1. |
Mud of 28
03:00
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MUD OF ‘28
The rain of ‘28 it poured for a month or more,
It left a stain right here on the old barn door,
And the field you been walking on it used to be all stones,
But the mud of ‘28 has turned it all to corn.
And the rain never stopped, it never stopped,
Down it came Oh Lord, the mud of ‘28.
They found two dead calves stuck in a tree,
And Mrs.Johnson’s furniture out in the street.
No-one ever knew what happened to that bridge,
Or the 4.15 that was crossing it,
Down it came, it poured and poured and poured,
No-one could know how much water fell that day
and left the mud of’28, the mud of ‘28.
When I was a boy I used to go down to the river,
And look at the barges creeping round the corner,
I never saw them up in the fields
But my grandaddy said there were barges
in the streets of our town
The mud of 28, the mud of 28.
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2. |
Horse's Head
02:18
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HORSE’S HEAD
I took a horse’s head and I dropped it down in black water,
Let her come back to me just like those shiny eels oughta,
When she went away I had nothing to say,
She looked just like Medusa on a bad, bad day.
Goin’ down around the bend x2
Horse head bend.
I came to her door with a broken heart,
She took me in and she bathed the scars,
After too many nights of whiskey,
I didn’t know what was to become of me.
Goin’ down around the bend x2
Horse head bend.
Now I know that the road is dark,
And covered in rain before I start,
The hills are covered deep in snow,
There’s nowhere to hide, nowhere to go.
Goin’ down around the bend,
Horse head bend.
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3. |
Bled Dry
03:30
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Bled Dry
Our hearts were always leaking
From the day we staggered through these doors
Like the engine of your old car
We were pouring love all over the floor
We never even saw it slip away
Until the night
We were both bled dry, bled dry
Well the night it all ended
We were going round in circles, the tank empty
We ran out of gas in the middle of town
I tried to get us some more but there was none around
I gave you everything and more
But your heart had been broken twice before
Now I hold it in my hand
All this love we had, so small..
it's bled dry, bled dry
Never even saw it slip away...
Bled dry, bled dry, bled dry
dry dry dry
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4. |
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JOHN CLARE'S DREAM
I've been walking these fields since the sun came up,
Don't know who I am, I am not gonna give up,
Well the corn is ripe, and it's about to fall,
There's no need to fight anymore,
Walk with me, walk with me,
In John Clare's dream.
Sky so blue, trees so green,
I watch the fish jumpin' in a clear blue stream,
I've been walking these fields since the sun came up,
I don't know which way I'm going in this world I love,
The nitrates are drifting, the pesticide is leaking,
They're spraying from the air, I feel I am choking,
Somewhere deep in the sap, somewhere on these leaves,
I can hear you breathing hard, can hear you scream,
Our wells are poisoned, the roots are bare,
There's blood on the landing-stage, how did it get there?
The sleet is biting now through the old beech trees,
We don't know if wer'e headed down a one way street.
Walk with me to the edge of this stream
In John Clare's dream.
Walk with me to the edge of the world.
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5. |
Last Glass Waltz
04:07
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LAST GLASS WALTZ
SOMETIMES I THINK OF ORDERING YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK
AS A SONG ON THE JUKEBOX REMINDS ME OF OUR LAST KISS I'VE LOST SO MANY YEARS SINCE I HELD YOU NEAR
HERE I STAND IN A BAR WITH AN EMPTY GLASS OF BEER
AND IT BRINGS ME DOWN, ALL THIS HANGING AROUND
ONE LAST GLASS, ONE LAST GLASS.
SOME PEOPLE SEE ME SMILING, SEE ME HAVING FUN
BUT INSIDE THIS HEART THE BLOOD IT NO LONGER RUNS
I JUST SPENT ANOTHER WINTER CHASING SHADOWS AGAIN CHASING AFTER SOMETHING THAT I'LL NEVER GET
SOMETHING KEEPS ME GOING, A BELIEF I SUPPOSE
THAT THIS WORLD IS BIG AND WIDE AND ONE DAY I WILL HOLD SOMEONE AS CLOSE AS I DID YOU IN THIS ROOM
BUT NOW MY GLASS IS EMPTY AND I'M HOLDING IT
INSTEAD OF YOU.
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6. |
Cold Off The Road
04:15
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COLD OFF THE ROAD
I WATCH MY LAST MATCH BURN AWAY
WATCH IT CURL UNTIL THERE IS NO FLAME
OUTSIDE THIS WINDOW THE PAVEMENT IS SO COLD
ITS COVERED OVER WITH TWO FEET OF SNOW
I DIDN'T REALISE THINGS COULD SPIN OUT OF REACH
JUST LIKE A TRUCK I'M LOSING MY GRIP IN THIS SLEET
I'M GONNA HEAD OFF THE ROAD
I'M GONNA DRINK MYSELF COLD, COLD,
COLD OFF THE ROAD.
MARY SAID WE HAD TO PAY BILLS WE COULDN'T AFFORD
SO I GRABBED MY COAT AND I DROVE INTO THIS WALL
NOW POLICE HEADLIGHTS LIGHT UP MY TRACKS
BUT I DON'T CARE I AIN'T NEVER GOING BACK
WHAT'S A REGULAR GUY TO DO IN THESE TIMES
ONE DAY YOU'RE ALL WRONG AND THE NEXT DAY YOU'RE ALL RIGHT
SEEMS LIKE ONLY A RICH MAN CAN AFFORD TO SEE THE LIGHT WHILE US POOR GUYS RUN AROUND LIKE BLIND DOGS IN THE NIGHT.
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7. |
Poisoned Water
03:37
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POISONED WATER
River leaking all over the road
Cant see the barns reflected in the water no
Ever since you been gone
The clouds been tearing themselves apart
Remember all the dreams we had
Baby theyre all poisoned water now
Theyre poisoned water.
I thought you would stay forever
But you had your eyes on brighter weather
Now the rivers are all flooded
Theres an empty space where your boat was tethered
How do two people start hurting each other
Until those words just start burning their skin
Its like love just cant help but leak away
And hate start contaminating everything we say
If I could walk with you now
Up and down through these empty fields
Id wash away all of your pain
But it cant wash away the stain
Of poisoned water
Poisoned water
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8. |
Rain Came Back
03:12
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RAIN CAME BACK
I lost my father last autumn,
Just as the river started to run,
There were leaves upon the water,
As we carried his body to the alter,
And the rain came back,
There was water in the muddy tracks,
And the rain came back.
Now the old barns are empty,
Wind's rattlin' through the trees,
I'm lookin' back at what might have been
Before things fell apart at the seams,
I'm diggin' a hole for the rotten apples,
The one's the frost turned black,
And I'm prayin' next year's crop
Can be brought in before the rains come back.
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9. |
River
04:41
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RIVER
When the words came tumbling out of your mouth today
Oh how I wished they would have floated away
But here I am alone beneath the gasworks wall
Carrying my broken heart in a cradle of straw
I walk down by the river and I cry, cry, cry.
Well it takes two to tango but only one to fall
Why didn't we see the writing on the wall
There were two many paper boats floating in the rain
Too many dreams that never would have been made
Look at my hands they're cut by your tears
Look at my eyes they're bloodshot with fear
Where did we go wrong, where did we collide
What made us ever think we'd ever survive?
I walk down by the river and I cry, cry, cry.
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10. |
Snow Came Down
03:30
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Snow Came Down
Me and my father on a bicycle on an open road
Me hiding deep down inside my father's coat
Riding up a black hill that is turning white
As the river below freezes over tonight
The night the snow came down
Leaving my granny at the kitchen door
There's a voice on the radio saying snow will fall
We leave that village and its burning lamps
We climb the hill as the sky turns black
That was the night my grandfather came home
through two fields of snow
Leaving the cattle breathing hard and low
The tractor seat was covered in ice
and the nettles were frozen over that night
That was the night the snow came down
without a sound
1963
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11. |
Troubled Sleep
04:26
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Troubled sleep
Smoke drifting from the factory
Wet cars cruising down wetter streets
A past like burnt lace in my hand
I don't pretend to understand
The only thing you've left to me
Troubled sleep
You came to far to ever return
With a tin-star and hearts to burn
You made demands that you couldn't meet
Now I shoot you down in my dreams
Fall on me when the snow gets deep
Call me if there's a fire on your street
But don't ask me for anything more
I ain't gonna forgive you at all
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12. |
Donati's Comet
03:58
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DONATI’S COMET
William Turner of Oxford is on his horse,
riding between fields and old barn doors.
Fields that should be blacker than a widow’s dress,
but tonight there’s a comet burning in the west.
The frost is building on the thatched walls as
William Turner picks up his pen and draws.
The light that falls from Donati’s Comet.
Well it’s the 5th of October 1858
and the cattle are restless behind the wicker gates.
There’s an owl swooping through the beech trees
as the comet light sparkles between the reeds.
William Turner is up on the Downs tethering his horse
and trying to map that comet’s course
but as he shields his eyes a tear falls
as he realises he’ll never catch it all.
The light that falls from Donati’s Comet.
Next morning he’s mixing gum and powder on a plate
and tracing that comet’s tail with a dark stain.
Thinking of all that light that flooded his eyes
and how he’ll never see its like again in his time.
Leaves are falling one by one into the Thames
and a stonemason hammers at a monument to the dead.
On his palette the blues and greens turn to black
and the chisel chips time into a dark sack.
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13. |
Dusty Trees
03:05
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DUSTY TREES
Hail in the ditches, ice on the tyres,
We gotta find another road out of here,
This way there's nothing but weeds and briars,
We're tangled up in a past we cannot clear,
Can't see nothing but dusty trees,
All around me, nothing but dusty trees.
There's no new crop in the far field,
There's no more walking through the harvest sheaves,
Our river's dead, nothing left to give,
A sunken barge is breaking up in the reeds,
Above the oily reeds,nothing but dusty trees,
All around me nothing but dusty trees.
Blood on your finger, a hook in your heart,
When you leave here you'll never look back,
Because you've lost your compass, lost the path
And the maps you bought are falling apart.
When the sun goes down you can feel the dark,
Pouring down through these dusty trees.
Por Ana Fortun Garrido
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14. |
Unamerican Way
03:54
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UNAMERICAN WAY
for Dashiell Hammett
Did you hear the guns a rattling out on the Kentucky hills
As mud spattered up from your prison truck's wheels
Did you smile every day as you washed the days away
Imprisoned for having nothing to say?
Did you dream in an un-American way?
Of diamonds and furs and long limousines in the rain
Is that the un-American way?
Now the Campsfield* wire fences are rattling in the wind
And there are stranger's faces pressed against the panes
What did they dream they'd find beyond the ghost of empire
Were they dreaming of a world of American stars and bars
Did they dream in an un-American way
Now the holy walls are dripping with the blood of men
As guns crackle like whips above their heads
And that prison truck is busy carrying away those who're caught
Dreaming in an un-American way of diamond rings and furs
*Campsfield Immigration Camp, Oxford was closed recently
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15. |
Trailer Trash Star
04:08
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TRAILER TRASH STAR
I got more dreams than a Hollywood starlet
Running around my head leaving me exhausted
I'm sitting here staring at the hills
From this trailer rocking in the wind
And you are crying 'cos you can't stand
Any more of my stupid plans
And you call me
A trailer trash star
Well I been brought up in the back of beyond
Watching the grey clouds burst on our backs
This ain't no tinsel town, this ain't luxury
Just the sound of people who can hardly breathe
Trailer trash star
Now there's just me in this dusty caravan
Watching the moon creep across the downs
I watch the refinery flame flicker all night long
Burns like my dreams then it is gone
Trailer trash star
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16. |
Shiny Water
00:50
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Shaun Belcher Nottingham, UK
If you’ve ever dreamt of Daniel Johnston doing an impression of Conor Oberst singing Jeff Tweedy songs,
then you must listen to this.
Bill Kerry III
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