1. |
Vermont Roads
03:57
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Vermont Roads
Oh the highway’s looking empty as I pull into the northbound lane
And I’m wondering if she needs me, would she really want me back again.
I’ve been too long on flat ground, too far from the hills of maple green
The cities and the freeways know my name,
and there isn’t much else in between.
Vermont roads are calling me back home again
When the mountains stand sentry like a long lost friend
And I don’t know if she wants me anymore
But the Vermont roads are pointing me back to her door.
This old van is nearly wasted as we push on through the night
I could be there by daybreak love to kiss her in the early light.
I haven’t heard her voice in a while, her last letter’s a long time read
Wondering if I’m still on her mind, if there’s still a place beside her in her bed
Vermont roads are calling me back home again
When the mountains stand sentry like a long lost friend
And I don’t know if she wants me anymore
But the Vermont roads are pointing me back to her door.
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2. |
Maple Tree Farm
05:21
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Maple Tree Farm
I found a photo inside a dresser drawer
Of a couple who’d lived so many years before
The hillsides were green and the weather was warm
The sign read “Maple Tree Farm”.
She was dressed in gingham, he was wearing black
And they stood before a house with a white barn in the back
And all was freshly painted, and a gleam was in their eye
Down on the Maple Tree Farm.
Her face was young and pretty,
His arms were big and firm
And they held each other tightly to the lessons they would learn
And you didn’t have to worry If they’d get along down on the Maple Tree Farm.
I looked into the future as they were pictured there
And thought about the children they would proudly bear
I could see them running freely when the sun was high and warm
Down on the Maple Tree Farm.
Years of long, hard days, lay before them now
Years of building fence and years of milking cows,
But they’d have themselves a good life as the family grew
Down on the Maple Tree Farm.
I set the photo down and went back to my work
But in my busy life somewhere it did lurk
A simple happy time, a couple and their land
Down on the Maple Tree Farm.
One day I went fishing by the river bank
While digging for worms I dug up an old plank
Mossy and rotten, split and worn
The sign read Maple Tree Farm.
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3. |
Empty Trees
03:49
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Empty Trees
Amber says she’s leaving soon the frost is hard and all around is dying.
She’s going down to Key West where the surf is warm,
The sun is always shining
And I can dig that frozen ground, cut the wood and wait for winter’s freeze
Stare at the silent walls and watch the sky through the empty trees.
Can you see her as she flies?
There’s a southern wind a-blowin through the northern skies
Amber doesn’t understand what keeps me here through the winter’s cold
Why I won’t pack it in, say good-bye and let it go.
And it doesn’t really matter what I say or how I try to please
She’s going where the sun is high and waves goodbye, through the empty trees.
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4. |
Papa's Farm
05:18
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“Papa’s Farm”
I can still remember all the good years on the farm
When we stoked the coals in the round oak stove and kept the old house warm
We’d help in the kitchen Pa would milk the cows,
Those were the best of days but they’re gone forever now.
Living wasn’t easy we didn’t have a lot to wear
But we had each other’s warmth and love, so I guess we didn’t care
And sometimes Pa would take a job and we would run the farm,
We didn’t know how good life was, till it all was gone.
And there’s stirring in the old Vermont hills,
You can hear the rustle of the dollar bills
They’re cutting up the mountainsides for smoother downhill trails
While the good old farm that Papa tilled went for land development sales
Well they built the super highways and. the super skiers came
And Pa said “there’s nothing wrong with that but isn’t it a shame
That the farmer’s lot gets harder with every passing year and old Vermont is dying
Doesn’t anybody care?”
The old place started failing and the taxes weren’t paid,
The banker said we’d have to sell or lose it any way
You could. see that Pa was beaten he’d nothing else to do
And I never saw him shed a tear ‘till we watched the moving crew.
Papa died a bitter man when be caught a fatal chill
He asked to be buried up by Maple Hill
But he’s lying in a graveyard, with a well-kept lawn
For Maple Hill like Papa’s farm are both built up and gone.
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5. |
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Aging Counter Culture Pinko Hippie Freak
Chorus: I’m an aging counter culture pinko hippie freak wondering where my love beads have gone.
I’m a card carrying member of the post war baby boom, let me tell you ‘bout all the things I’ve done.
Verse: I made the scene at Woodstock, splashed in the mud, took off all my clothes, and I got in that movie, and you can see my butt, please don’t tell my mom cause she still doesn’t know.
I marched in DC to get out of Vietnam, got arrested and thrown into jail, and I thought I was a goner when they slammed the door on me, but another peacenik got me out on bail.
Chorus:
Verse: I wore my hair so long it came down to my knees, had a beard that nearly hid my face,
But I landed in the south land where crew cuts were in style, I was nearly bald when I split that place.
I took some weird drugs that made my head feel strange, I smoked my share of grass,
And one time I ate a mushroom that didn’t agree with me, brother it knocked me on my ass.
Chorus:
Verse: I was an Easy Rider, on my Harley bike, roarin’ down the highway with a smile,
But I landed in a ditch somewhere way out west had to hoof it for 200 miles.
I moved to Vermont to live off the land growin’ alfalfa sprouts and chard, but that got old soon when winter came around, so I put the hoe down and I got a job.
Chorus:
Verse: I was no nuke, anti-nuke, nukes will make you puke, I was marchin’ ‘gainst anything that glowed, cause I didn’t want to be rocketed into space, when that A plant finally blows.
But then I got married and had a few kids and my world changed so radically,
I was mortgaged and mastercarded into so much mush and now the IRS is comin’ after me.
Chorus:
But now I’m getting older and I’ve seen the light, I even drive an American car
I’ve got myself an IRA, DVD and Microwave and drink Perrier at my condo bar.
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6. |
Puttin' Me Down
03:28
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Puttin’ Me Down
Puttin’ Me Down
Stomp my heart into the ground
Make me feel like I’ll never heal
Puttin’ me down.
They say to laugh, there’ll be others in good time
They say to smile don’t put your feelings on the line
But this aching in my heart, is tearing me apart
Puttin’ Me Down
Stomp my heart into the ground
Make me feel like I’ll never heal
Puttin’ me down.
Never thought I’d lose the love light in your eyes
Never though I’d see the love light in your eyes
But they are both gone and the misery lingers on
You’re Puttin’ me down
Stomp my heart into the ground
Make me feel like I’ll never heal
Puttin’ me down.
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7. |
Someone Special To Love
02:53
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Someone Special To Love
The lady wore red, she turned my head around
I drifted on moonbeams, my feet off the ground
It was then I knew that I had found someone special to love
Pennsylvania sunrise a warm autumn glow
Nothing else matters taking life slow
Two souls drift in the still morning air with someone special to love.
Got a fee1ing arid it seems so right
Just want to be with you tonight
Want to hold you close arid warm next to me, next to me.
So Lady in Red put me down slow,
Put me down easy before you must go
And always remember that you once were someone special to love
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8. |
Nightmare of Dreams
06:12
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Nightmare of Dreams
A face in the mirror is staring at me
A face in the mirror who can it be?
Too many questions, nowhere to turn,
Not enough answers, so much to learn.
Son of your body, child of your soul
The dilemma I am, I can not get whole
It leaves me feeling, suspended in time
I’m the child that’s left with a mountain to climb.
Oh Mama, why’d you do this to me?
If my body’s the question
What can the answer be?
Am I destined to search,
My whole life like it seems,
Or find who I am, in a nightmare of dreams?
I walk down the street, search every face
Trying to find my roots and my place,
No one comes near, it’s always the same,
Too many lies, no one to blame.
Wanting to know what could have gone wrong,
I sing like the bird, the most sorrowful song you can hear,
There’s no comfort in living, when the past isn’t clear.
There are bars I can’t bend, and walls I can’t climb
Secrets too dark and myths to unwind,
Like a hawk on the wing, I circle above,
Like a child in a maze, I search for your love.
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9. |
Floors and Walls
03:40
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Floors and Walls (For Cowboy Ed Childers)
Sittin here in Denver, trying to unwind
Got blown out of the Rockies by a storm in ‘79
Tried to be a cowboy, tried to be a star
Tried to be what I wasn’t and I didn’t get very far
And these floors and walls ain’t really home
They’re just a place to put my boots down and hang my old hat on
And someday I’m goin to realize and turn this truck around
Head on down the highway, back to my home town.
Had a girl I loved and she loved me the same,
But I was hot and restless and she was cool and tame.
So I left her for Nevada and the Carson City life
Now there’s nothing in my pockets and no woman in my life.
And these floors and walls ain’t really home
They’re just a place to put my boots down and hang my old hat on
And someday I’m going to realize and turn this truck around
Head on down the highway, back to my hometown.
Well the years have ground me up, that is plain to see
My young man’s dreams of fortune have turned into poverty
Now I’m living here in limbo, no place left to go
But pack up these old bones and end my days in Mexico
And these floors and walls ain’t really home
They’re just a place to put my boots down and hang my old hat on
And someday I’m going to realize and turn this truck around
Head on down the highway, back to my hometown.
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10. |
Places in the Heart
03:53
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Places In The Heart
Sometimes we live in a world
Where the blanket of love is thin.
And we bundle our lives in a wrapping of fear
And point ourselves into the wind.
But there are places in the heart
Where the seeds of love can start
Growing till they reach the sun
Places in the heart.
Somewhere out in this world
There are parents and children alone.
Searching to find who they are
So many miles from their home.
But there are places in the heart
Where children and parents can start
To learn they really are one
Places in the heart
Tonight, someone felt joy
For the very first time.
Touched by a beam of love
Hearing the words “you are mine.”
And there are places in the heart
A fertile ground to start
Building a home that is love,
Places in the heart.
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Art Edelstein Calais, Vermont
Art Edelstein is a singer/songwriter and acoustic guitarist. When he isn't writing songs he's working out guitar arrangements of Irish and Scots melodies and Old Time fiddle music.
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