Some of What I Heard 

Six of One Side

1. The Day I Missed that Train                        (4:16)
2. At the Corner of Hackney and Chestnut      (3:45)
3. Come Sit by Me, Marie                                (6:26)
4. Straight Ahead                                              (4:58)
5. Some of What I Heard                                  (4:40)
6. Pine Breeze or Salt Air                                 (4:11)

A Half Dozen of the Other

1. Baby Without You                                          (3:21)
2. Across the Borderline                                     (3:05)
3. Wrack my Brain                                              (3:58
4. A Guy I Used to Know                                   (5:11)
5. They Said They Said                                       (8:02)
6. Shekomeko Flow                                             (4:11)

All songs written by Larry Scanlon (ASCAP), except “Across the Borderline,” written by Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson, & John Hiatt

Recorded, mixed, and produced by John Ross,

2022, Pine Plains and Red Hook, New York

Design and Layout by Lindsay Prezzano

Website: larryscanlonmusic.com

Musicians

Karl Allweier: bass, lead guitar, mandolin, dobro, & percussion

Dan Keegan: drums, percussion, & glockenspiel

Libby Weitnauer: violin

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

John Ross: bass, keyboards, & percussion

Dan Nosheny: accordion

Arden Yonkers: bass

TC Bronwell: bass & organ

Larry Scanlon: 6 & 12 string guitar & vocals 

Six of One Side

The Day I Missed that Train 

(This song isn’t about a train, but rather 

a train missed, or a train of things missed.

Anyhow, apart from maybe a motorcycle, 

I think a train is the coolest vehicle for a song.)

When I got to the station

I ran with all my might

Stopped dead on the platform,

I watched that train pull out of sight.

That image keeps returning

With its maddening refrain,

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train.

I miss each little one-horse town

That backs up to the rails,

The clotheslines, the tire swings,

The schoolhouse, the jail,

All the faces turning,

To the turning weathervane, 

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train.

The fields of hay, and wheat, and rye,

The swallows on the wing,

The scarecrow with the steady eye

Observing everything,

Majestic towering silos

Filling up with grain,

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train.

The pines that climb the contoured hills

That pass, and roll on by,

The moving shadows cast by clouds,

The changing colors of the sky,

The pointillistic patterns 

Where cattle dot the plain,

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train.

My destiny was manifest,

My fate at my command,

Was feeling right, feeling blest,

My future in my hand.

Now in my dreams I’m on the platform

Standing hatless in the rain.

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train.

Beside her in the darkling coach,

There on the empty seat,

Now fade from promise to reproach

A letter’s words that once were sweet

And on her cheek a lonely tear

Reflected in the pane.

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train

Yes I was too late to the station,

I ran with all my might,

Stopped dead on the platform,

I watched that train pull out of sight.

That image keeps returning

With its maddening refrain,

I missed much more than the train I missed

The day I missed that train

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals: 

Karl Allweier: bass, lead guitar, mandolin, & percussion

John Ross: percussion

At The Corner of Hackney and Chestnut 

(A collision between chance and circumstance)

Sighs heave

Friends leave       

Wind blows

Love grows

Children sleep

Serpents creep

Babies cry

Suits lie

Yes, there are countless reasons why

We win or why we lose

Sometimes we laugh, we sometimes cry

We seldom get to choose

Give the wheel another spin

The coin another toss 

Chalk up another win

Take another loss 

Moon glows

River flows 

Birds nest

The dead rest

Bridges burn

Wheels turn

Truth hides

Love abides 

Give the wheel another spin

The coin another toss 

Chalk up another win

Take another loss 

Cause there are countless reasons why

We win or why we lose

Sometimes we laugh, we sometimes cry

We seldom get to choose

The strong survive 

The wicked thrive

The faithful stay

Priests prey

Pride falls

Duty calls

The craven cringe

The mad unhinge

The stable genius was on top

The heartless, vain, malign buffoon,

Whose blather seemed to have no stop,

Now he sings a different tune

There is no final alibi

It’s the universal epitaph

You know, when you want to cry 

Sometimes you just have to laugh

Bells ring

Birds sing

Doves return

Lovers yearn

Losers win

Wheels spin

Nothing lasts

There is no past 

Yes, there are countless reasons why

We win or why we lose

Sometimes we laugh, we sometimes cry

We seldom get to choose

There is no final alibi

It’s the universal epitaph

You know, when you want to cry 

Sometimes you just have to laugh 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Dan Keegan: drums

TC Bronwell: bass & organ

Come Sit by Me, Marie

(The title is something my dad used to say

to my mom when she’d be fussing over something

 or stressed and needed comfort. There's a nod to Arnold & Yeats in the second chorus.)

The shiny billboards call for our attention

And we submit to them so dutifully

We gaze at them in rapt misapprehension

As if we've all been blinded by decree

Come sit by me, Marie

The charging bull's been loosed from Bowling Green

It's breaking all our well-kept crockery

The unthinkable has now become routine

What's fit for outrage has no boundary

Come sit by me, Marie 

We may escape from all the world's distress

I've come up with the perfect remedy

I've set a table in the wilderness

And spread it with a cloth for toast and tea

Come sit by me, Marie 

The echo chamber roars, now hear the din                   

And each one present, every absentee                           

Wants to be heard, but how to begin                             

When you can't even hear to disagree?

Come sit by me, Marie 

Now fantasy parades in place of fact

And revels in malignant jubilee

Truth itself is subject to attack

And everything’s a vast conspiracy

Come sit by me, Marie 

Hear the grating roar at Dover Beach,

The lapping on the shore at Innisfree,

And neither place is ever out of reach

We’ll journey through our own geography 

Come sit by me, Marie

A storm is bringing drought and flood and fire

To the smoky wood, abandoned rookery

A tempest rages, heated by desire

Resentful wind blows ferociously

Come sit by me, Marie 

The field beside the road is swirling dust

The rutted road is cluttered with debris

The carriage rigging’s rotted, gone to rust

The wheel has fallen from the axle tree

Come sit by me, Marie 

Let us escape from all the world’s distress

Arise and go, there’s a better place to be

I've set a table in the wilderness

And spread it with a cloth for toast and tea

Come sit by me, Marie 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Libby Weitnauer: violin

Straight Ahead 

(Sometimes the words come first 

and sometimes the music. In this case I had 

the tune complete and then the words just 

started coming out of the guitar. The title 

is something my brother Jimmy used to say

when taking off on his global travels. 

“So long, straight ahead!”)

One time, I stood on a fault line

I thought thinking a thought crime

Wandering under a bad sign

Feeling under a spell

The world is vast and wide where I dwell

There’s infinite space inside of a nutshell 

The ocean’s roar is there in the seashell

I let it all go, and now the world is mine

I’d forgotten more than I could know

And yesterday was oh so long ago

I heard nothing but hearsay

Every voice would echo and ricochet

I felt alone as a castaway

Feeling ever so small

Dried out, I welcomed the rainfall

Cut short, I stayed for the long haul

Knocked down, I stood up to stand tall

After all, still finding my way

No matter what, I always have returned

To each and every one of my bridges burned

I wish I could play the violin

Or, well, maybe the mandolin

Just like Grapelli or Grisman

Imagine the thrill

I can hold the world at a standstill

Reduce a mountain down to a molehill

Surrender myself, give up my free will

Make my world as wide as a grin

Just when I thought I’d heard it all

I turned my head so I could hear the call

Woke up, feeling near half dead

Head filled with all that I dread

Washed off down at the riverbed

Turned the bitter to bittersweet

Follow the sounds, listen to my feet

Walking on grass, clacking on concrete

Stroll along down easy street

Thinking of things left unsaid

I could look back, keep living where I’ve been

Or look straight ahead, find a new place to begin 

Larry Scanlon: 12-string guitar & vocals

Arden Yonkers: bass

Dan Keegan: drums & glockenspiel

Dan Nosheny: accordion

Some of What I Heard

(My attempt to write a John Prine song)

I’ve seen all kinds of weather

As I’ve gone from town to town 

Barely hold myself together

Patches patched around

Saw the plains of paradise

Stood on stony ground

Heard some funny stories

Didn’t write them down

Though this might not all be word for word

I’ll tell you some of what I heard

Fellow said, I used to drive a taxi

Worked at bending steel

Lunched on dirty waters

Broke for some liquid meals

Played cards and threw the laughing bones

And fell for every deal

Now I’m knocked and bounced around

The pill upon the wheel

Another said, I started off with petty theft

An eager young recruit

I’ve hidden in a hideout

Been hounded by pursuit

They locked me up for larceny

And laundering my loot

They threw away the key

I should have worn a suit

And someone said, I tried to lead a healthy life

Best as I was able

Make sure my food was wholesome

To put upon the family table

Went down to the market

Tried the read the labels

Told them they should post

A periodic table

Though that might not be word for word

That’s for certain some of what I heard

Fellow said, they hired me as a carpenter 

I was their last resort

Always tried to do my best

But I’m sorry to report

I found the building plans

Gave me no support

I kept taking a little more off

The board was still too short

Young fellow said, I can drive a racecar

Throw it into gear

I can join the army

I’m free to volunteer

I can marry anyone

Who’d want to call me dear

Can purchase a machine gun

Can’t buy a beer

That might not all be word for word

But it’s for certain some of what I heard

I’ve seen all kinds of weather

As I’ve gone from town to town

Barely hold myself together

Patches patched around

Saw the plains of paradise

Stood on stony ground

Heard some funny stories

Didn’t write them down

That might not be all word for word

But is for certain some of what I heard

Yeah that might not all be word for word

But it’s for certain some of what I heard

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Dan Keegan: drums

Karl Allweier: bass & lead guitar

Pine Breeze or Salt Air

(A love story with two or three settings)

Eyes bright

Shine like moonglow

We go

Walking in the night

Climb high

Over the hilltop

We stop

Look at the sky

She say

Isn’t it lovely 

Above we

See the Milky Way

It seems

Under the starlight

We might

Inhabit a dream

Gull cry

Over the wave breaks

See the line that the eye makes

Between sea and sky

Fair wind 

Brushes the ocean

Perpetual motion

Wrinkling sand

We know

The pull of the pale moon

Be turning the tide soon

Ebb and flow

It seems

Out in the sunlight

We just might

Inhabit a dream

We walk

Out in the meadow

Look at the shadow

Hovering hawk

Reborn

Wandering we go

Intent as the scarecrow

Watching the corn

Red wing 

Lights on the rail fence

Stirs the silence

Hear it whistle and sing

It seems

Pine breeze or salt air

Whenever we’re there

The world is a dream

Yes it seems

Pine breeze or salt air

Whenever we’re there

The world is a dream 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

Libby Weitnauer: violin

A Half Dozen of the Other

Baby Without You

(An attempted pop song)

Baby without you

The sun would still shine

There’d be promise in its rising

But it wouldn’t be mine

Baby without you

Hearts would still yearn

Each for one another

But it wouldn’t be my turn

Without you, I’m an errant thought,

Considered and dismissed

The extra sock, a glove misplaced,

My name heads the list.

A stranded sailor tied to shore,

A nomad tired of wandering,

A peregrine that wants to soar

But falls on broken wing.

Baby without you

The moon would still rise

Its beguiling charms

Would be nothing to my eyes

Baby without you

The fire would still glow

It’s warm and welcome comfort

Would be nothing that I’d know.

Without you, all my former joys

Are meager infelicities

The sweetest music only noise,

There is no forest, there are no trees.

You’ve heard about that engine

That’s lost its driving wheel,

I think that I would feel that way

If I could only feel.

Baby without you,

I’d still sip the wine

But to my taste 

It might as well be turpentine

Baby without you

I’ll still wake each day

But all of my tomorrows

Are already yesterday. 

Baby without you

The sun would still shine

There’d be promise in its rising

But it wouldn’t be mine

Baby without you

Hearts would still yearn

Each for one another

But it wouldn’t be my turn 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: bass & lead guitar

Dan Keegan: drums

Across the Borderline

(Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson, & John Hiatt) 

(A wonderful song, from the great Ry Cooder)

There’s a place where I’ve been told

Every street is paved with gold

And it’s just across the borderline

And when it’s time to take your turn

There’s a lesson that you must learn

You could lose more than you’ll ever hope to find

When you reach the broken promised land

And every dream slips through your hands

Then you’ll know that it’s too late to change your mind

Cause you’ve paid the price to come so far

Just to wind up where you are

And you’re still just across the borderline

Up and down the Rio Grande

A thousand footprints in the sand

Reveal a secret no one can define

The river flows on like a breath

In between life and death

Tell me who’s the next to cross the borderline

En la triste oscuridad

Hoy temenos que cruzar

Este rio que nos llama mas alla

But hope remains when pride is gone

And it keeps you moving on

Calling you across the borderline

When you reach the broken promised land

And every dream slips through your hands

Then you’ll know that it’s too late to change your mind

Cause you’ve paid the price to come so far

Just to wind up where you are

And you’re still just across the borderline

Now you’re still just across the borderline 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Arden Yonkers: bass

Dan Keegan: drums

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

Libby Weitnauer: violin

Wrack my Brain

(Is this a country song, a tongue-in-cheek 

take on one, or both?)

Ever since you walked out that door

I pace the room and walk the floor

You must know I’m still looking for

A reason

With all the promises we made

You said your love would never fade

And I never thought that you would trade

In treason

CHORUS

I wrack my brain

Since you’ve been gone—with thinking

I feel my gray cells turning black and blue

To ease the pain

I take a drink—and keep on drinking

But drinking gets me thinking

About you

We both signed on that dotted line

Swore I’d be yours and you’d be mine

Our two lives would be entwined

Together

Remember that you said I do

For better or worse you would be true

You’d stay with me, I’d stay with you

Forever

REPEAT CHORUS

Good and bad times we’ve been through

Read the vows again and you

Will see that it would be a sin for you

To leave me

Now you complain that I’m untrue

I know I’ve had a fling or two

But my heart always stayed with you

Believe me

REPEAT CHORUS            

Every anniversary

You’re sure to get a card from me

You have my word, my guarantee

Be grateful

I tell the world how cute you look

You know I like the way you cook

We swore upon the holy book

Be faithful 

REPEAT CHORUS 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Dan Keegan: drums

Karl Allweier: bass & lead guitar

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

A Guy I Used to Know

(A song about a guy I used to know. 

Subtitled “the antimetabole song”)

I often get to feeling blue

It doesn’t matter what I do

What I do just doesn’t matter

My thoughts like frighted birds have scattered

So shattered and deferred, my dreams

Are benighted, all for naught, it seems

And I haven’t got a clue

Why I get to feeling blue

 I’ve squandered opportunities

And countless days I failed to seize

Yes, I failed to seize so many days

Neglected in oh so many ways

So many days lost to neglect

I’ve even lost my self-respect

The reason why? Don’t ask me, please, 

I‘ve squandered opportunities.

I built myself a wall so high

It blocked the sun out of the sky

Yes, from the sky I blocked the sun

Sent the clear skies on the run

It’s on the run clear skies have gone

I’ve only darkness with the dawn

I just don’t know the reason why

I built myself a wall so high.

I dug myself a hole so deep

I could drown in the tears I’d weep

It’s in those tears that I could drown

As I go down deep and deeper down

You know, the deeper down I go

The less and less it is I know

Just why in the world I should keep

Digging in that hole so deep.

I dug my heels in, held a grudge,

Steadfast and stubborn, wouldn’t budge

Wouldn’t budge, stood steadfast,

A captain strapped to his own mast

My road to ruin precisely mapped

I am in my own ambush trapped

And I must be the last to judge

Why I held on to a grudge.

I let my head be filled with pride

I should have felt ashamed inside

What I should have felt was shame

I have only myself to blame

Yes I can only blame myself

For a tiny trophy on a dusty shelf

Why was I so self-satisfied

To let my head swell up with pride?

I went down that road feeling bad

To shake the blues that made me sad

You know I had to shake those blues

And negativity refuse.

I had to lose the negative

Take from the road what it had to give

Feeling good myself, now I’m so glad

I went down that road feeling bad.

Still, I often get to feeling blue,

It doesn’t matter what I do

No, what I do just doesn’t matter

My thoughts like frighted birds have scattered

So shattered and deferred, my dreams

Are benighted, all for naught, it seems

And I haven’t got a clue

Why I get to feeling blue 

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Dan Keegan: drums

John Ross: bass

Dan Nosheny: accordion

Libby Weitnauer: violin

They Said They Said 

(The initial idea for this one came from a 

passage early on in Knut Hamsun’s novel,

Hunger. My apologies to the Beatles for the title)

Come on down for a hanging,

They’re clean and don’t take long.

Come on down for a hanging, 

Bring a friend along.

I went down to get one,

The line was too damn long.

Sign said no left turn,

Detour to the right.

Sign said no left turn,

There was nothing else in sight.

I’m looking at a dead end 

After riding through the night.

Tell me that you love me,

You know I love you so.

She said, tell me that you love me,

I’ll never let you go.

Ah, what I know now, 

Then I didn’t know.

They said it was the greatest deal,

Deal of the century,

They said it was the greatest deal,

And they offered it to me! 

I paid that low, low, discount price,

Can’t afford the fee.

Won a ticket at the carnival, 

Signed by Lady Luck,

She said come back tomorrow

Collect your hundred bucks.

Returned next day to cash it,

Carny’s all hauled off in trucks.

They said it was a sure thing,

The favorite would place,

They said it was a sure thing, 

My horse would win the race.

I put my money down,

Now it’s gone without a trace. 

They said it would be easy cash,

A simple robbery.

Our pockets full of easy cash,

We’d get away scot-free.

Well, you can read all about it

In my prison diary.

My teachers taught me well,

Showed me the way.

Taught me what to think, 

Told me what to say.

Now those emperors

Stand naked on display.

Yes, they taught me to believe

In invisible entities, 

Said I could converse with them

If I got down on my knees.

Now what was never living

Can never truly find decease.

I thought that I was dreaming,

But that was just a dream,

Then I dreamt that I was dreaming,

But that was just another dream.

Now I know that sometimes

Things are just the way they seem.

Yeah, come on down for a hanging,

They’re clean and don’t take long,

Come on down for a hanging,

Bring a friend along. 

I went down to get one,

The line was too damn long.            

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

John Ross: keyboards

Shekomeko Flow

(About the history and geography of the 

local area where I live. The Shekomeko Creek 

flows through the woods behind my house.)

Went from Pine Plains up to Gallatin

Stopped at Patchin Mill 

Walked on on Silvernails 

Up to the Jansen kill

That flows down from Ancram

Where they forged the mighty chain

That stretched across the Hudson

Against a tyrant’s reign

CHORUS

As I walk I think about

How time moves on apace

And then time itself turns about

To times that even time cannot erase

Flow Shekomeko

Shekomeko flow

I passed the place, the native home 

Near where the last Mahican stood

Stood still awhile, all alone

And followed a deer trail through the wood

Down to where the water flows

As clearly now as it did then

Listened to what the water knows

Of time, and times, and time again

REPEAT CHORUS

Back to the days before the mill

Before the forge, before the chain

Icebound Jansen never walked 

Beside the kill that bears his name 

But Manessah practiced medicine

And if I listen I can hear

And feel its healing regimen

In the flowing stream that still ruins clear 

REPEAT CHORUS

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: bass & dobro

Dan Keegan: drums & percussion

Thanks to

Special thanks to and John Ross and Karl Allweier, and to the Rhinebeck School of Music.

This record is dedicated in memory of my sister, Laura Cavicchi, and my brother, Jimmy Scanlon, and to the future for my grandchildren, Aidan, Annie, & Eliza.

Thank you to my children, Alison, Lindsay, Maura, & Kaitlin, and to Mary-Grace

Where the Heron Hides

1. Turning Yet                                                   (3:52)
2. Where the Heron Hides                                 (3:43)
3. Another Day on this Side of the Ground       (3:54)
4. Something More                                            (4:50)
5. What Kind of Truce Requires Defeat?           (3:09)
6. Time and Time Again                                    (5:15)
7. Turnaround                                                   (3:59)
8. Across the Great Divide                                (3:50)
9. Spring Wind                                                  (3:12)
10.  First-World Problem                                     (3:37)
11. Take Me Home                                              (4:04)
12. Where the Heron Hides reprise                      (4:00)

All songs written by Larry Scanlon, 

except Across the Great Divide, written by Kate Wolf

Recorded, mixed, and produced by John Ross, 

2023, Pine Plains and Red Hook, New York

Design and layout by Lindsay Prezzano

Drawings by Annie Prezzano

Website: larryscanlonmusic.com

Musicians

Karl Allweier: electric and upright bass, drums, mandolin, & lead guitar

Jay Ansill: mandolin & violin

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: dobro, steel guitar, lap steel, & slide bass

Matt Cappy: trumpet & flugelhorn

John Cunningham: organ & piano

MG Gannon: vocals

Dan Keegan: drums & percussion

Dan Nosheny: accordion

John Ross: kick drum

Larry Scanlon: 6 & 12 string guitar & vocals

Arden Yonkers: bass

Turning Yet

(Or turning still, yet turning, or still turning, or turnstileing, or…)

How many streams in the Amazon?

How many tide pools in coastal Maine?

How many stars are wished upon

That Johnny might come home again

How many leaves does the Autumn shed

To fall and collect the morning dew?

How often do we do something instead

Of the very thing we wish to do?

We know what’s done is done, there’s no returning

And we know how seductive is regret

Still, the tides and seasons go on turning

They’re turning still, and they’ll be turning yet

How many waves on the seven seas? 

How many grains in a Sahara dune?

How many long eternities

Does a child hear when we say soon?

How many worlds in outer space?

How much beauty goes unseen?

How many sins could we erase

If we could change what is to what might have been? 

We know what’s done is done, there’s no returning

And we know how seductive is regret

Still, the tides and seasons go on turning

They’re turning still, and they’ll be turning yet

How many streams in the Amazon?

How many tide pools in coastal Maine?

How many stars are wished upon

That Johnny might come home again?

How many worlds in outer space?

How much beauty goes unseen?

How many sins could we erase

If we could change what is to what might have been? 

We know what’s done is done, there’s no returning

And we know how seductive is regret

Still, the tides and seasons go on turning

They’re turning still, and they’ll be turning yet

Larry Scanlon: 6 & 12-string guitars & vocals

Karl Allweier: bass & drums

John Cunningham: piano

Dan Nosheny: accordion

Where the Heron Hides

(about a favorite place, especially in spring when you can watch the birds changing color)

Close to where the heron hides

In Spring when all the world is green

There’s a place where peace abides

A prettier place you’ve never seen

Sunlight edges every line

The Spring against the sky unfolds 

In casual design

The marvel that my eye beholds

I know that I can’t live without it

I also know I think too much about it

When my mind goes from what is to what it means

I want to close the distance in between

There’s no end to the tales we weave

Spun from what we want and what we fear

Imagined worlds of make-believe

Why look for heaven when it’s right here? 

Where we’re standing, here and now

Looking out among the hills of old

Winter’s branch to summer’s bough

And all the finches turning gold 

I know that I can’t live without it

I also know I think too much about it

When my mind goes from what is to what it means

I want to close the distance in between

Close to where the heron hides

In spring when all the world is green

There’s a place where peace abides

A prettier place you’ve never seen

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: upright bass

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: dobro

Jay Ansill: mandolin & violin

Another Day on This Side of the Ground     

(And I hope I, and you, have plenty more of them)

Spoke my mind, was corrected

Lost my way, was misdirected

Called 911, was disconnected

Left me feeling sad, dejected

Returned to school, got suspended

Ran from home, was apprehended 

Went online, was unfriended

All my life’s been unintended

I feel my life’s a static pantomime

Can’t hold on to one thin paradigm

Still I’m happy just to be around

Another day on this side of the ground

Much of what I’ve said’s not what I meant

I’ve seldom been the man I represent

Wherever I go I meet with discontent

All my life’s an accident 

Living mostly unawares

Played solitary musical chairs

I built my castles in the air

Trouble was, they stayed up there

I feel my life’s a static pantomime

Can’t hold on to one thin paradigm

Still I’m happy just to be around

Another day on this side of the ground

All my goals have been elusive

My endeavors not conducive

My mistakes are all-inclusive

My conclusions inconclusive 

Still, my life’s a static pantomime

Can’t hold on to one thin paradigm

Still I’m happy just to be around

Another day on this side of the ground

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: lead guitar

Arden Yonkers: bass

Dan Keegan: drums

John Cunningham: organ

Something More 

We thought our hearts were full before—

The heave, the swell, the ache—but still

Beyond the senses, mind, or will

What once seemed full is something more

Beyond what we may understand

Here and now there is no prior

We’ll embrace a world entire

We go together, hold my hand

Was there a time when sadness reigned

A reservoir collecting pain?

When we might even feel regret

For things that hadn’t happened yet?

The manacles forged in the mind

The hardest ones to leave behind

Cast off the shackles and the chains

Let sorrow in the past remain 

Was there a time when sadness reigned

A reservoir collecting pain?

When we might even feel regret

For things that hadn’t happened yet?

The manacles forged in the mind

The hardest ones to leave behind

Cast off the shackles and the chains

Let sorrow in the past remain 

We thought our hearts were full before—

The heave, the swell, the ache—but still

Beyond the senses, mind, or will

What once seemed full is something more

The past has passed, that was before

Beyond what we may understand 

We go together, hold my hand 

We are circumference, center, core 

We thought our hearts were full before

What once seemed full’s now something more

Larry Scanlon: 12-string guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: upright bass

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

Jay Ansill: violin

Matthew Cappy: trumpet

What Kind of Truce Requires Defeat?

(a husband & wife duet)

I didn’t do what you say I’ve done

If anyone’s guilty, I’m not the one

And I didn’t say what you say I said

Whatever you’re thinking, it’s all in your head

I heard what you said but I know what you meant

Worse than your words it’s your tone I resent

I know that you have to have it your way

Before you start talking, I know what you’ll say

The fighting is over, the wounds have all healed

Why are we standing on this battlefield?

We’ve laid down our weapons and made our retreat

What kind of truce requires defeat?

Now it’s quid pro quo and it’s tit for tat

I say this and you say that

Yeah it’s tit for tat and it’s quid pro quo

Whatever I say, you say it ain’t so 

The fighting is over, the wounds have all healed

Why are we standing on this battlefield?

We’ve laid down our weapons and made our retreat

What kind of truce requires defeat?

The fighting is over, the wounds have all healed

Why are we standing on this battlefield?

We’ve laid down our weapons and made our retreat

What kind of truce requires defeat?

I didn’t say that

Oh yes you did

No I didn’t

Who are you tryin to kid

You’re aways the one

Hey, what about you

Yeah, I’m always guilty

Whatever you do

I didn’t say that

Oh yes you did

No I didn’t

Who are you tryin to kid

You’re aways the one

Hey, what about you

Yeah, I’m always guilty

Whatever you do…

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

MG DeNike Gannon: vocals

Karl Allweier: bass, drums, & lead guitar

John Cunningham: piano

Time and Time Again

(a song about memory--not about the memories themselves but about those things, especially those sensory images that bring us back)

A taste of tea and madeleine

Flowing stream on a mandolin

Fragrant honeysuckle vine

Laundry flapping on the line

Light falling on a wooden floor

Squeak of sand, barefoot shore

A rope of hair, a playground swing

A song that Paul or Ronnie sings

They say you can’t go home again

All you can do is remember when

Sometimes when you’re unaware

Senses take you right back there

Yes sometimes in no time at all

I’m right back where I was then

It happens time and time again

Graffiti on a subway wall

Droning voice in a lecture hall

Woolen glove with crusted snow

Tang, the taste of sourdough

Whiff of woodsmoke on the air

Motion of a rocking chair

Shadow’s shape, a puzzle piece

A photo on the mantlepiece.

They say you can’t go home again

All you can do is remember when

Sometimes when you’re unaware

Senses take you right back there

Yes sometimes in no time at all

I’m back there where I was then

It happens time and time again

Taste of tea and madeleine

Flowing stream on a mandolin

Fragrant honeysuckle vine

Laundry flapping on the line

Light falling on a wooden floor

Squeak of sand, barefoot shore

A rope of hair, a playground swing

Hearing Sam or Dusty sing 

Graffiti on a subway wall

Droning voice in a lecture hall

Woolen glove with crusted snow

Tang, the taste of sourdough

Whiff of woodsmoke on the air

Motion of a rocking chair

Shadow’s shape, a puzzle piece

A photo on the mantlepiece

Pattern on a Persian rug

Flashing of a lightning bug

Shooting star across the sky

The winking of a firefly

Slant of light late afternoon

Minor chord in a lonesome tune

Smell of salt sea on the breeze

Someone saying “dungarees”

A robin’s nest, a skein of thread

Blackbird wing, flash of red

Flash of red, a blackbird wing

The morning song the robin sings

An old book with yellow leaves

Snowmelt dripping from the eaves

A pile of baby building blocks

A look in my old tackle box

Crumbs of Sunday coffee cake

At my feet a garter snake

A somber dim-lit vestibule

Grandfather’s metal box of tools

Taste of tea and madeleine

Flowing stream on a mandolin

Fragrant honeysuckle vine…

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: upright bass

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

Jay Ansill: violin & mandolin

Turnaround

(about leaving the city for new life)

No room to breathe in the backyard

Trash and fumes out in the street

Voices whisper that the leaving’s not so hard

Can’t get the message to my feet

The same steps seem to rise on up to meet them

Every morning as they bring me down

To scuffle for a place upon the platform

Amidst the swarming crowd and roaring sound

I think I’ll turn around

Cause here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it

Take that chance, I’m gonna make it

Yeah here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it 

Turn my world around

Chainlink sirens pavement window-bars

I feel like I’ve been living underground

Take me where the night reveals the bright stars

And I can walk in silence on the ground

I think I’ll turn around

Cause here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it

Take that chance, I’m gonna make it

Yeah here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it 

Turn my world around

I’ll put all of this behind me 

This incandescent concrete battleground

Come on down here tomorrow you won’t find me

It’s time to go, time to leave this town

I think I’ll turn around

Cause here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it

Take that chance, I’m gonna make it

Yeah here’s my chance, I’m gonna take it 

Turn my world around

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: bass, drums, lead guitar, & mandolin

John Cunningham, piano

Across the Great Divide

(Kate Wolf)

(A wonderful and beautiful song from the fine singer and songwriter, Kate Wolf)

I’ve been walking, in my sleep

Counting troubles instead of counting sheep.

Where the years went, I can’t say,

I just turned around and they’ve gone away.

And I’ve been sifting through the layers

Of dusty books and faded papers.

They tell a story I used to know,

One that happened so long ago.

It’s gone away, yesterday,

And I find myself on the mountainside,

Where the rivers change direction

Across the great divide.

Now I heard that hoot owl calling

Out my name as the night was falling

With a question, and I replied,

But it’s gone across the borderline.

It’s gone away, yesterday,

And I find myself on the mountainside,

Where the rivers change direction

Across the great divide.

The finest hour that I’ve seen

Is the one that comes in between

The edge of night and the break of day

When the darkness rolls away. 

It’s gone away, yesterday,

And I find myself on the mountainside,

Where the rivers change direction

Across the great divide.

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: lap steel & slide bass

Jay Ansill: violin, & mandolin 

Spring Wind     

(Inspired by the emerging spring, with a nod to “To the Thawing Wind,” an early poem by Robert Frost)    

O spring wind 

Come on in                                                                 

Blow my business to the floor            

Let me go                                                                                

Where the wind has been

Send me out the door

Put the blue sky

Over my head

Wind blow through my hair

I heard what 

Obligation said

Right now it’s hard to care

O Spring wind

Come on in

Through the doorway

Step outside

Time to seize the day

Hear birdsong

Amplified

Send me on my way

Walk about

Look around

So very much to see

Sun on the rise

Moon goes down

Shake it, Sugaree 

O Spring wind 

Be my friend

All around

There’s rise and fall

Every valley, every hill

Think about

Nothing at all

Road leads where it will 

Spring wind    

Come on in                                                                 

Blow my business to the floor            

Let me go                                                                                

Where the wind has been

Send me out the door

Come on, wind

Blow and blow and blow again

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: upright bass & mandolin

Matthew Cappy: trumpet

John Ross: kick drum

First-World Problem

(a true story, except perhaps for the charango, which conveniently rhymes with tango)

They say Mount Fuji rises through the clouds

I couldn’t see it, covered with a shroud

Napali sands scorched my feet like coals

I left that burning beach with leather soles

On a dirtroad somewhere north of Saskatoon

I got lost, heard howling at the moon

In the Escalante desert what should appear

But a sign that said You Could Die Out Here!

Those travel guides can’t tell you everything

There’s nothing like the wall at Jinshaling

No matter what those travel guides don’t say

I’ve gone and bought my tickets anyway

Highland hiking on the Isle of Skye

Those swarming midges made me want to cry

With my Buenos Aires meal I watched a tango

My mistake – I ordered a charango

Those travel guides can’t tell you everything

There’s nothing like the wall at Jinshaling

No matter what those travel guides don’t say

I’ve gone and bought my tickets anyway

Where three roads meet near Thebes I asked the Sphinx

Which way? She wouldn’t tell me what she thinks

And then, when I thought I’d seen it all

I watched them skiing in the Dubai mall. 

Those travel guides can’t tell you everything

There’s nothing like the wall at Jinshaling

No matter what those travel guides don’t say

I’ve gone and bought my tickets anyway

Frommer, Forbes, Rick Steeves, LP, DK

My bags are packed, I’m travelling today.

Larry Scanlon: 12-string guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: lead guitar

MG DeNike Gannon: vocals

Arden Yonkers: bass

Dan Keegan: drums

Dan Nosheny: accordion

John Cunningham: piano

Take Me Home

(a winter lovestory)

Folks are laughing in the bars                        

Some are cruisin in their cars                                      

Smokin their cigars                                                                

Sipping champagne with caviar                                 

Let’s watch the gently falling snow

There is no place we need to go                     

Tonight                                                           

I’ll take you home                                                       

We could be watching moviestars     

In comedies and film noirs

Or travelling to places far

From Amsterdam to Zanzibar

In your eyes I see the fireglow

There is no place we need to go 

Tonight

I’ll take you home

Snowfall is covering the car

There’s whiskey in the jar

A fiddle and guitar

We’re fine right where we are 

We’ll watch the gently falling snow

There is no place we need to go                     

Tonight                                                           

I’ll take you home

In your eyes I see the fireglow

That’s really all I need to know

Tonight

Now take me home

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Arden Yonkers: bass

Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner: steel guitar

Jay Ansill: violin & mandolin

Where the Heron Hides reprise

(a faster, more rollicking version)

Close to where the heron hides

In Spring when all the world is green

There’s a place where peace abides

A prettier place you’ve never seen

Sunlight edges every line

The Spring against the sky unfolds 

In casual design

The marvel that my eye beholds

I know that I can’t live without it

I also know I think too much about it

When my mind goes from what is to what it means

I want to close the distance in between

There’s no end to the tales we weave

Spun from what we want and what we fear

Imagined worlds of make-believe

Why look for heaven when it’s right here? 

Where we’re standing, here and now

Looking out among the hills of old

Winter’s branch to summer’s bough

And all the finches turning gold 

I know that I can’t live without it

I also know I think too much about it

When my mind goes from what is to what it means

I want to close the distance in between

Close to where the heron hides

In spring when all the world is green

There’s a place where peace abides

A prettier place you’ve never seen

Larry Scanlon: guitar & vocals

Karl Allweier: bass, drums, mandolin, & lead guitar

John Cunningham: piano

Thanks to

This record is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Ed Weston, and to the future for my grandchildren: Aidan, Annie, Eliza, and Hazel.

Thank you to John Ross and Karl Allweier for your encouragement, support, and friendship—and for your music!

Thank you to the amazing musicians who played on this record: Karl Allweier, Jay Ansill, Mike ‘Slo-Mo’ Brenner, Matt Cappy, John Cunningham, Dan Keegan, Dan Nosheny, John Ross, and Arden Yonkers.

For inspiration, guidance, and support, I thank Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Don Richmond, Ambro River, Maggie Rothwell, Linda ‘Shibes’ Schaible, and Andrea Stolpe. I also thank the Rhinebeck School of Music, the Black Snake Brewery, the Cider Brothers Roadhouse, the Egremont Barn, and my friends at the Casa de Musica Songwriting Workshop. And again, a loving thank-you to my children, Alison, Lindsay, Maura, and Kaitlin, and to Mary-Grace.