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Bob Walkenhorst
The Beginner
released 2003
All words and music by Bob Walkenhorst
home | chord charts | lyrics | odds & ends | links | contact
released 2003
All words and music by Bob Walkenhorst
What if I hadn't walked down those stairs And what if you hadn't been working there Life can turn on a dime Do your best not to blink lest you miss your exit sign But that's not what occurred, you were there And I was angry enough to just not care If you finally said no to my face At least then I'd know why my life was such a waste Life can turn like a gem Catching the light, cutting the night, come blinding Ah here it came, everything changed, no one noticed a thing But for you and me, our whole world tilted immeasureably Did you know, could you see, how much work this would be? Hear the rumbling 'neath the floor Sometimes love sings but more often it roars Life can turn on a spool Let go of the rope, forget about your list of rules Oh here it comes
Somebody call a wrecker Get lost you rubberneckers You're all slowing down to take a swipe At the crash scene of my life Somebody call a wrecker Somebody call a lawyer, I need defended Somebody's whiplashed, blindsided, rear-ended Somebody call a priest I'm the lost wiseman from the East And I got to town long after the party ended Somebody call a wrecker Somebody call a wrecker Somebody call the junkman Nothing left of my heart but a tin can And it's banging like a screen door, leaking like a sieve It'll be a miracle if I live Somebody call a wrecker
Birds cut the sky into pieces of blue All falling down on me, without a sound She don't love me People pass by and their eyes look away I must be so hard to see, all falling down She don't love me Far as I see there will be no tomorrow Only an endless today Far as I know there will be only sorrow Leaves me with nothing to say Worlds turn around and the stars burn away Etching the empty black sky, I don't know why She don't love me
I'm broken down I'm broken down Into the elements from which I came Into the mud where they wrote my name Into the dust when the blood is gone Into molecules and atoms I'm broken down I'm broken down I'm broken down I'm out of words I'm down to sighs There's much less to me that meets the eye I'm not the man I used to be You'll be seeing less and less of me I'm broken down I can see it all now I'll be sitting in a chair People talking to me but I ain't there What about Bob, where'd he go? I don't know He was here just a second ago He must have broke down I'm broken down I'm broken down I'll pay the ransom, the rent, the loan I'll be spent when the money's gone But I'll never leave, don't fear I'll just stay right here And disappear I'm broken down
I'll never forget the look on his face It won't be erased any time soon You might as well told him Someone has stolen the moon I'll never forget the sound of nothing Like some dirty joke had silenced the room You might as well told them Someone has stolen the moon They've stolen the moon from the sky Stolen the blues from my innocent's eyes I might as well tell them the truth We'll never forget the freeze of the moment That spring everything died on the bloom You might as well told us Someone has stolen the moon
I wish I could dance like Jan Vermeer He sold his soul for a bucket of light I hear And he's drunk in Delpht, painting the town He likes to see the world a little upside down And he laughs at me across three hundred years I wish I could dance like Jan Vermeer I wish that you loved me like Jan Vermeer Down at the Riksmuseum you were all in tears Touched your love with a sable brush But at the silent auction think I said too much Put your heart on the block for the highest bidder Sold to Jan Vermeer I'm watching you with Jan Vermeer I got a private eye and a dying ear Got a camera obscura, a frosted glass I got chiarascuro out the ass And you're betting I'm sweating just sitting here While you're tearing up the tapestry with Jan Vermeer I wish I was famous like Jan Vermeer He went from worthless to priceless in less than a year I been from worthless to priceless and back again I crack my back on the rack trying to stretch my skin I think 2300's going to be my year I'll be framed and hung like Jan Vermeer
I'm so arrogant, so they say, but they knock me down A few notches every day, whoa whoa, just another joe And today's just one down and the rest of my life to go I'm just another joe Twenty shades of gray cover me, yeah I know I ain't the pretty boy I used to be, whoa whoa, just another joe From the ashes of my hopes And trash of my dreams, whoa whoa, just another joe And today's just one down and the rest of my life to go I'm just another joe, just another joe Put me in my place, that's the place I want anyway Just a little space, little room where we hide away I'm just another joe Come on raise a glass and a smirk To another stifled soul hiding in his work Whoa whoa, just another joe And today's just one down and the rest of my life to go I'm just another joe
The day that we hung up the flag Was a day I'd wanted to see And the sun fell bright on the stars and the stripes Her glory reflected on me all around The day that we hung up the flag The day that we laid down our guns Was a day I'd wanted to see The mothers all cried and the fathers just sighed A breath of relief for daughters and sons The day that we laid our guns on the ground Her glory reflected on me all around The day that we hung up the flag The land of the free, yeah fine by me The home of the brave, go save the country The only home I ask you to be is one for a guy who can't get it right Sweat and regret stinging his eyes, a second, a third A fourth, a fifth try for folks who fall to mistakes The evening we took down the flag Was an evening I'd wanted to see And I bowed my head as I crawled in my bed And prayed myself to sleep so sound And thought of the guns we'd laid on the ground Remembered her glory that shown all around The day that we hung up the flag
I hate to derail your train of thought Sorry to interrupt in midsentence Before you hammer and nail me to the spot Excuse me, I was just leaving I used to be the lover that you celebrate Now I'm just someone you barely tolerate I hate to leave the house in such a mess But that's what happens when you bleed to death Excuse me, I was just leaving Yes I've got to go, baby I'm leaving Love has a way of hanging around Long after kindness has left town Sorry to come between you and your demons Excuse me, I was just leaving Excuse me, I was just leaving Yes I've got to go, baby I'm leaving
I ain't gonna be your punching bag I ain't gonna be your punching bag Stones and sticks, bones and bricks Hear the sound of something breaking Wrong look, right hook, we throw a bad combination I ain't gonna be your punching bag I ain't gonna be your punching bag Ain't going down bound and gagged I ain't gonna be your punching bag I'm in deep water here Hear the sound of something sinking Faith and hope ought to keep us afloat What was I thinking I ain't gonna be your punching bag I ain't gonna be your punching bag Ain't going down bound and gagged I ain't gonna be your punching bag Boom boom boom boom boom boom A ton of bricks, a ton of feathers Boom boom boom boom boom boom The broom's in the living room I can't sweep it together Where's my coat, where's my hat Where's my shredded dignity Where's my gloves, my lost love You pounded it out of me I ain't gonna be your punching bag I ain't gonna be your punching bag Ain't going down bound and gagged I ain't gonna be your punching bag
On a foggy pane I fingerpaint my name Breathe a dying breath and watch it fade away Love is all that ever lasts Everything else is vapor When my time is past I will face it without fear Proof that we were here I built it to the sky, bathed it all in golden light Drownded it in sound, watched it all come tumbling down Love is all that ever stands Everything's built on shifting sand Sliding to the past We will face it without fear Proof that we were here You can walk a hundred miles, you can shake a thousand hands You can touch a million lives and leave no fingerprints Love is all there'll ever be Everyone else is leaving You are here with me We will face it without fear Proof that we were here
Johnny is a-banging on the Beverly drums Charlie got the Farfisa organ Jimmy and Ted on the twin guitars And Dave's got a microphone plugged into a Silvertone The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight Everybody's heading for a Friday night fight The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight Jimmy bought a Jaguar, working on the whammy bar Latin Lupe Lu, Hanky-Panky, Wooly Bully Hound dog howling at the Missouri moon Cruising to a stop on a Carrol County blacktop The boys from the county seat are coming down second street Shakey John gonna put you all in jail Somebody threw a cherry bomb the place in pandemonium Sunday morning Brother Cliatt said the dancing caused a riot The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight Everybody's heading for a Friday night fight The J-Walkers are a-rockin tonight
If I listen to the wind I'll hear anything that might blow But with my head against you heart I hear all I need to know And when the rushing of the dark Clouds come to cover my moon Through the crush, the drums of dawn Your love comes ringing on through I will love you When the day is new I will love you And when the sun is arching high And life is alive in full bloom Leave the heat, between the beats Come to the cool of my room I will love you Through the highest noon I will love you In my days of dull indifference When my soul is humming numb Won't you shake me wide awake Break my heart into forgiveness Melt my mind to shapes anew Let me hear another way And when the day is winding down And paths all have run where they will Though the landscape of your love I run to the top of the hill I'm falling down, I'm rolling down I'm laughing at the top of my lungs Through the grass, into the past You are the song that I've sung I will love you When the day is through I will love you