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Where the Wasteland Ends

by Poor Player

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a cool gatefold digipak, with artwork by Marcus Concernicus. Two bonus tracks with the download--a full length unexpurgated version of 'Disheveled Beauty' and a track by our favorite Canadian songwriter.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Where the Wasteland Ends via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
Just a Flapjack Shack on the side of the road A waitress counting tips feeling gypped what she was owed A guy behind the counter with his heart on overload A-eyeing that pie, about to explode She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) Then she’s gone—out on the run Gone—ain’t nowhere to go Gone—and honey where’s your tail? She got the finest sass the south side of the line Ya pinch her and she punch ya says, ‘I ain’t that kind!’ She’s been slinging that grease with her eyes all the time But honey the motor's running and we’re running outta time She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) Then she’s gone—out on the run Gone—ain’t nowhere to go Gone—and honey where’s your tail? Well we’re gonna find our way outta here one of these days We’re gonna find our way outta here one of these days We’re gonna find our way outta here one of these days I’m heading on a bet out to Cali-forn-I-A Just an all-night trucker in a fly by night trade She’s been stashing all her tips for some rainy day Well let’s spank that piggy bank hey whaddya say? She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) She says she’s gonna leave me (but ya know I don’t believe her) Then she’s gone—out on the run Gone—ain’t nowhere to go Gone—and honey there’s your tale
2.
Bring home that river?  I am about to lose my mind Bring home that river?  But what might your microscope find? The A,B,C's of thievery? The 1,2,3's of fake democracy? 4, 5, 6 of slick takeover schemes? A disaster capitalist’s messed up wet dream? Bring home that river? City gone broke by design, Bring home that river? The powerless pinned to a contrived bottom line The city is famed for a sit down strike Citizens who stood up were told take a hike Poor folks can drink from poisoned pipes Cost cutting solution’s coming down the pipe! Bring home that river? From the tap, mess up a child’s mind Bring home that river? Keep swallowing it confuse you for life The governor’s name rhymes with spider Inner city mother—his lackeys deride her But the PR fog ain’t hard to decipher Skin color still can sentence you for life Bring home that river?  Send bottled water to the Great Lake State Bring home that river? What’s the tax on damnation man made? When big business swings its family jewels Their game is to treat people just like tools For public plunder investors privately drool For their pound of flesh, ain’t no cut too cruel Bring home that river?  City father’s pants are on fire Bring home that river?  Mighty white of you to apologize I hereby declare an emergency ‘Fore they install another puppet to count beans Bend the law of the land to its knee A blue chip coup to steal the country from you and me! Bring home that river,  what did your microscope find? By whom shall we be delivered? By our own hands, that’s the image magnifying
3.
Go 04:23
If you wanna go then you better begin— If you got the time or the heart well you better give it If you wanna go Then you better go Yeah you better go Cuz if you got to know then you better begin— If you gotta find your love then you better do it If you gotta know Then you better go Yeah you better go I’m talking right now! Or don’t you know how? Yeah, I’m talking right now! Or don’t you know how? Well? If you wanna go then you better begin— If you got the time or the heart well you better give it If you wanna go Then you better go Yeah you better go Cuz if you’ve got to know then you better begin— If you got to find your love then you better do it If you got to know Then you better go Yeah you gotta go I’m talking right now! Or don’t you know how? Yeah, I’m talking right now! Or don’t you know how? Well?
4.
Purple Lies 06:14
Well throw down your gauntlet--I’m already haunted Ya can read them lines in my face It was me you taunted meanwhile you flaunted Your private parts all over the place I’m goin through withdrawal, been readin up on old St. Paul Have you been all things to all people? But we must reject the law—there's gotta be something more to this all Weren’t we supposed to meet beneath a steeple?— And i seen through your purple lies I remember every word ya said I’m the one knockin on your door I’m the one fallin cross your bed Yeah i breathed in your perfumed sighs Memorized your lipstick red And the words you wrote on the mirror On the day first day we met Oh so bewildered--livin in this here world But the doc says that i just got to take it Weren’t you my shepherd? How I hung on your every word— Ya said love--there's so many ways to make it But something so wayward obviously wasn't made for this world But tell me how, honey you could shake it? And I seen through your purple lies I never got them outta my head I’m the one knockin on your door I’m the one fallin cross your bed Yeah I breathed in your perfumed sighs Memorized your lipstick red And the words you wrote on the mirror On the day first day we met Something so familiar—funny how it can kill ya Like the jewels that dangle from your ear lobes They say the seas are risin—and they shall swallow up the horizon And one day engulf the entire globe But pardon me, Miss Caesar--do my eyes now deceive me? Or have you just shed your storied robes? Cuz I seen through your purple lies Never got them outta my head I’m the one knockin on your door I’m the one fallin cross your bed Yeah I breathed in your perfumed sighs Memorized your lipstick red And the words you wrote on the mirror On the day first day we met I’m still fiending for your purple lies And your Molotov mother-o-pearl Are you still my little girl?  
5.
In the days of my life I wandered far and wide  In my nights full of dreams I dreamed of loves passed by In my blue-eyed solitude I come by a few tunes Full of lonesome longing ya hum to the rise of the moon The only road I know is goin back home Trampin down railroad tracks a-glimmer with the curve of the earth The sun's shiny shimmer my only coin of worth  Across rivers and valleys the wander winding way Singing to myself in the dewy dawn of day The only road I know is goin back home The sorrows of the city ya escape with a hobo heart Outwitting authority is a free man's favorite art Stretched out on bedroll ‘neath the wide starry sky Wondering to myself once again— why oh why? The only road I know is goin back home These things you fear that you're runnin from When you laugh at the night and you beat your drum You say so long, you say so long— You say tomorrow—  The crickets and creatures my only company A lone hawk circling keeps his eyes on me In a silver mountain lake I swim till high noon The creaking of the pines crying a mournful tune The only road I know is goin back home On a treacherous trail on a spiny rocky ridge My boot heels slipping across a wet waterfall bridge Atop a crazy crag I gaze cross all creation The wind in my ear whispers an ancient radio station  The only road I know is goin back home
6.
Well I caught you sneakin peeks, don’t ya know? As we were rollin along down that big road Through them big old hills of west Mississippi round sundown Now I wonder where you are and how you’re getting on Ya know I been driven half outta my mind Just thinking that there’s something I’m supposed to find I guess I really wouldn’t mind If maybe we could catch up down the line Who taught you to take things nice and slow? As ya wander through this world its one big window But now I wonder as I look in the looking glass If I ever held a thing that could last before it passed Ya know I been driven half outta my mind Just thinking that there’s something I’m supposed to find I guess I really wouldn’t mind If maybe we could catch up down the line So won’t you meet me at the station You can recognize me by my frustration Well it ain’t no sin to confess your elation If you can feel easy with what you have And haven’t done (as you’re rolling on) A doo doo doo! By Lake Pontchartrain they pulled us to the side of the road I said, Officer, what am I being stopped for? He said, Ya ought to know By that big oil spill gone mad round sundown And I feel that gulf within and I wonder if it’ll ever be gone Ya know I been driving half of my life Just thinking that there’s something I’m supposed to find I guess I really wouldn’t mind If maybe we could catch up down the line So won’t you meet me at the station You can recognize me by my frustration Well it ain’t no sin to confess your elation If you can feel easy with what you have And haven’t done (as you’re rolling on) A doo doo doo! So won’t you meet me at the station We can both fuel up for our own destinations Everyone’s going solo across all creation Someday baby maybe we’ll get there— Then keep going on and on and on Keep a-rolling on—a doo doo doo!  
7.
Your disheveled beauty/has known no dishrags/but your dirty heart/has taken too many drags The frostbitten banker/who made bad loans/he financed this atmosphere/rent to own That pseudo-psycho/pierced through and through/with his bad boy tattoos got ya/to say ‘I do.’ You’re gonna make all the walls fall with your heartbeat You’re going to rid this world of its ancient shame And the sinner at the center of the universe He’ll feel like he’s free—when he finds a system to game! But your disheveled beauty/has shown it to be true/how our biggest walls/are built out of the blue The magnetic striptease/that brought ya to your knees/also brought me to mine/ then they tacked on them fees The angelic bachelorette/sucking on that straw/she heard the jungle roar/ yeah she’s coming to get ya! She’s gonna make all the walls fall with her heartbeat She’s going to rid this world of its ancient shame And the swinger at the center of the universe She’ll feel like she’s free—when the crowd calls out her name! But your disheveled beauty/how long can this go on?/ When ya said forever / you did not mention a lifetime prescription The undergrad on a platter/named John the Baptist/lost his head to Miss Salomé/ yeah, she’s a real capitalist You can trust the old dish dog/ to give it to ya true/I’ve studied the drains/I seen the dirty proof We’re gonna make all the walls fall with our heartbeat We’re going to rid this world of its ancient shame And the singer at the center of the universe He’ll feel like he’s free—when his tongue takes aim! We’re gonna make all the veils fall when our hearts see We’re going to rid this world of its ancient chains And the sinner at the center of the universe He’ll realize he’s free—on his knees in the rain!
8.
Ho-ye-hi, hi-ye-ho –  I was known as the Eskimo From the cold lands of the north Rattle and fink, fink and fum I stuck out my dirty thumb For the cold lands of the north  Doomsday plume, god awful grim I was full of vigor and vim In the cold, cold, cold lands of the north Deep deep down, the raw black gold  And dirty horrid riches untold In the cold lands of the north Drill baby drill, dark and deep  We’ll make love on top of bone heaps In the cold lands of the north Rattle and roar rotgut rhyme  We'll lay that pipe till the end of time  In the cold, cold, cold lands of the north The North lands await With destiny—we’ve got a date Ho-ye-hi, hi-ye-ho -  We'll melt the homes of the Eskimo In the cold lands of the north Fill your cup, drink it down On each man's head a crooked crown In the the cold lands of the north  Tell ‘em what to think—keep them dumb! All night drinking from a 50 gallon drum In the cold, cold, cold lands of the north Dinosaur bones buried in dream The pustules of great industry! In the the cold lands of the north  We’ll gut the tundra with a grizzly gash And lay up a mighty wad of cash In the the cold lands of the north We'll frick and frack and shock that shale  Like old Ahab chased the white whale In the cold, cold, cold lands of the north The North lands await With destiny—we’ve got a date Ho-ye-hi, hi-ye-ho -  We'll ride home on that great ice flow From the cold lands of the north From the cold lands of the north From the cold, cold, cold lands no more
9.
Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore And I can see that you lost your way Yes I can see that you lost your way But there’s really not a thing that I can say…. ‘Cept I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Well pack up your bags and take a trip to the sea Yeah pack up your bags—whatever that means I can taste the blood on your trail Yes I can taste the blood on your trail Makes me wanna let out a hound dog wail! So I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore I didn’t come to dance but to see the shore I didn’t come to dance but to see what you know And I can see that you move so free Yes I can see that you move so free Cuz you’ve opened my two blind eyes to see! So I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Well here come that bee—I feel the buzz of the wing Yes here come that bee—you’re gonna feel its sting And I can feel the sting goin’ slowly in Yes I can feel the sting goin’ slowly in And I feel my eyes are goin’ blind again! So I’m goin’ to go down to the shore Yes I’m goin’ to go down to the shore
10.
I’ve seen you before and I know your face You knocked at the door and came to take my place And I’ve been round the block and I’ve heard the talk But I’ve never been taken— So far away… Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please take me up— So far away… I’ve seen you before though I don’t know your face You laughed like a child and sped me off through space And I’ve been on the block and I’ve heard them talk But I’ve never been taken— So far away… Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please giddy-up Giddy-up angel, please take me up— So far away…
11.
Bring home that river! I am about to lose my mind Bring home that river! What can your divining rod divine? The fat man's debt must be socialized Country's resources privatized Plastic people idolized I can’t take no more of the lies Bring home that river! Tate hikes sky high Bring home that river! My pipes are bone dry But downtown is a playground Where ballgame drunks can parade around With a fake beach and canned sound And a D T-shirt acting so proud Bring home that river! From the tap, purified Bring home that river! People's water, yours and mine Gonna fill me up a big pickle jar From the mayor’s own backyard With the big companies they don't play hard But on you and me it's all out war Bring home that river! More than enough for you and I Bring home that river! So full of blue I gone blind The city is named for its Straits But here is how that translates: While their bought buddies bankrupt the states The big predators they just lie in wait Bring home that river! She got to draw a bath, my old wife Bring home that river! We worked here our whole life The army slaughtered the buffalo So the Plains Sioux had food no more A reservation only place left to go I own this home but my city don't want me no more Bring home that river! I am about to lose my mind Bring home that river! What did your divining rod divine?
12.
One more check/then my friend your ninety-nine are up Buy a nice steak/ cook it well and feed half to your pup On this journey /there’s more to measure than just what you’re earning You know well/it’s this old road again that you’re learning Burning rubber, always in trouble But you leave a sign/for the next guy to find Old home, your foundation written into the rock Upon your walls the generations’ growth measured in pencil marks Somehow I lost you seduced by the nonstop talk Where’s a teacher to send me up to the blackboard and figure this all out with chalk? That that can be erased, and if broke, replaced Till I find an answer that’s true Upward and over the hill Turned down and run round the mill Wasted away at the end of our thrills But still you contend To go where the wasteland ends Old soldier, your boot heels blue as the desert sky And your heart—fearless, faithful, never once questioned why Your commanders—acclaimed to be the brightest and best Still it was you/they sent out to the desert and put to the final test With no rest—but blessed You come home and now you’re out on the street Old man sitting high up on yonder hill The land beyond you could gaze forever and never get your fill All cracked apart/ gone mad with your constant commandment The way is barred /don’t waste another minute Wondering where it all went Repent—your gold is gone with whatever it meant But your people keep rambling on Upward and over the hill Turned down and run round the mill Wasted away at the end of our thrills But still you contend To go where the wasteland ends My people/ we have triumphed over space and time In our hurry/ ennobled the race in the race to leave this place behind Yes it appears/ with our elaborate maps we’ve tapped into the universal mind But we’re still trying/ to each be free but all get along fine And not lose our mind/ over each other Father and mother/ sister and brother/ you and me Upward and over the hill Turned down and run round the mill Wasted away at the end of our thrills But still you contend To go where the wasteland ends

credits

released April 19, 2019

Matt Fredericks - vocals & acoustic guitar
Brian Simon - Electric guitar, mandolin, background vox
Fred Vitale - piano, organ, accordion, background vox
Mark Biermann - Bass, background vox
Stu Tucker - Drums, hand-percussion

Emily Slomovits - Violin 4, 11
Dave Roof - electric guitar 10

Songs written by Matt Fredericks
Recorded at Rooftop Studios
Produced & Mixed by Dave Roof & Matt Fredericks
Mastered by Jim Kissling
Cover Art - Marcus Concernicus
Graphic Design - Matt Balcer

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Poor Player Detroit, Michigan

Motor City folk rock Americana born of beverages, Poor Player takes to the stage with a hopped up grab bag of American riddles and laments. Saluting the guy flying a sign beside the highway exit, zigzagging through the post-industrial prairie, Poor Player is all about finding the roots beneath the rubble, the green beneath the ruin, the folk in the f*d up, & the beauty in the city gone to seed. ... more

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