1. |
The Raft
04:10
|
|||
|
V1
A manmade thing lived in a dream
I am a vehicle of escape
Willows stitched in the hem
Of your muddiest, darkest artery
Cut me down to set you free
Cuz running away should be cheap.
Bridge
The Ohio is a four-letter word
All other rivers run towards.
Ch1
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
One river never runs dry
Push off from the bank and the raft takes flight
Out on dark waters you’re a planet amongst the skies
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
One river never runs dry.
V2
Clear water you can see through
Damages just like a child
But Midwest, we infest
Coffee and cream doesn’t seem
To let us through, stares right back you
You can look to the stars
But this, this will take you far.
Bridge
The Ohio is a four-letter word
All other rivers run towards.
Ch2
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
One river never runs dry
Push off from the bank and the raft takes flight
Out on dark waters you’re a planet amongst the skies
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
One river never runs dry.
Ending
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
This raft takes you to your next life.
|
||||
2. |
No Place to Hide
03:44
|
|||
|
V1
On the crop-dusted, factory-broken-down
Wide, Midwestern streets of a once military town
In the vacant hangers and the happy-hour honky tonks
And by the faceless hangers-on, there’s a church for everyone.
Ch1
And with skies as wide as the eye can see
There is no place to hide in Ford County.
V2
But their eyes aren’t as wide as the skies would have them be
And the roads don’t lead away but turn into the same old streets
Once you’ve lived there long enough you forget about being free
You know it only so well like a map in a foggy dream.
Ch2
And they swear by their step-daddies’ graves this is how it has to be
There is no place to hide in Ford County.
V2
There are spies behind blinds as a neighborhood watches itself
Looking for signs of life finding only statues on shelves
Standing outside saying to themselves, don’t bring us down
We hitched a ride into this life, got dropped off outside of this town.
Ch3
Privately, everybody is waiting to be found
There is no place to hide in Ford County.
V4
Lying in the weeds beside a country muddy creek
In an old barn beyond the fields of winter wheat
In the cab of a truck behind a local grocery
And while no one was looking as walked on down the street.
Ch4
Two young lovers proved beyond a shadow of doubt
There is nothing to do but hide in Ford County.
|
||||
3. |
Not All There
05:25
|
|||
|
V1
I remember a house built on stilts down by the river
There was a girl there, she had hair the color of a cottonmouth
Her eyes were set so far apart
You couldn’t be sure she wasn’t looking away
Her eyes were set so far apart I almost gave my life away.
V2
I remember three generations of womenfolk telling me
Go out in the snow but stay away from the cove
And when I broke through the surface I could not feel the cold
And when I broke through the surface
The fish moved away so damn slow.
Ch1
I’ve forgotten so many things
My life seems like someone else’s dream.
V3
I remember the smell of fuel as we rode on the boat
Your girlfriend was standing on water at the end of a rope
And my skin felt like it could be the start of a whole new me
We held our heads over the edge
The foam and the wake were like sharks at her feet
We all sang Oh no.
V4
I remember just how flat the land was as it is now
Thunderheads rose straight off the ground
And I rode in the backseat pretending they were mountains
Cause with my mind way out west
When I wasn’t where I was I was happiest.
Ch2
I’ve forgotten so many things
My life seems like someone else’s dream.
|
||||
4. |
Speak Easy
03:30
|
|||
|
V1
Eliza the Russian émigré, living on the streets at 80 years of age
She took out her husband’s watch, put it in my hand and said
This is all I have to show for the life of a good man
He was a good man
When she put it in my hand
This is what she said to me:
Ch
When you speak of me, speak easy
V2
Jerry D. the Tallahassee ex-con
Could cuss better than any other man I’ve ever known.
He liked to make his home in motel rooms
Kept the law looking, kept his ex checking
Kept him on the move so he’d never loose
The last time I ever saw him
This is what he said to me:
Ch
When you speak of me, speak easy
V3
Marilyn the one-time-wife-of-a-rich-man
Now just drunk in a ditch on the side of the road
She thanked me for finding her, invited me into her home
Drew us a bath, poured a scotch, but I said I’d rather be
Alone, and she was lonely
As I walked out her door
This is what she said to me:
Ch
When you speak of me, speak easy
So many broken down people
When you speak of them, speak easy.
Bridge and Ending
Some of us are just a little bad luck away
Most of them are too far-gone to save.
Speak easy.
|
||||
5. |
Every Field and Ghetto
04:01
|
|||
|
V1
Men once tore through mountains
To lay lines of iron and wood
The dreams of robber barons
Spilled miles and miles of migrant blood
Dynamite was a beam of light
That shone from the face of a shovel
Digging its way across the land
Through every field and ghetto.
Ch1
Up on the tracks just before noon
The sun was a blister of the moon
And the Chinese and the Irish were fighting
Up on the tracks just before noon
The sun was a blister of the moon
And the salt flats were so blinding.
V2
Workers died turned into ties
Until their graves formed a grid
Laid out across the land
Through every field and ghetto.
Ch2
Up on the tracks I was walking along
A train’s bearing down but I still hear their song
They’re singing:
Every field and ghetto
Every field and ghetto we went through
We lost a man, yes it’s true
A father, a son, a brother, our blood
Every field and ghetto.
|
||||
6. |
I Belong Here
03:30
|
|||
|
V1
I’ve been everywhere
But I’m back
And I’m back for good
Because I belong here.
V2
I’m going nowhere
Moving
Every other year
Because I belong there.
V3
I’m gonna stick around
Because someone’s
Gotta live in this town
Besides I belong here.
V4
I’m dreaming of distant mountains
Of old friends
In new houses
Because I belong there
And I belong here.
|
||||
7. |
Natural Disaster
04:23
|
|||
|
V1
I see you dancing circles
Around the warning I spilled on your floor
There is a cold wind at the door
He is trying to sell you
A warm southern winter
A whore, you can rent her
A warm southern winter
Wait, there’s more if you listen
But you never take advice
When there is still ice
We could use to keep the conversation
At room temperature.
Ch1
You are like a blizzard back when we had real winters
You are like misery back when we had company
Baby, you’re a natural disaster.
V2
I get up to lie down
You crawl back into the couch
You find a note you wrote to yourself
Reminding me
There is a time to chill out
There is a time to sell out
There is a time to sit down
There is a time to get out
Out on the streets the city is pink
The light on a drift is the color of sleep
Out on the streets the houses are bleak
I walk through a drift up to my knees.
Ch2 and Ending
You are like a blizzard back when we had real winters
You are like misery back when we had company
Baby, you’re a natural disaster.
|
||||
8. |
Down in the Bones
06:38
|
|||
|
V1
It’s white hot and you’ve thought a lot
About the softness of the streets
In the summertime
And you are way too tall
To walk so much
With your head up so high
Too close to the sun
And like a real weatherman
Who does his show for free from the street
Just as soon as things start to look good
You tell us all to take cover and run
Bridge: Because you’ve got that old feeling.
V2
It’s so cold and even though you’ve been told
You move farther to the north
In the wintertime
And you are way too smart
To talk so much
And we are way too numb
To stop and give a listen
And like an oddsmaker down at the track
You fail to remind us
It’s never too late to turn back
Bridge: Because you’ve got that old feeling.
V3
It will come on just like déjà vu
The future always comes true
Bridge: Because you’ve got that old feeling.
Ending
Down in the bones.
Bridge: Because you’ve got that old feeling.
Down in the bones.
|
||||
Matt Garrison Carbondale, Illinois
Matt Garrison: git, vox
Eric Fisher: lead git
Kevin Loseke: accordion, keys, etc.
Andrew Moody: bass
Rob Wills: drums
If you like Someone's Gotta Live in This Town, you may also like:
Echo Dancing
by Alejandro Escovedo
The legendary Alejandro Escovedo returns with another country-rock scorcher.
go to album
Passion Fruit Boys
by Passion Fruit Boys
Nashville’s Passion Fruit Boys nail the effervescent janglepop of ’80s college radio with bright guitars and immediate hooks.
go to album
Play It On The Tannoys
by Stranger The Horse
Rich and carefully-sculpted songs that cross-wire country and roots music with jazz, samba, and more.
go to album
That's How Rumors Get Started
by Margo Price
The latest from the alt-country favorite is her most direct and rocking album to date.
go to album
Downey to Lubbock
by Dave Alvin
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
go to album
Restless Spirit
by Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates
West Virginia trio showcase strident country rock anchored in bold, anthemic songcraft and deliciously twangy tones.
go to album
Juxtaposing poetic balladry with roaring feedback and warped piano lines, the Vermonter's music is as stunning as it is unsettling.
go to album
