The Shelter

Jon Foreman and I went to a homeless shelter for kids in Oceanside and spent some time playing guitars and hearing their stories. We went back again with our friend Jordan and more stories started to emerge about these kids’ lives… stories of separation, abuse, and resilience. We started writing songs like ‘Unbroken’ based on what we heard.

Kim, the director of the shelter, sent us a thank you note for stopping by and I wrote her back asking about why she got involved with homeless kids. This is the letter I got back, which inspired ‘Love Began As A Whisper’ and ‘The Right Words.’

Proceeds generated by the songs from each letter go to a cause of the sender’s choice. Kim has requested her share of the proceeds go to the Oceanside chapter of StandUp for Kids, which serves homeless youth in north San Diego county. To learn more, please visit http://www.standupforkids.org/Oceanside/default.aspx

unbroken

unbroken

out on the margins of town
i been stuck hanging round
these amateur clowns
wondering where were you
the only song we knew
was our amateur blues

if you believed why’d you leave me
if you believed why’d you leave me
even after sticks and stones were spoken
i’m alive
i’m alive
and I’m unbroken
i’m unbroken

i been abused and misled
i been stuck in my head
unsung and unsaid
been on needles and thread
i been left for dead
but i’m living instead

if you believed why’d you leave me
if you believed why’d you leave me
even after sticks and stones were spoken
i’m alive
i’m alive
and i’m unbroken
i’m unbroken

give me a song to sing
something to balance out
the fits and starts
that life can bring
i’m waiting
give me a song to sing
a decent melody
because i’m alone and i’m nineteen
and I feel like the world
is trying to swallow me whole
like it’s trying to swallow me whole

if you believed why’d you leave me
if you believed why’d you leave me
even after our sticks and stones were spoken
i’m alive
i’m alive
and i’m unbroken
yeah i’m unbroken
i’m unbroken
i’m alive
and i’m unbroken

the right words

the right words

couldn’t think of the right words to say
don’t know if it mattered that much anyway

i can’t believe that it’s already been a week
i’m alright i finally got something to eat
and ok ‘cause i found a place to sleep

’cause it gets hard
when it gets dark
but i can see
what i’m doing to me
i couldn’t breathe when i

couldn’t think of the right words to say
don’t know if it mattered that much anyway
you wouldn’t change so i couldn’t stay
don’t know if i mattered that much anyway

now i’m here just living on the streets
i sell myself while i get my kicks for free
don’t know who i was when i was me

and it got hard
when it got dark
but i could see
what it was doing to me
i couldn’t breathe when i

couldn’t think of the right words to say
don’t know if it mattered that much anyway
you wouldn’t change so i couldn’t stay
don’t know if i mattered that much anyway

and then you came around
the right words make such a beautiful sound

you are beautiful
you are beautiful

make me over
washing myself clean
and now i’m finding the right words say
learning what matters at the end of the day
found a place where my soul can stay
and change for the better a little more every day
now i’m finding the right words to say
now i’m finding the right words to say

whisper

whisper

love began as a whisper
from under the door
locking a house where
i don’t live no more
i’m here on the porch stair
in my ugly coat
love began as a whisper
and started to grow

you are beautiful
and you’re almost home

from a lonesome corner
with no place to go
those words were my streetlights
leading me home
while hunger and shame were
holding hands with hope
love began as a whisper
and started to grow

you are beautiful
so beautiful
and you’re almost home

so i crawled the last mile to
love’s front door
but now i hear nothing
but the symphony roar
one hand on the trigger
one hand on the door
is this the moment
i been waiting for
one hand on the trigger
one hand on the door

you are beautiful
so beautiful
you are beautiful