Tunes - Volume 4
"We fly to survive . . ."
- Barb MacLeod
Contents
1) Helpless
2) Ridgerunner
3) Mama Don't
4) The One I Loved
5) Hang Glider Betty
6) Dangerous Dave
7) Indian Valley Home
1. Helpless
There is a town in south Oregon
with launches and landing zones to spare
and in my mind all my good flights were there
dream cumies to spare
And when you launch it's straight to cloudbase
turn your kite downwind and go
big bird flying o'er the streets below
all my friends would hit sink and be slow
I'd leave them . . .
Helpless helpless helpless . . .
# # #
(words by Shannon Raby of Lake McClure, California
to the tune of "Helpless"
written by Neil Young
sung by Crosby Stills Nash and Young
on the album "Deja Vu"
released by Atlantic)
2. Ridgerunner
I'm a ridge runner baby
I'm gonna run all over you
I'm a ridge runner baby
I'm gonna run all over you
I'm a ridge runner baby
And you know that's true
Ridge run in the morning
Ridge run in the night
Ridge run in the darkness
Ridge run in the light
Oh, I'm a ridge runner baby
I'm gonna run all over you
I'm a ridge runner baby
And you know that's true.
(Repeat, ad infinitum, while ridge soaring in glassy air...)
# # #
(words by Tim Ward of Mira Loma, California
to the tune of the song "Steamroller"
written and sung by James Taylor
on the album "Sweet Baby James"
released by Warner Bros)
3. Mama Don't
[D] Mama don't allow no hang gliding 'round here
Mama don't allow no hang gliding 'round [A] here
[D] We don't care what Mama don't allow
We're gonna [G] fly them hang gliders anyhow
[D] Mama don't allow no [A] hang gliding 'round [D] here
Mama don't allow no thermal coring 'round here . . .
Mama don't allow no cross country flying 'round here . . .
Mama don't allow no cranking and banking 'round here . . .
Mama don't allow no cloudbusting 'round here . . .
Mama don't allow no ground slugging 'round here
Mama don't allow no ground slugging 'round here
I guess we ain't gonna do what Mama don't allow
We don't slug around much anyhow
Mama don't allow no ground slugging 'round here
# # #
(Cloudbuster's version of the traditional
campfire jam-session song "Mama Don't Allow")
4. The One I Loved
[G] I stopped off at the local site for some quick afternoon delight
the [C] old man stared with [G] envy as I set up my new [D7] kite
he [G] said "I had one just like her, son, in 1983 [C]
till a [G] man down [C] at the [D7] bank took her from [G] me."
CHORUS:
"Oh she was [G] hotter than a two-dollar pistol
she was the [C] fastest thing [G] around
[C] long and mean, every [G] pilot's dream
she turned every head in [D7] town
she was [G] quick and slick to handle, son
I'm glad that you dropped [C] in
she [G] reminds me [C] of the [D7] one I loved back [G] then."
Then I handed him my helmet and said "Here, take her for a spin"
the old man scratched his head and then he looked at me and grinned
he said "Son, you just don't understand, it ain't the kite I want,
it's the Sky Queen in your car that turns me on!"
CHORUS (TWICE)
She reminds me of the one I loved back then
# # #
(from the song "The One I Loved Back Then"
sung by George Jones
written by G. Gentry
on the album "Super Hits"
released by Epic)
5. Hang Glider Betty
I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
We drink Jack Daniels at the Lakeview bar
We watch the same TV
I got rug burns on my elbows
She's got 'em on her knees
I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
I've been flying my brains out
I've been working like a thermal whore
Cranking and banking in the skyways
Knocking on heavens door
Betty works up in the thermal mines
Harvest thermal energy
I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
She's been speaking to me in english
She's been moaning and groaning too
She always speaks in my language
She's always getting through
I met her at the Nats in the landing zone
When she landed next to me
Now I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
We drink Jack Daniels at the Lakeview bar
We watch the same TV
I got rug burns on my elbows
She's got 'em on her knees
I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
Oh I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
Yeah I'm going steady with Hang Glider Betty
She's going steady with me
# # #
(from the song "Iron Ore Betty"
written and sung by John Prine
on the album "Bruised Orange"
released by Oh Boy Records)
6. Dangerous Dave
[E] Come on without
[B7] come on with- [E] in
where other pilots they chicken out
that's where [A] Dangerous Dave be- [E] gins
[E] Yeah I like to do just [A] like the rest
I [E] like my thermals [A] hot
and [E] being ground bound [A] on this earth
just [E] ain't the life I [A] bought
Yeah every pilot's in despair
every hawk that's on the wing
but when Dangerous Dave he comes to town
everybody's gonna shout and sing
Come on without
come on within
where other pilots they chicken out
that's where Dangerous Dave begins
# # #
(from the song "The Mighty Quinn"
written and sung by Bob Dylan
on the album "Self Portrait"
released by Columbia)
7. Indian Valley Home
I've been taking off and landing from my home in the sky
where am I going and what am I there for, God only knows why
Just when you think that you've got a grip
reality slams you, it gives you the slip
as if you ever knew what it was taking you up so high
CHORUS
Soaring over train tracks and bus shelters
hail is fallin helter skelter
down through the crystal lake and delta
looking for a landing zone
Mixing up drinks with mixed feelings
the log cabin paint was peeling
hangin in a harness on a pony
with no rider in the flesh and blood
looking for his Indian Valley home
I've been circling the valley floor about 10 grand in the sky
coring this hole down deep in my soul that gets me so high
Just when you think you got it licked
you're harvesting pine cones with your wingtip
wishing you were somewheres else cuz this aint your time to die
CHORUS
Soaring over red roads and bus shelters
my vario screamin helter skelter
down through the crystal lake and delta
looking for a landing zone
Mixing up drinks with mixed feelings
the log cabin paint was peeling
hangin in a harness on a pony
with no rider in the flesh and blood
looking for his Indian Valley home
Now there's only two things in life, that's "get high" and "go far"
it seems we're either hanging on a thermal's coattail or wishing on stars
Just when you think that you've been gyped
Dangerous Dave does a double back flip
you run off and join the circus yeah you just let that pony ride
CHORUS
Soaring over ridgetops and bus shelters
hookin on a cloudstreet helter skelter
down through the crystal lake and delta
looking for a landing zone
Mixing up drinks with mixed feelings
the log cabin paint was peeling
hangin in a harness on a pony
with no rider in the flesh and blood
looking for his Indian Valley home
looking for his Indian Valley home
# # #
(from the song "Buffalo River Home"
written and sung by John Hiatt
on the album "Perfectly Good Guitar"
released by A and M Records)
End of Volume 4
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