1. |
The Road I've Set Out On
06:55
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I'm doing very well is what I say when people ask
How I been today and how I've been doing in the past
But lord I've been so weary trying to make it in this world
My future's locked up in the snow and my soul's been bought and sold
I've been building myself off of things I'll never be
I have falsified and reconstructed my identity
Tried writing songs about the future with a hopeful twang
But they just don't sound like something I would say
And this house has just gone up in flames
I am grasping at straws for someone else to blame
But the sparks that others lit were not the start of this new dawn
This is just the road I've set out on
Uncertainty is my companion in this world of woe
I'm not sure where I'm headed but I got a ways to go
I've romanticized and idealized this rambling way of life
I'm too young to be this acquainted with mortality and strife
And I been playing shows to living rooms no more than ten strong
The railroad tracks that call to me don't go on for too long
I'm a drifter, I'm a grifter, I'm an outlaw with no foal
But I'm climbing out of this six-foot-deep hole
And this house has just gone up in flames
I am grasping at straws for someone else to blame
But the sparks that others lit were not the start of this new dawn
This is just the road I've set out on
I been torn apart and put together more times than I can count
I have followed paths that others made and they've led me to the ground
The lonesome wind that beckons me is like a siren's call
But there just might be more hidden in that song
And freedom might be loneliness with a prettier name
Oh won't somebody help me please find something new to say
Because I've been finding different ways to say the same three goddamn words
And I've just started ending with a hopeful verse
And this house has just gone up in flames
I am grasping at straws for someone else to blame
But the sparks that others lit were not the start of this new dawn
This is just the road I've set out on
I've got coal and steel all a-coursing through my blood
But I need to go somewhere that I can see the sun
There I'll write a happy song to sing and pay off all my debts
But that hopeful day just ain't here quite yet
And this house has just gone up in flames
I am grasping at straws for someone else to blame
But the sparks that others made were not the start of this new dawn
This is just the road I've set out on
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2. |
Barbie Doll Heart
03:47
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Take me back to that day
That we sat out in the pouring rain
On that broken halfpipe that I saw in the woods just the day before
Take me back to the conversation that we had
About Politics and for once we weren't sad
At least I hope that you were happy because I was happier than I would have been before
Lying on the floor
I wish I knew you better than I thought I did
Maybe now I can say I do because we're not those stupid kids we were back then
Back when I wished we were more than friends
And life likes to spin things around every now and again
So we're right back here
I remember something beautiful that night
When I saw that burning cop car reflecting off your bright blue eyes
And for a moment I wished I'd said it
Maybe it's better off this way I hope I don't regret it
But I know I will
But in this moment we're together and I don't want to kill the mood
With an awkward question that I know will never sound too good
Because this thunderstorm above us, soaking us right to the bone just feels so good
Just feels so good
Just feels so good
Just feels so good
Just feels so good
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3. |
Brownbirds
04:57
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A brick wall painted pink and blue all built around my chest
A hand that's sweating from the cold now placed upon your breast
A jewelry box of memories I keep underneath my clothes
It's bursting at the seams with memories that we both hold
So tell me what you thought we had and I'll tell you the same
With those words, we'll both have our own bags that we can take on our own ways
A love with lost connection that we knew could never last
Seeking out that pleasure that was only in the past
The brown birds have stopped singing and the lights have all gone out
We're dancing in a dark room speaking I don't know what about
The fireplace has been unplugged as light pours through the roof
And we both knew this was coming so did everyone we knew
So tell me on your travels did you ever speak of me
To those gambling with their souls and the broken heart ladies
I'll remember you as I ramble on my own
Whispering your name to the places where the paper flowers now won't grow
A piece of you was stuck in me and leaking down my side
Staining my skin with all the tears that you once cried
We can sit in circles passing back and forth the blame
Or say it feels good to throw our valentines into the flames
But I got lost in sorrow and my love just slipped away
I wish that I could reel it back but the knot had become frayed
So tell me on your travels did you ever speak of me
To those gambling with their souls and the broken heart ladies
I'll remember you as I ramble on my own
Whispering your name to the places where the paper flowers now won't grow
So tell me on your travels did you ever speak of me
To those gambling with their souls and the broken heart ladies
I'll remember you as I ramble on my own
Whispering your name to the places where the paper flowers now won't grow
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4. |
Next Time I See You
04:11
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Snickers bars turn into cigarettes
Nobody's quite sure what they wanna do yet
Maybe that's just me but I think it's you too babe
So slide a little closer, it's a frigid one out today
Counting halloween candy has turned into
Rolling up a spliff in your parents' living room
Got my cowboy hat on, repeater on my hip
But this time's a little different, now your blood's on my dry lips
So come on lay in my arms dear
And tell me what it is I'm doing here
Playing cat and mouse with the way we want to live
I don't know when the next time I'll see you is
Runnin' around with sticks in the backyard
Don't feel the same when your friends have all moved far away
But maybe now, maybe now you'll see
Something a little different in the branches of the trees
So hold on tight it's a long drive to go
Maybe it'll be over sooner than we hoped
So pour a little something into your juice box
Because now's the time you're finally gonna use those family talks
So come on lay in my arms dear
And tell me what it is I'm doing here
Playing cat and mouse with the way we want to live
I don't know when the next time I'll see you is
So come on lay in my arms dear
And tell me what it is I'm doing here
Playing cat and mouse with the way we want to live
I don't know when the next time I'll see you is
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5. |
Poca
05:43
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Hornets nesting in the holes in the yard
Watch the neighbor's horses pour some food for the dog
Down the driveway try not to fall into the stream
Cross the river back through Wheeling again
Down in Putnam county felt like living in a dream
Aunties frying up some cakes in the pan
Smoke is being twirled all around by the fan
There's chatter from the living room, the family I got
Climb up the mountain rifle on my back
Sweat pouring from my skin giving myself a laugh
And daddy's coming up with me to make sure I don't get shot
Hear momma's stories, taken to work with her pops
Coal Miners Daughter playing on the jukebox
I know that life here is often in lament
But I been longing for that simple existence
Back when I was but a young boy no worry of subsistence
But we ain't going back to Poca again
Up in the big house there were holes in the floor
All the termites in the boards ain't getting drunk anymore
Not since they torn it down and sold off all the scraps
This land is changing not the way that I'd hoped
I'm reminded of the days when I would come to this home
I'd play around with the bugs and dirt out in the back
Catchin crawdads down in the creek
Watch for the snakes that slither down by your feet
There are many more now than there ever was before
Found a pistol in the trunk by the couch
.380 caliber nobody knows it was found
It's time to head back out don't lock the door
Hear momma's stories, taken to work with her pops
Coal Miners Daughter playing on the jukebox
I know that life here is often in lament
But I been longing for that simple existence
Back when I was but a young boy no worry of subsistence
But we ain't going back to Poca again
Mom and pops are sitting back on the porch
Me and the cousins shoot some holes in the woods
There's food frying out back on that rusty grill
Running from the dogs that live down the street
Carry a big stick and knife and boots on your feet
Down here there ain't no use for a dollar bill
Last time I was there was moving furniture out
This trailer is empty and the day was a drought
The sun beating down and burning us up red
Sold the land off got a home in the south
Down by the water nothing to worry about
Reminding me this is all for the best
Hear momma's stories, taken to work with her pops
Coal Miners Daughter playing on the jukebox
I know that life here is often in lament
But I been longing for that simple existence
Back when I was but a young boy no worry of subsistence
But we ain't going back to Poca again
Oh no lord we ain't going back to Poca again
Oh no lord we ain't going back to Poca again
Oh no lord we ain't going back to Poca again
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6. |
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Way down in the holler where the goldfinch often sing
That's where we sat down by the creek back in my nineteenth spring
You had said I love you and I echoed back the same
But since we parted I been so low I can only see the rain
The world is burning all around and we watch it on our screens
Say I guess that's just how it be and take a breath of nicotine
Crying at a funeral that you did not attend
I'm losing hope of seeing fortune just beyond the bend
Out in the west where the wildflowers grew
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
I've been so damn lonesome I could probably cry
I swear that when the loon calls out I can hear a faint goodbye
So point out all the scars that have been left from words we've said
I'm so tired of losing sleep when I lay in my bed
Halfway-written songs and twenty-foot-tall halfpipe dreams
The chaos we pushed deep inside is slipping out through the seams
So I'll make love to my guitar and lie down in my pain
And I'll know it's time to leave this town when I hear that old freight train
Out in the west where the wildflowers grew
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
Out in the west where the wildflowers grew
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
Lord, I'm going where the sun is shining and the birds don't sing the blues
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7. |
What I Saw in Montana
11:16
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Lord I been wandering through dried up steel towns
Down the hill to the river where I feel I'm hell bound
If there ever was spirit guess I'm to blind to see
Unless those spirits, were drank or shot down by me
Oh the west texas highway where I wish that I was
Thats the closest to heaven where the coyote calls
And the men who I met there were no angels I knew
But then again I thought I saw an angel in you
Nursing a bottle smoke rolling from my lungs
At what step did I go wrong from the boy that I was
And the man I thought I'd be was a stranger to me
So what next evolution should I hope to see
Been meaning to read the bible or at least a summary
Because the people I follow all wear god on their sleeve
But I ain't going to church that's not a place I'm secure
but I'm so lost in trouble I guess that I can't be sure
Been looking for a feeling to replace what I got
What I saw in Montana maybe that's worth a shot
But even those times were fleeting soon to be overgrown
By my lonesome old blues that seem written in stone
Wish I could be a preacher wish I could speak to the skies
I wonder if Jesus sounds like just another guy
Because the Jesus I know he ain't the Lords chosen son
He's just some young wise man who left an answer and said run
So I'm staring at the ceiling hoping to stop the spin
I'm just so goddamn tired of the way that I been
And the work that I do seems to be written in sand
By the time I wake up it's a blank slate again
Wish the lord that I spoke of was more than metaphor
Maybe then I'd have purpose something to live for
But the world I observe seems to be a burning bridge
Bring me the hope back from when I was a kid
But I know I can't believe it even if I tried real hard
Because if the Lord he is real then he's showing his cards
If the Lord he is real he's a son of a bitch
Because if the Lord he is real then why did Lorenzo have to die like he did
On the day that my times up maybe I'll go up above
Am I bound for glory with whiskey in my cup
Or will I burn forever in the chaos of hell
Or is the true chaos the things we have felt
I shall not repent for the things that I've done
Without my misgivings who am I to become
So I'm headed for alaska when I get there I'll see
Because whatever God is that's the closest I'll be
Whatever God is guess I gotta wait and see
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