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A Song For Every State

by Travis Ehrenstrom

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1.
Born on a mountain My head in the clouds To the west was the ocean Valleys, and farms Raised among giants These sisters of the land I bathed in their waters Slept in their hands A howl at the moon A wind through the trees A fish on the end of the line It’s all mine to gain A simple reminder Her secret is patience and mine is the same If you should go To where I am from Remember me to my favorite haunt The bridge by the creek Where I lost my voice Singing for supper and a bluebird sky I wish I’d have known Time’s slow decay Lost as a memory now Speak not of sorrow Sisters of mine You’re always with me I’ll be back in time A life on the road, and a home far from here My Oregon home My Oregon home When you return From the place I come from Take only backroads Make time to get lost Swim naked in rivers Put a line on the pole Sleep under starlight This place is your home
2.
In boat box burning, feet are on fire, On the day that Ernest Hemingway decided to die. I guess I should’ve known, our heroes let us down. Looking out across the valley and the fields of light, Deep into the unknown of the other side, If I were him I’d lay here forever too. In the darkness at the heart of what we do. You haunt your bar where I sang your praise, I told them of your glory days. But an ancient drunk, is all they ever knew. This old world breaks everyone, No one leaves this life unharmed. In the end, the only thing you’ve got is time. With it, find the meaning of your life. Is it a dream? Is it your own? Is it something you’ll never know? I hope you find what you sought, In Infinity rivers and mountains for days. I heard there was a rocket man, He tried to jump that canyon’s gap. And ended up a pile of broken bones. I’m glad they tell his story still, The crazy ones remember well. He’s out there still, in the craters of the moon. Evel with a smile on, just passing through.
3.
A dot on a map, In Western Wyoming , Down in the valley, a hole. Going to a place, time long remembers, And leaving this old road behind. 
 Gone from the newspaper raging, Gone from the children in cages, Gone from a nation in hatred, Gone from a country at war. Going to a place time long remembers, Leaving this old road behind. 
 A sole light, wasted. Leaving this old road behind. 
 As the big river winds, So my mind wanders, A life has a garden to grow. Dreaming in waves, and ripples of water, Leaving this old road behind. Gone from the dreamers deserted, Gone from the people who are hurting, Gone from the fear in the living, Gone from the doubt we can change, Dreaming in waves, and ripples of water, Leaving this old road behind. Going to a place where the sky isn’t one thing, Gone where that might be enough. This yellow stone is worth more than money, I’m leaving this old road behind. This yellow stone is worth more than money,  I’m leaving this old road behind. A sole light, wasted. Leaving this old road behind.
4.
I am a spirit floating in the wind, Through the airwaves and edges. Think of the magpies quiet haunting tune. Can you hear her? She’s singing just for you.
 I carved the mission mountains with my hand, and the valleys below them. I wish they still spoke their ancient names, We were younger and living off the land.
 Deep into the life of the energy, That runs through all of everything, Right now. Everything is now. Everything is now. I am the cattails dancing in the waves, and breathing their movements. See all of the medicine that winter makes, It is frozen in the backbone of the earth. Deep into the life of the energy, That runs through all of everything, Right now. Everything is now. Everything is now.
5.
I tasted lightning, under a blanket the birds sang. Our lives intertwined. I looked beside you, always a moment ahead, babe. Three words, rang twice. Everybody’s saying the next wave’s coming, I just want to see you again. Everybody’s saying the next wave’s coming Around. Hold tight, be here now. Thoughts from the thoughtless Singing and dancing along Your thoughts, my voice. Always in motion, Trying to find the way home. Most days it takes shape. With this tread I’ve made through life, I'll call it all my own, I’m never where I’m supposed to be, But I’m getting there on and on - A path to walk to find a key - Become a harmony, A hummingbird’s wing, an American dream. Under the arches, Back to the East, on the way home. I find, a lifetime.
6.
When I was a child, I sat on daddies knee He told me of his tales far away He spoke of distant lands between old celestial seas Life was better living far away So when it came my time to leave it all behind I did my best to live his life with ease But nothing in this world ever did compare To the winds at home blowing in the air Down in my Smoky Mountain bed Down in my Smoky Mountain bed Add up all the land from sea to shining sea I’ll trade it for my Smoky Mountain bed One day along the line I met a maiden fair I asked her for her hand and scared oath We rambled for a while We laughed and then we smiled Roaming to our foggy Eastern home But when we finally found that home for every time She claimed a stirring deep into her bones She didn’t stay for long, the road her only song She left me with a broken hearted home My broken hearted Smoky Mountain bed My broken hearted Smoky Mountain bed Add up all the love from here to heaven above I’ll trade It for my Smoky Mountain bed Down in my Smoky Mountain bend Down in my Smoky Mountain bend Add up all the land from sea to shining sea I’ll trade it for my Smoky Mountain bed
7.
High from the fall you had inside your mind, Darling what you didn't know. Harder to find the things making it right, Swimming around in your soul. Tired Chain, Loneliness lost, in your way. Tired Chain, Dreaming it different today. I over water understood the sign, The spirit is out of control. Alive as a fire in constant design, Filter it down, hit the road. Tired Chain, Loneliness lost, in your way Tired Chain, Dreaming it different today. Where were you when you first figured it out? The ghost was just me on the lawn. Help to uncover my wandering eyes, We can see through when I'm done. Tired Chain, Loneliness lost, in your way Searching the interstate hoping for signs Dying to get hold of you Tired Chain, Loneliness lost, in your way Tired Chain, Dreaming it different today.
8.
Send a warm body down to the well, Oh whistling darling. Send a warm body down to the well, Oh we’re shoveling coal. Oh we’re shoveling coal. The working fire will break the bones Of every hand to touch the ground that you worshipped on. Graze the lies across the fog, the one’s you’re not, And lead me beside your bed. Praise the day the revelations fade, And energy is just getting high on land. Deeper down we find it still, Until then, it never ends, Send a warm body down to the well, Oh whistling darling. Send a warm body down to the well, Oh we’re shoveling coal. Oh we’re shoveling coal. Oh my lord, Lost in the dark, Oh whistling darling. Oh my lord, Lost in the light, Oh whistle and moan. In the pit the company kept , Is darker than the dreams you hid. But here we are a modern age, And everything takes electric shape. The Razor wire, a faint desire, Until then, it never ends.
9.
I had myself a revelation Somewhere on this road of mine Where the mountain meets the desert sand That’s where my true treasure lies 
 In liquid light and solid air A distant memory haunts me here Those who set the dark star free Came to sing their songs for me 
 Everything illuminated Lightning in the skies of my mind 
 Then I danced along with angels Deep into the endless night Life is full of good vibrations I’m working hard to harvest mine 
 So I gazed into my mirror She smiled back as if to say We are but one present dreamer Floating in this time and space 
 Everything illuminated Lightning in the skies of my mind 6. The Pearl Dreaming of the past of a time before me. Thinking of you know, beside me there. Watching the horizon, dancing with the sun. Seasons we are given, healers we’ll become. What it is you wonder, where you need to roam, That road that you will travel is only yours to know. Breathe it in your day, Scream it in the night, Life is but a story, A pearl that’s shaped with time. All the wind and rain The fire and the ice Dangled from a string The pearl is shaped in time Following the cairns through the arid canyon, Thinking how a trail can be come a home. So many miles behind ya, you can see it in the stone. This dancing desert shining, is only yours to know. Pictures on the wall long before my country What is it we’ve done, and am I to blame? Spirit on the water, dancing in the sky The journey is the teacher, a pearl shaped in time.
10.
Let's take a ride into the desert night We'll get high under the stars and make believe that every twinkling light is just a memory of who we are Way back in the beginning They plotted every moon Built the dream in total darkness Along came a fuse You make it easy to love you You make it easy you do You make it easy to love you So easy you do When we first met the world was waking up You took this empty cup and you made a home Now that the water within overflows I've found more room to grow Where the flowers bloom It's a limit in the language When a soul breaks through Splits the seam and tears the fabric She is my muse You make it easy to love you You make it easy you do You make it easy to love you So easy you do
11.
Dreaming of the past of a time before me. Thinking of you know, beside me there. Watching the horizon, dancing with the sun. Seasons we are given, healers we’ll become. What it is you wonder, where you need to roam, That road that you will travel is only yours to know. Breathe it in your day, Scream it in the night, Life is but a story, A pearl that’s shaped with time. All the wind and rain The fire and the ice Dangled from a string The pearl is shaped in time Following the cairns through the arid canyon, Thinking how a trail can be come a home. So many miles behind ya, you can see it in the stone. This dancing desert shining, is only yours to know. Pictures on the wall long before my country What is it we’ve done, and am I to blame? Spirit on the water, dancing in the sky The journey is the teacher, a pearl shaped in time.
12.
Night slows, so life goes Breath squeezes time A journey yearning, For a climb far below. Asa, child of the plains, Daughter of a broken back, And a ravens wing. A sky well, what is it you tell? Painting all the whites and grays, Into pouring rain, and a song. The mind winds nine times, The embers of the flame. A secret dreamer, a wall, A conquered king. Asa, where is it you go? Mother needs you’re sympathy, And a hand to hold. A sunrise, early, Arise the earthly beings. A world cracked open, Just dust, a finite frame. Asa, what is it you’ve wrought? For we are not the only ones That the cosmos claim.
13.
My lone little lark, She sang aloud, “Not all is well, By way, I’m living a lie.” Atypical day, Rise with the sun, High on the mount, lost in the look of your eyes. It’s all yours now, so come out. It's hard to harvest no doubt. All this time wasted, Is slipping away. Been listening in, My little dove, I feel your pain, But once lost we shall regain. The disposable dawn, Distorted shine, The mirror fades, tried on it’s taking a while. On the outside in the way, In Virginia that day. All alone out in the woods, A thousand miles from the only smile, That’s slipping away. My lone little lark, She sang aloud, “Not all is well, By way, I’m living a lie.”
14.
I know a place where we can go Way out west by the golden coast Sunny skies and the Salton Sea Take your cares to Bombay Beach right now Dreaming of a perfect wave When your life feels far away From the things you want and the things you need Come find them here along with me tonight Dancing up the light of the moon I see it in your eyes Spirits make our bodies move Love, a feeling divine In California, I want to go Man I miss my friends back home I wish they knew the things I know Life out here’s beyond compare Breathing in this toxic air alright Yeah this place is just for me A lonely ghost so far away Freedom is a funny thing The more you lose the more you gain
15.
Alive as a prairie On the edge of a country The wind wills and whispers your name I hear the sound of the echoing desert From miles away Wild is the wander All Listless and aimless Lost in a triumph of gold Here at the end of the day you remember That western world Outside my window a coyotes calling Singing her song to the night Inside my head is the beat of my heart And a lonesome cowboy tune Yippee eye eh I’ll see ya soon Brazos brought the rail here And the round ups are fading Gone as the dew on the vine A quick way to hell is a highway through through town And a wheel’s sound One day when I tire With my trimuphs behind me When they hang up my saddle for good I’ll head to the banks of the old rio grande I’ll dance across Outside my window a coyotes calling Singing her song to the night Inside my head is the beat of my heart And a lonesome cowboy tune Yippee eye eh I’ll see ya soon When I arrive to that infinite river A ghost on the edge of the shore I’ll be with Felina my Mexican maiden Forever this time
16.
Living down by the bayou lord Steeping in the voodoo Taste that magic everywhere Mama Roux, do you? Hey now, Hey Now, Hey now, Hey! Sunshine driving them clouds away Hey now, hey now, hey now, Hey! In the quarter. Get on down to bourbon street Feel that weight come off your feet Moving to the spirit of Dr. John He’ll cure you ail won’t do no wrong All this life makes me think Man, I love New Orleans
17.
Maybe It's the Progress of man, Maybe it's a dream, you didn't understand. But baby your a shining light, Deep into the ears, fully amplified, living. Up all night, American Money. Up all night, American dreams. Up all night, Living in silver, and circling the drain, In Vegas baby. People when they come back to life, I saw it on a stage, and illusion, a lie. It makes you wanna be a star, Wasting away on this old guitar, singing. Up all night, American Money. Up all night, American dreams. Up all night, Living in silver, and circling the drain, In Vegas baby.
18.
Take me now to the healing waters Cleanse my body and rest these bones Take me now to the healing waters In the heart of Arkansas When the road gets hard my love When the gospel fails In the wake of everlasting light All shall be revealed Oh take me to the healing waters In the heart of Arkansas Draw me close to the Ozark Mountains High above that sacred row Draw me close to the Ozark Moutanins Plant the flag of Arkansas Tell me does the road go now, Traveler don’t you know? Through the valley and the forest fog, All the way back home. Draw me close to the Ozark Mountains, Plant the flag of Arkansas.
19.
I came to life in the heat of July As crooked as a waning moon Pa left home when ma got scared A crop came in too soon So I was on my own at an early age Just old enough to be employed I took my hand to the riverboat man The bonafide St. Louis I always rest deep into the water now If it ain’t easy, let it roll Let it wind on down the road Straight into the night let it call you on The dream took me to finer things To rambling men counting cards The finest wears the smoke in the air Yeah I was a rising star But the fight it came to the cotton kings The Mississippi painted red The delta knew which side they’d choose But I became a Union Man My life for that freewheeling river bank If it ain’t easy, let it roll Let it wind on down the road Straight into the night let it call you on Vicksburg there was fire and flame Ash it rained across the sky They say the south was broken then Freed from an evil tide Bury my bones in a hole in the fields Deep inside the yazoo clay I’m as stubborn as the ground in Jackson county Out beyond my family place If it ain’t easy, let it roll Let it wind on down the road Straight into the night let it call you on
20.
Out in the icy American air, here in the year of our lord, Down in the shadow of Elmore county, Lived young Elanore Jones. A child of the fire on West Pepper Windmill, A Daughter to the days only night. In the midst of this crimson mourning, Elanore started to pray. “Lord take me out of this desolate prison, Take off these shackles of mine. I’m leaving tomorrow, I’m going out wandering, From Elmore County for good.” She hopped on a train in the dawns early call down, and rode on the rails through the day. Just before sundown, she made it past Hunstville, Elanore started to smile. “Looking back on it I should’ve known better, Lust is a man’s only friend. He won with an eye and an innocent story, We said our goodbyes the next day.” She left with a gift though she did not yet know it, A map to a star in the sky, But out all alone on the edge of her island, Elanore started to cry. She never went far, and she never left Huntsville, Life finds it’s home either way. Down at the old town space man station, She took to working all day She kept all their cages clean, she watered and fed, Taught them the vastness of space But always at night she’d stare up there wondering, Elanore, dreaming to fly. The thing about the sky is it’s always in motion Starlight is different each night Up there are lives constantly changing Balls of dust as bright as our lives When I was younger I saw just a glimmer One of them used to be mine Children raise children Raise hell later on Elanore keeps it in mind Living alone it never was easy, But loneliness cures by a curse - You make up your mind, and you make yourself stubborn, She threw her life into her work. The years rolled on by and she buried Miss Baker, Work took a toll on her bones. As she grew longer, the longing grew deeper, Elanore she’s growing old. From a hospital bed they make it so easy, She’s living life in the end. Under her eyes every image repeating, A life that was hers to rewind. Deep in a memory, she caught herself thinking, Maybe I’ve been here before? “Lay me down in these greener pastures.” Eleanore’s fixing to die. Out in the icy American air, here in the year of our lord, There in the shadow of Elmore county, Lived young Elanore Jones.
21.
There’s a world outside your window As sharp a thorn of rose it ain’t no reason to hide Life brings slings and arrows Lonesome is a man who never put his heart on the line If you’re dreams come up shattered And your fears are realized When you’re lost searching for truth In the darkness a spark a light I’ll share it with you Just like the gold in your garden Every fruit of life is tasted best sweet on the vine You may try to fit the moon in your love song Stars may arrive at best maybe that’s alright When your own soul is faded And you fail at what you set to do When you’re lost among a mighty ocean In the darkness a spark a light I’ll share it with you If it ends in empty blessings A life with nothing shown a series of arranging events Let this be your only treasure A journey of your own a sequence your only life When it’s found wasting water And there’s hope in someone’s sigh When your heart is seeking answers In the darkness a spark a light I’ll share it with you In the darkness a spark a light I’ll share it with you In the darkness a spark a light I’ll share it with you
22.
I thumbed my way to Nashville All the way through Tennessee Just my luck, some quarters, a few bucks My guitar and my honeybee We all want to be famous boys Singing on your TV I taste no grit there’s no meat on the bone It ain’t got soul, it’s all wrong Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song I took my feet to Broadway, Dropped in to every joint Every tune I’d heard before An old old from another time In a world going crazy, you think have something to say I don’t want hear another parroted verse I just want original thought Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song Don’t let it lie, the song Looking back on my time on the run One day when I get the chance I hope it wasn’t a fever dream Or just another empty glass I wanted it to mean something Squeeze the life out of every drop Maybe when I’m older myself My work will make sense of it all
23.
Just a piece down red church road, I found you. In a Live Oak grove you were singing to the fog,  that lingered on. These years go by, man, life’s just like them branches. The hanging moss grows longer every day, it’s a slow decay. Kickin’ on down your cobblestones, one of these days you’ll be on your own. Peeking through the veil at your only life,  You said it's not easy, let it slowly roll bye. Just hold on to me, in the evergreen of the diamond's eye. Leave my mess, they say my soul is waiting. Drain the vile, we’ve found the endless well, a lonesome tale. Be my lust, make my feelings deeper. Dream the light to where you want to go, all will come. If you don’t light a solid fire your ghosts are gonna be there in the dead of night. Let it all fall, take the journey inside, Dream a new eden, let it be divine. Just hold on to me, in the evergreen of the diamond's eye. Everybody knows that Red Church road is where you go telling up the broken souls. We can only wait, let it all unwind,  Take the road slowly, let the rig just ride, and hold on to me, in the evergreen of the diamond's eye.
24.
In the last of the storm that stands before me  When the scars from a war begin to fade And the only direction isn't forward  But you know even then it's to change Carolina, the world is busy dawning. Carolina, beginning of the day. So refined, In your mind. Come and find me.
 Long before we were lost out in the country, Long before you were whole and we were there. There you stood with your back against the water, So alive and we were dancing in the air. Carolina, the world is busy dawning. Carolina, beginning of the day. 
 So refined, In your mind. Come and find me.
 Underneath all this sky, out in the open, We were wild in the slope that's in the way. And you sing so alive, not even knowing, We belong to the earth from where we came. Carolina, the world is busy dawning. Carolina, beginning of the day. So refined, In your mind. Come and find me.
25.
You've got to lean into fear, Quit telling yourself your dreams just happen. Get stung by the night, Let it roll you home, Stoned. You get tangled around, Stop tying a knot that won't unravel. You're still telling yourself that no ones safe, Strange. She's taking a ride, She's taking her life to Colorado. I'm digging in deep, Stuck waiting around in these dead hours. I want to run through the woods, At the top of the world, be resurrected. So awake in a place with every soul, Unbound. Where people fall into love, Nothing falls out of place, You'd read about it. This distance we know is only fear, Close. She's taking a ride, She's taking her life to Colorado. I'm digging in deep, Stuck waiting around in these dead hours. You've got a moment of life, Don't throw it away there's nothing better.
26.
Last night on the road, I’m thinking, Rosie’s on my mind again. The radio howls a tune, A prairie ghost awakes from a dream, For me. Adjust my eyes upon the frame, Chaos in my mind it seems, Ancient wisdom hovers here, Lost inside the fragments of my mind, And my life. I’ll Rise, only all the time. Always last in line. Make my bed beside the wall Dogs out barking through the fog Prairie ghosts are restless waiting Signs of my undoing in the air, Beware. Help me to decode the lie, What is it we’re here to find? I’m just busy dying slowly, Making money lining up my grave, It’s insane. I’ll Rise, only all the time. Always last in line. Make me nothing but the muse, A hollow straw to filter through, Ghost of me and nothing more, The wind that makes the golden plains the sea, That’s me.
27.
Time’s right hand lies on a bible. My luck desires hired fighters. Even if it seems safe, Only in the “I” state, Just hold me on your way back down. My love, if we’ve been drifting, Hold me on your way back down. A wasted red eye, arrived in Evansville. Tired from a long night, tied up, and thinking still. When you wondered how far I’d be, Did you think we’d all go home? I guess I’m trying to defeat myself again Even if it seems safe, Only in the “I” state, Just hold me on your way back down. My love, if we’ve been drifting, Hold me on your way back down. The fighters ride on, a night in the desert. The trail lost, I’m fine now, time’s last redeemer.
28.
You can quench me, But I never run dry. You would say, “There’s a lighthouse, For empty vessels and shipless souls.” That’s an ocean, I’ll never know. On the first day of the winter, I held your body close to mine. When I was a train wreck, You were Casey Jones. Just two heartbeats in the freezing… Are you Chicago? Are you these city lights? For a while, I did imagine, That you were nothing but the past. But this dream is never ending, And you can hold it in your hand. All along I was pretending, That we were angels, When we were ghosts. There’s a letter that I never sent you, But you should know what I wrote. Are you Chicago? Are you these city lights? Come tomorrow, I’ll lay my weapons down. For now it’s over, chances taken. When you are married and I am searching, Then maybe God is somehow watching us.
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A Song For Every State is a collection of songs I'm writing and recording in each US state.

To follow along and to hear the rest of these songs, visit - www.patreon.com/travisehrenstrom

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released June 25, 2019

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Travis Ehrenstrom Bend, Oregon

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