Shandaken

Come on up on 91
Played it straight in a wedding band
Club dates and gatherings
Silver string in hand
Just to pay the bills he said
And I'll do it for a few
Then I'll go down to Nashville town
Make these strings ring true

Must've been in '86
New Year's party
Met that girl with the black hair spilling down
Said " never saw anyone like you
She smiled and they were taken
He took her home that night
Back to Shandaken

They got married in '89
Just before the glass ball fell
Before too long a daughter come along
And he sank into a shell
Found work laying blacktop
On the roadside at night
Putting food on the table
Clothes on his girls
And am emptiness he couldn't fight

Times got tight and he got old
Her smile faded like a dream
Seems all they'd been working for
Was keeping something that once had been
Split up not too long ago
Alone and forsaken
He's sending half his paycheck
Back to Shandaken

Sometimes he picks up that old silver string
But his fingers forget how to cry
Stares off into the night
Hears the cars whistling by
Feels the rush of wind
Sees the highway sign
Our lives are what we make' 'em
Wish I never met that little girl
Out of Shandaken
I wish I never met that little girl
Out of Shandaken
Out of Shandaken