Roads Traveled Lyrics

All lyrics reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Skylark
I Know I Am But Summer to Your Heart
I Don’t Know Where I Stand
A Lot in Common with You
Unusual Way
Luck
Taylor, the Latte Boy
He Was Too Good to Me
Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind
Funny How Love Gets in the Way
In the Morning
Le Chemins de l’Amour

Skylark

(Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer)

Skylark, have you anything to say to me?
Won’t you tell me where my love can be?
Is there a meadow in the mist
Where someone’s waiting to be kissed?

Skylark, have you seen a valley green with spring,
Where my heart can go a journeying,
Over the shadows and the rain,
To a blossom covered lane?

And in your lonely flight,
Haven’t you heard the music in the night?
Wonderful music, faint as a “will o’the wisp”,
Crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the moon.

Oh, Skylark, I don’t know if you can find these things,
But my heart is riding on your wings.
So, if you see them anywhere,
Won’t you lead me there?

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I Know I Am But Summer to Your Heart

(Alan Chapman/Edna St. Vincent Millay)

I know I am but summer to your heart,
And not the full four seasons of the year;
And you must welcome from another part
Such noble moods as are not mine, my dear.

No gracious weight of golden fruits to sell have I,
Nor any wise and wintry thing;
And I have loved you all too long and well
To carry still this high sweet breast of Spring.

Wherefore I say: O love, as summer goes,
I must be gone, steal forth with silent drums,
That you may hail anew the bird and rose
When I come back to you, as summer comes.

Else will you seek, at some not distant time,
Even your summer in another clime.

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I Don’t Know Where I Stand

(Joni Mitchell)

Funny day, looking for laughter and finding it there
Sunny day, braiding fall flowers and leaves in my hair
Picked up a pencil and wrote “I love you” in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don’t know where I stand

Telephone, even the sound of your voice is still new
All alone in California and talking to you
And feeling too foolish and strange to say the words that I had planned
I guess it’s too early, ‘cause I don’t know where I stand.

Crickets call, courting their ladies in star-dappled green
Thickets tall, until the morning comes up like a dream
All muted and misty, so drowsy new; I’ll take what sleep I can
I know that I miss you, but I don’t know where I stand
I know that I miss you, but I don’t know where I stand.

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A Lot in Common with You

(Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer)

Psychiatrists have said, A man who’s slightly cracked
Can like a maid who’s tetched in the head.
And so it goes with me, my addled brain can’t see
Why a love such as ours shouldn’t be,
Think it over

You’re lonesome, I’m stranded,
You’re truthful, I’m candid
And we’re both left handed,
I seem to have a lot in common with you,

You slay me, I floor you,
You vex me, I bore you,
But I can’t ignore you,
We seem to have a lot in common, we two

Two noble souls designed above,
Two silly characters in love.

You’re av’rage, I’m so-so
Not “too too”, or “ Oh-so”
Thank heavens, we know so,
Lonesome, stranded, truthful, candid,
Silly or sappy, long as we’re happy,
I’ve got a lot in common with you.

You’re tender, I’m tasty,
You’re hurried, I’m hasty,
I’m pale and you’re pasty,
Tender, tasty, pale and pasty
People will find us as fate designed us,
I’ve got a lot in common with you.

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Unusual Way

(Maury Yeston)

In a very unusual way one time I needed you
In a very unusual way you were my friend
Maybe it lasted a day, maybe it lasted an hour
But somehow it will never end

In a very unusual way I think I’m in love with you
In a very unusal way I want to cry
Something inside me goes weak, something inside me surrenders
And you’re the reason why, you’re the reason why

You don’t know what you do to me, you don’t have a clue
You can’t tell what it’s like to be me looking at you
It scares me so that I can hardly speak

In a very unusual way I owe what I am to you
Tho at times it appears I won’t stay, I never go
Special to me in my life since the first day that I met you
How could I ever forget you once you have touched my soul?
In a very unusual way you’ve made me whole.

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Luck

(Ricky Ian Gordon/Langston Hughes)

Sometimes a crumb falls
From the table of joy,
Sometimes a bone is flung,
To some people, love is given
To others, only heaven.

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Taylor, the Latte Boy

(Zina Goldrich/Marcy Heisler)

There’s a boy who works at Starbucks who is very inspirational.
He is very inspirational because of many things
I come in at eight eleven and he smiles and says “How are you”
When he smiles and says “How are you” I could swear my heart grows wings

So today at eight eleven, I decided I should meet him
I decided I should meet him in a proper formal way.
So today at eight eleven as he smiled and said “How are you”?
I said, “Fine. And my name’s Linda.” And he softly answered “Hey”
And I told him “My name’s Linda, and thank you for the extra foam”
And he said his name was Taylor which provides the inspiration for this poem,

Taylor the latte boy
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh, Taylor the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him.

And I’d like to get my nerve up and recite my poem musical
He would like the fact it’s musical because he plays guitar
And today at eight eleven Taylor told me he was playing
With a band down in the village in the basement of a bar

And he smoothly flipped the lever to prepare my double latte
But for me he made it triple , and he didn’t think I knew.
But I saw him flip the lever, and for me he made it triple
And I knew that triple latte meant that Taylor loved me too
I said, “What time are you playing? And thank you for the extra skim”
He said, “Keep the three fifty-five” because this triple latte was on him.

Taylor the latte boy,
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh, Taylor the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him.

I used to be the kind of girl who’d run when a love rushed toward her
But finally a voice whispered love can be yours
If you step up to the counter and order

Taylor the latte boy
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh, Taylor the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him

So many years my heart has waited
Who’d have thought that love could be so caffeinated!
Taylor the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him
I love him, I love him, I love him.

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He Was Too Good to Me

(Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)

He was too good to me,
How can I get along now?
So close he stood to me,
Everything seems all wrong now.
He would have brought me the sun,
Making me smile, that was his fun.

When I was mean to him
He’d never say, ‘Go ‘way now”.
I was a queen to him,
Who’s gonna make me gay now?

It’s only natural I’m blue,
He was too good to be true.

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Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind

(Christine Lavin)

I am at the opera, I don’t like the opera,
But he loves the opera and I love him.
I follow the libretto, I follow the conductor,
When I follow the plot, my head begins to swim.
I don’t understand a word, even when it’s English
Everyone around me says this is divine.
I don’t like the opera, but look, I’m at the op’ra,
It’s a good thing he can’t read my mind.
Why yes, he’s a wonderful Parsifal. You’re right.
Yes, she’s the best Tundra I’ve seen in my entire life.

Look at me I’m skiing when I do not like skiing,
But he loves skiing and I love him.
I rent the boots and poles, I shiver in the cold,
I’m charging down the mountain risking life and limb.
There’s no exhilaration, I am only feeling terrified
Everyone around me’s having such a great time.
I do not like skiing, but look at me, I’m skiing,
It’s a good thing he can’t read my mind.
Yes, exhilarating was the word I was just looking thinking.
Scared of heights? Oh no, not me!

I am not complaining, I’m just making observations.
Expanding your horizons is a sign of maturation.
Now I tolerate cigars, ‘cause he’s a smoker,
I’m playing chess, though I confess,
Sometimes I long for poker.

I am eating sushi when I do not like sushi,
But he loves sushi and I love him.
I’m poking with a chopstick at a living, breathing fishstick,
Oh my God, I think it’s trying to swim.
Some say eating sushi is like chewing on your own cheek
Or sucking down a bucketful of tentacled slime.
I do not like sushi, but look I’m eating sushi,
It’s a good thing he can’t read my mind.
Mm, interesting texture. What was that I was eating?

So if you see me in a sushi bar, see me on the mezzanine,
See me on a ski slope — looking scared.
Hey, don’t feel sorry for me, I must be in love
Oh, why in the hell else would I be there?
Before I met him life was dull,
I never took any chances.
Now I leap at every opportunity I find.
I do not like sushi, I don’t like skiing or the opera.
Maybe I will in time, oh, maybe I will in time.
Seconds? Sure, I’d love some! Mmm, yum!

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Funny How the Love Gets in the Way

(Zina Goldrich/Marcy Heisler)

Isn’t this the part where skies begin to open?
Isn’t this the part where justice feels divine?
Isn’t this the part I learn there truly is a god,
Who’s gloriously made the last word mine?

Isn’t this the part I thank you for your kind words.
Words I never thought I’d hear your heart relay.
But suddenly it’s getting hard to find words.
Funny how the love gets in the way.

Isn’t this the part confetti flies from rooftops?
Isn’t this the part I hear the trumpets song?
Isn’t this the part I get to call up all my friends
And tell them you admitted you were wrong.

Isn’t this the part relief flows like a river
As you serve me vindication on a tray.
But there it is that sweet familiar shiver
Funny how the love gets in the way.

So you’ve opened up your eyes, Hallelujah!
So you’ve finally seen the light, Hallelujah!
So you’re here to put things right, Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Isn’t this the part my intellect takes over?
Isn’t this the part I say that you should go?
Isn’t this the part I thank you for the lessons learned
And tell you, you were nice to let me know?

Isn’t this the part a sense of triumph lingers
As I tell you we have nothing more to say.
So why are all these tears upon my fingers?
Funny how the love gets in the way.
Funny how the love gets in the way.

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In the Morning

(Gregg Coffin)

I would linger looking through the glass at you
Just one of many mothers in the morning
Tiny fingers all brand new
Asleep amongst the others in the morning

They’d wrap you up, I’d hold you close
You’d stretch and shiver falling back to sleep
Then the nurse would come, nurses always do
And undo me and you in the morning

Morning sky, mittened hands,
We’d brave the chilly weather in the morning
End of our driveway, there we’d stand
And wait for the bus together in the morning

Just you and I holding on for dear life
Each one of us too scared to let the other go
But the bus would come, buses always do
And undo me and you in the morning

You see, you and me,
you and me, we were my quality
As you becoming more of what you want to be…
It’s so funny how things change.

Cap and gown, senior year
Before your graduation in the morning
You were college bound I was full of fear
Without any explanation in the morning

You looked at me and we both knew that
Everything would be diff’rent from then on
You packed your bags, you drove away
And promised you would call me in the morning

And when you come home, as you always do,
It ties us back in two,
Just like those mornings.

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Les Chemins de l’Amour (The Paths of Love)

(Francis Poulenc/Jean Anouilh)

Les Chemins qui vont à la mer	The paths that lead down to the sea
Ont gardé de notre passage	Have kept from our passage
De fleurs effeuillées et l’écho sous leurs arbres	Petalless flowers and the echo beneath their trees
De nos deux rires clairs.	Of our pearly laughter.
Hélas des jours de bonheur	Alas, of the days of happiness
Radieuses joies envolées	Radiant joys have fled
Je vais sans retrouver traces dans mon coeur.	I wind my way without a trace in my heart.

Chemins de mon amour	Paths of my love
Je vous cherche toujours	I seek you still
Chemin perdus vous n’êtes plus	Lost paths, you are no more
Et vos échos sont sourds	And your echos are mute
Chemins du désepoir	Paths of despair,
Chemins du souvenir	Paths of remembrance
Chemins du premier jour	Paths of the first day
Divins chemins d’amour	Divine paths of love.

Si je dois l’oublier un jour	If one day I must forget it
La vie effaçant toute chose	Life wiping away all things
Je veux dans mon coeur qu’un souvenir	I want a memory in my heart
Repose plus fort que l’autre amour	To remain stronger than the other love
Le souvenir du chemin où tremblante	The memory of the path
Et toute éperdue	Where, shaking and all distraught
Un jour j’ai senti sur moi brûler tes mains.	One day I felt your burning hands on me.

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