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Tivoli​-​on​-​the​-​Hudson

from Too Much of a Good Thing by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

6 a.m. and across the street the widow’s tearing out her flowerbed
Where there never have been roses and where nothing’s ever grown
You would almost think to see her there that it wasn’t all inside her head
You’d almost think she might just make it alright on her own
And lacing up your boots you think, “Absurd, absurd,”
As her child comes to wrap her in long sleeves
On the steps she holds her hand and you can just make out her words,
She says, “Mom, you’re the one who’s supposed to care for me…”
But you know how it is living in a small town
Where there’s only so much you can do
Where you know you’d leave if you could just believe
That anyone could ever love it much as you

The line outside the bakery has all the usual customers
The milkman and the paperboy and the girl who runs the store
It’s February and it’s cold outside and the weather doesn’t feel too sure
One of them’s calling in to Mikee to come and open up his door
He steps out on the porch and says, “get off! Get off!”
Even as he gathers them inside
He pours them each a coffee and says, “You know I’ve had enough,”
And it doesn’t cost him nothing but his pride
But you know how it is living in a small town
Where somehow you came to be but not to stay
Where you know you’d leave if you could just believe
That they could all get on without you for one day

Abraham’s a housepainter, he’s had cancer for a couple years
Lives alone inside a trailer in the woods behind the line
His wife divorced him long ago said she simply couldn’t stand the tears
That she had to leave him first if she would make it through his dying
Occasionally he stops in, says, “Hello, hello!”
When he’s feelin well she lets him see the kids
Every time she says it breaks her heart—each time he says he knows
He says, “We couldn’t know I’d make it like I did—”
But you know how it is living in a small town
Where you know each story and every name
Where you know you’d leave if you could just believe
That when you came back it’d still be just the same

The town was never popular but it used to host a carnival
In the park between the firehouse and the church no one attends
the only famous person who ever lived here was a criminal
and he really wasn’t half as bad as everyone pretends
there’s a restaurant and a hotel and a bar, a bar
and all the roads lead to the river just behind the railroad track
and perhaps because I’ve heard it said, ‘True places never are’
my town, it is not down, on any map
but you know how it is, living in a small town
where it’s hard to dream of even feeling lost
where you know you’d leave if you could just believe
that that feeling even distance could exhaust

credits

from Too Much of a Good Thing, released October 8, 2023

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Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho

Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more

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