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Trio

by Gretchen Peters

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1.
Museum 03:36
i am an artist i won’t crawl i’ll paint a picture of my heart and hang it on a wall it’s my sweet release it’s my masterpiece hanging on a wall in a museum you can hurt me but i’ll fight back i’ll rearrange the shadows and the light til the colors turn to black til my broken heart is a work of art hanging on a wall in a museum and i’ll paint the golden summers and i’ll paint the starry nights and i’ll paint the bloody battles and the refuse of the fight like a message in a bottle like a ghost beyond the grave you’re looking for some meaning but it’s my life i’m trying to save i am a stranger to myself not living breathing flesh and blood but dust upon a shelf it’s my joy and my strife it’s my lot in life to be hanging on a wall in a museum
2.
Circus Girl 03:33
I work the high wire in the center ring Defying gravity, that's my thing Guess I never wanted no regular life I couldn't stand to be nobody's wife Some people tell me that I'm livin' their dream But things in the circus ain't what they seem Believe me darlin' it's a lonely world It ain't easy for a circus girl Nobody knows you when you come to town You're somebody's hero or you're somebody's clown And you hope like hell that it'll be enough Cause you're nobody's baby when the sun comes up Bridge: You can dazzle 'em with beauty Make 'em laugh until they cry You can give 'em the thrill of a lifetime But they always say goodbye It's just that sometimes I get so tired Of goin' nowhere on that little wire I'd like to plant my feet on solid ground But God have mercy it's a long way down So I climb that ladder right on up to the sky I don't look down and I don't ask why And just for a moment I'm on top of the world Just for a moment I'm a circus girl
3.
Baby open up that bottle Come and lay down by my side I don't have no special reason Just this ache I feel inside I wanna lose my inhibitions I wanna lose those words we said I wanna drink my fill of you babe And let it go right to my head Tonight I want to hold you I wanna look into your eyes I wanna watch these broken dreams turn into memories Just like water, baby Just like water into wine Don't wanna think about tomorrow Don't wanna count my last regrets I can't hate you anymore babe And I can't love you any less Sometimes I've been ungrateful Sometimes you've been unkind But all the pain and sorrow and all the bitter tears They're just water, baby Just water into wine So baby open up that bottle Come and lay down by my side I can't think of one good reason We should not be satisfied Jesus walked upon the water Healed the sick, the lame, the blind We are miracles of science, we are accidents divine We're just like water, baby Just like water into wine
4.
Souvenirs 04:57
I set out like Kerouac In my American car Carryin' a dream and a road map Deep in my American heart But where's them mountain majesties Where's those waves of grain Billboards from sea to shining sea Man, it ain't the same I've been searching for the promised land But it's just another neon come-on roadside stand Little tin toys that fall apart That's all they got here I come all this way to find my heart All I get is souvenirs They got Mount Rushmore on a cup Everybody needs one of those For a dollar more they'll fill it up You can drink out of Lincoln's nose They got the hard rock t-shirts They got Elvis too Sooner or later mark my words They're gonna get you Chorus Baby I believed in you I thought you believed in me I thought we had a love that's true Not a close facsimile Now I don't want your dime store ring Turns my finger green I don't want your dimestore love I want the real thing Chorus
5.
Main Street 04:14
Right through the middle of our town A two lane, two way highway comes rollin' down It used to be quite busy around here But then they put a mall out there and the freeway came last year Nobody stops here anymore, they're only passin' through Nothin' much to look at, and there's nothing here to do Just an old newspaper blowin' at my feet Down on Main Street Old Mr. Arnold finally sold the store He started out on Main Street back before the war He says business wasn't booming anyway He says he and that old neighborhood have seen their better day But he remembers how it was in 1945 When they marched out all the boys who made it home alive And the girls were throwing roses at their feet Down on Main Street Down on Main Street They're sellin' memories real low Goin' out of business Everything must go Like old forgotten faces without names The storefronts and the sidewalks and the boarded window frames And there's the corner record store Where I discovered rock'n'roll so many years before But now I walk these empty streets and I listen for that sound I listen for the rhythm in the heart of this old town I listen for the slow and steady beat Down on Main Street
6.
She left the car in the driveway She left the key in the door She left the kids at her mama's And the laundry piled up on the floor She left her ring on the pillow Right where it wouldn't be missed She left a note in the kitchen Next to the grocery list It said you don't even know who I am You left me a long time ago You don't even know who I am So what do you care if I go He left the ring on the pillow He left the clothes on the floor And he called her to say he was sorry But he couldn't remember what for So he said, I've been doing some thinking And I've been thinking that maybe you're right I go to work every morning And I come home to you every night And you don't even know who I am You left me a long time ago You don't even know who I am So what do I care if you go
7.
Couple of guys sittin' around drinkin' down at the Starlight Bar One of 'em says, you know I been thinkin' - other one says that won't get you too far He says this is your life and welcome to it - it's just workin' and drinkin' and dreams Ad on the TV says "Just do it" - hell if I know what that means... The secret of life is a good cup of coffee The secret of life is keep your eye on the ball The secret of life is a beautiful woman And Marilyn stares down from the barroom wall... You and me, we're just a couple of zeroes - just a couple of down-and-outs But movie stars and football heroes - what've they got to be unhappy about? So they turn to the bartender, "Sam, what do you think - what's the key that unlocks that door?" Sam don't say nothin', he just wipes down the bar and he pours 'em a couple more Cause the secret of life is in Sam's martinis The secret of life is in Marilyn's eyes The secret of life is in Monday night football And Rolling Stones records and Mom's apple pies Sam looks up from his Sunday paper - he says boys you're on the wrong track The secret of life is there ain't no secret and you don't get your money back The secret of life is gettin' up early The secret of life is stayin' up late The secret of life is try not to hurry But don't wait, don't wait... The secret of life is a good cup of coffee The secret of life is keep your eye on the ball The secret of life is to find the right woman The secret of life is nothin' at all Repeat first verse
8.
Revival 04:48
I went walking one night on tupelo street All the way to the county line Heard a sidewalk sermon and a blind man preach And written on a cardboard sign Revival, revival This lamb has gone astray Revival, revival Gonna wash your sins away Now I have done everything that I know to do But you left a hole that I just can’t fill And if God can forgive me baby why can’t you But I guess you never will Revival, revival This lamb has gone astray Revival, revival Gonna wash your sins away Baby you were my weakness and my saving grace My salvation and my sin And I would give anything just to see your face Just to see your face again Revival, revival This lamb has gone astray Revival, revival Gonna wash your sins away
9.
Over Africa 05:09
Under Kilimanjaro She guards her young And she speaks to the darkness In the mother tongue She waits and she watches All night long She calls to her lover And she sings this song: 
 I will be there for you whatever comes I am as constant as the beat of drums My love is stronger than the noonday sun over Africa Over Africa It's a force of nature It's the power of need Love will heal you, baby And it'll make you bleed But I will be patient I will bide my time I will be waiting Like a mama lion Chorus Between love and money, between pride and sin We are just wild things underneath the skin In the cradle of creation we were made this way Bound together 'til our dying day It's the law of the jungle It's the ancient truth Live by the senses, baby Die by the tooth But I would walk through fire I would swim the sea Long as I live and breathe You belong to me Chorus
10.
the altarboys are sneaking cigarettes the friends and neighbors offering their regrets the station wagons in the pouring rain and all that water goin down the drain a white lace dress for when i turn thirteen and a bright red stain that wouldn’t quite come clean walking by the football field trying out my sex appeal while all around the leaves are turning brown this used to be my town he waited by the swingset in the park he tore at my new raincoat in the dark and all that i could think about was getting through and getting out and how the night could fall without a sound this used to be my town i’m flying through the clouds as white as snow i’m looking at the people down below the whole world holds its breath for me the priest evokes eternity and everywhere the rain is pourin down this used to be my town
11.
Many’s the time I'v been mistaken And many times confused Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken And certainly misused But I'm all right, I'm all right I'm just weary to my bones Still, you don't expect to be bright and bon vivant So far away from home, so far away from home I don't know a soul who's not been battered I don't have a friend who feels at ease I don't know a dream that's not been shattered or driven to its knees But it's all right, it's all right We've lived so well so long Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on I wonder what went wrong I can't help it, I wonder what went wrong And I dreamed I was dying I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly And looking back down at me Smiled reassuringly And I dreamed I was flying And high up above my eyes could clearly see The Statue of Liberty Sailing away to sea And I dreamed I was flying We come on the ship they call the Mayflower We come on the ship that sailed the moon We come in the age's most uncertain hour and sing an American tune But it's all right, it's all right You can't be forever blessed Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day And I'm trying to get some rest That's all I'm trying to get some rest
12.
On a bus to St. Cloud, Minnesota I thought I saw you there With the snow falling down around you Like a silent prayer And once on a street in New York City With the jazz and the sin in the air And once on a cold L.A. freeway Going nowhere And it's strange, but it's true I was sure it was you Just a face in the crowd On a bus to St. Cloud In a church in downtown New Orleans I got down on my knees and prayed And I wept in the arms of Jesus For the choice you made We were just gettin' to the good part Just gettin' past the mystery Oh, and it's just like you, just like you To disagree And it's strange but it's true You just slipped out of view Like a face in the crowd On a bus to St. Cloud And you chase me like a shadow And you haunt me like a ghost And I hate you some, and I love you some But I miss you most... On a bus to St. Cloud, Minnesota I thought I saw you there With the snow falling down around you Like a silent prayer
13.
When you are old and tired and gray And wear your overcoat on sunny days When your brave tales have all been told I'll ask for them when you are old When you are old and full of sleep And death no longer makes you weep When your body aches with cold I'll warm your heart when you are old And you'll still be the same to me A comfort and a mystery And I will be old too, you see I'll need someone to comfort me When you are old and pale and gaunt And a gentle hand is all you want I will give you mine to hold I'll be here when you are old

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Live from Glema Mahr Performing Arts Center, Madisonville, KY

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released August 22, 2005

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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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