1. |
Hangman
03:14
|
|||
|
I got two left shoes, my mind is on the mend
There's a coal fog foaming around the bend
Catch a clickety clack and and I won't come back
But we both know how the story ends
Like a swallow, will I fly?
Drinking in the views from up on high
Find myself and shady grove to hide
Waiting for a better day to die
If only iron gates could open wide
The sheriff's posse run and hide
Now the devil's riding shotgun, Christ is in the caboose
My better angels lost to demons on the loose
And then lickety split I'm in the thick of it
As the hangman measures up my noose
Bats flap their wings and night doves cry
They load me in the engine sighs
I whisper to the dusk I'm alive
And tomorrow I will sleep so I don't try
The crowd erupts in jeers as I arrive
I think of everything I have survived
The chase through the desert,
The chain on my leg
The chain on my leg
The chill of the cell
The chill of the cell
The call from the judge
The call from the judge
The gavel's smack
The smack of the gavel and the swinging door
The swinging door and the snap of my neck.
|
||||
2. |
Little Dove
03:27
|
|||
|
I saw you there my little dove
Sitting by the water
Asked you to fly to me little dove
But you would not be bothered
So fly to me my little dove
Fly little dove, fly
If you don't fly to me little dove
Then surely I will die
I ran up to the mountaintop
I swam across the sea
All to find one little dove
For I need her next to me
So fly to me...
Fly to me little dove, I am all alone
Share it with everyone,
A little dove can't be owned
So fly to me...
Fly to me little dove, I am all alone
|
||||
3. |
Dreaming
04:04
|
|||
|
I only like you when you're sleeping
You do not say a word
I only love you when you're dreaming
Your thoughts go unheard
Why does this happen to me?
I wish it did not
I only love you when you're dreaming
It was all a throwaway
Chipped and cracked
Looking back no longer
How we grew fonder over time
Then declined
But I don't mind
Come and dream with me
Of a placid sea
Where we can sleep
Never to waken
Come and dream with me
In colors blue and green
We can float between them
Never to waken...
I only like it when you're sleeping
I know it sounds absurd
I only love you when you're dreaming
Your thoughts they go unheard
This always happens to me
I wish it did not
I only love you when you're dreaming
Dreaming...
One dim bulb is all that's left
In this empty nest of a home
Swing from the rafters
Left behind
I'm resigned
But I don't mind
Come and dream with me...
|
||||
4. |
Broadway
03:27
|
|||
|
If memories are footsteps
The past is a path
Does the future come easy
Like and joke and a laugh?
The sooner I find you
The better I'll be able
To remind you
Who were we?
Remember the nights we spent on Broadway
How the lights on us, they did shine
Remember the nights on Broadway
Spinnin' on
Hallucinogens and cheap perfume
We hesitated at midnight
And the signs went down
Now you're stuck in a dead-end
I'm never around
I wish I could find you
And be able to be
Able to remind you
Who were we?
Remember the nights...
Remember the nights we spent on Broadway
How the lights on us, they did shine
Remember the nights on Broadway
They were yours and you were mine
Remember the nights on Broadway
They were yours and you were mine
|
||||
5. |
I Could Use a Drink
04:03
|
|||
|
I wake up in the morning
My headache makes me cry
And how I hate the mirror
Staring back with bloodshot eyes
But then I get to thinking
How much better I would feel
With a mug of whiskey
To make my breakfast meal
'Cause I could really use a drink today
Though all I do is drink my use away
I know there's no excuse
For all this self abuse
But I could really use a drink today.
Everyone that loved me
No longer hangs around
They don't care to watch
Drink my grave into the ground
I got my drinking buddies
But it comes as no surprise
That when I'm out of money
They scatter fast as flies
'Cause they could really use a drink today
Though all we do is drink our use away...
Everyone around me
I know just what they think
When I pass em by
With my alcoholic stink
They see it in my shaking hands
And smell it on my breath
They know as well as I do
I will drink myself to death.
Still I could really use a drink...
|
||||
6. |
Wasted
03:24
|
|||
|
I put my head to my pillow but I could not get to sleep
I was wasted
Tried to count em but got trampled by the sheep
I was wasted
I felt like a lion caged up in a zoo
Something wasted
Clawing at the walls but what good does it do
If you're wasted
I went outside to try to walk it off
Still wasted
Policeman came and said he wanted to talked
Cause I was wasted
I cussed and spit and kicked at his police car
Dumb and wasted
Then I tried to run but I could not get too far
Being wasted
You know I wasted all my time and wasted all my money
You can sit and smile but I don't find it funny feeling wasted
I woke in the jailhouse with an aching head
Still wasted
Had to spend the morning with a killer in my bed
And I got wasted
Then I made my call but don't you know it failed
It was wasted
Couldn't find a friend to come and throw my bail
They're all wasted
So sniff a line of coke
Have a couple beers
And puff puff on all that stuff
Til your trouble disappears
But don't get wasted.
Oh no!
I wasted all my time and wasted all my money
You can sit and smile but I don't find it funny feeling wasted
Sit and drink awhile, but don't spend all your sunny days wasted.
|
||||
7. |
Walkaway
02:42
|
|||
|
I spent all day
Staring at the sun
I was trying to burn my eyes
Because I'd rather be blind
Than to see what I left behind
I didn't want to walk away
So why'd you make me run
You threw me away
After you were done
So it's no surprise
As I choke on the rinds
Of a love that I had in mind
I didn't want to walk away...
Vertebrae bend and break
Rotations whirs along
Humming of magnetic drums
Leading lines of escape
I didn't want to walk away...
Now I surmise
By the next moonrise
I'll give attention that what really matters is mine.
|
||||
8. |
Dollar
03:07
|
|||
|
Hey hey!
I got a dollar and I tell you what I'll do
I'm gonna take this dollar and spend it all on you
I know I can't get much cause a dollar won't go far
But you could maybe get a soda pop or a chocolate candy bar
And maybe when that's finished, maybe then you'll see
Oh how much I love you and hope that you'll love me
But I don't think all the money in this world
Could convince you to be my girl
Cause you won't even hold my hand
So let me help you understand
With a thousand dollars I'd get you something nice
Like those funny LV purses that are always overpriced
You could wear one on your arm when you went off into town
Why you'd have a finer handbag than most anyone around
And maybe that would show you, maybe then you'd see
Oh how much I love you and hope that you'll love me
But I don't think all the money in this world
Could convince you to be my girl
Cause you won't even hold my hand
So let me help you understand
If I were a millionaire I'd buy you fancy cars
And I'd build you a big mansion with flowers in the yard
And if you wanted babies well babies I would fetch
And I'd go buy them from Russia so your belly wouldn't stretch
And maybe that would show you, maybe then you'd see
Oh how much I love you and hope that you'll love me
But I don't think all the money in this world
Could convince you to be my girl
Cause you won't even understand
That all I want is half a chance
So if I were a billionaire I tell you what I'd do
I'd get six or seven girlfriends and forget all about you
I'd buy a shiny airplane to visit one and all
Cause I'd be Mr. Big Time and you'd feel awful small
But that's not gonna happen cause I'm not very smart
But at least I got this dollar and at least it is a start
Of getting you to notice
Of getting you to see
Oh how much I love you and hope that you'll love me
But I don't think all the money in this world
Could convince you to be my girl
Cause you won't even understand
I wanna be your loving man
Hey hey I got a dollar and I tell you what I'll do
I'm gonna take this dollar and spend it all on you
|
||||
9. |
Nobody's Fool
02:02
|
|||
|
Nobody's fool
So tell me why am I a fool for you
You got me feeling high
Even when I'm low
A little sigh
Away I go
Nobody's fool...
You got me feeling in
Even when I'm out
Once you begin
You make me scream and shout
Nobody's fool...
|
||||
10. |
See You Again
03:14
|
|||
|
Sunlight laughter
Birds in the trees
Some like after
We like between
I recognize your face
Could it be from someplace
Where we go every week
Knowing what we seek
They got the daytime
We got the night
And in the morning
We make love while they fight
Soon I'll see you again (In the summertime)
Soon I'll see you again (On the sunny side)
Soon I'll see you again (I know I will)
Soon I'll see you again
You might ramble
You might roam
Far from your fathers
Far from your home
But don't you once forget
Because we haven't yet
You make no mistakes
Whatever way you take
We got the nighttime
They can have the day
And til the first light
We sing our blues away
Soon I'll see you again (In the summertime)
Soon I'll see you again (On the sunny side)
Soon I'll see you again (I know I will)
Soon I'll see you again
And in the nighttime
We'll play our songs
Keeping the time until
You sing along
Soon I'll see you again (In the summertime)
Soon I'll see you again (On the sunny side)
Soon I'll see you again (I know I will)
Soon I'll see you again
|
||||
11. |
Four Score and Ten
04:22
|
|||
|
I met a bum in California
He was wasted on the road
He told me stories about Kansas
And the field of wheat they're growing
I had a dream that I was flying
It means you want to get away
But no more dreaming about dying
I'm hoping those are gone to stay
I met a preacher man in Georgia
He prayed my ways would all be blessed
I thanked the stranger for his kindness
I took his words and tossed the rest
My mind is sewn full of memories
I pick em from my rag pile past
Sit here stitching them together
A fading quilt that will not last
Four score and ten is all we're living
Four score and ten until we're gone
Four score and ten and then we'll all float together again
Four score and ten and we move on
I made some friends and lost some others
Still I walk on down the road
I'm hoping you will go there with me
We're off to face the great unknown
Four score and ten is all we're living
Four score and ten until we're gone
Four score and ten and then we'll all float together again
Four score and ten and we move on
|
||||
David Ernsberger Ann Arbor, Michigan
David is an independent songwriter and musician from Michigan. He spends most of his time these days working in the real world so that he can be a weary-voiced crooner when he retires.
If you like David Ernsberger, you may also like:
Pittsburgh artist Merce Lemon makes tender and open-hearted indie pop with echoes of Frankie Cosmos.
go to album
Sweet and honest bedroom pop made with the sparest of instrumentation and topped with poetically melancholy lyrics.
go to album
Tides of a Teardrop
by Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
The forthcoming album from Mandolin Orange blends rustic Americana melodies with aching, orchestral arrangements.
go to album
Meet Me at the River
by Dawn Landes
On “Meet Me By the River,” Dawn Landes’s self-described “Nashville record,” buoyant country melodies settle deep into lush instrumentation.
go to album
A student of Robbie Basho in the ’60s, this American Primitive guitarist continues to deliver gentle, beautiful playing.
go to album
Sunrise : Bill MacKay Plays The Songs of John Hulburt
by Bill MacKay
Renowned experimental folk artist takes a faithful pass at the songs of John Hulburt's private press LP, Opus III.
go to album
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
