I tried going west where the sky meets the sun
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Where the edge of the world's always been
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As far from this place as a girl gets to run
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When her reasons to stay have worn thin
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Out there the days were so bright and so blue
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Yet I missed all my thunder and rain
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The way a storm punctures a hot afternoon
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Washing away every stain
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When my maps pointed north they were calling for snow
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To cover all sound and all sight
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Tell me where on this earth does all that noise go
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Underneath all of that white
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With thaws scarcely mentioned I dug out my truck
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By the time the storm cleared I was gone
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Back on the road with the radio up
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Singing at the top of my lungs
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Driving and crying and driving some more
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Oh the south is a good place to hide
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Hot nights, cold beer and creaky screen doors
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And a motel's vacancy sign
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A letter a day I wrote back home to you
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But not one you ever received
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Because I can't stand a man who lies like you do
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And I can't bear a woman who pleads
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One day it dawned I had run out of road
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And out of reasons to run
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Like a horse to the barn I was hell bent to go
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As fast going back as I'd come
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Home, home was the song that I sang
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As I pulled in just before dark
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There was only a hook where your coat used to hang
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That's where I hung up my heart
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I tried going west, where the sky meets the sun
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I Tried Going West
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Mary Chapin Carpenter |