"Thirty Some Miles" is about running away from a life of fear and doubt and hurt and into a new life of hope and possibility. The Lord is the lover of our souls. He is the only one who knows us as deeply as we hope and desire to be known and loved. When we begin to understand this, we begin to understand love and grace and mercy and hope, and how much He wants us to be filled with his light and joy. The world is a chaotic place and it's very easy to get sidetracked and forget who we belong to, who loves us more than we can imagine. And, the world will tell us we are crazy for believing. When we answer His gentle call and fall into His welcoming arms, He will take us in His loving embrace, every time and without fail. "Thirty Some Miles" is a prayer of hope and thanksgiving and promise.
Thirty Some Miles
It's thirty some miles from Magdalena
across the San Augustine
Thirty some miles for riding and dreaming
thirty miles til I get to you
A star filled sky lights my way
to a lover's embrace
Warm winds blow the fear away
and dry the tears on my face
It's thirty some miles of wide open riding
til I get to the other side
My heart is charging into the gale
I'm staying on the whole ride
I know I said I'd never love again
but I was wishing on a falling star
The whole world changed when you called my name
and took me in your arms
It's thirty some miles from Magdalena
across the San Augustine
Thirty some miles for riding and dreaming
Thirty miles til I get to you
A gentle voice is calling me
to a lover's embrace
Warm winds blow the fear away
and dry the tears on my face
Don't look back, don't ever look back
leave the devil to his ways
He's begging and pleading and rattling his bones
'Cause he knows he's lost this race
The west wind's blowing that voice away
I don't care what people say
My heart is charging into the gale
I'm staying on the whole way
It's thirty some miles from Magdalena
Across the San Augustine
Thirty some miles for riding and dreaming
Thirty miles til I get to you.
(C) 2013 Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP
Every little girl's first love is her Daddy and her horse, right? Whoa to the fella who thinks he can move either of those two out of first position.
My First Love
Tonight, as I stand gazing out my window
A big Apache moon flies over head
My husband and new born baby
lie asleep, in their downy bed
But, my heart's out there in the moonlight
My soul is a drift on the breeze
I fear my husband might know
he wasn't the first love for me
My first love, my true love so strong and so wild
A tempest a whirlwind and I, just a child
As easy as morning, he walked in my soul
So gentle and kind, my young heart he stole
Now he watches for me from the meadow
and sometimes, I slip out in the night
While my husband and child lie sleeping
my first love and I reunite
In the moon light we stroll through the meadow
Sometimes we merely embrace
I tell him my heart as he plays with my hair
and presses his cheek to my face
My first love, my true love so strong and so wild
A tempest a whirlwind and I, just a child
As easy as morning, he walked in my soul
So gentle and kind, my young heart he stole
From the darkness, my husband whispers
as his hand gently touches my arm
I know that he is your first love
and you'll never escape his charm
Go and be with him in the moonlight
and return on the sweet morning air
That you'll one day love me like you love that old horse
Is your husband's only prayer
My first love, my true love so strong and so wild
A tempest a whirlwind and I just a child
As easy as morning he walked in my soul
so gentle and kind, my young heart he stole
(C) 2010 Words by Nancy Elliott Music/ Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP
Music by Nancy Elliott ASCAP and Jon Messenger
Cold Night in Nashville was written during a trip home from Ohio and seeing family along the way. Headed to Nashville via the back roads on a foggy November afternoon, I thought I saw some one standing under the canopy of a large tree along River Fork Road. The words starting coming right away, and the snow really was blowing side ways when I finally found a room in Nashville. I was still reeling from the nastiness which occurred during the settling of my parent's Estate. After three days of going through my entitlements, figuring out what would fit in the car and what would have to be mailed, what I was going to give to a childhood friend who had been my mother's caretaker, the fact that the two people who loved me unconditionally and were always there for me, were both gone forever, was just beginning to be a realization. There were a lot of ghosts on this trip.
Cold Night in Nashville
It was raining when he saw her down on River Fork Road
He pulled over said, "Get in, you're looking wet and cold."
A duffel and guitar she tossed on the back seat
then she jumped into the front and took her wet socks off her feet.
He turned the heater up and they drove for several miles
'for she ever spoke a word, then she turned to him and smiled.
"Thank you, it was a cold, cold night in Nashville.
I left early in the morning and if you hadn't stopped
I might still be standing there, I might have missed my rendezvous,
I might have missed it."
He said, "But, that's the way I'm going, back the way you came."
She said, "Oh well, that's Okay. So, tell me, what's your name?"
And he told her his real name and a million other things
about love and pain and memories, of those songs he never sang
And when the snow was blowing sideways past the head light glare
they found a bottle and a room and they took up refuge there.
"Thank you, it was a cold, cold night in Nashville.
I left early in the morning and if you hadn't stopped
I might still be standing there, I might have missed my rendezvous,
I might have missed it."
Then she played those songs he never wrote and helped him find the chords
to the music that had haunted him for verses rhymed in truth.
The words moved like a razor carving right behind the pain
and the melodies were double edged, slicing through the chains.
At the bottom of the bottle when there were no more words to sing
he fell back onto his pillow, her guitar ringing through his dreams.
In the morning snow was blowing sideways past the hotel door
blurring faces, songs and words, and her footprints through the storm
"I never even kissed, her. Hell, I never even touched her.
I never even asked her, I never asked her for her name.
But, I told her all my pain, and shared all my wildest dreams
and she made them into songs, and gave them back to me."
"Thank you, it was a cold, cold night in Nashville.
I left early in the morning and if you hadn't stopped
I might still be standing there, I might have missed my rendezvous,
I might have missed it."
(C) 2014 Nancy Elliott Music/ Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP
Tall Tree ( Away, Away )
A Tall Tree bends over the canyon
He stands so high above the rim
he looks below and sees the river
the one true love he'll never know
Oh, river wild, deep in the canyon
she's silver jewels and azure blue
She sings to him a song of love
that sparkles in the sunrise hue
She looks above every morning
to see her lover waiting true
As he sways to her love song
his branches whisper, "I love you."
Away, Away, down in the canyon
where he cannot feel her touch
Away, away, oh he would take her
away and wrap her in his love
So far away in miles or time
your love comes to fill my heart
deny the want, deny the longing
my heart still breaks that we're apart
If time were kind and life was tender
I would always be your love
And your heart's fires would travel home
to wrap me always in your love.
Away, away, my heart goes dreaming
of when you were here with me
Away, Away, old fires remembered
of when you wrapped me in your love
A tall tree bends over the canyon
he stand so high above the rim
He looks below and sees the river
the one true love he'll never know
(C) 2013 Nancy Elliott Music/Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing
Horseman's Hands, another song of hope and prayer, was written after leaving a thirteen year marriage that was, shall we say, not the kindest of situations. I was sure there was a song in the several page epic poem but could not manage to dig it out. My friend, Stewart MacDougall, took a look at it and said, "Yes, there is a song in there. But, you can't watch because I am going to put it through the meat grinder." Okay. It was a few months before Stewart returned the poem as a song set to music. I had never felt that the first four lines of the last verse were solid, but when I heard them set to music, I was able to make the changes to make them solid. It took me two years to be able to play this song in public and get through it. After hearing the ghost track of Horseman's Hands for the Tall Tree Album, a female songwriter friend said to me, "This is about God, isn't it?"
Yep. It is.
Horseman's Hands
I'm not so young, I'm not so old
I am weary, truth be told
A weak man's fear can break a heart
Cruel hands can tear a soul apart
My spirit crushed with acid words
Yet, in my heart a new light stirred
To lose my fear and break my chains
I bolted for the open range
Where someone watched me from afar
Many moons I kept my guard
One night beneath my awning sky
The stars a glitter caught my eye
and held me spell bound unaware
that he who watched approached me there
He showed a hand so brown and worn
and spoke to me so kind and warm
Sooo girl, now there's a good girl.
I've been watching you, you glow like a pearl
No bitter words, no brutal hand
no whip, no rope are part of the plan
Sooo girl now there's a good girl
I'm asking you now, come into my world
I'll patiently wait, in time you will see
In a true horseman's hands
Your spirit is free
I'm not so young, I'm not so old
I am learning, truth be told
A kind man's touch will heal a heart
A gentle word will light the dark
And when I watch him from a far
and see the pasture gate ajar
I wonder in a natural thing
He laughs and smiles and softly sings
Sooo girl, now there's a good girl
Now you're watching me and I'm in your world
When I look in your eyes I see clear to your soul
and there, I find my own
Sooo girl, now there's a good girl
in kindness and trust, we're sharing this world
I'll patiently wait, in time you will see
In a true horseman's hands
Your spirit is free.
(C) Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP Stewart MacDougall Trouble Clef Music SOCAN
Gypsy Heart is a wish set to song. Wishes really do come true, and this one has.
Gypsy Heart
When you rode into my life, you really took me by surprise
this broken gypsy heart could not believe
there could be someone else like me
with a longing to be free
and a gentle gypsy heart to rest beside
Gypsy Heart, gypsy soul
you're always one step from edge of the road.
And the part I love the best
is when you lay your head down to rest
you're dreaming of our loving gypsy home
When you're gone a long, long time
and my heart begins to pine
for your sweet kiss and laughter in my ear
You may be far on down the road
but, your ramblin' spirit goes
a drifting off to find me in my dreams
Gypsy heart, gypsy soul,
you're always one step from the edge of the road
And the part I love the best
is when you lay your head down to rest
you're dreaming of our loving gypsy home
Where are you now my gypsy love?
what are you thinking of?
What did you find in the rising of the sun?
So many stories to be told
and new highways to unfold
keep your gypsy heart a rambling all of the time
Gypsy heart, gypsy soul
You're always one step from the edge of the road
and the part I love the best
is when you lay your head down to rest
You're dreaming of our loving gypsy home
Gypsy heart, gypsy soul
You're always one step from the edge of the road
(C) 2014 Words and Music Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASACP
Inseparable From My Heart by Cindy Walker
The sand and the sea are inseparable
and nothing can take them apart
And that's how it will be, forever with me
inseparable from my heart
The powers that be are unchangeable
and somehow, somewhere from the start
heaven sent you to me and meant you to be
inseparable from my heart
Like the birds in flight
drifting clouds of white
shining stars at night
are fulfilling their destiny
and so are we
For we were born to be inseparable
and nothing can take us apart
and like my heart beat and me
you always will be
inseparable from my heart
Cindy Walker Rose/Acuff Sony
A Breath of Spring, a prayer of thanksgiving, is about remembering to go to that place to be refreshed. Of returning to that place of peace and grace so the Breath of Spring can blow over me and I may be the Breath of Spring for some one else.
A Breath of Spring
A gentle breeze blow through the meadow
and stirs white blossoms made of lace
A blushing sunrise peeks 'ore the mountain
and plants soft kisses on my face.
A breath of spring, my heart is lighter
a breath of spring, the world is new
a breath of spring, the sun shines brighter
a breath of spring brings me to You.
This is the place where my heart goes
when days are hard, cold and long
It is where I always find You, calling me
with Your sweet song
A breath of spring, my heart is lighter
a breath of spring, the world is new
a breath of spring, the sun shines brighter
a breath of spring brings me to You.
Laughing waters dance and sparkle
come tumbling down just like Your grace
Refresh my soul and ease my burden
when I rest in Your embrace
A breath of spring, my heart is lighter
a breath of spring, the world is new
a breath of spring, the sun shines brighter
a breath of spring brings me to You.
(C) 2012 Words and Music by Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP
Desert Motel
The sky was a mix of oil and pastel
It's a quarter past twelve at the Desert Motel
On the Miracle Mile or the highway to hell
She sits all alone, at the Desert Motel
He had a broken marriage, he had a busted arm
A winning attitude and smooth cowboy charm
He was leaving his wife, said it would not be long
He'd meet her next week at the rodeo in Tucson
So she pack all her dreams and most of her stuff
In old cardboard boxes in the back of her truck
There isn't much heat and the room's getting colder
A week has gone by, the rodeo is over
It's Saturday night and she just found out
He paid up his fines and then he turned out
He was gone with the wind, but he left her a note
It lifted her heart, and gave her hope
By that sixty watt light bulb that hangs from a wire
She read what he wrote and she knows he's a liar
But, champions are made, big buckles get won
and love was lost on this highway in Tucson
And the sky was a mix of oil and pastel
It's a quarter past twelve at the Desert Motel
On the Miracle Mile or the highway to hell
She sits all alone at the Desert Motel
(C) Tyson/McIntyre Stony Plains
Don't you forget who you really are! The World is always telling us who we are and who we should be. That can make you sad and angry and nuts! Crazy Horse is a reminder to never forget who we really are and why we are really here. To remember how different we all are and how miraculous and wonderful those differences are. We are here to bring Glory to the Lord through our crazy differences.
A Crazy Horse
Well, a crazy, crazy horse lives inside of me
she's mostly blue, some days she's grey
She's got red paint splatters here and there
and rainbow feathers tied in her hair
and she goes buck and snort all around my ribs
singing, "Don't you forget who you really is!
You are the whirlwind and the softest of sighs
You are good, you are brave you are strong you are wise
You are pinion smoke and snowflakes in a starry sky
You are wild and never tame and you know you are right
You are a seed in the earth, a song on the wind
You're drinking moonshine from a teacup while you're dancing on the Rim."
Oh, her heart is made of sky where the song bird flies
lightning and thunder live behind her eyes
And when I can't remember who I'm S'posed to be
I look into the mirror, she's looking back at me
and she goes buck and snort, all around my ribs
singing, "Don't you forget, who you really is !
You are the smallest flower, on the highest peak
You are the secret on the morning breeze
you are the oak that bends, you are the Eagle's flight
You're the river, you're the stone, your a sweet lover in the night
You are young, you are old, you are God's perfect prize
You are diamonds, you are rubies you are danger in disguise
This old world can get the best of a girl
make you feel like the swine, instead of the pearl
But, when I can't remember, who I'm s'posed to be
I look into the mirror and she's looking back at me
And, she goes buck and snort all around my ribs
singing, "Don't you forget, who you really is!"
Well, a crazy, crazy horse lives inside of me
she's mostly blue, some days she's grey
She's got red paint splatters here and there
and rainbow feathers tied in her hair
and she goes buck and snort all around my ribs
singing, "Don't you forget who you really is!"
(C) 2014 Words and Music by Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP
Starlight Ballroom is a real place, or was in the late 1970's. A large ballroom where the men had to check their hats, the band had three fiddlers and two steel players. The place to be!
Starlight Ballroom
Shanghaied near Abilene while riding to the ranch
Those cowboys turned my horse around, we headed to the dance
Tied our ponies to the rail, we'll be swinging pretty soon
A good old time we'll have tonight at the Starlight Ballroom
I can hear that music playing, there's town folks by the score
We'll be dancing with those pretty girls until our feet are sore
Whet your whistle at the bar and loosen up the rust
Find a partner, hit the floor and kick up that saw dust
Oh, that Starlight Ballroom lights up this dusty town
You won't find a better place anywhere around
They call it cowboy heaven, a cowboy dream come true
Just listen to that music boys, and you'll be swinging, too!
Check your pistols at the gate, you won't need them any more
The only showdown that you'll have is out there on the floor.
My spurs they are jangling as we dance across the room
We're having us a real good time that won't be ending soon.
We'll twirl those girls left and right and swing 'em all night long.
We'll dosy-do till morning light and all the stars are gone.
Riding back we'll laugh and sing a happy cowboy tune
'bout the fun we had last night a the Starlight Ballroom
Oh, that Starlight Ballroom lights up this dusty town
You won't find a better place anywhere around
They call it cowboy heaven, a cowboy dream come true
Just listen to that music boys, and you'll be swinging, too!
Just listen to that music boys, and you'll be swinging, too!
(C) 2006 Words & Music Nancy Elliott Music and Sonoran Desert Sage Publishing ASCAP