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Hello Cruel World

by Gretchen Peters

/
1.
Haven't done as well as I thought I would I'm not dead but I'm damaged goods And it's gettin' late I'm a rusty hinge, a squeaky wheel At the bad end of a shaky deal Cursed by the hand of fate And oooh - I'm a very lucky girl Yeah oooh - hello cruel world I'm a ticking clock, a losing bet I’m a girl without a safety net I'm a cause for some concern You don't live this long without regrets Telephone calls you don't wanna get Stones you'd rather leave unturned But oooh - the grain of sand becomes the pearl Yeah oooh - hello cruel world Some folks go the easy route Numb the pain or put the lights out Either way they got to go Me I'm gonna stick around In for a penny in for a pound ‘Cause I hate to miss the show And oooh - I'm a very stubborn girl Yeah oooh - hello cruel world
2.
Saint Francis walking on the water All his lambs have gone to slaughter All the creatures who receive his grace You can see them all in his haggard face Saint Francis begging at your doorway You want to let him in but what will the neighbors say And you know you can't go on but you can't give up And he answers you with his begging cup Saint Francis sitting at your table A cup of tea among the faithful Behind a wall that's made of little lies Much to your surprise you start to cry By these wounds you will be whole again By these signs you will know You'll feel a stirring in your soul again 'Til sweet amnesia takes a hold Saint Francis sleeping in the meadow His halo is a raven's shadow He's been sleeping for 800 years In a potter's field full of sparrow's tears And while we sleep and dream of heaven's gates Down here on earth the old man waits
3.
The Matador 04:18
I threw a rose to the matador, not sure who I was cheering for My aim was true, my heart was full, I loved the fighter and the bull I loved like only a woman can, a very complicated man I bound his wounds, I heard his cries, I gave him truth, I told him lies His rage is made of many things: faithless women, wedding rings Snakes and snails and alcohol, his daddy's fist thrown through the wall Ah but he's beautiful when he's in the ring, the devil howls, the angels sing Sparks fly from his fingertips and words like birds fly from his lips Some man is lyin' in the dirt Some woman's crying that he's hurt But he's not alive without the thrill Without the dance, without the kill The lights go down, the people roar They're cheering on the matador And this is how the story goes I knew it when I threw the rose I come to each and every show; the woman in the second row I watch them in their ancient dance and I know I never stood a chance Cause while other demons prance and clown, it's vanity that takes you down I thought that I could be the one, but I'm just another hanger-on Some man is bleedin' in the dirt Some woman's crying that she's hurt But who are we without the thrill Without the dance, without the kill And he is bull and matador And I'm the mother and the whore And this is how the story goes I knew it when I threw the rose I threw a rose to the matador, not sure who I was cheering for My aim was true, my heart was full, I loved the fighter and the bull
4.
I got no use for harps and wings I got no time for foolish things There is no heaven, there is no hell There's only you, my dark angel Your bleeding heart, your pilgrim soul Your wounded eyes, that take their toll Your ragged voice like a broken bell Against the noise, my dark angel And if there is no hereafter And there is only here Life is still a beautiful disaster Ah but we both know that my dear So let the curtain rise, let the great world spin If it's all for show - let the show begin Everybody's got something, something to sell Except for me and you, my dark angel There is no heaven, there is no hell There's only you, my dark angel
5.
I got a fine house, I got a deep well I'm a woman who knows how to keep to herself When your need is strong and the hour is late Baby you got the key to my garden gate Honeysuckle clings to an old stone wall Just like Eden before the fall From dust we come and dust we'll be Love's the only thing gonna set us free So open the doors and come inside Nectar's in the blossom and the bee's in the hive Oh daddy won't you ease on down East of Eden, Paradise found I worship no idol I seek no god I don't believe in no holy jihad I don't believe in original sin I believe in the heat underneath our skin When the Great Correction finally comes Goin' back to the garden where we come from Gonna sow our seed in the good sweet ground And let our love come tumblin’ down
6.
There's a man out here puts his head in the mouth of a crocodile Puts the whole thing in, takes it out and gives the crowd a great big smile And they walk away with their illusions of safety safely intact And they tell their little wide eyed kids it's only an act There's a man out here throws knives at a target with a blindfold on And the wheel spins round and the knives bear down ‘til they find their home And I can feel the rush and the whoosh of every blade of steel Cause I am the woman on the wheel Sometimes I get lonely sometimes I get scared but most times bored Sometimes I ask God please God just show me just what's behind that door As if God was Monty Hall and this was Let's Make A Deal And I am the woman on the wheel Had a sweet little baby in Coeur D'Alene, he was an acrobat Took me out on the wire, man I never knew love could feel like that But in the end he was a man who couldn't keep his feet on the ground too long In the end it's just another highwire act gone wrong So it's on with the show and it's send in the clowns and the trapeze act And it's more of the same and it's less of a game than a cold hard fact And most times it's better not to ask myself how I feel I'm just the woman on the wheel I know what you're thinkin’ as the knives fly by and they find their mark You're thinkin’ one false move and it's a real bad day at the amusement park You wouldn't wanna be me but you need me just the same To remind you what you stand to lose and what you stand to gain They say I've got a death wish yeah but I don't think that's true As far as I can see it's less about me and more about you You see it ain't your fears so much as what your fears reveal I'm just the woman on the wheel
7.
Five Minutes 04:59
I've got five minutes to sneak a cigarette Five minutes to myself Back behind the screen door of Andy's Luncheonette And I ain't got time to worry bout my health My boss Andy says I smoke myself to death Andy he reminds me some of you Back when you were Romeo and I was Juliet West Texas Capulet and Montague Now I don't think too much about you anymore We weren't much more than kids It was nearly twenty years ago I shut and locked that door Now I've got five minutes Not much time to reminisce Most nights I come home from work and I pour a glass of wine Sometimes it's three or four before I stop And Jessie makes a sandwich if I sleep through suppertime And she leaves me on the couch to to sleep it off Now Jessie just turned 17 and she's wild as she can be And there ain't nothin’ I can do Last weekend she ran off to meet a boy in Tennessee Just like I used to run to you I gave her hell when she came home this afternoon Mascara runnin’ down her face Seems like history repeats itself, and it ain't up to you And in five minutes Your whole life can change Now Andy he's good to me, and I can see it in his eyes He'd love to take your place But something deep inside me just withers up and dies To make love to him and only see your face Somehow I've let myself go gently down the stream A fine example I have set Between the workin’ and the livin’ and the ghosts that haunt my dreams I've got five minutes and I'm gonna smoke this cigarette
8.
Camille 04:54
The moon had a fight with the parking lot light And slunk off to hide in the clouds Now it’s broken bottles, gravel and glass Keepin’ you company now In the heat of the moment he cried out your name But the moment it didn’t last long Ten minutes later he’s driving away And you’re putting your pantyhose on And you don’t want to cry, and you don’t want to think And you tell yourself it ain’t no big deal And you feel like a fool, and you feel like a drink And you drink so you don’t have to feel But you still do, don’t you Camille All your affairs are like last night’s mascara Darkening the lines ‘round your eyes Seems like these days you’re just pickin’ up strays You laugh and you say you’re no prize And the sins of the fathers are not meant for daughters But somehow you felt you’re to blame And the ghost in your head and the men in your bed They all look like they’re one and the same
9.
Weatherman says there's gonna be sun Surely to God I'm not the only one Who'd trade this day for a hurricane Blow 500 miles across a landlocked state Earthquake shook the California ground Took a freeway out and some buildings down Well I've never felt the earth move under my heels But I got a pretty good idea just how it feels I got pictures hangin' on the walls A history that haunts these halls Of you and me, before and after A natural disaster We tore through each other like an avalanche You and me baby we were bound to crash The higher we flew the harder we fell From the hem of heaven, to the gates of hell Like a landslide baby on a suicide run No thought to the damage done Headed straight downhill, faster and faster A natural disaster They say it was a miracle no one died Just two people hurt and some wounded pride Love takes everything in its path And leaves you breathless in the aftermath And there's a hole where your heart once stood You know it won't kill you but you wish it would Cause you don't want to face the morning after Your natural disaster Weatherman says no chance of rain But I'm still waiting' for that hurricane
10.
Idlewild 05:32
They're in the front seat, he's got the radio low And the moon hangs over Idlewild as the planes touch down He is talking but she's not listening She is thinking of her father who died when she was young I'm in the back seat, they think i'm sleeping But I am listening for the cracks between their voices in the dark We are a family, we are a shipwreck And we're picking up my grandma who is getting very old And they think she's dying But I think she's laughing I think she's riding Halley's comet from Ft. Lauderdale to here And when I see her I'll keep her secret We all have our secrets that we keep inside ourselves They built this airport, but in a few years They'll name it after Kennedy, the one who died today And he will leave her, and she will suffer And they will never really know each other at all They think we're driving But I know we're drifting They think we're off on some adventure where the hero saves the day We think we're special We think we're golden We think we're walking on the moon but we are dancing in the dark We shoot our rockets, we shoot our presidents We shoot the commies and the niggers and the Viet Cong Everything changes, everything stays the same And the moon hangs over Idlewild as the planes touch down
11.
Little World 04:46
Baby lock that old front door Got a good red wine to pour Cause the world is just too much for me tonight I'm a soldier back from war Too tired to care no more And too sad to put up any kind of fight But from here to the garden gate Where the sweet wild roses wait It's a little world Between Jupiter and Mars And these cold and icy stars We oughta take what earthly comfort we can find Cause it's a big and lonely world And I'm a sad and lonely girl It's easy to get lost out there sometimes But from here to the garden gate The path is small and straight And it's a little world Two spoons in a kitchen drawer A dance on a hardwood floor Two shadows move behind a darkened door And there’s a dog with a juicy bone A sigh from a saxophone Only a fool would wish for more From here to the garden gate Is a world that we create Just a little world

credits

released January 31, 2012

produced by Doug Lancio, Gretchen Peters & Barry Walsh
recorded at Studio G!, Nashville, TN*
*”Little World” recorded at Nigel’s House, Nashville, TN
all songs written by Gretchen Peters, except as noted
Engineered by Doug Lancio & Chad Brown
Assisted by Nick Newberry
Mixed by Doug Lancio
Mastered by John Baldwin

photography/art direction/design: Gina Binkley
hair & makeup: Neil Robison

Thanks: Barry Walsh, Doug Lancio, Rodney Crowell, Tom & Nadine Russell, Matraca Berg, Suzy Bogguss, Crystal Hochhalter, Paul Sawyer, Rebecca Kemp, Val Denn, Nigel Morton, Richard Wootton, everyone at Proper Records, Leslie Rouffe, Frank Liddell, Michael Emrick & Bill Hollings

www.gretchenpeters.com

For my two James

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Gretchen Peters Nashville, Tennessee

For two decades, Gretchen Peters has been one of Nashville's most beloved and respected artists. A 2014 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Peters has accumulated accolades as both songwriter and artist. Her latest album, The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury (May 2020), is a loving tribute to another Hall of Fame songwriter. ... more

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