Robinlee Garber

1. My Imagination

You got a smile that brings out the worst in me 

It questions the way I’ve let love rule my destiny 

One day I’m fine, the next I’m in agony 

‘cause my heart says to let you run the show

Working from sun-up ‘til I fall down again 

No one’s keeping score as far as I can see

Except my imagination, my imagination

my imagination and me 

Once I believed in a bigger picture 

I hoped one day I would see

and war to fight for some freedom 

that yearns to be

Another coin’s tossed and I’m lost 

singing songs like a bird in a tree

set to fly at the next sign of snow (Here I go!)

Working from sun-up until I fall down and then 

no one cares if the answers turn out false or true

Except my imagination, my imagination

my imagination and you

The more I relinquish the less it takes 

to see the choices I’ve been given

There’s safety in numbers to be sure

but honey there’s only one life that I’ll live

and it’s mine not yours

Mine not yours

There is a place and a time

in the future it seems

where concern for others 

coexists with dreams

And passion’s not spent 

keeping some judgement appeased 

while wondering if I should stay or go (Go! Go! Go!)

Working from sun-up until I let it 

all fall down and then

no one’s gonna notice me 

quietly slip away

Except my imagination, my imagination, my imagination 

and me they’ll say

Robinlee Garber: vocals, acoustic guitar, 

Larry Beers: drums & percussion

Patrick Burke: upright bass

Jordi Kleiner: violin

Steve Dawson: piano

2. Road To Paradise

She asked “what time is it?” fifteen years later

“Gotta make some changes, I wanna talk to strangers”

The world looks so much different if you turn it upside down

that’s what she means to do, so that everything she lost gets found

On the road to paradise there are rest stops and museums

and free parking overnight at the best one star hotels

You can’t expect to bypass tolls, ‘cause your life ain’t rock n’ roll

but if sung just right, honey, every story sells

Good hair or politics: which one will get you paid?

She’s late to work again, this day job’s getting in the way

How can she make a decision if things move from bad to worse?

Time’s a bike without a kickstand that’s got every option but reverse

On the road to paradise you don’t get comp-time for living

or a punch card keeping track of the hours that slipped away

So when passion’s worth more than gold, why not buy back the soul you sold?

If the right price makes you more brave and less afraid

It takes a lot of nerve letting dreams defend your reasons 

when what seems logical to some, to others gets lost in translation

By the coffee pot she left a note, just a few short lines was all it spoke

printed out in comic sans: sorry babe, you married Peter Pan 

On the road to paradise you’ll be sleeping with distractions

named Vanity and Ambivalence and they’ll always steal the sheets

So when fear has taken hold, why not aim for a different goal               

one that won’t confuse the truth with your beliefs

On the road to paradise...

Robinlee Garber: vocals, acoustic guitar

Steve Dawson: slide guitar, electric bass

Larry Beers: percussion

Jordi Kleiner: violin

3. You Can’t Break A Heart

It’s a pattern in my life

kiss me once and I’ll leave you twice

Sweeping your tears off the kitchen floor 

and finding notes 

in the bedroom down the hall

Promised to stay throughout the years, 

while getting offers in both ears

Now I’m a teenager no more

but I’m not old enough to say I know for sure

Chorus: 

Who do you love 

when it’s all been said and done?

‘Cause I have learned to be 

a party built for one

You can’t break a heart 

you might break a heart 

but you won’t break a heart 

that’s too soft to be broken 

I’ll write the words to sing along

keeping tempo with your songs

I’ll harmonize or match your pitch 

and let you know into which key I’ve switched

I always mean to tell the truth 

but time can change a point a view

between freedom and a rock 

can’t tell you where I am but I know what I am not

chorus...

Circling ‘round the fact that indecision is still a choice

and to do no harm means something different every time

In the aftermath I want to hear approval’s voice

‘cause I don’t want to stay and watch history rewind

Is it a dream or is it real 

that we get to do just what we feel?

Respect the order of the world

Reflect random twists of nature’s force unfurled

I’ll hold your hand if you think it helps

and say there’s been nobody else

But that won’t justify my claim

commitment means I will not make the same mistakes again 

chorus...

Robinlee Garber: vocals, acoustic guitar, accordion

Steve Dawson: electric bass, slide guitar

Brad Cole: percussion

4. Resilience

There’s a name I call myself

when I want to be someone else

but I won’t say it out loud 

Change my hair and hide my face

run a lap for the human race

maybe win, show, or place

just to make the family proud

Chorus:

Alone, always alone

with my nose pressed against the glass

of what’s seen as ordinary 

Can’t find my way back home

trying simply just to pass 

for who they want me to be

Who did they want me to be? 

A girl in a group of pretty girls 

they called me ugly in that world 

Tall and shy, but always singing 

School bus taunts and hidden tears

life was hell for 18 years

Labeled freakish, wrong and queer

denied love from the beginning 

Chorus...

I tell you I’m over it all

Never looked back answered the call

From somewhere deep inside my head

When I think of where I am now

Miracle 

I figured out how

I chose resilience instead 

I chose resilience instead 

I chose resilience  

There’s a name I call myself

when I’m glad I’m not someone else 

and I may tell you it one day

It defines a part of me 

from within and not what’s seen

A feeling words just can’t relay

‘Cause when I’m alone, always alone

with my nose pressed against the glass 

of what’s seen as ordinary

I’ll find my way back home

refusing just to pass 

for who they want me to be 

Who did they want me to be? 

More like them, less like me 

Who do they want me to be? 

Robinlee Garber: vocals, acoustic guitar

Steve Dawson: acoustic guitar, electric bass

5. Walk Away

Got motion sickness from all our ups and downs

And you don’t know the half of it 

I wake to hear you singing softly in my head

But you are prob’ly not the one who fits

My neat little boxes 

And nice little plans

All my secret silly fantasies

Line them up like tiny shiny silver cans

And shoot ‘em down for me 

‘Cause I can’t fall again

Walk away 

Be my friend

Fellow traveler

hitchhiker from last spring

I fell asleep at the wheel somehow

Now you’re the one 

who’s driving this thing

All I can say is “sorry” for now

‘Cause my neat little boxes 

And nice little plans

Hide intentions I did not expect to lead me to this end

I could tell the truth 

But make you lie again

Or walk away 

And just be friends

I know the way my passion make me turn

Like the branches on a crazy twisted tree

Obsessed to harbor every songbird that lands

But my future’s got a past you see

I wonder why it is and yes, it scares me so

You take my kindness all too gracefully

I’m secretly hoping that you’ll just tell me no

agendas aside, reciprocate, or let me be

With my neat little boxes and nice little plans

And desperation ticking silently as I let go of your hand

If betrayal’s real then I’ll just make pretend

you walked away

you were my friend

Robinlee Garber: vocals, acoustic guitar

Steve Dawson: piano, electric bass, percussion