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 Jon Foreman and I went to a homeless shelter for kids in Oceanside and spent some time playing guitar and hearing their stories. We went back again with our friend Jordan, and more stories started to emerge about these kids' lives. We started writing songs based on what we heard and each of us got something different out of the experience. I think you can hear it in the songs. We continue to stop by unannounced when we're both in town. This photograph is me and Jon listening to a kid's story... he was one of the youngest PBR rodeo circuit stars before he got hurt and his life took a turn. 'Unbroken' came from this day.    
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out on the margins of town i been stuck hanging round these amateur clowns wondering where were you the only song we knew was our amateur blues if you believed why’d you leave me if you believed why’d you leave me even after sticks and stones were spoken i’m alive i’m alive and I’m unbroken i’m unbroken i been abused and misled i been stuck in my head unsung and unsaid been on needles and thread i been left for dead but i’m living instead if you believed why’d you leave me if you believed why’d you leave me even after sticks and stones were spoken i’m alive i’m alive and i’m unbroken i’m unbroken give me a song to sing something to balance out the fits and starts that life can bring i’m waiting give me a song to sing a decent melody because i’m alone and i’m nineteen and I feel like the world is trying to swallow me whole like it’s trying to swallow me whole if you believed why’d you leave me if you believed why’d you leave me even after our sticks and stones were spoken i’m alive i’m alive and i’m unbroken yeah i’m unbroken i’m unbroken i’m alive and i’m unbroken couldn't think of the right words to say don't know if it mattered that much anyway i can't believe that it's already been a week i'm alright i finally got something to eat and ok ‘cause i found a place to sleep 'cause it gets hard when it gets dark but i can see what i'm doing to me i couldn't breathe when i couldn't think of the right words to say don't know if it mattered that much anyway you wouldn't change so i couldn't stay don't know if i mattered that much anyway now i’m here just living on the streets i sell myself while i get my kicks for free don’t know who i was when i was me and it got hard when it got dark but i could see what it was doing to me i couldn’t breathe when i couldn't think of the right words to say don't know if it mattered that much anyway you wouldn't change so i couldn't stay don't know if i mattered that much anyway and then you came around the right words make such a beautiful sound you are beautiful you are beautiful make me over washing myself clean and now i'm finding the right words say learning what matters at the end of the day found a place where my soul can stay and change for the better a little more every day now i’m finding the right words to say now i’m finding the right words to say
love began as a whisper
from under the door locking a house where i don't live no more i'm here on the porch stair in my ugly coat love began as a whisper and started to grow you are beautiful and you're almost home from a lonesome corner with no place to go those words were my streetlights leading me home while hunger and shame were holding hands with hope love began as a whisper and started to grow you are beautiful so beautiful and you're almost home so i crawled the last mile to love's front door but now i hear nothing but the symphony roar one hand on the trigger one hand on the door is this the moment i been waiting for one hand on the trigger one hand on the door you are beautiful so beautiful you are beautiful |
© alexwoodard 2010