Have a Little Faith
Have a little faith
Have a little faith in yourself
Have a little faith
Have a little faith in me
I believe in my soul
Everything is gonna work out
If you’ll just have a little faith
Have a little faith
Just a little bit
Sometimes that’s all it takes
Oh baby, look up in the sky
Try to find the North Star (there it is!)
Now just think about the sun
Don’t be afraid of that dark
’cause the sun is coming up
It’s coming up in the morning
If you’ll just have a little faith
Have a little faith
Just a little bit
Sometimes that’s all it takes
You know, when you consider the alternative
We’ve really got no choice
So be still my child
And listen to your little voice
’cause all the rest…
It’s just noise
Have a little faith
Have a little faith in yourself
Have a little faith
Have a little faith in me
I believe in my soul
Everything is gonna work out
If you’ll just have a little faith
Have a little faith
Just a little bit
Sometimes that’s all it takes
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2002 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Island Song II
I’d like to build a bridge to you
Build it strong enough to hold the truth
I’d like to build a bridge to you
I am an island and you are too
I am an island and you are too
Gonna build all night
Gonna build all day
Gonna build my bridge
So my bridge will stay
Gonna build it slow with a good foundation
So my love can go to its destination
So my love can go to its destination
Hurricanes may try in vain
To blow my bridge away
But if they do I’ll look for you
You’ll know me when I say
Hey! I’d like to build a bridge to you
Build it strong enough to hold the truth
I’d like to build a bridge to you
I am an island and you are too
I am an island and you are too
Gonna build it slow with a good foundation
So my love can go to its destination
Gonna build it strong
Gonna build it true
’cause I am an island and you are too
I am an island and you are too
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Railroad Track
I like to walk along the railroad track
It frees up my mind
I like to think that I won’t ever come back
Like I’m the fugitive kind
There’s no future no past
Out on that line
And the trains go by fast
Like the passage of time
That’s freedom …
I used to think our love was solid and true
Now I don’t know
When I can’t take it ’cause I’m feeling too blue
I know where to go
Where there’s no future no past
Out on that line
And the trains go by fast
Like the passage of time
That’s freedom …
I like to walk along the railroad track
It frees up my mind
I like to think that I won’t ever come back
Like I do every time
’cause I’m the fugitive kind
Out on that line…
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Call the Lamas!
Call the lamas
I saw little Buddha in the checkout line
At the grocery store
Today
Call the lamas
He was sitting like a prince in his grocery cart
With a perfect smile
On his face
His mom and dad preoccupied
With paying for their food
They could not see him smile at me
With calm beatitude
Call the lamas
I saw little Buddha in the checkout line
At the grocery store
Today
Call the lamas
He was sitting like a prince in his grocery cart
With a perfect smile
On his face
Om…..
Then suddenly in front of me
I saw three little girls
Their mother bagging groceries
While around her feet they swirled
Their peels of laughter silenced when they
All looked up to see
Little Buddha smiling at them
Beatifically
He leaned down toward them, holding all them
In a state of bliss
Then one by one they each received
His transcendental kiss
Call the lamas
I saw little Buddha in the checkout line
At the grocery store
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2003 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
I’m Just Pitiful That Way
I cry every time you leave me
I can’t stand it when you leave me
I’m like a little bitty baby
Crying for its mama
I’m just pitiful that way
Tears
They squirt out of my eyes
Till I can’t see to drive
I pull over
To the side of the road
Ah … it’s great to be alive
We’ve been lovers for a long time
Still I’m uneasy when you leave me
Your job involves a lot of travel
I always come unraveled
I’m just pitiful that way
Pride
Seems like I’d have more pride
And pull myself together
But inside
There’s just too much inside
Ah … it’s great to be alive
Once
I took an uplifting pill
I thought I’d died inside
I’m glad
I’m sentimentally ill
Ah … it’s great to be alive
I cry every time you leave me
I cry
I’m just pitiful that way
I’m just pitiful that way
Pitiful
Don’t talk to me about abandonment issues
While I’m reaching for my Kleenex tissues
Ah …
I’m just pitiful that way
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Downhill Slide
I’m on a downhill slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
I’m on a downhill slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
Before I run away and hide
I think I’ll take a look inside
And see what’s in it
Hello in there
Is anybody home?
I’m looking for some signs of life
I’m tired of being alone
Somebody hand me a flashlight
It’s dark as a dungeon in here
I’m gonna rub two sticks together
If that’s what it takes to spark a new idea
I’m on a downhill slide…
I’ve been hanging out in chat rooms
How low can I go
Stirring up a lot of shit
With people I don’t know
Somebody hand me a shotgun
I’m tired of spinning my wheels
I’m gonna blow up this computer
Just to see how it feels
Downhill slide (downhill slide)
Yeah
I’m on a downhill slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
Before I run away and hide
I think I’ll take a look inside
And see what’s in it
Satellite cell phone
Never have to be alone
Technology is everywhere
Even in the clothes we wear
Virtual reality
Takes you where you want to be
Keep it simple
Keep it simple
I’m turning into Shirley Temple
Downhill Slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
Before I run away and hide
I think I’ll take a look inside
And see what’s in it
I’m on a downhill slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
I’m on a downhill slide
My mind’s getting smaller by the minute
It’s been one hell of a ride
Now it’s time to look inside
And see what’s in it
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
I Fell in Love Again This Morning
I fell in love again this morning
I fell in love again with you
It always happens without warning
I never know just what to do
Outside a steady rain was falling
It’d been raining all night longI couldn’t sleep so I lay listening
While I waited for the dawn
Our love is like a flower
Always blooming
Always new
That’s the secret and the power
That’s what keeps me
Coming back to you
It always takes me by surprise
When our love comes tumbling down
I see it shining in your eyes
The sweetest love I’ve ever found
I fell in love again this morning …
Written by Marshall Chapman & Danny Flowers
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug/
Dashboard Slappin’ Music (ASCAP)
All rights reserved.
Now the Rain Is Falling
Now the rain is falling
And my tears are falling too
It’s been four days
Since I said goodbye to you
The sun can’t shine
‘Cause there’s too much to shine through
While this rain is falling
And my tears are falling too
How the crickets screamed
On the last night you were here
Like you they knew
Their departure time was near
When summer is over
The frost is what they fear
How the crickets screamed
On the last night you were here
When they carried your body outside
I did not care
The thing I loved had died
And was not there
It had vanished like the wind
Into thin air
When they carried your body away
I did not care
I don’t think I can live
And feel this way
I have to think you’ve gone
To a better place
I have to believe
I’ll join you there one day
Otherwise I cannot live
And feel this way
Now the rain is falling
And my tears are falling too
It’s been four days
Since I said goodbye to you
The sun can’t shine
Cause there’s too much to shine through
While this rain is falling
And my tears are falling too
And this rain’s as real
As the love that I feel for you
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Bright Red Sunset
Last night I dreamed …
Dreamed I was a particle
Not a human being
But a particle … in space
Moving at the speed of light
Towards a bright red sunset
And I dreamed in my dream
Of that bright red sunset
Then I heard a voice of doubt
Say You’ll never make it there
It’s too far away
For you to ever make it there
Even at the speed of light
You’ll never make it there
Still I dreamed in my dream
Of that bright red sunset
Then suddenly
I began to see
Other particles … all around
Some were light like me
But now and then I’d see
One that was red … bright red
Then more and more were red
Till all of them were red
That’s when I knew …
Bright red sunset
Bright red sunset
I was as happy as could be
With other particles like me
What a dream
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2003 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
I Love Everybody (I Love Everything)
I love everybody
I love everything
I got no agenda
I just want to dance and sing
It ain’t complicated
There’s nothing really to explain
I love everybody
I love everything
Living in a world of trouble
Living in a world of pain
All I have to do is turn my TV on
To see a world that’s gone insane
I think there might be a solution
If people everywhere would sing
I love everybody
I love everything
I don’t care about the weather
I can take it come rain or shine
I never feel stuck in a traffic jam
Or waiting in a checkout line
There’s nothing gonna get up underneath my skin
Or stop me when I feel this way
Cause I love everybody
I love everything
I love everybody
I love everything
Written by Marshall Chapman & Tim Krekel
©2004 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug/
Mighty Nice Music (BMI) Administered by Bluewater
All rights reserved.
Trouble with a Capital ‘T’
Ooh baby you’re cool on the outside
Hot on the inside
A killer combination
For any love contemplation
You got an easy way of walking
You let your eyes do your talking
You make me real nervous
I better get back on my tour bus
The minute I saw you
Ooh baby I knew you
And I knew what you’d be to me
Trouble with a capital ‘T’
Okay so I’ve got a crush on you
That doesn’t mean I want you
I’ve done that and been there
It’s a fast train to nowhere
So just walk it on by now
Don’t you look me in the eye now
I’ve made my mind up
You better find yourself a buttercup
Yeah the minute I saw you
Ooh baby I knew you
And I knew what you’d be to me
Trouble with a capital ‘T’
You’re not good-looking
In the usual way
But you’ve got something
That just blows me away
You’re thin as a rail
All angles and bones
And that hair of yours
Has got a life of its own
Like a Texas tumbleweed
Trouble with a capital ‘T’
You make me real nervous
I better get back on my tour bus
I’m gonna roll on out of here
To where the atmosphere is real clear
I want to hear those wheels hum
While they take me away from …
Trouble
Written by Marshall Chapman
©2005 Tall Girl Music (BMI) Administered by Bug
All rights reserved.
Marshall on Mellowicious!…
Have a Little Faith
I started writing this song while driving to the Nashville Airport to pick up this guy I was hopelessly in love with. I have a bunch of songs from that period that I never got around to recording – Marianne Faithful/get-out-the-razor blade type songs. But this one was different. It had hope. I could still relate to it. So I dusted it off and recorded it. This was the last song recorded for this project. (“Bright Red Sunset” was the first.) We just got more and more rocking as we went along.
Island Song II
Island Song II is a recent re-write of a song I wrote years ago called “The Island Song.” I used to love that song, but, because of a drug reference in one of the verses, I had quit singing it. So I re-wrote it. John Donne said, “No man is an island.” And in some ways, that’s true. But it’s also true that we are all islands. “Island Song II” is about wanting to connect and have it be real.
Railroad Track
There’s a railroad track that runs by my house in Nashville. Sometimes I walk on it to clear my head. This song was written after one such walk. My husband and I were going through a hard time. I was seriously thinking about leaving him, and it was breaking my heart. Even though I’m married and settled down, seems like my soul is often “out on that line.” There was a railroad track near the house I grew up in (Spartanburg, SC). The track was so close, the whole house would shake whenever a train went by. I loved that feeling of being warm and safe under the covers while the house was shaking. Made me feel safer somehow. I wrote “Railroad Track” on the second anniversary of 9/11 – September 11, 2003. The next day, I heard Johnny Cash had died. That hit me like a ton of bricks. And in that very moment, I realized I’ve included a Johnny Cash tribute song on just about every album I’ve ever recorded – a song that could not have been written had there not been a Johnny Cash. “Railroad Track” is my tribute song to him for this album. Note: In 1978, I recorded a slowed-down version of “I Walk the Line” for my second Epic album, Jaded Virgin. I was so cocky, I even changed some of the words. Sometime afterward, I was in the Nashville CBS offices, when word started circulating that Cash was in the building. Next thing I know, here he comes down the hall. Before anyone could say anything, he called out “Hey, Marshall. How’s it goin’?” I was floored that he knew my name, and also a little anxious he might be pissed off about the way I’d recorded his song. But then he said, in that rumbling, deep voice of his, “Hey, I really love the way you did my song ‘I Walk the Line’.” He was smiling all over and looking right at me. “You want to know why?” Finally I said “Why?” “Because everyone who ever recorded it did it like I did it, and you didn’t do that.” There was a moment, then I laughed and said, “You got that right!” Later I heard he used to go over to Jack Clement’s to “be with the boys.” Jack had this big, cushioned chair that would spin around. Johnny used to love to get in that big chair and be spun around while listening to my version of “I Walk the Line.”
Call the Lamas!
The story behind this song is well documented in Chapter 12 of my book, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller (2003). But here’s a story that’s not in it: One night, I was playing a club in Nashville – it was one of those writer In-the- Round things. As it turned out, it was Alumni Weekend at Vanderbilt and several former classmates were in the audience. During the break, one – a gal from Charlotte – came up and gushed, “Ooh, I just love that new song — the one about that little poodle in the grocery cart!” I mean she really loved it. It’s always humbling when things like that happen. I’ve always subscribed to that Mark Twain quote, the one that says “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — ’tis the difference between the lightning- bug and the lightning.” We writers often sweat blood trying to find just the right word, then someone says something like that, and I’m thinking, well, maybe it’s just the music and the feel, and I shouldn’t be knocking myself out so much over these lyrics!
I’m Just Pitiful That Way
I wrote this after dropping my husband off at the airport, back when he was working for this company that had him traveling a lot. While recording it, Lawler told me “pitiful” was Dan Penn’s favorite word (to have in a song). Off the top of my head, I can only think of two that have it: “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” (Warren Zevon) and “They Call Me Mr. Pitiful” (Otis Redding). But I love that word – pitiful. It’s what we all are. But who wants to admit it? One night, I sang this song at a songwriter In-the Round at The Bluebird Café, and this successful songwriter – I won’t mention his name – came up to me and said, “That’s the worst damn song I ever heard. Why would you write such a song?” “Because I can,” I replied. Definitely some Every Brothers and Mickey & Sylvia influence here.
Downhill Slide
This was the first song I wrote after finishing the first draft of my book. I had just about had it with my computer. I was also seriously wondering if I had a brain left in my head. So I decided to go in there (inside my brain) and see for myself. I love that Joan Osborne song where she sees a spider web inside Ray Charles’s head. Maybe I never would have thought about having a conversation with my brain, had I not heard that Joan Osborne song. Who knows?
I Fell in Love Again This Morning
I started writing this on the first day of spring — March 21, 2003. Danny Flowers had dropped off an amplifier he wanted me to try out, and, as usually happens whenever we get together, we started writing. But here’s where it came from. The night before had been one of those nights. My husband and I had gotten real close, as close as two people can get under the covers. And I’m not necessarily talking about sex, and it doesn’t really matter. It’s that place of vulnerability I’m talking about. We were just two people being as naked together as two humans can be. I remember watching him sleep. The windows in our bedroom were open, and it was raining outside – a soft and steady rain. And as I lay there listening, I felt my love for him go to a new place. It was like a door had opened. I love the sentiment expressed in this song – that of falling in love over and over again with the same person.
Now the Rain Is Falling
I wrote this song four days after my brother died. Chris (my husband) and I were back in Nashville, having been with my family all the week before. Chris was out somewhere, and I was sitting up on a bed with my Martin guitar in this high-rise apartment where we used to live. It had these big, plate glass windows everywhere. I called it “The Sky Palace.” It was like “living in the weather.” Anyway, it was raining hard, and looking out, I felt like I was free falling through space, because I had been SO CLOSE with my family and all the people back home, and now I was alone. (Oh, this is described in my book, too – pp. 246-247.) I call this my “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” song. It just came out with that Appalachian feel. And it’s got that same image… of watching someone’s body being carried away. Someone you love. I like that in the first two verses, you think it’s about someone leaving, but then, after the break, it hits you — why the person is leaving.
Bright Red Sunset
This song is based on a dream I had, where I was a particle in space. I was pure consciousness moving at the speed of light, but with a sensation of “floating.” As soon as I woke up, I scribbled the dream down on a sheet of paper, then forgot about it. A few years later, after attending the funeral of a close friend, I was sitting in my writing room, staring out the window, when suddenly I looked down, and there was the sheet of paper with the dream. So I took my guitar and began writing the song. Sometimes I think this dream gave me a sneak preview into the hereafter. I’ve never had dream like it, before or since. Usually, I am my self in my dreams. My self in my body, or my self hovering over my body. But a particle in space?
I Love Everybody (I Love Everything)
Tim Krekel and I wrote this song in the week after the Columbine shooting. Sometimes I tell audiences it was written after 9/11, but it doesn’t really matter. When things like Columbine and 9/11 happen, what we need to do – corny as it sounds – is love more, not less. After hearing this recording for the first time, Tommy Spurlock (engineer, who also played steel guitar) said, “Damn! That’s so wrong, it’s right!”
Trouble with a Capital ‘T’
I wrote this, oddly enough, after attending a funeral. Lyle Lovett was there, and the minute I saw him, I felt this attraction. I just got a flash crush on him right then and there. Of course, Lyle doesn’t know anything about this. He was just there, paying his respects, acting like a perfect gentleman. Meanwhile, I’m having my little crush and feeling kind of guilty about it, since I was in church. I considered dropping this one from the album, but I like that the girl is rolling away down the highway at the end. It just seemed like a natural ending for the record. When she says “Bye, Bye,” it’s like “The End” at the end of a movie.