Get all 7 Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Silent Nights Guitar Collection album/songbook, Hippie Hair (for the First Time), Till I'm Alone with You, Live and Listening, Almost There, Stop, Drop, and Roll, and Humming My Way Back Home.
1. |
Stop, Drop, and Roll
03:32
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Because the spark falls
The wires are crossing
And the heat is thick
Your mind is tossing
You’re alone, awake
A figure on the fray
Because the smoke rolls
A slow train coming
And you can’t recall
When you left home and
In the room the lines
Are blurring into gray
One small window swollen tight
Can’t crack open to the night
You feel the singe, the choking air
No more wondering when or where
You’ve got to stop, drop, and roll
That’s all
Because the flame licks
The paint is peeling
And you can’t escape
The headlong feeling
Of the tick, the tock
The chances slipping away
Because you bang and bang
And bang your fist
Against the wall and still
The hard resistance
And there’s not a dent
You can make today
One small window, can’t jump down
Too far distant from solid ground
You feel the singe, the choking air
No more wondering when or where
You’ve got to stop, drop, and roll
That’s all
Because the spark falls
The wires are crossing
And the flame licks
Your mind is tossing
And the tick, the tock
The chances slipping away
Because you give until
There is no giving
And you lose the life
Inside the living
And there’s not a shred
Of reason to delay
One small break and you roll on through
You choose the exit that chooses you
When you do the thing you do not dare
You find yourself in the clearing air
You just stop, drop, and roll
That’s all
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2. |
Packing On
03:29
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Got a long thin shadow on an empty road
Got the morning light and a heavy load
Can’t say for certain just where I’m bound
Got to lose direction until I’m found
I’m packing all I know is true
I’m doing all I got to do
Got a long time coming and a long time gone
I’m no king but I ain’t no pawn
Got a heap of troubles I can’t explain
Got to keep on walking through the wind and rain
I’m packing all I know is true
I’m doing all I know to do
Got a young girl growing and calling my name
Got a young boy leaping into every frame
Got a friend for jamming a song or two
Got a simple gift I want to share with you
This is all I know is true
I’m giving all I got for you
I’m packing on
Packing on
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3. |
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Unknown, unsaid
Untied, unfed
Unseen flicker on the sea
No stars, no storm
This night still warm
Undone, bending on my knee
Take me in your arms, possibility
Take me in
Take me as you see
One match, one stone
No one alone
No one is speaking silently
Too late to sleep
I’m in too deep
Hear my still, small plea
Take me in your arms, possibility
Take me as I am
Falling short, longingly
Break another day
Blaze another tree
Take me in
Take me as you see
God only knows where I’ve been to by now
God only knows if there is a plan
Only a seeker of the one true call
Stumbling on somehow
Repeat second chorus
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4. |
The Day After Yesterday
04:02
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The day after yesterday I lost my luck
Sped right off in an old milk truck
Oh I heard it clinking away
The sky was yellow and the sun was black
Rise or set—I can’t keep track sometimes
It’s been a very big day
The ladders climbed, the quarters played
The babies cried, the blue jeans frayed
Crack in the rear view mirror
The final round of truth or dare
The dorky sprout of facial hair
Are closer than they appear
On the day after yesterday
The day after yesterday I lost my spot
The line stretched on, the day was shot
Looks like it’s really here to stay
Dropped my nickels and I spun the dial
Let it ring a good long while
Oh I will get an answer someday
In black and white suspended space
The gap-tooth smile, the breathless chase
Wheeling it into town
The ice comes down, the branches gleam
The slipping slope, a child’s dream
Never to touch the ground
On the day after yesterday
The vinyl hour I take a spin
The needle pops again again
Stuck in the Memphis blues
Forever young, forever gray
Forever spun the same old way
Nobody can refuse
The day after yesterday
The day after yesterday and still I find
I fall ahead, I spring behind
Sometimes I just take my time
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5. |
What I Never Said
03:10
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What I never said
How you would reply
Trapped inside my head
Trailing in a sigh
Where we never went
What we would have found
Never to regret
Seeking higher ground
Written in the sand
Just a step away
Follow to the end
What I never say
Trace another route
On the great divide
Linger in the light
Of what we never tried
Written in the sand
All that we have missed
Offering a hand
Opening a fist
This is where we stand
Traveling so far
Letting go instead
Being as we are
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6. |
Sycamore Tree
04:36
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Sycamore sycamore sycamore tree
Sprouted from a tiny seed
Did someone plant you there for me
Sycamore sycamore tree?
On a soft and sunny afternoon
My parents bring me home and soon
They tie a bunch of blue balloons
Right around the sycamore tree
The grass tickles on my feet
When I’m rocking in my bouncy seat
The summer breezes smell so sweet
Blowing by the sycamore tree
I stand right up and fall back down
And search for treasures on the ground
Like the fuzzy seeds lying all around
Underneath the sycamore tree
We roll a snowman up so big
And on his head we make a wig
With a pile of knobby little twigs
Fallen from the sycamore tree
Sycamore sycamore sycamore tree
Sheltering a family
Did someone plant you there for me
Sycamore sycamore tree?
I can see the tree right from my bed
All bony smooth where the bark has shed
The leaves are as big as a daddy’s head
Wise old sycamore tree
In our front yard I kick the ball
But now that space is getting small
Some weeks I don’t go out at all
To run by the sycamore tree
I’m off to high school and one day
To a leafy college far away
But in my dreams I still play
In the shade of the sycamore tree
I move to the city, and then in time
My parents long for more sunshine
I hate to see that “For Sale” sign
On the corner by the sycamore tree
Sycamore sycamore sycamore tree,
Forever in my memory
Did someone plant you there for me
Sycamore sycamore tree?
I’m a husband now and a father too
We drive for miles to catch a view
Of the shady place where I grew
Loving that sycamore tree
There’s a red-haired girl with a lemonade stand
I put three quarters in her hand
So many footprints are on this land
Remembered by the sycamore tree
I sip the juice and the memories
My little boy is on his knees
Stuffing pockets full of fuzzy seeds
Children of the sycamore tree
Each seed is a promise that if you try
If your roots dig deep
And your trunk stands high
Your leaves will stretch and taste the sky
Growing like a sycamore tree
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Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers Syracuse, New York
John Lennon Songwriting Contest grand prize winner and founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
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