Georgia

Aleshkovsky lives in Tbilisi with his family, but flew to Yerevan for two days. According to his mother, historian Tamara Eidelman, the border guards did not explain the reason and simply sent him back. 673w” media=”(max-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), (max-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)” >

Mitya Aleshkovsky

Journalist and philanthropist Mitya Aleshkovsky (recognized as a foreign agent) was deported from Georgia to Yerevan, where he flew from. This was announced on Facebook (the social network belongs to the extremist and banned Meta company recognized in Russia) by his mother, historian and honored teacher of Russia Tamara Eidelman.

According to her, Aleshkovsky lives in Tbilisi, where his wife and daughter are waiting for him. He went to Yerevan for two days together with Eidelman for her lecture. She accused the Georgian authorities of “fawning” in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Eidelman told RBC that her son was already in Yerevan. She added that the Georgian border guards “didn't explain anything, they just refused entry.” RBC sent a request to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

Aleshkovsky— journalist, photographer, director of the publication “Takie Dela” and one of the founders of the Need Help Foundation. He opposed the Russian military operation in Ukraine. In July, the Ministry of Justice entered him into the register of media-foreign agents.

In August last year, opposition politician Lyubov Sobol (recognized as a foreign agent) was denied entry to Georgia. She attributed the refusal to Tbilisi's unwillingness to spoil relations with Russia. In January, another oppositionist was not allowed into Georgia— Dmitry Gudkov.

Authors Tags Subscribe to RuTube RBC Live broadcasts, videos and recordings of programs on our RuTube channel

Источник rbc.ru

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Longtime refugees in Georgia say goodbye to the Soviet-era sanatoriums they called home

Displaced people have spent decades living in old sanatoriums and hotels scattered throughout Georgia. Now, the government plans to restore the dilapidated buildings to boost tourism. 

The WorldJuly 7, 2022 · 1:45 PM EDT

• By Levi Bridges

Many of Tskaltubo's sanatoriums will soon be renovated and reopened to tourists once again through an initiative funded by the government and private investment. Most of the last internally displaced people who have called these buildings home since the '90s have finally been relocated to permanent housing.

Levi Bridges/The World

Lika Xarabava finds it hard to watch news coverage about the war in Ukraine from her dilapidated residence in Tskaltubo, Georgia. 

“It’s very difficult because we’ve already lived through what Ukraine is experiencing right now,” Xarabava said, “but for us it was even worse because, back then, there wasn't the internet to show the world what was happening.”

In 1992, Xarabava fled Abkhazia, a breakaway region in Georgia, amid brutal conflict between Russian-backed separatists and the Georgian army. More than 250,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), mainly ethnic Georgians, fled their homes during the war to other parts of the country.

She and her family, along with thousands of other IDPs, established a new home in an abandoned sanatorium in Tskaltubo, a former Soviet-era spa town renowned for its healing mineral springs.

A former bathhouse in the town of Tskaltubo, Georgia. Workers once traveled from throughout the Soviet Union to bathe in the town's mineral waters which have healing properties.

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

Displaced people like Xarabava have spent decades living in old sanatoriums and hotels scattered throughout Georgia, remnants of a time when the country's temperate climate, mineral springs and Black Sea beaches made some consider it to be the pearl of the former Soviet Union.

The Soviet-era buildings had hosted travelers who came to bathe in the town’s mineral springs. But the sprawling sanatorium where Xarabava has lived for three decades is falling apart. 

Lika Xarabava, 40, was still a child when she fled Abkhazia and found refuge in one of Tskaltubo's rundown sanatoriums. The aging building is the only home she has ever known in her adult life. Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

On the ground floor, tall marble columns rise before a sparkling chandelier. But there are several smashed windows throughout the building and the floors of some of the uninhabited rooms are covered with pieces of wood, old books and broken glass.

When Xarabava first arrived in the once-stately building, there was no electricity, water or heat. Today, power lines and hoses snake out the windows. The family cooks on a small wood stove.

During the war in Abkhazia, ethnic Georgians were often targeted and even killed by separatists. Xarabava and her mother left Abkhazia after separatists burnt their home to the ground. 

“They wouldn’t let us live,” Xarabava said. “They even killed children and old people, it was genocide,” she said. 

The war ended in 1993, but the conflict was never fully resolved. Abkhazia declared itself independent and Russia is one of the only countries that recognizes it, with Russian troops still stationed there.

Many IDPs never returned home.

‘Sometimes it brings  tears to my eyes’

There are 22 sanatoriums scattered around Tskaltubo. 

For some older Georgians, seeing Tskaltubo’s sanatoriums in their current state of ruin is painful.

“Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes when I see what kind of condition the sanatoriums are in. It’s unimaginable what’s happened to them,” said Anzor Babunashvili, a 72-year-old Tskalbubo native who once worked at the town’s sanatoriums.

Many of the sanatoriums built during the Soviet period in Tskaltubo, Georgia, were grandiose neoclassical buildings with statues and tall columns. But after the Soviet Union fell, many of the buildings were abandoned and later used to house people displaced by war in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

Several sanatoriums retain names like Geology, Media and Metallurgy, titles inspired by the different groups of Soviet workers who once came to stay in them. 

Workers were sent on free trips to spend time recovering in Tskaltubo. 

Over time, the town became known throughout the Soviet Union as a place to rest and relax. A stay at one of Tskaltubo’s sanatoriums came with a set health improvement regimen, including frequent soaks in the town’s mineral waters. 

“It [the sanatoriums] was more regulated than a hotel, where you just go and have fun and have drinks,” said David Sichinava, a human geographer and lecturer at Carleton University in Ottawa, who was also displaced from Abkhazia during the war and grew up in Tskaltubo.

A photo in Tskaltubo's museum shows the Geologist sanatorium named after one of the groups of workers who once came to this town from across the Soviet Union to seek treatment in the local mineral waters.

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

Sichinava said that sanatoriums first started in Central Europe and the tradition eventually spread to places like Russia. 

Sanatorium stays became so widespread that the practice even popped up in literature, like the works of Dostoevsky. And many characters, not only in Russian novels but throughout European literature, often spent time healing in sanatoriums.

“It was actually a very popular pastime in late 19th century, early 20th century,” Sichinava said, “but when the Bolshevks took over in the Soviet Union, the goal of sanatoria changed to serve the broader masses, not just wealthy people.”

Restoration plans

The Georgian government recently launched an effort to renovate Tskaltubo’s sanatoriums with the help of a large grant from the World Bank to spur tourism and welcome travelers to the buildings once again.

Most IDPs who were living in the buildings have been relocated to new housing constructed by the government. 

As the town attempts to rebrand itself from a rundown refuge area, back to its original glory as a spa resort, Sichinava worries the residents who have inhabited the sanatoriums since the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union will be written out of recent history. 

“The stories of 10,000 people who used to make their life in Tskaltubo now are almost being erased,” Sichinava said.

Tskaltubo's sanatoriums might appear abandoned, but inside there are signs everywhere of the people who live there.

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

As Xalabava and her family prepare to move, the town is already opening its doors to new arrivals. 

Hotels in Tskaltubo recently started offering free rooms to families fleeing Ukraine. 

The number of people displaced by conflict globally has continued to rise steadily for the last half decade, and the conflict in Ukraine threatens to continue that trend in 2022. 

And as the world’s population becomes more urbanized, displaced people are ending up in urban environments and substandard housing, rather than refugee camps. 

Tamara Sarria, 87, fled war in Abkhazia in 1992 when the region tried to separate from Georgia and has lived in a neglected sanatorium in Tskaltubo for the last three decades.

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

On one of their last nights in the sanatorium that they have called home for the last three decades, Xarabava and her mother gathered in their room and sang songs by the fire. 

They have a brand new apartment waiting for them — but Xarabava isn’t ready to leave.

“I’ll admit this place isn’t comfortable, but I got used to it,” Xarabava said. “It’s home.”

Related: 'Their lives collided with war': Ukrainian refugees in Poland open their own schools

class=”MuiTypography-root-134 MuiTypography-h1-139″>Russians in Georgia help to evacuate Ukrainians  

Hundreds of Russian dissidents and members of civil society who have challenged Vladimir Putin’s government have settled in nearby Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The country’s relaxed visa rules and low cost of living have attracted artists, activists and journalists. Some who’ve settled there are now working to support their fellow Russians and protest the war from afar.

The WorldApril 7, 2022 · 11:00 AM EDT

• By Levi Bridges

A demonstrator holds a Ukrainian national flag in front of the Georgian Parliament during an action against Russia's attack on Ukraine in Tbilisi, Georgia, March 1, 2022. Some Russians who've resettled in Georgia are now helping Ukrainians evacuate.

Shakh Aivazov/AP

In a spacious office in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, a group of young volunteers, hunched over cellphones and computers, works to evacuate Ukrainains fleeing the war.

“This is a place where people come alive,” said Alina Muzychenko, 36, a Russian activist and volunteer. “We’re all in shock about what’s happening, and for our team, it’s a way to mobilize our energy and do something.”

Members of the grassroots group Helping To Leave, founded by activists, journalists and artists on Feb. 24, the day the war in Ukraine started, are here around the clock to aid Ukrainians looking for safety, psychological support, financial aid and more.

Related: Ukraine is now urging people to evacuate the Donbas. This Ukrainain American pastor is risking his life to help.

Many of the volunteers are Russians who recently left their own country for safety reasons. They are part of an outspoken generation who fear they could be jailed for opposing the war.

“[They’re] the young voice of the revolution.” 

Alina Muzychenko, Russian activist and volunteer with Helping to Leave in Tbilisi, Georgia

“[They’re] the young voice of the revolution,” said Muzychenko, who moved to Tbilisi last year after she faced intimidation in Russia for her work.

Alina Muzychenko, 36, and Egor Eremeev, 34, protest the war in Ukraine from their new home in Tbilisi, Georgia. Many Russian activists say they can do more productive work abroad where they no longer face the risk of arrest for their work. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Vasya Krestyaninov

At least 20,000 Russians have arrived in Georgia since the war in Ukraine started in February. Hundreds of them are activists and journalists fleeing a recent crackdown on dissent inside Russia. Thousands of Russians have been arrested for protesting the war. Even just calling the conflict a “war” is a criminal offense in Russia.

Related: Body armor factories in the Americas are sending gear to war-torn Ukraine

Muzychenko left Russia in June 2021 as a part of a growing wave of Russian dissidents who started leaving in the months before the war started. While living in Moscow, Muzychenko helped found Kultrab, an artist collective and clothing brand that works to raise awareness about issues like Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights.

A model working with Kultrab poses with a new line of merchandise to raise money for a Russian organization providing legal services to protesters detained by authorities. Since its founding, Kulbrab has used fashion to fundraise for independent organizations in Russia. Kulbrab’s founders eventually left Russia because of their work. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Zhenya Filatova

In addition to activism and art, Kultrab also designed clothing to raise money for the independent media outlet Mediazona, which focuses on Russia’s judicial and prison systems.

Since Kultrab was founded in 2017, Muzychenko said that officials from Russia’s Center for Combatting Extremism started showing up at Kultrab’s events and following them on social media. Their collective came under more pressure last year when Russia started labeling independent media outlets as foreign agents.

That growing list of media organizations eventually included Mediazona.

Muzychenko said that she felt compelled to leave Russia because collaborating with organizations deemed by the government as “undesirable” is a criminal offense in the country.

“We understood that the young people who we work with might run into danger,” Muzychenko said. “That's why we decided to leave.”

These days, Muzychenko devotes most of her time in Tbilisi to Helping to Leave.

Related: Refugees find a welcome in Catalan Guissona’s ‘Little Ukraine’

Irma Fatianova, 32, who previously worked with jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny before leaving Russia for Tbilisi, helps with fundraising for the project.

“Before, it was just Navalny and his associates [who were at risk], but now, the threat falls on anyone who expresses their opinion publicly,” Fatianova said. “So, it makes sense to leave Russia and do something useful on the outside.”

Many Russians choose Georgia because they don’t need visas, and lots of Georgians speak Russian. In Tbilisi, there are now people dedicated to helping them.

“It changed from 12 hours a day of work to 22 hours a day of work immediately after the war started,” said Egor Kuroptev, director of the South Caucasus Office of the Free Russia Foundation, an organization that has been offering assistance to Russians arriving in Tbilisi in addition to other tasks like countering misinformation about the war.

Roman Dmitrienko sits in a detention center outside Moscow after he and Kultrab’s co-founder, Egor Eremeev, were arrested for attending a rally in support of Alexei Navalny in March 2021. Eremeev left Russia and moved to Tbilisi, Georgia, shortly after his release. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Vladimir Rumyantsev

Kuroptev’s office has received requests from thousands of Russians, Belorussians and Ukrainians seeking assistance since the war started. He said that some of the Russians coming to Georgia are activists, but there are also lots of working professionals.

Related: Reliable death tolls from the Ukraine war are hard to come by — the result of undercounts and manipulation

“They want to leave because they're under sanctions, their bank cards are not working, they cannot receive payments from abroad,” Kuroptev said.

The Georgian government has downplayed the significance of Russians coming here, saying the numbers are about the same as Russian tourists who visited Georgia before the pandemic. But hundreds of dissidents have now settled in Georgia. Kuroptev said that the Kremlin puts constant pressure on Georgia, which makes the authorities in Tbilisi consider all possible risks and sometimes act unpredictably.

“When any country around Russia sees that some maniac can start a war without any single reason, they're afraid,” Kuroptev said.

Some Russians in Tbilisi say they’ve been mostly welcomed here. But anti-Russian graffiti has turned up on the streets and some landlords have posted online that they won’t rent to Russians.

“After the war, there started to be way more Russophobia, and it makes total sense.”

Yulia Lutikova, Russian artist and volunteer with Helping to Leave in Tbilisi, Georgia

“After the war, there started to be way more Russophobia, and it makes total sense,” said Yulia Lutikova, 19, a Russian artist who moved to Tbilisi last year who also works with Helping to Leave.

Lutikova said that she sympathized with Georgians who are likely to judge Russians by the behavior of their government. For Russians like Lutikova, even just getting in a Tbilisi taxi and conversing with the driver in Russian  — which usually means having to explain whether you’re from Russia — can feel extremely uncomfortable.

Egor Eremeev, 34, and Alina Muzychenko, 36, are the co-founders of Kultrab, an artist collective and clothing brand that works to raise awareness about issues like Russia’s crackdown on the rights of the LGBTQ community. They relocated to Tbilisi in 2021 after facing intimidation for their activism in Russia. 

Credit:

Levi Bridges/The World

But despite the occasional awkward moment, Lutikova said that she’s doing things in Georgia that she never could in Moscow. She went to a rally in support of Ukraine recently and held up a big poster denouncing Russia’s leadership.

“Before, that would have been like a dream,” Lutikova said. “Here [in Georgia], free speech exists everywhere, it doesn’t matter what it’s about.”

Even though Russians in Tbilisi are far away from home, Russian dissidents remain committed to returning home when the government changes.

Muzychenko, the co-founder of Kultrab, said that she and her friends hope to return to Russia someday.

“We love Russia, we love Belarus, we love Ukraine, and we really want people from all these countries to be able to have a say in politics or go to a peaceful protest without being in danger,” Muzychenko said.

For the moment, Muzychenko and other young Russians in Tbilisi have focused their energy on helping Ukrainians. Russian activists feel they can do much more important work in Georgia than they can from a prison cell in Russia. 

Georgia's green voters helped deliver the Senate to the Democrats

Voters most likely to rank the environment as their top priority are young, Black or Latino, and they were key voters in the two recent senatorial wins in Georgia that gave the majority to Democrats.

Living on Earth

January 20, 2021 · 1:00 PM EST

Writer
Adam Wernick

Player utilities

• Popout
• Share

download

Listen to the story.

Stacey Abrams speaks to Biden supporters as they wait for former President Barack Obama to arrive and speak at a rally as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, at Turner Field in Atlanta.

Credit:

Brynn Anderson/AP

Share

[Chorus: Bankrol Hayden]
I almost dropped a tear for you, uh
I always throw my pain on you (Uh, uh, uh, uh)
My head went straight up, we confused
So many times that we’ve been traded, we’ve been used
But I can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
We’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle
Can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
‘Cause we’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle

[Verse 1: Bankrol Hayden]
Uh, like I ain’t trippin’
I was caught up in your ways
I’m tryna put on for my brothers, that’s my focus nowadays
Like now I’m trippin’
‘Cause you was leavin’ anyway
And your emotions out of place
I never thought that you would change, I swear
Shit so real, I got the chills
I done made this shit so real
Made some money out this deal
Finna pay my momma bills
For my brothers I drill
Spin up, I brought no chill
Get jammed up, we gon’ see who real
In the hospital bed, I was poppin’ them pills, yeah, yeah
Me and you ain’t close, as we just used to be
Used to be
People hit me up, but I ain’t used to it
Family askin’ favors ’cause I got some money now
When I get that money all these bitches actin’ funny now

[Chorus: Bankrol Hayden]
I almost dropped a tear for you, uh
I always throw my pain on you (Uh, uh, uh, uh)
My head went straight up, we confused
So many times that we’ve been traded, we’ve been used
But I can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
We’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle
Can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
‘Cause we’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle

[Verse 2: Lil Baby]
Baby
Told the dealer, got the best appeal lawyer in Georgia
I’ma get it for you
Cookin’ up them meals, make sure I eat
You know I tear for you
Can’t believe no meal to turn sour
I would’ve killed for you
Left me at lowest, I can’t even say I still love you
I’m the type to tell lil’ bro “Don’t shoot”
He gon’ still bust you
Comin’ up, my life was hard
Fat daddy died, we was still in the car
He just did a five, make you doin’ time again
I can’t lose, no, so I gotta win
I love my dawgs, I ain’t gotta friend
Woo ’bout to touch down, he just did ten
Back on the wall, how the f*ck I’ma fall?
When I stand on my team, do you understand?
Buckin’ the law, give a f*ck ’bout your plan
When I hop out my car, my gun in my hand
Niggas switch up and I don’t even know why, it’s so many shit I don’t understand
I can’t drop no tears now
I’ve been cold for some years now

[Chorus: Bankrol Hayden]
I almost dropped a tear for you, uh
I always throw my pain on you (Uh, uh, uh, uh)
My head went straight up, we confused
So many times that we’ve been traded, we’ve been used
But I can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
We’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle
Can’t move on, you know the news had me dropped
‘Cause we’ve come too far, you know we come from the jungle

[Outro: Bankrol Hayden]
I almost dropped a tear for you, uh
I always throw my pain on you (Uh, uh, uh, uh)
My head went straight up, we confused
So many times that we’ve been traded, we’ve been used

Play this song

[Chorus]
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright

[Verse 1]
Houston, Texas, my teachers had weapons
I’d get my ass whipped, I learned my lesson
I often question, I often wonder
If I told this class I liked the nigga that sit in the back
How bad would it make me suffer? Agh
Smoke and fuck, we high as hell
We gon’ love each other, we let the night derail
Only time will tell, I’m under your spell
I lay on your chest, you wonder what’s next
I love when you breathe, it make me reflect

[Chorus]
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
(Everything you do is cool)

[Verse 2]
All of us in Jon’s car
Packed the trunk with merch, I was tryna be a star
Same time I was cool with Uzi, dawg, my life felt like a movie
I left my troubled home, Hollywood, what the fuck am I doing?
I finally found peace, I suck when I get it
I see worth in myself, I won’t run away again
I’m prayin’ for my friends, they prayin’ this won’t end
But I know it does, just like all things
In the end, it’s just me and my mood swings

[Bridge]
And the one-nine-nine (And the one-nine-nine-nine is comin’)
Is comin’, is comin’
And that one-nine-nine, boy (And the one-nine-nine-nine)
One-nine-nine is comin’, is comin’
(You know that it’s comin’)

[Chorus]
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
(Everything you do is cool)
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
(Everything you do is cool)
I got Georgia on my mind, ain’t nobody left behind
It’s just me, my team, my weed, my baby’s Audi parked outside
Call my mom and let her know that everything is alright
(Everything you do is cool)

[Outro]
My troubled home, Hollywood, what the fuck am I doing?
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
My troubled home, Hollywood, what the fuck am I doing?
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[Intro]
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me

[Verse 1]
He said the way my blue eyes shined
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said, “That’s a lie”
Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin’ stuck
On backroads at night
And I was right there beside him all summer long
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone

[Chorus]
But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
Hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me

[Verse 2]
September saw a month of tears
And thankin’ God that you weren’t here
To see me like that
But in a box beneath my bed
Is a letter that you never read
From three summers back
It’s hard not to find it all a little bittersweet
And lookin’ back on all of that, it’s nice to believe

[Chorus]
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
Hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
Won’t you think of me
I hope you think of me

[Bridge]
And I’m back for the first time since then
I’m standin’ on your street
And there’s a letter left on your doorstep
And the first thing that you’ll read is:
“When you think Tim McGraw
Hope you think my favorite song
Someday you’ll turn your radio on
I hope it takes you back to that place”

[Chorus]
When you think happiness
Hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
Hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
Won’t you think of me
I hope you think of me
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me
I hope you think of me
You think of me

[Outro]
He said the way my blue eyes shine
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said, “That’s a lie”

[Verse]
Well, I woke to the rise, sun going down
Stale taste of whiskey, still fresh on my mouth
Hot cup of coffee, smoke in my hand
Another day in the life of the guitar man
La de da

[Chorus]
Well last night was a good night as I reached in my jeans
Crumpled up ones, a few tens in between
And a red head named Annie, she’s still fast asleep
Made me make her a promise, she knows I can’t keep
La de da

[Verse 2]
Time to fire up that two tone bucket of rust
Throw my amp and my case in the back of my truck
Breathing my freedom, windows rolled down
Forty-six miles till the next nameless town
La de da

[Chorus]
Well, the place is still empty when I walk in the door
Stench from the beer, spilling up through the floor
Give a nod to sweet Lisa, she mixes the drinks
Life’s been hard on her, but she’s been good to me
La de da

[Verse 3]
Off in the shadows
Stands a stool and a stage
Where many souls before me were put on display
I take one last breath, time to pay some more dues
That won’t add up to nothing but tips and cheap booze

[Pre-Chorus]
Yeah, the fruits of my labor is when the crowd sings along
Nothing short of a savior, I go home alone
I’m an empty, faceless spotlight mic-stand
I’ll getcha high, I’ll getcha low
I’m the guitar man

[Chorus]
Well they’ll ask for more love songs and I’ll play with a smile
To help them hold on or forget for a while
They can fill up that jukebox with a week’s worth of pay
But it can’t feel their happy and it can’t feel their pain

[Verse 4]
No drums, no pianos, no sweet harmonies
It’s all in a song and it’s all on me
Won’t find nothing fancy I’m a tired one man band
I’m the picking and grinning guitar man

[Pre-Chorus]
Yeah the fruits of my labor’s when the crowd sings along
Nothing short of a savior, I go home alone
I’m an empty, faceless spotlight mic-stand
I’ll getcha high, I’ll getcha low, I’m the guitar man yeah

[Chorus]
Well I had me a pretty baby, thought she was the one
But she soon grew tired, this love on the run
Said she felt second, told me I had to choose
She’s back in Georgia and I’m here with you

The end of the night, we’ll all be best friends
Then strangers till I roll through town again
I’ll yell out hey Lisa something cold in a can
One for the road for the guitar man

[Chorus]
Yeah the fruits of my labor’s when the crowd sings along
Nothing short of a savior still I go home alone
I’m an empty, faceless spotlight mic-stand
I’ll getcha high, I’ll getcha low, I’m the guitar man yeah
I’ll play em fast, I’ll play em slow, I’m the guitar man
Yeah

Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Signing my love down on paper for ya
Girl ya know I can wait for the rest of my life to live with you

Staring at the ceiling
Can’t shake the feeling
That your thoughts have forgot about me

I’m looking at your picture
Wishing I was with ya
From the start you had my heart

Whenever we’re apart you can find me

Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Signing my love down on paper for ya
Girl ya know I can’t wait for the rest of my life to live with you

Being apart really drives me crazy
Every time you’re calling me “baby”

I fall in love with the way
You make me feel like I can do

A little bit better, letter by letter

So I hope you read between the lines
Get some rest from running thru my mind
Oh you just like to remind me (woah)

So baby tell me with a selfie of

The waves in your hair, the way that you stare
You don’t know that your glow takes my breath away
On any given day you can find me

Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Signing my love down on paper for ya
Girl ya know I can’t wait for the rest of my life to live with you

Being apart really drives me crazy
Every time you’re calling me “baby”

I fall in love with the way
You make me feel like I can do

A little bit better, letter by letter
Oh a little bit better baby, letter by letter

Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Girl ya know I can’t wait for the
Day we close the distance
You’re exactly what I’m missing

Being apart really drives me crazy
Every time you’re calling me “baby”

I fall in love with the way
You make me feel like I can do

Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Oh oh oh oh
Getting closer by the day
Sitting here writing letters to Georgia
Oh oh oh oh
Got a few more on the way
I’m gonna love you any way
Letter by letter

Way up high in the Georgia mountains
Shootin’ bull and shine in the midnight moonlight
A wild bunch of fellas just a blowin’ off steam
Never know what a song round a fire might bring

Smoke and fiddle fillin’ up the air
Cicadas keepin’ time with sway of the pine trees
Low end rumble sneakin’ up the road
Kind of late to the party who’s crashin’ our show

What the hell is that
Whose bright white headlights
Moonshine’s kickin’ in
Oh my God a city car full of women

Why’s there a Caddy in the campground
Girls gettin’ out lookin’ like they’re goin’ downtown
Heals on skirts high drinkin’ champagne
Ain’t no room for a Caddy in the campground

Hey little lady have you lost your way
Did daddy’s girl take another wrong turn
You might be born with a silver spoon
Let me show you my castle with the diamond moon

I can tell you like the sound of my guitar
Lookin’ pretty as a gypsy dancin’ round that car
Love the sound you’re makin’ shakin’ all that bling
Won’t you jump in here and be my tambourine

Can’t believe what I see
Is this just a crazy dream
Moonshine’s kickin’ in
Oh my God anything can happen

Why’s there a Caddy in the campground
Girls gettin’ out lookin’ like they’re goin’ downtown
Heels on skirts high drinkin’ champagne
Anything can happen with a Caddy in the campground

Now the party is lit
That is a beautiful car
How the hell did you get that thang up here

Anything can happen
Anything can happen

Chorus

Anything can happen
Anything can happen
Anything can happen
With a Caddy in the campground

[Verse]
I love to see you
While your dancing as the sun sets on the shore
Each time that I see you oh it only seems to make me want you more
So why cant you see that it’s me who just may be your mr right
Cause I long to hold you, want to hug and squeeze and kiss you through the night

[Chorus]
Come on pretty baby give me a chance
Girl you drive me crazy with the way you dance
Twisting on the beach and having so much fun
Won’t you tell me baby your the only one for you
Girl you got me longing for a kiss
Shimmy and a shaking to a Georgia twist
Dancing and a swaying having so much fun
Wont you tell me baby i’m the only one for you
For you for yoohoo just for you

[Verse]
Great expectations growing just like wild flowers in my head
So I want to hold you want you lying here beside me in my bed
Each night as i’m dreaming , i got visions of you dancing through mmy mind
Hungry for your lovin,girl I’m drinking in your beauty just like wine.

[Chorus]
Come on pretty baby give me a chance
Girl you drive me crazy with the way you dance
Twisting on the beach and having so much fun
Won’t you tell me baby your the only one for you
Girl you got me longing for a kiss
Shimmy and a shaking to a reggae twist
Dancing and a swaying having so much fun
Wont you tell me baby i’m the only one for you
For you for yoohoo just for you

[Chorus]
Come on pretty baby give me a chance
Girl you drive me crazy with the way you dance
Twisting on the beach and having so much fun
Won’t you tell me baby your the only one for you
Girl you got me longing for a kiss
Shimmy and a shaking to a reggae twist
Dancing and a swaying having so much fun
Wont you tell me baby i’m the only one for you
For you for yoohoo just for you

[Verse 1]
I feel like atlas, I got my back stretched
You wanna grab this, you don’t understand this
I keep it oppressed, work on my realness
Reading my manifest, I’ll address your request

[Pre-Chorus]
I’ve been waking up drenched in sweat
All my dreams, full of my regret (my regret)
I keep hearing what my mother said
Eyes are open, all I see is red

[Chorus]
I met you in California
You told me you loved him in Georgia
Your heart’s in the ground, frozen over
My heart’s in the sky, supernova
I met you in California
You told me you loved him in Georgia
Your heart’s in the ground, frozen over
My heart’s in the sky, supernova

[Verse 2]
Look overhead at the stars and the ocean
Foggy emotions, moments, erosion
This supernova could cause a comotion
My minds of the notion, you’ll still be my motive
I’ve been, I’ve been so fucked in my head
I’ve been going through phases, I’m just going through phases
Don’t know what this craze is
When’s the last time someone said shit? (ohhh)
Walking through your mazes
When’s the last time someone meant it? (ohhh)

[Pre-Chorus]
I’ve been waking up drenched in sweat
All my dreams full of my regret (my regret)
I keep hearing what my mother said
Eyes are open all I see is red

[Chorus]
I met you in California
You told me you loved him in Georgia
Your heart’s in the ground, frozen over
My heart’s in the sky, supernova
I met you in California
You told me you loved him in Georgia
Your heart’s in the ground, frozen over
My heart’s in the sky, supernova

[Flute Solo]

[Chorus]
I met you in California
You told me you loved him in Georgia
Your heart’s in the ground, frozen over
My heart’s in the sky, supernova