1. |
Down to the Well
03:56
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Down to the Well (solo demo version)
(Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden)
It’s mud-covered dogs guarding shotgun shacks
A red door on a green Cadillac
Hot wind blowing smoke through graveyard streets
A face I recognize looking right through me
Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Believe I’ve done my time
I lost something that I had before
Something I don’t want to find
You must’ve played that dive twenty some-odd years
Took a couple hundred shots just to kill your fear
I remember the night you broke down to the core
Threw that black Stratocaster through a plate-glass door
Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Believe I’ve had my fill
Save my soul from the bottom, Lord
Or send me someone who will
See that woman in the corner, brother, she knows
Every inch of my body, every mile of my soul
We used to shake ‘em on down til the blazin’ day
What’s she doin here tonight watching me that way
Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Believe I’ve done my time
I lost something that I had before
Something I don’t want to find
Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Think I had my fill
Save my soul from the bottom, Lord
Or send me someone who will
To the well no more . . .
Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
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2. |
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Burning the Church House Down
(Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen)
I didn’t mean no harm
I was just a shit-faced kid
Police called my mama
Told her what I did
She says your body is a temple built by the Lord
Keep on drinking, you’ll be damned for sure
Hey Mama,
I’m burnin’ the church house down
I’m in the James Hotel
Up on the fifteenth floor
Down on my knees
Chain on the door
It’s four in the morning, no one around
TV on but there ain’t no sound
Hey Lordy,
I’m burnin’ the church house down
Gone too far, can’t get back
Too much smoke, chokin’ black
Give me a little water, can’t get clean
Burns like fire on gasoline
I dreamed I was walking
Out between the pines
Seen a red dog running
Looked a lot like mine
I called her name, she kept runnin'
Guess she must’ve known what she had comin’
Hey lordy
I’m burnin’ the church house down
I’m in the James Hotel, up on the fifteenth floor
Down on my knees, chain on the door
Four in the morning, no one around
TV on but there ain’t no sound
Burnin’ . . .
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3. |
Marina Takes Her Aim
03:41
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Marina Takes Her Aim
(Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen)
There was a girl
From my high school
Shot dead on the highway late one night
I used to drive
Down that same highway
Just to hold my Marina tight
Marina's daddy
Bought her a pistol
A shining silver .22
We took some cans and a box of bullets
Out to the pond
to teach her to shoot
Marina takes her aim
so slow and careful
Marina seventeen
Squinting down the barrel
What does she see
What does she see
There was a boy
Down by the river
Went for a walk
and never came home
I used to walk
there with Marina
Holding her hand
Across the slippery stones
Marina takes her aim
so slow and careful
Marina seventeen
Squinting down the barrel
What does she see
What does she see
Marina's daddy
Bought her a pistol
A shining silver .22
We took some cans and a box of bullets
Out to the pond
to teach her to shoot
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4. |
Promise Road
04:53
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Promise Road
(Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden)
He tamped those ties for the boss man’s train
Thirty years on the line, he got a watch and chain
He’s smiling in the picture, but you can bet he knows
The bad end of the bargain out on the promise road
Every blushing bride walking down the aisle
Thinks she knows the guy hiding behind the smile
You can raise a glass, you can ring those bells
Out on the promise road, only time will tell
On the promise road, you can’t read the signs
There’s no destinations, no arrival times
You can do what you want
You can do like you’re told
But you keep on walking up the promise road
There’s a drifter scuffling into your town
Needs a hand of kindness when the sun goes down
But the police bust him on some civil code
They leave him tired and hungry back out on the promise road
(chorus)
They strung up a good man out on Calvary’s hill
With their nails and brambles they thought they had him killed
Three days gone, the stone was rolled away
Out on the promise road, you know he made his getaway
(chorus)
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5. |
Deuce and a Quarter
03:25
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Deuce & A Quarter
(Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen)
Buy a bottle, get to feelin’ good
The world’s looking like you think it should
Happy hour, everyone’s your friend
Closing time, sugar, and you’re down again
Up in the morning and you face this town
You walk the same streets up and down
Fire burning in your worn-out shoes
Every day you got something to prove
Curb feelers and the fender skirts
Scrub the chrome until your elbow hurts
Pinstripes and cherry-packs
Grass stains on your second-hand slacks
Keep on bettin’, think you’re gonna win
You can dress it up and try to pretend
Car’s a car and that’s a fact,
But a
Deuce and a quarter ain’t no Cadillac
Uncle Johnny Hypochondriac
Thinks his headache is a heart attack
Honey, bring me down a couple more pills
Call that lawyer up and change my will
Ham sandwich and a glass of tea
Lunch is cheap but never free
Shakin’ hands and scratchin’ backs
Grass stains on your second-hand slacks
Keep on bettin’ think you’re gonna win
You can dress it up and try to pretend
Car’s a car and that’s a fact
But a deuce and a quarter ain’t no Cadillac
I got a date, gotta dress with care
Wash the gray right outta my hair
Clean the car out, and when I’m through
Wax it up until it looks brand new
Curb feelers and the fender skirts
Scrub the chrome until my elbow hurts
Pinstripes and cherry-packs
Grass stains on your second-hand slacks
Keep on bettin’, think you’re gonna win
You can dress it up and try to pretend
Car’s a car and that’s a fact
But a
Deuce and a quarter ain’t no Cadillac
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6. |
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Jimmy Reed is the King of Rock n’Roll
(Kevin Gordon)
Dark sunglasses, sharkskin suit, standing in the
Broken glass of East Dubuque
On a Sunday morning
On a Sunday morning
You ramble and you tamble, it’s a rotgut town
Lose your mind til it can’t be found
Now
your head is burning
And your heart is yearning
Jimmy Reed is the king of rock n’roll
Jimmy Reed is the king of rock n’roll
You might get sick, and you might get well—
Might get lucky, Jim, you never can tell
Down in Ottumwa, up in your room
One light bulb flicks its tongue at you
And the hours passing
And the hours passing
Jimmy Reed is the king of rock n’roll
Jimmy Reed is the king of rock n’roll
Black sunglasses , sharkskin suit, standing in the
Broken glass of East Dubuque
On a Sunday morning
On a Sunday morning
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7. |
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Flashflood (Water or Gasoline)
(Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden)
It's a pencil-lead-gray afternoon
Rain makes the stray dog shine
I got a feeling stingin’ like a new tattoo
Black across my mind
You said something while I was dreaming
Some far off world away
If i don’t catch it the first time
You just turn and walk away
Oh baby, pull me through the mud
Oh baby, can't see you through the flashflood
I could park my car at the Church of Christ
Hold hands with the preacher and pray
Or hunker down with a hundred-dollar whore
Dolled up in orange lingerie
But they don’t know me baby
They don’t know what i’m lookin' for
All my sin and my salvation
Lead me straight back to your trap door
(chorus)
She looks good in a cheap straw hat
With her long hair hangin' down
She used to smile a lot more at me
Before I drug her down to this town
(chorus)
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8. |
Great Southern
03:31
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Great Southern
(©Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen)
Walking along the switchback
Old boxcars on broken track
Busted glass in the ballast
Blazing in the August sun
Fire ants crawl on creosote
Grackle squawks a single note
Rusted rails like the ribs of a skeleton
Where you gonna go
On that Great Southern Road
Where you been down before
Where you gonna go
On that Great Southern Road
When you can’t go home no more
It's a black crow pecking at a road-kill coon
Out on the Trace Sunday afternoon
Steam-ghosts float from the road
After the rain
Tires hiss on the asphalt wet
Windows down don’t stop the sweat
Station out of Jackson
Starting to fade
Where you gonna go
On that Great Southern Road
You already been down before
Where you gonna go
On that Great Southern Road
When you can’t go home no more
Diamond flash in the junkyard glass--
Not so fast you too shall pass
(chorus)
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9. |
Pueblo Dog
03:07
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Pueblo Dog
(©Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen)
Up with the sun and west I go
Walkin’ New Mexico
Ain’t got a dollar, ain’t got no plan
Pueblo dog sleeping in the sand
There’s a ring of fire nobody sees
But it blacks the branches of the cottonwood tree
A thousand years, maybe more
Pueblo dog’s seen it all before
Gilbert goes into the garden
Brings us back a winter melon
Slice it up so green and sweet
Pueblo dog sittin’ at my feet
Up with the sun and west I go
Walkin’ New Mexico
Ain’t got a dollar, ain’t got no plan
Pueblo dog sleeps in the sand
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10. |
Oil City Girl
02:48
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Oil City Girl
(Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden)
She was born in east Oklahoma, spittin’ distance from the Arkansas line Way up on Willamina Mountain, higher than a vine can climb
Her daddy found work, down in Louisiana
Pretty soon they were boomtown bound
Threw a big old trunk on top of that beater full of hope and hand-me-downs
hope and hand-me-downs
Staring out from the backseat, dreaming of diamonds and pearls
She was an Okie baby, now she’s an Oil City girl
All week long from dawn to dark
They were drilling those wells on the water
Nothing looked so fine come quittin’ time
As the foreman’s green-eyed daughter
Kool Point was a roughneck joint,
Tables nailed down to the floor
You hear the steel guitar, tip a Mason jar, hear ‘em hollerin’ out for more-- With a sheriff standing at the door
Spit-shine Saturday night in a neon world
And the brightest light that shines is an Oil City girl
When the boom went bust and gold turned to dust
And the people left town in a wave
Before too long there wasn’t much left to save
Now me and my shadow, fishing on a jon boat, fifty years gone by
I’m casting my line around them creosote posts and all them wells run dry
Not much remains but the rattling chains of a ghost town memory
When the wind blows wild it still makes me smile
Thinking about my old used-to-be, the only true love for me
Wait up, Willie Mae, I’ll see you in another world
‘cause my spirit's gonna rise and I’ll find my Oil City girl
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11. |
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Red Door on a Green Cadillac
(Kevin Gordon)
Stopped at a store in a country town
Seen a rusty Eldorado with the windows down
Pack of kids bouncin' round the backseat
One bare foot hangin out in the July heat
Guy behind the wheel looked about my age
Defeat in his eye like a dog in a cage
Radiator pissin' hot water on the ground
Hood raised up, let the motor cool down
Ridin on retreads, trying to keep the kids fed
Pull another cigarette out of the pack
Tailpipe draggin, all your hope saggin
And a red door on green Cadillac
Red door on a green Cadillac
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12. |
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Mississippi River Burning Down (Down to the Well draft version)
(Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden)
Mud-covered dogs guarding shotgun shacks
A red door on a green Cadillac
Hot wind blowing smoke through graveyard streets
A face I recognize looking right through me
Mississippi river burning down
I'm blinded by the smoke
Mule driver don't let me drown
Save me before I choke
You must’ve played that dive twenty some-odd years
Took a couple thousand shots just to kill your fear
I remember the night you broke down to the core
Threw that black Stratocaster through a plate-glass door
Mississippi river burning down
I'm blinded by the smoke
Mule driver don't let me drown
Save me before I choke
See that woman in the corner, brother, she knows
Every inch of my body, every mile of my soul
We used to shake ‘em on down til the blazin’ day
What’s she doin' here tonight watching me that way
Mississippi river burning down
I'm blinded by the smoke
Mule driver don't let me drown
Save me before I choke
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13. |
Simple Life
03:51
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Simple Life
(Kevin Gordon)
Big straw hats and cane poles
Take your bucket to the fishing hole
Bait that hook, try to get a bite
Gonna eat all we catch tonight
My grandmaw's sittin down in the shade
WPA bridge her brother made
Hands tremble on a tin of snuff
This side of heaven, she's seen enough
She's black spit and a whittlin' knife
She lived and died a simple life
Down in Oil City in a dirt floor shack
Snakes of sweat runnin down your back
Old newspaper and a rugged cross
Kept the wind and the devil outside the walls
You work another man's land from sun to sun
Lord a simple life is the only one
Push that blade, keep your babies in the shade
Another day down, another dollar made
She got her chicken from a pen out back
Wring it around til the neckbone crack
Goat on a rope, potato on a vine
The life I'm living's sure a different kind
I see her sitting there in her rockin chair
Staring me down across the years
And I ain't got no good answer to give
For her hard times or the life I live
Can't forget the scufflin', forget the strife
How she lived and died a simple life
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Kevin Gordon Nashville, Tennessee
Kevin Gordon is a Louisiana native whose latest releases, Tilt & Shine, Long Gone Time, & 2012's Gloryland, earned raves from the NY Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, and others. His songs have been recorded by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Hard Working Americans, Irma Thomas, & others. "Down to the Well", a duet w/Lucinda Williams, was featured on the Oxford American Southern Music Sampler. ... more
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