1. |
Ben Franklin Bridge
04:18
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At dawn it rises up / like a Himalayan ridge
Works stuffed in my backpack / to cross the Ben Franklin Bridge
Camden town lays there / like a dead dog on the road
Greeting suburban eyes / in survival mode
Cops might see me coming / but always let me pass
I got holes in my work boots / and balls made of brass
You get it from the train tracks / and the Oxy coming down
Like dry leaves in the fall / in the backyards of this town
We all got a ramble / but who the hell has time
To document the brain cells / that a generation left behind
Isolation in HD / behind the kitchen door
Just wanna feel something / different than before
This ain't no story / so I don't know where it ends
I got the will but not the sense / to make my own amends
Don't wanna get old / rather run out of time
Chasing these shadows / across the borderline
We all got a ramble / but who the hell has time
To document the brain cells / that a generation left behind
At dawn it rises up / like a Himalayan ridge
Works stuffed in my backpack / to cross the Ben Franklin Bridge
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2. |
When the Four Winds Blow
03:43
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I can see my reflection / on that side of the river
fall’s closing in / I’m starting to shiver
ain’t no place to hide / when the leaves start to turn
flames jump the water / looking for something to burn
When the four winds blow (3)
I run and I hide / I pray and I swear
I look in my rear-view / to see if you’re there
I try to remember / then I try to forget
the building blocks left / from the sins of regret
When the four winds blow (3)
rooted in place / before you know
When the four winds blow
Past ain’t nothing but leftover dreams / you know what I mean
you know what I mean …you know what I mean
I was gonna let go / but drowning’s no fun
when you’re doing it at / the point of a gun
if I find a home / then maybe I’ll stay
if you let me in / promise to steal me away
When the four winds blow (3)
rooted in place / before you know
When the four winds blow
Past ain’t nothing but leftover dreams / you know what I mean
you know what I mean …you know what I mean
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3. |
Got To Be the Change
04:10
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Good times bad for some
So long as that's true
Gonna be a struggle
Working alongside you
Someone falls they’re left there
Like stairs to be climbed
Seems we're not much closer
To leaving this behind
Got to be the change
That you want in this world
Got to be the change
That you want in this world
Patience ain't a virtue
When children go to bed
With nothing in their bellies
And numbers on their heads
Ain't no trickle down
With them fences in
Sins of the father
Remember where we've been
Got to be the change
Got to be the change
I'm gonna leave right now
Who's gonna come with me?
Set yourself a movin'
And set your brother free
So as rivers flow
Unvexed to the sea
Open your eyes
And you may see
How many to cross
To touch the sky
For all men born
So too will die so...
Got to be the change
Got to be the change
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4. |
Dupont Back Porches
03:55
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Fairplay to you the world's at your door
the sound in my head comes up from this floor
worn out my shoes chasing others down
now I just wanna see through the eyes of this town
Clothesline hanging by a string
a late day for regrets and the living it brings
train tracks splitting this house in two
12 O'clock whistle always sounds brand new
this back porch is where I'll make my stand
This back porch is where I'll take your hand
like a fingerprint no two the same
this back porch keeps me in the game
Rich man poor man beggarman thief
good morning good evening good riddance good grief
a train ain't always leaving somewhere
it can take you home
it can leave you there
this back porch is where I'll make my stand
This back porch is where I'll take your hand
like a fingerprint no two the same
this back porch keeps me in the game
like a fingerprint no two the samethis back porch keeps me in the game
this back porch keeps me in the game
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5. |
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I feel like an orphan train
heading down the track
with only the discarded
lying on my back
meet me at the station
I've got a tale to tell
it may not make much difference
but I sure do tell it well
I feel like an orphan train
I feel like an orphan train
I feel like an orphan train
where nobody asks why
and the whole town turns out
to watch the kids go by
hear the crying in the nighttime
see their eyes in the day
I'll take you somewhere better
if someone leads the way
I feel like an orphan train
I feel like an orphan train
load me up with children
load me up with coal
open up my windows
and watch me grow old
I feel like an orphan train
a witness to the crime
where grown-ups do the deed
and children do the time
I wish I could blow a whistle
that everyone could hear
and this track would lead me somewhere
where God's will is clear
I feel like an orphan train
I feel like an orphan train
load me up with children
load me up with coal
open up my windows
and watch me grow old
I feel like an orphan train
heading down the track
with only the discarded
lying on my back
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6. |
Oh Mary
03:23
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Oh Mary won't you take a chance with me
oh mary open up your arms and see
that when I hold you he can't reach you no more
no more living with one hand on the door
with one hand on the door
no more
Wondering just what it'd take to get close to you
worrying myself to sleep an awkward point of view
trying to catch your eye to throw your heart a curve
whenever you'd look my way...girl I'd lose my nerve
oh I'd lose my nerve
oh Mary if you only knew
the things that I could do
for you
I used to see you walking...walking the streets of town
mascara leaking and running along the ground
I knew he hurt you...didn't know what to say
now I'm all grown up today might be the day
today might be the day
And so it goes you see right through me
but soon you're gonna run right to me
'cause I'm gonna take you away from here
where the sun is shining
and the coast is clear
Oh Mary won't you take a chance with me
oh mary open up your arms and see
that when I hold you he can't reach you no more
no more living with one hand on the door
with one hand on the door
oh Mary if you only knew
the things that I could do
for you
Oh Mary
Oh Mary
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7. |
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Flowers fade away
left where they lay
things may have come to pass
just a little too fast
when time goes by
like a thief past a door
that ring it don't fit your finger anymore
Now and forever
'till death do us part
some things invade
in the shape of a heart
like expired foodstuffs
on the shelves at the store
that ring it don't fit your finger anymore
Father forgive me
I know not what I do
I'm guilty of nothing
'cept no belief in you
still reaching in the pockets
of the clothes that he wore
that ring it don't fit his finger anymore
Line 'em all up
and knock 'em all back
six guns six shooters
sixth senses dressed in black
plaques and tangles
and grooves in the floor
that ring it don't fit your finger anymore
Anesthitize familiarize
streets with corner bars
long dead prescriptions
and stranded winter cars
don't accept nothing
but always wanting more
that ring it don't fit your finger anymore
Father forgive me
I know not what I do
I'm guilty of nothing
'cept no belief in you
still reaching in the pockets
of the clothes that he wore
that ring it don't fit his finger anymore
Wheeled recliners
lined up in a row
sun falling down
gotta turn the lights down low
gotta clear the doorway
to find another in the drawer cause
that ring it don't fit your finger anymore
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8. |
Music In the Mud
03:32
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The river banks hard by the railroad tracks
takes the last of the will that your Daddy lacked
till the clocks get stopped at the schoolhouse door
keep you feet on the ground by nailing 'em to the floor
There's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
blind-white cotton will light the way
ghosts in chains oversee the day
moaning them hollers crushing the lie
cursing the sins with a poet's eye
there's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
Graveyards talk but neighbors never do
bottleneck whines and you feel it too
like the eyes you sense….like debts unpaid
like an indian word you still can't say
There's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
blind-white cotton will light the way
ghosts in chains oversee the day
moaning them hollers crushing the lie
cursing the sins with a poet's eye
there's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
Can't drag me away
I've loved you the best I can
failure ain't always
the lack of a plan
lessons learned
when you fear the things
and the kind of sadness
that this living brings
I've gone young to old to back again
with the same fireflies from way back when
alone but not lonely….thirsty but not dry
muscle shoals will sing to me when I die
There's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
blind-white cotton will light the way
ghosts in chains oversee the day
moaning them hollers crushing the lie
cursing the sins with a poet's eye
there's music in the blood round here
music in the mud down here
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9. |
Forever Again
04:25
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Checked myself out of that place on old route 9
desk clerk gives me the same room every time
out behind the railroad tracks this highway’s got my back
running in circles before I walk the line
running in circles before I decide to walk the line
I should have known better than to fall at age 16
to the prettiest thing this town had ever seen
but the heart trumps the head
a warm body trumps an empty bed
two young dreamers stuck behind the back porch screen
two young dreamers stuck behind the back porch screen
Forever again / forever again
names once more / carved in the floor
We know it all too soon and that ain’t fair
to the ghosts on the barstools over there
lovers gone to ground afraid to make a sound
flicking all the gray out of their hair
flicking all that gray stuff from their hair
running in place with fire in our eyes
small town whispers decimate the lies
I hurt you just to see
what it would mean to me
Some nights we just sit and stare
watching the sun go down over there
wondering what might have been
if we knew back then
the who the what the why and the where
the who the what the why and the where
Forever again / forever again
names once more / carved in the floor
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10. |
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Well I can't see the dents that I made in your door
can't find the shoes that I left on your floor
my nights have been hazy since I fell in love with you
but if you see right through me I'll see right through you too
Pill bottles gone empty my head in the clouds
neighbors complaining that my music's too loud
guitars like snakes...their bite can give you the blues
but if you see right through me I'll see right through you too
Nothing in common but an urge to be free
from shackles that lead to where others may be
the sort that grows older with everything left to do
but if you see right through me I'll see right through you too
From the top of your head to your feet on the ground
from the way that you look when there's no one around
if a tree falls and hits you will the forest rate it coup
but if you see right through me I'll see right through you too
Ain't got no home I'm cold to the touch
this wind tears my clothes but I ain't got much
Sold what I owned and stole what I need
I stake out your house...my ears start to bleed
I hear him whispering and telling you lies
born again my ass...a part of me dies
but you're watching me too I can smell your perfume
taking the piss out of my bedroom
teaching each other things we never knew
but if you see right through me I'll see right through you too
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11. |
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Wind coming out of the southland
never has nothing to say
usually hits when I'm sleeping
just rolls things right in my way
punished for past transgressions
or tramping the roads for clues
not sure I can explain it but
I think I'm feeling it too
I think I'm feeling it too baby
I think I'm feeling it too
under the black and blue, darling
I think I'm feeling it too
It's easy with retrospection
to re-write every page
and edit with impunity
what's uttered from the stage
re-do buttons and rewinds
to fix all these things with you
not sure I can explain it but
I think I'm feeling it too
I think I'm feeling it too baby
I think I'm feeling it too
under the black and blue, darling
I think I'm feeling it too
With age comes the night terrors
of running out of road
no more forks and roundabouts
no past to implode
but there's also strength in numbers
one plus one is true
not sure I can explain it but
I think I'm feeling it too
I think I'm feeling it too baby
I think I'm feeling it too
under the black and blue, darling
I think I'm feeling it too
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Tom Flannery Scranton, Pennsylvania
"One of the most gifted songwriters to emerge at the turn of the century"
-- The All Music Guide
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