LYRICS – WAYWARD TROUBADOUR

EVERYTHING CHANGED

Mike Aiken, Paul Jefferson

You, you, you walked in my door

The sun shined like it never did before

Nothing, nothing, would ever be the same

That’s when everything changed

I made some bad decisions about women once or twice

They were heavy on pretty but light on nice

They cut me through the middle and run off with both halves

That’s when I found out that love never lasts

Then you, you, you walked in my door

And the sun shined like it never did before

Nothing, I mean nothing would ever be the same

That’s when everything, everything changed

All these years later I’m surprised everyday

Someone sweet as you ain’t thrown me away

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop

When on my heart I feel a knock, knock, knock

And it’s you, you, you walked in my door

The sun shined like it never did before

Nothing, nothing would ever be the same

That’s when everything, everything changed

All these years later I’m surprised every day

Someone sweet as you ain’t thrown my ass away

I keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop

When on my heart I feel a knock, knock, knock

And it’s you, you, you walked in my door

And the sun shined like it never did before

Nothing, I mean nothing would ever be the same

That’s when everything changed

That’s when everything, I mean everything

That’s when everything changed

NASHVILLE SKYLINE

Mike Aiken, Chris P James
Big Boat Music (SESAC), Blue Meteor Songs (BMI)

Nashville Skyline, I’m starting to roam

The highway keeps calling me

You’re a long way from heaven

But I call you home

My sky is in Tennessee

I’ve worked in the country

I’ve struggled in the towns

My wife says I live here

But I’m hardly around

Hotel ain’t home

But it’s damn near one to me

I close my eyes

She’s what I see

I’ve traveled through the highlands

Flown across the plains

So many lonesome cities

I can’t recall their names

Miles and miles, whoa

They keep pulling me

To the Cumberland River valley

Everytime I see that six – one – five

I know she’s calling me

Next thing I know I’m back on 65

Driving my need to be

So when I see that six – one – five

I know she’s calling me

Here I am back on 65

Driving my need to be

Back to that Nashville skyline

I’m starting to roam

Your highway keeps calling me

You’re a long way from heaven

But I call you home

My sky is in Tennessee

You’re a long way from heaven

But I call you home

My sky is in Tennessee

HANGOVER HELPER
Mike Aiken, Tim Buppert

Big Boat Music, Saddle Blanket / Buffrin Boy Music (SESAC)

Woke up this morning

Everything is hurtin’

Last night is kinda fuzzy

But one thing is for certain

I drank too much

Stayed out to late

Gonna call into work and take a personal day

My boss said, ‘Boy, it sounds like to me,

A hangover helper is all you really need’

It got me to thinkin’

Is that a real thing

So I put it in to Google

And I couldn’t believe

It was plain as the pain in my bloodshot eyes

A rockin’ little remedy in black and white

An hour ago I felt like I had the flu

But thanks to hangover helper, not I’m good as new

Biscuits and gravy with some gravy on the side

Hair of the dog what bit you last night

Simple ingredients will make it more better

For a real good, feel good, hangover helper

Now that ya know just how to get her done

You don’t have to hold back, you can have some fun

Just don’t forget how you’re gonna feel

When you wake up in the morning and thangs are getting real…

Biscuits and gravy

With some gravy on the side

Hair of the dog, what bit you last night

Simple ingredients will make it more better

For a real good, feel good, hangover helper

Real good, feel good, hangover helper

Oh my head is killing me

And that sun is burning my eyes

Got to get you some of that

TWO LANE HIGHWAY
Mike Aiken, Henry Paul

With empty soda bottles tucked up underneath my arm
Walkin down the shoulder of the road from our old farm
To that little country store when coke was just a dime
Long ago in another place in time

Two-lane highway take me up around the bend
Down the back road of the past where the memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance
Like time with an old friend
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two-lane highway

Grinding gears in our old pick up truck is how I learned to drive
Weavin up and down that country road but somehow I survived
Takin out the neighbors mailbox and plowin through the corn
Standin on the gas and layin on the horn
Two-lane highway take me up around the bend
Down the back roads of my past where the memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance
Like time with an old friend
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two-lane highway

Sometimes that road can take you to a place so far away
You find that where you once belonged is gone like yesterday
Dreams are all that’s left of a place you once called home
That lost highway comes to call when you feel all alone
Two-lane highway take me up around the bend
Down the back road of the past where the memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance
Like time with an old friend
In my heart I’m going back again
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two-lane highway

A two-lane highway

Down a two-lane highway

A two-lane highway

TRAVELIN’ BONE

Mike Aiken

I was born with a travelin’ bone

Don’t ya know I just got to roam

I was born with a travelin’ bone

Where I lay my head yes it is my home

Got my boat well that’s for me

Wind and waves and the deep blue sea

Got my boat well that’s for me

Travelin’ slow and feelin’ mighty free

I got all I need when she’s laying next to me, I’m home

Rollin’ through the tumble weeds or rockin on that deep blue sea, I’m home

Yea yea a travelin’ bone

Don’t ya know I got a mountain girl

likes to travel all around this world

Said don’t ya know, yeah I got a girl

Well she likes to travel all around this world

There’s a road and it’s waitin’ for me

There’s some place I just got to see

There’s a road and it’s waitin’ for me

Well there’s some place that I just got to be

I was born with a travelin’ bone

Don’t ya know I just got to roam

I was born with a travelin’ bone

Where I lay my head yes it is my home

REAL MEAN DOG

Robbin Thompson, Gregg Wetzel
Our Lad’s Music (BMI), Out There Music (ASCAP)

She left me a real mean dog

Out on a chain

I guess he ain’t particular

Hates everyone the same

He hates me cuz she’s gone

And hates me cuz I’m near

She left me a real mean dog

Just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

And just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me an old pickup truck

Falling apart

She left me with an attitude

And a worrying heart

She’s gone for good

That much is clear

She left me a real mean dog

Just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

And just the two of us are livin’ here

I tried to hide the way I feel

But it don’t feel no good

I look out back at that old dog

I wished he understood

Some lonely men get dangerous

But all I feel is fear

She left me a real mean dog

Just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

And just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

Out by the shed

I guess we both think alike

He wishes I was dead

He hates me cuz she’s gone

And hates me cuz I’m near

She left me a real mean dog

Just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

And just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog

And just the two of us are livin’ here

I don’t even know his name

HARD WORKIN’ WORKING GIRL

Mike Aiken, Paul Jefferson
Big Boat Music, Cropcircle Music (SESAC)

Blue collar, no hi-tech here

Sweat of the brow, low-class beer

I see her on the street, rain or shine

Early in the morning, til well past closing time

She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl

She waves to me as I drive by

She knows that I’m not one of her guys

But who am I to judge, I can’t throw a stone

Maybe like me she’s got someone counting on her at home

She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl

Today I saw her out again

Our eyes met as she was climbing in

Into an unknown car with a faceless man

She knew that I knew what he don’t understand

She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl
She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl
She’s a hard working working girl

A LITTLE LAZY IN YOUR LIFE

Mike Aiken, Tim Buppert

Big Boat Music, Saddle Blanket / Buffrin Boy Music (SESAC)

We all know the guy that’s climbing up the ladder

No matter what it takes

And then one day he wakes up and wonders

What he lost along the way

Then his neighbor, the procrastinator

His world turns at a slightly slower pace

He says he’ll do it when he gets to it

With a great big smile on his face

You gotta have a little lazy in your life

Just lay back and let it all roll by

If I could offer up some friendly advice

You can’t do it all no matter how hard you try

So here’s the deal, spinning your wheels

Ain’t gonna get you any place

According to my sources, it was the tortoise, not the hare

Who wins the race

Because he had a little lazy in his life

he laid back and let it all roll by

if I could offer up some friendly advice

you can’t do it all no matter how hard you try

Now I suppose we could add a little prose

Perhaps repeat the chorus once or twice

But as I recall the essence of this song

is how to get a little lazy in your life

We all need a little lazy in our lives

Lay back and let it all roll by

If I could offer up some friendly advice

You can’t do it all no matter how hard you try

You gotta have a little lazy in your life

Lay back and let it all roll by

If I could offer up some friendly advice…

DEAD MAN RUNS BEFORE HE WALKS
Mark Collie, Shawn Camp
Daniel Island Music / How Ya Doin’ Music / Leipers Fork Music, Songs of Universal / Shawn Camp Music (BMI)

Digging a hole was easy enough

With a fork and a spoon and a dixie cup

Night by night and spoon by spoon

The tunnel was ready so we made our move

Now we drew straws and I went first

Clawing and a scratching in the mud and the dirt

Yea I’d love to have seen that old warden’s face

When he found me gone without a trace

I can hear the sirens squawking

And I know they’re on my trail

I can hear the bloodhounds balling

A dead man runs before he walks lawd lawd lawd

A dead man runs before he walks

Now I won’t be bound by chains of steel

This time they’ll have to shoot to kill

No I can’t go back inside them walls

You know a dead man runs before he walks

I can hear the sirens squawking

And I know they’re on my trail

I can hear the bloodhounds balling

A dead man runs before he walks – lawd lawd lawd

You know a dead man runs before he walks – lawd lawd lawd

You know a dead man runs before he walks

PENELOPE
Christopher Hynes
Chris Hynes (SOCAN)

Penelope works in the market

Down in the coconut trees

She’s saving up all of her money

To go to America across the sea

She once had an uncle

He lived in Detroit town

They got all of his postcards

But his body has never been found

To this day

She got a job as a domestic

Workin’ for the minimum wage

All her friends back home in Jamaica

They say, ‘you really got it made in the shade.’

But they don’t see her sweat and grind

And bended on her knees

She wishes she was back in Jamaica

Beneath the coconut trees

Everyday

Penelope’s back in the market

She found what it was all about

Oh no, she doesn’t regret it

She’s just glad that she got out

But others aren’t so lucky

They’re there til the day they die

Trapped in steel and the concrete

No beach, no moon, no sky

Everyday

CHESAPEAKE

Mike Aiken, Amy Aiken

Southbound clouds north wind blowing

Keeps me away from where I’m going

Pine trees swaying in the breeze

Pelicans still flying with grace and ease

Boats seeking shelter in the lee

Cold front is here on the Chesapeake

Cookout tonight at the breezeway café

This one’s for schooners, saving the bay

Light a fire stack some wood

With friends and music it feels so good

Can’t sail north that’s fine with me

Can’t beat October on the Chesapeake

Early morning out on the bay

Sunshine starts to make its way

Waterman he works at his trade

Steaming out as darkness fades

Out on the water some of what you see

It’s part of life on the Chesapeake

Northbound clouds south wind blowing

Sending me where I’m going

Catch the breeze get underway

Osprey calls you to another day

Life moves slowly you’re out of reach

Swing to the tide of the Chesapeake

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