Just a flaxen headed bride
Silk rustled fields to a car on the roadside
Dust swirled around the rear.
And I figured it was time to get a beer

So if I walked on down the road
Can't say I noticed, can't say I felt alone
Can't say I felt too much
At a late night diner I got quite outta touch

	Knew you'd come back when you moved on
	Where Jesus and Anias taught you their songs
	Where Henry Miller bought you a cheap beret
	So thanks for comin' home to let me be the wise man for a day

You flew to the Left Bank with a friend
High on airmail, fold all my love to send
I really didn't have that much to do
Just washin pots here in a kitchen missing you

So at least I guess I finally know
How many miles a love can fly before it goes
But I really want to count them all
Before I take that god damn map off the wall

	Knew you'd come back here when you moved on
	Where Jesus and Anias taught you all their favorite songs
	Where Henry Miller bought you a cheap beret
	So thanks for comin' home to let me be a wise man for a day

So the groom was dressed in black	
Square dark rim glasses and hair tied in the back
And the preacher said his thing
But from the tall grass I couldn't see the ring.

Wise Man For A Day

Castle Garden from the green I signed on thin and lean
To head west for my stew
Lucky Omaha heard Sacramento call
And rode an iron horse through
Ladders through the plains hammers through the rains
Treated like a mindless old mule
reeling with the heat frostbit with the sleet
I’ll be your broken back fool.

Thomas Clark Durant still rolling in his junta
Can pave the plains with his stocks
I’ll gandy dance by day for a hell on wheels to lay
To pound the nail through the clock
Coughing in the smoke, an artist with three strokes
A 15 pound Nelson my tool.
John Henry on a pile of 4000 spikes a mile
I’ll be your broken back fool.
John Henry full of bile with 12000 strokes a mile
I’ll be your broken back fool.

Songs 2007

Broken Back Fool

Bought myself a Stetson hat, a nice three quarter coat
I untie a horse to fly, a red scarf for my throat
Some spurs, some boots, some drinks, some hoots, a spread at supper time
When tomorrow comes, well, I won't have a dime.

Ride down the Rock Island line, the expressman pops the safe
Then I'm by the water side to see the light of fate
I'll be drenched down with salvation, hell, I'll lay it on the line
Till tomorrow comes and I don't have a dime

	Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train
	I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain
	And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew
	Till I rub one dime together like a fool.

Folding up the deck again and I'll cash in the chips
Just enough to buy a round, I'll only drink in sips
Till she's like some Mona Lisa with a face a bit equine
And tomorrow comes and I don't have a dime

	Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train
	I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain
	And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew
	Till I rub one dime together like a fool.

Much too much too much to gain and far too much to lose
Deep in the saddle again and nearing the caboose
I'll be rich tomorrow day but I'll be poor tomorrow night
And wondering why I never have a dime.

	Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train
	I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain
	And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew
	Till I rub one dime together like a fool.

Songs 2010

One Dime

Down on the field
It's fourteen to three and the lights look surreal
Dozens of shadows stalk each back on the line

Last year flew by
Now you're looking to leave and give Indy a try
A small streets girl dreamt of wide streets all of her life.

If I run home
Get in the car and just leave you alone
A tear in my eye and my back to the stadium lights

It's not the way
It's not like you'd cry or you'd beg me to stay
Thank you so much for a typical Saturday night.

	An old Ford Ranger	
	Twisting down a winding road
	Chasing silence
	Don't make a sound, don't let me know
	I'll be here for the night
	And I'll go
	I'll go if you want me to go if you want me to go.

So why be right
A Formica top table and red stained bar light
A cup of sweet coffee and you're blowing smoke in my tea

I hoped you'd ask
Over that burger you'd drop your damn mask
“O won't you come with me, bust out of this town and be free?”

	An old Ford Ranger	
	Twisting down a winding road
	Chasing silence
	Don't make a sound, don't let me know
	I'll be here for the night
	And I'll go
	I'll go if you want me to go if you want me to go.

I'll be here
The second best thing in your runner up year
Won't you roll down that damn window and get me some air

The river flows
Let's follow the Wabash and see where it goes
If only you'd ask me I'm sure I could manage, I swear...

	An old Ford Ranger	
	Twisting down a winding road
	Chasing silence
	Don't make a sound, don't let me know
	I'll be here for the night
	And I'll go
	I'll go if you want me to go if you want me to go.

So what's it worth?
A babe at our feet and fire in our hearth
I'll go if you want me to go if you want me to go.

The Second Best Thing In Your Runner Up Year

You got a big old gun strapped up to your hip 
	while you're sitting at the coffee shop
You keep standing up, walking in circles 
	make plain that you're not a cop
You got a big wood box with cute little tools
	you use on your big cigar
Ya suck it down, roll it around, blow it out really far

	You could buy another gun but that won't make it bigger 
		so tell me what are you gonna do?
	Cuz your wife sure knows and it really does show,
		you got them overcompensating blues.

Got a lifted truck with rock crawl tires 
	and it loves it when you feed it gas
It's never felt mud or toil, 
	smells of diesel when you drive it fast
Well, no back seat for the shaking or the twistin, 
	that would really be a bore
You just like to feel the roar through the stick 
	as your drive to the grocery store

	You could buy another gun but that won't make it bigger 
		so tell me what are you gonna do?
	Cuz your wife sure knows and it really does show, 
		you got them overcompensating blues.

Overcompensating Blues

- Ray Woodruff - Go - REMastered

Dover Beach (2004) - REMastered

I’m waiting on the freeze
Get the sense it’s time to leave
Kick the remnants of the autumn on the grass.
 
So we’re waiting on the train
In the chill and with the rain
And I tell myself that nothing really lasts.
 
Till we’re staring at the lights
In the waters, in the night
The waves distort the wisps and wills of pasts.
 
And the shadows fill the scene
Of the ever brown and green
With the long and shifting shapes that they will cast.
 
Well I know all Your dreams
Rubbed them down in gasoline
And I’ll burn them all tomorrow if they last.
 
But perhaps I never would
Even if I think I should
Because I’ve already tied this to the past.
 
To feel the love in sorrow you’d do anything.
Beg, steal or borrow, your finger rung in string
Remember tomorrow when you sit in the sun
To remember tomorrow when it’s done.
 
So we find another day
Like two burnt out runaways
Through the time washed old Victorians in lines.
 
And the streets feel just the same
As my minds sounds out your name
But I just can’t seem to find my voice this time.
 
Well you’re staring at the lake,
Know there’s not much more to take
And I mumble “Tomorrow never lasts.”
 
And sardonically you smile
Try and take it all with style
As the channel lights fade for you as they pass.

Channel Lights (2004) Remastered

The winter's come on gray and cool
Shadows lengthen from the flag pole at the school
The polling's over returns come in
we watch a country throw its future to the wind.

I'm down here waiting for the winds to change
It's gotta come in time
I'll keep one eye on the weather vane
You grab the bottle of wine
While I'm down here waiting for the world to end
Let's get drunk and sing the blues
Cuz I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with than you.

So winter goes on News is read
From online papers drinking coffee warm in bed
Belief is shaken till our heads are too
Till it's hard to imagine that we're anything but screwed.

I'm down here waiting for the winds to change
It's gotta come in time
I'll keep my eyes on the weather vane
You grab the bottle of wine
While I'm down here waiting for the world to end
Let's get drunk and sing the blues
Cuz I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with than you.

I'm down here waiting for the world to end
Just maybe not tonight
We will send our money to the old white men
And get ready for a fight
While I'm down here waiting for the world to change
Till it's shiny and it's new
I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with than you.

Waiting For The World To Change

Ray Woodruff - Waiting for the World to Change Live Acoustic

Songs of Lovers, Killers, Workers and Drifters

ray woodruff music