1. |
Picture Palace
04:58
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I can write my own ticket I’m sure of that
And if I’m wrong well then Alice I’ll eat my hat
I won’t always be working in a laundromat
Eating beans from a can
I’ve got a mail order course on the way
I’m gonna learn how to fix up old radios
Plan to put up a shop right on Main Street
And be my own man
Can I take you Alice
To the picture palace?
Can I hold your hand in the dark
And sit by your side?
Girl I’m destined for glory
If that helps you make up your mind
Well my father he’s taken his share of licks
Spent his days digging ditches and laying bricks
Every Saturday night goes and drinks himself sick
Staggers home at daybreak
But my mother she claims to have no regrets
Long as she’s got a nice television set
And a fresh pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes
There’s no burden too great
Can I take you Alice
To the picture palace?
Can I hold your hand in the dark
And sit by your side?
Girl I’m destined for glory
And I’m leaving my old life behind.
I’ll tell it straight — there’s no wind in our favor
But that’s not to say we won’t turn it round
If you won’t say a word cross your heart and swear
Then I’ll tell you a secret I’ve never shared
Truth be told Alice sometimes I’m awful scared
For what the future may hold
Can I take you Alice
To the picture palace?
Can I hold your hand in the dark
And sit by your side?
Girl I’m destined for glory
But it won’t be the overnight kind.
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2. |
The Spirit Moves Me
04:37
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Well Jim’s been punching holes in the wall again
With that rusty old hammer from the shed
He swears he can hear all around the house
The whispering voices of the dead
Meanwhile Patty’s not entirely impervious
But she knows better than to try and interfere
So she goes back to reading her horoscope
And finishing her fifth can of beer
And I don’t know why I’m still hanging around
This place is a dump, I hate the whole town
If I come off as crass you’ll have to excuse me
God as my witness it’s all gonna change
I’ve thrown away years on last minute arrangements
But I’m good as gone once the spirit moves me
And Jim is busy wrestling with a garden hose
A turning of the tap was all it took
And though I know he’d love to have an audience
The truth is I can’t bring myself to look
Meanwhile Patty’s casting runes on the kitchen floor
To find out if the moment’s opportune
She’s been mumbling about Mercury in retrograde
And the waxing and the waning of the moon
And I don’t know why I’m still hanging around
This place is a dump, I hate the whole town
If I come off as crass you’ll have to excuse me
God as my witness it’s all gonna change
I’ve thrown away years on last minute arrangements
But I’m good as gone once the spirit moves me
And Jim is tracking airplanes through a telescope
He blames them for this neverending drought
But he wouldn’t take the time to trace his reasoning
Saying “Sonny, do I have to spell it out?”
Meanwhile Patty’s doing a raindance on the trampoline
She learned it from a new age magazine
She’s been going at it for a couple hours now
Without a cloud on the horizon to be seen
And I don’t know why I’m still hanging around
This place is a dump, I hate the whole town
If I come off as crass you’ll have to excuse me
God as my witness it’s all gonna change
I’ve thrown away years on last minute arrangements
But I’m good as gone once the spirit moves me
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3. |
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Might be some out there
Can’t say who, can’t say where
Uncovered Eden with a lifetime to spare
Perfect hearts that never needed repair
But there’s no bright blinking sign
There’s no chart, there’s no guide
There’s no corner where the clever can hide
From this aching that we carry inside
Of all the possibilities
That could’ve been our lives
Who would’ve guessed we’d live to see such curious times?
And I never thought I would ever be
Just another old friend calling to see how you’ve been
Now we talk like we know
A thing or two about atonement
Not many ways this conversation can go
When the words we need come painfully slow
In our voices, a faint trace
Of remorse for the waste
Those glowing omens and the visions we chased
Linger like a bitter aftertaste
Of all the possibilities
That could’ve been our lives
Who would’ve guessed we’d live to see such curious times?
And I never thought I would ever be
Just another old friend calling to see how you’ve been
It’s no good playing with illusions best kept on a tight leash
It’s no good coveting conclusions that lie just beyond our reach
And of all the fools under the sun to flaunt the rules there’s not a one
Who ever found a way to make decayed love into what it once was
Of all the possibilities
That could’ve been our lives
Who would’ve guessed we’d live to see such curious times?
And I never thought I would ever be
Just another old friend calling to see how you’ve been
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4. |
Dig a Hole to China
04:01
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Something strange about this summer
Been going about my business every day
In a hazier state of mind than I would care to be
Emily, I’ve got myself into quite a bind
‘Cause there’s a sound I keep hearing
It’s nothing less than my life rushing by
I won’t lie, it's kept me up at night more times than I can count
No amount of wishful thinking ever drowns it out
Let’s dig a hole to China
Crack the dull night open wide
Come out blinking at the golden sun hung on the other side
Dig a hole to China
While the gawkers gather round
Make a list of every dream you got
We’ll go and chase them down
I hate my job, hate my apartment
But most of all I hate the way I run
Every Sunday to buy the Times and read of other lives
No surprise they always seem much better than my own
There’s got to be a bigger meaning
Underneath the pavement and the tar
In every particle floating on this dirty city air
I can barely see the blueprint, but I know it’s there
Let’s dig a hole to China
Crack the dull night open wide
Come out blinking at the golden sun hung on the other side
Dig a hole to China
While the gawkers gather round
Make a list of every dream you got
We’ll go and chase them down
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5. |
The Interim
03:06
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The future’s in the anteroom
She’s fond of playing hard to get
If anybody knows her mind
I haven’t come across them yet
I’ve got lots of plans
I’d like to put in motion presently
Some are lying at my feet
And some are looming over me
I’m tangled in time
Everything I’m hoping to find
Lies on a road choked with weeds and undone deeds
I’m not one to take up too much space
I’m not cheering with the crowd or running in the race
I’m not sticking out my neck or risking life and limb
I’m waylaid in the interim
Fate is like an inventory of
Every turn we ever took
Just think of all the angels busy
Scribbling in ledger books
I’ve been trying to clarify
This matter for a while now
Though it beggar your belief
I’m working quick as time and tide allow
I’m in one hell of a bind
Everything I’m hoping to find
Lies on a road lined with regrets and TV sets
I’m not one to give in to despair
I’m not cutting up my clothes or pulling out my hair
But kicking all I can and trying my best to swim
Feels like drowning in the interim
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6. |
Sounds About Right
03:40
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I’m a bastard son of the South
I lived there as a kid in Mississippi for a time
Ran around all day with a bluetick hound
Shooting BB guns at bottles and wandering aimless through the pines
In another life I never left that little town
Married a Baptist girl with freckles on her face
Driving ‘cross the county line to buy my liquor Friday night
There’s always room for doubt
But that sounds about right
I’m a Goldilocks hoping to find
That perfect bed to sleep in but they all turn out the same
Tried to leave my demons behind
But they cut for sign and caught me no sooner than I came
In another life I stuck around and faced them down
Bought a bungalow and earned a PhD
Writing some boring book about Lindbergh and his transatlantic flight
There’s always room for doubt
But that sounds about right
I’m a mystic cursed with a cynic’s heart
I pray like John Chrysostom but I curse like Charlie Sheen
Living’s not a science, it’s an art
With no umbrella in this shitstorm sure is hard to come out clean
In another life I gave up this electric world
To live alone and sleep inside a mountain cave
Making soup from wild grass and sipping tea by candlelight
There’s always room for doubt
But that sounds about right
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7. |
Thick As Thieves
03:48
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Holed up while the summer held us hostage
Whole days listening to Lester Young
Hanging out in the dusty shadows
Shaking our fists at the blazing sun
Letting me spout off my crazy pipe dreams
Well aware they never stood a chance
Like when I told you we’d run off to Europe
Make our living playing jazz in France
Wondering where the action’s at, wandering like two mice in a maze
Hopping over fences and stealing down the dark alleyways
Thick as thieves
Running round spending pocket change
Trying to bide our time
Holding out for a change of pace
Full of plans and grand designs
Heading west with the sunlight in our eyes
Thick as thieves
Running round spending pocket change
Building fires in the fallow backyard
Burning charcoal and cheap guitars
Thumbing vinyl on the record store racks
Wrecking wheelchairs and crashing cars
Stranded in suburbia, strolling down the same avenue
Standing on the curb we a couple kids with nothing to do
Thick as thieves
Running round spending pocket change
Trying to bide our time
Holding out for a change of pace
Full of plans and grand designs
Heading west with the sunlight in our eyes
Thick as thieves
Running round spending pocket change
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8. |
Come Down Elijah
03:52
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Come down Elijah to my living room
Warm up your feet by the fire
If you tire of the heavenly fold
You know there’s a place for you here
Doze in the shade of the juniper trees
Wander the green fields of corn
You were born to live in this land
Where the dust devils dance on the plain
Come down Elijah
That mountain must get pretty cold
Come down Elijah
Let heaven look after their own
Be still Elijah and know there’s no sense
In pleading with God for a word
Rest assured the answer you seek
Is not where you think it lies hid
Wrestle with angels but mind you don’t roll
Right off the edge of a cliff
What’s the difference between a brushfire
And that burning bush that you tend?
Come down Elijah
That mountain must get pretty cold
Come down Elijah
Let heaven look after their own
Come down Elijah to my living room
Warm up your feet by the fire
If you tire of the heavenly fold
You know there’s a place for you here
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9. |
Dear Uri Gellar
02:35
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Dear Uri Gellar
I hope this letter finds you well
You don’t know me from Adam
But I’ve got some things I’d like to tell you about myself
I’m like a hologram
A hollow version of the person they all think I am
But if I could bend a spoon or two
I’ll tell you just what I would do
I’d go to the office
And pick up my last paycheck
Finally tell my boss to shove it
After twenty long years at his beck and call
Then I would pack my bags
Drive straight to Vegas where I’d promptly trade these tattered rags
For a bow tie and a velvet suit
And English winklepicker boots
But what can I tell you that you don’t already know?
You made the world your EtchaSketch
Throw me a bone, I’ll gladly fetch
I’m always asking “what’s the point of life if not to live?”
And Uri something’s got to give
Yes Uri something’s got to give
So would you consider
Revealing it all to me?
If I was your disciple
I’d defend your methodology to the last
I’d follow faithfully
And don’t you worry Uri sir your secret’s safe with me
Yours sincerely, Donnie Fry
P.S. I await your reply
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10. |
The Doorman
02:57
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I open the door for many a lady and gentleman
Knowing full well they’ll never do the same for me
The hours are long and most never give me a word of thanks
But lucky for me I take to it naturally
Some people wonder if I make a bit of difference
Claiming that my work’s not all it’s cracked up to be but
Don’t you know deep in your heart
Do away with the doorman, it all falls apart
I’m out of the sheets and onto the street at the crack of dawn
Always the first to bid you good morning ma’am
And I wouldn’t dare to bore you with talk of my aching feet
Others may do but that’s not the man I am
Some people wonder if I make a bit of difference
Claiming that my work’s not all it’s cracked up to be but
Don’t you know deep in your heart
Do away with the doorman, it all falls apart
Pardon me a moment while I flag a taxicab down
Anything you need day or night you know where I can be found
Here at my post I watch all the lovers parading by
Most of them young with all of their life ahead
Me, I live alone and when I get home all the lights are off
No food in the fridge no kids and no wife in bed
Sometimes I wonder if I make a bit of difference
Hate to say my life’s not all it’s cracked up to be but
Though it sure isn’t a lot
Being the doorman is all that I got.
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11. |
Requiem For Johnny Reed
05:49
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Johnny Reed was a bully
He rode around all day
On a moped
Looking tough and mean
You could hear Johnny coming
From a mile away
And he always stank
Of dirty gasoline
Funny the things that suddenly cross your mind
Johnny ran with the meth heads
They would sit and talk
Smoking cigarettes
Behind the Circle K
And he once beat the living shit
Out of this big jock
In the parking lot
For calling him gay
Funny the things that suddenly cross your mind
Johnny Reed went and hung himself
From a backyard tree
In the ninth grade
And we couldn’t believe
We were young and oblivious
And his memory
Slipped away as quick
As water through a sieve
Funny the things that suddenly cross your mind
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Son Canciones Barcelona, Spain
Quiet songs for restless souls since 2014.
Son Canciones is an independent record label from Barcelona.
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