1. |
Highway Towns
03:12
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I am the bastard son of a thousand highway towns
Born on Independence Day with Orion’s fire in my mouth
I’m wrapped in your wagon wheel with a bellyache in my heel
I ain’t got no one howling for me
All my friends are gone
When you ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got nobody
God don’t drive no Chevrolet he rides a Greyhound everyday
Down to Tunica and back dressed in black
He tips the brakeman a roll and offers to save his soul
But he will no pay his rent, to quote, “I will not pay your rent”
When you ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got nobody
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2. |
Glory Days
04:34
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Look out the yonder window
There’s a long arm over Chicago
Maybe it’s God laughing hard
at his Son bleeding the Mississippi from his arms
From my house to the governor's lawn
From Time Square to your heart
But don’t take it, don’t take it all so bad
For these glory days are all we have
Bleed out the yonder state line
Your eyes dart on your Cavalier's side
You told me once you had a dream
Where you sang and I banged the keys
Well, I had a dream too
And all your years were colored blue
But don’t take it, don’t take it all so bad
For your glory days have already passed
Look out the yonder window
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3. |
Let The Waters Rise
03:37
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I saw Joseph in Harlem in a coat of colors
His thoughts they bled onto the sidewalk
Waiting for somebody to pick ‘em up
He said, “Brother, I am tired
I’m bent out by society’s pliers.”
He said, “Brother, you too look tired.
May I ask you your name?”
I said, “They call me New Year’s Eve
‘Cause on New Year’s Day I ain’t worth a thing.
Yeah, they call me New Year’s Eve
So get your bourbon, Joseph
Let’s drink to me.”
My father and talk show hosts and televangelists, Holy Ghost
They’re all trying to tell me the exact same thing
That that my paper it pumps the blood,
But my paper veins ain’t strong enough to give any relief to the brain
But my thoughts are baptized and realizing
That the only thing worth despising is the way I’m in every problem I have
And I made stairs out of all our dead cell phones
They took me right up to Heaven’s throne
And I ran back home
Tell me why I ran back home
Why did I run back home?
“They call me New Year’s Eve
‘Cause on New Year’s Day I ain’t worth a thing.
So get your bourbon, doll
Let’s drink to me.
And until New Year’s Day we will sing”
Let the waters rise
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4. |
Spanish Influenza
04:49
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Hey, medicine man, do you really have the cure?
I might have small time influenza but I can’t be sure.
Oh, what bronze day could I carry for you?
To ease your Harvard law, boy, to steal your Cadillac blue?
Till that hour I will sigh for these amphetamine angels are what gets me through the night.
Oh, here we go.
Round and round the old rodeo.
There ain’t no rest for the wicked, there ain’t no common good.
There ain’t no cane on the farm, there ain’t nowhere safe.
There ain’t no love for Harriet Lack.
Hey, gypsy Davey, I hear you make these train tracks pound.
There turn wild and sing hallelu to your thin, mercury sound.
Oh, what messiah would blush and ignore a locomotive, open wide headed for heaven’s door?
Oh, here we go.
Round and round the old rodeo.
There ain’t no rest for the wicked, there ain’t no common good.
There ain’t no cane on the farm, there ain’t nowhere safe.
There ain’t no luck for Harriet Lack.
There ain’t no love for Harriet Lack.
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5. |
Tin Man
05:37
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Back in Memphis in 72’ I’ll show you man that’s sidewalk blue.
He came home crazy from Vietnam and started collecting old, thrown away cans.
What makes him different from the average bum is he thinks he’s God’s only son.
He rolls into the projects at night and the streetcar children cry with delight
And the whole block sings.
Hey, hey, Tin Man can you save my soul?
Hey, hey, Tin Man here’s a dime for that lonesome road.
He sees the neon, he sees the briars
Wrapped around your heart’s darkest desires and ever cruel thought.
He hears the thunder, he watches it roll from Graceland’s walls to Jericho
And them walls are tumbling down.
The white folk think he’s on coke so they call a copper and make him hit the road.
But even if Germantown’s in flames his love for the copper remains the same
And heaven’s choir sings.
Hey, hey, Tin Man can you save my soul?
Hey, hey, Tin Man here’s a dime for that lonesome road.
He pointed at a cross on his last day
And spoke these words and the sky was grey.
He said, “I’d climb on her again if it’d do a thing,
If it’d bring home my daughter
If it’d bring home me friends
If it would stop the riots
If it would stop the war
If it’d stop this traffic
If it’d stop their horns
If it’d build a ladder made of gold
That climbed to the top of heaven’s throne
If it’d do a thing
If it’d do a thing
But I ain’t got enough blood.
No, I ain’t got enough blood.”
Hey, hey, Tin Man can you save my soul?
Hey, hey, Tin Man here’s a dime for that lonesome road.
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6. |
Surprise
04:26
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You got some kind of nerve, doll, to be acting all cynical to me
Your nicotine and habits, love, ain’t no mystery
And Abba Father is laughing a thousand tongues
As your lover, Iscariot, realizing just what he’s done
Just goes to show that these fires are the greatest
Surprise
Surprise
Oh, Johnny you just carry that water on down
Your bound to meet my ghost
You’ll find him patrolling the sky high pines
He’ll say, “I feel no blood, but I know that I’m alive.”
Just goes to show that these fires are the greatest
Surprise
Surprise
Your mother knelt down on bended knee
And she wept
As your father found the revolver
In your wedding dress
Some day we’ll all pay
Some day the river will demand pay
Surprise
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7. |
Fireworks Over Fairview
05:56
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There’s fireworks over Fairview tonight
Wheels of fire turn and fade up above the city lights
Heart attacks beat my uncle’s chest tight
As fireworks turn and fade over Fairview tonight
If you marry me, darlin’
Then you marry the road
Best count the cost before you write off being alone
Can’t you see I am a plagued man
My words will do their best to outrun every memory I can’t
If I could be anything for a day,
I’d be a bed and sleep my troubles away
I’d meet Jesse James on a cloud
And break C notes with my mouth
As pastors claimed healed is their heart
God took away everything but the heroin marks
Do you think that Simon really wanted to beat his kid the way his father did him?
Do you think that Simon really wanted to beat his kid the way his father did him?
There’s fireworks over Fairview tonight
Wheels of fire turn and fade up above the city lights
Heart attacks took my uncle’s life
As Jesus and fireworks danced over Fairview that night
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8. |
Another Land
02:21
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Lord knows that I wanna go
Back to that open land
Where my father and mother raised me
To be the man I am
But now my father’s crown is gray
And my mother she is frail
They had to sell the old home
To afford to keep well
Lord knows that I wanna go
Back to that open land
But time has stolen it from me
It’s now outta my hands
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9. |
Phantom Engineer
05:36
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Down comes Elijah in his chariot of fire
He’s casting glances as he rolls on by
He’s riding over the sun
As it bleeds red
And spills over into the western sky
He’s singing, “Toss your hair sweet, sweet death
Let me know that you are all mine.”
Look at you, doll
You are skinny as a rail
You skin has taken the same shade
The moon is pale
The conductor he’s riding us to Hell
I don’t think his intentions aren’t meant too well
He’s singing, “Toss your hair sweet, sweet death
Let me know that you are all mine.”
Oh, what a great sin did me and my love commit
We’re singing, “Toss your hair sweet, sweet death
Let me know that you are all mine.”
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10. |
Kerosene Heater Blues
04:38
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Diamond’s underbellies dissolve in the air
With all the bells and whistles, but without a care
And why do I take everyone so personal?
Tell me why do I take everyone so personal
Why don’t you just learn to grow up?
You know as well as me that you can’t shut up
No, you can’t beat the devil at his own game
Hypnotic alcoholics will only stretch out your veins
And I’m comfortable with my mortality,
But I don’t think my mortality is comfortable with me
Your tie-dyed retinas always reading my mail
You shouldn’t play with my mind girl
You know that it ain’t well
No, all this wishing is only wasted time
All this living is only borrowed time
And do I care more than I want to believe
Can my exits be predetermined
Based on what I’ve already seen
And why do I take everyone so personal?
Tell me why do I take everyone so personal
I’m comfortable with my mortality
But I don’t think my mortality is comfortable with me
And why do I take everyone so personal?
Tell me why do I take you so personal
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11. |
Elizabeth
05:58
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The angels are throwing a parade
Above the downtown YMCA
They bang their pots and pans and their drums
And disappear into the golden sun
It got me thinking about the years gone by
As a box car Chevrolet drove by and pounded my mind
I remember when me and my brother were young
And father took us in the woods where the deer and doe made love
And said, “That whisper in the wind, boys
I’ve heard it before
It’s just shakedown from the Lord.”
Elizabeth, do you know what it’s for?
Your father became a pastor
He said, “Give me the weak, give me the bastard.”
And I remember those towering pines
That guarded those childhood times,
But now those trees are gone in the name of a highway
And now the red, white, and blue has turned into a neon skyway
And feel like Achilles
I feel like Brando
I’m feel like I’m hanging on some Rockwell Twain halo
But late at night I’ve been having the grandest of visions
Of an empty ballroom and to your womb you’re whispering,
“That whisper in the wind, boy
I’ve heard it before
It’s just a shakedown from the Lord.”
Elizabeth, I can’t fight this war.
John Wayne killed the Indian dead
With a curse word and pistol whip ‘cross his head
But what John never did know
Is that even his swagger will grow old
And as the silver screen faded to tobacco brown
Your father and mother came back from the hospital downtown
And your Navy boy burned wild
As your parents said the same words that will crawl in your newborn’s bed,
“That whisper in the wind, boys
I’ve heard it before
It’s just a shakedown from the Lord.”
Elizabeth, this is what it’s for.
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12. |
Pisgah
06:59
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The rain beats down the streets
An old song of Indians long gone
And the windows of each home
Turn to ivory then gold
Fade soldier your light’s gone
In the night
With your high beams shining bright
Let your colors wash up on
The great sands of time
I hope you glimmered
As bright as the stars
That surrounded the telephone pole
Wrapped around your car
I hope your soul left Pisgah
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The Holy Ghost Electric Show Oxford, Mississippi
"Guitars are being traded...trombones marching through crowds...drum sets crashed...everyone is screaming...it's rock and roll and it's hot and it's sweaty and it's the Electric Show, to which audiences from all over the Magnolia State will testify. Preach." ... more
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