EVERYTHING CHANGED

Mike Aiken, Paul Jefferson

You, you, you walked in my door
The sun shined like it never did before
Nothing, nothing, would ever be the same
That’s when everything changed

I made some bad decisions about women once or twice
They were heavy on pretty but light on nice
They cut me through the middle and run off with both halves
That’s when I found out that love never lasts

Then you, you, you walked in my door
And the sun shined like it never did before
Nothing, I mean nothing would ever be the same
That’s when everything, everything changed

All these years later I’m surprised everyday
Someone sweet as you ain’t thrown me away
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop
When on my heart I feel a knock, knock, knock

And it’s you, you, you walked in my door
The sun shined like it never did before
Nothing, nothing would ever be the same
That’s when everything, everything changed

All these years later I’m surprised every day
Someone sweet as you ain’t thrown my ass away
I keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop
When on my heart I feel a knock, knock, knock

And it’s you, you, you walked in my door
And the sun shined like it never did before
Nothing, I mean nothing would ever be the same
That’s when everything changed

That’s when everything, I mean everything
That’s when everything changed
That’s when everything changed
That’s when everything changed

NASHVILLE SKYLINE

Mike Aiken, Chris P James Big Boat Music (SESAC), Blue Meteor Songs (BMI) 

Nashville Skyline, I’m starting to roam
The highway keeps calling me
You’re a long way from heaven
But I call you home
My sky’s in Tennessee 

I’ve worked in the country
Struggled in the towns
My wife says I live here
But I’m hardly around
Hotel ain’t home
But it’s damn near one to me
I close my eyes
She’s what I see 

I’ve traveled through the highlands
Flown across the plains
So many lonesome cities
I can’t recall their names
Miles and miles, whoa
Keep pulling me
To the Cumberland River valley 

Every time I see that six – one – five
I know she’s calling me
Next thing I know I’m back on 65
Driving my need to be

So when I see that six – one – five
I know she’s calling me
Here I am back on 65
Driving my need to be 

Back to that Nashville skyline
I’m starting to roam
Your highway keeps calling me
You’re a long way from heaven
But I call you home
My sky’s in Tennessee
You’re a long way from heaven
But I call you home
My sky’s in Tennessee

HANGOVER HELPER
Mike Aiken, Tim Buppert 

Big Boat Music, Saddle Blanket / Buffrin Boy Music (SESAC)

Woke up this morning
Everything is hurting
Last night is kinda fuzzy
But one thing is for certain
I drank too much
Stayed out to late
Gonna call into work and take a personal day

My boss said, ‘Boy, it sounds like to me,
A hangover helper is all you really need’
Well it got me to thinking
Is that a real thing
So I put it in to Google
And I couldn’t believe
It was plain as the pain in my bloodshot eyes
A rockin’ little remedy in black and white
An hour ago I felt like I had the flu
But thanks to hangover helper, I’m good as new

Biscuits and gravy with some gravy on the side
The hair of the dog, what bit you last night
Simple ingredients will make it more better
For a real good, feel good, hangover helper
Now that you know just how to get it done
You don’t have to hold back just to have some fun
Just don’t forget how you’re gonna feel
When you wake up in the morning and thangs are getting real…

Biscuits and gravy
With some gravy on the side
The hair of the dog, what bit you last night
Simple ingredients will make it more better
For a real good, feel good, hangover helper
Real good, feel good, hangover helper
Hangover helper

Oh my head is killing me
Hangover helper

And that sun is burning my eyes
Hangover helper

Bourbon, Whiskey, beer and wine
Got to get you some of that
Bourbon, Whiskey, beer and wine
Hangover helper

Two  Lane Highway –     Mike Aiken, Henry Paul

With empty soda bottles tucked up underneath my arms
Walking down the shoulder of the road from our old farm
To a little country store when cokes were just a dime
Long ago in another place in time

Two lane highway take me up around the bend 
Down the back roads of my past where those memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance
Like time with an old friend
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two lane highway

Grinding gears in our old pick up was how I learned to drive
Weaving up and down that country road but somehow I survived
Taking out the neighbor’s mailbox and plowing through the corn
Standing on the gas and laying on the horn

Two lane highway take me up around the bend                            
Down the back roads of my past where those memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance 
Like time with an old friend          
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two lane highway

Sometimes the road can take you to a place so far away
You find that where you once belonged is gone like yesterday
And dreams are all that’s left of a place you once called home
That lost highway comes to call when you feel all alone

Two lane highway take me up around the bend 
Down the back roads of my past where the memories never end
A winding ribbon in the distance 
Like time with an old friend
In my heart I’m going back again
In my heart I’m going back again
Down a two lane highway
A two lane highway
Down a two lane highway

A two lane highway
A two lane highway

Travelin’ Bone

Mike Aiken

I was born with a travelin’ bone
Don’t you know I just got to roam
Said I was born with a travelin’ bone
Where I lay my head yes it is my home

Got my boat said that’s for me
Wind and waves and the deep blue sea
Said got my boat well that’s for me
Well travelin’ slow feeling mighty free

I got all I need when she’s laying next to me, I’m home
Rolling in those tumble weeds or rocking on that deep blue sea, I’m home
Yea, yes a travelin’ bone

Don’t you know I got a mountain girl
Likes to travel all around the world
Said don’t you know, I got a girl
Yes she likes to travel all around this world

And there’s a road and it’s waiting for me
There’s some place I just got to see
Said there’s a road, it’s waiting for me
Yes there’s some places I sure want to be

I was born with a travelin’ bone
Don’t you know I just got to roam
Said I was born with a travelin’ bone
Where I lay my head yes it is my home
Where I lay my head yes it is my home

Travelin’ bone
Travelin’ bone
Got a travelin’ bone
Got a travelin’
Got a travelin’
Got a travelin’ bone
Got a travelin’
Got a travelin’
Got a travelin’ bone

REAL MEAN DOG

Robbin Thompson, Gregg Wetzel
Our Lad’s Music (BMI), Out There Music (ASCAP)

She left me a real mean dog
Out on a chain
I guess he ain’t particular
Hates everyone the same
He hates me cuz she’s gone
And hates me cuz I’m near
She left me a real mean dog
Just the two of us are livin’ here
She left me a real mean dog
And just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me an old pickup truck
Falling apart
She left me with an attitude
And a worrying heart
She’s gone for good
That much is clear
She left me a real mean dog
Just the two of us are livin’ here
She left me a real mean dog
And just the two of us are livin’ here

I tried to hide the way I feel
But it don’t feel no good
I look out back at that old dog
I wished he understood

Some lonely men get dangerous
But all I feel is fear
She left me a real mean dog
Just the two of us are livin’ here
She left me a real mean dog
And just the two of us are livin’ here

She left me a real mean dog
Out by the shed
I guess we both think alike
He wishes I was dead
He hates me cuz she’s gone
And hates me cuz I’m near
She left me a real mean dog
Just the two of us are livin’ here
She left me a real mean dog
And just the two of us are livin’ here
She left me a real mean dog
And just the two of us are livin’ here
I don’t even know his name

HARD WORKIN’ WORKING GIRL

Mike Aiken, Paul Jefferson
Big Boat Music, Cropcircle Music (SESAC)

Blue collar, no hi-tech here
Sweat of the brow, low-class beer
I see her on the street, rain or shine
Early in the morning, til well past closing time
She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world
She’s a hard working working girl

She waves to me as I drive by
She knows that I’m not one of her guys
But who am I to judge, I can’t throw a stone
Maybe like me she’s got someone counting on her at home
She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world
She’s a hard working working girl

Today I saw her out again
Our eyes met as she was climbing in
Into an unknown car with a faceless man
She knew that I knew what he don’t understand
She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl
She’s just trying to get by, get by in this world

She’s a hard working working girl
She’s a hard working working girl

A LITTLE LAZY IN YOUR LIFE

Mike Aiken, Tim Buppert

Big Boat Music, Saddle Blanket / Buffrin Boy Music (SESAC)

We all know the guy that’s climbing up the ladder
No matter what it takes
And then one day he wakes up and wonders
What he lost along the way

Then his neighbor, the procrastinator
His world turns at a slightly slower pace
He says he’ll do it when he gets to it
With a great big smile on his face

You gotta have a little lazy in your life
Just lay back and let it all roll by
If I could offer up some friendly advice
You can’t do it all no matter how hard you try

So here’s the deal, spinning your wheels
Ain’t gonna get you any place
According to my sources, it was the tortoise, not the hare
Who wins the race

Because he had a little lazy in his life
He laid back and let it all roll by
If I could offer up some friendly advice
You can’t do it all no matter how hard you try

Now I suppose we could add a little prose
Perhaps repeat the chorus once or twice
But as I recall the essence of this song
Is how to get a little lazy in your life

We all need a little lazy in our lives
Lay back and let it all roll by
If I could offer up some friendly advice
You can’t do it all no matter how hard you try
You gotta have a little lazy in your life
Lay back and let it all roll by
If I could offer up some friendly advice…

DEAD MAN RUNS BEFORE HE WALKS
Mark Collie, Shawn Camp
Daniel Island Music / How Ya Doin’ Music / Leipers Fork Music, Songs of Universal / Shawn Camp Music (BMI)

Digging a hole was easy enough
With a fork and a spoon and a dixie cup
Night by night and spoon by spoon
The tunnel was ready so we made our move

Now we drew straws and I went first
Clawing and a scratching in the mud and the dirt
Yea I’d love to have seen that old warden’s face
When he found me gone without a trace

I can hear the sirens squawking
And I know they’re on my trail
I can hear the bloodhounds balling
A dead man runs before he walks   lawd lawd lawd
A dead man runs before he walks

Now I won’t be bound by chains of steel
This time they’ll have to shoot to kill
No I can’t go back inside them walls
You know a dead man runs before he walks

I can hear the sirens squawking
And I know they’re on my trail
I can hear the bloodhounds balling
A dead man runs before he walks – lawd lawd lawd
A dead man runs before he walks – lawd lawd lawd
You know a dead man runs before he walks – lawd lawd lawd
You know a dead man runs before he walks

PENELOPE
Christopher Hynes
Chris Hynes (SOCAN)

Penelope works in the market
Down in the coconut trees
She’s saving up all of her money
To go to America across the sea

She once had an uncle
He lived in Detroit town
They got all of his postcards
But his body has never been found

To this day
To this day

She got a job as a domestic
Workin’ for the minimum wage
All her friends back home in Jamaica
They say, ‘you really got it made in the shade.’

But they don’t see her sweat and grind
And bended on her knees
She wishes she was back in Jamaica
Beneath the coconut trees

Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday

Penelope’s back in the market
She found what it was all about
Oh no, she doesn’t regret it
She’s just glad that she got out
But others aren’t so lucky
They’re there til the day they die
Trapped in steel and the concrete
No beach, no moon, no sky

Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday

CHESAPEAKE

Mike Aiken, Amy Aiken

Southbound clouds north wind blowing
Keeps me away from where I’m going
Pine trees swaying in the breeze
Pelicans still flying with grace and ease

Boats seeking shelter in the lee
Cold front is here on the Chesapeake
Cookout tonight at the breezeway café
This one’s for schooners, saving the bay

Light a fire stack some wood
With friends and music it feels so good
Can’t sail north that’s fine with me
Can’t beat October on the Chesapeake

Early morning out on the bay
Sunshine starts to make its way
Waterman he works at his trade
Steaming out as darkness fades
Out on the water some of what you see
It’s part of life on the Chesapeake

Northbound clouds south wind blowing
Sending me where I’m going
Catch the breeze get underway
Osprey calls you to another day
Life moves slowly you’re out of reach
Swing to the tide of the Chesapeake