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Lyr Req: Under the American Skies (Paxton, Hills)

13 May 03 - 04:31 PM (#951995)
Subject: Lyr Req: Under American Skies needed
From: GUEST,Lonerwolf

Please please please can anyone tell me how to find the lyrics to this song? It's sung by Tom Paxton and Anne Hill and short of rebuying the CD I have no way of getting the lyrics to this song anymore as my booklet has gone missing (been a few months now, I think it may have been thrown by mistake)if anyone can help at all either with a website or (if I'm lucky) with the lyrics themselves can you send to lonerwolf_2000@yahoo.co.uk I'm down on my knees here lol.
Lonerwolf

13 May 03 - 04:38 PM (#952000)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under American Skies needed
From: MMario

Sing Out! Vol 45 #3 (Fall '01) has it.

13 May 03 - 05:16 PM (#952030)
Subject: Lyr Add: UNDER THE AMERICAN SKIES (Hills, Paxton)
From: open mike

And it goes like this:
UNDER THE AMERICAN SKIES by Anne Hills and Tom Paxton

She was born dirt poor,
Grew up gangly and tall,
And the State gave her no
Real protection at all.
Her father'd get drunk
And he'd beat her so bad,
And her mother wouldn't help,
Her man was all that she had.
At school, her teachers
Just closed their eyes
To the bruises on her arms,
On her neck and her thighs.
She was learning that the world
Was bitter and cold,
She was only a child,
But she was already old.
Family ties....Under American Skies

As she grew up ,
She learned to close down her heart;
She turned away from love
She wouln't let love start.
When a man tried rape
In a West Texas rain
She left him dying and writhing in pain
Like a wounded animal
She lashed out, mean,
Doing what she had seen.
But that kink of justice
Never heals the hurt,
And her tears mixed with blood
On her raggedy shirt
Anger dries....Under American Skies.

CHORUS
    When we ended slavery,
    We all went free.
    When we stopped child labor,
    That was victory,
    When the women started voting,
    True democracy,
    But we still haven't got it
    And we still can't let it be,
    When we're part of a system,
    Against it or willing,
    And every last time
    That the State does the killing,
    A part of us dies,
    Under American Skies.

They caught her down by the Sant Fe tracks,
And the paper called her one of those drug maniacs,
The rapist was a member of society
So, she got no bail
She got a lawyer for free,
Her court-appointed lawyer had a vacant smile,
He raised no objections,
And he slept through the trial
Just like her dad,
He had booze on his breath.
The jury said, "Guilty,"
And the judge said "Death,"
Pity flies.....Under American Skies.

They sent her to Huntsville,
They sent her to Hell,
They sent her up to Terrell,
To a lock-down cell.
She sat on her cot,
A couple years crept by,
Her appeals ran out
And she prepared to die.
Her final dress was just a hospital gown,
The put her on the gurney
And they strapped her down
Put needles in her arm,
Under surgical tape,
And seven minutes later,
She had made her escape.
Sad good-byes.....Under American Skies.

CHORUS

13 May 03 - 05:18 PM (#952032)
Subject: Lyr Add: FOLLOW THAT ROAD (Anne Hills)
From: open mike

This whole CD is filled with incredible pieces. I especially love another of the Anne Hills selections, Follow That Road.

FOLLOW THAT ROAD
By Anne Hills sung with Tom Paxton

If you're coming in the summer, you'd be better to split off on Thirty-Five
There's the Starlight Drive-In Movie, on your left, just beyond the county line
Right after that, you'll see two silos. One is silver; one is blue.
'Bout a quarter mile further, make a left onto Highway Forty-Two.
Then follow that road, cornfields just as far as you can see.
Follow that road back through time, back through distance, back to me.

If you're drivin' by in autumn, you should follow up the river to Bear Lake.
That's the time to see the colors. There's an old covered bridge you'll want to take.
Late at night, be careful. Just be sure to look for deer out on the road.
And if it's early in the morning, sometimes it gets foggy. Take it slow.
But follow that road, sugar maples far as you can see.
Follow that road back through time, back through distance, back to me.

If you get the notion in December to drop by for just a day,
There's that tiny little road that no one knows about. It's safe to go that way.
It's up between two fields, so the sunlight melts the ice by afternoon.
You'll see two houses by the fields. Someone's always there. If not, they'll be back soon.
So follow that road, snowdrifts just as far as you can see.
Follow that road back through time, back through distance, back to me.

You'll remember in the springtime how the puddles look like pieces of the sky,
Fallen down by the roadside to delight any stranger passing by.
The softness of the grass on Raven Hill where we counted stars at night--
You must know how much I miss you, and that any way you get here is all right.
Just follow that road, wildflowers just as far as you can see.
Follow that road back through time, back through distance, back to me.

Converted from all caps. --JoeClone, 14-May-03.

13 May 03 - 05:40 PM (#952044)
Subject: Lyr Add: LINKS IN THE CHAIN (Kate Wolf)
From: open mike

and this one which surprisingly is by Kate Wolf
as far as i know it is previously un-recorded:

LINKS IN THE CHAIN, by Kate Wolf,
    1979,    Another Sundown Music

Willing to go ahead
When other people were afraid
Remembered by the questions that they raised
Some dead, Some in prison,
For the things that they believed,
They were links in the chain.

    Just another link in the chain
    Just another link in the chain
    It's the truth growing stronger
    And the voices speaking louder
    That makes us links in the chain.

Who took the children from the mines
The young women from the mills
When the bosses turned to look the other way
It was the rebel voices raised against
The wind, raised high against the wind
That fought for the rights we have today.
   
(Tom Paxton added this verse:)
Joe Hill and Mother Jones
Put their lives right on the line
A line that stretches back in history
Now we ask ourselves the question
"Are those the days to be forgotten?"
Or are there some of us who'll dare to be?

It's the question and the answers
The knowing and the why
The standing up to wrong things that we see
And it takes more than one
Before the battle's won
Someone who is not afraid to be.

19 May 03 - 04:24 PM (#955650)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under American Skies needed
From: GUEST

20 May 03 - 02:12 AM (#955955)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under American Skies needed
From: open mike

The song about the "dirt poor girl"
sounds like the story which i have
heard in songs form both Mary Gauthier
and Steve Earle , I think, about a girl
named Karla. does anyone know if that is
who this song is about?
(She might have been Karl Fae?)

24 May 03 - 08:01 AM (#958614)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under American Skies needed
From: GUEST,Lonerwolf

OK my last post didnt' actually show... so just to say thank you to all you kind ppl again:D:D:D *smilesss*

Lonerwolf