1. |
Lambs from the Fold
03:51
|
|||
LAMBS FROM THE FOLD
Magistrator, judge and jury
look to tarnish my good name
I admit it needs a polish
you’d be astonished if you knew my game
Accused of crimes depraved and sordid
the poor little victim the parsons girl
She took boy Henry from the butcher’s
down to the banks to dig for pearls
I would never know if I had good fortune
‘Cause everything I have has been cheated or stole
I make my way in this fairest of seasons
I am just a wolf pulling lambs from the fold
I said I’d never; I’d rather sever
my own legs from my ten year old bones
I raised my fist to defend myself the sister
of the girl slaughtered not a mile from our home
They all asked me why I’d done it
How could I do such a despicable thing
Two young lives snuffed out with their guts out
All I can say is that we all have needs
(chorus)
Now I’ll never treasure a young girl’s pleasure
of a first kiss or a homecoming dance
I’ve always considered all that so much drivel
I’d rather cut you all down if I had the chance
My father the preacher was a most inspiring teacher
he taught me everything a little girl should know
saying I’d never been surer that there’s nothing so pure as
pulling little lambs right out of the fold
|
||||
2. |
Cowards' Anthem
02:36
|
|||
COWARDS' ANTHEM
Oh Oh they’re calling all our men
To fight us hand to hand
and crush us if they can
And we will break up our little band
watch our boot heels hit the sand
Cowards live to be old men!
You say the chain’s only as strong as the weakest link
But all this talk of right and wrong gives me pause to think
Give me something worth fighting for and I’ll probably change my mind
I’ll take something to live for over dying every time
Chorus
Every soldier who ever died gave his last breath for a cause
Everything is History if you wait around long enough
So I’ll remain here breathing air while you go off to die
I’d rather live for no good reason than die for someone else’s lie!
|
||||
3. |
Gone is the Way
03:20
|
|||
GONE IS THE WAY
You got back half-way empty
after 2 tours in the war
and you’d tell me stories nightly
filled with anger and remorse
I would listen very quietly
scared but always wanting more
You never said so but I figured
killed one man maybe more
Gone is the way
Your stories would last for days
They’re buried with your bones
and ended suddenly the same way
you disappeared from our home
I couldn’t shake the sickly feeling
you sat on the corner of my bed
in a voice unfamilliar
like the whispers of the dead
I woke one morning half way sleepy
after 2 months in your head
Heard the screen door and some footsteps
I stayed there in my bed
Don’t go away
Don’t leave
Please stay
|
||||
4. |
Helena
02:51
|
|||
HELENA
In a cove to the side of Larimore’s hill
I saw a little girl in the winter morning’s chill
Had a coat so red and eyes so blue
she lead me to the woods where the sun won’t shine through
She said with a voice so hollow and grey
like the pale half moon wears the ghost of the day
“Mister can you take me to find my missin’ kin?
cause I am lost as lonesome as a body’s ever been”
I went to take her hand but she backed into the trees
I heard a haunting whisper carried on the breeze
a man’s voice brittle in the shadow of woods
calling “Sweet Helena, now daughter be good”
At this she ran and vanished like the mist
Her footfalls on the autumn leaves an unanswered wish
I ran after her till I was out of breath
and the woods came so cold I thought I’d catch my death
Wipe the the tears from your face
Come on back to the place
where you are loved and embraced
Wipe the the tears from your face
I found the girl standing by the swollen creek
she aimed her foot for a rock but then she lost her feet
Her little body got caught up in the water’s rage
Her father came a running his daughter for to save
He ran to the water and jumped right in
and put his arms around the girl and they both tried to swim
but the current took them both so deep in its depth
I saw them wide eyed struggle for their last breaths
I stood in anger that I didn’t follow suit
I knew I should have helped them but I was planted like a root
Then I hear a tiny whisper that felt frozen on my skin
“Mister can you take me to find my missin’ kin?”
Then the little girl ran and fell into the water
and her father followed after and drowned there with his daughter
and when I thought it ended it all began again
and I walked away feeling something less than a man
|
||||
5. |
Play Me a Song
03:39
|
|||
PLAY ME A SONG
play me a song
that’s was never wrote down
It’s only been sung
and passed all around
solid and strong
it holds up the past
a single lone highway
in a land old and vast
tell me a story
nobody knows
the names may be arcane
and the places remote
and the words fall around
like a tumble in bed
can’t tell your own thoughts
from the tune in your head
gather the empties
secure the door’s latch
refresh all our glasses
let’s sing of the past
when the morning sun comes
and burns out the stars
we’ll still be singing songs
of our mothers and fathers
sing me a song
you’ll never write down
sing it just once
in the lights to the crowd
a song about something
especially dear
then give it away
to be forgotten or cheered
The water’s too deep I am drowning
Lost in the warm neath the waves
No one around to save me
Let everything all wash away
|
||||
6. |
Nottamun Town
06:41
|
|||
NOTATION TOWN
In Nottamun Town, not a soul to be seen
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town
I bought me a horse twas called a grey mare
Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back
Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back
Weren't a hair upon her that was not coal black
She stood so still threw me to the dirt
She tore at my hide, she bruised my shirt
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain
When I got there no one did I see
They all stood around me just looking at me
I called for a cup to drive gladness away
And stifle the dust for it rained the whole day
And the King and the Queen and the company more
Came a riding behind and a walking before
Come a stark naked drummer beating a drum
With his hands in his bosom came marching along
Sat down on a hard hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand stood round me but I was alone
Took my hat in my hand to keep my head warm
Ten thousand was drowned that never was born
|
||||
7. |
Sweet England
03:10
|
|||
SWEET ENGLAND
As I was a-walking one morning in spring
To see the green fields, hear the colley bird sing,
I met a young lady a-making her mourn,
Oh, I am a stranger and a long way from home.
I came from sweet England with mother and dad;
We thought in America all might be had.
Of gold and silver and riches galore,
And never need hunger in poverty more.
But alas, for sweet England! my father is dead,
And mother can earn but a little for bread,
And I weep as I gaze o'er the far distant main
For a fine ship to take me to England again.
I've an aunt in the country, she lives all alone,
She'd welcome and love me as I were her own.
I'd nurse her in sickness and tend her in pain
And thank God I was back in sweet England again.
|
||||
8. |
Hold On, Maria
04:03
|
|||
HOLD ON MARIA
Lonnie McCool and Maria St. Cloud
spent most every night flying high 'bove the crowd
with chalk in their palms bar at their knees
hurtling through the air on the flying trapeze
But their lithe and young bodies weren't all that flew
they'd been puttin off the sparks as long as we knew
cause the hands that they gripped together were wed
they bound through the air and tumbled bed
Maria once had a lover who was powerful bad
spent half the day drunk and all of it mad
a strongman named Sam is of who I do speak
who left black and blue marks on marias white cheeks
Hold on, Maria
After night so bad the girl couldn't walk
her eyes near swole shut and body pounded and soft
went to old widow Hale the devil to task
Maria had a favor she wanted to ask
Maria spoke sharp, her tongue like a fist
Make him the monster he knows that he is
and live every day in fear of his own life
spend each passing hour like his dear loving wife
The old widow said you don’t know what you ask
remember who’s favor you begged for this task
There’s a price deeper than the coin in your hand
I swear you will crawl where now you can stand
That very night Sam disappeared
no presence of him no whiskey or fear
All that she found were scratches on the floor
leading from their bed and straight out the front door
Hold on, Maria
As days turned to months she felt her body return
not hidden and his but one that opens and learns
and she taught herself that only living was true
that’s when she met young Lonnie MacCool
But there was a black bear wild and untamed
so new to the circus he had not even a name
and he looked at Maria with a face flat and cruel
not just a wild creature but anger simple and pure
one night in their tent the couple awoke
to the guttaral sounds of the bear as it spoke
in a voice Maria could never mistake
cept the voice of Sam who she swore to foresake
and the bear cut ‘em fast and it cut ‘em deep
knocked ‘em down harder than Shakespearean sleep
which puts all the actors right off of their feet
to dream their deep dreams so the plot it will keep
Hold on Maria
|
||||
9. |
Watson Family Tragedy
04:43
|
|||
WATSON FAMILY TRAGEDY
Everyone remembers
Every soul in this town
the day the old Watson place
burned down to the ground
Little Jimmy Watson
thought he would have a lark
Scare his sister when she went to bed
from the closet in the dark
But he saw more than he reckoned for
when his father quietly crept in
And Jimmy’s sister began to struggle
as her daddy exposed her skin
Jim burst from the closet angrily
rage like a mummy wrapped round his bones
and his father cursed him mightily
and knocked him to the floor
(chorus)
It’s something we all gotta learn
Everybody’s gotta burn
Some forever
Some wait in turns
Everybody's gotta burn
In the scuffle a lantern fell
and caught the bed afire
it soon consumed the three of them
and then crept up even higher
The blaze found momma Watson fast asleep
knocked out by the smoke
Before the fire had taken them both
their lungs had blackened and choked
The fire spread from the old farmhouse
and caught the parched grass alight
and not a living thing made it out alive
by the morning’s raging light
(chorus)
The townspeople came to see what they could do
gathered at the burning home
We all looked aghast at the Watson girl
meat hanging from her bones
She related this woeful tale
with her final bloody words
We knew what she said was the honest truth
the most honest thing we’ve heard
(chorus)
|
||||
10. |
Marry the Horse
02:07
|
|||
MARRY THE HORSE
There ain’t too many left
of the chosen or the choosy or whatever comes next
what do we make of the years
and the reckless inbreeding of the royal family
and still we’re left lonely
if you never want to consider divorce
marry the horse
Some say you’ve gotta have standards
ya can’t just let anyone climp up your tree
and the drooling will run wild and free
well beyond the years of maturity
and still we’re left wanting
if you never want to consider divorce
marry the horse
how do you make something stay forever
you can lock it in a box where you keep all your rings
we all wanna live like there's two tomorrows
twice is the price when only one sings
you don’t have to be lonely
(chorus)
|
||||
11. |
Parting Glass
03:30
|
|||
PARTING GLASS
Of all the money that e'er I spent
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I did
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
If I had money enough to spend
And leisure to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in town
That sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips
I own she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Oh, all the comerades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you softly call
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
|
Hares on the Mountain recommends:
If you like Hares on the Mountain, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp