MEG HUTCHINSONTHE LIVING SIDE

1. HARD TO CHANGE - 3:22

2. BEING HAPPY - 3:33 3. GATEKEEPER - 4:53

4. SEE ME NOW - 4:03

5. HOPEFUL THINGS - 3:36

6. TRAVEL IN - 4:53

7. AT FIRST IT WAS FUN - 4:11

8. YEA THO WE WALK - 3:57

9. FULL OF LIGHT - 4:39

10. EVERY DAY - 4:15 11. SOMETHING ELSE - 3:29

Produced by Crit Harmon

www.meghutchinson.com

HARD TO CHANGE

Train whistling home in the dark

Christmas lights up in the trailer park

And across the highway good Americans shop

There is a quiet dignity, yards tiny and clean

Small enough to just fall right through

The American dream

Year of the billion dollar bailout

Neighborhood of the graveyard shift

Just a few blocks back behind the dealerships

And all these things feel so hard to change

You know it used to snow here, now it only rains

I can barely hear you, over these machines

Turn ‘em all off and tell me about your dreams

Driving south from New York City

Past Our Lady of Liberty

Toward the strange glow of the factories

Wanna hear the silence in my life

But I bought all these tools to save time

Well if they save so much then where’s all mine?

Wanna be your new lover, wanna be your old friend

Don’t wanna make the same mistakes that my parents did

And all these things feel so hard to change ...

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Kevin-guitar, Brad-keyboards

BEING HAPPY

I’ve been known to burn too bright, I’ve been known to flash

and then go dark

I’ve been known to walk the edge, I’ve been known to trip

and fall right in

Madness sings a Siren song, the sea it calls me but I don’t swim on

Let the old year be behind me, let the old year be behind me

What’s the harm in being happy

What’s the harm in being happy?

Little pills of red and blue, drink them down

they’ll give you back to you

Sunny morning coffee’s made, cupboards full and

you across the table from me

Blossoms in the street after the rain you tell me I’ve been laughing in my sleep

They say perfect the life or perfect the art

A choice like that will only tear you apart

There’s room for both of you in my heart

In my heart

Richard-bass, Kevin-guitar, Brad-keyboards & str ing arrangement, Crit-guitars & drum sequence

GATEKEEPER

(for Kevin Briggs, Golden Gate Bridge patrolman)

When the day has grown too long, the hour’s standing still

When you wonder if you could, if you will

With your toes upon the edge, with your eyes upon the sky

Tell me just these things before you fly

How are you feeling, what are your plans for tomorrow?

Will you let me make some, and after, you can do as you will

If your hand should lose the rail, your heel should lose the chord

Will everything seem fixable that did not before?

See how the sun shines on the bay, the islands over there

You could make it through today if you dare

Maybe every day in ordinary ways

We hold each other on

We keep each other here

Maybe every day in ordinary ways

We hold each other on

We keep each other here

How are you feeling?

What are your plans?

Richard-bass, Kevin-acoustic & electr ic guitars, Brad-keyboards & str ing arrangement, Crit-drum sequence

SEE ME NOW

I know that you’re only gone a few short days

Help pack you up and stand there and I wave

Then drive off into bright summer evening heat

City shining and moving all around me

Oh and if you could see me now

I am turning to tell you something

Oh and if you could see me now

I am smiling all the way home, oh darling

I’ve never been one to mind being alone

Don’t get me wrong none of that’s really changed

It’s just that I’ve noticed everything tastes, looks, feels

A little better when you’re around me

Is it true, what they say, that everything changes?

Is it true, that one day we’ll be ashes to ashes?

I’ll be singing

Oh and if you can see me then

I’ll be turning to tell you something

Oh and if you can see me then

I’ll be smiling all the way home, oh darling

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Brad-keyboards & str ing arrangementCrit-acoustic & electr ic guitars

HOPEFUL THINGS

When I drink whiskey, sometimes I do things I don’t regret

Sometimes I say things I can’t forget

Apple fields full of fruit, we lay in the tall grass

And let the afternoon pass

One length ahead of the sun

It’s a strange and lovely vision

Big jet floating down the Hudson

Everyone balancing on those sinking wings

Tonight, I’m full of hopeful things

You make a ring for me, and leave the tools out, on our table

Only working when I’m gone

Which finger will it fit on?

Woman on the plane with me, knits her husband one new sock

You know a girl who’s everything I’m not

But can I make you happy enough?

I don’t wanna choose between two lives

Guess that’s the danger in working nights

Even in my sleep I sing, and forever I begin

Marry my new self back, to that ancient spark again

But when I drink whiskey, sometimes I do things I don’t regret

Sometimes I say things I can’t forget

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Steve-accordionKevin-guitar, Brad-keyboards & str ing arrangement

TRAVEL IN

Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, a thatch work of fields

A flock of white birds tossed into the sky

I live in corners of the night

Checking in and checking out and then I fly

Days stacked up on days, thunder in the winter

Lightning flashing through the falling snow

I sleep a shallow sleep and in the dream a little boy

Runs toward the checkpoint, a white flag in his hand

Can I thread my coat to yours and can we turn and turn and turn

Can I stitch your sadness to the wind and let it go

Will you build a little cabin on your little piece of land

Will you curve your body against mine and let it rest?

I learn the oneness of alone

I learn to call this motion home

Travel in, travel deep, travel in, travel deep

States stacked up on states, all pressed against the highway

Whole country working hard to look the same

They call it an illness, that miracle spring

When I leapt out of my flesh and became one with everything

Can I thread my coat to yours...

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Brad-keyboardsMeg-acoustic guitar, Crit-acoustic & electr ic guitars

AT FIRST IT WAS FUN

At first it was fun, I glued my feathers on

I flew up toward the sun, never getting too warm

At first the great thrill, finally the big top

I walked the high wire, never looking down

Until the day, it all fell away

Oh I miss the ride

Oh I miss the ride sometimes

At first it was grand, I led the whole band

I felt the bright lights, shining just for me

At first it was love, some sign from above

And all of the prizes were mine to be won

Until the day, it all fell away

Oh I miss the ride

Oh I miss the ride sometimes

But I promise to stay, yeah I promise to stay on the living side

I wouldn’t trade it all in

How high how low I’ve been

Broken bones aside, I miss the edge sometimes, I miss the edge

At first it was fun, I glued my feathers on

I flew up toward the sun never getting too warm

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Steve-mandola & accordionBrad-str ing arrangement, Crit-acoustic guitar & piano

YEA THO WE WALK

Cold morning in the Midwest, winter earth in a wedding dress

Sun creeping over those blue angels of death

So much corn and loss and God, hold the Good Book tight

For fear the fields will swallow you at night

Landing low over the prisons, Omaha at Eppley field

Inmates down in the courtyard, so close that I can feel

So much rage and hope and grief, and this dream of getting free

Fueled by the sound of airplanes as they leave

Oh my friend, is that your hand in mine?

This valley grows darker each time

Oh my friend the soul seems made from such a thread

No matter how it tears it always tries to mend

Seems death is my new neighbor, he watches me in my garden

His silhouette in the window so terrible and handsome

If I turn away, or if I watch him carefully

Will I not fall in love today?

Oh my friend is that your hand in mine...

Do unto others, love thy brother

Yea tho we walk tho we walk

Richard-bass, Kevin-electr ic guitar, Brad-organMeg-acoustic guitar, Crit-synth

FULL OF LIGHT

Twenty-six letters formed into words

For all of our joys and all of our sorrows

Twenty-six reasons to sit here all day

Trying to hear what I want to say

Just a few octaves shaped into chords

Sing of this beauty, tell of this war

Twenty-six hours, two I make up

For learning a language I’ve never heard of

Search the darkness, don’t run from it

The night traveler is full of light

Singers they pick up their hotel pens

And write of the loneliness the highway brings

Maybe the strain of it tears at my seams

But I’m ready for something bigger than me

Call it my disease or my medicine

But my third eye is busy opening

The birds of sadness still perch on my tree

They stare down at me

Now I don’t look away

Search the darkness, don’t run from it

The night traveler is full of light

*chorus adapted from the Rumi poem “Search The Darkness”

Richard-bass, Kevin-acoustic guitar,Brad-keyboards & str ing arrangementCrit- acoustic & electr ic guitars, drum sequence

EVERY DAY

You walked into that room, all sky and mountains

You walked into this city heat, all new air and ocean

You walked into my world, when I very least expected

I had just returned, from my own private war

My mind still wrapped in bandages, my nights still filled with fear

You filled my hands with song, and my heart fluttered

all the way home

Tell me why, I never found the words to say

Be brave, you made me brave in so many ways

Every day, every day

You took me to the sea, we ran into the water

And as the sun went down, I was filled with wonder

Perhaps you have to almost die, to feel so entirely alive

And I never wanted to take you for granted

And I wanted to give you all you gave me

Tell me why I never found the words to say

Be brave, you made me brave in so many ways

Richard-bass, Kevin-electr ic guitar, Brad-keyboardsMeg-acoustic guitar

SOMETHING ELSE

Turned inside out, outside in again

What new lessons will this year bring?

Nothing to do today, list scribbled out

My cup is empty, don’t fill it up

Fear just a trace, still fading away

How long did I sleep? I couldn’t say

Mending this giant, delicate web

Spin my mind back ‘til it’s shimmering

And empty myself, of all myself

Turn it over to something else

I’d like to sing you, a song without words

A moment of pause

It could all rush by in a day, years full of wanting

Years full of waiting

For your new life to begin

Missing the point, there isn’t a point but now

Empty ourselves, of all ourselves

Empty ourselves, of all ourselves

Turn us over to something else

Turn us over to something else

Jeff-drums, Richard-bass, Kevin-electr ic guitarBrad-keyboards & str ing arrangementCrit-acoustic guitars

All songs by Meg Hutchinson ©LRH Music (ASCAP)

Meg Hutchinson : Acoustic Guitar & Vocals

Crit Harmon : Acoustic & Electr ic Guitars, Piano, Drum Sequences, Synth

Brad Hatfield : Keyboards, Organ & Str ing Arrangements

Kevin Barry : Acoustic & Electr ic Guitars

Steve Sadler : Accordion & Mandola

Richard Gates : Bass

Jeff Berl in : Drums

Produced and Recorded by Crit Harmon

Mixed by Jon Lupfer at Q Division Recording Studios, Somervi l le, MA USA

Mastered by Ian Kennedy at New All iance East, Cambridge, MA USA

Assistant engineer Jon Lukason at Q Division

Photography by Asia Kepka (www.asiakepka.com)

Makeup by Christ ina McGilvray

Hair by Stephanie Bennett

Album Design by Stump’d Design, Port land, OR USA

(www.stumpdesign.com)

www.meghutchinson.com

info@meghutchinson.com

THANK YOU: It’s been a true honor working with such fine musicians: Richard Gates, Kevin Barry, Jeff Berlin, Brad Hatfield & Steve Sadler . Jon Lupfer & everyone at Q Division, Ian Kennedy, Sarah Gensert & Brody Lowe at Stump’d Design, Bobby & Dan at Salt Marsh Antiques, Laurie Gilburne, Rufus, Stella, Max & Sadie for keeping Osa happy during every session, Andrew & Malmberg-McCarroll family, Linda Kim, Karen Walkey, Brendan Reilly, Kevin Callihan, Keith & Pam Richardson, Jess Nordoff, Matt Smith & Club Passim, Carol Kelly for eight years of music, Jane Paul, Wes Barclift, Hutch Hutchinson, Leah Kunkel, David Tamulevich, Brendan Okrent & Sue Devine at ASCAP, Eric Fawcett, Betsy Siggins, Rose Cousins, Kris Delmhorst, Noelie McDonnell, Mark Erelli, John Gorka, Anais Mitchell, Richard Shindell, Martin Sexton, Girlyman, Lucy Kaplansky, The Pines, Greg Brown, fellow Winterbloom gals: Antje Duvekot, Anne Heaton & Natalia Zukerman .

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Crit Harmon for all you’ve taught me and brought to these songs . My manager Michelle Conceison, I feel truly blessed to know and work with you . The Market Monkeys team, especially Kellie Lin Knott, Jodi Sinatra, Darrell Anderson & Darlington Howland . Lori Peters & Mad Mission Agency, Sheena Keane & Blue Grace Music, Asia Kepka for inspired photos, Catie Curtis, Susan Werner, Jen Falk, Liz Doherty, Chris Regan . Eric Peltoniemi, Ellen Stan-ley, Chris Frymire, Luke Welsh, Brandon Henry, Jon Rodine & the entire crew at Red House Records. My family. Caleb, even now I am turning to tell you something .For my dog Osa who has been at my side through the last decade . Amazing underwater diver, co-pilot, best friend . You will always be just a few steps ahead of me on every trail .

Crit would l ike to thank: The biggest thanks to those who went especially above and beyond: Meg, Richard, Brad and Jon . Special thanks for playing great to Steve, Jeff and Kevin . Heartfelt thanks for life support to Laurie, Michelle, Sadie, Max, Stella, Rufus and Osa . Big ears cheers to Jon Lukason and Ian Kennedy . Thanks to Peter and Broken Neck Guitars for keeping me in tune and not too buzzy . www.critharmon.com

RHR CD 224 · For a catalog of recordings by Meg and other fine Red House artists, visit www.redhouserecords.com or call 800.695.4687