1. |
The Native Tongue
04:48
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Lay me down on a rug
crooked and warm,
and I'll trade places with the air
outside the barn.
My lover in a past life,
Mrs. Me,
misses me
so she plans her funerals
around my dreams.
I believe in ghosts
and they believe in me.
We believe in most
of the things that we see.
So I put my medals up
and take the kettle down today.
My eyes sort of close
and the pain sort of goes away.
You know a name was as useless as the soil
in those days.
We tried to beat the rush
and it beat us half to death along the way.
Take your time
but leave your money with me.
You don't know me from Adam,
But I think we both know where to find me.
Sometimes I think my mind is hanging on,
dangling from my belt.
Like I know what I want to convey.
And then I worry,
When I learn the native tongue
will I speak up...
And not have a thing to say?
You know a name was as useless as the soil
in those days.
We tried to beat the rush
and it beat us half to death along the way.
Take your time
but leave your money with me.
You don't know me from Adam,
But I think we both know where to find me.
Keep your money,
But leave your land here with me...
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2. |
Lucille
03:29
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Lucille, you caught me in your garden
Tight shoes not fit for my feet.
Still you know
There ain't no use in calling
It's vines as far as I can see.
I climbed the branches of your apple tree
So many times you'd tell me what I'd see
If you sing rock-a-bye baby to me
I'll sing it back for free
It was a long way to Kentucky
Back in '65
Now the roads are just as mean
The cars won't let you drive but the gasoline
Doesn't cost you anything
Lucille, how does your garden grow?
And if I am a liar
Would you tell me so?
Would you bite me back
Would you leave your Bible
To me when you go?
(Chorus)
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3. |
Porcelain
04:08
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4. |
Living on the Fly
03:02
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If I'm staring at the moon
don't ask me what I'm doing.
Call it what you want,
but we'll both be crazy soon.
I'm standing in the driveway
of this place I used to sleep
and it doesn't look like anyone is home.
No it doesn't look like anybody's home.
There's something about an airport
that makes me feel unclean
and this living on the fly is getting old.
Take off and leave me
laying on the ground.
I've got half a mind
to do the same for you.
Never took so long
crawling home before
but I'll be damned if I am walking
to another empty door.
That bird keeps singing
to everyone but you.
Do let fly your rage, dear,
what sweet songs it brings.
Wretched with the truth,
and homesick, too.
Do let fly your rage, dear,
what sweet songs it brings.
Take off and leave me
laying on the ground.
I've got half a mind
to do the same for you.
Never took so long
crawling home before
but I'll be damned if I am walking
to another empty door.
She's got an animal.
She keeps it inside
where it's learned to belong
and she don't know why she cries
when it rains.
It never rains anymore,
It just shines until it pours.
Take off and leave me
laying on the ground.
I've got half a mind
to do the same for you.
Never took so long
crawling home before
but I'll be damned if I am walking
to another empty door.
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5. |
Eleven Bucks
04:03
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It came on like a dream.
A skinny girl getting clean.
Can't tell a friend from a thief.
I went alone, she was mean.
In the morning we both had gone astray.
There was something I forgot to say.
I'm walking home with or without you.
I wish your mom could see you now.
Eleven bucks to feel like you're human.
Take more than that to stop you now.
When the horses finally broke their reigns,
They had nowhere to run but back to me.
You wished this on me, that's for certain.
It hurt so bad to bite my tongue.
In the snow you dropped a dollar.
In seven miles it's the only green I know.
So we wrote a note to leave behind.
I can't remember what it said.
But something came out of nothing.
Ain't that the way with your pretty head?
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6. |
From a Pirate
02:27
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I know we've met before.
Your name is not the same,
your face isn't sure.
But we've had this very talk a long time ago.
You were a foster home
for the love of a child
unseasonably grown.
He carries on.
Carries all the weight the only way he knows.
How many times did you fall?
You were a fisherman,
While I, a pirate,
on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
Did you really go to those extremes?
Did you really lack the ways and means?
How many times did you fall?
Does it matter at all?
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7. |
||||
|
Lay me down on a rug
crooked and warm,
and I'll trade places with the air
outside the barn.
My lover in a past life,
Mrs. Me,
misses me
so she plans her funerals
around my dreams.
I believe in ghosts
and they believe in me.
We believe in most
of the things that we see.
So I put my medals up
and take the kettle down today.
My eyes sort of close
and the pain sort of goes away.
You know a name was as useless as the soil
in those days.
We tried to beat the rush
and it beat us half to death along the way.
Take your time
but leave your money with me.
You don't know me from Adam,
But I think we both know where to find me.
Sometimes I think my mind is hanging on,
dangling from my belt.
Like I know what I want to convey.
And then I worry,
When I learn the native tongue
will I speak up...
And not have a thing to say?
You know a name was as useless as the soil
in those days.
We tried to beat the rush
and it beat us half to death along the way.
Take your time
but leave your money with me.
You don't know me from Adam,
But I think we both know where to find me.
Keep your money,
But leave your land here with me...
|
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Spirit of '76 Birmingham, Alabama
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