1. |
No Business Mountain
04:17
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Excuse me mam, do you think you can
Take a look at this? Have you seen this man?
Look a little closer; do you think you recognize his face?
I saw him on 526
In a government car deep in the sticks;
Remember thinking to myself that he seemed mighty out of place.
Driving North from the county seat
The asphalt gives way to farms then trees,
And people get a little closer as the spaces in between 'em grow.
Like grass killed under dead dry leaves,
The secrets that nobody breathes here
Are buried in the forest and their murkier the deeper you go.
A man goes up
And he pokes around.
A man goes up
And he don't come down.
Pardon me sir, I don't mean to disturb you,
I've got some questions and from what I've heard
You might could give me answers; can we talk and can you drop the gun?
I know jack shit about your revenue man
'cept he had no business up here and
You got less, so if I was you I'd turn and run.
Now each night I hear his angry grizzled voice
Reminding me to mind my coward's choice:
Come and meet me on the ridge
With a shovel and a pick to break the ground,
Or stay at home and mind your business,
If you don't wanna end up lost up on this mountain.
Come and meet me on the ridge
With a shovel and a pick to break the ground,
Or stay at home and mind your business,
If you don't wanna end up lost up on this mountain.
A man goes up
And he pokes around.
A man goes up
And he don't come down.
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2. |
WILD
04:08
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Pulled from my mother’s soup
Last thing to truly be ours
I was toweled off
And wrapped in her arms
A hard beautiful truth
Beckons beyond the back yard
But my first memory is comfortable is ordinary
And I’m afraid of the dark
There’s something wild
Out in the night
No wonder why I couldn’t get it
I admit it, I’m addicted to light
Pulled from my father’s bag
I try to have his resolve
But half the time I up and hold my head high
The harder it falls
O Daddy don’t watch me lag
Milk toast without a cause
When you think of me I wanna be the kind of son a father dreams
Smart and lion hearted with arms like logs
There’s something wild
I’ve been hearing it fight
No wonder why I can’t be given heavy lifting
I’m addicted to light
Pulled out we, all of us, share
Sadness that can’t be soothed
Though I’ve got friends and family and love more than I can believe
Sometimes I still can’t help it but brood
I know a woman who swears
Her cat says bienvenue
I love that ravens have vendettas and dolphins have sex for pleasure
And coyotes like to sing as much as I do
They’re telling me I’m wild
Boy I’m wild
Yes I’m wild
Ain’t it some shit how we forget that we’re all given just a sliver of a single precious life
But when it hits there’s nothing competes with it, cause nothing shines as bright
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3. |
Dandelions
04:54
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playing separate from the fold
make a special little find
say your older brother told
you how to draw the yellow lines
feeling sneaky mighty bold
slip your dirty hand in mine
seven years old with your freckles in the gold
of dandelions
your gravel driveway rough and grey
your wooden porch is smooth and pine
I give a knock and step away
and rehearse it one more time
through the screen I see your face
and I’m speechless in the shine
searching what to say, holding a bouquet
of dandelions
now not a cheek in four will dry
still we’re following the signs
our youth was bound to fly
yours a different route from mine
I’ve since taken a lovely wife
and built a family mighty fine
still I grin and give a sigh every time I cast an eye
on dandelions
now my house is big and cold
and it’s empty all the time
the children up and rolled
they left a widower behind
yours is similar I’m told
somewhere down in Caroline
would you take me though I’m old with my wrinkles in the gold
of dandelions
would you take me though I’m old with my winkles in the gold
of dandelions
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4. |
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Turn my dust to mud
Soon gonna be a flood
And they're gone
Long, long gone
The summer of '59
Seemed driest of all time
Well, that's gone
Long, long gone
To think of how I slaved to crack the soil to plant some seed
And now it's just a gooshy mix of pond scum and weeds
What happens when the world decides you have something you need?
If ever you wonder, look under your jet ski...
Well, it took about 40 years
To make a whole town disappear
But it's gone
Long, long gone
An Appalachian Power rep
Hands out a big ol' check
And they're gone
Long, long gone
My father's father raised a barn with help from all his friends
They'd weep to see the wall up at the Pittsylvania end
What haunts your summer home and cries out angry on the wind?
If ever you wonder, they're under your boat house
Noah heard the rain would come
So he made a plan to run
He made gone
Long, long gone
Those I saw do the same
I called some nasty name
Well, they're gone
Long, long gone
I cursed and shook my fist at all I saw pack up and go
So fierce I was, I don't suppose they ever cared to know
What happened to that farming boy from north of old Monroe
If ever you wonder, I might be under you!
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