The Ginsangers | Lyrics

THE WEIGHT OF LIGHT

1. RESTLESS WOMAN BLUES

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

I’ve got a blue Cadillac; it’s a yacht on wheels
A seventy-five, Man I got a deal
Black vinyl top that’s seen better days
Cracked and peelin’ and startin’ to fade
I was just thirteen when this baby was made
Now it’s half worn out but I ain’t gonna trade

I don’t take no pills when I’m down
I just fire up that car and cruise to town
Little bit of perfume, money in my shoe
I go drivin’ to shake them restless woman blues

It’s hard on gas but so’s my old man
It’ll do anything that a new car can
It’ll do it better cause it’s got style
This car could make a dead man smile
Fender skirts and white-wall tires
There’s a spot on the seat from a cigarette fire

I don’t get liquored up when I’m down
I just fire up that car and cruise to town
Little bit of perfume, money in my shoe
I go drivin’ to shake them restless woman blues 

I don’t get liquored up when I’m down
I just fire up that car and cruise to town
Little bit of lipstick, little bit of rouge 
I go drivin’ to shake them restless woman blues 
Restless woman blues 
Restless woman blues 

2. SECRETS

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Every lover has left a secret
In a corner of my heart
And some of mine were left behind 
When it came time to part.

Chorus:
Lovers speak of what is broken
They speak of what is holy
They scatter secrets on the bed
And mean them for each other only

Whatever passed between us
It was meant for them and me
And I will take it to my grave
Beneath the dogwood tree

Chorus

I pray as I grow older
That I’ve planted seeds of good
That I have asked forgiveness
And given it when I should

These half-forgotten lovers
I hope they found their road
That theirs has been a gracious life
With someone to share the load

Chorus

3. CARRY MY SOUL AWAY

© 2005 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Two to sing, two to pray
Two to carry my soul away

The day is quickly passing
The thrushes’ song is stilled
Come to me Lord of Grace
For my soul feels a chill

Chorus:
My mother’s dressed in black
Six angels at my back
Two to sing, two to pray 
Two to carry my soul away

Holy Ghost come nigh me
Stir the breath of life
My heart it is weary
I’m worn with trials and strife

Chorus

Take me to the Promised Land
I’m ready to cross oe’r 
Let me walk Love’s holy way
Show me heaven’s door

Chorus

4. I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY

© Hank Williams

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I’m so lonesome I could cry

I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves began to die
That means he’s lost the will to live
I’m so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry

5. WITCHDOCTOR

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

I’m having that kind of day
But it’s not because of you
Marie LaVeau, she been walkin’
With me inside my shoes
You ain’t got no bad juju
To keep me awake all night
You got no voodoo magic
Make my heart fly like a kite

Chorus:
There’s a witch doctor somewhere
Keeps undoing all I do
I just lit three candles
So I know it can’t be you

Don’t you go tellin’ no one
You got me under your spell
Like you’re stickin’ pins in dolls
And sendin’ me straight to hell

Loved you like a forest fire
Till we burned paradise down
Burned up a hundred lifetimes
Knee-deep ashes on the ground

Chorus

Take those tarot cards you read
Take those old white chicken bones
Take the lonesome hole you made
Now roll on til you find a home

Chorus

6. BRIGHT LEAVES

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Last night twelve men died
Working underground
Digging coal for the company
The wheel keeps turning ‘round

Chorus:
Families waited, families grieved
Husbands and sons fell like leaves
They rest too soon in sacred ground
Bright leaves they fell without a sound

I’ll Fly Away, Amazing Grace
Hung in the chill damp air
When vain hope came crashing down
And all became despair

Chorus

Air ran out and time pushed on
Farewell notes lay in the coal
Speaking to the ones they loved
While above the church bells tolled

We’re at peace and there’s no pain
They wrote before they died
You know that I’ll be waiting for you
When you get to the other side

Chorus

7. ROCK ME LIKE A LULLABY

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

I heard the redbird singin’ out your name
I heard him sayin’ nothin’s been the same
We’ve been like old crows fussin’ all day long
All loud and sassy, treatin’ each other wrong

Chorus:
The sun don’t rise with sparklin’ eyes
To tell you the truth, honey, neither do I 
Come on baby, rock me like a lullaby

I’m watchin’ for you, I been standin’ in the rain
Neighbors are talkin’ they think I’ve gone insane
We’re not just dreamers wanderin’ round in our sleep
We’re real life lovers and the good stuff, it don’t come cheap

Chorus

Play me a love song, we’ll sing it soft and slow
We’ll let it take us whereever we wanna go
Hear the wind a blowin’, swayin’ that old oak tree
Close that door and baby, baby come rock-a-bye me

Chorus

8. THE WEIGHT OF LIGHT

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Sunlight makes no imprint
Upon the grass or leaves
There is no sign it touched
The water or the breeze
As it lightly shaped our words
And changed the what and how
Of everything we heard.

Chorus:
I know the weight of shadows
I know the weight of light
They don’t weigh as much as love
When daytime turns to night.

Shadows in late afternoon
Leave no trace upon the ground
They lengthen then they disappear
I have not heard their sound
As they fall across our forms
And redefine the mass of love
The weight of flame that burns.

Chorus

Moonlight leaves no telling mark
On January’s snow
And yet will draw or push our souls
In ways we do not know
As we lie in loose embrace
Downward falling silver light
Transforms your sleeping face.

Chorus

9. TWO WORLDS

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

We flew together across night skies
And looked down on Mardi Gras
We soared in the Delta sunlight
And watched the whole world cry

Chorus:
You need the earth and I need the sky
You need to run, I need to fly
You need someone who don’t give you the blues 
I need the nighttime and the muse
I wonder what’s happening
In your world tonight

Friends laughed and spread their arms
To catch the spirit wind
It was beer and pure poetry
In those days our lives were charmed

You and I saw different things
Somewhere between death and birth
I knew that gravity would prevail
And I watched you fold your wings

Chorus

In this old house on the outskirts 
Of the essence that we once shared
I’m content to live with the way we were
And I fly even when it hurts.

Chorus

10. REDEMPTION

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

I’m livin’ with a hunger
Been lookin’ for a fix
I’ve burned up half my soul
Used up my bag of tricks
Lookin’ for redemption
In my lover’s embrace
Believin’ Kentucky bourbon 
Will impart a state of grace

Crossin’ the painted desert
The sun burns in my eyes
There’s sand in my mouth
From tellin’ so many lies
Lookin’ for redemption
In my lover’s embrace
Believin’ Kentucky bourbon
Will impart a state of grace

Bridge:
I need love
I need truch
I don’t need no friends
Like John Wilkes Booth
Can’t find it on the radio
Can’t find it on TV
Can’t find a hotel paradise
With a room for you and me

Walkin’ down a one-lane road
In darkness, rain and mud
Can’t tell if it’s despair or hope
Poundin’ in my blood
Lookin’ for redemption
In my lover’s embrace
Believin’ Kentucky bourbon
Will impart a state of grace

11. WINGS OF TIME

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Chorus:
Heartbreak is on sale today
It only costs a dime
Love’s expensive; lonely’s cheap
Lovers laugh; losers weep
The innocent are fast asleep
Ridin’ on the wings of time

He’s lonely even though he tried
To live a lie while their love died
Secrets buried way down deep
The kind that every lover keeps
Ran like water through his sleep
Drowned him in the rising tide

Loves’ binding cords can come unwound
Lonesome is a haunting sound
Certainty objects to change
What we hold gets rearranged
What we assumed now is strange
As our hearts seek holy ground

Chorus

She holds a man whom she adores
There’s burning passion, then there’s more
They whisper words of mystery
Hearts once chained are now set free
Like a boat upon a clear blue sea
Sailing to an unknown shore

Chorus

12. LOT'S WIFE

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt
It brought her life to a terrible halt
Don’t look back, there’s nothing to see
God will set the faithful free

Chorus:
Fallin’ down, fallin’ down
Sodom and Gomorrah come fallin’ down
Fallin’ down, fallin’ down
Sodom and Gomorrah come fallin’ down

Chorus

Fall into the hands of the foreign king
News of judgment the angels bring
Look to heaven, raise your eyes
Lift you voice God will hear your cries

Chorus

Stranger passing through the gate
Lot said stay with us it’s late
The town is evil but my house is safe
Come inside you must make haste

Chorus
Repeat First Verse

13. Midnight Moonlight Waltz
(D. Parker & C. Townsend)

Chorus:
I want this midnight moonlight waltz with you
When the earth has been kissed and is sparkling with dew
I want to hold you in my arms and whisper secrets to you
I want this midnight moonlight waltz with you

There’s a halo of love that shines in your hair
There’s a magic between us that stirs in the air
I’ve longed for a love like yours for so long
When you speak my name it sounds like a song

The river twists through the valley below
Like liquid silver it rolls and it flows
It’ll carry our dreams to the Gulf of Mexico
Whispering I love you in a voice soft and low

Chorus

14. MONTANA COWBOY

© Jack Sutton

For many long years I played the lone hand
I rode my horse in many strange lands
Until one day I stopped for awhile
For two blue eyes and sunny smile

Chorus:
So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
A calling me back to old Montana
Back to those hills where I belong

One day I rode away from home
I’m a traveling back and it won’t be long
I’ll see you again in a little while
You’re my darling sweet my sunny smile

Chorus

15. FIREFLY

© 2007 C. Townsend & D. Parker, Wild GinSang Music, BMI

There’s a half moon risin’
Shinin’ on the water tonight
There’s a half moon risin’
Shinin’ on the water tonight
Somewhere in the dare
Your love is like a spark
From a single firefly

Are you a phantom
Slippin’ through the trees?
Are you a phantom
Slippin’ through the trees?
I try to hold you close 
But you’re just like a ghost
Disappearin’ on the breeze

Tonight I feel you
Whisper against my cheek
Tonight I hear you
Whisper against my cheek
You’re a pretty moth
Flutterin’ and soft
Drawn to my candlelight
You’re a pretty moth
Flutterin’ and soft
Drawn to my candlelight

Come to me lover
A presence in the mist
Come to me lover
A presence in the mist
Make yourself real
I promise not to steal
The mystery in your eyes

Repeat 1st Verse