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Last Days of Summer 4:000:00/4:00
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Mary's Window 4:230:00/4:23
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Ford Econoline 2:290:00/2:29
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These Days 3:540:00/3:54
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Song of the Exiled 4:230:00/4:23
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Independence Day 4:460:00/4:46
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0:00/3:13
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Requiem 4:080:00/4:08
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Gold Watch and Chain 3:070:00/3:07
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0:00/4:07
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0:00/3:48
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Sixth Avenue 2:560:00/2:56
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Loch Lomond 4:410:00/4:41
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Janie's Waltz 2:520:00/2:52
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0:00/3:52
"Last Days of Summer" artwork, credits and lyrics (scroll down for "Everyday Street")

"Last Days of Summer" left inside
CREDITS
Lucy: acoustic guitar, piano, harmony
Duke Levine: acoustic and electric guitars, baritone electric guitar, National guitar, mandola, mandolin
Mike Rivard: bass
Ben Wittman: drums and percussion, harmonium
Richard Shindell: harmony
John Gorka: harmony
Engineered, mixed and mastered by Chris Rival at Middleville Studio,
North Reading, MA
Ben's drums and harmonium recorded at Wittman Studio, Toronto
Photos: front cover by Beowulf Sheehan
All other photos by Lucy K. and Rick Litvin
CD design by Lucy
Thank you: Rick and Molly Litvin, Steve Lurie, Duke, Mike, Ben and Chris, and all my Patrons
Songs by Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Litvin, ASCAP, administered by BMG, except:
"These Days" by Jackson Browne, Open window Music, ASCAP; "Ford Econoline" by Nanci Griffith, Irving Music, BMI ;
"These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" by Lee Hazlewood, Criterion Music Corp, ASCAP;
"Gold Watch and Chain" by A.P. Carter, APRS, BMI
Follow lucy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter www.lucykaplansky.com
c. 2022 Lucyricky records
LYRICS FOR ORIGINAL SONGS (ALL SONGS BY LUCY KAPLANSKY AND RICK LITVIN)
LAST DAYS OF SUMMER
Last days of summer are coming on fast
Was hoping August wouldn't end, but it never lasts
She’s filling boxes with blankets books and clothes
No longer a child, unafraid ready to go
It’s been 18 years since we fixed up that empty room
Pale yellow walls, pretty white crib, she’d be lying there soon
Then a bigger bed, games of pretend and books and friends
Come September gonna be empty again
CHORUS:
After 18 years, how can it be just one week more
Till we carry those boxes to her new room on the seventh floor
Across from the park where she played pretend, climbed and dreamed
Where she flew high on the swings
Now she’s gonna fly on her own wings
No longer pretending with her brand new dreams
I remember the day I told my mom I wanna sing
She said don’t be be a fool for a little girl dream
So I packed my things, looked back once, never did again
Afraid and defiant, was just 18 then
I know she’ll come back but never always again
That’s just as it should be and how it’s ever been
But I’ll miss that girl in her room, safe and mine
Life is a circle strewn with goodbyes
CHORUS:
After 18 years, how can it be just one week more
Till we carry those boxes to her new room on the seventh floor
Across from the park where she played pretend, climbed and dreamed
Where she flew high on the swings
Now she’s gonna fly on her own wings
No longer pretending with her very own dreams
Just down the street and a million miles away
Hope her bed is soft enough, hope at night she’s not afraid
And I hope her friends will be caring and kind
She’s gonna make her choices just as I made mine
Last days of summer are coming on fast
Was hoping august wouldn’t end but it never lasts
Come September we’ll be two no longer three
Back where we started, back around that circle darling, you and me
MARY’S WINDOW
Mary’s looking out at the empty streets of her town
February morning, rain's falling down
She’s missing the greetings and small talk there
At the library, grocery store, village square
Has the baby started crawling, I like your hair that way
How’s your mother feeling, sure is cold out today
That quiet cadence, the refrain of a town
With the cashier, manager, librarian
The sound of goodwill, kindness and care
And Mary knows she’ll always belong there
CHORUS:
But now this country of hers has been ravaged and cleaved
By all this sickness and hatred and bigotry
Fueled by the lies of the fools who would lead
Lies told for power malice and greed
But this old woman's seen troubled times before
When the people rose up to shine a light once more
So in spite of her fears she’d play her part again
Band together with young and old, women and men
And on the third of November she stood in that line
With the manager, cashier, librarian beside
CHORUS:
And their voices of good will a mighty sound made
And the cadence of towns was a nation’s refrain
And truth and hope drowned out lies and hate
From cities to farms, from oceans to lakes
And then from deepest Georgia that same refrain
And then a man of good will and kindness and care
Placed a hand on a bible and the other in the air
And that cadence infused every word he did say
And a nation heard and rejoiced that day
They'd put differences aside
Reach out to each other
Lend a hand when it’s needed
To their sisters and brothers
Return to the hard work of trying to be
The people and the nation they still could be
Still could be
Mary’s looking out at the rain coming down
But it’s a rain of renewal washing over them now
She’s knitting a hat for that baby in town
That pretty cashier’s baby, it won’t be long now
Till she can hand it to her mother over in town
Oh the goodness of people can’t be put down
It just keeps on,
The sound of kindness
It just keeps on
Can’t be silenced
It just keeps on
SONG OF THE EXILED
New york 1995
By the Highline way downtown
The trains up there made this city run
Giuliani’s gonna tear it all down
It was cold so I grabbed a yellow cab
Driver was a tiny old man
Leather jacket, newsboy cap
Pall mall smoking on the dash
A motorcycle went flying by
He said he’s crazy it’s too cold to ride
I used to be crazy, I raced bikes
in Hungary in ’35
Must have broken every bone
Even broke some twice
We shared a smile and I said
You’re lucky you’re alive
Then his smile disappeared
Like the fading of a light
I was in the camps you know
Just a few of us survived
Lucky to be alive
CHORUS:
I’ve seen New York’s treasures celebrated and renowned
And also those not made of stone or steel
The stories of my town
Like the song of the exiled, the men who drive the cabs
As they live the story of our city and the promise of our flag
I grabbed a taxi the other day
I said Newark terminal C
Driver had a Chinese name
In broken English said to me
You musician, I said yes I am
He said my son plays violin
I said where in China are you from
And how’s this country been ?
He said I come from Chongqing
I’ve been here 15 years
I was a miner there and very poor
I am lucky to be here
My son he studies hard in school
He’ll get a Phd
Or maybe be a doctor
He won’t drive a cab like me
Won’t drive a cab like me
CHORUS
We’re passing by the Highline
You know it never was torn down
Now there’s acres of shimmering glass and steel
Another jewel in the city’s crown
I think about my forbearers
My Chinese daughter too
Amazed that I’m so lucky
Get to live the life I do
Get to live the life I do
I cannot share my luck with him
So I smile and thank him again
He drives off to the taxi line
With the other exiled men
To make this city run again
INDEPENDENCE DAY
I’ve been obligated to another soiree in that bland suburban town
There’s the prince with his loyal subjects, everybody’s drinking bowing down
Now he’s bear hugging that tedious cousin while looking right past me
‘Cause I didn’t like the way he spoke to me back in 2013
And per usual like I’m invisible or dead the festivities proceed
I watch him vilify me sotto voce while they nod empathetically
Treading so carefully for fear of his legendary rage
And I’m the one that’s sacrificed that’s fine, it’s all okay
For years I bought the myth of the happy family
But it’s a house of venom, lies and complicity
CHORUS:
This is where it ends, this is where it ends
Not setting foot in that house again
This is where it ends
I always did as I was told, took the blows, never did let on
So well behaved watched what I’d say like nothing could be wrong
Such a worthless expertise you twist and strangle all the time
Walking around with two black eyes like everything is fine
Always polite, never fight
Till one day I started to ignite
Like a supernova gonna burn that house down
CHORUS
We can’t choose how we come into this world
But we can choose who we're gonna be and what we're gonna be
Another summons to a family affair this time fourth of July
I’ve been invited to appear but I’ve resolutely declined
I’ve made my own family, people who I want to see
We practice kindness and loyalty and love and care and honesty
Gonna watch the fireworks here today
It’s my world now and here I’ll stay
It’s independence day
CHORUS
REQUIEM
I’m driving back to that seaside town, first time since you’ve gone
We used to drive up here together singing Beatles songs
Snow is falling, John Lennon’s singing hide your love away
I turn it off, don’t want to hear John’s lonely words today
In town I see you everywhere and then you slip away
Like the colors that you took with you when you left that day
Now you’re laughing telling stories near that little shack on the pier
But it’s boarded up, I turn away from there
CHORUS:
I used to believe in so many things
And that love is stronger than anything
You left in darkest winter, didn’t think that it would end
And we must stay without you, can spring ever come again
Then here along this snowy beach road, desolate and grey
The first bluebells, blue like your eyes, greet me today
I’m back here at the beach and you’re laughing in the waves
Oh to be back there now when I thought I could keep you safe
Then the sun goes down and here they are the colors you stole away
In the blue green sea your laughter in the crimson sun your face
In a thousand years you’ll still be here, in these clouds this sand, this sky these waves
CHORUS
The stars cascade above me on the road as i drive home
Paul comes on singing Yesterday and I try to sing along
In a thousand years I won’t be here, just this broken hearted song
And though my love was not enough to keep you here for very long
I know that you can hear me cause my love is just that strong
My love is just that strong
ELMHURST QUEENS MOTHER’S DAY
Sun is coming up over the bay
Everywhere everything has changed
The only sound is wind in the trees, New York City’s far from me
Sun is coming up over the bay
Friends back home tell me nothing is the same
That city symphony just stopped that day
The crowds, the life, the energy
Are just sirens now through empty streets
My silenced hurting city far away
These days there is no work for me
And I don’t know if there will ever be
As remote lives keep moving on, I sit down to write this song
In this refuge from that storm far away
CHORUS:
And It’s far away, far from me, far away from me
Then I read about a nurse’s day in Queens
In cotton scrubs she is the infantry
Trenches painted in fluorescent light
Weaponless soldiers in the fight
I read about a nurse’s day in Queens
She’s wearing the only mask that she can find
She knows that they will all get sick in time
She’s telling the writer all the things they need, with the president lying on tv
Her oath was not for her family to die
Endless lines of those who won’t be saved
Dying in plastic chairs as they wait
When she gets home won’t hug her kids
Writes her will like her friends all did
Falls asleep in her living room chair again
I’m making dinner, sun is going down
Sun will be setting over New York town
They’ll be cheering soon on my empty street
A brief reprise of that symphony
In the city where I became a wife
Where my mother was born, where I’ve made my life
And though i wont be there to cheer along
Oh I can sing this song
For that nurse, and for my city, my home

"Last Days of Summer" right inside

"Last Days of Summer" CD back cover
"Everyday Street" artwork, credits and lyrics

"Everyday Street" CD cover

"Everyday Street" back cover

"Everyday Street" left inside

"Everyday Street" right inside