when you fall

anaïs mitchell and rachel ries

Don't hold me tonight
I can't stand this any longer
Don't say everything's alright
When you know there's so much wrong
And don't say that you love me
When you don't talk to me at all
You're only here with me
Cause I'm there for you when you fall

At night I sit here drinking
In front of the television blinking
The dog's out in the kitchen
She'll tip the garbage over again
Outside the air is steaming
I am barely even breathing
It's still as a graveyard
So if it's so hard
Why do I keep on trying

Don't hold me tonight
I can't stand this any longer
Don't say everything's alright
When you know there's so much wrong
And don't say that you love me
If you don't talk to me at all
You're only here with me
Cause I'm there for you when you fall

Last night I had a dream I saw you crying
Your face was frozen in a shadow
And as I reached out to hold you
You were so cold
I paint these little pictures
With a temporary poison
Each one just like the other
I wonder why I even bother
Cause you don't say that you love me
You don't talk to me at all
You're only here with me
Cause I'm there for you when you fall
You're only here with me
Cause I'm there for you when you fall

orion

by anaÏs mitchell

you were dead when they found you
on the floor of your apartment
you were dead, and your drum set
stood there shining in the dark
shining like stage lights
shining like your eyes
shining like orion in the night

you were small time back in austin
where the drummers are all poor
you were rocking out this dive bar
there were bottles on the floor
and a couple lonely people
and the bartender and i
remembered what it is to be alive

hey, orion, he’s falling
catch him if you can
hey, orion, he’s calling
amen, amen, amen

were you dreaming of the big time
when you fell down all alone?
could you see the velvet curtain
and the silver microphone?
could you hear your own heart beating?
did you hear it getting slow?
could you hear your own heart
playing rock & roll?

hey, orion, he’s falling
catch him if you can
hey, orion, he’s calling
amen, amen, amen

gram parsons in a hotel
buddy holly on a plane
and you, in your apartment
with your drum set shining
shining like stage lights
shining like your eyes
shining like orion in the night

hey, orion, he’s falling
catch him if you can
hey, orion, he’s calling
amen, amen, amen

shenandoah

by anais mitchell

lord have mercy on my mind
mercy on my memory
I'm lying 'neath the same Virginia sky
where she lay beside me, biding time
trying to abide me
every night when the night was long
she was clinging to me
told me twice that her love was strong
stronger than the love in old love songs
she was singing to me

o, shenandoah
cross the rolling water
o, shenandoah
where's your restless daughter?

don't know what I gave them for
all my little lessons
how you start the peas before the corn
how you start before the air is warm
she was never listening
I could see it there in her sorry eyes
hear it in her breathing
didn't come to me like some surprise
didn't even ask her why
when she said, "I'm leaving"

o, shenandoah
cross the rolling water
o, shenandoah
where's your willful daughter?

I brought in the winter squash
I brought in the melon
cortland, empire, macintosh
on the afternoon before the frost
I could feel it coming
I can see her now in her flowery clothes
all those things I bought her
trailing her perfume wherever she goes
cross the rolling water
shenandoah
where's your reckless daughter?
shenandoah
mercy on your daughter