Overcome

River Wide – D. Erker  

How many years I’ve spent upon this boat I cannot count
How many times we’ve steamed on through the rain
How many loves I’ve lost to the dream of heading south
With my hands on the wheel and the sun upon my face
 
Where the wide river runs
And stretches into the setting of the sun
You will find me there
Because I’m home
 
I’ve sold my soul to a riverboat and I’ve paid my debt in full
Now my hear belongs to a river queen
And as the day slips off into the night I smell salt in the air
And we ride the delta as she opens up into the sea
 
Where the wide river runs
And stretches into the setting of the sun
You will find me there
Because I’m home
 
Julia Belle – D. Erker

While I woke up in my bunk to a crashing sound
I ran up to the deck took a look around
Lightning flashing and the thunder clapping loud
 
Well the river was up roaring now
But I could still see clear that we had run aground
We were taking on water as the kid ran up to me
 
Hey said sorry cap I didn’t see it there
His mouth wide open and eyes so scared
The tears and rain heavy pouring down his face
 
I said get the boats untie them now
You and the boys lower yourselves down
You’ve got to get away from here now
 
You will not take my ship alone
I will sink with her like a heavy stone
To the bottom of your cold and lonely mud,
She’s my Julia Belle and she is so fine
Sweet steaming girl, my river valentine
And you’ll never part us I tell you even if we go down
   
The crew is gone we’re all alone
Dark black water kept pouring on 
Soaking my body and chilling my bones
 
As she took us off into the deep
I did not moan and I couldn’t weep
I just held on to the wheel and gripped it tight
 
As the water rushed into my mouth
The rain clouds broke and the moon shone out
Look to the sky shut my eyes
 
Last Time - W. Wells

last cigarette last beer
last call last year
last time i swore i was over you
 
you kept me guessing but the moon called your bluff
the town's all undressing except the night janitor
and why won't you tell me where you woke up?
i'm so jealous of the song you don't sing
bourbon and beer burn a hole where you've been
and i'll keep drinking till the bottom drops out
 
last cigarette last beer
last call last year
last time i swore i was over you
 
i baked you a cake and left it by your front door
canary yellow icing but it rained and it poured
i'm so soggy with the thought that you don't love me no more
bars are all empty and i thought you'd be true
silhouette window of him holding you
and the last drink tastes like poison
 
last cigarette last beer
last call last year
last time i swore i was over you
 
Overcome – D. Erker

  There’s a house we all know
Outside of town past the bend in the road
Broken windows and cracks in the porch
Shudders drawn and a lock on the door
 
And they just drive on by
You let them drive on by
 
There’s a girl we all know
Seemed just right but you let her go
Don’t know why but you had to face
These days alone in a different place
 

She just walked on by
She just waved goodbye
 
Overcome…
 
There’s a road we all know
Rough and steep and black as coal
But 1000 miles doesn’t seem so long
When you put one foot down pick the other one up
 
You just walk on by
Time to walk on by
 
Overcome…

Grand Canyon - D. Erker

In northern Arizona
There’s a hole cut in the ground
That stretches out as far as you can see
 

One day some folks decided
They wanted answers found
The truth of how it came to be
 
A man stood dressed in black
Loudly cleared his throat
Just a minute, here, I’ll quick take a look
 

He reached into his pocket
Took something from his coat
And began to read aloud from a book
 

… and he said that
 
The north wind blew and the west wind wailed
The water rumbled in
The wickedness of man washed clean away
As Noah’s boat bobbed up and down
The mountains slipped from view
His young son asked just what God planned to do
 
He’s building a canyon for you
 
A man stood dressed in white
A smile across his face
Crossed his arms and slowly shook his head
 
If you don’t want fairy tales
But the facts about this place
Let’s read together from my book instead
 
… and he read that
 
The north wind blew and the west wind wailed
The water rumbled in
The rocks and stones and mud washed clean away
As the river wound all through the ground
The mountains slipped from view
In a million years the job was finally through
 
The river build this canyon for you
 
I’ve learned that what goes up
Must also come down
Rocks and floods and rivers all the same
 
But the river and the mountains
Will still be here when I’m gone
That’s something that no book is going to change
 
I know that…
 
The north wind blows and the west wind wails
The water rumbles through
That the wickedness of man is here to stay
 
If it took a million years or forty days
One thing I know is true
Myself I’ve never gotten past the view
 
I’d like to show this canyon to you

Hello Lonesome - D. Erker

Got a new pair of sneakers and a bottle of booze in from of me
Gonna finish one off and tie the other ones on to my feet
 
Hello lonesome, how do you do?
 
It’s been so long since I’ve seen you
Do you like my shoes?
 
Gonna walk and walk until I’m not tired no more
Gonna look up your address and come knocking on your door
 
Hello lonesome, how you been?
 
I hardly know your face
Let’s have a drink get acquainted again
 
Didn’t mean to do it but I left you standing in the cold
It was only cuz I thought that you could handle it all alone
 
Hello lonesome, will you be my friend?
 
I know that I forgot you
I won’t do it again
 
Got a new pair of sneakers and a bottle of booze in from of me
Finish the booze took off my shoes off my shoes gonna go to sleep
 
Hello lonesome I’ve missed you.
 
Lay your head down on me
It’s the least I could do.


Argentina - J. Hull, D. Erker

Well I grew up in a port town on the Adriatic Sea
Where the rats would steal your rations in the time of El Duce
Then my father up and left me with a mistress on his mind
And my mother always told me I'd be stuck here all my life.

But now I've got a one-way ticket to Argentina, andiamo overdue
I'm gonna take my ticket to Argentina, gonna sail away from you.

Well I never took to schoolin and a soldier's life I've known
When that great war ended, I found myself back home
So they sent me to the ocean, and a sailor's life I tried
But those fishing boats will steal your soul and drown it in the tide.

But now I've got a one-way ticket to Argentina, andiamo overdue
I'm gonna take my ticket to Argentina, gonna sail away from you.

Well I hear the engine churning as we drift slow from that shore
Smell the sea the air tastes like it never has before
And from the deck I watch my mother fade into that night
Her last curse burned into my brain as I squeeze my ticket tight.

But now I've got a one-way ticket to Argentina, andiamo overdue
I'm gonna take my ticket to Argentina, gonna sail away from you.

With my one way ticket to Argentina...

Oh, Night - R. Jones, D. Erker

  Drift asleep to the pitter patter of splashing rain
Time stretching out in front of me like a steel blue string
The wind howling and the leaves blowing outside
Nothing keeping company but the bottle next to me
 
Oh, night…
 
Sit alone in a silent room with the lights down low
Empty glass and your photograph my hands so cold
The wind howling and the leaves blowing outside
Nothing keeping company but the bottle next to me
 
Oh, night…
 
Feel the chill of the dark roll in as the night comes on
Can’t push out your memory as I wait form the coming dawn
The wind howling and the leaves blowing outside
Nothing keeping company but the bottle next to me
 
Oh, night…
 
One Last Love Song - D. Obuchowski, D. Erker

Back when I was young
I played for everyone
I sung how love won’t leave
And love I did receive
 
From girls around the coast
Though I loved you more than most
But I spent my fame and youth
On all the girls but you
 
But there’s one last love song hidden in my head
And I promise to sing it before I’m gone.
When they bury my body in the ground once I’m dead
You’ll finally have your song
 
They gave me cash and booze
The finest girls I used
I thought that I had you
I would have if I’d stayed true
 
I thought you’d always be
Forever in love with me
But you walked away
The radio went dead that day
 
But there’s one last love song hidden in my head
And I promise to sing it before I’m gone.
When they bury my body in the ground once I’m dead
You’ll finally have your song
 
Those songs from long ago
About loves I might have known
They never meant a thing
For you I didn’t sing
 
But there’s one last love song hidden in my head
And I promise to sing it before I’m gone.
When they bury my body in the ground once I’m dead
You’ll finally have your song