LYRICS
MERCY RISING
01/
Mercy Rising
Maia Sharp/Mindy Smith
©2019 Crooked Crown Music (BMI)/Giant leap Publishing LLC, (BMI), admin Concord Music Publishing
I’ve lived a revolution, every season come and gone
I’m looking to the sky, what’s taking so long
I’ve been counting constellations and I’m still waiting on Mercy Rising
You slipped between my fingers but you never slipped my heart
Some other worldly pull won’t let us drift apart
Yeah, if they were mine, I’d trade the sun, the moon and all the stars for Mercy Rising
I’m due a Hallelujah
To roll through me tonight
And blind me to my love for you so I can see the light of Mercy Rising
It can come to me in a whisper from a stranger on the street
In a sun kissed shadow dancing at my feet
In my windshield wipers hitting the backside of the beat
I’m due a Hallelujah
To roll through me tonight
And blind me to my love for you so I can see the light of mercy
Don’t look back, don’t look down
At the speed of light or the speed of sound
I’m due a Hallelujah
To roll through me tonight
And blind me to my love for you so I can see the light of Mercy Rising
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange, Strings: Chris Carmichael, Acoustic Guitar/Piano/Vocal: Maia, BG vocals: Mindy Smith & Peter Groenwald
07/
Things to Fix
Noah Guthrie/Maia Sharp
©2019 Guthrie Noah (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
The table leg, the back door latch
The cabinet with the worn out catch
The picture frame that doesn't hold the nail
The water underneath the floor
That window that won’t quite shut no more
The middle drawer is riding off the rail
There ain’t enough hours in the day
To patch it up, dust it off and make it all okay
What I should’ve said and what I should’ve done
Yeah, I keep skipping over number one
On my list of things to fix
I’m gonna give these faded walls a coat
Clean around that folded note
Finally go out and get a ring
For that key that I can never find
You blame it on my drifting mind
I can’t seem to hold on to anything
I can work on something ‘til it shines like new
But I just couldn’t bring myself to shine for you
What I should’ve said and should’ve done
Yeah, I keep skipping over number one
On my list of things to fix
Every time the second hand ticks
I think of something else I might’ve missed
The list keeps getting longer I’m running out of breath
But I can’t face it yet
What I should’ve said, what I should’ve done
Holding there at number one
On my list of things to fix
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars/Synthesizers: Joshua Grange, Wurlitzer/Synthesizers/vocals: Maia, BG Vocal: Noah Guthrie
02/
You’ll Know Who Knows You
Emily Kopp/Maia Sharp
©2018 Move Yourself Publishing (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
I know to close the window
Put a record on down the hall
You said once you like the echo off the hardwood
And you don’t care much for candles
Or a body like a Barbie Doll
Or feeling misunderstood
If you’re wondering, you won’t be wondering tomorrow
Slow dance slow in the kaleidoscope glow of a lava lamp light
Thermostat down, sip of Crown and if I get this right
You’ll know who knows you tonight
You’ll know who knows you tonight
I won’t shy away from your shadows
We’ll tell our story to the walls
And you won’t have to tell me where to spend my time
Heartbeat saying everything I need to hear
Loud like a cannonball
We’ll go to where only I can take you
Slow dance slow in the kaleidoscope glow of a lava lamp light
Thermostat down, sip of Crown and if I get this right
You’ll know who knows you tonight
I’m not the only one burning up for you
But by the rising of the sun you’ll know there’s only one who
Knows you
If you’re wondering, you won’t be wondering tomorrow
Slow dance slow in the kaleidoscope glow of a lava lamp light
Thermostat down, sip of Crown and if I get this right
You’ll know who knows you tonight
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker,
Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange, Acoustic Guitar/Wurlitzer/vocals: Maia
03/
Backburner
Anna Schulze/Maia Sharp
©2019 Anna Schulze Music (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
I tried to put you on the backburner
Let you simmer on low
While I tended to the party
And the overflow
So you wouldn’t boil over
I’d give a little stir
Maybe take a little taste
Just to make sure
It’s a hell of a way to say turn the flame up higher
When I put you on the backburner
You set the place on fire
The party got awkward
Hope I didn’t let ‘em down
I just couldn’t keep my cool
With you dancing around
There’s still champagne
And I still want you
Maybe I was hoping this is what you’d do
It’s a hell of a way to say turn the flame up higher
When I put you on the backburner
You set the place on fire, on fire
The corner of my eye, the edge of my mind couldn’t hold you anymore
A little patience, a little time is all I was asking for
I had a dream that you waited for me
But like a lot of dreams go
I woke up in the ash of the afterglow
It’s a hell of a way to pay for my desire
It’s a hell of a way to say turn the flame up higher
I try to put you on the backburner
I try to put you on the backburner
When I put you on the backburner
You set the place on fire
On fire, on fire
You set the place on fire
Drums & Percussion: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker,
Electric Guitars/Synthesizers: Joshua Grange, Acoustic &
Electric Guitar/Synthesizers/Vocal: Maia, BG vocals: Anna Schulze
08/
Junkyard Dog
Park Chisolm/Gabe Dixon/Maia Sharp
©2016 Spark Chisolm Music (BMI)/Third and Verse Boulevard (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
Stayed by your side so faithfully
Could have worn a sign that said “Beware of Me”
I never wandered, no I never strayed
And nobody got by when I was at the gate
But you could mesmerize me with a barrel fire
Go sneak another woman through a tear in the wire
Like what we had was worth a pile of old tires
And I’m your junkyard dog
Junkyard dog at the end of that chain
Junkyard dog howling out in vain
Fighting for a love you don’t care about
Protecting something you could live without
I thought I was the queen of your castle turns out
I’m just your junkyard dog
You left me alone for hours on end
And I was true to you again and again
You had me wagging and willing for whatever you could spare
I took what you were giving and followed you anywhere
Like a junkyard dog at the end of that chain
A junkyard dog howling out in vain
Fighting for a love you don’t care about
Protecting something you could live without
I thought I was the queen of your castle turns out
I’m just your junkyard dog
Don’t be surprised to come home and see
A collar and a chain where I used to be
You got to find another fool to take the place of me
And be your junkyard dog at the end of that chain
Your junkyard dog howling out in vain
Fighting for a love you don’t care about
Protecting something you could live without
Thought I was the queen of your castle turns out
I’m just your junkyard dog
Drums/Percussion: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange, Acoustic Guitar/Saxophones/vocals: Maia, Organ & BG vocal: Gabe Dixon
09/
Not Your Friend
Anna Schulze/Maia Sharp
©2018 Anna Schulze Music (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
I’m not your friend
Friends don’t pray their friends undo another button
I’m not your friend
Friends don’t lose their breath all of the sudden
You might say that you never want to see me again
But I’m not okay
Hearing about some girl that you think is the one
I’m not okay
Being there for you when the whole thing comes undone
It’s 2am in the kitchen glare
I’m wondering what it’ll take to get you there
I’m drunk as hell, filter fading
The confession will be liberating
End the guessing and the waiting
I can’t be trusted
Anytime you come close enough to touch
I can’t be trusted
Staring into your big blue eyes so much
I may not know what I am to you
But I know I want to do what friends don’t do
And I’ve been watching this movie again and again and again and again
I’m not your friend
My friend wouldn’t let me walk that hallway mile
Never turning me around, telling me that you know
Begging me don’t go
When it’s all over, out in the air
Will I be closer to waking up to find you there
Will you thank me with those eyes
Or walk away when you realize
What I’ve been
I’m not your friend
Drums/Percussion: Ross McReynolds, Bass/Synthesizers: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange, Acoustic Guitars/vocals: Maia
04/
Nice Girl
Park Chisolm/Maia Sharp
©2019 Spark Chisolm Music/Spark Lark Music (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
With those smiling eyes and that bed head hair
How the woman that you’re looking at feels like the only one
The quiet storm behind your thousand yard stare
Like you want someone to save you
Like your running days are done
You make it easy to fall in love with you
Then the rest of it just seems to get too hard to do
Oh well, I won’t worry about you baby, hey
You’re gonna make some nice girl miserable someday
You can’t take a rain cloud and tell it not to rain
You can’t make a river stop thinking about the sea
You can’t change somebody who doesn’t want to change
And you can’t take forever too seriously
My prediction, as close to well wishin’ as I can say, hey
You’re gonna make some nice girl miserable
Someday, somewhere she’s waiting there for you
She’ll swear you hung the moon the same way I used to
Maybe she’ll stick around
For a few more ups and down than I could stand
Maybe she’s nicer than I am
You’ll make it easy to fall in love with you
Then the rest of it will start to get so hard to do
One of you will cry, one of you will walk away
Oh but I, I won’t worry about it baby, hey
You’re gonna make some nice girl miserable someday
Hey, you’re gonna make some nice girl miserable someday
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange,Organ: Gabe Dixon, Acoustic Guitar/Mellotron/Vocals: Maia
05/
When the World Doesn’t End
PJ Pacifico/Maia Sharp
©2017 Paul P Music (ASCAP)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
I used to wish I could be somewhere else
It’s a big city, a big city and a small town
I put a little makeup on to reinvent myself
Checking every subway car to see if you are there
I used to dance around the circle of your friends
Take the longer way I know you wouldn’t take
No narrow one way streets and no dead ends
So if I saw you I wouldn’t have to go through it
We didn’t see the corner we were coming around
This is going down, it’s going down now
4-3-2-1 and no Armageddon
There’s still a moon, there’s still a sun
And we’re still breathin
It’s nothing like the nightmare
It’s nothing like the cold stare
We imagined would be there
So what do you do when
The world doesn’t end
When the world doesn’t end
I think of all the stupid things we did
Building up that wasted emotion
We ran away like scared little kids
We ran out of words that nobody would’ve heard anyway
We didn’t see the corner we were coming around
This is going down, it’s going down now
4-3-2-1 and no Armageddon
There’s still a moon, there’s still a sun
And we’re still breathin
It’s nothing like the nightmare
It’s nothing like the cold stare
We imagined would be there
So what do you do when oh oh oh
When the world doesn’t end oh oh oh
4-3-2-1 and no Armageddon
There’s still a moon, there’s still a sun
And we’re still breathin
It’s nothing like the nightmare
It’s nothing like the cold stare
We imagined would be there
What do you do then
What do you do then
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric & Steel Guitars: Joshua Grange, Acoustic Guitar/Piano/Wurlitzer/vocals: Maia, Vocal: PJ Pacifico
10/
Nowhere Together
Cyd Greenwood/Maia Sharp
©2019 Cyd Greenwood Music (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
Something about you
Makes me forget what I know
All that I’ve lived, all I’ve been told
With my arms around you
I can’t hold the reins any more
Don’t care what’s next or what came before
And I don’t care if we go
Nowhere together
Act like we don’t know better
If we’re light as a feather, we can fly like they do
I’ll take the fear with the freedom
I won’t miss the world I’m leaving
Nowhere is somewhere when I go there with you
I knew how to stand still
I was a wall to the wind
No letting go, no giving in
You were a wild child
Never felt tied to the earth
The further the fall, the more that it’s worth
And you don’t care if we go
Nowhere together
Act like we don’t know better
If we’re light as a feather, we can fly like they do
I’ll take the fear with the freedom
I won’t miss the world I’m leaving
Nowhere is somewhere when I go there with you
Nowhere together
Act like we don’t know better
If we’re light as a feather, we can fly like they do
I’ll take the fear with the freedom
I won’t miss the world I’m leaving
Nowhere is somewhere when I go there with you
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker,
Guitars/Keyboards/vocal: Maia, Vocal: Cyd Greenwood
11/
Missions
Maia Sharp
©2019 Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
You wake up and ask am I doing okay can I keep driving
As if you could take over if I said no
I tell you I got it, you fall back asleep
‘Cause you trust me
And that’s what keeps me awake
That’s what keeps my eyes open
It’s the only thing holding my wheels between the lines
This gas station coffee is foul
But it’s just to get us where we’re going
And at least I’ll be finishing one of these missions of mine
I’m holding at 90 and our ETA isn’t moving
And I feel more alone than if you hadn’t come
You whisper to thank me for powering through
And I hate that I love you this much
But that’s what keeps me awake
That’s what keeps my eyes open
It’s the only thing holding my wheels between the lines
This gas station coffee is foul
But it’s just to get us where we’re going
And at least I’ll be finishing one of these missions of mine
I guess letting you go is tomorrow’s mission
So I keep driving
If I land anywhere, I don’t stay there very long
How can a person never stop moving
And still never move on?
I change my skyline, my road and my river
And I still hear your name
And you’re just sleeping in the passenger seat
Like a photo in a frame
You’re the same as you were the day I told you
In the eye of the beholder who can’t hold you
You’re the same as you were the day I told you
In the eye of the beholder
In the eye of the beholder
In the eye of the beholder who can’t hold you
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric Guitars: Joshua Grange, Piano/Synthesizers/vocal: Maia
12/
06/
Whatever We Are
Thomas Finchum/Anna Schulze/Maia Sharp
©2019 Razor and Tie Music Publishing (BMI)/Anna Schulze Music (BMI)/Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
Never again or just not today
First of our kind or the oldest cliché
Right down the middle or missed it by far
I love you whatever we are
Kicking the habit or upping the dose
Two airplanes flying uncomfortably close
The leftover light from a long gone star
I love you whatever we are
We’ve been it all still don’t have a clue
What you are to me, what I am to you
It’s making me better and breaking my heart
Loving someone forever, whatever we are
Stuck in the memories, trying to move on
Changing the station or singing along
In the back of my mind or the back of your car
I love you whatever we are
And I’m not gonna stop when it puts up a fight
I’ll just learn how to see you in another new light
We’ve been it all still don’t have a clue
What you are to me, what I am to you
It’s making me better and breaking my heart
Loving someone forever, whatever we are
You’ll make me better, you’ll break my heart
I’ll love you forever, whatever we are
Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric and Steel Guitars: Joshua Grange, Strings: Chris Carmichael, Acoustic Guitar/Mellotron/vocals: Maia, BG vocals: Thomas Finchum & Anna Schulze
Always Good to See You
(BONUS TRACK)
Maia Sharp
© 2020 Crooked Crown Music (BMI)
Written in response to “The Ordinary Miraculous” from Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
For the SongWriter podcast
I smooth my hands across the velvet
And a ripple in time starts rolling
I couldn’t know when that wave would break
A song on the radio, a rerun of your favorite show
My own reflection making that expression you’d make
When I hear myself say what I wish that I’d said then
When I find a little meaning in the mess
I am still amazed at your ways of checking in
A cardinal on a wire, a yard sale dress
It’s always good to see you
It’s always good to see you
I want to catch it when you come to me
I know it can just be the moment
But sometimes it’s the long game reveal
And the ripple tends to find a shore
If I know what I’m watching for
The ordinary becomes a very big deal
When I hear myself say what I wish that I’d said then
When I find a little meaning in the mess
I am still amazed at your ways of checking in
A cardinal on a wire, a yard sale dress
It’s always good to see you
It’s always good to see you
And it always breaks my heart
And it makes my day
It’s good to see you
I wish that you could stay
I guess you do in your way
When I hear myself saying what I wish that I’d said then
When I find a little meaning in the mess
I am still amazed at your ways of checking in
A cardinal on a wire, a yard sale dress
It’s always good to see you
It’s always good to see you
It’s always good to see you
Acoustics/Piano: Maia, Chinese Moon Guitar/Synthesizers: Joshua Grange
Basic tracks recorded at Resistor Studio in Nashville, TN engineered by Joshua Grange
Vocals and overdubs recorded at Crooked Crown Studio engineered by Maia in Nashville, TN
Mixed by Ryan Hewitt at East Iris Studios, assisted by Sean Williamson
Except Track 12 mixed by Joshua Grange
Mastered by Jim DeMain, Assisted by Amy Marie at Yes Master Studios, Nashville TN
Photography and Cover Design: Emily Kopp @earthtolowen @moveyourself.creative
Chalk art by Marina Bluthgen, Web & Art direction: Donny Anderson @donnyland