Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a day that I could give you
I’d give to you a day just like today
If I had a song that I could sing for you
I’d sing a song to make you feel this way

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a tale that I could tell you
I’d tell a tale sure to make you smile
If I had a wish that I could wish for you
I’d make a wish for sunshine all the while

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

Sunshine almost all the time makes me high
Sunshine almost always

Written by: John Denver, Mike Taylor, Dick Kniss

Album: Poems, Prayers and Promises

Released: 1971

Lyrics provided by Musixmatch

Like many of his fans, when I discovered the music of Townes Van Zandt I couldn’t get enough of it. Along with my various CD’s of his albums and a few DVD’s of his performances, I have all of his stuff offered by Spotify in my library. Townes is worth listening to and learning about, a modern troubadour who told so many stories, both joyful and tragic.

Marie

By Townes Van Zandt

I stood in line and left my name
Took about six hours or so
Well, the man just grinned like it was all a game
Said they’d let me know
I put in my time till the Pocono line
Shut down two years ago
I was staying at the mission till I met Marie
Now I can’t stay there no more

Fella ‘cross town said he’s lookin’ for a man
To move some old cars around
Maybe me and Marie could find a burned-out van
And do a little settlin’ down
Aw, but I’m just dreamin’
I ain’t got no ride
And the junkyard’s a pretty good ways
That job’s about a half week old besides
It’d be gone now anyway

Unemployment says I got no more checks
And they showed me to the hall
My brother died in Georgia some time ago
I got no one left to call
Summer wasn’t bad below the bridge
A little short on food that’s all
Now I gotta get Marie some kind of coat
We’re headed down into fall

I used to play the mouth harp pretty good
Hustled up a little dough
But I got drunk and I woke up rolled
A couple of months ago
They got my harp and they got my dollar
Them low life so and so’s
Harps cost money and I ain’t got it
It’s my own fault I suppose

Ah, the Pocono’s down but the Chesapeake’s runnin’
Two freights everyday
If it’s just me I’d be headed South
But Marie can’t catch no train
She’s got some pain and she thinks it’s a baby
Says we gotta wait and see
In my heart I know it’s a little boy
Hope he don’t end up like me

Well, the man’s still grinnin’ says he lost my file
I gotta stand in line again
I want to kill him but I just say no
I had enough of that line, my friend
I head back to the bridge
It’s getting kinda cold
I’m feelin’ too low down to lie
I guess I’ll just tell Marie the truth
Hope she don’t break down and cry

Marie she didn’t wake up this morning
She didn’t even try
She just rolled over and went to heaven
My little boy safe inside
I laid them in the sun where somebody’d find them
Caught a Chesapeake on the fly
Marie will know I’m headed South
So’s to meet me by and by

Ah, Marie will know I’m headed south
So to meet me by and by

Written by: John Townes Van Zandt

Album: Be Here to Love Me

Released: 2005

Lyrics provided by Musixmatch

Call of the wildest, it’s got the best of you
Fire in my heart, fire in my belly too
Got a heart and a mind and a fire inside
And I’m crazy about you
You, you on your high flying cloud
You, you when you’re laughing out loud
You, you with your hidden surprise
You

Stoke up my engine, bring me my driving wheel
Once I get started you’ll see just how I feel
And I’m crazy about you
And I’m crazy about you
And I’m crazy about you
You, you on your high flying cloud
You, you when you’re laughing out loud
You, you with your hidden surprise
You

Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January

Spring in my heart, fire in my belly too
I come apart, I don’t know just what to do
Got a heart and a mind and a fire inside
And I’m crazy about you
You, you on your high flying cloud
You, you with the laugh in your eyes
You, you with your hidden surprise
You

Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January
Gotta get through February
Gotta get through January

Spring in my heart, fire in my belly too
I come apart, I don’t know just what to do
Got a heart and a mind and a fire inside
And I’m crazy about you
You, you on your high flying cloud
You, you with the laugh in your eyes
You, you with your hidden surprise
You

Talkin’ ’bout you
Talkin’ ’bout you
Talkin’ ’bout you
Talkin’ ’bout you
Talkin’ ’bout you
Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you (fire in the belly too)

Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you (talkin’ ’bout you)
Talkin’ ’bout you

Written by: Van Morrison

Released: 1997

[Verse 1]
Where have all my friends gone?
They’ve all disappeared
Turned around maybe one day
You’re all that was there
Stood by unbelieving
Stood by on my own
Always thought I was someone
Turned out I was wrong

[Pre-Chorus]
You brought me through
And you made me feel

[Chorus]
So blue
Why don’t you
Stay behind?
So blue
Why don’t you stop
And look at what’s going down?

[Verse 2]
Lived by an old woman
She’d never sell me a lie
It’s hard to sing with someone
Who won’t sing with you
Give all of my mercy
Give all of my heart
Never thought that I’d miss you
That I’d miss you so much

[Pre-Chorus]
You brought me through
And you made me feel

[Chorus]
So blue
Why don’t you
Stay behind?
So blue
Why don’t you stop
And look at what’s going down?

[Bridge]
All my life (Stand by)
I’ve waited for (Stand by)
Someone I (Waiting round)
Could show the door (Now that I’m blue)
But nothing seems to change (That I’m blue from now on)
You’ve come back into my arms

[Chorus]
So blue
Why don’t you
Stay behind?
So blue
Why don’t you?
Why don’t you stay behind?
So blue
Why don’t you?
Why don’t you stay behind?
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
So blue
Why don’t you stop
And look at what’s going down?

By The Jayhawks

Last night I dreamed that
I was a child
Out where the pines grow
Wild and tall
I was trying to
Make it home through the forest
Before the darkness falls

I heard the wind rustling
Through the trees
And ghostly voices
Rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding
Down that broken path
With the devil snappin’ at my heels

I broke through the trees and
There in the night
My father’s house stood
Shining hard and bright
The branches and brambles
Tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran ’til I fell shaking in his arms

I awoke and I imagined
The hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again Sir
Tear us from each other’s hearts
I got dressed and to that house
I did ride
From out on the road
I could see its windows shining in light

I walked up the steps and
Stood on the porch
A woman I didn’t recognize
Came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story
And who I’d come for
She said: “I’m sorry son but no one by that name
Lives here anymore”

My father’s house shines
Hard and bright
It stands like a beacon
Calling me in the night
Calling and calling
So cold and alone
Shining ‘cross this dark highway
Where our sins lie unatoned

Written by: Bruce Springsteen

Album: Nebraska

Released: 1982

Lyrics provided by Musixmatch

Man, what a hell of a year it’s been
Keep on bluffin’, but I just can’t win
Drowned my sorrows, but they learned to swim
Man, what a hell of a year it’s been

Head in a bottle for my heart in a case
Yeah, it’s gettin’ harder to act my age
Play a sad song on a tiny violin
For the man at the bar confessin’ his sins

I need some good news
Sittin’ here, sippin’ on cold truth
Nobody knows what I’m goin’ through
Bet the devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes
Wish someone told me
Livin’ this life would be lonely
Tryna get away from the old me
Still stuck singin’ these blues
All I really need is a little good news

Love keeps knockin’, but I just stay home
Cause I ain’t pickin’ no flowers from the seeds that I’ve sown
They say it gets darker when you’re coverin’ those doors
Still lookin’ for the right at the end of my wrongs
At the end of my wrongs

I need some good news
Sittin’ here, sippin’ on cold truth
Nobody knows what I’m goin’ through
Bet the devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes
Wish someone told me
Livin’ this life would be lonely
Tryna get away from the old me
Still stuck singin’ these blues
All I really need is a little good news
Is a little good news

I need some good news
Sittin’ here, sippin’ on cold truth
Nobody knows what I’m goin’ through
Bet the devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes
Wish someone told me
Livin’ this life would be lonely
Tryna get away from the old me
Still stuck singin’ these blues
All I really need is a little good news

Ooh, oh
Ooh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh

All I really need is a little
Something bring me back to the middle
All I really need is a little good news

By Shaboozy

Writers: Sam Romans, Jake Torrey, Nevin Sastry, Michael Ross Pollack, Sean Cook, Collins Obinna Chibueze

Broken Arrow

By Robbie Robertson

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he goes, moving across the water (that’s right)
There he goes, turning my whole world around

Do you feel what I feel
Can we make that so it’s part of the deal
I gotta hold you in these arms of steel
Lay your heart on the line…this time

I wanna breathe when you breathe
When you whisper like that hot summer breeze
Count the beads of sweat that cover me
Didn’t you show me a sign, this time

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he goes, moving across the water
There he goes, turning my whole world around

Can you see what I see
Can you cut behind the mystery
I will meet you by the witness tree
Leave the whole world behind

I want to come when you call
And I’ll get to you if I have to crawl
They can’t hold me with these iron walls
We’ve got mountains to climb

Who else is gonna bring you a broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain
There he goes, moving across the water (that’s right)
There he goes, turning my whole world around
Turning my whole world around
Turning my whole world around
Turning my whole world around