There’s a Word
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

There’s a two-faced word for politician
There’s a shocking word for electrician
There’s a word for shy girls at the mall
There’s a word for guys who never call their mothers

I see her / I want her
I want this girl to stay
She’s talking / I’m staring
What do I say?

There’s a word / There’s a word
There are words that shock / and words that heal
Words that give / and words that steal

There’s a word for John, Paul, George and Ringo
yeah, yeah, yeah
There’s a bad boy word for Rolling Stones
There’s a word for priests in shiny robes
There’s a word for dogs
whose bones are buried somewhere

There’s a take-out word for Chinese food
There’s a teenage word for acting rude
There are words of hope and words of faith
and words for when you just can’t take the bullshit

bridge

There’s a word / There’s a word
There are words that blind / and words that see
Words that see you free

instrumental

bridge

There’s a word / There’s a word
There are words of light and words of dark
Words that leave a mark

There’s a word / There’s a word
There are words that shock / and words that heal
Words that give / and words that steal

There’s a word / There’s a word
There are word for girls in red high heels
There’s a word for guys who just can’t seem to make it

Shake Up the Family Tree
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

I’ve got it all planned out
Our whole lives’ destiny
I’ll ask you to marry me
in a church beside the sea

We’ll be married / We’ll be married

We’ll be so crazy happy
whether rich or if we’re not
Money doesn’t matter to me
if we tie the knot

I bring you flowers / but you throw them down
(don’t throw them down)
I know you’re with him right now / Word gets around
(people talk, yeah)
But I’ll forgive you one more time if you

Make up / make up with me
you’re gonna wake up
wake up, baby / wake up with me
But if you take up / with someone else
and never marry me
you’re gonna shake up / shake up the family tree
shake up the family tree

James is our first born
he’s gonna play guitar and sing
Mary is our baby girl
she’s gonna do most everything

We’ll have babies / We’ll have babies

We’ll have some hard times
as the years go by and by
But I’ll live to be 98 / and you’ll be 99

chorus

instrumental

chorus

Brand New Day
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

I’m on the way out / lacing up my shoes
I grab a cup and fill it up / and blow a kiss at you
‘Cause oh, it’s a brand new day

The work I’m doing / it’s crazy but it pays
I’m pushing and I’m pulling / ‘cause I really need that raise

Yeah, that would really make this like a brand new day
I like to live in a brand new day

Twelve o’clock can’t come too soon
The sun is burning
like I’m burning to see you
Holding hands and walking
Rushing lunch and talking
It’s just the perfect afternoon
But we’ve got schedules to keep, too

And every minute / I’m living on this Earth
I wish that I could really fly / and see things like a bird

‘Cause each time that you wake up / It’s a brand new day

The clock is ticking / It’s fast then way too slow
I’m cleaning up my desk / because it’s almost time to go

Time for me to go out / into a brand new day
The sun is still shining / on this brand new day

Five o’clock can’t come too soon
The sun the falling like I’m falling over you
Holding hands and walking
Skipping stones and talking
There’s still a hundred things to do

You know what I was wishing?
For a hundred days just like today
But it’s no use reminiscing
When we’re knee deep in the moment
of the breaks that break our way
Don’t think about tomorrow
Just wear the glow of every brand new day

Instrumental

It’s a brand new day

Nine o’clock can’t come too soon
The moon is shining
and I’m lying here with you
The TV’s on, you’re reading
This bed is perfect seating
Wouldn’t have it any other way
On this perfect brand new day

Mmm, it’s a brand new day

California
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

Seems like old times
Going nowhere on the 405
I'm in California
and I don't want to go home

Palm breeze / brown trees
Santa Ana got the best of me in California
and I don't want to go home

Freeway took my cash
Yeah, it took it all
Nowhere to park in this shiny stucco shopping mall
So California / and I don't want to go home

Yeah, it's the best place of my life
Why did I ever leave here?
Back home there's nothing for me
No Hollywood and Vine

Sunrise / sunset
Bring the camera / Don't forget
We're in California / And I don't want to go home

It's the dream that we breathe
from the beach to the mountains
Quit your job, sell the house
Save your money
Place your bets on the milk
and the honey
While you can

I'm in California / I don't want to go home

Buenos dias (how do you do?)
This land is our land / but it's someone else's too
It's California / and I don't want to go home

Twilight / feels fine
Our tiny backyard / Is three by nine
But it's California / and I don't want to go home

Yeah, it's the best place of my life
Why did I ever leave here?
Back home there's nothing for me
No City by the Bay

It's California / and I don't want to go home
I'm in California / and I don't want to go home

In Your World
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

Sun shines on your world again
It’s OK, it’s all right
in your world

The screen door slams
and the family’s all in
It’s Summer and green things grow

Love, love pays the rent
and boys call the girls
in your world

Peace falls like a curtain
and the battlefields where
the rockets red glare shone are gone

The lion sleeps
and the lamb settles down
for a long night
yes, it’s all right

and God, God places his hands
on every childs’ curls
in your world

instrumental

So this is why I think I love you so much
Although I’m skeptical
and cynical
‘Cause in my world
pride matters more
than people who hurt
But not in your world

In your world

Garden on the Moon
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

Well, I’ve never had a fortune
I’ve lived in quiet means
I’m not one full of purpose
I shy from the extremes

But when light gives way to darkness
and it’s quiet in my room
I think about my garden on the moon

It’s easy to be doubtful
It’s easy to find fault
But what we need is mortar,
bricks and hands to build a wall

A wall to hold the rain in
but not to block the view
A wall around my garden on the moon

I’ll plant my garden on the moon
I’ll build my garden on the moon
I’ll plant my garden
You only reap what you have sewn
the lifeless earth will turn for me
I know

Interlude

So we started on the garden
with all our willing hands
We made a well for water
we worked and tilled the land

But when darkness turned to daylight
And we saw our first child bloom
We knew we’d built our garden on the moon

We’ll build our garden on the moon
We’ll build our garden on the moon
We’ll plant our garden
You only reap what you have sewn
the lifeless earth will turn for us
I know

Long Liberation
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

In a blue boat / in my old coat
in a mist that seems alive

I’ve been moving / improving
pushing panic from my eyes

I can taste / what I chase
I can steel myself, I know
I’m shaking / risk taking
oh, here I go...

I stand up and turn to the crowd
ten thousand voices / impossibly loud
I drop my coat / revealing my skin
There’s no retreating / I’m jumping in

It’s my time / It’s been a long liberation
for me / It’s been a long liberation
now I’m free

With my two hands / and my strong back
I could row back to the shore

But my cold feet / and each heartbeat
Makes me want it even more

What I think / What I see
What I sense / What I feel
What my heart already knows

It’s one breath / and one step
oh, here I go...

I stand up and turn to the crowd
ten thousand voices / impossibly loud
I drop my coat / revealing my skin
There’s no retreating / I’m jumping in

It’s my time / It’s been a long liberation
for me / It’s been a long liberation
now I’m free

I left my old coat / and my blue boat
out in the water

Living in Ecstasy
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

I’ve got news to break / so gather ‘round
I got a leg that shakes / and a Trump-like pout

I know what I said / Don’t rub it in
That guys like me / were made for just suffering

Falling in love / Holding a hand
Gazing with moon struck eyes / and sighs
That’s not how I roll

But when I gave in to passion
I gave up control

The sun rises up / The rain washes down
I get struck by a big red truck
And both feet come off the ground
When I look at her / and she laughs at me
It doesn’t matter where it hurts
I’m living in ecstasy

I’m a northern man / who’s from the south
I got an Denver tan / and an L.A. mouth

Can’t hold me back / Can’t pen me in
I got to move / I got to keep motoring

Kissing a girl / Writing a poem
matching my shoes and socks
like guys I used to laugh about

When love came in to get me
I should’ve got out

chorus

I’m from New Orleans and San Jose
I’m from Providence and Tampa Bay
I lived in Portland and in Saginaw
I’m from Memphis and from Omaha
(You should’ve stayed where you belong)

Interlude

chorus

From New Orleans to San Jose
From Providence to Tampa Bay
From Evansville to Waikiki
From Birmingham to old St Louis
From Plano out to Baton Rouge
From Lincoln up to Waterloo
From Memphis west to Omaha
From Portland east to Saginaw
(ooh, no ecstasy)

The Only One
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

You are the only one
the only one I love
you’re the song my heart sings
No matter what I am
No matter where I stand
You’re the one constant thing
You’re the lover in my dreams

So in times like this
When our plans are hit or miss
There’s just dead-ends
no matter where we turn
And as days go by
and we try to build our lives
we take each others’ hands
and face the world

interlude

You are the only one
the only one I love
you’re the song my heart sings
No matter what I am
No matter where I stand
You’re the one constant thing
You’re the lover in my dreams

The Endless Tide
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

Down on Main Street
Before the day arrives
There’s a stray dog on the corner
a rich man riding by
Here comes Mary
with a coffee and a frown
But I can’t start the day like that
she’s living upside-down

We stumble and we curse the darkness / lose without a fight
And no one even thinks to turn the light
I say that:
Love is the endless tide
all the closed up hearts will open wide
Love is the endless tide
yes it is / free the love
Love is the endless tide
all the closed up hearts will open wide
Love is the endless tide

instrumental

chorus

Down on Main Street
there’s a question in the air
There’s a shoe up in the power line
how do those get up there?

Here comes Mary
She had a so-so day
But I bet I could change her mind
If she’d only look my way

chorus

Oh, I know it is

Breathing in You
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

I’ve had some hard times
like this before
When faith was oh, so hard to find

No one to lean on / no hand to hold
no hand to hold
no way to break out of this bind

But where I least expected
a second chance to be
I’m looking at an angel
and she’s smiling back at me

I’m breathing in hope
and breathing out pain
Sun lights the sky again
and pushes back the rain
I’m breathing in love
and breathing out loneliness
Just when I thought that I was through
I’m breathing in you

Made my own trouble
wove it out of fear
I dug a hole and jumped right in

They all tried to tell me
but I wouldn’t hear
Thought I was born to never win

But where I least expected
a second chance to be
I’m looking at an angel
and she’s smiling back at me

I’m breathing in hope
and breathing out pain
Sun lights the sky again
and pushes back the rain
I’m breathing in love
and breathing out loneliness
Just when I thought that I was through
I’m breathing in -

You caught me when I could have
drowned inside this fear forever
Now I’ve got reason to go on
And the passion in this song
Is a tribute to you
Oh, I swear to God it’s true

instrumental

chorus

I’m breathing in you

Always a Way
(c) 2009 Grant Maloy Smith

In the darkest night
when you need a guiding light
think about your situation
you’ve got moves to make
you’ve got habits left to break
don’t lie awake pretending to be aching

Don’t give up because it’s hard to find
All you need is someone on your side

There’s always a way
when you look into it
always a way
though it’s a bitter pill
Always a way
put your heart into it
always a way
where there’s a will

When your brain’s on fire
when you’re torn between desires
let me list the things you gave me
you know I share your dreams
so don’t unravel at the seams
It’s hard enough
to be the man you made me

Don’t give up, my sister
Don’t give in
All you need is one more chance to win

There’s always a way
when you look into it
always a way
though it’s a bitter pill
Always a way
put your heart into it
always a way
where there’s a will