Lyrics
Anger of Magdalene (Ain't no Future Workin' 9-5)
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
30 at 15, pregnant at 16
high school dropout could have been the prom queen
momma's got meth teeth, daddy's always thirsty
gotta do something, working at the Mickey Dees
Boss gets handy says he's gonna save me
Payday's Friday, and I need a little money cause there
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
Aint no future being no one's fool
Standing up straight, and following rules.
Check seems light now, car done broke down
Can't afford to fix it, gotta get a bus downtown
keeping my probation up, pissing in a dixie cup
officer leers at me, asks me, "honey, what's up?"
Here we go again it seems, hands are in-between my knees
Looks at me, reminds me nobody believes me, and there
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
Aint no future being no one's fool
Standing up straight, and following rules.
Heading to the pawn shop, thinking about that damn cop
I want something light and sexy, big enough to make him stop
Feels good on my hip, and better in my hands
Out to the back and doing what I planned
Six rounds later, and one done gone
Two more stops to make then this day is done
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
Aint no future being no one's fool
Standing up straight, and following rules.
Goin back to the piss stop, finding that probation cop
Show's about to start, honey, go on take that jacket off
Trigger slides good, shooting like it should
Cop drops, demons say, "welcome to the neighborhood."
One more stop to make then my body can rest
Beating feet into the street, aint got time to get arrested.
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
Aint no future being no one's fool
Standing up straight, and following rules.
Pull into the drive-thru asking for some cheap food
Stacy brings it to the window, tell her that it's no good
Make a big scene, calling out his name
Demand to see the manager, nothing's gonna be the same
The barrel come up and that shit-eating grin
Blew three miles wide, honey.
Aint no future working 9-5
minimum wage in a dead-end job.
Aint no future being no one's fool
Standing up straight, and following rules.
Beauty Fades
So now in your 31st year,
Have you learned how to name all these things you fear?
So now in your 31st year,
Do you know
That the sun still rises and the sun still sets
The flowers still bloom when the snow melts
And the dogs still bark at everyone as they pass
But the times have changed
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Time flies faster as the music slows
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Yeah the times have changed
Do your children even know who you are?
Let 'em in on your dreams help them find their stars.
Do your children even know who you are?
Do you?
And the wheel grinds down and the lights go off
The radio plays back your glory days
And the television news says it's all down hill
But the times have changed
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Time flies faster as the music slows
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Yeah the times have changed
And the river don't cry as loud as she used to do
And the stabs from your friends don't cut like they used to
And you fear that you've mellowed but you don't know how
When the fire in your guts keeps the winter out
The newspaper story says it's all about
what reading don't fix we should just throw out.
The family photos line the stairway wall
As you climb to your bed you secretly hope you'll fall
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Time flies faster as the music slows
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Yeah the times have changed
Oh, beauty fades. Oh, watch it grow.
Watch the time fly faster as the music slows
Beauty fades. Love grows.
Yeah the times have changed
Blood on the Bottle
There's blood on her mouth, blood on the bottle
and she aint answering your call
when she's pressed she says she's clumsy
we both know that weren't no fall
that man's no good
nobody ever told her that she's lovely
that she's worth so much more than that
I tried to tell her once that I was different
she just said I've got my man
that man's no good
we went out the other night
by the illumination of 60 watt candlelight
we drank till it was fine
that's when I lost my mind
that old argument did rear
I awoke alone here
my knuckles bruised and raw
I cannot help losing her
There's blood on her mouth blood on the bottle
when I saw her on hte streets this afternoon
I tried to ask her, do you have some place to stay
she just turned away
she just turned away
I can't keep her safe
no I can't keep her safe
when the booze takes me away
this man's no good.
Butterfly Effect
Caught and captured, gussied up and pinned to the wall.
They like to come and look at you; compare you all.
You’re beauty’s iradescent, and this frame is far too plain
They know if you got loose that you would bring forth the hurricane
Fly little butterflies no glass in between you
And the bright bold future and the things that you will do
The world will try to pin you down. It will fall short.
You’ve been known to have that butterfly effect on the world
Mute but pretty. Forced to stay inside your cacoon
Told you greatest asset grows inside your womb
Reminded of your strength but only strength not to complain.
It’s time to step out of this frame bring forth the hurricane
Fly little butterflies no glass in between you
And the bright bold future and the things that you will do
The world will try to pin you down. It will fall short.
You’ve been known to have that butterfly effect on the world
When you stand up they’ll try to knock you down
And make you feel like a worm
Just like they did to your sisters down in town
Since the day that they were born
Soldier on, the monarch’s coming, hail to the queen
You’ve been hungry for a change,
This could be your day
Look at all your predecessors there on the wall
It’s the ones who never fought back who are indexed and catalogued
A butterfly with broken wings Is never on display
It’s worth risking your wings to flap them. Bring forth the hurricane
Fly little butterflies no glass in between you
And the bright bold future and the things that you will do
The world will try to pin you down. It will fall short.
You’ve been known to have that butterfly effect on the world
James McGovern
My name is James McGovern. I’m an old hard-working man
I’ll tell to you my story, hope that you can understand
That I was born into this life; this life I did not choose
Followed my father down into those caves, thought there that I might prove
That I was made of harder stuff than skin and flesh and bone
But the first time that I breathed the dark I knew that I was home.
When I was a young man carried tools into that hole
Spent summers cool and winters warm on my labour digging coal
The dust piled up around me until my skin would not come clean
But in the evening when the workbell rang, oh see how my eyes gleam
There’s a solomn brotherhood among those who dig so deep
into the mountains that you find the secrets nature tried to keep
Once I loved a woman and she said that she loved me
She bore two children to me and two children bore my need
They followed me into those pits to work and there they stay
I lost my eldest son to whisky, my youngest to the cave
So when the black lung comes and the world goes dim
If I see my child will I recognize him
Will he know his father though his frame is bent and old
His face grown gray and cold from a life spent underground
You ask me, "James McGovern, why do you stay this place?
Don’t you miss a sunlit valley? Don’t you miss a friendly face?"
But there’s a thing that gets beneath your skin when you’re down here.
Makes the sunlight unfamiliar and familiar the sound of steel
Backbreaking labour all my life is all I’ve known
From my grandfather on down, we’re a family digging coal so tell me
When the black lung comes and the world goes dim
If I see my child will I recognize him
Will he know his father though his frame is bent and old
His face grown gray and cold from a life spent underground
Your car may run on oil, but your house stays warm on coal
Like Father
Oh my child. Don’t you think that’s what I’d ask of you.
I know you are afraid and I feel it too.
I won’t tell you to chin up, won’t tell you to buckle down.
Daddy knows the battle with the beasts.
The war it’s been raging, oh since long before you were born.
Lord knows I tried to kill them all with drink
Then I’d wake up every day Seeing everything’s the same
And still have to rouse myself and do battle with the beasts
The beasts come on you quiet as the grave while you’re speaking.
They whisper all those doubts into the places where you fear.
And they steal your joys away, and make it harder every day
To stand up to, and do battle with, the beasts
I showed your mother all the demons that I kept inside.
She could by rights have run but she stayed.
And she gave me to you and she gave you to me,
And said, “get out there, and do battle with the beasts.”
So many times like you I have thought I’d let it pass away
Not fighting it seems easier that to stand again
Though your spirit aches to fade, and you feel hollow every day
I’m begging you do battle with the beasts
I doubt you recall there was a time when you were almost three
The demons they had brought me to my knees
I could feel my watch was through, and there was nothing left to do
But lie down and wait there for the beasts
And you found me and you smiled and you called me by our secret name
You held my hand in yours and you banished them
Though I was a man grown, and to you demons unknown,
You taught me how to battle with the beasts
So I know you’ve got the strength to walk yourself out of this rocky place
I know you hear them waiting for you just outside that door
But put your hand in mine, and I’ll fight by your side
And together we’ll do battle with these beasts.
Mud
You and I grew up in the same part of town
On the wrongside of the tracks where people keep their heads down
Nose to the grindstone and feet on the ground
We grew up dreaming of flying high above those storms
Where the sun never sets; the clouds don’t obscure
the horizon. It spreads; the frontier’s all around
Baby write your dreams down.
Make them seem permanent in black and white
Baby write your dreams down
and say goodnight
I can’t imagine you looking finer than you did in wedding white
When the wind blew all around you lifted your veil and the sight
Of your smile beaming at me. It was like honey.
We had ourselves some kids and we bought ourselves a home
And the bills kept piling in; my whole life was on loan
But the tempest we could temper, and weather on our own
Baby write your dreams down.
Make them seem permanent in black and white
Baby write your dreams down
and say goodnight
But this town dragged us down, and it made us hurt
And it filled our lives with work
Till this roof weighed like an anchor,
And this ring cut like a flint
You’ve got diaries full of change
And I’ve got pockets full of lint
And our feet are mired in the mud
Our feet are mired in the mud
Now my clothes are hanging off me and I feel like skin and bone
And this tired that I have is worse than any that I’ve known
And going off to work, it’s just a way not to be home
Still you write your dreams down.
Harsh accusations in black and white
Still you write your dreams down
and say goodnight
So I sit and drink and I stare you down
While the world wears you down
Till this roof weighed like an anchor,
And this ring cut like a flint
You’ve got diaries full of change
And I’ve got pockets full of lint
I’ve got bottles that are empty
you’ve got dreams that ain't fulfilled
Though we ache to stretch our feathers
spread our wings we never will
Cause our dreams are mired in the mud
Yeah our dreams are mired in the mud.
One Town Over
Everybody knows that growing up sucks
Noone ever said you had to hate it so much
You ran from yourself and you ran from me
You ran from your home and from your family
And the last time I saw you there was nothing to say
You moved one town over, and a lifetime away
A last look over your shoulder with them heroine eyes
The alley is a church, you kneel, try and get by
This whole town judged you like it done before
The homecoming queen was now a druggie whore
And even if you came to visit there’d be nothing to say
You moved one town over, one decision away
And I know I judged you,
and I had no place to,
When I didn’t help you.
And I don’t blame you.
Things you did, it made you.
And I don’t hate you.
Everybody knows that being wrong aint hard
It’s saying it aloud that aint the easy part.
I stand at this microphone confess I’ve wronged
Call me sometime if you hear this song
Cause there’s a lifetime between us now and nothing’s changed.
I still remember you given name.
You’ve got children in the next town, and I hear they play
I’m just one town over, and forgiveness away
One town over. One town over. One town over. One town over.
Refugee's Plea
They came in the night with guns
and they chased my future away
They dogged my freedom down and slaughtered it
in the center of town
For all my neighbors to come and see
it could happen to them if to me.
And they gathered us all together,
terrified and strangely alone
Oh you can send me away
Let my children stay
There aint no home back home anyway
We couldn't gather what we didn't have
so we left with empty hands
greasing palms in the filthiest ways
to feed my children and sleep them safe
Lifted my infant up over the wire
and lost her into hungry arms
I'll never sleep right again
and my baby's gone
Oh you can send me away
Let my children stay
There aint no home back home anyway
I'll work for as much as you pay me
but my accent says that aint that much.
Why do you hate me for living among you
when you were born to live amidst so much
Have you ever been chased from your home
leaving neighbors there to die alone
in the hopes that you might find
a place to hide your child
Have you given of yourself everything
so somebody can keep themselves?
Have you been born into a childhood far too short?
An adulthood that feels like hell?
Have you listened to the murderers out in the street
and thought, "it's better if tomorrow don't come"?
Allah be praised you've never risked all that I've risked
but don't you see why I can't go back home?
It's violence that I'm fleeing
Aint violence that I bring
Why do you tremble at my sad religion
It's done you no more harm than yours has done to me
And it's true that I cover my face when I'm out
Out of respect for him that stands above
How can loving God be evil?
Don't you know God is love?
Oh you can send me away
Let my children stay
There aint no home back home anyway
Oh you can send me away
Let my children stay
There aint no home back home anyway
Oh you can send me away
Let my children stay
Six-String Directions
Lifted the hood on that old orange truck
Saw the engine was no good
Slammed it shut through the steam and the oil
Stared off into that darkening wood
38 miles from anywhere 38 years left to live
Staring down the median screaming, “something’s gotta give.”
Tell me how’d I end up in this deep southern town
I’m a child of New England, don’t remember coming down
That’s the way that it goes, when you let these six strings
Give directions
So I let her ride shotgun, pretty in her tweed
I bring her up to my motel rooms I take from her what I need
Year she’s always raring to go And she always moans on key
Sees through the darkness in my soul And she sets that darkness free
I tune her up best as I can by ear, don’t want to bring no pedals inside
And last time I plugged an amp in I couldn’t spend the night
Tell me how’d I end up in this deep southern town
I’m a child of New England, don’t remember coming down
That’s the way that it goes, when you let these six strings
Give directions
And I don’t know if you’ve noticed
But the gas station pumps don’t pump hope
And the bill collectors call you
Hang accusations around your neck like coarse ropes.
Meanwhile you can't afford to buy new strings
Hell, you can't afford your beer
And the manager says you aint drawn enough to get payed here
I had a girl back home, with eyes like ice and hair like gold
She’s moved on she’s got a wife and a kid she’s grown up so I’m told
So I bring the pedals in, I stomp a driver, and I let that baby scream
Because I left my snow angel, 15 years in my dreams.
Tell me how’d I end up in this deep southern town
I’m a child of New England, don’t remember coming down
That’s the way that it goes, when you let these six strings
Give directions
Tennessee
Aint got no bourbon, aint got no rum
Aint got time for another night’s fun
But take my hand and dance with me
See if we can make it to Tennessee
Dreaming large is what I do
Never had the drive to make a dream come true
But take my hand and dance with me
See if we can make it to Tennessee
All I have is what I’ve got
I’d be lying if I told you that it was a lot
But take my hand and dance with me
On a shoestring all the way to Tennessee
Your daddy’s land is all you have
And leaving him would leave you flat
But take my hand and we will see
If together we’re enought for Tennessee
Plans went South about the Dixon line
I turned the car around when you got the mind
Saying one more dream wasn’t what you need
And Philly was close enough to Tennessee
'Till the Day We Die
I live in a town where no one feels
Everybody is your buddy but nothing’s real
The hurt wells up, but we don’t cry
We carry it within us till the day we die
We drown it out with liquor and with alcohol
Smoke till the fires have cleansed us all
Scourge our tongues but we don’t know why
Carry it within us till the day we die
How dare you claim to know me
When I don’t know myself
My reflection is the devil and the mirror’s hell.
My misdeeds are storm clouds on the breeze
Bitter as the bile on a stormy sea
Can’t stop the deluge but you know we’ll try
Dam it up within us till the day we die
The thing I’ve done will take me far from you
Though I’ve tried to live a life square and true
The deed now done can’t meet your eyes.
Carry it within us till the day we die
How dare you claim to know me
When I don’t know myself
My reflection is the devil and the mirror is my hell
My reflection is the devil and the mirror’s hell.
Scorned by the face that I know so well.
Got no coin to cross the brack and wide
Carry me to judgement on the other side
Harry me along let me tarry no more
I don’t even understand what you’re still listening for
When a truth once told proves to be lies
We’ll carry it within us till the day we die
How dare you claim to know me
When I don’t know myself
My reflection is the devil and the mirror is my hell
Trucker's Song
This old rig has seen so many nights of rain
Halogen lights won’t pierce the pain
Downshifting downward spiral downgrade down 81
West Virginia don’t mourn alone
Oh, go the wheels
The shortwave crackles and it squeals
A somber dirge being played out on CB Radio
For a love that’s gone before grown old.
I don’t know where I will go when I will go
I never planned to be alone
Weeping over Autumn leaves as I turn this errant cargo East
Wondering when this house stopped feeling home
Oh, go the wheels
The shortwave crackles and it squeals
A somber dirge being played out on CB Radio
For a love that’s gone before grown old.
And in my mind I might find time for Caroline
But she won’t answer, answer’s no
Write if you like, there's no reply
Write if you like, there's no reply
So I kill the thought of all this cost with the cost of diesel
Plan my route from truckstop drop to drop
But all these figures endlessly won’t hide away from me the only number
I can’t bring myself to call
Oh, go the wheels
The shortwave crackles and it squeals
A somber dirge being played out on CB Radio
For a love that’s gone before grown old.
Water Rising Up
I feel that water rising up when I stomp the ground
I feel that crack of lightning over that hill
You know it’s high tide, and it’s high time
And this flash flood is ready to spill
The stream is full of flotsam. The controls have been eased
The forcasters are forcasting coming in from the East
Is a deluvian force, dressed in red and stained orange
Rising up like a thunderhead
I feel that water rising up when I stomp the ground
I feel that crack of lightning over that hill
You know it’s high tide, and it’s high time
And this flash flood is ready to spill
Just put your hand upon the Bible because we care where you lie
You won’t get swept away if you hold this flat real tight
Shutter all the windows, shudder to think
The river is rising, the river is rising.
I feel that water rising up when I stomp the ground
I feel that crack of lightning over that hill
You know it’s high tide, and it’s high time
And this flash flood is ready to spill
There’s a crackle in the atmosphere you feel it when you breathe
All the morons say it’s sunny from their home on TV
But just look out your window at that darkening sky
Aint gonna be no steady ground left, boys, swim or you’ll die
Swim or you’ll die, swim or you’ll die
Just look out of your window at that darkening sky
Swim or you’ll die, swim or you’ll die
Aint gonna be no steady ground left boys swim or you’ll die
Weep
Bundle your heart aches in your old broken suitcase and leave
I don't want to hear no excuses, I'm trying to get some peace
There's nothing in this heart of mine but hurt and regret
Aint nothing in my stomach but whisky and death
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
Frame all your memories lay them out on a table to see
Pick and choose which ones you'll take with you and which ones you'll leave
The smiles are all broken the tears almost hid
Aint hardly a record of the thing that life did
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
Call the hurt Matthew a face for the dark when the pain comes
Ask yourself why he is nowhere at all where he used to run
A bare wooden casket to hold all your fears
lowered into the dark sails away on your tears
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
And the cancer that eats me, it has a name that's the same as yours
Weep
Weep in the morning
Weep
Weep in the eve
Weep when you slumber
Weep when you dream
Weep
Weep