Life's real good, yeah, life's real fine
I've got a blanket and a bed while I'm doing my time
I can sell what I know for ciggies and wine 
And the food's not bad if you don't mind waiting in line

I can still see the old man, his face tired and cracked
Showing me again why poor boys finish last
That's why I don't mind watching these days unwind
It's better than being like him, out there busting my behind

It don't matter what I've done
I can't escape from where I begun
It don't matter where I hid the forty-seven grand
Yeah, I'm living by the law of the land

Sisters relax, recycle the facts
That the only pageant she knows comes in a phial of perfume
Takes what she wants and waters a claim
In the hot desert sun with lots of upstate rain

He sees the blood boil when the gate says oil
She'll while the bloody hours on the late-night news
She don't understand but still she gets with the plan
And puts her hand to her heart for the red, white and blue

It don't matter how long they eat grass
Do they pay or do they cut in half
It don't matter how long they kiss the sand
They're living by the law of the land

Whatever happened to what I wanted to be 
And the things that I thought in my youth and my dreams
Last thing I know I was drawing up plans 
But I'm still selling my heart out of the back of this van

I still wish I was with her in her tears and her blues 
In the Alaskan rain somewhere west of Saskatoon
Our love was as deep as those mountains were high
Too bad love is one thing you don't need to survive

It don't matter where I've been
What I read or what I defend
It don't matter where I burn my brand
I'm living by the law of the land
The law of the land
The law of the land

Getting tired of talking about it 
You turn your dreams to rage
Pack your day dreams, run home to papa
And live in a sugar-coated cage

Don't you think I get tired dear
When these ragged days never seem to fade
And that above my head says turn, turn, turn
Go ahead and turn the other way

No making fun of me what they can
Make me feel like a mouse in the body of a man
I'll adhere to my best laid plans
I'm a marathon man

The saints on the street they can fight me
Show me the prophet of the blade
And the signs in the sky can reach out and fight me
Tell me tomorrow is today

Even you, girl, you can stand there with your
With your time clock shooting sparks in the shade
I can still see you there with the breeze in your hair
Telling me our love would never fade

The cadillacs can all make way
To burn my regrets down the roads they've laid
Deep down I thought you'd always understand
I'm a marathon man

No, they could shove at me what they can
Make me feel like a mouse in the body of a man
But I'll adhere to my best laid plans
I'm a marathon man
I'm a marathon man

This road they paved has turned to sand
And the dreams that we held have slipped through our hands 
But I'm holding on tight, though it's thin as the wind 
To remember your love is where the real life begins

Now we've reached the proving grounds
Where things that go up always come down
And the bed that we make we've got to lie in again
And hope what's lost can be found 
At the proving ground

That silence it came and lift me up and down
Said you get what you're given, there ain't nothing for now
So go from kissing the sky to hugging the ground
You know it humbles the mind 
So you can hear your heart pound

Now we've reached the proving grounds
Where things that go up always come down
And the bed that we make we've got to lie in again
And hope what's lost can be found

It's a wonder why we're even still here 
It takes so much faith, girl, to see past the fear
It's a wonder I can even attest
After all this confusion and all of the miles
The prices we pay to feel freedom's smile
And I know what is there

We've reached the proving grounds
Where things that go up always come down
And the bed that we make we've got to lie in again
And hope what's lost can be found 
At the proving ground
At the proving ground 

Had a good old girl back in ‘83
Boy she sure was good to me
She really let me be myself,
But I tried to keep her on a shelf
Wouldn’t let her do a thing, learned my lesson late that spring
The hard way
The hard way

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen
your silly face full of broken dreams
We all sure did come up and lean 
to the land of opportunity
Too bad we believed the things they were telling you and me
Had to learn it the hard way
The hard way

I never thought to see the light 
I’d have to roll through the darkness and lose my sight
I never thought that to give a lickin’ 
I’d have to hide my tail and turn up chicken
I never thought to dream that I’d live ten thousand days 
and see it the hard way
The hard way

Well sometimes I think that overnight 
Things go wrong, never work out right
I don’t know what’s right or wrong
So you sure won’t learn it in this song
The only way is to follow your heart
In this dog-eat-dog world I think that’s smart
But then who am I to say, I always learn things the hard way
The hard way

Coming soon...

She met me in a hollow log 
Out on Highway 43
Yeah my head was full of smog
My heart long washed out to sea
She wore a smile without fear
Her tattered scarf like a shroud
She said I'm here to set you free 
From your silver lining in the clouds'

So I backstroked through my beer
One long last lonely lap
And as the diesel ground down the gear
I thought man, this is a trap
She said 'ask the lonely faces 
That stare upon us from the crowd
You'll take an outbound shuttle
Your silver lining in the clouds'

So I put a quarter in the slot
'Cause they wouldn't talk for free
But they didn't have to speak at all
Their eyes said it all to me
Their hearts all looked like donuts
in the day old bakery
And I felt very well endowed
In my silver lining in the clouds

So I packed my briefcase full of rain
My brass knuckles and snow chains
Took 'em down and got 'em framed
Made a portrait of my pain
Now every time I doubt her
I feel so very much ashamed
My bloodshot picture talks out loud
About my silver lining in the clouds

My silver lining in the clouds
My silver lining in the clouds

Maybe it's a picture of history and time
Maybe just an itching there on my feet
Maybe it's a heart that keeps pounding, pounding
Maybe it's the rust on these golden streets

One thing's for certain I know in my heart
Hard times are looking at me
Goodbye is just a freight train coming
Just around the bend

Thing you know before you hear the whistle crying
Still don't ease the pain of a love that lay dying
It's just a freight train coming
It's just around the bend

Good thing you know before you hear the whistle crying
Still don't ease the pain of a love that lay dying

They say there's silence before the storm dear and I don't doubt it
Round here just a pin drop

It's just a freight train coming
Just around the bend