1. |
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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
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2. |
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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
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3. |
Go
04:23
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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?
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4. |
Purple Lies
06:14
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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?
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5. |
Goin' Back Home
04:44
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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
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6. |
Meet Me at the Station
05:21
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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!
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7. |
Disheveled Beauty
05:48
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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!
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8. |
Cold Lands of the North
07:00
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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
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9. |
Down to the Shore
06:19
|
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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
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10. |
Giddy Up Angel
04:44
|
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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…
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11. |
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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?
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12. |
Where the Wasteland Ends
07:30
|
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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
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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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