Ain't That Something
Black-Eyed Susan
City Lights
Eagle & Blue
Echoes
February
Grumman At The Keel
How Do You Pray
Leaving Again
Mid September
Oh Jealous Mind
One Last Look
Pack Of Lies
San Joaquin
Savage On The Downhill
Selma
Storms Of Scarcity
Things I Saved
Tracey Joe
Trinity Gold Mine
Waiting For The Hard Times To Go
You Can Come In
 

AIN’T THAT SOMETHING 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 
 

Ain't that something the way he's looking at me  

Ain't that something the way he's looking at me  

He's looking at me like I'm a beauty queen  

Like I just might be the prettiest girl he's ever seen 
 

My baby kiss me good morning, he kiss me goodnight   

My baby kiss me good morning, he kiss me goodnight   

There's something about him that just feels right  

Giving kisses sweeter than all of the valley's wine 
 

I've been cold most all my life  

I've been cold most all my life  

That fire you got sure burns bright

I'm counting on you to keep me warm tonight  


Ain't that something the way he's looking at me  

Ain't that something the way he's looking at me  

He's looking at me like I'm a beauty queen  

Like I just might be the prettiest girl he's ever seen 
 

BLACK-EYED SUSAN 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP   


We walked just one mile to get to God   

Spent the afternoon running in the church yard   

Can't you see I'm walking just behind you dad   

Two steps to your one ain’t half bad
       

     And I go walking through the fields of summer       

     And I start laughing loud and gay       

     I'm talking back to the Black-Eyed Susan       

     Hope I always feel this way
 

Charlotte Road 214   

That little white church was all we knew   

The smell of a hymnal in my hands   

Sitting in a church pew next to you        

CHORUS    

Pulling on my tights for Sunday School   

Everybody ought to know the golden rule   

"This is the day the Lord hath made   

We will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24  

 CHORUS  


CITY LIGHTS 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
  

Don't mind my tears they'd be falling just the same   

You haven't done anything wrong   

No I'm not crying cause you say your love's grown old   

It's just hard to face the winter here alone 
 

No I'm not saying it’ll work out if you stay   

Just with you here this house felt like a home   

And after all it's you that made the biggest change   

Restless nights, no city lights, go on and go  
     

     As you wander far away and grow tired of the race       

     Think of these foothills and a girl you used to know        

     I'll keep a kitchen fire burning in case you ever lose your way       

     When city lights get too bright just come on home 
 

Love ain't enough, at least that's what he'd say   

I always wished I could offer him something more   

But in his arms my troubles seemed to slip away    

And this poor girl didn't feel so poor        

CHORUS  


EAGLE & BLUE 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

Eagle & Blue how in the hell are you 

And how is our friend Rio Grande 

The plaza felt empty, I couldn't find Johnny Floras 

Tell me where did he go the old man 


No I never heard that Amy had a baby 

Seems like everybody I knew moved on 

I drove out to Pueblo where we parked for the winter 

And I thought of you singing that song
 

     You’d sing some say love is a flower  

     Some say love is a rose 

     If we give all we have to each other 

     Surely something might grow 
 

When I hear boots pound on old dance floors 

Down the hall two by two 

Eliza’s red lipstick and a fat turquoise bracelet 

Button accordions remind me of you 


"What can I say that will take me away  

From the snow flower bloomed in your heart 

What can I do to reach out to you  

And keep us from drifting apart" * 

CHORUS 

*Used by permission, poem by Bodie Wagner
 

ECHOES 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

Mama’s coming down the hall in her slippers 

On the look out for a cup of tea she swore she made 

Dad’s been up and out since four this morning 

He tried to lay back down but the quiet woke him up again 


The kids we raised became our pride and joy love 

For eighteen years our lives were not our own 

Tell me again just why are we still together 

Lying next to you I never felt so alone 


     At the foot of the stairs we hear the echoes 

     Of the children that we raised up gone and grown 

     Out of the stillness comes a question begs an answer 

     With just you and I will this house still be a home 


Let’s go back to when you and I were young love 

What’d we ever do to pass away the time 

It had something to do with sunshine on a dew drowned meadow 

Going walking and talking with the apple of my eye 

CHORUS 

I swear you ain’t the one I said my vows to 

But you do look like someone I used to know 

After all these years is there nothing left to hold on to 

Tell me again just what are we fighting for 


I’m fighting for my sweetheart sunny day darling 

And I'm fighting for my lover and my friend 

I’ve searched long and hard to find an answer for you 

After all these years, after all these years 

After all these years I know we’ll find the love again 

CHORUS 

  

FEBRUARY 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP

The short month it flew by like a bird on the wing  

I don't let it worry my mind  

Turns out the rent is due sooner than we think  

I don't let it worry my mind  


Wipe the tears and hide my eyes at the kitchen sink  

I don't let it worry my mind    

I just try and focus on the simple joys life brings  

I don't let it worry my mind  
 

     It sure is warm for February   

     I can see bare patches of our lawn  

     Winter was so cold and dreary  

     But it looks like sunny days from now on 
 

The radio is speaking out the most depressing things  

I don't let it worry my mind  

More and more I'm finding out you can't trust who you’d think  

I don't let it worry my mind  

CHORUS  

Late frost it came and took most everything  

I don't let it worry my mind  

Looks like I was fooled by an early spring  

I don't let it worry my mind  

CHORUS   

GRUMMAN AT THE KEEL 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2014 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

You can call her silver, you can call her friend 

She can take you up the river and bring you back again 

No matter where I travel, when I reach an end 

I’ve got 15 feet of aero grade aluminum 
 

I don’t ask questions, it’s like she knows the way 

Before I begin to tell her, before I start to say 

She walks on water in that old-school way 

She’s my 15 feet of aero grade aluminum 


     And I know that she’s not fancy 

     I just like the way I feel 

     When I’m on the water paddling 

     With my Grumman at the keel 

  

HOW DO YOU PRAY 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2014 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 
 

     Tell me how do you pray 

     Where do you go and what do you say 

     Do you fall on your knees at the end of each day 

     How do you pray 


Do you shake your fists at the sky 

You stub your toe and wonder why 

When life ain't going your way  

How do you pray 

   

     Tell me how do you pray 

     Where do you go and what do you say 

     Do you fall on your knees at the end of each day 

     How do you pray 


Where do you feed your soul 

Be it a lazy afternoon at your favorite fishing hole 

Where you can marvel at God's grace 

How do you pray  

CHORUS 

When you lose some one you love  

And the comfort of friends just ain't enough  

When you just can't take the pain 

How do you pray  

CHORUS 
 

LEAVING AGAIN 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 


I made my home on the Whisky’s banks 

Fell in love with a man and took on his name 

Winter came and the creek did rise  

I took back my heart, tore me up inside 


     And he says where now, where you going now 

     I see you’re leaving again, can I change your mind 

     I say no, no, I’m leaving again 

     I don’t want to get close, not this time 


Can I live with myself, his poor heart in my hands 

I tell him I tried but he don’t understand 

I know this is home but it don’t feel that way 

He don’t want me to go but he drives me away 


     When he says where now, where you going now 

     I see you’re leaving again, can I change your mind 

     I say no, no, I’m leaving again 

     I don’t want to get close, not this time 

  

MID SEPTEMBER 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
  

      Mid September and there's a half moon in the sky   

      I'm lying in bed and I listen to the coyotes cry   

      Oak leaves blowing in through an empty window pane   

      I woke up this morning to the sounds of an early rain
   

Used to think I'd look back on us crying and laugh   

I never thought I'd look back on us laughing and cry *  

I still go driving but I take to circling wide   

Check my mirrors, keep an eye on my blind side   

I try and remember the days my heart was open wide        


I watch the storm coming in       

And I think about running outside       

I never used to hesitate       

I never let the doubt in my mind       

No I never let the doubt in my mind    


I got blood stains in the kitchen and a possum underneath the floor   

But living this way I could never ask for more   

I say it's better your back than mine cause you're the one leaving this time   

I ain't asking you to leave I'm just showing you to the door    

CHORUS  

Give me a day when I won't try and leave   

I’ll stay and see the seasons change between my love and me   

I’m looking for a reason to put your shoes outside  

I think things might be different if I stick around this time        


Billows so white rolling over       

Clouds build and pile up high       

Some bright morning       

Looks like heaven's coming down in style       

Looks like heaven's coming down in style      

Looks like heaven   

Looks like heaven's coming down in style 

CHORUS   

*Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson  


OH JEALOUS MIND 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
  

I'm going crazy now I’m losing sight of almost everything we've gained  

This jealous mind done got the best of me  

I've tried 'bout everything to lose the loop of her with your last name  

My skins crawling and I can't sleep
  

     Oh jealous mind, stop your scheming   

     You know he loves you now what's so wrong  

     Got a jealous heart, for no good reason  

     Don't need your games, leave me alone  

  

Ain't that just right on time I step aside the day she pulls in town  

I'd like to jerk a knot right in her pretty tail  

A girl don't drive that far to see a man without trouble on her mind  

I'm telling you, a woman knows  

CHORUS   

So if you don't mind now, I'm gonna be leaving  

You know I love you, but this is wrong  

Gonna take my heart, and hide away grieving   

Don't need your games, leave me alone  

CHORUS 
  

ONE LAST LOOK 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

It’s quiet on the mesa when all the mouths are fed 

I’m standing at the back gate, my hands cold and red 

The aimless way my thoughts go drifting round my head 

Taking me to places I will never see again 


     I’m going to walk right in and make myself at home 

     Turn around real slow 

     Shake out all the pieces on the floor 

     Take one last look and let it go 


These hills run deep into my bones, I know the secrets they keep 

I know where the ancient souls lay wake beneath the trees 

They turn around, they come and go, doing as they please 

Stay with me everywhere I go, like a worn out melody 

CHORUS 

Now it’s getting late I got to go, somewhere I have to be 

But I can smell the woodsmoke riding on the breeze 

So it’s up the hill to a house I know where there’s an open door for me 

I’m going to walk right in and say hello, set my spirit free 

CHORUS 


PACK OF LIES 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

I’m caught up in a pack of lies 

Barking dogs rule the moonless night 

Pretending to love is a wicked game 

I made this bed where I lay in the shame 


Memories of you oh they haunt my mind 

Falling stars streak the blacked out sky 

There’s no way around how careless I've been 

Selfish and blind, facade of love, loss of a friend 


     And I pray life is going to get easier 

     It won’t always be this hard 

     Through penitent tears I watch us fade 

     I never meant to do you wrong 

     Wish I could heal your breaking heart 


Making believe the sun’s gonna shine 

I try to be strong while I’m lost inside 

Pardon me, I never meant to lie 

What a mess I’m in, I’ll take the blame, swallow my pride 

CHORUS 

Come here darling, come and rest your eyes 

You look so tired, have you been up all night 

Pretending to love does a wicked harm 

Will I ever learn to live with what I have done 

CHORUS 
 

SAN JOAQUIN 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
   

There was once a rich and fertile valley watered by the San Joaquin  

She gave and she gave plenty, from her foothills to her seas  

For miles they came to farm her the blackest soil you ever seen   

She ran all the way to San Francisco Bay, she was wild and she was free 

  

The Friant Dam it holds her and for 60 miles she runs dry  

Polluted by those that crowd her with only dollars on their minds  

They did nothing to rebuild her, not a cover crop or tree  

Now the topsoils turned to powder it’s being taken by the breeze
  

     What’d you ever do to your valleys, they used to be so green  

     You paved and planted orchards, diverted our rivers and streams  

     You took all she had to offer, blinded by your greed   

     Now it’s no wonder that she’s on fire when you pretend that you don’t see
  

Now there’s a bird eating berries in the shade of a Madrone tree  

The smoke's settled low and heavy and I’m finding it hard to breathe  

They say that California just might drop off into the sea  

I want to be out of that line of fire when Mama’s soul busts free  


Take me riding on a lonesome cowboy’s yodel out across the lone prairie  

Let’s get carried away together sing me of how it used to be  

July sun, wild fire, it's got nothing to do with me   

Lay that buffalo hide ‘cross my shoulders paint a rose tattoo on me  


I need a friend I need a lover I need a long tall glass of tea  

Cause I’m all out of answers trying to learn your harmony  

I need a place to run for cover, a place I won't be seen  

The river aches from this drought she’s under, touch her set her free  

CHORUS  


SAVAGE ON THE DOWNHILL 

Written by Amber Cross and Ray Bonneville 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

I can feel you out there moving through the dark 

Feeding on my fear like the scavenger you are 

Did you think I’d stay here in your nightmare dream 

This is the last time that you will ever bother me 


     With my savage on the downhill so not to break my fall 

     I move along the cattle trail across the canyon wall 

     I’m a hawk eye on a sparrow, I'm onto your game 

     I know which way the wind will blow before it begins to change 


I drop low into the canyon where you’re bound to be 

Lying in the shadows, blending and unseen 

You will know my heart and taste it’s ragged beat 

When your beastly eyes set darkly upon me
 

     With my savage on the downhill so not to break my fall 

     I move along the cattle trail across the canyon wall 

     I’m a hawk eye on a sparrow, I'm onto your game 

     I know which way the wind will blow before it begins to change 


SELMA  

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP
 

Lately I been thinking about going  

Somewhere nice to see some music played  

But all of my dresses are in Selma  

And Selma is a really long ways away  
 

I've been thinking 'bout my pretty dresses  

I never really wore 'em much anyway  

I sure don't go out dancing like I used to  

I wear the same ripped jeans and sweatshirt every day  

I say may be it's time I go for a drive  
 

Cause lately I been doing too much thinking  

I just don't look at life in the same way  

I've been spending too much time reading 

And books have become a means of escape  

I say may be it's time I go for a drive  

  

Cause lately I've been losing my composure  

I just don't hold together quite the same  

I quit trying to make church on Sundays  

And now Sunday has become my favorite day   

I say may be it's time I go for a drive 

(La Da Da Da...)  

Cause lately I been thinking about Selma  

How all my things are neatly packed away  

How'd I ever end up in Selma  

And why on earth did I ever move away  

I say may be it's time I go for a drive  

(La Da Da Da...)  



STORMS OF SCARCITY 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 


The silence between waves, calm before a storm 

Gulls screaming over the sea 

There’s a moon out tonight and she rips a lunar tide 

These are storms of scarcity 


I can’t feel my hands and I can’t feel my feet 

I’m walking with you by the sea 

There’s a ship on the horizon being tossed from side to side 

These are storms of scarcity  


     Come sit by my side and wipe your weeping eyes 

     These hard times are more than I can bear 

     And here on the sand we’ll write our names inside this heart 

     Let the waves wash us away from here 


The pull of the tide challenge your heart and mine 

As it tries to undermine all our dreams 

Sleeper wave came, crossed a thin line 

Into storms of scarcity 


     Come sit by my side and wipe your weeping eyes 

     These hard times are more than I can bear 

     And here on the sand we’ll write our names inside this heart 

     Let the waves wash us away from here 


It’s the change you won’t miss if you blink your eyes 

The wind be the breath of the sea 

Somehow I’ll get though with you by my side 

Through these storms of scarcity
 

THINGS I SAVED   

Written by Amber Cross  

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP  

Looking back for something I might have lost along the line   

Reading through old letters of my youth and days gone by   

The smell of balsam lingers, almost makes me cry   

As I burn through these old memories, take a good look at my life   

   

There's a letter here from Betty, written just after Bob died   

61 years married, now she's given me advice   

Her cat is old and cranky, the grandkids are doing fine   

When will you come and visit, write when you have the time   
  

     Dreaming now of years gone by   

     Letters from, friends of mine   

     All the things I saved, was it worth the time   

     Without them now, will these memories survive  
  

I must have a stack of post cards that stretch a mile high   

A few forgotten love letters, written under New Mexico skies   

You want me to move back there, you know I always thought I might   

No you're not forgotten, I just moved on with my life   


My Great Aunt from over the river, she says she tried to call last night   

Her sister came for a visit, at 92 years she still drives   

And dear I'm getting married imagine me an 88 year old bride   

I hope you make it home for the wedding, here's our picture from the local Times   

CHORUS   

All the cards from my mother and father filled with love and pride    

We miss you more than ever, a little cash to get you by   

There were fifteen in church last Sunday, for once we let out on time   

We're thinking about coming to visit, your father says he wants to drive   

CHORUS 
 

TRACEY JOE 

Written by Amber Cross and Ray Bonneville 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 


Tracey was just a boy when I put him on a train 

Pulling out of Duluth on up to Winnipeg 

Saying don’t look back, you were bred to run 

Cover your tracks like we always done 


Got a picture of the family when he was only three 

The only one ever taken that included me 

He was holding my hand standing next to his dad 

On the day that he left us, that picture makes me sad 


     Sing me to sleep Tracey Joe 

     So your mama don't feel so all alone 

     Shut the door, turn out the light 

     Tell me again it’s going to be alright 


I worked as a waitress, a barmaid all my life 

All the wrong men left us fleeing in the night 

Climb up the gutter Tracey and see if he’s asleep 

I’ll circle round the block son, you run back and tell me 


Peek in the windows, check the door for a falling match 

Throw it all in the car, we got to make it fast 

He pried at the hammers but he was too small to pull them back 

He watched on helpless as my head came through the glass 

CHORUS 

I’m still in Minnesota, in the casino lights I live 

I’ve got nothing left of myself to give 

Somebody said they seen him driving a train 

Up on a stretch between Duluth and Winnipeg 

CHORUS 


TRINITY GOLD MINE 

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2017 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 


I live out on the edge of town 

Joe and I we settled down 

With him I found a common ground 

But no one knows about me 
 

I guess I'm the quiet kind  

The girls I like won't give their time 

They think I'm weird, they're probably right  

They don't want to know about me


Joe and I we had some times 

Hacienda Bridge at midnight 

Drinking beer and wasting life 

You don’t want to know about me 


I can’t look you in the eye 

And when I leave I don’t say goodbye 

My friends say I’m a real nice guy 

But they don’t know about me 


I climbed up off the ground 

Wove a web in the redwood boughs  

Up where I could not be found 

No one knew about me 


I can’t talk about my life  

cause talking sure don’t make it right 

Life in the Trinity Gold Mines 

No one knew about me 


I can’t look you in the eye 

And when I leave I don’t say goodbye 

My friends say I’m a real nice guy 

But they don’t know about me 


WAITING FOR THE HARD TIMES TO GO  

Written by Jim Ringer 

Used by permission. Folklore Music 


Well my name it don't matter, you don't know me no how  

But I wish you would listen to what I'm saying now  

I need someone to talk to and I want you to know  

I ain't putting you down but I don't like your town,  

Just a hanging around, waiting for the hard times to go  


Well I come here from Fresno and that is my home 

If I ever get back there I wouldn't feel so alone  

I come looking for work here just a few weeks ago  

Now my spirit is beat, I got sores on my feet,  

From walking your streets, waiting for the hard times to go  


My home seems as far now as the earth is from Mars  

Any way that I look here I see buildings and cars  

I want to hear the birds singing, I want to feel the wind blow  

But I know that can't be, I can't yet be free,  

Got to stay in your cities, waiting for the hard times to go  


Sometimes I wonder about the workings of life  

Why can't a man make a living for his kids and his wife  

Without leaving his home town for a strange place to go  

Where he spends every cent paying groceries and rent  

Until his whole life is spent, waiting for the hard times to go 


YOU CAN COME IN  

Written by Amber Cross 

© 2012 Two Red Doors Publishing, ASCAP 


You can come in but you can't stay long (3x)   

This is my house, I like living alone   

And I don't need a boy even if he's grown    


I guess I don't mind if you take off your shoes (3x)   

They slip off easy and on again too   

And like I said you're leaving, you'll be leaving soon    


He makes me laugh and he makes me cry (3x)   

Somebody put another quarter in this guy   

Before he goes I want another ride    


I can't help it if the ink ain't dry (3x)   

I got it out of my system I ain't the marrying kind   

But when you say it that way you make it sound so nice    


I know it's late but I ain't tired (3x)   

I could listen to you talk, going on for hours   

See if April showers really bring May flowers    


Give me a reason to make you leave (3x)   

Cause I'm getting weak, weak in my knees   

I'm falling fast and I can hardly breathe 


You don't have to know what you want in life (3x)   

Just catch it quick or it may pass you by    

And if it knocks don't make it knock twice     


Hey now I see you (3x)   

As I look back you're looking back too   

Never known a man like a want to know you   

Never known a man like a want to know you