See Through Me c. 1998
1. SEE THROUGH ME (Randall Bramblett and Davis Causey)
I’m all shook up and a million miles from home
I can’t get no shelter in the danger zone
I shoot across the sky in the middle of the night
I’m a falling star, but I’ve gone too far
And I’m running out of light
Chorus:
You have got to be my steady rock
I keep on shakin like I’m never gonna stop
Live my life like a rollin stone
I keep on runnin but the thrill is gone
Somebody see through me
Somebody got to see through me
I walk through a charmed life, I got feet of clay
I’m grabbin for straws in the dark on the lost highway
When it’s push come to shove and slam or be slammed
Times are always tough no matter where I am
Chorus
I got a ticket but I just can’t ride
It’s the same old story on the other side
Up blind alleys and dead-end streets, OK
I got a thousand bloodshot eyes always lookin my way
Chorus
2. SHINING BIRMINGHAM (Randall Bramblett, Bob Jones, Tom Gray and John Brannen
I hear the rolling thunder, I see the cloud line marching by
I have to stand and wonder as I watch the
Sun fall across the sky
Hey, another day gone down
And we’re still strangers in a lonely town
It’s gettin hard to believe our luck will change
As long as we hang around here
Everything is gonna stay the same
Chorus:
Life’s made for livin, every hour that we can
And time won’t forgive us, we got to find the promised land
There are people here that love you
But they just won’t understand
When you say, “Here I am…
Sendin you all my love from shining Birmingham.”
Down in the silent shadows, I hear you knockin at my door
Our love is all that matters, I feel it rockin in my soul
Hey, baby, this time around
We’ll not let anybody hold us down
There’s a bright light shining nobody here can see
And it’s shining on a city of dreams for you and me
Chorus
Look into the mirror, baby, tell me what you see
Are you getting any nearer to what you really meant to be?
Hey, baby, let’s step outside
We got to hit the road before we change our mind
Let the windshield wipers carry you off to sleep
We gonna ride the rolling thunder till we’re free
Chorus
Sendin you all my love
3. I BURN FOR SOMEONE (Randall Bramblett)
I walk these streets that I don’t know
I got myself a mission, baby, I’m a lost soul
Looking for a new world
When they take these boots off my aching feet
I want to see my life rolling out in front of me
I’m searching, child, looking for a way out
It’s a stone cold world but somebody’s got
Somebody’s got to move
Gonna press my face right through the looking glass
I want to see if love, see if my love will last
Chorus:
And I keep walking just to feel the ground
And I’m gonna keep looking, yeah, to see what can be found
And if I wind up standing in the wrong sundown
You know I burn…I burn for someone
There comes a morning when you can’t sit still
The air’s too heavy…something’s got
Something’s got to give
I watch these tears falling like salty rain
Will I go blind before I see again?
Chorus
Well, I’m going…I’m already gone
One day the wind will blow
Through that wall of stone
Beside the highway in the rising steam
I can’t stop these cars from running down
Running down my dream
Roll your window down, I know how it feels
To be a ghost frozen behind the wheel
Chorus
4. MR. BLUE (Randall Bramblett, Davis Causey and Bob Jones
At a bus stop, a lady with a turban on her head
Steps down into the street
She had been to see her only son
He was lying in a hospital bed still trying to get over the war
When the bus pulled away, she stood there
So dignified in the blue smoke
Chorus:
Callin all survivors of the visionary school
Callin all the witnesses dyin to tell the truth
Shakin out the flags of those that justify the rules
Baby I’m flyin in the face of Mr. Blue
Early in the morning in City Park
The cans are shinin on the beach
A young girl is turnin circles in a faded paddle boat
The keeper says, “She’s crazy, she pays me over and over again
And she’s out there every day
Really alone on the blue water”
Chorus
Standin on the highway where the midnight shadows fall
Walkin in the valley where the only way to leave
Is through the wall
Sendin out my love light when the flame is burnin down
And I’m lookin for a way, and I’m lookin for another way
From the window of my office
Down to the cold gray streets below
I keep lookin for another reason to hold my face up to the light
And you’d think by now it would be easy
And I’d be so close to home
But I’m takin cover from the stars
Fallin down from the blue ceiling
Chorus
5. MY WORLD (Randall Bramblett and Davis Causey)
I move so fast, I don’t feel no pain
My attitude’s always gonna be the same
I’m goin out there, put somethin in here
If the man comes around, I’m gonna freeze him with my stare
If I had a number it would always ring
If I had a voice, hey, this is what I’d sing
Chorus:
This is my world, my life
You’ll never know me at the end of the day
Cover my body with black tattoos
Keep all you losers and deadbeats away
When I was a little boy, everyone was grown
I hit the dangerous years really on my own
I worked the streets while the fools went to class
I’m a stone-cold businessman underneath the overpass
If I had a number it would always ring
If I had a voice, hey, this is what I’d sing
Chorus
My mother, was hypnotized by a man named Jack
I think I was just vandalized and I fell through the cracks
My father is a rich man who lives up in the sky
When he comes to visit you, you know it’s time to hide
No one can see me and I can’t be caught
I’m just kid, they don’t give me a second thought
Down in the shelter you better sleep light
Whatever you’re holdin, you better hold on tight
If I had a number it would always ring
If I had a voice, hey, this is what I’d sing
Chorus
6. ANGEL DRESSED IN RED (Randall Bramblett, Davis Causey and Bob Jones)
Somewhere on the road you make a last stand
When one more voice won’t fit inside your head
Anyone can see that something funny is goin on
Well, don’t look down, you’re hangin by a thread
And I don’t think you’ve been rescued by the angel dressed in red
Well, you went back home but they didn’t know you
I guess they took your name off of the list
Now you’re just a shadow
That everybody can walk right through
Well, save your breath
It’s like talkin to the dead
And the only one who hears you is the angel dressed in red
Way back when you were goin nowhere
She was waiting to take you in
When your world came down around you
She would always forgive your sins
Every favor is tied to a string
Now you’ve got to give her everything she needs
To live your life
If you kneel down in a thousand churches
It ain’t never gonna give you no relief, no
There’s got to be someone somewhere who understands your situation
Well, don’t look now
She’s standing by your bed
I think your prayer’s been answered
By the angel dressed in red
7. WHEN OUR TWO WORLDS COLLIDE (Randall Bramblett and Davis Causey)
Well, nothin comes easy
Livin in no man’s land
All these people try to pull us down
I guess they’ll never understand
So we keep our eyes open
We don’t believe their lies
There’s so many small minds out there
Want to cut us down to size
What can you do when love calls you
Will you let it pass you by?
They say we’ll melt in the heat
You never know till you try
Chorus:
I won’t leave you all alone
I won’t run and hide
I’ll stand beside you in the fire
When our two worlds collide
Well, I met you in a small café
Where the poets came to talk
We listened to what they had to say
Then we took a midnight walk
We talked about the people in our two worlds
And how they all mean well
They can’t help you find your way
You got to find it for yourself
What can you do when love calls you
Will you let it pass you by?
They say we’ll melt in the heat
You never know till you try
Chorus
8. SOUL KILLER (Randall Bramblett and Davis Causey)
There you are on the side of the road
Sitting on a suitcase
Holding out your thumb to the stars
While the trucks light up your tears
Tonight your whisper shoots straight to God above
It’s a soul killer and an endless complication
It’s a soul killer and it’s time to change your destination
Just when you thought the walls came down
He pulled a fast one
Once again it’s all your fault and he’s back into his shell
This time you stand outside and the air is awful clear
It’s a soul killer and a deadly combination
It’s a soul killer, your love mixed up with desperation
Don’t wanna be no lone star burning in the dead of night
Don’t wanna be no casualty in somebody else’s silly game
There ain’t no time that’s easier than today
It’s a soul killer in the endless pounding rain
It’s a soul killer and once you feel it, you’ll never be the same
So you’re at a waystation, a resting place on the road to ruin
And you have a thought so clear it just hits you like a stone
This highway’s paved with angels just like you
It’s a soul killer and there ain’t no way around it
It’s a soul killer, better leave this puzzle just the way you found it
9. OUT ON THE RUNWAY (Randall Bramblett and Bob Jones)
You can stay if your plane leaves by night
And never dare to cross the river
It would take a miracle to bring you back to life
You can pick up right where you left off
And find out if life is still waiting
Or keep on going just the way you are
Either way…
Chorus:
I’ll be out on the runway waiting
I know it’s just a matter of time
I’ll be out on the runway, baby
I know it’s just a matter of time
What was it that the man once said?
Said we’re all on a stage
And each of us has got to play a part
But sometimes I have to wonder ‘round here
Who wears the real disguise and who hides behind the actor’s part
I’m tellin you
Chorus
You can wait, you can wait a little longer
You can wait till you miss what you’re waiting for
But the time has come
The time has come for you to stand up
Stand up and follow your heart
I’m tellin you
Chorus
10. NOTHING WORDS (Randall Bramblett and Jason Slatton)
Sky circles, black clouds spiral in the dirty air
I want to feel you breathing next to me
In the spinning darkness I get where I just don’t care
With every breath I feel a little colder
Shadows on the windshield, ghosts on the radio
Tired eyes locked on a yellow moon
By my calculation there’s nothing I need to know
Turn off the streets lights, baby, I’ve seen it all
Chorus:
Gonna bring it on back to you
I’m so lost I don’t know what to do
If I could I would sing like a bird
All I got’s these nothing words
Yeah, nothing words
Well, I woke up strangling inside a thick cloud of dread
I dreamed I was riding on a loose train
Got a cold stream of water running straight through my head
Nobody’s at the wheel
Chorus
There’s a thousand miles of static between me and my thoughts
I put the bricks in the window try to block it all out
Hey, it’s a free world I guess I’ll do what I please
But a little darkness just scatters me tonight
Headlights streaming past…treat ‘em like lightning bugs
I gotta get my mind straight somehow
I’m in between drinks but I might as well be drugged
Crawling back from the edge
Chorus
Too many lies, too many empty words
So much I meant to say, so much you never heard
I was a business man and the pressure was always on
I had nothing left to give you
By the time that I got home
But a father’s hands are supposed to be so strong
And a father’s words should never, never be wrong
You find this wall of responsibility
And you hide behind it and hope they don’t see you
Chorus:
Where do we stand on the trembling earth?
What do we know when we don’t know what love is worth?
Somebody reach across the silent divide
I’ve got a message from the other side
I breathe deep and I watch for signs
I tread water with this childish heart of mine
So much world, so little control
Don’t ask questions, just do what you’re told
But I can’t walk in the old man’s shoes
And I can’t do whatever he wants me to
I drop out, I got a place in my mind
I’m living so scattered that no one’s gonna find me
Chorus
The smoke is rising in the midnight air
I cry for you but you’re not there
So many strangers in the neon glare
Hey, but I will wait for you
Lines of age cross my face
They take your memory down to a secret place
In the midnight hour when love gets real
No more pretending, you know what I feel
And what I feel won’t go away
Everything I touch all coming back some day
In the big picture where you take it all on faith
I’m traveling light and I know you’re gonna wait for me
Chorus