At The Ryman

Emmylou Harris At The Ryman Lyrics
1.Calling My Children Home

(doyle lawson/charles waller/robert yates)

Those lives were mine to love and cherish.
To guard and guide along life's way.
Oh god forbid that one should perish.
That one alas should go astray.

Back in the years with all together,
Around the place we'd romp and play.
So lonely now and oft' times wonder,
Oh will they come back home some day.

I'm lonesome for my precious children,
They live so far away.
Oh may they hear my calling...calling..
And come back home some day.

I gave my all for my dear children,
Their problems still with love i share,
I'd brave life's storm, defy the tempest
To bring them home from anywhere.

I lived my life my love i gave them,
To guide them through this world of strife,
I hope and pray we'll live together,
In that great glad here after life.

I'm lonesome for my precious children,
They live so far away.
Oh may they hear my calling...calling.. and come back home some
day.


2.Montana Cowgirl

(ray park)

For many long years i've played a lone hand
I rode my horse in many strange lands
Until one day i stopped for awhile
For two blue eyes and a sunny smile

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old montana
Back to those hills where i belong

One day i rode away from home
I'm a' traveling back and it won't be long
I'll see you again in a little while
You're my darling sweet, my welcome smile

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old montana
Back to those hills where i belong

So howl away you old coyote
I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old montana
Back to those hills where i belong


3.Scotland


4.Cattle Call

(tex owens)

Woo - hoo - woo - ooo - ti - de
Woo - hoo - ooo - oop - i - de - de
Woo - hoo - woo - ooo - ti - de
Yod-el - od-el- lo - ti - de.

The cattle are prowlin' the coyotes are howlin'
Way out where the dogies bawl
Where spurs are a-jinglin', a cowboy is singin'
This lonesome cattle call.

He rides in the sun 'til his days work is done
And he rounds up the cattle each fall
Woo - hoo - woo - ooo - ti - de
Singin' his cattle call.

For hours he will ride on the range far and wide
When the night winds blow up a squall
His heart is a feather in all kinds of weather
He sings his cattle call.

He's brown as a berry from ridin' the prairie
And he sings with an ol' western drawl
Woo - hoo - woo - ooo - ti - de
Singin' his cattle call.


5.Smoke Along The Track

(alan rose)

One day the train was passin'
I caught it comin' by
To look this old world over under god's blue sky
My darlin' stood there weepin' as i was looking back
I kissed my baby cryin' in the smoke along the track

Goodbye so long until i come back home
You'll be my dream
Goodbye so long, there's lots of places that i've never seen
I'll always be a drifter but i'll be driftin' back
To where i left you cryin' in the smoke along the track

I like to keep on goin' it helps me when i'm blue
I get the urge to travel that's all i want to do
I just can't settle down because i like to roam
And when i hear that whistle blow i've gotta move along

Goodbye so long there's something down the track keeps callin'
me
Goodbye so long i guess that's just the way i'll always be
So when i get that feelin' don't try to hold me back
I'd only leave you crying in that smoke along the track

I know my baby loves me i love my baby too
But he don't understand me when i'm feelin' blue
And when i hear that whistle blow, i hurry home and pack
And leave my baby cryin' in the smoke along the track.

Goodbye, so long, i hate to leave you, but i've got to go
Goodbye, so long, it's coming down just hear that whistle blow
It'll be here in a minute, you'll wave and i'll look back
I'm gonna leave you cryin' in the smoke along the track.

Goodbye so long until i come back home
You'll be my dream
Goodbye so long, there's lots of places that i've never seen
I'll always be a drifter but i'll be driftin' back
To where i left you cryin' in the smoke along the track
To where i left you cryin' in the smoke along the track


6.Abraham, Martin And John

(richard holler)

I am a backseat driver from america
They drive to the left on falls road
And the man at the wheels name is shamus
We pass a the child on a corner he knows
And shamus says 'now what chance has that kid got'
And i say from the back 'i don't know'

He says 'there's barbed wire at all of these exits'
There ain't no place in belfast for that kid to go
And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred
And the hard life is all that they know

At the dairyline in chicago
A fat man in front of me
He's calling black people trash to his children
And he's the only trash here i see
And i'm thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they'll slip to their windows and see him
They'll think that white hood's all they need

And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they know

I was a child of the sixties
When dreams could be held through tears
With disney and cronkite and martin luther
And i belived, i believed, i believed

Now i'm a backseat driver from america
And i'm not at the wheel of control
And i am guilty, i am worn, i am the root of all evil
And i can't drive on the left side of the road

And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know

And there ain't no place in this world for these kids to go
Cause it's a hard life wherever you go

Has anybody here seen my old friend abraham,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend martin,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend john,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good in you and me?
And we'll be free
Someday soon it's gonna be one day

Has anybody here seen my old friend bobby,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought i saw him walkin' up over the hill
With abraham and martin and john.


7.Get Up John

(bill monroe/marty stuart/jerry sullivan)

Well get up john go down to jordan
Get up john prepare the way
Man from galilee is waiting
You must meet him there today

Get up john go tell my people
This will be a holy day
Tell them of the jew that's waiting
That the saviors on the way

John
Even the children
John
Go unafraid
John
I'll go with you
John the baptist
This is the day

Well get up john go tell jerusalem
Savior's waiting on the shore
Baptize him in the river jordan
I'll send a dove from heaven's door

John
Even the children
John
Go unafraid
John
I'll go with you
John the baptist
This is the day

Well get up john your work is finished
Daylight breaks the soldiers come
You will die for me tomorrow
Welcome home your race is run

John
You've been chosen
John
Go unafraid
John
I'll go with you
John the baptist
This is the day


8.Walls Of Time

(bill monroe/peter rowan)

The wind is blowing across the mountain
Down on the valley way below
It sweeps the grave of my darling
When i die that's where i want to go

Lord send the angels for my darling
And take him to that home on high
I'll wait my time out here on earth love
And come to you when i die

I hear a voice out in the darkness
It calls and whispers through the pines
I know it's my sweetheart a-calling
I hear him through the walls of time

Lord send the angels for my darling
And take him to that home on high
I'll wait my time out here on earth love
And come to you when i die

Our names are carved upon a tombstone
I promised you before you died
Our love would bloom forever darling
When we rest side by side

Lord send the angels for my darling
And take him to that home on high
I'll wait my time out here on earth love
And come to you when i die


9.If I Could Be There

(kieran kane/jamie o'hara)

If i could be there i'd be there tonight comforting you
This road i'm on is so far away
Too far away

If god would grant me wings to fly
I'd be in your arms by and by
If i could be there i'd be there tonight comforting you

If i could be there i'd look in your eyes and say i love you
These hills and highways between us now keep us apart

If god would grant me wings to fly
I'd be in your arms by and by
If i could be there i'd look in your eyes and say i love you

If i could be there i wouldn't have this pain in my heart
Tomorrow i'll wake up with joy for the day
Joy for the day

If god would grant me wings to fly
I'd be in your arms by and by
If i could be there i wouldn't have this pain in my heart

If i could be there


10.Lodi

(john c. fogerty)

Just about a year ago
I set out on the road
Seekin' my fame and fortune
Lookin' for a pot of gold
Things got bad and things got worse
I guess you know the tune
Oh lord, stuck in lodi again

I came in on a greyhound
I'll be walkin' out if i go
I was just passin' through
Must be seven months or more
Ran out of time and money
It looks like they took my friends
Oh, lord, stuck in lodi again

Well the man from the magazine
He said i was on my way
Somewhere i lost connection and
Ran out of songs to play
I came into town on a one-night stand
Looks like my plans fell through
Oh, lord, stuck in lodi again

If i only had a dollar
For every song i've sung
And every time i've had to play
While people sat there drunk
You know i'd catch the next train
Back to where i live
Oh, lord, stuck in lodi again
Oh, lord, stuck in lodi again
Oh lord stuck in lodi again


11.Like Strangers

(boudleaux bryant)

Like strangers, that's what we are
Darling how can lovers pull apart so far
Like strangers, how can it be
Only days ago, we loved so tenderly

I love you, truly i do
And i hope deep in your heart you love me too
Let's forget that we've been angry
Let's be lovers like before
And swear not to be like strangers anymore

Like strangers, that's what we are
Darling how can lovers pull apart so far
Like strangers, how can it be
Only days ago, we loved so tenderly

I love you, truly i do
And i hope deep in your heart you love me too
Let's forget that we've been angry
Let's be lovers like before
And swear not to be like strangers anymore

Let's forget that we've been angry
Let's be lovers like before
And swear not to be like strangers anymore


12.Mansion On The Hill

(bruce springsteen)

There's a place out on the edge of town sir
Risin' above the factories and fields
Now ever since i was a child i can remember
That mansion on the hill
In the day you can see the children playing
On a road that leads to those gates of hardened steel
Steel gates that completely surround sir
That mansion on the hill

At night my daddy'd take me and we'd ride
Through the streets of a town so silent and still
Park on a back road along the highway signs sir
Look up at the mansion on the hill

In the summer all the lights would shine
There'd be music playin' people laughin' all the time
Me and my brother we'd lie down in the tall cornfields sir
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill

Tonight down here in linden town
I watch the cars rushin' by home from the mill
There's a beautiful full moon rising
Above the mansion on the hill


13.Hard Times

(stephen foster)

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor.
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears,
Oh, hard times, come again no more

'tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay.
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

There's a pale drooping maiden who foils her life away
With a worn out heart, whose better days are o'er.
Though her voice it would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.

'tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more


14.Guess Things Happen That Way

(johnny cash)

Well, you ask me if i'll forget my baby
I guess i will some day
I don't like it but i guess things happen that way

You ask me if i'll get along
I guess i will some way
I don't like it but i guess things happen that way

God gave me that girl to lean on, then he put me on my own
Heaven help me be a man and have the strength to stand alone
I don't like it but i guess things happen that way

You ask me if i'll miss her kisses
I guess i will every day
I don't like it but i guess things happen that way

You ask me if i'll find another
I don't know, i can't say
I don't like it but i guess things happen that way


15.Half As Much

(curley williams)

If you love me half as much as i love you
You wouldn't worry me half as much as you do
You're nice to me when there's no one else around
You only build me up to let me down

If you missed me half as much as i miss you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do
I know that i would never feel so blue
If you only loved me half as much as i love you

If you love me half as much as i love you
You wouldn't worry me half as much as you do
You're nice to me when there's no one else around
You only build me up to let me down

If you missed me half as much as i miss you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do
I know that i would never feel so blue
If you only loved me half as much as i love you


16.Guitar Town

(steve earle)

Hey pretty baby are you ready for me
It's your good rockin' daddy down from tennessee
Well i'm just outta austin bound for san antone
With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on
There's a speed trap up ahead south of town
But no local yokel's gonna shut me down
Cause me and the boys got this rig unwound
And we've come a thousand miles from the guitar town

Nothin' ever happened round my home town
And i ain't the kind to just hang around
But i heard someone callin' my name one day
And i followed that voice down the lost highway
Everybody told me you can't get far
Now i'm smokin' into texas with the hammer down
And a rockin' little combo from the guitar town

Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
Love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
Stumble in the restaurant, wonderin' why i don't stop
Well i gotta keep rockin' while i still can
Got a two-pack habit and a motel tan
When my boots hit the boards it's a brand new hand
Put my back to the risers and make my stand
Hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
I'm loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
One of these days i'm gonna settle down
And i'll take you back with me to the guitar town