Rare And Live, Volume 1

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you'd always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as i try
It's like a song i can hear playing right in my ear
That i can't sing
I can't help listening
And i can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down
'cause i know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(there's nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(the world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five i was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where i'm running now, i'm just running on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But i'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine i was twenty-one and i called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road i'm on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But i'm running behind

Everyone i know, everywhere i go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If i can get you to smile before i leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that i used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes i see them running too

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But i'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but i'm running behind
You know i don't even know what i'm hoping to find
Running into the sun but i'm running behind

Sun going down in the usa
Down on main there's a family sleeping in a doorway
Around the corner you can hear the sound
People dancing around the golden calf
Those who have not, those who have

On the billboards and the t.v. screens
They got food and cars and toys and trucks and jeans
Like a homeless child's fitfull dreams
Smiling faces free from wanting
Life's abundances beyond counting

World in motion -- speed your changes
Close your distances, find your angels
Lose your fears and meet your dangers
World in motion

Once we were running through smoke and fire
Running into the sun
In the rush of youth, for love and truth
Our deeds were done
Now we awake with a world at stake
And a race we run
We run

Sun going down on the usa
Sun coming up a hundred years away
On another world and another time
Things like hunger, greed and hatred
One way or another, gonna be eradicated

World in motion -- speed your changes
Close your distances, drive your angels
Lose your fears and meet your dangers
World in motion

'till the world i look out at this world and see
Is the world i know this world can be
You have a volunteer in me
Now come on

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now i want to understand

I have done all that i could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was i unwise to leave them open for so long

'cause i have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where there will
I never noticed them until i got this feeling
That it's later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me

Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry

The words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night
Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives has led us there

Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody i'd ever known
Such an empty surprise to feel so alone

Now for me some words come easy
But i know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what i loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping i might be

Awake again i can't pretend and i know i'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have i been sleeping
How long have i been drifting alone through the night
How long have i been dreaming i could make it right
If i closed my eyes and tried with all my might
To be the one you need

Awake again i can't pretend and i know i'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have i been sleeping
How long have i been drifting alone through the night
How long have i been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late for the sky

In the calling out to one another
Of the lovers up and down the strand
In the sound of the waves and the cries
Of the seagulls circling the sand
In the fragments of the songs
Carried down the wind from some radio
In the murmuring of the city in the distance
Ominous and low

I hear the sound of the world where we played
And the far too simple beauty
Of the promises we made

If you ever need holding
Call my name, i'll be there
If you ever need holding
And no holding back, i'll see you through
Sky blue and black

Where the touch of the lover ends
And the soul of the friend begins
There's a need to be separate and a need to be one
And a struggle neither wins
Where you gave me the world i was in
And a place i could make a stand
I could never see how you doubted me
When i'd let go of your hand

Yeah, and i was much younger then
And i must have thought that i would know
If things were going to end

And the heavens were rolling
Like a wheel on a track
And our sky was unfolding
And it'll never fold back
Sky blue and black

And i'd have fought the world for you
If i thought that you wanted me to
Or put aside what was true or untrue
If i'd known that's what you needed
What you needed me to do

But the moment has passed by me now
To have put away my pride
And just come through for you somehow

If you ever need holding
Call my name, i'll be there
If you ever need holding
And no holding back, i'll see you through

You're the color of the sky
Reflected in each store-front window pane
You're the whispering and the sighing
Of my tires in the rain
You're the hidden cost and the thing that's lost
In everything i do
Yeah and i'll never stop looking for you
In the sunlight and the shadows
And the faces on the avenue
That's the way love is
That's the way love is
That's the way love is
Sky blue and black

(from the soundtrack album the wizard of oz in concert: dreams do come true; performed by jackson browne backed by ry cooder & david sanborn)

See, i can't scare anybody.
They come from miles around
To laugh in my face and eat in my field.

Said a scarecrow swinging on a pole,
To some blackbirds sittin' on a fence,
"oh, the lord gave me a soul,
But, forgot to give me common sense."

Said the blackbirds, "well, well, well.
What the thunder would you do with common sense?"
Said the scarecrow,"would be pleasin'
Just to reason out the reason
Of the wishes and the whyness and the whence"

If i had an once of common sense...
(if he had an ounce of common sense)

(well, what would you do scarecrow?")

I would while away the hours
Conferin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head i'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If i only had a brain.

I'd unravel every riddle,
For every individle,
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts i'd be thinkin',
I could be another lincoln,
If i only had a brain.

Oh i-- could tell you why,
The ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things i never thought before,
Then i'd sit-- and think some more.

I would not be just a nothin',
My head all full of stuffin',
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and by merry,
Life would be a dingle derry,
If i only had a brain.

If i only had a brain--
(if he only had a brain.)

I could tell you why
The ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things i never thought before
And then i'd sit-- and think some more.

Ya, it would be kind of pleasin'
To reason out the reason,
For the things i can't explain.
Then perhaps i'd deserve you,
And be even worthy of you,
If i only had a brain.

I could dance and by merry,
Life would be a dingle derry,
If i only had a brain.

If i only had a brain.
(if he only had a brain.)

It was a ruby that she wore
On a chain around her neck
In the shape of a heart
In the shape of a heart
It was a time i won't forget
For the sorrow and regret
And the shape of a heart
And the shape of a heart
I guess i never knew
What she was talking about
I guess i never knew
What she was living without

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of belief and belonging
Try to fit some name to their longing
People speak of love

There was a hole left in the wall
From some ancient fight
About the size of a fist
Or something thrown that had missed
And there were other holes as well
In the house where our nights fell
Far too many to repair
In the time that we were there

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Reach out to each other though the push and shove
Speak in terms of a life and the learning
Try to think of a word for the burning

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
What breaches and faults are concealed
In the shape of a heart

It was the ruby that she wore
On a stand beside the bed
In the hour before dawn
When i knew she was gone
And i held it in my hand
For a little while
And dropped it into the wall
Let it go, heard it fall

I guess i never knew
What she was talking about
I guess i never knew
What she was living without
People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of a life and the living
Try to find the word for forgiving

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
The shallows and the unseen reefs
That are there from the start
In the shape of a heart