Live at Jazz Standard – Lyrics

1. Greyhound Station

(Words and Music by Chris Bergson, CB Band Music – ASCAP and Kate Ross, More Mirth Music – BMI)

Waiting at the Greyhound Station
in some strange town
the man sitting next to me
leathered and weathered brown
he’s spent the last five years
living in his jeans

I used to be something of a songster
the man he said to me
but I got wounded in love and messed up on drugs
now it’s hard to write a good melody

But I’ve been up all night
By the highway side
trying to make my way back home
I got a thermos of whiskey and a lucky wishin’ bone

CHORUS:
Say what you want to say
Do what you want to do with your life
I’m already on my way
But thank you kind people for all your advice
Thank you kind people for all your advice

Now if you’re looking for a window
to the other side
let me recommend Greyhound
as the best place to catch your ride
our coach pulls out of the station
off to some midnight destination
he says, hey man – when we get where we’re going

would ya buy me something to eat?

But I’ve been up all night
by the highway side
trying to make my way back home
I got a thermos of whiskey and a lucky wishin’ bone

CHORUS

2. Mr. Jackson

(Lyrics by Chris Bergson and Kate Ross, Music by Chris Bergson,CB Band Music – ASCAP / More Mirth Music – BMI)

Hey hey it’s Mr. Jackson
He’s here to tell you just what’s happenin’
He swore it couldn’t fail
But the plan got derailed
And he just stands there laughing

Wipin’ the powder
Off his nose
Grabs a jelly doughnut
Assumes a thinker’s pose
They brought me down
Cause I can be discrete
Won’t you help a gentlemen get back on his feet

CHORUS:
Mr. Jackson
Mr. Jackson is his name
revelations divine
you’ll wake up feeling fine
Can you con the con man
get hip to Mr. Jackson’s jive

Now looky here says Mr. Jackson
Don’t be scared of the situation
It’s gonna be a change but
there’ll be time to phase in
and get out some kinda way easy

CHORUS

3. The Only One

Chris Bergson (CB Band Music – ASCAP), Kate Ross (More Mirth Music – BMI), Ellis Hooks (Hooks Music – BMI) & Aaron Lisman

CHORUS:
She said I was the only one
But now I know I was blind
She said I was the only one
But my baby
She had lied

I gave the girl
My heart in my hand
But she just threw it away
She tossed it on the floor
She kicked it out the door
left me with this song to play

Hanging out
down at the cafÈ each night
Used to be our favorite thing
I’m sure glad this is all
Comin’ to light now
Cause I’d started saving up for a ring

CHORUS

She told me
Some heavy things
Too personal
And Too soon
I should’ve seen the warning signs
But I was betrayed by the light of the moon

We used to
stay up all night
Making all kinds of plans
We’d buy a little house
Down in the South of France
Things were gonna be so grand

CHORUS

She used to call me on the phone
Just to idle the hours away
She never seemed like the deceiving type
But brother
You and I got played

CHORUS 2x

4. Heavenly Grass

Words by Tennessee Williams (G. Schirmer, Inc.) & Chris Bergson (CB Band Music – ASCAP)

All day while the sky shone clear as glass
My feet took a walk in heavenly grass
My feet took a walk in heavenly grass
All night while the lonesome stars rolled past

Then my feet come down to walk on earth
And my mother cried when she give me birth
Now my feet walk far and my feet walk fast
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass

5. High Above The Morning

(Words and Music by Chris Bergson – CB Band Music – ASCAP)

Tired of being pushed around
tired of being passed over
the life I was leading had me down
tired of getting high, but it sure beat being sober

Tired of spending my afternoons alone
just waiting for the phone to ring
if true happiness comes from within
why should I care what some other man thinks
I’ll sing my songs and you fix the drinks
and we’ll get by on love

CHORUS
How I wish I could take you away
High above the morning
I’ll sing my songs and you’ll take to the stage
and we’ll get by on love

We made it through even the longest winter
in our leaky one room flat
and when we get in bed together
nothing seems as bad

CHORUS

Five years since
since the night we met
and I can’t picture our life any other way
pitchers of McSorley’s and the conversation flowing
it was just before Valentine’s day

CHORUS

6. 61st & 1st

(Lyrics by Chris Bergson and Kate Ross, Music by Chris Bergson,CB Band Music – ASCAP / More Mirth Music – BMI)

In the shadows of the bridge
Is where you need to start
A world to catalog and take apart
Things outta place, fallen from grace
Need to be tended to
I’m not sure you understand
What it is I’m trying to do
Cats be slackin’
missin’ shit
But I’m on it
workin’ overtime to make sure
nothing is missed
chasin’ paper bags
runnin’ down my list

You pack and unpack
Ain’t nothin’ abstract
Just followin’ the system
Yet some things linger
In the corners of my mind
Keep me up at night
Retrace your steps
Try to keep it in check
But it’s gone

Cats be slackin’
missin’ shit
But I’m on it

7. Bluemner

(Lyrics by Chris Bergson and Kate Ross, Music by Chris Bergson,CB Band Music – ASCAP / More Mirth Music – BMI)

Been walkin’
Travelin’
Feelin’ the night wind
On my back

Been walkin’
Bathed in
Illumination
From the street lamp

Orange to yellow
shifting shadows
make me question
my sight

The dreaming door left open
Buildings glowing red
The green guitar
She feels at home
But I don’t know
What world I’m in
I don’t know
What world I’m in

Been walkin’
Lost in
The changing colors of the night
Pathways
Lead to doorways
Breeze blowin’ ’round the bend

The dreaming door left open

8. Chloe’s Song

(Lyrics by Chris Bergson and Kate Ross, Music by Chris Bergson,CB Band Music – ASCAP / More Mirth Music – BMI)

4:30 on a Sunday afternoon
and we’re home
Sunlight is streaming
And we’re alone

Lying upside down
on the bed
afternoon suspended

I’ve been waiting for you to come
I’ve been waiting for you
for so long
welcome home

All this time
I racked my mind

Wonderin’ how

it would be

Driftin through
Dreams of you
Now you’re here
beside me
Waking now
Looking ’round
Still can’t believe it’s real

I’ve been waiting for you to come
I’ve been waiting for you
for so long
welcome home

11. Just Before The Storm

Chris Bergson (CB Band Music – ASCAP), Craig Dreyer (Mighty Toad Music – ASCAP) & Ellis Hooks (Hooks Music – BMI)

By the river running
The smell of grass and gasoline
Days stretched out before us
An endless summer dream

Before the sky clouded over
Though we weren’t very far
We’d get lost before supper
And make it home before dark

Lightning from the sky
Lit up the whole place
When you left me
With these tears on my face
Sometimes I get so homesick
In my own home
You left me
Just before the storm

Light through the kitchen window
In the place you used to stand
I’m walkin’ up the stairs
Wipin’ off my hands

Almost got the car fixed
Finally mowed the lawn
I’m wondering how it’d be
If you hadn’t gone

There ain’t no easy answer
Ain’t no guarantees
You don’t always get
what you think you need

Though the wind outside is howlin’
Inside the fire’s so warm
you left me
just before the storm

guitar solo

Cry like a child
Whose toy has been misplaced
I’d like to think
you’re in a better place
You did the best you could
We can’t do any more
You left me
Just before the storm
You left me
Just before the storm

12. Sometimes It’s You

Chris Bergson (CB Band Music – ASCAP), Craig Dreyer (Mighty Toad Music – ASCAP) & Ellis Hooks (Hooks Music – BMI)

We were predisposed to believe
that she was not insane
Every family’s got one
That’s a little bit strange
I got an uncle
Who lives in a checker cab
He don’t have a bank account
He got a glove box full of cash
You got a cousin Dave
Lost his mind at a rave
Visiting hours
Are Sundays five to eight
Every family’s got one
I bet you got one too
Every family’s got one
and sometimes it’s you

We only see each other
At funerals and weddings
It’s easier to conceal
secrets in those settings
In dark cabinets of jealousy
It all can be hid
That Grandpa was a gangster
Who was killed for what he did
You came on the Mayflower
Constant as the snow
But you sure changed your tune
when the winds began to blow
Everyone’s a sinner
Who can blame the blues
Sometimes they’re the killer
and sometimes it’s you

Sometimes it’s you
Who finds a love and leaves it
Sometimes it’s you
Even if you can’t conceive it
Everybody needs somebody
to tell their troubles to
Sometimes they’re the lonely one
and sometimes it’s you

13. Christmastime in Bethlehem, PA

Chris Bergson (CB Band Music – ASCAP) & Craig Dreyer (Mighty Toad Music – ASCAP)

Well the mall’s all lit up

In its holiday get up
Ol’ Frank is singin’ carols
while fires burn in barrels
Standin’ on barren ground
Main street’s just a ghost town
Think I’ll point my feet
Where the steel mill used to be
They’d work you to the bone
But my paycheck was my own
You know I’d dig my way to China
To have my job again
It’s Christmastime in Bethlehem

I was looking at the stars
Sleepin’ in my car
Falling tears I cried
Wind shield wiper eyes
Talking heads will tell you
The flat screens that they sell you
Will make your life seem better
In any kind of weather
I shoulda had it all
the way I could hit the ball
When the man who sells you daydreams
Is your only friend
It’s Christmastime in Bethlehem

On the streets
We used to skip down
Broken glass
Unhappy playground
A lone boy’s playing a game of charades
In the hush of dusk
As daylight fades
I’ll brush off my boots
but I ain’t got no suit
On this shortest day of the year
Maybe someone’s hiring here
all I got is ten dollars in my pocket
you know I almost made it out
but now I’m back again
It’s Christmastime in Bethlehem

14. The Bungler

(Lyrics by Kate Ross,More Mirth Music – BMI,Music by Chris BergsonCB Band Music – ASCAP)

Slick, he’s been hanging downtown
Orders a drink and takes a good look around
forty minute train ride
To the Lower East Side
Bug-eyed and feelin’ profound

You’ve probably seen him before
Pats you on the back while he’s eyein’ the door
Gotta be the one to greet
All the luminaries south of 14th Street
What else you think he’s here for?

CHORUS
He gets drunk, he gets loud
Throws back his head and brays in the crowd
knows where to be between midnight and 3
The bungler’s been hangin’ downtown

Making some calls, sending some texts
Scene is all right but it sure ain’t the best
But he’s got some people on the way
Over whom he has some sway
By now he’s bug-eyed, drenched in sweat

He gets it together and tries to save face
Ducks into a stall in the back of the place
A few pumps of breath spray, a couple of bumps
stunned when he catches a glimpse of his face
CHORUS

15. Gowanus Heights

(Lyrics by Chris Bergson and Kate Ross, Music by Chris Bergson, CB Band Music – ASCAP / More Mirth Music – BMI)

A blurry couple stumbles out in the street
Under the broken hands of the clock tower
Down on 4th Avenue, it’s the same routine
Keepin’ life from comin’ apart at the seams

The junkie blonde and her tough brunette
Counted up their money to see what they’d get

Out in pajamas on Saturday night
cruisin’ around, waitin’ to feel alright

CHORUS:
One more day in Gowanus Heights
Sprawlin’, forgotten, under broken streetlights
One more day in Gowanus Heights
Changin’ quarters to dollars to get through the night
Changin’ quarters to dollars to get through the night

The regular cats arrivin’ now
Eddie, I hear you been skimpin’
They found a seal in the canal
Man, He was messed up but he was still swimmin’

An hour later, they were back in their room
everything was startin’ to glow
blonde junkie says: If tomorrow comes,
I don’t ever want to see you no more

CHORUS

Oh Yeah, it’s a hip part of town
All kinds of people keep coming on down
Like the man in the street who wisely repeats
God Bless the people on the planet
God Bless the people on the planet

CHORUS