Under a Blue Colorado Sky

This is a song that woke me from sleep the other day at 4:00 AM. It was written and given life by 9:00, recorded from the desk in my living room by 9:00 the next morning and then uploaded to www.acidplanet.com. You can hear it by searching for my name under "artists." It's a song based on some e-mail conversations with a friend from my Camp David days (he's the one on the right). He went into law enforcement, I went into an office. He's been attacked by knife-wielding assailants, run through forest fires, and stared down the barrels of hostile guns. Sure, I've had my share of staple puncture wounds and paper cuts, especially the ones on my tongue from licking envelopes, but...

they don't write songs about bureaucrats.


Under a Blue Colorado Sky

Youthful dreams of a place in the sun, we all had them, and the dreams took us places
We could never imagine the things we would see or the fun and the smiling faces
We donned green uniforms in the last of our teens and we trained hard for country and Corps
Then most of us climbed down The Hill where it seemed that our lives couldn't wait any
more...

I put down the green and I picked up the blue
Colorado prepared me for peace
But I found that the peace of the Rockies was hard
It's an undeclared war at the least

I've had to run through the flames of man's fire
Nearly 200 feet they just couldn't get higher
And it nearly came right down to the wire
Under a blue Colorado sky

I'll never forget that terrible day
When I heard the voice on my radio say
That the Columbine kids were being killed as they prayed
Under a blue Colorado sky

I can't put into words that you might understand
There's no way to convey what I see
So I'll look to the heavens, I'll look to the birds
And let the silence of the winds speak for me

A chopper crash once took some men
Among the dead was a special friend
He went down in the trees then he rose again
Under a blue Colorado sky

And my good friend died of a gunshot heart
His wife raises six kids alone
A bullet's bite from some fool's jealous spite
Left him cold as the Columbine stone

I've seen men suffer and I've seen them die
Babies too while their momma's cry
But the saddest thing is to say good-bye
Under a blue Colorado sky

Now I don't ask questions, I don't ask why
I just trust that when God says it's my turn to die
That he'll grant me the grace to say good-bye
Under a blue Colorado sky
Under a blue Colorado sky

Trodden Down

Well 3:30 comes and I can't sleep
Just another dance all alone in the deep
With a woman I don't know
Guess I'll reap what I sow

Now my friend Jack Daniels has a shot for me
And I'll chase it down with a beer or three
While I sit in a room where I can't see

Yeah, I know...

Now it could be God but it could be him
Yeah it's hard to tell when the light is dim
Like a Sunday morn without no hymn
It feels cold

It's not what I planned when I signed on the line
I'm a man nearly right nearly half the time
But the boss don't care about my feeble mind
He says "Grow...grow...grow...grow!"

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the obstacles for the seeds
Though you're never alone with the one who feeds your soul

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the things that kill the seeds
No you're never alone with the one who feeds on your soul

Old travel slides make it all so clear
Through the images from another year
And the mellow word from another beer
I've gone cold

Like the windblown snow from my mind's frontier
I gotta shovel fast to get outta' here
Don't think I'm gonna last another year
It's so cold, cold, cold, cold

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the obstacles for the seeds
Though you're never alone with the one who feeds your soul

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the things that kill the seeds
No you're never alone with the one who feeds on your soul

Scripts at night help me get to sleep
Coffee in the day helps my mind to keep
Me just moving on up that slope
So rough and steep

I'm not gonna earn my pay today
I'm gonna sit there and think about yesterdays
And all the friends who have helped me along the way
As I go

Now my sock's on fire cuz the heater's close
I best stop 'fore they say it was an overdose
I know they'll blame the Jack before my morning toast
Yeah I know, know, know, know...

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the parables of the seeds
But you're never alone with the one who feeds your soul

Trodden down, rocks, thorns and weeds
These are the parables of the seeds
No you're never alone with the one who feeds your soul