1. |
Banjo
00:28
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2. |
Ghost In The Ground
03:19
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I was halfway out the door
On the day my brother called
Wrapped my hands in a rosary
Sang the sacred poetry
Cities under passing skies
Magazines to pass the time
Counting flashes on the wings
In slow motion velocity
A little time to repent
As the lightning came and went
Sunday morning came to life
And fell asleep in her eyes
Borrowed boots headed west
Charcoal heart in my chest
Left that little hillside town
With a ghost in the ground
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3. |
Granby
04:40
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There’s a fire on the way
Rising higher from the lake
In the valley to the peak
And sacred spaces in between
Written on the pages
In the books kept inside
Stories for the ages
We couldn’t leave behind
Waiting for salvation
To fall from the sky
Pray for rain or a flood
Haven’t we had enough?
Wind and fire ravaged earth
Through the water it will return
Written on the pages
In the books kept inside
Stories for the ages
We couldn’t leave behind
Waiting for salvation
To fall from the sky
Smoke rises from the snow
Where the pines used to grow
Sun and shadows run and play
Around the boulder where he lay
Written on the pages
In the books kept inside
Stories for the ages
We couldn’t leave behind
Waiting for salvation
To fall from the sky
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4. |
Reflections
04:24
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Runnin’ wild for 100 days
Tryin’ hard not to break
Countin’ up all my mistakes
Wonderin’ if I can change
Lookin’ at myself today
A little more hair turned grey
Movin’ in to share some space
With the lines on my face
Are these reflections
Really the best of what I can see?
Too many questions
Need some direction
I just can’t follow me
Keeping demons at arm’s length
I won’t play the devil’s games
Father please grant me grace
Shield my feet from the flame
All the time that I waste
I’ve been fighting to erase
Searching for my hidden strength
To guard against this unrelenting raid
Are these reflections
Really the best of what I can see?
Too many questions
Need some direction
I just can’t follow me
Prayin’ for a change of pace
And better days to replace
The rolling storm that came our way
Put the whole word in its place
When we’re free will we be the same?
Chasin’ after dreams of yesterday
Should we go the way we came?
Looking back there’s nothing to gain
Are these reflections
Really the best of what I can see?
Too many questions
Need some direction
I just can’t follow me
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5. |
Everyone's Birthday
03:10
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She knows everyone’s birthday
And the names of every child
She loves sleeping on Sunday
After catching up with Saturday night
She keeps a bottle of champagne
Ready to pop at any given time
She’s a light that leans in a doorway
Just to make sure they’re sleepin’ alright
And I can’t sleep when she’s away
Staring up at the spinning blades
I was losing when she changed the game
She looks like she did on the first day
Headaches and heartaches once in a while
She smiles like a kid on her birthday
Still finds a way to keep me surprised
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6. |
Old Folk City
03:40
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Last night I dreamt about a guitar
Lovely and lonesome on the back wall
Played a few chords went back in time
To the Old Folk City six string at my side
Saw myself there lost in the sound
Of guitars playin’ on their old stompin’ grounds
A voice stitched together from whiskey and smoke
And life on the highway runnin’ from home
Take me back to the Old Folk City
Let me bring my guitar with me
Sing me that song about watching the rain
Look for the storm headed your way
Big wooden boxes worn and weathered
Seen as much action as cowboy leather
Sound like the sun showing its face
After ten days of lightning chasing the rain
Take me back to the Old Folk City
Let me bring my guitar with me
Sing me that song about watching the rain
Look for the storm headed your way
Wish I could hear it for the very first time
Like I did when I was a child
Wish I could relive those days
Back before I was set in my ways
These old guitars can’t be put away
Can’t save a soul locked in a case
Just like the roses need sunshine and rain
Just like my children run through the day
I never knew what I could feel
Until I heard sitka and steel
I take it with me wherever I go
Six strings to keep me safe on the road
Take me back to the Old Folk City
Let me bring my guitar with me
Sing me that song about watching the rain
Look for the storm headed your way
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7. |
No Enemies
05:50
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Seething white water spit salt in my eyes
Rage of the waves caught us by surprise
Five days in the cove on the F-49
Lasts just as long as a thousand lifetimes
Five hundred yards at the ocean's command
Ten foot tide gave orders to man
We landed where lava transformed into sand
Seawater stung the cuts on my hands
The sun doesn't know a thing about this place
No enemies in sight no fight here today
The water collected pieces of war
As bits of the barge swam into the shore
I made a knife and went to explore
The new world surrounding five men in a fort
Found an old graveyard halfway in the earth
Under the watch of red breasted birds
And seven blue foxes on high alert
They're all waiting for the light to return
The sun doesn't know a thing about this place
No enemies in sight no fight here today
Two packs a day and eight games a night
Pinups and pinochle with homemade rye
Waited a year on a six month supply
Tried not to use it in three months' time
Forty-eight cards dog eared and torn
Can't read their faces at all anymore
I miss the scent of popcorn from home
Willows in summer and slingshots and bows
The sun doesn't know a thing about this place
No enemies in sight no fight here today
I gave up writing for 46 days
Letters from home all came in May
Daylight appeared for an overnight stay
And quickly vanished into four weeks of rain
Today I fired nine rounds in the sky
To celebrate my birthday twenty years alive
Wish that I had a girl with me tonight
Instead of this battle without one fight
The sun doesn't know a thing about this place
No enemies in sight no fight here today
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8. |
Dancing With The Saints
03:54
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I know it’s been a while since I’ve seen your face
I can’t help but smile when I say your name
I think of that night when the old band played
The light in your eyes shinin’ like a stage
But life ain’t always funny
It’s strange
Change is always coming your way
Givin’ all the love you can
Til’ you’re off somewhere dancing with the saints
A madman laughing screaming at the storm
Hard as the hammers beating time of war
I prayed your pain would someday set you free
I hoped you made it home where you should be
But life ain’t always funny
It’s strange
Change is always coming your way
Givin’ all the love you can
Til’ you’re off somewhere dancing with the saints
I woke up with a feeling that I was too late
You went to see the band of angels play
In the final hours new life born from pain
Like the Savior’s flowers from tears carnations came
But life ain’t always funny
It’s strange
Change is always coming your way
Givin’ all the love you can
Til’ you’re off somewhere dancing with the saints
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9. |
Mother
03:36
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Mother bird turns inward with her beak
Inner scourge she nurses tender wings
Mother feeds and then she will rest
Children drink the lifeblood from her breast
Beautiful, wounded mother friend
Does your charity ever end?
Mother spirit so heavy, so strong
As the City eternal ancient walls
Mother sits with sinners and with thieves
Tame the serpent the Servant will redeem
Beautiful, wounded mother friend
Wash our feet, bleed and rise again
Mother sees her legions from the skies
Does she teach them or lead them to sacrifice?
Are your reasons for believing in decline?
Is allegiance in season at this time?
Beautiful, wounded mother friend
Do you know a prayer’s true intent?
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10. |
My Victory
03:20
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Felt like spears in my side when I heard
The devil leapt from your tongue killing words
I felt the ground pull me down
Sinking in the sand
A pain profound like thorns and crowns and nails
And feet and hands
But I’m still breathin’
Mama ain’t grievin’
And I believe in the Light
Now I’m healin’
With love I’m feelin’
Nothin’ like being alive
All the stories in your Book carry me
Free of angst building strength and my family
Can’t take from me the blood I bleed
And the life in my lungs
My victory I lived to see
The light of another sun
But I’m still breathin’
Mama ain’t grievin’
And I believe in the Light
Now I’m healin’
With love I’m feelin’
Nothin’ like being alive
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11. |
Only Mountains Know
04:08
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Winding through the rocky slopes
Watch the curves take 'em slow
Only one more turn to go
To County Road No. 4
Point a speaker toward the porch
Turn it up a little more
Watch the shadows changing form
And dance across the mountain floor
Heaven is a mountain home
Where the wildflowers grow
Painted by the afterglow
In colors only mountains know
Stardust hangin' in the air
With our own quiet prayers
To live without being scared
Of turning dreams into dares
Little cowboys from the past
Faded summers beaten paths
Lifetimes hiding behind glass
Moments gone in a flash
Heaven is a mountain home
Where the wildflowers grow
Painted by the afterglow
In colors only mountains know
Sun and snow, fire and rain
Make their seasonal exchange
When the letters rearrange
Time to start another game
Losing time in twilight
Where the hummingbirds will hide
Take a picture with your eyes
So you can go there in your mind
Heaven is a mountain home
Where the wildflowers grow
Painted by the afterglow
In colors only mountains know
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12. |
Time
04:22
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Time gets lost time is found
Drifts away without a sound
Time is gone time is now
There’s not enough to go around
It’s a band of thieves skippin’ town
Summer rain runnin’ deep in the ground
Someone you can’t live without
It’s the sun comin’ up over mountain skies
It’s sweet dreams and lullabies
The last time you say goodbye
Time don’t stop time don’t stay
Run it down and it gets away
Time stands still time escapes
Time won’t wait for you to change
It’s a band of thieves skippin’ town
Summer rain runnin’ deep in the ground
Someone you can’t live without
It’s gettin’ knocked down and stayin’ tough
Missin’ out and growin’ up
Broken hearts fallin’ in love
It’s a band of thieves skippin’ town
Summer rain runnin’ deep in the ground
Someone you can’t live without
It’s the sun comin’ up over mountain skies
It’s sweet dreams and lullabies
The last time you say goodbye
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13. |
Four Little Letters
04:19
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I fought in the battles and saw the victories
Hiding on an island in the old Aleutian seas
I was drawn into the war when I was 17
Wrote down all my stories for my family
I was down at the square having such a time
Saturday promenade drinkin’ country wine
Dancin’ with the daisies fiddles keepin’ time
Summer days so hazy we were in our prime
We lost ourselves in revelry worked with our hands
Young and strong and full of dreams we made our plans
Down in Bourbon County where it’s drier than the sand
I ran into a girl there with honey-colored hair
I made her a promise and carved it in a tree
Four little letters there where she took my ring
We built a home where thicket bends around the stream
Fell asleep while crickets blend their harmonies
When the land did not provide I cast away my seeds
Found a way to get my pay doing wicked deeds
On that summer holiday three men by the creek
I feared the day that I would pay for my sins and schemes
They shot my lover instead of me I held her there
Whispered my apologies and kissed her hair
I walked the way again one day to where our home once stood
And found that dedication there still chiseled in the wood
I knelt right down beside her grave it was overgrown
I pulled away the grass and weeds and I wept alone
I laid down roses and slept the day underneath that tree
I’ll ask you honey if I may, will you forgive me?
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14. |
Enjoy The View
03:26
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I remember the day you slept through the night
Playing in your dreams until the sunrise
Living in a pattern of accelerating time
Locking up your laughter forever in my mind
You’ll win and lose, you will make mistakes
You’ll make your plans and life will make them change
Somewhere there’s a future waiting with your name
You can be uncertain, you can be afraid
And you can change your world
It won’t happen overnight
Remember that your dreams
Sometimes need a little time
Take that amazing leap
Whenever you’re ready to fly
Remember that your dreams
Sometimes need a little time
Our life was sweet at a table for two
And it keeps getting better all because of you
Nothing lasts forever, please enjoy the view
Always choose love, always speak the truth
And you can change your world
It won’t happen overnight
Remember that your dreams
Sometimes need a little time
Take that amazing leap
Whenever you’re ready to fly
Remember that your dreams
Sometimes need a little time
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15. |
While He Sleeps
04:00
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A big old dream once dear to me
A sacred place where I could sleep
And hear his voice come through the trees
The ancient roots buried deep
While he sleeps underneath
A country home where the tall grass grows
And the prairie rose cuts my feet
I could pray alone and sing a song
And wipe the dirt off my knees
While he sleeps underneath
There’s a cross in the rocks where the wildcat walks
And the hunting hawk gets his wings
It feels as cold as my father’s skin
On the day that God took him in
And now he rests where the highway bends
Ashes dancing in the wind
While he sleeps underneath
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Andrew Zender Kansas City, Missouri
Andrew Zender is an independent songwriter and guitarist based in Kansas City who writes and performs songs and instrumentals inspired by life, death, love, nature and short stories — with an air of hope and redemption.
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