Meg Braun | Official Website

///Lyrics

Lyrics from Broken Places

Open Road

Its been ten days since I drove away

Ten days since you let me go

And if I close my weary eyes

I can still see you from the window

And I'm sorry, I regret all the things we didn't get to say

But time keeps pushing me down this open road

How I wish I could have stayed

Holding still and holding on

Were things I never wanted to do

So I wandered this wild world playing solitaire

Then I met you

Now the spinning wheels under me bring a longing hard to bear

As I go further down this open road

I think I see your face everywhere

Twilight breaks the desert horizon

Reds and blues flood the sky

This beauty pales beside the miles that lie between you and I

I'm sorry, I regret I didn't hold you a little longer

As I go further down this open road

The call grows ever stronger

Its been ten days since I drove away...

All Along

How I wish I had the words to make the sadness go away

I wish I knew you better like back when we were kids, then I might find the right thing to say

Instead I stumble over old cliches and say I'm sorry he's gone

I watch the tears tumble down your still pretty face; you've been trying so hard to be strong

But I hope you know, my love has been here for you all along.

It doesn't seem so long ago we were two wild children, the wind blowing through our hair

Climbing over fences, making puddle fights and laughing while the neighbors stared

We swore our bond in blood at the setting of the sun, joined our fingers to make us one

We could never know how time might have its way with us, that the bond might become undone

I hope you know, my love has been here for you all along

In all the broken places

On sorrow's quiet shores

Where lost memories awaken

Will you take my hand once more

Here we are facing all that you have lost and all the years I've been gone

I know we're not fools enough to think we can just begin again or pick-up right where we left off

But I heard the news and I knew it was time for me to make my way back home

The deepest part of our childhood still is true and you will never be alone

And I hope you know, I hope you can believe, I hope you know, my love has been here for you all along.

It Was the Song (For Jack Hardy)

There was always that hill

I always thought to climb it

Perhaps you still upon it still

Beneath the outlaw flag flying

There was always that hill

And you were always so inviting

Offering wine and a poet's will

It was left to me to do the climbing

If I'd made it there, I'd have matched you drink for drink

Between the chords and the whiskey strong

In the end it was the song, in the end it was the song

There was always that rain

Drowning all my best intentions

Let my excuses make me vain

Which you were kind enough to mention

There was always that rain

And clouds with threatening fingers

But on your perch you would remain

While the melodies would linger

I wish I'd made it there

I wish I'd matched you drink for drink

Between the chords and the whiskey strong

In the end it was the song, in the end it was the song

There was always that hill

I'd always thought to climb it

Perhaps you sit upon it still

Beneath the outlaw flag flying

Better This Way

I guess it’s true what the old poet said
We won’t end with a bang, but a whimper my friend
Fade away, like dawn into day
And maybe its better this way

Sometimes love is just a penny thrown down
Into an old well where wishes go to drown
It falls to the bottom, forever to stay
And maybe its better this way

Better to let this fire burn out
And the smoke dissipate
Better to say we loved each other well
And quietly, quietly walk away

I think the hardest part is letting this hope die
And believing in time these tears will dry
Going to sleep, waking without you each day
But maybe its better this way.

Going to sleep, waking with you everyday
But maybe its better this way.

Longing

He looks at her as though he has never seen such beauty
Amazed that he is the one holding her hand
She returns his glance with a quiet smile
They speak a language I can only hope to understand

Chorus:
And I wonder why I am always left on the outside looking in on love
Why I am left longing, longing, longing

She pushes her little boy high as he can go on the park swing
He laughs and raises his arms in the air
She picks him up twirls him around he’s flying
They don’t even notice me watching them through the sun’s glare

Chorus:
And I wonder if I will ever know the kind of love she has for him
Why I am left longing, longing, longing

Bridge:
And it’s not as if I don’t have many things I have dreamed
It’s just sometimes when the night gets cold
I wonder if these dreams have left me alone

Chorus:
And if I will always be on the outside looking in on love
Will I be left longing, longing, longing
Longing, longing, longing

August

August is not known for its kindness

August is not known for hanging on

Breaks the tides, pulls castle dreams into the ocean

Til all you see is what is gone.

August is not known for being steady

August is not know for being true

Let's the heat lie still against your skin

Then sends a careless hurricane passing through

Oooooo, August took me away from you

August is not known for being patient

August is not known for what it gives

Days grow shorter, the moon comes in closer

Stealing memories you can never relive

August is not known for being gentle

August is not known for bringing peace

Shifting winds and storms that batter

Leave you begging for that final release.

Ooooo, August took me away from you

I Kept Your Shoes

Inspired by Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking

I kept your shoes

They're by the door

Your glass of scotch is still poured

Your New York Times is still on the sofa

Where you left it, where you left it

Chorus:

I took the clock down from the wall

Cause time stopped when I got the call that you weren't coming home

Your dinner plate

To the right of mine

I can't help but set it every night

Your sweater hangs on the back of that old chair

Where you left it, where you left it

Bridge:

I know I should put your clothes away

But they carry the scent of you and I still need that every day

People come by and they don't know what to say, but that they wish they could stay

I don't want them to stay

Now I sleep

On your side of the bed

On the pillow where you once laid your head

When I dream, I am with you

You haven't left me, you haven't left me

I'm Home

Old roads I've traveled

New places I have seen

A child born of wanderlust

Her voice carries on the breeze

Chorus:

I'm home, I'm home, I am home

When my mother sings to me

Soft as a blanket

Blueberry sweet

Gentle lullabies calling

Old nursery rhymes sung out of key

A candle in winter

A light on the sea

I am safe on dark waters

When she's singing to me

One and Only

I can damn the wind, I can damn the rain

Blame them for these sins

And not pull out the thorn that's causing the pain

I can come home at night, I can lay by your side

Pull the covers round us tight

And pretend that this life isn't a lie

Chorus:

I've gotten used to being lonely

And the emptiness in the kisses you give

I know I'm not your one and only

But I don't know any other way to live

I try to unwish my wishes, I try to undream my dreams

But I'm just crossing burned out bridges

And falling into wild rivers and streams

I try to smile at you each morning, try to let you take my hand

But I know each touch as a warning

That if I pull away you might understand

Bridge:

So I'll let you think I'm blind

I'll keep on towing the line

And let love become a word that has no meaning

New Year's Eve

I can pretend I'm not not lonely

That I don't feel the emptiness you give

I know I'll never be your one and only

But I don't know any other way to live

No, I don't know any other way to live

When the first snow fell in November of last year

You said you were leaving me for the southern hemisphere

Said you had to leave this city, it had frozen your soul through

You had nothing left to give, nothing left for me and you

And its alright, I said it was okay

I knew you weren't mine to hold for very long anyway

Still I hoped that you might change your heart for me

That you'd come back and kiss me when the ball dropped

Down, down, down on New Year's Eve

On Christmas morning I went skating in Central Park

I wandered into midtown where the Rock Center tree lit up the dark

I tried not to miss you as the lights made the ice glow

Told myself you needed the warmth and I needed to let you go

Its alright, I told myself it was okay

I knew you weren't mine to hold for very long anyway

Still I hoped that you might change your heart for me

That you'd come back and kiss me when the ball dropped

Down, down, down on New Year's Eve

Bridge:

The New Year came and you weren't here and it was cold

All my dreams and longings seemed to grow very old

The snow began to melt, the leaves filled up the trees

My tears dried, and I realized you weren't coming back to me

Its alright, I am okay

I knew that you weren't mine to hold for very long anyway

I no longer hope that you might change your heart for me

That you'll come back and kiss me when the ball drops

Down, down, down on New Year's Eve

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never, never come to mind (Robert Burns)

Take Away

Take away the lights

Take away the stage

Take away the music and who are you babe?

Take away the fans

Take away the fame

You're just another person with just another name

Chorus:

In your scuffed up cowboy boots, worn in jeans and a worn out face

Guitar on your back, headed toward the next place

A simple man with complexity laced in all you say

If you'd given me the chance, I would have loved you

if you took all that away, away, away, away

If there were no more songs

No more applause

No more roadways and no more bars

If there were no more women

And you were left with me

Would that mean anything and who would you be?

Bridge:

All those nights in hotel rooms, all those days on the road

Will you ever find any place or anyone you call home

Its the dream you've been working for, I hope you've found your bliss

A different town every night, a different woman you can kiss

Take away this house

Take away this bed

Take away this wedding ring and what is left?

Take away my arms

Take away my smile

You can keep the memories as you travel all those miles

Strong Women

I come from a line of strong women

They taught me everything I know about this life I am living

Their blood runs deep in my veins

They're in every step I take, every joy, every pain

I come from a line of strong women

My grandma, she was a poor man's daughter

She faced head on every hardship her life brought her

She had a baby boy, he took his last breath in her arms

She laid him in the ground with a lullaby song

I carry her song in my voice and her story in my heart

Refrain:

I come from a line of strong women

There was a little girl, everybody told her she would never be whole

Said treat her special and don't let her have too many goals

My mother learned to fight, she never gave up on her dreams

She passed on that fight to me, she taught me to believe

And I carry her song in my voice and her story in my heart

Bridge:

You might see us cry, you might see us fall

You might see us break, but we rise above it all

Someday, when I have my own little girl

I'm gonna show her all the beauty in this green and blue world

I'm gonna tell her all the stories of all those who came before

Who unlocked the gates and opened all the doors

She'll carry their songs in her voice and their stories in her heart

And she'll say

I come from a line of strong women

They taught me everything I know about this life I am living

Their blood runs deep in my veins

They're in every step I take, every joy, every pain

I come from a line of strong women

Strong women