1. |
A Ways To Go
03:17
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With a ways to go, when the boats are slow and the daytime's losing light
If I live to see us sailing free, I swear I'll do what's right
With no regrets or unplaced bets still hanging up over me
Hey mister, make some headway I can see
With no means to fail, I will ride the rails on the continent's divide
Where I hail from you take what comes if you really do want to ride
By diesel force we set our course through forest, outcrop and field
We're moving now, I can hear those big iron wheels
Lost and waylayed at the crossroad, where the sun is going down
Now you might see the best in me, but I have no explanation for
Her fingertips up my sleeve
There's a Greyhound seat, I'm in line to meet, I'm here looking out for the sign
If I fall asleep, I can travel cheap to Ontario's north pine
When morning breaks, the cold Great Lakes are shining up through the trees
Halfway home, I may make it by degrees
Lost and waylayed at the crossroad, where the moon is riding high
Now you might see the best in me, but I'm sitting in this hotel room
Well she said I might need the key
Like a hard luck Joe, when the cash is low, where the river meets with the tide
Take it as it comes, when you ride your thumb, when it's the only way to get by
A midnight run on one-oh-one and take my word she was looking fine
She rescued me from one more closing time
Lost and waylayed at the crossroad with the big sky filled with stars
Now you might see the best in me, but we pulled into this motor inn
Well she was getting too tired to see
With a ways to go, when the boats are slow and the sun is up on the rise
I'll jump this strait as to not be late when the rumours I've come arrive
Now you might see the best of me, I'll leave the dusty road behind
This only son's reworked the grand design
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2. |
Calm Within The Storm
03:36
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The earth reveals itself in all her glory
We're standing by on feet of clay
As nature demonstrates in all her splendour
The price that we will have to pay
Ironclad evidence in every corner
Since greed assumed its faceless form
So sad to see the world in all its grandeur
Seek calm within the storm
The seawall strains against a new horizon
One looming dark from far off shore
The race is on to reach an understanding
The race is on to bar the door
Mismanaged arrogance may throw the balance
And blur the landscapes they transform
The answer in our grasp is drifting farther
From calm within the storm
(Bridge)
When you're lost in time, counting the cost of time
The planet pays no mind to our concern
Great glaciers form the line, like yardsticks of decline
The roadway serpentine, nowhere to turn
The earth reveals itself in all her glory
Sun shine on the human race
And nature demonstrates in all her splendour
The long ascent that we must face
How can it be our chance may soon be squandered
Exotic weather morphs into the norm
In a sea of space the earthrise fragile beauty
Calm within the storm
Ironclad evidence in every corner
Since greed assumed its faceless form
So sad to see the world in all its grandeur
Seek calm within the storm
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3. |
Crystal Clear
02:46
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Everybody's calling, everybody's asking me why this all went down
Anyone who's been there when love turns the other way
Knows it takes all that to unmake my day
You might say you knew me when, you might say it all began
By the mystic light, well at least you got that right
I will tell you before long, I got too much going on
Turn the page, move on from here, now I see that crystal clear
All the cool contenders
Try their best to hitch a ride on some passing train
Hear the whistle blowing
Seems like your chance has come and gone
Looking like this time, we see who belongs
You might say you knew me when, you might say it all began
By the mystic light, well you ain't got that right
I am through with wasting time, I got bigger hills to climb
It's a blessing in disguise, crystal clear before my eyes
Crystal clear before my eyes
Can't work both sides of the mirror, now I see that crystal clear
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4. |
Eastern Windsong
03:57
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There's a place I have been, when the strange flags sailed in
Then to leave with their cargoes in store
And the seagulls converse, while the stevadores curse
Every ship that would leave its home shore
And it's all a surprise unto each young boy's eyes
With the summer vacation near end
And behind the screen door's closing, words of warning trailing through the yard
But the strategies were chosen, it wasn't just a show of disregard
And the eastern windsong rippled, with each day that seemed a year
Throwing stones that never landed, seeing both sides of the mirror
Morning kitchen was a time when wood and coal would crackle at our backs
All the fences could be climbed then, in a world of rusty railroad tracks
And the eastern windsong echoed, calling children by their names
From the swimming holes in morning to the evenng streetlight games
Day long hockey by the trestle, frozen toes each flashing pain in spurts
In the darkness then to nestle, see dance time sisters, crinolines and skirts
And the eastern windsong whispered til I drop off into sleep
Being much too kind to tell me of what I will have to keep
There's a place that I know, where the trains come and go
And the platform with suitcases fill
And I go there at night, when the full moon is bright
And the nighthawks are calling so shrill
And it's all a surprise unto each young boy's eyes
With the summer vacation near end
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5. |
Miller's Road
02:59
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By the miller's road it's rising and the night is almost black
Call the mothers and the daughters, there may be no turning back
Now you may see the one you need and thank the Lord I'm him
By the miller's road it's rising and the stars are in good trim
By the miller's road it's rising and the world is dressed in spring
There'll be no explanation for the magic it might bring
Now you may see the friend you need inside the dream I'm in
By the miller's road it's rising where the moss hangs on the limb
Now the movie stars ride cadillacs
With the diamond dogs upon their laps
That seat will slide back just a little more
By the miller's road it's rising as the moon climbs in to view
You can leave it all in my hands, I will do what I must do
Now you may see a friend in need there looking back at you
By the miller's road it's rising and we've dusted off curfew
Now the millionaires can drink champagne
And toast the girls and raise the cain
Still Saturdays mean all the world to me
By the miller's road it's late now and the tide has slipped away
Here lost amid the wonder at the dawning of the day
I've heard that lonesome stories end where dreams come true begin
By the miller's road it's rising, feel the earth beneath you spin
You have arrived where you belong with sunshine on your skin
On the miller's road returning and the day is in fine trim
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6. |
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Imagine if you will, the peace of a river at night
Sailing safe into the harbour dead to rights
But now mining seams, justifying means
Scattered four ways to the wind
Tied impossibly together to the end
Ode to one bucolic summer where your voice and vision rings
Where our wanderings meet on Great George Street, where a nation found its wings
Where a country's born, cast away lovelorn, in the dust of history
In the rear view of my mind eye's reverie
Imagine if you will, the world all around us in spin
We endured in every weather, closing in
The steel in our eyes exemplifies, the best we dared believe
Riding shotgun where the highway line recedes
Ode to one bucolic summer where your voice and vision rings
Where our wanderings meet on Great George Street, where a nation found its wings
Where a country's born, cast away lovelorn, in the dust of history
In the rear view of my mind eye's reverie
Imagine if you will, the peace of a river at night
Sailing safe into the harbour uncontrite
Now we drift on streams of the broken dreams, scattered three sheets to the wind
Tied impossibly together once again
Ode to one bucolic summer where your voice and vision rings
Where our wanderings meet on Great George Street, where a nation found its wings
Where a country's born, cast away lovelorn, in the dust of history
In the rear view of my mind eye's reverie
We are joined as one forever like the iron road sea to sea
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7. |
Market Square
03:30
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Following the river southward
There beside the old abandoned line
Freight trains roll as engineers would
Pound along the bottomland in vain to run on time
Sometimes in the darkness of a late night on the road
You still can feel it running side by side, its mighty load
Now reeds and rushes grow
The train gets to the station
Market Square is silent waiting for the sun
The boys are home from overseas
Now mothers sleep and lovers feel the joy of what's begun
Out beyond the shuttle yard, the brakeman passes by
Checks his pocket for the time another day will rise
A newborn baby cries, and the years have learned to fly
The night is streaked with neon light, the sky's betrayed for miles
The dealers and the needy vie for space out among the aisles
Don't take your love to Market Square, you'll surely be received
Into the arms of emptiness where youth is never retrieved
The headlights pass to mark the time, the weeks turning into years
The seasons change unnoticed, mirages come and then disappear
Don't take your love to Market Square, where shadows are drawing the lines
Between the home that waits for you and the contact you're looking to find
Don't take your love to Market Square, the darkness and the cold
Springtime's cadence marches on but the roses never unfold
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8. |
Halfway To Infinity
03:03
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Returning home by dawn, I thought of you
We talked the hours away, the whole night through
We wandered past the storefronts, dampened by the rain
Tonight that silver bird steals you time zones away
That much is plain
So halfway to infinity must do, for infinity is you
I waited for your sign, my thoughts were pure
I slept through fevered nights, you held the cure
The light was growing dim across the vast terrain
I need you here to hold me, there's silence on the wire
That much is plain
So halfway to infinity must do, for infinity is you
The gift I gave to you, still lies unclaimed
You're not inclined to take my call, well some things never change
Far off the church bell tolled, I thought of you
I walked the streets alone, dropped out of view
The cruel revolving door, not subjugating pain
My sin was loneliness, I'm still not over you
That much is plain
So halfway to infinity must do, for infinity is you
So halfway to infinity must do, for infinity is you
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9. |
Viola
02:42
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Oh Viola, I can see your face
You tore down walls armed only with your dignity and grace
With quiet unsung bravery
You made this land we love a better place
Along the line some scars have healed yet still we run this race
That calls to our attentions the path we can't retrace
And now drawing on the lessons that you layed before us plain
From your world of shadows, shadows still remain
Oh Viola, I can see your face
You tore down walls armed only with your dignity and grace
You give these times new currency
You made this land we love a better place
They had whisked away your freedom for a penny you won't pay
From the dust of history, we'll chart a brand new way
By understanding answers that you layed before us plain
From your world of shadows, shadows still remain
Oh Viola, I can see your face
Gazing back through destiny with dignity and grace
Fragile skin or who we love
May the content of our hearts be as we're judged
May the content of our hearts rise high above
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10. |
Destined To Be
03:08
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Lost in a daydream as summers slip by
Stay for none and they wait least for me
Going back to that place under wide ancient skies
In love with those nights running free
Oh my Michelle, there's a stranger it seems
Waiting as destined to be
We took the sleeping roll down through the field
It's never that easy you see
Coming in past the cornerpost far down the lane
Although weathered still marking the way
The late show is hazy with voices so low
The pale moon holds promise of day
Oh my Michelle, there's a stranger it seems
Waiting somewhere in between
Long goodnights, doorsteps and kindness redeemed
It's never that easy you see
Farewell to the countryside portraits designed
And farewell aspirations revealed
Farmhouses watching like ghosts through the trees
Abandoned, their legacy sealed
Oh my Michelle, there's a stranger it seems
Waiting as destined to be
Boards on the windows stand witness to time
It's never that easy you see
Oh my Michelle, there's a stranger it seems
Helping on with your stockings and jeans
We took the sleeping roll down through the field
It's never that easy you see
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11. |
Talking With The Angels
03:35
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Now the sun is falling nightward in the sky and
Nursery rhymes are put away
The shade is on the window, the lamp is burning soft to
Keep the cold moonlight at bay
Your dreams on wings are now slowly lifting up
Not under any lock and key
When you're talking with the angels might I ask
Can you put in a word for me
Now there's time for mending all the fences falling
A time for turning every stone
The road I've come is hard and somewhat widely travelled
Where some stay lost and some get home
But here at night time when sleep comes stealing in
You are a miracle set free
When you're talking with the angels might I ask
Can you put in a word for me
Every night when the clocks say bedtime comes around
I pause to listen at your door
You toss and turn for what seems a lifetime passing
Then dreamland invites you to explore
The morning sun is rising, outside the wind is stirring
You're just about to do the same
Let me be the one to be there, following your footsteps growing
It just comes natural these days
Until the earth can complete its circle and
And then the sandman sets you free
When you're talking with the angels might I ask
Can you put in a word for me
When you're talking with the angels might I ask
Can you put in a word for me
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12. |
Let The River Run Free
03:33
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There's a refuge I have found
It is my shelter when the rain comes falling down
These lines I've earned upon my face
This turning planet draws and high noon summer can't erase
This I say to you my friend
The letter of the law is not ours to defend
The moon may have its way tonight with soldiers weary of the fight
Let the river run free and in, into the sun
Lest whoever may be wanting, should find a ship to sail upon
Where the river and sea are the union of one
Feel the wind at your back, clean and strong
Look to any compass point from here
The love one person finds, ten more watch disappear
The northern lights like phantoms dance
The dreams dim one by one, all lost in tangled circumstance
Down by this switching yard tonight
The nightman passes by in dream dispersing light
Hold on for one more day my friend, where love and branches never bend
Let the river run free and in, into the sun
Lest whoever may seek glory, will find the wind to ride upon
And the truth we believe binding, is not undone
There's a refuge I have found
It is my shelter when the darkness falls around
The moon may steal across the sky, the dawn returning by and by
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Wayne Francis Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Wayne Francis, is an East Coast singer-songwriter who has been active writing, playing and performing music since the
1970’s.
Over the years Wayne has recorded many demos of his original material, the results which have been widely circulated, gaining very positive reviews and generating cover recordings in Canada and the US..
... more
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