LYRICS
BLACK LIGHT BLUES
The corner store and the lock on the door, It all still remains
I didn’t know the price of gold, hell I was just hoping for change
Burning tires starting wild fires, we couldn’t find a star in the sky
Young Americans with smoke in our lungs
We would park the car and drain the battery dry
CHORUS
When you’re back in town, I’ll call you, and we could sing the black light blues
We’d drive down to the diamond, and listen to the black light blues
Rudy talked and your brother walked, the rest ended up in the hall
We got off like 10 cent cops, cleaning spray paint off the walls
Your old man he’s doing fine, just dealing with the highs and the lows
He’s been sleeping it off at the Southern Cross
It’s hard keeping track of scattered crows
CHORUS
I hear ghosts reside in an old dog’s eyes; I swear they follow me home
Do they know I’m in need of the company or are they here just digging up bones?
CHORUS
Won’t you pick up the phone, I miss talking to you
Won’t you pick up the phone, I miss singing the black light blues
GENEVIEVE
When we were young we shined like the sun
Chased the devil down the streets of Duluth
Twin city freight trains crossing the Great Plains
Searching through the dog days of youth
The end of a workday, light fades on lampshades
We’d sit in our old Chevrolet
You’re silhouette, close to my chest
We’d stop to catch our breath
CHORUS
Dashboard light, shines down an empty street
Genevieve, you would wait for me
You and Lucy back in St. Louis
Laughing in the rose room dim
We danced by the jukebox, bourbon on three rocks
God, just as pretty as sin
CHORUS
Lips like rose hips
I can still find them in the dark
You washed your hair in the Tule fog
My Angel of the roadside dogs
CHORUS
MY BABY'S ARMS
Empty spaces just killing time
I’ve been tracing the same old lines
Tenpenny nails and bone on bone
Stick frame building another man’s home
I wore my pistol on my hip
Like broken crystal on a sinking ship
Wasted hours and bar stool tans
A Shasta daisy in my dirty hands
My dirty hands
CHORUS
I found shelter in my baby’s arms
I found shelter in my baby’s arms
Broke down pick-up, just one last haul
Poaching copper from sheet rocked walls
Who knew the love for our own blood
I once was buried, but now dug up
I’ve been dug up baby
CHORUS
BETTER DAYS
Woke up stuck to my sheets
Bleeding from my mouth, breathing through broken teeth
Everything I own is in the ashtray by the phone
My ex-girlfriend’s necklace and my last wet and reckless
I need a change, yeah
Someone showed me a Facebook page
How happiness can come in so many ways
But I know she wears that same perfume
With a different man in a different room
CHORUS
Do you ever shake and lie awake
And wonder
If you were made for Better days
I went to see the doctor
He said, “you’ve been gone for so long
you got to slow down, you’re check engine light’s on.”
I said, “doc, I can’t eat, no I can’t sleep
I’m in and out of love, but mostly in between.”
CHORUS
I remember slapping the dash
To “Jumpin Jack Flash”
Laying on our backs all lyrics and dreams
When I get low, I miss my home
I miss my home or some place I know
CHORUS
EASY LOVE
Your new look keeps the vultures at bay
You gave up the ghost of those younger days
But they’re still here and they’re circling low
The less you love the more they show
Trolling bars with a soldier’s joy
You fight hard for a mamma’s boy
But two by two the cops showed up
They took you down on Eli’s truck
CHORUS
Just when you think you’re on your own
You can’t do this alone
It’s a hard hard world
Yeah you need some easy, easy love
You need some easy, easy love
I saw Maria down in China Town
Carving hearts in the cold ground
I said Maria, “Why’d I leave ya
It gets so cold honey and now I need ya.”
CHORUS
DRIFTING
Sunrise in the shadows, black coffee on my tongue
Wayward with the moments, try to catch the rising sun
Through the redwood fog and morning light, I can see her on the other side
Across the railroad tracks where we'd go - to go get high
Broken seashells, sunken ships, I still taste the salt on her lips
Sweet madrone and eucalyptus, don't forget to kiss your Mrs.
You never lose what you hope to, no just the ones your close to
Oh Lord, won't you help me do as I'm supposed to
CHORUS
Drifting out at sea, oh, won't you set me free
Let your waves break down on me, while we’re drifting out at sea
Drifting, I've been drifting alone at sea
Drifting, she's been drifting away from me
Crosstown sippin' Greyhounds, I'll send a letter if I make it there
See I'm old enough to know better, but too young to care
There’s no pictures in my wallet, no just miles in my shoes
The ace up my sleeve is I got nothing to lose
CHORUS
PEACE OF THE WILD
I know we’ll leave like the ones before making shadows on the walls
But if our love goes unloved is it love at all?
If a heavy load and grinding gears bring you to your knees
May mercy be in the river’s grace and the wind through the trees
If we lose our crops to a killing frost show me where to prune
The bitter cold of the winter months brings a gold harvest moon
If every place is displaced, our fruit trees grow bare
Will we fall on our swords; will anybody care?
CHORUS
Be not too proud to lose Child, through loss we are born
Be not too proud to love Child, through life we are sworn
Be not too proud to beg Child, for the peace of the wild
Peace of the wild, Peace of the wild
Watch us run like a canyon fire down through the valley below
A wild vine yearly dying we resurrect our home
We’re losing time so share your wine, and hold the one you love
Keep light in your heart and mind, and lightning in your blood
CHORUS
BLACK MESA BOYS
The Black Mesa boys know
Low pueblo girls
There mama’s hands pray
Pray their souls to keep
Pray their souls to keep
Jimmy knows the handshake
Where the water flows
Knows the sound a car makes
Leaving on a red dirt road
Leaving on a red dirt road
CHORUS
Where do they go?
The Black Mesa Boys
They want to know
Just how to get home
Lowriders drive by
In airbrushed war paint
They wear dark sunglasses
They wear ‘em like pachuco saints
They wear ‘em like pachuco saints
CHORUS
Crooked rows of corn blow
Straight in the storm
Jimmy found every word
Buried where he was born
Street hustling rattle cans
Green chilies in the park
Jimmy washed the blood from his hands
Walked right through the dark
He walked right through the dar
THREE FLOWERS
Papa was an Indian, from West Mexico
Kept his back to the sun, his arms to the barrio
Mijo - listen, a man’s gotta do his share
I just kept my head down, Three Flowers in my hair
Three Flowers in my hair, Three Flowers in my hair
Standing on the front porch, last light on the street
You know I wear my fade low, I keep my pants creased
Mamma’s in the kitchen, masa in the air
I start the engine, Three flowers in my hair
Three Flowers in my hair, Three Flowers in my hair
Slipping down the back street, 5-0 rolling slow
Chico man selling mixed tapes, Hollers if they show
Ladies love my Lincoln, suckas want my share
Always thinking, Three Flowers in my hair
Three Flowers in my hair, Three Flowers in my hair
TWO MATCHSTICKS
With ribbons in your hair you gave yourself away
Our love was young love we swore it to our grave
Now we’re criminals of comfort, honey you know the cause
Oh lover, the way we’re going we’ll just be breaking laws
CHORUS
The way this fire started was two matchsticks in the rain
The first one burned out, the second - it became our flame
We could settle down, in a neighborhood serene
I could keep you warm; you could keep our garden green
Yes, but day gives way to night, and I’m just as weak as you
Oh lover, I swear to be true, but some hearts just bleed the blues.
CHORUS
I know you love to dance; I’m always stepping on your feet
Oh lover, if you hold me close I just might feel the beat
CHORUS