American Stonehenge
By Robin Williamson & His Merry Band

Pacheco
by Robin Williamson

Purple clouds turn scarlet in the setting sun
Where sagebrush turns to alive oak and the white tail run
The air is cool as music when the day is gone
And God paints the sky above Pacheco

Through the blue hills back of Santa Cruz we're rolling fine
Where red tail hawks go circling like the ways of time
Lovers and friends will meet again round red Sonoma wine
When God calls the night above Pacheco

Chorus:
Driving all day up the San Joaquin
Turn west again, up through Pacheco


Keepsake
by Robin Williamson

I will remember
Even when I'm dead
A long winter's night
You came stealing to my bed

O and the snow was falling
White all on the ground
But it's warm with me
Let fall you velvet gown

Chorus:
Your fater snores
Your mother sighs
We hear them through the wall
I remember a long winter's nigth
I remember it all

Ah whisper you love me
Talk soft and low
With your hands like white birds
And your breasts like snow

How could I be born too soon
Or you be born too late
You rightly lying with me
And your lips against my face


Zoo Blues
by Robin Williamson, Sylvia Woods,
Christopher Caswell and Jerry McMillan

I asped the elephant in the elevator
Where you had gone, he said you were boozing round with the bees
When I had the bucks my dear, you were so fawn
Now my doe is gone and you're so colt to me
Camels in the zoo singing one hump or two
But I can't bear to see them no cow
I feel the loss a lot, I miss you an ocelot
I wonder who's kitten you now
My llama mama what's gnu with you
With your cat's pyjamas and his cockatoo
You sealed your fate with him

Chorus:
Gorilla my dreams
you're a cheetah is seems
fly are you lion to me
you otter be sad losing me
(for goodness snakes)

I toad you donkey me waitin', why you hesitatin'
I'll pig you up at ape, iguana bison rings and meat you at your front boar
You mustang gone in his big black carp when he gibbon you that new mink cape

There's no depenguin on you that's for sure (sheep skate)
You played me for a sucker, at leech they said,
I was sow gull-a-bull
Ain't no mousetake you snake I'll make you regret you treated me so cruel
Gonna grab my cat, gonna grab my goat
Gonna ram you worms right down your throat
I kangaroo in this sad stoat, you sealed your fate with him.


These Islands Green
by Robin Williamson

Scotland O where I was born
And happy I have been
It is days come months come long years
Since my home I have seen
All over North America
From shore to shore I roamed
It's thinking often all the while
And how would I get home

And all good friends what may betide
So dear so far away
And the green and pleasant countryside
Where erst I spent my days
And when the road is hard and long
I oftimes call to mind
Old Scotland's vales and Scotland's dales
And the love I left behind

But this rolling world's no poet's home
Nor has been since Man's fall
Through hollow lands and hilly lands
Where the lonesome sparrow calls
His notes evokes a broken key
As you can understand
Which makes us roving strangers all
From our native land

So treat me kindly as I go
As heaven doth require
A safe rest and a friendly word
Are all that I desire
And a glass of your good whiskey bring
In the height of my good cheer
And I'll think on it kindly many a mile
When I am gone from here

I'll take the good times with the bad
Times are nothing sure
I've learned the while that fortune smiles
On them that can endure
Ah but I will trust in Providence
No matter where I roam
And honest ways and honest days
Will lead us all safe home


The Man In the Van
by Robin Williamson

His mother told me everything
She had every reason to lie
Down there in the laundromant
Like his life was tumbling dry
Born to be a fighter
With nothing to attack
They put sugar in his coffee
And a t-shirt on his back
And they signed it with a pen
Now they've got him in ambulance
And he'll never fight again

Chorus:
Nothing in his pockets and
Nothing in his hand
That man in the van

Out there in the desert
With the dinosaur blues
With a suitcase full of earvax
and pencils in his shoes
The streets were full of marionettes
And their eyes like blood
It was raining crucifixes
To the tune of Billy Buud
Going to Los Cruces
To breathe that magic air
They've got a few shocks for him
When he gets there

Good morning to you Dr. Varden
Good morning to you if you please
There's many go begging your pardon
While they're dying by degrees
The gates of hell were open
There was no one there inside
They were all out in Los Cruces
Giving their hogs a ride
With clean white jackets
And their eyes like glass
Maybe he'll learn to take it slow
And let it pass


Sands And the Glass
by Robin Williamson

Running from home full of hope
Green as dope and living on our dreams
How long ago it seems since we believed in magic
Finding love so easily then, seeking to be free as the wind
Laughing with our friends beyond the tragic

Chorus:
I think we were duped
But I don't forget
Things that were true
I believe them yet
I've seen a new day

Beyond the sad sunset
It looks so fine
Let it shine in the end
Let it shine

Sweet ladies gave me brown bread and cheese
Breezes from the sea flew blue birds
Death was absurd when I was flying
Hearts of gold and old stories
Never told a lying word
There was no flaw till I saw you crying

Someone could not sell us cars
Saw us staring at the stars and sold us sleep
Drowned us deep in limbo
Some of us died, some got by, here am I still singing on a stage
I'll never turn my cheek but I'll turn the page
And watch the way the wind blows


When Evening Shadow Fall
by Robin Williamson

When evening shadow fall
All tongues at last will tire of bustling trade
The brightest eye at last grows dull
And the finest flowers fade

Chorus:
Life is short o life is sweet
Sweeter is the love you gave to me
Sure by cold death we two must parted be
But life is sweet

When evening shadows fall
Gaze long upon the lamps that light the sky
And sing again that oldest song of all
Poor mortals born to die


Rab's last wollen testament
by Robin Williamson

When I was a little boy
I used to take the time
To go and see old Rab McPhee
Down by the railway line
He was getting on in years then you know
And very fond of a drop of mountain whisky, and didn't he tell me so
He was always full of a good story, and he'd a nose like a weatherhane
He was never exactly drunk, but then he was never exactly sober anyway
And I often remember these words he used to say

Water is the strong stuff
It carries whales and ships
But water is the wrong stuff
Don't let it get past your lips
It rots your books
It wets your suits
Puts aches in all your bones
Dilute the stuff with whiskey
Aye, or leave it well alone

Chorus:
Whisky pure
O whisky you're
a charmer
Drunk or sober

Spare yourself contortions
With a drop of barley wine
A sensible precaution
To counteract the times
Brandy and rum are dandy for some
Wherever they might be sold
But a drop of mountain whisky
Isn't ot worth its weight in gold

Whisky, Nancy whisky
You're as sweet as the dew
I'm lonesome my darling
Since parting with you
Kiss me when you're with me
Be easy and free
and I'll throw away the bottle
and take you with me


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