one song

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Me too, from around 1978 till 1992 (Human Touch and Lucky Town), then not so much. It is nice to revisit now every once in a while.

They're still racing out at the Trestles

But that blood it never burned in her veins

Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview

And a style she's trying to maintain

Well if she wants to see me

You can tell her that I'm easily found

Tell her there's a spot out `neath Abram's Bridge

And tell her there's a darkness on the edge of town

 

Everybody's got a secret Sonny

Something that they just can't face

Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it

They carry it with them every step that they take

Till some day they just cut it loose

Cut it loose or let it drag `em down

Where no one asks any questions

Or looks too long in your face

In the darkness on the edge of town

 

Some folks are born into a good life

Other folks get it anyway anyhow

I lost my money and I lost my wife

Them things don't seem to matter much to me now

Tonight I'll be on that hill `cause I can't stop

I'll be on that hill with everything I got

Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost

I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost

For wanting things that can only be found

In the darkness on the edge of town

 

 

Sooner or later, everyone has to confront the darkness on the edge of town

**********************************************

I hold you in my arms

as the band plays

What are those words whispered baby

just as you turn away

I saw you last night

out on the edge of town

I wanna read your mind

To know just what I've got in this new thing I've found

So tell me what I see

when I look in your eyes

Is that you baby

or just a brilliant disguise

 

I heard somebody call your name

from underneath our willow

I saw something tucked in shame

underneath your pillow

Well I've tried so hard baby

but I just can't see

What a woman like you

is doing with me

So tell me who I see

when I look in your eyes

Is that you baby

or just a brilliant disguise

 

Now look at me baby

struggling to do everything right

And then it all falls apart

when out go the lights

I'm just a lonely pilgrim

I walk this world in wealth

I want to know if it's you I don't trust

'cause I damn sure don't trust myself

 

Now you play the loving woman

I'll play the faithful man

But just don't look too close

into the palm of my hand

We stood at the altar

the gypsy swore our future was right

But come the wee wee hours

Well maybe baby the gypsy lied

So when you look at me

you better look hard and look twice

Is that me baby

or just a brilliant disguise

 

Tonight our bed is cold

I'm lost in the darkness of our love

God have mercy on the man

Who doubts what he's sure of

[bobbob1313]

We busted out of class had to get away from those fools

We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school

Tonight I heart the neighborhood drummer sound

I can feel my heart begin to pound

You say youre tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down

 

We made a promise we swore wed always remember

No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Like soldiers in the winters night with a vow to defend

No retreat, believe me, no surrender

 

Now young faces grow sad and old and hearts of fire grow cold

We swore blood brothers against the wind

Im ready to grow young again

And hear your sisters voice calling us home across the open yards

Believin we could cut someplace of our own

With these drums and these guitars

 

We made a promise we swore wed always remember

No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Blood brothers in the stormy night with a vow to defend

No retreat, believe me, no surrender

 

Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim

The walls of my room are closing in

But its good to see your smiling face and to hear your voice again

We could sleep in the twilight by the river side

With a wide open country in our hearts

And these romanics dreams in our heads

 

We made a promise...

 

 

The version on the live album is spectacular, and may be my favorite Bruce moment, aside from solo "Thunder Road" from story Tellers.

[lizish]

 

Black Lips - Boomerang

 

http://www.vicerecords.com/blacklips/Black...s-Boomerang.mov

 

 

If I had

All my karma

And it all came back to me

Did I have it

Like a boomerang

Thrown farther than eyes could see

If I had it like a boomerang

Thrown farther than eyes could see

I

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Hey there mister can you tell me

What happened to the seeds I've sown

Can you give me a reason, sir, as to why they've never grown

They've just blown around from town to town

Back out on these fields

Where they fall from my hand

Back into the dirt of this hard land

 

Well me and my sister

From Germantown we did ride

We made our bed, sir

From the rock on the mountainside

We been blowin' around from town to town

Lookin' for a place to stand

Where the sun burst through the clouds and fall like a circle

A circle of fire down on this hard land

 

Now even the rain it don't come 'round

Don't come 'round here no more

And the only sound at night's the wind

Slammin' the back porch door

Yeah it stirs you up like it wants to blow you down

Twistin' and churnin' up the sand

Leavin' all them scarecrows lyin' facedown

In the dirt of this hard land

 

From a building up on the hill

I can hear a tape deck blastin' "Home on the Range"

I can hear them Bar-M choppers

Sweepin' low across the plains

It's me and you, Frank, we're lookin' for lost cattle

Our hooves twistin' and churnin' up the sand

We're ridin' in the whirlwind searchin' for lost treasure

Way down south of the Rio Grande

We're ridin' 'cross that river in the moonlight

Up onto the banks of this hard land

 

Hey, Frank, won't you pack your bags

And meet me tonight down at Liberty Hall

Just one kiss from you, my brother

And we'll ride until we fall

Well sleep in the fields

We'll sleep by the rivers

And in the morning we'll make a plan

Well if you can't make it stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can

And meet me in a dream of this hard land

[awatt]

One of my favorite outtakes:

 

We met out on open streets when we had no place to go

I remember how my heart beat when you said I love you so

Then little by little we choked out all the life that our love could hold

Oh no

 

CHORUS

It's like we had a noose and baby without check

We pulled until it grew tighter around our necks

Each one waiting for the other, darlin', to say when

Well baby you can meet me tonight on the loose end

 

We didn't count tomorrows, we took what we could and baby we ran

There was no time for sorrow, every place we went I held your hand

And when the night closed in I was sure your kisses told me all I had to know

But oh no

 

CHORUS

 

Our love has fallen around us like we said it never could

We saw it happen to all the others but to us it never would

Well how could something so bad, darling, come from something that was so good

I don't know

[bobbob1313]

I'm not sure Jeff's ever written a better song than this one.

 

 

Falling out the window

Tripping on a wrinkle in the rug

Falling out of love, dear

It hurt much worse when you gave up

 

Just don't tell me which way I oughta run

Or what good I could do anyone

'Cause my heart, it was a gun

But it's unloaded now

So don't bother

 

Climbing up the ladder

Breaking my shin on the very first rung

Waking up the neighbors

It's all right, they understand they're just as dumb

 

And they don't tell me which way I oughta run

Or what good I could do anyone

'Cause my heart, it was a gun

But it's unloaded now

So don't bother me now

Don't bother

 

Crawling back to you now

I sold my guitar to the girl next door

She asked me if I knew how

I told her I don't think so anymore

 

Don't tell me which way I oughta run

What good could I do anyone

'Cause my heart, it was a gun

But it's unloaded now

So don't bother

[embiggen]

If I walk down this hallway, tonight,

It's too quiet,

So I Pad through the dark

and call you on the phone

Push your old numbers

and let your house ring

til I wake you ghost.

Let him walk down your hallway

it's not this quiet

slide down your receiver

sprint across the wire

follow my number

slide into my hand.

It's the blaze across my nightgown

it's the phone's ring.

I think last night

you were driving circles around me.

I can't drink this coffee

til I put you in my closet

let him shoot me down

let him call me off

I take it from his whisper

you're not that tough.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

One of my favorite outtakes:

 

We met out on open streets when we had no place to go

I remember how my heart beat when you said I love you so

Then little by little we choked out all the life that our love could hold

Oh no

 

CHORUS

It's like we had a noose and baby without check

We pulled until it grew tighter around our necks

Each one waiting for the other, darlin', to say when

Well baby you can meet me tonight on the loose end

 

We didn't count tomorrows, we took what we could and baby we ran

There was no time for sorrow, every place we went I held your hand

And when the night closed in I was sure your kisses told me all I had to know

But oh no

 

CHORUS

 

Our love has fallen around us like we said it never could

We saw it happen to all the others but to us it never would

Well how could something so bad, darling, come from something that was so good

I don't know

 

 

Not really an outtake...showed up on TRACKS

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

On the road to Basra stood young Lieutenant Jimmy Bly

Detailed to go through the clothes of the soldiers who died

At night in dreams he sees their souls rise

Like dark geese into the Oklahoma skies

 

Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed

Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted

This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

 

Now Raphael Rodriguez was just seven years old

Shot down in a schoolyard by some East Compton Cholos

His mamma cried "My beautiful boy is dead"

In the hills the self-made men just sighed and shook their heads

 

This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted

Young lives over before they got started

This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

 

Tonight as I tuck my own son in bed

All I can think of is what if it would've been him instead

I want to build me a wall so high nothing can burn it down

Right here on my own piece of dirty ground

 

Now I ply my trade in the land of king dollar

Where you get paid and your silence passes as honor

And all the hatred and dirty little lies

Been written off the books and into decent men's eyes

[bobbob1313]

As soon as you're born they make you feel small

By giving you no time instead of it all

Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

 

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school

They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool

Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

 

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years

Then they expect you to pick a career

When you can't really function you're so full of fear

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

 

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV

And you think you're so clever and classless and free

But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

 

There's room at the top they are telling you still

But first you must learn how to smile as you kill

If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be

A working class hero is something to be

 

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Met her at a friendly little bar down along the coast

She said it was her birthday so we had us a nice little toast

Drove around for a while, smoked a few cigarettes

Took her back to my place, she slipped off her party dress

She sat for a while on the edge of the bed just talkin'

Loose change in my pocket

Loose change in my pocket

 

Pint of gin in my boot cuff, I'm drivin' for a drink and a dance

Sittin' on the next stool, miss a little time on her hands

Yeah I knew she was trouble, but trouble sure was lookin' fine

And when I pulled her close what I knew kinda slipped my mind

We lay in bed and watched the moon come up crawling

Loose change in my pocket

Loose change in my pocket

 

I pour another drink, wait for the night to get through

Stars are burning in that black void so far away and blue

 

Now I'm sittin' at a red light I feel somethin' tickin' way down

The night's moving like a slow train crawling through this shithole town

Got my bags packed in the back and I'm tryin' to get going again

But red just goes to green and green goes red and then

Then all I hear's the clock on the dash tick-tocking

Loose change in my pocket

Loose change in my pocket

[Lammycat]

Sun's going down

I'm going back to my cave

I've got no one to lead

No one to save

And I like the music

In my head

I think I'll work, yeah

For her instead

Well I

 

I draw a circle in the sand

Can draw a circle in the sand

Can draw a circle

Yeah yeah

Soft sweet devil light my way

Sure do, sure do

 

Time to move on

Rise like an animal balloon

Pigs over Jerusalem

I can't fall too soon

But when the angel picks me up

She calls my name

 

There is charity but she says

Power money and fame

 

Well I draw circle in the sand

Can draw a circle in the sand

Can draw a circle

Yeah yeah

Soft sweet devil light my way

Oh come on

Soft sweet devil light my way

Yeah, yeah

 

Time to go home

Dream the dream of the homeless

Cast the spell of the innocent

Hungry and poor

'Cause you're raising up the dead

Like you're everybody's friend

[Guest Speed Racer]

This has been in my head every day after work this week for some reason. I think biking downtown at 5pm gives me some sort of 'me v. them' survival stance, haha.

 

If you beat up, you butcher, and you bleed a man

You bang up and badger and blood-let a man

And then I come along

On the feet of man

And halfway laugh and cry

About the meat of man

 

And I do what I can

To bale string and tie

Some ballad truths

Up and cured out

For the feed of man

 

Folks try to tell me

That it's on God's orders

That you bleed your man

It's on God's good word that you

Bleed your man

On God's plan print

That you dead a man

Or spit and curse and whip your man

 

I say I'll help you squeeze and fix yourself up a

A new kind of God of some kind

 

One that tells you

Fertilize and multiply

One that tells you

Outsow and outblow

Outplant and outgrow

Outdo, and outrun, and outclimb, and outspread

Every other tree and bush

And brushy fruits and flower petals

Outfruit them all

For the feed of man

 

Outstalk and outhunt and outthink

For God's own sweet sake, outthink! Outthink!

Outthink the fruits

Outgrow these animal kinds and shapes of man

It you miss and go down

Your dust will turn up on that long hot job

Once more again

 

To help in the feeding and the seed of man

And not in the bleeding and the end of man

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Sure this was probably after they were in their prime...But I love the X version of this song

 

 

She's waitin' for me

when I get home from work

oh, but things just ain't the same

She turns out the light

and cries in the dark

won't answer when I call her name

 

On the stairs I smoke a

cigarette alone

Mexican kids are shootin'

fireworks below

Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

 

She gives me her cheek

when I want her lips

but I don't have the strength to go

On the lost side of town

in a dark apartment

we gave up trying so long ago

 

On the stairs I smoke a

cigarette alone

Mexican kids are shootin'

fireworks below

Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

 

What ever happened

I apologize

so dry your tears baby

and walk outside, it's the Fourth of July

 

On the stairs I smoke a

cigarette alone

Mexican kids are shootin'

fireworks below

Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

Hey baby, Baby take a walk outside

[bobbob1313]

the guys are feeling good about their liquor run

the girls are kinda flirting with the setting sun

we all kind of fumbled through the jitter bug

we were all powered up on some new upper drug

and everything was partying

everyone was pretty

and everyone was coming towards the center of the city

the dancefloor was crowded, the bathrooms were worse

we kissed in your car and we drank from your purse

i had my mouth on her nose when the chaperon said we were dancing too close

 

we had some massive nights

we got the songs just right

and all i want is time

yea your friends are pretty cool and my friends were acting cool

 

there weren't any fights

there's usually one or two

some guys they get a little bit uptight

some girls they got something to prove

we had some massive highs

we had some crushing lows

we had some lusty little crushes

we had those all-ages hardcore matin

[noyes]

nothing feels good like you in red and blue jeans and your white and night things.

[Marijn]

There

[Analogman]

See the sun how bright it is

It never was before

See the sun it shines right through

My door but no ones's there

I see warm smiles I never gave

Reflecting in the air

All the things I want today

All the things I wasted on the way

See the earth how sweet it smells

I don't know how it feels

See the earth it slips beneath

My heels as I pass thru

I see tears that I never shed

In every drop of dew

All the things I want today

All the things I wasted on the way

Hear the skies singing songs I could have played

Too busy talking to prove that I was not afraid

See this dried up broken straw

It's turning to rot

See this dried up broken straw

Forgotten left behind

I see things that I never done

A blowing in the wind

All the things I want today

All the things I wasted

All the things I want today

All the things I wasted

All the things I want today

All the things I wasted on the way

[oceanman]

...The dogs were barking as the cars were

Parking

The loan sharks were sharking

The narcs were narcing

I shed a tear everytime I hear a Prine tune.

 

 

There's are a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.

[oceanman]

Sam Stone came home

To his wife and family

After serving in the conflict overseas.

And the time that he served

Had shattered all his nerves

And left a little shrapnel in his knee.

But the morphine eased the pain

and the grass grew round his brain

And gave him all the confidence he lacked

With a purple heart and a monkey on his back

 

Theres a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes

Jesus Christ died for nothn' I suppose

Little pitchers have big ears

Don't stop to count the years

Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

Mmm........

 

Sam Stone's welcome home

Didn't last too long

He wen't to work when he spent his last dime

And Sammy took to stealing

When he got that empty feeling

For a hundred dollar habit without overtime

And the gold rolled through his veins

Like a thousand railroad trains

And eased his mind in the hours that he chose

While the kids ran around wearn' other peoples clothes

 

Sam Stone was alone

When he popped his last bolloon

Climbing walls while sitting in a chair

Well,he played his last request

While the room smelled just like death

With an overdose hovering in the air

But life hand lots it's fun

And there was nothin' to be done

But trade his house that he bought on the G.I. Bill

For a flag draped casket on a local heros' hill

[Pocahontas]

I shed a tear everytime I hear a Prine tune.

There's are a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.

The Prine song that gets me everytime is Hello In There, but Sam Stone is a close second.

[oceanman]

The Prine song that gets me everytime is Hello In There, but Sam Stone is a close second.

There's just something in a Prine tune,maybe his voice,the lyrics,I don't know,just brings me to my knee's.And afterwards I feel full of life.His live shows are the best,he recently did a tour with Jim James.The only thing that could top that is say maybe Townes VanZandt and Jeff Tweedy!

 

How about Unwed Fathers?

[mountain bed]

There's just something in a Prine tune,maybe his voice,the lyrics,I don't know,just brings me to my knee's.And afterwards I feel full of life.His live shows are the best,he recently did a tour with Jim James.The only thing that could top that is say maybe Townes VanZandt and Jeff Tweedy!

 

How about Unwed Fathers?

That's a good 'un. 6 O'clock News gets me.

 

Really, the first time I heard a JT solo show it dawned on me that he'd probably listened to alot of Prine at some time.

[oceanman]

Really, the first time I heard a JT solo show it dawned on me that he'd probably listened to alot of Prine at some time.

Like anyone with any musical taste!

[sureshot]

Ride- Vapour Trail