PIGTOWN BOY © Bob Wright Batter batter chatter chatter Open up the gates let the horsehide fly Pitcher catcher it don’t matter Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy He got a body like a barrel And a swing as sweet as any piece of candy you may want to eat lets it fly so fast and neat the ball don’t even feel it till it hits the seats the ball don’t even feel it till it hits the seats Batter batter chatter chatter Open up the gates let the horsehide fly Pitcher catcher it don’t matter Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy short on speed long on fun strong of arm when he’s on makes that ball bounce off the sun It ain’t nothin’ but a wonder just to watch him run It ain’t nothin’ but a wonder just to watch him run Batter batter chatter chatter Open up the gates let the horsehide fly Pitcher catcher it don’t matter Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy You can put him in the outfield You can put him on the mound Don’t leave him in the dugout When your team is down they’ll be cheering in the bleachers every time he cross the plate But he can’t play a piano at the bottom of a lake No he can’t play a piano at the bottom of a lake Batter batter chatter chatter Open up the gates let the horsehide fly Pitcher catcher it don’t matter Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy Everybody here to see the Pigtown Boy AND THAT BALL IS OUTTA HERE...

DUBLIN EYES © Bob Wright they’re as black as a total eclipse of the sun harbors of brilliance and light deep as a pool where a wide river bends are your beautiful Dublin eyes Dublin... Dublin was built... by a beautiful pool And like... Dublin I’d build a city for you there have been others who’ve tried for my heart I let them all pass me by cause I was enchanted the moment I saw your beautiful Dublin eyes Dublin... Dublin was built... by a beautiful pool And like... Dublin I’d build a city for you there are traces of starlight of places you’ve been of all of the times that you cried but its power and strength that intrigues me the most in your beautiful Dublin eyes Dublin... Dublin was built... by a beautiful pool And like... Dublin I’d build a city for you They’re as black as a total eclipse of the sun harbors of brilliance and light deep as a pool where a wide river bends are your beautiful Dublin eyes Dublin... Dublin was built... by a beautiful pool And like... Dublin I’d build a city for you

THE FOODS TOO GOOD © Bob Wright I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good the foods too good the foods too good I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good somebody drag me home had a bunch of gumbo a little bit of shrimp and grits at my current rate I’ll have to take some time to find some clothes that fit I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good the foods too good the foods too good I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good somebody drag me home oh my oh my just look at that pecan pie if I had my way I’d spend the day eating everything in sight I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good the foods too good the foods too good I don’t want to live here cause the foods too good somebody drag me home

HOPE RISING © Bob Wright I got my hopes up this morning I had to shake them a couple of times I got so used to singing the blues its hard to believe that they’re mine I don’t believe that they told me how much they like sleeping around seems like I’d wake up each morning and hope was nowhere to be found I know it ain’t easy to be them the pressure it makes them run scared but my hopes are all up and I’m hoping for stuff that I haven’t hoped for in years I got my hopes up this morning I wasn’t too shocked or surprised when I fall asleep they appear in my dreams right there behind both my eyes I don’t believe they intended to come out of hiding just yet but the harder I shook them the more that it looked like they’d rise up and shine once again I know hope won’t last forever and I guess that it only is fair but my hopes are all up and I’m hoping for stuff that I haven’t hoped for in years yeah I got my hopes up this morning it was harder than I ever could say they could not understand how they fit in the plans of someone as hopeless as me I do not believe they were happy they knew just how hard it would be but my hopes are all up and I’m hoping for stuff that I haven’t hoped for i

THE NIGHTHAWK © Bob Wright the nighthawk booms as he dives and swoops the sun sinks low without a sound as do the hopes I once held as close as I once held you in my arms and every time I sit there by the shore as the evening settles in and I hear a nighthawk soaring by I long to fly with him I have the breezes that caress me there and the sweetly scented air and the boats upon the water all are beautiful to share and the nighthawk softly calling when it gets too dark to fly hears another in the shadows where he goes to spend the night the nighthawk booms as he dives and swoops the sun sinks low without a sound as do the hopes I once held as close as I once held you in my arms

JOHN HARTFORD © Bob Wright I saw him for the first time down IN old New York sawin on a fiddle dancin up a storm people clapped and people cheered he looked so relaxed up there I saw him at the Seaport in New York I don’t believe I ever did see ANYthing like that pickin on a banjo underneath a bowler hat yeah he could pick and he could sing he could make that banjo ring I never did see anything like that so heres to John and heres to fiddles banjos hats and all those rivers flowing through the music that he played heres to dancing heres to songs heres to keep on keeping on we’ll always have the music that he made I saw him for the last time AT the music Hall in Troy right across the river there my grandpa was born Ol’ Cap was a riverman I’d like to think that they are friends I saw him for the last time up in Troy so heres to John and heres to fiddles banjos hats and all those rivers flowing through the music that he played heres to dancing heres to songs heres to keep on keeping on we’ll always have the music that he made

PADDLIN’ THE ALLEGHENY © Bob Wright I wanna paddle on the Allegheny take along a jug or two ain’t gonna take no kayak just a big ole wooden canoe throw our bedrolls on the bank when paddlin’ time is through just me and you and a paddle or two on the mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny for a week or two Allegheny (Allegheny) Allegheny (Allegheny) can’t wait to dip a paddle in and glide beside your shores Allegheny (Allegheny) Allegheny (Allegheny) on a mighty Allegheny river tour ya’ wanna paddle on the Allegheny heading down to Pittsburgh town singin’ Stephen Foster tunes throw our heads back howl at the moon I can buy a banjo there Acoustic Steve’ll treat me square just you and me and a paddle or three on the mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny gonna take us there Allegheny (Allegheny) Allegheny (Allegheny) can’t wait to dip a paddle in and glide besideyour shores Allegheny (Allegheny) Allegheny (Allegheny) on a mighty Allegheny river tour ain’t gonna take the Ohio gonna stop at its front door ain’t gonna take the Monongahela River its a pity but its not what we went for I wanna paddle on the Allegheny take along a jug or two ain’t gonna take no kayak just a big ole wooden canoe throw our bedrolls on the bank when paddlin’ time is through just me and you and a paddle or two on the mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny for a week or two on the mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny mighty Allegheny with you

LIKE SO MANY THINGS © Bob Wright she walked on water thats what I thought of her for a long time but I was over my head I believed her when she told me she would always be there to hold me in a cold bed when I needed her most but like so many things it wasn’t meant to be and I’ve fallen so far don’t try to tell me I should get over her I remember when I met her I remember when she told me she was leaving here it just didn’t seem real cause the woman that I thought I knew taught me to feel she walked on water thats what I thought of her for a long time but I was over my head but like so many things it wasn’t meant to be and I’ve fallen so far don’t try to tell me I should get over her

HE DON’T SHY AWAY © Bob Wright he don’t shy away from sunshine he don’t shy away from rain he don’t shy away from anything he thinks makes him a man he don’t shy away from working he don’t shy away from fun he don’t shy away from anything he thinks that can be done he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) don’t matter just how hard it gets you know he’s gonna try he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) keeps one eye on the task at hand and one eye on the sky he don’t shy away from women he don’t shy away from men he don’t shy away from children cats and dogs and fountain pens he don’t shy away from laughing he don’t shy away from tears he don’t shy away from facing up to all the things he fears he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) don’t matter just how hard it gets you know he’s gonna try he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) keeps one eye on the task at hand and one eye on the sky he don’t shy away from haircuts he don’t shy away from beards he don’t shy away from doing things that some folks might find weird he don’t shy away from whiskey he don’t shy away from tea he don’t shy away from drinking anything that brings him peace he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) don’t matter just how hard it gets you know he’s gonna try he ain’t shy (he ain’t shy) my oh my (my oh my) keeps one eye on the task at hand and one eye on the sky

MISTS OF THE MORN © Bob Wright I walked o’er the moors at Cullodeen one morn with the mist holding close in the air not a soul did I see but it was clear to me that the ghosts of the fallen were there and I’ve felt that before in a mist I am sure at Gettysburg when I was there Flanders great lawns and the Little Big Horn they too have ghosts of their own you’re never alone where the dead have lain cold and all of their young blood fell free of their bones and it all seems so real to go out there and feel they exist in the mists of the morn hallowed the fields left fallow to deal with all of the pain suffered there glory and fear blood gore and tears adrift in the mists of the morn you’re never alone where the dead have lain cold and all of their young blood fell free of their bones and it all seems so real to go out there and feel they exist in the mists of the morn as I end my brief stay with a warm cup of tea and a chance to reflect on the things I had seen I look up and I see the mists of the morn give way to another sun rising you’re never alone where the dead have lain cold and all of their young blood fell free of their bones and it all seems so real to go out there and feel they exist in the mists of the morn -

DADDY’S ALAMO © Bob Wright I see my father’s eyes sometimes Looking at me from my own They seem surprised to see me there In what should be their own If memory can be trusted They were lighter blue and kind I see my father’s eyes sometimes Staring out of mine as birthdays come and birthdays go I think of that one long ago When I popped my eyes for the big surprise And there stood a wooden Alamo I’d seen my father with wood and paint But a carpenter my father ain’t I said how and he said no That’s not Daddy’s Alamo Daddy’s Alamo was dreams of places that he’d never been Things he’d never got to do and people that he’d never seen He’d stay up late every night reading by a single light And it was years before I’d know that was Daddy’s Alamo Now we ain’t always meant to do The things we wished we’d done Which makes it harder to accept The things that we become But he had a real good job and every day he’d go He didn’t like it all that much But that’s not Daddy’s Alamo Daddy’s Alamo was dreams of places that he’d never been Things he’d never got to do and people that he’d never seen He’d stay up late every night reading by a single light And it was years before I’d know that was Daddy’s Alamo I’m older now and a fool for life Got my own home and a wife And one thing stands out clear to me You can’t live your parents dreams They’re just people after all With hopes and dreams big and small Children come and children go But that’s not Daddy’s Alamo Daddy’s Alamo was dreams of places that he’d never been Things he’d never got to do and people that he’d never seen He’d stay up late every night reading by a single light And it was years before I’d know that was Daddy’s Alamo

THIS USED TO BE EDEN © Bob Wright this used to be Eden that’s the apple tree I swear give it a shake and you’ll find that there is still a snake in there this used to be Paradise as far as the eye could see paradise was awful nice the way it used to be don’t blame the apple don’t blame the snake don’t blame the naked lady for the bite she had to take you’d have done the same thing I’da done it too must be human nature to wanna taste forbidden fruit this used to be Eden yeah it must have been a sight animals and people went out dancing every night this used to be Paradise as far as the eye could see paradise was awful nice the way it used to be don’t blame the apple don’t blame the snake don’t blame the naked lady for the bite she had to take you’d have done the same thing I’da done it too must be human nature to wanna taste forbidden fruit this used to be Eden that’s the apple tree I swear give it a shake and you’ll find that there is still a snake in there this used to be Paradise as far as the eye could see paradise was awful nice the way it used to be don’t blame the apple don’t blame the snake don’t blame the naked lady for the bite she had to take you’d have done the same thing I’da done it too must be human nature to wanna taste forbidden fruit

TOKYO ROSE © Bob Wright whatever happened to Tokyo Rose? I heard she got married and she moved to Chicago it is hard to imagine her there in the snow sinister smoky voiced Tokyo Rose all of the boys back from the war swore that they’d always remember her voice a phantom a fantasy they came to know their jitter bug baby old Tokyo Rose father forgive me we say to the priest when we’re humbled and broken and down on our knees when you can not take back all the bad things you did forgiveness does wonders for dealing with guilt she was born in L A on the fourth of July she came home and everyone called her a spy a few years in prison was how it would go for the woman we all know was Tokyo Rose who would have thought that she moved to a place surrounded by all of the United States the President pardoned her but I suppose forgiveness came harder for Tokyo Rose father forgive me we say to the priest when we’re humbled and broken and down on our knees when you can not take back all the bad things you did forgiveness does wonders for dealing with guilt whatever happened to Tokyo Rose?