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'Bout Time

by Chris Huff

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1.
All my friends have wandered off to home, day is coming to a close / The shadows are forever longer, the silence grows and grows / In the big tree in the backyard sits a single whippoorwill / There’s a calm that settles on this land, there’s quiet in these hills / Now in the distance there’s a freight train and he whistles some old song / Makes me wonder where he’s going, and can I ride along / The setting sun sends sunbeams tumbling over my windowsill / There’s a calm that settles on this land, there’s quiet in these hills / (Chorus) And I think I know the reason why we sometimes feel alone / It’s a longing for a place we miss, it’s a yearning to be home / Now it’s been a month of Sundays since I think I‘ve see the rain / Living here in Texas…that’s how we play the game / But when a storm comes thundering through and lifesprings have been refilled / There’s a calm that settles on this land, there’s quiet in these hills /
2.
Out in Lee County, Texas, with late winter on the run, a silent night was shattered and a simple deed was done / Rifle fire split the night, a faithful heart lay dead / In the time it takes to say goodbye, love’s misery found its end / (Chorus) So long to old August, Hildegard the same / Is there any point in wondering why, is there anyone to blame? / To die for love is noble, to live for pain, a sin / If you can tell the right from wrong, you’ve played this game to win / August owned a mercantile, ran cattle on the side / There were no kids to carry on, just Hildegard, his wife / She’d watched him slowly dying ‘till he stood the pain no more / She said, “I can’t live without you”…he said “I’ll take you when I go.” / (Repeat chorus) So this will end the story, there’s not much else to say / Old August and Hildegard lay peaceful in their graves / Plastic flowers mark the spot in case you’re passing by / On the highway of desperate love, a full moon shines tonight /
3.
The night outside my window’s black as West Virginia coal / I’ve heard it said that broken hearts often die alone / Rain on my window, California’s on my mind / Is there anybody out there, will the sun ever shine again? / Deliver us from evil says a prayer I used to know / Deliver me from the heartache of a love that lives no more / Rain on my window, static on the radio / This old road goes on and on, why can’t I say goodbye and let it go? / (Chorus) Is there somewhere I can hide away, can such a place be found? / Shelter from a wall of love as the stones come tumbling down / I’ve been alone too long now, I’m afraid I’ll never change / The next time love comes calling, will it recognize my name? / Rain on my window, memories at my door / Someone lock this heart away and tell them no one’s home anymore /
4.
Marfa Lights 02:27
Gather ‘round here friends and neighbors, set the kids upon your knee / I’ve got a story to relate you may not believe / Now there’s witches, wizards, bats in belfries, vampires in the night / But out in ol’ West Texas, boys, they’ve got the Marfa Lights / On highway number ninety, out of Alpine heading west / Before you get to Marfa, you can put it to the test / Look to the horizon, down south towards Mexico / If you should see the lights come dancing…make you wish you weren’t alone / Old-timers say the lights were lanterns on the Rojas Ranch / Or sometimes Pancho Villa as he crossed the Rio Grande / Or maybe just a headlight down a lonesome desert road / On U.S. 67 from Shafter to Presidio / You can formulate opinions; this chapter’s far from done / It’s prob’ly just a locomotive on the Ojinaga run / Or maybe Villa’s ghost is riding lonely in the night / The only thing I’d bet on is they’re called the Marfa Lights / So gather ‘round here friends and neighbors, set the kids upon your knee / I’ve got a story to relate you may not believe / Now there’s witches, wizards, bats in belfries, vampires in the night / But out in ol’ West Texas boys, they’ve got the Marfa Lights / Out in ol’ West Texas boys, they’ve got the Marfa Lights.
5.
The sneakers momma bought me back in ’63 are gone / Haven’t seen a parade in years but time still marches on / I left an awful lot behind, things never stay the same / I’m staring forty in the face, but I still wave at trains / Someone calls me daddy, someone’s diapers I still change / I don’t walk like I once did in the gentle summer rains / Seems I’m always busy, in a rush or running late / I know a child’s alive inside ‘cause I still wave at trains / Southbound locomotives, northbound engineers / I still stop to watch ’em roll after all these years / The throbbing of the engines as they thunder down the line / Pulls a young boy’s fascination and an old boy back in time / The sneakers momma bought me back in ’63 are gone / The kid that laced them up is grown now a man must carry on / The road’s not hard to follow through those gentle summer rains / I know where to find the boy ‘cause I still wave at trains / Oh, yes, I still wave at trains / Don’t you know that I still wave at trains.
6.
Well, I sat down with this damned old pen, tried to write a line or two and then / Gave it up when thoughts fell victim to the night / Couldn’t satisfy a writer’s soul, fire of passion turned winter cold / Not one ember in the ashes could I find / I must’ve seen your face before on the wrong side of a bedroom door / A smile like yours I don’t think I’d forget / You might separate the men from boys, swim in sorrow drown in joy / But a promise I don’t make I won’t regret / It’s no wonder that you feel so blue, the single bars have proved to you / You haven’t found what you think you’ll never find / Rain dances on the wet concrete, step back into an empty street / The wind blows home and a lover’s on your mind / (Chorus) You bought the ticket, paid the price / Watched the movie with jaded eyes / You jumped ship in the port of paradise / I’m out of meter and out of rhyme, an actor who forgot his lines / An artist who tries to paint in black and white / So pay attention, sit up straight, if you pass this test you’ll make the grade / But I learn more from the wrong than from the right /
7.
I wonder who lives in the old house tonight, I wonder whose dreams are there / I wonder who loves in the old house tonight, and I wonder what secrets they share / I wonder who says I love you / I wonder who says I care / I wonder who sleeps in the old house tonight, now that we’re no longer there / Well, I wonder who’s driving the old truck tonight / I wonder what highway it’s on / I think about the roads and the miles that we’ve seen and I wonder sometimes why it’s gone / (Chorus) I wonder what makes this world go ‘round / I wonder much more than I should / I think about the things that are always going down / And you know I’d forget them if I could / Now we’ve all said goodbye just a time or two, it seems / To something that we thought would never go / I once heard a man say it’s easier with time / But I’m thinking that old fool just didn’t know /
8.
I once saw a rose lying in the corner of the old garage behind the house I lived in years ago / I wondered where it came from, the stories it might tell me / Had it passed between two lovers on a night so long ago? / I once saw a rose and thought about two lovers / Had they sparkled like a diamond, did their love burn shiny bright? / Did they promise they would love each other ‘till the end of always? / Did they burn out like a shooting star on a July Texas night? / (Chorus) Thinking ‘bout love, love, love, thinking ‘bout love / It keeps a poor heart beating; it prob’ly hung the moon above / There’s nothing I can tell you the poets haven’t said already / Here’s to the star-crossed lovers out there somewhere / Thinking ‘bout love / I once saw a rose lying in the corner of the old garage behind the house I lived in years ago / I wondered where it came from, the story it might tell me / Had it passed between two lovers on a night so long ago? / (Chorus) Thinking ‘bout love, love, love, thinking ‘bout love / It keeps a poor heart beating; it prob’ly hung the moon above / I left the old rose lying in the corner where I found it / Here’s to the star-crossed lovers out there somewhere / Thinking ‘bout love.
9.
I don’t know why I never asked, I guess it wasn’t right / Now I ask myself that question as I lay awake at night / The answer comes resounding through the windows and the door / My heart is not a rookie; it’s played this game before / You walked away in silence without so much as goodbye / When I asked you what was going on, all I heard were lies / I watched you learn a dance that I had never seen you do / And when the music finally finished, we were finished, too / (Chorus) And I listened to the echo of your footsteps in the hall / Saw the empty space your pictures left upon my wall / I sometimes hear you walking, now that we’re apart / Down the corridors of an old and empty heart / I don’t know why I never asked, I guess it wasn’t right / I only hope you’ll understand when you think about those nights / That bridges burned are never crossed once they’re left behind / To return to where you came from can be a foolish waste of time /
10.
Bar time says it’s time to close / The singer, he sings his last song / Pack up the guitars, settle up with the bar / Tumble into the night and he’s gone, tumble into the night and he’s gone / The rain taps the rhythm outside / The streets seem so empty tonight / The guy in the corner eyes the gal at the bar / She’d rather be loved than be right / Don’t let her be lonely tonight / This old gal I know waitin’ tables / She says one day that she’s getting out / She’ll send for the kids, pack it up, move away / She’s chased by the fear of her doubts / Run ragged by the fear of her doubts / I’m guessing some people don’t know and I’m thinking some people don’t care / I looked for your face in the crowd here tonight / It wasn’t to be found anywhere / I just didn’t see it anywhere / So the rhymes and the reasons are plenty / Like pennies from heaven raining down / Through the smoky old lights in a broken down bar / The visions of grandeur abound, oh, they dance in the night all around / So bar time says it’s time to close / The singer, he sings his last song / Pack up the guitars, settle up with the bar / Tumble into the night and he’s gone / Tumble into the night and he’s gone / Turn his back to the wind and he’s gone.

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released May 30, 2020

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Chris Huff Los Angeles, California

Chris Huff, plays original songs influenced by the likes of Guy Clark, John Prine, and Townes Van Zandt. Chris cut his musical teeth on the Austin bar circuit, opening for Butch Hancock, Bill & Bonnie Hearne, Shake Russell, Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, Junior Brown, and others. He was selected twice to play in the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Concerts and is currently based in Los Angeles. ... more

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