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Four Lost Souls

by Jon Langford

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1.
I smell the smoke I feel the flames So pull the truck into the garage A hold all full of cash & a change of name We’re heading back to poor valley Dark haired true lover on the whispering radio A message from the heart of the world Back in Poor Valley one lonely orphan child Is riding the airwaves into space When the house burnt down She came back to town Smoke still on her clothes She bought a new guitar And planned to stay right here Roots deep in the ground We nudged the car beneath a shady apple tree And said our vows in the backseat When I die baby will your bury me up on the hill Standing upright in a glass coffin So I can see the land That slipped right through my hands And we’ll stay here in Poor Valley It’s not where I belong But things kept going wrong Everyone I had is gone Well she got drunk...She got sick Her hands seized up...Her voice got paper thing Now who in the world is gonna help? Those songs aren’t gonna sign themselves
2.
Anywhere you want me Anywhere in time and space 3 hours from Nashville Crawling up the Natchez Trace You left no number There was no disgrace With a Cadillac man Left holding the can Out on the Natchez Trace Stood up on an ancient mound Took my time to look around Two ways for me to go No point deciding when you’re on your own I know you from Jackson I never forget a face I saw it last when I paid for gas Out on the Natchez Trace Roll into the bright blue yonder Picking up the pace Hair triggers and guitar pickers Heading down the Natchez Trace Pulled into a country town Crossed the tracks and looked around No place for me to go Not a problem when you’re on your own There is no end to this The wars of class and race Shadows that crawl and follow us all Down the Natchez Trace We left in numbers There was no disgrace If there’s somewhere you know That you’ll never go Take the Natchez Trace Ride down the Trail of Tears Roll back 10,000 years Grab a twenty from the ATM Andrew Jackson’s on the road again Anywhere you want me Anywhere in time and space
3.
No No No don’t turn that dial You’re all in for a big surprise Never gonna believe who’ve we’ve got here No idea he was still alive I thought he was dead But he sang storm on the ocean Storm on the ocean Moving his old way It’s getting so you can’t afford to die He sang storm on the ocean Storm on the ocean Moving his old way There’s 95 or 96 dollars Right here in an envelope for you Don’t be putting that overcoat on We want another number We want another song I thought he was dead…. Find him sitting by the back door Listening to the radio Long strides down the railroad tracks Never on the road He’d give anything He gave away everything He might wait till you offered to pay Then he’d just give it away I thought he was dead…
4.
In Oxford Mississippi The past is always near Conversations and brown liquor Faulkner is still here Alive and well he roams the streets He knows everyone he meets Shakes their hands and beats retreat Past the bookshops in the square Hush hush no rush stand still and fall In Oxford Mississippi The past is leaning in James Meredith walks through an open door For reasons left uncertain In the shadows of the daughters Of the confederacy All will be explained When the civil war ends finally Hush hush there’s no rush blowin’ to and fro In Oxford Mississippi The past must interrupt A drunken man on horseback Comes galloping through the smoke, Holding a grinning skeleton Before him as he rides He leans in from a past That’s never far behind Hush hush piles of dust stand still and see Stand still and see In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi In Oxford Mississippi
5.
Mystery 03:48
I see through a mist, I see through your tears Before you existed, you disappeared You do yourself harm and you cause yourself pain I used to believe everything could be explained But you are a mystery I ask you no questions so you tell me no lies Your silence is frozen but you can’t tell me why So much to lose, so little to gain I used to believe everything could be explained Right down through history A single word of darkness waiting on your tongue Lets me know I’m lost before I’ve even begun Beating your retreat out of the sun For loving or for money From Shipwreck to shore To the ends of the earth There’s a world outside your door I lay a ghost while you lay the blame I used to believe everything could be explained Now it’s lost on me Planet stuck open mouthed Am I still drinking, am I headed south? Should I feel guilty, should I be ashamed I used to believe everything could be explained But you are a mystery
6.
They call me Blue eyed Dan a shell of a man but I was half way home Didn’t seem to have much of a plan but I was half way home Said I was coming back to stay But a lot of things can happen along the way I was half way home, half way home You were waiting on the southbound train I was half way home But the platform was empty as it rolled away, half way home The hills and the valleys all looked the same And I met someone who remembered my name I was half way home, half way home Down by the river saying “Stand and deliver!” I was half way home Dirty thirty eyes like a birdie half way home I jumped up to reach the top But the law kept coming and bagged the lot I was halfway home halfway home My heart starts pumping when I think of your, half way home You’re never gonna look into those eyes of blue, I was half way home Cross the street, open the door Nobody here really cares anymore I was half way home, half way home Heart starts pumping, hearts start pumping
7.
This hot red wind might make you steal Or throw a rock and spend the night in jail This city life is so uncertain Hide your pride & draw the curtain Like a fish out of water Like a fist out of water Like a fish out of water Like a fish out of water Up ahead the stream runs dry Tide is high and water don’t lie You can bottle it swallow it follow it down Up in the sky the clouds float by Raining, pouring drowning in the deep...in the deep Fish out of water All out of luck the walls collapse The car still runs but we’ve got no money for gas Should have stayed by the great lakes Not come down here to die Out of my element in this desert Oooh high and ry Like a fish out of water Like a fish out of water Open the floodgates let us breath (DOUBLE CHORUS) in the deep x4 - Fish out of water The Achilles heel of a dream that is unreal Every four year they come round looking for me They say the tides makes all the boats rise Well mine just won’t I’m like a fish out of water……
8.
What’s in a name? Power of shame A message in code but the meaning is plain Choose this name and set yourself free Float like a butterfly sting like a bee What’s my name? What’s my name? Don’t call me… Champion of the world, a poet and a clown Still the greatest when they dragged you down Stripped of the title, banned from the ring Just too pretty and you say all these things Throw thunder in jail and dance in the light Stand up along in the fight of your life The Silent majority, the Southern strategy Won’t fight in their war, got his own war to fight What’s my name? What’s my name? Don’t call me… Houston Astrodome, Jim Crow South Punch a way out with two fists and a mouth Got no quarrel with them Viet Cong On Celebrity Squares Ernie’s singing a song ‘Bout how he’ll change your features cos you changed your name Now your draft number’s changed from 1-Y to 1-A & Ernie Terrell won’t call you Mohammed Ali Hold his broken body up til he can speak…..your name
9.
Masterpiece 03:22
He finished his masterpiece Loud music and childhood scenes Those people never game him Anything Paint runs it drips and dries In a hurry to find some eyes Shut the blinds and we’ll be climbing Higher still There is a road that leads us home There’s still a road that leads us home But I can’t find it If i was to marry you You know what you’d have to do Name your conditions and ask For everything If we were trapped in an elevator Would you open the ventilator? Stuck between the floors It’s like heaven here Is this the road that leads us home Must be a road to take us home If you can only find it Unhappy little fatman he Moved away to Germany To the tap the spontaneity And I love the human race Life turned to a work of art The generosity and heart Follow that i wouldn’t know Where to start There is a road that leads us home There’s still a road that leads us home And I know we’ll find it
10.
There is no twilight, there is no dusk Just a sunny day suddenly turned dark A kaleidoscope of 1000 ideas Becomes a straight line A snake behind glass he’s a snake behind glass A 20 acre patch with cotton for cash And vegetables for the table For better for worse, for worse forever This farm on government land A snake behind glass he’s a snake behind glass How high’s the water Mama? I’m busted I’ve got stripes He stayed awake for 72 hours straight Slept for thirty and dropped 60 lbs in weight He’s got painkillers and he’s got amphetamines When he prayed he wore out his knees A snake behind glass He’s like a snake behind glass Snake behind glass Snake behind glass
11.
I hear the window slam The stars are all aligned Looking for an omen This is the worst of times The worst thing that you ever did The worst you ever said It’s getting late but I can’t get off this folding bed I took my keys And put them in the mail I felt my courage fail I heard the whistle blowin’ Now here it goes again Looking for an omen Well, I could show you 5 or ten The writing’s on the wall And the wall is up for sale I felt my courage fail I took no solace In the rhythm of the rails I search for silence But there’s a bloodhound on my trail I hedged my bets this time & Got a tiger by the tail I felt my courage fail Wise men at their end Know dark is right Jimmie Rodgers laying a bed In studio’s half-light Let’s try one final take Before our ship sets sail I felt my courage fail
12.
He sank into the ragged green Water for the second time Rising naked with seaweed And a woman under each arm A mouthful of broken shells Standing trembling most unwell Indestructible Indestructible And unsinkable Floating away On the brandy brown waves The waves now rolling down the street The waves that lap about his feet Rehearsed salutes for all he meets Gentlemen arm is arm Gentleman with ladies Ladies walking in this city Where the restless drown Four Lost Souls…. Know all the creatures in the sea will still be fishing Pull in their nets and drag us down In every doorway in the street they have been waiting Bait the traps in sparkling night Liquid bodies in pale light…. Indestructible etc. Four Lost Souls All ablaze as they vanish down the stairway Into the bowels of the night Liquid bodies in pale light…..
13.
Waste 02:23
The blade takes an inch the ocean takes a few There’s one for his knob & the devil gets his due My heart beats slow like I’m paralyzed I can’t see out of these blood red eyes I don’t act like myself anymore There’s a pharmacy in heaven that’s open till 4 The blade takes an inch the ocean takes a few There’s one for his knob & the devil gets his due Things used to be better things used to be right Now all I hear is that rumble in the night All this waste, we’ve done nothing wrong The desire to please just got too strong The blade takes an inch the ocean takes a few There’s one for his knob & the devil gets his due x3 I don’t act like myself anymore

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released September 22, 2017

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Jon Langford Chicago, Illinois

The L'homme de Renaissance of indie rock.  The prolific Welshman-cum-Chicagoan has done it all in his time.  Founded the Ground Zero UK art/punk collective The Mekons. He's also the guiding force in the Waco Brothers, the rarely convened collective of the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, the Skull Orchard and Wee Hairy Beasties. As nice as he is prolific--take a dive into his many musical endeavors. ... more

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