5/10

I had a wonderful time last weekend in Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey and I want to thank all of you who welcomed my songs with such kindness. I'm doing an artist residency this week at a school up in Quakertown and then taking it easy for the weekend; going to see Arlo Guthrie at the Grand Opera House Friday and singing at my friend Rotten Dan's daughter Devon's wedding on Saturday. (I will also MC the wedding reception ... who knows? a whole new career may be on the horizon...) A new lyric below. I played the song at Steel City for the first time a ten days ago and have been fooling with it ever since...

Sunflower                          Words and Music by John Flynn

Twisted and broken, the green, bleeding stem
She wove in strands of her hair
Nestled in golden and silver moonlight
I saw the sunflower there
I walked up to her and asked her her name
And just as bold as you please
I moved a lock of her hair with my hand
And set that sunflower free

Like golden tear drops
the nighttime wept into my shirt
Sunflower petals
so soft in my hands that they hurt
went spinning down into the dirt

Down in the meadow grass she pulled my hand
Down where the sun had not shown
Eagerly tasting the warmth of her mouth
and pleasures I’d never known
Under the night’s holy stars on a soft
blanket of cool summer earth
Spent bodies steep as our spirits ascend
drawing each other like a breath

And golden tear drops
the dawn wept into my shirt
Like flower petals
so soft on her cheeks that they hurt
went splashing down into the dirt

So many memories like song birds I heard
Long ago have taken wing
Still from the deep and dark woods of my dreams
I hear her sweet memory sing
Early snow falls on the meadow tonight
But even in winter hours
I would not trade the sunflower I held
For a whole garden of flowers
 

Like golden tear drops
the years wept into my shirt
Sunflower petals
so soft on my mind that they hurt
Go spinning down into the dirt

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