From the recording Land Of The Living (2001)

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(key of E)
Date of authorship not known other than that it was written on an aforementioned brown paper bag which would date it somewhere between 1997 and Oct. 2000. I remember writing this while working my shift as the cashier at Ramer’s Grocery (a mom & pop store). The words came out of nowhere. I had been intrigued by the phrase “land of the living” for quite a few months and had previously gotten nowhere with the idea. So somewhere between the “distractions” of ringing up and bagging customer’s groceries I managed to squeeze this one in. I grabbed the first thing I could find to write on – a brown paper grocery bag. It’s still in my collection. Humble beginnings…

Lyrics

Land Of The Living

fell out of a slumber
I had seen the dust of my days
and of those meetings
I could easily number

the quiet times are noisy
rankled, cold and unwilling
the dove is holding his branch
and the water, the water is falling

it’s true that you

you’re teaching me new ways of learning
and you’re reaching me through a bridge that I was burning

walked out in anger
I left you standing by a long cold fire
sometimes friends will betray you
but you stayed and you waited

wandered off for hours
even days as I best remember them
I crossed my directions
some matches, the cold and this coward

I’ve never moved a mountain or quenched a thirsty sea
but I have tried crossing rivers under bridges built for me

you’re teaching me new ways of learning
and you’re reaching me through a bridge that I was burning
in the land of the living