John Henry, Part 1

This will be the death of me
And what will I, what will I leave behind?
Will they sing my name
After they lay me in the sand?

There won’t be no victory
For this heart that beats and hands that bleed
What more can they take
Than I gave with this hammer in my hand?

‘Cause maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Yeah, maybe I was born
So this moment could be written

You’re wrapped in chains
And told you’re free by men with force and men with pay
But I’m through selling me
And if I fall, then at least I made a stand

‘Cause maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Yeah, maybe I was born
So this moment could be written

I will rise, I will rise

‘Cause maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Yeah, maybe I was born
So this moment could be written

We Used to Sing

We used to sing of glories yet to come
How the troubles of this life would soon be done
We’d raise our eyes up to darkened skies
And pray for angel wings to bring us home

But I can’t sing those songs the way I used to
The words just feel so empty on my tongue
No, I can’t sing those songs the way I used to do
The way I did before I was in love

We used to sing the songs of the open road
Saying where we lay our head we call our home
Always blind to what we left behind
And never sure what we were running from

But I can’t sing those songs the way I used to
The words just feel so empty on my tongue
No, I can’t sing those songs the way I used to do
The way I did before I was in love

I used to sing a sad, sad lullaby
Alone beneath the distant stars at night
How no fallen world could ever make us whole
And happiness was meant to pass some by

But I can’t sing those songs the way I used to
The words just feel so empty on my tongue
No, I can’t sing those songs the way I used to do
The way I did before I was in love
Not the way I did before I was in love

Tomorrow May Take You

It takes so long to fall asleep, when you’re gone
This aching house just moans and creaks, when you’re gone
No wishing star to shine for me, when you’re gone
When you’re gone

But when you’re here
You’re here and I can make some sense of this life
In this life, everything I need is in your arms
Your arms can hold me fast against tomorrow
Because tomorrow may take you again

I watch your shape fade down the road, when you leave
I feel those footsteps in my bones, when you leave
And I beg the winds to bring you home, when you leave
When you leave

But when you’re here
You’re here and I can make some sense of this life
In this life, everything I need is in your arms
Your arms can hold me fast against tomorrow
Because tomorrow may take you again