Priscilla Herdman * The Road Home
Produced by Anne Hills & Scott Petito
Special thanks and love to my friend to Anne Hills for guiding me along
the road and helping me find my way home. This recording wouldn't have come
together without her thoughtful ideas, patience, encouragement and her clear
vision when I'd lost mine. Thanks to Scott Petito for his engineering magic
and wonderful ears, as well as his masterful bass playing. Thanks to Artie
Traum and Al Petteway for their beautiful guitar arrangements and creative
ideas. Thanks to Brian Melick and David Hornung for adding just the right
rhythm and color to the songs. And for their musicality and inventive
harmonies, thank you to Anne, Cindy Mangsen, Nick Reineke and Suzanna Hermans.
Additional thanks to: Jim Netter at Redwing Records for taking me on again
and all the crew at Blind Pig Records, Susan Herdman for the beautiful cover
photograph, Al Brandtner for the great graphic design, Beth Reineke at NRS for
helping the sessions run smoothly, my terrific web master Richard Hess,
my wonderful husband and daughter Dick and Suzanna Hermans for their love
and support - and - special thanks to all the gifted songwriters, faithful
fans and dedicated radio DJs who make it possible for me to continue to do
what I love - make music.
Big Town
words & music Tanya Savory © Grand Prairie Music-Rounder Music, ASCAP
http://www.tanyasavory.com/
She opened a map of Kansas
She bought sixty years ago
She said "this is where my father's land was"
A little "x" marked the spot a little east of Colorado
Then she pulled out a faded black and white
Of a busy Midwest road
Just a blur of the world rushing by
She said "you could stand there now and never even know
Chorus
It was a big town, became a small town
And now my home town is no town at all
And what was Main, is dust and rain
Broken window panes in the old town hall
It was a big town, now it ain't no town at all"
It used to be the grain elevators
And the scattered steeple spires
They were the only skyscrapers
Before the new roads to the cities stole the farm town fires
Before the tractor and the combine
Took the place of a thousand hands
An idle hour was hard to find
Now there's barely a trace of the place it was back when
Chorus
It was a big town, became a small town
And now my home town, it is no town at all
And what was Main, is dust and rain
Broken window panes in the old town hall
It was a big town, now it ain't no town
Bridge
She laughed and shook her head and said
"Sure is a funny one how the years
Well they can turn one town into a bright shiny city
Or turn the other way and let another disappear"
Chorus
It was a big town, became a small town
And now my home town is no town at all
And what was Main, is dust and rain
Broken window panes in the old town hall
It was a big town, now it's no town
It was a big town, became a small town
And now my home town, it is no town at all
And what was Main, is dust and rain
Broken window panes in the old town hall
It was a big town, now it ain't no town at all"
It was a big town... It was a big town... It was a big town
AT - rhythm & lead guitars
SP - upright bass
BM - drums
Island Clay
words & music Lennie Gallant / Published by Revenant Records, SOCAN Canada
http://www.lenniegallant.com
For my friends Karl and Judy Eves with love and thanks.
This old house, once stood proud on the hill
Of pine and cedar from the land,
Cut by my father's hand, and hauled up from the mill
Now she stares at her life spread on the lawn
At strangers picking through her bones,
They take them for their own, and haul them far away
And the auctioneer he sings his songs and the people pay
Old voices echo from this house now dark and gray,
And cold as island clay
This old farm, eighty acres of a life,
Sweat and iron-redened soil,
Paid little for my toil, but saw us through all right
'Til the company came and bought land up all around
And soon the market prices fell
We took another loan and ploughed it underground
But tomorrow morning they will come and have their way
And though their hands touch not the soil, they will never pay
The price if island clay
These old hands turned the sod and tossed the seed
These hands worked hard and they were strong
But they couldn't hold a printed paper deed
And from the moment that they signed this land away,
These old hands are getting colder every day,
As cold as island clay
This old house, once stood proud on the hill
Of pine and cedar from the land,
Cut by my father's hand, and hauled up from the mill
PH - rhythm guitar
AT - lead guitar
AP - cittern
SP - fretless bass
Gentle Arms of Eden
words & music Dave Carter
http://www.daveandtracy.com
Dedicated to the memory of Dave Carter, 1952-2002.
The inspired musical legacy he and Tracy created,
will live on in the magic and mystery of his songs.
On a sleepy endless ocean when the world lay in a dream
There was rhythm in the splash and roll but not a voice to sing
So the moon fell on the breakers and the morning warmed the waves
Till a single cell did jump and hum for joy as though to say
Chorus
This is my home - this is my only home
This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known
And should I stray in the dark night alone
Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of eden
Then the day shown bright and rounder till the one turned into two
And the two into ten thousand things and the old things into new
And on some virgin beach head, one lonesome critter crawled
And he looked about and shouted out in his most astonished drawl
Chorus
Then all the sky was buzzing and the ground was carpet green
And the wary children of the wood went dancing in between
And the people sang rejoicing when the fields were glad with grain
This song of celebration from their cities on the plain
Chorus
Now there's smoke across the harbor and there's factories on the shore
And the world is ill with greed and will and enterprise of war
But I will lay my burdens in the cradle of your grace
And the shining beaches of your love and the sea of your embrace
Chorus
AT - rhythm guitar
AP - 2nd guitar & guitar solo
SP - upright bass & mandolin
AH - banjo & harmony vocal
BM - percussion
Goodnight New York
words & music Julie Gold
http://www.gadflyrecords.com
In memory of my maternal grandparents Alma Emerentia Thyberg
and Herbert William Saunders who both passed through the
portals of Ellis Island on their journey to find a new life.
My mother came to America
Sailed through the harbor of hopes and of dreams
Back in the thirties, when the streets were paved with gold
And the sky laced with moonbeams
Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons
Here in the free world, we're the lucky ones (were ?)
All of my yearning, all of my hunger
Maybe I'm learning, sometimes I wonder
Goodnight, New York
Before the Kennedys, before the Beatles
Before the Vietnam War
Back in the days when anything was possible,
Having less meant knowing more
Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts
Here in the free world for a second chance
All of my yearning, all of my hunger
Maybe I'm learning, sometimes I wonder
Goodnight, New York
My mother came to America
Sailed through the harbor of hopes and of dreams
Here in the new world (Here in the nineties)
I hope I've not failed her,
But nothing's the way that it seems
All of my yearning, all of my hunger
Maybe I'm learning, sometimes I wonder
Goodnight, New York
AP - rhythm guitar
SP - fretless bass
DH - accordion
Exile
words & music ©1998 Anne Hills
http://www.annehills.com
I am grateful to Anne Hills for writing this song for me through
the eyes of the maker of my Tibetan singing bowl. I dedicate it
to the exiled Tibetan people with the hope that some day they may
return to a free Tibet, and to the many thousands from other
nations who remain in exile all over the world.
I have no voice but this / My song is loneliness
Like a migrant bird from the nest I've flown
And the longest journey I have known was the journey from my home
Where clouds caressed my feet / And the ground and Heaven meet
Where I was born and where I have grown
Till the longest journey I have known, it was the journey from my home
No more the lakes to see / Those mountains memory
And the harvest rots in the fields I've sown
And the longest journey I have known, it was the journey from my home
As old as measured time / Since men worked words to rhyme
They have fought and killed, the earth to own
But the longest journey I have known was the journey from my home.
Still in my dreams I go / Like a cloudless breath of snow
And return again on the night wind blown
From the longest journey I have known, my spirit journeys safely home.
PH - Tibetan singing bowl
Kisangani
words & music Henning Kvitnes
http://www.henningkvitnes.com
Kisangani is a city of half a million in the Democratic Republic
of Congo known for its lucrative diamond trade. Norwegian songwriter
Henning Kvitness wrote this song after seeing the documentary "Diary
from Kisangani". In June 2000, at least nine hundred civilians were
killed and many more were injured in crossfire when the occupying
Ugandan and Rwandan armies fought over the control of Kisangani.
Further outbreaks of violence between competing rebel factions and
the rival occupying armies of Rwanda and Uganda still continue to
plague the city.
Never waited for a plane away from Kisangani
Never walked 600 miles without shoes
Never went to sleep in the mud behind barbed wire
And tonight, my Lord, I thank you
Never waited for relief along the jail road to Ubundi
Only hoping I was not left there to die
Way past caring about redemption only water, food and shelter
Way past caring about a reason why
Chorus:
They always said that there could come a time
When you feel you have to stop and you have to draw a line
Make a choice for life and leave a lot of things behind
They always said that there could come a time
Such a time....... such a time
Never had my family split up by any army
Never woke up from gunfire in the night
Never stood with a gun to my head
And saw my children being dragged out of my sight
Chorus
Bridge I'll wrap my bundle tightly
And bring my best coat for the wind
I don't know where I'm going
But this is where the new road should begin
I'm just a Western Man
There's so little I understand
Funny thing, it only took one generation
To forget about our own poverty and wars
And to wipe away all those human ideals
That my father and his father were fighting for
Chorus
AP - rhythm guitar & cittern
SP - fretted bass & 2nd guitar
BM - percussion
AH - brilliant ending idea
AH, CM, NR, PH - harmony vocals
Prayer 2000
words & music Eliza Gilkyson & Mark Andes
http://www.elizagilkyson.com
Thank you for the sun
Thank you for the full moon
Thank you for my true love's face
And our lives in love consumed
Thank you for the stars
A home along the river
Thank you for the ancient groves
And the fishes brown and silver
Ponies running wild
Grass enough for grazing
Water flowing clean and pure
All the beauty that saves me
Thank you for the dawn
Ocean's rise and falling
Children born to carry on
And the end that's always calling
Thank you for the songs
Thanks for all my good luck
All the things that don't go wrong
And the hopes that don't give up
Thank you for my tears
Loved ones who forgave me
Thank you for my darkest years
All the sorrow that made me
Thank you for my tears
Loved ones who forgave me
Thank you for my darkest years
All the sorrow that made me
And the beauty that saved me
AP - rhythm guitar
AT - lead guitar
SP - Upright bass & ebowed guitar
Wild Wind
words & music Kate Power
http://www.artichokemusic.com
At the foot of the mountain stands a high, high tree
Its branches reach up to the sky,
While a red-crested bird leaves her nest in the lee
And from the tallest branch she cries...
Chorus
"Oh Wild Wind, won't you blow,
And carry me to my love, / I know not where to go,
I'll spread my wings / On your windy back I'll ride
Oh, old wise wind won't you blow"
On the banks by the bay where the mossy mussels lay
And the castle on the hill meets the sky
There a red-haired girl fetches dinner from the sea
And walking out the jetty rocks, she cries...
Chorus
On the road by the wood, there a simple cottage lies
Of thatch and painted windows, inviting me to bid.
The old widow man within it, with his pipe and twinklin' eyes
While stokin' up the embers there, he cries...
Chorus
Oh the cattle with the shepherd and the fishes in the deep
You have no cause for sorrow, no love will trouble thee
If I could be a blackbird in the tallest oaken tree
There from its highest branch, I would cry...
Chorus
AT - lead guitar
SP - fretless bass
Anne Hills & Cindy Mangsen - harmony vocals
No Telling
words & music Linda Thompson/Hatfish Music Ltd., PRS
http://www.rounder.com/feature/thompson/
Thanks & love to my daughter Suzanna who joins me
here in singing this tender song.
He came in the ballroom, just a crazy old man
His eyes seemed to glaze in the light
Just some old hawker to judge by his rags
Come in from the cold of the night
And the whole room was dancing - they paid him no mind
As he slipped to the bar and said please be so kind
And the music kept ringing in the back of his mind
No telling what a love song will do
As the queen of the ballroom sang a favorite song
He stood with the glass in his hand
He was weary of living the days of his life
And tonight was the last he could stand
He shut out the future, he shut out the past
And even the present was running out fast
As the queen of the ballroom said, make this the last
No telling what a love song will do
As she started to sing for the very last time
He trembled as he stood there alone
And the pain he'd been holding inside for so long
Just fell from his heart and was gone
It was only a love song, simple and clear
But he bowed as it shook him with every last tear
And he cried from relief, and he cried half from fear
No telling what a love song will do
Oh the queen of the ballroom still glitters and shines
Each night at the "Old Kindness Sake"
And maybe its something they put in the wine
But her beauty refuses to fade
I think she got married to a stranger they say
Just a crazy old man who came passing one day
And the whole town still dances and the music still plays
No telling what a love song will do
No telling what a love song will do
AT - rhythm guitar
SP - upright bass & mandolin
AP - cittern
DH - accordion
SH - harmony vocal
Here
words & music Neal Hagberg
http://www.nealandleandra.com
Dedicated with all my love to my husband Dick Hermans,
who suggested this beautiful song of comfort and hope to me.
You see deserts in the distance, but you don't have to cross them yet
Raging rivers without bridges that'll drown you in your loneliness
You see storms on the horizon that take away your very breath
I know these things are true, and I know I love you
There's nothing we can do 'til we get there... right now we're here
Here where the day is ending
Here where the sky has finally cleared
And no one can hurt you
Here you don't have to say a word
And you can cry your tears
'Cause I know what you've come through
Stars are falling, the night is full
And for at least this moment love won't disappear... here
You've been burned before, I know it, you think your heart has been consumed
But there are doors you haven't opened, the heart has got so many rooms
I can't heal what has been damaged, but you can walk through any door you choose
I know this much is true, that I will walk with you
The road is long but some day we'll get there... right now we're here
And I will not leave when the next storm blows through
When it's too dark to see, I'm right beside you
Here where the day is ending
Here where the sky has finally cleared
And no one can hurt you
Here you don't have to say a word
And you can cry your tears
'Cause I know what you've come through
Stars are falling, the night is full
And for at least this moment love won't disappear... here
Stars are falling, the night is full
And I promise you this love won't disappear...
All we've got is here
AT - lead guitar
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