New West Motel Jack Candy Jack Candy was as old as my father But still I took a likin' to him He said: "You will be somebody's treasure, But no one has discovered you yet." Jack Candy lived on Sky Valley Road And that's where he did business I guess Some say he sold a suitcase of cocaine But he never showed me any of that This is a story that I've prayed to tell This is a story that I've prayed to tell About the day they drove him from this town About the day I lost: Jack Candy I was walkin' up to Jack Candy's trailer When he shouted that I('d) better head home The curtains closed as he went back inside And I trembled 'cause he wasn't alone This is a story that I've prayed to tell This is a story that I've prayed to tell About the day they drove him from this town About the day I lost: Jack Candy Some say they took him out to a clearin' And made him crawl until he confessed Some say they hung him up by his bootstraps Some say they let him swing in the wind I walked along (the) Sky Valley Road And out onto the great northern bridge And for hours I stared into the cold Sick and tired of denying I loved him This is a story that I've prayed to tell This is a story that I've prayed to tell About the day they drove him from this town About the day they drove him from this town I've lived a lie and I have lived it well This is the story that I've prayed to tell About a love and how I let him down About the day I lost: Jack Candy ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sundowner Deaf as a fence post Alone on a winter's night I'm drunk as a racehorse But I'll never fade outta sight There's a wild below me A wild up there in the stars There's a history behind me A child gone cold in my arms Tell George and Tammy I'm ripe for the taking these days It's a good year for roses (And) a bad year for runnin' in place But if they don't believe me I'll do what I always have done I won't be the sundowner No I'll never cheat on the sun 'Cause when the sun comes up And the moon is gone To the bridge I go To the bridge I run And when I reach the edge Onto the bridge I crawl And when I find you my friend From the bridge I fall This is the last place That I've ever been, ever been It's the last best place That I've ever been, ever been And in spite of my weakness And all my desires to win I won't be the sundowner Tomorrow I'll leave here again 'Cause when the sun comes up And I need a friend To the bridge I run When I need a friend And when I meet the edge Onto the bridge I crawl And when I find you my friend It's from the bridge I fall ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Grand Theft Auto In this town The blood will make you rich Yeah, in this town The blood will make you rich In this town I will do you one better I'll change the truth When I change the weather In this town The blood will make you rich And when you're down You can buy the Jesus pose 'Cause in this town All roads lead to this And when you're down I will kill it again I'll give ya something To forget about him In this town All roads lead to this And come tonight, yeah come tonight We'll take a ride And come tonight, yeah come tonight We'll see the lights You will lead and I will follow You will lead me, down to the hollow You will lead me down Grand theft auto You will lead me down In this town We have got the Midas touch Yeah in this town The gold will make you blush Some of it's cooling And some of it's glitters All of it's cold And it gives me the shivers In this town we've got the Midas touch And come tonight, yeah come tonight We'll take a ride And come tonight, yeah come tonight We'll see the lights You will lead and I will follow You will lead me, down to the hollow You will lead me down Grand theft auto You will lead me down ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Break It Down Gently It soon appears Long rented shores Too big to name And second to none Save horses' hair In pockets deep Remember skies Second to none Black rain Black rain will come Black rain Black rain will come Word to the wise Don't you sit on this fence Electric and live With evangelistic zeal Spin doctors gave you All those remedies to choose So you'd be the weathervane For clouds that never move Black rain Black rain will come Black rain Black rain will come To break it down gently To wash it down slow Goin' straight to the bottom With a mind . . . . of it's own Black rain Black rain Black rain will come Black rain Black rain Black rain will come Black rain Black rain Black rain will come Black rain will come ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Your Hope Shines Lay my body down By the shallows of the creek You can lay my body down Lay me in your reach And when my body's down We'll steal the thunder from the rain And when my body's down We'll shake the dirt right from the pain I was going nowhere Nowhere very fast Threw my poison out the window But it came blowin' back Out along the highway Right through the night of crime Somewhere in the darkness Your hope shined Whisper wisdom's words You can whisper wisdom's lies But all of wisdom's words Never helped me to survive Days of all my arrogance When you were not afraid Threw my paycheck out the window You threw it all away Walked the devil's highway Across the county line Somewhere in the darkness Your hope shined Your hope shined, your hope shined Your hope shined, your hope shined Walked the devil's highway, across the county line But your hope shined, your hope shined First light in the mornin', right through the night of crime Your hope shined, your hope shined Lay my body down By the shallows of the creek ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Murdering Stone Man came down from the field A lonely horseman Headin' back to the stable Said he was sorry But his cain was not able To save us all from ourselves Man sees the blood on every door And hears the laughter In the good people's hearts Their pocket's empty And their coats ripped apart And the man makes a promise to the town I wanna give you my murdering stone Give you my murdering stone Happy-go-lucky's back in town Happy-go-lucky's says he's fit to be tied Now that his hands have done A sin worse than pride And the man makes a promise to us all I wanna give you my murdering stone Give you my murdering stone Won't you take my Won't you take my I wanna give you my murdering stone My hands are heavy now that all the guns are home Take my murdering stone And I wanna give you my murdering stone Please take my murdering Please take my murdering Please take my murdering stone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sweet Revenge Fourteen and one half years You know I was good fortune's slave Road map on my face Up to my neck in lucky breaks Cover your eyes Don't look now And durin' all that time You know I wore this reckless coat Filled up with matchstick men And all the bibles that you wrote Cover your eyes Don't look now Cover your eyes Don't look now First I'll get even And then I'll make you proud Revenge is sweeter When you can laugh out loud And from these bitterroots You know I made a potent shine One-half kerosene One-half justice all gone blind First I'll get even And then I'll make you proud Revenge is sweeter When you can laugh out loud Swing it low, swing it low Swing it: sweet revenge Swing it: sweet revenge Swing it low Sweet revenge First I'll get even And then I'll make you proud Revenge is sweeter When you can laugh out loud Swing it low, swing it low Swing it: sweet revenge Swing it: sweet revenge Swing it low Sweet revenge ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Glad Nation's Death Song These are the ghosts that I half believed Guns & liquor & the carnival freak But then one day the whole world shook And I got arrested for stealin' a look And the glad nation's death song sings And the glad nation's death song sings And I wanna hear you sing And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing Well they dragged me down to the deptor's jail Where no one cried 'cause the drinks were free And there I met you, you were passin' the hat Sayin' give to the memory of a long gone dream And the glad nation's death song sings And the glad nation's death song sings And I wanna hear you sing And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing This is the sound of one hand clappin' This is the sound of one man laughin' Sayin' we are lucky, yeah lucky is us 'Cause behind these bars we've been stuck And the glad nation's death song sings And the glad nation's death song sings And the glad nation's death song sings And the glad nation's death song sings And I wanna hear you sing And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Long Time Here If you want good times I know where to look And if you want good times I will They're thrown on your bed With your junkyard religion At the best of the western motels Thrown with the pawns And the hardscrabble rooks Thrown with our ransom of kings But if you want goodtimes I know where to look And I know it's goodtimes you want Long time here Long time here I'll keep you around Holding this ground I'll keep you a long time here In 24 hours We could be in Vegas Where the heat is a possible friend Where snake eyes and boxcars Could wet down your whistle And steal all the noise from your head But your hell is hotter Then the typical thirst And in Vegas the ice is not cheap And heaven's a backroom Where the gamblin' don't finish And you keep makin' the same mistakes Long time here Long time here I'll keep you around Holding this ground I'll keep you a long . . . . Long time here Long time here Long time here Long time here I'll keep you around Holding this ground I'll keep you a long time here ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wondertown (part one) I'll break the jackpot open In a wondertown, wondertown I'll break the jackpot open In a wondertown, wondertown With my hands of ivory And my nerves of steel I'll break the jackpot open Just to prove it's real I'll break the jackpot open In a wondertown, wondertown ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Drag This River Quick, burn it down to the wick Burn it down to the heart So the ending can start Here, behind the riverhaus door With an unloaded gun And an unsettled score Well I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river down You, nothin' comes to you slow Nothin' comes to you hard Though you beg like you're hard And me, don't shake the barrel ar me And don't treat idle threats Like you treat all your friends Well I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river I'll never drag this river down And if you walk out that door Don't come back Because there'll be no door And if you walk out that door Silence greets you Silence, will be yours I hear ya callin' from a long distant shore But you won't come back, [well / 'cause] you can't come back The water's risin' and the levee is not sure And you won't be found, no you can't be found Drag this river down ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Snake Mountain Blues Mr. ten dollar man Let me tell you where you're bound When you drink your green liquor Lord, you'll roll to the ground But you come around here With your money in your hand Tasted my woman You'll die where you stand Snake Mountain's gonna crumble Lord, and fall from the sky 'Til that woman of mine Keeps on telling her lies If I'd die Lord, she'd weep And she'd weep and she'd mourne As soon as I was buried Forget I been born Well my daddy, he rides on a long holy train And the first winds of winter Well, I'll see him again And it's goodbye to that yellow-headed misery I've known Snake Mountain is callin' Is callin' me home Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues Got the Snake Mountain blues *[One verse of the original is left out. It goes something like this: Well the Snake Mountain blues Have got me down low I could die in the morning And no one would know Well, my woman comes 'round My body she'd found Go down to Dundee (And) Have her a time] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Findlay's Motel Findlay was on his last legs But he made the rules Said suffer fools gladly But never end up as the sufferin' fool He shook me down Though it was my first week on the job Said travellers will trick you But you will find out all them things for yourself Yes you will Findlay he threw me the keys As he walked outside And he turned on the big neon sign But only half of it burned And I was there fightin' off dreams When she pulled in the drive The sound of her wheels woke me up And there she was, standin' inside By the stretch Of a pine barren road Where the night Never did what was told (I never did what was told) Rooms for the night Room for your rest Rooms for the night At Findlay's Motel She looked like she had come down From the rattlesnake hills And she pushed the gun to my jaw And told me to clean out the till As I handed her over the cash Findlay limped in The old man he reached for her gun But she was stronger than him Yes she was By the stretch Of a pine barren road Where the night Never did what was told (I never did what was told) Rooms for the night Room for your rest Rooms for the night At Findlay's Motel Now bullets don't care what they hit And Findlay went down And she dropped the gun to the floor And said, you best call somone now But my eyes they were fixed on the door And I walked straight outside Said suffer fools gladly As long as this sufferin' keeps you alive For a spell ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unholy Dreams (Well) I dreamed I saw the devil's club Growin' by the burnin' bush And I dreamed that all your razor teeth Grabbed tomorrow by the root And I dreamed the long arm of the law Was a one-armed acrobat Yeah I dreamed Unholy dreams And I dreamed that all the sacred cows Had been trampled under hoof And I dreamed the moon had finally crashed And lit fire to your roof And I dreamed that there were sights unseen And their visions could be sold Yeah I dreamed Unholy dreams Unholy dreams Unholy dreams Last night, I dreamed unholy dreams And in the mornin' when I woke And you were gone (Well) I believed unholy dreams Yeah I believed Unholy dreams Yeah I believed ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All lyrics written by Chris Eckman. ©1993 Fire&Skill Publishing (BMI) except Snake Mountain Blues written by Townes Van Zandt