1. |
Winter in a Rented Room
02:52
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wintering in a windowless room
at the end of the city proper
it has a charm, an antique gloom
well I'm through with puppy love
the dirty rug and frying smells
I'm told this is the first ring of Hell
the bastard son become the man undone
there are many, I am one
no ones love, no ones heir
I'm through with teenage kicks
built my world on mud & sticks
when I couldn't buy the bricks
hard to laugh at 2 AM
when you look into the eyes of your own best friend
and he says 'hey whatever happened to you'
holed up in my rented room
I put my affairs in order
but I need a friend in the government
to see me through the border
there is fire in the well
here in the first ring of Hell
lost in the twilight dim
with the window shoppers
I sometimes still think of you
on the edge of the city proper
with tenements in endless facsimiles
slow traffic and barren trees
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2. |
Mom's House
02:30
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mommas in the living room
singing to the dog
her voice is aquiver
the moon it’s a sliver
adrift in a sea of fog
all night long I hear her song
sparkle like the frost on the lawn
then I’m gone
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3. |
Your Wicked Man
04:08
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the skies she liked best
were blue-grey and barely there
yet she conjured a storm in me
so black and violent it scorched the air
I resorted to conspiracy
sorcery and deceit
all December was bitter cold
as we made our retreat.
but is it true
you no longer want
your wicked man
I woke before daybreak
thought I’d try to run
all I have before me now
are headlights dulled by a rising sun
in this moment of unknowing
I welcome the Void
and curse this empire of fantasy
to which I’ve been employed
watching the moon through
her frilly curtain
I once knew her hand.
I cursed you, cut you, shut you out
all to my own shame
love is a voice in the street
that used to call my name
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4. |
April Tenth
03:48
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Woke late this afternoon
Saw a sickle moon waxing
There was mud on my slacks
And you just lay there laughing.
Sing hallelujah they've killed those sirens
Everything I own for an hour of silence.
Dear, lend me your comb.
My feet can’t find the floor
Nights dreams have turned to fever
You'd matched me drink for drink
All attending left believers
I woke to a sickle moon waxing
And the hero just lay there laughing.
Sing hallelujah they've killed those sirens
Everything I own for an hour of silence.
Dear, lend me your comb.
The hero pins her hair back
And minds the kettle
Her blouse lies on the floor
Her towel hangs from my door
In time your highs become taxing
Saw a sickle moon waxing
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5. |
Street Fighting Girls
03:37
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I need someone who understands
What's wrong with these damned hands
Every time I touch her face
Takes all night to put her back in place.
What's wrong with the dear girl?
There are wet stones where her eyes were
A distant cloud aloft
She rains on me cold and soft.
It has happened to stronger men
You start off fine then a slow decline
Maybe it's time for a new town.
I worked a machine and so did mother
Should never have left her arms that summer
I shudder when recollecting
The voice that begged, the voice that reckoned.
No there's nothing for me here
Wind howls in my empty ear
and street fighting girls get me down
Yes it's a rather poor affair
The girls dropped me from her prayers
It's a rip off and man I'm down
Maybe it's time for a new town.
This is neither Heaven nor Hell
But rather a frail sea-worn shell
Perhaps I shall go
She asks "where would you go?"
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6. |
The Door Locks Itself
03:33
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lying by a woman without her makeup on
the morning sun doesn’t do her any favors
“he’s one to talk” mocked the mirror to the clock
mornings come returning us to our daily labors.
I dreamt last night I lost my father’s coast
in the pocket was the book I never wrote
and when I awoke she lay there in the light
a heroine of another book I’ll never write.
lying with a woman with the sun in her face
she says to me from a distant place
“your wallets on the shelf, the door locks itself”
morning comes turns the dust to glitter
but it’s alright for a little while
in the dusty light with a girl
who doesn’t smile
cos you couldn’t make her smile
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7. |
Leave Like You Came
04:16
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leave me no laughing photograph
stray slip or lipstick stain
leave me like you came.
for up in the clouds, heavens cold clouds
Lonesome Thunder it’s my nickname
leave me like you came.
I know it’s my shame, I know it’s my shame
leave me no token of your local fame.
leave me no chickenscratch heart
scrawled on my dirty window pane
leave me like you came.
for down beneath the ground
they’ll lay me down in the flame
leave me like you came.
it’s gonna be hard, so hard
waking up tomorrow
brought down in ruin
unfathomable, ungodly sorrow
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8. |
Sylvia and the Gremlins
02:45
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Bridge traffic creeps forward
In the Devil's motorcade
Sylvia's got her amulet
Cos Mercury's in retrograde.
What I need is anything but clear
It's lonesome even when she's here.
Sylvia lights a match
Says "this is our last one"
Lays on her back
Blowing smoke rings at the sun.
It's lonesome even when she's here.
The streets are full of finks
Supplications and stony stares
There's always some local gremlin
Waiting to take you unawares
They shout out for Sylvia
Then sink back into their lairs.
I tire of this obligatory cheer
It's lonesome even when she's here.
Sylvia swallows a pill
And rights a stray curl
Life under the new regime
Has been rough on the girl.
We'll make love like black marketeers
Fall into ourselves until we disappear
Give sacrifice to this bitch of a year
God it's lonesome even when she's here
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9. |
Red Corona
03:29
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I've been taking in the weather
With the old men and stray hounds
No longer want anything better
No longer making the rounds.
I'm never gonna go away.
It's an ill lit room with no window
I've carved your initials on my wall
At night the pipes murmur to your merry widow
Where your voice once filled the hall.
I'm never gonna go away.
The earth don't turn, this crow don't fly
Saw a red corona in the sky.
Sometimes I catch myself pining
Dreaming of the mascara girls
But truly the "nymphs are departed"
With their silver hoops and plastic pearls.
I'm never gonna go away.
This earth don't turn, this crow don't fly
Saw a red corona in the sky
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10. |
Open Flame
03:36
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I’m in trouble again
blowing at an open flame
aint it a shame
illumination never came.
my girl don’t tarry
although it feels like a sin
we’ll never marry
I’m giving in.
my patron saint sought exile
got sick of the wind and rain
alone I must now reconcile
the heavenly and earthly planes.
by Monday the monies spent
though I’ve been working again
it’s fitting I can’t make rent
in the room we lived in
where your blanket still lies
covers my body and shields my eyes
sometimes it’s so heavy
I feel I’ll never rise.
you’ll leave and write letters
I’ll drain you dram by dram
till the new flesh turns to leather
till the new flesh heals the damn.
I wake up late
but it feels like I don’t sleep
it’s not what you took
it’s what you left for me to keep
I’m in trouble again
blowing at an open flame
and each time I do
I call your name
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