YEARS

Lost my spirit and the friends who came to see me
Lost a good song when the spirit left me here
And I can’t imagine what went right
The voice that was calling me near
“You’ve been lost for years and years.”

Take no questions, talk to no one when the night falls
Shut your eyes out, and you pray, day appears
And I can’t imagine what went right
And who made the night disappear
“You’ve been lost for years and years.”

In the midnight hour a spirit came softly
Crossed our music for a while
And we would smile

I’ve been waiting for a long time just to tell you
I’m a new song
May this new song
Ring so clear, clear, clear
And I dare not wonder what goes right
The spirit can bring us here
I’ve been lost for years and years
You’ve been lost for years and years
We’ve been lost for years and years
We’ve been lost
We’ve been lost
We’ve been lost

© 1991 Chris LeRoy
Published by New West Crash Music/ASCAP

I WOULDN’T FOLLOW

Well you can travel through the hills
You can travel to the valleys below
Well you can travel through the hills
You can travel to the valleys below
But you can’t go anywhere
I-I-I wouldn’t follow

You could go it all alone
You could go to anyplace you want to go
You could travel any road
You could go to anyplace you want to go
But you can’t go anywhere
I-I-I wouldn’t follow

Well you can turn and walk away
You can turn on everything you know
Well you can turn and walk away
You can turn on everything you know
But you can’t go anywhere
I-I-I wouldn’t follow
No you can’t go anywhere
That I-I-I….

© 1981 Chris LeRoy and Tony Fate
Published by New West Crash Music
and Vital Gesture Records

GRENADE

Let me be clear about this said the man who was made
Let me be clear about this said the man who was made
What I hold in my hand
This is not a grenade

When he stepped to the podium
50 men in the shade
When he stepped to the podium
50 men in the shade
50 men are forbidden
To set eyes on the grenade

Well it fire or its brimstone til the preachers been paid
Well it fire or its brimstone til the preachers been paid
Keep this man from the precipice
He might have a grenade

Seven doctors walked quiet
And they left the parade
Seven doctors walked quiet
And they left the parade
It’s the best you can do when you see a grenade

When the general left town
Only staff people stayed
When the general left town
Only staff people stayed
They have to love and nurture
And learn to live with a grenade

Well my TV set’s wide-eyed
And the stars are turning gray
Well my TV set’s wild-eyed
And the stars are turning gray
When I look out my window
See the nighttime turn to day

Learn to live with a grenade….

© 2004 Chris LeRoy
Published by New West Crash Music/ASCAP

CHANGE

Let me tell a story about how I feel
Why you can't love me is no big deal
Sitting home alone is only wasting time
Waiting on you is surely wasting mine
But I can see a change
And I can feel a change
Coming over me

I just held the ladder out a little too long
Wishing I could hold you back but you're too strong
Sitting here static's only wasting time
Sitting here crying's only wasting mine
But I can see a change
And I can feel a change
Coming over me

Can't you hear me talking is it way too loud?
If we knew any better we would lose this crowd
Maybe you were right when you said, "Time destroys,
But we might find each other in the joyful noise."
But I can see a change
And I can feel a change
Coming over me

Chris LeRoy
© 2004 Published by New West Crash Music

I DON'T EVEN KNOW MYSELF

Everything has its place in the world
'less it all blows to hell
How am I to know
Which way the wind will blow
If I don't even know myself?

See that train going straight down the line
Hear the whistle blow fair thee well
How am I to know
Which way the wind will blow
If I don't even know myself?

Well I've been through the mountains
And I been through the hills
I just want to sit down for a spell

Blackbird is calling
He's so far from home
He don't have no time to tell
How am I to know
Which way the wind will blow
If I don't even know myself?

© Chris LeRoy
August 19, 2001
Published by New West Crash Music/ASCAP

FOLLOWING A RIVER

Hand me down and hand me down and hand me down my fate
Once I believed in the ever after
Don’t believe so much today
It’s a finer line I crossed this time
It’s humid out this way
And there’s a red sun sinking in the river
And it’s the evening of the day

Photograph of my little dear one
Lost in the fading light
Sending out her love to me tonight

I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea
I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea

Hand me down and hand me down and hand me down my mind
I used to find my way around here
But now I’m moving blind
One lonely child when he was young
They never tried to find him
Now there’s a red sun sinking in the river
And he walks by the waterline

Photograph of my little dear one
Cold by the firelight
Sending out her love to me tonight

I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea
I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea

Hand me down and hand me down and hand me down my name
As I go farther down this water
These rocks just look the same
There’s a blackness in the undertow
Put me in a darker frame
And there’s a red sun sinking in the river
Never going to rise again

Photograph of my little dear one
Cold in the moonlight
Sending out her love to me tonight

I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea
I’m following a river, baby
Following a river…

(SOLO VERSE)

Photograph of my little dear one
Cold by the moonlight
Sending out her love to me tonight

I’m following a river, baby
Following a river to the sea
I’m following a river, baby
Following a river…
Watch me

© Chris LeRoy
July 4, 2005 New West Crash Music

CLOSE CALL

I guess this is how my life will go now
I talk to machines that won’t answer somehow
The wonders and worries that come to me now
Guess I just had a close call

No use in me rising I’m left out for dead
The funniest shadows afloat in my head
I rest here a moment or head off to bed
Guess I just had a close call

So goodnight my old friends and lovers
I’ll see you in dreams after all
Kinda hung around
Almost touched ground
I guess you could say a close call

I rung up my friend cause I finished a song
It’s better than most songs and not half as long
I said come on over but don’t take too long
Guess I just had a close call

I pulled down the drapes cause I’m tired of the light
I think the sun’s setting I welcome the night
A star doesn’t know when its dropped from the sky
Thinks it just had a close call

CHORUS

The cell phone will never stop ringing away
The sound just gets farther and farther away
A knock at my door but my door fades away
I guess I just had a close call

I wonder who writes all the messages down
For all the lost calls that wind their way round
Like veins through the thin air, like wires to the ground
Will somebody take a close call?

CHORUS

© Chris LeRoy
August 26, 2005 Published:NEW WEST CRASH MUSIC /ASCAP