Parker Brown — Lyrics to Parker Brown's new album We Were Young

Time Can Not Erase

Harder still after the winter chill

Not yet ready for sun to touch bare skin

The thaw has come, but were feeling numb

From the love that helps us to relate

And I try to separate

But the tears come gently rolling

Down my face

In Love that time can not erase

We started young with some summer fun

Laying by the pool the breeze would cool our backs

At night hands on hips, we’d dance until lips

Would lead us to the bedroom floor

And our hearts were intertwined

But our minds were quickly

Leaving us behind

In love that time can not erase

Child Hood dreams

As important as they seem

Child hood dreams

Only last as long as they please

And her hands,

They held my face

In an attempt to hold

The memories that we’ve made

In Love

That time can not erase

Easy

You can measure a man

By how he treats his enemies

And if there aren’t any enemies around

Maybe something is wrong

And if the truth is is standing

Naked right in front of him

And he chooses to ignore it

How can he go on?

Before the earth was flat

We thought it was a mystery

And the humans before that

Thought the sun was god

And many men have been put to death

For their philosophies

And if they’d never spoken a word

Where would we be now?

So if we hold tight

And we make it through the night

I hope the next part of life

Is going to be easy

When a man spoke “I have a dream”

He spoke into the centuries

Inviting all of human kind

To see themselves as one

Insisting peace and love

The measure of what makes a man

And before we even knew it he was shot down

So if we hold tight

And we make it through the night

I hope the next part of life

Is going to be easy

I’ve heard it in the dark

And I’ve seen it in the light

Every story has a person (and)

Every person has a mind

Silent Rings

Did we see it in the cards

Were we reading every time they flipped them over

Did we see it in the stars

And travel every place that they were pointing

Did we hear the voices talk

And tell us every thing that we were thinking

Did we use them at all

Or did we have everything that we needed

And softly as the snow falls

And silent as rings on the water

We stood there in each others arms

Hoping our love would be honest

Let it go. Give up the ghost.

If it’s only for a moment then at least we have a moment

The walk was tough

Sometimes I didn’t think that we would make it

Ground underfoot was soft

With each step it felt like we were sinking

Would we brace for the fall

Or would it be too much to imagine

Into the darkness beyond

The last of ourselves we’d abandon

And softly as the snow falls

And silent as rings on the water

We stood there in each others arms

Hoping our love would be honest

Prodigal Son

Talking with our tongues untied

Walking next to you at night

Illuminating what we find

From taking the winding road

Our journeys keep our hearts intwined

Like planets in their orbit lines

Revolve around the sun we find

We make it around again

Prodigal Son, Why do you hide

Giving your life in order to find

That all of our past Can be like a lie

Fortunate one

Prodigal Son, Tested by time

They were amazed to see you alive

Coming back home To arms open wide

Prodigal Son

Won’t you join us inside

Where energy and starts collide

And makeup what we are inside

Discovering a truth from time

It feels like coming home

Chaos and the calm align

Where saints and thieves will stand beside

Each other at the great divide

Of walking each other home

Take it up with your Ghost or it’ll follow you around

Let your fears break you out

You were born to give them hell

My love will never change, my love.

Just a Dream

We were the last generation to work at the mall

Before the internet came and closed the doors down

Disinfranchised by everything we saw

The great recount of Bush and Gore

Born again christians evangelize our coffee shops

While Tony Williams Emergency played out of the van in the parking lot

Everything seemed to move so slow

The morning and the night became the same thing

We’ve got a dream

American kids caught in their American in-between

Like flashes of light

On a magic summer night

It was just a dream

Playing it cool in front of this girl I can’t stop thinking of

But I’m too afraid to tell her because I know were just friends

We’re passing around wine and cigarettes on a strangers roof top

While somebody plays Bob Dylan songs on an old guitar

No one really knows what’s next, but we know we’ve got to get out

Move to new cities and new streets so we can find our freedoms

Times are changing if only we could change if only we could change

We’ve got a dream

American kids caught in their American in-between

Like flashes of light

On a magic summer night

It was just a dream

So how do you know that you’ll ever see my face again

Tell me how do you try and pretend

That our story might have an end

What makes you believe that this is more than

Just a dream

Mix Tape

I want to make you a mixtape

Don’t want to put it on a CD

I don’t want to publish a playlist

Of digital MP3s

I want to put in some work

To show you how I feel

I want to write you a letter

Not send a text from my phone

I don’t want to slide into your DMs

Hell, I’d rather leave you alone

I want to put the pen to paper

And tell you just how I feel

In the age of digital conversation

We don’t take the time to exercise patience

In the days of instant gratification

We can’t wait too long before our thumbs start shaking

Will we learn to live again

Before we ever forget

But that hasn’t happened yet.

I want to write you a love song

And hope that you’ll sing a long

Something eloquent and emotive

What more could you want

I need to make a little music

To show you just how I feel

Are we losing one another

For a chance to have it all

Analog for ones and zeros

Are we riding for a fall

I need to have you here

To show you how I feel

Tiny Lite

There’s a lite that shines within us

And it doesn’t look like what we’ve been told

It’s taken quite the journey to get here

A tiny diamond in the coal mine of the world

Take a new look around you

It’s more than the imagery that we seek

There’s an energy that runs a line between us

It’s being spoken, but cannot be seen

So won’t you carry me down to that river

Let me go where the current rushes in

And when my body and face go under

I’ll never be more free again

I always thought that I’d have it all together

That just for once I’d grade myself on a curve

That all these faults wouldn’t be hanging around forever

And every action would be done in love

So won’t you carry me down to that river

Let me go where the current rushes in

And when my body and face go under

I’ll never be more free again

Own Way

There’s a hard world waiting for ya, kid

Full of eight billion strangers

Everyone feels the danger

That they will soon be leaving it

But there’s a big heart beating out there

Among the screens and the shameless

Avoid the righteous and blameless

And don’t let them in your head

The Hardest part

Is doing what you’re told

I know you’re gonna your own way home

I let a hole grow under my skin

Where I let every word in

And it stings like needles and pins

And cuts me to the bone

Don’t live life shaking your fists

With everything you came with

Let your mercy and your patience

be the gift you give

People Watching

The hard part was over, he’d made it all the way through alive

Nobody had seen him like that before

Gliding all the way across the country side

It was two minutes ‘till midnight, there was a cool breeze in the air,

a cloud of steam left his mouth left his mouth as he exhaled deeply and vanished into the air.

He looked about the skyline with an admiring stare, as if all the gods he’d ever read about were gathered there to see how he would fair and they’d say,

Ooooh look at him go! He’s got the world beneath his feet. He’s letting everybody know.

Ooooh look at him go! He’s got us wrapped around his finger. He’s got us humming every note.

As he rose in front of millions, he imagined to himself. That he was talking to them and they were listening to him, and this is what he said, “you know my heart’s beating, hand’s feeling, brain’s reeling experiencing different levels of things—can’t be explained that easily. And the earth is spinning—at one thousand forty miles an hour and we can’t even feel it. And that doesn’t seem to affect the things we do every day, and that makes me say,

Ooooh look at him go! He’s got the world beneath his feet. He’s letting everybody know.

Ooooh look at him go! He’s got us wrapped around his finger. He’s got us humming every note.

Levee’s

You heard a voice that was calling

saying that a storm was going to come

that the water level would be rising

and there wouldn’t be any time to run

you think about all the water crashing

into the levees from the sea

you're scared to death of what that could mean

you’re one of life's finer mysteries

You go on down to fix your levee

you put up all your bags of sand

all the while the water keeps pouring out

and you can’t fill the cracks with your hands

the rain keep falling down

and no-one stops

but to see

the lonely man up against his levee

you’re one of life’s finer mysteries

You think about the life that you’ve led

wonder if those cracks have always been seen

you nail one last board up to your levy

and pray it doesn’t burst at the seams

you’re one of life's finer mysteries

Plain

Four o’clock in the morning

and I’m still awake

the dogs are barking

I’m staring out my window

the sky’s as grey as a piece of slate

let me be plain to ya

when I say I can’t get you off my mind

don’t think I’m lying, ‘cause baby I’ve tried

I made some dates with your best friends

I threw our pictures away

the one of you in that green dress with white lace

we were in love on our first date

let me be plain to ya

words aren’t the easiest things I breathe

and you said it all, when you said nothing at all

I get the feeling you’re not coming back

that’s understandable to me

if you’d have put me through half the mess I put you through

I would have begged you to leave

I hate giving up.

I hate when I’m the one giving up

I ain’t much for being alone

reminds me of my mistakes

it’s hard for me to admit that I’ve done anything wrong

some romances are harder to fake

let me be plain to ya

when I say I can’t get you off my mind

don’t think I’m lying, ‘cause baby I’ve tried

Summer Day

To the rails. I’m speeding faster as I go

Quarter-mile, I was on fire before I ever saw the smoke

Awake the daze. I’m stuck reeling from the initial blow

Calling out. Can you hear me.

Will they even know I’m here

In the end they asked me if I knew her name

If I told them would I ever feel the same

That every part of me regrets that summer day

Nobody wants to be the one to blame

Eager words, they keep falling from my mouth

Willing ears, never felt better from the start

Chase my blame.

Would you have noticed had you not been told

Call my bluff. Watch me stumble

Stumble as I lose control

In the end they asked me if I knew her name

If I told them would I ever feel the same

That every part of me regrets that summer day

Nobody wants to be the one to blame

Lights a flash. Below my heels time was all that froze

Catch my breath, I now can see how it all unfolds

In the end they asked me if I knew her name

If I told them would I ever feel the same

That every part of me regrets that summer day

Nobody wants to be the one to blame

Another Man’s Blues

I want to be the energy from the storm rolling over the city tonight

I want to be the fire burning up the trees on the mountain side

I want to be the smoke and the mirrors that will help you believe the lies

I want to burn so bright that you can warm your hands up by the light

Boom Boom Boom that’s another man’s blues I’m telling you

I want to fall into the Earth and help something beautiful grow

I want to be the pressure at the depths of the ocean that are going to keep you from it’s floor

I want to be all them answers that will help you come out on top

I want to love until it burns, until it hurts, or until this feeling stops

Boom Boom Boom that’s another man’s blues I’m telling you

Hand me Downs

I’m tired of all these hand me downs

So I drove out West to a neighboring town. It was a long drive.

I got caught right away at the edge of the bar

By a man breaking down in a fancy scarf. It was a rough start.

He was telling me about his wife and his kids

How that family life just wasn’t for him and he was long gone

I thought man, why the hell are you talking to me?

What could I say that’s going to give you reprieve. It was a long shot.

Are you tired of running up against the wind?

You can’t turn back time to find out where to begin

it’s been a long ride.

There’s a time to remember and a time to forget,

but a life spent wishing is a life to regret

it’s been a long ride

I managed to wiggle out with out squaring off

When I heard a bar band kicking off. Thought I’d catch a few tunes

It was the same old shit stamped with a Nashville star

Four guys with day jobs and expensive guitars.

They were living the dream, playing make believe

I put my heels to the floor and I turned it around

smoked a dry cigarette that I had found

told myself I was losing all hope. Man, I was losing.

Am I tired of running up against the wind?

Can’t turn back time to find out where to begin

it’s been a long ride.

There’s a time to remember and a time to forget,

but a life spent wishing is a life to regret

it’s been a long ride

Is there a place that I can go that’s at least a little in between

The brand of sack cloth I’ve been wearing and the holy robes of sanctity

Is there a word that I can say that will give you something more to glean from

is there a line that I can live that will make you feel more free?

If You Go

She’s a fine new lover and you’re welcome here to boast

this ain’t the kind of place to waste on pleasantries

When that heart of your’s comes under every look and touch she offers

You know I won’t expect to see you ‘round this place

And if you go she will follow

and if she falls you will tremble

It’s the love that costs the most that makes you break

And if you go she will follow

And if she’s gone you will wander

Always looking for that lover in your dreams

There is much about a woman that can be so captivating

It’s brought many men and fortunes to their waste

But for all those men and fortunes wouldn’t be worth one single nothin’

If it wasn’t for the lover that they chased

And if you go she will follow

and if she falls you will tremble

It’s the love that costs the most that makes you break

And if you go she will follow

And if she’s gone you will wander

Always looking for that lover in your dreams

When you see your love as it passes you buy

It will tear through you heart for years

And the pain in your heart leaves you lonely for life

And love is gone

She’s a fine new lover and you’re welcome here to boast

this ain’t the kind of place to waste on pleasantries

When that heart of your’s comes under every look and touch she offers

You know I won’t expect to see you ‘round this place

Trouble Deep

Since I was born, I’ve walked this road

For forty years and many more

Since I could see he was gone

my only father he was gone