1. |
Poor Valley Radio
03:25
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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
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2. |
Natchez Trace
03:10
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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
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3. |
I Thought He Was Dead
03:54
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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…
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4. |
In Oxford Mississippi
03:46
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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
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5. |
Mystery
03:48
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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
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6. |
Half Way Home
03:34
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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
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7. |
Fish Out of Water
03:52
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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……
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8. |
What's My Name?
03:13
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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
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9. |
Masterpiece
03:22
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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
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10. |
Snake Behind Glass
02:53
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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
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11. |
I Felt My Courage Fail
03:16
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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
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12. |
Indestructible
03:57
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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…..
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13. |
Waste
02:23
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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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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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