Guitarists From The United States

"Better ask questions before you shoot, Deceit and betrayal's bitter fruit. It's hard to swallow, come time to pay That taste on your tongue don't easily slip away. Let kingdom come I'm gonna find my way Through this lonesome day."

"Hell's brewin', dark sun's on the rise. This storm'll blow through by and by. House is on fire, viper's in the grass; A little revenge and this too shall pass. This too shall pass, I'm gonna pray. Right now all I got's this lonesome day."

"They found him shot dead outside Stockton, His body lyin' on a muddy hill. Nothin' taken, nothin' stolen; Somebody killed him just to kill."

"When I die I don't want no part of heaven. I would not do heaven's work well. I pray the devil comes and takes me To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell."

"Well the highway is alive tonight, But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody about where it goes. I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light Searchin’ for the ghost of Tom Joad."

"Well here's to your good looks baby, now here's to my health. Here's to the loaded places that we take ourselves. When it comes to luck, you make your own. Tonight I got dirt on my hands but I'm building me a new home."

"Now a life of leisure and a pirate's treasure Don't make much for tragedy. But it's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin And can't stand the company. Every fool's got a reason to feelin' sorry for himself And turn his heart to stone. Tonight this fool's halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell, And I feel like I'm comin' home."

"So I bought a .44 magnum, it was solid steel cast. And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast. 'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet And they busted me for disturbin' the almighty peace. Judge said "What you got in your defense son?" "Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on." I can see by your eyes friend you're just about gone. Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on... Fifty-seven channels and nothin'"

"If the angels are unkind or the season is dark, Or if in the end Love just falls apart. Well then here's to our destruction. Baby let me be your soul driver."

"Baby, in a world without pity, Do you think what I'm askin's too much? I just want to feel you in my arms, Share a little of that Human Touch. Feel a little of that Human Touch. Give me a little of that Human Touch."

"Tonight our bed is cold; I'm lost in the darkness of our love. God have mercy on the man Who doubts what he's sure of."

"Now you play the loving woman; I'll play the faithful man. But just don't look too close into the palm of my hand."

"It ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough. Man meets woman and they fall in love. But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough. And you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above If you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love."

"Spare parts And broken hearts Keep the world turnin' around."

"Well it's Saturday night you're all dressed up in blue. I been watching you awhile, maybe you been watching me too. So somebody ran out, left somebody's heart in a mess. Well if you're looking for love, honey I'm tougher than the rest."

"Last night me and Kate we laid in bed talking about getting out. Packing up our bags maybe heading south. I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now. Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around. This is your hometown."

"I had one friend in high school, recently he hung himself with string, His note said "If livin' is the problem, well that's just baffling." And at the wake I waited around to see my ex-first love, And I barely recognized her but I knew exactly what she was thinkin' of .We sat quietly in the corner, whisperin' close about loss, And I remembered why I loved her and I asked her why I drove her off."

"I've had enough of breakdowns and diagrams— Judging from picture books, apparently Heaven is a partly cloudy place."

"I used to think, if I could realise I'd die Then I would be a lot nicer Used to believe in a lot more Now I just see straight ahead That's not to say I don't have good times But as for my days, I spend them waiting..."

"When you jump up the Earth wants you back."

"I do this thing where I think I'm real sick but I won't go to the doctor to find out about it cause they make you stay real still in a real small space as they chart up your insides and put them on display. They'd see all of it, all of me, all of it; All the good that won't come out of me..."

"It's all of the good that won't come out of us and how eventually our hands will just turn to dust, if we keep shaking them standing here on this frozen lake."

"Then you hang up the phone and feel badly for upsetting things And crawl back into bed to dream of a time When your heart was open wide and you love things just because Like the sick and dying"

"And sometimes when you're on You're really fucking on And your friends they sing along And they love you But the lows are so extreme That the good seems fucking cheap And it teases you for weeks in its absence"

"There's blood in my mouth Cause I've been biting my tongue all week I keep on talking trash But I never say anything And the talking leads to touching And the touching leads to sex And then there is no mystery left"

"And it's bad news, I don't blame you I do the same thing, I get lonely too And you're bad news, my friends tell me to leave you That you're bad news..."

"I read with every broken heart We should become more adventurous"

"And you're not happy but you're funny and I'm tripping over my joy. I just keep on gettin up again."

"An unlocked door means that, occasionally, you might get a devil come in, but a locked door means you have thousands of angels just walk by."

"I think that the idea of straight edge, the song that I wrote, and the way people have related it it, there's some people who have abused it, they've allowed their fundamentalism to interfere with the real message, which in my mind, was that people should be allowed to live their lives the way they want to."

"When people who are songwriters say 'That's my property and if you give it away for free then I'll lose my incentive,' then, well, good riddance."

"If you wanna find gold Go looking in the mountains If you wanna find silver Go digging in stones If you wanna find heaven Go reading in the Bible If you wanna find love Go looking at home."

"When you're not here by my side There is nothing in this world for me. I guess I'm crazy Crazy for you can't you see."

"Right when a man's, doin all that he planned And he thinks he's got just what he needs Life will deliver, a shot that will shiver him Drivin him down to his knees Make him start giving, living, livin' again. Well it's your mind, that tricks you in believin' everytime Love will turn you around, turn you around Well it's your heart, that talks you into stayin' where you are Love will turn you around, turn you around."

"Something's got a hold on me It's cheap but it ain' free Love or somethin like it's got a hold on me."

"Sing your song sweet music man, I believe in you."

"You touched my soul with your beautiful song You even had me singin' along right with you, you said "I need you", then you changed the words and added harmony Then you sang the song you had written for me to someone new Oh, but nobody sings a love song quite like you do Oh, and nobody else can make me sing along Nobody else can make me feel things are right When I know they're wrong, Nobody sings a love song quite like you."

"I can see now Where you might grow tired of dreams That don't come true, I can see where I have fallen short Of the things I promised you. I can see now through my tear filled eyes no love on your face, I must get used to seein' strangers in my place."

"I see the town Where we were born, I see the place We were raised, I see all the things you wanted That I never gave. I see sadness, I see sorrow, I see pain in your face, But I just can't see A stranger in my place."

"You never know how much you love somebody until they’re gone. I’ve had so many wonderful years and wonderful times with my friend Kenny, but above all the music and the success I loved him as a wonderful man and a true friend."

"A smart man isn't necessarily one who knows all the answers, but knows where to find them."

"And it's the same when there's a war on: it's the men who go to fight Women and children are civilians, when they're killed it's not right Men kill men in uniform, its the way war goes When they run they're cowards, when they stay they are heroes."

"one day I told Ira that I did not want to remain an ignoramus forever and asked if he would consider tutoring me more formally. Ira claims that I suggested the next idea, and I think that he did, but the discussion evolved into a proposition that we form a school called the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence."

"There was a new popular music of protest. Pete Seeger had been singing protest songs since the forties, but now he came into his own, his audiences much larger. Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, singing not only protest songs, but songs reflecting the new abandon, the new culture, became popular idols..."

"She was something else, almost too much to take. Her voice was like that of a siren from off some Greek island. Just the sound of it could put you into a spell. She was an enchantress. You'd have to get yourself strapped to the mast like Odysseus and plug up your ears so you wouldn't hear her. She'd make you forget who you were."

"Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Joan Baez. She was the queen of folk music then and now. She took a liking to my songs and brought me with her to play concerts, where she had crowds of thousands of people enthralled with her beauty and voice. People would say, "What are you doing with that ragtag scrubby little waif?" And she'd tell everybody in no uncertain terms, "Now you better be quiet and listen to the songs." We even played a few of them together. Joan Baez is as tough-minded as they come. Love. And she's a free, independent spirit. Nobody can tell her what to do if she doesn't want to do it. I learned a lot of things from her. A woman with devastating honesty. And for her kind of love and devotion, I could never pay that back."

"Women’s liberation was not on our radar, although I do remember noting to myself that women were basically running the office of the Boston draft resistance group behind the scenes. I was deeply involved because I had a draft resister boyfriend. That’s how most of us were involved (“Girls say yes to boys who say no,” as Joan Baez said"

"All of us alive are survivors, but how many of us transcend survival? (p. 322)"

"there really is no normal, and the things that I do change: study Aikido, take photos, take a dance course, get back cooking, illustrate a songbook, take on a human rights project-write a book. But there are some friends who have remained constant"

"I am thinking that Ronald Reagan is the same age as my father. They have some things in common. They are both young in spirit, buoyant, well-preserved, and optimistic. Beyond that, I can find only outstanding differences. The President is either ignorant of, or unconcerned by the ills of the world about which my father and I have been speaking. He is particularly immune to any part America may have in engendering these ills, as he dislikes the inconvenience of thinking beyond his own definitions of good-guys/bad-guys, and also doesn't like to be depressed. His pleasant, bumbling demeanor is preferable to the murderous efficiency of Kissinger and Kirkpatrick, but on the other hand, he is involved in the same dark and bloody deeds, all done under the same vast, all-encompassing and convenient banner of anticommunism. He feels that God is on his side, and that he really can do no wrong. What piques me is how this man and his followers can write off someone like my father. Because of my father's protestations about the raping of the Amazon forests, the pollution of our rivers, the misuse and depletion of natural energy, and the poisoning our children's air, people like my father are explained away with the flick of a wrist as a doomsayer, a depressive, a pessimistic liberal."