1. |
Tall
04:01
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Your baby boy, he done grown so tall
You lent him all your joy, he done spent it all
Hear him cry for home in a dry creek bed
Your baby boy, he grown so tall, got to hang his head
O god of love, O song of home
Who touched this body that I do not seem to own
The sky is low and made of lead
Your baby boy, he grown so tall, got to hang his head
Where are you going? Where have you been?
Heard you cry for home into an old tin can
Well you ain't well-spoke, you just well-read
My baby boy, you grown so tall, got to hang your head
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2. |
French Wife
03:44
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She came back home and found me dead
At least that's what the papers said
Course, it ain't like I could tell it my way
Hell, I don't even know where you go
To get cyanide in New Mexico
Babette, you are a clever little lady
I met her when I used to work
On weekends up in Albuquerque
And she was just a co-ed from overseas
And I never studied art the way
Them queers all do in Santa Fe
But Babette, I know perfection when I see it
You might suggest and I might agree
That she was way too good for me
And why the hell'd she marry such a man?
Could be she thought Americans
Are all Cary Grants and Errol Flynns
Folks got some weird ideas about this land
Now don't cry princess, I forgive you
I'll go run right up to heaven and plead your case
I ain't the choicest guy to live with, God knows
But tomorrow's gonna be a better place
My funeral came, I saw her weep
And hell, you know, that's kinda sweet
I mean, that's how you know they really care
They laid my flesh in Chamberine
It ain't bright, but hell, it's clean
And this may be the best I've dressed since we were married
It's hard to make a marriage work
Some days are bright, some days are dark
Some days they just wake up and hate your face
I was probably just a redneck clown
Folks probably think you married down
But what the hell, I love you when you're crazy
Now don't cry princess, I forgive you
I'll go run right up to heaven and plead your case
I ain't the choicest guy to live with, God knows
But tomorrow's gonna be a better place
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3. |
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She tossed her cigarette as the ignition turned
She said, "There's one thing now that every clown must learn"
We drove away and she said, as the warehouse burned
"There is no heaven for i Pagliacci"
She said, "American boy, THAT'S how freedom feels
Not the kind they give you, but the kind you steal
And you will never be free until you see there really is
No heaven for i Pagliacci"
I said I'd pray for her, she said, "Tell a joke for me
Life is much too short to waste on dignity
Let our laughter burn all of Italy
There is no heaven for i Pagliacci"
And so we lay together 'neath the Turkish smoke
I said my heart might break, she said, "It long since broke
We are not vandals, love, we simply get the joke
It goes, 'But doctor, I am Pagliaccio'"
Was that how grace would feel? Was that how angels pray?
"Trick or treat, my sweetheart"? "Tanti auguri a te"?
From "Happy April Fool" to "Merry Judgment Day"
There is no heaven for i Pagliacci
And so that's how I found my way
My signorina and the kerosene and me
Drove to the shipyard, singing, "Ta-ra-ra-boom, non c'è
Paradiso per i Pagliacci"
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4. |
I Named You for a Song
03:58
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Schools are named for teachers, streets are named for trees
Girls are named for songs that boys sing on their knees
I named you for some letters scratched in trees
I named you for a song that begs for tender mercies
I named you for the water on my kissing little tongue
I named you for the wind in my crying little lungs
I named you for the life's work of honey bees
I named you for a song that begs for tender mercies
I named you for the numbers on a little slip of paper
I named you for a wish, I named you for the words I would whisper
Half weeping, when I could not sleep
"Help me keep her, help me keep her..."
Schools are named for teachers, streets are named for trees
Girls are named for songs that cry, "Baby please"
I named you for a warm wash of memories
I named you for a song that begs and begs and begs...
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5. |
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The Lord was getting restless up there on the mercy seat
He said, "I've killed a million Canaanites, I still feel incomplete
Did you ever get that empty feeling way down in your feet?
Damn, but it's a bastard to be lonely"
Kind David made his million selling cell phones at the mall
A boat, a house, a wife or two, King David had it all
He hung a picture of Goliath in his office on the wall
He said, "Damn, but it's a bastard to be lonely"
I memorized each letter of your codes and your commands
I petitioned you to let me come into your promised land
O, I languished in that desert with my staff in my hand
I said, "Damn, but it's a bastard to be lonely"
I came to you with theory, I came to you with thirst
I came to put in practice everything that I'd rehearsed
You said my offering was perfect, but my faith somehow perverse
I said, "Master, it's a bastard to be lonely"
You led me up that mountain once to call the holy bluff
I saw the wood, I saw the fire, you told me these would be enough
How resolute your blade that day, how absolute your love
When you said, "Damn, but it's a bastard to be lonely"
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6. |
Help Me Be Brave
02:48
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Came the nighttime to the valley, came the shadows to my bed
I would not go to meet you so you came to me instead
And I cried when my body guessed your name, and I said
"O help me be brave when you take me"
O, I'd heard that you'd be coming, though I guess that's not quite true
You'd been there like a whisper 'neath each breath that I drew
Every bird bow its wing, each beast its breast down to you
Crying, "Help me be brave when you take me"
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7. |
You're Losing Her
04:09
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The devil sat on my shoulder, a little sparrow bird
A bird who never sang, slowly, lowly, he whispered
He said, "Dear boy, dear loving boy, dear lover, have you heard?
You're losing her"
"She's standing by the window, she's a daydream in her eye
She's staring down the street to where the sidewalk meets the sky
She wants to say she's sorry, she wants to say goodbye
You're losing her"
"You're losing her in pieces, you're losing her so slow
She seeps away like water, you do not see her go
You're losing her so gently you'd never even know
You're losing her"
My sparrow stopped his speaking, he spread his bat-like wings
I said, "Devil, please don't leave me, I'll give you everything that I have left
My darling devil, I cannot go on living
Knowing I'm losing her"
"Show me to the contract, show me where to sign
Devil please don't leave me..." but already he was flying away
He said, "Dear loving boy, your soul's already mine
And still you're losing her"
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8. |
Lonely Night
02:43
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Baby, it's a lonely, lonely night
Baby, it's a lonely, lonely night
There ain't no wind to shake the trees, no moon to shine its light
Baby, it's a lonely, lonely night
Girl, I know you're out there having fun
Girl, I know you're out there having fun
Gonna sit here in this chair, polishing this gun
Girl, I know you're out there having fun
Girl, let's hear you tell me all your crimes
Girl, let's hear you tell me all your crimes
I wanna hear you try to make your reasons rhyme
Girl, let's hear you tell me all you crimes
Baby, it's a lonely, lonely life
Baby, it'a a lonely, lonely life
The pain you get for doing wrong is the same for doing right
Baby, it's a lonely, lonely life
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9. |
Beneath Your Laughter
02:47
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O my Lord, at last we meet
Here in the temple of my defeat
The boy is broken, no longer human
And by his ruin is made complete
O my Lord, at last I see
The whole creation is weightless and empty
The very evening will not receive me
And everything is afraid of me
O my Lord, I'm almost ready
To say you knew me and then that I had need
As one more sailor fulfills his failure
Beneath your laughter and the useless sea
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10. |
Song for My Body
03:07
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Kids, here's all you need for a homemade tattoo
A pin, thread, ink, cheap scotch and nothing to lose
Tonight I'm gonna tear up this body
O body, it's midnight and nobody needs you
Well it costs damn near nothing and it don't hurt that much
It's the one thing skin is good for, when that one thing isn't touch
Tonight I'm gonna tear up my body
O body, it's midnight and nobody needs you
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D.G. Scherrer, the voice that lost its man Phoenix, Arizona
D.G. Scherrer is a singer-songwriter and award-winning poet. He began writing songs when he was 12 years old, singing for a punk band. Since then he has become a songwriter's songwriter, crafting dark, catchy, lyrically sophisticated tunes in the tradition of Cohen and Van Zandt. Still, the vitriol of punk lingers in his songs, as well as in the sheer volume of his voice when he roars a chorus. ... more
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