Christmas Child lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Winter's eve is creepin' in on December first, on a cold wind

And on the pantry door hangs a calendar

Counting down the days with their little doors

And I am just a Christmas Child

I lie upon the floor by the firelight in my home

Winter's eve, December 4. The tree is up and the lights adorn

I push the cloves into a tangerine

Fetch the holly from a neighbor's tree

And I am just a Christmas Child

I lie upon the floor by the firelight in my home

And I will lie lie lie awake

I will lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

Three weeks til Christmas Day

Winter's eve is nearer still, the house she creaks and the wind chills

Howlin' wind but I remain safely by the lighted pane

The frost, right upon the glass

You see the treeline fade into the dark of night right on time

And I will lie lie lie awake

I will lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

I will lie lie lie awake

Lie lie lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

Two weeks til Christmas Day

And I will lie lie lie awake

I will lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

I will lie lie lie awake

Lie lie lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

I will lie lie lie awake

Lie lie lie awake and I will stay right here until I fade away

One week til Christmas Day

One week til Christmas Day

One week til Christmas Day

Red Punch / Green Punch lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Nothing says Christmas like a party out at my great aunts

Out on the front lawn, some things never change

A manger scene, wise man, and herd of sheep so fantastic

Hard covered plastic blinking in the yard

Red punch, green punch, Brach holiday mints and some peanuts

The more things stay the same you know, the more they stay the same

Red punch, green punch, silver bowl of mints and some peanuts

The great aunts of the world you know will never change their game

Figurines like memories

Ceramics pulled from the basement, fire-glazed in 1963

Silent night music box, travel back in time

When Christmas always always shines

Red punch, green punch, Brach holiday mints and some peanuts

The more things stay the same you know

The more they stay the same

Red punch, green punch, silver bowl of mints and some peanuts

The great aunts of the world you know will never change their game

The poor years, the war years, the 50s and the 60s and the born years

Christmas in the 70s and the early 80s never fade

Red punch, green punch

Never thought that I could miss it so much

The more things change, you know

I think some things should stay the same

Red punch, green punch, silver bowl of mints and some peanuts

The great aunts of the world may come and go

But they never change their game

Ice And Snow lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Ice and snow

Ice and snow falling in time

Together they mingle and freeze

Ice and show

Just like the shade and the light

It's the blinding confusion

When the two of them meet

Ice and snow

Ice and snow, weary I know

But a fortress is not a reprieve

If I could melt ice and snow

Would you believe

That I would choose not to

To keep you with me

Souls in the shadows

Arms stretched to believe

Ghosts and their messengers

Sent to receive

Slip through the grasp

With the greatest of ease

Love me, just love me

'Till I rest at ease

Ice and snow

Ice and snow when it's the worst

You get the best of them both

Ice and snow

Ice and snow inside this fortress

But cold and alone

Makes no heart worthy home

Souls in the shadows

Arms stretched to believe

Ghosts and their messengers

Sent to receive

Slip through the grasp

With the greatest of ease

Love me, just love me

'Till I rest at ease

Souls in the shadows

Ice over snow

Once in a life

Just a few more to go

The start and the end

You know nobody knows

The part of life's living

When anything goes

Ice and snow

Ice and snow falling in time

Here one day

The next day it's gone

If I could melt ice and snow

Would you believe

That I would choose not to

To keep you with me

That I would choose not to

To keep you with me

Sutton's Reel lyrics - Carbon Leaf

(Instrumental)

Ode To The Snow lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Snowfall requires listening

And the silence it brings is deafening

As it whispers it echoes echoes through my bones

Bury me like silent peace

These gifts they fall like ancient memories

Like voices from the past cascading down

And the stillness drifts back in like possibility

And in the silence is where you find the song

And I'm blinded by the ease of letting go

Worlds shutting down... Just an ode to the snow

Tree limbs bend and spring up again

The snowfall fumbling down through the pines

To baptize, to confirm the frozen hallowed ground

Exhume my youth, everlasting change

Blankets entomb, the dreary colors fade

And I'm reminded to the time when I did everything

When the stillness drifts back in like possibility

And in the silence is where you find the song

And I'm blinded by the ease of letting go

Worlds shutting down... Just an ode to the snow

When the stillness drifts back in like possibility

And in the silence is where you find the song

When I'm blinded by the ease of letting go

Worlds shutting down... Just an ode to the snow

Worlds shutting down... Just an ode to the snow

Drifting lyrics - Carbon Leaf

(Instrumental)

Christmas At Sea lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Trying hard to stay awake

Christmas cards stacked on the table

I am at my desk thinking of you

Note after note

I spell out the season's greeting

Trying hard to keep them from becoming

Letters of distress

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S

A boat afloat at sea

Row you to me

Christmas at sea

Harboring the distant sound

It travels fast as rolling

Water I'm still at my desk, now I'm writing you

The house is dressed, the season's ornaments unpacked from the TV box

Silver, red, gold, and green

The window's lit, the tree is glowing

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S

A boat afloat at sea

Row you to me

Christmas at sea

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S a boat afloat at sea

Row you to me

And I apologize, it's late at night, if my mind is drifting, just let it slide

And I apologize, it's late at night

The weather has been nice

The streets abuzz with holiday

Traffic lights, of course, take forever

To make it through

The winter beach is clean and clear

I like how the lights just disappear

Over water

Over water

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S, a boat afloat at sea, row you to me

Christmas at C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S, a boat afloat at sea, row you to me

Christmas at sea (and I apologize) S-O-S, a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me (just let it slide)

Christmas at sea (I apologize) S-O-S, a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me (just let it slide)

Christmas at C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S (I apologize), a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me (just let it slide)

Christmas at C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S (I apologize), a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me (just let it slide)

Christmas at C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S (I apologize), a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me (just let it slide)

Christmas at C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-O-S (I apologize), a boat afloat at sea (it's late at night, if my mind is drifting) row you to me

Christmas Child (Instrumental) lyrics - Carbon Leaf

(Instrumental)

Toast To The New Year lyrics - Carbon Leaf

In the richest of seasons, we're drenched to the bone

While the light is still bright, we bring the year to a close

Sometimes we're standing there naked

Frozen in our own past, and winter's ritual colors

She rings out her last

And in the richest of seasons, in these colors we bathe

We greet the onset of winter and what we know she will take

And so you make resolutions, if it's all just the same

If a wound is a wound, why not just cut myself upon change?

In black and light, the year is formally closed

Yet still the darkest of seasons shimmer silver and gold

So let's dress up like penguins, we'll huddle en masse

We will ring in the new year, we'll throw a curse to the last

And so we make resolutions, if it's all just the same

If a wound is a wound, why not just cut myself upon change?

And so a toast to the New Year, and farewell to the last

May we dream ourselves forward, frozen wind at our backs

And so a toast to the New Year, and farewell to the last

May we dream ourselves forward, frozen wind at our backs

Another toast to the New Year, may we spring back to life

When the colors start shifting in the burgeoning light

May we spring back to life... may we spring back to life

When the colors start shifting in the burgeoning light

In black and white, the year is formally closed

EP: How The West Was One (2010)

• Native America
• Crossroads
• If I Were A Cowboy
• Midwestern Girl
• Unknown Bride
• 1 Wolf, 2 Wolf, 3 Wolf, 4 (Instrumental)
• For The First Time 

Native America lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Carbon Leaf

As I went out in the open

I left for awhile

A tired stranger looking to be found

And so I stood there in silence

For someone to hear me

Someone to make the first sound

Someone to care for, someone to carry me home

I headed west to touch the ground

But the spirits didn't make a sound

As I stared in the face of Native America

And so my pilgrimage progress

Takes me over the land

Just so that I can keep up with the rush

And from the east to the west

I can feel my heart beating

To touch anything left untouched

Someone to care for, someone to carry me home

I headed west to touch the ground

But the spirits didn't make a sound

As I stared in the face of Native America

And so I leave to forget

To rebuild the patriot

Anything that I can find

Am I a visitor always

Always a stranger

Never knowing what I left behind?

Someone to care for, someone to carry me home

I headed west to touch the ground

But the spirits didn't make a sound

As I stared in the face of Native America

Out in the open

Wherever I'm looking

On everything that I see

Is an unwritten page

To an unfinished book

In an ongoing history

And as I stopped to see the earth go round

And as the sun's going up and down

It changes the face of Native America

And a river it runs right through

Red, white, black and blue

Straight down the face of Native America

I headed west to touch the ground

But the spirits didn't make a sound

As I stared in the face of Native America

Crossroads lyrics - Carbon Leaf

While at a crossroads

Headed A to B

I fell for a woman

Prone to run

But I couldn't make her follow me

So I offered up my heart

Before I left, final plea

And I would've taken her off

The hands of a man

If it were up to me

Standing at the crossroads

Just when everything meant to be

Faded out and disappeared

As far as the eye could see

We were standing at the crossroads

We were standing at the crossroads

Here we stood to assess the dirt

Where thunderclouds brushed the land

Here we stood, confessed to her

Heads bowed, hand in hand

Standing at the crossroads

Looking at these fields of dream

I stood and watched them come unsewn

Right at the patchwork seams

We were standing at the crossroads

We were standing at the crossroads

Standing at the crossroads

Just when everything meant to be

Faded out and disappeared

As far as the eye could see

Standing at the crossroads

Looking on these fields of dreams

I stood and watched them come unsewn

Right at the patchwork seams

We were standing at the crossroads

We were standing at the crossroads

We were standing at the crossroads

We were standing at the crossroads

If I Were A Cowboy lyrics - Carbon Leaf

The ghost of a building that once was a barn

Leans on itself on an old ghost-town farm

Its posts are all crippled

It's tired, it's done

Lays down to rest like a dog in the sun

Dust devils boil as they stretch for the sky

As if thirsty for more than the earth can provide

Sprinklers are quiet, hay's two bucks a bale

Just a piece of the west on the Oregon Trail

And if I were a cowboy I'd dance until dawn

If I were a cowboy I'd sing this song

Now the foothills roll on like a fabric of green

They fold in on themselves with no stitch and no seam

Higher to the mountains just fog and fir trees

If we haven't reached heaven we're at least at its knees

Corridors cut through these mountains of snow

Winding our way to the next makeshift home

So many ways out I forget where I am

So many ways out when a map's in your hand

And if I were a cowboy I'd dance until dawn

If I were a cowboy I'd sing this song

Out here the land is untouched and it's wide

There is no great progress, no great divide

The land seems so empty but with each step I know

Someone's been here before me with a story untold

Clouds in the valley

Dark shadows a break

A ghost creepin' and sweepin'

the dirt from his pain

Raindrops and teardrops

Just two bucks a bale

Another day in the west on the Oregon Trail

And if I were a cowboy I'd dance until dawn

If I were a cowboy I'd sing this song

And if I were a cowboy I'd dance until dawn

If I were a cowboy I'd sing this song

Midwestern Girl lyrics - Carbon Leaf

She's a midwestern girl

Her heart is paper mache

With a tornado ripping through

'Cause she is ready for change

California was fine

And she can soak up the sun

But she's returning to her roots

Where she will always belong

I-O-W-A, now

I-O-W-A, now

She's a midwestern girl

She's finally back in her state

I'm just a ghost out in the field

Virginia's so far away

She has the mane of a lion

Husky eyes that are framed

And cheekbones sculpted on the winds of I-O-W-A

Tell her when she's not around

Tell her as you're leaving town

Tell her when she's not around

Tell her everything now

But what are you supposed to say

To a midwestern girl as you are driving away

Well if you see your soulmate standing out in a field

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel

Down at the Val Air Ballroom

Out in western Des Moines

She's dancing out on the dance floor

And I feel high

Now the mirror ball spinning

It's a hundred degrees

It's always safer when it's crowded

But there are no guarantees

Tell her when she's not around

Tell her everything is fine

Tell her when she's not around

Before her roots take over

But I don't know what you're supposed to say

To a midwestern girl a thousand miles away

Well if you see your soulmate standing out in a field

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel

I'm just a ghost in a field

And she's a tundra queen

A midwestern girl beside an old evergreen

If you see your soulmate standing out in a field

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel

She's a midwestern girl

I got in late in the game

But I am driving in my mind to I-O-W-A

I-O-W-A, now [with crowd looping]

Unknown Bride lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Church bells, and I follow the sound

Footsteps on an unfamiliar ground

Tombstones led to

An old mission church on a hillside

If it was up to me

This is where it should be

I have watched you like watching the rain

Come to my hands

Feel the air drift through my fingers

Stretched out on the stone

Like a well for water I'm drunk for you

You alone

Oooh... you alone

Saturday rain, (brok by clouds)

Millions of people are starting to crowd

I am bound to you

You're by my side

Nowhere to hide

Unknown bride

Church doors swing wide to the sunshine

Out comes the tide, guests form their line

Church bells ring and all is alright

For the angel sings for the unknown bride

Dressed in white

Oooh... dressed in white

Saturday rain, (broke by clouds)

Millions of people are all having fun

I am bound to you

You're by side

Nowhere to hide

Unknown bride

Time to restore

Long overdue

Touch my face and pull me into you

Kiss my ear and dance this close to me

Hold me by your side until the unknown bride is the bride-to-be

The unknown bride is the bride-to-be

Saturday rain, (broke by the sun)

Millions of people have all come and gone

I am bound to you

You're by my side

Nowhere to hide

Unknown bride

Remember this place

Where the sun shone through just to kiss your face

If I should die without you by my side

Put my thin pine

On this hillside

Unknown Bride

Unknown Bride 1 Wolf, 2 Wolf, 3 Wolf, 4 lyrics - Carbon Leaf

(Instrumental)

For The First Time lyrics - Carbon Leaf

If I could see the western sky for the first time

If I could hold that horizon in my hand

If I could hold her close again before the wedding

If I could fall in love for the first time

If I could only let it go and start again

If I could write to my first love for the last time

What harm could it do?

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

If I could see that western sky for the first time

If I could hold that horizon in my hand

If I could sponge back the (pain) between two lovers lost

If I could fall in love again for the first time

If I could only let it go and start again

If I could pull the weeds of regret from a choking heart

What harm could it do?

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

A new age

When I see that western sky for the last time

I will know for that for the first time I am done

(I will hang my head down out on the prairie)

A new age has begun

When I see that western sky for the last time

I will know for that for the first time I am done

I will cleanse my dusty hands out in the twilight

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

A new age has begun

A new age had begun

Love For Sale lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Love for sale

All of the love I would've given away

But I didn't wanna break your heart

Love for sale

I couldn't deny, I thought of running away

But I never wanna break your heart

Break your heart again

All my days

Lost in the shadows and feeling my way

You know I never really know where to start

Call my name

Lightning across the sky sideways

You know I never wanna be a part

Be a part again

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

When you fall

When there's no one to call

When there's no one to call

When there's no one at all

Love for sale

Clamoring down another fire escape

But I'm sure you know it all by heart

All my time

All of your patience, all the warning signs

And you know I have a bleeding heart

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

When you fall

When there's no one to call

When there's no one to call

When there's no one at all

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

There's nothing to leave behind

When you fall

When there's no one to call

When there's no one

When there's no one at all

"Nothing Rhymes With Woman" (2009)

Indecision lyrics - Carbon Leaf

Long days, come alive
I take it in through my eyes
Long days of paper tigers
They ate all the words of the wise

Now my spirit and bones take me
Straight to a fork in the road
Now my spirit and bones take me
Somewhere I've never known

And if I face indecision
Don't let me face it alone
Just take me straight to Virginia
Back to the faces of home

Long days, fade away
I take it in through my eyes
Sometimes survival's the milestone
Electrified like a lightning tree

Take these spirit and bones
And catapult from the ground
What doesn't throw you or burn you
Will surely turn you around

But if I face indecision
Don't let me face it alone
Just take me straight to Virginia
Back to the places I know
And if I face indecision
Don't let me face it alone
Just take me straight to Virginia
Back to the faces of home

Long days, come alive
I face the trail of Old Lonesome Pine
I catch a glimpse, flickers of brilliance
Straight ahead for what's left behind

Long days, fade away
I hope to see them again
Sometimes survival's the milestone
I may get lost
But I will know where I've been
Know where I've been
I know where I am right now