Good Goodbyes was released in 2013. It was recorded by John Elliott and mastered by John Golden. An acoustic re-imagination of the songs, Good Goodbyes Too, was released in 2015. All songs by John Elliott (BMI) 2013.

ALL THESE GOOD GOODBYES All these good goodbyes again, farewell all my far flung friends, toast the messes you cleaned up and the messes that you’re in. When I’m lost and gone for good, a man will stand right where I stood, raise a glass like we once would. I know how all this goes, how it’s born and how it grows, how it crumbles when the days get slow and numbered. How it never quite is gone, how it creeps and steers me wrong, there are two days to the dawn and both are true. I chased it as it teased, I tasted it in trees, it was foreign, I was frightened, it was cute. It’s true nothing ever lasts when enough of nothing’s past, I’ve held glass and I’ve had cash, but never gold. It’s the details that I promise, it’s the reason that I plead. I can’t let a good thing go even when it starts to bleed. Even when I know it’s dying and it’s time to set it free. I’m afraid I won’t be treasured the way she treasures me. I’m afraid I won’t be treasured the way she treasures me. So if it’s goodbye to the old days let the new ones be here quick. I’m tired of these in betweens and I’m tired of my tricks. I won’t tell you I won’t question what I do or where I go. I won’t know what might have been, I will never know. Something tells me that I’ll make it. Something tells me I’ll be loved. Heaven’s right here sometimes and that’ll have to be enough. That’ll have to be enough.

YIN & YANG COLLECTOR Tonight I will wipe my butt with a coffee filter. Mother wouldn’t approve. She’s listening to radio in Minnesota. She can’t get into a good groove. She’s not groovy. They got to her too early with Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. It’s a shame to carry so much shame. It weighs more than any cross made out of wood would. It’s quiet on the outside, it’s thunder on the inside. It’s thunder on the inside. I’m a yin & yang collector, I’m a gonna go with the flow, I might be here tomorrow. I got a brain in a skull, I’m electrical, I’m electrical, I’m electrical! I got a full full tank and I’m fixin’ to blow, I got a heavy heavy load and a ways to go, I got some friends who know me and some friends who don’t. I’m letting a lot of them go. I wish ‘em all well, I wish ‘em all well. I’m a yin and yang collector, I’m a gonna go with the flow, I might be here tomorrow. I don’t know.

HELLBOUND, BENT, OAND HEAVEN SENT Give me laughter, give me sun, give me love for everyone, make it hellbound, bent and heaven sent. When the working day is done and the evening has begun make it hellbound, bent and heaven sent. And whoever I end up with when the whiskey’s all been drunk, she’ll never get to see every side of me ‘cause I’m hellbound, bent and heaven sent. Well, the first one that I tasted was so helpful and so wasted, she was hellbound, bent and heaven sent. And the one I thought I’d stay with was the one I liked to play with, she was hellbound, bent and heaven sent. The future’s what we make it and we’ll make it like the past. I hope we let it shine, take it slow this time, make it hellbound, bent and heaven sent. So give me laughter, give me sun, give me love for everyone.

CLOSER TO THERE  All that humanity. What has it made in me? Why is it so hard? Why can I not think straight? I was making history. A sword and an open sea carried me far. Carried so far. I couldn’t see the signs there. I didn’t make sense. Time was I could live with it. Time is now I can’t. I’m not getting old yet. I’m not getting scared. Still I know I’m older and closer to there. Still I know I’m older and closer to there. Oh, the way it went. All the love that I should have spent. There’s not much that I can’t say. Just let me tell it my way. I’ll talk about that long date. Driving through some lost state. That’s why it’s called a freeway. I’m not getting old yet. I’m not getting scared. Still I know I’m older and closer to there. Sometimes I might mention how we’re all alone. It’s good to be back home now. It’s noisier at home. It’s good to be back home now. It’s noisier at home.

MONOGAMOUS  There’s a picture that I know, we are frozen in the snow, and it’s hard to believe that you were there with me. There’s a picture where I wear a shirt that’s almost there. I used to love every word, they were the best I’d ever heard. And if you want me monogamous, I guess I’ll tell you I’m monogamous. It doesn’t matter anyway, all the words that people say. There was nothing I did that I can’t defend in a court of law in front of God and my friends. And there’s nothing I said that has been recorded so there’s nothing I said that can be reported. We had better pick a place in the park in the dark where we wanna make a new start if it all goes down like I hope it’s going down. Just the first night there and then we’ll ride down south or we’ll roll up north, we’ll know when we find out, we’ll know when we find out. I know the natives lost it because they weren’t built for it. And I know many of ‘em made it, but they just weren’t meant for it. I know that millions died, but millions have died. Billions have died. Billions and billions.

IT’S OKAY TO BE ALONE  It’s okay to be alone. I can learn to be alone. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. They are statues in the sun. They are frozen in the stone. It’s okay to be alone. I got some options. I got some options. So before I go away, ‘cause I think I have to go, I’m really gonna go this time, I swear I’m gonna go this time. And I might come back. And I might just stay. It’s okay to go away. I said a lot of words. I did a lot of nothing. But I know I did enough of something so I can keep asleep at night. I can make it on my own if I can make it through today. It’s okay to be alone. I got some options. I got some options. So before I go away, there’s a bit I have to say. I wanna get it on the record so I can keep asleep at night. I loved you every time. I didn’t love you all the time, but I loved you every time. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over. I’m gonna have to start all over.

SIDETRACKED  I got through the detour, I’m back on the shore, I am hurt and alone, I used to call this a home, I am just all right. My pockets are worthless but they have a purpose, I’m ready to go, I should be somewhere, I know, I could be somewhere, I know. I got sidetracked, pushed back, swimming with strangers, no way to get out of here. There’s sun on the windshield and sun in my head. Sometimes the sun shines in darkness instead. When I know the difference I’ll give you the details. You should’ve been there, you should’ve seen what they’re talking about. You would’ve loved it if you’d shut up your mouth. You could’ve listened. And all of those idiots, all of that craziness down in the well, someone is hurting, can’t somebody tell? Someone is breaking down and sidetracked, pushed back, swimming with strangers, no way to get out of here. There’s sun on the windshield and sun in my head, sometimes the sun brings the darkness instead. When I know the difference I’ll give you the details. I spun around, I went to sleep, I couldn’t speak, you wouldn’t have recognized me. You should just go, you should just go, you should just take a trip and turn around and see: I have been different. I have been different. But somehow I got here, somehow I came back to life. I wagered I would, I’m designed to survive. I am just all right. Nothing can kill me. I’m earth and I’m fire, I’m water and wind. I’ll always end and begin. Over and over again. I am going to turn into pieces, I’m not going at all. I am going to turn into pieces, I’m not going at all. I am just all right. I am just all right. I am just all right. I am just all right. I am just all right. (all of these people, these fortunate people, are photograph frozen and intimate open, they make it look easy, believe me, i used to believe, believe me, i know what it is, i’ve seen it and smelled it, i’ve tasted and felt it, i’ve told it to leave, but it just wouldn’t go and so here it is now sitting, spitting, grinning at me through terrible teeth and it’s eating my face off and ripping my heart out and drinking my blood, it would be beautiful, it would be beautiful on a tv)

ENDLESS SUMMER STROLL All these suicide disasters have been circling around, I’m getting out of town. I told you what I wanted, what I think I wanted, if you see it my way I don’t know. But I wanna sit and talk it over, listen to distant thunder roll, I’m taking the time to live forever and watch the endless summer stroll. I was watching when the stars came out on the television screen, I know just what they mean. I could shoot a man who’s guilty in the back. I wanna sit and talk it over, listen to distant thunder roll, I’m taking the time to live forever and watch the endless summer stroll. Before we got drunk, we got stoned. She wasn’t there and I wasn’t home. She would give me her secrets, I would take ‘em for granted, I gotta get somewhere. I gotta get somewhere. I gotta get somewhere. I gotta get somewhere. I gotta get somewhere. I gotta get somewhere. I believe I’m younger now than I’ve ever been before. I believe I’ll make it for awhile. I wanna sit and talk it over, listen to distant thunder roll, I’m taking the time to live forever and watch the endless summer stroll.

FRIENDS BACK EAST  I spent two weeks in the heart of a beast that always knows hunger and never knows peace. The men I loved breathed in ashes and smoke, but they’re quick with a joke and they’re free. Walk around worthless, thunder and glass. Shrink from the shadows and the people who pass. When it’s cold they get cold and when it’s hot they get clean, wake up and start up again. So when the days get all wrong and I’m weary too long, don’t worry for me at least, I have got friends back east. And in the winter the devil’s inside. I am not able to stop it. Nothing is noisy, nothing is simple, nothing is sacred, nothing is right. I sleep through sunrise into the day. I’m gone half a year and then I’m carried away. And I cannot pray ‘cause I think that it’s dumb. I cannot wish ‘cause I know it won’t come. I cannot plead ‘cause nothing that’s good ever comes quick or when I’m sure that it should. I cannot wait and I cannot try, one is just worthless and one’s just a lie. And when I vanish for good, a man will stand right where I stood. I got no hope that I can see, but I have got friends back east. I fell asleep under a tree that came to be before Christ was killed. I sat on a stone and I got specific in the Pacific. I always go but soon I will stay. I need to find another way or I will not make it. I’ve wandered for years, swallowing fears, sleeping with angels and tempted by God. I’ve been a poor man and I’ve been all right. I told you I love you ‘cause I think that I might. I have known sickness and I have known helpless. I have known anger and I have known sin. I have known hunger and I have known thirst. I have known wealth when it wasn’t rehearsed. I have known evil and I have known good. One day I left and I said that I would. And there in the darkness, there in the night, I shook into sleep and I shrunk from my dream. And now I can just stay or I can just go and I will know one thing at least. I have got friends back east.

STILL I’M NOT STILL Now you’re in a city and I’m in a town and all of these strangers keep picking me up and pulling me down. Some friends are forgotten, some friends are just gone, some friends are easy, some friends are good, some friends move on. I’m over my anger, I’m weary and wrong, I’m carefully careless, I’m hard to give up, I almost belong. But something inside me is running away the second I think that I should decide to settle and stay. Still I’m not sorry. Still I’m not still. Still I’m not still.

 All words written by John Elliott 2013.