1. |
You and the Fishermen
02:20
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If you wouldn’t get upset
Maybe smoke your cigarette
If you’d stay down on your stool
And suffer all the fools
Yeah no matter what was said
You’ve got to learn to keep your head
‘Cause when it’s you and the fishermen
You know you’ll never win
Whoa
When the bartend says you’re done
And you’re waiting on someone
And you only need a plan
To meet up with your man
Yeah don’t you get upset
You don’t have no chances left
‘Cause when it’s you and the fishermen
You know you’ll never win
Whoa
Stay down!
These guys don’t fool around
And count your lucky stars
That your teeth aren’t on the ground
Whoa!
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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2. |
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I was sleeping
On a train on my back
The whistle would blow
And that’s how I’d know
Yeah that’s how I’d know
The train was still
Still on the track
On Alaska’s greatest train
I was pouring out my life again
Pouring out my life again
Pouring out my life again
The sun would rise
And I’d roll over and look outside
And see a mountain
Rushing by my view
And that’s how I knew
And that’s how I knew
I would make it
All the way through
On Alaska’s greatest train
I was pouring out my life again
Pouring out my life again
Pouring out my life again
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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3. |
Bird In the Night
02:29
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I once woke up and found
My head upon the ground
It was still in the middle of the night
And I swear that I heard
A sympathetic bird
Singing like it was the first light
So I closed my eyes and prayed
That my night might go away oh
When I next awoke
The bird sang not a note
The quiet was louder than I’d hoped
So the night was mine to end
With or without friend
Without bird singing
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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4. |
Work Song
02:52
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My first thirty days of life at sea
Pulling rope and the rope pulled me
Tangled nets and sharpened knives
A working song it saved my life
Away and up she rise
No it didn’t take long
Until the money was gone
(And we hope so)
Host him up and bury him low
(And we hope so)
They say old man your horse is going to die
What do you do with a drunken sailor?
You put him in the long boat and make him bail her
Early in the morning
What do you do with a drunken soldier?
You put him in the guard house until he’s sober
Away and up she rise
No it didn’t take long
Until the money was gone
(And we hope so)
For one long month we rode him hard
(And we say so)
Now he’s dead as a nail in the lamp room door
(And we hope so)
They say old man your horse is going to die
(And we hope so)
So says I, so says I
And God only knows
I do the best that I can
I drink my whiskey from an
An aluminum can
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
“Drunken sailor” lyrics traditional
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5. |
Fifth Wheel
02:04
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I’m feeling ‘lone
Sitting ‘lone
In your home
Your up the stairs
Making love
Lord, I’m alone
I can’t seem to get to bed
Guess I’ll go outside and smoke a cigarette
I’m standing ‘lone
Outside your home
Looking up at the moon
I can’t seem to get
Her out of my head
But there’s nothing left
I don’t mean to bring you down but
I’m so alone while your fiddling ‘round
I’ll just play it cool
What can I do
I can’t talk to you
And I feel down on myself
Why can’t I want someone else
I’m feeling ‘lone
Sitting ‘lone
In your home
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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6. |
The Night
02:39
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When the night leads to drinking
And the quiet leads to thinking
And you can’t get to sleep to save your life
When a knock’s heard at the door
And you were as you were before
Praying to be left alone for just one night
Lying on your back
Eyes closed so they won’t come back
The knocking dis…disappears into the night
When death’s been to your door
And left you as you were before
You pick it up and get back to what was your night
Oh, but before the night can go on
You’re best to admit that something’s gone
When the beast that broke your back
Comes rushing in from the black
And, lights on, you lost what little sleep you gained
When the ghosts of half your sleep
Have been chasing you all this week
Waiting for you to drift off to make you wake
And when finally ground is gained
You feel the sleep wash over your brain
Left to dreams where you would swear you were awake
Oh but before the night can go on
You’re best to admit that something’s gone
You might have left here a lesser man
But at least you can know that you did the best that you can
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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7. |
Beyond the Shore
02:23
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I have lived here
Workout knowing
A single friend or
Without going
Beyond my rented
Room I call home
Beyond the dock where
The boat she sails from
I do not pass beyond the shore
If you’d known me
In this time of
No deliverance
From being lonesome
Solitary
And not so strong
Only lonely
Just getting along
I do not pass beyond the shore
I have stood here
Holding no one
Counting reasons
To keep on going
To keep on going
To keep on going
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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8. |
Boat Becomes a Wave
05:19
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’m sailing away
For home home home
The sleepless working days
Are gone gone gone now
The city sits and waits
For my return
A season on the sea and I
Don’t know what I’ve learned
I don’t know what I’ve learned
Counting countless waves
That the boat she climbs upon
With every plunge she takes
Another minute’s gone
Another minute’s gone
How long will it take
How long has it been
Since I had a sleep in a
Bed upon the land
If I’m not home soon, if my
Journey does not end
I think I’ll throw it up
I’ll think about sinking
Sinking
The boat becomes a wave
The bow reaches the moon
The sea becomes a sky
God get me home soon oh
Get me home soon oh
Get me home soon
© 2005, 2021 Tom Harpel
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Onalaska Woodinville, Washington
Onalaska presents songs written, recorded, and performed by Tom Harpel.
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