Folk Singers

"I suppose I should hope that it turns out fine."

"I just want to be not what I am today. I just want to be better than my friends might say. I just want a small part in your passion play."

"Memories fade into dust."

"I can't wait for you."

"You're the bad one from the day you were born."

"Make no mistake about it, making a good record is pure, unadulterated pain. If you fall and break your leg--that's pain. But I'm telling you, the phase between pain and death? That's making a good record. It's extreme."

"I'm too involved in making plans for my soul."

"Every time feels like my first time. And I just find that the process of it feeds into one's own self-obsession."

"My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better then it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better then how it’s recorded."

"I can only help myself."

"You see mama don't watch your damn football And your beer drinkin' just won't do You're just stayin' out late And you're preachin' the hate And you never have been trueYou see mama she want her somebody Who will let her be herself So she's leavin' you And your stinky damn ways Cause she's found somebody else"

"There was a little boat sailed down the river, Hull was a cup and sail was a feather, Cum peedle ump pump pay."

"Little man stood at the Mayor's door, No one had ever seen him before, Dressed in clothes of a gayer mood Than ever are seen in Hollywood."

"I don't mind failing in this world, I'll stay down here with the raggedy crew, 'Cause getting up there means stepping on you, so I don't mind failing in this world."

"If you are a piano, You will laugh on ev'ry string, And if you are a girl or boy, You'll sing."

"Love is something if you give it away, Give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away, You end up having more. It's just like a magic penny, Hold it tight and you won't have any. Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many They'll roll all over the floor."

"They don't know my head's full of me And that I have my own special thing, And there's no hole in my head. Too bad."

"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. A middle-aged woman on the West Coast, Malvina Reynolds, wrote and sang songs that fit her socialist thinking and her libertarian spirit, as well as her critique of the modern commercial culture. Everybody now, she sang, lived in "little boxes" and they "all came out just the same.""

"Train whistle blowin', Makes a sleepy noise; Underneath their blankets Go all the girls and boys. Rockin', rollin', ridin', Out along the bay, All bound for Morningtown, Many miles away."

"And there's doctors and lawyers, And business executives, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same."

"They say the average bank robber lives within say about 20 miles of the bank that he robs There's this little bank not so far from here I've been watching now for a while Seems like lately alls I can think about is how bad I wanna go out in style"

"You internet people scare the shit out of me."

"I don't know much about that whole grunge thing."

"You know, this war on drugs is funded by tobacco and alcohol commissions. It's not what drugs you're strung out on they care about so much as whose. People still dig drugs. I mean, y'all do, anyway. I'm over it."

"I'm gonna make my last stand This time I can't be bought Then again, on the other hand How much have you got?"

"Republicans... That's what scares people these days. That, and uh, Democrats."

"(Spoken) So I called my brother... he was living in Austin. He had these friends who were letting him stay on their couch, and I figured they might have a couch that I could stay on. So, I got this ride to Austin, Texas and got to this address my brother gave me, and this guy introduced himself as "Bonehead." And I went in and started asking around; turned out they didn't have the second couch, they just had the one couch, uh, for my brother. But they knew where there was a party, and I thought, well, that's good enough."

"(Spoken) He came out, kinda like tonight, like I am, with just a guitar, and sang some songs. I thought, shit, I could do that."

"Of all the young singer-songwriters out there, I think Todd Snider is the best.. by that I mean he has found a way to take his feelings and observations and turn them into songs that can get an audience...he won't quit til he gets the audience and he always gets the audience."

"Todd Snider writes great songs and also is a great performer. He totally connects with every audience. Hardest act to follow since Steve Goodman."

"It's an issue for me I went to see this therapist She said just do the best you can do Do the best you can do I was hoping for something more specific"

"A man once said that the pinnacle of success Was when you've finally lost interest In money, compliments, and publicity A noble enough idea I suppose How on Earth he does this heaven only knows I know I need a lot more of all three of those Before I'll ever have the nerve to turn up my nose At any money, or compliments, or publicity"

"Todd Snider is a true songwriter, with the heart and humor of John Prine, the wild unpredictability of Roger Miller, and a fresh, original spirit and freedom of imagination that's absolutely his own."

"Conservative Christian, right-wing Republican Straight white American males Gay-bashing, black-fearing War-fighting, tree-killing Regional leaders of sales Frat-housing, keg-tapping Shirt-tucking, back-slapping Haters of hippies like me Tree-hugging, peace-loving Pot-smoking, porn-watching Lazy-ass hippies like me"

"With good behavior I'll be out in seven years Don't worry over me or shed any tears I've learned a lot in here and I know what a chance I blew The next time I won't make the same mistake I'll shoot the camera out too I'm learning all kinds of things you can do When you're broke"

"I was looking for a job when I found this one Don't need the work like you need the work done You look like you're under pressure I was already looking for a job two weeks ago, when I met you, remember?"

"(Spoken) You get out in the desert and there's no signs. And of course it was just me and all my friends, it was all guys in the car, so we drove about another two and a half hours before we ever pulled over and asked anybody where we was. And we were on this thing called the Devil's Backbone Highway, right, so we finally pull into this place uniquely named "The Devil's Backbone Tavern." We go in, and all the guys say I gotta go in, you know. And so I go in there, and it's one of them bars, like everyone's drinking beer and there are like, say, twenty people in there and they have maybe, say, seventeen teeth total in the whole place. And I'm not a good fighter, or very good at protecting myself at all, you know! And I thought, well this could - this may not work out. So I saw behind the bar there was this one older woman; she looked like she was in her eighties and she kinda hunched over like I remember my grandma started to do, she kinda, she had curly white hair, and she's all... I thought, well, I could take her..."

"Now to fit in on the Seattle scene You had to show people something that they'd never seen So thinkin' up a gimmick one day We decided to be the only band that wouldn't play a note Under any circumstance We called it silence... Music's original alternative Root's grunge"

"Making money out of paper, making paper out of trees We’re making so much money we can hardly breathe"

"By the time that he mowed the last man down He was high as he had ever been Laughing to the sounds of the world going around Completely unaware of the win And while the papers would say he was scattered that day He was pretty as a pitcher could be The day Dock Ellis of the pittsburgh pirates Threw a no hitter on lsd"

"Between the darkness on the street And the houses filling up with light. Between the stillness in my heart And the roar of the approaching night. Somebody's calling after somebody, Somebody turns the corner out of sight, Looking for somebody Somewhere in the night.Tender is the night. When you hold your baby tight, Tender are the motions, tender is the night."

"Hold a place for the human race. Keep it open wide. Give it time to fall or climb. But let the time decide. Sometimes you wonder what's in this for you. But you wait and you see. 'Cause its all you can do. Just to hold on. Hold on hold out, hold on."

"In the morning when I closed my eyes, You were sleeping in paradise. And while the room was growing light, I was holding still with all my might."

"I can't keep up with what's been going down, I think my heart must just be slowing down. Among the human beings In their designer jeans, Am I the only one who hears the screams And the strangled cries of lawyers in love?"

"Talk about celestial bodies, And your angels on the wing. She wasn't much good at stickin' around--but That girl could sing. She could sing...In the dead of night, She could shine a light On some places that you've never been. In that kind of light, You could lose your sight And believe there was something to win."

"She was a friend to me when I needed one. Wasn't for her I don't know what I'd done. She gave me back something that was missing in me. She could of turned out to be almost anyone, Almost anyone-- With the possible exception Of who I wanted her to be."

"You could hold her tight With all your might, But she'd slip through your arms like the wind. And be back in flight, Back into the night, Where you might never see her again."

"Now the seats are all empty, Let the roadies take the stage. Pack it up and tear it down. They're the first to come and the last to leave, Working for that minimum wage. They'll set it up in another town."

"Now roll them cases out and lift them amps, Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps. Cause when it comes to moving me, You know you guys are the champs. But when that last guitar's been packed away, You know that I still want to play. So just make sure you got it all set to go Before you come for my piano."

"Down on the boulevard they take it hard. They look at life with such disregard. They say it can't be won The way the game is run. But if you choose to stay, You end up playing anyway. It's okay."