Telling Stories — Ann Reed

Telling Stories (2006)

Disc One:

1. Forgot My Shoes
2. Walk With You
3. My Grateful Heart
4. Holiday Lake
5. Cassiopeia
6. Like You
7. Dropped Down in the Water
8. The Racing Tortoise (instrumental)
9. If There's A Room
10. Stay That Way
11. One More Minute

Disc 2:

1. Life Gets Real
2. Every Long Journey / Road of the Heart
3. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
4. Loch Lomond
5. Holiday Lake
6. Stay That Way
7. Willow Weep For Me
8. Clementine
9. I'll Keep My Hat
10. Leap of Faith
11. God is Sleeping / Carefully Taught / Heroes
12. Goodnight, Irene
13. Crazy
14. The Fair

Don't forget: Using a songwriter's lyrics and/or music without permission is very bad indeed. Frowned upon.
Quite disrespectful. Creates icky stuff in the universe.

Forgot My Shoes
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

I open my eyes to a brand new day
Put on my clothes and I'm on my way
Go down three steps then I get the blues
Gotta go back up - I forgot my shoes

Up one, two, three and sittin' on the chair
My jacket and keys, how did they get there?
I pick them up, four stairs and I'm screwed
Gotta go back up - I forgot my shoes

I can get things done
I know this for sure
I could have big fun
If I could get out the door
Oh I know my one goal before it's over
I'm gonna do it I swear
I will get down the stairs

Four steps up, first thing I do
Set ev'rything down put the feet in the shoes
Six steps, halfway, I suddenly freeze
Gotta go back up - forgot my keys

I can get things done
I know this for sure
I could have big fun
If I could get out the door
You bet I forget but before it's over
I'm gonna do it I swear
I will get down the stairs

Little notes all over the place
If I know where I put 'em
Then I can make it…

On the way up I hear the ringin' 'phone
Caller ID says I can leave it alone
Seven steps down and then my memory
Says "You big, dumb cluck…you still forgot your keys." (chorus)

Walk With You
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

Two thousand words
And a pound of verbs
Keep yakkin' and never know why
But I think I can prove
Ev'rything you heard
Makin' sure I simplify

Across a neatly nibbled lawn
A street that's scribbled on with chalk
I wanna walk with you

Hey, I've had enough
Of the empty stuff
Keep searchin' for the person who shows
That you don't have to say:
"I'm gonna carry the love"
It just gets done
That's who you wanna go on with

Along the Boulevard of Flaws
Where you been and what you saw
I wanna walk with you

All I need to know
I'm not out here alone
Better side by side

So, how to start
Well I find my heart
Then listen and ev'ry now & again
I gotta get up & go
'Cause there's somethin' large
Bigger than we are
It's how we all begin

Among the Garden of Your Thoughts
Weeds and flowers by the block
that's where I'll walk with you

Along the Boulevard of Flaws
Where you been and what you saw
I wanna walk with you

My Grateful Heart
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

A day in December
The sun on my face
In the middle of motion
One quiet place
At the center of strangers
A meeting of souls
an embrace that is treasured
Wherever I go

When I struggle in shadow
There are voices that come
Whisper so low: Oh, you know
You're a fortunate one.
Then I gather my blessings
From the light and the dark
Welcome them into my grateful heart

The blue of the moonlight
All the heavens contain
The madness of music
Helps keep me sane
At the core of confusion
A small flame that glows
There then to guide me
Wherever I go

Slighting the spirit
My feelings go numb
Then it comes like a kiss: Remember this
You're a fortunate one
Then I gather my blessings
From the light and the dark
Ask them to stay in my grateful heart

A day that's remembered
In a small, sacred space
Walking toward balance
Praying for grace
Gather my blessings
Like the gifts that they are
Place them quite gently in my grateful heart

Holiday Lake
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

I have always found
A bridge, a way around to you
Rivers changing over time
This one never did go dry
Overflowed its banks and I know
Years of tears and the waters rise

As you fade away
I keep your mem'ry safe with me
Nothing needs to be repaired
I sit returning stories
That you gave me long before these thorny rides
In and out of here and there

And we two
We'd go to Holiday Lake
In the bitter cold
You'd lace up my skates
Hand in hand we'd move
Over ice so smooth
That's the way I'll remember you

Witness to present, past
In bodies never meant to last
In the slow, receding light
A stranger now, I look at you
The hands are of the man I knew
Back when your eyes were blue and bright

Never in the plan
For you to be a happy man
But the darkness stepped aside
In those moments we'd fly
Go gliding away

I have always found
A bridge, a way around to you
Rivers changing over time
This one never will go dry
A spirit shared is one alive
Years of tears and the waters will rise

Cassiopeia
Words and music: Ann Reed • © 2006 Turtlecub Publishing

The sky is falling: little pieces
On my path everyday
I find them all
They set me thinking
How'd I lose my way
I remember keeping dreams
Needing dreams
Sweet, sweet dreams
Thoughts so tender
When I'd look up and I'd see

Cassiopeia, Orion's belt
All of the stars way up high
Floating like sequin's on heaven's robe
Count 'em and fall asleep tryin'
And when I wake up and wonder
Where all of the wonder has gone
I hear them all sayin', Oh now don't stay away so long.

Seems the world has lost its color
People walk in shades of grey
I find my own tones
Getting duller
How'd I get that way
I remember little things
Familiar things
Simple things
Thoughts so tender
Place a wish on Saturn's rings

Minding each weighted step
Finding I forget to raise my eyes
Far away they glow and shine
Their light I know will find me

The sky is falling: little pieces
On my path everyday
I find them all
They set me thinking
Don't you lose your way

Like You
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2004 Turtlecub Publishing

Dark night, clear sky
Starlight says what'cha doin'
Longer the day, shorter the show
Oh y'know…it's just like you
Oh, it's just like you.

Trees grow while the wind blows
River rolls like it's s'posed to do
Another day and it won't be the same
I gotta say it's just like you
Oh if I may it's just like you (ooh…)

Spring comes, flickers drum
Say to some all of this is mine!
Territory, that's the story
By the way, we're like that too
The birds say hey…it's just like you (ooh…)

Common thread goes runnin' through
You to them to me to you
If you look up on a clear, clear night
From Sydney up to Saskatoon
We're gazin' at the same ol' moon (ooh…)

Monet shoots layin' roots
Make a boost up to the sun
Tougher the earth the harder they work
It occurs: well, it's just like you
Oh what's the word…synonymous ooh…

(common thread….no 'ooh' at the end)

I need to feel the love have enough
And a cover keep me warm & dry
Sanctuary and the strength to carry
What'd you say? I'm just like you
Ain't that the way I'm like you too (ooh…)

Dropped Down In The Water
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

Standin' at a crossroads
Don't know where to go
Tired of fillin' a bathtub with an eye dropper, oh
Sit there almost empty
Wonderin' "what now?"
Throw a stone into the water
Watch the waves roll out

Any given moment
The daily ebb and flow
You might be the arrow
You might be the bow
Have faith you make a difference
Go 'bout your business with no doubt
You were dropped into the water
And the waves rolled out

Dropped down in the water
Set down in the sea
You and everything you do
Goes out and on and on and on…

It's lookin' hard and hopeless
The sun it will not rise
Oh, one foot, then the other and soon you realize
One step farther than the darkness
And a light begins to grow
Oh those waves go out
They go out even farther than you know (chorus)

Oh, the waves roll out…

Here is what surrounds you
When you open up your eyes
Stones of ev'ry color, yeah
Shape and ev'ry size
Livin' right beside them
With the one thing that you share
Y'all been dropped into the water
And it rolls out ev'rywhere

If There's A Room
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2006 Turtlecub Publishing

See that window
Hang that curtain
Pretty certain
What the curtain can do
Wind blows
Sun's a-burnin'
Curtain's makin' sure
The house stays cool

Oh the wall
Looky that gate
Never too late
For a gate, I swear
Holler and call
Wallow and wait
Gate's the only way
Y'gonna get in there

If there's a room, there's a floor
If there's a room, then there's a door

Lookit that fence
See how it's sittin'
White picket,
You can stick all your intentions through
It all makes sense
Low risk, no kiddin'
You can see me
I can see you

Good enough
Like it or not
You don't knock
I'm gonna lock it up tight
Keep your stuff
Hands off mine
The key's with me
And that's a bit of all right

Stay That Way
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2005 Turtlecub Publishing

Sittin' there right where you are
'cause the road to hoe is just too hard
From your wishing chair, sigh & complain
If you don't stand up, you're gonna stay that way

Where you live, well that's your home
Not a fortress, not a dome
All tucked in, don't'cha feel so safe
'cause if you don't stand up, it won't stay that way

What's it gonna take for you
To do the thing you need to do
Step outside, take a look around
You're the one, shouts & shrugs
Argues with the one-eyed bug
If no one hears you, do you make a sound?

Wanna know why, well this ain't news
If they come for me, they'll come for you
Bound with lies, glued in place
& if you don't stand up, it's gonna stay that way

Who you love & where you go
How they get the things they know
If you don't decide, you decide it all
What's it gonna take for you
To do the thing you need to do
Blessed are the ones who get involved

Sittin' there right where you are
'cause the road to hoe is just too hard
From the wishing chair, sigh & complain
If you don't stand up, you're gonna stay that way
Well if you don't stand up, it's gonna stay that way

One More Minute
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2006 Turtlecub Publishing

There is a sigh
A voice in the wind
Reminding me
Taking your hand was a chance
It's the bravest I've been

Open arms
Hearts unveiled
Decades we spend
Tending friends
As they witness this trip without fail

And when my life is almost done
When it's close to through
I know my only hope will be
One more minute with you

How many springs
Will brilliantly come?
How many steps
We have left, we don't know
But let's cherish each one

Look at the time
Dressed up and thin
It winks as it whispers:
Now listen
Forever's as long as you live

Here we're together, together we're home
But we all make our entrance and exit alone
But oh, now I know ...

Love survives
This I believe
Carried wherever we go
It's how I'll know
It's you when we meet

Life Gets Real
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1995 Turtlecub Publishing

From now on it's cash and carry
No more payin' over time
Get no credit for unfilled moments
Or any dreams left behind
And because of all that life gets simpler in fact

Right this moment you don't know it
But you're standing prepared
For the advent of all the big stuff
Had you runnin' 'round scared
And because of all that
Life gets simpler in fact

Learn to breathe
When to yield
Find what can be and cannot be healed
On the crest of the wheel
Life gets real

While you walk on all the long held
Fairy tales disappear
Ever after doesn't matter
Like right now & right here
And because of all that life gets simpler in fact (chorus)

Now you decide
There's a pause at the top of the ride
Arms up, open wide

At some point it's from the ground up
Just a brick at a time
After layin' a new foundation
The building's comin' 'long fine
And because of all that life gets simpler in fact (chorus)

Every Long Journey
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1986 Turtlecub Publishing

Every long journey is made of small steps
Is made of the courage the feeling you get
When you know it's been waiting, been waiting for you
The journey's the only thing you want to do

We cannot know what you go through or see through your eyes
But we will surround you, the pride undisguised
In any direction whatever you view
You're taking our love there with you

In every long journey what drives you to go
It's half what you know and half what you don't
The secret's been waiting your heart's got the key
The secret's the only thing you want to see (chorus)

Every long journey begins with a dream
A spirit with courage to make it all real
The dream has been calling, been calling to you
The dream is the only thing you want to do (chorus)

Road Of The Heart
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1990 Turtlecub Publishing

Two steps forward, one step back
That's progress for you
That's the way to stay on track
Two steps forward, one to the side
Maybe in circles
Never a straight line

Everyday
This road don't stay the same
It's smooth, it buckles
It's firm, it falls apart
It's just the road of the heart

Two steps forward, on the ground
No dance chart
To tell me where to put 'em down
Two steps forward, one step back
It's here & now &
I guess that's where I'm at (chorus)

You've Got To Hide your Love Away
Lyrics and music: Lennon/McCartney • © 1965 SONY/ATV Songs LLC

Here I stand, head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she's gone I can't go on
Feelin' two foot small

Ev'rywhere people stare
Each & ev'ry day
I can see them laugh at me & I hear them say:

"Hey, you've got to hide your love away" (2X)

How can I even try
I can never win
Hearing them seeing them
In the state I'm in

How could she say to me
"Love will find a way"
Gather 'round all you clowns
Let me hear you say:

Loch Lomond
Traditional Scottish folk song / Public Domain

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love were ever wont to be
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

Oh, you take the high road and I'll take the low road
And I'll be in Scotland before you
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

I mind where we parted at yon shady glen
On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond
Where deep purple hues the highland hill we viewed
And the moon coming out of the gloamin'

The wee birdies sing and the wildflowers spring
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart will ken no second spring again
And the world does not know how we're greeting

Willow Weep for Me
Lyrics and music: Ann Ronell • © 1932 Bourne Music

Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Bend your branches green
Along the stream that runs to sea
Listen to my plea
Listen willow and weep for me

Gone my lover's dream
Lovely summer dream
Gone and left me here
To weep my tears into the stream
Sad as I can be
Hear me willow and weep for me

Whisper to the wind and say that love has sinned
To leave my heart a=breakin' and a-makin' a moan
Murmur to the night to hide it's starry light
So no one will find me sighin' and cryin' all alone

Oh, weeping willow tree
Weep in sympathy
Bend your branches down
Along the ground and cover me
Listen to my plea
Listen willow and weep for me.

Clementine
Lyrics and music: Percy Montrose • Public Domain

In a cavern, in a canyon
Excavating for a mine
Lived a miner, forty-niner
And his daughter, Clementine

chorus:
Oh my darlin', oh my darlin'
Oh my darlin' Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy
And her shoes were number nine
Herring boxes without topses
Sandals were for Clementine (chorus)

Drove she ducklings to the water
Every morning just at nine
Stubbed her toe into a splinter
Fell into the foaming brine (chorus)

Ruby lips upon the water
Blowing bubbles soft and fine
But alas I was no swimmer
So I lost my Clementine (chorus)

In my dreams she still does haunt me
Robed in garments soaked in brine
Though in life I used to hug her
Now she's dead, I draw the line

There's a church upon the hillside
Where the flowers grow and twine
Grow there roses 'mongst the posies
Fertilized by Clementine (chorus)

All you good scouts heed this warning
From this tragic tale of mine
Artificial respiration
Could've saved my Clementine

I'll Keep My Hat
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1992 Turtlecub Publishing

When I found myself in Nashville scramblin' for a deal
Went and bought myself a brand-new cowboy hat
Make it all seem real
And I sat across the desks from genuine powers that be
And they said "Now personally I like it but listen to me:

Write me a country song just like the one that's on
In the number-one slot with a bullet and a dot
Write one like that
We could put you as an opener too to a big, big star if you'd
Put a cute dress on, dye your hair blond, get rid of the hat."

Well I felt my hat and asked him after long careful thought
"Why would you want exactly the same as what you already got?"
This brought about a chuckle amused as could be
"Darlin' you don't know nothin' 'bout the bidness
Just leave it to me:

And write me a country song just like the one that's on
In the number-one slot with a bullet and a dot
Write one like that
Now you sure won't last too long if you're gonna be this headstrong
So put a cute dress on, dye your hair blond, get rid of the hat."

Oh, we don't wanna change you 'cause it feels real good
Except for the way you write and how you look

I grabbed my hat and in my best hand wrote 'em all a little line
"Thank you for your kind attention and givin' me the time
I'm goin' back home now I'm never lookin' back
I figure I'm pretty damn lucky, I escaped with my hat

This is your country song, it's not like anything on
In the number-one slot with a bullet and a dot
Not a thing like that
'Cause you wouldn't know a good tune
If it introduced itself to you
You go sucker someone else
I'll have better luck myself and I can keep my hat."

Leap Of Faith
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 2002 Turtlecub Publishing

I am living in time
It's a rhythm I know
More and more I think life
Is all balance and hope
'Cause it's not black or white
It's any shade of my choice
Coming fully alive when I give it my voice

Oh, it is time
I will live out loud and
Open my eyes to the great divide
I'm walking my path
Finding my way
And every step's a leap of faith

Ev'ry story's a thread
In a weave that avows
I don't know what's ahead
But I'm standing here now.
There are moments I fly
Days when I weep
Sometimes I close my eyes
And remember to breathe

I walk on a fluid road
Ever changing where it goes
I wrestle my fear
And trusting my heart
That strength will appear
Oh, growing there in the dark

God Is Sleeping
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1995 Turtlecub Publishing
You've Got To Be Carefully Taught:
Lyrics and music: Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II • © 1949

I think that God is sleeping
Or the angels have resigned
I'm sure there's no one keeping
A peaceful, watchful eye

Are you listening are you knowing
All the desperate, silent calls
From the ones who keep on hoping
That's the hardest thing of all

Is there no one left in heaven
Making sure we don't forget
What we learned from painful lessons
& must not repeat again

You have got to be taught to hate and fear
Day after day year after year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be taught to hate and fear

You have got to be taught before you are grown
To hate those whose lives are not like your own
To fear right away because it's unknown
You've got to be carefully taught

You have got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught

Heroes
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1992 Turtlecub Publishing

What can I learn from you
In your lifetime, in what you've been through
How'd you keep your head up and hold your pride
In an insane world how d'you keep on tryin'
One life can tell the tale
That if you make the effort, you cannot fail
By your life you tell me it can be done
By your life's the courage to carry on

Heroes appear like a friend
To clear a path or light the flame
As time goes you find you depend
On your heroes to show you the way

What can I learn from you
That I must do the thing I think I cannot do
That you do what's right by your heart and soul
It's the imperfections that make us whole
One life can tell the tale: if you make the effort you cannot fail
By your life you tell me it can be done
By your life's the courage to carry on (chorus)

Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Katharine Hepburn, Sally Ride
Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman
Annie Sullivan, Gertrude Stein

Coretta Scott King, Amelia Earhart
Lillian Hellman, Eartha Kitt
Sacajewea, Ella Fitzgerald
Golda Meir, Dorothy Dix

Louisa May Alcott, Billie Jean King
Emily Dickinson, Lucy Stone
Margaret Sanger, Clara Barton
Billie Holiday, Juliette Low

Elizabeth Blackwell, Rosa Parks
Lena Horne, Beverly Sills
Barbara Jordan, Helen Keller,
Indira Gandhi, Agnes DeMille

Corazon Aquino, Gloria Steinem
Rachel Carson, Joan of Arc
Babe Zaharias, Marlene Deitrich
Anne Frank, Simone de Beauvoir...

Good Night, Irene
Lyrics and music: Huddie Ledbetter / John A Lomax • © 1936 Ludlow Music

Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump into the river and drown

Irene, goodnight
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene, goodnight, Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

I love Irene god knows that I do
Love her 'til the seas run dry
And if Irene turns her back on me
I'm gonna take morphine and die (chorus)

Stop ramblin', stop your gamblin'
Stop stayin' out late at night
Go home to your wife and your family
Stay there by your fireside bright (chorus)

She caused me to weep, she caused me to mourn
She caused me to leave my home
The very last words I heard her say
Was "sing me one more song" (chorus)

Sometimes she sleeps in pajamas
Sometimes in an old nightgown
But when they're both in the laundry
Irene is the talk of the town (chorus)

Crazy (Patsy Cline)
Lyrics and music: Willie Nelson • © 1961 SONY/ATV/Tree Publishing

Crazy
I'm crazy for feelin' so lonely
I'm crazy
Crazy for feelin' so blue
I knew
You'd love me as long as you wanted
And then someday
You'd leave me for somebody new

Worry
Why do I let myself worry
Wond'rin' what in the world did I do?

Crazy
For thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for tryin'
And crazy for cryin'
And I'm crazy for lovin' you

The Fair
Lyrics and music: Ann Reed • © 1991 Turtlecub Publishing

Minnesota, Minnesota - We are south of Manitoba
We are east of North Dakota
We've got something really rare
It's fulfilling, entertaining
It's true culture you'll be gaining
Accept no imitations it's the Fair

Saw a friend from Wisconsin and he said "Yah hey
You gotta see the crop art it'll blow you away"
"Yah sure, you bet, boy, they don't know when to quit
I'm goin' to see the butterheads y'wanna come with?" (refrain)

At the Fair there's no lack of food you simply take your pick
You can find almost anything sittin' on a stick
Pronto Pups, mini-doughnuts & an ice cold beer
I've gotta get my cheese curds I've been waiting all year (refrain)

After all the food I've eaten now I only have a hunch
I'll go out on the Midway and I'll prob'ly lose my lunch
The Tilt-A- Whirl is one thing but I just cannot conceal
My heart'll stop right at the top of the double Ferris wheel (refrain)

Oh you gotta see Piggy Mama
The biggest sow that you have ever seen
It's a giglet for a piglet
And in the swine barn Piggy Mama is the queen

Now the combines are waiting on machinery hill
Kids are climbing on the tractors on their tires and on their grills
You may live inside a townhouse in the suburbs make your home
You've always wanted a tractor you could call your very own (refrain)

Now I need some relaxation or a soundproof room
A place to soak my achin' feet that's quiet as a tomb
All that's left inside my pocket is some lint and half a pack
Of Tums but next year you can bet I'll be comin' back (refrain)

Tag to last refrain:
There's deals and demonstrations and chicks in incubation
The whole population's at the Fair.