1. |
Barleycorn We Lack
04:14
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I’ve been waiting, but never too long
I’ve been laid back while coming on strong
I’ve been laughing when nothing’s funny
I’m so tired that I’ll never sleep.
I’ve been crying here in my joy
Danced flirtatious while playing coy
Up and standing from deep in my chair
Distraction focused, tearing at my hair
I thank the man who helped me see
That blind and bloodshot is the way to be
Call on Walker, James or Jack
It’s just John Barleycorn that we lack.
I’ve been dancing here in the air
Second chancing down every stair
Unbuttoned sweating through the show home
Laughing sadly, trying not to moan.
I thank the man who helped me see
That blind and bloodshot is the way to be
Call on Walker, James or Jack
It’s just John Barleycorn that we lack.
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2. |
The Lovely Turnaway
04:46
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Is it just to cry as they accuse
Is it just to smile as you offer them your shoes?
Is it worth any damn thing as you dry your eyes
And convince yourself it’s better to lie than try?
Is it just to be the one who is so misunderstood
By anyone who ever tries to do you good?
Is it just to be put down with every compromise
Just to give you one more reason not to bother trying?
Just to be the beautiful one who failed?
To be the lovely turnaway?
Will you beg or whisper, will you scream and rail
Just to be the one who smiles when they say,
“You’ll be the one who’ll rue the day?”
Is it just to taste the tears as you tie your shoes?
To smudge your makeup with every faint excuse?
To be the one who gets to dry her eyes
On her coat sleeve and hope they sympathize?
Is it just to be the one who can’t do any wrong,
Cuz nothing you do ever hurt anyone?
Is it just to be the one who never has to care
Cuz nothing you do ever goes anywhere?
Just to be the beautiful one who failed?
Just to be some lovely turn of phrase?
To feel the poet’s justice as you drive your nail
Through your own wrist and the look away?
Just to be the beautiful one who failed?
The lovely toy left out in the rain?
To be the star-crossed princess in your high-rise jail
Who proves her own point as she walks away?
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3. |
Might
04:20
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When the words fail and the road ends
When the shadow play begins
Will it all change when the flag’s tattered in flight?
Well, say it might, and it might.
Humble traders, executions in a line
Trained in poor, jump in time
And the man stands down, his headpiece filled with straw
With a gun and with the law.
Boots and tankers, airborne cries of the machine
Brushed steel polished mezzanines
Silent bombshells on a muted TV screen
And they action pack the scene.
Bones in alleys, burning shacks in burning fields
Brown and char their last yields
Handsome soldiers march to beats of the machines
And wave on colored screens.
So let the words fail and the drums sound
As the shadows hit the ground
Will it all change when the flag has earned its stripes?
Give to might and it might.
Humble traders laying grave in burning fields
Freedoms trade to such yields
The sound of drums and beats of the machine
Are all just out of scene.
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4. |
If I Should Die Tonight
04:50
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If I should die tonight don’t think of me as kinda small;
See me as a titan, 20 feet tall.
Why live a normal height when you can grow with a lie?
Think of me greatly,
If I should die.
If I should die tonight don’t think me a fool;
Remember a scholar who breezed through all the right schools.
All of my lacking knowledge can be filled with a lie.
Think of my great mind
If I should die.
If I should die tonight don’t dare think me poor;
Think of my mansions, all my wealth behind my great door.
Why be a worker when you can rule with a lie?
Remember my great wealth
If I should die.
If I should die tonight forget all you know,
All your great notions about where I should go.
Just who’s morality; is it yours or is it mine?
Read the headlines, and believe,
If I should die.
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5. |
Difficult Loves
03:06
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My hand slips and nearly grips
The warn out end of days.
Springs of green and lovers scenes
Politely gone their ways.
Winter nights and city lights
Stroke your face through gloves.
Breaths in steam and bitter spleen
And all our difficult loves.
Gray hat box and woolen socks
Hugs and whispered names.
Neon signs and pull the blinds
And beds to play our games.
Bitter swill and happy pills
Just to rise above
From smallest seed to brownest leaves
And all our difficult loves.
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6. |
Channel Lights
04:58
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I’m waiting on the freeze
Get the sense it’s time to leave
Kick the remnants of the autumn on the grass.
So we’re waiting on the train
In the chill and with the rain
And I tell myself that nothing really lasts.
Till we’re staring at the lights
In the waters, in the night
The waves distort the wisps and wills of pasts.
And the shadows fill the scene
Of the ever brown and green
With the long and shifting shapes that they will cast.
Well I know all Your dreams
Rubbed them down in gasoline
And I’ll burn them all tomorrow if they last.
But perhaps I never would
Even if I think I should
Because I’ve already tied this to the past.
To feel the love in sorrow you’d do anything.
Beg, steal or borrow, your finger rung in string
Remember tomorrow when you sit in the sun
To remember tomorrow when it’s done.
So we find another day
Like two burnt out runaways
Through the time washed old Victorians in lines.
And the streets feel just the same
As my minds sounds out your name
But I just can’t seem to find my voice this time.
Well you’re staring at the lake,
Know there’s not much more to take
And I mumble “Tomorrow never lasts.”
And sardonically you smile
Try and take it all with style
As the channel lights fade for you as they pass.
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7. |
Run To Me
03:07
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Toe the line, it’s your failing grace
Tie your hair back from your face
Don’t look back, don’t turn and see
If you must keep running, run to me
If you sigh or if you cough
And he seems not the least put off
From the light of the bright party
If you must keep running, run to me
If you don every gown they wear
If you burn in the cool night air
If you tire of each place to be
If you must keep running, run to me
If your words chase you through your dreams
If you’ve filled your foolscap reams
When you sense that it’s time to leave
If you must keep running, run to me
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8. |
On The Night It Falls
03:34
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Now it’s time to face
That I’ve claimed this place
Here on the outside of this town they’ve laid to waste
Will ever it show
Of all I’ve fought to know
The spire’s last shadow falls to a longing in the soul
On the night it falls
Just a back to the wall
Down narrow streets I crawled through the scared and hopeless calls
Now all that seems
Just a long bad dream
The flames reach to the sky, their tongs lick at the sea
So how to quell
All I someday may tell
And the world’s room calls away from the tolling of the bells
Night hangs on the quay
And the boats climb the sea
As the smoke curls tight around this haunted destiny.
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9. |
Whistlestopping Time
04:48
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Little left here,
Even dad’s anger’s gone
East Chicago
Mills a path across the lawn.
House is empty,
No one’s there to see him go
Past the fence posts
Laced with barb, laid in rows.
And it makes him want to scream
Just to wake from this bad dream
But it’s one less thing to say
No goodbyes just turn away.
Still his shadow
Walks the fields, haunts the corn
Past his grand dad
Past the house where he was born.
And he stumbles on his way
Past the ground where grand dad now lays
And the air is dry with pain
As he heads west toward the train.
The dusty road bends
Dust it clings to his clothes
Warm in shirtsleeves
Warm in boots that show his toes.
So he strikes a fitting pose
Makes up for his ill-fitting clothes
Till its whistle stopping time
He’ll wait and stare down the line.
Red eyes burning
As he stares into the sun
Just more waiting
All his life, that’s all he’s done
So he fumbles with his pack
Pulls tight, feels the weight on his back.
He listens for the train
For whispers of his grand dad’s name.
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10. |
The Rake
03:55
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Once upon a time
In the warp and the mind
Down a road that ends
In a forest replete
With lights shining down now
Street snake toward town now
Every stone you’ve tossed
Seems to land at your feet.
The forest of lights dim to wavering trees
The gilt and hue beauties and you’re still here on your knees.
Anticipation
A brand new elation
Second hand cobbles
Turn to gentrified streets
The bars and the hovels
Of yet unfinished novels
There's dust on your shoes now
And you’re light on your feet.
And the wind is coming, it’s cool off the lake
And now it’s time for the rake to wonder how much more he can take.
Take it fine
And you wonder if she knows if she cares what’s on her mind.
It will all work out fine.
What you really want, what you really need is to really care, really believe
What you really want, what you really need is to
Find some girl from the north country or some southern hand belle
A bile confrontation now who's symptoms you can’t quell
A private consultation who's secrets you can’t tell
Another dark haired maiden to bewitch you for a spell
But what’s that matter tonight?
Deep desperation
At a sidewalk newsstand.
Filled with a language
You almost comprehend.
The bars and the hovels
Just some means to an end.
The unfinished novels
That you can’t seem to end.
The bars and the hovels
That just won’t seem to end
Of your unfinished novels
That just won’t seem to end.
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11. |
Breath Strays
02:48
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Search lights at sea
They strobe off the blades on the lea
Cut wind, throb with sound
And the weight of the waves pulling you down
And all your days
Have fallen by the waves and find you here
Breath strays in time.
Waste to a fault
On the oceans of your days breaths of salt
Burnt eyes search the lights
For a railing or a hand, some reason to fight
And all your days
Have fallen by the waves and find you here
Breath strays in time.
And all your days
Shackled to the dying and the brave
They’ll stray in time
All that you’ve loved
Leaves you straining for the lights searching above.
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12. |
Bear Witness
04:21
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I will lie awake at night
Till I can tell you all what’s right
Like a prophet from on high
And I shall name the blest
And I only bear witness
I will lie upon the sands
I will lay flat both my hands
Claim the skies and claim the lands
And I shall name the blest
And I only bear witness
I will burn here with the fire
Of the saints and of the liars
I’ll pour oil upon their pyres
And I shall name the blest
And I only bear witness
And I shall whisper in the halls
Behind the doors, behind the walls
Of every throne who’ll hear my call
And I shall name the blest
And I only bear witness
I shall whisper through their sighs
Lead the poor and lead the blind
Let them claim the killing time
And I shall name the blest
And I only bear witness
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13. |
Candles
04:21
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Haven’t snowen lilacs faded from spring
Browning when the summers come?
Apple blossoms fall from spring’s grace
In a dance of summer’s haste.
And my feet fall on this road
Miles away from the dark city’s hold
And the sun covers the day
With your shadows cast from long away.
And the light takes my sight for a moment on the road
And I stop and turn away to face fresh fields aglow.
And as the cold wind strikes the new shoots clutch and reach
As I strum the barbed wire fence stretched board to board, passed each to each.
And the fields warm through the day
And as the roads widen, fields fade away.
And the city life begins
My way was chosen in the end.
The shadow dance in my dark, room excited in the dying light,
Haunts a place within my mind and these memories invite the night.
My eyes despise the quiet change once the day has passed away.
Dark evensong floats with the pain and the sunset colors fade to gray.
If I could see through this gloom
And chase your shadows from this empty room.
If I could find my way tonight,
But we’re just candles blown through windy nights.
And I stare into this gloom
And watch your shadows cross this empty room.
If I could be with you tonight,
But you’re a shadow cast in wind tossed light.
If I could see through this gloom
And chase your shadows from this empty room.
If I could find my way tonight,
But we’re just candles blown through windy nights.
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14. |
Speak In Whispers
03:55
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Light traces on your face
On the celluloid.
5 by 3 memories
That I’m better to avoid.
Here you speak in whispers
Here you smile at me
Here you’re shining brightly, like a dream.
Light traces on your face
Red in your eyes
Dull colors on faded jeans
That you wore to our good-bye.
Here you grin and tempt me
Here you’re poise, you’re grace
Here you’re dressed for winter days and your face,
I can’t forget your face.
Light traces on your face
On the faded hues
Till I close the crawlspace
Resign our past to it’s disuse.
Here you speak in whispers
Here you speak in lines
Here you speak in whispers
Here you speak…
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15. |
But Still They Ride
04:30
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My angel’s grounded by her own device
Like the fire as it melts the ice
It’s like singling out one city light
I’m not sure how but I know one’s right
Fallen angel, look over me
Won’t you help me find my way
I don’t know what’s come over me
But I know that I can’t stay here
On the wings of the angels
Past the old mountainsides
Hear the people, they’re singing
But still they ride.
Hey man see how long it takes
Working hard so the ends don’t break
Till the moonlight falls into the lake
And all my dreams will soon awake
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Ray Woodruff Richmond, Virginia
Songwriter. Guitarist. Instrumentalist. Visuals. Lost writer.
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