Eric Folkerth - rockhammerlyrics

Rock Hammer To The Stone Lyrics

The Same Blood

They're rattling their sabers
Stirring up our fear
Of the ones beyond our borders
Far away from here.

They tell us we're in danger
That the enemy must fall
But after all their shouting
We still hear a different call

The same blood on the day we're born
and our mothers hears our cry.
The same blood on the battlefields
where our children go to die.
The same blood when we lift our prayers
to heaven up above.
The same no matter who we hate
or who we choose to love

We are red and blue states
We are straight and gay
Black and white and brown
Those born here and born away.

The wedges cut so deeply
They almost split the root
But now and then we stop to see
There's a deeper truth

We can cling to differences
that keep us all apart
Or choose to love the life that flows
Through every beating heart

La la la....

The Natural Thing

Well I went to see that old Holy Man
You know, he’s always been a friend of mine
I said, “I don’t like these ways that I spend my time
And I’m forgetting who I am”
He said “The secret key’s still inside of you
To unlock your every door
There’s only one thing you have to do
There’s only one reason we’re born”

He said love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing
Oooh…

Well I’ve been thinking about these lives we lead
And the endless lists of have to dos
Always with more than we really need
And less time for me and you
It gets covered up
In a mountain of muck
From our lives and a truckload of fear
But to our surprise
When we look deep inside
We find love’s still the why we are here.
The why we are here
The why we are here

He said love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing
Love is the natural thing

I said love is the natural thing

Better the Higher You Climb

Hiking up this trail head
Tent Rock, New Mexico
Wondering where we'll be led
And just how far the trail will go
Curving, twisting, turning
Rock hard, plenty rough
The summer Sun is burning
And this trail keeps winding up
And all along the way
Other trekkers, heading down
Tell stories of their day
And of all the things they've found
They see us panting fast
Gulping water from our cup
So as they pass
They tell us
Don't ever give up and...

It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
Keep that in mind

So darlin, tell me true now
Just how much we've both grown
Since we took that new vow
So many years ago
Days of love and anger
Nights of loneliness and lust
Moments of forgiveness for the times of broken trust
It's a trail that keeps us humble
Narrow canyon, valley wide
And we both stumble
Over rocky paths of pride
Fearful and frustrating
The high pass though desert land
But today we're celebrating
Cause we're still walking hand in hand.

It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
Keep that in mind

Happy anniversary, baby
Let's pause for just a few
Catch our breath, and maybe
Breathe in deep this whole wide view
A touch of wind and rain
Reshapes these rocks so firm
And though we both will change
Let's keep the lessons we have learned
And then many years from now
Down around some future bend
If fate and time allow
We'll come back to this same trail end
And as our lives unwind
And as others join the path
We can tell 'em what they'll find
If they can work to make love last

It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
It gets better the higher you climb
Keep that in mind

Rock Hammer to the Stone

Been a groundhog day of a year.
Equal parts of sadness and of fear
You hobble toward a cold and bitter end
And worry what the coming days portend

But every day, just wake up
Put rock hammer to your stone
Though it rarely breaks up
Each chip leads you home

Just keep on breathing
Keep on seeking
Keep believing
We’ll leave this grieving

It’s Sisyphean time for everyone
And we wonder when the waiting will be done
When it seems a mountain blocks your way
Just take one small step….every day

Keep on breathing
Keep on seeking
Keep believing
We’ll leave this grieving

A Time To Refrain

Sheltered in our home
Dread outside our door
We move through this alone
And we wonder what it’s for

A thousand voices speak
And echo in our ear
Those talking heads, they shriek
And fill us with their fear

But there’s a time to embrace
And a time to refrain
There’s the loneliest space
That always knows your name

But there are hands still reaching out
And a voice still calling you
There’s faith inside your doubt
And hope to pull you through

There are hands still reaching out
And a voice still calling you
There’s faith inside your doubt
And hope to pull you through

So we’re zoomin’ with our friends
It’s all that we can do
Though we need a little skin
Spirit pulls us through

So we’re wavin’ at their face
And wonderin’ where and when
We can fall in their embrace
And just hold on until then.

But there’s a time to embrace
And a time to refrain
There’s the loneliest space
That always knows your name

But there are hands still reaching out
And a voice still calling you
There’s faith inside your doubt
And hope…to pull…you through.

The Guilt that We Survive

It’s the rookie who just made the team
Whose old friends now just watch and dream
It’s the CEO who’s upward bound
With a brother stuck in her hometown
It’s the Dreamer with her new degree
Whose Abuela still long to be free
It’s the Soldier on that National Mall
Who runs his fingers down that Wall.

It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive

It’s the singer with that sidewalk star
Whose old band still plays run down bars
It’s the drunk who fingers his bronze chip
While his roommate’s on his seventh slip
It’s the one who’s five years cancer free
Whose friend dies unexpectedly
It’s the Mother in her shelter bed
Whose bunkmate went back home instead

It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive

So these questions, they rattle through my mind
With answers I can never seem to find
Why am I the one that fortune found?
Why am I the one who’s still around?
Why am I the one who made it through?
Why am I the one, and why not you?

It’s the price we all pay, the longer we’re alive
Ones who fade away, and the guilt that we survive

Changing

One night I was taken by a powerful dream
Walking through a field by a clear blue stream
Through grass that grew so tall and green
In the wind
Then in a moment when I turned my eye
The flowers and the grass and the trees had died
And the white hot gaze of the Sun had fried
What'd been
And in a moment more, it was covered in snow
And a Still Small Voice called soft and low
"The field remains, but whatever grows must end"

Changing
Changing
Changing
Every day

Faded pictures from an old scrapbook
That my Dad's old Polaroid camera took
From my very first breath to the way way I look today
A smiling baby with short blonde hair
Self-conscious teen with many cares
And a man still shocked how time bears life away
But looking back, the great mystery
Is that in every shot, me was still me
And in each new frame it will ever be the same

Changing
Changing
Changing
Every day

Beyond the farthest star, transcendently
In the smallest cells down in you and me
There's a part of God, and the parts we see change fast
Each new moment is a new still frame
A fresh new chance, and a brand new game
Never seen before, but partly the same as the past

So though it might seem way too odd to you
God's waits for the future you will choose
To hold onto hate or just let love loose at last

Changing
Changing
Changing
Every day

And each new frame's a new occasion
To follow that Divine Persuasion
Let go hate and let love loose at last

Walk With Me

Walk with me down by the lakeside
Just as the Sun disappears
We'll skip a few stones on the smooth side
One for each thrown-away fear
And as shadows fall
We can pause for the call
Of the night breeze
The waves and the wind
Can remind us again
We're still free
We're still free

Walk with me down by the lakeshore
Just as water and sky start to glow
And the glow lights this trail other feet wore
Marking each step that we go
And with each footfall
We're reminded of all
We can still see
So as darkness grows
Even if our pace slows
We're still free
We're still free

Walk with me down by the lake edge
Just as the Moon rises high
We'll sing our goodbyes to the sunset
And a chorus up to the night sky
In the calm of the night
We're amazed by the sights
We can still see
So as night descends
And our journey ends
We're still free
We're still free
We’re still free

Walk with me down by the lakeside
Just as the Sun disappears
We'll skip a few stones on the smooth side
One for each thrown-away fear

Ishmael and Isaac

Two young half brothers 
sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert Sun.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won

There has never been a war that's holy
this has never been an empty land
there has never been a side that's blameless
in the feud between the sons of Abraham

There just two young half brothers sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert Sun.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won

So in the name of God, they hate you
In God’s the name you hate them too In the name of our common God,
What can we all do?

Woe…

Turn back times pages and all you'll see
is the world's oldest sibling rivalry
And so we pray crazy prayers that
Peace could one day kiss this land
And that children of today could live
as those two sons began...when they were

Two young half brothers sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert Sun.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won

Yes, the land is still just promise
And this war cannot be won

Woe...

Your Full Height

Stand up to your full height
Shine out with your heart light
Raise your fist, and join the fight
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone

So your pushing up the covers to the top of your head
And your spending every moment lying here in the bed
Cause the news on the television fills you with dread
Every day
Well, I know the future seems dark and unclear
But I pray you can listen, I hope you can hear
The way to get your hope again, and conquer your fear
Is to say

Stand up to your full height
Shine out with your heart light
Raise your fist, and join the fight
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone

Millions of us showing up, we’re out in the streets
We find the intersections where the causes all meet
It’s a power that you just cannot put down with a Tweet
Any more.
The power of the people where we all lend a hand
All cultures and religions, every woman and man
The “tired huddled masses" have a place in this land
We adore.

Stand up to your full height
Shine out with your heart light
Raise your fist, and join the fight
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone

The One Thing That He Knows

On their first Valentines Day
He didn't know what to say
Standing in the row of cards
Suddenly, the choice seemed hard
Would their love, so fresh and new
Grow its root, or break in two?
He loved her smile, and tender touch
But was afraid to say too much

And the one thing that he knows
the one thing that he knows
Is that love means more
love means more
Love means more than chocolates and a rose

On their twelfth Valentines Day
He didn't know what to say
Standing in the row of cards
The choices always seemed so hard
They fought about the kids
What to spend, and how to live
Sometimes, they both felt so alone
Sometimes, they were each other's home

But the one thing that he knows
the one thing that he knows
Is that love means more
love means more
Love means more than chocolates and a rose

Every year, it’s always the same
We try to capture and to name
What we really can never really say
What we can just live, day-to-day

So on their last Valentines Day
He didn't know....
But he reaches for her face
That simple lifelong grace
Distant memories still call
Like faded pictures on their wall
Of a love so deep and true
In this assisted-living room

And the one thing that he knows
the one thing that he knows
Is that love means more
love means more
Love means more than chocolates and a rose

So much more than chocolates and a rose

The Don't Shop

Had a case of the munchies one Saturday morning
So I went out for donuts and, suddenly, without warning
I found myself in some Twighlight Zone place
From the moment I parked in the donut shop space.

It seems the donut shop sign had lost its "u"
the "u" was in the bushes, right beside the drive thru
and what that sign now said, well it caused me to laugh
until I walked in the door and then I let out a gasp
Because the man behind the corner gave a knowing smile
He said, "Welcome to the Don't Shop, and stay for a while."

The Don't Shop. The Don't Shop.
If you're feeling too good, then we can help you to stop
And if you need some more guilt, then you can shop till you drop
At the Don't Shop. The Don't Shop
And the cops still hang out....at the Don't Shop.

The clerk said, "We've got childhood don'ts 'two for one'
They keep coming back if we can get 'em hooked young
We've got:
"Don't daydream and stare," and "Don't play for fun," and
"Don't talk out loud" and "Don't sing or run," and
"Don't ever ever color outside the lines," and
"Don't play with those who are not like your kind.'"

He said, "We've got don'ts for lovers like,
"Don't be who you are"
We've got don'ts for travelers like
"Don't go too far"
We've got don'ts for the timid like
"Don't stand up to hate," and
don't for the fearful like
"Don't tempt your fate."
We thought our best seller would be "Don't follow your dreams," but folks have
already got that at home, so it seems."

Look, I just wanted a bear claw. There'd been some mistake.
It just wanted a donut with some icing and cake,
But he said, "You'll be back, 'cause I know you will find
That the Don't Shop is always as close as your mind.
It's like what they say in that old Eagle song:
You can check out from the Don't Shop,
But it's never gone."

So, let this be a lesson to anyone who has ears
I don't mean to callously trade on your fears
And I don't mean to cause any undue alarm
I just don't want you to come to any harm

So I've just got one final "don't" here for you:
Don't shop at the Don't Shop, whatever you do.

Ten Minutes Ahead

Ten minutes ahead
So he can get ahead of the next guy.

His father told him, when he was still young
life is a war that is lost and is won
in the height that you climb and the work you get done
and there's one simple key to it all.

Always be ten minutes ahead
So he can get ahead of the next guy.

So he shot up through the corporate ranks
and he took over real estate, board rooms and banks
when they asked him his secret, he said I just give thanks
to the wisdom my father passed on.

Always be ten minutes ahead
So he can get ahead of the next guy.

But where ever you go, there you are
unless you're only worrying just how far
it is to the next place.

But week after week, and day after day
those minutes turned into whole years he had shaved
and led him straight to a premature grave
but at least all his friends can still say.

He was just ten minutes ahead
Ten minutes ahead (he is still)
Ten minutes ahead (he'll always be)
So he can get ahead of the next guy.

Lay It Down

Soldier in the Cold War,
Your weapon was your mind
Ruled by faith in logic,
With a heart too often blind.
To be still, with no advice
Somehow, was never fine.
Your reasons, and your right way,
Became the bind.

Lay it down
Lay it down
Help him find the peace he never found
Take from him this burden,
And put it in the ground,
Help him Lord, finally lay it down.

Child of that Cold War Dad,
I chose a different road.
Learned to feel my feelings,
And hold deep sorrows,
But bearing others burdens,
Has become my heavy load.
So there’s still lesson
Life needs me to know.

Lay it down
Lay it down
Help me find the peace I’ve never found
Take from me this burden
And put it in the ground
Help me Lord, finally lay it down.

You were science.
I was art.
You were logic.
I was heart.
And so we always battled blind
To the other part.
But at your end, to my surprise,
You picked a last song, that made me cry,
My Cold War Dad, asked us to sing…
“Down By the Riverside.”

He ain’t gonna study war no more…

Lay it down
Lay it down
Help us find the peace we never found
Take from us this burden
And put it in the ground
Help us Lord, finally lay it down.

Thanks

For mountains green
with aspen stands,
fluttering like
waving hands,
for broad lands,
I will give thanks.

For ember orange
sunset glow,
purple skies
burning low,
the days go,
and I will give thanks.

For silver
incandescent moons,
every midnight
howl and swoon,
real soon,
I will give thanks.

For each moment here,
for each memory clear
For each day I wake,
for each breath I take
For each pain I bear,
for each love I share....Thanks.
For berry's taste
and coffee's smell
rituals
we learn so well
that fortell
that I will give thanks.

For lovers touch
and wounds that heal
friends
who laugh and think and feel
when it's real
I will give thanks.

For loving those
the world rejects
the poor
and holy heretics
it connects
that I will give thanks.

For each moment here,
for each memory clear
For each day I wake,
for each breath I take
For each pain I bear,
for each love I share....

Thanks.

And is it really all that tough
to believe one word could say enough?

For every blocked
and crooked path
for every door
that closed too fast
for the past
I will give thanks.

For every chance
yet to forgive
and every second
yet to live
that life gives
I will give thanks.

For times
when death comes like a friend
and trusting
life can never end
it's w ell then
that I will give thanks.

For each moment here,
for each memory clear
For each day I wake,
for each breath I take
For each pain I bear,
for each love I share....

Thanks.