1. |
You Are the One
04:28
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YOU ARE THE ONE (YOU CAN SEE FOREVER)
Brandy, in the beginning you were so much fun
Brandy, we’d get drunk and dance until the race was run
And up came the sun
Meeting out with friends and friends of friends
No patience, just new acquaintance, handshake extends
Till the party ends
Wake up, feelin’ the Grand Canyon in your bed
Green trees, cookies and hayseed harp instead
Playin’ like we’d been wed
There’s always a party
After the show
There’s always a living room
Where we can go
And at 5am
When we pass out again
Just know you are the one
Baby, you know you wave such a wand
Baby, you caught love like a cold
Now you’re sick and all
Now you have trouble getting out of bed
You’re worried about yesterday
And all the things you shouldn’t have said
Put that on the dirty laundry pile of things you shouldn’t have said
When you was twelve years old
When you were alone in your head
There’s always a party
After the show
There’s always a living room
Where we can go
And at 5am
When we pass out again
Just know you are the one
Cracked plates, hubcap soft shakes, child is grown
Red room, deep bass, tight gloom, holy moan
When you sit alone
So many late nights, so many gas lights, and all-night cafes
So many horse-riding druggies to take the cake
And say “Ondelay”
Ariba
There’s always a party
After the show
There’s always a living room
Where we can go
And at 5am
When we pass out again
Just know you are the one
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2. |
The River
03:22
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THE RIVER (ROLL AWAY THE STONE)
Take me down to the river
Roll away the stone
Take me down to the river
Alone
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Take me down to the river
20 miles from my home
Take me down to the river
Alone
There are thieves in the temple
Where the broken women moan
There are thieves in the temple
Undone
When the water from the river
Cleans my soul through my bones
I will wade through the river
Alone
Roll away the stone
Roll away the stone
There is peace in the valley
And sun on the water
Roll away the stone
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3. |
Demon Rum
02:38
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DEMON RUM
With the advent of our summer
And the passing of the spring
I am joyful to let go
But I don’t know what June will bring
Say goodbye to all yesterdays
The ocean’s swallowing the sun
Blame it on that demon rum
Blame it on that demon rum
Had a wealth of sorrow
Had a treasure trove of pain
When I started feeling happy
Came like a jack in the box again
My head is pounding like a freight train
My song it has been song
Blame it on that demon rum
Blame it on that demon rum
Memories are counted sweetest
By the ones with clearest heads
Say a prayer before you lay down
In your warm and soft bed
Those were days of happiness
Oh, we used to be so young
Blame it on that demon rum
Blame it on that demon rum
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4. |
An American Dream
04:05
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AN AMERICAN DREAM
Hold my hand tightly and give me your dowry, Candy
My mother was good with her money, too, you know
This was the dawn of the new millennium, and we ate our pizza and Diet Coke
And we boarded the train to find an American dream
Seattle is just a forgotten and rainy small town
High school friends, they follow you and you can’t escape the past
A 14 hour drive to get to San Francisco
Candy and I looked for a part of the American dream
We’re the fortunate ones
We had to run for the train in the rain
I’m still breathing heavy, damn those cigarettes
When we went to Canada I stopped at the duty-free
But you know Candy didn’t want to see too much Whiskey in me
Snacking on the bus, you’ve got your new hat
And all of the memories remind me of that fact
That you read the rags about real estate in California
And I’ll read the poetry and we’ll hold hands
As the stars come out in the country just outside Ashland, Oregon
I woke up in a panic, in the middle of Marin County
And I talked to Candy as she slept
She used to talk to me, when I was asleep and I’d listen, I’d hear her voice
Now it’s just reminiscin’
Tomorrow, Candy, I said we’re going to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge
Throw a rock in the water and see how it is to ripple
Like the dream that you’re in
Oh, Candy, all those cars out on the Golden Gate bridge
Are looking for their part of the American dream
I hope there is enough of it for all of us
I hope there is enough
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5. |
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INNOCENCE (SHININ’ IN THE WINDOW)
V1
Some said I lost it in New York City
I heard some strains of refrains and it hit me
Or maybe in 4th grade when I stole some candy
Lay awake while the lord scowled at me
PC1
Look under the rug by the door
In the closet or the grocery store
In a book in a photo album
In a movie or a tv program
C1
Should I save it up like a pile of money
Or write it down like a joke that was funny
Where did it go, so sweet like honey
Could I have saved my innocence?
V2
Threw a quarter in a piggy bank, pull the trigger
On a toy gun, mama said there’s something bigger
I never saw it but I guess I possessed it
Maybe lost it when I confessed it
PC2
So I guess I came of age
But I didn’t know the exact page
Where the chapter turned from a story of white
And left me stranded on a big black night
C2
Was it in the bank, next to the money
Was it on TV, in a joke I found funny
Was it in the pantry, next to the honey
What happened to that innocence?
BRIDGE
Did it go when I stole the candy?
Did it go when I drank the brandy?
Did it go when I fell in love by the lake?
Did it go when she said it was a mistake?
V3
Maybe it’s still here, hiding in the corner
Or in the old man who rung every morning
Maybe in the lawn where the green grass grows
Maybe in the morning when the bus horn blows
PC3
Did the residue stay in the house?
By the rug when I took the garbage out
I wish I knew what I was looking for
It keeps coming up in songs and movie scores
C3 (A 4 X CHORUS)
But I still like the idea that I had it once
Before it all got crazy and I took a chance
Before we got wrinkled and gray
Before the plot lines faded into the fray
It’s kind of like being reminded by a friend
Or by your parents of what you had back then
A quality you once possessed
A thought, an idea held close to the chest (vest)
See the sun shining in the window
A few months, it will fill up with snow
A thing you never knew anyway
A thought, an idea that got away
Seasons change and the picture is clearer
You can’t see it without a rear view mirror
Your grandfather did know, one day
Before it disappeared into the gray (fray)
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6. |
Climb On Cleopatra
02:54
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CLIMB ON CLEOPATRA
She sizzles like a gas-fire grill
She shakes like a tambourine
She knows the organ grinder’s trill
She walks the beat like a magazine queen
She’s got heart
Stretches out over a city block, yes she will
From the very start
She’s creates that spinal chill
And it’s OK
Climb on Cleopatra for a ride
She walks like a crossfire at midnight
In the spring and meadows she lay
Cross the water she’s a pile of spent emotion
She’s a shadow of all I’ve come to think or say
Gives way to a railway queen
See the street men swept with rain
Like surefire gasoline
I can still hear their refrain
Puts my mind on the railway queen
The street men and the boatmen exclaim:
“She’s The Slipstream Byzantine
All Hail, Queen of the Flame”
Climb on Cleopatra for a ride
As the evening dies away
A wave crashes on the Nile
Just outside the porter’s bay
Sweet Grace bats her eye
And it’s OK
Climb On Cleopatra for a ride
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7. |
Three Old Fishermen
02:32
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THREE OLD FISHERMEN
The three old fishermen sit at the table
They don’t like lumbering over barstools
They’re regulars around here and they don’t stray or veer
They keep indoors, away from the wretched weather and act cool
Old Jim, he tugs on his dirty beard
And rambles ‘bout the times of old
And Teddy he slaps Jim over n’ over on the back
And spits more and more as each tale is told
And with each beer that crosses their lips
Their volume gets louder and louder
And the heater in the corner grumbles out some steam
And the waitress serves the three fishermen their chowder
They say,
“We’re three old fishermen
Three old fishermen
Three old fishermen for the rest of our lives
We’re three old fishermen
Three old fishermen
Fishin’ for a little juice from this life
Fishin’ till the day that we die”
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8. |
The Night Slips Away
02:58
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THE NIGHT SLIPS AWAY WHEN YOU NEED IT
Ain’t it funny how the night fades when you need it?
And when you don’t need it, it’s just lingers on
With a bottle of god-knows-what, tempting you to defeat it
You pack it up, say “live for today”, and wait for the dawn
“Absolutely,” she says so casually but I will not let it slide
If you could absolutely pass me by, I‘d wonder if you’d ever learned to cry
Because I’ve known nothin’ absolutely, except to want to run faster
To want to climb higher, but I’m free falling from the blue sky
Ain’t it a pity how the night slips away when you need it?
When you don’t need it, it just lingers on
Oh, this bedroom is cold and, honey, I can’t defeat it
Ain’t it a wonder how when I got something I can’t accept it
When I detect it, I can’t feel it with my hand
Oh, but I can’t be unprotected, ‘cause that’s when it’s the worst to be neglected
But I suppose it’s romantic to be broken on the sand
With nothing in your hands, not even your plans
All I want in life a place to kick my feet up
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9. |
Wonder Worker
03:00
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WONDER WORKER
It was four days from October
In the land of Irish Rovers
When I saw the man they’d told me of
He was a legend and a soldier
Of the streets back in Boulder
And now he radiated from above
I said, “Oh, Wally the Wonder Worker
Where are all the lovers
And where are all the barkers?
Who are the trusted?
And who gets busted?
For being themselves
In a world that tries
To make them everybody else?”
Wally just winked
He said the magic is silence
And the truth is rarely violence
But action is better than depression
But truth is better than aggression
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10. |
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LOVE MAKES YOU HIGH, LOVE MAKES YOU WEARY
On a road to a Spanish hideaway
With a poem and a songbook tucked away
Do ya want to hear a piano picker play?
Singin’ “I ain’t got long to stay”
On a forked trail where the branches hang down
Me and my mate will be traipsing around
You gotta chase a good thing down
You gotta find something safe and sound
Love will make you high, love will make you weary
On a gray-banked, ancient street
Amongst the lovers, the liars, and the cheats
A young woman to defeat
In a boat beside the beach
“Get up, boy” she says “we depend on you”
“Get up, boy, the world don’t care about your blues”
“Get over, the world ain’t simple or true”
“Grab a shovel or chop some wood”
“A dreamer’s life amounts to nothin’ good”
Love will make you high, love will make you weary
On a gray-banked, ancient street
Amongst the lovers, the liars, and the cheats
A young woman to defeat
In a boat beside the beach
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Ben Mish Seattle, Washington
Ben Mish writes songs and performs them frequently.
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