Nanci Griffith

[fox69]

"Not Innocent Enough"

"Not Innocent Enough"


What the hell was I doing there in that fast food parking lot?
They say I robbed the restaurant and a Memphis cop got shot
I was trying to feed my habit, I was scared and I was high
It was never my intention that anyone should die

And just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
My name is Philip Workman and I'm not innocent enough

It's not a long walk from a trailer park to a Tennessee cell block
But I got saved behind these bars, soon I'll give my soul to God
Reverend Joe is praying for me and the family left behind
They say my bullet took his life but that bullet was not mine

Oh, just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
My name is Philip Workman and I'm not innocent enough

I had no money for a lawyer to fight the system from within
There's no justice for the poor from the witness they brought in
Circumstance and random chance, I never meant to do no harm
Now that cop and I, we've both died from that needle in my arm

And there where those who called for mercy in those final days
Even the officer's daughter cried to grant me stay
But I'm not innocent enough, I'm not innocent enough
I'm not innocent enough, I'm not innocent enough

And just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
Just how many of us are innocent enough?
My name was Philip Workman, I was not innocent enough

 

[fox69]

"Not My Way Home"

"Not My Way Home"


I know you believe in miracles
And that this love will come back around
I know you believe the grass is growing
Across this winter
To the south of this town

I know your kiss is sweeter
Than the dust that this love has become
Yet, I know your path is clearer
Shed of me... out there on your own

[Chorus:]
I don't pretend to sound ungrateful
You've given love when I had none
My feet have tread upon the road you're on
And I know it's not my way home
I know... it's not my way home
I know... it's not my way home

You know... this love has left us
Don't count the years... it took a long time to kill
I know you will find a place for memories
And you'll be out there runnin... I will be here to be still

 

[fox69]

"October Reasons"

"October Reasons"


I'm gonna open up the window and let in October
And roll up my sleeves in the rain

Roll out on the freeway with a heart a little harder
Breezes gettin' cooler by the day
5 a.m. travelers, bleary eyed and lonely
We're all countin' miles and tradin' lanes
But if I stopped to call you
What would I say?
Hell, I know I'd feel the same
I can open up the window and let in October
Roll up my sleeves in the rain

Gonna tie up the pieces and sleep out in the country
Where the phone don't ring my dues to pay
And the echoes of your city
No longer call my name
I said I wasn't happy anyway
The ghosts in the closet
You need to drive away
Ain't gonna take this pride I've saved
I can open the window and let in October
And roll up my sleeves in the rain

Ain't it gonna be hard when you realize
You're still the same old fool inside
I ain't gonna let your blues take the prize

So honey open up the window and let in October
You may never love quite the same
And it's yesterday's mornin's
Lord they'll always remain

 

[fox69]

"Old Hanoi"

"Old Hanoi"


Where are all the Satchel Boys
Selling books outside the Metripole?
Books to read in English
Books of light and sorrows
Of this foreign land
They are gone
They've flown away

Where are all the cyclos
With their drivers pedaling grace?
Crowded out by motorbike
Confined to lesser space
In old Hanoi
They grew wings
They've flown away

[Chorus:]
In the words of Graham Greene
Like the Quiet American
Searching these sacred streets
For old Hanoi

In all of these sacred things
That I've been blessed in life to see
I believe I'm in someone's dream
In history

Where is the eloquence
Of the ladies on their bicycles?
Dressed in their au dias
In the lotus flowered nights
Of Indochine
They rode to progress
They've flown away

[Chorus]

Old Hanoi... searching for Indochine
Old Hanoi... cherchant l' Indochine
In old Hanoi
In old Hanoi

 

[fox69]

"On Grafton Street"

"On Grafton Street"


On Grafton Street at Christmas time
The elbows push you 'round
This is not my place of memories
I'm a stranger in this town
The faces seem familiar
And I know those songs they're playin'
But I close my eyes and find myself
Five thousand miles away

[Chorus:]
It's funny how my world goes round without you
You're the one thing I never thought
I could live without
I just found this smile to think about you
You're a Saturday night
Far from the madding crowd

The buskers sing by candle light
In front of Bewleys Store
And a young nun offers me a chair
At a table by the door
And I feel compelled to tell her
Of the sisters that we knew
How when they lit their candles
I'd say a prayer for you

[Chorus]

The church bells ring for holy hour
I'm back out in the rain
It's been twenty years or more
Since I last said your name
I hear you live near Dallas now
In a house out on the plains
Why Grafton Street brought you to mind
I really can't explain

[Chorus]

On Grafton Street at Christmas time
The elbows push you 'round
All I carry now are memories
I'm a stranger to this town

 

[fox69]

"Once In A Very Blue Moon"

"Once In A Very Blue Moon"


I found your letter in my mailbox today
You were just checkin' if I was okay
And if I miss you, well, you know what they say...

Just once... in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
Just once... in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin' on soon

No need to tell me, you'd like to be friends
And help me get back on my feet again
If I miss you at all... it's just now and then

Just once... in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
Just once... in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin' on soon

There's a blue moon shinin'
When I am reminded of all we've been through
Such a blue moon... shinin'
Does it ever shine down on you?
You act as if it never hurt you at all
Like I'm the only one who's gettin' up from a fall
Don't you remember?
Can't you recall?

Just once... in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
Just once... in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin' on soon... just once... in a very
... blue moon

 

[fox69]

"One Blade Shy Of A Sharp Edge"

"One Blade Shy Of A Sharp Edge"


You honk the horn on your Mercedes Benz
I've rolled up my window so you're honkin' again
Your stereo could drive the devil out
Hey, you drink too much and you talk too loud
But you think you got it made
Think you got it made
Think you got it made
When you're one blade shy of a sharp edge

Republican is the way you vote
You've got a sticker on your bumper that's how I know
And you think true love is around this bend
You've been around the bend since the age of ten
But you think you've got it made
Think you've got it made
Think you've got it made
When you're one blade shy of a sharp edge

Now, I'm a little too old for your toupee curls
I'm a full grown woman and you're lookin' for girls
Hey, it's Saturday night so go on down the road
I'll cancel you out when I go to the polls
But you think you got it made
Think you got it made
Think you got it made
When you're one blade shy of a sharp edge

Hey, hey...

 

[fox69]

"One Of These Days"

"One Of These Days"


We walk along the Hudson when it snows here in Manhattan
Seems we've lived our lives so out of place
You touch my cheek and I do wonder how this happened
That two young lovers could pack their dreams and move from the Texas Plains

[Chorus:]
Oh, I'm gonna take us back where we belong
Where you can see it in the stars that the weather's comin' on
One of these days

Now, our Daddy's grew cotton... spittin' dust of a mornin'
We met on a school bus rollin' thru the Autumn fields our Daddy's raised
Beneath a hot August sky... our Mothers waved goodbye
My Daddy tipped his hat with a tear in his eye
When we left for the city where the sun rarely shines
It was a hundred and two in the shade

[Chorus]

Hey, do you wanna take a cab uptown?... watch the skaters go
'round and around
We could talk about leavin' this town some other day
And I suppose we look like natives here... this middle aged couple with silver hair
And on cold winter nights this love we share is still a hundred and two
In the shade

 

[fox69]

"Our Very Own"

"Our Very Own"


We don't live on easy street, but it's home
Looking out on the open road, where you'll go it alone
To the last of our simple days, we'll wave good-bye
Down this road we're grown
It's Our Very Own

This is not a one-horse town, we're not alone
It's somewhere off the beaten track, we're loyal to the bone
Everybody's got their place, and got their role to play
We should never change our rules
'Cause it's our very own

Youth is but a breath in time
A cruise around the square
You swore you'd never be your folks
And suddenly you're there
You think you'll choose a different road
Than the one that you've been shown
But in the end we're in the square
And it's our very own

We don't live on easy street, but it's home
Looking out on the open road, where you'll go it alone
To the last of our simple days, we'll wave goodbye
Down this road we've grown
It's Our Very Own

Come December
Come what may
We'll recall our simple days
And we'll always know
They were our very own

 

[fox69]

"Outbound Plane"

"Outbound Plane"


I don't wanna be standing here
With this ticket for this outbound plane
Oh, I've been here before
Somehow this doesn't feel the same
Talk is cheap
So we could talk all night long
And we may never figure out just
Where your love went wrong

[Chorus:]
'Cuz I don't wanna be standin' here
Don't wanna be talkin' here
And I don't really care who's to blame
'Cuz if love won't fly on it's own
Free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane

The old folks say
That love's not forever anymore
Because these young people walk
Away from love alone
To pace the floor
Young or old I say that love is still the same
You may walk away from love but
You'll fall head and heels again

[Chorus]

Two lonely hearts in this airport
Knowing
Neither cares where that other
Heart is going
But, if love won't fly on it's own
Free will... it's gonna catch that
Outbound plane

That frown you're wearing's
Just you're halo turned upside down
Where is the laughter we once
Shared back in the lost and found?
These broken wings are gonna leave
Me here to stand my ground
You can have this ticket for that
Lonely plane that's flying out

[Chorus]