The Palisades: LYRICS

one Big Love

There are lots of little things
Like her big bright-eyed smile
Or the way she tries to sing
But never quite on key

They way she laughs it off
When she talks through her work day
And when she mimics those she knows
She makes a blame fool out of me

She can give me all she's got
And it's still not enough
Oh, there are lots of little things

But they all add up
To one big love
(One big love) Yes it all adds up
(One big love) Yes it all adds up, y'all
(One big love) Love and blessings run over my cup
And it all adds up

She puts me in my place
When I'm awful and ornery
But she brightens up my day
And I remember why I fell

She's not into posh salons
Or makeup or fashion
But the way she turns me on
Well I can't begin to tell

The way we talk it out
When the going gets tough
Oh, there are lots of little things
But they all add up

Maybe on paper it doesn't make much sense
but I'm not about to question it or raise a defense
it seems to work quite fine for me

WhY can't you be more like they are

I see women out walking and strutting their stuff
I see them shaking their hips like they can't get enough
They're dressed to the nines, yeah, and let down their guard
Why can't you be more like there are?

Oh I see guys with their girlfriends and opening doors
I see them listen attentive and it isn't a chore
They dance with them slow at a club̶ not a bar
Why can't you be more like they are?

Even though you like to say that you're mine
That's all very fine
Even so a thought keeps crossing my mind
That you're wasting my time

I see couples out walking, hand held in hand
I see them laughing with friends and singing to bands
They're strolling in parks, yeah, and gazing at stars
Why can't we be more like they are?

Sometimes I can't escape this feeling
You're never gonna change
Ooh, if only you would change
Oh you know it could be so easy
It could be so easy

I see couples out walking, and talking with ease
She doesn't nag, and he says thank you and please
They both hold each other in the highest regard
Why can't we be more like they are?
Why can't we be more like they are?

Each passing year

Now you may see that this brilliant tragedy
Is a comedy of errors
We stand our ground on ways and means unsound
And ignore the truth that's there

Before my eyes though I do not realize
Is an angel sent my way
And paved in gold this story soon unfolds
On a shining January's day

I call her after work on Monday
A motive tied to every ring
The thrill she brings
It can only mean one thing

I'm trying to find this love of mine
The perfect song, the perfect rhyme
Words get lost in me sometimes
So let me say my dear
I will be right here
With each passing year

We take a chance and imagine in advance
All we'll do and all we'll say
Then act surprised when the grace of God provides
Answers in another way

Through coming days
as our souls and bodies age
I'll love her with all my heart
What the skies combine let no one dare divide
Let no man dare to tear apart

I meet her at the park on Saturday
To take in sights and sounds of spring
The thrill she brings
It can only mean one thing

Long day

A baby cries in the distance
You pray it's not your own
You muddle through a broken dream
And lumber down the hall alone
You wanna drift downstream
And let your dreams flow where they may

Long day
Long day
It's gonna be a long, long day

The sun struggles to rise
As you begin the hour’s drive
To another hard working day
That makes you toss and turn in side
You wanna rest your weary head
But sleep is half a world away

press reset for us

Take your mind back to the beginning
When it always seemed to be just us and them
We stood hand in hand as woman and man
Ready to face whatever life might send

We made each other smile for a while
And then old ghosts came creeping in
Now here in this room the bride and the groom
Are wondering how to be begin again

Can you press reset for us
We could use a little faith, we could use a little trust
Let's press reset for us
If you believe the best in me
and I believe the best in you
Then even when we miss the mark
we'll know our love is true
Press reset for us

I wanna be the kind of loves we know that we deserve
I wanna be the ones we turn to when life throws us a curve

So let's make a toast to new beginnings
And let another tale unfold
The moment is now to live out the vows
To love, to have, to hold

Can you press reset for us
We could use a little faith, we could use a little trust
Let's press reset for us
If you bring out the best in me
and I bring out the best in you
Then even when we miss the mark
we'll know our aim is true
Press reset for us

Take your mind back to the beginning
When it always seemed to be just us and them

powerful day

It was a powerful day
We bid farewell in the morning
I headed west on the freeway
As you went chasing your story
You held my heart in your hands
As I watched the shadow slip away
On that powerful day

It was a powerful day
When we arrived in New Jersey
My proposal was beckoning
We were growing up in a hurry
I held your heart in my hands
When I said I'd be there come what may
Such a powerful day

Well I bless whatever's in the sky above
For bringing you to me
The best of our forever's yet to come
And it will be
The culmination
In a hundred different ways
All these powerful days

It was a powerful day
Another year's celebration
We made a toast to a brand new soul
Another page of our narration
We didn't know then and there
The next morning all the world would change

And I know that we need these big events to make it good
But there are some I'd relive if I could

It was a powerful day
I held your hand in the evening
We both smiled with sweet relief
Our baby's (or babies') lungs started breathing

brown eyes

Darling it's late
What do you say?
You've had a rough working week
Why don't we call it day?
And though we're both so tired
But a part of me's still
A little wily and wired

I'll get the dishes
You go ahead
Do your Sudoku and read
And I'll meet you in bed
And when I arrive
I know I'll walk in the room just to find
we've been joined by

A beagle with big brown eyes
On a pillow beside my brown-eyed bride
A beagle with big brown eyes
Her breath makes me weak when I when I sleep on my side
She's all that's keeping me from what could be
An airtight embrace with my love
Now I'll have to face
A beagle with big brown eyes
On a pillow beside my lovely brown-eyed bride

She has a way of stopping cold
A tension that would otherwise have grown
Well I guess it's best that I just leave it alone

Tomorrow morning let's take walk
With our pooch trailing behind we can catch up and talk
And maybe later watch our favorite show
But when nature comes calling and I have to get up to go
I might return at a record pace
But there's no doubt about who'll have taken my place

A beagle with big brown eyes
On the sofa beside my brown-eyed bride
A beagle with big brown eyes
She refuses to budge although God knows I've tried
She all that's in between of what could be
An airtight embrace with my love
Now I'll have to face
A beagle with big brown eyes
On a sofa beside my lovely brown-eyed bride

You

There are lots of things I’d go back and change if I could
And I had the chance to do them all again
And sometimes when I lie at night
My life goes through a rewrite
Of the script I authored the cuff way back when
I would have worked out a little more and drank a whole lot less
And on the path I made I would have left a little less of a mess
I wouldn’t have been so belligerent in my younger days
But darling, even if I had my way I wouldn’t change…
You. I wouldn’t change you.

I wish I’d asked Lisa for a little something more
After she drove me home from work and dropped me off outside my door
And as for Anne-Marie, well a little more than most of me
Wishes I’d grabbed her right there and then on the Lake of the Isles shore
Well I guess, but then again
It was just a few months later when
I attended a party with some friends and who was there but…
You. I wouldn’t change you.

I can’t believe that this is still the same old me
This isn’t quite the man that I had planned to be

I wish I’d said no to playing softball in a downpour
That mortifying night I struck out three times in a row
And I wish I’d had a backup plan on the day of my graduation
When my audio cut out at the beginning of the slide show
I think of Nathan Glass and his Book of Human Folly
All the blunders and pratfalls, embarrassments, the foibles, oh good golly
But you. I wouldn’t change you.

I wish to God I saw Roger Waters perform The Wall
Maybe Cheap Trick and U2 or the Fixx and that’s not all
I probably should have stayed when I made my way to Berklee
Though at UW I sure had one hell of a ball
And maybe that’s the lesson of life we can embrace as we mature
That we are who we are because of who we were.

Nail the landing

Mile by mile, show after show
And I keep thinking 'bout my return
I was the fool who decided to go
When will I ever learn?
And I keep holding on to that face in the crowd
The one who reminds me of you

Like a man on the flying trapeze
I can sail through the air with the greatest of ease
This is where I let go
I've made up my mind
And I'm gonna nail the landing this time
Yes I'm gonna nail the landing this time

Oh it's hard to say no to the call of the road
But the thrill is so fleeting, then gone
And I live with regret, oh, of the times that I let
You down my love
I know I've let you down my love

One more mile, one final show
And I bow down for my last applause
I pray you're still same as when I left you
And I pray you’re still in love me despite all my flaws
And I'll say so long to that face in the crowd
And soon I’ll say hello to you

the palisades

There were moments on that hill
We loved with reckless abandon
And reveled in our intertwined wills
That is until
We returned to face the world again
And what happened then
Is a sweet serenade
That begins on the footholds of The Palisades

Do you remember who we were?
Two fools finding their footing
Still seeds of a couple strong and sure
It's a bit of a blur
But after all this time I feel at ease
As if we're back on that hillside
Two young lovers wrestling in the breeze

The New York skyline's upside down
And the river is wavering
And from the depths I hear the sound
Of one act ending and another beginning

With every promise made fulfilled
And every doubt stilled
This is where the best part starts
There's little left here to uncover
But there’s so much to discover
On the winding road traveling with each other

And so we leave this rocky shore
With eyes fixed on the future, a little older a little wiser than before
Off to explore
another stop along the trail we've made
Though from time to time
We may long for the climb
And all we left behind on the Palisades

My gal, Al

My gal, Al
She's sleeping soundly in the bed upstairs
I sneak a peek though she's unaware
She's still a beauty with a few gray hairs

Oh, she and I
We've been together for a long, long time
I guess that's why I composed this rhyme for
My gal, Al

It's more than growing old and growing families
It's more than making love and making memories
It's living life and living that life with meaning

Years ago
I carried my burden on a bumpy road
She straightened my path and she eased my load
My gal, Al