James Kamp

Here are the lyrics to my new album, Roads And Bridges, as well as the credits:

CREDITS

All songs written by James Kamp, except

The Apple Of My Eye written by James Kamp and Kevin Dolan, and

There Will Be Time written by James Kamp and John Dzubay

Musicians:

James Kamp: vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, piano on tracks 1 and 10,

dobro on track 5

Kevin Dolan: piano, organ, bass, drums, acoustic and elecric guitars,

banjo, backing vocals

Paul Rene McIntire: violin

Paul Koptak: dobro

Photos: Jack Warden and James Kamp

Graphic Design: Margi Christopher and Mary Costley

Produced, Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Kevin Dolan at

Shake Rag Recording, Mars Hill, NC

Special Thanks for Help and Support to Helen Charbonneau,

Will Hamilton, and Nancy Warden

For Kathy Kiser and Phillip Anderson

LYRICS for Roads And Bridges

THE REPLY

Hey, hello, how are you? I hope you're doin' well

Maggie's in the kitchen. She's raisin' a little hell

Sittin' here beside her, tryin' not to yell

I think I feel spring comin' on, but you know it's hard to tell

Sunlight's at the window. Kitty's at the door

Howlin' like this wooden house can't hold her anymore

I peel a page off of the calendar, read the message for today

When the ground beneath your tired legs starts givin' way

Don't forget to look up

Sally's doin' fine, you know she started work again

You know she couldn't wait to see the fall semester end

And ma came home last Friday. I guess you heard she fell

And broke her hip three weeks ago while goin' for the mail

I hear it's cold out where you're livin'. I hear it's hard to get along

Some days I wish that Santa Anna breeze'd blow you home

When you're runnin' with the big boys, when you're runnin' overtime

When you're sittin' at the table, when you're signin' on the line

Don't forget to look up

It's good to hear you're happy, but I'm not exactly glad

To know the kind of things you've done, the kind of fun you've had

Maybe it's not my business, but then who's is it anyway?

So I guess I'm gonna come right out with what I gotta say

It's good you're makin' progress. It's good you're gettin' by

But the things you seem to care about just don't seem right

Are you worryin' about the future? Are you lyin' about the past?

When the room starts spinnin', and it moves too fast

Don't forget to look up

Sorry if I'm comin' off soundin' harsh and hard to hear

I know it's a cliche to say, but it's just because I care

Maybe I'm from another time, someone you used to know

Maybe I'm naive and blind, but I don't think so

Is there nothin' I can do? Is there nothin' I can say

To make you wanna change your mind and turn around

And come back home?

If you've had too many high times. If you think you've had enough

If your horse starts buckin', and the ride gets rough

We're still here

I still see you as a child. I still see you in the yard

I still see you with a broken heart, but never growin' hard

Don't forget

SPIN AROUND

When you wish upon a star, do you still close your eyes

And wonder how far I am out here tonight?

The lights are all out, The doors are shut up tight

And comin' through the trees, one perfect light

Do you still wish, and stand out in your field

And spin around?

And when you sit out on your porch on a cool May evenin'

Do you ever think of the things we said before my leavin'

And listen to your windchimes play as the cars go rollin' past?

What was it you'd say, "Ah, but can it last?"

Do you still remember the way it used to feel

When I'd hold you in my arms and spin around?

Or has someone come and taken you far across the sea

Where eagles fly on summer nights far away from me?

If that's the case, I won't bother. I won't hold my hopes up

You don't have to say why the eagle flies

On a summer night away

And when you lie in bed at night, what do you dream?

A better, sweeter time? More color, not so mean?

Are there friends and a warm fire? A Christmas tree?

Loving, tender looks? Forgiveness and peace?

Do you still dream someone'll come and take your hand

And look you in the eyes, be strong and hold on tight

And spin around?

LONESOME HERE TONIGHT

She came down to tell me that things were not the way they'd seemed

She had to let me know this life was not the one I'd dreamed

Sad things that happen to someone else, but not to us

We thought we'd built our walls up high and strong and hard enough

The kingdom of happiness we'd built on solid ground

Was that day torn and fell, just like those buildings crashin' down

And everything we'd only seen and thought were far away

Came home to right here, where they always had been anyway

But maybe nothin's wrong, no need to get upset

It's just another song, another tune to soon forget

Maybe what I'm feelin' isn't real and isn't right

Maybe I'm just lonesome here tonight

I turned on the TV, so I could see what's goin' on

People runnin' underneath a disappearin' sun

Somethin' told me, "Turn it off!"

But somethin' deeper told me, "Don't!"

And from that day I can't help seein' pain in every human bone

Some people shoutin' cause some others don't believe

And some people dyin' cause they can't get even what they need

And the so-called leaders say, "Don't worry. Get some rest"

How can any soul have any chance here under all of this?

But maybe nothin's wrong. No, don't adjust the set

Don't think about it long, or say something you might regret

Maybe I'm just too long in the shadows of the light

Maybe I'm just lonesome here tonight

Tumblin' Down

I'm standin' on the shoreline throwin' stones into the lake

Watchin' while they disappear, and wondrin' what's it take?

Another sleepless night alone, again I spent away

From family, friends, and happy home beggin' me to stay

But the walls came tumblin' down

Seventeen years old and back as far as I could tell

All I'd seem to hear was "Be a man, and be it well!

Take the things you need, and stand up tall and say it proud

And keep the things you feel inside, and fear is not allowed"

But the walls came tumblin' down

Cascadin' waterfalls stir up spray as I walk on

Along the ancient riverbed. Takes the pain from out my head

I sleep beneath a willow tree I've known since I could barely see

The sky when she was blue and free

Which way will it end? How will it go when that day comes?

Will I stand alone to face my fate, or will I run?

Will my sons and fathers stand beside me in the end?

Will the storm clouds open? Will heaven take me in

When the walls come tumblin' down?

THE APPLE OF MY EYE

Fresh as the mornin' you came our way

A twinkle of stardust in your eyes

A simple smile to say "It's all OK"

Not knowing pain or even pride

You are the one who came from our hometown

You are a castle in the sky

You are the one who made it all come down

You are the apple of my eye

Runnin' the bases, cheers all around

Roundin' third and headin' home

Hearin' you laughin' from three doors down

Walkin' with Billy home

And what if we hadn't had the chance?

Wouldn't our lives have been less grand?

Lookin' back, the time of our lives

How funny we didn't know?

And it's been twelve or thirteen years gone by

Since the complications that made us cry

SING ME A SONG

Well I went to a place where the old timers go

I walked down some stairs, and I knocked on a door

I saw men sittin' 'round chairs on the floor

They were all holdin' guitars and banjos and fiddles, and so

I said, "Sing me a song that you learned so long ago

Before all of these changes, I'm sure you could tell me you saw

When the wind still could whistle, and walkin' down windy dirt roads

Till the sound of mom's dinner bell over the whippoorwill's call"

Well then slowly heads turned; and these men, I could tell in their eyes

That this thing I was askin' was somethin' laid buried inside

That the folks with these faces, though smilin', were sadly resigned

That the things that were lost now were lost, and this fool to remind

Well the next fella called out a slow country waltztime in C

And the others called ballads and tunes, till it came 'round to me

I said, "Gentlemen, there's just one thing that my heart and soul need

And though right now I'm younger and thinner and dumber

I think you all need it the same

It's a song that shoots straight past your mind to the real thing you are

It's a tune that makes mothers grab babies and dance in the yard

When the fiddles glide skyward to soar on the wings of guitar

Now let's count it, my brothers! Come with me. One, two, three, four"

And we sang us a song that we swoar we'd learned long ago

Before all of these changes took heaven and brought it down low

When the wind still could whistle, and walkin' down windy dirt roads

Till the sound of mom's dinner bell over the whippoorwill's call

THE ICE AND THE SNOW

There was a tall snow-covered hill

We used to go to at night

And dance and sing, and everything

That you could see in the moonlight

We ran through the trees blowin' in the breeze

Ran through the ice and the snow

Runnin' where th sun told us where to run

Runnin' where the wild winds blow

The Georgia pines, bodies entwined

Beneath the canopy we'd lie

When all I knew was all of you

And all the earth and all the sky

We ran through the leaves fallin' from the trees

Fallin' where the sun barely goes

Out across the sea where summer used to be

Runnin' through the ice and the snow

We stopped and stood, stock still and good

Just like the rest of the world had done

And then a hawk, slow circlin' down

It's shadow drawn across your coat

Into your eyes and into your smile

Into your arms I did run

The words we spoke I do not know

But what we shared is not undone

We ran through the fields, warm against the wheels

Of a cold hard machine that couldn't hold

It coughed and fell away. We just smiled and waved

Runnin' through the ice and the snow

And then one day you went away

I could not go where you had to go

I cried awhile. But one day I smiled

The sunlight glistenin' on the snow

Oh-oh...

DON'T YOU WANNA RUN?

When you don't know what you got

But you know it ain't right

You wanna take that train

And ride it all night

When the moon up above

And everything else

Seems to tell you there's got to be

Better than this

Don't you wanna run?

When it's money that's king

And nobody cares

You come home from your job

And there's nobody there

And you know you remember

When love was alive

Why'd you leave that time

And the time before that?

Don't you wanna run?

With the sneaking suspicion that all your best

Has just been left behind

That the dream that kept your head above the rest

Was all a pack of lies

And all your well-loved independentness

Has gone and left you dry

And everything you thought you didn't need

You need

So you pack up your changes

And you throw 'em away

You'll be travellin' light now

And you know you can't wait

All the glory you felt

When your heart and body were young

Is there still enough time

If you can get up and run?

But where you gonna run?

A ROSE BY HER NAME

Oh, if I said "I love you"

Would you choke on your reply?

Would dark clouds gather 'round you

Make you wanna run and hide?

But these things happen oh so easy

Seems they happen all the time

Familiarity breeds love sometimes

And can I help it you're so fine?

Oh, if I said "I love you"

Would you turn and say "Goodbye"?

Would the way you feel about me

Really change in the wink of an eye?

I do not think love is the problem

But maybe lovers, they have been

Or are you just too scared to step up to the plate

And take a lover as a friend

Oh, if you do not love me

You won't be the first. You won't be the last

I know it might make you feel unsteady

But don't you run away so fast

'Cause I won't push or try to win you

But I refuse to feel ashamed

For being one who stands to live and love again

And call a rose out by her name

ROADS AND BRIDGES

So there were not so many roads

And turns, and ways to get lost

You were there with each step I took

And saw that I never got hurt

And so I wish I could tell you so

And stop all the hurt you feel

The leaves are fallin' again

On eaves and beat up old sidewalks

So small. They used to be so tall

And kids playin' football in the yard

And runnin' home when we'd hear your call

Runnin' home

What's a boy to do?

He's lonely just like you

Now your eyes are dry

But soon again they'll cry

The man who gave up his roads

For you, and for the rest of us, too

Took my hand, and showed me a road

Is a wreck without a bridge to connect

So I hope that I can build one to you

'Cause that's all I can think to do

THERE WILL BE TIME

I was out on my own

Another lost soul on the road

Far away, all alone

All night long

There will be time in the mornin'

When you open your eyes

I will be there

There will be time in the mornin'

When you open your eyes

I will be there

There's a light come to me

Another last chance to believe

Had my life tossed on the waves

Of love's shining sea

There will be time in the mornin'

When you open your eyes

I will be there

There will be time in the mornin'

When you open your eyes

I will be there

There to wake up, look you in the eyes

Probably smile, not say "Goodbye"

Just be with you, never wonder why

I say these things to you

There will be time...

Now I'm lost in your touch

A thing I thought never would come

But our lives have to go on

And time is never enough

There will be time...

YOUNG LEAVES

Wakin' up Sunday mornin's just like rain

I wanna run to the city, and run back home again

In the middle of a thunderstorm I called her name

She didn't wanna hear, but that was all the same

I wanna be, be like young leaves

Dancin' in the wind, but holdin' to a tree

I wanna be, be like young leaves

Dancin' in the wind, but holdin' to a tree

Out on some sturdy branch is where I'll be found

High above the busy creatures on the ground

Listenin' to birdsong and dreamin' about the sky

Wonderin' if maybe these veins fill wings to fly

I wanna be...

And when I finally get there

There'll be room enough to share

All my buddies will be there

All around me everywhere

And when we make our evenin' beds

There'll be time enough ahead

And when we finally let go

We'll be laughin', don't you know

On this bright early spring mornin', I woke up new

Green grass and birds and the smell of life

And nothin' much to do

Everything alive and sparklin', and just like me

The wind rustlin' through these branches remindin' me

That right now I am just a young leaf

Dancin' in the wind, but holdin' to a tree

Yeah, right now I am just a young leaf

Dancin' in the wind, but holdin' to a tree

And someday I'll be crinkled and brown

Floatin' through the air and landin' on the ground

Yeah, someday I'll be crinkled and brown

Floatin' through the air and landin' on the ground

Maybe children will play all around me

And I'll look up and see new leaves on the tree