cloudbase.html

CHANGES IN ATITUDES, CHANGES IN ALTITUDES

I took off for a weekend last fall

Just to try and recall the whole year

All of the places and all of the races

I wondered where they all disappeared

I didn't ponder the question too long

I was hungry and went out for a bite

Ran into a chum who owned an old LS-1

And we wound up talkin' all night

'Bout those changes in atitudes

Changes in altitudes

Nothing remains quite the same

With all of our climbing

And all of our running

If we couldn't soar we would all go insane

Makin' a turnpoint at some little airport

Reminds me of the places I've been

Memories of great flights that brought so much pleasure

Make me want to go back again

If my life suddenly ended tomorrow

I could somehow adjust to my fate

All I would need is the call to "proceed"

As I'm diving through St Peter's gate

It's those changes in atitudes

Changes in altitudes

Nothing remains quite the same

With all of the high flights

And all of the relights

If we couldn't soar we would all go insane

Sometimes when I'm working I look at the sky

And part of my heart takes a tow

I connect with a cloudstreet somewhere in West Texas

Oh God, how I'm ready to go

Then somebody taps on my shoulder

And I quickly get out of my plane

When they see the grin and they aks where I've been

I don't even try to explain

'Bout those changes in atitudes

Changes in altitudes

Nothing remains quite the same

With all of our climbing

And all of our running

If we couldn't soar we would all go insane

If we wern't already crazy we would go insane

THE NEW GLIDER BLUES

Have you heard the latest news that the LS-22's will have nothing on their

panel but a screen

That will give the latest views from the satellite you chose and display

the sink in red, the lift in green.

There's no stick upon the floor, no rudders anymore, just two wires that you

plug into your brain

A computer reads your mind through a fiber-optic line and with this

information flies the plane.

Honey, I need a new glider!

The one that we have's obsolete

Soaring's no fun at just 60 to 1

I can't expect to compete

With a plane like this new 22 dear

The first ones will be here in May

I just knew you'd decide it's a matter of pride

So I ordered us one yesterday

The deutche-mark's headed down and the dollar's gaining ground, it might

get back to 1 to 1 again

So for just 200 grand you place an order with a man who promises delivery

by spring

Then three years from that date he says "Just one more wait. The factory

is quite busy now, you see.

"I know they're anxious to get through with your new LS-22, 'cause they've

just announced the LS-23!"

Honey, I need a new glider!

The one that we have's obsolete

Our investment is doomed if we don't trade it soon

Hell, we've had it for over a week!

Just look at this new 23, dear

The first ones will be here in May

I just knew you'd decide it's a matter of pride

So I ordered us one yesterday

ONE MORE CLIMB

He'd finally gotten close enough to need just one more climb

If he could top 6000 ft, he'd be on final glide

The thermal was a weak one, a half a knot at best

But the day had died and there was nothing left, there was nothing left

At 40 miles, 6000 feet is 35 to 1

And with a little luck it can easily be done

But instead of luck a headwind told him he'd need 42

But 40's all the factory says she'd do

CHORUS: One more climb, yeah, give me one more climb, and it lifts me high, yeah, circles in the sky, Lord, just let me have one more climb

At 57 hundred feet it was zero all around

He tried 2 more circles and he started loosing ground

It was less than what he needed but he turned and headed home

And looked for signs of lift but there were none, there were none

The audio was quiet, the air was smooth as glass

He'd recompute the numbers with each check point that he passed

At the river 22 miles out he was still 500 low

The time had come to call and let her know CHORUS

That morning she had kissed him just before he took his tow

And said 'I want you to remember now whenever you get low

I'll be wishing you a thermal each time you need a lift

So when all hope is gone please don't forget, please don't forget.'

No, he had not forgotten but her idea made him laugh

Her love was always with him and he believed in that

But wishes will not get you home when what you need is height

Then something nudged his wing and said "Turn right" CHORUS

He can't swear that he heard a voice but he knows the bump was real

And as he rolled the glider round he got that solid feel

2 kts to 3000 ft with just 10 miles to go

He called her up and said "I'm coming home, I'm comin' home"

He was 1 of 2 to finish on the task they called that day

He couldn't wait to thank her, he knew she'd be amazed

When he told her how her thermal had saved him from defeat

He found her in the trailer, fast asleep. CHORUS

He gently shook her shoulder and she smiled a sleepy smile

He said "Wake up dear, I made it! Have you been asleep awhile?"

She said "Only for an hour but I had the strangest dream

Do you have any idea what this means, what this means?"

"I dreamt I found a tiny bird dragging its left wing

I lifted up its feathers and the bird began to sing

It sang a tune I'd heard you singing earlier today

And then to my suprise it flew away!"

He said, "The dream is strange alright, as strange as strange can be"

And when he told her of his flight, she certainly agreed

I guess when someone loves you, no matter what you do

From time to time you'll have a dream come true. CHORUS & Repeats

THE $65 LS-4

This morning while reading my copy of the latest Sailplane Racing News

The classified had a most curious ad for a glider brand new never used

I read with suspicious amusement what seemed like a wild stroke of luck

"LS-4A" it said, "Must sell" the ad read, "Total package, 65 bucks."

Well I was use to this newsletter's typos but I called up that number

straightway

"What response have you had to your classified ad?" she said, "None, your

the first call today."

I said "There's been a mistake in my copy, they've printed your price wrong

somehow"

"No, no" replied she, "They checked that with me" I said, "Don't sell that

plane, I'm leaving now.

She lived in a part of the city, that folks like me only pass through

Airline captains, bank presidents, and doctors are the residents and the

houses are massive and new

As I turned up her half mile long driveway, there in the heat of the day

In the bright sunlight gleamed the plane of my dreams, just 65 dollars away

The cockpit was lined in white sheepskin, the instruments carefully placed

A computer you read on a tiny TV and the 10-function program worked great

A small fridge in the front of the trailer dispensed either water or wine

Draft beer or ice tea, but what was boggling to me was for 65 bucks it was

mine!

I thought that the woman must be crazy to be selling this plane at that price

But as she walked down the lane she seemed perfectly sane, she was charming

and really quite nice

She smiled with complete satisfaction as she handed me the title and the keys

I said, "I've just got to know, why you've let this thing go. What's wrong

with the plane, tell me please!"

She said "I'll be fifty next Tuesday. I've lived here with my husband Earl.

After thirty years wed, without a word said, he left me for a young teenage

girl.

But with his credit cards here on the table, I knew she'd be hard to maintain

Last night from Florida he, sent a wire to me, said 'I need money, dear, sell

the plane'!"

CLOUDBASE

There's a ghosttown called Cloudbase way up in the sky

The streets run forever 10,000 feet high

It's a place where old dust devils go when they die

To rest at the end of the day.

One day on a flight west of old San Antone

I was low in South Texas and a long way from home

I was telling my crew they should stand by the phones

When a voice on my radio said.

"Is that you, 46?" and I clicked my mike twice

"Long time no see, you're new ship sure looks nice

I've got ten knots behind you, if you're rolling the dice

Turn around and join me for the ride."

It's against all the rules but when I turned around

I saw a big dust devil rise from the ground

And as I sang that old hymn 'once was lost, now I'm found'

It lifted my burden away.

Now if you don't believe me, I'll understand why

Because when I reached cloudbase 10,000 feet high

Old Xray Tango came in along side

Rocked his wings, waved his hand and flew on.

We dove through the shadows and sped towards the sun

I got him in the climb, he got me on the run

When I heard him exclaim "Now we're having fun!"

I turned around and his glider was gone.

I've lost friends on the highway, lost friends to the sea,

But like this ghost in the sky they are all part of me

And since life is a task toward the same mystery

We will all meet again later on.

In a place they call Cloudbase way up in the sky

The streets run forever 10,000 feet high

It's a place where old dust devils go when they die

To rest at the end of the day.

We'll all rest at the end of the day.

DOCTOR'S ORDERS

My doctor called me on the phone, he said the tests are in

It's worse than we expected, this looks kind of grim

But don't loose hope 'cause in the past, Johnson has been wrong

Meet me at the airport and bring your plane along.

Chorus: Take a glider, take a tow, and call me in the morning

Leave your message at the tone, the Doctor has gone soaring

If this is an emergency and you're about to die

You better call a Doctor that doesn't like to fly

The conditions had gone critical, the cus had poped at 10

The patient on the table and the Doctor wasn't in

The assistants and the nurses were nervous as can be

Following instructions on 1-2-3 point 3.

Chorus

I met him at the airport, he had the tests in hand

Dick Johnson's latest polars for our brand new LS-10s

"We must operate" he told me "To catch this thing in time

So let's put these things together and get them on the line!"

RIDGERUNNER

Ridge runner, ridge runner, down on the trees

You got four fully loaded gliders in a 20 knot breeze

You got belts across your bodies, you got maps across you knees

Pennsylvania through Virginia turn around by Tennessee

Will you make it back home, ridge runner?

Ridge runner, ridge runner, look out up ahead

You got a gap across the mountains and the sky looks very dead

You better get up off the deck and go for altitude instead

Three miles can take 2000 feet that's what the Bible said

And you'll make it back home, ridge runner.

Four ridge runners getting lower in the sky

You got the turnpoints in you cameras but no one's very high

Radios are silent cause you ain't got long to fly

Half way down the mountain 'bout to kiss it all good bye

You won't make it back home, ridge runner.

Ridge runners, ridge runners, way up in the wave

Even Jesus must be wondering just how you boys got saved

You were almost 6 feet under now you're dancing on your grave

There ain't nothing like some altitude to make a man feel brave.

You're gonna make it back home, ridge runner.

One more ridge to run and then the home field come in site

Redline in formation now to end this record flight

Then its put the planes away so you can stay up half the night

And say "Can you believe tha cloudstreet boys, we must be livin' right!"

'Cause we made it back home, ridge runners.

Yes we made it back home, ridge runners.

LAST ONE UP

It's a mighty big sky so I need to ask why

You're closing our gliderport down

You say you need the airspace to service your airbase

And you don't want the traffic around

But it seems very clear you don't want a frontier

Where outlaws like me tend to roam

Will anyone cry when the last glider flies

And the last sailplane pilot goes home

When the FAA puts a TCA over everyplace we soar

And their "Keep Out" signs are posted on our ceilings and our floors

When the privilege to fly the ridge comes from Washington, DC

I will raise my cup to the last one up in a sky that once was free

We purchased some land, assured by a man that no one would find us out here

I remember the Monday, we cut the runway, watched by a hawk and two deer

The very next week we got a call from a sheik said he once owned the land

next to ours

But he sold to GM, next month they move with a factory to build a few cars

Now there's a giant mall and the traffic crawls where our planes were once

tied down

And late last year a man shot two deer that had wandered into town

And there's a hawk that flies in the smoke filled skies where she circles

all alone

So I raise my cup, she's the last one up, in a sky we once called home

THE HIGHER YOU CLIMB

The higher you climb, the more that you see,

The more that you see, the less that you know,

The less that you know, the more that you learn,

The more that you learn, the higher you climb.

The farther you reach, the more that you touch,

The more that you touch, the older you feel,

The older you feel, the less that you need,

The less that you need, the higher you climb.

FROM A DISTANCE

From a distance the earth looks blue and green

And the snow capped mountains white.

From a distance the ocean meets the stream

And the eagle takes its flight.

From a distance there is harmony

And it echos through the land,

It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,

It's the voice of everyman.

From a distance each one has enough

And no one is in need.

There are no guns, no bombs, no disease

No hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments

Marching in a common band,

Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace,

They're the songs of everyman.

From a distance you look like my friend

Even though we are at war.

From a distance I can't comprehend

What all this war is for.

From a distance there is harmony

And it echos through the land,

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,

It's the heart of everyman.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,

It's the heart of everyman