1. |
Mrs. Thomas,
02:52
|
|||
|
Mrs. Thomas,
I've noticed that your son's been acting up in class.
What sport is he playing?
'Cause he's got a lot of bruises and a cast.
You didn't mean for it to turn out like this
Jesse, Daddy wants to be better
And he'll get hurt if you tell her
So it’s best if you just bite your lip
You play a game
To see how well the makeup covers up bruises and scrapes.
But it's okay, you say.
He usually says he's sorry in a couple of days.
You didn't mean for it to turn out like this
Jesse, Daddy wants to be better
And he'll get hurt if you tell her
So it’s best if you just bite your lip
You were in high school
An older boy had finally paid attention to you
It came back positive
He bought a pawn shop ring and he said the right things
And the lease started over in June
You didn't mean for it to turn out like this
The month you moved away was nice
But he showed up in a suit and tie
And told you that he'd learned what he'd missed
Oh
You didn't mean for it to turn out like this
You didn't mean for it to turn out like this
You didn't mean
You didn't mean
You didn't mean
|
||||
2. |
Rocket City
03:48
|
|||
|
I'm still at the park when the sun goes down
See all my friends in their cages
There ain't much better to do in this town
History books missing pages
I've been riding the bench for three series now
I still don't believe when they pinch me
Twenty-seven's too old to get pushed back down
But you know that I'll go where they send me
Someday I'll be an Angel
But for now they fly too high
I'll get called up when they need me
When I've fixed my wandering eyes
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
I've slept on the bus the last thirteen days
It's free and I need that per diem
I've heard things will be better in triple A
Good days are ahead should I see 'em
We got a new guy coming down from the bigs
He went 0 for 10, now it's over
He taught me some tweaks, but we'll see if it sticks
Or if I'm still here in October
Someday I'll be an Angel
But for now they fly too high
I'll get called up when they need me
But for now, I'm just some guy
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
And oh, I think that it's over
And oh, I don't want it to be over
And oh, I think that it's over
Cause I'm only getting older
And oh, I think that it's over
Oh, I don't want it to be over
And oh, I think that it's over
Cause I'm only getting older
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
Someday I'll be an Angel
But for now they fly too high
I'll get called up when they need me
When I've fixed my wandering eyes
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
In Rocket City
Here in Rocket City
|
||||
3. |
Across the Ocean
02:14
|
|||
|
It's nice to hear your voice again
Ask me about my day and yours
And then it's time to go again
Get back to my little chores
But I will think of you
Despite the miles in between
But I will think of you
Across the ocean in a dream
Pretty boy, you're on your own
Pretty boy, you're all alone
Pretty boy, you're on your own
So I thank the telephone
I'd like to see your face again
It's been so long since we have touched
I'll spin the dial 'til I win
A couple minutes with my love
And I can speak to you
Despite the miles in between
And I can speak to you
Across the ocean in a dream
Pretty boy, you're on your own
Pretty boy, you're all alone
Pretty boy, you're on your own
So I thank the telephone
Yes, I will thank the telephone
|
||||
4. |
Advice Song
04:02
|
|||
|
You say you want me to tell you
All I've learned in all my little life
Well, buckle up, boy, tilt your seat back
I'll let you know a couple ways to skip the line
Why are you coming to me for advice?
Think I could get you to paradise?
Think I would ever let you know?
What to do before it goes?
Pick a religion I don't really care which
One with the least passionate followers around
Stay off the drugs at least the ones that you can't kick
It keeps you out of this dead end town
Why are you coming to me for advice?
Think I could get you to paradise?
Think I have something left to say?
Think it's all not too cliché?
Think I wouldn't let you down?
Think I'd say something profound?
And I guess it's all worked out all right for me
All in all, it's pretty good for 23
So I guess if I'm the only one you've got
I won't let you know all the things I'm...
They say you learn more from your failures
Well I can tell you I'm a wise wise man
You want success or maybe just some happiness
To find someone to say that you're better than
Why are you coming to me for advice?
Think I could get you to paradise?
Think I would ever let you know?
What to do before it goes?
Think I have something left to say?
Think it's all not too cliché?
Think I wouldn't let you down?
Think I could find another sound?
|
||||
5. |
An Inventory of Losses
03:23
|
|||
|
All I accumulate
Is an inventory of losses
When we crucify the carpenters
Who is left to make the crosses?
Tuanaki stood
'Til 1844
A society that fell
Onto the ocean floor
John Henry's deader now
Than he's ever been
But the steam has long since given way to silicon
We hunted and we stalked
The final thyacine
We shot and washed our hands
From the blood of our machines
When everything I read
Is a variety of criticisms
I'll leave the having of ideas
Up to the algorithms
If you stand here long enough
You might just see the stars
In the intervals between
The xenon of the cars
John Henry's deader now, yeah
Than he's ever been
But the steam has long since given way to silicon
Oh, oh
John Henry's deader now, yeah
Than he's ever been
But the steam has long since given way to silicon
|
||||
6. |
Wilfred Owen
02:55
|
|||
|
Wilfred Owen
At twenty-five
Said "all a man can do is warn"
It's not to grieve
Or to stay alive
But to tell the truth of those before
He's not a man
Of just one war
But of all those yet to come
But still they say
Just like before
That we should dance and die to drums
They said it's sweet
And proper too
To give my all into the fight
I'm like a demon
Sick of sin
Not blinded by dawn's early light
I signed my name
September 12
Two missing towers in the sky
They weren't from here
In north Iraq
And I can't ask the generals why
My first deployment
2004
A woman on a Mosul road
The captain shouted
the lieutenants swore
and then my forearms felt the blow
They said it's sweet
And proper too
To give my all into the fight
I'm like a demon
Sick of sin
Not blinded by dawn's early light
I've got to live
With what I did
With no one left to make it right
I'm just a man
Full of sin
I see her face most every night
|
||||
7. |
If You
03:31
|
|||
|
If you let him back in
He'll dig his nails into your skin
He'll dig his nails into your skin
If you let him back in
If you give him time
He'll cut the wires in your mind
He'll light the fires you can't hide
If you give him time
So don't remember the good times
You've got to think about the hurt
All the times he crossed the line
All the things you should have learned
I can show you love
Not this fucked-up thing that you've drawn up
Not a human architect's kind of trust
I can show you love
When you're on the phone
There's a fear and rage I can't control
There's a jealous hatred in my soul
When he's on the phone
So don't remember the good times
You've got to think about the hurt
All the times he crossed the line
All the things you should have learned
So don't remember the good times
You've got to think about the hurt
All the times he crossed the line
All the things you should have learned
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
I saw you out on the lawn
You couldn't look me in the eye
A waved hand and a grimaced smile
A curt "hello" and no goodbye
Well, it couldn't have been all bad
No, it couldn't have been all bad
It couldn't have been all bad, now
Could it?
We had a good year and a half
Well, thinking back, that wasn't true
But there were smiles, there were laughs
And that's what's left when I think of you
It couldn't have been, it couldn't have been all bad
No, it couldn't have been, it couldn't have been all bad
Can't you remember all the good times that we had?
I guess this is where it ends
With space for us to be alone
I would have loved to stay your friend
So I'll just tell the microphones
That it couldn't have been all bad
No, it couldn't have been all bad
It couldn't have been all bad, now
Could it?
It couldn't have been all bad
No, it couldn't have been all bad, yeah
It couldn't have been all bad, now
Sarah
|
||||
9. |
Brownstone
03:43
|
|||
|
I dreamed us young, again
Fiancees in an old brownstone
On 51st street
A patch of lawn
Two square feet
And the lines had just appeared around your eyes
You pointed them out in photographs
But I loved the time together that implied
Tracing every little laugh
Then we were middle aged
And yet it feels
Even longer ago
On certain nights
By the firelight
You're still so soft
And the kids would run around that tiny yard
Pretending they were dinosaurs
We'd stay back in and deal a hand of cards
And think of what we were saving for
Now it's just us, my friend
Retirees in an old brownstone
On 51st street
The neighbors gone
The TV on
And the talking heads will just repeat themselves
But we ain't got much left to say
Our grandson comes around if we need some help
But never on a sunny day
|
||||
CD Barnes Washington, D.C.
CD Barnes is a Virginia-based songwriter with the heart of a novelist. His songs are vignettes, revealing a moment or a
lifetime.
His newest album, “Rocket City”, pares back the instrumentation to let the songwriting take the spotlight. The songs are happy and sad, adoring and pensive, hopeful and regretful, and all featuring Barnes’ baritone voice and a Lazarus of a Martin 000.
... more
If you like CD Barnes, you may also like:
Indoor Safari
by Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets
The veteran twang team of Eddie Angel and Greg Townson revives Lowe’s old-school rock agenda.
go to album
24th Street Blues
by Tom Heyman
Tom Heyman documents life in San Francisco circa 2023, refusing to succumb to easy characterization & instead capturing the city’s nuance.
go to album
Echo Dancing
by Alejandro Escovedo
The legendary Alejandro Escovedo returns with another country-rock scorcher.
go to albumThe Canadian singer-songwriter and environmental activist excels at helping to find a silver lining; everything is transitory, but that doesn’t mean it’s unsurmountable.
go to album
Turn My Radio Up
by The Coffis Brothers
Big, sunny country songs from this Santa Cruz duo summon the spirit of late-period Byrds.
go to album
Zed For Zulu
by Those Pretty Wrongs
Jody Stephens of Big Star and Luther Russell of the Freewheelers team for a radiant LP packed full of slide guitar and pop smarts.
go to album
Downey to Lubbock
by Dave Alvin
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
go to album