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Posted by Mark on 05-16-2007 at19:22:

  Great Terry Taylor Lyrics

I've just been reading through the lyrics section for the umpteenth time and Terry's lyrics always amaze me. They are simply incredible. Here's one that I really like. It's all the more amazing if you know the story about how the band came up with song titles and Terry had to make lyrics out of them that made sense. This is from God Went Bowling:

"we want an infinite meddler
a fix-it-quick man
but he gets off his high horse,
gets dirt on his hands
and he woos us like a lover
through each bloody cessation
and hangs on the cross
with the rest of creation"



Perhaps this should be in the lyrics section, but I put it here since I am talking about Terry's lyrics. If anyone thinks they should be moved, I'll do so.

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Posted by Mark on 05-16-2007 at19:28:

 

And I think the song "Small Great Things" has perhaps some of my favorite Terry lyrics. I love the whole song but especially this part. We humans really know so little, but using our simple faith in Jesus, God saves us.

"They're unaware they
Moved a mountain
With fumbled prayers and
Their bloodied knees
God's ruined hands,
They've read about them
They've never touched them
But they still believe

No they aren't winning
Every battle
Life is tough and death
Still it stings
Doubt comes on and
Faith is fragile
Just a touch enough for
Small great things

No they aren't walking
On the water
They aren't wearing their angels wings
Wayward sons and fragile daughters
A touch of faith enough for
Small great things"

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Posted by Mark on 05-16-2007 at19:34:

 

Here's a few lines from "Father Explains"

"When the total of life has been suffering and hate
Death on the doorsteps and endless debate
Then God only knows how much blood it will take
Before someone makes right all the wrong"

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Posted by dennis on 05-16-2007 at20:02:

 

If there's no room for doubt now
There's no room for us
Inside and out now
He's looking for us

Christ comes
Fill the empty places
To breathe
We must find the spaces

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Posted by PuP on 05-17-2007 at00:20:

 

Can't we just copy the entire lyrics section into this thread?

Well, the stuff Uncle T wrote anyway...

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Posted by sprinklerhead on 05-17-2007 at09:23:

 

I've heard it a thousand time but this one gets me everytime......


You're in the light and in the dark
In the peace and in the chaos
In the world that's ours for naming
You're in my sleeping and my waking

A vision in my ears and in my eyes
A lover in disguise
Surprised again by
What's come over me

You're in the color and the sound
In every joy and every sorrow
You're in the faces of each stranger
In estrangement and in failure

Flowing in my blood and on my tongue
My heart pounds like a drum
Undone again by
What's come over me

In the books I read and
In the air I breathe
You live and move and have your being
There's a window in the wall
There you are behind it all
The Holy dream becomes a Holy face
And it leaves me reeling

You're in the sunshine and the rain
In the open spaces and in the shadows
You're in my incantatiuos longings
"Come unto me", I hear you calling

And I fear the very thing I'm looking for
Here's someone at my door
I'm floored again by
What's come over me
I'm floored gain by
What's come over me
Yes I'm floored gain by
What's come over me

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Posted by Mountain Fan on 05-17-2007 at11:08:

 

I love just listening to DA's music but when I actually sit down and read the lyrics I often get goose bumps or teary-eyed. Terry has a great gift for sure.

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Posted by jiminy on 05-17-2007 at12:11:

  ok then

"Now I get to wishin'
that you'd get to dishin'
That sweet meat"


some levity- and truth.

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Posted by dennis on 05-17-2007 at21:12:

 

Uncertain where the road was leading
But trusting God was on their side
They traced the moral chain of being
And filmed it all in black and white

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Posted by Mark on 05-17-2007 at21:22:

 

Yes, When Everyone Wore Hats is definitely one of his best.

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Posted by dennis on 05-17-2007 at21:37:

 

I think so.
Chokes me up everytime.

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Posted by Mountain Fan on 05-17-2007 at21:42:

 

thats interesting.

my faves off SOTH/WEWH are Glory Road and Sins of the Fathers before WEWH.

but I think Terry likes WEWH best too.

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Posted by dennis on 05-17-2007 at21:48:

  Maybe it's time to post all the lyrics.

When Everyone Wore Hats

from the album "Songs of the Heart"
Words by Terry Taylor
Music by Daniel Amos
©1995 Twitchen Vibes Music (ASCAP)

Here's to the long-lost world of
Chain-smoking dreamers
War and baseball heroes
Ticker tape and streamers,
Cocktail drinkers, Bible believers
When light was still filling up a
New York river

They knew the grace of tradition
Possessed a love of decorum
Shook the hand of conviction
No one complained then of boredom

When everyone wore hats
They dreamed of ocean voyages
Believed in true romance
Found their hearts and voices

Here's to the long lost hopes of
Those mothers and fathers
Of rags to riches
Of style and manners
To the American dream in a
Pledge to honor
Promises made to their
Sons and daughters

Threw off the chains of depression
Built up the arms of aggression
Left us a mixed impression
Some died before they learned their lesson

When everyone wore hats
In the land of immigrants and pilgrims
The world came rolling off their backs
And landed on their children's

They knew the grace of tradition
Possessed a love of decorum
Shook the hand of conviction
No one complained then of boredom

When everyone wore hats
And innocence found simple pleasures
They built the cities, drew the maps
With clues to find their buried treasures

When everyone wore hats
And handed down their pride and prejudice
They dropped good fortune in our laps
We traded it for vice and avarice

When everyone wore hats
Would-be kings with ragged crowns
They say the style is coming back
What's out-of-fashion comes around

Uncertain where the road was leading
But trusting God was on their side
They traced the moral chain of being
And filmed it all in black and white

And everyone wore hats...

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Posted by PuP on 05-18-2007 at00:20:

 

I still think When Everyone Wore Hats should have been called Revenge of the SOTH.

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Posted by jiminy on 05-18-2007 at09:24:

quote:

Originally posted by PuP I still think When Everyone Wore Hats should have been called Revenge of the SOTH.

boo....

(jk)

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Posted by dennis on 05-20-2007 at12:07:

 

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Posted by sondance on 05-20-2007 at16:34:

 

you lay down
and I'll step upon your back
up high enough
above the fence
to see all the way to glory land

amen

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Posted by sondance on 05-20-2007 at16:35:

 

quote:

Originally posted by PuP I still think When Everyone Wore Hats should have been called Revenge of the SOTH.

hey you cuddly little furry son of dog - what is SOTH?

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Posted by dennis on 05-20-2007 at17:48:

 

Slip through a tear in the fabric of the world
The earth household, the earth household
Speak the foreign language of a place beyond
The earth household, the earth household

I drink you endlessly toward my hollow heart
And wake at night repeating "How strange, how strange!"
All is touch and vision in a passionate kiss
And life's a drab curtain ready to be raised

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Posted by dennis on 05-20-2007 at17:50:

 

Over black coffee and cigarettes
They try counting blessings and old debts
So much for dreams--they just come true on TV screens