THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS (©2020 Sara Glaser) I’ve lived a quiet life, no one’s mother, no one’s wife Put down my roots in the place I was planted Old furniture, old photographs, hand-me-downs and bric-a-brac I tended to the home I was granted The fox, the elk, the bear, driven from its lair The hawk, the chickadee leaves its nest Dry lightning’s aftermath made a fiery path To our little town near the high Sierra crest I never thought I’d see the hills of Tennessee Never thought I’d be in the state of North Carolina I never traveled east, its land has come to me I’m in the Great Smoky Mountains of California Up with the red, red sun, orange moon when the day is done Ash and embers drift into our dreams Fire fighters sleep, standing on their feet While the dragon breathes on the pines and the evergreens When nature has a song, best to sing along Her voice brings every child to the choir I was silent in the corner, she grabbed me with no warning My soles were soft, she set my feet on fire I never thought I’d see the hills of Tennessee Never thought I’d be in the state of North Carolina I never traveled east, its land has come to me The Great Smoky Mountains of California A cot, a stove, a car, I’m living everywhere From Slagger to Poker Flat to Angels Camp Colfax to Jellico, anywhere I go I’m free and wild like a cinder in the wind Never thought I’d ever see the hills of Tennessee Never thought I’d say a farewell to California I’m going east to see the land that came to me The Great Smoky Mountains of Carolina

SMOKY COVID CABIN FEVER HEAT WAVE BLUES (©2020 Sara Glaser) I lie around sweating in my underwear I feel like a turtle, legs in the air Windows sealed up, it’s a Catch-22 I got the smoky Covid cabin fever heat wave blues To see my friends requires a garden But sitting outside is like smoking a carton So I get on the horn, I blast the bad news I’ve got the smoky Covid cabin fever heat wave blues Last time there were fires, my brilliant idea Was to do all my walking inside IKEA But I’m too afraid now of coughs and achoos I got the smoky Covid cabin fever heat wave blues I’ve got a floor, I’ve got a roof Some people’s homes go up in a poof I shouldn’t complain, but I’m coming unglued It’s the smoky Covid cabin fever heat wave blues An asteroid’s coming, is that even shocking? We’re overdue for a deus ex machina And if that bastard’s still in, we don’t got much to lose With the smokey Covid cabin fever heat wave blues The smoky Covid cabin fever heat wave blues

MOUSE TRAP CHEESE (©2020 Sara Glaser) Nashville’s got a stash full of guys like me Hank and Johnny wannabe’s, hawkin’ their melodies Shaking every Tennessee tree for the fruits of fame Trying to sound old with something new Rockabilly cowpunk bluegrass Country music’s just three chords and the truth I came here in my twenties, a heart embroidered on my sleeve And everything I was writing I believed I truly believed I cut my teeth here but this town can be ruthless Thirty years later and I’m toothless Mouse trap cheese Corn mush, lots of syrup Cotton candy lyrics Three chords and a lie Gets me by Verse one, tease ’em with a mystery Verse two, reveal a little history Then sucker punch ’em with the right hook, Check their faces, see how it took If that bit don’t turn a profit, go straight to the bridge And toss ’em off it It’s mouse trap cheese Corn mush, lots of syrup Cotton candy lyrics Three chords and a lie Gets me by Stepford groupies see me by the back of the stage They’re treating me like I’m some kind of sage ’Cause I get three thousand freakin’ plays a minute I write a bunch a crap, and I’m rolling in it They say, “Do a songwriter a favor, treat ’em bad” But I’m well-heeled and whatever wounds I had I stripped those mines a long time ago All I trade in now is fool’s gold Three chords and a lie, and it’s getting old I give ’em mouse trap cheese Corn mush drowned in syrup Smooth as Velveeta lyrics Three chords and a lie Gets me by Three chords and a lie…

DEATH IS GONNA KILL ME (Sara Glaser ©2019) When I run out of lines And I’m standing stranded, mute and still Will I get the hook or be out there ’til It’s curtains Another way to go Just quit and end the show Act two is done Three may not be worth watching When the last few words have been spoken When the fourth wall has been broken Death is gonna cast me Soon or sometime later Be I an actor or a waiter He’ll come find me Does it really matter When we exit left Make our smooth or rocky segue To what’s next You know, death is gonna kill me If I choke and miss my mark Or if I nail it from the start Death ain’t no critic “To be or not to be,” is not the question Unless you’re counting on a resurrection One day that little trap door Hiding in the slats Mmmm Will spring open A plain old plot of dirt Has seeds waiting in the wings Ready for the brilliant show Of springtime And crocuses push through Ice encrusted ground To show their pretty purple crowns Of glory When the lights go down and the crowd is listening When the moving colored spots are glistening I know that death you’re gonna kill me But I’ve got some more to say So I’m cheating you today…

GIVE UP THE GHOST (©2004 Sara Glaser) Saturday night I was devil-may-care I drank my dinner at the corner dive Six more down and I was barely alive And it seemed like Kingdom Come day I crawled to church on Sunday And it was there that I found her A glorious light around her She called to me from the choir She said “Give up the ghost, Jordy “Give up the ghost, Jordy “Give up your sins, give ’em up to the Lord “He will take you to the Promised Land “Just give it up to the Holy Ghost” On Monday I went to court her But God must have seen me coming He had taken my prize from me She’d passed on the week before Tuesday I was wretched For although I did not know her She was the finest flower Life had yet laid at my feet She said “Give up the ghost, Jordy “Give up the ghost, Jordy “God will be your shield and sword “He will take you to the Promised Land “Just give it up to the Holy Ghost” Wednesday I did see her Stretched out like a lover Soul drifting above her Still beautiful in death Thursday she came to me And she spoke of the sweet hereafter And in her joyous laughter Was a melody so dear She said “Give up the ghost, Jordy “Give up the ghost, Jordy “God will be your shield and sword “He will take you to the Promised Land “Just give it up to the Holy Ghost” Give up the ghost Give up the ghost Give up the ghost I can’t give up the ghost Come to me on Friday And take me away to Zion I love you better than the live one I’ll be with come Saturday night Haunt me, haunt me every day Taunt me with your pure pure heart I can’t give up the ghost ’til I depart And give it up to the Holy Ghost No I won’t give up the ghost ’til I depart And I meet her in the Promised Land.

FIREMAN JIM (©2020 Sara Glaser) Fireman Jim, Fireman Jim Gonna get a box’a matches so I can see him Gonna get a jug’a diesel, I can play his game He’ll come flyin’ like a moth to a flame ’Cause I’m tired of waiting for Jim to strike I’ll turn my house to ash if that’s what he likes I’m burning, Jimmy, I’m a red hot coal Don’t spurn me, Jim, slide down the pole Hop on your truck, make the engines roar Pull on the hose, break down my door, Lift me into your arms, the heat won’t wait Lay me down on the lawn, resuscitate Fireman Jim, Fireman Jim Gonna get a box’a matches so I can see him Gonna get a jug’a diesel, I can play his game He’ll come flyin’ like a moth to a flame I’m a siren, Jimmy, I know what I am Forget the wife, she don’t know how to fan The flames of love to a raging inferno All you got at home is a can of Sterno Fireman Jim, Fireman Jim Gonna get a box’a matches so I can see him Gonna get a jug’a diesel, I can play that game He’ll come flyin’ like a moth to a flame When it’s all over, the blaze and the flood And there’s nothing left but a pile of wet wood Like Adam and Eve in God’s creation We’ll live in the garden with your Dalmation Fireman Jim, Fireman Jim Gonna get a box’a matches so I can see him Gonna get a jug’a diesel, I can play his game He’ll come flyin’ like a moth to a flame Like a moth to a flame

MEET ME AT THE CHINQUAPIN TREE (©2019 Sara Glaser) Poor “Pretty Polly” and little “Omie Wise” Tempted by charm, deluded by lies Polly in the woods at the point of a knife Omie by the river pleading for her life Meet me by the Chinquapin oak Got a pick in my pocket, a song in my throat Banjo on my back, bottle in my pack Meet me at the Chinquapin tree Meet me by the Chinquapin tree Friday night is music at the store I’m singing with the band, bass, fiddle and guitar There’s a stranger with a banjo over by the wall Picking and frailing, he could play them all Frailing and picking, he could play them all He met my eyes, he held them so long That my chest started drumming while I sang my songs About poor Pretty Polly and little Omie Wise Tempted by charm, deluded by lies He played so good, we asked him for a tune Well, he cocked his head, then he began to croon He was asking for something, he was aiming straight for me A rendezvous by the old oak tree To rendezvous at the old oak tree He said, meet me by the Chinquapin oak Got a pick in my pocket, a song in my throat Banjo on my back, bottle in my pack Meet me at the Chinquapin tree Meet me by the Chinquapin tree I knew to stay away from the traveling sort They try and take your flower, they’ll lie to you for sport I’d never been tempted, mother raised me smart No Blackjack Davey was gonna steal my heart But now I saw why Omie got drowned How Polly followed to strange valleys deep His words like kindling set me aflame Run to the Chinquapin to carve our names I could’a run to the Chinquapin to carve our names But if I’d met him at the Chinquapin oak He might’a picked my pockets, put his hand to my throat Put me on my back, pulled a knife from his pack I didn’t meet him at the Chinquapin tree I wouldn’t meet him by the Chinquapin tree He’s long gone, but every time I pass The Chinquapin, I think of him, how he picked so neat and fast How my foot was in a trap, my head in a fog I was popping and crackling like a Chinquapin log I crackled and popped like a Chinquapin log He came in one night on my radio He’s talkin’ ’bout a song he wrote a while ago “This one’s for a girl with honey-colored eyes She was singing ‘Pretty Polly’ and ‘Little Omie Wise’ “Meet me by the Chinquapin oak Got a pick in my pocket, a song in my throat Banjo on my back, bottle in my pack Meet me at the Chinquapin tree Meet me by the Chinquapin tree”

STITCHES (©2019 Sara Glaser) When I was twelve, just a kind Mother took me to Berlin She’d sewn a gold star to my coat I’d travel east by train and boat Her eyes compelled me to have faith On my journey to the Golden Gate And when I reached up to hold her She said, “Mein Liebling, there’ll be an angel at your shoulder” When I was nine, just a kind Rebeka Steinberg was my friend I taught her how to knit and purl She showed me how to waltz and twirl Then she vanished overnight They’d felt the winds and taken flight I often thought of her as I grew older And hoped there was an angel at her shoulder When there’s a wound, where there’s a rend, we make stitches, stitch and mend Stitches made in blues and greens, wines and pinks and tourmalines Fuchsia floss, white calico, make flowers reaching through the snow Dark grays make a stormy shroud, yellow rays burst through the cloud We’ve passed on to the other side [so fern und doch so nah] We see our daughters’ stars collide [Leben vereinen] Lighting up a darkened sky [Licht verdrangt die Nacht] A sparkly blanket in the night [Und Liebe warmt uns] They chase their dreams, they sing their songs [Sie singen Lieder] Find their loves, find where they belong And should their world grow colder Each has an angel at her shoulder When there’s a wound, where there’s a rend, we make stitches, stitch and mend Arabesques and serpentines, binding with their loops and vines Golden cord and copper wire, make a phoenix rising from the fire And silver threads and cotton strings make a pair of angel wings

THINGS I NEVER KNEW (©2021 Sara Glaser) I remembered things I never knew When I saw you, when I first saw you And I remembered things I’ve never seen A beautiful dream, like a beautiful dream Hair across your eyes, playing hypnotized Hypnotizing me Lit up from within, way above the din Of the room you’re in I remembered things I never knew When I met you, when I met you And I remembered things I never took a chance on A cloud to dance on, clouds to dance on An easy kind of truth, sipping sweet vermouth On a summer night No reason to explain the trials and the pains That came before I remembered things I never knew When I touched you, when I first touched you And I remembered things I’d never taken Though I was aching, I was aching The goodness in your eyes, the surprising ways They look at me Your steady beat in time, a song that likes to rhyme In every line I remembered things I never knew When we found a home, when we found a home Yes, I remembered things I’ve never known