Arm In Arm Lyrics & Credits

Steep Canyon Rangers

Michael Ashworth: drums, guitar, banjo, dobro, organ, harmony vocal
Mike Guggino: Mandolin, Mandola, percussion, harmony vocal
Woody Platt: guitar, electric guitar, lead and harmony vocal
Nicky Sanders: fiddle, accordion, harmony vocal
Graham Sharp: banjo, electric banjo, guitar, lead and harmony vocal
Barrett Smith: bass, guitar, lead and harmony vocal

Oliver Wood (slide guitar and vocal tracks 3&8)
Michael Bearden (piano track 8)
Produced by Steep Canyon Rangers and Brandon Bell
Recorded & Mixed by Brandon Bell at Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, TN
Mastered by Chris Boerner at Kitchen Mastering in Carrboro, NC
Cover Art: Painting by Shannon Whitworth
Album Layout / Design: David Hummel

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP)

Chairs turned over on their sides
Worse for the weather round here tonight
So put on your brave heart, put on your thickest skin

It’s a fight to the end

the worst bad habit I fell into
is wanting it all, all the time from you
if I have to ask, I’ll ask for more
Like a beggar at your door
The need is endless but it don’t take much, just
One drop of rain and we’re soft to the touch
Only love could make us so damn tough but
One drop of rain and we’re soft to the touch

mercy’s all I have to share
I’ll bring it to you and I’ll keep it there
in the broken spaces the spirit moves
comes pouring through
i can feel the pain, open me right up
one drop of rain and we’re soft to the touch

So cover me over
and hold me under tonight and tell no lies
I’ll tell no lies

Put your hands on me baby and feel me breathe
There’s a storm raging inside of me
If I shed one tear it’d flood this town
And together we could drown
Hearts grown hard ‘til they turn to dust, but
One drop of rain and we’re soft to the touch

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Andy Buckner/Buzzard Swooping Down Music BMI, J10 Tunes BMI)

Sunny days, they suit you well
You were born to stand in the light of the angels
I know all your places all your fari weather friends
I know that i’ll see when those clouds roll in

Looking for a quiet place
To hide you away

Ch. You stay one step ahead of the storm
Looking for a bed that’s safe and warm
I always find you at my door
One step ahead of the storm

You still got your suitcase
And all your souvenirs
You been dragging it round with you now for all these years

All that you borrowed
And all that you bought
I guess it ain’t living dangerously if you don’t get caught

I”ll put some coffee on
There’s nothing you’ve gotta say

Ch.

Is it too much to hope for that’s you’d be mine
What i wouldn’t give to be with you just one time in the sunshine

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Barret Smith/Barretsong Publishing ASCAP)

Cortez sailed in his boat so brave
But it was too late to trade
His treasure for feathers
As he was sinking down under the waves

The cannons won’t fire, the flag don’t wave no more
shipwrecked Ghosts
Floating like driftwood
Til one bright morning they come washing up on the shore

Ch Don’t tell’em everything thing you know
Let the whole world wonder
When the time is right to give up the gold
hold a little back for the folks back home

Checked out of my room, walked down to the rio grande
fortune teller on the sidewalk
laughing at the way i talk
traced a map upon my hand

Said what’s to be and what might have been
So i Pulled up these chains
Set a course for spanish main
And I’ll be coming back someday, baby, but i don’t know when

ch

Empty handed ‘cept for a sidewalk rose
Hey mama, it ain’t easy
To keep that skillet good and greasy
a pot of coffee on the stove

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Phil Barker/Picket Rick Music BMI)

It’s been said every man has a need to find his glory
tooth and nail his fortune at any cost
but I see it plain in the fields laid out before me
all not gained in honest shall be lost

o the careless way we cast aside the cries of a stranger
what a ruthless age and it preys upon us all
somewhere ‘neath the anguish and the anger
sweet charity’s there just waiting on a call

o sister don’t you know it well
you can sow the seed but you just can’t tell
o from the father to the soldiers son
loves gonna keep them every one
o let the hallelujah play
sing it together in the old-time way
every stone must fall, every fear must fade
every rivers got to carry on

can’t you hear the wretched wheels filled with disaster
listen to the wreck and rumble of the mighty gears
bolts of war they’re falling falling faster, everyday
all on a whim and a whisper in the tyrants ear
but we shall not cave to to a house of deception
we shall not cave to the kings living only for the crown
steady on through the seas of desperation
o captain won’t you set that compass for the common ground

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP)

You’re gonna leave, I better get used to that
I thought i might watch your back All the time

You introduced me to A whole wide world who
Lights up the way i do When you walk up smiling

Open me right up Find the joy of way too much
Find the pain of never enough Dancing their dance

Arm in arm Circling round this room
Like the sun chasing the moon Yeah you open me up

Ch

I’m in my bare feet
Standing in the clover
Got you buzzing around my head
I don’t care if i get stung
For a little bit of honey on my tongue

You can’t keep a secret Or leave a keepsake on the shelf
Every little bit of yourself You give it away

Is it mine to tell That you ought to go carefully
Baby leave that care to me Run along and play

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Frank Serio/Shiloh Rising Music ASCAP; Michael Ashworth/Mike Ashworth Music ASCAP)

Once i had a lover who never held back
Once i had another, wanted all i had
It took a few years to remember them well
To leave my tears right where they fell

Ch. maybe in the next life
Maybe i’ll get it right
Maybe in the next life
Baby give me one more try
And i’ll wait my turn
I’ve still got karma to burn

Maybe in a past life I must’ve been a real saint
Hey lucky me, born with money in the bank
To my future self i’m sorry in advance
But i’m feeling too good now
To to worry Bout a second chance

Ch

It’s too early to call, it’s too late to call sober
When you were out in the woods, did you hear me fall over
Falling on your quiet place, wrecking the scene
Turning all your time away into some strange dream

Ch

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Andy Buckner/Buzzard Swooping Down Music BMI, J10 Tunes BMI)

The day that he dropped out of school his father said he’d be a fool
To hang around this little town too long

But what his father didn’t know was Sara was starting to show
And they didn’t give a damn if it was wrong

Folks round here they like to talk
They love to think the road they walk’s the only way
That’s what they say

For a while there it was chaos there were hungry nights and tradeoffs
Trying to dig their way out of that hole

Some nights he’d sit out on the couch wondering if he’s cut out to play this role
With no control

Ch The man is a liar who says that he sees anything beyond this day
The bullet in the fire is laughing at the choices and the plan we made
It will give and it will take, break your heart
But it cannot touch your mind and how it shines
And the rest just fades over time

Now his eyes are hard as stone there’s not much left but skin and bone
So far from how he’d pictured growing old

The one that he’d proved right or wrong and all the times that he’d been strong
Somehow he outlived them all

When i asked him for the reason why he longs for the next season why he’s holding on
He told me son

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP)

give me nothing to hold that you don’t mind breaking
my nerves on fire and my fingers are shaking
I’ve been taking the news pretty good til now
never did any good anyhow

I’ve been racking my brain, for a simple solution
a little peace to replace my shattered illusion
cause I’m losing the stories that I once believed
reality won’t let me be

I could walk out in the rain, maybe find me a rainbow
instead I sit in my room and pull the shade on the window
but the shadow I cast never fades away
it covers up my brightest days

Waking up with the fear, she’s a mean ol mistress
the cradle’s gonna fall, I can’t cover the distance
my resistance is shot and my strength is gone
helpless as a sinking stone

take my mind
send it on the next thing flying
on down the line
take my mind

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Andy Buckner/Buzzard Swooping Down Music BMI, J10 Tunes BMI)

A body like yours fits just right with a body like mine
Don’t you believe we can love all night if we take our time
Daylight’s fading no persuading cause you know what’s on my mind
A body like yours fits just right with a body like mine

The taste of your kiss is sweet on my lips like homemade wine
I love how it hits me the way that it gets me every time
Daylight’s breaking no mistaking cause i know what’s on your mind
A body like yours fits just right with a body like mine

Ch. i’ve seen the blue sky and that LA county skyline
I’ve seen the moon peek through the carolina pines
Felt the sand between my toes swimming in the gulf of mexico
But i’ve never known anything so fine
A body like yours fits just right with a body like mine

A heart like yours know how to love a heart like mine
Giving me the rhythm the rhyme and the reason to be living this life
When i’m off track you bring me back to beating right in time
With a body like your held so tight to a body like mine

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP; Edward Jurdi/Three Pisces Music SESAC)

V1
Not an actor or an action just a quiet satisfaction
If I’m stoned just let me be

Underneath a quilt just as smooth as silk
leave me lying just as long you please

Don’t mind me
If im a sight to see

V2
All the band left town but i hung around
There’s a sound that i was looking for

I’m not ready yet to quit it cause i might just forget it
The minute that i walk out the door

This might be paradise
To see it all through innocent eyes

Ch
I’m not ready to go (I should be somewhere, i know)
I’m enjoying the show
I’m still in the afterglow
Still in the afterglow

V3
Tie a string around my finger, let it linger
Let it last

While the fire’s still going, let’s don’t let the moment
Go Slipping off into the past

no need to fear it, (never know when near it)
if you’re near it you’re already free
Til you find it’s right in your reach
til i found what i came here for; what i was (there was nothing I was) looking for

It’s a sly little spirit, listen you can hear it
When you’re near it, there’s nothing you need

I got a feeling that we’ve been here before
(I cant remember if I’ve been here before)

(Graham Sharp/Enchanted Barn Pub ASCAP)

The leaves are turning gray
She said the lead is filled with lead
(she said) I’m weary to my bones but i cant sleep in my own bed

She did not ask that i might follow
That i might understand
All she asked is i recall her by her footprints in the sand

O the crystal waters
O the crystal sea
O the crystal ship took my love away from me

Every creek and every raindrop
Cries out with the sound
For the sea she is their mother and she calls them to go down

So the restless river runs
Without a moments peace
To lose itself at last in the silence of the deep

Ch

And i fear there’ll be no stars
Looking out from that far shore
And i don’t know how you’ll find your way home anymore

ch