Lyrics-2

What Took You So Long (Black Chesterfield) – Released on July 25, 2017

What Took You So Long © ℗ 2017 Black Chesterfield. All rights reserved.

Superliner
(Linda Emerson)

I’m coming back please wait for me
I’m at the station here in Memphis Tennessee
My bags are packed and my heart is free
Flying down the railroad track ahead of me

Down where the river flows to the sea, oh
I know my true lover waits for me and
After tomorrow I won’t be dreaming
About that girl in New Orleans woh-oh-woh

Superliner pick up your speed
A hundred miles an hour should be fast enough for me
Don’t need no window seat no scenery
Nothing is as pretty as ma sweet jolie
Down where the river flows to the sea, oh
I know my true lover waits for me and
After tomorrow I won’t be dreaming
About that girl in New Orleans woo-weeee

[whistling]

Down where the river flows to the sea, oh
I know my true lover waits for me and
After tomorrow I won’t be dreaming
About that girl in New Orleans, ‘cauuuse

I’m coming back please wait for me
I’m at the station here in Memphis Tennessee
My bags are packed and my heart is free
Flying down the railroad track ahead of me
Flying down the railroad track to New Orleans
Flying down the railroad track to ma jolie

(Train whistle)

All Aboard!

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI)

Nature Song No. 1
(Linda Emerson/Alan Bennett)

Sunday morning in the woods
Standing where they’ve always stood
Breathing out the air we breathe
Brothers are we to the trees

Water flowing in the streams
Winds its way in through our veins
Crystal clear what will the future bring
Everything is from the same deep spring and

I’ll pray to the sun
Shining on everyone
I’ll sing to the moon and stars
Wondering what we are

Bed of earth beneath my feet
Brown and safe and warm and deep
Open up and let me fall asleep
Mother please remember me
Oh keep me in your never-ending dream and

I’ll pray to the sun
Shining on everyone
I’ll sing to the moon and stars
Wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are

[ Instrumental Section ]

I’ll pray to the sun
Shining on everyone
I’ll sing to the moon and stars
Wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are
Still wondering what we are

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI), Over the Bush Music (BMI)

What Took You So Long
(Linda Emerson/Alan Bennett)

So what
What is the hold up
When will you show up
You know I try to be strong
But I get so lonely
When it’s just only me
The nights are so long

I’ll meet you someday
I’ll know right away
When I see your face
The first thing I’ll say
Don’t get me wrong
I’m glad that you came
What took you so long

Oh love
I’ve heard it enough, uh
You can’t hurry love up
Surely you want me too
Why are you stalling
I’m desperately calling you
It’s always been you

I’ll meet you someday
I’ll know right away
When I see your face
The first thing I’ll say
Don’t get me wrong
I’m glad that you came
What took you so long

[ Instrumental Section ]

I’ll meet you someday
I’ll know right away
When I see your face
The first thing I’ll say
Don’t get me wrong
I’m glad that you came
I’m glad that you came
What took you so long
Don’t get me wrong
I’m glad that you finally came
What took you so long

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI), Over the Bush Music (BMI)

(I’m Gonna Give You) ’Til the Morning Comes
(Linda Emerson/Alan Bennett)

I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes
I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes
Say goodbye with the rising sun
I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes

Pull down the shutters and hold me tight
Pull down the shutters and hold me tight
I’m not ready to see the light
Pull down the shutters and hold me tight

Hey do you wanna stay
Here in my arms all day
Hey do you wanna stay
One more day

Then
I’m gonna find me a love that’s true
I’m gonna find me a love that’s true
One to last the whole day through
One that I can hold onto
I’m gonna find me a love that’s true

[Solo]

Hey do you wanna stay
Here in my arms all day
Hey do you wanna stay
One more day

I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes
I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes
Say goodbye with the rising sun
I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes
I’m gonna give you ‘til the morning comes

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI), Over the Bush Music (BMI)

The Wreck of the Sultana
(Linda Emerson)
(Based on the story of Romulus Tolbert in Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History by Alan Huffman)

We were Cairo-bound aboard the steamboat named Sultana
We had just left Memphis-town around midnight
On the 27th day in the month of April
1865

She fought seven miles north up the Mississippi River
She was struggling against the spring thaw tide
After several heavy rains she had all four boilers straining
And listing side to side

[ Whistle solo chorus]

Only two short days before we were lined up down at Vicksburg
All of us who had somehow survived
We waited on dock while they fixed a leaking boiler
Quick patch thin we were packed tight in
But headed home alive

We were battle-scarred and starved from two years in Cahaba
We were haunted by the things we heard and saw
Just bones and skin in clothes from dysentery and scurvy
And still the voices called they called

Rescue me rescue me
Through the night they kept crying
Comfort me comfort me
Slowly fading off then dying

Then at two am the boilers caved in
Hell was all around us
Explosion burn or swim
In the cold spring runoff

[ Whistle solo chorus ]

Rescue me rescue me
Through the night they kept crying
Comfort me comfort me
Slowly fading off then dying

They plucked me from banks of the Mississippi River
I had floated clear across to Arkansas
I was stuck there on a tree submerged halfway downstream
My uniform hem caught it

Will I ever make it out of this damned hospital bed
Will I ever live to see old Saluda
I’m burned from toe to head but I know that I’m not dead
‘Cause Lord I hear them calling

Rescue me rescue me
Through the night they keep crying
Comfort me comfort me
Slowly fading off then dying

Rescue me rescue me
Through the night they keep crying
Comfort me comfort me
Slowly fading off then dying
Slowly fading off then dying
Slowly fading off then dying

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI)

You Should Be My Darling
(Linda Emerson/Alan Bennett)

Fly on iridescent wings
Murmurating starlings
Tra-la-ling, tra-la they sing
You should be my darling
You should be my darling

Shake the poplars dappled leaves
Afternoon-applauding
Silver laughter lakefront breeze
You should be my darling
You should be my darling

Tra-la-la-la I want you here with me
Tra-la-la-ling we’ll sing for the night that’s coming

At dark the stars come dancing out
On the water falling
Sparkling they float about
You should be my darling
You should be my darling

(Music verse)

Tra-la-la-la I want you here with me
Tra-la-la-ling we’ll sing for the night that’s coming

At dark the stars come dancing out
On the water falling
Sparkling they float about

You should be my darling
You should be my darling
All the stars are sparkling
And you should be my darling
You should be my darling

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI), Over the Bush Music (BMI)

Dream Lover
(Linda Emerson/Alan Bennett)

I spied you in a forest green
Strumming a lute by a silver stream
I watched you through the parted leaves
Singing a love song so sweet

Love you slipped away from me
Lost with the light of the dawn
Gone always so suddenly
Leaving me here all alone

I saw you at the market square
A garland of myrtle twined in your hair
Smiling eyes in the crowded fair
Find me and then disappear

Love you slip away from me
Lost with the light of the dawn
Gone always so suddenly
Leaving me here all alone

(Musical bridge)

I’ve searched for you endlessly
In every dream you return to me
I would sleep for eternity
Just to keep you here with me
With me

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI), Over the Bush Music (BMI)

Apology
(Linda Emerson)

Apology
You’re standing here and telling me that you’re sorry
Well no one’s fallen out of love intentionally
No I’m not angry
Oh honestly
I saw the stars shine in your eyes and you loved me
So beautifully
That’s mine to keep
I’ll get along
My roots are deep for times like these when the winds blow strong
Without the stones a singing brook would lose its song
You’ve done nothing wrong
And I won’t forget
I know how sometimes clouds can make a great sunset
And I’m not through yet
I’ll be okay
As sure as darkness fades into a brand new day
I’ll find another love to chase my blues away
Like you did babe
Like you did babe

(Harmonica)

And I won’t forget
I know how sometimes clouds can make a great sunset
And I’m not through yet

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI)

(Used to Be) Our Old Hometown
(Linda Emerson)

GIRL:
There used to be a cafe
With coffee cups and ashtrays
The old men in the small town
Would go there every Saturday

They’d sit across the table
To see each other’s faces
Or over by the window
So they could read the paper

They liked their coffee good and black
They never sent a sandwich back
I heard their voices cracking jokes
They’d laugh and talk and sip and smoke
There used to be a cafe

BOY:
There used to be a pool hall
With Asteroids and pinball
A barber chair up in the front
And pocket knives and candy jars

There used to be a jukebox
Over in the corner
With silver knobs and colored lights
It only took a quarter

It had to hold a hundred songs
From Neil Young to the Rolling Stones
Depending on the mood you’re in
You’d sit and listen with your friends
There used to be a pool hall

TOGETHER:
There was a fairground with a Ferris wheel
Although they used it once a year
They kept the bandshell painted up
It was kinda small but big enough

There were live bands every Friday night
On the local hotel marquee lights
And hopefully they sounded good
If you drank enough you knew they would
It used to be our old hometown

GIRL:
It used to be our hometown
But one by one the stores closed down

BOY:
We went away it all shut down
Without a word without a sound

GIRL:
I go there in my memory
And every time you’re there with me

BOY:
We’d talk about the weather

GIRL:
We’d dream about forever

BOTH:
We used to be together
It used to be our old hometown
It used to be our old hometown
It used to be our old hometown

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI)

Just Another Train
(Linda Emerson)

Just another train
Rolling down the track
It’s just another train
Never coming back

Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Just a little tear
Falling from my eye
It’s just another tear
That I won’t have to cry

Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Broken hearts are free
Broken hearts are free

[Instrumental]

Just another day
Since you said goodbye
It’s just another day
Just another clear blue sky
Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Ah-hooooo-hooooo
Ah-hooooo-hooooo

© 2016 Linda Emerson (BMI)

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