Close to the Bone
Winter’s deep and black as pitch
Morning cold cuts like a switch
Hit the flint, strike the stone
A spark is thrown
Close to the Bone
Cast your thought across the field
See the crop the land will yield
Never healed, never grown
Sins to atone
Close to the Bone
Bending back closing eye
Calloused hand leather dry
Western sky…light is shown
A shadow’s thrown
Close to the Bone
Twisted root taps the pain
Stunted stalk, needed rain
Harvest grain summer grown
Reap what you’ve sown
Close to the Bone
Good Man
God protect the homeless man out on the street. Feed the hungry child without enough to eat. Let you angels watch my loved ones as they sleep. And if you can, make me a good man.
Give courage to the soldier fighting far from home. Protect the runaway on the streets tonight alone. To the broken sinner let your light be shown. And if you can, make me a good man.
There’s many others who need you more than I. Tonight someone will lose a lover a child will cry. But I still believe in you and if you believe in me. I know you can, make me a good man.
Out of State Plates
There were smokestacks in the distance, fingers in the night.
The pitch black hit the resistance that lingers in starlight.
All the ashes fell from drifting on the shingles and the slate,
Heading home steady and straight, driving out of state plates.
The warning lights were flashing and they closed the Erie line.
Some things you know without the asking, some things you figure out with time.
That big diesel came crashing off the tracks under the freight,
And I felt that crushing weight driving out of state plates.
There was a song on the radio, a sad familiar tune.
I hummed the words I didn’t know, let the melody ring true.
The storming shook the shelter. The rumble raised the dead.
In the morning I still felt her like an engine in my head.
The ditches they were dragging all of my dreams small and great,
Through the open arms of fate, driving out of state plates.
I Won’t Be Dismayed
I’ve walked a fool’s mile far from my home
I’ve laid my head down on Jacob’s stone
I’ve wished on a star in Orion’s long arm
Underneath the wild skies all alone
I won’t be dismayed
I won’t be dismayed
When a troubling wind comes blowing my way
Until I’m called home at the end of my days
I won’t be dismayed
I won’t be dismayed
I’ve know the taste of an empty plate
I’ve felt the sting of betrayals swift blade
I’ve dragged my mistakes like an anchors weight
Through the valley of sorrows sweet shame
I’ve seen hope arise like the morning’s long light
Where the giant oaks grow tall from a seed
I’ve seen dreams that don’t die in a young child’s eye
And felt God’s gracious had guiding me
Weathervane
Hide me inside your cyclone
Close to your quiet eye
Take me out where the wind blows
Where the weather fronts collide
Lift me up like a rooftop
Set me down in the shade
When the stormin’ won’t stop
You’re my Weathervane
A natural disaster
Was spinning inside me
When all the windows shattered
You kept me in one piece
You’re the blanket in my basement
The flashlight in my crawl space
When all the walls start shaking
You’re my Weathervane
When I hear the sirens sound
When the big oak branches break
When I’m fighting off that funnel cloud
You keep me standing tall and pointing straight
So let the lightening clatter
Let the rivers rise
Let the thunder shake the rafters
I’ll be warm and dry
You’re the blossom in my Spring time
In the Summer you’re my shade
When I feel that strong wind blow by
You’re my Weathervane
World of Sin
Take away my hate
Give me a clean heart inside
Make my way narrow and straight
Help me see things through your eyes
Give me the faith to be strong
Through the trials in life
Let me help others along
Who are less blessed than I
Take me by the hand.
Shine your light down on my path.
And when this life here is through
Lead me to heaven at last
In a World of Sin make me Born Again
Cobblestone
You can leave at the daybreak
You can leave at midnight
Whatever road that you take
Whatever end’s in sight
You can peel it away
Peel the pavement back
But it’s all still the same
You’re just leaving new tracks
Cobblestone
Cobblestone
Until you come back home
Walk down the Cobblestone
You can skip the beginning
You can start at the end
But there ain’t no winning
There’s no rules that don’t bend
You can let it unwind
That line that’s got you bound
A slow turn at a time
Until you come unwound
You can leave it behind you
You can shove it up front
You can let the light blind you
You can see what you want
Break through the concrete
Where the mason makes the mend
Find the missing piece
Let it lie down end to end
bothofustheresacandleinthecornertheresashadowonthewalltheresacrossuponthemantlegodfor
giveusallimwonderingifyourememberwonderingifyoufeelthesamecausewhenthesungoesdownup
onusanditstimetocasttheblameIknowitwasbothofuscantyouseebothofusitwasyouandmebothof
ushidinginthedarknessiknowitwasbothofuseveningturnedtomornignmorningturnedtodayanditca
mewithoutawarningwithoutachancetogetawaycrashingdownonbothofuscantyouseebothofusit
wasyouandmebothofushidinginthedarknessiknowitwasbothofusificamewithmyarmsopenificame
withmyheadbowedificamewithnowordsspokenwouldyouhearmecryingoutforthesinsofbothofus
Rest Easy
You can rest easy in a stormy night
When the thunder rolls when the lightening strikes
When the power blows and knocks out the lights
You can rest easy in a stormy night
You can rest easy in a the Summer days
When the fields reach out into a distant haze
When your sweet time is fading away
You can rest easy in the Summer days
You can rest easy, close your eyes
You can rest easy, sleep well tonight
Let mamma sing you a lullaby
You can rest easy, sleep well tonight
You can rest easy wherever you are
Underneath a storm cloud or a summer star
You know I’ll never be very far
You can rest easy wherever you are
Save the Day
Count the crashing bells in the cathedral tower
Tales in passing tell until the daylight hour
Morning’s blanket wraps around a waking moon
Don’t you take it don’t you take your love so soon
Save the Day
Save the Day
In the winking of an eye
Life recedes to memories
Time takes wing to fly
To their graves
To their graves
Chase the ghosts
Back to their graves
Save the Day
Save the Day
Save the Day
Make no mention and no one will ever ask
Ride the rocking rails on home through the twilight
Signals fail stolen by the satellites
Written, Performed, and Recorded by Jeff Dernlan.
Close to the Bone was written with Paul Lyons.
Additional Recordings, Mix, and Master by Adam Winokur with Matt Muir.
Adam played brushes on Save the Day and Both of Us, and Rhodes on Both of Us.
David Latimer played drums on Out of State Plates.
Jesse Lundy played guitar on Weathervane.
Flicker played Piano and Organ on Close to the Bone, Cobblestone, I Won’t Be Dismayed, and Rest Easy.
