Lyrics to The Hard Part of Flying

My Hometown’s Not My Hometown Anymore

There used to be a town here
On your way down to the shore
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
Fast food and stoplights
From Harbortowne to Baltimore
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
Everything seems different
Nothing seems the same
Houses filled with strangers
No one knows my name
I couldn’t wait to leave here
No one could make me stay
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore

Dawson’s is a liquor store
The corner Safeway’s gone
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
A Republican campaign sign’s
On what used to be my lawn
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
Everything not torn down
Has been bought or sold
Every one I knew
Has gotten out or gotten old
I wonder if they settled down
And found their pot of gold
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore

Down at the Legion the boys are older
Even their stories have seen better days
When life was much sweeter, the beer was much colder
And night was for dancing away

There used to be a real town here
But now there’s just a sign
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
On every street I know a story that starts
“Once upon a time…”
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
A pack of kids down at the beach
Just like my friends and me
Counting down the days
Before they’re gonna leave
Twenty years from now
Wonder if they’ll grieve (and say:)
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore
My hometown’s not my hometown anymore

Learning To Fall

Some people tell you they drink to forget
For me, that never was true
I drank to stand up to my problems
Gave me the strength to get through
Then drinking became the problem
Just one big problem to solve
Some people spend their lives learning to fly
I spend mine learning to fall
I’m learning to fall
Learning to fall
The hard part of flying so high
Is learning to fall

I had an angel who soared at my side
Flying too close to the sun
She had a parachute under her wings
I wasn’t carrying one
I was learning to fall
Learning to fall
The hard part of flying so high
Is learning to fall

And you don’t get used to it
It hurts when you fall
You just refuse to quit
Then you get back up, that’s all
Learning to fall
Learning to fall
The hard part of flying so high
Is learning to fall

How Did We Come to This?

Once I was your golden girl
Shining like the sun
Princess in your fairy tale
I was your only one
But tonight you look at me as though
That time did not exist
Tell me now before you go
How did we come to this?

The king and queen of our hometown
The envy of our crowd
They thought that we had staying power
We were faithful, strong, and proud
But time moves on for everyone
Gone like our first kiss
Tell me now before you go
How did we come to this?

Someday maybe I’ll look back
And this will all seem clear
I won’t need a map to tell me
How we got from there to here

We knelt down at the altar
In front of our best friends
We swore we’d stand together
Until the bitter end
Well the end is surely bitter,
But let’s not reminisce
Tell me now before you go
How did we come to this?
Tell me now I wanna know
How did we come to this?
Tell me if you even know
How did we come to this?

When I Was The King

When I was the king
It was just for one moment
But I stood on the top of the world
And I bowed down to no one
You shoulda seen me stretchin’ my wings
When I was the king

Cause when I was the king
I climbed from the bottom
And I left good friends behind
But I never forgot ’em
I still remembered everything
When I was the king

When I was the king
I never took it for granted
Cause I know what it feels like
To end up emptyhanded
I loved the whole damn thing
When I was the king

When I was the king
I wasn’t like Elvis Presley
I wasn’t cool to a fault
Money did not impress me
I aimed straight for the moon
And I walked with the angels
Did the best I was able
When I was the king
I could do almost anything
When I was the king
Man, you shoulda heard me sing
When I was the king

Ghosts In This Room Tonight

There are ghosts in this room tonight
Haunting every word I say
There are ghosts in this room tonight
Friends we lost along the way
They never left me; they’re still by my side
You just can’t see them cause they’re painfully shy
There are ghosts in this room tonight
Haunting every word I sing

There are ghosts in this room tonight
Haunting every word I speak
Every thought, every mannerism,
Everything that makes me “me”
I owe a debt I can never repay
But you can bet I’m gonna try to anyway
There are ghosts in this room tonight
Haunting every word I sing

There’s a ghost in this room tonight
Haunting every note I play
Even if I wanted to
I couldn’t make him go away
He’s such a part of me
After all these years
I look for his applause
And hold back my tears
There’s a ghost in this room tonight
Haunting every word I sing
There are ghosts in this room tonight
Haunting every word I sing

Drunk In Baltimore

I don’t know where I’m going
Or what I’m looking for
Or how I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore

Maybe it was that bottle
Joe Dean cracked across my head
That left me lying in my own blood
On that barroom floor half dead

Or maybe it was those yellow pills
I took on Johnny’s boat
That left these holes inside my brain
Like a moth in a winter coat

I don’t know where I’m going
Or what I’m looking for
Or how I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore

Maybe I wrote the answer
On a napkin long ago
And stuck it in that wallet
That I lost in Buffalo

Or maybe it was Cleveland
That’s where they stole my coat
I had something in my pocket
An address and a note

I don’t know where I’m going
Or what I’m looking for
Or how I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore

It might have been my daddy’s job
We moved from year to year
Just when I’d finally make a friend
I’d have to disappear

I watched my house grow smaller
As my daddy drove away
I didn’t need to cry;
It wasn’t my home anyway

I don’t know where I’m going
Or what I’m looking for
Or how I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore

I don’t know where I’m going
Or what I’m looking for
Or how I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore
How I ended up tonight
Drunk in Baltimore
Drunk in Baltimore

She Doesn’t Love Him Anymore

When he looks into her eyes
There’s a reflection of everything she sees
He used to see a hero
Somebody strong, fighting to be free
But sometimes strong can turn to stubborn
And freedom’s not so romantic when you’re poor
When he looks into her eyes
He can see she doesn’t love him anymore

When he looks into her eyes
He sees a mirror & he’s not liking what he sees
A broken kind of man
Who never quite turned out the way he thought he’d be
She wishes him the best
She hopes he’ll find what he’s been looking for
When he looks into her eyes
He can see she doesn’t love him anymore

He used to know every word
That could ever cause her pain
Now he can’t even hurt her
Though his words fall down like acid rain

When he looks into the mirror
It’s like he’s using her blue eyes to see
The image that’s reflected is the one
Who broke her heart repeatedly
No matter how he’ll change the angle
He can’t put things back the way they were before
When he looks into the mirror
He can see she doesn’t love him anymore
When he looks into her eyes
He can see she doesn’t love him anymore

Doin’ Time

Your daddy was your grandma’s pride and joy
An average All American college boy
One dark night he stepped across a line
Now he’s just another prisoner doin’ time

Just like you, son, he was strong and free
What happened to him mighta happened to me
They say he coulda been anything he pleased
A heavyweight contender, maybe cure disease
He’s doin’ time, he’s doin’ time
Just another prisoner doin’ time
One more lost soul on the line
Just another prisoner doin’ time

When your daddy and I were about your age
We drove around town in a purple haze
Three parts joy, 2 parts rage
Now he spends his life locked in a cage
He’s doin’ time, he’s doin’ time
Just another prisoner doin’ time
One more lost soul on the line
Just another prisoner doin’ time

Every day’s just like the last
A good day’s one that goes by fast
Every moment seems the same
Every hope becomes a chain

I see your dad in the way you laugh
And the way you walk the unbeaten path
I see his demons in there too
Don’t let them get the best of you

He’s doin’ time, he’s doin’ time
Just another prisoner doin’ time
One more lost soul down the line
Just another prisoner doin’ time
Doin’ time
Doin’ time

I’m Not Singing For You

I’m not singing for you
If you’ve never been lonely
I’m not singing for you
If you’ve never been blue
If you’ve never been sad
If you’ve never had love go bad
I confess it’s true
I’m not singing for you

This song’s for everyone
Who feels lost and forgotten
This song’s for everyone
Whose dreams don’t come true
If you’ve never been hurt
If you’ve never been treated like dirt
I confess it’s true
I’m not singing for you

Oh I might have sung one or two songs about you
I might even have made fun of you once in a while

If you believe
That money is all that matters
If you measure your happiness
By what you accrue
If you’ve never been hurt
If you’ve never been treated like dirt
I confess it’s true
I’m not singing for you

No if you’ve never been sad
If you’ve never had love go bad
I confess it’s true
I’m not singing for you

(Down at the) Anchor Inn

I went down to the Anchor Inn
With my friends Waldo and Lee
The three of us were landscrapers
At Arundel Nursery
I’d been hanging out with Lee
Since we were both about sixteen
But Waldo he was different
He came from Glen Burnie
We went down to the Anchor Inn
To see our friend Don Marvel’s band
He was the drummer and I remember
A lot of Zeppelin

We were Rockin’
We were Rollin’
We were Rockin’
Just crazy young kids!
We were Rollin’
We went down to the Anchor Inn
To see our friend Don Marvel’s band
The first time I ever heard “La Grange”
Was down at the Anchor Inn

Now the Anchor Inn
Was not really a place for Lee and me
The Pagans still hung out there
You know, the Hells Angels of the East
But I was chasin’ Nikki
And Lee was chasin’ beer
And we found them both at the Anchor Inn
So it seemed like a good idea
We were doin’ fine till Waldo
Asked a Pagan chick to dance
When she said “No” then Waldo said:
“Pagan slut…
Kiss my ass”

‘n we were Rockin’
‘n we were Rollin’
We were Rockin’
Just cra-azy kids!
We were Rollin’
We were doin’ fine till Waldo
Asked a Pagan chick to dance
Then my life flashed before my eyes
Down at the Anchor Inn

We were surrounded by twenty bikers
And we knew we were gonna die
The leader stepped up to Waldo
With murder in his eye
Was that a gun in his jacket pocket?
Was that a knife in his right hand?
But all that Waldo said was:
“Hey, how’s it going, man?”
The next thing that I knew
We were smokin’ dope in the parking lot
And Waldo said: “Come over to my truck!
Lemme show you what else I got”

We were Rockin’
We were Rollin’
We were Rockin’ and Rollin’
‘n Rockin’ and Rollin’ ‘n Rockin’ n’ rollin’
All that Waldo said was:
“Hey, how’s it going, man?”
‘n We were smokin’ dope in his pickup truck
Down at the Anchor Inn

There’s no moral to this story
There’s no moral to this song
That’s not the last time I went
Some place I did not belong
If you go out with a guy like Waldo
To a place like the Anchor Inn
You’re pretty much responsible
For the mess you end up in
Even if you’re chasing Nikki
Even if you’re chasing beer
When Waldo asks a girl to dance,
It’s time to disappear

We were Rockin’
We were Rollin’
We were Rockin’
Just crazy young men!
‘n we were Rollin’
You’re pretty much responsible
For the mess you end up in
If you hang out with a guy like Waldo
Down at the Anchor Inn
You’re pretty much responsible
For the mess you end up in
If you go hanging out with Waldo
Down at the Anchor Inn

Still Got a Little Wild in Me

Used to drive my Maverick at a hundred and ten
Play air guitar with Zeppelin
Drive the wrong way up a one-way street
With an bag of pot under my front seat
Now I drive my kids around to soccer games
And everybody says how much I’ve changed

But I’ve still got a little wild in me
Still got a little wild in me
Most of the time, it’s hard to see
But I’ve still got a little wild in me

I still get stoned when I’m drinking beer,
But I keep it down, so the kids won’t hear
I still go dancing now and then
But I’m home before the talk shows end
In my minivan I cruise the Motor Mile,
While I pump my fist and sing “Born to be Wild”

Cause I’ve still got a little wild in me
Still got a little wild in me
Most of the time, it’s hard to see
But I’ve still got a little wild in me

I might look like a lamb
But that’s not all that I am
There’s a tiger in me
And tonight she breaks free

Cause I’ve still got a little wild in me
Still got a little wild in me
Once in a while, you still can see
That I’ve still got a little wild in me

All songs by Jim Patton published by Independent Alligator Publishing Co. (ASCAP)
All songs by Jeff Talmadge published by Totzien Music (BMI)
All songs by Steve Brooks published by Casa Del Frog Music (BMI)
All songs by Geoffrey Himes published by Red Wheelbarrow Music (BMI)

Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus

"music for those of us who never joined up"

Lyrics to The Hard Part of Flying

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