James Morrison

CRISIS OF FAITH

She said she left the halfway house
'Cuz she was already all the way there
She'd saved a thousand souls in her mind
Except her own, but she didn't care
She never flinched when they came to collect
She never copped to being scared

She's got a crisis of faith
She hasn't got a prayer
She hasn't got a prayer

He was lost as an actor in L.A
No one ever found him there
The only way he'd found to cut the pain
Was to crawl into a bottle and stay there
In all those years of seein' life through the bottom of a glass
Nothin' ever got more clear

He's got a crisis of faith
He hasn't got a prayer
He hasn't got a prayer

Can you be brave in your travels
Down the long, hard road as you go?
Can you hold on if your dreams come unraveled?
Till the love that you pray for comes known
If your faith in love comes slow

She never knew her mother
She knew her father never cared
She covered her ears to the thunder
When lightenin' struck out of nowhere
She cried all night through the fightin'
Till sweet morning came, so fair

She's got a crisis of faith
She hasn't got a prayer
She hasn't got a prayer

He didn't have the home he dreamed of
He'd looked for it everywhere
Finally settled in to live with the damage
He waited forty-five years to repair
He laughed if you spoke about hope
She had a sense of humor about her despair

They had a crisis of faith
They didn't have a prayer
They didn't have a prayer

Can you be brave in your travels
Down the long, hard road as you go?
Can you hold on if your dreams come unraveled?
Till the love that you pray for comes known
If your faith in love comes slow

He'd felt that way since he could remember
An invited but unwanted guest
In all the time he's been alive
Never really felt like all the rest
His demons had kept him from climbin'
It'd been years since he pretended to care

He had a crisis of faith
He never had a prayer
He never had a prayer

Her life wasn't shaped like she dreamed it
Like a round peg in a world that was square
When she met him she looked deep into his eyes
She was met with a desolate stare
He didn't care where he was going
All he knew was he'd come from nowhere

He had a crisis of faith
She offered him a prayer
She offered him a prayer

You must be brave in your travels
Down the long, hard road as you go
You must hold on if your dreams come unraveled
Till the love that you pray for comes known
When your faith in love comes slow

FAR ACROSS YONDER

I set off on a journey with my Cousin Billy
For our fellows we could not abide
It was far across yonder we traveled until
We found peace in which to reside

We'd lived in man's world, saw the injury done
Giving leaders the shelter of doubt
Saw them lie to start wars for no reason but money
Simple truth is we're better without

Young Billy and me, we set sail in May
T'was April before we found land
We leapt off the boat, elated to stay
Where freedom were surely at hand

Our new home met all the standards we set
No one there but we peaceful two
The sky was bright red as the sun did set
The sea was a powerful blue

Soon on the horizon a ship did appear
Bringing what we'd hoped to avoid
Men we'd forsaken, replete with their fears
No doubt our peace to destroy

So we pulled up our anchor and set sail once more
Going far across yonder again
We're even more certain and even more sure
We need league with no other men

I set off on a journey with my Cousin Billy
For our fellows we could not abide
It was far across yonder we traveled until
We found a peace in which to reside

I ONCE LOVED A WOMAN

well I once loved a woman
she was twice my size
i came right up
about to her thighs
I loved her high
but she loved me low
she drove me crazy
had to let her go

well it's early in the morning
that sometimes I miss her
and late in the day
i sometimes do miss her
but late at night
when i feel so tall
i know i done right
i don't miss her at all

that woman had a head of hair
it was as red as fire
it smelled like jasmine
but the texture was like wire
when you hear a thunder clap
it meant she struck a mood
all the time i spent with her
none of it was good

well it was as i'd grown up with her
we was as close as that
she wore on my mind
and she blew off like my hat
she is the devil's mother
the devil is her son
i love her now as ever
nothing can be done

JESUS WAS JUST JOKIN'

Jesus was just jokin'
It's clear he was a clown
His gags were thought provokin'
But kinda tough to nail down

The anecdotes he would spout
About love and charity
Are mostly lost on the devout
And the moral majority

It's possible he was thinkin'
As he hung there on the cross
That two thousand years later
The joke would be on us

Jesus was quite the kidder
Apparently it was all in jest
When he suggested to his followers
That they behave their best

That far out advice he gave
About livin' and lettin' be
Was too farfetched for the saved
And the holier than thee

It's possible he was dreamin'
As he hung there in his sorrow and his pain
Of a kingdom of love without condition
Built upon his name

So when you're in the mood for a joke
When life has got you down
Dig the comedy of Jesus spoken
By an evangelical clown

The ones who want to ostracize
Condemn to eternal damnation
Judge and shun and demonize
Overthrow our sovereign nation

It's possible he was hopin'
As he gasped his last breath
We'd live side by side in peace
To honor his death

Governing this country of men and laws
By belief in the good book's fables
Is surely something Jesus never foresaw
As he broke bread at that Last Supper table

None of us will ever know
The mess his apostles made
Of the truths he spoke or the punch lines of his jokes
All we know for sure is the price he paid

It's possible he was weighin'
As his cross he did bear
Which holds the most sway
The joke or the prayer

So why did Jesus cross the road
Why'd he take that final ride?
Because he thought we all should know
It's all love on the other side.

Oh, that Jesus was just joker
Clearly quite the clown
His gags were thought provokin'
But kinda tough to nail down

LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW

I was looking out the window
Through the smoke and dust
At an orphan in the shadows
Among the ruin and rust

I was gazing 'cross the meadow
At a eagle on the ground
I could hear the lonely echo
Of her death as she went down

I first heard the lies you'd spoken
Outside the house I'd built
The window glass was broken
I was witness to your guilt

I was categorized a sham
To justify your greed
No matter what I am
I'm only what you need

I sit searching out the window
For something left to save
Sometimes the devil we know
Only leads us to the grave

I was baffled by your laughter
By nature mocked from birth
No regard for what comes after
No respect for what it's worth

I was looking at my reflection
In the dying orphan's face
I saw natural selection
Disappear without a trace

Looks like long hot summer
Is gonna last all winter long
Take a last look out your window

A MAN WITHOUT A STORY

A man without a story
Is like the night sky being split
By a wire slicing crosswise
From a source that won't admit
That its power's been retired
And no longer can emit
The same kind of charge a star might
If it were permitted

The sky being split that way
No longer can be true
When it calls itself a heaven
Or a place that you might fly through
But the teller of a story
This human illumination
This 'lectro-static surge
This divine vibration

Is a light that slices crosswise
An uninsulated purging
Of gravity that ties him to
This murky world of words
This light doesn't care how fine it is
A sunset or sunrise
It just needs to be a beacon
So the night might come to recognize
A man without a story

A man without a story

THREE-MINUTE LOVE SONG

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
But you're never too far-gone
To make up for lost time

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
You can lie on a bed of roses
Or walk on the blade of a knife

I've got a quaint little garden
Out in the alley underneath my bus
I'm trying to grow some bitterness
Next to a row of sweet disgust

The soil is hard and so is my heart
We reap just what we sow
My harvest runs the gamut
Between run away and lie low

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
But you're never too far-gone
To make up for lost time

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
You can lie on a bed of roses
Or walk on the blade of a knife

Oh I'm searching for my higher self
Under each and every stone
When I say unhand my heart
I don't mean leave me alone

Sometimes you got to sit out the game
If you want to win it
But you can't fall out of love
If you've never fallen in it

I woke up and couldn't breathe
In the middle of the night
Doctor said I might not have enough
Irony in my diet

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
But you're never too far-gone
To make up for lost time

Every three-minute love song
Takes an hour off your life
That's why I'm bringing this one in
At 2 minutes 59
That's why I'm bringing this one in
At 2 minutes 59

TWO WELLS

Two wells make a river
The river will flow away
Two wells make a river
Flow on to judgment day

When masters serve the slave
And a traitor's cause is lost
The coward will turn brave
And the river will be crossed

When honest men turn to thieving
And prayers they're loath to try
Death will leave 'em grieving
The river will run dry

Two wells make a river
The river will flow away
Two wells make a river
Flow on to judgment day

When the lamb runs with the lions
Or the sparrow with the carrion crow
When the seeker gives up trying
The river will overflow

When tears stream down the mountain
Giving life to the heavenly tree
Two wells will flow from the fountain
The river will be set free

Two wells make a river
The river will flow away
Two wells make a river
Flow on to judgment day

When soldiers drop their weapons
Gathering together for peace
The water in the wells will deepen
The river will never cease

When two wells drown the fear
Of walking hand in hand
Heaven will be here on earth
One river will heal the land

Two wells make a river
The river will flow away
Two wells make a river
Flow on to judgment day

UNDONE

When the cowboy's afraid of his horse
And the stream's too swift and deep to change course
The rider is as shallow as what he believes
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

When a man is so afraid of his God
That another man's faith is a fraud
He rules by the least he can conceive
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

Alpha Wolves piss chicken grease
Set roadside dogma bombs for peace
Gripped by hypnosis of the gun
War for war's sake won't be won

When the shadow's afraid of the sun
Tries to outrun the past, pull a fast one
We're as shallow as what we believe
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

Like a whore who's afraid of the night
Chickenhawks scared to stand up and fight
Our commanders are absent without leave
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

Like roaches hiding from the light
War Masters gas up get uptight
Rewrite the past to be exact
Cook the books and fry the facts

When a leader's afraid of dissent
Because his purpose belies his intent
Blood rains on the web of lies he weaves
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

When the voice can't put the truth into words
The fallen will never be heard
The standing wait in line to be deceived
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

Five rings around you Kings of War
Your secret strategy in store
Is empty ideology
Remove the beam and you will see

Mad men can't wait to plant the vet
Their appetite's not sated yet
Push patriots into the fray
Don't let the truth get in the way

When the cowboy's afraid of his horse
And the stream's too swift and deep to change course
The rider is as shallow as what he believes
We're undone Oh Lord
Oh Lord We're undone

WAY BACK INN

I've been through hell
And come out the other side
I've got nothing left to sell
And nothing left to hide
When the truth can tell
It'll say I've lived a lie

I'm alive in the tomb
Looking for a room
In the Way Back Inn
Looking for a way back in

In the same lifetime
I've been two different men
Both lives have been mine
One is now, one was then
The two lives combined
Add up to my amends

I can't name my drug of choice
No name would be as sweet
As the echo of the devil's voice
At the dark end of the street
The dead silence in the noise
Captures me completely

I wasn't present in your future
You won't find me in your past
My promise of love was clever
It wasn't made to last
It's always wrong to say forever
And never always comes too fast
Looking for a way back in

The toughest walk one man can take
Is when he sets out to find
The lessons of his mistakes
And the life he must leave behind
The journey must be taken
One step at a time

I'm alive in the tomb
Looking to make a move
Into the Way Back Inn
Looking for a way back
Way back in
Looking for a way back
Way back in
Looking for a way back in

YOUR NAME CANNOT BE BLANK

Some need a name for their sorrow
Some need a name for their joy
They need names for things they borrow
And names for the things they avoid

We name things so we can own them
We name things to tell them apart
We name things we need to condemn
And things we hold close to our hearts

We give names for definition
We take names to be understood
We give names to state our position
To show we know the bad from the good

If names were the doorway to knowledge
Nothing would be unknown
With just a name we would be salvaged
From our failings or the need to atone

If one name is the same as another
But they belong to two separate things
One can't be confused with the other
It's one bell with two different rings

We can live without names being known
In spite of how strongly we feel
That names given are written in stone
And without them nothing is real

If names were all it took
To explain what our lives are made of
There'd be no good reason to look
For things named truth or love

Your name cannot be blank
Though sometimes it feels like it might be
So give simple and secret thanks
That your name is the least we can see

If your name seems inconsequential
Or hard to be spoken aloud
A name doesn't signify your potential
For standing out in a crowd