1. |
American & Joy
02:07
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There's old hubcaps thrown out on the lawn
And a busted up bottle for a xylophone
Most of 'em left and the best are gone
Out on Joy Road.
Watson Collins buffin' his Malibu
And Rhonda Schaefer's still old and through
Blind Mich' Joe's huffin' a bottle of glue
Down on Joy Road
Its the worst place you could ever cross
And the last time you'll ever get lost,
Out on American and Joy.
We wrote out our names in the cement
All the past times by they went
Michigan's hung up and spent
Down here on Joy Road.
Humid - oh holler - with a bleach-starched collar
Hearing cars pop when our name was top dollar
Whole city's now just one down junkie smaller
Out here on Joy Road.
Its the worst place you could ever cross
And the last time you'll get lost,
Out on American and Joy.
There's old hubcaps sitting on the lawn
And a busted up bottle for a xylophone
Most of 'em left hey best are gone
Out on Joy Road.
Five dead birds squatting a boarded up church
Size nine shoe tracks but they lost the search
Drive yourself crazy thinking up what's it worth
Here on Joy Road.
Its the worst place you could ever cross
And the last time you'll get lost,
Out on American and Joy.
Here on American and Joy.
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2. |
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I went walking on these broken dreams,
While I was contemplating my reality,
And the complexity of this existence, it frightens me,
More than words can speak.
I was stomping through the streets today,
Trying to find any way I could to get away,
And the more that I looked around the more I saw my own face,
Staring back at me.
I was sitting in the gutter of my memory,
Drowning in all the things I once promised me,
And the life that has so quickly become a personal history,
Or a happenstance tragedy.
I went searching down the halls of reaction,
Time, love, peace man and satisfaction,
And found there must exist some strange attraction,
Between love and deceit.
I was stumbling to find the right words to say,
But, fuck man, you know it doesn’t matter anyway,
Because even if I said it not a single word would stay,
So instead I’m looking for something cool to say right here.
And I'll keep my eyes wide
For something cool
And I'll hold my heart awhile
And I will find it, yes I will.
I keep my eyes wide
For something cool.
I was born but yesterday
And I will find it - yes I will.
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3. |
New York City Blues
02:27
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Stumbling, I was walking on this street
This dusky beaten trail
With the bright lights, streaming cars and cigarettes.
Screaming to myself alone and in my head
In a thousand and a million faces and lives pass me.
I just been going through this whole life with everything to lose
Giving up my whole mind for these New York City Blues.
Stumbling, I was walking on this street
This dusky beaten trail
With the bright lights, streaming cars and cigarettes.
Seeing myself in a lone subway station crying
Through the filthy red cheeks and the stains on my shirt.
Busted up mirror eyes hide these busted mirror eyes.
You know it's all groovy.
Stumbling, I was walking on this street
This dusky beaten trail
With the bright lights, streaming cars and cigarettes.
Throwing this hammer down on the softened city streets
Burning down, the only time is now,
And this moment we cannot retrieve.
No use retreating, no hope believing, just a waste I've been grieving.
I spent my night thieving the season
Well if I've been deceiving it's cuz' I've got a reason
This is the part with the big moral.
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4. |
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Shaky glass on linoleum and long nights in Wyoming
Pool halls and telephone calls “Where is my life a ’going?”
Southern Pacific pride out of Laramie wearing nothing but a cowboy hat And sun-dressed lines left behind on a bristled back porch mat.
Tossed dirty sheets to the wind and wrote a hymn called “See if I care” Never gave in to dreams of him raking her cherry hair.
Followed the Columbia to Pendleton and backwashed saxophone lies Expired pills, expensive thrills and countless river guys.
If it weren’t for luck I’d have nothing, dripping paint on a backyard fence
Lemon trees and summer breeze “where all the time it did went?”
See confetti ashes on the riverwalk and our name once in a while
Couldn’t lay for a grave, could not ever behave, just was never my style.
The whole world’s against me I’ve got trouble on my mind
The whole world’s against me I’ve been struggling all the time
The whole world’s against me I’ve been alone since I was born
Still stumbling down that line....
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5. |
Another Year Down
02:34
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World's change real fast 'round here - don't it?
Better not sure be we're the last ones on it
Stand up high- Stand up!
Waking up to the sounds of breathing,
A couple of milk cartons and thoughts of leaving,
Better not lie - we're up!
Tracing out lines where the sidewalk ends
Myrtle Ave. and I've been the best of friends
Empire State's like a million miles away
We're like ants down here where the shadow's cast
Hey good times were never meant to last
I've been hurting for a holiday
Well, those old acquaintances - I don't ever think upon 'em,
Goddamn little one - you are the world,
Hard times and hard lines in Bed-Stuy
It's like a hundred and something in the Harlem heat
Auburn's a burning bottle in the heap
I washed in the sink once
A few dead flies in the bubble gum tar
Baby Lele and I we'll make it far
I prefer the company of drunks
Born with too much on my plate
Plastic fingers held open to fate
Fort Greene hits harder than a hurricane
An invisible child still running on fumes
Just a shelter boogie from womb to tomb
I hit harder than a hurricane
Well, those old acquaintances - I don't ever think upon 'em,
Goddamn little one - you are the world,
Hard times and hard lines in Bed-Stuy
A couple hours here of sunlight left
Don't believe in livin' but it's all I got left
Another winter on my leather
Chutes are hopping, heating and cracking
I can still hear the neighbors here cracking
Another winter on my leather
Well, those old acquaintances - I don't ever think upon 'em,
Goddamn little one - you are the world,
Hard times and hard lines in Bed-Stuy
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6. |
Chinabird
02:07
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Still chirping, this little bird flew in,
While I was but napping,
Arms proud and chest out
Her little wings still flapping.
Still chirping, this little bird flew by
On her way past the border,
The concrete and steel in her eye,
The brick and the mortar.
She danced a groove and gypsy jig
On little but Tennessee air,
Pulled out a sycamore twig
From a squirrels gnarly hair.
She went stitching and skipping
On dark Cambridge nights,
Her weary and worried
Graceful little flights.
Broken glass on the dashboard,
Tugging the cord on the mower.
I was lucky in life
I was lucky to know her.
I saw her in my window
On the coldest of days
Her marble-eyes congealing
The quickening stays.
Praise be to God,
Praise be to she.
Praise be to the God
That brought her to me.
She chased a cat through an alleyway,
And once a dog up a tree,
She landed soft on my heart
And was my best company.
Fly up, fly down my sweet little bird.
Fly on, I’m hanging on every word.
Every chirp every twerp,
Every French-sounding bell
I wait up long nights lost in your spell.
So I say, praise be to God,
Praise be to she.
Praise be to the God
That brought her to me.
Fly up, fly down my dear Chinabird,
Fly on, fly on, fly on back to me.
My sill is your stage,
My heart your cage,
Fly on, fly on, fly endlessly.
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7. |
At War with the World
01:49
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I’ve seen a life go by in the blink of an eye
That Foreman Joe he’s a hell of a guy
But he always finishes last.
Started with nothing and leaving with less
Drowning my sorrows you could say, I guess
Maybe tomorrow will pass.
I’ve had plenty of friends, alone in the end
Silence like sirens all again and again
All alone in the heap
Drinking wine since half past noon
Dizzying highs lessening the doom
Crying myself to sleep.
Uh-oh, little one
Don’t you hold nothing back from me
Come on, little one,
We’re at war with the world, we’re at war with the world
Uh-oh, little one
Don’t you hold nothing back from me
Come on, little one,
I’ve been fighting with shadows and I’ve been battling ghosts
I can’t believe my luck this time.
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8. |
Frustration
02:04
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Ain't about to hide it
Or try to deny it
The day I get laid is the day I get quiet.
And it ain't from lack of creativity or from comedy
There just never seems to be an opportunity
For me to be feeling set free
From me feeling so goddamn horny.
And if it happens it happens
But it's never going to happen
From a lack of wanting it to happen.
And if even Mick can't get no satisfaction
What's the chance my dick will see some action?
In my words and in my eyes
I can feel it right between my thighs.
Ain't about to hide or disguise
Or cover it up with lies.
If it's wrong - then I'm wrong
But I don't want to wait so long
I've been waiting so long
For a woman to come along
Who digs my song and digs my groove
Digs all the shit that I say and do
Digs my way and digs my style
Hears me say that it's been awhile
And gives me some generosity and some sympathy
To lift me out of this state of being
And gives me recognition and ambition
To lift me out of this condition.
I wanna hear her say "come away with,
Come play with me,
Come away"
Just need some damn fine lovin' from a damn fine lover.
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9. |
Silvertongue
01:23
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Took the downtown one out of dirty harlem
I was down on my luck and on my silvertongue.
You know it's true what they say, my life's out on the highway.
Heart's about a million miles away from here.
I couldn't give a fuck less because all I see is success.
I feel I"m throwing my young life away.
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10. |
Roaring Chimes
03:24
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Throw your dreams in a suitcase and dust off the hood
87 miles to go and still not looking good
Asphalt pitching - boy I would if I could
The porch paint's chipping, dripping in the humid wind
You can tell by all the lines just where she's been.
Staying up late past just God-knows-when
Got to know when your numbers up
When you're down your eyes still shine
Don't ask me how I'm doing when you can see I'm just fine
All this living's just wasted time.
Don't you worry about the future, my little one
There'll be a time when we're both dead and gone
Whistle down Dixie, roaring church bells chime.
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11. |
Friends
01:32
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Well, my friends are wrong,
My dreams are gone,
My home feels so far away.
My friends are all gone,
I'm hanging on,
Whistling down to my grave.
We all know there's no God,
And all the money that I got,
Wound up slipping away like water.
No matter how I fought,
Everything that I sought
Wound up in the end as fodder.
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12. |
Bodie
01:50
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You wouldn't believe what the blue jay said to me
when he was playing there in the snow
Must've lost all of his mother's love
And known just where to go
It was snowing there in the springtime
And still snowing there in the fall
And once the preacher came by to visit me
Baby you know I've got it all
I know I've messed up with my kids
And I've been missing my wife
Sometimes when I look out at the hillsides
What have I done with my life?
Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie
Goodbye God I'm going away
Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie
It's damn near 55 below
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13. |
Columbia
02:05
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Probably going to hell for what I did.
You're probably going to be staying up with your kids.
I can see the smoke out on the horizon.
And I feel in my blood, just rising...
Do you feel like me?
Then put your little hand in mine.
Hey Columbia, you been so cruel to me.
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14. |
Lost Crown
04:00
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Well it feels like I've got nothing now
Kinda like Im nothing now.
Well, it screams inside me now,
and it holds me down,
Im feeling like a king without his crown.
And I walk on, through hell again,
Chasing down the demons that once were my friends,
Stuck like I once was before,
I don't want to take any more.
Time keeps moving on,
Right past the battles I've fought.
Feeling like a king without his crown,
Just want to live this down.
And if you know the words,
just help me sing this song.
And if you know the truth,
You can never go wrong.
So don't you worry,
Don't you ever feel afraid,
Know that wherever I go,
I will be doing the same.
Leaving behind my broken heart,
and my aching bones,
Just scream these words with me,
and try not to feel so alone.
Because I seen this dinosaur go extinct,
Screaming "Hey Nick! What do you think I think?
Or do you even think at all?"
I guess not,
Or if I did I forgot.
Wont you scream along with me,
only if you know my pain.
Come along with me,
This place just feels insane.
This life just keeps slipping away until its gone,
And if you know this truth, you will never do wrong
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Nicholas Hoell Toronto, Ontario
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