
she stayed home cooking for five brothers ´till my grampa
quit his ramblin´ ways

ramblin´ ways, rambin´ ways,
where did you learn those rambin´ ways
ramblin´ ways, rambin´ ways,
why can´t you quit those rambin´ ways

1932 the country´d gone astray
no work in the factories no work in making hay
my grampa hit the road to sell anything he could
my grandma stayed home knitting mountains
of all the dreams she hoped they would
one stitch could bring him nearer one row to pass the day
her dreams of life together brought him back
from his ramblin´ ways

chorus

down at the local tavern the east side of old st. paul
there might be trouble waiting as in any port of call
sometimes my grampa stumbled on occasion he would fall
but always in my grandma's eyes was that sailor brave and tall
my gramma passed before him by just one week and a few days
the he followed her to heaven where he finally
quit his ramblin´ ways

chorus

i learned to play guitar right upon my grampa´s knee
he would sing a sailors' story and shoot to kill the breeze
but it always was my gramma who knit the heart of every rhyme
for the love of one true woman will say the poor man every time
and so i stand before you on the road until this day
and I pray there's someone somewhere who´ll help me
quit these ramblin´ ways

where did i learn ? É why can´t i quit ? É where do we learn ?

well i´ve been thinking about my life
and i can walk away no more
Iiwas walking and i saw the light
leading to your door
the handle on the doorway turned
flames leapt to my heart for you they burn

i will not lose another time
i shall be forgiven
for crimes which i have known not why
decisions made in heaven
the rain did last for forty years
but now the sun will dry for you the tears

i was thinking about the signs
which are revealed to me
i´ve see forgiveness come on angels wings
when you show yourself to me
mirages on the desert form
but the well has sprung leads through
for you the storm

if you should find a man like me
won´t you say this much to him
buddy you know that time ain´t free
there´s only so much that´s given

moments wrapped in lessons learned
a thousand ships were launched for you´re return

on the coast line of the other shore
there could surely be a fee
in payment for my finest hour
when you are next to me
the answer that i saw before
pales within the light for you are more

i´ve got a penny in my pocket a gun in my hand
you´ve got a ring on your finger i´ll get it if i can
i´ll sell it for a dollar, sell it for a dime
i´m never gonna worry cause i´ll never do the time
i´m bigger than jessie james or al capone
get out of my face leave me alone

me an my brother walked into the store
we took all of the money then we walked right out the door
i was screaming at those bastards made ´em squirm just right
i got so excited shooting everything i shot my brother´s head that night
i never talk about it i only run from the law
i know i got it coming how could i tell my ma

what i´ll do tomorrow what i did today what i did before this
i really cannot say
i´m gonna live forever every bodies gonna pay
things are gonna change soon they say the sun will shine someday
but i´ve got my music and my best friend just tucked inside my belt
when he hit the floor and looked at me i wonder how he felt

i´ll walk in the ways of the world
living my life as a pearl
a small grain of sand
in this ocean of man
at rest in continual swirl

i´ll wrap each day in my mind
lost in a river of time
there´s a smile for a friend
a needle to mend
please forgive my blindness
for love is the crime

for i´ve sold all the clothes of winter
spent the fortunes that memories can bring
and each jewel in this sea of wisdom
knows each heart is so pure it can sing

i´ll not bury my face in a frown
or wear the shells of these ghosts as a crown
there is a place here to stand
and I will take my own hand
for to the generations of dreams i am bound
to the generations of dreams i am bound

i´d almost forgotten my name
while side stepping the causes of blame
but now i lift up my head
i will lead not be lead
for i´m proud now
i will not be ashamed

chorus

...and through the night
what seas uphold to twilight´s grace
alas sad hour when joy entwined
the moments called ´till seas unwind
and the breath of man
spilled cross the ´scape
in younger days I´d speak my mind

the words spin forth
leapt through the void held taught through time
exposed in sunken miracles of rhyme
lifted searching upward grasped breath to find
the bellies of once where men of sage crept through
a new depth to rise
relearned through humankind

i watch the candle
silent and unlit
the empty holders of what potential and tarnished use sees fit
held thoughts through generations of moments bind
myself to hopes and dreams of dignity i´ll find
spin forth your fleece of glowing atoms strike
core of image
blurred memory´s mind

wake up and hold
the breeze is whispered coverlet
often thoughts will wash these dunes
continents themselves dissolve to ruin
and in each wrinkle and for each mind
and through the night
each sail fill soon

i always the different kid
never fit into the norm
when the grade school boys they had a band
they never asked me to perform

as a kid i was a dreamer
to be liked i played the fool
and I´ve spent a lifetime living down
all the things i never did in school

riding on a bicycle
through the streets at three a.m.
another fourteen year old fugitive
finding shelter in the wind

cause the night swirls like some meaning
could be born at every bend
it holds you like a mother
then it treats you like a friend

i don´t have to be the leader
but i don´t want to fade away
i just want to be included
when the band comes out to play

nineteen years of questions
twenty years of pride
a lifetime of reflection
will eat you up inside

i never though i was good looking
could not make the grade
but bottled up inside of me
was the new years day parade

when some nights I play I´m dreaming
of lights and of the roar
and i feel like when I´m pushing
i could break down any door

but I´m down here on the corner
banging out a tune
calling up to heaven
howling at the moon

st. anne sends her regards to me
wrapped in an image of love
i wish i could answer but i´m lost over eden
dropped as a twig by the dove

it´s a long way back to shelter
i´m sorry but I can´t take you there
but last night at a quarter till daybreak
i was resurrected down in harvard square

the stones at our feet have been listening
to the dreams spilling out of our minds
and cradled each hope and ambition
and fed the sparks with the droplets of time

and the sacred becomes an illusion
ground into the dirt on your clothes
but the fabric of life is unending
reborn each minute in front of our nose

chorus

the heavens are weaving a question
from each prayer forgotten in rhyme
taken each moment uncertain
to leave a clue at the scene of the crime

and the headlights and the cobblestone crossings
composing this orchestral world
but the music is not what we´re make
but has been making not but a musical world

chorus

when we see the hopeless unfortunate beggar
addicted and bent to his knees
pass as a phantom before us
reflecting our souls as the holes in his selves