Lucy Kaplansky

 

 

 CREDITS

Produced by Lucy Kaplansky 
Arranged by Lucy Kaplansky and Duke Levine 
Lucy: acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonies 
Duke: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric baritone guitar, National guitar, mandola, octave mandolin 
Shawn Colvin: harmony on “Old Friends” 
Richard Shindell: harmony on “Keeping Time” 
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Chris Rival, Middleville Studio, North Reading MA, July and August 2018 
Richard Shindell recorded by Greg Anderson, Ojisan, Beacon NY 
Shawn Colvin recorded by Jacob Sciba at Arlyn Studios, Austin TX 
Cover and inside photos by Lucy 
Back cover photo by Beowulf Sheehan 
CD package design by Lucy 
Lucy uses Fishman Transducers 
Duke uses D’Addario Strings and Mad Professor Effects 

All songs by Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Litvin, Lucyricky Music, ASCAP, Administered by BMG EXCEPT: 
Loch Lomond (traditional) 
I Wish it Would Rain (Nanci Griffith, Irving Music) Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen, Sony/ATV Songs 
Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen, Universal Music Publishing Group) 

THANK YOU: Duke Levine for all the years of beautiful playing, friendship and hilarity; Jean Railla; and Adam Bauer, Hailey Phelps, Kylee Phillips, and everyone at Madison House. 
All my love to Rick, Molly and Janie Litvin, and thank you Rick for all your wisdom and for telling me not to over-think this. 

 

LYRICS FOR ORIGINAL SONGS (ALL SONGS BY LUCY KAPLANSKY AND RICHARD LITVIN)

OLD FRIENDS

I’ve got a picture of you and me 
From maybe 1982 
You were 27 
I was almost 22 

We’re singing with somebody 
Who isn't in the frame 
Smiling at each other 
Matching every phrase 

Suspending notes that don't belong 
Seconds and sixths whatever we want 
And it feels like flying 
Always landing somewhere new 
Weaving a shared tapestry 
That’s what you and I do 

I was working the bar at open mike 
The night you came to town 
I’d heard about a girl 
Better than anyone around 

I got up and sang a tune 
While Robbie watched the bar 
Then the whole place got quiet 
For your voice and your guitar 

I remember us sitting on the floor 
Singing every song we knew 
Richard and Linda Thompson 
Gram and Emmylou 

We could tell each other everything 
And we still do 
Keeping our shared secrets 
That’s what good friends do 

And if I’d never met you 
So much I never would have done 
All those gigs you got me 
All those great country songs 
The record we made 
Gave me this path I’m on 
The way you showed all the guys 
A girl could sing and write a song 

And as it sometimes goes 
We went separate ways 
Who was right and who was wrong 
Neither one of us can say 

And it doesn't matter now 
It was so long ago 
Like water under the bridge 
Life flows where it must go 

So here we are in your hotel room 
Singing Gram and Emmylou 
20 years 20,000 roads 
Have brought me back to you 

Older a little wiser 
Than back in 1982 
Sharing a history 
That’s what old friends do 

 

SIXTH AVENUE

Was 10 years ago you were up all night 
I was begging you to sleep 
Sitting up in bed, wouldn’t shut your eyes 
And you’ve still got that over me 

Your first birthday, just your dad and me 
Little face covered in ice cream 
We made a wish for you, blew your candle out 
Thought that baby you’d always be, 
Thought that baby you’d always be 

CHORUS 
Oh was ten years ago 
We’ll turn around and you’ll be grown 
Oh one day you’ll be on your own 
You’re gonna let us go 

There’s a picture, red star on your shirt 
You’re taking your first steps 
I’m behind you, I’m reaching out 
You’re smiling and not looking back 

Many have said you’re an old soul 
Wise beyond your time 
You’ll walk alone for what is right 
You choose kindness every time 

CHORUS 

We always tell you when you’re older 
You say that won’t cut it anymore 
Begging to get a slice with your friends 
Alone with them, your own money to spend 
So I let you cross Sixth Avenue 
Soon the crowd is all I see 
I keep on looking, I can’t let go 
And I know you’re not looking for me Just how it’s supposed to be 

11th birthday’s coming soon 
Me and dad, your friends and you 
When you blow your candles out 
What you wish for it’s up to you 

 

JANIE'S WALTZ

I gaze in wonder as you stir from sleep 
I whisper your name and you come to me 
I kiss your head and breathe you in 
So glad as another day begins 

We head out for a walk on our everyday street 
We can get to the park across Waverly 
But each flower each leaf is calling to you 
Every day I discover the world with you 

CHORUS 
We’ve got nowhere to go and no one to meet 
I’ll follow you wherever you lead 
Oh on our everyday everyday street 

Amazed by a tiny blowing leaf 
You have to chase it and pull away from me 
Snow is left from that storm last week 
So many treasures buried underneath 

A man walks by in a tall fur hat 
You look up at him and you stop in your tracks 
Bravely you approach, keeping close to me 
You just have to find out just what he could be 

CHORUS 

I used to live stuck inside 
Worrying about nothing, watching time go by 
But when we’re walking you and me 
I’m not worried about anything 

Oh a child will grow and a child will leave 
But years from now right here we’ll be 
So glad for another day on our everyday Street 

 

KEEPING TIME

I take walks in the mornings 
When my kid’s gone to school 
I see parents walking children 
Like we used to do 

In the mornings for years 
We headed down that same street 
I’d see you and your strawberry blond family 

I’d see you scruffy and smiling 
After school in the yard 
Or the park on Horatio 
Where the kids played till dark 

Or Sunday morning Little league 
On the chilly Hudson Pier 
Just the movie star father 
Freezing with us in the April air 

In the bright morning sun 
Or late afternoon glow 
We kept time with the rhythms 
Mothers and fathers know 
A February morning 
The news was on 
I froze when I heard your name 
Our neighborhood king was gone 

You'd been chasing the dragon 
Needle still in your skin 
Ace of Spades all around you 
Aces always win 

After 23 years 
The great actor of our day 
After 10 years of fatherhood 
It took you just the same 

For the kill that lies in wait 
Like the cruelest undertow 
Is stronger than all a man builds and loves 
And dreams and knows 

And I’ll see you again 
Up on that screen 
But I’ll remember you best 
On our neighborhood streets 

In your baseball cap and jeans 
Kids and stroller in tow 
Amid the flowers of spring 
Or January snow 
Keeping time with the rhythms 
Mothers and fathers know 

Four winters come and gone 
Spring is here again 
I saw your kids the other day 
An old woman with them 

And a chill went through me 
When I looked into her face 
She was the picture of you 
Just wizened with age 

And all at once I knew 
Something sorrowful and true 
She was walking with them 
Still keeping time with you Cause the rhythms just go on 
And will go on without you 

THIRTY YEARS BEGIN NOW

 

30 years have passed and we’re here again 
In your childhood yard, at childhood’s end 
We the branches we the leaves 
We that remain of our families 

It was over here we planted a tree 
A promise of our life to be 
So we stood beneath an antique quilt 
Our multithreaded canopy 

EE Cummings words were read 
I thank you god for this amazing day 
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees 
Inside behind my eyes I prayed 

CHORUS 
Here we stand again 
On this changing ground 
As 30 years end 
30 years begin now 

Then I sang with the band Embraceable You 
And all the longing of Someday Soon 
And all I’d longed for was coming true 
Down the toughest road I would follow you 

The last song was Ashokan Farewell 
I took off my shoes and danced with you 
To that sad bluegrass melody 
Old things end with something new 

We drove again our open road 
And nothing was the same 
On my hand was your gold ring 
In my heart a promise I’d never break 

CHORUS 

Oh this is living ground 
And only this moment matters now 
And what I feel for you today 
And the spirit of trees 
And the promise I made 

CHORUS 

 

DAY IS DONE

Good night my darling 
And goodbye to the day 
Good night my darling 
And goodbye to the day 
I’m leaving in the morning 
Be gone when you awake 
it hurts you and it hurts me too 
I wish that I could stay 

You want time to keep moving on 
Can’t wait to be all grown 
You want time to keep moving on 
I wish it would all slow down 
Funny how I used to think 
The day would never end 
Now I watch the years go by 
And I can’t get them back again 

CHORUS 
Day is done 
Gone the sun 
But not for long not for long 
Day is done gone the sun 
But not for long my darling one 

I went searching 
For that place where I belong 
I went searching 
Wound up back where I started from 
Should have listened to that voice 
That was in me all along 
Sometimes what you’re looking for 
It isn’t really gone 

Oh my darling now it’s time to say goodbye 
Oh my darling, sometimes I can’t remember why 
There’s just this part of me I lost 
But I got it back again 
I hold it close as I hold you both, 
I hope you understand 

CHORUS 

 

THE TIDE

There are demons in the water 
There are devils in the sea 
There are dangers in the current 
When the tide goes out of me 

I could drink you under the table 
I could drink you out of town 
I could drink you off the planet 
Drink myself into the ground 

CHORUS 

And I have nothing for you tonight 
I have nothing for you tonight 
I have nothing for you tonight 
I have nothing for you 

I was made to be a good girl 
Carried buckets made of stone 
Full of envy, full of sorrow 
On a tightrope all alone 

And all the time I was on fire 
I burned with every stride 
And now I see this anger 
Is the horse I choose to ride 

Now you say you want something nice from me 
Well if you find it, take it, it's on me 
In the meantime don't bother me 
The tide has washed the nice from me 

CHORUS 

In nothing are the voices 
And the pictures of my life 
In the nothing of the sky 
Is an ocean made of light 

In the nothing of my silence 
Is a sad-eyed little girl 
On a tightrope she is singing 
As she passes through this world 

CHORUS