Unpaved Highway - Seven Bridges © Eric Nedelman 2022

Foresight

I stand before you like the man of the hour

Brave, proud and strong; radiating power

As I look back on my life

Wish I knew true from right
To see with foresight to show me the way

I’m coming home

Coming home

I’ll remember tonight

How the stars shone so bright
They were jealous of your light as you soared higher

Our destinies brought us together and tore us apart

The wheels we set in motion forced us to depart

I’m coming home

Coming home

When I walk back up the drive, will it start again?

When I step back in your lives, will we start again?
Hindsight

Hindsight is 20/20
Hindsight is like a 20/20 vision, darling
You never see it coming, but you always see it go

Hindsight is like a 20/20 vision darling

My hindsight (woah yeah) is like an eagle’s vision
You never see the changes coming, but you always wave good-bye
The Feeling in the Moment

I woke up in the mist of a hazy coastal morning

I shuddered twice, like my death was oh so near
I had a cup of coffee, toked a couple of cigarettes
I haven’t had a good day in years, and this is the best one yet

So many years ago I would have swore that we’d never change
But it’s time for me to leave you

While zipping up my suitcase, I stopped to think how the world had changed
It seems I’ve been running around in circles ever since I came out here
I haven’t had a good day in years, but I never felt like this

Now that the feeling’s in the moment (feel the winds of change)
I know there’s no postponement

There’s static on the radio where you used to be

You know I hate to leave you, the changes came so fast
I haven’t had a good day in years, but the changes feel so right

So many years ago, I would have swore that we’d never change
But now that the feeling’s in the moment (fee the winds of change)
I know there’s no postponement (no feeling like the present)
It’s time for me to leave you
Reminiscing

Needles California and just across the border are the sun-bleached sands of time
I’ve just lost an hour and ooh I’ve gotta tell ya there’s no boundaries for my mind

As the tape player plays the music of a past day and takes me back to yesterday
I talk to myself in silence in hopes I can make everything
Okay, all right, I don’t have to fight it if I can just bring it back, oh yeah

I remember when we used to dance all night underneath the cobalt lights
There’s nothing left for me
And I remember Sunset clubs and jamming nights in rundown pubs
And how you wanted one last dance from me

I can still see her smile in every single mile, every tear and passing sigh
The softness of her hips the color of her lips as they slowly said, “good-bye”

I remember when we used to dance all night underneath the cobalt lights
There’s nothing left for me
And I remember Sunset clubs and jamming nights in rundown pubs
And how you wanted one last dance from me

I’ve had my days of rock and roll bands and millions of screaming fans
I was a drop of water in the open sea
I’ve had my fill of broken dreams, everything coming apart at the seams
I’ve gotta bring it back to unity, unity field
Winslow

I just woke up an hour ago since the last time I saw the road
Hoped in my car and followed the stars all the way to Winslow
Found me a bed a place to put my head and let the evening slip by
Then in the morning when breakfast was warming, I saw a sight that blew my mind

It was a girl standing on the corner looking like she forgot what love was for
With her bags by her side and a look in her eye
I could watch no more and diverted my eyes back to the homeward sky

A red light turned to green and a bullet shot down highway 40

Thought it would stop for nothing until she stepped into sight
She was traveling by her cold steel wits and thumb
I had to stop on a dime of ambivalence to let loneliness win again
High

(Spoken) When you can hear your heartbeat, you know something’s about to happen

We drove all morning into the sky

Hours and hours of road went by
Those funny cigarettes, that look in her eye
Then she told me it was time to fly

My feet were floating, my hands went numb

Myself the car and the road were one
The wild thing was that the highway was gone
She said, “Hit the gas baby, it’s time to run.”

She slides my hand up the hem of her skirt

Flashes a smile as she lifts up her shirt
One hand on the wheel while the other explores
Our hearts were pounding wanting more, more, more

Her eyes so inviting her lips so wet

My eyes were hungry together we met
Her kiss felt so good swore I’d never forget
I wished for forever, but time wouldn’t let

I never knew such a figure before

Until she took off the shirt that she wore
Higher and higher we drove so fast
“Let’s step on it baby, this moment won’t last.”

The radio blasted our favorite tune

The air was rich with smoke and perfume
All that is now will be then soon
Arms hold tight but can’t lasso the moon

I never knew any body so fine

Until she pressed hers against mine
Higher and higher we drove ‘til dawn
“Let’s step on it before this moment is gone.”
Dreams

If you don’t have dreams, you can’t have dreams come true

The best of times are these times, rage is in the air

Everything is vital, and everybody cares
You know I’ve always wanted, you know I’ve always dreamed
Why the hell did I give up and stop believing in me?

And the dreams that came in the night, oh the hour we slept
Filled my heart with desire, maybe we’ll never part

Sometimes life feels like a survival, like no one really cares

All I need is some of your revival, baby clears the air

And the dreams that came in the night, oh the hour we slept
Filled my heart with desire, maybe we’ll never part, and she said

“If you don’t have dreams, you can’t have dreams come true”
“But,” I whispered, “Everywhere I look the sky still turns blue.”
It’s turning, oh baby turning me on to my dreams.

I saw a hawk circling a church praying on the lord

Even if we hold true and never slam the door
I don’t know if I can last, we’ve been driving way too fast, and she said,

“If you don’t have dreams, you can’t have dreams come true”
“But,” I whispered, “Everywhere I look the sky still turns blue.”
It’s turning, oh baby turning me on to my dreams.

The best of times are these times, rage is in the air

Everything is vital, and everybody cares
You know I’ve always wanted, you know I’ve always dreamed
Why the hell did I give up and stop believing in me?

Driving with my eyes on her, knowing she has to go

Little Rock is now her home, tonight I’ll sleep alone

(Still) If you don’t have dreams you can’t have dreams come true
Seven Bridges

There are seven bridges in my hometown

That's where I grew up and created our sound
I used to sit on the parapets and practice my slide
I would strut across them before I could drive.

I wear my heart on my sleeve like a color tattoo

All for the chance to build a bridge between me and

You are the headlights on the road ahead

You are the reflection in my rearview mirror
You are the road beneath my screeching tires
You ride shotgun

I've spent a lot of days watching the traffic fly by

I've spent a lot of days dreaming about this night

I wear my heart on my sleeve like a color tattoo

All for the chance to build a bridge between me and

You are the headlights on the road ahead

You are the reflection in my rearview mirror
You are the road beneath my screeching tires
You ride shotgun
Railway Bridge

I live to walk the tracks of Railway Bridge

I love the sound of the train roaring above my head

With that heavy, heavy rhythm and pounding beat
I feel it coursing through my body and right out through my feet

I feel the rumble and the grind churning me up inside

It’s the wheels on the steel and thumping beat
I feel it coursing through my body and right out through my feet

So, I found a drummer who could pound, a bassist who could rumble, growl and grind
Taught my guitar to talk, to be my voice for what’s inside

I live to walk the tracks of Railway Bridge

After the train has passed, it’s my heritage
I stare across the span of Railway Bridge
Parallel lines converge, it’s my lineage

I have to shout above the din, I want someone to let me in

Rise above deafening noise, singing at the top of my voice
I feel it pumping through my body, I don’t have a choice

There’s a vanishing point as far as the eye can see

This seems to be the story for a young boy like me
But the chasm below is like the distance I put between us
I thought we’d succumb to the emptiness, but we will rise above

I live to walk the tracks of Railway Bridge

After the train has passed, it’s my heritage
I stare across the span of Railway Bridge
Parallel lines converge, it’s my lineage
Unsheltered

Henry is pushing and pulling his cart down second avenue

It rattles and shakes, people turn away from his gaze as he mumbles to himself about his milieu

He sits on the concrete leaning against the brick wall

His cup is empty and his face is long and drawn
So, I sit down beside him and take out my guitar
I sing with all my heart to fill his cup within the hour

I sing this song for the ones without a voice

The ones who feel life has given them no other choice
For the men, women and children who need to be heard
I sing this song for the unsheltered
For the unsheltered

Henry slept under Remedy Bridge for years upon years

Before the black tar seeped in and the traffic changed the scene
I guess the world never stopped moving and uncovered the unforeseen

I take Henry for lunch and he buys me a cup of coffee

We talk about who he was before things ended so badly
How his home became the city and the streets became his home
He told me about his darling wife who passed before his kids were born

I sing this song for the ones without a voice

The ones who feel life has given them no other choice
For the men, women and children who need to be heard
I sing this song for the unsheltered

Let’s band together for the unsheltered

Let’s raise the roof and reach out a hand
Let’s put the hammer to the nail and create a plan that can’t fail
Let’s band together for the unsheltered

I sing this song for the ones without a voice

The ones who feel life has given them no other choice
For the men, women and children who need to be heard
I sing this song for the unsheltered
For the unsheltered
We’re an Even Seven

Now we’re an even seven

Love found you, I could tell by the way you stood still
Love found me, unexpectedly, you were the key

We were on cruise control, nothing could slow us down

It was more than destiny that made us great

It was speeding up time and racing with fate
Time has stood still since a quarter past eleven
Now we’re an even seven

You and I became a whirlpool, spiraling friendships closer

You came to me, unsuspectingly, you were the key

We were on cruise control, nothing could slow us down

It was more than destiny that made us great

It was speeding up time and racing with fate
Time has stood still since a quarter past eleven
Now we’re an even seven

You were influential

He was influenced
Your lives intersected
In blindsided confluence

Suddenly I’ve lost control, no one to slow us down

It was more than destiny that made us great

It was speeding up time and racing with fate
Time has stood still since a quarter past eleven
Now we’re an even seven
Unplanned Encore

We built this bridge with our own hands

Our words, passions, turned to treason

Then you ignited the spark

I set the fire
You fanned the flames
I added fuel
You readied the charge
I laid the fuse
You hit the switch
I burst, you fumed
You watched it explode as I walked away into the dark plume

Though our love grew cliché, even routinely risqué

Smiles became decadent tears, burned and scarred as raw souvenirs

Embers still glow as you watched alone

Ashes smolder all season

When I committed the crime to leave you behind

Found sometimes love is not enough
Had to hold my head high
At least I should try before the going got too tough
It was hard to pretend we’d make amends
I fell for my own bluff

I am not a mirage, this is not déjà vu

I can’t stand this Façade, I walk an old road in new shoes

My knock
Your door
Unplanned encore
As you search for some reason
Thank You

Thank you, thank you for standing beside me

Silently beside me
I know it’s been too many years
And we’ve shed too many tears
Still, there’s no one I trust more to cry with than you

This place strips away my essence and leaves an empty shell surrounding my heart

You’ve shown strength even in the silence

The harsh and cold silence
Who knew someone could find me in my time of grief and misery
Still, there’s no one I trust more to hold me than you

How will it be a year from now?

Will it feel anything like this?
Is that the true test of love?
Can only hindsight know the truth?

You wrote, “Meet me at Conflux Bridge” and told me the story

Of how these two rivers first met and how we’re destined to be
And how there’s no one you trust more to love you than me

This road leads away from where my heart will stay

Only you conceived our love could start again
How can we start again?