1. |
One Glass of Whiskey
02:23
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Sittin’ on the front porch
Face toward the hill
A trail of years behind me
And a night ahead to kill
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
Starin’ up at the mountain
Like to drive me mad
The mountain never changes
So I guess I better had
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
You know I came to the city
With a plan to get rich fast
Next time I’ll take the money
And I’ll put the plan last
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
These L.A. bars are friendly
Small-town bars are rough
I don’t need no more unkindness
The memory’s enough
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
And when I feel I’m sinkin’ low
I reach for the first friend I see
All I need is to look at him and know
He’s sinkin’ faster than me...
Well, life gets stranger
The more it goes on
It’s a wonder how I worry
When nothin’s really wrong
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
One glass of whiskey to ease my mind
And another one to take it too far away to find
Woo-woo
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2. |
Molly and the Old Man
03:48
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Cabin in the hollow, tea kettle on the cookstove
And pickin’ on the Cluck Old Hen, Molly and the old man
First and only daughter, and when God called her
Mom was 27, but two can make a good band
How her blue eyes sparkled as his bootheel marked the time
Fiddle tunes on the banjo, tell me what else sounds so fine
If you gotta go, just make sure you leave a song behind
Southern town, 15 years old, football was the main show
But us pickers used to gather in a cabin in the hollow
His better days behind him, he sat sippin’ on the Old Crow
While his darling Molly played the hell out of the banjo
Same town, whole new world, now it’s me and her and the blue-eyed girl
And life is like the old songs, it never drops the tempo
Now his cabin’s fallen, but the memory’s a mansion
And you can’t get back a loved one, but you can get the spirit dancin’
Now her blue eyes sparkle as the baby claps in time
Fiddle tunes on the banjo, tell me what else sounds so fine
If you gotta go, just make sure you leave a song behind
Well, I’m resining up the bow, and it’s Molly on the banjo
And we’re pickin’ on the Cluck Old Hen, Molly and this old man
And it sounds just like back then, Molly and the old man
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3. |
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The lights of this town look a lot dimmer now
Than they did back in my single years
That high life I knew back before I met you
How empty it lately appears
I hear half the world is heartbroken
And I can’t believe it’s true
For there’d be no room in all the graveyards
If the world felt the way that I do
Hard times can turn your soul tougher
Good times will take you so high
True love’s the top of the mountain
Oh, but lonely ain’t hardly alive, no
Lonely ain’t hardly alive
Now a woman is strong, she gets up, she goes on
But a man left lonely won’t last
He gets stuck in old dreams like a worn out machine
That just can’t stop replaying the past
As one stumbles out of a tavern
Another stands begging for food
Me, I’d rather be cold, broke and blind
Than to live one more night without you
Hard times can turn your soul tougher
Good times will take you so high
True love’s the top of the mountain
Oh, but lonely ain’t hardly alive, no
Lonely ain’t hardly alive
Hard times will turn your soul tougher
Good times will take you so high
True love’s the top of the mountain
Oh, but lonely ain’t hardly alive, no
Lonely ain’t hardly alive
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4. |
Angels Carry Me
05:22
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Any old somewhere may call you
When you’re a middle-of-nowhere kid
With Tennessee and California
On either side of your head
The radio gods whispered a promise
Of easy work and no hands
And that’s how I became a starstruck fool
And a stranger to my old man
I close my eyes and I see the woodpile
And the creek just past the trees
And a neighbor girl whose true intentions
I never could quite read
Search me why I still carry this
Dog-eared book of dead names
All you ever gave me was blows to the heart
And I love you, just the same
Oooh…
Didn’t I make myself clear?
When are you gonna get wise?
Don’t come around me and my friends up here
With your clodhoppers and your big dumb eyes
All you ever gave me
Was the fear of God and this
Slow way of talking I can’t disguise
Yeah I go by my second name now
Oooh….
21 and I was stumbling
But I soon hit stride
With nothing but a road before you
You just learn how to ride
That’s me at the wheel, and me on the radio
And we’re sailing down the 101
This is the last hundred dollars I’ll need from you, Dad
I can feel like my time is….
Tonight
I’ll shout my story
And shout myself raw
From the footlights before me
Straight clear to Arkansas
Tonight
The whole town’s in the hands of the man
With the microphone
Here’s one you may remember
Angels Carry Me Home
Hey kid, I’m sorry…
Wish I could offer you something, but I’m
Still out there
Still stumbling
That was no god on the radio
Only a breeze passing through
But that old farm, your first love, your father’s tears
Are somehow eternal and true
And old folks never do get out of nowhere
It’s a sad thing to say
And only a fool thinks he can leave
Just by driving away
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5. |
Longhair Bluegrass
04:58
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Well, Daddy packed the van fulla campin’ gear
Mama filled the ice chest up with beer
And I rode shotgun all the way up Route 15
It seemed every picker in the USA
Had landed in a Culpeper field that day
Fifty years gone, I’m still groovin’ on that scene
There was old men doin’ the buck and wing
Young gals skinny-dippin’ in the spring
While the singin’ and the fiddlin’ and the feedback filled the air
While Mom and Daddy were getting’ fried
I was sittin there with my eyeballs wide
‘Cause comin’ straight at me offa the stage
Just like a demon with a Hypno-ray
Stealin’ my mind away
It was that longhair bluegrass
Settin’ my young spirit free
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Well, a little rough and shaggy but man it spoke to me
Hey, what’s it matter how a fella looks
If his song is true and his playin’ cooks
I mighta known that, but I was just a dumb old kid
Those hippies knew Bob Marley note for note
And they didn’t shove religion down your throat
And I was pretty sure they smoked dope like I did
There’d’a been police and pepper spray
If a few old-timers had had their way
Ole Dr. Ralph Stanley looked a little unamused
Oh, but anyone with ears could not deny
Blake on the guitar, Tony on the five
There was somethin’ in the air for sure
It wasn’t all peace and make-love-not-war
No, it was somethin’ more
It was that longhair bluegrass
That was the sound of ’73
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Man, it swept the South and it swept over me
Clarence White, that’s a name I adore
And John Hartford, just to drop one more
And don’t forget the Nitty Gritty Band, Earl Scruggs and his sons, Mr. Dave Grisman
And you know Monroe is still the King
But now his church has a new wing
Where an outcast like me can feel at home
Singin’ that longhair bluegrass
Just like Sam said it should be
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Well it wasn’t all the greatest songs
And the solos were a little long
But it spoke to me strong, and it still speaks to me
Longhair bluegrass
I remember it well
Longhair bluegrass
Under the moonlight
Longhair bluegrass
Can’t Stop now, singing that
Longhair bluegrass
Well I reckon it went away
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6. |
Backwater Blues
03:04
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Done with the compass, done with the chart
Stuck in these shallows that I know by heart
Thoughts of the future are yesterday’s news
The sun never sets on these backwater blues
I came to sample the tropical pace
I’ll likely stay till the dirt hits my face
I went and hung up my workingman’s shoes
And planted my toes in the backwater blues
Tin cup for coffee, dirt for a yard
Old dog too sleepy to move
Long as you’re living you’re lost in a spell
And when you’re dead, well, man who can tell?
Bridge to the mainland is closed for repair
Peg-leg policeman asleep in a chair
Could be the boredom, could be the booze
Even the cops get the backwater blues
Tin cup for coffee, dirt for a yard
That flop-eared bitch rarely moves
Try not to breathe lest you take in the smell
Try not to stop ‘cause
Done with the compass, done with the chart
Stuck in these shallows that I know by heart
My mind is drugged, now I’m too stoned to choose
All’s I got left are the backwater blues
No, the sun never sets on these backwater blues
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7. |
Sweet Li'l Cora-Mae
03:07
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Hey, sweet li’l Cora-Mae
You’d be in my spell if I could sing that well
Hey good ole Cora-Mae
You’re no good to me gone
I can’t find the old groove since you left me
I stumble round as if in a dream
Stare at the morning paper and I wonder what the strange words mean
A week, a month, and no break from the heartbreak
So I got my Mama on the phone
She said all you’d ever done for me was poison my heart
But we all know that Mama was against you from the start
Hey, sweet li’l Cora-Mae
If there was a way, I’d sure use the way
Hey good ole Cora-Mae
You’re no good to me gone
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Now it’s true I snuck a few looks at your sister
The day she wore that halter-top and thong
But what law says just for looking, a man should have to suffer this long?
And if I once believed I loved you only
I believe that twice as much now
And if you miss me just a little, well, imagine how I feel
‘Cause when we’re split in two I get the worse end of the deal
Hey, sweet li’l Cora-Mae
You’ve made your point know, now it’s time you came home
Hey good ole Cora-Mae
All you ever seem to do hurts me and not you
Hey, sweet li’l Cora-Mae
Back when we shared a bed, girl you wrapped around my head
Just like the sweetest song
But you’re no good to me gone
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8. |
Silverlake Reel
03:44
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9. |
Momma's Eyes
04:23
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Daddy saw it first, before the hard years came
A wrong turn on the road back home, a few forgotten names
But the rest of us were slow to realize
That the light was fading fast from Momma’s eyes
Friday games, family nights, those early days just flew
Holding on and putting off what we knew we had to do
How the heart resists the breaking of the ties
But her heart had lost its path to Momma’s eyes
If there’s a God in heaven, does he pay us any mind?
If it’s a story we’re living, why is the author so unkind?
So Dad kept the house, cared for her, and worried over debt
Some nights he thought of doing a thing we’d all regret
A chilling thought, but easier to die
Than into a stranger turn in Momma’s eyes
If there’s a God in heaven, does he pay us any mind?
If it’s a story we’re living, why is the author so unkind?
Now in a white room she sits rocking, looking over prairie land
Some weeks there’s just no time, but we visit when we can
You can’t reach her, but we touch her, and we try
‘Cause we remember all the love in Momma’s eyes
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10. |
Nashville Blues
03:30
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11. |
Let The Old Dog In
02:58
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High in a Hillhurst tavern
Me and my roustabout pals
We lost track of time and that’s how come
I’m outside your window now
It’s late in the night and I’m begging
Don’t put me in that small house again
Just open up your heart and unlock the door
Honey let the old dog in
It was down at the scene of destruction
where whiskey and old dogs meet
We wuz howlin’ along with the jukebox
And leavin’ our messes on the street
It’s late and I beg you believe me
It’s all the fault of my friends
Just hear my plea and on the wagon I’ll be
Honey let the old dog in
So, open up the door and I’ll slink in
My tail tucked my head hung low
Yes I’ll eat out of your hand, and I’ll follow your command
And never back to the barroom go
It’s late in the night and I’m begging
Don’t put me in the doghouse again
Just git up outta bed and I’ll quit howlin’ off my head
Honey let the old dog in
It’s late in the night and I’m begging
Don’t put me in that small house again
Just open up your heart and unlock the door
Honey let the old dog in
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12. |
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Church bells soundin’ dark clouds on the mountain
Dog in the pantry actin’ strange
My old man’s callin’, each day a new problem
Only the worryin’ don’t change
Bolt on the back door and a rocker on the porch
Where I rock my cares away
Hearts fall, troubles rise, hopes dim and rain dries
Old time music’s here to stay
Pluckin’ on the 5-string keeps my hands from idling
And takes me back when I was young
When I’d see some hobo pickin’ on his banjo
I’d plug my ears and run
That electrified guitar I bought in ’84
Sits back in the closet these days
And to watch the years unreeling, the more I get the feeling
Old-time music’s here to stay
Using your mind for what it weren’t designed for
’s a good way to go insane
Me I’ve kept less than half of what I’ve pressed in
My poor unwilling brain
But when those old songs get down in your bones
You just let your fingers play
Livin’ much makes you humble, everything built just crumbles
But old time music’s here to stay
So, I bolt the back door and sit out on the porch
And listen to my fingers play
What kills joy and sorrow? A little thing called tomorrow
But old time music’s here to stay
Hearts fall, troubles rise, hopes dim and rain dries
Old time music’s here to stay
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Robbie Fulks Chicago, Illinois
Robbie Fulks is a recording artist, instrumentalist, & songwriter living in Chicago. His most recent release, Upland Stories, earned wide-spread recognition & 2 Grammy® nominations. His early work helped define the 90s "alt-country" movement while his newer work extends that tradition with old-time rambles, reflections on love, & the troubles the people. ... more
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