1. |
When I'm Dead And Gone
03:13
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Dear darlin' do please tell
Do you think I'll go to heaven or hell
Or someplace else
When I'm dead and gone?
I don't wanna let this good life go
I don't wanna leave you all alone
I don't wanna call the dirt my home
When I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone.
And I don't know where I came from
And I don't even know exactly where I been
But I'll whisper in your ear
I wanna stay here
I got nothing but fear
For where I'm going when I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone.
Who'll wear my boots and cry
At the moon in the summer in the night
In the summer in the night
When I'm dead and gone?
Who'll wear the moonlight on my face
Or remember the old things we used to say
Who'll get down on my knees and pray
When I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone?
Well it's a struggle today
And tomorrow's just more of the same
But don't let me in a hearse
It could always be worse
If life's a blessing or a curse
I'll find out when I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone.
Who'll hear your breath at night
Who'll walk you to your bed when yer tired
And turn out the lights
When I'm dead and gone?
Death'll take my life like it's his to steal
I won't even get to tell you how I feel
So I'll say my last words I'll say 'em right here
For when I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone.
Death if you hear me, take me slow
So I can tell her that I love her so
And if there's things I haven't said
Let me get 'em out my head
Before I find me dead
It'll be too late when I'm dead and gone
When I'm dead and gone.
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2. |
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I dreamed I was a drifter, and water was short
Well the wells had all dried and the soil was hard.
A curse on the earth, I scrimped and I begged
A letter on my chest and a mark on my head.
In the howlin' dust hillside, I sought paradise
but only found dry weeds and thirsty parasites.
Well I begged and I pleaded, Mama please let me in,
I've got no place to go, an nothin' left of my kin.
Well you took my offer and you sized up my thirst
and you drew me a glass from a well in the earth.
I said, What water is this, it's like dust in my mouth?
She said what you call water, we call somethin' else.
Well the Master and the Reverend they jumped in my skin,
And said the only way to treat sorrow, is to treat the evil within.
And the stone-faced sages and the ashamed-to-be-kind,
Said they don't need me to talk, cuz they can just read my mind.
The tribunal and the commune, they judged me all wrong
And sentenced me from my evil thoughts to be hung.
Well they dragged me to the gallows and asked my last words
I said I don't know how I got here, and I don't feel I been heard.
I die a confused man, all I wanted was happiness
It seems like what one man wants, some other man gets.
And the sin born and the natives, and the possessed ones,
Cried out in sorrow at the death of one of their own.
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3. |
Even the Birds
08:29
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Judgement day
Or just some rain
I take what come
And come what may
Cuz just to be
Is burden enough to take.
When kingdom come
I’ll be on the run
Hiding under
Every rock under the sun
I done my best
But never caught up with the rest.
As my heart softens everything gets harder
One day I’ll wake up
And forget everything I knew
Walk down the avenue, free
But I can’t come home and let you see
Me this way.
Since I was born
I been torn
Between speech and groan
And I got hurts
But a callous never grows
To stop the pain.
I shot a man
Over gamblin’
But I know someone
Who pulled some strings
And got me off in 6 months clean
If I promised never
To be seen.
As my heart softens everything gets harder
One day I’ll wake up
And forget everything I knew
Walk down the avenue, free
But I can’t come home and let you see
Me this way.
And I gave my youth
To feed my own
And all that work
Left me alone
Even the birds don't eat
What I throw.
And my past toward
Over my soul
When I was only
Only six years old
Blockin' my sunshine
So I grew up
In the cold.
As my heart softens everything gets harder
One day I’ll wake up
And forget everything I knew
Walk down the avenue, free
But I can’t come home and let you see
Me this way.
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4. |
Oh Captain!
05:13
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When your knuckles are white cuz you been grabbin at ghosts
When the party's changed an you don't know the host
When you've wandered farther than you ever meant to go
Look back all you want but just don't play pretend
Cuz you can't go home, no you can't go home again
When the castles cave in and the compass says that you're there
When you have no choice but to hang up your armor and care
Put down your phone and taste what hangs in the air
Hope who you treated well will still remain your friend
Cuz you can't go home, no you can't go home again
Everything dies they tell me that's a fact
An you're no different you shoulda known that
But lyin on your deathbed will surely change your act
Your blessing isn't worth as much now that everything has changed
And you can't go home, no you can't go home again
When your countin your coins and you start to come up short
When your coffer's empty, and so is your once-loyal court
When all the guards have decided to abandon your fort
Just hope you bought some sympathy with all the money that you spent
Cuz you can't go home, no you can't go home again
When the storm's comin in and you're hangin on for dear life
Grab for the ropes nobody's gonna ask you twice
When mutiny is in and they gamble for your shirt with dice
When your ships are out to sea, and they ain't never comin back in
And you can't go home, no you can't go home again.
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5. |
Mama Hold Back That Sigh
05:43
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Mama, you been actin’ awful tough today
Got an awful lot of things to say
You been actin’ but I see through you
Know you’re not a stone balloon
I’d loan you my smile if I could
But I know it’s not your size
Still I can’t help if I try
Mama, hold back that sigh.
Mama, you been chirpin’ like a bird today
Your scarlet feathers ruffled on display
You been actin’ like a bird, fallin from the sky
An’ I catch you all the time
Stray near, so I know that you’ll be mine
You catch the blues
An’ I talk you off the line
Hang your eyelids out to dry.
Mama, hold back that sigh.
You been smokin’ like a gun
Blowin’ smoke rings at the sun
You don’t know what’s wrong
And you’re not the only one.
You been hangin' on too tight
Till your skin cracks and dries
And you let go your grip
But your still alive.
Mama, won’t ya try and just relax today
You’re standin’ out just like a black blue-jay
You been standin’ with your shoulders drippin’ down
Like rainwater that’s fillin’ up your gown
I’d worry if I thought that you might drown
But I know that you’ll be fine
I can see your pretty mind.
Mama, hold back that sigh.
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6. |
Crossroads Blues
04:01
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I went down to the crossroads
just to find some thrills,
I went down to the crossroads
had some time to kill.
Well they turned it into some kinda carnival
an now there's just a bunch of tourists there.
I said man I can't believe it
I can't believe my luck,
I said man I can't believe it
this ain't the first out I struck.
I try to sell my soul to someone
just to realize it's already been took.
Well they said its free to get in here
so I went in to see what its about,
They said its free to get in here
but they don't tell ya gotta pay to get out.
Well now I'm stuck here inside the crossroads
all alone and sick with doubt.
They're linin' up for the killin'
An no one seems to care,
They're linin' up for the killin'
and I'm the only one who's scared
Cuz man I seen what comes outta those guns
an' it's more than just air.
They said you can't avoid the killin
unless you do something for us
They said you can't avoid the killin
no matter how much you spit an cuss
The only way to get outta bein killed
is to paint your face an join the circus.
I'll never go back to the crossroads
if I can make it out alive
An you better not go down to the crossroads
if you can even hear my voice
But it seems like they're poppin' up every place
You may not have a choice.
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7. |
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She’s stone crazy but she’s on my mind
She’ll chase ya straight outta county line
Her father was a sheriff, now he just watch the sky for signs.
Tree-top visions in the afternoon
Three weeks pass an now the whole world in ruins
Now that everything is over, I got some time to lose,
Time to lose.
Casual cruelty blues got me on my knees,
If it were up to me to choose,
I say death can’t come too soon.
Fetch me a bucket, rain’s comin’ in,
Check the yard for landmines, without stumblin’
You know you’re goin crazy, when you start mumblin’ to yourself.
You ask me ‘What’s the point these days?’
Now that no one’s listenin you got nothing to say
But honey if you think about it, what exactly’s changed?
What exactly’s changed?
Casual cruelty blues got me on my knees
If it were up to me to choose
I say love’s got some explain to do.
Get me to the shelter ‘fore the whole thing starts
This used to be a courthouse, now lions roam these parts
An you just walk around an scratch out question marks.
Dandelion flyin by my face
Throttlin’ up and down the throughway
Ain’t no one left for it, but I still got road rage
anyway.
Casual cruelty blues got me on my knees
If I had somethin’ left to loose
I say this girl would take everything but my shoes.
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8. |
Deaf Dumb Blues
04:58
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When we met I was different,
but Im comin back to who I am
an when we met you were different
an it was easier back then.
Whatever happens baby,
we'll find our way back to ourselves again.
When we're on we're as close as
two birds circlin the same clouds
an when we're off I'm headin east an you west
but we both think we're headin south.
Well maybe youre just goin with the wind,
but I got my compass out.
You just watched me try to get through
Which you didn't say I shouldn't do.
I see your tracks in the snow
but I cant find you at all
I hear you cry like whispers
but I cant hear your call.
I'm startin to wonder baby,
if I'm in Colorado an you're in Montreal.
We're just missin each other baby
do we even speak the same tongue?
Words fallin on the ears of the deaf
an spoken like the dumb.
An the words I really wanna say
get stuck with the smoke in my lungs.
You just watched me waste my time
But I guess I can't blame you for me tryin'.
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9. |
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Well I hope this world won't ask me for any more
And I hope she doubles back to rescue the forlorn,
'Cuz I just feel so beaten and worn.
Now my ice-cold bedsheets have all turned to stone
I unscrew the lightbulb, disconnect my phone,
I'm no stranger to grief but I've never been so alone.
I don't agree with how this life is playin' out
Teased me with happiness and then left me down and out
Showed me something real and then drew back its hand,
'Cuz you were my closest friend.
Now all I do is pace the hollow land
Near-empty whiskey bottle in my hand,
Tracing ancient prison cells in the sand.
Now no one in this world is on my side
The silver twilight army's gone to hide
They're drivin' casket nails over my head,
'Cuz you were my closest friend.
I build my casket out in the yard
It's just like yours and I won't be far,
The neighbors try to tell me, Boy wait your turn.
The truth is that I've never felt that far from dying's edge
I wandered this lifetime dancing on the ledge
Sorrow follows on my heels and always lends a hand.
Don't be surprised mama if you see me soon
They'll try to keep me but I'm comin' after you
I'll drink until I see the angels descend,
'Cuz you were my closest friend.
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Jake Fulton San Francisco, California
Jake Fulton, 26, is a songwriter whose style draws deeply from the folk and country music tradition. He lives in the Lower
Haight in San Francisco.
Fulton's debut album, released in February 2014, was recorded partly in his Lower Haight apartment in San Francisco, and partly in a bare-bones studio that sits facing the sands of San Francisco's foggy Ocean Beach.
... more
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