Lyrics to David's songs on the first CD, In Midtown

Barbara's Place

G SPACESPACESPACESPACEC
I was looking at the movie section just the other day,
D SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACEG
two slashers and a sequel four and the spy that got away.
So on my satellite TV I surfed 500 waves,
but the infomercials told me how I should change my ways.
I was bound for culture so I read a magazine,
diet pills and famous drunks and naked-people jeans.
I need to lean on friends when this world's too much to face.
Let's gather up our instruments and go to Barbara's Place.

chorus

G SPACESPACESPACESPACEC
Let's all go to Barbara's Place the evening still is young.
D SPACESPACESPACECSPACE G
The coffeehouse has closed but there're songs to be sung.
G SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACEC
Like a wood fire in the winter when the north wind chills your bones
DSPACESPACESPACESPACESPACE G
that autoharp and fiddle will bring the angels home.
vamp

G SPACESPACEC
There's a song to be sung.
D SPACESPACEG
There's a song to be sung.
C SPACESPACEG
There's a song to be sung.
D SPACESPACESPACESPACEG
At Barbara's Place the night is young.

When you lose that third verse to your old favorite song,
she's got it in a book somewhere so we can sing along.
She'd rather hear our squawking then any radio
cause when we share what's in our hearts the tears and laughter flow.
When you're tired of picking you can ramble through her rooms.
And if your demons follow you she's there beside you soon.
She'll take you underneath her wing like feathers from on high.
She'll talk away your bluest blues until you finally sigh.
chorus

vamp (3 times)

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 8-12-95

In Midtown

G
If you've got a tattoo where it's out of sight,
D
I'll bet you live in midtown.
D
If you eat at Chubby's late at night,
G
I'll bet you live in midtown.
G SPACESPACEG7
If you sit out late on your front porch
C SPACESPACESPACEA7
and count the sirens and fireflies,
G SPACESPACESPACED
and say to your neighbor, "It's a quiet night."
C SPACED SPACESPACEG
I'll bet you live in midtown.

If you slowly cross the street in traffic with a smile,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If you're color blind, especially about your clothes,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If you pass a street musician, stop to listen,
but can't afford to tip,
then invite him home to dinner for the hell of it,
I'll bet you live in midtown.

C SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACEG
I'll bet you live in midtown, and have sunk some deep roots down,
A SPACESPACESPACESPACED SPACESPACEGSPACE D7
where creative, unique, artistic and cantankerous folks are found, (like you).
G
In midtown.

If your hardware store has wooden floors,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If a block party brings you all out of doors,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If you put lawn ornaments by your front steps
and old TV's out for the Scavengers,
if you paint one side of your house lavender,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
refrain

If your grocery store is just a grocery store,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If there's beveled glass in your oak front door,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
If you ride the bus and argue with the driver
until he thinks your way,
If you think beauty is a '57 Chevrolet,
I'll bet you live in midtown.
refrain
Words And Music By David B. Hakan 7-17-98

SALT AND PEPPER DAYS

G SPACESPCSPACESPGSPACESPACE C
His long dark hair still shakes when he sings
G SPACESPACEDSPACESPACE G/C G
But his hairline is receding much too far.
Em SPACESPACESPD SPAG SPACEC
His songs are getting better with a truer ring
G SPACESPACESPACEDSPAC G/C G
than when he first picked up that guitar.
C SPACESPACESPACm
His voice has gone to gravel and sand.
G SPACESPACEG/F# SPACEEm SPACEEm7
His prayers sound like some old rock and roll band.
A SPACESPACESPACESPAA7
Why's he in that back corner, wearing shades?
D SPACESPACEGSPACESPACE D
He's just into his Salt and Pepper Days.
C SPACESPACED SPACESPACG/C G
He's just into his Salt and Pepper Days.
She stands before a rack with 20 shades of hair.
Picks up some Oil of Olay.
She tosses it back. Finds a dark sunglass pair
and heads for the counter to pay.
refrain

I guess we should be running things now instead of carrying signs.
Just give us armchairs and mobile phones.
We'll solve the next crisis cause all you need is love
and time to drag out that old saxaphone.
refrain

Em SPACESPACESPACESPAF
He's graying at the temples but not down in his soul.
D7 SPACESPACESPACESPACC2 SPACESPAD
He's got his act together but his waistline's past control.
refrain (So if your...)(You might be...)

words and music by David B. Hakan 7-10-94

Dandelion Garden

DSPACESPACESPACEG
I was pulling weeds in my garden
D SPACESPACESPACESPAA
the first cool dry weekend in Spring.
D SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACEG
Mrs. Rice next door was a friend of my father's.
A SPACESPACESPGSPACE D
I asked her how her garden had been.
G SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACED
(She said) I have four hundred, eighteen flowers
G SPACESPACED
as yellow as new sunshine.
G SPACESPACESPACESPABm
She turned to her front yard. I clapped and she bowed.
A SPACESPACESPGSPACESPAC D
Now her dandelion garden's on my mind.

She made me stop the car once on Tenth Street.
“That graffiti on the underpass is rare.”
That painter's hand turned her garage into canvas.
I admit that her confusion had some flair.

refrain

Her walnut trees grow into her foundation.
I asked her, “Don't they make you basement leak?”
She said ,“The musty cellar brings back my childhood.
I think about my mom. I laugh and weep.”

refrain

Ten years have passed and we're gathered round her
She's left us for some journey or better soil.
Four hundred, eighteen weeds fill this church with sunshine.
I'm gonna look for beauty and not for toil.

refrain

(Repeat last line.)

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 6-20-93

The Cabin

C SPACESPACESPAF
Grampa built a cabin up at 8,000 feet.
C SPACESPACESPACESPACESPG
I'd go visit in the summer when the fireweeds smelled sweet.
C SPACESPACESPACESPACESPAF
He dug three fish ponds with a spade. Loaded them with trout.
C SPACESPACESPACEGSPACESPACESPAC
I'd just cast for hours and watch him pull them out.
C SPACESPACF SPACESPACESPC
Let's go to the cabin just to rest our eyes
SPACESPACEG SPACEC SPACEC7
He called that canyon his paradise.
C SPACESPAF SPACESPACESPACEC
Let's go to the cabin, catch fish with flies.
SPACESPACEFSPACESPAC C
He said we're heading for paradise.

He was a doctor down in Salt Lake. Saved every life in that town.
Sidestepped up in the winter, checked the cabin and skied back down.
There was no phone at the cabin. You had to walk two miles.
When we made the climb to Hakan's peak, ah, you should have seen him smile.
refrain

The kids would sleep on the screen porch, down to 40 on an August night.
We'd pile up fifteen blankets and giggle at the sight.
Then barefoot around to the side door, howl like a demon choir,
and get dressed every morning in front of a roaring fire.
refrain

A spring flowed out of Mossbank. Wild currents grew like corn.
The stream was fast and noisy, healed a young heart that was torn.
The giant aspens in the glade, I couldn't reach around.
I remember every smell and every single sound.
refrain

Grampa was planning his first trip to the Alps in France.
He died at 82 in that chair and never got the chance.
He was pulled so fast from our midst, like the trout he used to land.
Bet that angel angler's waiting just to flip me in his pan.
refrain

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 12-12-95

Coyote Song

Am SPACESPACESPACESPACEG
The Great Chief gave me power before the sky was lit
C SPACESPACEEm SPACESPAAm
and people were a dark and silent dream.
If you believe the legends I outwitted all my foes,
brought the Hopi stars and salmon to the streams.

SPACEG SPACESPACESPACESPACEAm
I take the lightning from the thunder, the teeth from the cold,
G SPACESPACESPACESPF SPACESPE7
give luck to the hunter and a prayer to the old.
Am SPACEG SPACEAm
Yip, yip, Yi Coyote Song
Yip, yip, Yi Coyote Song.

Lately I've been looking for the wandering tribes.
I lost the tracks of all their buffalo.
Not a singe Appaloosa can I smell upon the breeze
from Yosemite to the Medicine Bow.
refrain

At night my spirit shadow travels round the world
jumping borders made like prison wire.
I can hear the “crack crack” of guns among the poor
like pine sticks thrown upon the fire.
refrain

You huddle in your cities, neon , smoke and stone.
Forget how to live with us upon the land.
The mesa called Nevada glows pale in the night
creaking like a trap door in the sand.
refrain

words and music by David B. Hakan 3-10-94

Shawnee Farm

B SPACESPACESPACEA SPACEE
Our Shawnee Farm goes back to 1840
B SPACESPACESPACEA SPACESPACEE
The tombstones tell that life was harder then.
B SPACESPACEA SPACESPE
John and I now sit out on the back porch
B SPACESPACESPACESPAA SPACEE
when the light is low and the day is at its end.
Years ago we stopped using the front porch.
You can see the city sprawl from that door.
The glow is like a stain upon the night sky.
Tell me, what do they need all those street lights for?

Eup7 SPACESPACESPACEEup5
Every year John works a little harder.
Eup7 SPACESPACESPACESPACEup5
All that shows is the muscle in his arm.
Eup7 SPACESPACESPACESPAEup5
The city's bound to win the final contest.
Eup7 SPACESPACEEup5SPACESPACE E
And who's gonna miss a little Shawnee Farm?

The metro city suburbs have outflanked us.
Now, they claimed a road must connect the north and south.
All those folks need to hurry through our soybeans
that we barely saved from the cut worms and the drought.
The moonset in the west was such a comfort.
Now we look out on the pests and insect swarms.
High school kids are the only ones who drive here.
Tell me, what do we need all those streetlights for?
refrain

John is turning 80 and still my hero.
He didn't take the assessment lying down.
They took a hundred thousand dollars for that roadway
and paid us twenty nine for that 3 mile strip of ground.
He went to court to fight the city lawyers.
And he came back with a lot, well a little, more.
Now, they claim we made a killing on the improvement.
Tell me, what do we need all those streetlights for?
refrain

Friday last John talked to our banker.
Then he drank his health until he was a little tight.
He sat out on the back porch with his rifle
and shot out three or four of those damn lights.
His family's owned this land thru feast and hardship
from the days of the great Civil War.
It's not a place we get our mail it's our homestead.
Tell me, what do we need all those street lights for?

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 9-14-93



Harold's Education

E6 SPACESPACEE6,7sus4 SPADmaj7 SPACESPACESPACEC#m,aug5
Harold lived in the suburbs on a culdesac, 4-bedroom white and brown.
He was good at his work, no dummy, ran the best pharmacy in town.
His nephew was reading some poetry in a basement cafe by the tracks
in a district where trains still crossed the streets and stained the walls sooty black.

Eup5 SPACESPE
This is Harold's education.
Will he believe his eyes?
Can he see thru the quirkiness
B
to the spirit and bones tangled inside?

It was a Monday night at 11 o'clock. It was packed and more streaming in.
There was stuff on the walls that somebody called art, concrete floors and
welcoming grins.
The coffee was the best he'd ever tried, but he still felt a bit out of place.
The youngsters had weird cuts and colors of hair and rings coming out of their face.
refrain

A girl came by and talked of her clan. He asked "Was it a cult she was in?"
His nephew laughed & said, “Don't worry, she's just a pagan witch & a good friend."
He knew he could leave now with the poetry read, could leave and never look back.
But he read “Walking Around” at the microphone and bowed as everyone clapped.
refrain

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 1-14-97

Flood of `93

E SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACEG#m
It'd rained for seven weeks throughout the great midwest

A SPACESPACESPACESPACEB
When Vern and I drove back from Curryville.

E SPACESPACESPACESPACEG#m
We tried to cross the swollen Mississippi

A SPACESPACESPACESPACESPABr3sus4
but at Quincy the traffic was stopped still.
That crest brought loose fuel tanks and they hit that bridge.
Flames were just about all we could see.
The last route into Illinois for a hundred miles
was taken by the flood of ninety-three.

E SPACESPAA SPACESPACEE
Taken by the Flood of Ninety-Three
E SPACESPACESPACEASPACES B
Heartbroken. Like we're sinking in a sea.
E SPACESPAA SPACESPACEE
Taken by the Flood of Ninety-Three
A SPACESPACEB SPACESPACEE
The river will not wait for you and me.
Vern and I raced south thru the endless rain,
worried about my home and his store.
he was determined to beat that crest
and load his press into his 4x4.
We pulled into town about daybreak
after skirting the low roads along the way.
It took us an hour to load his brand new press.
I'll be safer now(He laughed) with all that weight.
refrain

Flood of `93 page 2

Vern pulled up to water spilling over the road.
I turned my car to go the other way.
I heard a sound like a blade upon a grindstone,
and I climbed the nearest roof without delay.
I looked to see a floating trailer flowing fast
hit Vern's truck on the driver's side.
A wall of water pulled under his 4x4.
I shouted at the heavens and I cried,
refrain

From the air lakes the size of Erie
had been laid upon the Midwest's spine.
Many lost their homes, their farms, some lost whole towns.
But I lost a dear friend of mine.
Betty tries to manage and she does real well.
The print shop is as busy as can be.
But on one machine I can read the plaque:
“This press was saved from the Flood of Ninety-Three.”
refrain

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 11-16-93

Socrates and the Angel of Death

G SPACESPACEEm SPACESPAC SPACESPACESG
The first time I met Socrates he'd just learned to play dead.
G SPACESPACEEm SPACESPC SPACED
Uncle Hilly'd point his wartime rifle at his head
When he clicked the trigger, our eyes would open wide.
Socrates was lifeless till he shouted, “Come alive”.
C SPACESPACESPACED
With a laugh to scare the Angel of Death
GSPACESPACE Em
and banish skies of gray
C SPACESPACED
he would let the whole world know
G SPACESPACEEm
he'd lived another day.
C SPACED
Come alive. Come alive.
CSPACE D
Come alive. Come alive.
C SPACESPACESPACESPD SPACESPACG
Ante up, my friend, are you gonna play this game?

He's a yellow Labrador and can hear popcorn spills land.
When we'd play penny ante with Gramma and all the clan
Uncle Hilly'd show his hand to his philosophic chum,
then bet his whole stack recklessly as if tomorrow'd never come.
refrain

It was two kids later uncle Hilly scared us all.
Tackled by a heart attack, we watched that big man fall.
Confined to bed and breathless, a trainride beard upon his chin.
like a man who's made his quota and holds a ticket in his hand.
refrain

Now we play beside poker and deal a hand to Socrates.
But his ears pick up a warning and he hackles instantly.
The two of us are clueless, but I've heard them say
that dogs can see the Angel of Death coming their way.
I can not let the moment pass. the room is cool with fear.
I creep up behind Socrates to look between his ears.
I lose my sense of balance. The world turns black and white.
A hooded figure lands and fixes uncle in his sight.

C SPACESPACEG SPACEC SPACESPACEG
Socrates goes crazy. He anchors at his master's side.
C SPACESPACESPACEG SPACESPACEC SPACESPACED
A thousand broadsword warriors couldn't make him stand aside.
C SPACESPACED SPACEG SPEm
With teeth ready to tear at nightmares
C SPACESPACESPACESPACED
and a heart no blow could ever crack.
C SPACESPACESPACESPACESPACED SPACESG
You know he stayed right there till that awful vision passed.

Uncle Hilly got well enough to go back to his door to door.
But he'd take Socrates along, and play hooky a little more.
And when he finally passed away, I found Socrates on his old route.
I had to take that old dog in, make him play dead and shout.
Come alive. (4x)

refrain

words and music by David B. Hakan 5-8-94

String of Pearls

G SPACESPACEEm
I knew better than to try to bluff
D SPACESPACEC
in five card stud anymore.
But Blue Eye Sven was checking his watch
and turning towards the door.
It was now or it was never.
I'd tempted the hornet's sting.
The sirens came and you could feel the tension
break just like a string.
Am SPACESPACESPACED
I grabbed my I.O.U.s but it didn't matter.
It was freedom we all were after.
From the dumpster I saw them scatter
G SPACED SPC
like a string of pearls across the floor.
G SPACED SPC SPACESPACESPACEG
Like a string of pearls across the floor.

Time does funny things to my mind
but it ticked away on her wrist.
I held the scraps of my new sports coat.
Worthless tickets were in her fist.
She let her blond hair all escape
by pulling a single pin.
She asked me point blank why I didn't call.
I began to dig myself in.
I wanted so much to confess,
but lies trickled in till I'd made a mess.
(She stood and) brushed my excuses off her dress
like a string of pearls across the floor.
Like a string of pearls across the floor.
Fate works her miracles thru pistons and rods.
I broke down on Evening Star Road.
I could see her cold smile clear in my mind
as I wearily tried to unload.
With toolbox and light I clung to some hope,
but my mouth went suddenly dry.
My life had ground down like an engine abused
and I kept asking myself why.
I'd lost my timing or my timing chain.
I was started by thunder, whipped by rain.
Tiny bits tumbled down again and again
like a string of pearls across the floor.
Like a string of pearls across the floor.
Now I've sunk to the lowest of the social classes,
small town U.S.A.
I'm walking thru ghost towns on the Sante Fe Trail
the backbone in decay.
A boy on a bike turns the other way
as I cross this empty Main Street.
Where are the fortunes we held in our hands?
Where are those rainbows sweet?
Paint is the first thing to come off the walls.
Only the pay phones live in these City Halls.
Rural America's best dreams fall
like a string of pearls across the floor.
Like a string of pearls across the floor.

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 10-29-98

Are You Going My Way?

D SPACESPACESPACESPACEG SPACESPACED
He didn't know if he'd be living a year from this day.
D SPACESPACESPACEG SPACEA
The chances he'd taken had led him astray.
D SPACESPACESPACEG SPACESPACESPACED
But he never stopped hoping for a change in his luck.
D SPACESPACESPA SPACESPACED
He just never expected to love her so much.

What was it she noticed, not that old fashioned hat.
But the way that he tipped it as she traveled past.
And his question ran deeper when later that day
fate threw them together, “Are you going my way?”

G SPACEA SPACED- A -G -Gm- A
Are you going my way?

She lived like a painter, her eyes focused sharp.
but with one hand creating a world of the heart.
The bodies of young girls didn't bother her pride.
Like a flash from a gem stone men saw beauty inside.
She knew there'd been others that had slept in his bed.
He gave her everything but that hat on his head.
She planned to be with him when he breathed his last.
But her world kept on turning.
Their hard times came fast.
refrain

So he called her one last time for a rendezvous.
but the clock had turned heartless. His once chance was through.
Then she tapped on his shoulder, smiled as to say.
“Pardon me, Stranger, are you going my way?”

verse one

Are you going my way?

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 2-12-95

We're Gone

G
Leave the dishes on the back porch. The birds will pick them clean.
D
Pour the cat food in the bath tub. Kill the answering machine.
C
Tape a note to the front door with two simple words, saying, “We're gone.”
Em D
We're gone from the bickering. We're gone from the past.
Em C
We're gone from that one more thing on our list at last.
Am G
I've got you where I want you, right before my eyes.
D SPACESPACESPACESPACEDsus4 G
We're gone, but we're after the big prize.
refrain
G
We're gone, fare-thee-well and so long.
D
We're gone, fare-thee-well and so long.
C G
We're gone, fare-thee-well and so long. Yes, we're gone.

Tell your sister that you cannot will not must not watch her kids.
Take the sauerkraut and corned beef hash, but don't forget the lids.
Tell the postman he can have all of our junkmail bogus checks with a fare-thee-well.
Fare-thee-well to the neighbors. Fare-thee-well to smoke alarms.
Fare-thee-well to the nightly news. It can only do us harm.
I've got you in my arms now and there you're gonna stay.
Fare-thee-well to the clutter in the way.
refrain

Pack a flashlight and one sleeping bag and that dress I can't resist.
Leave the grocery cart in aisle nine. Just hand someone the list.
Send a fancy card to that boss of mine who watches every dime, saying, “So long.”
So long to the lunch break. So long to overtime.
So long to the slow dissolving of my weary mind.
I've got you in the front seat. Our troubles far behind.
So long never sounded quite so fine.
refrain

Words And Music By David B. Hakan 1-12-98

David Hakan's Homepage * * CD Loose Upon The Street * Loose Upon The Street Lyrics * CD Dancing Now * Dancing Now Lyrics * CD In Midtown * In Midtown Lyrics * CD MP3 Catching Angels * Catching Angels Lyrics * Photos
* David's Bio * Review of In Midtown * Review of Dancing Now