| Swimmin' in the American River today
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| There you are on the bank sunbathing
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| What a beautiful picture your bathing suit and shades
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| Oh you’re a princess how did I ever get so lucky
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| Canadian Geese I like watching them flow
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| And watching the old timers across the river panning for gold
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| Oh the water’s so cold yet refreshing
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| Ain’t nothin' like swimmin' in a river it’s so decompressing
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| I’m a songwriter I’m a songwriter I am through and through
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| And I’ll be writing songs about you 'til I’m dead and blue
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| And you know I’ve lived a life and that there’s been others too
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| But nothin' compares to my life with you
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| Nothing compares to making love to you
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| Nothing compares to delicious cookin'
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| Nothing compares to how good I feel
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| When layin' next to watchin' TV and cuddlin'
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| Nothing compares with your kindness and patience
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| Nothing compares to your fragrance, your radiance
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| Since I was 15 I’ve carried an affliction
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| Since I was 15 I’ve lived with a condition
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| And I’m workin' on it workin' on it, I’m workin' on it hard baby
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| I got friends in my corner advising and helpin' me
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| The first time I ever looked at you
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| I’ve thought, though I’m flawed, you’re the one for me
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| And I’m the one for you
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| Was an eventful day I caught a lunker
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| I threw it back in the river it was a big orange carp clunker
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| And now you’re in bed you’re readin' a book by Edward Bunker
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| Next to the framed photo of my old cat Thumper
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| And I’m reading by John Fante’s Full of Life
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| He admits he’s nothing without Joyce his beloved wife
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| Wouldn’t matter if I rolled around in a Rolls Royce
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| Don’t matter how many custom built Les Pauls I own
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| Don’t matter how strong my voice
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| Don’t matter if I got a Golden Gate view
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| Don’t none of it mean nothin' without you
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| This year has found me so down and full of gloom
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| But feeling full of gloom for me ain’t nothin' new
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| I’ve been carrying it around since I was in my mother’s womb
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| In fact there’s probably still a residue of gloom
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| Under the many coats of paint in my childhood bedroom
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| But I’m trying to drop this bag of gloom
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| Though I’ll probably carry it around to some extent to my tomb
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| Call it gloom call it glum I’ve carried some depression
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| Self-induced, maybe, I don’t know
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| Maybe it’s genetic
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| Sometimes I lay in bed 'til one or two
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| In the afternoon
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| Dreaming I’m onstage entertaining
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| Then I wake and think that my god that felt great
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| Then I’m hit with the pain, that for now, being on stage is no musician’s fate
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| But my life is still quite dream
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| Bouncing back and forth between The Sierras and San Francisco and New Orleans
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| With you my Queen
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| And from this day forward I’ll strive to be your King
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| And here we are in Mid-October and before we know it the years' gonna be over.
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| But damn, the Roma tomatoes that we planted are still producing,
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| and tall as little trees
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| I’ll never forget our beautiful spring and summer days this year,
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| driving around old mountain towns, taking photos of old payphones,
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| and planting mint, parsley and basil in the garden, or driving to the old
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| Chinese town Isleton, where we stopped along the Delta and talked to a guy
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| named Hugo, who told us the history of the town
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| Or having Italian food in Rio Vista and standing on a dock, looking out over
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| the water, where Humphrey the whale resided for a little while. |
| That was your
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| idea, driving there. |
| You’ve come up with so many ideas for us — things to do —
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| road trips and little getaways
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| You’ve sensed my restlessness with not having tour dates and you’ve been so
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| supportive, on days that I cried and worried about my career and felt so
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| purposeless. |
| You’re the strongest, most patient, caring, beautiful person I
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| know
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| Now, my only purpose is to keep making art and to be the best person I can be
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| to you, and to everybody I know. |
| I can’t wait to see you tonight when I’m back
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| from the studio, to tell you about how Full of Life ended
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| John Fante’s relationship with his dad is so much like mine. |
| My god.
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| My dads' gonna be 87 in November. |
| I can’t wait for us to visit him.
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| He’ll be so happy to see me, but even happier to see me there with you |