There’s a tomcat in the alley scarin’ up a fight
There’s a mother softly kissing her little one goodnight
There’s peace and then there’s chaos, reality and dreams
We’re all trying to strike a balance between a whisper and a scream

Sometimes I need atttention when you need left alone
Sometimes you feel like clinging when I feel like being gone
But love me soft and tender and we’ll make the rafters ring
As long as we meet somewhere between a whisper and a scream

Well, I know you’ll be listening
And you know I’ll be there
Between a whisper and a scream we’ll find a prayer
Well I used to blow up easy and put my fist right through a wall

You were shut down like a holiday not feeling much at all
But we met there at the crossroad goin’ to extremes
Thank God we found each other between a whisper and a scream
Somehow we found each other between a whisper and a scream

People talkin’, think I’m alright
Think I’m doin’ fine
Goin’ through the motioms of my life
Go to work now, every mornin’
Yeah, I play the part
Hide away the contents of my solemn heart
But when the sun goes down
And the moon is high
I can’t control the flow of all these tears inside
And if they only knew
They’d be so surprised
I’m just a good pretender in a great disguise
Keep’em guessin’, keep’em laughin’
Build the wall up high
Long as they don’t see the other side
You’ve really done it, done a number
A number of my soul
There’s no way I’ll ever let you know
But when the sun goes down
And the moon is high
There’s no way to hide the truth from me, myself and I
Yeah, I wear it well
Though it ain’t my size
I’m just a good pretender in a great disguise
I’m not one to show emotion like some folks I see
I won’t wear my heart out on my sleeve
I don’t miss you, not for a minute I’m gonna be OK
Words of wisdom spoken by the light of day
But when the sun goes down
And the moon is high
Your memory pulls me under like a strong rip tide
I’m still in love with you
It’s all smoke and lies
I’m just a good pretender in a great disguise

Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky
Sweet seventeen with a faraway look in her eyes
She said, “I feel like a bird in a cage
But come September I’m flying away”
I said, “I’m gonna miss you” then I made her promise to write

Since we were tall as the corn in the spring
We shared every secret, shared every dream
So anxious to grow in the new summer rain
And bloom like a rose on the calico plains

How could she hear as we laughed on that warm summer night
The tiny heart of the baby she carried inside
I stood beside her when September came
Watched her get married and caught the bouquet
And like those hand me down dresses she gave me
I made her dreams mine

From a seat by the window on wings made of steel
I stared at the patchwork over the fields
Where young tears that once fell like warm summer rain
Were turning to snow on the calico plains

Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky
Closer to thirty but farther away in her eyes
She holds her babies like she holds her dreams
Each night she kisses and rocks them to sleep while
She reads the letters she makes me promise to write

Sweet Abliena looks out at the midwestern sky