Bandcamp is my record company
All lyrics by Jonathan Best except where otherwise noted. Click on a title to hear the song. Eventually I hope to get all 200 or so lyrics here.
Table of Contents
A Simple Guy
You can really learn a lot from killing a man
By the time that you are sober
I did it for my country but they’ll never understand
Now the life that I have known’s as good as over
I’m just a simple guy
Living a simple lie
The future tried to taunt me I just turned a blind eye
When I bought my first Land Rover
Now the headlights no longer shine and the wells have all run dry
And the life that we have known’s as good as over
I’m just a simple guy
Living a simple lie
Father you were my hero
And before the war was finally lost
You bought me toys you fed me and you clothed me
You never told me what it cost
Mama didn’t raise me to be this kind of man
Can just see her eyes when I go back to her again
I will always love you both I know you know
And your amber waves of clover
I’ll only leave my footprints and take pictures when I go
And remember life ain’t over ‘til it’s over
I’m just a simple guy
I am a simple guy
Livin a simple lie
I’ll Meet You There
Come come whoever you are
Wonderer
Worshipper
Lover of leaving
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times
I’ll meet you there
Come, yet again
I’ll meet you there
Out beyond ideas of wrong and right there is a field
I’ll meet you there
When the soul lies down in that grass
The world is just too full to talk about
I’ll meet you there
I died from minerality and became vegetable
And From vegetativeness I died and I became an animal
I died from animality and became human being
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels
Soaring higher than angels
What you cannot imagine
I shall be that
What you cannot imagine
I shall be that
What we cannot imagine
We shall be that
Out beyond ideas of wrong and right there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
The world is just too full to talk about
I’ll meet you there
I’ll meet you there
In Your Pan
You know I wrote the bible and I didn’t even get paid yea
And they accused me of libel and removed my head, yea
And it’s aching
It feels like a strip of bacon
In your pan
But you know I keep my filter tips right between my lips, yea
And I never fail to get a light from one of your gypsters
And it’s smokin’
Lord knows my heart is soakin’
In your pan
Oh baby won’t you take my hand
And read the lines
That tell the plan
Of how my life
Is bound to end
Or if you’d only
Be my friend
Now my dogs are cookin’ on the fire at the end of the trail, yea
And the angels in the choir they can really wail, yea
And I’m goin’
Lord knows my coins are glowin’
In your pan
Mountain Love
You were a mountain so far away
Didn’t think I’d reach you
Certainly didn’t think that I would reach you today
Didn’t know your grasslands gave life its very home
Didn’t think I’d lie there
Certainly didn’t think that I would never lie alone
Didn’t know your secrets were my secrets too
Certainly didn’t know that I would love you like I do
Your mountain peaks rise above breathable air
Didn’t think I’d climb them
Certainly didn’t think that I could make it up there
Didn’t know your streams led to rivers deep and long
Didn’t think I’d walk them
Certainly didn’t think that I would follow one back home
Didn’t know your secrets were my secrets too
Certainly didn’t know that I would fall in love with you
You are a mountain so far away
Nothin But Love
(Music and lyrics by J. Best and Nancy Koppelman)
I don’t bring her flowers or wine.
I don’t bring her much of my time
The love that I give
Though she needs love to live
Is not the only thing on her mind
I don’t give her nothin’
Nothin’ but Love
Her mother doesn’t like me at all
The few things I gave were too small
She wants me to bring
A big diamond ring
The next time that I come to call
But I don’t give her nothin’
Nothin’ but Love
I don’t give her nothin’
Nothin’ but Love
She could find someone who would give her the moon
But I don’t think it would be the real thing
Then again there are men who would give her the world
But it’s not big enough for the love to fit in
I just got her letter today
It came from so far away
But back to me she would come
if I’d just give her some
Indication that I want her to stay
But I don’t give her nothin’
Nothin’ but Love
I don’t give her nothin’
Nothin’ but Love
Singing, Dancing and Falling
When we climb
We are blind
On the edge of it
And I wonder why
I always hear that sound
When we fall
We are all
On the edge of it
And still I hear that sound
And the angels sing some more
And they’re dancin cross the floor
And they’re singing while they fall
And the angels sing some more
And they’re dancin cross the floor
And they’re singing while they fall
And they’re dancing while we fall
And we’re singing while we fall
And we’re dancing while they fall
And we’re singing while we fall
Stuck In My Mind
Stuck In my mind
Stuck In my mind
I’m tryin to re-chart the course I laid while I was blind
Oceans of regret wash over me
I’m grippin the wheel as I stare out to sea
I think I see Jesus while I’m stuck in my mind
Stuck in my mind
You’re stuck In My Mind
The newspaper promised it’d lie to me just one more time
I got too much future way too much past
How long can this thing they call happiness last
I’ll be walkin with Jesus but now I’m stuck in my mind
It’s scary what I might do if I wasn’t stuck in my mind
Stuck in my mind
I’m startin to think it’s a comfortable place to unwind
I just noticed that they gave me a computer
As long as I’m stuck here I might as well boot her
I’m textin with Jesus and we’re both now stuck in my mind
The Fog
Sorry that I put you on a leash.
Can’t believe I put you on a leash
It was the fog
It was the fog of love
Sorry that I took my own life
Can’t Believe I took my own life
It was the fog
It was the fog of war
I can’t believe
all the things we done
It was just like a dream
Was it me who pushed that button?
Money, sex, dreams, birds, bombs and bones
They put me in another zone
But it was the fog
It was the fog of love
It was the fog of war
It is sad the things that I’ve been given
Were taken from the ones that I love best
And it’s sad that I must go on living
In pursuit of my happiness
And the war that I keep fighting
A war that nobody ever wins
Just to protect the gifts that I’ve been given
Shows the depth of my ignorance
And the love that I keep giving
A love that’s from when life begins
Is the same love that helps me be forgiven
For the depth of my ignorance
Who’ll do the Bus Stop laugh
Well I found me a train
With a heart in the middle.
Told her my plan
She asked me a riddle
My mind was a blob
Said I’m not into trucks
She said no prob
I just had lunch and I guess you’re wonderin’ how
I still got all my teeth
Well I went to the super center
Just to get me some honey
They wouldn’t check me out
‘Cause I had no money
So I Went to the bank
And I asked for a penny
They opened the drawer
And they didn’t have any and I guess you’re wonderin’ how
I still got all my teeth
Who’ll Do the Bus Stop Laugh?
Next stop we’ll be gettin off
Well I went to the Hagen Daz
Everybody on the ground
Pantyhose head standin there
Broken cones all around
The man on the chair
With an Uzi in his hand
I said what’s goin on here
He said I don’t understand
You still got all my teeth?
Who’ll Do the Bus Stop Laugh?
Next stop we’ll be gettin off