1. |
Book Off the Shelf
03:26
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I'm tearing books off the shelf, I'm only trying to hold it together
I'm telling lies to myself, withstanding all kinds of weather
I see my friends all around, I know they won't be here forever
I gotta leave this town, fly on the wind like a feather
I'm telling lies to myself, you can't tell me it's nothing
I've got to dream for myself, it may or may not be something
There's so many distractions and actions, contractions and side effects
And the last one to ask for the answer has got up and left
I've got your book on my shelf, I ought to bring it back to you sometime
I've got a song that I wrote you back then, but today it ain't worth a dime
Don't let it worry you too much, some rules you can't make an exception to
I've got to leave this town
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2. |
Letter from Home
04:48
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Letter from home
Letter from home
I just couldn't stand another letter from home
You cannot reveal, you can't throw away
Things you have done, things you never did say
Break apart and come back together to form
Something different than you were before
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
I just couldn't stand another letter from home
You cannot run, you can't fool yourself
You cannot fool me when you're somebody else
Each time I find some other space
The past comes right back in my face
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
I just couldn't stand another letter from home
Sometimes your good intentions
Are like swallowing a fork and knife
You pour out your war upon my friends
Sometimes I find it hard to see the end
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
I just couldn't stand another letter from home
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
Letter from home (the wheels are turning 'round)
I just couldn't stand another letter from home
Letter from home
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3. |
Communication Blues
03:27
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I love you baby, why you gotta be so mean?
I love you baby, why you gotta be so mean?
Why you run away now, why you go where I can't see?
When she talks to her girlfriends, she talks to them all day long
When she talks to her girlfriends, she talks to them all day long
But when she comes home in the evening, she say
"Go back where you belong!"
When she talks to her girlfriends, I wonder what she talks about
When she talks to her girlfriends, I wonder what she talks about
But when I try to talk to her, ain't no sound come out her mouth
Well you know she's a lefty and she don't like Louisiana state
I say you know she's a lefty and she don't like Louisiana state
When I try to go see her, I never can get past the front gate
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4. |
Who Said That
04:50
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You've been staring at the floor too long now, say something that's real
But your words are so cheap, and you have no case for appeal
It's impossible to get through when words become your mask
Only you can recall the truth as we gaze at the museum glass
And I admit the journey is fantastic
But the fare is much too high
The moment someone turns their head
You crumple to the sky
You've only told a third of your story, try not to press your luck
Comrades fidget nervously when two thirds attempt to make a buck
If you look too closely, you can watch the humor leave their eyes
The deafening screams of mutation drown out the heaviest sighs
Concubines and traitors – you've known them all
Several times over on the rug
The creatures from your future appear
To turn away and shrug
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5. |
Mississippi Delta
03:39
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Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
When that muddy water come a-rollin' in
Ain't no right place to be in
Heard a knock upon my door
Mississippi River's come back for more
Mean old river took my bed
Whatcha gonna do? no place to lay my head
Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
When the muddy water start to rollin' in
Ain't no right place to be in
Standing on the corner of the avenue
Look 'round the bend, and it's you-know-who
Mean old river took my last buck
This old boy's done run out of luck
Standing on the hills at the edge of town
Mean old river's there chasing me down
Took my family, took my car
Mean old river's done taken it all
Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
Mississippi delta come a-rollin' in
When the muddy water come a-rollin' in
Ain't no right place to be in
When that muddy water come a-rollin' in
Ain't no right place to be in
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6. |
My Own Way Down
03:25
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What can I do to make you stay?
I cannot affect you in any way
What can I do? Yeah, it's all up to you
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
I want a girl who will pretend
I want a girl who will pretend
I want a girl who will pretend that we're not friends
Oh, I want a girl who will pretend
You took my dignity, you took my stamps
You took my dignity and all my stamps
You took all my pants and you left me there for dead
Did you think it was a joke when I said
What can I do to make you stay?
I cannot affect you in any way
What can I do? Yeah, it's all up to you
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
You stole memories of my childhood
You took anything well and good
Now you're in my face screaming "yours is no disgrace"
You can't fool Mother Nature with a pen
I've been through your entrapments and duress
The scene at Hangar 13 was a mess
I've been through indignations, trials and distress
I never thought I'd live to see the day
Don't it make you blue, so blue?
You done everything that you can do
And it's wrong, you know it's wrong
But I can't understand you, so I put you in a song
Don't it make you blue, so blue?
You done everything that you can do
And it's wrong, you know it's wrong
But I can't understand you, so I put you in a song
I call you for a quarter and a dime
But you can't keep your saxophone in line
Everybody says it's anybody's guess
Will they write "Hallelujah" on my grave?
What can I do to make you stay?
I cannot affect you in any way
What can I do? Yeah, it's all up to you
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
What can I do? Yeah, it's all up to you
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
Will you lead me to find my own way down?
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7. |
Quagmire
03:52
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Coaling
Flat tire on eighty-five
So cold we're barely alive
Buried
In the cemetery on the hill
Left the ampersands out of her will
Last week you told me it was getting hard
From dawn 'til done
They say it's a race but man, you don't have to run
Unchained
Thank you for the excuse
I've put it to good use
What time
Is the time to escape the doom?
Some say it's too late, others too soon
Yesterday you told me, "try to keep your head"
From dawn 'til done
They say it's a race but man, you don't have to run
Don't scream
No matter what you do
You just can't silence the depths of you
You call yourself my friend, well why'd you have to be so cold?
I shrugged, you won
Ain't no stopping it now there's nothing to be done
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8. |
At the Party
03:36
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Johnny come home late again last night
Baby wanna know why he took so long
He's got blood on his shoes, blood in his eyes
He says, "Baby I swear I ain't done nothin' wrong
Cuz you know, yes you know, I just been at the party
Yeah you know, yeah you know, I just been at the party"
Annie took the banner down and put it away
Hid it where she thought he wouldn't think to look
She said it was the neighbors must've had enough
They found her hanging high on a freezer hook
I don't know! I don't know, I was just at the party
I don't know! I don't know, I was just at the party
I don't know! I don't know, I was at the party
I don't know! I don't know, I was just at the party
What do you do when there's gum in your shoe
And you're left without a pulse?
How do you do when nothing you do
Resonates with anyone else?
Johnny's gotta go to New Orleans again
They took another one of his hero crooks
He says, "I gotta go and protect what's mine
Before they write me out of the history books!"
I don't know, I don't know – I missed out on the party
I don't know, I don't know – I missed out on the party
What do you do when there's gum in your shoe
And you're left without a pulse?
How do you do when nothing you do
Resonates with anyone else?
I don't know! I don't know, I was just at the party
I don't know! I don't know, I was at the party
I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!
I don't know! I don't know, I was at the party
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9. |
Nobody Needs You
03:28
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Take a walk downtown, you can see life carry on
She got tired of waiting on your sorry self, now she's gone
Cheap for such assistance, still you wait in line to see the show
Tell them that you'll see them all there but none of your friends go
Maybe try a new town
When nobody needs you around
Get yourself a day job, it's nobody's life but your own
You got yourself around, now you're out there drifting all alone
Maybe it's time for a new town
When nobody needs you around
And if I speak, it's not me
No it's not me you hear
It's someone else
And I don't like him all that much
You're still an empty page, gonna have to fill it on the fly
Maybe I'll lend a hand
Maybe we'll hide it in the sand
And maybe try a new town
'cause nobody needs us around
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10. |
2 Much 2 Do
04:06
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Daniel got delivered to the house down the street
By John the Revelator and half the British fleet
He walks into the room where it's started to sleet
The carpet's start to crawl, the walls are on the creep
Too much to do, too much to do, too much to do
Too much to do, too much to do, too much!
Everybody's making it, thirty-seven bottles of wine
Commander of the fleet, he wants to know the time
But Serenader's lost somewhere in Viet-nine
Won't make it 'til tomorrow, so she eats a bowl of slime
Too much to do, too much to do, too much to do
Too much to do, too much to do, too much!
Hocus Pocus, cannot focus, bicycle injury
Introduces himself to all present as Company T
Holly climbs up in the wall to avoid calamity
That's being leveled on Dan and John for digging up her tree
Too much to do, too much to do, too much to do
Too much to do, too much to do, too much!
By now Danny is freaking and pages the doc-on-call
Who has a million phone books strapped upon the wall
He comes crashing through the window like a wayward wrecking ball
But there's not much he can do for Dan, he's only two feet tall
Too much to do, too much to do, too much to do
Too much to do, too much to do, too much!
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Wade Hymel New Orleans, Louisiana
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