Marc Cohn Album

I can see the sunshine
Coming through my room
Breaking down the winter of my discontent
Looking out my window
At the people passing by
I keep wondering where my old companion went

On the steps of the museum
I wrote a line or two
But it took a while to find my way
Back to something true like

This is where I lay my hat
This is where they know my name
This is where they show me that
A man's not so alone
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you've got to go back)
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you don't know why)

Rolling down the window
Burning up the daze
Cutting through the veil that keeps on blinding me
I was only sleeping
Waiting here for you
Waiting for your touch that keeps reminding me

Well I've seen the world of wonders
Been underneath it too
But it took a while just to find my way
Back to something true like

This is where I lay my hat
This is where they know my name
This is where they show me that
A man's not so alone
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you've got to go back)
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you don't know why)

Why it had to take me so long
Just to find a place that really feels
This must be where I belong
Thinking about it
All I had to do was click my heels

This is where I lay my hat
This is where they know my name
This is where they show me that
A man's not so alone
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you've got to go back)
Maybe I'm already home
(Sometimes you don't know why)

I'm coming to see you, tomorrow sometime
Gonna bring you some roses, gonna tear off the vines
Gonna talk to the wind that blows through the trees
Kiss you like always from down on my knees

Gonna ask you some questions, get no replies
Wipe all the tears, falling down from my eyesEm
'Cause the one that I wanted, I never could know
Girl of Mysterious Sorrow
Girl of Mysterious Sorrow

Gonna park in the street, gonna open the gate
Walk to the spot where you always wait
I'll be shaking my head like I usually do
'Cause the name and the dates tell me nothing about you

But I'll sit in the shadows and let you explain
All of the sadness and all of the painEm
Did it all seem so hopeless you just had to let go?
Girl of Mysterious Sorrow
Girl of Mysterious Sorrow

Mysterious ... Mysterious
Mysterious ... Mysterious

Yeah I'm coming to see you but I really can't wait
There's just a few things I needed to say
Like why were you hiding so much of yourself?
Why were you living for somebody else?

Well I know that I've always been looking for you
But lately it's not such a hard thing to do
'Cause it seems like inside every woman I know
There's a girl of mysterious sorrow
A girl of mysterious sorrow

Mysterious ... Mysterious
Mysterious ... Sorrow ...

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

I talk to you in turbulence
That's when I see the light
But she has visions on the hillside
Then she speaks in tongues all night

You've got such a faithful little servant
Why don't you pay her no mind?

She prays for Providence
She needs a little more of your attention
She waits for Providence
Just a little intervention

She was driving out on Highway 1
She felt the presence of something strange
She could not tell if it was alien
She only knew her life would change

If you were sending down a message
Why do you hang her on a line?

She prays for Providence
I don't know why you cannot hear her
She waits for Providence
Are you just waiting to be near her

Are you thinking something
And not letting on?
Will she understand what you planned
Before she's gone?

She prays for Providence
She needs a little more of your attention
She waits for Providence
Just a little intervention

Tonight I cried the tears of a child
Who knows what fear runs deep and wild
Inside
But the river's in flood tonight

I lay down and the light streamed across my face
I felt the beauty of some deeper grace
And I tried
To find my way to the other side

I feel your skin as smooth as silk
Drunk like a baby on his mama's milk
Take me down under the wishing tree
Lay your healing hands on me

Been a long time riding this deserted train
There's no messiahs out here, baby
But I found the holy grail all right
'Cause I'm lying in your arms tonight
Yeah....

I feel your skin as smooth as silk
Drunk like a baby on his mama's milk
Take me down under the wishing tree
Lay your healing hands on me

Lay your healing hands on me....

Got your call from California
But I could hardly hear your voice
Through the hissing of the highway
And all that other noise
You said "I might lose you in the canyon"
Then you went riding up the coast
Now all these things we leave unspoken
Seem to haunt me like a ghost

I lost you in the canyon
Guess you tried to let me know
Lost you in the canyon
A long, long time ago
Lost you in the canyon
Brother you fade out slow

There were times I thought I knew you
Before these changes came to pass
But you don't think about it do you?
From up there in your house of glass
The Earth is shifting underneath you
The land is sliding all around
Do you ever stop to wonder
About that paradise you've found?

I lost you in the canyon
Guess you tried to let me know
Lost you in the canyon
A long, long time ago
Lost you in the canyon
Brother you fade out slow

I hear you moving through the mountains
Through the fires and the floods
But I can't fix this bad connection
In the wires or the blood

I lost you in the canyon
Guess you tried to let me know
Lost you in the canyon
A long, long time ago
Lost you in the canyon
Brother you fade out slow

I could hear the shutters banging
In my mother's house
And the wind just kept blowing off the lake
I ran down to the front door
And told the ambulance man
"Everything's all right here Sir
There must be some mistake"

Saints preserve us
We're all going down
This ship is sinking in the sea
Saints preserve us
And carry us along
For we may be together in eternity

My father was staring off into another world
And my mother she was laying very still
The baby was crying
And I tried to block it out
Then from somewhere deep inside me
Came a deathly chill

Saints preserve us
Wherever we might fall
This is all too big a mystery
I remember I was standing in the corner of the room
Saying "Look at how she's leaving us
So quietly so soon"

And in her final hour
I saw her reaching up her hands
Like she was asking to be taken high above us
Didn't she love us?

Saints preserve us
We're all going down
This ship is sinking in the sea
Saints preserve us
And carry us along
For we may be together in eternity

Saints preserve us
Saints preserve us
Wherever we may fall
Saints preserve us
Saints preserve us
And carry us along

They say my final masterpiece
Was this house upon the hill
High above the great and mighty river
My hand could not hold the brushes
Yes I guess I lost my will
And you can't keep painting paradise forever
Oh forever

From the Andes to Niagara
To where we stand today
I drew the great creations of my master
'Til the oil and the canvas
Lord I threw them all away
And traded them for stone and brick and plaster
I traded them all for you

(Winter wind blows and the river lies frozen at my feet)
I traded them all for you
(Springtime come and the river wanna run above the street)

She came to me one night
While I was tossing in my dreams
She said she'd give my family protection
I recall the night I died
Beneath her arches and her beams
I thanked her for the shelter and direction
I was lost until Olana

(Sun beat down on a summertime town -- he left me there)
I was lost until Olana
(Watching these hills turning gold for one more year)

Oh I've been from Jerusalem to Rome
Now I'm floating through these rooms tonight alone
And looking back on everything
All I ever wanted was a home

I was lost until Olana
How sweet the sound
How sweet the sound

They say my final masterpiece
Was this house upon the hill

I was lost until Olana
How sweet the sound
How sweet the sound

Fallen angel
Come to me
Give me something to believe
Before I turn on every vow
Turn to me if you still know how

Spent my share of restless days
Coal black suitcase
Fall from grace
All the while I was breaking down
Turn to me if you still know how

I tried to tell you but I don't know how
Every smile's turned upside down
I'm a freak show in a one joke town
So turn to me if you still know how

Change comes slowly it's just
a little hard to see
I know some of my demons
They're still haunting me
Wanting me

Fallen angel
Comfort me
Help me get back on my feet
'Cause I can't keep myself from falling down
I just can't keep myself from falling down
So turn to me if you still know how

I tried to tell you but I don't know how
Every smile's turned upside down
I'm a freak show in a one joke town
So turn to me if you still know how

Down along these hillsides
Many miles ago
Lived a man of vision child
But little did I know
He was always talking child
About the heart and soul
'Til one day some pharaoh came
And offered up his dole

In the valley
In the valley of the kings
In the valley
The valley of the kings
The kings

Well he lives up in a tower now
High upon a hill
People come from miles around
Hoping that he will
Turn their dreams right into gold
Turn their worlds around
And if he does he'll keep it all
And stash it underground

In the valley
In the valley of the kings
In the valley
The valley of the kings
The kings

I don't know where I'm goin'
Now that I am gone
I hope the wind that's blowin'
Helps me carry on

Turn on your radio, baby
Listen to my song
Turn on your nightlight baby, baby
I'm gone

Turn on your radio

I don't know how it happened
Now that I am gone
I hope I'll never hear it, baby,
Just in case I'm wrong

Turn on your record player
Listen to my song
Turn on your nightlight baby, baby
I'm gone
Really long gone

I don't know where life's goin'
But soon it will be gone
I hope the wind that's blowin'
Helps me carry on
Turn on your radio, baby
Baby listen to my song
Turn on the nightlight, baby, baby
I'm gone
Long gone

Turn on your record player

(Turn on your record player...)

And listen to my song

Everybody had a hard year
And everybody had a good time
Everybody had a wet dream
And everybody saw the sunshine
Everybody had a good year
And everybody let their hair down
Everybody put their socks up
And everybody put their foot down

Listen, listen

I was driving down Ninth Avenue
As the sky was getting dark
Didn't have nothin' else to do
So I kept on riding to Battery Park
I stepped out in the damp and misty night
As the fog was rolling in
Man said, "Last boat leaving tonight
Is the boat for Ellis Island"

As my feet touched solid ground
I felt a chill run down my spine
I could almost hear the sound
of thousands pushing through the lines
Mothers and bewildered wives
that sailed across the raging sea
Others running for their lives
to the land of opportunity
Down on Ellis Island

"What is this strange paradise?"
They must've wondered through their cries and moans
After all they've sacrificed
Their faith, their families, friends and homes
Then on the Inspection Stairs
They were counted out or counted in
Frozen while the inspectors stared
Down on Ellis Island

Now me I only stumbled in
Just to wander around that empty hall
Where someone else's fate had been
Decided in no time at all
And cases filled with hats and clothes
And the belongings of those who journeyed far
They're strange reminders I suppose
Of where we're from and who we are

But as the boat pulled off the shore
I could see the fog was lifting
And lights I never seen before
Were shining down on Ellis Island
Shining down on Ellis Island