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Memories & Birds

by Kenny Roby

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Digipack packaging with 8 page booklet with lyrics and credits. Includes digital download of complete album at 12:01 am on 4/2/13.

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  • Full length version of Memories & Birds on 140g vinyl. Comes with download card for free download of full album.
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1.
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
2.
The Monster 04:31
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
3.
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”
4.
Colorado 07:55
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
5.
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
6.
A Short Mile 05:00
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
7.
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
8.
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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released April 2, 2013

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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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