1. |
Raw Wood
03:17
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Raw Wood
one day the paint will be stripped right off
your pretty veneer and you can bet for sure
raw wood never looked so good
day the pain will pass on from me to you
it will then be clear if it's really true:
I've moved on
I set up camp in the woods
where the trail falls off for good
I set up in wildcat camp
just me and the owls and the bats
in the deep dark woods
alone with my fears
under the jackpine
the sky was galvanized
my house is a mess, the kind you keep
when you don't have guests, once day I'll fix it right
because raw wood never looked so good
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2. |
Harlequin Press
03:26
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Harlequin Press
at the harlequin press I met a girl in a blue wool dress
her manuscript in hand
confused and unprepared, I offered to help
I know an editor here, I know him well
she gave me her proof and I took it home
it was a promising, total mess
I helped her submit, we cut there and added this
I quickly fell in love
my friend rejected it outright, not enough sex and too much talking
right then she cut me off
a year had passed, she showed up at my door
she rewrote the book and handed it over
she replaced the songbirds with pornographers,
the love scenes with brutal murders
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3. |
Song For Dana Lok
02:20
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Song for Dana Lok
the red band stretches out
across the farallones dagger beach
bay windows with victorian glass
and power lines that carried the telegraph
I taste salt on my tongue, I will stay strong
I will not be undone
the sound of the Alemany market
is future sound
and I sighed in relief when bitter greens
dropped to a dollar a pound
and night dropped the floor
and opened up a small wooden door
I taste salt on my tongue
I will not be undone
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4. |
How The West Was Won
03:47
|
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How the West Was Won
the hand that cut this barley, I’d like to know
the pale blue lips that blew the life into this stereo
oh I’d like to know
oh I’d like to know
don’t it feel good
to be understood tonight
you asked me when’s the last time I stared into
your sharp black jeweled eyes,
even then you knew we were through
I didn’t know I didn’t know
then you got up to go
don’t it feel good
don’t it feel right
don’t it feel good
to be understood tonight
do you know how the west was won?
I fixed my speed in the middle lane, turned on the radio
they played that missing take of "jailbreak"
they had to know
don’t it feel good
don’t it feel right
don’t it feel good
to be understood tonight
|
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5. |
Interlude #1
02:11
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6. |
Song For David Berman
04:53
|
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Song for David Berman
they closed the road to laramie
slowly it came rain then snow then ice
I killed my engine and paced outside,
out in the soft gray light
no turning back
I called my doctor on his cell
the call went straight to voicemail
I thought of you
when I was stung by a scorpion
you crushed up some tobacco leaf for me
pulled out from your red man pouch
the sioux had taught you all you knew
I do believe it's true
they cut you down with a single shell
a Winchester "double l"
your switchblade fell and caught the light
massacres are disguised as battles all the time
I do believe it's true
|
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7. |
Damage Control
04:21
|
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Damage Control
I remember when we first met
on the great salt lake
who was I to say no?
o let me go
I remember when it first came on
like every other asshole I bought a guitar
o let me go
the snack bar was closed, they left the radio on
the AM band was made for you and me
hold my hand
o let me go
songs of the free meant so much to me
on the Great Salt Lake
the faint light fades and my ears rang out
o let me go
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8. |
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9. |
Gaslight
02:45
|
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Gaslight
I drank deep from the cup
I drank for all of us
turn on the gaslight and strike up the band
I woke tangled up
in razor wired chain-link fence
and it tears the anaheim fairgrounds
from my future tense
turn on the gaslight and strike up the band
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10. |
Sleep It Off
02:43
|
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Sleep It Off
you were gone a long time
I followed you dear all of those years
now that you're back, it's complicated
sleep it off, sleep it off
songs from memory I survived
your blue wool skirt, your hooded eyes
I slept in cairns and split and Anaheim
I stripped the gears of your dad's Mark V
and knelt in the shadows of the RCA building
sleep it off, sleep it off
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11. |
Sonogram
02:24
|
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Sonogram
a heartbeat on a gray screen
on and on and on and on it goes
the blood flows
it's not my blood
everyone knows
on and on and on and on it goes
the blood flows
|
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12. |
North Coast Rep
04:04
|
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North Coast Rep
in the last known photograph
of you and me sprawled on the grass
you looked off frame
you were through with this stupid play
you looked off frame
I didn't recognize the boy I once knew
lost Sonoma hills
matched perspective with my silver stills
we followed the old mule trail
to mining camps and dried blood red shale
you should stay
you're just going to leave this place anyway
you should know by now
you're going to ruin the show
you're the last friend I have
among the crew and cast and staff
they'll replace you with an unknown hack
you're the last the friend I have
you looked off frame
towards the east
but the traitorous beast will never speak your name
you looked off frame
I saw you harden with ambition
you should stay
you're just going to blow this place anyway
you should know by now
you're going to ruin the show
|
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13. |
Interlude #2
00:47
|
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