1. |
Bury Me
03:02
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Bury me where the wind don’t blow
Where the dust won’t cover me
Where the tall grass grows
Or bury me right where I fall
Tokyo to Tennessee
I loved them all
See the windmills turn up 55
Still got so much to learn
Still feel alive
One lonely girl is all I need
to tie me to this world
Make be believe
I ain’t no cowboy but I can ride
I ain’t no outlaw but I’ve been inside
There were bars of steel boys and there were bars to sing
There were bars with swinging doors
for all the time between
Bury me in the last few lines
of an obituary for these trying times
Find an old live oak to carve my name
Hard liquor and dirty jokes
Cheap picture frames
Well I ain’t no cowboy but I can ride
I ain’t no outlaw but I’ve been inside
There were men of stone, boys
and there were men of sand
Long nights alone boys
Head in my hands
I ain’t no cowboy but I can ride
I ain’t no outlaw but I’ve been inside
There were bars of steel boys and there were bars to sing
There were bars with swinging doors
for all the time between
There were bars with swinging doors
for all the time between
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2. |
Ride to Robert's
04:25
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Everything’s green right now
Tennessee at the end of June
If you get a day to come down
we’ll ride to Robert’s in the afternoon
Before the room gets packed
we’ll claim a table at the upstairs bar
Count the cowboy hats
Bachelorettes that don’t know where they are
I don’t say things that I don’t mean
and you’re the best thing I’ve ever seen
You can have my money
If you spend your own
I’m still running but I’m not alone
We all get lost out here
The deepest ditches line the righteous path
God said “hold my beer”
and he made a man so he could watch and laugh
But everything’s good these days
We’ll ride to Robert’s on a Friday night
Hear Don Kelley play
and I’ll catch you dreaming in the neon light
I don’t say things that I don’t mean
And you’re the best thing I’ve ever seen
You can have my closet
and my herringbone
I ain’t lost yet - I’m headed home
Everything’s green right now
Tennessee is looking after you
You get a year to come down
I’ll put an easel in the empty room
You can dream all day
Ride to Robert’s when we crave a steel
Find some peace that way
Give your heart a little time to heal
I don’t say things that I don’t mean
You’re the best thing I’ve ever seen
You can have my closet
for your fancy shoes
I ain’t lost yet - so much to lose
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3. |
Eileen
03:28
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It started out like it always starts
Try to hold the hunger back
You don’t anticipate a broken heart
Can’t see nothing but the track
A diamond earring in a Bowery bed
You kicked your shoes across the floor
You regret the things that went unsaid
or have you heard it all before
Eileen you should have seen this coming sooner
Do I mean to be alone for all my days
Eileen you thought the truth was just a rumor
but that’s your way
It ended like it always ends
Somebody crying on the phone
You tell each other you can still be friends
but you both know you’re on your own
My own behavior was a shock to me
I never thought I’d have the nerve
I hope you’re sleeping through the night Eileen
I hope they’re grading on the curve
Eileen you should have seen this coming sooner
Do I mean to be alone for all my days
Eileen you thought the truth was just a rumor
but that’s your way
That’s your way
Somebody broke my heart once
and I was useless for a week
I didn’t leave my apartment
I didn’t eat I didn’t sleep
But then I found the letter she wrote
against the wall behind the bed
It said “forever is a dead man’s joke”
and that’s the only thing it said
Eileen you should have seen this coming sooner
Do I mean to be alone for all my days
Eileen you thought the truth was just a rumor
but that’s your way
That’s your way
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4. |
Gravelweed
03:20
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I wish that I could be angry
Punch a hole in the wall
Drink a fifth of cheap whiskey
and call and call and call
But that ain't me anymore, baby
Never was, to tell the truth
I just saw it in a movie
and thought that’s what I was supposed to do
I was a gravelweed and I needed you to raise me
I’m sorry the day came when I felt like I was raised
And now that I live to see my melodies betray me
I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today
I wish that I could be angry
I wish I didn’t understand
I said your skin was like water
and let you flow right through my hands
Is there a love that’s not crazy
Is there a life that’s not a lie
All I know is that I had to go
You know why, why, why
I was a gravelweed and I need you to raise me
You couldn’t reach me once I felt like I was raised
And now that I live to see my melodies betray me
I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today
I was a gravelweed and I need you to raise me
You couldn’t reach me once I felt like I was raised
And now that I live to see my melodies betray me
I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today
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5. |
Don't Be Tough
03:24
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Don’t be tough until you have to
Take your heartbreak on the chin
Don’t forget the shit you went through
but throw your caution to the wind
Tighten up your belt and laces
Feel the pain and feel it pass
Don’t be tough until you have to
Let love knock you on your ass
Don’t be shitty to the waiter
He’s had a harder day than you
Don’t make babies stay up later
just because they’re so damn cute
Don’t say love unless you mean it
Don’t say sorry less you’re wrong
Tell a story like you seen it
Tell yourself that you belong
Don’t be tough until you have to
Take your heartbreak on the chin
Don’t forget the shit you went through
but throw your caution to the wind
Tighten up your belt and laces
Feel the pain and feel it pass
Don’t be tough until you have to
Let love knock you on your ass
If you get to feeling lonely
read out loud if you can read
Take a nap if you get sleepy
If you’re hungry try to eat
If you want it, go and get it
Don’t just pray and wait around
Life will kill you if you let it
So when you’re down then say you’re down
Don’t be tough until you have to
Take your heartbreak on the chin
Don’t forget the shit you went through
but throw your caution to the wind
Tighten up your belt and laces
Feel the pain and feel it pass
Don’t be tough until you have to
Let love knock you on your ass
Don’t be tough until you have to
Let love knock you on your ass
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6. |
Open and Close
02:55
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The fireplace isn’t real
It’s some sort of LED light and mirror
but I like that better tonight
Sitting here with a woman I don’t know at all
She’s so small
I’m mad at the sidewalk
I’m mad at the rain
I’m mad at the band that played Kid Charlemagne in a bar in the village
and the solo was fucked all to hell
and you could tell
I’m dressed up and waiting for something to change
The overhead lighting makes faces so strange
but there’s something about her that’s breaking my heart and my fast
How long could it last
Day after day after day after day passes
Day after day after day after day passes by
The doorman’s asleep
I don’t think I’ll wake him
He’s always so sweet
Here’s here really late every night of the week
Letting the right people in
The real friends
And there’s tea on the table
A dog in my lap
and I might be capable of taking a nap in this New York apartment
Peace in the eye of the storm
It’s so warm
Well I’m open and close now to minding the flame
She speaks in a whisper and calls me by name
And she says I remind her of Calgary where she was raised
It’s time to be brave
It’s time to be brave
It’s time to be brave
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7. |
Foxes in the Snow
03:20
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I love my love
I love her mouth
I love the way she turns the lights off in her house
I love my love in her velvet bed
Where she’s heard me sing the words that can’t be said
All the dreams that die unseen
All the diphenhydramine it took
to put my soul to sleep
But now it’s easy
I love my love, her golden hair
I like to picture her alone when I’m not there
I like her friends - the ones I know
They leave drops of blood
like foxes in the snow
All the beasts beneath her bed
she defeats and leaves for dead
and falls asleep inside my head
It seems so easy
I love my love
I love her bite
I like the way she disassembles me at night
I love her well and I love her sick
I love the carrot but I really like the stick
Of all the boys I could’ve been
all the fights I didn’t win
they put me here against her skin
She can see me
I love my love
I love her hands
I love the way she sees the child
inside the man
I love my love
I love my love
I love my love
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8. |
Crimson and Clay
03:02
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I had it with me everywhere I’ve been
Red clay under my nails
Deep crimson on my skin
And you could strip me of everything I own
Just leave me with the memories of my Alabama home
Guess the highway didn’t kill me after all
I thought I was a goner in that trailer fire in Arkansas
but I just let her burn and walked away
Crawled back to the crimson and the clay
Got a little bolt action for my 9th birthday
I can flip a silver dollar from a hundred yards away
A 1911 under my floor mat
Then one day it just occurred to me
I got no use for that
I guess the city didn’t kill me after all
Thing that nearly took me out
was loneliness and alcohol
I just put it down and walked away
Crawled back to the crimson and the clay
I see the moon in the morning
I anticipate the night
I licked the spoon in the kitchen
We prayed to Martha White
Little noose in a locker
Brown eyes crying in the hall
Rebel flags on the highway
Wooden crosses on the wall
Guess the small town didn’t suit me after all
There’s still so many lonely kids
surrounded by the rest of y’all
I can’t seem to keep myself away
So I head back to the crimson and the clay
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9. |
Good While It Lasted
04:03
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You’re like sleep
Take what I can get
But I’ve got to make some sense of this
so here the fuck I sit
At 3 AM
Trying way too hard
to find the words to slow my sweet addicted heart
You’re like sleep
I can’t get near enough
and I pretend that I don’t need you when I’m out doing stuff
Went so deep
A lucky young man’s dream
and last time I tried this sober I was 17
All that I needed was all that I had
and it was good while it lasted
You let me kiss you on Broadway in a black Cadillac
and it was good while it lasted
Last night I didn’t sleep at all I found another empty wall
and I couldn’t get past it
For a minute in the afternoon I almost didn’t think of you
and it was good while it lasted
It’s more than real
A plastic universe
and I want to know your secrets even when it hurts
You speak so soft
but there’s something dark in there
and I think I’ll ask for more than just a love affair
You’re like sleep
and the nights are adding up
Well I wish I still smoked cigarettes and acted tough
All that I had was all that I needed
and It was good while it lasted
With your head on my shoulder my soldiers retreated
it was good while it lasted
A mattress on the palace floor and a light I’d never seen before
and I couldn’t get past it
For a little while this afternoon I dreamed that I was in your room
and it was good while it lasted
Baby let me learn from you
How’d you get that shade of blue
What’s it like from where you stand
Let me hold your steady hand
All that I wanted was all that I had
and It was good while it lasted
Now I feel like a boy who got caught being bad
and it was good while it lasted
That night you came and stayed with me painted on my memory
I’ll never get past it
I got to hold a piece of you
in the evening on the avenue
and it was good while it lasted
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10. |
True Believer
03:46
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Take your hand off my knee
Take your foot off my neck
Why are y’all examining me like I’m a murder suspect
If I got a little loose I just forgot to be afraid
but I started out a true believer babe
A lot of dangerous memories
A lot of bars in this town
But oh to have loved and lost and then still stuck around
I heard God in the Ryman, I crawled out of the grave
I guess I’m still a true believer babe
All your girlfriends say I broke your fucking heart
and I don’t like it
There’s a letter on the nightstand
I don’t think I’ll ever read
I finally found a match and you kept daring me to strike it
Now I have to let it burn to let it be
I can’t remember my dreams
I guess it could be the meds
but the sound of you screaming won’t get out of my head
I still remember the fever before it started to fade
I really was a true believer babe
All your girlfriends say I broke your fucking heart
and I don’t like it
There’s a letter on the nightstand
I don’t think I’ll ever read
I finally found a match and you kept daring me to strike it
Now I have to let it burn to let it be
Like the stain on your teeth
I’m as stubborn as wine
Just when you think that I’m beaten I get up every time
When we pass on the highway I’ll smile and wave
I’ll always be a true believer babe
I’ll always be a true believer babe
I’ll always be a true believer babe
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11. |
Wind Behind The Rain
03:10
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I knew you before we met
We don’t need all the answers yet
I’m sure time will change me some
You see what I could become
So much left to figure out
I never took the easy route
I was born with my boots on
Will you take them off me when I’m gone
I love you like the morning loves the afternoon
Like the prairies love the plains
If you leave me now I’ll just come running after you
I’ll be the wind behind the rain
I want to see you smiling when you’re 90
I’ll always see you like you are right now
All my wild beginnings are behind me
and I know that we can stick it out somehow
I wanted you the first time that I saw you
in that bar where all my friends left me behind
I wasn’t even fishing when I caught you
but I always had your picture in my mind
I love you like the morning loves the afternoon
Like the prairies love the plains
If you leave me now I’ll just come running after you
I’ll be the wind behind the rain
I love you like the ocean loves the silver moon
Like Frank and Jesse loved the train
If you leave me now I’ll just come running after you
I’ll be the wind behind the rain
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