1. |
Blood Song
04:32
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The roads rose up
On the horizon again
And the White Plains burned
Down to ashes again
And I was waiting again
On a distant wind
And I was dreaming again
Or remembering...
A feeling.
I walk beyond
Into the settling light,
And the smoke drifts on
Through the pale night.
I draw the curtain again
I am awake again
And to the distance again
I am listening
For something.
I rest my head
On the Western Wind.
A thousand miles
You hear it singing.
It's the song of the blood
That is howling again.
It's the song of the blood
That is whispering.
Sweeping over the sun
And the horizon again.
It's the song of the blood...
Over everything
That's moving...
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2. |
Port City
05:07
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Looking out the window at the port cities,
Driving into Houston with the sun in my eyes.
Sometimes something in the air just hits me
Gets me feeling this way, I don't know why.
Maybe it's the long night, maybe it's the whiskey,
The lack of sleep or the distance from home,
Fear of the future or the weight of history,
Maybe I just spent too much time alone.
Well, I furrowed my brow 'til the skin stayed wrinkled,
Clenched my fists 'til my hands wouldn't open,
Bit down hard, cursing and singing,
Breathed it all in 'til I started choking.
All that has passed on and all that has grown,
Everything that's coming in and everything that's gone,
The light on the water, the sun on the stone,
It all flows around me and then it just moves on
Quick as the time goes,
Quick as the road goes rolling by.
On the highway through the port cities,
Mississippi river goes rolling on home.
Everything I done, I carry it with me
Like a box of rags, like a pile of bones.
Shaky in the sunlight, staggered in the mystery,
Reeling from the memory and ready to fall,
It's so frustrating, I hate all the waiting,
I hate all the waiting for nothing at all.
All I've been given and all I've been shown,
All the kind people that I've ever known,
The friends and the family, the time at home,
It overwhelms me, but then it passes on.
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3. |
No Man's Land
04:13
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Dust cloud covers the horizon
And mingles with the blood-red rays of the rising sun.
Dropping like flies
Look! There goes another one.
Get the shovel, get the job done.
Ain't a drop of water in the river bed
Just the diamondback, the cottonmouth,
The bull & the copperhead.
We're hanging in the balance, hanging by a thread
Raised my arms to the blazing sky and I said:
“Rain down, won't you rain down?
Cover up the ground, let the earth drown
And rain, rain down.”
No shelter, no shade out along this trail
Just the buzzard & the crow, sparrowhawk & the red-tail,
Circling, ever circling
Watching without fail
Watching for the flesh to go pale.
You got to keep moving slow
That's the first thing you learn
And the troubles of others are none of your concern.
You got nothing to give, you ask nothing in return
Just pray for something gonna come to ease the burn...
Take it easy on the highway
There are gamblers, rogues, & thieves.
Wired-eyed wanderers, desert drifters,
Crippled hopes, & dead dreams,
Watchful eyes in the shadows & light
Scanning for their next meal.
Midnight mutterings, sideways glances,
Flashing grins, flashing steel...
Yes, the furnace is fired up, lakes are dried up
Brother, what'd you do for that drop in your cup?
All systems are breaking up, folks are giving up
Can't find the strength to go on.
Leaves are falling in the middle of spring
And the red sun hangs, bloody and dripping
Casting its wrath over everything,
Oh God, or the Devil, or whoever
Won't you bring your
Rain down?
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4. |
World of Money
05:43
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I opened up the window
I put down the phone
I closed the door
Made sure I was alone.
They won't let you out
Without shame and disgrace.
The world of money, well,
Honey, it's a dark, dark place.
Crunch them numbers
Make 'em make sense
Check the status
On each side of the fence.
Wolf gonna lie down
Among the lambs.
The world money
It ain't nothing you would understand.
Squeezing & bleeding
Draining &feeding.
You ain't hungry,
You just can't stop eating.
You never ever can satisfy
That empty feeling.
The world of money
Always gonna leave you needing.
You can't really fight it,
it won't let go.
Anywhere you been,
it always knows.
It will find you
Remind you of your misdeeds.
Your sweet little secrets
Ain't buried that deep.
See, the world of money,
It ain't gonna let you get much sleep...
So I'm stepping to the edge now,
Looking down below.
I feel the wind on my face,
I hear the traffic flow.
They won't let you think twice.
You gotta make decisions.
The world of money,
It ain't something everyone can live in
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5. |
Garden
06:56
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Remember when the world began?
And it was just you and me
In a little garden, in the middle of the sea?
Never speak of the starving times
Never speak of the cries.
Never speak of the howling winds
Never speak of the lie.
Man was made to labor on
Through centuries in broken glass
Sons born of the wilderness and spread across the land.
The roots that run the valley low
Are soaked in offerings of salt
The idols sit atop the thrones and watch the darkening sand.
We scrawled upon the cavern walls
As wanderers out in the West
Laid down in the riverlands and dreamed an endless prayer.
And from the caves and hollows there
We listened as the hunger grew
For a voice upon the hallowed wind
But there was nothing there.
We shall not rise up, for our will has gone
And our spoiled seed will bloody the fields eternally.
Cast away now, driven from our home
And so our progeny will scorch the seas
And sew a bloody seed
In fields, eternally.
And when the howling winds
Had torn the hinges off the gates
With shoulders heaved and dripping paws
In crept the wailing night.
The fountains and the wishing wells
The treeless hills and stagnant pools
Dreams are made to hide away
To never see the light.
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6. |
The Vine
05:49
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Tell me,
What does the great world know
Of the old and unfamiliar roads?
The unknown country gathered around me
Running in my bones?
The river & the moon lead home
Through the ashes, ruins, sand & stone,
The shape and shadow, the rumble & the rattle
That I follow.
The riddles as they roll and wind,
The nerves as they unbind,
The fever as it flowers in the strangling hours
On the weary vine.
The curse of all remembering,
The pain of not forgiving them
For the tides that forced us out again
We kept moving, moving
Out of the light and out to the edge...
Sweeter than anything
Sweeter than everything
Sweet as it used to be
The scent of the memory
Leading us here to be
Searching
Like wild wolves, roaming a burial ground.
Lonesome, & chasing a white wind down.
Hungry, hollow, & howling out,
Like wild wolves chasing a white wind down.
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7. |
Strange Island
04:24
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Peering out the window through a crack in the shutter
Seen a single red rose floating on down the gutter
Found something good, right behind the dumpster
Come find me later, we could have some fun...
They say that house is haunted, but it don't bother me
Throw a rock through the window, we'll go right in and see
The best place to sleep is where you sleep for free
And there ain't no ghost I can't outrun...
Throw a line in the canal, see what I can get
If you wanna eat good, you gotta get your shoes wet
A few folks 'round here don't know that yet
They're digging through trash cans...
Well, late in the evening there's a powerful smell
Rising up from the streets like the winds of Hell
Reminding everyone that all ain't well
It puts the fear of god in a man,
'Round here
It's a strange little island, strange little town
The weeping and the restless creeping all around.
When you're below sea level, you can't dig down
You gotta bury your dead above ground.
Chicken bone, chicken bone
Crushed with a river stone
Bleed a drop into the pot
And stir it with a leg bone
Light a fire underneath
Point your dagger to the east
Make it boil, if it ain't
And offer up a prayer to the black saints...
Sweet little Lucy
Just seventeen
Say she just wanna have fun, know what I mean?
She's lying to her friends, says she's staying clean
Saw a place on the road map called New Orleans...
Hitched a ride through the night in the back of a truck
Crossed the Mississippi as the sun was coming up
With everything she owned wrapped in a black bandana
She found a new home at the bottom of Louisiana...
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8. |
Hell America
05:53
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Hell America
Sugar and concrete
Plastic and meat
Savory and sweet.
Hell America
Born and raised
Spend my days
Found my place.
Just carry my bones
Out to that construction zone
And lay me out to dry.
Hell America
Kids at the Wal-Mart
Deals in the shopping cart
Bursting heart.
Hell America
Swollen veins
Iron chains
Greasy stain.
But you won't leave me
No you won't leave me
You won't leave me here to die.
Hell America, I've been walking, your lonesome son,
In wilderness of parking lots,
Deep into the dawn.
Hell America, I've been waiting,
Your sun forever setting
Through the windshield.
No, your lonesome son will never stray.
Your radiated heart
The cancer waves of love
The great florescence of your gaze
Always upon my neck.
You will come to me
In this walking sleep
And tell me that I am your son, I'll never stray.
Hell America
Simple and fast.
Behind the glass
Built to last.
Open spaces
Brightly lit places
Smiling faces.
The labyrinth of aisles, the freezing corridors
The low and constant hum, the shining, silken floors
All things are right and known
Under the white glow
Don't let me die here alone.
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9. |
The Weed
06:29
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Which one came before the other?
Who was first to laugh, first to suffer?
Who been singing that melody
Whispering in the ether, rustling my leaves?
First the darkness, then came the light
And as the first day ended
So came the first night,
And turning, turning around again,
I'm going back where I started, looking for the end.
Oh, the simple things, they are gone.
Long gone
Well, so long!
The simple things are memories
The simple things are gone for me.
All things must grow,
Grow and feed.
Each must tend to it's own need.
Who been singing that melody
Tearing my roots out from under me?
Anyway,
I went out walking in my nice neighborhood.
I saw children and dogs, and all things known as good.
A sidewalk swept clean, blank and pristine,
Grays and browns and a little bit of green.
I don't recognize much anymore
The crowded streets and the closing doors,
Buildings blocking out my blue sky
I'll move over, let you pass by.
Sweep me out to the edge of the city
Like a vine creeping over the concrete
Some things are pretty but they're obsolete
You gotta root 'em out,
Get 'em off the street.
And sing:
Oh, pull the weed!
The invasive species
The unsightly mess
Oh, cease it's breath!
New roads, new houses, new streets, new towns
New ground over the old ground
And what's beneath is best forgot
Leave it to wither and waste, mold, rust, and rot.
I'll keep walking down the road
Remembering that the world is old
And wind will blow through the falling snow
And cover up everything I know.
And as the city fades away behind me,
Bells are ringing and the dust is rising
Always singing for what will not last,
Some things are pretty but their time has passed.
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I Am the Albatross Austin, Texas
I Am the Albatross is a band from Austin, TX. Western Psych, Desert Garage, Heavy Americana, Gothic Folk, , Rock n’ Roll.
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