Round of Blues

Shawn Colvin isn't the greatest performer in the world...I've seen her, and that night she seemed uncomfortable in front of an adoring crowd...but she can write a song...the lyrics are so sweet and poetic...the melody and rhythm just sweep you along, going past the downer passages, turning this into, in her own words, a happy little love song...

Here we go again
Another round of blues
Several miles ago
I set down my angel shoes
On a lost highway
For a better view
Now in my mind's eye
All roads lead to you


Chorus:
So wherever you go
You better take care of me
This time
If you're gonna go
Remember me and all
This time


We had our bitter cheer
And sweet sorrow
We lost a lot today
We get it back tomorrow
I hear the sound of wheels
I know the rainbow's end
I see lights in a fat city
I feel love again


Chorus

All this time
I been makin' deals
Shades if black and white
On a Hollywood reel
All this time
I been missing
Something so real
All this time
I been a face in the crowd
Now I'm living in color
And laughing out loud
All these names
For just foolin' around
It's a new breakthrough
It's an old break down


We smoked a lot of hope
We did our cryin' , too
We're finally waking up
To what real love can do
Down a lost highway
Under the twilight moon
A chorus in your eyes
Another round of blues


Chorus

We had all
This time
We had all
This time

Shotgun Down the Avalanche

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche
Tumbling and falling down the avalanche

So be quiet tonight the stars
Shine bright
On this mountain of new fallen snow
But I will raise up my voice into
The void
You have left me nowhere to go

I love you so much and it's so bizarre
A mystery that goes on and on and on
This is the best thing and the very
Most hard
And we don't get along

After countless appeals we keep
Spinning our wheels
On this mountain of new fallen snow
So I let go the catch and we are
Over the edge
You have left me nowhere to go

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche

Sometimes you make me lose my will
To live
And just become a beacon for your soul
But the past is stronger than my will
To forgive
Forgive you or myself, I don't know

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche
Tumbling and falling down the avalanche

So be quiet tonight be sure to
Step lightly
On this mountain of new fallen snow
But I will raise up my voice into
The void
You have left me nowhere to go

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche

John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin Saturday night

Sue snagged quick tickets to see these two Saturday night at the Melody Tent in Hyannis. Wanted to see Shawn Colvin and didn't know John Hiatt but, man, glad we stayed for the second set.

Funny, summer Cape crowd, all tan and khaki, shorts and sweatshirts to ward off the damp chill. I said to Sue, what a good-lookin' bunch, not a hump in the crowd.

Overheard someone in the beer line during intermission saying that Colvin reminded them of Joni Mitchell the way she talked (and talked, but it was okay, she's got a nice stage presence) and kept meticulously tuning her guitar all the while. Played Sonny plus a few others I recognized but can't recall right now because I'm not a big fan, but she's got a nice voice, not a great voice, but good story-telling songs.

John Hiatt. Holy shit. He came out looking like he just hopped off the tractor from plowing the soy beans. His old limp jeans just hanging on him, untucked shirt coming out under his denim jacket (in short, he dressed a helluva a lot the way I do) and he just, to use some Chris Knight lyrics, banged away. Great energy, great storytelling, and he ripped that guitar, tearing his pick through the strings like a scythe in hay season, and it became part of his soul that night.