1. |
Cargo For The Road
04:46
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Cargo for the Road
Another week when I can’t have you. Who’d go leave you for here? ¶ As it’s fading in it’s romance,
you know grit can’t wipe a tear ¶ And I’ll say “I’m not going back,” and I’ll say “Darling that’s a fact”
But I’ll be at the door and packed, to leave as Cargo for the Road ¶
No one talks of the bad reception, the hours to kill before the show, ¶ You get weak so you get
wired, the buzz I play down when you’re low ¶ Another load-in another town, I’m not sure where
I’m staying ¶ I could tell you that i miss you you, you’re bored of hearing that today ¶ For
the next 6 hours at least, I’m just Cargo for the Road ¶
Where exhaustion is a constant, strangers ask how it all began ¶ You know it made me feel of home
when, I heard cowgirl in the sand ¶ And there’s nothing less romantic, than denying you ran away
¶ Cos this world here waiting for you, can’t wait to spit you out someday ¶
No one talks of the bad reception, the hours to kill before the show ¶ You get weak so you get
wired, the buzz I play down when you’re low ¶ Another load-in another town and I’m not sure
where I’m staying ¶ I could tell you that i love you, you don’t know what to do with that today
for the next 6 hours at least, I’m just Cargo for the Road ¶
And I’ll say “I’m not going back,” and I’ll say “Darling that’s a fact” ¶ But I’ll be at the door and packed
to leave as Cargo for the Road
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2. |
Cactus Flower
03:05
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Cactus Flowers
So I lost my band, when I sold the forever home ¶ From one-horse towns on the West Coast of
Ireland, ¶ To those big cities with their tireless dive bars ¶ Like a mid-week dry-spell,
when the bottles start singing ¶ They lure me back, as I’m lashed to the mast
She lives in a house full of Cactus Flowers, ¶ I’ve learnt from the shade, where the sunlight won’t
bend ¶ Songs fill the air & burn up the hours ¶ Amongst those cactus flowers I call home
¶ Us pitfall skaters, flee in our feathers ¶ I’ve known too many who fall gallows-bound ¶
Some stay out so long, No place to return to ¶ It’s hard once you need both the sky and
the ground
She lives in a house full of Cactus Flowers, ¶ Time beautifies yet runs down the days ¶
Songs fill the air & burn up the hours ¶ They draw me in and they keep me away
Still think of him, 5 hours north of Melbourne ¶ A sleepy bar, downing Wild Yaks ¶ Most
never left, some saw cities, some saw Europe ¶ He’d seen it all and couldnt get back
She lives in a house full of Cactus Flowers, ¶ Time beautifies yet runs down the days ¶
Songs fill the air & burn up the hours ¶ They draw me in and they keep me away ¶ She
lives in a house full of Cactus Flowers, ¶ I’ve learnt from the shade, where the sunlight won’t bend
¶ Songs fill the air & burn up the hours ¶ Amongst those cactus flowers I call home
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3. |
Scorched Earth
04:04
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Scorched Earth
So I lost my band, when I sold the forever home ¶ And I left my friends, the city I love, to strike out
on out alone ¶ And my favourite bars. That I no longer go. ¶ You see I work most nights,
just drive right by, can’t bring myself to know
As sure as autumn leaves will fall, I’m counting down to when. ¶ Sometimes you gotta raze it all, if
you wanna see good summers again.
And I will torch it all for love. ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will
torch it all and begin again,
So us guys grew up, It’s so hard to reconcile ¶ How we played away like Peter Pan, us Ticking
Crocdile ¶ Dreams would grew like weeds, crack the concrete fields ¶ Now nothing
grows as yardsticks go we’re down to scars that’ll never heal
All my faded glories were just wrecks I walked out from ¶ All I recall is every kiss, and every note
of every song
And I will torch it all for love. ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will
torch it all and begin again,
I will walk through fire, re-sole for the mire, fight against the insanity ¶ I will breathe in the
charred, war-battered and scarred, channel this scorched earth policy.
And I will torch it all for love. ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will torch it all for love, ¶ I will
torch it all and begin again
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4. |
Strip It Back
02:46
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Strip it Back
Now Orpheus the bard found God in his yard, With 6 cold beers and a King Curtis EP ¶ Well the
kid’s signing on, and I thought while he’s gone, could you teach me to play like Cornell Dupree? ¶
Strip It Back, Strip it Back, ya need less than you think you do ¶ Strip it Back, Strip it Back, you’ve
enough to get through,
We’ve been looking for you Lord, John Prine’s come on board, he wants to shake your hand, just watch
those feet in the doorway ¶ “Well You can’t kill me twice,” “now Warren play nice,” ‘Ignore Zevon
Lord, he’s not great in the morning”
Strip It Back, Strip it Back, ya need less than you think you do ¶ Strip it Back, Strip it Back, you’ve
enough to get through,
I can’t do right by the kid, He still sore what I did, Since he left them down there, they’re just fooling around
¶ You’ve done ya best, said the bard, And single parentings hard man, ¶ Let’s burn one
down and catch Robin Wright through the clouds
Strip It Back, Strip it Back, ya need less than you think you do ¶ Strip it Back, Strip it Back, you’ve
enough to get through
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5. |
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Another Song About The Devil (Feat. Elles Bailey)
You know they drown, El Salvador to Veracruz ¶ Or Picked up by patrols, to roll on mornings news
¶ Yeah they mostly drown, drown trying to cross the Rio Grande ¶ Survivors meet their
cages ripped from, ripped from their mothers hands
As the headlines hit on the radio, they’d stolen all my moves. ¶ I was out-manouvered and outgunned, with an aching point to prove ¶ But when its just me and the mirror, I think am I to old for
this? ¶ Just an ageing fighter, I talk up, that no ones gonna miss
Then they try blame me the devil ¶ With people do worse in the name of God
And I can’t run with the billionaires, like they can’t run from their own ¶ The evil forces faceless,
rage — in a league that I don’t know… ¶ And for centuries I carried the can, when I just led astray
¶ But We’d let the women and children go and that can’t be said today
You know they drown, El Salvador to Veracruz ¶ Or Picked up by patrols, to roll on mornings news
¶ Yeah they mostly drown, drown trying to cross the Rio Grande ¶ Survivors meet their
cages ripped from, ripped from their mothers hands
Then they try blame me the Devil ¶ With people do worse in the name of God ¶ Another
Song about the Devil ¶ With people do worse in the name of God
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6. |
Heal Up Alright
03:21
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Heal up Alright
That was a handful of tears, you left out in the snow ¶ Love’s a war without medals, with nothing
to show ¶ He still thinks of you, as little as he can ¶ If you had time again, you’d break at
his plans
So take whatever it takes to get through the night ¶ And I know once we’re through, we’ll both heal
up alright
You look great for your age, the young guys let you know ¶ And you like how they feel, and you
like them for show. ¶ But they’re not gonna settle, and each break dulls ya heart ¶ Maybe
I could’ve stayed, it still tears me apart.
Take whatever it takes to get through the night ¶ And once you’ve run me through, we’ll just heal
up alright ¶ I don’t know how we got this far, ¶ Guess I’ve always stayed around.¶
You’ve always been there for me, and I’ve always let you down.
She didn’t get what you’d done, til she had kids of her own ¶ how thankless it felt, when they’d all
up and flown
So take whatever it takes to get through the night em to ¶ And I know once we’re through, I’ll just
heal up alright
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7. |
Radio King
04:13
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Radio King
Broken dreams light up the night ¶ These cheap fireworks, on their hurried flights ¶ Then
they’re all burnt out and we return to the stars
It’s not much of an industry ¶ When we give it away and then play for free ¶ Those pulling
the strings play down their 9 ‘til 5s
You wear me out all night, got me in constant spin, ¶ My first and last DJ. The way it’s always been
¶ And I’ll reward your faith, baby I’m all in. ¶ Somehow 3 chords and the truth are no longer
future proof ¶ Don’t know how ¶ But I’ll be ya Radio King
I think of all we’ve been through ¶ I could chase ya down, still not be done with you. ¶ Ya
taking my worse traits on all the time ¶ Day by day, Week on week ¶ Anything to shake,
this losing streak ¶ We’re adrift, but afloat, forever entwined
You wear me out all night got me in constant spin, ¶ My first and last DJ. The way it’s always been
¶ And I’ll reward your faith Baby I’m all in ¶ Somehow 3 chords and the truth, no longer
future proof ¶ Don’t know how ¶ But I’ll be ya Radio King
Give me an encore, give me a guitar that’ll hit like a 3rd World War
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8. |
MacCurtain Street
03:27
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MacCurtain St
Across the Bandon river by the tall hotels. What the old folks would call raising hell ¶ By the end of
those nights we couldn’t find our feet, we’d make it back to Maccurtain street
Straight out the morning, he approached with a sign , a joke for a smoke, we were having such a time ¶
I’m ashamed to say he left, with no change or food to eat, stumbled off down MacCurtain St
We’ll say it’s like something out a movie But there’s no cutting room floor. ¶ The slow dull ache...
where you can’t pan away, and a heart that breaks over a lifetime or more.
The street was on the up, but I wasn’t doing well , she’d drive of with the kids she’d say and take the car as
well ¶ As The way things stood, hard enough to make ends meet, I saw the path down Maccurtain
St ¶ If he remembered, he didn’t betray a sign, help to buy a beer? I slung him one of mine ¶
Outside a fancy restaurant we couldn’t afford to eat, we started drinking on Maccurtain St
Cos he’d lectured down the uni, settled down and married young, never touched a drop til they lost their
only son, ¶ When she left him for a friend, to try seemed a conceit, he lost it all but Maccurtain St.
Went back last winter but I didn’t see him there, shopped his name around, but no one seemed to care ¶
The night seemed that much darker, and I sat in, out the sleet ¶ Sheeting down on McCuirtain
St ¶ Was I to end victorious or crumble in defeat? ¶ It’s hard to tell on MacCurtain St. ¶
It’s hard to tell on MacCurtain St.
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9. |
I Will Be There
04:47
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I Will be There
Nothing feels like these days, when we lay them in the ground ¶ But for the days that we don’t...
I’ll still come around.
I’ll get over you, I said of that I’m sure ¶ Yeah I’ll get over you, Like a soldier does a war…
I will be there when there’s no one else ¶ I will be there when you forget yourself.
Wrapped on the kitchen floors, mug of red wine poured ¶ We watch the Willow weeps, as the rain
pours down
I will be there when there’s no one else ¶ I will be there when you forget yourself. ¶ I will
be there when there’s no one else for you to turn to ¶ I will be there when all the love you had has
been burnt through, ¶ I will be there
Cos if I don’t know… theres some ways this can go. ¶ Of which we’ve seen too much, in our two
lifetimes
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10. |
Hungover In New York
04:29
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Hungover in New York
I didn’t know this was a lesbian bar, they let me in at the door ¶ While I’m here let’s ride it out on
these beers, hear that jukebox some more ¶ I’ve just escaped with my life from a Mexican border
town ¶ For once I’m not broke, just in the worst place I could have found
I’ve just come from Henriettas on Hudson, that’s not even a joke ¶ I’m unserved, I’m unloved, you
could light match right off my throat ¶ I’m sleeping on a sofa on Morton, out losing some days¶
With a few hours to kill before I meet a friend in Doc Hallidays
I’m Hungover in New York… ¶ Searching out every bar every dive ¶ It’s happening all over
¶ Just making sure, that it’s not the last time,
Now Tom Waits once cracked, said this was a great town for shoes ¶ But I’d walk barefoot, just
to lick the sweat off your tattoos ¶ Dylan Thomas looking down from the wall, near puts me off
my stride ¶ And I roar between happy hour hours, chasing barmaids for brides
I’m Hungover in New York… ¶ Searching out every bar every dive ¶ It’s happening all over
¶ Just making sure, that it’s not the last time,
And then I’m off to Brooklyn for the sobering Connemara rain ¶ The day after Thanksgiving it’s
just me dodging droplets and drains ¶ You can’t be out in every single bar, get with every single
girl ¶ But no one cares and it’s never changed a thing in this neon-lit world
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11. |
When The Stars Align
04:22
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When the Stars Align
So you stand in the smoke of your burnt out dreams ¶ Used to feel hard, not as hard as now seems,
¶ My friends and I, we’ve weathered extremes ¶ Now most of our venues are gone
Did ya hear how the musician became a millionaire? Start with a billion, gig til you get there ¶ That
was before they were all running scared, no ones doing this to make it rain
And it’s lucky I love my guitars ¶ Cos you’ll drive 1000 miles through the howl and the gloom, ¶
To hear how she sounds in a cold empty room
When the stars align, it’s all worth the fight ¶ If the last of all time, we still get tonight. ¶ I
fall love with these nights a little bit more ¶ When I guess I never thought I could ¶ Cos
when the stars align… I love you that little bit more
You look at the numbers it won’t make any sense,I’m not gonna put up any kind of pretence ¶ I’m
amazed how she still jumps to my defence, that bit slower from when we started out ¶ Revealed
as sincere as a Hollywood kiss, it can serve up no hits, just the one big miss ¶ So you rage, swear
you’ll never roll over” or quit, it’ll be sweeter when we all make it out
And I’m lucky, cos I’ll drink out a can, ¶ It’s hard to fax it in through the working week but tonight
you’re gonna play in a rock’n’roll band
When the stars align, it’s all worth the fight ¶ If the last of all time, we still get tonight. ¶ I
fall love with these nights a little bit more ¶ When I guess I never thought I could ¶ Cos
when the stars align…. I love you that little bit more
And the DJ says that, I’ve sold a million records. ¶ Like a fleet of supercars are down there on my
drive ¶ If I were to tell her the story, she’d stand me a night ¶ Down in every pub down in
every bar down in every club un every dive
When the stars align, it’s all worth the fight ¶ If the last of all time, we still get tonight. ¶ I
fall love with these nights a little bit mor ¶ When I guess I never thought I could ¶ When the
stars align. ¶ I love you that little bit more
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12. |
Last Day Of The Festival
04:45
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Last Day of the Festival
It’s the last day of the festival, all she can do is smile. ¶ She drove down with a car full of girlfriends
hasn’t seen them for a while. ¶ And a sharp drop of blood explodes in her vodka and ice, ¶
But she’s too gone to notice, nodding out in style
It’s the Last Day of the Festival some have started packing up their stalls ¶ They’ve sold all their
stock got out of this, everything they came here for ¶ She hasn’t eaten all day and she stole off
plates of friends the day before ¶ And she’s sitting here thinking, what life’s really all about at all
And there’s nothing I can drink… where I don’t wake up older. ¶ I want to wrap you up in castles
made of clouds for the nights keep coming on that much colder ¶ And I’ve never been afraid of
anything, and now there’s wolves in every town. ¶ For as free, as you’ll let me be .. all we’ve got
is now.
It’s the Last Day of the Festival she’s got the worse case of the Sunday Blues ¶ Her foot’s still
bleeding from the dance tent where someone stole her shoes ¶ And she’s riding out this last
night on good weed and overpriced booze ¶ And she’s just trying to believe if he was here she
wouldn’t want to ride him too
Cos if she thinks hard enough she just might freeze the very pace of time ¶ She’s determined to
live this last night out, over years strung out in line ¶ But the sun is swooping low, over this graveyard
of fun the bells chime ¶ It’s the last day of the festival, they’re moving on and leaving her behind.
¶ So she clings to every moment, blowing smoke rings through the cold shade of the pines ¶
It’s the Last Day of the Festival, they’re moving on and leaving her behind.
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Matt Owens London, UK
Founder member of Noah and the Whale, Matt Owens debut solo album Whiskey and Orchids was released on 1st February
2019.
The albums' 4 singles, Lay Down Honey, One Fuck of a Year, Too Far Gone and Match Day all received regular plays on national UK radio.
Produced by Nigel Stonier, guests included Thea Gilmore, Michael Blair (Tom Waits, Lou Reed), Carleigh Akins (Bahamas) and Robert Vincent.
... more
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