1. |
Unflattering Light
02:31
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A bulb burns,
with a fire hazard,
cobwebs, and chewed wire,
hits the dust and sparks like the sun
through the cracks in a hayloft.
A record spins,
warbled and slow
shifting pitch,
People dance,
but you don’t.
There’s rhythm and then there’s the Blues.
Everyone’s got love
but you.
And I wanted you there,
beneath that Unflattering Light.
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2. |
Wandering Eyes
02:40
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Honey,
there’s no need
to justify your
wanderin’ eyes to me.
I’ve seen you sweeping the floor
since we walked through the door
for another’s empty arms and company.
And if you want him,
even half as much as it seems,
by all means-
take him and leave.
I’ll pick up the tab,
go on and get yourselves a cab.
There’s a motel between here, heaven, and hell.
But if he’s not all you see
when you close your eyes and try to sleep,
just meet me in the morning and we’ll agree
that we’ll keep this between you and me.
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3. |
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Sun, why don’t you shine down my alley?
I’ve watched your light
pass me right by.
From 2:12 to 5:00,
from 8th Street to 9th,
Sun, why don’t you shine down my alley?
There’s a neon sign in the shape of Texas,
where surely you’ve been burning up the range,
but I’m stuck in Illinois,
outside a bar hunting coins,
with a forecast that’s full of nothing but rain.
Sun, why don’t you come down and blind me?
I’ve watched your light
pass me too many times.
There’s ice in July,
my frostbitten insides
Sun, why don’t you come down and shine?
From my empty beer box bed,
I cross my heart and bow my head,
Tomorrow, Lord,
Please send that Sun down my alley.
Sun, why don’t you shine down my alley?
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4. |
Coffee Cans
03:24
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I’d be off this salt ranch
if it weren’t for my two sticky hands,
scratching like a chicken
for them backyard coffee cans.
Papa, he never trusted suits
so what he left he buried beneath the roots.
Folgers tins all filled with loot,
with a spade,
I get paid.
Every time that I get an itch
for a drop of drink
or a cigarette,
I’m like a water witch with my dowsing stick,
a whistle pig getting rich
down in them tunnels
full of gold.
Years they pass,
I got nothing to show.
Crops don’t grow in a yard full of holes.
Just beer guts,
yellow teeth,
and dissatisfied souls.
Every night when I try to dream
my thoughts always turn
to that caffeine
It drove the old man to work the land,
day after day using his hands
to refill them coffee cans.
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5. |
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Last night I dreamt
of another plane
where instead of you
a faceless woman shared my name.
And I sat with her
on a couch
in a room so strange.
It had barber shop walls
and Raggedy Ann dolls.
The TV was off,
but turned up loud.
Everything was something I could live with,
just nothing I couldn’t do without.
And I woke up lonesome,
missing you.
And I woke up believing in a love
I forgot I knew.
And I woke up singing a love song,
like I’d known it all along.
Everything is something I could live with,
it’s you I couldn’t do without.
Everything is something I could learn to live with,
it’s just you I couldn’t do without.
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6. |
Self-Helpless
04:01
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Woke up laughing,
lying in the street.
Woke up laughing
with you whispering to me.
You said you don’t love me,
just love having me around.
You said you don’t trust me,
you wrote everything down.
I try to describe our distances in feet,
but you only understood us in meters.
You grow so out of touch,
your self-help books thick with dust,
and a love so salty it’s gone and dried me up.
Try and you can see the light
from the moon is just the sun,
Then you might sort of see where I’m coming from.
I wish I could see the light,
know which side of you I’m on,
but when I awoke I realized it was neither.
You’ll see
it’s maddening.
To consume everything you love,
to consume until it’s used up.
You’ll see,
kept the right parts of you for me,
but I had to cut the rest.
Yes, I had to save myself
from you.
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7. |
Bramble Patch Blues
04:14
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Spend my mornings
in a bramble patch
Sun and the world’s weight
hot and heavy on my back
Picking berries and pulling weeds
for minimum wage in cash
And every time I get pricked with that rasp,
I realize there’s work left to do
So much so that by noon,
them little lines of blood,
they’ve been drawing up the pictures of my thoughts
They’ve got art scrawled
all up and down my arms
They run just like sweat and red chalk
One looks like the Son of God,
Another’s in the shape of a guitar.
Biggest one, it’s a woman with child
I’m not sure what it all means,
but I’d like to think I believe
that
somewhere, something, or someone
is waiting for me
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8. |
Fire In The Dark
04:32
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Your mother’s heart
you broke
when you swore you’d never
move back home,
and you still wont,
but that don’t
stop the thought
that you could find a way
to make peace with God and Family,
that your identity is a curable disease.
You can’t
choose your roots
everytime you change your clothes.
In the end,
it’s still a dirt road
leading to a tree lined horizon
and a house upon a hill,
out where them stars burn
like it’s the end of the world.
Straight from the sky to your heart,
a fire in the dark.
It’s a life I left,
I thought I’d never want it back,
but now I can’t help but try
to make my way towards what might have been.
I’ve been gone,
but I’m returning.
I admit that I was wrong.
I just can’t say it to your face,
but be sure that in the night
I’m making moves.
And I’ll do my best
to pretend that it’s just
on the way,
but in the morning
I’ll be closer
to you.
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9. |
Windblown Crown
03:48
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Take the boot off my driving foot,
It’s gonna take a while.
The low fuel light’s burning,
but we can make it a few more miles down the road.
Out past the strip mall doctor’s offices.
Just wanna get the heck out of this town.
You gotta use your arm
to get that window down,
but baby when it’s down
and you’re wearing that windblown crown,
Queen of the Road,
nothing’s gonna stop you now.
These highways make that interstate
seem like the most God-awful place.
That’s why we’re running parallel
to all them suckers driving straight through hell.
We got farmers out tilling in the field,
while I-57’s billboards will tell you
how to think and feel.
Them sad bastards they are missing the real deal.
Like a factory the same color blue as the sky.
It makes it hard to know
where people go to work and where birds begin to fly.
We just follow that curve
and drive right on by.
Reaching a Southern enough location,
start picking up a St. Louis station.
Them Blues singing truth to me and you.
Pass a painted sign,
saying that “Jesus Is Lord.”
And that’s fine,
we’ll make it home by suppertime.
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10. |
It's Alright
03:30
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It’s alright,
you don’t need to
speak a word.
I’ll ask for nothing,
no, I don’t want nothing,
in return.
But I’ll stay here,
if you’ll have me,
all night long.
For I just wanted to sing you a song.
Not for radio,
or a TV show,
or some hot new, trending blog.
No, I just wanted to sing you a song
for them days that get you down,
when them nights last too long.
I just wanted to sing you a song.
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