1. |
Weald and the Wild
02:48
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Away down a path that's long since been gone
A boy there I see full of wonder and song
New worlds unveiled to the eyes of a child
How I long to return to the weald and the wild
A place in my mind that I often recall
Through the hustle and the stir relies hung on the wall
Taking me back to when life was a dream
How I long to return to that lazy old stream
A clearing in my soul that is free from all dark
It haunts me and guides me no matter how far
I might stray from your beauty but I won't stray for good
How I long to return to the shade of the woods
Take me away
I've been gone for so long and I must not delay
Take me away
Now lost here I stand on the path I have chose
Embittered by the world around from which the darkness grows
Existing only for a while I haven't long to stay
How I long to return to my home far away
Yes free is the land that is unmarred by man
Lost are the sounds that are too afraid to stand
I'll pack up my rucksack I'll head for the hills
How I long to return to the calm and the still
How I long to return to my home in the hills
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2. |
Migrants Lament
02:41
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I don't want to look up in the sky and see no dark clouds rising
I don't want to look in met darling's face and see her blue eyes crying
But I don't mind to work all day out in the bright sun shining
I'm always looking for a job to do and hope for a silver lining
I'm working I'm working trying to draw a little pay
I'm working I'm working gonna get on the road someday
When I came around I was looking for work and I heard that folks were hiring
So I took me a job on an assembly line and I began conspiring
I'll take my pay and put it away because it ain't too much they're giving
I'll set up a tent at the county line in the woods where no one's living
And I'll live off the land until the season's though and I'll write to my darling
I'm coming home with pockets full six months since we last parted
And we'll pack my trunk with all out junk go wherever we please dear
Off we'll ride side by side and never come back near here
In a couple of days I'm gonna leave this place there's talk of work out west
I know I said I'm coming home soon but I think it's for the best
Someday I'll get you out of that town I'm saving every dime babe
But for now I'm gonna sing this song and write you another line babe
I'm working I'm working trying to draw a little pay
I'm working I'm working gonna get on the road someay
Gonna get on the good road, someday
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3. |
Like a Hole in My Head
04:06
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Come creeping around the corner
Come crashing through the gate
And don't wake the baby when you're in this awful state
I'll meet you at ten thirty but you know I may be late
And I'm tired of living this a-way
Reminders to my living
While I'm sleeping in my clothes
With these rings on my fingers and these tags upon my toes
I'll write your name upon my arm a keepsake through the throes
And I know just bite down and let it go
Like a hole in my head like a ship out on the sea
I'm tied to the anchor no ones coming back for me
And I know I must remember with all the strength I have
To see through the sorrow the lonesome and the sad
All this time wasted up should be loving you instead
And I need this shit like a hole in my head
So many years spent running
So many steps through hell
So many times forgotten but that might be just as well
The lady in the lighthouse calling to this brittle shell
So I bid kindly bid you fare thee well
So here's to love and freedom
So here's to honest pay
And here's to hope rejoicing when we find out final day
And here's to friends and family who's memories remain
Safely home on that westbound city train
This weary weathered heart now
Never wanted to hurt you
Saint Max don't forget me
I wouldn't blame you wouldn't blame you if you do
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4. |
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Oh the word from down river has come
There's a fire burning bright as the sun
And the embers float high like the stars in the sky
Oh you neighbors and friends gather round gather round
For the old general store's burning down
There were many a sad heavy heart
As the snow swirled around in the dark
Such a sad wretched sight in the old town tonight
Oh you neighbors and friends gather round gather round
For the old general store's burning down
She'd the heart of a sycamore tree
Sang the song of the river so free
She'd a memory as long as a long heron's song
Oh you neighbors and friends gather round gather round
For the old general store's burning down
We remember the old meeting place
And the warmth of her loving embrace
And though far I may roam it still feels I've come home
Oh you neighbors and friends gather round gather round
For the old general store's burning down
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5. |
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Reckless greed vanishing the green
Can't drink the water from these streams
Pushed to far past the point of no returning
The deed is done now her kingdom is burning
Dear mother, what's been done to you
Don't look as pretty as you used to
Dear mother
Don't seem as happy as you once were
You can walk those city streets till you can hardly breathe
I'll take a stroll in the woods
Won't be long and they've forsaken all the land
Where tall trees once stood
And they'll pave the family farm and tell you that it's for the best
I'll say yeah best for you but tell me what about the rest
Then they'll build a subdivision where gardens used to grow
And take all those precious things that you have ever known
Now that factory steady spewing by the dirty river side
It billows through the day and it rolls on through the night
Across the river road just past the railroad tracks
A cancerous corruption boils to turn our world to black
They're cooking up some stuff man I don't even want to know
Could take out everything alive with just one fatal blow
And they're poisoning the waters their smokestacks fill the air
But no one seems to notice or no one really cares
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6. |
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Written by Woody Guthrie, additional lyrics by Mike Oberst*
I'm gonna tell you fascists
You may be surprised
People of this world are getting organized
You're bound to lose you fascists bound to lose
All you fascists bound to lose
You fascists are bound to lose
All you fascists are bound to lose
All you fascists boys are bound to lose
There's people of every nation marching side by side
marching across the fields where a million fascists died
You're bound to lose, you fascists bound to lose
*Here comes the big machine surrounding all your hate
Force it to surrender now lets get this straight
You're bound to lose you fascists bound to lose
*Race hatred can not break us better learn it quick
Our children won't be sold your poison rhetoric
You're bound to lose you fascists bound to lose
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7. |
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Half past three hear the whistle blowing
as I throw on my rags for the evening
I'm too young for to legally employ
so it's underneath the table I'll be working
And this here's the kinda life I do enjoy
Just a riverboat dishwashing boy
Ride my bike round and down the plank
where I know that old dish tank is waiting
She's a shiny new machine she'll get your dishes clean
with a fancy sprayer thing with silver plating
Shining every dirty dish and pot and pan
And I've only got one solitary plan
To be a riverboat dishwashing man
Cookie is the captain but Jimmy thinks he is
as he growls and he barks from the kitchen
They'll send you down below for a bucket full of steam
where the stowaway shore cats are hissing
And I'm wishing that they all could sing along
pass around the black bottle till it's gone
and sing a riverboat dishwashing song
She was buried in the deep when she sprang a leak
on a cold rainy day in the autumn
And the bow came to dip as well all abandoned ship
and she sank to the muddy river bottom
Now the years have drifted on and on and on
and I'm gonna end it here before too long
This was the riverboat dishwashing song
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8. |
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Long gone I don't know
Somebody tell me where we got to go
It's a mean scene coming down
Come on children get your head out the clouds
You wake in the morning turn you TV on
Convince yourself there ain't nothing wrong
Kiss your wives your sons your daughters
And it's off you go like sheep to slaughter
I've been told ten thousand lies
That's one thing I do despise
Hate greed money power
It's a prayer for dawn in this dark hour
Oh take em down don't you know they got to go
Fires rage time for change I can see it now I know
Oh make a sound give that horn a blow
I'm bound for the revolution row
It's the only place left for to go
Blind eyes open wide
Take a peek way deep inside
Tell me friend what do you see
Ain't but one route left now for you and me
Now I don't know but I've been told
Streets up in heaven are paved in gold
That don't do me no damn good
There ain't no sign of heaven in my neighborhood
There's mothers crying try to beg a meal
Good men dying on battle fields
The rich get richer while the poor just die
Tell my why we even try
Why do we try
Must be something deep inside
Oh gather round hear the restless moan
There's better days just up a ways I can feel it in my bones
Oh make a sound give that horn a blow
I'm bound for the revolution row
It's the only place left for to go
Now stand up women and men
Let's take the whole thing back again
Only one way that I know
I'm bound for the revolution row
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9. |
Mona
02:22
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I woke up this morning picked up my hammer
Said "Mona I'll be home before the day gets to night"
And she said "Bring me my money don't be funny
Bring me my dough or you can pack up all your things and go"
I was busting out my brains when I heard that lonesome train
Threw down my hammer put my ear to the rail
And I said "Come on down the line" lonesome whistle whine
Got to get to heaven before the day gets to night and
Rest my troubling mind this train don't run on time
Well I danced around the jungle just laughing at the sun
Yelled back at Mona "You'll be broken when I'm done"
Then I laid down my spinning head made up my dying bed
Tried to change my mind but I couldn't find a reason why
I let that 2:19 train roll right through my brain
Didn't feel a thing I was dreaming when it came
And it went on down the line took my peace of mind
Got to get to heaven before the day gets to night
and rest my troubling mind this train don't run on time
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10. |
Another Postcard
03:29
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I'm on my way I'll be home soon
I'm gonna bring you something good
Something good perhaps a smile
Perhaps forget I've been gone a while
Gone a while please don't forget
Your scattered books no tv set
Your scattered books around your feet
may the angels watch you while you sleep
To sleep and dream the same wide sea
You dance and wave and call to me
The sea is rough and so the path
another postcard on my behalf
One photograph till I dream too
In hazy spinning crimson hue
To wake and ride another town
While mother rocks you safe and sound
Safe and sound at mothers breast
and I don't mind if you love her best
Just don't forget your dear old man
in hopes that someday you'll understand
You'll understand through stories of
A world when searched can still show love
With all my love and skies of gray
I'll be home soon I'm on my way
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The Tillers Cincinnati, Ohio
"In their lives, and in their music, all three band members embrace a return to simplicity, a longing for freedom, and hope
for the future. It is fitting then that these American Characters would devote a song to Highway 50, a road that, like the country it traverses, has seen its share of hardship and history and still keeps pressing forward."
-Tom Brokaw American Character Along Highway 50
... more
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