1. |
The Boys in the Bank
05:35
|
|||
|
Stick em up.
Get down on the floor, put your hands where I can see them
Step away from the counter and don’t try and be a hero
Are you the manager? Get down on your knees
I’m not gonna hurt you, just give me the fucking keys
What d’ya mean?
All the money’s gone, how can that be?
I’ll put a hole in your fucking head if you are lying to me
The cops are outside, how did they get here so quick?
Which one of you fucking cunts tripped the fucking switch?
Hold your fire
I’m coming outside, I’m putting down the gun
Got a man in here who needs medical attention
It’s nothing serious, it’s just a minor asthma attack
I know you’re dying to do me down just like at Attica
Sorry Sal
Didn’t mean for you to get mixed in this
I’ll take the rap for you if you wanna split.
I know it’s hard to believe but I did it all for love
To pay for the operation, I didn’t have enough
Listen up
Don’t try pulling anything and you will be ok
No one is gonna get hurt if you do as I say
Monday was long, but Tuesday seemed to last all day.
Yesterday was tough, but today won’t seem to go away.
These dog days
The limo pulls away from the Chase Manhattan bank
I have to say that this hasn’t gone down as planned.
Open up the door and then bang bang bang bang bang
The shots ring out in the airport bang bang bang
The echoes fade away and the silence descends on me
And off in the distance the sirens are starting to scream
I slip away hanging out of the limousine
The boys in the bank will be stars on the silver screen
There’s one in the grave, one in the penitentiary
The boys in the bank will be loved on the silver screen
There’s one in the grave, one in the penitentiary
|
||||
2. |
The Body
04:47
|
|||
|
Shake her arms.
Asleep in the daylight, passing away life easily
The pie falls to the floor
Hit speed dial
You see her slip showing, I don’t want you going out like that.
You stare at him wide-eyed.
“I got her, my God, we got her. Let’s get her on the truck.”
“Good as new.”
“Thank God you found me in time.”
You throw up on the carpet
Cold statue. You look past the easel.
You’re shooting the breeze with some cute guy.
Your smile slips from your cheekbones.
Can it wait?
I’m in the middle of drawing in charcoal. Oh my my.
What’s going on?
“No it’s not true you’re a liar, she’s fine”.
And you fall from your feet to the floor in the high school corridor
Your class watch from the window
You can’t choose the yellow or purple.
Why do all my shirts have such dumb things on them?
"I wish I had the blue."
You put your fist through the drywall.
Who cares if you’re double-parked outside?
"You know I could never take you."
"Oh my god! How can you ask that?
Would you just stop talking? Shut your mouth."
"But, I don’t understand." (No one will tell me).
"She’ll never have fruit punch.
She’ll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair...
and no one will explain to me why...
she can’t just get back in."
"Is she cold?"
She looks like your mother.
"It’s not her. It’s not her. She’s gone."
"Where did she go?"
|
||||
3. |
The Caretaker
03:44
|
|||
|
The winters are bleak here
And your shadow grows weaker
“I love you alone” are words you’ll never speak here
You work as dream-reader
In the library she’ll feed you
But she’ll never understand just why you need her.
And after you walk her
To the old workers' quarters
Along the canals which no longer hold water
The high stone clocktower
No more tells the hour
The beasts in the fields will no more eat the flowers
--------------------------------------
You rise from your slumber
To the window you stumble
The beasts in the field are declining in numbers
From your shadow you’re severed
And he toils and endeavours
To make your escape or you’re both lost forever.
There are boots you must bring him
With a map you hide in them
But your eyes have been pierced so the daylight will sting them.
But you’re sick and you shiver
So, the colonel delivers
The map of the woods and the walls and the river
--------------------------------------
Is it just you who suffers?
Cos you think you could love her
if she could remember the songs of her mother
And you hope the caretaker
might help you to wake her.
She could never love you but you still try to make her.
He works in the station;
is steadfast and patient,
but cloaked in a sadness of tired resignation.
Eternal outsider
Condemned to be neither
Woodsfolk nor Townsfolk, he lives on the border
--------------------------------------
The snow, it falls deeper
And the big, strong gatekeeper
is burning the beasts that died while they were sleeping.
The snow, it falls thicker
And your shadow falls sicker
But he’s not as ill as the gatekeeper figures.
The diggers dig earth just
to dig for no purpose.
They dig just to dig for their digging is perfect
As are all who stay there
Perfect in their way there
Except you and your shadow and the lonesome caretaker
|
||||
4. |
The River
04:44
|
|||
|
To my mother and father who told me that songs were
only for the birds.
And then taught me all the tunes I know
and a good deal of the words.
The neighbours all hate us, the picket-line breakers,
but you never so much as flinched
And the old man more than gave a hand,
but he never gave a inch.
Lost a limb to the timber, but its raised middle finger
says this house don’t back down
But sometimes I get a notion to jump in the river and drown
You blubber you love her ‘Let’s leave here. My brother
don’t need you like I do’
And all your thoughts of vengeance now seems hollow and askew
But she catches flashes of the man who once captured
her heart when she first saw him lay
bleeding and unconscious on he floor of her uncle’s jail.
Will these rains never cease?
Or your ever-growing list of enemies
First just the union, now your own family.
But the tides will always win eventually
In the river you shiver, you say you’ll deliver
the logs at the break of day
But the water’s nearly to your chin, and the night is on the way.
Under the lumber in the rising Wakonda you talk of yesteryear
The chainsaw cannot help you now,
and there ain’t no horses here
The current keeps pulling, you kiss your poor cousin,
you try your best not to laugh.
But the question’s not how strong you are,
it’s ‘Are you weak enough?’
And your heart’s just a fortress surrounded by waters
out on the western slope.
‘If you could just reach that pick-up truck’,
as the waves reach the radio.
You would if you could, but you know it ain’t good
that man should be alone
So ‘Walk the lines, and not the squares;
watch the doughnut, not the hole’
Will these rains never cease?
That chip on your shoulder makes them weak at the knees
You’ll know when it’s over if it was meant to be
But the tides will always win eventually
Marshmallows and berries, the twins on your belly,
tell me which side are you on
So walk the lines, and not the squares,
watch the doughnut, not the hole.
|
||||
If you like The Drop of a Hat, you may also like:
Stirring Americana set to acoustic arrangements and topped by the legendary Alice Gerrard’s lovely, world-wise voice.
go to album
Seawheel
by David Lonton-Baxter
”Seawheel Acoustic” delivers captivating melodies and heartfelt lyrics in songs that are equal parts soothing and enchanting.
go to album
PuSHING THE PuLL DOoR
by Tom Houston
Tom Houston swings between heartfelt folk and quirky slice-of-life spoken word, augmented with electronics, on his latest LP.
go to album
The debut album from Leeds-based artist Jake Whiskin is full of atmospheric Americana tinged with hard-hitting classic rock.
go to album
The Edge of the Land
by Katie Spencer
Spencer's indie folk sophomore album was recorded live in the studio over the course of two days.
go to album
The Flowers That Bloom in Spring
by Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert
Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert offer up a stunning minimalist country record, conjuring huge emotions with little more than vocals & guitar.
go to album
The Danish band expand upon their self-proclaimed "dark Americana" with smoldering textures and dynamic balladry.
go to album
