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Broke Down Town 3:260:00/3:26
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A Dog and a Guitar 5:050:00/5:05
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Rain 4:390:00/4:39
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Off the Deep End 3:150:00/3:15
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The Last Day 3:320:00/3:32
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Hardened Ground 3:290:00/3:29
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We Want What We Want 3:510:00/3:51
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Fan the Flames 3:460:00/3:46
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Tell Tale Eyes 3:280:00/3:28
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0:00/2:52
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Wild Bones 3:240:00/3:24
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Mercury on Glass 4:040:00/4:04
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The Last Blue Door 3:000:00/3:00
Broke Down Town © 2008 Nancy Sferra
Dog is lickin’ food from a garbage can
As Willy hides his car from the repo man
With a blue tarp flappin’ in the evening breeze,
This town will bring a grown man to his knees
Chorus 1: Willy wonders how he got so low
He’s starin’ at the river that flows below
Everything is so broke down
He’s got a beautiful view of a broke down town
His old man staring at a TV screen
With a pint of his best friend, Old Jim Beam
Heckling contestants on the “Price is Right”
Found his courage in a bottle, a bottle of lies
Willy rounds the corner for some cigarettes,
Amanda’s outside on the store’s front steps
Willy flips a quarter in her paper cup
Mutters, man you gotta clean yourself up
Chorus 2: Willy wonders how he got so hard
Lookin’ out the window past his small backyard
Says everything is so broke down
He’s got a beautiful view of this broke down town
Fan The Flames ©2013 Nancy Sferra
Gotta be near 90, can't move from the couch
Flies beat their brains against the window pane
How can folks stand to live down south
I use all my energy to complain
Refrain: You're no help cause you're fanning the flames again
Nothing left but the ashes
You fan the flames, my friend
Alberta clipper screaming out from the west
Brings cold that takes my breath away
Stays too long like an unwanted guest
The sea smoke rising out on the bay
Refrain: You're no help cause you're blowing cold again
Wind cuts right to the bone
You're blowing cold my friend
Bridge: Looks like I'm gonna get burned again
Maybe from the heat or your minus 10
Dance a little closer to the flame
Like a fire you make your own weather, my friend
A Dog and A Guitar © 2010 Nancy Sferra
I’ve got some time off work and I’m trying to fill my days
Got money in the bank and time to play
I’ve got a map folded open on the front seat of the car
Got the tires full of air, got a dog and a guitar
Chorus: I figure it will take me two or three days
A dog and a guitar to keep me sane
I can’t decide if I should phone you on the way
Or show up on your doorstep with a smile and a wave
The landscape flattens out, I watch the trees melt away
As they give way to corn and wheat, the towns look the same
The mountains loom ahead and the sun is in my eyes
As it dips towards the mountain tops and fires up the sky
Chorus: It’s been a sleepless two or three days
A dog and a guitar to keep me sane
I can’t decide if I should phone you on the way
Or show up on your doorstep with a smile and a wave
I’ve got a map folded open on the front seat of the car
Got the tires full of air, got a dog and a guitar
Hardened Ground © 2005 Nancy Sferra
What am I doing tomorrow, can’t be worse than today
Tired of hanging in this dusty town where this hard work just don’t pay
I’m free to go, just get in the car
Haul down the road, I’m just not sure how far
Chorus: Oh, I’m free to go, leave this town
Before this brown dirt gets me down
All we have in common is we lost our fight
Stuck on thinking can’t instead of might
I’ve lived here all my life, I never intended to stay
Every time I thought about leaving, minor complications just go tin the way
I’m free to go, to break these chain s
I may never have this chance again
Sitting at the four way, idling by the general store
Realtor’s sign is swinging in the wind, you can’t buy your beer here anymore
I’m free to go, hit the gas
I better get going before the feeling’s passed
Chorus: Oh, I’m free to go, to leave this town
To pull up stakes from this hardened ground
All we have in common is spit and fight
Just enough to make me hold on tight
Mercury On Glass ©2015 Nancy Sferra
It's hard to come back
Many years that I've lost track
I could have tried to find you
Our past is paper thin
Compared to where we've both been
All those doors we've walked through
Chorus: We were mercury on glass
We chased what never came to pass
Between us, between you and me
Talked about our wanderlust
Wrote our names in the dust
Erased by the promise of tomorrow
You went left, I went right
A gentle kiss, we said goodbye
The bitter taste of sorrow
Standing here in this room
In the shadows of the evening gloom
Your life laid out before me
Pictures of your pretty wife
Your kids, your house, your too short life
I'm glad that you were happy
Rain ©2007 Nancy Sferra
It’s 2 am and she’s here all alone,
Been waiting for an hour for a ride to take her home
Waitress refills her coffee, remarks on the pouring rain
She can hear it all running down into the outside drain
Sign outside says “dine” but the N’s burned out
Message written for the down and out
Cook’s in the kitchen singing Pancho and Lefty to the radio
Living the outlaw life and ending up in Ohio
Waitress stops by to ask "is there anything I can do
Do you want to use the phone to see if he’s coming out for you"
I’m sure he’s on his way, he’s just slow on account of the pouring rain
It’s hard to make your way when you can’t even see your lane
Car pulls in the parking lot with its brights turned on
Night’s unfit for anyone but the underdog
Couple runs through the door, they’re clothes are soaking wet
His hand’s on the small of her back, stabs out his cigarette
It’s four am and she’s sitting here on her own
Been waiting three hours for her baby to come and take her home
A wash of light is showing out to the east
She picks up her bag and heads out to the street
Tell-tale Eyes © 2007 Nancy Sferra
Wrinkled hands knotted in her lap, veins stand out like the roads on a map
Rocking gently to a phantom beat, old black dog curled at her feet
Looks at me and she taps her head, stops her rocking for a moment and says
Broken window pane, light comes through it just the same, just the same
Chorus: She said she has tell-tale eyes
I would have called them worldly and wise
Her mind’s filled with memories
That spill out her eyes like the coming sea
She says she likes me coming around, to see an old woman and her poor old hound
The folks round here treat her okay, she has her share of good and bad days
Sometimes it’s too much for me, all the reminiscing about family
It changes with the track of time, she should just let those sleeping dogs lie, sleeping dogs lie
Chorus: She said she has tell-tale eyes
I would have called them worldly and wise
Her wrinkles are because of age
But her life’s in black and white like a well read page
I looked at her face and I knew what she meant, the lines of joy and sorrow were easy to detect
And when I looked in her pale blue eyes, what I saw was a hint of a sigh
Her old black dog stared at me, when I stood up to take my leave
As I started to say my goodbyes she said
Don’t you think he has tell-tale eyes, tell-tale eyes, tell-tale eyes
The Last Blue Door © 2005 Nancy Sferra
Aging blue on a rusty hinge, peeling to white on a weathered fringe
Last blue door on a hang-dog block, scarred and worn with a brand new lock
Chorus: When I knock you don’t answer the door
That rust and wood can’t take much more
I’d explain but don’t know where to begin
That last blue door won’t let me in
Cindy and John carved in the frame, and graffittied walls with lover’s names
Couples lost to the sun and rain, fading off the bricks in a wash of pain
One more key to throw in a drawer, I won’t remember what lock it’s for
I’ll find another blue door someday, where my love and I will stay
Chorus 2: I no longer knock when I pass that door
That rust and wood couldn’t take any more
I’ve learned to live with our past sins
That last blue door won’t let me in
Off The Deep End © 2001 Nancy Sferra
The last time you said goodbye, there was that freedom glimmer in your eye
I didn’t think you’d show your face again
But there you stood expecting me to let you in
You ate my food, you slept in my bed
Played with the dog, and messed with my head
Made it look like you intended to stay
Lucky for you there were others who took in strays
Chorus: You keep pausing and changing your mind
Swing like the weather or a gate on a fence
You’re going to chase me right off the deep end
Once was confusion, twice was a mistake
The third time you left, I thought it would take
You acted like you went for a walk round the block
Returned to home like the hour hand on a clock
I moved across town, bolted the doors
No longer willing to give you house tours
Either way, I end up alone
I know it was a mistake to answer the phone
The Last Day © 2010 Nancy Sferra
Another day starts in the dark
Out here on the corner of 6th Street and Park
Unlock the door, turn on the light
I’ve been working hard for forty years from morning til night
Chorus: I’ve watched this city come awake
From my tiny corner stake
I’ve watched my regulars age
And the changing headlines bold on the front page
It’s time I said my goodbyes
The newsstand business is starting to die
I should retire to the shore
I mean, who reads papers and no one smokes anymore
Bridge: Through Vietnam and Watergate,
Summer of Love and Purple Haze
A pack of smokes was thirty cents,
Now I can’t afford this rent
The War on Terror and Medicaid,
The Internet, and Free Trade
I’ll go the way of the dinosaur,
It’s all just commentary anymore