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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Too Much of a Good Thing, Poor Thing, Maxims, Mantras & Moral Tales, Say When, Unravelled Tales - Volume 2, Unravelled Tales - Volume 1, Roubles and Kopecks, Nothin to Write Home About, and 9 more.
1. |
More to Life
07:00
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Midnight on the boulevard, you know that I been looking hard
For someplace I can rest my bones
The dumpster’s growing tentacles and the alley’s drawing animals
And my shoes are filling up with stones
headlights all around me flash and splash and try drown me
as invisibly I make my way
billboards, with their promises of futures bleak and ominous
saying everything’s gonna be okay
there’s holy men in beggar’s clothes, schoolgirls in their pantyhose
policemen dressing for the raid
anyplace I sit or stand I’m in the way of the marchingband
or some exclusive VIP parade
Got a ticket to ride the rocket putting a hole right through my pocket
They say they’ve got her loaded, gassed and primed
With nothing else to recommend, and no regards to leave or send
I think I’ll go and get in line
If tomorrow I just disappeared,
I’m not sure that I’d be missed
The answer’s not a part of me
I only know there’s gotta be more to life than this
The sheriff and his band of droogs is out tonight in one of their moods
They say they’re looking for the saboteurs
Nobody seems to know a thing, and as for the fellas in the ring
They’s just settling up old scores
Diamond Joe and his brother Ace spoke of meeting up someplace
As an act of service to their queen
They’d been assigned a mission that may have required demolition
By now they’re probably blown to smithereens
There’s blood smeared on the mantlepiece of every house on Market St
I’ve heard it’s precautionary for the plague
But as for how it’s sposed to help, you gotta figure that one out yourself
The instructions left were pretty vague
You can follow the road to nowhere or you can take it from one who’s been there
who drank the kool-aid from the source
haul in your anchor, hoist your sails, don’t look back, if all else fails
shout for “Mercy!” til your voice goes hoarse
If tomorrow were all I had
I’d blow it one last lover’s kiss
I’m not one to act modestly
I only know there’s gotta be more to life than this—
I got here around six o’clock, the breadlines already down the block
The hopeless ones have placed their bets
The early birds have all skipped town, the ones a little bit further down
don’t even know what they’re in line to get
The grocer’s peddling contraband with a stick of dynamite in his hand
He’s always asking for the time
We’ve been through the whole thing twice, but even if he lowered the price
Could anybody spare a dime?
Patience is a virtue, too much of anything will hurt you
Therefore—whatever’s a man to do?
I’m just waiting on my payday, but even so it’s only Monday
And I need something to look forward to
Disguised as one of my former selves, I followed the casino bells
dealer told me fate was mine to choose
I had the king, the ace, the ten, but I told him to go and hit me again
Cause I only ever play to lose
If tomorrow I struck it rich
I’m not sure I’d feel bliss
Accustomed to my poverty
I only know there’s gotta be more to life than this
You can take pill to get out of bed, another one’ll clear your head
A third will get you out the door
I once had a prescription that fit precisely that description
If you need some, I can get some more—
There’s a drink to keep you awake all day, another to take the pain away
And another yet to help you get it back
There’s a problem solved by every drug, but as for never knowing love
I don’t know if I can help with that—
The doctor’s out, he called in sick, took something he thought would do the trick
But that was way back in july
His secretary says she’s his friend, but I’ve heard her tell a few since then
he’s just been waiting around to die
Left alone with his memories, transfixed in his reveries
The prisoner, in his cell, stands tall
Reflects upon coincidence, weighs the price of innocence
And adds another tally to his wall
If tomorrow, I walked out of here
I’d be happy just to exist
Meanwhile there’s a lotta me
That only knows there’s gotta be more to life than this
feeling like a change of scene, I moved into a submarine
I tried to write you though I was feeling full
The envelopes, still unaddressed, accumulated in a chest
That I ejected through the torpedo hole
someday when I’m dust and ash, they may wash up like so much trash
decorations for some pristine beach
To whomsoever findeth these, I send sincere apologies
I’m still out here, somewhere, out of reach
With nothing but my strength of will, my boulder and my stretch of hill
I once more for the thousandth time
Set my weight against the rock, imagine, but don’t check the clock
And gradually begin to climb
In the event I plummet sometime before I reach the summit
I hardly think it’s worth a frown
When you’ve only ever had it bad, the only thing that’ll make you glad
Is seeing the weight you dragged up roll back down
If tomorrow I wake up dead
I’d not protest, but I’d still wish—
that someone had only thought of me
reminded me that there’s gotta be more to life than this
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2. |
Doin Nothin
03:43
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Foreman says its back to work, wants to see us live and movin
It’s no secret tho that he’s a jerk and this job it ain’t my choosin
It’s nine to nine on the ssembly line ain’t exactly that amusing
And we’ll probably all get us overtime, but that’s the weekend that we’re losin
Now I ain’t a one to make complaints, even when pushin comes to shoving
But I wished I had me another day for to sit round doing nothing
On my one day off I slept in late didn’t get up until the evening
I cooked a meal, put it on a plate, but I couldn’t find the seasoning
So I drove my car to the grocery store, without forethought or reasoning
When I got there I found me a parking spot, steppin out I locked my keys in
For a minute I just stood there, all a red-faced and a cussin—
And I wished I had me another day for to sit round doing nothing
In the summertime when the weather’s fine as well you may imagine
The sun it shines through my window-blinds where my eyelids are a-hatchin
Upon the beach I watch the sea where the waves come softly crashin
Against the crags beneath my seat where the mermaids are asplashin
Some days are meant for makin plans, and some days are for discussin
But me I tend to like the days where you can sit round doin nothing
Out on the porch in my rocking chair with my pocket knife a whiddlin
Just enjoying nature’s outdoor air a hummin and a whistling
My sleeves are short and my feet are bare, I like to keep my toes a wigglin
When I run all out of wood to carve always got my thumbs for twiddling
No I don’t relate to people well, whether a stranger or my cousin
Folks always seem to want to do something else besides for nothing
I had my eye on a pretty girl she was a one-in-a-twenty-million
I asked her for to marry me if she’d be so kind and willing
Well she didn’t say one word to me and just then something happened
She called a fella to come over here, and introduced me to her husband
He shook my hand so hard it hurt, and boy, was I a blushin
If I could’ve done it all again, I guess I would’ve never had said nothing
When this life has gone and passed me by on my deathbed I’ll be dyin
And if I ain’t outlived the folks I know, haps around me they’ll be cryin
When the old man comes to reap my soul I won’t keep him long from tryin
I wouldn’t say that I’d be ready tho, if I did I would be lyin
My mind will rest from thinking sore and my heart will rest from lovin
But I’ll still wished I had me another day to sit round doing nothing
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3. |
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I am tired of trying to explain the reasons
For feelings I am powerless to understand
Sometimes I wish I could control the seasons
Or control my heartbeat
Or direct its yearning
That only something was not out of my hands
And I have been accused this way before by others
Like you I only wanted someone I could save
But if I am nothing but a coward now
And you may not believe this
And you do not have to
But it’s only because once I was much too brave
For I have lived my life like a burning building
Like a rolling tide upon an ancient sea
And before I die, I only hope, God willing,
That I may learn what it is that I was meant to be
I have had my share of angry tantrums
The blazing furnace I have starved to cold
I gave myself where I wasn’t wanted
Revealed in earnest
What it was I needed
Took big chances
Hoped to get wise early but just got old
And I have steeled my heart for grave misfortune
In the quest for love and other ghosts
But such a preset hasn’t helped me any
I’ve been eluded
At almost every corner
Slowed and hindered
I’ve been stopped at boundaries
And sent away from almost every coast
And I have lived my life like a wasted hour
On the station platform of a boarding train
And before I die I only hope god willing
I may say that I did not live my life in vain
So at last I have come to the brink of something
Some valley or some sun must lie beyond these hills
I know I told you that someday I’d settle
Maybe down with someone
Maybe up with creditors
For maybe less than happiness
Or for more than sorrow
But I’m beginning to wonder if I ever will
I’ve prepared for this for many years now
To be ready for whatever’s coming with the storm
The hours late
Everyone is sleeping
The bells are silent
The stars are dying
The highway’s empty
The wind is rising
The dust is stirring
The chains are rattling
The babes are kicking waiting to be born
And I have lived my life like a polished arrow
In the crowded quiver on a marksman’s back
And before I die I only hope, God willing
That I may see that light before it all fades to black
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4. |
Every Mornin
05:17
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I roll out of bed
got a thousand dreams and nightmares running through my head
not a one of which stays
my fears are no match for the exhaustion I’ve been feeling these days
behind me my love’s sleeping soundly
the bedsheet she clings to wraps half-way around me
she never seems to cease to astound me—even asleep
she stretches her arms and turns off the alarms which she’s set by the bed as a warning
but her eyes remain closed till the old rooster crows and the first rays of dawn shyly show
Every morning
It’s pouring down sleet
Weatherman’s made all kinds of promises he just couldn’t keep
I’d sure hate to be him
If I expected any less than the worst I don’t know where I’d begin
I’d probably have to make a decision
Have to devise a clear position
I’d probably have to make it my mission not to be wrong
She says with a smile we’ll stay in for a while and let the weather outside go on storming
And if it never lets up we don’t have to get up, we’ll just carefully uninterrupt
Every morning
I go for a walk
Buy a cup of coffee at the grocer’s where the tvs talk
A man says my name
He says, “And how are you today?” I tell him, “I’m the same.”
He says, “Are you quite sure about that?” I tell him, “I am, as a matter of fact,”
He says, “Hey, do you want your change back?” I say, “No.”
She says that it’s old but by the time she’s grown cold she’s already shown signs of warming
And her clothing is strewn all over my room as I lie in bed just waiting for noon
Every morning
Lastnight is a blur
I don’t recall what we did, who we went with, or where we were
She don’t seem concerned
She says a night that’s best left forgotten is a lesson learned
At least that’s the way that she leaves it
When the newspaper comes she unwraps and she reads it
Occasionally she’ll say, “Aw, who needs it anyway?”
With a swell of her breath and one blow from her breath she keeps the frost on the windows from forming
And as suspicions accrue, her love remains true, and her mercy is new
Every morning
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5. |
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You can crawl in through my window
No one has to know you’re here
Mama’s tired cause she’s been working
If we’re quiet, she won’t hear
Dad’ll have the TV playin
He’ll be asleep fore long I’m sure
Baby crawl in through my window
You can leave through the front door
You know sometimes I get the feelin
That you’ve been playin me for a fool
When I call you never answer
And you don’t talk to me at school
But every night that I come over
You say I’m the one you’re waiting for
Can’t you crawl in through my window
Like I’m always crawling out of yours?
There’s an alley behind my building
You can get there through the gate
If you stand up on the trashcan
You can reach the fire escape
You can walk right up to my room
Apartment’s on the seventh floor
Baby crawl in through my window
And you can leave through the front door
I know you built your reputation
Refusing what you’re supposed to be
You hate your parents and their station
That’s why you hang around with me
But you know there ain’t no pressure
The choice is obviously yours
But if you crawl in through my window
You can leave through the front door
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6. |
The Heart and the Head
04:26
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Said the head to the heart, “There is no cause to worry
There is no reason to fear
If you got something to tell her, man, well do it—but hurry
If you need I will be right here,”
Said the heart to the Head, “I wish it were so simple
I wish there were no obstructions or blocks
But I worry if I speak my tongue may stumble
And I will wind up the laughingstock…”
Said the head to the heart, “I will mind the tongue
I will outfit it with the cleverest phrase
I will compare her complexion to the golden sun
So that she will not fail to sing your praise,”
Said the heart to the Head, “I would it were so easy
A matter of knowing just what word to use
But if I reveal my desires and she doesn’t need me
Then the only chance I have, I’ll lose…”
Said the head to the heart, “Then I will keep them hidden
So that she will not suspect the truth
And if she happens to notice your pained expression
I will tell her it is in your tooth…”
Said the heart to the Head, “I wish it were so straightforward
As to be covered up by that disguise
But even if I tell her that my mouth is tortured
She will surely see it in my eyes…”
Said the Head to the Heart, “I will keep them closed, then,
So your love of her will not be known
And if she asks you please to let them open
I will play indifference like a stone,”
Said the Heart to the Head, “Would that it were no harder
Than pretending to be unaware
But the moment I attempt to disregard her
My lungs, they will want for air…”
Said the heart to the head, “Will you keep me breathing
Will you keep my words from fading and receding?
Is our signal clear for you to keep receiving?
Shall I speak to her, head, now that she’s speaking?
Shall I pursue her, head, now that she’s leaving?
Can you hear me over that constant beating?
That sounds like a buffalo herd, stampeding?
Is this a question, head, that needs repeating?
Can you hear me over that constant beating?
did you hear what I said? Excuse me did you hear what I said?”
Said the heart to the head.
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7. |
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O please inform my dearest mother
Of my death, when I am gone
Please break it to her soft and gently
Tell her that I suffered none
O tell her that I’s aboard a freighter
Upon Superior, bound from Duluth
O tell her that our ship was sunken
But O please spare her the awful truth
Or tell her that I’s in an aircraft
And that our plane fell from the sky
And if she asks to know what happened
Please see to it that you lie
Please don’t let on I was in trouble
Or that I stole more than a dime
For if she knew how I was living
The shame would kill me a second time
Please don’t let on I was unhappy
I often wrote her to say I’s well
There are some things one can’t help hiding
There are some things one should not tell
Please don’t let on I lost my partment
After my girlfriend threw me out
And as for the job I could not manage
You need not say one thing about
Please understand my mother’s lonely
There’s none to keep her company
She had no one to put her faith in
Her hopes and dreams were all on me
Now I have met three kinds of angels:
And two of them were heavenly
But twas the angel they call heroine
That stole my little life from me
O please inform my dearest mother
Of my death when I am gone
Please break it to her soft and gently
Tell her that I suffered none
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8. |
With All Due Respect
06:10
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I’ve not always heeded your sage advice which you’ve been given out to me since I was a kid
I know you’ve had to work hard, to sacrifice, so I could have all the chances that you never did
Nine times in ten you’ve been correct,
it seems I’ve been wrong ten in nine
You know I’m grateful, but with all due respect,
you haven’t let me ask for help in the longest time
I know it’s hard to hear, it kinda hurts to say
But you gotta let me find my own way
I wasn’t cut out to fill your shoes, you know I’ve barely just grown into my own pair
You never said so, but you planted clues, enough for me to know you’ve always been right there
I know I’m not one from whom there’s much to expect
There’s a great deal between us we just don’t understand
I’m grateful for you, but with all due respect
I have no interest in the life you’ve planned
So please I hope you don’t take this the wrong way
But you gotta let me find my own way
I know you worry about just what I’ll do, when it comes to the future I’ve never looked ahead too far
Nothing I’ve done has been very well thought-through, with my debts and schemes and now, this old guitar
Your concerns they are not hard to detect
By now I can almost guess just what they’ll be
It’s not a bad thing, dad, but with all due respect
I wish you’d leave my problems up to me
So if you would please, let come what may—
You gotta let me find my own way
The pioneers, their days are done; there are no new lands left to find
But every person, every single one, must learn this lesson in his own time
There is no telling of what ships I’ve wrecked
Of what precious chances I’ve let fall and break
But I gotta tell ya, with all due respect,
Those decisions were never yours to make
I’m glad you’ve been here, but you won’t be here some day
You gotta let me find my own way
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9. |
You Remind Me of Myself
05:01
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Look at that poor man, there, fallin down
Flat on his face in front of everyone
Like some sideshow circus clown
Who mistook the world for a stadium
The more you look, it just seems sillier
A grown man, lyin in his filth
Something about him, tho, seems familiar
Kind of reminds me of—myself
Kind of reminds me of myself
You got one foot on a banana peel
Other’s steppin out on a roller-skate
You’re so mixed up you don’t know how you feel
There’s none to whom you feel you can relate
The road your on’s just getting hillier
You tried it slow and fast, nothin’s helped
Something bout you, tho, seems familiar
Kind of reminds me of myself
Kind of reminds me of myself
Nothin lasts, everything falls apart
If not sooner, well, later, then
I’ve read all about the so-called “broken heart”
Examined a textbook specimen
It starts out warm, but just gets chillier
Eventually, it declines in health
There’s something bout it, seems familiar
Kind of reminds me of—myself
Kind of reminds me of myself
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10. |
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If the flesh that hangs upon my bones should whither and decay
And Death from stealing me no longer can abstain
If Time decomposes me and a breeze blows me away
My love for you
My love for you
My love for you will remain
If I give away all that I own, along with my body, to be burned
If I surrendered every ounce that I contain
If my wisdom walked out on me with every lesson I ever learned
My love for you
My love for you
My love for you will remain
At the very end when the world is done, and everything is past
When what hasn’t burned has washed out in the rain
When the flicker of hope’s ember has been extinguished to the last
My love for you
My love for you
My love for you will remain
Further than the boundary of what you or I can know
As we move upon the seas and skies and plains
Here, where you’ve already been, and wherever you may go
My love for you
My love for you
My love for you will remain
Tomorrow, when you are wakened by the unassuming and rosey fingered dawn
And some birdsong comes up rising through your pane
Remember that tho I myself and every trace of me is gone
My love for you
My love for you
My love for you will remain
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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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