John Rose

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John Rose

He carries a little person
he’s a mess
clothes dirty, five-day beard
but facing forward
is his daughter
seeing what he sees and she’s
a perfect jewel on his chest.

He wonders what he can offer
he feels numb
a scholar philosopher not a father
but when she cries
he smooths her eyebrow
casting a spell
with nothing but his thumb.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Three fingers grab his wrist
two make a gun
she aims at nothing special
till a perfect sleep
engulfs her tiny fears
the sorrow disappears
into the warmth of her cocoon.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Another Breath

Wait for me, wait for me
I didn’t get to say goodbye
I didn’t want to be free

I travel a clear day
while the mountain turns into desert
and the desert stone
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a clear day
my only guide the powerlines and wind and railway.

I travel a straight road
that departs and arrives and departs again
and never wonders
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a straight road
its questions left to cactuses and clouds and thunders.

Chorus
The empty highway stretches
and I see noones’s to blame
the sky is always bigger than my pain
and just beyond the mountains is the rain

I travel so many highways
and each one looks like another
goes just as far
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
I greet so many days
in a new place with a suitcase and guitar.

Chorus

Wait For Me

I’m driving east of Amarillo
headed all the way to Texarkana
and the edges of the towns are pushing back
against the crashing of the sky

I drive for fourteen hours
and arriving get a kiss from a Rosanna
what Texas means to me these days
is mainly just a girl that I passed by

Chorus:
What was the message of that skeptical smile
you showed me from time to time
not that you weren’t happy then to have me stay awhile
but you were fine, just fine

Well I got friends in Conroe and in Dallas
and way down in San Antonio
I been in and out of honky-tonks
in Houston recently

And they tell me I got relatives
in Galveston and maybe
there’s some angel down in Austin
who could use some company

Bridge:
But when I think of Texas
it’s those greasy spoons and truckstops
and the highway east of Amarillo
between that girl and me
the sky that pushes hard against
the silos and the railroads
and the miles and the wishes
that she’s waitin’ patiently

Chorus

Skeptical Smile


Latest Uploads

He carries a little person
he’s a mess
clothes dirty, five-day beard
but facing forward
is his daughter
seeing what he sees and she’s
a perfect jewel on his chest.

He wonders what he can offer
he feels numb
a scholar philosopher not a father
but when she cries
he smooths her eyebrow
casting a spell
with nothing but his thumb.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Three fingers grab his wrist
two make a gun
she aims at nothing special
till a perfect sleep
engulfs her tiny fears
the sorrow disappears
into the warmth of her cocoon.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Another Breath

Wait for me, wait for me
I didn’t get to say goodbye
I didn’t want to be free

I travel a clear day
while the mountain turns into desert
and the desert stone
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a clear day
my only guide the powerlines and wind and railway.

I travel a straight road
that departs and arrives and departs again
and never wonders
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a straight road
its questions left to cactuses and clouds and thunders.

Chorus
The empty highway stretches
and I see noones’s to blame
the sky is always bigger than my pain
and just beyond the mountains is the rain

I travel so many highways
and each one looks like another
goes just as far
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
I greet so many days
in a new place with a suitcase and guitar.

Chorus

Wait For Me

I’m driving east of Amarillo
headed all the way to Texarkana
and the edges of the towns are pushing back
against the crashing of the sky

I drive for fourteen hours
and arriving get a kiss from a Rosanna
what Texas means to me these days
is mainly just a girl that I passed by

Chorus:
What was the message of that skeptical smile
you showed me from time to time
not that you weren’t happy then to have me stay awhile
but you were fine, just fine

Well I got friends in Conroe and in Dallas
and way down in San Antonio
I been in and out of honky-tonks
in Houston recently

And they tell me I got relatives
in Galveston and maybe
there’s some angel down in Austin
who could use some company

Bridge:
But when I think of Texas
it’s those greasy spoons and truckstops
and the highway east of Amarillo
between that girl and me
the sky that pushes hard against
the silos and the railroads
and the miles and the wishes
that she’s waitin’ patiently

Chorus

Skeptical Smile

This song is basically a love letter to Tucson and the years I lived there. Ther...
Play Now

Tucson

The repeated lyric "Who has time?" pictures a child that everyone has lost track...
Play Now

Home

My Uploads

He carries a little person
he’s a mess
clothes dirty, five-day beard
but facing forward
is his daughter
seeing what he sees and she’s
a perfect jewel on his chest.

He wonders what he can offer
he feels numb
a scholar philosopher not a father
but when she cries
he smooths her eyebrow
casting a spell
with nothing but his thumb.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Three fingers grab his wrist
two make a gun
she aims at nothing special
till a perfect sleep
engulfs her tiny fears
the sorrow disappears
into the warmth of her cocoon.

His heart will break
and so he takes
another breath
and feels her breathe along.

Another Breath

Wait for me, wait for me
I didn’t get to say goodbye
I didn’t want to be free

I travel a clear day
while the mountain turns into desert
and the desert stone
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a clear day
my only guide the powerlines and wind and railway.

I travel a straight road
that departs and arrives and departs again
and never wonders
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
a straight road
its questions left to cactuses and clouds and thunders.

Chorus
The empty highway stretches
and I see noones’s to blame
the sky is always bigger than my pain
and just beyond the mountains is the rain

I travel so many highways
and each one looks like another
goes just as far
(please wait for me wherever it is you’ve gone)
I greet so many days
in a new place with a suitcase and guitar.

Chorus

Wait For Me

I’m driving east of Amarillo
headed all the way to Texarkana
and the edges of the towns are pushing back
against the crashing of the sky

I drive for fourteen hours
and arriving get a kiss from a Rosanna
what Texas means to me these days
is mainly just a girl that I passed by

Chorus:
What was the message of that skeptical smile
you showed me from time to time
not that you weren’t happy then to have me stay awhile
but you were fine, just fine

Well I got friends in Conroe and in Dallas
and way down in San Antonio
I been in and out of honky-tonks
in Houston recently

And they tell me I got relatives
in Galveston and maybe
there’s some angel down in Austin
who could use some company

Bridge:
But when I think of Texas
it’s those greasy spoons and truckstops
and the highway east of Amarillo
between that girl and me
the sky that pushes hard against
the silos and the railroads
and the miles and the wishes
that she’s waitin’ patiently

Chorus

Skeptical Smile

This song is basically a love letter to Tucson and the years I lived there. Ther...
Play Now

Tucson

The repeated lyric "Who has time?" pictures a child that everyone has lost track...
Play Now

Home


About Me

Bio

I'm a singer/songwriter with a background in classical music and experimental theater, proud resident of New York's Hudson Valley. I've often been asked at open mics if I had classical training, not really as a compliment, but I'd say my influences are much more folk-rock, along the lines of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, James Taylor, you get the idea. I've also had a practically life-long passion about Kate Bush and the Grateful Dead, and more recently the Milk Carton Kids, so whatever all that does to a songwriter has been done to me. If anybody wants to collaborate I'd love to talk.

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