1. |
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I Ain't Gonna Grow Old In This Place Anymore
You reach a certain point when things fit through your head
that are better off where they were...better left unsaid
You cry for the wrong reasons you drink to get away
you find a little hiding place to get through the day
Graveyard burstin' at the seams with the junkies and the whores
well I ain't gonna grow old in this place anymore
Spin the bottle..wiffle ball...catching fireflies
while Daddy takes a powder and never says goodbye
Ten jobs in 4 years and the bank closing in
just a picture in a scrap-book now...a casualty of sin
My mother working double shifts out at the Wal-Mart store
well I ain't gonna grow old in this place anymore
Dreams come true on movie screens and inside battered veins
the rest make do with Friday Nights and watching passing trains
fools wave the stars and bars singing country songs
6 packs of Natty Ice searching for what’s wrong
you digest everything and then realize you're bored
well I ain't gonna grow old in this place anymore
When you ain't got heart to break
when the pain becomes a ache
stop looking for something new
and run out of things to do
destined to sweep the floor
no more...no more...
Minds about as closed as the factory downtown
the weeds have taken over and the cops don't come around
gang graffiti on the loading docks..peace signs in the can
broken glass to navigate just where I am
School spirit and football games...cheerleaders by the score
well I ain't gonna grow old in this place anymore
Graveyard burstin' at the seams with the junkies and the whores
well I ain't gonna grow old in this place anymore
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2. |
Amantha Ray
05:53
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Amantha Ray
Bottles lined up across the TV / You binge watch your dreams like you’re on a crime spree
You hear the cars on the gravel outside your door / And you’re ready to leave but you don’t know what for
Mountains they block the horizon round here / So it’s down to the quick stop for some imported beer
That yearbook is tempting….but she ain’t aged well / Too many nights giving you hell
Don’t feel much like moving so you might as well stay / Someday she’ll come back...your Amantha Ray
Got some shifts at the big box out on 29 / Long as you don’t get sick you’ll get along fine
Never needed much sleep them pills help out some / But that ain’t much of nothing where we come from
One and a half years at college...and them loans are like ghosts / Chipping away at the interest at most
You see all these kids out late at the bars / Too dumb to realize how smart they are
A hangover tomorrow...but that don’t stop the day / Someday she’ll come back...your Amantha Ray
Bridge
Head in the sky / feet on the ground / Never suspecting a thing
But if she only knew / what you had in mind / She might never have never hocked that ring
Got as far as Boulder…..before she stopped and looked back / With a kid half her age to pick up the slack
Took your mother’s suitcase and your GPS / said she’s looking for something and ain’t found it yet
This town gets in the blood then it boils / We spread out like dry leaves and leave all the spoils
But the stars...they ain’t got the time / To give a damn for what’s yours and what’s mine
Crows-feet and the ones made of clay / Someday she’ll come back...your Amantha Ray
Bridge
Maybe we run out of things to say / It stands to reason that things might happen that way
When the stories grow stale like bread in the drawer / And you can’t find nothing there’s always the door
Resistance is futile sayeth the Lord / Especially when you’re 50 and bored
When the things you wanted are already gone / Hit the highway….and stifle a yawn
What the hell does it matter / you’re already grey / Someday she’ll come back...your Amantha Ray
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3. |
Rolling On
04:27
|
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Rolling On
Took the car your daddy bought you / after your time away
just what set it all in motion / no one would ever say
headed down the turnpike / to anyplace south
searching for a feeling / like a taste in your mouth
Running from Jesus / in a black oldsmobile
She shimmies over 60 / but he got it for a steal
your sister she’s re-born again / said she's glad your gone
moved into your bedroom / with another ex-con
But you’re rolling on...rolling in / Chasing away the childhood sin
Growing up growing old / Tired of doing what you’re told
Your brother went to grad-school / for the lack of a plan
And to avoid coming back here / for as long as he can
There’s been whispering about your mother / and the preacher for a while
Guess figuring if she gets there / best do it in style
Daddy holding court down at Paulie’s bar
When he runs out of excuses starts blaming FDR
Enough meat in the freezer / to outlast them all
got the Ten Commandments mounted on the wall
But you’re rolling on...rolling in / Chasing away the childhood sin
Growing up growing old / Tired of doing what you’re told
Find a bridge and peer on over
Clutching a roadside 4-leaf clover
Just another irish rover
Just another irish rover
Every other Christmas / you try to make it home
Trying to recognize the faces / that they send you on their phones
Heads hung heavy / in the morning light
The same empty bottles / and the same old fight
Uber to the airport / and you fall into the bar
Wondering how you managed / to even get this far
All their eyes like slits / only open on a dare
Looking for their love / not their thoughts and prayers
But you’re rolling on...rolling in / Chasing away the childhood sin
Growing up growing old / Tired of doing what you’re told
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4. |
Morning Eyes
03:59
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Morning Eyes
Phone buzzing by the night light/ she still don't understand
the morning commute for some / is 4am in Disneyland
trying to break this thing wide open / get while the gettin's good
today for what we can do / tomorrow for what we should
I stole you from your Daddy / when he was at the bar
when he'd drag himself back home / he could never see very far
So we'd hide out in backseats / and motels with neon lights
rooms rates by the hour / and a clerk too tired to fight
chorus
When dreams ain't enough / to keep it all tied down
Will we be together / will we still be around
wanna see those morning eyes / but there's nothing in my head
no more morning eyes / sleeping in my bed
Post-it notes and postcards crossing in the mail
all the memories sold...at another fire-sale
doctor's on speed dial...the mills all know my name
just one more hit of Oxy...might make me feel the same / get me back in the game
chorus
Maybe I should have stayed and you should have flown
it's always the stranger who ends up alone
tonight I'm sitting in this roadhouse / as they sweep under my chair
ain't no last call here / you just feel it in the air / best clear out of here
When the head says run and the heart says stay
it's time to find a bottle and look the other way
Gotta burn it down to save it….toss the embers in the air
Act like all this is normal….and like we do not care
chorus
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5. |
||||
The Death of Joe Strummer
What happens when the heart is too big for the chest
and it just can't keep up with all the rest
what happens when it takes you on
and wears you down until you're gone
what do we take from that Joe?
what do we take from that Joe?
now that you're gone
I got these sounds in my head
they make no sense so we're stuck instead
with recycled trash and computer chips
rock and roll for food and tips
what do we take from that Joe?
what do we take from that Joe?
now that you're gone
You were Woody Guthrie with a mowhawk
and a scratching loud guitar
a ravaged voice from screaming
telling us where we are
now you're knocking at the backstage door
trying to get in
panhandling on the boardwalk
wondering what might have been
It still don't feel right that you're gone
without the blaze of glory of a deathbed song
so used to watching 'em waste away
eaten to the bone by a brand new day
what do we take from that Joe?
what do we take from that Joe?
now that you're gone
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6. |
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As Good a Choice as Anyone
When you’ve used up all your second chances
And you curse your set of circumstances
And you’re turning into a ghost that haunts
A house he really didn’t want
You want to scream but it doesn’t make sense
To waste your words in your own defense
And you’re told to embrace the thing you hate
Because good things come to those who wait
Don’t give up
A change is gonna come
Don’t give up
I can feel it rustling in the wind
Take my hand
We’ll go wandering through the dark
We’re as good a choice as anyone
To find the light again
When all your plans go up in smoke
And turn into a running joke
And the people living in the past
Say they knew it wouldn’t last
Don’t give up
A change is gonna come
Don’t give up
I can hear it singing in the night
Take my hand
We’ll go wandering through the dark
We’re as good a choice as anyone
To finally get it right
There are curses in the sidewalk
Of this cold and bitter town
That get inside your head as you’re wandering
They don’t care what you’re feeling
They don’t care what you think
They don’t care what you’re dreaming
Now young men sing and genuflect
To the patron saint of lack of respect
And the old and angry build their case
To put those bastards in their place
And you try to scream but it doesn’t make sense
To waste your words on ignorance
From the people living in the past
Who say that you will never last
Don’t give up
A change is gonna come
Don’t give up
I can hear it rustling in the wind
Take my hand
We’ll go wandering through the dark
We’re as good a choice as anyone
To find the light again
To find the light again
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7. |
Stephen Foster's Ghost
04:18
|
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Stephen Foster’s Ghost
Follow the road / follow the river
Indian nation / Indian giver
Pill-mills laid out / across the track
Crumbling factories / and smoke-stacks
What you remember / and what you see
Is just memory / playing tricks on me
Used to walk but now we ride….up and down and side to side
Used to walk but now we ride….up and down and side to side
In an old village flop house / By the Chelsea Hotel
Where Sid and Nancy both got sick and never did get well
You bleed for what you love and I’ll try and do the same
We’ll share our pennies at the gate and split the picture frame
All glassy-eyed / and shuffling past
from all them promises / that never last
They’ll be no future / for those who stay
And let the past / get in the way
I should be / carved up in stone
Instead of dying here / all alone
I had one more song to sing...but first I gotta pawn this ring
I had one more song to sing...but first I gotta pawn this wedding ring
Pass the past and dollar stores / And all the reservation whores
The do-littles and do-mores / Railroad tracks and meth sores
SSI or join the corps / Dream behind a bedroom door
On your knees to scrub the floor / Tell me what are we fighting for
Brill building and tin pans / Back alleys...waylaid plans
Taxi cabs and Times Square / Ready to take you anywhere
Rumbling for your daily bread / paying with a busted head
Or a needle jabbing at a vein / that ends it all once again
In an old village flop house / By the Chelsea Hotel
Where Sid and Nancy both got sick and never did get well
You bleed for what you love and I’ll do the same
We’ll share our pennies at the gate and split the picture frame
|
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8. |
||||
Twilight In the Shadowlands
We’d heard about old Sullivan….my baby and me
Marching up the highway…..being all that he could be
Trying to make a nation from a valley of tears
Of my father’s father’s father, and his father’s ‘cross the years
Provisions as the crow flies….all put to the flame
The white man and the hand of god wiping out our name
Nothing red allowed to live ‘cept the blood rolling down
These wretched endless mountains...under a thorny crown
Clips on the floor boards….with Johnnie Walker Black
One to leave a legacy...and one to walk it back
Magazines left behind….like rice on a wedding ground
We’d make love along the river bed….and never make a sound
The short wave radio...and Duracell by the score
And 100 dollar bills….from the fresh jacked general store
It’s easier than you think my friend...when you’re cold to the touch
And the scraps they left behind for you….don’t amount to much
Twilight in the Shadowlands
Loose dirt through closed hands
Ain’t gonna make you understand
I’m gonna go out like a man
Headlights bearing down on us through the Pennsylvania trees
Megaphone blaring….got my hands between your knees
If they wanted me alive they shoulda seen up close and slow
The fear in that old man’s eyes….before I let him go
The heart is what you took...the heart is what I gave
Just bury us together….in my Daddy’s grave
Twilight in the Shadowlands
Loose dirt through closed hands
Ain’t gonna make you understand
I’m gonna go out like a man
|
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9. |
County Line
03:59
|
|||
County Line
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na (2)
Highway lines and the radio
Getting you where you need to go
Riding the world in the left lane
Running away from graveyard pain yea yea yea
Bury it all and move along
And hope you never hear a song
That brings it back one more time
While you’re straddling that county line yea yea
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na (2)
You come to town and you bring the war
Slap your back then lock their doors
There ain’t no gray....just shots and doom
Seen you lay out an entire barroom yea yea yea
But a heart like glass on a mantle top
will never survive that kind of drop
hands in the dark like a lonesome pine
While you’re straddling that county line yea yea yea
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Saturday nights Sunday morning
Both come on with no warning
Redemption sin rinse repeat
All them pills and two crows feet now...
yea two crows feet now
What they do to a child is what builds the man
And that bit nobody understands
a town full of ghosts with secret eyes
Nothing written down...so you memorize yea yea yea
Nobody and everybody knew
all them things that they’d done to you
Turning dirty water into wine
While you’re straddling that county line yea yea yea
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na (2)
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10. |
Shelby Cobra
03:05
|
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Shelby Cobra
Daddy was a fighting man / learned to walk then he ran
earned what he could / to steal what he can
mamma she'd just shake her head / thankful for the warm bed
and them little pills / that kept her living in her own head
I grew up in between the doors in the hall / bought a record player and bounced off the wall
learned to play a guitar / never got very far
singing Badlee songs in the back of some dive bar
free townie women and drafts all night / wake up in the morning with another case of stage fright
Cheetos and a road trip / learn to leave and learn to tip
ain't afraid of nothing 'cept a little bit of kinship
Shelby Cobra is my name / and with it comes all the shame
of all the things I've done to keep you feeling just the same
told I got a son / coulda been anyone
I guess that's what you get for 30 years of one and done
Beer and chasers and a credit card / Burstin’ at the seams from trying too hard
Creepin’ time, creepin’ gray / Gonna get you anyway
So why not leave a corpse that looks good during the day
Roll up my wisdom in a sleeping bag / And listen to Levon sing ‘Rag Mama Rag’
Feel lonesome feel bad / Feeling sick or feeling glad
At least you feel something that’s the best I ever had
They used to say “join the corps../ Maybe you’ll get a war”
Get yourself a medal and bury it in your drawer
Maybe a GI loan / Get some blood from a stone
At least you got some stuff to remember when you’re all alone
But I sleep ‘till noon that’s a natural fact / Had a 9 to 5 but I ended up sacked
Lazy is as lazy does / Sometimes just because
I was all that I could be before I know what all that was
Dying is a drag I must’ve read that somewhere / Got myself a flower and wore it in my hair
So that’s how I got here / It all seems pretty clear
Until I put my shaking hands on this here steering wheel
Watching movies in my head / Go to sleep when I’m dead
Tried to take the fork but I wound up here instead
Argue with an echo / Wanna stay but then I go
Split the bloody difference by pulling out real slow
Rear view mirror ain’t got nothin on me / ‘Cause I only look at what I wanna see
Maybe I’ll write a book / That takes a deeper look
At all the scar tissues that forms like a new crook
‘Learnin’ all the ropes at the foot of a man / With no self doubt so he couldn’t understand
Hey ho rock and roll / Population overflow
Maybe you do need a weatherman to know that the wind blows
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11. |
A Greater Generation
03:33
|
|||
A Greater Generation
Has everybody gone insane
I’ve never seen such hate
Give in to fear the end is near
But no one hesitates
I find it sad and narrow minded
This course we’re sailing now
When all you see is heresy
When you look over the bough
But I’ve been hopeful as of late
Though I admit I had my doubts
A greater generation waits
To kick these bastards out
Listen to the silence
And the heartbeats all around
From children far too long laid out
Like cordwood on the ground
Tears they fall like railroad tracks
Rolling down the line
From the seeds of betrayal
Uprooted one more time
But I’ve been hopeful as of late
Though towns and crosses burn
A greater generation waits
In line to take it’s turn
Rise up all you vagabonds
Put on your marching shoes
Ain’t no one said you couldn’t dance
To some old gut bucket blues
And so a child shall lead them
And all are welcome here
Your saints and all your sinners
And all that you hold dear
But I’ve been hopeful as of late
The better angels are aligned
A greater generation waits
No more nevermind
Yes, I’ve been hopeful as of late
Though I admit I had my doubts
A greater generation waits
To kick these bastards out
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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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