Steve Nelson

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Come on in and have a look-see, and hear some songs from along the way.

Lyrics from Steve’s Stoneway Close CD

1. The Old Fairgrounds (for Harry) (Steve Nelson / James Wold)

Lately, Harry's been singing in my memory
We were kind of lost we was both lonely
Remember when he told me
Life is but a dream
And it's not only everything it seems
It can be perfect
Depending how you work it

   The circus is still in town
   Here's hoping they hang around
   Up at the old fairgrounds
   It's a drag when the tent comes down

Baby, I was high up on the wire I was crazy
You jumped through hoops of fire just to save me
You talk about your moonbeam
Here you are still shining right into me
I'm thinking that you know
The way you move me
The way that you undo me

(Repeat Chorus--solo)

Sadie, sit over here where it's more shady
We'll have us a beer then let's get lazy
Maybe take in main street it certainly has changed
It's not the same street
Where you got my name
When we were married
And threw 'em back with Harry

(Repeat Chorus)

2. Trains (Helen Darling / Steve Nelson)

Amanda took the morning train
Right on time and in the rain
She played this day out in her mind
A thousand times

Bobby whispered to the cold steel tracks
I don't think she's coming back
But men like him they never cry
Or say goodbye

   The whistle blows in Watertown
   It screams right through the grey
   And it reminds me when I hear that sound
   They were never meant to stay oh
   Trains just go that way

One time I heard that whistle moan
The day they brought his body home
He'd just left here six months before
For the war

Then she came back two weeks ago
And found his stone there in the snow
She left a rose in the freezing rain
Then she was gone on the five-nineteen

   The whistle blows in Watertown
   And it screams right through the grey
   It reminds me when I hear that sound
   They were never meant to stay no
   Trains just go that way
   And it happens every day
   Trains just go that way

3. Back On Trial (Steve Nelson)

I can peel bananas, and I'll eat them too
Roller skate around in this three piece suit
You make some funny faces and I'll smile at you
Just don't put me back on trial

I got a busy monkey business, it’s pretty much full time
Besides I never met this Darwin guy
I hear we're related, that's no fault of mine
Don't put me back on trial

   Who got all the brains it's plain to see
   Back on that monkey chain you jumped right over me
   There's times that I'm amazed we're family
   But don't get me wrong, I love what you've done with this place
   You're all a credit to the human race

1925 in Dayton, Tennessee
Eighty years down, you're still shaking up the tree
From where I hang, you're a bunch of monkeyshines to me
Don't put me back on trial

Okay maybe you're the proof of an intelligent design
Me I'm just a monkey, that never crossed my mind
Let's just keep descending, it could change in time
Just don't put me back on trial

   You know who got all the brains it's plain to see
   Back on that monkey chain you jumped right over me
   There's times when I'm amazed we're family
   But don't get me wrong, I love what you've done with this place
   Why let’s all take a bow right now for the human race
   You’re beautiful!!

4. Take Me (Steve Nelson / James Wold)

Been in a fog
No telling where to go
Cracks in the cogs
Every thing's turning slow
Slipping into a change of gear
Get us out of here
Get to somewhere where we both can breathe

Take me wherever you're going
Take me wake me up when it's all glowing

Well it could be tonight
It's all in sight right now
Into the light
I can imagine how
Stepping out of the same gray scene
This is not a dream
There's no waiting if we just proceed
I'm thinking that you

Take me wherever you're going
Take me wake me up when it's all glowing

(Bridge)
   I’ll go ahead and pack some things
   And bring along a song to sing

Take me wherever you're going
Take me wake me up when it's all glowing

5. Some Days It Plays Like A Waltz (Annie Mosher / Steve Nelson)

The dreamers, the haters, the anchored, the way wards
All here at humanity's ball
With each song they play us the band creates chaos
Desperation is shaking the walls
Behold this creation, un-civilization
There's times I lose hope for it all

   Some days it feels like we don't stand a chance
   And every step ends with a fall
   But then there are days that just ask you to dance
   Some days it plays like a waltz

Watching the mountain with stars all around
And a three quarter moon keeping time
Here in the stillness the peacefulness fills us
And without a sound it all rhymes
Those halcyon days have all gone on their way
But there's new ones just waiting to shine

   Some days it feels like we don't stand a chance
   And every step ends with a fall
   But then there are days that just ask you to dance
   Some days it plays like a waltz

6. Weekend In A Coal Mine Town (Don Henry / Steve Nelson)

Hey big sister take me please
I have finished my chores
A buffalo nickel's all I need
Down at the general store

Watch the old men sit and pick
Stomping out a mountain song
Chewing on our licorice sticks
As we clog along

Old Blue barks the whistle blows
Daddy will be getting home soon
Black coal dust from head to toe
Smiling bright as the moon

Supper's served and momma prays
Lord watch over us all
The Philco glows as Acuff plays
Wabash Cannonball

Momma's in her sleeping gown
Sewing in the morning light
Patching' up a hand me down
For the big dance tonight

While we're playing' hide and seek
They're dancing' on the barnyard deck
Between Old Joe Clark and Cripple Creek
Daddy gave mom a peck

Morning comes the church bell rings
Echoing through the trees
As we sit down, the choir sings
Nearer My God To Thee

Preacher preaches 'til we're bored
Daddy says better settle down
Pass the plate and thank the Lord
For a weekend in a coal town
Weekend in a coal mine town

7. The Finish Line (Lisa Aschmann – Steve Nelson)

There's a crater off the Yucatan
From a long long time ago
Seems a six mile wide meteorite
Crashed into Mexico

We weren't even chimpanzees
It was just the dinosaurs
And when the dust had settled down
They were gone forevermore

   Say so yeah that's how it goes
   We're just a moment in time
   We're running in the human race
   And there's the finish line
   There’s the finish line

An iceberg the size of Minnesota
Just fell into the sea
Which by the way is rising
Not like the global economy

Hey friends Romans and countrymen
We're headed for a fall
We'll probably see the writing
Just as we hit the wall

(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)
Every cockroach is excited
Every bee's a-buzz
Peace at last, yeah they're so jazzed
It'll be the way it was

(Repeat Chorus)

   So say so that's how it goes
   We're just a moment in time
   Too many rats here in the race
   And there's the finish line
   There’s the finish line

8. Falling Off The World (Leslie Mills / Steve Nelson / Chris Pelcer)

Coming up for air from a deep blue feeling
Getting out of here on a slow ride she's gone
She's got all her bags at the bus stop waiting
Making up her mind and it's goodbye, so long
Don't trace her tracks, no plans to come back
Don't write, don't phone cause she's not home…..she's

   Falling off the world
   The disappearing girl
   Catching her breath doing her very best
   Cut herself free gonna be
   Falling off the world
   The disappearing girl
   Don't look her up, down she's not around you see
   She's falling off the world

Picture you and me in a romance movie
Then it fades to black and it's over and done
Heavy on my heart like a force of nature
Gravity's a grip that'll hold on so strong
Swing high, swing low, one two three go
Oh yeah, you bet she's not done yet..she's just

   Falling off the world
   The disappearing girl
   Catching her breath doing her very best
   Cut herself free gonna be
   Falling off the world
   The disappearing girl
   Don't look her up, down she's not around you see
   She's falling off the world

9. Nobody Sent For Ya‘ (Steve Nelson)

Go back to where you came from
You can't just come in here
You just don't fit, in so many ways
I could go on for years

Now all you people you look the same
You're a different color too
And I don't get what you're trying' to say
You don't talk the way we do

   And nobody sent for ya’
   Why don't you turn around
   Nobody sent for ya’
   Just go home and settle down
   ‘Cause nobody sent for ya’

Guess some of you are peaceful
But not the ones I see
Got your guns and knives and alcohol
This could the end of me

And this place that I've been given
To live out all my days
The land of the free
And the home of the brave

   And nobody sent for ya’
   Why don't you turn around
   Nobody sent for ya’
   So just go home and settle down
   ‘Cause nobody sent for ya’

Damn that Chris Columbus
Had to sail that ocean blue
Never saw him coming
And now we're stuck with you

So we will celebrate our redness
With all our tribal kin
Pray you go home, leave us alone
And tell all your pale faced friends

   Nobody sent for ya’
   Why don't you turn around
   You know nobody sent for ya’
   Just go home and settle on down
   ‘Cause nobody sent for ya’

10. Baseballs Sad Lexicon (Tinker, To Evers, To Chance)
(Poem by Franklin Pierce Adams July, 1910 / Music by Steve Nelson)

These are the saddest of possible words
Tinker to Evers to Chance
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds
Tinker and Evers and Chance
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble
Making a Giant hit into a double
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble
Tinker to Evers to Chance

11. The Team From Cooperstown (Phillip Coleman / Steve Nelson)

It 's just an old piece of leather
And a bat from Louisville
I've had them both forever
And I guess I always will
Somehow they find my hands each spring
When the days get longer and the grass turns green

   I was Willie Mays in center field
   Mickey Mantle in the house Ruth built
   I was Jackie I was Hank
   I was money in the bank
   And the crowd was on their feet
   You should have heard the sound
   When I was just a kid with dreams
   On the team from Cooperstown

A button down cotton jersey
Like the old big leaguers wore
Every day I got it dirty
Sure made my mom sore
Old black spikes with red dirt stains
That'll you'll never see in the Hall Of Fame

(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)
Now I watch them round the bases
It's just practice in the park
Little bubble blowing' faces
Pretending that they are

   Pujols and Ichiro
   It's Trevor time, close the show
   Jeter turning two
   Chipper coming through
   And the crowd's still on their feet
   I know they hear the sound
   For now they're all just kids with dreams
   On the team from Cooperstown

Smack that ball yeah
Touch 'em all now
Can of corn 'round the horn
.....It’s just an old piece of leather
And a bat from Louisville

12. The Dealer (Guy Clark / Steve Nelson)

Heavy air, sky of gray
Looks like rain is coming this way
Settle in, you're here to stay
‘Til you wash away

Blame the cards, or destiny
Call it God or what's meant to be
Call you gone or still next to me
It's no mystery

       And the moon it is confounded
       And the sun it is ashamed
       But the dealer shows no mercy
       And the dealer calls the game
       The dealer calls the game

Curse the sun chase the rain
Dance with joy, face the pain
Face the night, it's all in vain
Only time and tides remain

It's so cold, hurts to breathe
It's so dark deep inside of me
Close my eyes and I can see
Across eternity

       And the moon it is confounded
       And the sun it is ashamed
       But the dealer shows no mercy
       And the dealer calls the game

       And the moon it is confounded
       And the sun it is ashamed
       The dealer knows no mercy
       And it'll always be the same
       The dealer calls the game

13. Evaporated Man (Steve Nelson / James Wold)

He's been globalized and downsized
And the planet's hot
Keep him bottlenecked in jam time
Give him all you got
He can take a lot

Every day he wakes up to the light
And he's born again
And if the medications' all right
Then he's warm again
Out on a gust of wind

   He can see the world on fire
   Burning away
   And he's melted down
   At the end of his every-days
   When at last he runs out of steam
   He'll be but a dream
   The evaporated man
   The evaporated man

And it goes according to plan
Now he's all but gone
Just another kick of the can
It's a sing along
It's the same old song...everybody

   He can see the world on fire
   Burning away
   And he's melted down
   At the end of his every-days
   When at last he runs out of steam
   He'll be but a dream
   The evaporated man
   The evaporated man

(repeat chorus)
   (tag)
    In a way every thing's still fine
   We'll be like him in time
   The evaporated man

14. Anchors Aweigh (Steve Nelson)

There's a wind that points to home
A ship to sail you there
There's times you swear
That you're where you belong
Then you hear it in the air

   Anchors aweigh,
   Rig the lines and sails
   Anchors aweigh
   And pray a steady wind prevails
   Your ship is safe at harbor
   But it wasn't built to stay
   Anchors away

And if you're going 'round the world
Will you take me too
I don't know where
But I know why I'm going
And I won't be overdue

   Anchors aweigh,
   Rig the lines and sails
   Anchors aweigh
   And pray a steady wind prevails
   Your ship is safe at harbor
   But it wasn't built to stay
   Anchors away

(bridge)
The waves are only borrowed from the wind
And each one is another chance
That may not come again

(repeat chorus)
   The waves break the reflection
   In the quiet of the bay
   Anchors aweigh
   Anchors away

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