Get all 5 Lorrie Matheson releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mission to Inglewood, The Fall, The Night Is For Sleepers, In Vein, and A Dime At A Time.
1. |
Something or Someone
04:51
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Battling my demons is a daily curse. Most of the time I just give in, but there are nights when there's nothing worse than the bitter taste of sin. They’re telling me "you can never fight fate" - something tells me they’re telling me lies. I could control my destiny, but I need the strength to try. You might call me a hypocrite but I took my chance when I paid for it - I am just the same as you, I need something or someone to hold on to.
I’m turning on the dream machine and I am dreaming, dreaming for some kind of way to change the scenery, I can't take this view anymore. Romantic notions in my head, swirling up wishes that can’t come true, unless I can find the might to breathe some life into a hope or two. You might say I deserve this, but we’re both stepping off of the precipice! I am just the same as you, I need something or someone to hold on to
I’m coming close to an overdose, mainlining promises. No-one tells the truth anymore, we don’t even know what that is. You might call me a hypocrite, but I took my chance when I paid for it. I am just the same as you - I need something or someone. I am just the same as you - I need something or someone. I am just the same as you - I need something or someone to hold on to.
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2. |
Mission to Inglewood
04:24
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I know I never said goodbye - the time was never right, the words never came, I lost my voice... I didn’t have a choice. Sign language doesn’t work when you only know one phrase, but I'm doing what I can. I choose not to feel without a heart of lead, without a soul of steel.
Oh, I blew the joint - I didn't want to finger-point. Does it matter who was wrong? I had to cut and run, after week, after week, facing imminent defeat! The bright side never shines when the worst has just begun, but I'm doing what I can. I choose not to feel without a heart of lead, without a soul of steel.
Losing grip might be for the common good. Maybe, it’s nothing that I should fear! Perhaps the trip from Mission to Inglewood might win me some kind of award for hanging on all of those years.
I’m doing what i can. I choose not to feel without a heart of lead, without a soul of steel, got rocks in my head, hounds at my heels... I don’t have a heart lead. I don’t have a soul of steel.
Mission to Inglewood.
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3. |
Head-To-Shins Brass
05:24
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I've got to watch what I’m saying, I might speak the truth! Knock a few back, lose the prude, loosen my lips til the facts come out, no longer standing in the shadow of doubt - and I’ll dance the dance and play sleight of word (a little misdirection to confuse the herd). Arthur Murray couldn’t do the steps I can when I’m dodging sniper’s bullets in No-Man’s Land!
I need to be credible, unincredibly! Not me, I’m not yet the fool, but inevitable I’ll get my foot caught in my esophagus, it happens to the best and worst of all of us.
Straight goods - do you want ‘em now? Lies would be better in the time we’re allowed. Complications set in when minds are spoken - blood is shed, hearts are broken in two! I’m incredulous! Incredibly, it was you! Somehow, this time it wasn’t me with my foot caught in my esophagus! It happens to the best. It happens to the best and worst of all of us. Yes, it does.
I should have watched my step and what I had to say. Head-to-shins brass, feet of clay, and the damage I did after the fall made a mockery and a mess of it all, and my need to be credible, unincredibly, left me playing the fool! Inevitable I’d get my foot caught in my esophagus, it happens to the best and worst of all of us. All of us, all of us, all of us... head-to-shins brass, feet of clay.
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4. |
Rope
06:26
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Where you gonna run when it comes, what you gonna do? You can try to hide but the signs point to certain doom. Go on, disappear, but it's clear they’ll catch up with you. You don’t have a hope - you’ll be swinging from a rope!
You have got a lot of nerve. Did you steal that, too? Or did you burn your conscience with the bridges to your past? I’ll stand aside, twiddling my thumbs, grinning ear to ear when you get what’s coming, and I’ll shed no tear when they string you up at last! The piper will be paid before you pass!
You looked me in the eye, told me lies, then you walked away, whistling a tune thinking you got one up on me! The smile on your face will be erased (Karma gets her way!), you don’t have a hope - you’ll be swinging from a rope!
I’ll look on, wondering aloud how you’ll stand a chance against a vicious crowd, and I’ll watch you squirm and cower, terrified, as the piper takes his pay out of your hide.
You've got a lot of nerve.
Where you gonna run when it comes, what you gonna do? You can try to hide but the signs point to certain doom.
Go on, disappear, but it's clear they’ll catch up with you. You don’t have a hope - you’ll be swinging. Just give ‘em time and they’ll find you’re an SOB, fuck your friends, in the end they’ll be enemies holding a grudge, they won’t budge, don’t get on your knees, iIt’ll be no use - your neck’s for the noose! Not a glimmer of hope - you’ll be swinging from a rope!
You've got a lot of nerve
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5. |
Anybody Got Some Relief?
03:21
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The last hit to the head has brought me total confusion - nothing makes sense, if indeed it ever made sense. I suffered bruises and some mild contusions but these wounds could be scars if I could get them the chance. And if there’s safety in numbers, why do I feel surrounded, helpless, hopeless, bound by grief, encumbered and dumbfounded, when all I'm looking for is a little relief? Anybody got some?
I wish I could come down with a case of amnesia - a clean slate’s something I could put to use. Is there a doctor with a new anesthetic that could numb my brain and jar these memories loose? Cuz if good fences make good neighbors, why am I suffocating? Walls are closing in and I can barely breathe! If this is heaven, the savior’s relocated, and all I'm looking for is a little relief! Anybody got some relief?
I can’t find it in the Bible, nor the Bottle, nor the Gun. Pills are poison and all the dope’s been done! I’m starting to feel like I'll never be saved and there’s no peace on this side of the grave. I can’t spend every hour in the arms of my lover, and as soon as she leaves the dread creeps back in. Don’t wanna run, but I need to take some cover, just to ease my mind and maybe shed my skin, but the only path that is illuminated is the one leading to despair - don’t need a map, the route is uncomplicated - a straight line down’s gonna take me there!
But if there’s safety in numbers, why do I feel surrounded, helpless, hopeless, bound by grief, encumbered and dumbfounded, when all I'm looking for is a little relief? All I’m looking for is a little relief! Yes, all I’m looking for is a little relief!! Anybody got some relief? I can’t find it in the Bible, nor the Bottle, nor the Gun! Pills are poison and all the dope has been…
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6. |
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The skeletons are piling up so high, she can’t close the door! Spilling down the hall, there’s a partial jaw, rib cages and fibulas on the floor. Black or white, wrong or right, flee or fight, it's your sight that goes first when the night comes. Either way, either way, either way you’ve got to pay, but how you gonna pay it with a zero sum? By the light of the Lamp of the Poor, you’ve got your blacks, you’ve got your greys - shadows cast by the Lamp of the Poor turn the night into the darkest day.
One eye on the sky, an ear to the ground, convinced the end is coming soon, and while it surely is, his demise won’t be weather or war, man. It’ll be the truth! Fix the race, leave no trace, tracks erased, save your face! False hope is burning up in your lungs! Either way, either way, either way you’ll have to say it, but how you gonna speak when they’ve cut your tongue? By the light of the Lamp of the Poor, you’ve got your blacks, you’ve got your greys - shadows cast by the Lamp of the Poor turn the night into the darkest day.
Hey Jude- ain’t you the Lost Cause Saint? My faith is faint, but can’t you save me? By the light of the Lamp of the Poor, you’ve got your blacks, you’ve got your greys - shadows cast by the Lamp of the Poor turn the night into the darkest day.
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7. |
I'm Not Buying
02:53
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“Trust the instruments” they always say, “when you’re in cloud cover or flying at night, up will feel like down, vertigo sets in - you’ll be much too sick to fight.”. What happens when the gauges fail? Where’s the parachutes? I think I'll bail…
Turn this bus around, I’m sure we’re lost, and who’s idea was this, anyway? We don’t have brakes! Or safety belts! We’re gonna crash! I don’t wanna die this way! We let down our guard, now we’ll pay - why’d we throw the common sense away? I saw them set the hook (they tied it to their lying), I might have had a look, man, but I’m not buying!
Follow instructions, stay in line, do what you’re told, you’ll never get hurt! All the bells, the whistles, the flashing lights - keep our minds off the fact this machine don’t work. They used our money to build this thing, and charge us admission to watch it spin. I saw them set the hook (they tied it to their lying), I might have had a look, man, but I’m not buying!
The calliope plays a funeral march dressed up as the lost melodies of youth. They’re setting us up to break our hearts - a dollar buys a thrill, but you never find true love at the kissing booth. I saw them set the hook (they tied it to their lying), couldn’t keep it off the books, but not for lack of trying! I saw them set the hook (they tied it to their lying), I might have had a look, man, but I’m not buying!
I’m not buying.
I’m not buying.
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8. |
As Wicked As It's Cold
04:00
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I tried to give you everything. What it was was nothing much, but it was all I had to offer in exchange for your touch. I know I put you through some trials, I made you bear some tribulation - I owe you more than words could ever bring in the way of explanation. I need you beside me, your love is precious as gold! I cannot live without you when the world’s as wicked as it’s cold.
Why don’t you open your mouth?Your silence causes me to grieve. I cannot take this eerie quiet - I fear my sanity will leave! Lying there, you’re so beautiful, like you finally found release. I hope my Jesus listens close when I kneel to make my peace. I need you beside me, your love is precious as gold! I cannot live without you when the world’s as wicked as it’s cold
My blood’s taken to pounding through my heavy, heavy heart. Is this what the preacher meant by the phrase, “‘til Death do us part”?
Now I've got to take my leave, I hear the sirens up the road! For the rest of my days, my love, I will shoulder this load. I wish you were beside me! Your love was precious as gold! How can i live without you? This world’s as wicked as it’s cold. It’s as wicked as it’s cold. It’s wicked and cold.
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9. |
For Kim
06:53
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Last time I saw you, I heard this song, and in your eyes I felt you singing along. You knew in November what I found out Christmas Eve, now I can only remember how we used to be. I wonder how you are, and if we’re seeing the same stars. One-five-three-oh, oh it seems so far away - another time, another place… I haven’t heard those records we used to play - oh, i still own them, but i’ve put them away. I wonder if you hear the same voices this year, and this sentiment shows that i’m in the throes of passing my woes on to you. I just want you to know where ever you go I will still hold on to you.
Auld Lang Syne didn’t mean much on New Year’s Eve, but a month into the calendar, it’s haunting me. Don’t you think I forgot you (if you think of me at all), at the very least I hope you recall my wonder at your smile - I haven’t seen it in a while, and this sentiment shows that i’m in the throes of passing my woes on to you. I just want you to know where ever you go I will still hold on to you.
I wonder if you see the same full moon as me? This sentiment shows that I'm in the throes of passing my woes on to you, and I want you to know where ever you go I will still hold onto you.
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Lorrie Matheson Calgary, Alberta