Ethan Taylor Stephenson

"Still,...A Deeper Valley"

1. 1000 Mile Blues 

I’ve walked the streets of Paris, caught a train that ran the length of Germany. 

I’ve stuck to county highways and the backroads of this wild country 

I can’t help feeling I’m 1000 Miles from where I want to be. 

There ain't no rest for a heart that longs for the road, 

With nothing but the memory of failed love that laid it low 

As I am a child, I’ll surely have the chance to let it go. 

Chorus: 

Here I am, my heart in my hand, 

The whole wide world passing under. 

Verse 2:

We fall in and out of love as easy as a change in the wind. 

Where one heart makes its stop, another is sure to begin, 

So we go searching far and wide for comfort in the arms of a friend. 

I hope she is a sweet girl with eyes just like mine, 

That have seen across this prairie and counted the miles of her life on highway signs. 

So that every new beginning, just like the morning, allows the sun to shine. 

Chorus: 

Here I am, my heart in my hand, 

The whole wide world passing under. 

Verse 3:

I’ve walked the streets of Paris, caught a train that ran the length of Germany.  

I’ve stuck to county highways and the backroads of this wild country  

I can’t help feeling I’m 1000 Miles from where I want to be.

Chorus:  

Here I am, my heart in my hand,  

The whole wide world passing under.

 

2. Only Let You Down 

Verse 1: 

I’ll only let you down, leave you high and dry. 

When I think of all the ways I’ll hurt you it makes me wonder why I’m good for leaving 

Maybe I should stay, I’m through deceiving. 

Time will tell that I was bound to roll away. 

Love me now, while we both have the time 

Love me now, cause I am bound to change my mind. 

Love me now. 

Verse 2: 

I’ll only build you up, promise all of my love 

Knowing all the while that it would never be enough, and I will break you 

Make you feel small, and I will shake you 

Won’t be long til you find that you’ve nowhere left to fall 

Love me now, while we both have the time 

Love me now, cause I am bound to change my mind. 

Love me now. 

Verse 3: 

I’ll only pick you up, just to push you down. 

I always will be distant when you choose to come around and I will forsake you 

Leave you with no doubt, and I’ll mistake you. 

Won’t be long til you know exactly what I’m about, 

Love me now, while we both have the time 

Love me now, cause I am bound to change my mind. 

Love me now. 

Verse 4: 

I’ll only break your heart, yes I am that cruel, 

And in and out of love babe well I’ll make you play the fool and if I hurt you, 

Though I never meant to try, and if I desert you, 

Well its only that I chose to leave before I made you cry. 

Love me now, while we both have the time 

Love me now, cause I am bound to change my mind. 

Love me now. 

 

3. Already Gone 

Verse 1: 

I’ll give it away in the morning, give my heart without warning, 

What does it mean to me, what does it mean to me 

Now that I’m already gone. 

Verse 2: 

I’ll give it away at noontime, put my heart out on the front line. 

Will it fight for me, will it fight for me there? 

Now that I’m already gone. 

Verse 3: 

I’ll give it away in the evening, though my heart has deceived me 

What does it mean to me, what does it mean to me \ 

Now that I’m already gone 

Verse 4: 

I’ll give it away at midnight, scatter it all across the starlight, 

Will it shine for me, will it shine for me there, 

Now that I’m already gone. 

Verse 5: 

I’ll do it again in the morning, give my heart with no warning. 

What does it mean to me, what does it mean to me 

Now that I’m already gone. 

 

4. Wrote You a Letter 

Verse 1: 

I wrote you a letter that I’d never send, 

Five long years, yours truly. 

I wrote you a letter that I’d never send; 

I still miss your sad eyed beauty. 

If time were a river wild and free, 

And I a stone among it. 

If time were a river wild and free; 

I’d brave the angry current. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long, It’s a long, It’s a long, long way. 

It grows further and further every day.

Verse 2: 

If love were more than a word to say; 

Death knew nothing of hatred. 

If love were more than word to say; 

This life might be more sacred. 

If blood spilled not for the hallowed ground; 

War drums ceased to be sounding. 

If blood spilled not for the hallowed ground; 

We’d find another reason. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long, It’s a long, It’s a long, long way. 

It grows further and further every day. 

Verse 3: 

I sat stone cold in the morning light, 

Watched the stars fading. 

I sat stone cold in the morning light, 

And I dreamed my self awaying. 

Instead, I wrote you a letter that I’d never send, 

Five long years, yours truly. 

I wrote you a letter that I’d never send; 

I still miss your sad eyed beauty. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long, It’s a long, It’s a long, long way. 

It grows further and further every day. 

 

5. Worn Out Shoes 

Verse 1: 

This isn’t a world to have a heart to lose 

Roads are made for traveling and worn out shoes 

Some roads are made of stone and some of dirt 

It takes a heart of stone to never get hurt 

Sometimes the holes so deep you can’t see the sky 

So you get stone drunk on a Friday night 

Try to drink away those lonesome blues 

This isn’t a world to have a heart to lose. 

Chorus: 

I see those mountains rising, o’er the plains 

I see myself falling, with the falling rain. 

It’s a long, long way, from here to where I’m standing 

Longer still to where I want to be. 

Verse 2: 

They say you exercise your devils your angels leave too 

It takes a suicidal saint to have a clue 

That wars are fought on neutral ground 

And the bodies are buried on the edge of town. 

Like Achilles in the dust 

Coming cavalcade and sea of guns 

Hell of a thing to be and not become 

I thought I had those devils on the run. 

Chorus: 

I see those mountains rising, o’er the plains 

I see myself falling, with the falling rain. 

It’s a long, long way, from here to where I’m standing 

Longer still to where I want to be. 

Verse 3: 

Love’s a straight razor; it cuts both ways 

You’re all bled out before you feel betrayed 

You tie it up fast in the traveling bones 

And I always was better at living alone 

Because this isn’t a world to have a heart to lose 

Roads are made for traveling and worn out shoes 

Some roads are made of stone and some of dirt 

It takes a heart of stone to never get hurt. 

Chorus: 

I see those mountains rising, o’er the plains 

I see myself falling, with the falling rain. 

It’s a long, long way, from here to where I’m standing 

Longer still to where I want to be. 

 

6. Last Man on the Mountain 

Verse 1: 

I am the last man on this mountain, 

And I’m so far from my home. 

I hope someday that I will wake on fields of heather, 

Far from the maddening crowd. 

If you don’t see me when the snow falls, 

It doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten. 

It only means that I have lingered in these valleys 

Searching for a love unreturned. 

Chorus: 

Think of me cause I need you now 

While my heart is free from the howling wind 

Think of me cause I’m bound to be moving 

With the changing of the seasons. 

Verse 2: 

Do you not wonder where the time went, 

When we looked at love as something new. 

Before the rains came and buried us in autumn. 

As deep as the leaves around us. 

If you don’t know what to say, girl. 

You only need remain still. 

And I’ll return to the hills that I long for, 

A victim of the weather. 

Chorus: 

Think of me cause I need you now 

While my heart is free from the howling wind 

Think of me cause I’m bound to be moving 

With the changing of the seasons. 

Verse 3: 

If I don’t write you a love song 

It’s that I could not find the words. 

After all, I’ve not touched your cheeks in so long 

Or known the warmth that’s in them. 

I am the last man on this mountain, 

And I’m so far from my home. 

I hope someday that I will wake on fields of heather, 

Far from the maddening crowd. 

Chorus: 

Think of me cause I need you now 

While my heart is free from the howling wind 

Think of me cause I’m bound to be moving 

With the changing of the seasons. 

 

7. Bluebird 

Verse 1: 

Well I stood on top a mountain, and watched the bluebirds take to flight 

In the early morning 

And I stared into the twilight and watched their wings beat the air 

As the winter winds came calling 

Chorus: 
Fly, bluebird, fly south for winter 

Where the snow can’t still your wings 

Verse 2: 

I walked a lonesome highway and counted the birds on the power lines 

They sang before their leaving 

I watched the snow start falling, and lightly dust the broken wings 

From the ledge where they were hiding 

Chorus: 
Fly, bluebird, fly south for winter 

Where the snow can’t still your wings 

Verse 3: 

Now I’m here at the beginning, waiting for the spring to thaw 

The bitterness and longing. 

I know it will be so long before I watch the bluebirds fly 

In the early morning. 

Chorus: 
Fly, bluebird, fly south for winter 

Where the snow can’t still your wings

 

8. Bird City U.S.A. 

Verse 1: 

Jesus saves out on the highway to Bird City, U.S.A 

I hoped he’d be forgiving but the billboard doesn’t say 

The night is cold, getting colder. 

When I get into Bird City, I’ll find the only neon sign 

I’m hungry and I’m aching and I know I’ve got no time 

The night is dark, closing in around me. 

Chorus: 

I shot a man in Wichita and now I’m running from the law 

Out on this unforgiving highway. 

There’s bloodstains on my left lapel and I’m growing nauseous from the smell 

But I know I can’t go back to jail this time. 

So I’ll keep up to the rhythm of the engine. 

Verse 2: 

I heard the train roll through this town around three a.m. 

I didn’t get to sleep last night, I’m afraid of what I’ve been 

The night is long, getting longer. 

Thought I might hop that train, take it out to New York town. 

I fear where I am headed my trouble will be bound 

The tracks of steel, the blood inside my veins 

Chorus 2: 

California is a dream to me, I’ve never known the west coast scene 

I think I could find some comfort there. 

Spend a few years hiding out, pack it up and take it south, 

Find a job along the Mexican border, 

Picking fruit with the migrant workers. 

Verse 3: 

Woke up in this hotel with the sunlight in my eyes 

I set out to the backdrop of a red August sky 

The morning broke with no one to see it. 

I stopped into a filling station outside of Colorado Springs 

Where I ran into my picture on a 12 inch t.v. screen 

The day was warm, getting warmer. 

Chorus 3: 

The feds they said were in pursuit, the man I shot was not some suit 

But a senator from Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

I caught him running with my wife, and I felt it best to end his life 

Leave my child and my homeland forever. 

Verse 4: 

I’m down around the Sangre de Christo mountain range 

I see those red lights come hard across the prairie plains 

The day was hot, on fire. 

 

9. Rollin’ on Home 

Verse 1: 

Now there are so many miles between, 

Even more misunderstood. 

Promised that she’d make me love again, 

But I never thought she would. 

I gave my heart out to some city lights, 

And a girl I hardly knew. 

Never thought it’d be better spent 

Running from the love sick blues. 

Chorus: 

I’ll keep rolling on, rolling on home to you. 

I’ll keep rolling on. 

Verse 2: 

Packed my bags and saw the letter written 

Explaining where I might be bound 

Never could find the words to say to you, 

And I’d rather not be found. 

So I’ll say goodbye from Chicago. 

I might see you in the spring. 

Hope to find one truth out there 

That man’s not such a fickle thing. 

Chorus: 

I’ll keep rolling on, rolling on home to you. 

I’ll keep rolling on. 

Verse 3: 

Had a vision of a girl out there 

Waiting far across the waves. 

She never promised she’d make me love again. 

At least she knew my name. 

Chorus: 

I’ll keep rolling on, rolling on home to you. 

I’ll keep rolling on. 

 

10. Hard Road 

Verse 1: 

It’s a hard road, and they say that overnight you will become a man 

So take your restless wings and roll them over in the palm of your hands 

There’s a free wind, blowing over an open ocean 

That idles back and forth from time to time, as your ships come in. 

Happiness it seems is the vice of our dreams 

Without the hope of retribution, we shiver just like leaves. 

Verse 2: 

There’s and empire built on a foundation of sand and stone 

Laid to rest before his time his epitaph read “A King without a Throne” 

In the night sky, the moon rose heavy over an ancient mountain 

The stars came cascading all around on the newly hallowed ground. 

Consciousness I find only serves to constrict my mind 

Without the hope of restitution, we hand just like vines. 

Verse 3: 

In the archive, written by the hands of mediocrity 

Sculpted by the minds that clearly saw through the insecurity 

There is a long road that dances over many broken highways 

Proudly stands alone against the rain as it slowly slips away. 

Love as far as I can tell can be as cold as hell. 

Without the hope of our salvation, we dry just like wells. 

 

11. Long Time Coming, Long Time Gone 

Verse 1: 

There is a light on in the distance, barely bright enough to see. 

There is a light on in the distance; tonight it is lonely company. 

Below my feet there is a path laid out before me; gravity don’t pay it any mind. 

Below my feet there is a path laid out before me; I can’t seem to take it down the line. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

Verse 2: 

If two hearts can bring two minds together, and two minds are better than one. 

If two hearts can bring two minds together, then the battle is already gone. 

In war the lines are bound to be redrawn, like sonnets written on a page. 

In war the lines are bound to be redrawn, like the whisper of a worn out phrase. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

Verse 3: 

If the sun don’t rise tomorrow and the stars are forever crossed. 

If the sun don’t rise tomorrow, time was always meant to be lost. 

There is a light on in the distance, barely bright enough to see. 

There is a light on in the distance, tonight it is lonely company. 

Chorus: 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

It’s a long time coming, long time gone. 

 

12. .22 Shells 

Verse 1: 

The Hudson Bay was frozen over 

Those north country springs look so much colder when you’re blue 

That was long before I knew you. 

Plane touched down in Reykjavik 

The ice was on and the air was thick but new 

That was long before I saw you. 

Chorus: 

Distance is closer from over the poles 

It’s .22 shells and a heart full of holes. 

Verse 2: 

Was the hottest day they’d know all year. 

My heart was full and my head was clear, I’d see it through 

That was long before I held you. 

Walked it back a million years 

When I first learned the heart of fear was truth. 

That was long before I loved you. 

Chorus: 

Distance is closer from over the poles 

It’s .22 shells and a heart full of holes. 

Verse 3: 

Budapest those city lights 

Never knew a city could shine so bright but I grew. 

That was long before I lost you. 

Now there’s an ocean with depths unseen. 

It’s just like an ocean to come between us two. 

Now I know, I’ll have to learn to live, without you.

 Copyright © 2017 by Ethan Taylor Stephenson