Get all 16 Heather Pierson releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Deep Beginning - songs by Jan Roundy, Heart Songs & Circle Songs - Open Channel, We Sing For These Times, Wishes of Lovingkindness, All The While, Beside The Firelight, Be Here Now, The Toilet Paper Song, and 8 more.
1. |
Nothing Left
03:59
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Chorus:
There is nothing left here for me
Nothing for as far as my crying eyes can see
There is nothing left for me here
Nothing that’s worth me shedding another tear
An aching heart and a restless mind
Are all I have left to leave behind
I’ll blaze a trail to parts unknown
And hope at last I’ll find my true home
But this blue world is vast and cold
So search I must ‘til I have struck gold
And sing my song that’s mine alone
And drink these tears deep down into my bones
Chorus
When I first saw your smiling face
All of my sadness left not a trace
But then you cut me down to my core
And now I don’t sleep soundly anymore
When I first took you to my heart
I never dreamed you would tear my world apart
But now I know the awful truth:
That faithful friends are a rare and numbered few
Chorus
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2. |
It's Time To Go
03:28
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Though the sun is high and warming my bones
And the desert breeze is soft and low
And the sky is clear and full of the melancholy tones
Of the sweetest birdsong I’ll ever know
It’s time to go
So many paths before me in every direction
And so many miles left to go
So many new ideas, so much time for reflection
And so many more wild seeds to sow
But it’s time to go
It’s time to go now
There’s a lamp burning in the night
And someone waiting to hold me tight
And somehow it doesn’t seem right
To be this far from everything I know
So early in the morning when the world is still sleeping
And the edge of the sky starts to glow
I’ll hit the road running, like a jetliner streaming
Across the land and back to my home
‘cause it’s time to go
It’s time to go now
I hope I can make it back
Without going too far off the track
But I’ve always had a knack
For wandering away from what I know
Even when I know it’s time to go
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3. |
Speak Wisely
03:39
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You can talk about other people
You can talk about the weather
You can talk about other people’s business
And how you can do it better than them
You can talk about the evils of this world
And how everyone is so cruel
Or you can keep on runnin’ that mouth of yours
And let ‘em all think you’re a fool
But silence is golden and talk is cheap
You make much more sense when you don’t make a peep
My grandfather told me
One day when he came to call
He said, “If you got nothin’ nice to say
You got no reason to stand up proud and tall”
Well, who am I to complain
And just add to all the noise?
‘cause people will be people
And they’ll use their tools like they’re toys
But silence is golden and all you talk is trash
It’s gonna come back around and knock you on your ass
So speak wisely or not at all
Yeah, silence is golden and all you talk is trash
It’s gonna come back around and knock you on your ass
So speak wisely or not at all
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4. |
A Hard Man To Please
04:08
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Well, my daddy was a hard workin’ man
And momma knew not to get in the way
And they taught me that God has a plan
When they tucked me in at night they would say
“Jesus won’t save you now
Unless you get down on your knees
And your prayers will be answered somehow
But I’ll warn you – he’s a hard man to please”
Well, I married the first boy I ever kissed
In the backyard by the preacher from town
And his charm was a hard thing to resist
But some nights he took to holding me down
And he’d say
“Jesus won’t save you now
So you better get right down on your knees
Don’t you know that you belong to me now?
And lord knows I’m a hard man to please”
Well, try as I may and try as I might
I pray for my soul both morning and night
And ask the good lord for my life to be blessed
‘Cause right now it ain’t nothin’ but a mess
When my boy was just old enough to speak
I sat him right down here on my knee
And in a moment that some might call weak
I taught him what my life had taught me
I said
“Jesus won’t save you now
Not even when you’re down on your knees
You gotta learn to trust yourself somehow
And pray you’re not a hard man to please”
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5. |
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If you’re feeling sad and blue
Let it roll off your back
Or if you’re feeling angry
Let it roll off your back
‘cause happy times are coming back to you
Just give it some time
So until then just smile
And let it roll off your back
You gotta let it roll off your back
If people can’t see things your way
Let it roll off your back
Or if you can’t understand what people do
Let it roll off your back
‘cause everybody’s doing
The very best they know how to do
Sometimes you have to smile
And let it roll off your back
You gotta let it roll off your back
Well I haven’t lived a long time
But I know this much is true
When the world is getting you down
There’s only one thing to do
You let it roll off your back
If you made a mistake or two
Let it roll off your back
Or if you can’t do a thing about it now
Let it roll off your back
‘cause tomorrow you can take with you
The things you learn today
So until then just smile
And let it roll off your back
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6. |
The Love of His Life
04:30
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In the greening of the year
When she first felt the glow of life inside
She shared the news and he shed a tear
But he never revealed the reason that he cried
And then summer came and went in a flash
And any hope that she would change her mind was dashed
And when the leaves began to fall
And an early frost had crept across the land
He found that he couldn’t concentrate at all
And then one day she reached out for his hand
And she said, “Aren’t you happy?
There’s something on your mind, let’s talk it through.”
And he said, “I’m not ready
To share the love of my life with someone new.”
And then early that November
She saw something soften in his eyes
And then she started to remember
When that same look first caught her by surprise
But life wasn’t the same anymore
So maybe he wasn’t the same man as before
And on a snowy winter morn
She announced to him that she was ready to go
And then at last a baby girl was born
Who needed more than they could ever know
And she said, “Aren’t you happy?
I hope that life’s been good to you.”
And he said, “I hope that I’m ready
To share the love of my life
My one and only life
The only love of my life
With someone new –
‘cause you’re the love of my life.”
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7. |
The Marriage
03:48
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Time for dinner and it’s already dark
He lights the fire with a single spark
And in the time it took him to stack the wood
He could’ve started up the truck and left for good
She sets the table and it’s just for two
It’s been years since the little one flew
To seek his own way, to find his own life
To do what he had done and find his own wife
And she says
“Would you like steak tonight instead?”
But he doesn’t hear her
He’s got other worries on his head
Because he’s torn between the man they all see
And the man that he secretly longs to be
When he was younger, he was quite the catch
And every woman would bat every lash at him
To catch his eye and his fancy, but only one
Would become his wife and bear his only son
And here she stands now, looking so frail
So tired of the distance and so afraid to fail
The only man she ever loved, or ever would
Who gave her everything that her father never could
And she says
“Darling was it something that I said?”
But he doesn’t hear her
He’s got other worries on his head
Because he’s torn between the man they all see
And the man that he secretly longs to be
His hands are tired now, blistered and sore
His boots and gloves are waiting for him by the door
And he retires to the comfort of his chair
And scratches what remains of his thinning hair
The whisky burns right through his raw and itching nerves
Even though he knows the liquor only serves
To bring him sorrow, more cause and fuel for flight
And all the while the candle offers up its light
And she says
“Honey now won’t you come to bed”
But he doesn’t hear her
He’s got other worries on his head
Because he’s torn between the man they all see
And the man that he secretly longs to be
Yes he’s torn between the man they all see
And the man that he secretly longs to be
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8. |
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I pine for a man that I’ll never meet
Whose temper won’t flare hot and wild
But rather has the heart of a child
An angel with a smile so sweet
And I ache for a time out of memory
When the rivers never ran dry
And the stars all sparkled like diamonds in the sky
If there’s anything more lovely, please tell me
And oh, how I long for freedom
Freedom from this hell that I’m in
But I’m destined to keep on living with what I’ve done
And I’ll never know freedom again
Well, I often mistake my dreams at night
For memories that I once lived
There’s nothing in this world that I wouldn’t give
To go back and make this thing right
But if only he hadn’t raised his hand to me
I might not have lost my cool
And after all those years that I lived like a fool
I finally had the eyes to see
And oh, how I long for freedom
Freedom to start over again
But I’m destined to lose everything for what I’ve done
And I’ll never know freedom again
In the blink of an eye, a man had to die
By the blade of my old rusty knife
But why should I pay for one single day
With the rest of my long lonely life?
I pine for a man that I’ll never meet
As long as I’m locked in this cage
All that I’m left with now is my rage
And the cold bitter taste of defeat
But I’ll always take comfort in knowing
That I did what just had to be done
But what will happen now to my son –
The one in my belly who keeps growing?
And oh, how I long for freedom
Freedom to live life again
But I’m destined to die here for what I’ve done
And I’ll never know freedom again
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9. |
The Crime Most High
03:37
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Those hills have always reminded her of home
Of the days when all she wanted to do was roam
No longer a girl, she’s travelled the world
To come right back again to where she started
And once again, she seems so broken-hearted
But those hills had kept all the world from her view
And every day she longed for something new
And when that day finally came to chase after fame
Her father stood out on the porch and held her
No one seemed to have the heart to tell her
That you gotta thicken up your skin and stay on track
‘cause you might love the world but it might not love you back
You gotta keep those fires burnin’ and never let them die
Don’t wake up one day to find that you’ve been living a lie
So with her case in her hand and a lump in her throat
And her arms in the sleeves of her mother’s coat
She set out on her way at the break of the day
To find out why the grass seemed always greener
And discover what the world would see in her
She better thicken up her skin and stay on track
‘cause you might love the world but it might not love you back
You gotta keep your fingers busy and give it your best try
Don’t wake up one day to find that you’ve been living a lie
So one day when she’d had all her fill of the world
And all of the sadness that had unfurled
She set her sights for home with nothing but her comb
And a list of all her heartbreaks and failures
Why in the world would no one tell her?
That you gotta thicken up your skin and stay on track
‘cause you might love the world but it might not love you back
You gotta keep those fires burnin’ and never let them die
You gotta guard against the crime most high
And that is living a lie
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10. |
The Hard Work of Living
03:05
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I used to think that time was like a river
Flowing ever onward to the sea
But now I find it’s more like a cold, deep spring
That’s bound to run dry eventually
And yet I still have to haul the water
And wait for the sweet bread to rise anyhow
These things will move on without me
So I’ll roll up my sleeves and I’ll do it now
But the more I learn, the less I know what’s going on
And all the while, the hard work of living keeps rolling on
I will never lose my thirst for the water
I will never take for granted what I have here and now
But that doesn’t mean the road will be easy
It only means that I’ll have to find my way somehow
But the more I learn, the less I know what’s going on
And all the while, the hard work of living keeps rolling on
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Heather Pierson Conway, New Hampshire
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