Shortstop

Lyrics

In the Fields
In the fields
Where we laid our heads
Dog barking to the heat of the beating sun
Hot ground
Sweet ground
A feeling of fever in the air
Kissing the nape of your neck
(Sighing colors)
Breaking sticks into heartsick
Flaming words

In the fields
Making love
The luck of the Irish
Tucked between your toes
Love's debt
Pays regret
In months I begin to show
Dressing as a car drives by
(Gasping buzzards)
Turning time into a lover' s rhyme
Pressed between the pages
Of my heart . . .

In the fields where are you?
Are you hiding yourself there . . . still?
In the fields where are you?
Are you hiding yourself
In a city of weeds
Are you hiding yourself
In a city of glass?
(In a city of glass ...)

In the fields
Tripping on
Pushing through the barbs
To reach the greener side . . .
It was years ago
We let each other go
To follow the tracks of our dreams . . .
Sometimes I carry the memory
(Full term)
Delivering the spitting
Image of you
(Eyes burn)
I live at peace
I did what I had to do.
And you . . .
And you . . .
And you?

In the fields where are you?
Are you hiding yourself there . . . still?
In the fields where are you?
Are you hiding yourself
In a city of weeds
Are you hiding yourself
In a city of glass?
(In a city of glass ...)

Short Stop
As I
Circle the picnic table
Eyes watch
Me in my flowing dress
The sky is an unnatural shade of green
But it’s really just the light
Through the trees

Red and white
Inviting cookie store in
New York City
I took a chocolate photograph
A thirteen-month old smiling child
Mother ends our conversation
Calls me
A lunatic

Dancing
In the middle of a
Crazy diamond
I’m kicking dust into the
Stagnant air
I am a
Shortstop between
Here and third
But the traffic
Never slows…
Still I wave

My sister
Tells a funny situation
She is happy
In her thinking
As the phone begins to ring
A big boom fills the room
It is a man who wants my sister
All to himself
So I must break the news
She is gay

Laughing
In the middle of a
Crazy diamond
She’s kicking dust into the
Stagnant air
She is a shortstop between
Here and third
But the traffic
Never slows…
She waves
Anyway

Each day
You make your bed all by
Yourself
Tossing flowers
The names engraved
With pencil marks
A constant quirky conversation
Should you change your name
To protect
Your innocence

Spinning
In the middle of your
Crazy diamond
I’m kicking dust into your
Stagnant air
You are a
Shortstop between
Here and third
Never slows
Still
I wave

As I
Circle the picnic table
Yours eyes watch me
In my flowing dress
The sky is an unnatural shade of
Grey…
But it’s really just the light
Fading from your eyes
Yes, it’s really just the light
Fading, fading
It’s really just the light…

Aurora
Dodging the white coats in white halls
I check my guitar — is it in tune?
Crossing the hall to her room
Where
Sitting alone in her chair
I
Position myself in her singular stare
I sing for Aurora
She's not feeling too well today, they say,
"How can you tell? She looks
So healthy
In every way..."

And she
Can't speak a word
But I know
She can hear
every word that I say
I wish I could speak
With my eyes

Jerking her toes in time
A cryptic rhythm of hers... or mine?
Sometimes out of the shadows she
She whispers her scattered history
A faint remembrance visits the house
Of the elderly

And she
Can't speak a word
But I know
She can hear
every word that I say
I wish I could speak
With my eyes

2056
Here I sit
No more numbered days
I wake to a circle of angels
With their heads bowed low
And their mouths
Encircle my soul

Am I here?
In this numbered room?
I wake to a blue-jeaned girl
She's singing her songs
And trying so hard
Not to cry ...

And she
Can't speak a word
But I know
She can hear
every word that I say
I wish I could speak
With my eyes

I Couldn't Help Myself
The video for this song is available on Sara's DVD, "I Am Going On a Journey." She performed this song on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" - also on the DVD.

growing up together....the years just seemed to fly
changing our lives like the weather...rainy days to
clear, blue skies
too much time together... riding home from school
teasing me you were better... but you were the one who
broke the rules

i keep asking myself
how can i be feeling this way
i keep thinking i'm crazy
but now i just got to say

i couldn't help myself...
no, no... i couldn't help myself...
ooh, ooh, i couldn't help myself...
from falling...
in love with you

You have been there whenever I felt like I'd reached the end
Telling you all my secrets, we were the best of friends
Calling me up whenever nothing was going down
Nothing was ever better than when you were around

I keep telling myself you're just a friend of mine
but the more I deny it, the more I realize

i couldn't help myself...
no, no... i couldn't help myself...
ooh, ooh, i couldn't help myself...
from falling...
in love with you

something inside... came alive
oh, what was the sign? was it there all the time?
and i don't know what i'll do...
if you don't feel this way, too...

i couldn't help myself...
no, no... i couldn't help myself...
ooh, ooh, i couldn't help myself...
from falling...
in love with you

i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love... ooh, ooh... you know i'm in love

If We Sent Our Hearts Over Now
I wore my heart out on my sleeve
But then they shot me down
And they left me here to die ...
If my last kiss is this cold ground
Will I forgive the hand
That held the gun and
Took my life away?
Can't we take
The time of day
To give the world another chance
Can't we learn
From our mistakes?
We're human after all...

If we sent our hearts over now
Would it ease the pain?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it stop the fighting?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it be enough to save the world?
Well, I can't believe
I'm the only one
who just can't believe
That this is going on...

As I sit in my small cell
Counting scratches on the wall
Scratch my head and start to cry
Chained to this solitary hell
I'm about to lose it all
My last words are to myself
Racing back to the fateful day
I took another human life away
Oh, how I've learned from my mistakes
But now I have to pay...

If we sent our hearts over now
Would it ease the pain?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it stop the fighting?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it be enough to save the world?
Well, I can't believe
I'm the only one
who just can't believe
This is going on...

Oh, can't we learn from our mistakes?
We're human, after all...

I'm held hostage in a land
Where there's no brotherhood of man
No one understands what I say
I just make it through each day
As they let me waste away
Somewhere behind the walls of sand
My situation is unknown
And my captors rule from a thorny throne
Each night I dream that I’ll soon be home
But I can't sleep tonight...

If we sent our hearts over now
Would it ease the pain?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it stop the fighting?
If we sent our hearts over now
Would it be enough to save the world?
Well, I can't believe
I'm the only one
who just can't believe
This is going on ...
I can't believe it...
No! No!
I can't believe this is going on...

The Very Thing
The video for this song is available on Sara's DVD, "I Am Going On a Journey," along with an alternate, never broadcast version.

The very thing that makes you happy
Makes me want to fight
The very thing that makes you tired
Keeps me up all night
The very thing that reassures you
Makes me turn and run in fright
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing that makes me love you

The very thing that makes us happy
Is what’s tearing us apart
The very place where we are ending
Is where I’ve got to start
To put a positive rotation
To this spinning in my heart
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing that makes me love you

The difference between you and me
Is you’ve been where I’m trying to be
If I could open my eyes
Then I could see
There’s not that big a difference
There’s not that big a difference
Between you and me

I’ve lost my place
And I’ve lost the time
I’ve lost my reason
And I’ve lost my rhyme
I’ve lost count
Of what is and isn’t mine
It’s a sad, sad tale to tell
And if I’m boring you, then what the hell

‘Cus the very thing that interests me
Well, it's boring you to tears
The very thing that’s healing me
Is stirring up your fears

But can you wait as I learn now
What you have known for years
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing that makes me love you

Oh, it’s the very thing
It’s the very thing
It’s the very thing that makes me love you

Salvador
Salvador
Your father named you
After a dead brother
And your mother
Hung the cross
Upside down

Salvador
So much of time
Hung over
Old men's sleeves
The prick of guilt's thorn
Rusted and worn
Sewn into our hearts
In the shape of a star

Up the alley
I stop at a window
Through the curtains I see
Figures moving
Figures swaying
Figures talking in time
Paintings of persistence...
Paintings of persistence
Hung like a jury

Searching and seeking
Silent icons
I wipe the dust
From my hands ...

Salvador
No one believes me
But I swear I know
What I'm doing ...

And once you were painting
The ground you were breaking
But it’s never enough
To gain their approval

Up the alley
The window is broken
The sky's on the ground…
They unravel
The rope of unreason
They will hang me for sure…

Searching and seeking
Their silent icons they
Wipe the blood from their hands…

Salvador
They want a savior
And they crowned you king
They begged you for answers
But the glory or fame
Took away time
From your obligations…

Keep on sleeping
Don’t awake from this dream
I’ll comb your moustache
I'll wipe your body
I'll kiss your feet when they take you
Down from the cross…

Don't Give Up
Don’t give up
You’ve just started
You’ve come so far in such a short, short time

Don’t give up
You’ve just started
You’ve come so far in such a short, short time

The hardest step is
Always the first one
All things will come to you
Once you’re in motion

Don’t give up
You’ve just started
You’ve come so far in such a short, short time

The roughest journey is
From the head to the heart
Guide yourself wisely
Take courage in the dark
Oooh, courage in the dark

Don’t give up
You’ve just started
You’ve come so far in such a short, short time

Advice
Can be deceiving
Action brings speed
To self-believing…

Don’t give up
You’ve just started
You’ve come so far in such a short, short time

In time
You will find…

Too Fast
Sara was originally scheduled to perform this song on her first "Tonight Show" appearance, but it was deemed too risque only moments before show time.

He
Checks his wrist
And chuckles to himself,
"Half-past a freckle!"
She meets him in line
Just in time
For the half-past a freckle show

Lips
Press her flesh
With a wet
Sticky kiss
The smell on his breath
Makes her turn her face
As she starts to get a little
Sick...

He
Hails a cab
She gasps for breath
During the drive
She dives into his pants
And he looks as if he's shocked
As if she should have knocked
He says,

"You're too fast for me!
"You're too, too fast for me!" Oh-Oh
"You're too, too fast for me ..."
She says,
"Maybe you're too slow . . .!"

Back
At the motel
He mentions his job is going well
She unbraids her hair
And for the ten-thousandth time
Asks him again,
"What is it ... you do there . . .?"
He says,
"I work at the popsicle plant
I pour the dye in the number five machine, I am responsible for turning popsicles green!

"But you're too fast for me!
"You're too, too fast for me!" Oh-Oh
"You're too, too fast for me ..."
She says,
"Maybe you're too slow . . .!"

She
She shimmies round the room
Ha ha ha ha ha has
While he explains
She caresses a lamp
Just to see his face
Full of longing and pain
He says,
"Let's do it on the floor!"
She says,
'Tickle me instead!"
Well, he rolls his eyes
So she slaps his thigh
He says,
"What did you do that for!?"
She says,

"You're too fast for me!
"You're too, too fast for me!" Oh-Oh
"You're too, too fast for me ..."
He says,
"Maybe you're too slow . . .!"

"You're too fast for me!
"You're too, too fast for me!" Oh-Oh
"You're too, too fast for me ..."
She says, "Maybe you're too ..."
He says, "Maybe you're too ..."
She says, "Maybe you're too slow ..."

Claim On My Heart
I’d take you to a restaurant
But I don’t have any money
I’d take you for a drive
But I don’t have a car
I’d take you to Paris
But I don’t have a jet
So I hope you’ll settle
For a claim on my heart

I’d take you to the moon
But I don’t have a rocket
I’d take you to heaven
But I wouldn’t know where to start
I’d take you as far
As my imagination would let it
But I hope you’ll settle
For a claim on my heart

If you’ll just bear with me for a moment
I’m sure that we can find
All that we once held as true
It’s in a crevice
Embedded in my heart
And it’s solid as a stone

I’ll search the world
For laughter you’ve never heard
I’ll find the pieces
That are missing to the part
I’ll tell you the secrets
Untold and hidden
But I hope you’re happiest
With a claim on my heart

Take It Like a Man
The hilarious video for this song is available on Sara's DVD, "I Am Going On a Journey."

In the days of caves
A woman survived any way she could
She didn't have pots and pans
To protect herself
From the brotherhood
Women were nasty
No fancy shoes on their feet
Their hair was full of bugs and dirt
And I bet they didn't smell so sweet
These things didn't matter
They had their
Function in the clan
Women could take it
Take it like a man

Cave became a castle
And a woman was hailed as queen
Still
She was the public servant to the man
They crowned as king
Through the streets she'd ride
In her finest silk attire
If you tried to call the queen a name
She'd set your tongue on fire
She lived to be cruel
And she loved the sight of blood
Take a headcount
She could take it
Take it like a man

Ever since the world began
It's been a constant struggle with the
Woman and man
Ever since the world began
It's been a constant struggle with the
Woman and man
To take it
Take it like a man
Oh, take it like a man

Years went flyin'
Women were taught to sit up straight
Cook and clean and dust and sew and
Manipulate
Men went to the office
And a woman worked down on her knees
But it paid off in the midnight hour
Just to hear her man beg her
“Please..."
Though she was not allowed
To speak at the table
You can bet your bottom dollar
She was able
To take it
Take it like a man

Ever since the world began
It's been a constant struggle with the
Woman and man
Ever since the world began
It's been a constant struggle with the
Woman and man
To take it
Take it like a man
Oh, take it like a man

(Give it, love it,
Take it, shove it
Try so hard
But you never rise above it...)

A Song for Bill
Easter Egg Track

I once knew a little blue man
and a little blue man was he
He had a yellow collar 'round his neck
he was only 'bout five foot three

He picked up little blue ladies
and sometimes little green men
But one thing was always certain to me
he was always a little true friend

One day he escaped from his cage
out into the wild and grassy prairie
I never saw his little blue face again
but I know he can always see me
me... memememe

When you catch a little blue man
keep him for your own
Oh, he'll bring you love and laughter
and fix up your garden and home!