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Somewhere Else

from Failed Novels by Sam Steffen

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lyrics

Somewhere Else copyright sam steffen 2014

The kettle is screaming from its place on the stove
Still dark but it’s morning, Mary’s in her bathrobe
Those boys better wake up, she says to herself
But she knows they ain’t sleeping—no, they’re somewhere else

She pours out the coffee, and she throws on a quilt
Steps out on the front porch that her late husband built
And as she stares at the ocean, she recalls how she felt
To be a young woman who longed to be somewhere else

But she’d married a sailor who’d married the sea
And she’d borne him three children uncomplainingly
And whenever they took sick she’d nurse them right back to health
By feeding them stories about somewhere else

Then one day in November, her husband called All Aboard
For the very last time and was lost overboard
They brought her his jacket, his boots and his belt
Said, “He might not be drowned, ma’am, might just be somewhere else.”

For ten days they waited, then they waited ten more
For his body or his clothing to wash up on shore
But it only got colder and the ice wouldn’t melt
So they finally concluded he was just somewhere else

And her boys grew to manhood—tho much to her dismay
And despite how she urged them, they took up the old trade
First was lost near Tahiti, the second drowned way down south
The third his brothers went seeking, and wound up somewhere else

They say not to lose hope, they say not to despair
Just because they don’t come back don’t mean they ain’t there
They say to have courage, you know but it hardly helps
When your heart is in one place and your love’s somewhere else

The ships have come back now, they’re moored at the pier
And the sailors are drunk now, on their whiskey and beer
And upon barroom counters captains divvy their wealth
But the wives and the widows, aw, they’re somewhere else

The Lord he may giveth and he may taketh away
But if you need a good reason, the Bible won’t say
And as she blows out her candle, and puts the book on the shelf
She thinks, “If God’s in his heaven, I must be somewhere else.

credits

from Failed Novels, released November 3, 2014

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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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