I BUILT THIS HEART
Jamie Dear
C. Woodsmith
The sun sets at quarter ‘till 4
The snow is a piling at my door
Snowed in but I don’t really mind
What I needed was a little bit of time
To put the letters that you wrote me in the fire
Oh and they ain’t comin back
Where did you go my Jaime dear
Sittin by the window with a single tear
Swamps on fire and the leather leaf
Is burnin like the letters that you sent to me
Where did you go my darling may
You set like the sun on a winters day
Cold front frost on the window pane
Bottle of whiskey and a pile of shame
If I had a space for my gloom
There wouldn’t be big enough a room
All that snow is waging a war
And all I expected was a little more
love from you, but I got shown the door
Oh and I ain’t comin back
Where did you go my Jaime dear
Sittin by the window with a single tear
Swamps on fire and the leather leaf
Is burnin like the letters that you sent to me
Where did you go my darling may
You set like the sun on a winters day
Cold front frost on the window pane
Bottle of whiskey and a pile of shame
By the time that spring rolls around
My heart will have melted off the ground
I’ll throw out the ashes from the stove
Try to mend heartache that you wove
Keep my feet a moving on the road
Oh and I ain’t comin back
Where did you go my Jaime dear
Sittin by the window with a single tear
Swamps on fire and the leather leaf
Is burnin like the letters that you sent to me
Where did you go my darling may
You set like the sun on a winters day
Cold front frost on the window pane
Bottle of whiskey and a pile of shame
Sweet Verona
C. Woodsmith
Verona left when she was only 15
She gave no reason but needing to fly
Joined up with a traveling band, lady luck took her hand
She left all of her demons behind
She wove her unabashed story
All throughout the south
Verona she carried the truth of a child
She was a gypsy queen, her hair a raven sheen
She made love so strong and wild
Now they’re a bringing her home
Sweet Verona
Got her very own box in which to lay
Now they’re a bringing her home
From Louisiana
Hallelujah lord she’s home to stay
I kept the postcards that she sent me
She passed through our way only once.
When Mama died she stood just outside the church,
But she was gone when I ran out the door.
Now they’re a bringing her home
Sweet Verona
Got her very own box in which to lay
Now they’re a bringing her home
From Louisiana
Hallelujah lord she’s home to stay
Don’t know how she died, they said they found her that way
Covered in jewels that she bought at the pawn
They said her fire burned so bright, that it
It kept her alight, and it burned ‘till she was gone
Now they’re a bringin her home
Sweet Verona
Got her very own box in which to lay
Now they’re a bringing her home
From Louisiana
Hallelujah lord she’s home to stay
Aberdeen
C. Woodsmith
There is a tree , flowers in spring
White cherry buds, 22 rings
I helped her grow, but have never seen
Carolina winter ,or Aberdeen
From the Missisippi
Floodgates my body churned
Up the river delta my mother yearned
To taste the sweetness of her pain
Fallin down in Carolina rain
And if I stay ill stay today
My body has followed in her wake
If I’m to go, Ill go away
To Aberdeen
And there ill wait
They stayed by the sea
Hardened town
Smell of fish watered down
Taste of liquor on her mouth
And her heart it sank down to the south
When she left it was for a man
Whose wounded heart she thought could mend
The weary pain in her breast
And keep her child from the test
And if I stay ill stay today
My body has followed in her wake
If I’m to go, Ill go away
To Aberdeen
And there ill wait
Her body is now
Hard from the years
She’s still as strong
Still as fierce
I’ve taken all she had to give
and given back the will to live
And if I stay ill stay today
My body has followed in her wake
If I’m to go, Ill go away
To Aberdeen
And there ill wait
Polk County
C. Woodsmith
Word came from up the road
Polk County is filled with gold
the air is sweet the river's low
they say the livin's fine.
There a man can wave his hand,
an ounce of gold in the pan
pack the wagon and the bride
start a better life.
Look down the river
the water swirling
isn't that a lonesome sigh?
Look up the train tracks
no freight a comin
you know you'll wait your whole life.
Tied to a ball and chain
a golden lock, a golden chain
the fever hits you all the time
rusts you like moonshine.
Green River took many lives
not the ones just drowned and died
families it starved thin
the ones it drove to sin.
Look down the river
the water swirling
isn't that a lonesome sigh?
Look up the train tracks
no freight a comin
you know you'll wait your whole life.
Down to You
C. Woodsmith
Drivin' down the road again,
dust settled on my mind,
put 'er into overdrive, but I'm still keepin' time
you know I'm headed, headed down that yellow line.
I stopped by a hiker, thumb in the road,
got a good look but left 'cause you know what I'm told,
you gotta keep on walkin',gotta find your own way through,
so you know what I did when that car broke down,
started walkin' down to you.
I'm walkin, I'm walkin, I'm walkin
I'm walkin, walkin walkin down to you
Gotta find your own way through
I kicked that car as far as she could,
now I'm walking down to you.
Picked up my duffel bag, put the cooler in the trunk,
pushed her off the side of the road,
threw the keys where she'd gone,
Now I'm walkin' fill my soules with sand
Well you know what I did when I wore them out,
Started walkin' down to you.
I'm walkin, I'm walkin, I'm walkin
I'm walkin, walkin walkin down to you
Gotta find your own way through
I kicked that car as far as she could,
now I'm walking down to you.
Standin' under the heat struck light,
put a match to the wind, follow the smoke to the south,
I'm on the road again, to where the horizon,
to where the horizon meets the road.
You know what I did when that sun went down,
started walkin' down to you.
The Most
C. Woodsmith
Touch me with your fingers, touch me with your toes
Make love with the window open
So everybody knows
That we’re finding a new pastime, without any of our clothes
I’m drinking in your skin dear, like nobody else knows
Come back to bed dear, I want you the most
Of any of my vices, you exorcise my ghosts
I let go of my body, I let go of my soul,
I’m nothing in your arms dear, that’s what I love the most.
Touch me with your fingers, touch me with your toes
Make love with the curtains open
So everybody knows
That we’re finding a new pastime, that can’t be put to prose
I’m nothing in your arms dear, that’s what I love the most.
From The Bottle
C. Woodsmith
Light’s low as the fire dies
My hand on a pistol, lonely at my side
I’m lost now my husband out the door
He took the children with him
He can’t take it anymore
Told me he’d come home
Come back again if I let the liquor go, but I can’t let go my sit
‘Cause I went to the bottle
and I drank that bottle dry
and I covered up my anger I’ve frozen up inside
And I opened up that door and the devil came inside
Lit the fuze, to which my mind is tied
Oh god I can’t feel it anymore
My hand is all a trembling on my stillhouse door
As I walk into her sweet air
Where my heart should be a’beatin I can only feel a tear
And I preay to my god above
That I’d burn her down to get back the one I love
‘Cause I went to the bottle
and I drank that bottle dry
and I covered up my anger I’ve frozen up inside
And I opened up that door and the devil came inside
Lit the fuze, to which my mind is tied
Its dark now, I’m on my knees
I pray to my god give me the strength I need
I’ve got to light that math and burn her down
I got too much to live for, ‘fore they put me in the ground
I’ll go back to my children’s arms
And watch the ashes rise and go up to meet the stars
And I’ll go from the bottle
and I’ll leave that bottle dry
and I’ll open up my anger I’ve frozen up inside
And I’ll open up that door but the devil won’t oblige
Cut the fuze, to which my mind is tied
Aged Pine
C. Woodsmith
I built this heart, like an aged pine
I built this heart, like a wild mountain cave
I built this heart, tangled up in tall vines
I built this heart, like the summer rain
I saw the light, burnt a hole through the darkness
I followed you home, but kept hold of my pain,
'cause I left before and that loss still haunts us,
but now I've come back to wash out the stains.
I built this heart, like an aged pine
I built this heart, like a wild mountain cave
I built this heart, tangled up in tall vines
I built this heart, like the summer rain
Why does the clock dictate what is time?
The beat of our hearts, the reason and rhyme,
'cause we know the rhythm, but we push it away,
we think tomorrow, but its only today.
I built this heart, like an aged pine
I built this heart, like a wild mountain cave
I built this heart, tangled up in tall vines
I built this heart, like the summer rain
If that day shall rise, if fate takes you away,
I'll remember the song, I'll remember the pain
'cause I've stepped to the corner to see where we've been
if this crumbles my heart I'll build it back again.
I built this heart, like an aged pine
I built this heart, like a wild mountain cave
I built this heart, tangled up in tall vines
I built this heart, like the summer rain
Blessed Hands
C. Woodsmith
Bending over, pickin’ stones
They grow with every fallow
If I had the time I’d rest my bones
In the water.
And I’ve laid many a tear on this land
And I’ve buried them with my children.
So when I die won’t you lay me in the clay,
right here, where I can hold them
If you come by the day, If you come by the night,
You'll see I'm not ready to give up this fight
If you come by my door, you’ll find it open
And my blessed hands will be unbroken.
I’ve seen many seasons pass in this valley
Rollin like the thunder
And of all the tools I’ve ever know
These hands hold my spirit and wonder
They’re callused and stained and they show the time
Not the future but the past
On them I see the fight that remains
And I'm ready for the test.
If you come by the day, If you come by the night,
You'll see I'm not ready to give up this fight.
If you come by my door, you’ll find it open
And my blessed hands will be unbroken.
Ballad of a Lonely Woman
C. Woodsmith
Stranger you call in early day
You came as I rose from bed
Sit a while I’ll let you stay
The cold outside is bitter
Though you can’t tell now
My hair used to be
Yellow like the stalks of hay in our field
My palms rough from years sowing seed
My skin was browned by the sun
I wish I had something for you to eat
The cow is long gone
The eggs they have froze
I wish I had something for you to eat
Stay for a while with me
We built this house with wood from our land
The plot of ten acres bought by us two
Each joint and beam cut by hand
They’ve kept me from the cold
My husband and I grew weary and old
No children to keep us in care
I woke up one morning
And he had grown cold
Now I wait to be with him
And I wish I had whiskey for you to drink
I drank the last drop the night before
I wish I had whiskey for you to drink
Stay for a while with me
Now life has not done me too good or too wrong
I haven’t had much of what you could by
What I had, a price you couldn’t put on
I lived and I loved and paid not a dime
So I’ll sift out my stories and look at the sky
My feet on the floorboards cut long ago
As the flicker of candle sputters to die
I’ll smile to see you come morning.