TIME HURTS

When my father died I was a young man
I wandered for most of a year
Now once in a while I think of him
When I see my eyes in the mirror

Time hurts, time hurts, hurts before you can feel
Time hurts, time hurts, it hurts before it heals

I had a great love and she left me
I cried when she walked through the door
I watched through the window her mind to change
I watched for and hour or more

Time hurts, time hurts, it hurts before you feel
Time hurts, time hurts, it hurts before it heals

I looked for work for a long time
But I just could not settle down
So I settled down with this bottle
To sleep in a river and drown

I see the winds in the mountains
I see the smoke in the trees
I see dreams rising up to the heavens
Come settle down soft in the streets

Time hurts, time hurts, hurts with a pain so real
Time hurts, time hurts, time hurts before it heals

© Chris LeRoy October 25, 2007
Published by New West Crash Music

PULL THE CURTAIN

It’s not just these few words
I’m like a willow bending low
It’s not just these few hours
Before it’s time to go

Pull the curtain
Pull the curtain
Pull it slow

Time up on this altar
Seems like minutes in a row
Seems like every time we falter
We have all our dreams in tow

Pull the curtain
Pull the curtain
Pull it slow

Were I the faithful servant
Who ran the household so
The master found me pleasing
When he returns, behold

Pull the curtain
Pull the curtain
Pull it slow

Will he come unexpected
In an hour I do not know?
Will he cut me into pieces ?
Will he bring me in the fold?

Pull the curtain
Pull the curtain
Pull it slow

For me they’ll stop their weeping
Because they see the glow
For me they’ll raise the standards
So let the trumpets blow

Pull the curtain
Pull the curtain
Pull it slow

Chris LeRoy © October 9, 2007
Published by New West Crash Music

HAPPY TIMES

First had a book they called it Happy Times
With happy words, happy rhymes for sure
From where I stood it was a real hard climb
But I had a place to go

When I was young I had a late night station
I tuned it in for a Little Bit of Soul
Back at my school they had no expectations
But I had a place to go

I saw a poster it said Happy Times,
See the world, come get your place in line
From where I stood it was a real hard climb
But I had a place to go

I saw my friends getting high for the weekend
Drive with this monkey down a wrong way road
Back in my room I had a late night station
But I had a place to go

SOLO

I’m out driving to a moonlight station
Signal stutters on my radio
I sing along cause its My Generation
We got a place to go
Still got a place to go

I wrote a song and called it Happy Times
With happy words, happy rhymes for sure
From where I stand its still a real hard climb
Turn off your radio

Chris LeRoy
3/22/2007
© and Published by New West Crash Music

WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE

There’s no happy ever after
Here were trying to survive
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble in this life

You work and you can have your money
But that don’t guarantee a ride
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble in this life

And the morning sun comes up
And the evening sun goes down
Think that I would be alive
But everyone is dying
In this cold dark town

Some folks just think of starting over
They take a lifetime to decide
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble, baby
Whole Lotta Trouble in this life

© Chris LeRoy and Johnny Hickman 1989

LAST TRAIN

Sitting on a train track tryin’ to decide
Should I lie back for the rest of the ride?
Cash my ticket to the other side? Why?
Everybody guessed that I would end this way
Little bit of heaven there’s hell to pay
I can hear the whistle from a mile away Why?

Hello Hello Hello Hello, Hi
Do you know how to cry? Blue Sky
Do you know how to cry? Well I…

Started falling early I was just a kid
Monkey on my shoulder in a takeover bid
He always found me so I never hid Why?
But I remember summer under candy trees
Learning my chords just shooting the breeze
Life can be golden in small degrees Why?

Hello Hello Hello Hello, Hi
Do you know how to cry? Blue Sky
Do you know how to cry/ Can you sigh?
Like the last train coming by?

Wish I had a family in a 50’s home
Faded brown Buick and some rusted chrome
A rusted dog and a rusted bone Why?
I remember summer under candy trees
Learning my chords just shooting the breeze
I can feel the crosstie under my knees Why?

CHORUS
Life is a good kid trying to be bad
Laughing out loud cause his heart is so sad
He could be the best friend that you ever had
Here’s to the summer that never ends
Here’s the last quarter I was meaning to spend
Smoke from the engine coming round the bend

© Chris LeRoy
September 15, 2005 New West Crash Music

DON'T WHISPER

The end of all is crashing
I'm buried beneath this load
Beneath this load
I wanna buy a gun and shoot the neighbor
Trouble is, no one's home
If I could catch my breath, I'd breathe
If I had traveling clothes, I'd leave
Man, I'd leave
I need that shrink, pull the plug
Maybe someday, he will come
Please don't whisper
Or else I’ll just die
Scream until the windows crack
And I'll love you again
I set my sights too high
I stumbled and I fell, asking why
Running in my sleep, my eyes won't blink
Turn the last few corners, wave goodbye
I take a bus back home
I sit in County Jail by the phone
“ Think the call's for you, mister.”
Couldn't hear a word you said,
"Please don't whisper".
Please don't whisper
Or else I’ll just die
Scream until the windows crack
And I'll love you again


© 2006 Chris LeRoy, Mike Wilkerson,& Gary Kjorvestad Published by New West Crash Music/ASCAP

ANOTHER SONG ABOUT THE RAIN

The wind of fate has pried us loose
The light of mercy hurts my eyes
Is it worth the things you lose
To board the train and watch the sky?

I sing myself to sleep at night
I sing myself to sleep

Another song about the rain
Coming down it burns through me
Another song about the rain

Got a line straight from my heart
There was a time it went to you.
Another place when we were smart
Before the flood and time was through

I sing myself to sleep at night
I sing myself to sleep

Another song about the rain
Coming down it burns through me
Another song about the rain

Sorry now never made you see
Sorry now sounds so far away
Will our child cry for me
When he hears the dragon's flame

Highway flares make red the street
My fingers spin the dial again
But every station's on to me, yeah

Another song about the rain
Another song about the rain
Another song about the rain
Never rained so viciously

© 1992 Chris LeRoy & Johnny Hickman

LUCKY

I ‘m lucky for my fingers
Lucky bed to sleep
Lucky thoughts that linger
Lucky as I leap
Sometimes I turn my mind to days
Before we broke in two
Yeah but I'm lucky, so lucky
For the time I spent with you

Now some would call it destiny
Say we don’t control our fate
Yeah but me I don't believe that stuff
And I'm luckier that way
(*Alt version: See I believe you make your own luck)
Sometimes. I turn my mind to days
Before we broke in two
But I'm lucky, so lucky
For the time I spent with you

What more could I ask for?
What more could I do?
What more could I ask for?
I owe so much to you

Well I'm lucky I'm still dreaming
Lucky to have cried
Yeah even lucky for the bad luck
Just lucky to have tried
Sometimes I turn my mind to days
Before we broke in two
Yeah but I’m lucky I'm lucky
For the times I spent with you
For the times I spent with you

© Chris LeRoy and Johnny Hickman Published 2005 New West Crash Music and Bad Altar Boy Music

A HOUSE HAS MANY ROOMS

I’m wandering out this old dirt road
So far away from home
And I have done so many things
Ashamed with what I’ve done
But I can see the city lights
A crown up on the dunes
I’m coming home
I’m coming home
A house has many rooms

When I was young I saw no life
Beyond my carryin’ on
I’d rattle with the best of them
I’d carry on ‘til dawn
But I can see I wasted time
The end was sometime soon
I’m coming down
I’m coming down
A house has many rooms

Then I was stuck in troubled times
I had no where to go
I drained out every waking dream
That used to be my soul
I worked for money, worked for bread
I howled at the moon
I’m coming down
I’m coming down
A house has many rooms

If you should ever leave your home
If you should go astray
If you should ever find you’re down
This side of judgment day
I think that you should cry out loud
Please lift me from this gloom
I’m coming down
I’m coming down
A house has many rooms
I’m coming home
I’m coming home
His house has many rooms

Chris LeRoy © October 9, 2007 Published by New West Crash Music

THE TREES

Up in the mountain where they cleared away the trees
Up in the mountain where they cleared away the trees
I’m looking through the clearing as far as I can see

I see the white hot hills I see the river split in two
I see the white hot hills I see the river split in two
Well there ain’t no telling what the water’s gonna do

I see the waters rush to the center of town
I see the waters rush to the center of town
They got no idea. The rain’s a’ coming down

I see a smart dressed man floating with a silver cane
I see a smart dressed man floating with a silver cane
I have this beggar man float by with his cup of rain

I see an old pack mule caught up in the clothesline
I see an old pack mule caught up in the clothesline
I see a trunk of old pictures they got left behind

I see an angel cryin sitting by the side of the road
I see an angel cryin sitting by the side of the road
She says walk with me and we can share this heavy load

Back in the mountain where they cleared away the trees
Back in the mountain where they cleared away the trees
Me and my angel are planting seeds.



© 2007 Chris LeRoy
Published by New West Crash Music/ASCAP

WRONG

The day I said I loved you
Was the day it got away
It messes up my memory
Makes it hard to penetrate
But now I’ve gone and left you
I’m out for parts unknown
I sit here by this windy road
I’m feeling all alone

Because I was wrong
The moon won’t shine
Making the stars align
One more time, one more time

Half of what I said to you
Made all the sense to me
I wondered how you lost your way
Your sensibility
And I was never stronger
Then when I shut that kitchen door
A cold wind on my windshield and
A notebook on the floor

CHORUS

Way out here the Joshua tree
Ain’t really trees at all
And somewhere in the desert winds
The rain’s about to fall
But I could never tell you how
You mean so much me
I’ll carry you inside this soul
For all eternity

Because I was wrong
The sun didn’t shine
I saw the birds fly through
The skyline
Because I was wrong
The moon won’t shine
Making the stars align
One more time, one last time

Chris LeRoy © September 6, 2007 New West Crash Publishing

THE GREAT DECLINE (Palmhenge II)

They're putting up a superstore
Where the local merchant tried
Another corporate nightmare
Where another dream has died

CHORUS:
And as the choices disappear
I wanna change my mind
I wanna go back to the days
Before the great deline

The job you had your eye on
Has just sailed across the sea
So much for your resume
So much for your degree

CHORUS:
And as the choices disappear
Don't you wanna change your mind?
Don't you wanna go back to the days
Before the great decline

The signs up ahead read indecision
Cloudy vision for a head on collision
God bless you, and God bless me
But God help the children of this century

CHORUS:
Our leaders are all drunk on greed
Do you wanna taste that wine?
Or do you wanna go back to the days
Before the great decline

© 2005 Johnny Hickman
BAD ALTAR BOY MUSIC BMI (FROM PALMHENGE)

FRIENDS

I'd never sleep with your ex-girlfriend
Even if she starts to flirt with me again
Allow me to apologise for my slightly wicked thoughts
But that's the kind of friend that you've got

If a fight broke out and you're the cause of it
In some redneck bar where you've been talking shit
I would not forsake you later in that parking lot
'Cause that's the kind of friend that you've got

CHORUS:
Through the laughter and the tears
We go stumbling through these years
A bit disfunctional some might say
But I've got the dirt on you
And you've got plenty on me too
So I pray we stay together all our days

When you're on a date and you finally bring her home
Put some music on and disconnect the phone
I'll show up drunk and cryin', and pass out on the spot
'Cause that's the kind of friend that you've got

REPEAT CHORUS

Dear Lord I pray we stay together all our days

Johnny Hickman
© 2005 Bad Atar Boy Music BMI (From Palmhenge)

LET IT DROWN

The sun up his morning was the hurting kind
So began the battle for our hearts and minds
So began the tale Adam raised a Cain
You know it happened once now it’s happening again

IF THE RAIN COMES DOWN
BUT THE WORLD JUST WON’T COOL DOWN
LET THE RAIN COME DOWN
LET IT DROWN

All along the watchtower on every written page
Winds of revolution and tears of holy rage
Someone gets the medal. Someone gets the grave
See the Savior coming but there’s no one left to save

Been the source of trouble since the world began
It happened to a woman. It happened to a man
You put all together mix in earth and wood
You don’t know what you started. Would you stop it if you could?

IF THE RAIN COMES DOWN
BUT THE WORLD JUST WON’T COOL DOWN
LET THE RAIN COME DOWN
LET IT DROWN

The sun up his morning was the hurting kind
So began the battle for our hearts and minds
So began the tale Adam raised a Cain
You know it happened once. Now it’s starting all again

IF THE RAIN COMES DOWN
BUT THE WORLD JUST WON’T COOL DOWN
LET THE RAIN COME DOWN
LET IT DROWN


Chris LeRoy
© March 17, 2005
New West Crash Music

OPEN ARMS

Look at that road
Under the trees
Look on back
The way it used to be
From the soul of the heartland
To Yasgur’s farm
Walking on the roadsides
We came for open arms

The time I loved her
Was long ago
But I came back
For the things I had to know about her
But she lost what she had for me
And most of her charm
Never saw me coming
But I came for open arms

Don’t want money
Don’t want cars
And I just look up
When I want to see the stars
But if I fall over
Don’t want to fall far
I need you to catch me
When I fall for open arms

Not many stories
Turn out straight
Not many hours
Before the hour is late
And the liberty statue
She never meant harm
But who can I turn to
When I reach for open arms?

Chris LeRoy
© June 13, 1983
New West Crash Music