All songs and lyrics by Penny Western.
Copyright 2011 Penny Western. All rights reserved.
Tell Your Army to Stand Down
I wish you’d read me my rights on the way home tonight
Come the morning I’ll be innocent again
So take this bounty off my head
We’ve been going round and round too long
We’ve both had other lovers come and gone
I’m ready to love you ‘til hell starts to freeze
So can we get on with it please
Turn your head kid just like I did
And rescue it before it drowns
Let’s call an end to this war we can’t win anymore
Tell your army to stand down
I wish you’d mend that broken wing
Give me another song to sing
Fist back, rifle off the rack, hand without a ring
Can we get on with this thing
Turn your head kid just like I did
And rescue it before it drowns
Let’s call an end to this war we can’t win anymore
Tell your army to stand down
How Long It’s Been
I don’t even know my name anymore
I don’t recognize my face
Leave my supper on the table
Gettin’ cold in this place
When you smile at me it’s earth shattering
It’ll break a man in two
I’d give almost anything for a night with you
When I think of how long it’s been since I first saw your face
I find myself wondering when love comes to this place
When it started I bit my lip
Like to drew a little blood
We stepped into the wind and I said
Are you warm enough?
Your coat on, you slip into the night
Be safe getting home
Call me when you get there alright
I’ll keep my phone on
When I think of how long it’s been since I first saw your face
I find myself wondering when love comes to this place
Winter sunsets last so long
If you can stand the cold
You’ll see things you never saw
But you’ve always known
When I think of how long it’s been since I first saw your face
I find myself wondering when love comes to this place
Heaven Seems Closer When There’s Hell to Pay
I woke up this morning thinking I heard knocking on the door
Feeling something next to me and there you were
And all the worries I’d been carrying were somewhere on the floor
Rolled up in the clothes we wore last night right where they belong
Who’s that? I asked real fast and just like that we both knew
What we had done and what we had to do
I grabbed my stuff and rolled out the back real fast and you were laughing too
And all of creation got nothing on you
Sometimes when it’s raining it’s better than a sunny day
Sometimes when I’m bleeding I gotta fix it my own way
And all those frozen tears and broken lies brought me to today
And heaven seems closer when there’s hell to pay
Driving around town in my car
Radio turned up loud to remind me where you are
I stopped in again to remind myself just where we have been
I stopped in again
Sometimes when it’s raining it’s better than a sunny day
Sometimes when I’m bleeding I gotta fix it my own way
And all those frozen tears and broken lies brought me to today
And heaven seems closer when there’s hell to pay
Half Acre
I let it go and it came right back again and it looked me in the eye
Then it happened again. This is getting strange, I said, into the sweet by and by
In the darkness I did my best not to make a sound
I closed my eyes and cast my line into the sweet by and by
It’s not over ‘til it’s over
Put your ear to the ground
It comes through clear and loud
You’ll wonder how you missed it up ‘til now
Gold Instead
Thank you for holding my hand
Giving comfort by degrees
In a desert of shifting sand
When I couldn’t find my feet
A bird flies overhead
The trees sway in the breeze
I don’t have a hero’s eyesight
I don’t know what a hero sees
Beautiful is a word
And inspiration is a speech
I learned I got a lot to learn
And not that much to teach
In the darkness late at night now
For seven straight days
You eventually find out
The sign of the healed
Is the scar that stays
People ask me if it changed me
If it altered who I am
I’ll tell you what I tell them
It’s like getting knocked down
And learning how to stand
People ask me if it changed me
If it somehow expanded my range
I’ll tell you what I tell them
It’s like reaching out for coal
And getting gold instead
Place to Lay My Head
First to the newborn day stolen, silent, mine to save
Run, run before the light shrouded in the night
You now more than me are a victim of my disease
Step back and you’ll see what you need to see
Heal now before the dawn whispering a saving song
Remember now a simple truth buried in your youth
Flee for the promised land, delivered there by your own hand
The first breath of the day carries you away
Oh can you hear it coming like a distant drummer drumming
Like two armies forming lines of blue and red
I’d die for a taste of what put those lines across your face
I’d be grateful for a place to lay my head
Did events conspire to bring you here or are you the master puppeteer
An illusion of control that halfway makes you whole
The first pulse of your life is still felt here tonight
The last breath that you’ll take is still so far away
Out of love and out of fear I hesitate to bring you here
Before you’ve had too much time to think we order another drink
And so passes another day like a proverb you don’t need to say
Reach out and take my hand we’ll make another stand
Day That Never Was
We carried you to the wiry tree
One stubborn leaf was hanging on
The car door handle felt so cold to me
That empty tree still blocked the sun
It looked so heavy but felt so light
Like giving up without a fight
If you could have only seen
What I saw you’d know what I mean
In the end we’d make a start
Like an atom blown apart
From the pieces you left us
On the day that never was
There were plenty of mouths to feed
Odd traffic patterns from room to room
In your wake we would plant a seed
Hoping for an early bloom
What’s on our minds is not on our lips
We’re walking blind without a script
Both hands of the clock are pointing down
And then it’s over without a sound
I’m no good at looking back
I’m not built for heavy loads
You can thank yourself for that
You were the one who made the road
But I can see what might have been
With the very best of them
And now I think I know
Why that stubborn leaf would not let go
Unloaded Gun
You are a clever one
I catch you and you’re gone
Twist and turn, upside down, right is wrong
Twist of fate, we wait for the sun
I guess I have to say
Something ain’t right today
In my mind, in my mind anyway
In my mind, you’re wild, untamed
I’ve come to realize those wildest eyes
Can’t be trusted when they say anything
And I know I’ve said some things I’ll regret
This isn’t one of them
You tell me nothing’s wrong
Like an unloaded gun
Pointed at my temple quietly
The lights are off between you and me
I’ve come to realize those wildest eyes
Can’t be trusted when they say anything
And I know I’ll regreat some things I’ve said
This isn’t one of them
I’ve come to realize those wildest eyes
Can’t be trusted when they say anything
And I know I’ve said some things I’ll regret
This isn’t one of them
First
It’s in the way that you say it it’s not the things you say let me say this first
It’s in the room it’s in the things we tried to know too soon
You won’t be there with me to reach it if I get there first
Now that you’ve seen it where’s the light
Now that you know this who am I
Don’t say start over I just might
Now that I’ve seen it
I’ve seen this before it’s in the things we left down at the shore
You won’t see me if I see you first
Now that you’ve seen it where’s the light
Now that you know this who am I
Don’t say start over I just might
Now that I’ve seen it
Resolve
Something has changed in this room
Your evacuation seemed too soon
In your rush to leave before the sun
You overlooked some things you’re gonna want
I’m just gonna gather a few more things
Clear the dirty dishes from the sink
Now they’re shutting down the escape routes
No one is coming to pull us out
Here comes the wind to cave us in
Shut the door and say a prayer
So send your divers down here
We are survivors down here
Mix the rain with our tears
We both have said our piece and walked away
Leaving nothing beautiful to say
Now I can’t erase you or pull you out
You left a space in this house
Here comes the wind to cave us in
Shut the door and say a prayer
So send your divers down here
We are survivors down here