Why, the crickets are calling me on this full moonlit Canadian night, and I’m far away from home and on the roam…and I’m singing a song. Why, the crickets are calling me on this full moonlit Canadian night And there’s a whisper in the willows and she’s calling me, there’s a whisper in the willows and she’s calling me. Left my baby on a flat front step, left her reeling and rocking cause we ain’t dead yet. Left her heart in a whirl, assuring the little girl that, “I won’t forget…but honey baby, sweetie pie… I gotta live, gotta go, gotta get free of my woes, and I count my little toes and I know that I know that I know that I know that I know, that we ain’t dead yet”. Why, the crickets are calling me on this full moonlit Canadian night. And your memory’s following me on this moonlit Canadian night.

I got a ragtime formula inside of my head a-comin’ back to me now from the ages of the dead. If Tom Waits could yodel and I’ll bet that he’d can…it up inside his head until it came a-crawlin’ back from the… What do you do with a poison in your head? Seepin’ and a-creepin’ into every single bed - into your dreams, when you wake and you bake and you make every little try, but you can’t and you cry, “Mercy, mercy over me”. I’m just a cowboy singer and I’m trying all I can to wake the spirit and the soul and to place it in your hand. Or take the holy Bible, and make you all liable - to sing in every church, in every bar in every land… Or like a blackjack dealer I’m a-dealin’ out the cards - you fumble with your soul and you gamble with your lard…but you can’t get to heaven if it’s where you want to go – you can’t use fat…you’ve got to gamble with your soul. No, you can’t go to church just to claim you’ve got a soul, you can’t pay the piper with your silver and your gold. You can’t run and hide from the burning inside - it’s your soul calling you… So you’d better make time for a date with a with a wild jungle ape, scratchin’ and a-grabbin’ in a wild jungle way. No, you can’t retire, you’ve got to look him in the eye, you’ve got to tangle with your soul, dance with the fire, got to dance with the fire. Well, you could call yourself a Christian, or a Muslim or a Jew…you could call yourself a prophet or a liar or a fool…but when the chips are on the table, you can’t use coal, you can’t use fat, you’ve got to gamble… When the time draws near to lay down and die, and the sun is setting fast on a last blue sky, will you say “Please!”, will you say, “Please!!”…it’s too late friends, for all your mercy over me.

It was a moonlit night and it’s got to be alright to take it once on a lover’s stroll delight. Where is that perfect place, oh it’s got to be fine, we’ve been there before baby, we take our time… “Maybe baby Amy, maybe baby tonight”, did I forget to mention Amy, my little lady out of sight. Maybe Amy baby, got to say it again. Love to Amy, baby, like the flowers to the rain. It was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time, it was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time. Yes, it was a moonlit stroll, we walked across time. We were moonlit lovers and we did the moonlit stroll and my sweetie’s got something that satisfies my soul. You can take it to the doctor, you can take it to the judge, you can place it by the bible, still who’s the one you love? Now love has left me and it’s time to say again, that to love and to lose is like my oldest friend. I wish I had a grandma who could keep her in line, who could keep her sweet love from leaving one more time… It was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time, yes it was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time. Yes, it was a moonlit stroll baby, you know it’s alright. Now that love has left me and it’s left me nearly flat, friends I want to tell you where I think it’s really at. Can’t stand the truth but let me say it anew, maybe baby Amy, still in love with you. “Maybe baby Amy, maybe baby tonight”, did I forget to mention Amy, my little lady out of sight. Maybe Amy baby, got to say it again. Love to Amy, baby, like the flowers to the rain. It was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time, it was a moonlit stroll, we waltz across time. Yes, it was a moonlit stroll baby, you know it’s alright.

Well that bright light was calling me to join it in the sky. Where I hear there are bright angels there to greet me when I die. Every day I dreamt of being there when they’d lain me down to rest and the gravedigger piled six feet on while the sun set in the west. Now those dying days are gone when my eyes saw only death and every moment passed me by that once stole away my breath. Well that bright light was calling me to join it in the sky. Where I hear there are bright angels there to greet me when I die. Wasn’t Jesus Christ, the superstar, who gave me back my life, or the mysteries on high that have brought me here tonight. It’s those prayers that went unanswered for the wicked ways of men and the joy I find in being here never to return again. Now that bright light’s still calling me to join it in the sky where I know there are no angels there to greet me when I die. The only angels that I know of, are also caught up in this mess and they’ll be stealing every moment that once stole away my breath.

You're causing all the rukus’, breaking up the cards, causing all the rukus’, you know it’s gotta stop. Mighty plain to us all, you didn’t mean to break a heart. That’s why they call you ‘heart breaker’ where the lovin’ falls apart CHORUS Saying YES BABY YES, No Baby No, YES BABY YES, No Baby No. YES BABY YES, No baby No Baby No. You are a cold heart breaker, yes today, maybe ‘morrow no. ‘Twas on a Monday that I met you, by my momma’s door…Tuesday that we’re lovin’, Wednesday and some more. Thursday come around, why we’re living and we’re loving on the floor. You give me red hot lovin’, golly! and I want it and some more. Well, you know you didn’t love me now you gotta go, you know you didn’t love me, now you gotta go. Mighty plain to us all you didn’t mean to break a heart. That’s why they call you ‘heart breaker’, where the lovin’ falls apart. (CHORUS) So now I know your kind, I’ll never love again. I’ll never love another, I’ll keep ‘em all my friends. I’ll keep ‘em all a guessing, right along ‘til the end. They give me red hot lovin’ golly! let me tell you where it begins (CHORUS)

Oh well, the deepest brown eyes that I ever did get to see, oh in my mind it seems my baby must have a hold on me. She took me once and it crossed my mind, baby twice, baby come back…jitterbug Sweet romance oh it’s got to be alright to take it once on your lover’s rocket ship tonight. A lover’s stroll a moonlit beach, oh we gotta go baby once, baby one time…jitterbug They say in love it’s a mighty perfect chance when you get to meet the one and only time to twitter once. Twitter once, twitter twice, ‘twas a bitter price...jitterbug It’s been a lot of travel and I got you in my books. Take it once oh we’ve been around…take it twice, oh we’re still around…take a triple threat, I go in debt with the devil just to have another look…jitterbug Oh well, the deepest brown eyes that I ever did get to see, oh in my mind it seems my baby must have a hold on me. She took me once and it crossed y mind, baby twice, baby come back…jitterbug

And now the purple dust of twilight time goes and steels across the meadows of my heart. High up in the sky all the little stars climb, and they’re always reminding that we’re apart. You wander down the lane and far away, leaving me a song that will not die. Love is now, it’s the stardust of all our yesterdays. Yes it’s the music of the years gone by. Sometimes I wonder why I spend the lonely nights just dreaming of a song. That melody goes and haunts my reverie when I was once again with you. When our love was new and each kiss was an inspiration. But that was long ago and now my consolation lies in the stardust of a song Beside a garden wall where stars are bright, you are in my arms. The nightingale goes and tells his fairytale of paradise where rose grew. And though I dream in vain, in my heart there still remains my stardust melody, the memory of loves refrain.

This is an old love letter about a lover that’s gone, on an all ghost train, ain’t never coming home, never gonna see your smiling face again and again. Ah, well I visit your grave where the violets grow, where a bird named “Robin”, just a-lettin’ it go, perched on a gravestone, singing his song, again and again. Well he’s perched on a gravestone, singing his song, again and again. Why, time goes by and the lover is gone, but you’re chained to the river where your memory’s born. The current is strong and it carries you on…you wanna-oughta drown but you gotta carry on. Darkness falls on another old night, draws you out into the pale moonlight, walk- ing the tracks where the freight train calls again and again. Why you’re walking the tracks where the freight train calls, again and again. Blue…you’re feeling blue, your ghost train’s due, you’re crying too. Why, there he lies dead on the cold, cold floor. Why did he go and die? (What are memories for?). Don’t ask me, Jack, there his family mourns. His lover’s in the corner, there’s another by the door. There’s a boy on the street that’s a-singin’ his tune about a man name “Ned”- died too soon. Bound for the bottom and he reached for the top, he grab an old guitar but he never, never, never…”Never-Never” is a place where the violets grow - pick a few to take, nobody will know. Plant ‘em by the side of the railroad track. Plant ‘em for a lover who ain’t never coming back. Freight trains howl on through the dark with their old lost lovers and their golden spark. They give ‘em life for awhile on the sod and earth, then they take ‘em away and they leave us with the dirt. They take ‘em away and then they leave us with the dirt. Blue…you’re feeling blue, your ghosts train’s due, you’re crying too. “Well I’m calling your name from a place up above, where I don’t send flowers and I don’t send love - maybe below, but I really don’t care - I’m sending a flame, you gotta grab it in the air. Church bells ring and the church bells toll, for the fiery saints, and where they gotta go. They ain’t goin’ to heaven and they ain’t gonna to tell...They’re calling your name, you’d better run like hell! They’re calling your name, so take a sip from the well…I don’t want to scare you and I don’t take bribes - money’s no good, no matter what you buy. It’ll sell your soul, soil your purse…Send for the doctor won’t you send for the nurse, ‘cause here I lie dying on the cold, cold floor, needle in my arm and I don’t know what for. I’ll see you by my grave on an old tombstone – my train’s overdue and I really gotta go. My train’s overdue and I gotta go…”

Broken down love all tattered and blue, seeking salvation under stars, under the moon…locked in your arms would I forever be, upon a gaze, upon a sigh, upon a twinkle upon the sea. This, the last one I swear, of a love that’s so true, that hauls me away like a demon, like a storm. My life is so haunted and tangled with you, so caught up in love song, so riddled by truth. Well, I’ve never been so haunted ever since I was born. Broken down love song all tattered and blue, making me long for your smile and your beauty. Beauty that’s deeper than I ever knew. Always “Lily”, who’s kisses are laying me to swoon. They carry me higher in my mind, my memory. In the midnight of longing, they slay me all anew. “Lily” is a lady in my life-living history, she’s laying out love song, so fragrant and so sweet. Well I’ve never been so haunted ever since I was born. Broken down love, all tattered and blue.

This is a tale, oh not so old, of a revolution that could not hold. And of a Man, now dead and gone, who’s spirit lingers as time goes on. Into the jungle, he led a band of 30-odd strong and fighting men. Nine months they struggled and fought a war to break the stranglehold upon the poor. “These evil men will rape and steal, they’re here to rob you of your next meal”, this was the message heard across the land upon the radio from the powers at hand Hilltop to hilltop, mountains on high, village to village while all the while there was a bounty upon their heads, the gov’t sough them alive or dead. “You want your freedom, it’s plain to see, I see you shaking but it’s not because of me. These evil forces, you want to fight, you have the chance now to stand for what’s right”. But no one would join up, their fear was strong, this revolution that soon went wrong. But on they traveled to spread the word of a lurking freedom that seemed absurd. Now soon surrounded they found themselves for to the army someone did sell this information of where they hide then 1800 descended like flies. They caught the leader now dead and gone, who’s spirit lingers as time goes on. And as a prisoner he had a date with a man from the CIA. After his date with fate was done, there came another who smiled wit a gun. Then they three vanished without a trace, they wiped the blood and they took him from this place. Before his date with fate was done there was a teacher who talked with this one. Then his last words, he then did say, “If I live I promise you one day, a schoolhouse for you so you may teach, so that these young minds one day you may reach. So that you may not always live poor, I promise you some changes for sure, I promise you some changes for sure…I promise you there’s gotta be some changes for sure”.

It Ain’t the stars in your eyes under a silver moonlight, or that walk that you walk or that talk you never talk. It Ain’t that way that we touch I mean holding hands and such, or the things that you say in your own so precious way, It Ain’t your oh so precious mind that’s a’ thinkinn’ all the time, or your tender open heart, been torn so many times apart. (CHORUS) Well I’ve always heard of love ever since I was a boy of all them crazy little things you’re going to cherish and enjoy. Well I’ve grown a little older to know about that love, it seems I never should have listened when I knew I’d heard enough about love. Now that’s what love is for. ----------------- It Ain’t a dish that you cook or what you’re gonna to wear, or that way that you look or them wicked ways you care. It Ain’t the goose bumps that I feel when we are together, I get them same funny feelings, from any cold Canadian weather. It Ain’t a shiver down my spine I tend to get from morning light, or lying upon a cloud so fine as I awake from drink all night (CHORUS) Well I’d always hoped I’d meet you, the girl of my dreams, but that tender darling love it ain’t what it’s supposed to be. Now that’s what love is for ------------------- It Ain’t the blossoms in the spring or the waterfalls so charged with all them crazy little things - make me wanna live so large. It Ain’t the thunder roarin’ out or the lightning in the skies, quenching a dry and thirsty drought, drumming out a heartbeat’s cry. It Ain’t a mystery to me, I see the sparks when you’re around, it’s just plain energy, that’s what living’s all about. (CHORUS) That love so bright and rosy, to want it is a chore, let’s just share a drink together while we live and dance some more. But that’s what love is for.