1. the ballad of copper junction (a journeymans lament) written january 1998 ©jeffreyfoucault1998 my father laid the trees down he broke them with his hands last year he died and left me nothing but this frame i fill a union card and a pair of workmans hands and i was brought up in the north of here in copper junction town where there aint no longer any copper in the ground just the reservation land empty logging towns paper mills and drawers of hand me downs in 1964 i was seventeen years old i got caught up in the draft i did like i was told and spent a pair of too long years too young to be so old well it dont take too much sense just to come in from the cold but i guess i never did i guess i never did back home it was the bottle back to work with my old man but we didnt get on so good it wasnt like we planned and the last i saw of him hes so drunk he couldnt stand and that wagons rolling empty so i got myself cleaned up i was married for a while but that ring it just kept falling off and sometimes i wonder why but now its years ago and faded from whiskey and from rye and i wonder if it matters my father laid the trees down he broke them with his hands and now im just like him i got nowhere left to stand and that wagons rolling empty and ive got nothing but the frame i fill a union card and a pair of workmans hands 2. the dove and the waterline written o5may1998 ©jeffreyfoucault1998 i wrote you a song from under the sky from the field where the snow fell down and the town threw up its light against the clouds into the night like a wall to keep the flood from bearing down and i said hello can you help me do you know what im doing can you tell me where im bound the stars all have names and the angels have the same but im lost and so much want to be found i wrote you a prayer from inside the walls of this country where the cold wind blows and a storm into the sea rang out against mans every plea to rouse my soul and steal my body down below and i said hello can you help me do you know what im doing can you tell me where im bound im cast away into the deep and compassed there no soul to keep afire and to the water burning down and i said hello can you help me do you know what im doing can you tell me where im bound the stars all have names and the angels have the same but im lost and i so much want to be found 3. walking at dusk (the liberty bell) written 13april1999 ©jeffreyfoucault2ooo ive been walking at dusk just walking with these lonely mans blues on my back ive been down to the well and ive been to the liberty bell but it looks to be getting a crack and ive been talking about love just talking and it seems like i dont get nowhere so maybe i ought to go to just where i dont know but it looks to be other than here and if i was a light house i would shine out on the ocean if i was a train i would always run on time safely on their way i would send gods weary travelers and when my time was done i would leave it all behind well ive been thinking about war just thinking ive been beating my plowshares thin i sought my own redress i read the gettysburg address but old abe it seems a hard road to win and ive been playing my guitar just playing and im running out of good things to say i saw what there was to see and they give me a bachelors degree and i think its time now that i was away and if i was a light house i would shine out on the ocean if i was a train i would always run on time safely on their way i would send gods weary travelers and when my time was done i would leave it all 4. thistledown tears written 3o december1999-february2ooo ©jeffreyfoucault2ooo take me down to the bottom land good as any and well make our stand hide our money in the bucket of the well keep your head down low its blowing like hell reverend said its a judgement day land turned to dust where it used to be clay theres a darkness coming and its well past dawn roomful of candles and the lights all gone so dont cry your thistledown tears blood and water both run clear the time to wrestle the angel is here and the night is quickly passing hymn songs drumming the dusk of the rooms glory go marching in the thread of a tune light up your lanterns and lay down your cares saint john hes riding the four white mares (ref) churchbells ringing in the pounding wind ringing the dead men to rise up again theres dust comin in at foot of the door the moon and the tide and the earthly shore the pull and the spin of a timed out reel hearts made of flint and words made of steel the wind comes down off the texas plain abels calling to raise up cane (ref) the dawn rolls under the fenceline wires oily and cold but breathing of fire the cock hes crowing the daylight of dreams for judas and mercy and every in between for judas and mercy and every in between (ref) 5. californ-i-a written january1998 ©jeffreyfoucault1998 well i guess youre gone to californ-i-a and i dont expect youll be coming back this way real soon real soon it was in the spring a couple of years ago we fell in love but i let you go so soon so soon if i had the stars id throw them on the ground if i had the sun id take and burn it down because i just cant leave well enough alone i just cant leave well enough alone so i wrote this song to tell you that i am so sorry and i hope that you understand how much i never meant to make you cry how much i never meant to make you cry and i guess youre gone to californ-i-a and i dont expect youll be coming back this way real soon real soon 6. highway and the moon finished september 2000 ©jeffreyfoucault 2001 it was a preface to motion rolling down the oklahoma highway highway and the moon the moon beat down with cloudless devotion it seemed like all heaven was going my way going my way it was a preface to waking the smell of gasoline a dream of milk and honey honey how are you you were there in the dawn before the daybreak rising before venus the morning star and humming a tune i could not name tune i could not name and swallows were tumbling over our heads they were falling by turns by turns rising again seamlessly tracing the profile of night in a balance of meaning and motion and light and there on the water passing below i saw our bodies reflected as a perfect palindrome we go tearing our love down to build it up again from different directions we mean the same we are the same as weve always been it was a preface to knowing throwing down the dreams of my own making for making better time and time rolls on heedless of our holding this momentary franchise the kingdom i have made of your bloodshot smile of your bloodshot smile and swallows were tumbling over our heads they were falling by turns by turns rising again seamlessly tracing the profile of night in a balance of meaning and motion and light and there on the water passing below i saw our bodies reflected as a perfect palindrome we go tearing our love down to build it up again from different directions we mean the same we are the same as weve always been 7. the battle hymn (of the college dropout farmhand) written october1996 ©jeffreyfoucault1997 the humble sky is falling down on golden mother may the sun in shadows rising paints the dawning break of day and you could ask 10000 times of me how come i left that day but the answer it wont change your mind and ive got nothing else to say mine eyes have seen the glory of that ragged flag unfurled and i wonder when the light of the last honest man passed from this weary world and they say home is where the heart is my home aint in this town i build walls and just to climb them climb them just so you can help me down hear me oh hear me these times will grow faint and the years spring up new like the indian paint our dreams they succeed us our children we taint pray for my soul the times they grow faint and mine eyes have seen the glory of that ragged flag unfurled and i wonder when the light of the last honest man passed from this weary world and they say home is where the heart is my home aint in this town i build walls and just to climb them climb them just so you can help me down 8. Crossing mississippi finished september1996 ©jeffreyfoucault1997 empty barns falling down to the ground ground falling down to the sky in the country where i left you the river never sleeps she just keeps on rolling south in the night and your beauty finds me there as i leave you seeks me out and calls me by my name you are a temple where i take religion like water never in my life to forsake never in my life to forsake deep in this love i cant forsake and i woke up in the morning stumbling with my head bowed low my hands made into prayers for every mile left to go and every next time that i leave you with only half a soul but prayerful hands cant hold you and the river can only roll and your beauty finds me there as i leave you seeks me out and calls me by my name you are a temple where i take religion like water never in my life to forsake never in my life to forsake deep in this love i cant forsake