Headed down south to the land of the pines I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline Starin' up the road And pray to God I see headlights I made it down the coast in 17 hours Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh I can see my baby tonight So rock me, mama, like a wagon wheel Rock me, mama, anyway you feel Hey, mama, rock me Rock me, mama, like the wind and the rain Rock me, mama, like a south-bound train Hey, mama, rock me Runnin' from the cold up in New England I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time string band My baby plays the guitar I pick a banjo now Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave But I ain't turnin' back To livin' that old life no more So rock me, mama, like a wagon wheel Rock me, mama, anyway you feel Hey, mama, rock me Rock me, mama, like the wind and the rain Rock me, mama, like a south-bound train Hey, mama, rock me Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke I caught a trucker out of Philly Had a nice long toke But he's headed west from the Cumberland Gap To Johnson City, Tennessee And I gotta get a move on fit for the sun I hear my baby callin' my name And I know that she's the only one And if I die in Raleigh At least I will die free So rock me, mama, like a wagon wheel Rock me, mama, anyway you feel Hey, mama, rock me Rock me, mama, like the wind and the rain Rock me, mama, like a south-bound train Hey, mama, rock me

We sang porch songs like we were rock stars We drank cheap beer and tried to make it last Then it was back in the car The coast to the cornfields Maybe we were just looking for something else to call ourselves Rest stop coffee, yeah postcards back home Back seat scenes of strange towns Keep driving on, driving on In the middle of the night, we took a wrong turn Ended up on a mountain in the pine trees and the moonlit earth Oh the scattered light, a photograph in mind Of a summer day, squinting at the sun It's a warm stone, that I carry along You know I, you know that I I've been saving quarters, for the toll roads We can pack the car tonight, we can leave town tomorrow Put me on a porch swing out in Portland Put me on an F train, roll me back into Brooklyn Well we closed the bars, like we were cowboys And then we wrote our names in the dirt by the side of the road And October came and the winter drew near With the cold fingers digging in under the ribs But we were campfire girls and we were kicking up the leaves And we returned to our jobs with our clothes smelling of wood-smoke Oh the scattered light, a photograph in mind Of a summer day, squinting at the sun It's a warm stone, that I carry along You know I, you know that I I've been saving quarters, for the toll roads We can pack the car tonight, we can leave town tomorrow Put me on a porch swing out in Portland Put me on an F train, roll me back into Brooklyn We sang porch songs like we were rock stars We drank cheap beer and tried to make it last

Well you call again, As if I don't know what you're going to say... So let it ring, I can count the cracks in the ceiling all day long. I guess the birds they just went south, But I've got no where to go, It's 31 and falling, I've been dreaming of you darling, In case you'd like to know... God damn my wasted time, Ringing all the bells. If I could hold my tongue, Just long enough to get me through the door Then you won't know... Rewind the tape while your back is turned, Fold my arms and pull the curtains closed, Bury the roses in the backyard And darlin' never mind what I might have said, before, before, God damn my wasted time, Ringing all the bells... I've got half a mind to lie to you Half a mind to tell you everything I have to tell, to tell, to tell. I've been wasting my time I know I know better, And I'm tired of waxing sentimental, I'm tired of saying please, please, Tired of waiting, I'm tired of waiting. You call again, As if I don't know what you're going to say...

Maybe you learned it from your family Mix in a little of the old midwest It seems someone out there built a legacy On keeping everything tight under wraps And all the secrets in the silos You won't even whisper them to the prairie wind And now we're talking on the telephone Skimming the surface of this ocean Just skimming the surface of this ocean Chorus: You know you're drowning me In all you're not saying Swept under the rug for so long, oh darling Don't it get lonely when you're the only one who knows? All the over-encrypted poetry Unintelligible tales of the truth It was all dripping with mystery Enough to keep me there long overdue So honey, honey, drop the metaphor Honey, honey, won't you come clean because... Chorus Well I don't claim to be so forthright It's not my strongpoint But your attempts are illusory And you don't even know it, you don't even know it So maybe you learned it from your family Maybe that's just your best excuse You could use some New York City You could use your own talk show host Because I am drowning in all That you're not saying I want to shake your shoulders I want to rip down the curtains Oh, 'cause all I remember Are these opaque conversations When so much of the meaning Just got lost in the translation... It's a tale so ordinary There you were with your pretty mouth closed But darling you should have told me the ending Long before you did

Oh, there you are It's so good to see you It's so good to see you Standing right at my door I wish you could stay Well, how's your girlfriend? How's that going? She never liked me Oh, I wish you could stay It might be an ordinary day But it seems like more than that to me Lines on my forehead From trying to thread the needle of this idea Without letting you know it If you said I could I'd throw the maps right out the window Take the longest way home So I change the subject And I put on my best smile So you won't notice So you won't notice what's wrong So don't you ask me No, please don't ask me 'Cause I don't dare tell you Exactly what's on my mind It might be an ordinary day But it seems like more than that to me I've gathered these pages of words left unspoken Letters I didn't send you would fall right from my fingers If you said I could put my hands where I want to Set fire to the bedroom If you said I could put it all out on the table Throw the maps right out the window Oh, there you are It's so good to see you It's so good to see you I wish you could stay