Dawes Album

Oh Lou, I'd like to let you know that I do not feel welcome.
All the birds, the trees, the falling snow;
No, they were not made for me.
And though this is where her heart resides, we met in California.
She saw a city's promise reaching through my eyes,
And she turned her self away.

Well how I curse that western skyline.
And yet I thanked it for my start.
Oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No, they only came apart.

So I followed her here to Birmingham, where the soil is so much richer
And though my aching pride might guide my hand, she did not ask for me to come.
So I wait for her all through the day, as if I wait for her surrender.
And every time I get her to look my way, she says I'm not where I belong.

But I watch her father preach on Sundays.
I know the hymnals all by heart.
But oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No, they only came apart.

Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh

All the snow fall this time of year, it's not what Birmingham is used to
I get the feeling that I brought it here, and now I'm taking it away.
But let's share one more drink together, before I go reload my car.
And oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No they only came apart.

Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Take me home,
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh

I need a silent, true way to admire,
like you as a sunset and I as a wildfire.
And I can't let the day go.

I've locked up these words in fear that I'd say them wrong.
Is it love as a mountain, or love as a simple song?
And the moment that the two meet
has now laid itself at your feet.

And love is not convenient.
It does not cease at your command.
You might take and leave it,
but love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

I need a boundless, soft way to commend,
like you as a temper and I as its tender end.
And however long your fits last,
I will live within your shadow cast.

And love is still your stranger.
It does not respect how much you'll stand.
You might be love's reminder,
but love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

I need a graceful, proud way to let go,
to smile and accept the things that you don't know.
The losses and the gains blurred
the weight of these as last words.

And love is not excitement.
It's not kissing or holding hands.
I'm not some assignment,
no, love is all I am.
Love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

If all my lovers sing the big words,
and all my brothers keep them small,
then I'll get lost in the difference
between their whisper and the echo of their call.

So I am headed for the ocean
to let the sea smoke guide me in.
I'd give up my belongings and questions
They only ever taught me, to begin.

So I will not turn around
as I step up to the train,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And I will not be the sound
of your roof under the rain,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.

So I am takin' off my wristwatch
to let the time move how I please,
to let my day be guided by the sunlight
through morning's mill and twilight's soft release.

So if you wanna get to know me
follow my smile down into its curves.
All these lines are born in sorrows and pleasures
and every man ends up with the face that he deserves.

So I will not give you bread
as you reach out from your cage,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And I will not give applause
as you step off of the stage,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.

There's a river running through the city
gently reminding me what's what.
Of course you are invited to come with me,
but I don't think that's really what you want.

I think you want a world that will hold you
through security and gravity and love
and I can't think of anyone who'd blame you
and I can't think of how that'd be enough.

So I won't come back around
when you curse the ground you've tamed,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when you realize, once I'm gone,
that I never really came,
oh I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when the burden of the sun
reveals to you its pain,
oh I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when you realize that you're wrong
but you still give me all the blame,
I'll hear it when you call my name.

Give me time.
Give me time.
If there's one thing you could give
to help me show you all that's mine,
give me time.

Show me love.
Show me love.
If there's one thing that you know
that I've not had any of,
show me love.

Help me see.
Help me see.
If you know what it would take
to find the patience that you need,
help me see.

Give me time.
Give me time.
If there's one thing you could give
to help me show you all that's mine,
give me time.

Oh oh oh oh oh

There were moments of dreams
I was offered to save.
I lived less like a workhorse,
more like a slave.
I thought that one quick moment
that was noble or brave
would be worth the most of my life.

So I pointed my fingers
and shouted few quotes I knew,
as if something that's written
should be taken as true.
But every path I had taken
and conclusion I drew
would put truth back under the knife.

And now the only piece of advice that continues to help
is anyone that's making anything new only breaks something else.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

So I took what I wanted
and put it out of my reach.
I wanted to pay for my successes
with all my defeats.
And if Heaven was all
that was promised to me
why don't I pray for death?

Now it seems like the unravelling
is starting too soon.
Now I'm sleeping in hallways
and I'm drinking perfume,
and I'm speaking to mirrors,
and I'm howling at moons,
while the worse and the
worse that it gets.

Oh you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it's starin' right back.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

Well you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it's starin' right back.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

Take a last look around
Take the fall that is due
Hey, take your time, and I'll take mine
It's the last thing that is left for us to do

You have tried to define moments
And all the things that it is not
Your time became some old man's cane
While he dances to a song that he forgot

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

I guess your mind can leave your heart
I guess thats what you're doing now
But it doesn't make us friends, or better men
It is not something that love would allow

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

And just like how I'll drink myself through my seventh relapse
Like a captain of his sinking ship clutches to his maps
What the figure on the cross thinks with his one final gasp
This too shall pass

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

Some time as a much older man
I will sit down and put on this song.
It just might make me cry,
Or at the very least a tear in my eye.

I can't take all these years of my life
To be widdle down into a thought
That only appears to the year
I made memories perfectly clear.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.


I just want to be making my mind,
Keep from changing my mind not to change.
Cause I'm greedy as the sea,
And that's how it always will be.
I'll be somebody now, and I'll be somebody then,
And I'll be all of you all in between.
And then I'll be ready to leave
When the whole world is taken with me.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.

Cause there're so many days in a year.
And there's so many years in my head.
So I think about when I'll be dead,
And how those very last moments get spent.
And if I think about you is that something you think you'd accept?

Some time as a much older man
I will sit down and put on this song.
It just might make me cry,
Or at the very least a tear in my eye.

Go ahead and let your hands stay entwined,
I swear I could not possibly mind.
And when she lets down her guard,
Don't kiss her too hard.
She's sure to repay in kind.

Don't let your courtesy last too long,
My love blooms when I know it's gone.
So if I'm in the room,
It should be fair to assume:
You can both act how you want.

And I won't cross the line you drew
Cause I'm not here to compete
Oh and I don't know what she tells you,
But she's still my girl to me.

She's good with quick goodbyes
And whenever she rolls her eyes
That's her admission of guilt
On the temper she built,
And for me that's her most familiar side.

I'm always watching my bridges burn,
But if she didn't leave then she can't return.
And I don't know you too well,
But it's not too hard to tell
I miss her but I'm not concerned.

And I'm glad to see that someone stayed
I don't want to see her grieve
But it doesn't matter what you say,
She is still my girl to me.

Oh that's the way my sister might give a kiss
Oh, how I feel so passively missed.
And she says in your ear, as if I wasn't here
The quixote knows who he is

Oh, call me names if it comforts you
There are worst things I could be
But it doesn't matter if it isn't true-
She is still my girl to me.

Take me out of the city,
Where my shadow can roam
Let me breath in the morning
Let my way be my home

Take me out of the city
True love I will not find
Take me in new one's heart
Take me out of my mind.

I feel my reflection slide along the eyes that march me past
I found my direction high up close to sun
That I've kept to my back.

Take me out of the city
Where God's never been
Where my soul is my sorrow,
And it's bound by my skin.

Take me out of the city
May I never return
Let the song of the mountain
Be the one that I've earned.

I feel my reflection slide along the eyes that march me past.
I found my direction high up close to sun
That I've kept to my back.

Take me out of the city
Where my shadow can roam
Let me breath in the morning
Let my way be my home.

1, 2, 3

I want love to stretch it's fingers wide
And touch on all our wandering parts.
Come sit by my Californian side
With your Carolina heart.

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.

If I see the thin trace of his hands
Let the winter pay all my dues
Let me forgive every single man
That before me came to you.

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.

So find me when you welcome back your roots
And I will be where all of your ends meet.
I want the feeling waking next to you
I want to find my children at your feet.

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down.

oooohhhhhh
oooh oh oh oh oh oh
oooohhhhhh

I think these walls have a message or have changed
Which it is I can't decide.
So I leave with the writer that remains
And let him tell me what his better days were like.

And I sit with the memory of kings
With only words to criticize
As if I finally found the antidote for pain
Without knowing what that's really like.

And our actor ends his love song
And all these lovers sit and stare.
If I don't find peace in the valley
It's cause there wasn't any there.

I will move somewhere the ocean's never seen.
Somewhere weeds just make their claim
Where my best friends exist only on screen
Where my love all fits in frame

But I want fire tumbling out into the night
I want you to know why you hold me close
Pull the quarter from my ear, or say you tried
I need magic or the holy ghost.

And as I drive on through these canyons
I'm still feeling like a crook
If I don't find peace in the valley
I've got no place else to look.