A Place In The World

(mary chapin carpenter)

What if we went to italy
A suitcase of books and one bag a piece for the summer
I don't speak a word of italian
Except for campari and soda for two, how much is a lire
Yes, a villa will do and a breeze, in tuscany please

What if we spent all of our days, improving our minds, learning new ways to be lazy
It wouldn't be too much of a strain
Relax after breakfast till lunch comes around
Can't wait for dinner, oh, i need to lie down
And refuel, out by the pool

What if the ancients were lazy like us
Too blissed out to paint, to sketch or to sculpt
Just as relaxed as the tower of pisa
Not ever missing that old mona lisa

What if we never got back on the plane
As summer turned colder and then warmer again
Losing all track of the passing of years
Till it no longer mattered how long we'd been here

What if we went to italy
Maybe next year, just you and me for the summer
I still can't speak any italian
But words are replaced under siennese skies
By nothing so much as a nod, and a sigh, and a wish to be always like this

(mary chapin carpenter)

Today joseph is sitting alone, with occasional nods to the waitress
She tops off his cup while she's snapping her gum, making her rounds on the lunch shift
Counting out coins, he leaves them arranged, in neat lines and circles and arcs
She just stares at the tip that spells out her name and ideas are like stars

And yesterday pedaling down 4th avenue, between the stalls and the bookshops
The sepia tones of a lost afternoon cradled a curio storefront
And inside the air was thick with the past, as the dust settled onto his heart
And here for a moment is every place in the world and ideas are like stars

They fall from the sky, they run round your head
They litter your sleep as they beckon
They'd teach you to fly without wires or thread
They promise if only you'd let them

For the language of longing never had words, so how did you speak from your heart
Yet here is a box that swears it has heard that ideas are like stars

Tonight joseph stood out in the yard, as debussy played from the kitchen
Celestial companions `til mornings first lark, shone overhead and he listened
And who was that shadow there by the gate, who was that there standing guard
It was only loneliness, and loneliness waits, and ideas are like stars
Ideas are like stars

(mary chapin carpenter)

Been walking these streets, been deciding what's true
Been hands in my pockets, coat collar up, thinking `bout you
I've been talking to myself, giving fate the third degree
I've been eyes on the pavement admitting my part to strangers passing me
And i know it isn't fair, but nothing's ever been
Hey when you look at me baby, my god how i feel so good again
I don't know where i went wrong, but it isn't right to lie
Hey when you look at me baby, my hearts wide open, naked to the eye

Now some lovers are apart, but they're never far away
I can see her in your eyes, hear her in your voice and i have to turn away
Oh what covet is to ache, is what aching is to me
For the arms of a man who knows who i am and where i need to be
And if i know what i know, then the lonely can't pretend
When you look at me baby, my god how i feel so whole again
Is there heaven after all, or just this empty space
That no amount of time, nor comfort in it's hands can ever help me face
Which is worse is yet to come, your rebuff or my resign
Hey when you look at me baby, i'm helpless as a child, naked to the eye

It's like a fever and a spell, unbroken by a sigh
Oh when you look at me baby i'm going nowhere, just naked to the eye
Yeah when you look at me baby, everythings there, naked to the eye
Hey when you look at me baby, i haven't got a prayer, naked to the eye

(mary chapin carpenter)

I'm not made of stone, i'm not made of glass
I've been alone, every one has
I've learned to forgive what i'm not
I just try to live with what i've got
Maybe i've got what you need

If you need something that not only feels right
Something that's based on a real life
One thing that's worth every page of the deal
Not some old line, or rose-colored dream
Not some other time, you know what i mean
When i tell you that this is all that it seems and that's real

How far can i crawl out on this limb
There's so far to fall and here comes the wind
There's so much to lose, but love doesn't wait
So i'll be a fool who found out too late
But i've been a fool for far lesser things

And i want something that not only feels right
Something that's based on a real life
One thing that's worth every page of the deal
Not some old line, or rose-colored dream
Not some other time, you know what i mean
When i tell you that this is all that it seems, and that's real

Not some old line or rose-colored dream
Not some other time, you know what i mean
When i tell you that i'm, i'm all that i seem, and that's real
And that's real
And that's real
And that's real

(mary chapin carpenter)

Every heart has got a story
About love holding out a lure
Baby, when you've been that lonely
You just want a cure

Fool you once, you are forgiven
Fool you twice, you're just a fool
You fear the futures all been written
By the past, and what didn't last

Chorus:
All the better to dream of you
The better to be this side of heaven
Believing again when a dream comes true
The better to dream of you

Every story's got a chapter
That chapter will be defined
By what's before and what comes after
This one is mine
Everything that came before us
Wore me out and weighed me down
You raised me up like a gospel chorus
Rock steady on solid ground

Chorus:
The better to dream of you
The better to be this side of heaven
Believing again when some dreams come true
The better to dream of you

Like an old time tent revival i felt my heart come back alive
No preacher baby, no bible, just this love to testify

Chorus:
Oh, the better to dream of you
The better to be this side of heaven
Believing again some dreams come true
The better to dream of you

Chorus:
The better to dream of you
Yeah, stranger things they might have happened
Believing again that dreams come true
The better to dream of you

The better to dream of you
The better to be this side of heaven
Believing again some dreams come true
The better to dream of you

(mary chapin carpenter)

We were born during the boom times, played house down in the bomb shelter
Suffered through the wonder years, and silence at the dinner hour
But once upon a summertime, out behind the old garage
We were buzzing on midnight, luckys and rolling rock
Thinking we were heroes in our own hometown
Nothing less than heroes in that old hometown

Some married on a day in june, some disappeared without a trace
And some of us are still at large, still searching for a better place
But once upon another time, it didn't matter what they said
Didn't matter if we fell behind, we'd still come out ahead
Cause we believed in heroes in that old hometown
Hey, you could be a hero in your own hometown

Now i'm long away and very far, from gazing at an evening sky
From wishing on a shooting star, from thinking that a heart can't lie
This world is gonna wear you thin, knot you up and spin you round
This world will take it's aim, call you every name, trying to bring you down

Everything seems so clear when you're looking back from such a distance
When the road not taken disappears into the path of least resistance
But once upon a time oh so long ago
Underneath this same old sky every brand new road

Would know that we were heroes in our own hometown
Nothing less than heroes in that old hometown
We still loved a hero in our own hometown
Baby you could be a hero in your own hometown