Claudia Schmidt - Promising Sky

Promising Sky - Lyrics

1. Can't Get Yourself Out of Love (5:50)

You've gotten yourself out of trouble
'Cause you're a born diplomat
You croon, cajole, you're so subtle
You can smooth ruffled feathers like that

But here's one for the books kiddo
'Cause whenever push comes to shove
You can't for the life of you
Get yourself out of love

You've gotten yourself out of harms way
You swerve not a moment too soon
Jumped out of the path of an oncoming bus
With the speed to make others swoon

But those reflexes don't count much here
'Cause whatever you're made of
Can't give you what you need
To get yourself out of love

Well there's no one on the receiving end
No warm body there when your arms extend
No tender little messages left on the phone
But still you can't believe you're all alone, all alone

You've gotten yourself out of things to do
Cleared your calendar in a clean sweep
A master of time and delegating
Your self control never sleeps

But the one thing you wouldn't cancel, postpone
Or move below or above
Has left you hangin', now
You just can't get yourself out of love

You can't get yourself
Can't get yourself
Can't get yourself
Can't get yourself
Can't get yourself out of love

Oh you can't get yourself
Can't get yourself
Can't get yourself
You just can't get yourself out of love

2. Missy Ma'am (4:26)

I’m not thin--never have been
I’m not fat--though some might dispute that
I’m not rich, I’m not quite poor, don’t like to hang out in a store
That’s what I’m not, here’s what I am: I’m just Missy Ma’am

Missy Ma’am, that’s who I am
Got a purpose, got a plan
Got my Chinese to go so I can scram
Never a dull moment--when you’re Missy Ma’am

Gave a $20 to a homeless guy, looked him right in the eye
Freed a seagull trapped in rope, watched him float away with hope
Bugged a cop who was bugging a kid
Said he ought to better, and you know, he did
I’m neither an angel, nor on the lam--I’m just Missy Ma’am

Missy Ma’am, that’s who I am
Got a purpose, got a plan
Got my Chinese to go so I can scram
Never a dull moment--when you’re Missy Ma’am

I keep my mind sound, I just like to look around
There’s 100 little ways that I can liven up the day
A word, an action, maybe a smile, I’ll prob’ly help you out after while
It’s my calling, it’s my pleasure, it’s no scam--to be Missy Ma’am

Missy Ma’am, that’s who I am
Got a purpose, got a plan
Got my Chinese to go so I can scram
Never a dull moment--when you’re Missy Ma’am

3. What Luck's Been Up To (4:21)

A semi ran me off the road, left my car for dead
Yet I walked away with a few stitches and an aching head
Lumps and bumps, all benign, scars on face and hands
And heaven know what I escaped by a simple change in plans

You don’t even know how many time you dodged the bullet
Almost caught in crossfire, something foreign down your gullet
A silent dark infection in a line all up your arm
Yet here we sit tonight, less by wisdom than by charm

So here’s to all the near misses
Let’s pretend we made good choices
Time to hand out hugs and kisses and raise our grateful voices

The scaffolding that collapsed two minutes after you passed beneath
The forgotten item that brought you home to the flaming Christmas wreath
The rock that tripped you right before youd’ve stepped on a hornet’s nest
The wave that slammed you into shore, then washed out with the rest

So here’s to all the near misses
Let’s pretend we made good choices
Time to hand out hugs and kisses and raise our grateful voices

What if luck’s just the path we choose or the sense to go or stay
What if luck’s just the dance of things getting in and out of our way
Some say luck’s the meeting of opportunity and desire
Some say the residue of design--but I say luck’s no liar
Good luck will always take you higher

So here’s to all the near misses
Let’s pretend we made good choices
Time to hand out hugs and kisses and raise our grateful voices

4. Ubumama (5:25)

Out of the dark waters of the Mothersea, we all have journeyed
Into this world of pain against all logic, life comes churning

She who must carry us, bear us in time must be cherished
She who is vessel and ocean alike must know there are hands to catch her
Tossed by the storm of birth
We will transform the earth

Out of the dark waters of the Mothersea, we all have journeyed
Into this world of pain against all logic, life comes churning

She who must fall to the rhythm and the call of our coming
She dances with hope and with death in the same breath
She honors the ancestors’ courage
As we must honor now
Our part in the ancient vow

Out of the dark waters of the Mothersea, we all have journeyed
Into this world of pain against all logic, life comes churning

We must take care of the mother, we ust take care of each other

5. I Don't Know (4:05)

The composure on the talking head could put your mind at ease
Assuring us with manly tones of inevitable victories
The stats are in, the stars aligned, the planets on our side
Just follow these instructions. .then he stopped and stared, wide-eyed
And maybe it was fairy dust or a ray from outer space
But a look of pure confusion washed across his startled face
Then a sigh of deep relief made his body tremble so
As he softly murmured “I don't know”

CHORUS
I don't know, don't you wish they'd just say I don't know
Turn off the mic and say I gotta go, your guess is just as good as mine
And then just maybe you and I could start
To work together, talking heart to heart
Remember, honesty's the real true art, the question never is the crime

It was yet another expert with the blueprint for success
Blathering through the airwaves, I was listening (more or less)
Washing clothes and paying bills, I was comforted to know
That someone had the larger problems handled, arranged, and so. .
I was stunned to hear his booming voice falter and subside
And listening very cosely now, my shock I could not hide
For when next he spoke, his voice came very tearfully and low
“I'm so sorry, but I really just don't know!”

CHORUS

So let's convene a conference with the title “I DON'T KNOW”
A celebration with no agenda of heated con or pro
First one person talking, then another. .think of that!
Listening and responding, each in turn, a thoughtful chat
There'd have to be some women there, and chidren too, of course
To bang the dumb drum when someone gets on their high horse
For the answers to the deepest questions only seem to show
After a healthy dose of I don't know

CHORUS

6. Meelie's Waltz (3:08)

7. Wisconsin Country (5:06)

Traveling through Wisconsin Country
Winter’s coming on and the leaves blown down
The trees stand starkly and the corn’s turned to brown
The wind winds through them with a lonesome sound

The farms lie peaceful after summer’s labors
The fields await their blanket of snow
The air’s got a flavor of things that go
It causes a trembling way down low

Some say it’s Indian ghosts on the wander
In the howl of the wind when the first snow flies
Who rage and thunder eternal goodbyes
To their once wild lands under these gray skies

And the soul cries with them, all filled with sadness
It forgets the family and forsakes the best
And in its madness and the snow’s caress
It would lie and take its last lonely rest

Traveling through Wisconsin country
Roused from the magic that sought the soul
And the shivers come gladly in the late day cold
As the body is lifted from the strange land’s hold

8. Sea of Love (3:33)

Oh, you can say it was the moon
You can say it was the full moon
You may insist that little Gypsy tune
Made you dance till who knows when
But that does little to explain
The sudden blessing of a fleeting rain
The burst of laughter as you dove once again
Into the sea of love

And you can talk about a heart
How it fills and swells and breaks apart
How it mends and leaves a tender start
That warns not to fall again
But I was watching from the side
I clearly saw the system override
Right back to go you were consent to ride
And glide across the sea of love

Ah yes I know the story well,
The dark longing and the lunar spell
The bodies pulsing as the passions swell
For it was you in my arms
So don’t you say it was the wine,
Or the planets, that’s an old line
For some reason, dear, it’s merely time
To fall into the sea of love

Haven’t we heard it all before,
We’ve lead and followed from that misty shore
Beheld the danger yet returned for more
Ensorcelled by a million charms
So flip your coin and call the moon
Or summer shower or familiar tune
I’ll meet you somewhere, someday, maybe soon
Adrift on the sea of love

9. If All Goes Well (5:45)

The broken pieces all are gathered
Things quietly waiting to mend
In every corner that pain demands
Until its timely end
If all goes well, if all goes well
We will find the strength to make them whole again
If all goes well…

The sorry state of an angry heart
Poisons the landscape of desire
And it slams the door on every cry
To turn and face the fire
If all goes well, if all goes well,
We will open up and reach once more
If all goes well…

If all goes well, the darkness gives us time to heal
If all goes well, we’ll find the will and the way to make love real…

So we’ll hang our charms over the threshold
Whisper blessings each time we cross
Mend what we can and with the rest
Accept inevitable loss
If all goes well, if all goes well
We will travel on to a wiser place
If all goes well…

10. Tree of Dreams (2:12)

1. There is a tree, a tree of dreams
Some dreams, so big, some dreams, so small

2. Some dreams, far away, some dreams, not far at all

3. Birds singing in the tree, dreams swinging from the tree

11. Promising Sky (2:56)

Every step we take is on sacred ground here (under a promising sky)
Someone or something lived and died all around here
(under a promising sky)