Been Around the World

 

Been around the world and seen a million things

chased a million dreams, it's a million scenes

in a movie going on and on around the sun

walk don't run and we'll have some fun.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna shake our hips to the sound of the song.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna dance all night till the break of dawn.

Been around the world and what have I seen?

The desert, the green, oh I've seen everything.

Been around the world and what have I heard?

The bees and the birds, the people, their words.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song

Been around the world and the things I have learned?

The wood and herb like a love can be burned.

Been around the world and what do I know?

The tree and the soul, with sunshine they’ll grow. 

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna shake our hips to the sound of the song.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna dance all night till the break of dawn.

**

Been around the world

what have I felt?

The first card played,

the last card dealt. 

Been around the world

what did I do?

I loved myself.

I loved you too. 

**

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha 

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Been around the world and seen a million things

chased a million dreams, it's a million scenes.

A movie going on and on around the sun

walk don't run and we'll have some fun.

 

Bumpers Down

Strikes and gutters, wins and losses.

We bowl with the bumpers down.

The mouth that smiles may reconcile 

and even form a frown.

Glory, glory, glory to the times!

May they always be so good.

And when they turn, and they will turn

may we remember what we should.

The Dream is Dead, Long Live the Dream

I said that I'd be married by the age of 23

but now I'm pushing 30 and still single as can be.

I said I'd leave this city, but I'm stranded here instead

and the dreams I set before me are just feeling pretty dead.

 

But long live the dream.

I used to see the clouded skies and think about the rain.

I'd think about the floods that'd come but not what still remained.

I'd curse the sorrows pushed on me like I'm the only one

but between the drops of rain I still can feel the sun

So feel the sun,

feel it shine.

Just be here now,

outside the mind.

Nothing behind us,

nothing ahead.

It's all around us,

the dream is dead.

The dream is dead. 

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the moment that we're present in cause that is the dream.

Long live this dream.

It's scary getting out there, pushing hard against the grain.

It's brutal staying neutral and not giving into pain.

Memories are liars of a time that's dead and gone;

It's only in the moment where you cease to be the pawn.

 

so long live this dream.

To keep the keel colliding with the ocean waves below

gotta keep the motor running hard and never let it slow.

Practice makes it perfect, but perfect's just a lie.

To move into the present means the past will have to die.

So let it die,

so you may rise.

Just be here now

and be so high.

Nothing behind us,

nothing ahead.

It's all around us,

the dream is dead.

The dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the moment that we're present in cause that is the dream.

Long live this dream

Expectations torture us,

the future takes more from us

and thinking on the past steals from today.

 

So let's be here, victorious.

Take a second, it's glorious.

Let's see what life is like outside the fray.   

The dream is dead. 

 

The dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the dream.

 

Long live this dream.

Dance in My Dreams

I'll love you longer than a life will allow,

it may bend but not waiver and it damn sure won't bow.

I think back so fondly of the times that we had

I cherish the memories, both lovely and sad.

 

It's candlelit dinners with wine to no end,

it's long distance road trips with curves and with bends.

It's every adventure, it's every slow night.

It's every warm laugh and it's every cold fight.

 

Our love's everlasting, you took it with you.

I'll take it on too and I'll carry it through.

You're no longer with me or so it may seem,

but you live on forever, when we dance in my dreams.

You may be gone, but we still dance in my dreams.

You had a hell of a two-step, my partner in crime

lost in a moment and frozen in time.

I know you'll be waiting, we'll dance on again

the oceans our dance floor, our music the wind.

 

You were my girlfriend or maybe my dog.

You were some light well far out in the fog.

You were a feeling so warm in the cold

You were the lifeline I knew I could hold.

What is the difference between a memory and dream?

I'll make up the stories if it's all the true to me.

Why must we lose and then never regain?

I'll draw the pictures, to hell with the frames.

 

Our love's everlasting, you took it with you.

I'll take it on too and I'll carry it through.

You're no longer with me or so it may seem,

but you live on forever, when we dance in my dreams.

You may be gone, but we dance in my dreams. 

Post Oak Memories

Me and the trees, this long winter it seems 
are a little less green now than we used to be.

Horizons are calling, as distant as near. 

The future is changing, as hazy as clear. 

 

Wisdom, hard-battled, I've fought on to learn.
Through fires of my passions, so hot that they burn.
Blown 'way the smoke, so now I may see.
The past is the past and now I am free.

—

I’ve got post oak memories of a time long ago,
like the muddy brown Brazos white dusted with snow.
I’ve rambled and wandered so long I don’t know,
but I feel in my heart I’ve got places to go.

I feel in my soul I've got places to go.

—

Here's where I sit now and here's where I stand.

In any such case, still, a man's just a man.

I wander alone both by choice and by not.

Is the fish or the fisher the one who's been caught?

 

The sights I have captured in frames and in cards.

The memories I captured in smiles and scars.

Adventure awaits for as far as I'll roam,

though I long for a place that a man could call home.

 

—

I’ve got post oak memories of a time long ago
like the muddy brown Brazos white dusted with snow.
I’ve rambled and wandered so long I don’t know,
but I feel in my heart I’ve got places to go.

I feel in my soul I've got places to go.

*

What will I see next?

Where will I be?

Will I be there alone or have someone with me?

When will I stop it?

Where will I stay?

Am I on an adventure or running away?

—

 

My hatred, my anger, my grief, and my pride

are all washed away in the rivers of time.

They were my people and they were my friends

by the banks of the Brazos from start until end.

 

I may have wandered but the post oaks have not,

each one in their place still unmoved from it's spot.

The times are a-changing, the post oaks will not.

The past stays a teacher for those who'll be taught.

 

--

 

And when I start slowing; my star dulls its shine.

When I know I'm approaching the end of my time,

I'll wander once more till I come round again

and I'll sit by the Brazos when I reach my end.

 

By the muddy brown Brazos my journey shall end.

We Were All Meant for Something

"I am nothing."

What a curious thing for a something to say.

The meaning of being is rarely so beaming

 as sunlight that breaks each new day.

So what is a thing that we say that we're not,

when things seem too dark to be seen?

What does it mean to be meant for something,

when that thing seems to be just a dream?

 

There are things that we use and things that we play,

things that we do and things that we say.

Things that are things we use for a thing

and tumble and toss and throw out someday.

 

But think of the things that THINK of these things

that say and teach and learn and do.

These are somethings, unlike those things

because the somethings have something to prove.

 

Somethings can love, Somethings can feel.

Somethings can dance and laugh and be.

Such a wondrous thing, to be just something,

to be you, to be them, to be me.

 

We're all meant for something, for we all are something,

endowed with great power unseen:

the power to think, the power to grow,

and always the power to dream.

We are somethings, unlike the things,

because of this power we bring.

As long as you're you, as long as I'm me,

we were always meant for something.