1. |
Diesel Town
04:58
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DIESEL TOWN
The trains pull in, but nothing pulls out
The railroad bulls watch them tear the depot down
Some clock clicks a schedule I cannot see
Conductor grinds his watch into the ground
There’s a time table here, but nobody’s saying
A fare bein’ charged you best be paying
You’re late on the rails, but no one’s staying around
All aboard for Diesel Town
From the grass of Wyoming to the steel of Chicago
The singing rails move your burning coal
From the Texas Plains to the Puget Sound
Prayers and songs while the death-white bomb cars roll
There’s a time table here, but nobody’s saying
A fare bein’ charged you best be paying
You’re late on the rails, but no one’s staying around
All aboard for Diesel Town
I watch ’til late the fire’s red glow
The hump-backed lights as they shine into the clouds
I listen to the screech and scream of the wheels
Beneath the dirty black diesel growls
Wild hand on the throttle running out of control
The rails spin a web into my soul
I’m caught in a trap that surely must
Drag me down
All aboard for Diesel Town
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2. |
Most Promising Officer
04:22
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MOST PROMISING OFFICER
I wandered the trail a mile or three
A day or maybe a week
'Til I came to the crossroads place
Where I could no longer speak
I raised my face up to the sky
Where the prairie sun burns white
On the lonely Llano Estacado
At the place of the Mackenzie fight
He was the most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
Now the ghost ponies wail in the bloody swale
Where their bones bleach white in the sun
At night a light flashes across the sky
Where the thunder stallions run
Up north in the Bighorn snow
Where the Tongue's clear waters flow
There's a cut-throat pony in the blizzard night
Where the Old Ones' feet were froze
He was the most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
I guess it's true when they say
That Custer died for our sins
I figure he got what he deserved
For the rest of us the judgin's not in
Mackenzie couldn't bear the burden
He could not still the cries
He could only dream of a Colt Army 45
Right between the eyes
He was the most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
The most promising, most promising officer
I raised my face up to the sky
Where the prairie sun burns white
On the lonely Llano Estacado
At the place of the Mackenzie fight
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3. |
Bless My Eyes
03:05
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BLESS MY EYES
Goin' down for another last time
I saw you floating by
Wavin' your hand I could not tell
If it was hello or goodbye
It's been a good run, I must say
You had your moment in the sun
Wrong or right, you acted like
You could fool everyone
Bless my eyes and let me see
Walls fall down around you and me
Change, change, change it must
The only thing you can ever really trust
Damascus just over the hill
But the road is still so long
Take one step, let another one follow
There is no right turn or wrong
Let go your bones, shed your skin
Draw a breath, out and in
Sit stock still, walk a mile
Standing naked with only a smile
Bless my eyes and let me see
Walls fall down around you and me
Change, change, change we must
The only thing you can ever really trust
Let go your bones, shed your skin
Draw a breath, out and in
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4. |
El Solitario
04:07
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EL SOLITARIO
If you got the time to take, I got a tale to tell
It started in Westport Mizzou at the head of the Santa Fe Trail
I was drivin' six yoke of oxen, sixty hundred to the beam
We trailed 'em across the boundless plain to the Mexico territory
The man was dressed in a robe of rags, asked the boss if he could come
El Jefe figured it wouldn't hurt to have a man of God along
The padre said he must walk, but the boss man disagreed
Said that he must ride each day in the rockaway next to me
The priest climbed in the wagon, skinner gave the team a nudge
Four mules strained against the trees, but the wagon wouldn't budge
Then he said the strangest thing ever did I hear
"There is no team or wagon can carry what I must bear"
All the way along the trail the padre walked behind
'Til his face so caked with dust you could barely see his eyes
And sittin' 'round the camp fire he ate his one biscuit hard
I knew there that we shared dark secrets of the heart
Forty days and forty nights hard on the Santa Fe Trail
Lost too many to the runnin' fever, did our best to fare them well
The priest he spoke the holy words as if from a deep well of grief
While the sun burned down, dust clouds rolled, hail beat us without relief
The mountains rose and we rode them high over the Raton Pass
'Til a granite prow like the bow of a ship rose up from the rolling grass
And the last I saw of the padre, he raised himself up on that cross of stone
And he spent his days living the lonesome ways for what he could not atone
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5. |
1931
04:45
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1931
Pull up your stockings darling
Put this cardboard in your shoes
Pull up your stockings darling
Put this cardboard in your shoes
Here's a biscuit for your lunch my dear
Now don't be late for school
Sister, mamma cannot see us
Roll our stockings down to bobby socks
Mamma cannot see us
Roll them down to bobby socks
We're almost to school, sister
Let down your pretty curls and locks
There's a pot of beans on the stove
Mamma hung washing on the line
Beans simmerin' on the stove
Mamma hung washing on the line
I know it must be Monday
That's how we keep track of time
Brothers are home from hunting
Left a brace of rabbits in the brine
Brothers are home from hunting
Left a mess a jacks soakin' in the brine
Chickens are for layin' and Sundays
We're havin' jack rabbit one more time
Daddy's sleepin' on the porch
Oh child, don't you make a sound
Daddy's sleepin' on the porch
Child, don't you make a sound
Let him sober up and roll a cigarette
Before he heads back to town
Pull up your stockings darling
Put this cardboard in your shoes
Pull up your stockings darling
Put this cardboard in your shoes
There's a butter 'n sugar sandwich
Waitin' for you after school
Jag älskar dig
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6. |
The Lesson
03:33
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THE LESSON
I should be able to play this song
Bang it out on a one string guitar
It's said a true craftsman never blames his tools
But love don't play by these rules
You take what you're given, you do what you can
There's no stone tablet on how to be a woman or a man
You love the way that you were loved
Until your heart breaks in two
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
He sat in the chair, didn't say a thing
I battered him with questions, confused and angry
With trembling lips and brimful eyes
Words can deceive but the body never lies
You take what you're given, you do what you can
There's no stone tablet on how to be a woman or a man
You love the way that you were loved
Until your heart breaks in two
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
Thirty years later, after a few shots of scotch
From out of nowhere, these words from his heart
He said "My old man wouldn't say shit
Not even if his mouth was full of it"
You take what you're given, you do what you can
There's no stone tablet on how to be a woman or a man
You love the way that you were loved
Until your heart breaks in two
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson will come to you
If you can put it back together
Maybe the lesson
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7. |
It's The Breath
04:10
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IT’S THE BREATH
The long nights are long past us
And the songs we sang to the gods
Reeling out of this dusty old box
A voice comes haunting me now
You say "Ritchie, there's only one song
No singer, no player, no time
There's only one hook that matters
It's the breath that gives the song life
It's the breath that gives the song life"
When I went down a dark dark road
You did not hesitate to follow
You met me there at the blue crossroads
In a cloud of magpies and swallows
You say "Ritchie, there's only one song
No singer, no player, no time
There's only one hook that matters
It's the breath that gives the song life
It's the breath that gives the song life"
Your guitar could ring like a bell
Choke back a cry, wail a wild cat scream
Feedback comes howling at me
With a pirate's glint on a dead calm sea
You say "Ritchie, there's only one song
No singer mon, no player mon, no time
There's only one hook that matters
It's the breath that gives the song life
It's the breath that gives the song life
It's the breath that gives the song life
It's the breath”
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8. |
Two Step The Night Away
04:18
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TWO STEP THE NIGHT AWAY
Why don't we go out on the town
We can two step the night away
I've been singing this song, waiting so long
For you so patiently
We can go where ever the road
Leads us over the next hill
No need to say "love me forever"
Our eyes say we will
And I know it's true
And I know it's real
As real as real can be
And I love you as
You are right now
I'll love you as you will be
The only real secret of life and love
Is to simply pay it some mind
Open your eyes, open your heart
That's where your treasure you'll find
And I know it's true
And I know it's real
As real as real can be
And I love you as
You are right now
I'll love you as you will be
Why don't we go out on the town
We can two step our lives away
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9. |
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DEEPENING OF THE STILLNESS
Every night I lay my head down
Every night I think about you
In the morning, raise my head up
Watch the sun rise, think about you
Now the smoke hangs over the meadow
And the sun shines warm upon my face
In the deepening of the stillness
I close my eyes and think about you
The air is buzzin' like it's full of hornets
And a-crashin' like thunder in my ears
And John Gilbert from Jefferson County
Standin' next to me, disappears
We sit together in the smoke and fire light
He plays his mouth harp so soft and slow
In the deepening of the stillness
I close my eyes and think about you
Sometimes words get left unspoken
Sometimes words just vanish in the air
We are here for but a moment
Before we whisper our last prayer
Do I show you how much I love you?
Do I tell you the words written in my heart?
In the deepening of the stillness
I close my eyes and think about you
In the deepening of the stillness
I close my eyes and think about you
In the deepening of the stillness
I close my eyes and think about...
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Rick Todd Amarillo, Texas
Rick Todd is a songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist based in Amarillo, Texas. His music resonates from a space between Americana, folk, and country. After a few lifetimes as a Telecaster-slinging rocker, farm manager, studio producer and engineer, and award-winning research scientist, Todd turned his creative talents to making music once again. The result is Diesel Town. ... more
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