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Find Your Way Home

by Wendell Kimbrough

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1.
Long Hard Road © Wendell Kimbrough, 2008. There’s a long hard road ahead of me Full of twists and turns in places I can’t see But if I’m to reach the valley where the grass is growing green There’s a long hard road ahead of me I am lying in a place where I can’t sleep Every way I turn my body, I’m still beat And the longer that I stay here, the more I know I need To take the long hard road ahead of me I have looked out for a path that I might find Just an easy way to walk and change my mind But the way from which I waver is the only path I see There’s a long hard road ahead of me There’s a pretty girl waiting for me there She’s a jewel in a crown that any king would want to wear But she’s locked up in a tower by some hands that I can’t see There’s a long hard road ahead of me There’s a destination worth the weary way Where the one I love will look at me and say "Thank you for the time you spent fighting to be free On the long hard road, you took the long hard road And you made it to the place you want to be."
2.
Christmas Eve ©2006 Wendell Kimbrough Once again it’s Christmas Eve And I know you You’ve had something up your sleeve For the last three years, you have left me cold ‘Twas not so long ago When I was old And I was trying to hold to you But you would not let me, I did not know Now, now I feel so young And if I’m free, this is all I need You, you can slip away And I will stay, I will celebrate Me, me I’m not alone I’m with friends I’m not wandering far, Far away from home, away from home Here, here the walls are strong And you know me, you know I may be wrong But I, I feel like I have died And when I did, I learned to be alive When, when the dark is close Now I know, I can wink and smile Near, oh so near, to my home Once again it’s Christmas Eve And I know you You’ve got something up your sleeve But you can slip away And I will stay; I will celebrate Near, oh so near, to my home
3.
It Was Worth Asking ©2007 Wendell Kimbrough Well, I called you up one hopeful summer day And I started smilin’ when I heard you were not engaged And I might have bought my ticket with too much haste But you said you’d like to see me if I came I was a bit surprised when you introduced your man But it all made sense as I reached out to shake his hand We were casualties in the game that no one wins It’s called “you’re so cute that guys can’t be ‘just friends.’” From the time that my plane left Baltimore ‘Til I showed up smiling at your front door You met some guy you hadn’t dated before and you said “yes!” You said that day you were tired of being at home And it was time for you to quit playing that southern role And I told you then for the most part I would agree But when you change yourself, let me know who you’re going to be I was trying to figure out if I could follow you To that great big city you were walking to But all I could see was losing myself if I tried, if I tried So when the fall came round you were wearing that old costume You were writing me a letter telling me it was new The guy is different, and the place you live has changed You reinvent yourself, but girl, you are still the same And I knew that day that I could get in line With the men trying to pay for your precious time Taking you out; you’ll be breaking their hearts one by one Maybe what you need is a guy who can break your spell Long enough to leave you while he’s living to tell the tale And I’d be dropping hints if I thought that guy was me But I keep my distance, ‘cause baby I know I’m weak
4.
The Ballad of Freida the Goose ©2007 Wendell Kimbrough Freida, where do you go when the snow falls? Freida, why don’t you leave when the geese call? You have landed here in our backyard, And you never wander very far. Freida, you pace through the grass with your webbed feet. Freida, there are no other geese here for you to meet. They have left here flying north toward home. Darling Freida, why are you here alone? Freida, did you have someone you were close to? Freida, did that someone die or abandon you? Are you hurt or scared or trying to hide? Do you need someone who’s on your side? Freida, all of us know how you feel: We’ve been hurt, dear, we’ve been hungry in search of a meal; But does the dirt here really taste so good That you won’t fly away when you know that you could? Freida, find your way home; Freida, find your way home. It might not be perfect but it’s better than being alone. Find your way home.
5.
Sweet Virginia ©2008 Wendell Kimbrough Oh sweet Virginia, though I’ve never known Your trees and fields, they all start telling me of home Oh gentle transport, on my journeys way I’d tell the truth to her if I knew what I should say North Carolina welcomes me Warm-weathered smiles and familiar food to eat Oh happy refuge from 80 miles per hour I’d tell her clearly but it’s not yet in my power Oh quiet cabin, hurling me through space Give me a moment to begin to see my place I need your landscapes for my rural mind Give me a respite, give me some time South Carolina, tell me what to say It’s February but you kiss me like it’s May Tell easy stories of my college friends I need your life to breathe into my soul again Oh early moonrise, don’t come up so fast Don’t leave me driving to a place I cannot last Oh brief reunion, whispered words of peace Follow me northward, tuck me in to sleep
6.
Never seen such a lovely rock or a prettier hard place I walked right between them now I'm feeling my mistake And if I could breathe, I'd laugh this irony away The harder I try, the less it seems I have to say What should I do when I can't really stay, But nothing inside of me's strong enough to run away My thoughts are idle and my conversations vague There's plenty to tell, but nothing I can really say
7.
Time On My Mind ©2007 Wendell Kimbrough You forgot about the mistake of your life And the things you packed in the car in the back when you met your wife It was daylight when you escaped from your past But it’s different than you’d think, ‘cause your memories did not last Come on singer do you not remember how To make these sounds and let me feel the way I want to now? Married friends are difficult I’ve found Easy to touch base with, so much harder to expound Does having sex turn around your head, So you can’t hear the friends who are not in your bed? It sounds like I’m putting blame on you, but I’m not. Cause there’s something strange every time that we talk, It’s deeper than us and it’s no one’s fault. So we’re not close, but I know you’re my friend. Maybe I have lost my mind, or maybe I have too much time. So I’ve landed here in a life of my own And it’s only my own no one else has to know what I’m thinking of I’m a drink poured out on a countertop spread wide Cause I can’t hold my shape with no one else to draw the lines Am I really alone in this life of mine? Is all of this waste really called my time?
Does it matter to you or to anyone else what I do? In the heat of the day I can hear your voice, You’re telling me there’s such a thing as choice, And you’re asking me, who I want to be. Maybe I have lost my mind, or maybe I have too much time.
8.
Kite 03:36
Kite ©Wendell Kimbrough, 2008 If you needed to live without me, Then I think I could let you go Like a kite in that great big open sky Of a land I do not know Though you’ve held me like a blanket Your hands have been open wide I have felt the freedom to brush against The heart behind your eyes You don’t know what I need I can’t tell what it takes to set you free Is it me? Is it me? Is it me? There are so many bars and hinges Inside my little frame That could close on you so quickly And start acting like a cage When a bird like you is singing And learning how to fly It would kill me if I held you And I kept you from great heights You don’t know what I need I can’t tell what it takes to set you free Is it me? Is it me? Could it be me?
9.
Come back home. This city's cold when you are gone, so come back home.
10.
The Trees of the Field © 2008 Wendell Kimbrough You have broken this old soil You have torn this skin apart And the seed that you have planted Buries naked in the dark In the springtime of my breathing You have sheltered me from harm All you asked was that my seedling Play into your earthen yarn If you trimmed off all my branches They would not complete your pile There is no way I’m left standing When you light that final fire Even small fruit you have nourished On these branches weighs them down If I bear it, if I carry It will sink me to the ground With the sunset in the background And this tree placed in the fore I can just make out what you have Planted all these years before In the forests in the orchards Broken trees cover the ground When they’ve fallen, when they’re trampled They have made a clapping sound And they join with the mountains And they join with the seas And they join with the parts that are alive inside of me And they cry out in longing for the earth that’s yet to be And they find joy and peace And they find joy and peace If I’m bearing when you’re ready If you come at the right time Take the fruit that I have carried Crush it down and make your wine

about

A folk album, built around acoustic guitars and a deep love for the soul grooves of Motown. I am still proud of the songs on this album. Mostly made in a small bedroom in Northeast Washington, DC, with a $75 audio interface, the production side of the project stays sparse and intimate. But the songs include some of what continue to be my most popular: Trees of the Field, The Ballad of Freida the Goose, and Sweet Virginia.

credits

released February 6, 2009

Produced and recorded by Wendell Kimbrough at home
Drums recorded at Osprey Point & Pollock’s House
Additional engineering and wise counsel: Adam Johnston
Mixed by Eric Tate in New Haven, Connecticut
Mastered by Alex McCollough at Yes Master
Visual Art and Design by Caroline Kimbrough

All songs written by Wendell Kimbrough
© 2009 Wendell Kimbrough Music

This album features contributions from some fantastic musicians: Brian Pollock (drums, bass, vocals), Clay Morrison (fiddle), Sarah Imboden (vocals), Daniel Hudspeth (electric guitar on come back home), Will Weir (bass on Kite), Paul Hurley (trumpets). All other instruments and unaccounted for sounds by Wendell (guitars, vocals, accordion, keyboards, samples).

Thanks: to my housemates—Daniel, Chris, John, and Clay, the Rez/Advent community, TFA friends, and to those who gave me gifts—Randy and Ruth Kimbrough, Sandra McCoy, Brian Pollock, KD Norman, Beth Hailey, Daniel McNair, Mary Catherine Stephens, Caleb McNair, Rosalyn Duval, Megan Porter, Kelley Alford, Courtney Pladsen, Rebekah Hanson, and Daniel Stenberg—this is my gift back to you; also, St. Stephens AME Church in Unionville, MD, Juliet Main @ Ebenezers, and Music City Instruments, in Magee, MS for giving me a chance.

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Wendell Kimbrough Dallas, Texas

Wendell Kimbrough is a songwriter reimagining the Psalms for emotionally honest worship. His music makes space for the whole range of human experience. With singable melodies, steeped in the sounds of folk, gospel, and soul music, Wendell's songs are sung in churches around the world. He lives with his wife and 2 daughters in Dallas, Texas, where he serves at Church of the Incarnation. ... more

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