Lyrics to the songs on "Awful Good"
Tenzin Chopak & Nicholas Walker
with Greg Evans and Rosie Newton
All Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Awful Good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she'll die tomorrow
maybe she'll die today
maybe it's okay
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she'll die tomorrow
maybe she'll die today
good dog anyway
go lay down
go lay down
go lay down
awful good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will be quiet
maybe she will cry
when it's time to die
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will be quiet
maybe she will cry
no one will know why
go lay down
awful good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will remember
maybe she will forget
maybe not just yet
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will remember
maybe she will forget
just a silhouette
go lay down
awful good
Let Yourself Fall
Will you come to meet me here
or will I go alone
Autumn chimes
the time draws near
the sycamore to bone
you feel the chill, the dimming vault
beneath the hunter's canopy
will you hide your face in your hands
or will you come to me?
Let yourself fall into my love
Outside of time you broke the seal
drove down to the shore
took your hands off the wheel
you're not pretending anymore
spread your arms with the wind
to move along the stone
the blazing red of sailing leaves
no one will ever own
Let yourself fall into my love
The rain stops
you shut your eyes
you don't know who you are
just before you turn around
to walk back to your car
seeing things that you barely remember
moving through the deep
there comes a night when you can no longer rock yourself to sleep
Let yourself fall into my love
Just Don't Go
I'm alright
Just don't go
Tell me now
I don't believe you
Is it real?
I can't remember
Drive
Did you see the warning sign
illuminated from behind
flashing arrows clear and bright
to help you find your way at night?
you should put your glasses on
Do you fear the telling sound
of glass and metal on the ground
words like razors to your shame
demanding your legal name?
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
There's no acceptable excuse
for the criminals who turned you loose
and there is nothing you can say
it's my goddamn car anyway
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
Oh no don't you do it!
Oh no don't you dare!
You are so close!
Do you even care?!?
Even with my desperate prayer
I think we might not make it there
our precious lives lost easily
is it like this in Tennessee?
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
Tell Queeny
Saturday morning
October sun
I hear you downstairs
the coffee is on
Call Queeny, let's go for a walk
Call Queeny, and we can talk
we can talk
Saturday morning
October sun
you've gone for flowers
and I am alone
The clock is kissing the morning goodbye
Soon we'll see Queeny
to laugh and to cry
to laugh and to cry
Saturday morning
October sun
and we will go soon as the house work is done
Take the old dog and coffee to share
Tell Queeny we're almost there
we're almost there
Lost Time
Cold and dark in the gray wood
wait, silent
harvest comes at dawn
Cold and dark in the gray wood
wait, silent
harvest comes at dawn
Boy, that's the way you will shoot the gun
walking tall like your daddy in the dark
She goes down with one last breath
Never see you coming,
you do just like your daddy said
Lost time drags you home from school
no one notices the boy
the fire
the gasoline
Lost time drags you home from school
no one notices the boy
the fire
the gasoline
Yes, that's the way I will destroy your town
their dull eyes wandering aimlessly
Set down before great plastic arms
how could they ever embrace me?
The sun sets below the power lines
Followed the lullaby into your mouth
awoke inside a never ending movie
Followed the lullaby into your mouth
awoke inside a never ending movie
Fluorescent lights from beautiful pills
out of the hand of your savior
That's the way I will remember you
as I walk away through the cold and the dark
That's the way I will shoot the gun
That's the way I will shoot the gun
Wild Boys
Good boys do dishes
when there are dishes to be done
Good boys do dishes
Good boys do dishes
when there are dishes to be done
I know you are such a very good boy
I know you
I know you are such a very good boy
I know you,
are very good
Kind boys help others
to be happy, safe, and well
Kind boys help others
Kind boys help others
to be happy, safe, and well
I know you are such a very kind boy
I know you
I know you are such a very kind boy
I know you are very kind
Brave boys try again
when they make mistakes
Brave boys try again...
I know you are such a very brave boy
I know you...
Wild boys run fast
because they sleep so well at night
Wild boys run fast...
I know you are such a very wild boy
I know you...
Empty River
Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend coming
Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend waits
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty river
will you show me no mercy?
Step out of the twilight house
the door is open
out of the twilight house
through the open door
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
... the empty river
will you show me no mercy?
August and the golden sky
fade to blue now
August and the golden sky
fade
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
... the empty river
Skeleton,
will you show me no mercy?
Who's that on the other shore?
I feel like laughing
Who's that on the other shore?
Who's that on the other shore?
I feel like
laughing
No Heart No Pain
Too much
don't want to look
Don't tell me
don't want to know
I can't hear you
I don't care
No Heart
No Pain
Joe Pye
Joe Pye in hole by the red horse barn
three feet in the ground
it is done
cover him up
put the shovel down
Marcus dug the earth
cut the cross in wood
Mary wrote his name in red
it looks pretty good
Did the best we could do
more than most would've done
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
What am I supposed to say before the lord of death
Joe Pye was trouble
until his final breath
Joe Pye, he was moving
then Joe Pye was still
The old dog sees his shadow
coming down the hill
Did the best we could do
more than most would've done
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
Let me in
Let me in
Let me in
Joe Pye at the window
Joe Pye at the door
Joe Pye crying let me in
Let me in
Joe Pye at the window
Joe Pye at the door
Joe Pye crying let me in
Did the best we could do
more than most
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
Joe Pye in a hole by the red horse barn
three feet in the ground
it is done
cover him up
put the shovel down
Only a Ghost
Riding with Karen
the trees are black December veins
all beneath a pale lantern
hanging over 89
Without words
south along the lake
Riding with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream
it's only a ghost
Dancing with Karen
Sunday afternoon
Turning in slow circles
in and out of time
through the kitchen
and through the dying light
Dancing with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream
it's only a ghost
I don't want to be afraid
I don't want to be afraid of the passing
I don't want to be afraid of the passing time
Beautiful, and already gone
Lying with Karen
awake before sunrise
and the old dog is looking outside
The train is coming
I feel it through the wooden floor
Lying with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream...
It's only a ghost
Be Brave
That drink... that drink
here it comes to take your time
This place... this tiny little place
that you call a house
there's nowhere for me by your side
Don't you let me fall from your arms
as you reach for it
I hear it talking to you
Can you be brave for me?
You can't stop... you can't stop
I know that you can't stop
Anyway, you didn't stop
and now it's time to go to work
I love you... I love you
I love you with all the pieces
of my heart
Don't you let me fall from your arms
as you reach for it
I hear it calling to you
Can you be brave for me?
Be brave...
It's bad, it's bad
it hurts
it hurts so bad
Kiss me goodbye
Don't cry, you say
But I want you to come here
and I want you to hold me anyway
Don't you let me fall
from your arms
I feel you reaching for it
I can hear it talking to you
but I think you are going to be brave
for me
Knock at the Door
Who is that knocking
come on in
come on in now and take your place
Take your place
with the hungry
With the hungry your dinner is laid
Your dinner is laid out
at the table
At the table where you belong
You belong in this house of refuge
The only refuge from the terrible storm
The terrible storm
The terrible storm
it has soaked your clothes
It soaked your clothes
and it soaked your skin
It soaked your skin
and it chilled your bones
It chilled your bones
until you gave in
You gave in
You gave in
and you heard me crying
You heard me crying
and a knock at the door
A knock at the door of the house of refuge
The only house of refuge
is yours
It is yours
It is yours
It is yours
Who is that knocking?
Come on in
Come on in...
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's third album "Mask Maker" released May of 2015
Helena - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's second self-titled album released April of 2013
Copperhead - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Unfold yourself, Sister Dusk
Stir the silver blades of grass
Say my name through needle teeth
Here I come to cross your path
Red Amaranth in her aching hands
Brother at the turning light
Who knows the way to the mourning cradle?
Rock me, death, into the night
See that lightning, far away
Flash against my naked skin
Come with me, Copperhead
I go now to pray
Whippoorwill - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Lost, lost,
Babe in the bramble
Who's going to weep for such a one as you?
Come, come
To the foot of the mountain
I cry and cry it's true, it's true
Look, look
I am the evening
Grandfather's crown is a cloudless sky
Vast, vast
Set with jewels
Five black vultures soaring high
There, there
On a throne of corpses
In his mouth the morning star
Yes, yes
Whippoorwill
I remember who you are
Kingfisher Cross - Words by Tenzin Chopak, Music by Tenzin Chopak and Ethan Jodziewicz
Mother, arrow through her chest, laying down in water red
Run little one, run
Father is gone with the frozen moon
The edge was sharp
The cut was soon
Run little one, run
Run to the black hour
Disappear
Into midnight
I saw you, coin in hand, out to pay the ferryman
Cry mourner, cry
Your head was bowed and your name was lost
at the gateway to Kingfisher Cross
Cry mourner, cry
Cry for your mother
To a distant star
Blind and deaf
Do you not know my name?
I am the fool with the deathless flame
Rise beggar, rise
Do you not know this land?
It is the hollow of your hand
Rise beggar, rise
Rise with no lie on your tongue
Echo of Your Voice - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
See now the end of the long road
Through the dark, far beyond the church
Down to the valley, following smoke
The whispers of children
Faces long forgotten
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
The Tennessee River wrapped around my body
And there's a hole in my chest where the old house stood
I've been staring at the empty space year after year
Waiting for you to come and pull me away
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
Father, my father, dancing at the dawn
Over the hawthorn as snow fell in silence
Saying nothing, your face to the sun
See now your child with a fist full of briars
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
There is no shelter here, the house is burning
No place to rest in the rising flood
All the hands that reach out, they are just shadows
Grieving ghosts who cry out beneath the sand and the mud
Come here to me
Come here
Fast Asleep - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak - String interlude on album by Ethan Jodziewicz
Godseye, grace, careless love
Autumn light across my hand
Reaching out
It's not enough
To stand here in your empty room
So alone
The luna moth, the cedar tree,
and all the sweetness of the storm
The medicine, the misery
Oh to run
and run
So reckless
So fast
asleep
How long the walk toward the break
This door is shut to keep me safe
Beneath my step the poison snake
Every moment I survive
But I am fast asleep
and dreaming of home
Stone Table - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
By the window, overlooking the garden of thorns
She dons the russet mantle of her mother's memory,
descends the stairs beneath the canopy of fire,
and to the stone table, my dread lady of the ashes comes to dine
Raise the bottle that bears the endless vine,
that holds the shoreless sea,
rolling waves of laughter
Raise the looking glass, until there's nothing more to see
Come to your courage now
and dance, dance with me
Great Rain Cloud - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Here comes a great rain cloud
Everything is still
What's that he's singing?
Thunder
You were just a boy
Full of cruel desire
Your warpaint ran like tears
Falling
The silhouette of swallows
The indigo expanse
See how I unravel
So slowly
Who's that calling to you
From the open door?
Who's that crying for you now?
You are leaving
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's first album "Speak Like Water" released July of 2012
Stay Close To Me - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Spring rains raising the creek from the dry rocks swirling around us
The Roaring Fork River, Cumberland whisper, the bluebelles are blooming
Tell them I'm leaving to find the old story under the ground
In the morning they rise, open their eyes, I am nowhere
Stay close to me
Ever within the beautiful day that I was struck down
At the end of the street with prayers of defeat, but I have grown weary now
The way through the woods that hid me from this that I would have time
The falling water door to the cavern that showed the mask on my face
Stay close to me
The ghost trail we followed through thorn and rust, from glory to dust
Across from old Thief Neck through vespers and violence
It's all gone to silence now
Spring rains are raising the creek over dry rocks swirling around us
The Roaring Fork River, Cumberland whisper, the bluebelles are blooming
Stay close to me
My Love Flows - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Billy in the Low Ground instrumental at end is a traditional)
I know this world isn't what it seems, I've dreamt the dream of dying
Beloved, where they laid me down I heard your woeful sighing
Forgive me dear if from down here I'm crying overmuch
For I recall how I built the wall that crumbled at your touch
I was born under the banner of an imaginary crown
Delivered to the loving hands that taught me to bow down
I fell before my mother's grief and trembled in my fear
So inclined to lose my mind just to get me out of here
I stumbled down to Honey Creek, I learned to speak like water
Cursing at the mighty cross that called away my father
I heard the prayer upon those lips pour promises into my cup
But no matter how much I drank, it did not fill me up
In time so cruel, you came to find me talking to the embers
The sinking and the hollow sound only you remember
I followed as you disappeared among those poplar trees
I close my eyes to see you now and my love flows with ease
Over Your Fences - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Instrumental "Rosie's Unreel" by Rosie Newton)
My love is a maid holding fast to a horse
Wild wind through her hair, she flies over your fences
Wild wind through her hair
Wild wind through her hair
Wild wind through her hair she flies over your fences
My love is a mother with a turquoise at her chest
And a babe at her breast, looking out over the ocean
Babe at her breast
Babe at her breast
Babe at her breast looking out over the ocean
My love is old beyond counting and name
She howls without shame through the cracks of this house
Howls without shame
Howls without shame
Howls without shame through the cracks of this house
My love is crying tears of blue,
white, red, gold, and green for you
Blue, white, red
Blue, white, red
Blue, white, red, gold, and green for you
John the Prophet - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Banjo arrangement by Richie Stearns)
1888 I married a Morgan County girl
Julia Anne Griifith was her name
I was 36 when we laid Ethel in the ground
Julia Anne gave me the blame
How long mother's shadow over black cemetery
She left for Arkansas, I stared at the stone
There's no solace in silence alone with the ghost of a child
No comfort in reaching for her hand
Only I could cry out to be shown a world to come
To wash me clean in the blood of the lamb
Roaming through that darkness with a fire over my head
Voices calling to me and the cold ground for my bed
Job, he may have loved his God
But I feared him like a thief
With a holy knife pressed against my throat
40 nights I listened with my ear to the earth
The coming wrath a wonder to behold
There upon the crossroads when I told them what I knew
They whispered at my madness and cursed my sorrow too
The hammer that will surely fall to drive the iron nail
Will send the track from Knoxville down to Robertsville
And there between Tadlock's farm and Joe Pyatt's place
A great castle will rise above the rail
Black Oak Ridge will disappear
Bear Creek Valley will blaze with light
And the greatest war will end
With the greatest crime
Trouble - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak ("Lift up your hearts" - traditional - Sursum Corda)
How you sigh, mother, begging for relief
Passing by, all your life
Shallow breaths, eyes shut tight to the slamming door
Take off that ring and let it fall
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Come stand by me, but don't tell me you are at peace
Don't tell me you finally understand your disease
How we rolled back that stone every sunday morning
Hell you know, with all our fragile hope, you never heard that warning
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Lift up your hearts
Let us give thanks
It is right
It is right
It is right
All I can see is your shadow as you walk out into the Summer
All I can hear is that rattle, cicadas over still water
Sometimes my hands tremble
But that was so long ago
Still I smell the blood of that battle
And the heron cries
I know
I know
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Lift up your hearts
Let us give thanks
It is right
It is right
It is right
Twilight - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak / Martin's Breakdown - Music by Richie Stearns
Guard that faith like a broken bone
Carve your name into the round river stone
Set your barefeet down on the red clay
Lay your head to rest on the final day
You cannot make a sound, hear the ground is weeping
Under the weight of all the secrets that you've been keeping
The will of the whisper that you used to hear
Bound with lies by the hand of your fear
You took aim with that family gun
And you blew the soul out of every one of your dreams
How your hunger taught you to be so cunning
And you could not stop, the thirst kept you ever running
From the night when you broke the body that would be your bread
And you turned the wine to blood upon your head
I draw my water from the deep dark well
Dangerous religion where the burning arrow fell
Prayers from my mouth on the wind blowing through your open window
Child, I have always known you
Now you dare to come to my house with your head held so high and proud
Dare to look for my face or to say my name out loud
I will swallow you whole, boy, like I've done ten million times before
And I will throw your hollow bones out of my back door
Here comes a word with a power
Here comes a mirror in your dream
Here comes the burning of your great tower, my son,
Here comes a song flowing through you
Red bliss for blood beyond all thinking
Runs through your sisters and your brothers
This is the world that I am drinking
Hear the wailing of your mother
You must wrap this secret in stories told at twilight
On Your Way - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
I've been thinking of times gone by
Been thinking of times gone by
and I wish that you were on your way back home
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
How could you know what would come
How could you know what would come
The winter, the setting sun, and all we left behind
I close my weary eyes
I close my weary eyes
The winter, the setting sun, and all we left behind
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
To touch your beautiful face
Just to touch your beautiful face
And the burden in your heart,
lay it down
To hear you laugh again
Just to hear you laugh again
And the burden in your heart,
lay it down
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
And I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
Tenzin Chopak & Nicholas Walker
with Greg Evans and Rosie Newton
All Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Awful Good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she'll die tomorrow
maybe she'll die today
maybe it's okay
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she'll die tomorrow
maybe she'll die today
good dog anyway
go lay down
go lay down
go lay down
awful good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will be quiet
maybe she will cry
when it's time to die
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will be quiet
maybe she will cry
no one will know why
go lay down
awful good
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will remember
maybe she will forget
maybe not just yet
Old dog in the doorway
maybe she will remember
maybe she will forget
just a silhouette
go lay down
awful good
Let Yourself Fall
Will you come to meet me here
or will I go alone
Autumn chimes
the time draws near
the sycamore to bone
you feel the chill, the dimming vault
beneath the hunter's canopy
will you hide your face in your hands
or will you come to me?
Let yourself fall into my love
Outside of time you broke the seal
drove down to the shore
took your hands off the wheel
you're not pretending anymore
spread your arms with the wind
to move along the stone
the blazing red of sailing leaves
no one will ever own
Let yourself fall into my love
The rain stops
you shut your eyes
you don't know who you are
just before you turn around
to walk back to your car
seeing things that you barely remember
moving through the deep
there comes a night when you can no longer rock yourself to sleep
Let yourself fall into my love
Just Don't Go
I'm alright
Just don't go
Tell me now
I don't believe you
Is it real?
I can't remember
Drive
Did you see the warning sign
illuminated from behind
flashing arrows clear and bright
to help you find your way at night?
you should put your glasses on
Do you fear the telling sound
of glass and metal on the ground
words like razors to your shame
demanding your legal name?
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
There's no acceptable excuse
for the criminals who turned you loose
and there is nothing you can say
it's my goddamn car anyway
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
Oh no don't you do it!
Oh no don't you dare!
You are so close!
Do you even care?!?
Even with my desperate prayer
I think we might not make it there
our precious lives lost easily
is it like this in Tennessee?
you should put your glasses on
who taught you how to drive?
Tell Queeny
Saturday morning
October sun
I hear you downstairs
the coffee is on
Call Queeny, let's go for a walk
Call Queeny, and we can talk
we can talk
Saturday morning
October sun
you've gone for flowers
and I am alone
The clock is kissing the morning goodbye
Soon we'll see Queeny
to laugh and to cry
to laugh and to cry
Saturday morning
October sun
and we will go soon as the house work is done
Take the old dog and coffee to share
Tell Queeny we're almost there
we're almost there
Lost Time
Cold and dark in the gray wood
wait, silent
harvest comes at dawn
Cold and dark in the gray wood
wait, silent
harvest comes at dawn
Boy, that's the way you will shoot the gun
walking tall like your daddy in the dark
She goes down with one last breath
Never see you coming,
you do just like your daddy said
Lost time drags you home from school
no one notices the boy
the fire
the gasoline
Lost time drags you home from school
no one notices the boy
the fire
the gasoline
Yes, that's the way I will destroy your town
their dull eyes wandering aimlessly
Set down before great plastic arms
how could they ever embrace me?
The sun sets below the power lines
Followed the lullaby into your mouth
awoke inside a never ending movie
Followed the lullaby into your mouth
awoke inside a never ending movie
Fluorescent lights from beautiful pills
out of the hand of your savior
That's the way I will remember you
as I walk away through the cold and the dark
That's the way I will shoot the gun
That's the way I will shoot the gun
Wild Boys
Good boys do dishes
when there are dishes to be done
Good boys do dishes
Good boys do dishes
when there are dishes to be done
I know you are such a very good boy
I know you
I know you are such a very good boy
I know you,
are very good
Kind boys help others
to be happy, safe, and well
Kind boys help others
Kind boys help others
to be happy, safe, and well
I know you are such a very kind boy
I know you
I know you are such a very kind boy
I know you are very kind
Brave boys try again
when they make mistakes
Brave boys try again...
I know you are such a very brave boy
I know you...
Wild boys run fast
because they sleep so well at night
Wild boys run fast...
I know you are such a very wild boy
I know you...
Empty River
Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend coming
Out of the corner of my eye
a strange friend waits
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty river
will you show me no mercy?
Step out of the twilight house
the door is open
out of the twilight house
through the open door
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
... the empty river
will you show me no mercy?
August and the golden sky
fade to blue now
August and the golden sky
fade
so soon
Taking me over
Taking me over the empty
... the empty river
Skeleton,
will you show me no mercy?
Who's that on the other shore?
I feel like laughing
Who's that on the other shore?
Who's that on the other shore?
I feel like
laughing
No Heart No Pain
Too much
don't want to look
Don't tell me
don't want to know
I can't hear you
I don't care
No Heart
No Pain
Joe Pye
Joe Pye in hole by the red horse barn
three feet in the ground
it is done
cover him up
put the shovel down
Marcus dug the earth
cut the cross in wood
Mary wrote his name in red
it looks pretty good
Did the best we could do
more than most would've done
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
What am I supposed to say before the lord of death
Joe Pye was trouble
until his final breath
Joe Pye, he was moving
then Joe Pye was still
The old dog sees his shadow
coming down the hill
Did the best we could do
more than most would've done
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
Let me in
Let me in
Let me in
Joe Pye at the window
Joe Pye at the door
Joe Pye crying let me in
Let me in
Joe Pye at the window
Joe Pye at the door
Joe Pye crying let me in
Did the best we could do
more than most
He was hard
We were good
Isn't that right?
Joe Pye in a hole by the red horse barn
three feet in the ground
it is done
cover him up
put the shovel down
Only a Ghost
Riding with Karen
the trees are black December veins
all beneath a pale lantern
hanging over 89
Without words
south along the lake
Riding with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream
it's only a ghost
Dancing with Karen
Sunday afternoon
Turning in slow circles
in and out of time
through the kitchen
and through the dying light
Dancing with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream
it's only a ghost
I don't want to be afraid
I don't want to be afraid of the passing
I don't want to be afraid of the passing time
Beautiful, and already gone
Lying with Karen
awake before sunrise
and the old dog is looking outside
The train is coming
I feel it through the wooden floor
Lying with Karen
already gone
Sorry for waking you up
talking in my sleep
Baby, lay your head down
it's only a dream...
It's only a ghost
Be Brave
That drink... that drink
here it comes to take your time
This place... this tiny little place
that you call a house
there's nowhere for me by your side
Don't you let me fall from your arms
as you reach for it
I hear it talking to you
Can you be brave for me?
You can't stop... you can't stop
I know that you can't stop
Anyway, you didn't stop
and now it's time to go to work
I love you... I love you
I love you with all the pieces
of my heart
Don't you let me fall from your arms
as you reach for it
I hear it calling to you
Can you be brave for me?
Be brave...
It's bad, it's bad
it hurts
it hurts so bad
Kiss me goodbye
Don't cry, you say
But I want you to come here
and I want you to hold me anyway
Don't you let me fall
from your arms
I feel you reaching for it
I can hear it talking to you
but I think you are going to be brave
for me
Knock at the Door
Who is that knocking
come on in
come on in now and take your place
Take your place
with the hungry
With the hungry your dinner is laid
Your dinner is laid out
at the table
At the table where you belong
You belong in this house of refuge
The only refuge from the terrible storm
The terrible storm
The terrible storm
it has soaked your clothes
It soaked your clothes
and it soaked your skin
It soaked your skin
and it chilled your bones
It chilled your bones
until you gave in
You gave in
You gave in
and you heard me crying
You heard me crying
and a knock at the door
A knock at the door of the house of refuge
The only house of refuge
is yours
It is yours
It is yours
It is yours
Who is that knocking?
Come on in
Come on in...
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's third album "Mask Maker" released May of 2015
Helena - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Helena stepping high through goldenrod and Queen Anne's lace
Ah la la here I go to see the look on Carmen's face
Up to her window to open a jar of fireflies
Ah la la Carmen will you lift your head and show me
your green eyes
Carmen by streetlight stealing roses from the old stone wall
One for love, two for grief, and three for my good sisters
The moaning gate swings wide upon the cemetery lane
Come sweet Helena to the honeysuckle
and the summer rain
How did I see you? With my chest
How did I know you? With my belly
You taught me how to string the the stars for pearls
upon the silver threads of the liar's moon
when I was whole
and I was laughing so
When you look for me, sister, tell me
where will you go?
Spider - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Who spun the holy night into the daybreak?
Sang the crow
I know
Who held the sun within the water on her web
Spider
Before the red rock woman comes calling,
listen here, crazy one
See well the real road,
set your step behind me
Sang the crow
It's time to go
Here she comes
Here she comes
Here she comes
Up from the canyon
Fool's Fire - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Fool's fire
Where did you go?
Fool's fire
Where did you go?
You think that I don't see you now
How you are burning from the inside out
You think that I won't hold you through
all the grief that you are lost without
It was so long ago when it began
by imperceptible degrees
Louder and louder in your head,
the less and less you could show
I know you
I know
I know you
When I wore tangled branches
When I spoke with falling leaves
The warm light through the window behind me
cast my shadow
I knew you would not answer,
still I said your name
You think that I don't see you now,
how you are burning
One kiss for you
I can wait
Coyote - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
It was never any use begging me to wake up
and beware
as trouble came to braid the yellow primrose
through my hair
By Lyra's spring murmuring a maiden's lullaby,
it was no use hanging on to me
as I fell through the gold ring of a wild dog's eye
Oh to reel with such sweet and treacherous joy
How he laughed and he laughed, Coyote,
within the skin of a beautiful boy
I took his hand through the barbed wire
for a tear in my blue dress
and time would slow to stand still
for the secrets I'd confess
Before me only green and the palace of July
and he would know me,
he would know me,
like no other
But away, away, cried the thrush
And follow me home
The hour is late and your father is drinking alone
Who'll set the table?
Who'll pick him up off the floor?
Who's going to care if you are not there anymore?
One foot in front of the other
Hush little bird
One foot in front of the other
Hush
It was never any use begging me to wake up
and beware
How To Swim - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Shut my mouth
I've got to stop myself
Here he comes
Don't say it now
All the red wing blackbirds
Wisteria in bloom
and he is coming for tea
Wednesday afternoon
Oh how grand, your new radio
We float like cottonwood
On the air before the storm
How wonderful it is,
isn't it?
One AM
The light is on again
Let me sleep, my invisible friend
In the morning by the church
I'm staring at cracks in the concrete
I'm waiting for the bus
in my bare feet
I'm not well,
everyone can tell
Pull yourself together
This was not supposed to happen
to me
Here I go
learning how to swim
It's so cold
and I am cursing at him
I don't mind
whatever he sees
Say it now
Tell him now
Terrified
my hands to my face
I can't stop smiling
It's so perfect
It's so perfect
isn't it?
Mask Maker - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Come the ghosts now to the edge of the great broken machine
This hollow world of wanderers where the lone girl waits for darkness
He comes riding with the gloaming, a fair hand to his ear
Her eye upon the dagger as she sings
Down, down the spiral stair
I go, I go with thee
Ah, Mask Maker
What will you take from me?
I remember the setting sunlight through my mother's hair
as she bent to swing me up into the open sky
And the lake was still as glass
And the sparks flew ever upwards
There is the milky way
There is the north star
And all the tender words
so delicate and so bright
that I gathered to my chest
to see me through
your love upon a razor
There is the bridge where she is standing
Did you hear her calling?
Did she say my name?
From behind this false face how can I keep from falling?
And how will I find you again?
In a house of hidden rooms
knocking on the walls
Ah, Mask Maker,
waiting
But the mourning dove is speaking
When You Were Hungry - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
I remember long ago when you were hungry
Said the wild dog
Ooh
I remember
you used to sleep without a dream
You did not need that devil's fire
long ago
when you were running with me
Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
Do you remember the mountain talking?
Do you remember the black wind roaring up
from the south?
I remember
you were looking at me
with blood in your mouth
How long have you been here?
With your belly full
and your fear, sister,
you know it's only thunder
Was it worth it?
Said the wild dog
Ooh
Outside the window
I remember
when you were hungry
Belladonna - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Talking, talking
you think it matters
Ah, ah, ah
so what
It's a lie
Come for television head
not enough for you
Ammunition mouth
not enough for you
Stand over the bed
not enough for you
Enough, enough, enough, enough
Talking, talking
you think it matters
Hurting, hurting
you think you know
Ah, ah, ah
so what
You're still praying
with your head down on the steering wheel
not enough for you
At the fierce end of a sling shot stone
not enough for you
Shattered glass to cut your heel
not enough for you
Enough, enough, enough, enough
Talking, talking
you think it matters
Hurting, hurting
you think you know
Not enough
Ah, ah, ah
So what
Talking, talking
you think it matters
Hurting, hurting
you think you know
Aurora - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
How did I find Aurora
As a child chasing after the fleeting edge of her summer gown
Just so was the dawn, leading the sun
and my mother drew her down
Down, down and through
rivers of glass
to call out the chalice
That his how I drank the morning
How she took me at the moment of the pristine break
She consumed me, wreathed in fury and singing
I open the door to the furnace
with that demon in my hands
To know is to be burned
How did I dream
uncountable names become the garland of my line
They were all laid before me
titans drinking molten glass for wine
drunk with splendor at her feet
how they sang
Come on into my kitchen
this crucible the altar of the incandescent crone
See it blaze in my belly,
the crystal, the ash, and the stone,
but you will never see her face
and you will never know the whole
How did I find Aurora
in her looking glass palace wrought by acolytes of fire
There, my brother, there, my sister,
bearing the ever ringing lyre
Ah, ah, ah,
she calls my name
She calls my name
I will go
To the furnace
Sister Fire
River's of glass
She calls my name
She calls my name
I will go
She calls my name
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's second self-titled album released April of 2013
Copperhead - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Unfold yourself, Sister Dusk
Stir the silver blades of grass
Say my name through needle teeth
Here I come to cross your path
Red Amaranth in her aching hands
Brother at the turning light
Who knows the way to the mourning cradle?
Rock me, death, into the night
See that lightning, far away
Flash against my naked skin
Come with me, Copperhead
I go now to pray
Whippoorwill - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Lost, lost,
Babe in the bramble
Who's going to weep for such a one as you?
Come, come
To the foot of the mountain
I cry and cry it's true, it's true
Look, look
I am the evening
Grandfather's crown is a cloudless sky
Vast, vast
Set with jewels
Five black vultures soaring high
There, there
On a throne of corpses
In his mouth the morning star
Yes, yes
Whippoorwill
I remember who you are
Kingfisher Cross - Words by Tenzin Chopak, Music by Tenzin Chopak and Ethan Jodziewicz
Mother, arrow through her chest, laying down in water red
Run little one, run
Father is gone with the frozen moon
The edge was sharp
The cut was soon
Run little one, run
Run to the black hour
Disappear
Into midnight
I saw you, coin in hand, out to pay the ferryman
Cry mourner, cry
Your head was bowed and your name was lost
at the gateway to Kingfisher Cross
Cry mourner, cry
Cry for your mother
To a distant star
Blind and deaf
Do you not know my name?
I am the fool with the deathless flame
Rise beggar, rise
Do you not know this land?
It is the hollow of your hand
Rise beggar, rise
Rise with no lie on your tongue
Echo of Your Voice - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
See now the end of the long road
Through the dark, far beyond the church
Down to the valley, following smoke
The whispers of children
Faces long forgotten
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
The Tennessee River wrapped around my body
And there's a hole in my chest where the old house stood
I've been staring at the empty space year after year
Waiting for you to come and pull me away
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
Father, my father, dancing at the dawn
Over the hawthorn as snow fell in silence
Saying nothing, your face to the sun
See now your child with a fist full of briars
The echo of your voice in the sanctuary
Come to me now
There is no shelter here, the house is burning
No place to rest in the rising flood
All the hands that reach out, they are just shadows
Grieving ghosts who cry out beneath the sand and the mud
Come here to me
Come here
Fast Asleep - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak - String interlude on album by Ethan Jodziewicz
Godseye, grace, careless love
Autumn light across my hand
Reaching out
It's not enough
To stand here in your empty room
So alone
The luna moth, the cedar tree,
and all the sweetness of the storm
The medicine, the misery
Oh to run
and run
So reckless
So fast
asleep
How long the walk toward the break
This door is shut to keep me safe
Beneath my step the poison snake
Every moment I survive
But I am fast asleep
and dreaming of home
Stone Table - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
By the window, overlooking the garden of thorns
She dons the russet mantle of her mother's memory,
descends the stairs beneath the canopy of fire,
and to the stone table, my dread lady of the ashes comes to dine
Raise the bottle that bears the endless vine,
that holds the shoreless sea,
rolling waves of laughter
Raise the looking glass, until there's nothing more to see
Come to your courage now
and dance, dance with me
Great Rain Cloud - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Here comes a great rain cloud
Everything is still
What's that he's singing?
Thunder
You were just a boy
Full of cruel desire
Your warpaint ran like tears
Falling
The silhouette of swallows
The indigo expanse
See how I unravel
So slowly
Who's that calling to you
From the open door?
Who's that crying for you now?
You are leaving
Lyrics to the songs on Rockwood Ferry's first album "Speak Like Water" released July of 2012
Stay Close To Me - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
Spring rains raising the creek from the dry rocks swirling around us
The Roaring Fork River, Cumberland whisper, the bluebelles are blooming
Tell them I'm leaving to find the old story under the ground
In the morning they rise, open their eyes, I am nowhere
Stay close to me
Ever within the beautiful day that I was struck down
At the end of the street with prayers of defeat, but I have grown weary now
The way through the woods that hid me from this that I would have time
The falling water door to the cavern that showed the mask on my face
Stay close to me
The ghost trail we followed through thorn and rust, from glory to dust
Across from old Thief Neck through vespers and violence
It's all gone to silence now
Spring rains are raising the creek over dry rocks swirling around us
The Roaring Fork River, Cumberland whisper, the bluebelles are blooming
Stay close to me
My Love Flows - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Billy in the Low Ground instrumental at end is a traditional)
I know this world isn't what it seems, I've dreamt the dream of dying
Beloved, where they laid me down I heard your woeful sighing
Forgive me dear if from down here I'm crying overmuch
For I recall how I built the wall that crumbled at your touch
I was born under the banner of an imaginary crown
Delivered to the loving hands that taught me to bow down
I fell before my mother's grief and trembled in my fear
So inclined to lose my mind just to get me out of here
I stumbled down to Honey Creek, I learned to speak like water
Cursing at the mighty cross that called away my father
I heard the prayer upon those lips pour promises into my cup
But no matter how much I drank, it did not fill me up
In time so cruel, you came to find me talking to the embers
The sinking and the hollow sound only you remember
I followed as you disappeared among those poplar trees
I close my eyes to see you now and my love flows with ease
Over Your Fences - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Instrumental "Rosie's Unreel" by Rosie Newton)
My love is a maid holding fast to a horse
Wild wind through her hair, she flies over your fences
Wild wind through her hair
Wild wind through her hair
Wild wind through her hair she flies over your fences
My love is a mother with a turquoise at her chest
And a babe at her breast, looking out over the ocean
Babe at her breast
Babe at her breast
Babe at her breast looking out over the ocean
My love is old beyond counting and name
She howls without shame through the cracks of this house
Howls without shame
Howls without shame
Howls without shame through the cracks of this house
My love is crying tears of blue,
white, red, gold, and green for you
Blue, white, red
Blue, white, red
Blue, white, red, gold, and green for you
John the Prophet - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak (Banjo arrangement by Richie Stearns)
1888 I married a Morgan County girl
Julia Anne Griifith was her name
I was 36 when we laid Ethel in the ground
Julia Anne gave me the blame
How long mother's shadow over black cemetery
She left for Arkansas, I stared at the stone
There's no solace in silence alone with the ghost of a child
No comfort in reaching for her hand
Only I could cry out to be shown a world to come
To wash me clean in the blood of the lamb
Roaming through that darkness with a fire over my head
Voices calling to me and the cold ground for my bed
Job, he may have loved his God
But I feared him like a thief
With a holy knife pressed against my throat
40 nights I listened with my ear to the earth
The coming wrath a wonder to behold
There upon the crossroads when I told them what I knew
They whispered at my madness and cursed my sorrow too
The hammer that will surely fall to drive the iron nail
Will send the track from Knoxville down to Robertsville
And there between Tadlock's farm and Joe Pyatt's place
A great castle will rise above the rail
Black Oak Ridge will disappear
Bear Creek Valley will blaze with light
And the greatest war will end
With the greatest crime
Trouble - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak ("Lift up your hearts" - traditional - Sursum Corda)
How you sigh, mother, begging for relief
Passing by, all your life
Shallow breaths, eyes shut tight to the slamming door
Take off that ring and let it fall
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Come stand by me, but don't tell me you are at peace
Don't tell me you finally understand your disease
How we rolled back that stone every sunday morning
Hell you know, with all our fragile hope, you never heard that warning
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Lift up your hearts
Let us give thanks
It is right
It is right
It is right
All I can see is your shadow as you walk out into the Summer
All I can hear is that rattle, cicadas over still water
Sometimes my hands tremble
But that was so long ago
Still I smell the blood of that battle
And the heron cries
I know
I know
Wade on in
Wade on in
Wade on in
Trouble
Lift up your hearts
Let us give thanks
It is right
It is right
It is right
Twilight - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak / Martin's Breakdown - Music by Richie Stearns
Guard that faith like a broken bone
Carve your name into the round river stone
Set your barefeet down on the red clay
Lay your head to rest on the final day
You cannot make a sound, hear the ground is weeping
Under the weight of all the secrets that you've been keeping
The will of the whisper that you used to hear
Bound with lies by the hand of your fear
You took aim with that family gun
And you blew the soul out of every one of your dreams
How your hunger taught you to be so cunning
And you could not stop, the thirst kept you ever running
From the night when you broke the body that would be your bread
And you turned the wine to blood upon your head
I draw my water from the deep dark well
Dangerous religion where the burning arrow fell
Prayers from my mouth on the wind blowing through your open window
Child, I have always known you
Now you dare to come to my house with your head held so high and proud
Dare to look for my face or to say my name out loud
I will swallow you whole, boy, like I've done ten million times before
And I will throw your hollow bones out of my back door
Here comes a word with a power
Here comes a mirror in your dream
Here comes the burning of your great tower, my son,
Here comes a song flowing through you
Red bliss for blood beyond all thinking
Runs through your sisters and your brothers
This is the world that I am drinking
Hear the wailing of your mother
You must wrap this secret in stories told at twilight
On Your Way - Words and Music by Tenzin Chopak
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
I've been thinking of times gone by
Been thinking of times gone by
and I wish that you were on your way back home
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
How could you know what would come
How could you know what would come
The winter, the setting sun, and all we left behind
I close my weary eyes
I close my weary eyes
The winter, the setting sun, and all we left behind
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home
To touch your beautiful face
Just to touch your beautiful face
And the burden in your heart,
lay it down
To hear you laugh again
Just to hear you laugh again
And the burden in your heart,
lay it down
Holding you
Just a baby in my arms
Holding you
baby in my arms
And I wish that you were on your way
I wish that you were on your way back home