1. |
Memories & Birds
03:58
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Wrote a letter to my mother that I'll never send
Wrote another to myself and tore it up again
I sat there upon a rock that wasn't very tall
And the thought of fallin' off was harder than the fall
See the sky and how they fly
Not wanting us up there
Do you think that they know why
We hold them up so dear?
If you really wanted you could crush me with a word
Then there would be only me with memories and birds
Memories and birds
When you smiled and glanced away you weren't being coy
You didn't want to dance today with me or any boy
I thought of you there in church
It wasn't in that way
I think of you all the time
Almost everyday
See the sky and how they fly
They're taunting us down here
Birds are no reason to cry and I've got my gun right here
Words come easy to a fool
After all they're just words
And only descriptive tools for memories and birds
Memories and birds
Ah memories
Memories and Birds
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2. |
The Monster
04:31
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The Monster
I don’t expect much from you, Jenny
Hell, you barely even know me
Oh just come with me
You'll see the craziest thing
Well I got this key from my Uncle Pete
To a secret door by the oak tree
It will open up, It comes creepin' up when it needs to eat
But it mostly sleeps
Nobody loves it
You're wastin' your time
Even God hates it
Can’t you read the signs
There’s no space for it
There's no place or time
It was born to die
So let it die there
It lays shakin' in a rotted log
Barely breathin' for the creeping dogs
Barely bleedin' but the scent is strong
And the fear of attack is harder than the act
Nobody loves it
You're wastin' your time
Even God hates it
Can’t you read the signs
There’s no space for it
There's no place or time
It was born to die
Don't let it die here
So I will hold its hand
I will take it to walk
I will talk to it
I will hold it soft
Like the river I will smooth the rock
And sooth its tears (don't listen to what they say)
Nobody loves it
You're wastin' your time
Even God hates it
Can’t you read the signs
There’s no space for it
There's no place or time
It was born to die
Don't let it die here
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3. |
The Craziest Kid Around
04:20
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When the black snake saw the sunrise
He knew that it wasn't time
While he thought the road was empty
He knew not there was something wrong
My older brother's got a toothache
That no whiskey in the world will cure
Smells the cakes my mama's bakin'
Oh he ain't gettin' none from her
Sister Dinah brought a new friend
And my mama don't like him much
I saw both them out the kiss tree
Didn't look like kissin' to me
Well I heard the preacher talkin'
To some men down in the town
And I don't quite understand it
So it ain't gonna get me down
“You don't have to go to know”
“You don't have to go to know”
There's a man down Angel Tree Road
And I bet no one knows his name
They say he used to talk at college
And all the people would listen to him
My daddy calls him “The 'Fesser”
But he says it like it's a cuss
Someone said he loved a black girl
I can't see why it matters much
We haven't seen the goat we got last year
Since the middle of this July
She disappeared right after the big storm
I told my brother I bet she died
Heard my uncle down in town one day
Say “It's just unnatural”
And I don't understand all that the people say
So I'm just gonna play it cool
“You don't have to go to know”
“You don't have to go to know”
Found a snake when Mama was bakin'
It was just about as flat as the ground
It was dead and I was shakin'
Why am I the craziest kid around?
“You don't have to go to know”
“You don't have to go to know”
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4. |
Colorado
07:55
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Think I'll go to Colorado
Got no skin left in this game
You get a line and I'll get a pole
You get the car and I'll dig the hole
See I known you
'Fore I known who you are
You come back like a tack in the eye
You used to act like I was a movie star
And I used to act like I was your guy
Love is blacker than the singer sings
A disabled orphan girl
Left here scratchin' at the back door
Nobody wants her anymore
Stay down
Stay down
I ain't the worst man you've ever known
But I'd be willin' to make a bet
That every devil here ain't born full grown
And we ain't met all of 'em yet
Stay Down
Stay Down
I got a flair for fuckin' up a plan
I'll grow my hair when I get old
I never wanted to become a man
But it'll take blood to get the gold
Love is blacker than the singer sings
A disabled orphan girl
Left here scratchin' at the back door
Nobody wants her anymore
Stay Down
Stay Down
Stay Down
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5. |
Tired of Being In Love
04:22
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There's a man in the other room
I thought that I knew
I've tried all that a woman can try
At least I'm pretty sure that's true
There's a ghost livin' in this house
It's right behind that door
Our baby can't even bring him back
God, I don't know what I try for
Oh I'm tired of bein' in love
It hurts too much
When the one you love ain't in love with you
I know I can be simple
Simple used to get it done (oh it used to be enough for you)
I lay alone in bed inside his head
After dinner served for one (so alone)
Oh God, it's got to be hard
To hold the last breath of a friend
But he's been home two years in March
And my heart is growin' thin
Oh I'm tired of bein' in love
It hurts too much
When the one you love ain't in love with you
Come back to the baby (come on back)
And come back to me (come back and make it make three)
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't
Make the war fade away
But I can't, I can't, I can't ,I can't
Keep from thinkin' “run away”
Oh I'm tired of bein' in love
It hurts too much
When the one you love ain't in love with you
still in love
still in love
still in love with you
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6. |
A Short Mile
05:00
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It's the cough that won't go away
Chasin' chronic ache
Itchin' skin for no reason
And fever that won't break you
It's the dog barkin' at the air
And the scent of a stranger's hair
Old gator at the fair
No tickets to see her
I know I'm breakin' you
I can see it in your smile
I'm the wrong man to ride a short mile
It's the line that you hear and feel
But never quite understand
It's birds chirpin' orders
On the shoulders of men
A flutter in your ear
Deeper than any fear
That you were not made to hear
And I can't sing that low
I know I'm breakin' up
It's the weight on the dial
I'm the long way to ride the short mile
Some men never veer
Too far away from here
Although I pretend to steer
It goes where it will
I know I'm breakin' up
I can see it in your smile
I'm a long way to ride a short mile
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7. |
Me and The Monkey
05:06
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How am I supposed to live
Without you here in my mind
All this bundled up in fear
And stored in here
Takin' up my time
All these trees it seems are real but only mine
How am I supposed to live
Without you here in my mind
How am I supposed to live
With only me in my head
It was a crazy monkey slingin' shit
With his little fits
That lead to what I said
You'd have freed him but I penned him up instead
How am I supposed to live with with only him in my head
Just me and the monkey
Me and the monkey
Just me and the monkey
Me and the monkey
The trees are burnin' brighter
And the animals are fleein' from the fire
Formed by sickened flickers In the forrest
From the flint of my desire
Oh without you they just burn deeper and higher
How am I supposed to live without you here in the fire
Just me and the monkey
Me and the monkey
Monkey
And Me
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8. |
Our Fading Fighter
04:46
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The picture looked so clear
The victor could almost feel the cheers
The fixer that you held so dear
Wasn't mixed just right
Now it's fading
I was talking on a long distance line
No one was here but I appeared just fine
It was spoken but broken up in time
I can picture your face in the quiet
Now it's fading
Fading
Every man's got a lot to learn
Every man's got his lot to burn
Show your muscles and your tattoos bright
No matter how you fight the sunlight
They're still fading
Fading
Fading
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Kenny Roby North Carolina
Founding member of 6 String Drag. Their 1997 album “High Hat” was released to national critical acclaim. (co-produced by
Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy and released on Earle’s Warner Brothers imprint label E-Squared)
In 1998, Roby went solo and released three excellent but vastly different solo records: Mercury’s Blues, Rather Not Know, and The Mercy Filter. His new album Memories & Birds out 4/2/13.
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