Promisesong

Lyrics for "Promised Land"

1 When The Spirit Says Sing

2 Poems, Prayers & Promises

3 Homegrown Tomatoes

4 Truest Friend

5 God Believes In You

6 Promised Land

7 Amanda's Prayers

8 The Dutchman

9 Baby's Got The Car Keys

10 Angels Among Us

11 Modern Maturity

12 Something Together

13 The Unicorn Song

14 Show The Way

15 Will You Stand

16 Out In The World

1 When The Spirit Says Sing

Traditional, verses by Missy Stratton Morgan, medely arrangement by Cafe Society,

chorus "Come From The Heart", Susanna Clark/Richard Leigh (©EMI April Music)

You've got to sing when the spirit says sing

And obey the spirit of the lord

You've got to sing like you don't need the money

Love like you'll never get hurt

You've got to dance, dance, dance, like nobody's watching

It's got to come from the heart if you want it to work

And if you hold back the word that might heal somebody's pain

You're holding back yourself from the light

And if you make your decisions based only upon gain

You will see the world with only partial sight

And if you need some assistance but don't let your buddies know

You're keeping them from being all that they could

And if your heart starts a talkin', better let those feelings show

You don't want to stop the flow of something good

2 Poems, Prayers & Promises

John Denver (©Cherry Lane Music)

"Abide With Me" Traditional, Medely by Ed Kilbourne

I been lately thinkin about my life time

All the things I've done and how it's been

And I can't help believing in my own mind

You know I'm gonna hate to see it end

I've seen a lot of sunshine, I've slept out in the rain

I've spent a lot of time out on my own

I've known my lady's pleasures, I've had myself some friends

I've spent a night or two in my own home

I have to say it now, it's been a good life all in all

It's really fine to have this chance to hang around

Sit here by the fire and watch the evening tire

While all the friends that I have gathered pass the bread and wine around

We talk of poems and prayers and promises, things that we believe in

How good it is to love someone, how right it is to care

How long it's been since yesterday, but what about tomorrow

What about the dreams and all the memories we've shared

Days they pass so quickly now, nights are seldom long

Time around me whispers that it's cold

Changes always frighten me but still I have to smile

It turns me on to think I'm growning old

And though my life's been good to me there's still so much to do

So many things my mind has never known

I'd like to raise my family, I'd like to sail away

I'd like to do a concert on the moon

Abide with me, fast falls the evening tide

The darkness deepens, lord with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me

3 Homegrown Tomatoes

Guy Clark (©EMI/April Music/GSC Music)

Well there ain't nothin' in the world that I like better

Than bacon and lettuce and homegrown tomatoes

Up in the mornin' out in the garden

Get you ripe one, hey, don't get a hard one

Plant 'em in the spring, eat 'em in the summer

All winter without 'em's just a culinary bummer

I forget all about the sweatin' and the diggin'

Everytime I go out and pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes

What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes

Only two things that money can't buy

And that's true love and homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat and that's for sure

There's nothin' that a homegrown tomato won't cure

You can put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew

You can make your very own tomato juice

You can eat 'em with eggs, eat 'em with gravy

Eat'em with beans, pinto or navy

Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle

Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

Now if I's to change this life I lead

I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed

'Cause I know what this country needs

That's a homegrown tomatoe in every yard you see

When I die don't bury me in a box in a cemetery

'Cause out in the garden would be much better

Where I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

4 Truest Friend

Tom Davidson (©Tom Davidson)

I could promise now so many things I would give to you

For the world is filled with precious things treasures old and new

But the only gift I offer you that no one else could give

Is to pledge to you my wealth of love as long as we shall live

I will pledge to you my wealth of love as long as we shall live

I could promise now so many things I would do for you

For life is filled with ways to prove love is what you do

But the purest act of love I know is simply to abide

In your brightest day in your darkest night I will be there by your side

I could promise now so many things I would be for you

For our lives are filled with hopes and dreams, dreams we wish were true

But the sweetest dream remains a dream and truth need not pretend

I will be for you just what I am, I am your truest friend

5 God Believes In You

Pierce Pettis (©Polygram International Publishing/Piercepettisongs)

When you start to doubt that you exist, God believes in you

Confounded by the evidence, God believes in you

When your light burns so dim, when your chances seem so slim

And you swear you don't believe in him, God believes in you

When you rise up just to fall again, God believes in you

Deserted by your closest friends, God believes in you

When you're betrayed with a kiss, you turn your cheek to another fist

It dose not have to end like this, God believes in you

Oh everything matters if anything matters at all

Everything matters no matter how big, no matter how small

Oh God believes in you, God believes in you

When you're so ashamed that you could die, God believes in you

And you can't do right even though you try, God believes in you

Blessed are the ones who grieve, the ones who mourn, the ones who bleed

In sorrow you sow but in joy you reap, God believes in you

6 Promised Land

Ed Kilbourne/Tom Davidson (©Myown Music)

I knew a man who died of AIDS, a good man and a friend

His pastor's and his parent's arms around him at the end

His pastor she was crying as she heard him pray this prayer 'God who made us men-who-love-eachother, do you care?

Do you care when we are beaten, do you care that we are born

Flowers in your garden here, discarded in the thorns?'

My friend cried out to Jesus as his soul began to rise

And with his arms wide open, he reached out for the skies.

I'm sure you've heard of Susan Smith and of her dirty deed

And of the guilty verdict for her very crazy plea

I dreamed that she was drowning off some far and distant shore

The cold dark water filled her lungs, she sank to rise no more

People turned and walked away, she vanished from our view

The crowd along the shore line had dwindled down to two

Too small to understand her, too weak to set her free

But I dreamed I saw her children pull her gently from the sea.

There's a place they call the promised land where people live by grace

The leaders are their servants, the last ones win the race

And those who love are wealthy and those who hate are poor

And honor's won by making peace, not by making war

And everyone's invited when the kingdom feast is spread

They remember how they got there in the breaking of the bread

They pass a cup around the room to every tear stained face

And drink a toast to Jesus as they sing "Amazing Grace"

So pass the cup around the room to every tear stained face

And drink a cup of Jesus and sing "Amazing Grace"

7 Amanda's Prayers

Ed Kilbourne (©MyOwn Music)

No one needs a song, I know

About a life lived on the road

But I've lived life on the road and it's brought me here

I've tried my hand at several things

What I've done is I've learned to sing

About the mysteries that stop and start our tears

But when the songs are said and sung

I'm not fooling anyone

With my eyes closed and a smile upon my face

I'm just a tired old travelin' man

Connected to the promised land

Of home sweet home and sweet amazing grace

So I stand before you here

In answer to Amanda's prayers

That she says when her mom turns out the light

"God bless my daddy far away

Give him strength to sing and play

Please bring him home safely Sunday night"

Sometimes I feel so all alone

I wish I had a telephone

That I could climb into and fly away

To find the ones that I hold dear

So many miles away from here

And sit and watch the closing of the day

But now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

And my daughter does the same with her eyes closed tight

And reaching out from here to there

We hold eachother in our prayers

Until I make it home on Sunday night

8 The Dutchman

Michael Smith (©Duchess Music/Bird Ave Pub Co Inc)

The Dutchman's not the kind of man to keep his thumb jammed in the dam

That holds his dreams in, but that's a secret only Margaret knows

When Amsterdam is golden in the morning Margaret brings him breakfast

She believes him, he thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow

He's mad as he can be but Margaret only sees that sometimes

Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes

Let us go to the banks of the ocean, where the walls rise above the Zider Zee

Long ago I use to be a young man, and dear Margaret remembers that for me

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes, his cap and coat are patched

With the love that Margaret sewed in, sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam

He watches the tugboats down canals and calls out to them when he thinks

He knows the captain, till Margaret comes to take him home again

Through unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm

Sometime he thinks that he's alone and he calls her name

Winter whirls the windmills round, she winds his muffler tighter

They sit in the kitchen, some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew

He sees her for a moment, calls her name, she makes the bed up

Singing some old love song, she learned it when the tune was very new

He hums a line or two, they sing together in the night

The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out

9 Baby's Got The Car Keys

Ezra Idlet/Keith Grimwood (©Troutoons)

Daddy put the keys in his pocket when he walked into the house

Or did he leave 'em on the table by the telephone

He thinks that's where he left them, he really isn't sure

He knows he had to have them just to get inside the door

Now mom's in the kitchen, lookin on the shelf

She says this kind of panic is a hazzard to her health

Time to go to work, time to go to school and everybody's looking like a fool

Baby's got the car keys and she's crawling down the hall

She's a cute little pick pocket sticky-fingered goldylocks

And she's not even three feet tall

She puts them in her toy box, she rattles them around

She drops them in her diaper now they can't be found

Time to go to work, time to go to school and everybody's looking like a fool

Diggin in the sofa gets a dollar fifty cents

Some toothpicks, a candy bar, a dozen fountain pens

There's chaos in the living room, disaster in the den

Sister says she's seen them but she can't say when

Tick tock car is locked, daddy's going into shock

Smelling dirty diapers on the breeze

He says he's gonna change them but baby's got to wait

Until he finds the dad-gummed keys

Baby starts to giggle, there's something in her hand

That booger drops a wallet in the garbage can

Time to go to work, time to go to school and everybody's looking like a fool

Mom's in the kitchen tryin to call a cab

And daddy's changin baby's diapers in the living room

He's got the baby on the table, bottle in her mouth

He opens up the diaper, he begins to shout

Treasure in the diaper, treasure in the yuck!

Sure looks a lot like the keys to my truck

Time to go to work, time to go to school and everybody's looking like a fool

This party isn't over, they're about to find that out

Dad threw away his wallet when he took the garbage out

Time to go to work, time to go to school and everybody's looking like a fool

10 Angels Among Us

Becky Hobbs & Don Goodman (©Sony/ATV Songs)

Walking home from school on a cold winter day

Took a short cut through the woods and I lost my way

It was getting late and I was scared and alone

When a kind old man took my hand, he led me home

Mama couldn't see him but I know that he was there

I knew in my heart he was the answer to a prayer

Oh, I believe there are angels among us

Sent down to us from somewhere up above

They come to you and me in our darkest hours

To show us how to live, to teach us how to give

To guide us with a light of love

When life holds troubled times that bring me down to my knees

There's always been someone come along and comfort me

Kind words from a stranger, to lend a helping hand

A phone call from a friend, to say I understand

Now ain't it kind of crazy, at the dark end of a road

How someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope

They wear so many faces

Show up in the strangest places

Grace us with their mercy in our time of need

11 Modern Maturity

Tom Paxton (©Pax Music/Cherry Lane Music)

So when you find it in your mailbox for the first time my friend

You can tell that you getting older, you're turning grey

It's a first sign of decline, it's a start of the end

When your wrinkles out number your hairs then it's headed your way

Modern Maturity, means you're getting old

When you get the magazine that you hide from your friends

Once it was Rolling Stone, it was thrill after thrill

Now Modern Maturity means over the hill

When Mick Jagger has his breakfast of yogurt and bran

Does he read of prescriptions by mail or of self-rising chairs

You can keep on rockin' and rollin' as long as you can

But then you sit in your little seat and you ride up the stairs

I've looked through its pages and what I see there

Is that everyone looks about twenty-five with white hair

You can buy polyester pants for nineteen ninety-five

You can get your grandchildren's picture on your coffee cup

And if you're tired of walking there's a scooter that you can drive

Or a button to push if you've fallen and you can't get up

12 Something Together

Maybe we could do something together

Even though it seems kinda strange

Though we know we don't have much in common

Maybe that could change

Maybe we could do something together

Maybe we should give it a try

If you're willing to risk disappointment

Well then, so am I

I've been living alone in the country

You've been living alone in the town

I keep thinkin', wonderin' about you

When the sun goes down

Maybe we could do something together

Even through it's safer alone

Though we know that our hearts have been hardened

They're not made of stone

Maybe we could do something together

Maybe we should both take a chance

If we're able to bend just a little

We could learn to dance

13 The Unicorn Song

A long time ago when the earth was green

There was more kinds of animals then you'd ever seen

They'd run around free while the ark was being born

But the loveliest of them all was the unicorn

There were green alligators and long necked geese

Some humpty back camels and some chimpanzees

Some cats and rats and elephants

But sure as you're born

The loveliest of all was the unicorn

Now God seen some sinnin' and it gave Him pain

He says stand back I'm gonna make it rain

He says, "Hey brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do

Build me a floating zoo"

Old Noah was there, to answer the call

He finished up makin the ark just as the rain started fallin

He marched in the animals two by two

And he called out as they went through

Then noah looked out through the drivin' rain

Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games

Kickin and splashing while the rain was pourin

All them silly unicorns

Then the ark started movin and driftin with the tide

Them unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried

And the waters came up and sort a floated them away

And that's why you never see a unicorn to this very day

14 Show The Way

You say you see no hope

You say you see no reason we should dream

The world could ever change

You're saying love is foolish to believe

'Cause there'll always be some crazy

With a army or a knife

To wake you from your daydream

Put the fear back in your life

Look if someone wrote a play

Just to glorify what's stronger than hate

Could they not arrange the stage

To look as if the hero came to late

He's almost in defeat

It's looking like the evil side will win

So on the edge of every seat

From the moment that the whole play begins

It is love who mixed the mortar

Love who stacked these stones

Love who made this stage here

For when it feels like we're alone

In this scene set in shadows

Like the night is here to stay

There is evil cast around us

But it's love that wrote the play

And through the darkness love will show the way

So now the stage is set

You can feel your own heart beating in your chest

Your life's not over yet

It's time to get up on your feet and do your best

To play against the fear

To play against the reasons not to try

Playing for the tears

Burning in the happy angel's eyes

15 Will You Stand

When you're out in the badlands confronting your fears