LYRICS

MERCY RISING

01/

Mercy Rising

Maia Sharp/Mindy Smith

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

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

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

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

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

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

04/

Nice Girl

Park Chisolm/Maia Sharp

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

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

Drums: Ross McReynolds, Bass: Will Honaker, Electric & Steel Guitars: Joshua Grange, Acoustic Guitar/Piano/Wurlitzer/vocals: Maia, Vocal: PJ Pacifico

08/

Junkyard Dog

Park Chisolm/Gabe Dixon/Maia Sharp

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

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

10/

Nowhere Together

Cyd Greenwood/Maia Sharp

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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