Indigo Girls - Hammer and a Nail

Nomads*Indians*Saints / 1990-09-01 1. Hammer and a Nail 2. Welcome Me 3. Hand Me Downs 4. Keeper of My Heart 5. Southland In The Springtime 6. The Girl With The Weight of The World In Her Hands 7. World Falls 8. You and Me of the 10,000 Wars 9. Pushing the Needle Too Far 10. 1-2-3 11. Watershed

Hammer and a Nail

Words and Music: Emily Saliers

Clearing webs from a hovel blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
I've been digging too deep I always do
I see my face on the surface I look a lot like Narcissus
Dark abyss of an emptiness standing on the edge of a drowning blue

I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed and get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head I think myself into jail
But I know refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose

I had a lot of good intentions sit around for fifty years and then collect the
pensions
I started seeing the road to hell and just where it starts
My life is more than a vision the sweetest part is acting after making a
decision
Started seeing the whole as a sum of its parts

I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed and get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head I think myself into jail
Now I know refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose

My life is part of the global life I found myself becoming more immobile
When I think a little girl in the world can't do anything
Distant nation my community street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world I have a gift to bring

I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed and get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head I think myself into jail
But I know refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose