We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Wishin​’​s Just for Fools

from Ash and Bone by Dan Weber

/
  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes with a Custom 24 Page Insert/Booklet with Photos, Lyrics, and Stories behind the Songs!

    From Dan:

    "When I was little, growing up in Western New York, we’d go on a big road trip every summer. We’d leave in darkness and I’d sit on the front bench seat of Dad’s old Pontiac Catalina, mesmerized by the green glow of the dashboard lights. By morning we’d be in Pennsylvania and tomorrow we’d be crossing into the South. I sat up front because having 3 boys in the back seat was generally a recipe for disaster. Mom would navigate the interstates with her well-worn roadmaps folded just so. Dad would drive with both feet narrating at 70 mph, giving some obscure historical fact, the types of trees we were seeing, and where the long freight trains were headed.

    When the reception was clear enough we’d listen to the local AM station, playing the 70’s hit songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Harry Chapin, and Jim Croce, etc. There was something magical about those drives that made those songs and the stories in them come alive. I wanted to know the people in those stories and see the places in them.

    Later, as a Boy Scout, I got my first chance to go ‘West’, to Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. I poured over maps for weeks, entranced by names of seemingly exotic places like: Cheyenne, Denver and Santa Fe. In 1988 I came west again for three months. This time, as an adult, I saw the country through new eyes: Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. One weekend we borrowed a friend’s Nissan 240Z and drove down to Ensenada, Mexico. We then hitchhiked back up the California coast, sleeping on the beach and getting in as much scenery (and trouble) as possible before the summer was over.

    Then one night back home in 1989 at a local bar on Water Street, I ran into this guy named ‘Joe’ fresh out of the Army, who said he was moving to Spokane the next day. I bought him a drink to help him celebrate, then he bought me one to help me help him celebrate. Before I knew it, I found myself in the passenger seat of his 1978 primer-grey Pontiac Trans-Am, headed west again, for the third time. Stopping at my best friend’s house in Ohio, I was surprised to find him packed and ready to go. So we just made what room we could, in that little back seat.

    The trip went fast and the county’s great river’s passed beneath us: The Mississippi, Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake and Columbia. In that wide open country I searched the FM dial for the songs and stories I remembered from road trips past, and frequently we saw trains, and I wondered where they were headed. We split up in Spokane, and at 4am the two of us headed to Seattle, the ‘Emerald City’, landing there unceremoniously under a blanket of torrential grey rain on December 2nd 1989.

    That was 22 years or half a lifetime ago. What I didn’t know then was that once I left home, I could never really go back again. Seeing the country changed me and so did the people I’d met. I wanted to hear their stories and desperately wanted to know what mine was. So I kept searching and kept moving. I spent 2 years in Utah as a Park Ranger at Canyonlands National Park. I drove cross country and back at least twice and slept under the stars as much as I could. I did a lot of late night driving and I’d love finding a local DJ who somehow knew the song I needed to hear. Finally by accident or fate, I found myself in Portland, Oregon, back in the Pacific Northwest.

    I didn’t know it then, but all that time searching for who I was and where I was supposed to be, I was right there all the time. I just couldn’t see it yet.
    In the studio one afternoon, legendary banjo and slide player Tony Furtado asked me how long I’d been working on this project. I think I answered ‘43 years, 10 months, 6 days and 2 hours’. I was probably only off by an hour or two.

    So even though I’ve only just begun my musical journey, the songs and stories on ‘Ash and Bone’ have been with me for a long time. I like to think of my torn road atlas as part souvenir of the journey, and part guide to the future. I like to think that on any night, someone you meet can change your life. And I also like to think maybe you’ll hear one of these songs and feel that it’s as much your story as it is mine.

    I’d like to think I haven’t changed that much after all. I still love long drives to shows, festivals and to your homes. I still love finding that song on the radio that somehow the DJ just knew I needed to hear. I still watch for trains and wonder where they’re headed. And I still love songs like the ones I grew up with.

    I always fall in love with the stories...

    ~ Dan
    Thanksgiving 2011

    Includes unlimited streaming of Ash and Bone via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • 3.75" x 7.5" "What Would Hank and Jesus Do?" White lettering on Black background. Guaranteed to look Super-COOL (!) on your car, guitar case, in your office or on top of some other sticker you don't like. It'll let everyone know you dig 'Hank' AND 'Jesus' so what could be better??? Buy 2 or 20, or 200!!
    ships out within 14 days
    edition of 1000 

      $2 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 3 Dan Weber releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Way the River Goes, What I'm Lookin' For, and Ash and Bone. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $19.50 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

about

Songwriter Kevin Welch once said to me something to the effect of “If you can’t think of what to write next, ask yourself what do I see, hear or smell?” Standing on a dusty bridge one afternoon, I looked down and saw this pool of water with a handful of coins thrown in for luck, then inhaled the acrid smell of creosote soaked into the bridge timbers. Despite the song’s message I’m still a fan of wishing in all its forms, foolish or not. I’m also secretly proud of using the word ‘Chesapeake’ in this song (or any song). Just because...

A huge ‘Thanks!’ to the staff, volunteers, supporters and songwriters I’ve come to know at the Sister’s Americana Songwriting Academy and the Sister’s Folk Festival. Your friendship, guidance, talents and encouragement are a constant source of inspiration. I can’t begin to tell you how much that’s meant to me...

lyrics

Wishin’s Just for Fools © &  Daniel Weber 2012 Highway142Music (ASCAP)

Late evening, West Virginia
The taste of creosote’s hangin’ in the air
On a railroad bridge, where we once kissed
We threw our wishes down there

1930’s, wheat pennies
Well they’re probably in the Chesapeake by now
Down with some old, sunken schooner
That got lost, thinkin’ they were found

Chorus
And we trimmed the sails; we rode the rails
And we danced on each other’s shoes
But I don’t throw pennies no more
‘Cause Wishin it’s Just for Fools

The cool, clear water, we used to swim in
We scaled the trestle, then jumped off the side
‘Till we heard a coal train screamin’
Then we knew it was do or die

But it’s been so long now, since I felt that way
Lookin’ deep down in your eyes
‘Cause you could always see the bottom
That I can’t ever seem to find

Chorus
And we trimmed the sails; we rode the rails
And we danced on each other’s shoes
But I don’t throw pennies no more
‘Cause Wishin it’s Just for Fools

Bridge
But wishin’ won’t make it so
When you’re lookin’ for the truth
And truth is, I don’t wish no more
‘Cause I only think of you

So I’d been savin’ my pennies, and walkin’ those tracks
When that lonesome whistle blew
Now I’m makin’ just one last wish tonight
Just like every other fool

Chorus
And we trimmed the sails; we rode the rails
And we danced on each other’s shoes
But I don’t throw pennies no more
‘Cause Wishin it’s Just for Fools

Coda:
Yeah I don’t throw pennies no more
‘Cause Wishin’s Just for Fools

credits

from Ash and Bone, released February 18, 2012

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Dan Weber Richardson, Texas

Dan Weber is an Award Winning songwriter who's been described as "reminiscent of early John Prine."

In 2019, Dan was the winner of the prestigious Woody Guthrie songwriting contest and in 2021 he was named a rare 4 time finalist in the legendary Kerrville ‘New Folk’ songwriting competition.

In 2022, he released 'The Way the River Goes', his best work yet. Dan currently lives near Dallas, Texas.
... more

contact / help

Contact Dan Weber

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like Dan Weber, you may also like: