All lyrics by Sam Misner unless otherwise noted.

All is Song (2024)

Compose (2024)

Sewn in the lining of her coat 
Verses, sonnets and prose 
And she knows 
It’s all just ribbons and bows 
Some rhymes are harder and sometimes it shows 
I suppose

Rain falling in the middle of the day 
Blue skies fading to gray 
Whisked away
She sets off with words to explain 
All of the places her heart’s been since dawn 
Yesterday

Calm, walking down the street she’s on 
Aimless, wandering and strong 
Life moves on 
One moment here and we’re gone 
Come ‘round to find out that it’s been a song 
All along

Go to any other shore you know 
Send me what you compose 
Highs and lows 
Weather of sun or of snow 
Whether it wilts soon or whether it blooms 
Like a rose

Sewn in the lining of her coat 
Verses, sonnets and prose 
And she knows It’s all just ribbons and bows 
Some rhymes are harder and sometimes it shows 
I suppose

Deep as the water

I’ve got a hunger deep as the water
Future as bright as a murder of crows
Sometimes I feel like a fatherless daughter
A motherless child who nobody knows

Chest to the earth, eyes on the spotter
Flick of the wrist and everyone goes
Sometimes I feel like a lamb to the slaughter
Everyone sees me right through my clothes

Carry the songs, stories and textures
Try not to think about what has been sold
Where are the hands, where are the gestures?
Yesterday’s comfort is already cold

Look at our children lost and scattered
Swept through the waves to sleep on the shore
Finally arrived but what does it matter
Freedom here might be worse than war

I’ve got a hunger deep as the water
Future as bright as a murder of crows
Sometimes I feel like a fatherless daughter
A motherless child who nobody knows

Threadbare

Let me guess you've had a day
you came out behind
every truth you tried to say
came out a lie
Time doesn't tick it flows
soon the child will crawl, I know
there's still love where we began
looking out from where I stand

Lining up the rules to break
just to survive
all the smiles you'll have to fake
once you arrive
Time doesn't race, it slows
crawls awhile wears out your clothes
standing still will take its toll
take it from this threadbare soul

Hold tight and cinch your braids
stick to your line
when your rope has snapped and frayed
reach out for mine
time is a trick it folds
curves and twists and when you're old
faded songs tease yesterdays
round and round this jukebox maze

Caught a curse or so you claim
fate's been unkind
grit your teeth and set your aim
step from your blind
time doesn't speak it shows
there's still light where darkness grows
and there's still love where we began
looking out from where I stand

Standing still will take its toll

Sadie’s Song

It was a good day 
breaking all the rules 
Sadie lit the firecrackers 
first to dare and I was first to run

Crimson hair 
rivaling the sun 
Sadie said "don't listen 
when they tell you that you're just a little girl"

Skinned my knees 
tore my new blue jeans 
climbing over fences 
when it suited us to feel a bit more free

It was a good day 
showing all them fool boys 
doing all the things they said 
weren't for us, they just weren't meant for girls

Crooked smile 
freckles 'cross her nose 
made up constellations 
told me all the places we were bound to go

We'd drop in 
to every church in town 
peeked in through the stained-glass window 
tried to find the one God hung around

Northern Lights 
slung across the sky 
the banks of Lake Ontario 
silver-green reflecting in our eyes

Made our pledge 
right there on the shore 
swore we'd never let them win 
the stars came spilling down over our heads

Sunlight spills across my table 
bright and cold as steel 
Sunrise I am trying to remember 
were those dreams or real? 
All my words fall shy of arrival 
still my heart can feel

Kept my word 
I never let them win 
Sadie's been inside my head 
whispering in my ear all this time

Kerosene

Word on the street now don’t repeat
He pays to look so clean
Scratch beneath that shiny suit
He’s nothing but obscene
They say he’s got a taste for kerosene
Carries it around in his canteen
Strikes a match just to set the scene

Fortune teller fables
He’ll tell it to you plain
Sell you tales of sunshine
While you’re soaking wet with rain
He’ll lie straight to your face and then complain
That you don’t tell the truth — that’s his game
Don’t believe a word he says they’re all the same
He’s a con man king
King Kerosene

He leaves a trail of sins and next of kin
You’ll steer clear if you’re wise
But I can see you’re tempted
By the poison of his eyes
Bares his teeth while straightening out his tie
Pounds his chest, exaggerates his size
So this is where truth has come to die

One day soon he’ll meet his doom
His debts will be repaid
There’ll be lines around the block to see
This piper finally played
I do think that deep down he is afraid
He might lose his shine and then he’s made
His biggest fear is that he’s going to fade away
King Kerosene

He’s a con man king
King Kerosene

Rising of the Moon by Kate Wolf

The rising of the moon on the Oregon borderline 
Lights up the river’s edge and the wild blackberry vine 
And the sand beneath my feet is a cool silver grey 
The moon dances on the water, and then is sails away

And I watch it sail away, somewhere where the river goes 
Some love lasts forever, just like the river flows

On the last day of July you sailed into my mind 
We were riding down the river, the wind blowing from behind 
There were two great blue herons flying through the trees 
Moving up the canyon, so silent and so free

And I watch it sail away, somewhere where the river goes 
Some love lasts forever, just like the river flows

And I hope the years are happy and the winters aren’t too cold 
And that life won’t treat you badly,
I’d like to see you when you’re old 
I’ll keep you in my heart like the crying of the loon 
And wonder how you are at the rising of the moon

And I watched you sail away, somewhere where the river goes 
Some love lasts forever, just like the river flows
And I watched you sail away, somewhere where the river goes 
Some love lasts forever, just like the river flows

Tears and Ink

Cold as New Year’s Eve 
Trembling in my sleeves 
Now you’re gone 
And I’ve slipped out of gear

I’ll get by someway 
But until that day 
Can’t we just pretend 
That I’m not here?

I can’t tell 
If I’m well 
Maybe I’m just dressing for the show

I’m always finding signs 
Tracing back our lines 
This ghost light has been shining now for years

I can’t get near the ground 
This silence has a sound 
So what’s with all this ringing in my ears?

I can’t tell 
If I’m well 
Maybe I’m just dressing for the show

Fresh as New Year’s Day 
Got a thousand things to weigh 
Maybe I need a different point of view

Mixed my tears with ink 
I may be on the brink 
Of a breakdown and a revelation too

I can’t tell 
If I’m well 
Maybe I’m just dressing for the show

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

(Lyrics by William Shakespeare, except for the last verse by Sam Misner)

Blow, blow, thou winter wind 
Thou art not so unkind 
As man’s ingratitude 
Thy tooth is not so keen 
Because thou art not seen 
Although thy breath be rude

Heigh ho, sing heigh ho 
Unto the green holly 
Most friendship is feigning 
Most loving mere folly 
Then heigh ho the holly 
This life is most jolly

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky 
Thou dost not bite so nigh 
As benefits forgot 
Though thou the waters warp 
Thy sting is not so sharp 
As friend remembered not

Heigh ho, sing heigh ho 
Unto the green holly 
Most friendship is feigning 
Most loving mere folly 
Then heigh ho the holly 
This life is most jolly

Burn, burn, you autumn hills 
Your flames are not so cruel 
As greed for money’s fire 
Though scorched and all laid bare 
Your ashes not so pale 
As dreams without desire

Heigh ho, sing heigh ho 
Unto the green holly 
Most friendship is feigning 
Most loving mere folly 
Then heigh ho the holly 
This life is most jolly

Silence of the Sun

Like the force that drives the flower moves the marrow in my bones 
like a star is born dying like the water carves the stone 
i have tread a path steady i've been laid out on the road 
i have felt love's lightness as i've trembled 'neath the load

The voice that fell silent is the very voice i need 
yet it cloaks its wisdom as it whispers from the weeds 
i will find out later it was always in my lungs 
but for now i'm breathless like the silence of the sun

In the longing hours of morning i lay lingering in a dream 
where i stood upon a levee holding back a raging stream 
from my eyes to the horizon there was either doom or mud 
and i wondered was i foolish or a fortress in the flood

Like the stars all dwell in darkness we will shine on just the same 
stagger to a candle, and rise to light the flame 
and the candle casts a shadow on the wall across the way 
like the light surrounds the darkness in the early hours of day

One Day (2024)

One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone

One day I will be old
Like a child’s chased wave these young days won’t stay

One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are

Your eyes could hold up the sky
Fill it with blue and make rain clouds dry

Someday I’ll understand
And I’ll know if all these waves are planned

One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone

One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are

Anthem

It was an anthem of her own
and she sang it all alone
at the hour and the occasion of her choosing
Funny thing she said
that she never got to bed
but she doesn't think of all the sleep she's losing
Seems that late at night
when the crescent moon was bright
like a wry, wicked smile on the horizon
Devils in her dreams
she wakes up with a scream
"I've seen the tricks and stitches god relies on"

It wasn't just a boast
less a brag and more a toast
to the friends who she had known through tribulation
A phantom in her bones
she always had been prone
to the power and the pull of its persuasion
They'd waged and they had lost
even won and still been tossed
to the curb but then they rose each time together
One thing that's for sure
though we never found a cure
we can ride out heartbreak like the weather

She was face down on the floor
when a knock came at the door
the outside world was there and it was calling
Cordelia sang her tune
on that fateful afternoon
when the melody outplayed her fear of falling
She sang the anthem of her soul
there's so little we control
save the melody we sing while we are steering
Funny thing she said
that it may be in her head
but the love we lose is always reappearing

Little Light

I’m a lonely little light
Shimmering in the middle of the sea
I don’t mind the waves
Lonely’s just a little part of me

I’m a ghostly little light
Hovering in the center of the stage
I’ve played all the roles
But never learned to act my age

All is song
All is song

I’m a quiet little seed
Waiting in a little piece of ground
Far as I can tell
Light is just another kind of sound

I’m a sliver of a stone
Swinging in my circles in the sky
We don’t mind the heights
The billion little lights and I

All is song
All is song

I’m a lonely little light
Reflecting in the middle of the sea
I don’t mind the dark
The dark’s what made a light of me

All is song
All is song