You’ve Been away So Long

Music and lyrics by Alice Howe
© 2017 Know Howe Music (BMI)

Alice Howe: lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Jeff Fielder: harmony vocal, dobro
Moe Provencher: electric bass

Every night I have the strangest dream
All these ghosts are talking to me
I lay down in my bed and I can hardly sleep
These homeland blues have got a hold of me

I went over to my cousin’s house
To see if we couldn’t figure it out
He said it’s plain to see, you’ve got them homeland blues
What hope have I got if what you’re sayin’ is true?

Chorus
I got them homeland blues
Don’t you know I got them homeland blues
I got them homeland blues
Honey pull over I got them homeland blues
The sooner I book my ticket
The sooner I’ll come runnin’ back to you

I asked my mother do you know what I mean
She could hardly look up at me
Had her eyes to her paper and I knew she had them too
Eyes on her coffee and I knew she had them too

Have you ever missed something that you never even had
You’re down so low and you feel so bad
That’s when you know you got them homeland blues
That’s when you know you got them homeland blues

Chorus

I went outside and I couldn’t get a cab
All distracted from the night we had
Sat down on the curb nursing my homeland blues
Down on the curb and I’m nursing my homeland blues

My American soul gets lonely sometimes
I take a walk and it clears my mind
And I hold you tight to shake my homeland blues
I hold on tight and I shake my homeland blues

Chorus

Music and lyrics by Alice Howe
© 2017 Know Howe Music (BMI)

Alice Howe: lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Jeff Fielder: electric guitar

Gone in a flash, gone in a flame
Gone in the dark gone when I call your name
Under a wave under the ground
Under my skin and still you hardly make a sound

Chorus
I look back and still I see nothing
Nothing but you

A cabin floor, a piece of gold
I’ll take anything, anything my hands can hold
A dream that lingers in the light
And leaves you stumbling back toward that gentle night

Chorus

Bridge
What if I wake to find I was mistaken this whole time?
But if I’d never lost you, you may never have been mine

Gone in the winter, gone in the spring
Leaves were falling and I swear I heard you sing
Summer’s come and I look around
Still you’re nowhere, no you’re nowhere to be found

Chorus

Music and lyrics by Alice Howe
© 2017 Know Howe Music (BMI

Alice Howe: lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Jeff Fielder: harmony vocal, acoustic guitar

When you hit your stride on a Monday night
At a half-empty bar downtown
Having nowhere to hide and nothing to lose
Sure help keep your feet on the ground

Chorus
Ooo, make a fool out of me
That’s what I live for that’s what I need
A man that dies laughing is a wise man indeed
Won’t you please make a fool out of me

I’d come straight out of nowhere to the Hollywood Hills
And surely there was no guarantee
That my slight of hand so carefully planned
Would turn the world’s eyes upon me

Chorus

There was one little voice at the edge of my mind
Asking when I might get a real job
And another much louder dead-center in my heart
That pushed me on from town to town

Chorus

I’ve heard it said that your fate is revealed
Slowly as you go along
But a magic man’s glove if it’s thrown hard enough
Will take on the wings of a dove

Chorus

Music and lyrics by Alice Howe
© 2017 Know Howe Music (BMI)

Alice Howe: lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Jeff Fielder: acoustic guitar

If anyone asks me how I made it through
I say it’s a full tank of gas and that picture of you

One will take me a few states north

And the other reminds me what I’m driving toward

Chorus
Don’t worry honey cause ain’t nothin gonna turn out right
Come on in a little closer now and turn out your reading light
The shadows in your eyes have been scaring me to death
It was always in the dark that I liked you best

If all these miles have taught me anything
It’s what a lovely mess I’ve made
And what an artful job I’ve done
Of documenting every one

Chorus

Music and lyrics by Alice Howe
© 2017 Know Howe Music (BMI)

Alice Howe: lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar
Jeff Fielder: electric guitar

I walked out in a storm the other night
I walked out into the river as it raged above its banks the other night
I was sure the current would part around my waist
But I reached out for your hand, I admit I was afraid
Strong swimmer though I know myself to be

Chorus
Hey darlin, you’ve been away so long
Hey darlin, you’ve been away so long
See how the trees have grown since you’ve been gone

I went down, I went down to the water’s edge
I went down to the water as the sun sank low behind the ridge
The last deep breath of summer lies blazing in the sky
One step toward those mountains and I’d grow the wings to fly
Every whisper of the waves upon the shore tells me so

Chorus