1. SILVER CITY

BY JOE ELY

One day I went and left my home out in the West

Said I was headed for the Silver City

All along the line, I was dreaming all the time

Dreaming of the shining Silver City

I kissed my love goodbye, said "Honey don't you cry"

For I'm going to the Silver City

If you could read my mind, you'd know that I'll be fine

Soon as I do my time in the Silver City

Two weeks and a day, I slowly made my way

To the gates of the Silver City

Finally one night, I saw the flaming lights

I had made it to the Silver City

I honestly believed that I would be received

With the golden key to the Silver City

But my first night on the town, bandits knocked me down

They welcomed me to the Silver City

"Musta' been a freak mistake" I said as I did wake

In the gutter of the Silver City

With a throbbing head, I begged for my bread

Half-smiling as I bled in the Silver City

Oh, how can there ever be such misery in the streets?

How can it ever be in the Silver City?

But soon enough I saw how easy it was to fall

And not be seen at all in the Silver City

Got caught for a crime I done, policeman said "Son"

"Don't you try to run in the Silver City"

He locked me in his jail, no one to go my bail

Oh, when can I sail away from the Silver City?

Now the moon cries through the bars, my love shines in the stars

I'm glad that she is far from the Silver City

If she could read my mind she'd know that I'll be fine

Soon as I do my time in the Silver City

Judge said five to nine in the Silver City

2.SANTA ROSA/ ST. AUGUSTINE

BY JOE ELY

I begin once again , my song to the wind

In a slow south Laredo rain

Goodbye to the ones I left behind

Santa rosa , sweet Augustine

I’ve left a thousand times I’m leaving again

I can hear those engines turning

a thousand and one as I’m leaving today

I don’t know when I’ll be returning

Oh the gasoline burns and the engines turn

Our hearts got caught in between

A new day will dawn but by then I’ll be gone

Santa Rosa or sweet Augustine

On the ground last night I slept with my Rose

Her body soft like a pillow

With flowers in the air and her limp brown hair

Dangling over my shoulder like a willow

But of sweet august I’ll say no more

You might say her love was a secret to me

with her lonely looks like in a paperback book

You might say I loved her desperately

Oh the gasoline burns and the engines turn

Our hearts got caught in between

A new day will dawn but by then I’ll be gone

Santa Rosa or Saint Augustine

They’re sifting us down with with a fine tooth comb

Like there’s some kind of big mystery

They can pry they can tear , but still I’ll swear I’m takin’ only memories with me

They’ve searched our belongings , they’re waving us through

A change of the guards means a new deck of card

Still I’m takin’ only memories with me

Oh the gasoline burns and the engines turn

And our hearts got caught in between

A new day will dawn but by then I’ll be gone

Santa Rosa or St. Augustine

3. INDIAN COWBOY

BY JOE ELY

If you ever go out to the circus

Where the Wallendas walk on the wire

I'll tell you a tale to remember

When the white horses leap rings of fire.

It was a cold night in Oklahoma

The show was about to begin

The animals, they were all restless

When the star pony broke from her pen.

Now she was a mare of high spirit

Like a w**** on a saturday night

Kickin' and buckin' past the men who were brushin'

The elephants lyin' on their sides.

Close to the tents set a lantern

Dangerously next to the hay

That mare headed straight for those lantern

Some fool had put there by mistake.

Up stepped some Indian Cowboy

his lasso he whirled through the air

in the full dead middle of danger

he roped that run-away mare.

The elephants raised up their trumpets

two of them broke from their chains

stampeded that Indian cowboy

who had saved the Big Top from flames.

So if you ever go out to the circus

Where the Wallendas walk on the wire

Remember that Indian Cowboy

When the white horses leap rings of fire.

Remember that Indian Cowboy

When the white horses leap rings of fire.

4.WOUNDED KNEE

BY JOE ELY

I took a bride in the badlands

in 1852

She was warm as the morning sun

That shone in the morning in the dew

There wars up on our land

We could not settle down

The years went by 

We watched our people die

We laid them in the ground

I watched my sons grow tall and strong

But one by one they fell

My daughters were raped by the Calvary

I wish them all to hell

I wished them all to hell

Custer said to Crazy Horse wolves are on your heel

Crazy Horse said the wolves will howl

When they see you kneel

The Battles are raging and the bullets flew

and the skies turned red

The men all fought unto the end

The women and the children fled

When sitting Bull was killed in the stockade

For the crime of being proud 

The people all went with Big Foot to find

The renegade Chief Red Cloud

I caught a bullet in my knee 

I passed out from the pain

When I finally came again

They said my wife had been slain

They said my wife had been slain

Custer did to crazy horse

Can you feel my blood on your heels

Crazy Horse said “the sound of a heartbeat is a sound you’ll never feel”

They dug a grave in the back of the church

laid my people in the ground

Buried my wife and my last long son

I hung my heavy head down

The medicine man he gathered us together

Distance in his eyes

and before he spoke a word

 He raised his hands to the sky

Through our battles have been lost

No one has been won

Though it be a hundred years

We will overcome

We will overcome

He lifted his head and he said once more 

Turn your eyes to the east 

Soon the morning sun will come

No war can cause to cease

No war can cause to cease.

5. CLOISTER MOUNTAIN

BY JOE ELY

The wind is high and the tree tops sigh

As I sit on Cloister mountain

Jet planes rumble and rip the sky

I sit on Cloister Hill

The bridge holds hands and it stands 

I sit on Cloister Mountain

The seagulls circle before they land 

I sit on Cloister Hill

Love oh love where can you be

do you ever think of me

Are you at your windows sill

I sit on Cloister Hill

The sun breaks on the Palisedes

I sit on Cloister Mountain

the clouds sweep by and sunlight fades

I sit on Cloister Hill

Like an Island in the sea

I sit on cloister Mountain

Surrounded by humanity

I sit on Cloister Hill

Love oh Love 

Where can you be

Do you ever think of me

Are you at your window sill

As I sit on Cloister Hill

I asked the River , where you go

As I sit on cloister Mountain 

The river answered  “ you should know”

As I sit on Cloister Hill

The wind is high and the tree tops sigh

I sit on Cloister Mountain

Jet planes rumble and rip the sky

As I sit on Cloister Hill

Love oh Love where can you be 

Do you ever think of me

Are you at your window sill

As I sit on Cloister Hill

As I sit on Cloister Hill

As I sit on Cloister Hill

6.TIME FOR TAVELIN’

BY JOE ELY

I came into Atlanta

Dreamin' of Lorraine

Came so tired of ridin'

Cross the Savanna Plain

Still feel the wheels a-rollin'

Feel them just the same

Steel wheels still a-rollin'

On a long night train.

She met me at the station

Took me to her room

Was a time of meeting

Was a risin' moon.

Angels set the table

With candles and beer.

Heard that midnight train moan

Miles away from here.

Instrumental Chorus

Lay me down a pallet,

Lay it soft and low.

Lorraine lay beside me,

Sad I had to go.

Gypsy boy I traveled with

Played his old guitar.

We watched that candle flicker

Like some low morning star

But the time to part must always come

Time the bells must ring.

Time for lovers to say goodnight

I'll see you in my dreams.

Time to part must always come

Time when trade-winds sing.

Time to hit the road again

Time for travelin'.

7. I KNOW WILL NEVER BE MINE 

BY JOE ELY

Walking in the backstreets on the  poor side of town

The radios a wailing’ as the sun goes down

Lighting my version of her moonlit skin

Comes with the dust and goes with the wind

I wish the footsteps I’m havin’ could be doubled again

I wish the footsteps I’m hearin” could be doubled again

With a stroll as gentle as a mandolin

Walkin beside me in the soft nights breeze

Carries me away back on my knees

Oh how I’m dreaming” Oh how I’m so blind

How can I want something that I know will never be mine

Oh the stars in a race with my last earthly moon

and the …. of the keys to the very last room

Set freeing a dream in soft nights wind

That sends me away then back again

Oh how I’m dreaming’ Oh how I’m so blind

How can I want something that I know will never be mine

Then I wake in a cell with my candle gone

Out the bars i see the gallows at dawn

Gone is the night with it my dreams

I hear the jangle of keys, they’re coming’ for me

And Ohh how i’m dreaming’ Oh how i’m so blind

How can I want something I know will never be mine

And Ohh how i’m dreaming’ Oh how i’m so blind

How can I want something I know will never be mine

How can I want something I know will never be mine

8.DRIVIN’ CROSS RUSSIA

BY JOE ELY

Driving cross Russia in my flesh colored  caddy

with my pet pig on the front seat that I call Big Daddy

And a tape in the player playing codlin’ Jimmie Rodgers

and a tenant on each antenna of the Astros and the dodgers

The people all so curious they all stop and stare

I guess they never seen a pig rocking in a rocking chair

I stopped into a farm town, it looked a little like Lubbock

I met me a farmer who’s down on his luck

His tractor was hitting’ on two out of four

I pulled out my tool kit and into it I tore

I told him the bad news his crankshaft was gone

He invited me to dinner said my pig could come along

You take it as it comes leave it where it goes

Your quicker on your feet without a heavy load

You never know what’s comin’ ’til it hits you on the back

You never know it’s gone until it’s way on down the tracks

His wife she set the table, hot potatoes and bread

she reminded me of someone in a Tolstoy book I’d read

His daughters were pretty they had bright shiny cheeks

I could feel their eyes were playin hide and seek

He nodded to the daughter dressed in white petticoats

I swallowed so hard the bread stuck in my throat

It was time to turn it in ,I needed a little sleep

I went to to my caddy, and I climbed in the backseat

Just when I was dreaming’ of a great big grocery store

I heard someone outside tapping’ up on my caddy door

I knew that I’s in trouble by the look in her eye

But I became an instant diplomat and I invited her inside

Take it as it comes, leave it as it goes

Your quicker on your feet with out a heavy load

You never know what’s coming’ til it hits you in the back

You never know it’s gone til it’s way down the track

The next morning at breakfast things were kinda quiet

You could hear the butter melting on a cold butter knife

The farmer gave the signal and through the door did break

all the neighbors and the relatives with a great big wedding cake

There were mandolins and accordions, vodka and wine

I somehow felt I’d stumbled across the borderline

But I accepted my fate ‘cause I had no other choice

I heard my home state calling me in a codlin’ kind of voice

I grabbed my brand new bride and I said let’s vamoose

I wished her family well, as they were gettin pretty loose

I give the farmer my caddy so he could pull his plow

The boys back in the pool will never believe me now

Hitch hiker “cross Russia with my bride and pet pig

That’s what I got for bragging talking all big

I’ll never bet my boss again that I can make it my own

I’ll know better next time just to leave well enough alone

Meanwhile me and Natasha gonna jump off at this place

see if we can get distraction on the shortcut to Dallas

9.WINDY WINDY WINDY

BY JOE ELY

windy windy windy crazy ‘bout windy

windy windy windy wild about windy

windy windy windy won’t you blow thru me

windy windy windy fool about windy

windy windy windy cool about windy

windy windy windy won’t you blow thru me

I left my heart in Plainview 

I run outa gas in Slide

I don’t much care for houston air

I’m just along for the ride

windy windy windy haywire over windy

windy windy windy wild about windy

windy windy windy windy windy windy windy won’t you blow through me

Nothin’ seems to matter 

when windy  is by my side

she’s got a way about her

Like the sea has with the tide

windy windy windy crazy bout windy

windy windy windyWild about windy

windy windy windy windy won’t you blow through me

10.BILLY BOY

BY JOE ELY

What did you see at the fair little Billy

were there pretty girls there my billy

Maybe it was the colors and the lights all ablaze

Maybe it was face with a candy apple glaze 

The motorcyclegirl put a spell on me

the fortune teller said she ‘d tell on me

everything was spinning’ and it carried me away

To a place for a while I thought I wanted to stay

What took you so long to get home Billy?

Did you stay did you stay till you were there all alone

Yeah I stayed till the lights began to grow dim

My friends had all left, I couldn’t find them

I didn’t mind at this time ‘cause I didn’t think

that the rides would stop and the lights would quit blinking

or the booths where the men who talked through their noses

Would seal them selves tight , like a rose when it closes

I didn’t think that the color that was all air

could disappear so fast and leave nothing there

I never dreamed that the music of the calliope

could change to the noise of of men takin the street

It all turned so strange , it all went so quick

The only friend left was the sound of a cricket

With my fantasy gone it all seems so real

I was left there to feel , what I didn’t want to feel 

No one wants to see when it comes to the end

The still ferris wheel when it quits spinning

no one wants to hear the sound is too intense

When the midway doses and leaves nothing but silence

When your soul goes swirling and the worlds in a spin

Your heart will never be the same

Thats when I got scared And thought I was lost

Thats when I heard the sword swallowercough

I listened like a rabbit and stopped in a freeze

That’s when I heard a fat man sneeze

There was a light in a trailer I crept to the door

And I pressed my ear close and I tried to hear more

I heard many voices but they weren’t the kind 

That I’d heard in my life or any other time 

at the back of my coat there blew a cold wind

That’s when the Siamese twins took me in

the people inside I couldn’t believe

They weren’t like the kind that you see in the street

They brushed off my hat and dusted my coat

And offered me milk that came from a goat

I liked ‘em at once , They treated me good

So I told ‘em my story like I thought I should

When your soul is a stirring’

and the world is in a spin

Your heart can never be the same again

I told ‘em how different that the midway feels

When the lights go out on the ferris wheel

and I said to him how you must feel all alone

when the music quits to call it your home

The tattooed man looked at me in the face

And said we couldn’t feel right in any other place

We will be here til the day we die

when I understand I had a tear in my eye

I knew this was true and though it seemed lonely

It was made for them and them only

I left them there holding bak the tears

And told them I had hoped that I’d see them next year

They laughed and said you can bet on that

They all gathered around the trailer house steps

and no one was counting any ones bets

When your soul is a swirlin’

And the worlds in a spin

Your heart can never be the same again

Back down the dark midway I imagined the lights

Shining like torches only much more bright

A little I walked than i did before

A little older I walked But I knew much more

Maybe next year if any older I look

I’ll run away from home and become the fat mans cook

The world is so strange my mother dear

It’s really a wonder how we all got here

Once i thought I was in my place when I was just a babe lookin in your face

But now for some reason people have given me doubt

It seems some are locked in and some are locked out

The world is so strange I can’t comprehend

The one who wants freedom are the very ones locked in

and why does it seem that ones who don’t care

Breathe in without gratitude and the wild free air

My innocence has left by the same door it came

and never again will i ever be the same

But I’ll never forget as long as I live 

To be grateful to stranglers who ain’t afraid to give

When your soul is swirling 

and your worlds in a spin

your heart will never be the same again

when your heart is swirling

and worlds in a spin

your world will never be the same again