Nanci Griffith

[fox69]

"Goin' Gone"

"Goin' Gone"


There's a lighthouse in the harbor
Giving guidance with it's light
But, I had no one to return to
As I wandered through the night

From the first time that I saw you
Standing silent by the shore
I knew my search was over
And I would look for love no more

[Chorus:]
Deep in the waters of love I am falling
Sinking like a stone
Deep in my heart I can hear love callin'
Goin' once, goin twice, goin' gone
Goin' once, goin twice, goin' gone

There's a ship on the horizon
Makin' it's way against the wind
From the place where I stand watching
I swear my ship is coming in

[Chorus to fade out]

 

[fox69]

"Going Back To Georgia"

"Going Back To Georgia"


Oh the city snow makes your brown eyes shine
We've gotta look real hard to find a reason to cry
New York, New York is a friend of the traveling kind

And I'm coming around from years of hard times
He's chased me down through the towns and the miles
Once stilled by love he was bound to roll on by

[Chorus:]
And if you feel my love won't leave you
And if your sorrow has been your share
If you are traveling back to Georgia
Won't you take me with you there

Well I'm long gone darlin', lonesome blue
I been thinking of leavin', I been thinkin' of you
But that big city singin', man, I like the way that it shines

I was half a mile from Canada waitin' on a train
Wonderin' and wishin' I could disappear again
I been killed by love till it takes me to the end of the line

[Chorus]

Well, I've been troubled by a love untrue
He's a fool who'll drown in his fountain of youth
I can see that now as I'm walkin' and talkin' with you

Well, I been blinded by the sun, washed in the rain
Scattered in America, I'm scatterin' again
But if you're goin' south darlin' I guess I'm travelin with you

[Chorus 2x]

Take me with you...
Oh... won't you take me home

 

[fox69]

"Good Night, New York"

"Good Night, New York"


My mother came to America
Sailed through the harbor of hopes and of dreams
Back in the Thirties
With the streets paved in gold
And the sky laced with moonbeams

Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons
Here in the free world, we're the lucky ones

[Chorus:]
All of my yearning
All of my hunger
Maybe I'm learning
Sometimes I wonder
Good night, New York

Before the Kennedys
Before the Beatles
Before the Vietnam War
Back to a time when anything was possible
Having less meant knowing more

Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts
Here in the free world, for that second chance

[Chorus]

My mother came to America
Sailed through the harbor of hopes and of dreams
And here in the future
I hope I've not failed her
Cause nothing's the way that it seems

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Goodnight To A Mother's Dream"

"Goodnight To A Mother's Dream"


Flippin' bottle caps through the ring around the moon
All alone on a Saturday night with the stars in bloom
I am a vision of my mother's dream come true
Built this house out in the hills
All by my own will
I've got love enough for two
But it's just me and this old moon

[Chorus:]
And the sailors on the water
...They all want the captain's daughter
They want her beauty and her youth
To grace their bow out on the sea
Me, I'm getting older and I'm plain
As plain can be
Got a bank full of mother's dreams
Maybe mother just didn't see
That love would be the only thing
Her daughter would ever need

[Bridge:]
Oh, I am the heart not taken
The one thought not worth breakin'
I am the late blooming rose
With only her mother's dream to hold
On this less traveled road
Who really knows
...Maybe the hearts not taken
Are truly made of gold

I'm gonna flip one more bottle cap up at the moon
I've got an early call with so much work to do
But, when I go inside I'm gonna let my back door slam
Mother, to tell you the truth
I would trade your dream away
Just to hear some loved one say
I love you, too

[Chorus]

Say goodnight to the moon
I'll say I love you to the moon...
And to my mother too
'Buenos suenos' to the moon

 

[fox69]

"Grapefruit Moon"

"Grapefruit Moon"


Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me
I heard that tune and now I'm pining, honey, can't you see
Every time I hear that melody, something breaks inside
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, can't turn back the tide

Never had no destination, could not get across
And you became my inspiration, oh, but what a cost
Every time I hear that melody, something breaks inside
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, is more than I can hide

Now I'm smoking cigarettes and strive for purity
And I'll slip just like the stars into obscurity
Every time I hear that melody, it puts me up a tree
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, is all that I can see

 

[fox69]

"Gulf Coast Highway"

"Gulf Coast Highway"


Gulf Coast Highway
He worked the rails
He worked the rice fields
With their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the
Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we've ever owned
Is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he'll catch
Some blackbird's wing
Then he will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring

She walked through springtime
When I was home
The days were sweet
The nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would
Come... the flowers fade
This old house felt so alone
When the work took me away
And when she dies she says, she'll
Catch some blackbirds wing
Then she will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring

Highway 90
The jobs are gone
We tend our garden
We set the sun
This is the only place on earth
Blue bonnets grow
Once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say, we'll
Catch some blackbirds wing
Then we will fly away to Heaven come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring

And when we die we say, we'll
Catch some blackbirds wing
We will fly away together come
Some sweet blue bonnet spring

 

[fox69]

"Hard Times Come Again No More"

"Hard Times Come Again No More"


Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor.
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door.
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered on around my cabin door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

There's a pale sorrowed maiden who toils her life away
With a worn heart, whose better days are o'er.
Though her voice it would be merry, 'tis sighin' all the day,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my cabin door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave
'Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
'Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my cabin door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

 

[fox69]

"He Was A Friend Of Mine"

"He Was A Friend Of Mine"


He was a friend of mine
He was a friend 0f mine
Never had no money
To pay for his fine
He was a friend of mine

He never done no wrong
He never done no wrong
Thousand miles from home
He never hurt no one
He was a friend of mine

He died on the road
He died on the road
Never had no money for to pay for sufficient clothes
(He was a friend)
He was a friend of mine

(I stole)
I stole away and cried
(I stole)
I stole away and cried
Never had no money and I can't be satisfied
He was a friend of mine

(He was) he was a friend of mine
(He was) he was a friend of mine
When I hear his name you know
I just can't keep from cryin' (and)
(He was) he was a friend of mine
(He was)

 

[fox69]

"Heart Of A Miner"

"Heart Of A Miner"


Well, it's harvest time out on this Amarillo highway
Daydreamin' the South of France
I could whistle you out waltzin' there
Would you still say you can't?
Heart of a miner here takin' her last chance

[Chorus:]
Heart of a miner, kept her feelings buried deep
Heart of a miner, could there be something she needs?
Just a treasure that could hold her
That's not fool's gold

What could the miner do when her heart was made of crystal?
She used to keep it on the shelf
Now she dreams of you high up in your mountains
It was that treasure that you held
Look at this lonely miner here who finally fell

[Chorus]

Tell me he's not fool's gold
It's still harvest time out on this Amarillo highway
Just a lonely miner still a thousand miles from home

 

[fox69]

"Heart Of Indochine"

"Heart Of Indochine"


I am on a Riverboat on the Saigon River
Where the music's too loud
While I try to have my dinner
Stories I've been told of 1954
When the bodies washed ashore from that distant war
My friend Michael came in '68
The bodies still floating
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all those souls of the American war

[Chorus:]
Oh, deliver me to the river of souls
In the heart of Indochine
Deliver me to a River at Peace
In this twenty-first century
All those souls that floated free
In these dark war's waters
All the souls now swim together
The French the Viet Minh
Those American boys
The souls of the Saigon River
At peace in Indochine

I am in a caffe' in Ho Chi Minh City
My friend Bobby Muller is sitting with me
This traffic is maddening
In his wheelchair he's napping
I wonder at times, does he walk in his dreams?
Later I walked all the way from Tu Do Street
To the banks of the river
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all of the souls, of a River in Peace

[Chorus]

Hoa binh... Hoa Binh, ["peace" in Vietnamese]
Peace in the Heart of Indochine