© The YaYas

Third Girl from the Left

She’s the third girl from the left
She’s gonna shine, take it from me
Third girl from the left
Keep your eye on her folks
She’s something to see

Press your hand to the glass
(You) Don’t know yet, it goes so fast
See them all wrapped up in pink and blue
One of them belongs to you

She’s the third girl from the left...

They brush the sand from their feet
They’re all lanky legs and knobby knees
Cross the causeway with the windows down
Drivin’ fast and singin’ loud

She’s the third girl from the left...

I can say I knew her when
There was no then and now
See her in these photographs
I still recognize her somehow
Close the album smiling
She was so sure of what would be
Well it’s not the life that she expected
But I love the life I lead

She’s the third girl from the left...

Hit the snooze for a little more sleep
Cold tile under her feet
One last look and she’ll start her day
Out the door and on her way

She’s the third girl from the left
She’s gonna shine, take it from me
Third girl from the left
Keep your eye on her folks
She’s something to see


All These Gifts

I’m a girl who has two brothers
They are both older than me
We had one amazing mother
She was gone at fifty-three

Dad, he loves his scotch and water
Counts the ice cubes in the glass
Fixed his heart with bricks and mortar
Safe inside, ’cause nothing lasts

Gotta stop counting up the cost
Can’t live my life in terms of what I’ve lost
I’ve got some better things to add up now
Living your life by what has passed
Is kinda like drinking from an empty glass
Nothing tastes like nothing going down

So he sits from day till evening
In his worn-out easy chair
Counting days that have no meaning
Marking time with no one there

She is there when I am laughing
When I make her recipes
When I tell my favorite stories
All these gifts, she gave to me

Gotta stop counting up the cost
Can’t live my life in terms of what I’ve lost
I’ve got some better things to add up now
Living your life by what has passed
Is kinda like drinking from an empty glass
Nothing tastes like nothing going down

I will always love my father
I know I can’t change his mind
I have two sons and one daughter
And their mom is a lot like mine

Gotta stop counting up the cost
Can’t live my life in terms of what I’ve lost
I’ve got some better things to add up now
Living your life by what has passed
Is kinda like drinking from an empty glass
Nothing tastes like nothing going down


Willing Heart

I brought the dresser I grew up with
You had a hand-me-down couch
We dragged a bookcase from the curb
We lined the years on those shelves

Do you remember that apartment
Barely room enough for two
How we dreamed of something bigger
I was so in love with you

I’ve got this clean page, I need a fresh start, 
To find the words of a prayer for a willing heart

We built a life in bits and pieces
Found along the way
Just assumed they’d stick together
That we both would stay the same

But you became a stranger
I became one too
All those frames up on the mantel
Look like people we once knew

I’ve got this clean page, I need a fresh start, 
To find the words of a prayer for a willing heart

We were so focused on the details
That the colors all blurred
We lost our perspective
Couldn’t see what we were

Now I’m sitting in our kitchen
All these words in my head
The pen is in my hand
Full of ink and things unsaid

I’ve got this clean page, I need a fresh start,
To find the words of a prayer for a willing heart

I’ve got this clean page, I need a fresh start
I need to know what to do with these broken parts


You Should Go

As a boy he came to see me almost every day
Pulling scraps of paper from the pockets of his coat
Folding up his dreams in tiny paper boats

Some days he’d sit with me in silence
Other days he’d tell me the places he hoped to go
I watched as he grew up and then grew old

You should go, why won’t he listen
You should go, why can’t he hear me
You should go, you should go, you should go

New York to Poughkeepsie and then back again
He made his living riding by my side
Punching tickets on the Hudson line

People on the way to work each morning
Say hello, they think they know his name
They all leave, but he stays on that train

You should go, why won’t he listen
You should go, why can’t he hear me
You should go, you should go, you should go

You can keep your dreams
Somewhere deep, somewhere cold
Underneath the name that someone gave you
But you’ll only find the name that’s written on your soul
If you surrender, if you let the current take you

You should go, why won’t he listen
You should go, why can’t he hear me
You should go, you should go, you should go


Price of Progress

Took a day to knock it down
He watched the whole damn thing
His father used to work there
A pile of bricks and dusty air

For a faded river town
Another chance of spring
Promises and pretty plans
The memories of just one man

What do I know, he says, am I just getting old
Something gained, something lost
Can we afford to pay the price of progress

Whistled home at dinnertime
Maybe late July
Raced his brothers down the street
Bunch of kids with muddy feet

His kids, they just stay inside
Hang out in their rooms
Central air and glowing screens
He’s looking for an in-between

What do I know, he says, am I just getting old
Something gained, something lost
Can we afford to pay the price of progress

The town that he grew up in
The one he lives in now
Nothing seems the same
But he knows the street names

The houses just get bigger
Sometimes he feels so small
Did his father feel this way
Will his kids someday

What do I know, he says, am I just getting old
Something gained, something lost
Can we afford to pay the price of progress

Any jar will do
Punch a hole or two
Fireflies and bittersweet
All those nights
Lit by summer lanterns


Last Good One

He was just so sweet
Swept me off my feet
The perfect Prince Charming
Never thought I’d meet
Couldn’t believe my luck
No more would my life suck

Oh, I got the last good one
Picked him right off the shelf
Oh, I got the last good one
So keep your hands to yourself

I have a big place
And it’s going great
Asked him to move in
And I couldn’t wait
He sure has a lot of stuff
I guess I will learn to adjust

’Cause oh, I got the last good one...

He leaves the cap off
And the seat up
His dirty socks on the floor
And he steals the blankets
He won’t give up the remote
I want to grab him by the throat

However...

He leaves the light on
When I get home late
There’s so many things
I can appreciate
Like he always takes out the trash
So when his faults I bash

I remind myself...

That oh, I got the last good one...

Let’s face it, we all have our quirks
Sometimes I’m the one who’s a jerk
Through it all we both agree
There’s no place that we’d rather be

And oh, I got the last good one...
Picked him right off the shelf
Oh, I got the last good one
So keep your hands to yourself