1. |
Gloryland
05:03
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Gloryland
(©Kevin Gordon)
You might be a preacher
Broadcasting on a satellite
Miss Mamie’s looking for an answer
Watches your program every night
Diamonds shine from your praying hands
She sends you all the money she has
Just to feel a little closer
A little closer to gloryland
You might be the president
Take a lot of power in your hands
Bend the laws to your advantage
Drive your armies to a foreign land
You say your cause is just
Lie only if you must
Just to keep them believing
They’re on their way to gloryland
People keep believing, people keep deceiving
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Am I my brother’s keeper?
You might be a young man
Out of work in a war-torn town
Streets you walked as a smiling child
Are blown to rubble, death and infidels all around
You’re drinking thirst, eating hunger
Praying to the east, and the mullah
Is the only one you can trust
Who gives himself in sacrifice
Passes the gate to paradise . . .
You walk into the market, cool wind across your face
Virgin visions in your head & a bomb strapped to your waist
Because it’s all waiting there, somewhere far from here
It’s all waiting there, out there somewhere
In gloryland
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2. |
Don't Stop Me This Time
04:09
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Don’t Stop Me This Time
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)/Gwil Owen(Turgid Tunes/BMI)
Tall pines and blue skies
I heard a song when the sound went by
Knew I had to have it in my hands
Bought an old guitar, Salvation Army store
Banging it out in a garage band
I got older, strapping that plank on my shoulder
It’s miles and miles of the give and take
Get home, fall back in the comfort zone
Count the cash and stack the plates
Feed the wolf and say a little grace
Hold on, don’t stop me this time
Don’t stop me this time
There’s daylight ahead
Straight whiskey and ripped jeans
I stared at her staring back at me
She was leaning on the balustrade
What a giver, took me all the way in to the river
The water’s warm, the current’s tame
Washed by love, forever changed
Hold on, don’t stop me this time
Don’t stop me this time
There’s daylight ahead
Now the old man wants to know
How I’ll get my children grown
on a poet’s hope, and a pauper’s wage
He said you’ve had your fun
It’s time you grew up, son
Time to put those dreams away
Hold on, don’t stop me this time
Don’t stop me this time
There’s daylight ahead
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3. |
Colfax/Step In Time
10:24
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Colfax/Step in Time
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
I played trumpet in the band
In 7th grade, blasting out songs
At football games and fall parades
We’d ride the bus
To the small towns like Winfield,
Downsville, and Colfax—
In purple jackets and white slacks
We were the Braves—
We were the Jack Hayes Braves
Named after a dead administrator
And the noble ideal
Of the young Native American male--
School ambassadors
Of popular song and good will
Mr. Minifield
Was our director, skin the color
Of a brown paper sack, he was black
Trying to teach us white kids to play
But confronted every baton-breaking day
By juvenile delinquents, like Danny Amos
Who locked himself into Minifield’s office,
With my Ted Nugent double album;
Playing “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang”
Full-blast over the bandroom speakers
And I remember Minifield, just sitting there
Staring out into the air
From the podium, smoking a camel
Looking straight ahead
Imagining himself
Somewhere else, I’d guess
Where he’d be getting paid
More for less B.S.
Tomorrow morning
We’d be marching through
What’s ahead from what’s behind
Just another step in time
Valerie
Played clarinet
13 going on 35, sexy
In a hard way, like a 1st cigarette,
Bourbon spilled on a bare thigh--
(you could say she was ahead of the game)
She’d barely speak to me
So that 2-hour ride
Felt like an all-day tense erotic dream,
Staring out at the pine trees and red clay,
And the country stores where inevitably
An old dough-faced man would be standing outside--
Staring at us like his life going by
And was that her leg, was that her leg
Just brushing against mine?
Riding on the bus
Sitting next to Valerie Thrash
Between what’s ahead, what’s behind
Just another step in time
The morning was cold
The silver bell of my horn shining back
Convex reflections of faces and hands
And the yellow smear of the bus
While I blew out my spit valve,
Put the wax on my braces--
We were getting ready to play,
Standing in line, moving in formation.
First up, a Stevie Wonder song called Sir Duke,
About Ellington (I didn’t know that then),
Chameleon by Herbie Hancock--
Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang,
K.C. and the Sunshine Band—
Get Down Tonight--
That’s when I saw them at the end of the block
Imperial Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
In their white dunce caps
And robes with red crosses
Embroidered on
Like gilded leaves on an automatic rifle
Or an image of the suffering Christ
Airbrushed on the side of a missile
In broad daylight;
Donald Lovelady said
He thought they only came out at night—
Like an apparition,
Blood-real in the silver sun—
Between what’s ahead, what’s behind
Just another step in time
They were handing out tracts
To the Caucasian mothers and daughters
And fathers and sons of Colfax--
Laughing and joking, kneeling down,
Placing a gentle hand on a child’s blonde head
Like santa claus, or the pope
Like this was normal, like this was okay
Another doo-dah day down in dixieland
He didn’t say a word,
Minifield didn’t turn his head--
Just kept marching
Looking straight ahead
Looking straight ahead
Like there was somewhere better
He was going
But this was the only goddamned way to get there
Today, with his baton in the air
Looking straight ahead
Straight ahead . . .
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4. |
Pecolia's Star
04:48
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Pecolia’s Star
(©Kevin Gordon)
I was raised up in the fields, hard work
Was just like breathing
Knowing nothing else
Wanting nothing more
Like morning brings the day, summer sun
Brought the cool of the evening
I’d watch the women sew and sing
Behind an old screen door
Tell me have you seen Pecolia’s star
Eight points of diamonds
All the colors in between
You’d be safe and warm
Under Pecolia’s star
Shining for all the world to see
Thimbles and thread, bag of rags,
Scraps of laughter
Mama’s quilt like a flag
Of friendships unfurled
She said, “This is something good
From my hands to your hands, child--
This here will keep you walking
Straight ‘cross a crooked world”
Tell me have you seen Pecolia’s star
Eight points of diamonds
All the colors in between
You’d be safe and warm
Under Pecolia’s star
Shining for all the world to see
Since 1917 I’ve been a child of God
Yes, I’ve been on that hill, a long time
I don’t never want for nothing, or nowhere
Stay right here with my people
Just give me Mississippi
You can have all the rest
As long as I can see, I’ll be
Trying to thread that needle
With my mind on the Maker
Working to do my best
Tell me have you seen Pecolia’s star
Eight points of diamonds
All the colors in between
You’d be safe and warm
Under Pecolia’s star
Shining for all the world to see
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5. |
Black Dog
04:40
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Black Dog
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
Good evening, neighbors
Good evening, sidewalk strangers
Good evening, police helicopter too
Tonight, my darling reads of the Queen
Children are lost in dreams, sirens throb down the avenue
There’s a pulse pushing under my collar
And that collar feels like it’s on the end of a leash
And that full moon’s looking like my last silver dollar
Hanging there in the black air and out of reach
And all, all night long the black dog
Keeps barking at the back door
Wants to get out, wants to break away
We’re married, mortgaged,
Full of doubt, out of storage
In a house that’s seen a century of dust and dreams
How many men long dead have walked these halls thinking
There’s another somewhere they’d like to see
And all, all night long the black dog
Keeps barking at the back door
Wants to get out, wants to break away
Sometimes my life feels fated
Sometimes it feels like a random thing
Between the lucky and the dead
Twenty years in the same bed
I swear I don’t know you like I should
Are we all right, baby? Are we good?
Can we keep it alive?
When morning falls fat like a gavel
When my beloved pulls the blind and the cord screams
And white light falls upon our hero
Sleeping off the pints of ale and the late late scene
And all, all night long the black dog
Keeps barking at the back door
Wants to get out, wants to break away
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6. |
Trying to Get to Memphis
05:31
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Trying to Get to Memphis
(© Kevin Gordon)
This guy came to the door last night
Said, don’t you remember me?
I cleaned your gutters last Fall
Well, now the deal is,
see, that’s my wife in the car there—
And her daddy just died
And my tank’s on empty and I ain’t got a dime
I’m just trying to get to Memphis
Just trying to get to Memphis
So she can say goodbye
Sure enough, there’s a red car with the motor running
Out on the street—
There’s a silhouette of a woman
Sitting there, still in the passenger seat--
I’m looking in his eyes, he’s talking fast
Looking for something behind them
as he says: So you think
You could help me out?
I’m just trying to get to Memphis
Just trying to get to Memphis
So she can say goodbye
The question I asked myself
From behind a locked security door:
What would Jesus do? If like me
He’d never seen this guy before
Give alms to the poor
But the neighborhood watch captain said
You give something to one,
You’ll have them all at your door
So I said:
I tell you the deal is, man—
I got no cash on hand
But good luck to you
Even if it’s not true that you’re
Just trying to get to Memphis
Just trying to get to Memphis
So she can say goodbye
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7. |
Bus to Shreveport
06:16
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Bus to Shreveport
© Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
I rode the bus to Shreveport
When I was 12 years old
My uncle Randy and his friend Hank
Were going to the ZZ Top show
Hirsch coliseum, man I couldn’t wait
The worst sounding arena
In the whole United States
I was riding in the backseat
We were in Randy’s Pinto
Goin down Hearne Avenue
We made a brief stop at a liquor store
They asked me what do you want—
Well, I’d never drunk before
So they brought me a bottle of yellow wine
I just stared at it on the floorboard
Parked at the fairgrounds
People were drinking, getting high
I lifted up that old blue nun
And tasted all she had to tell me
Ticket stub in my pocket
We got in before the lights went down
Already there were rednecks and hippies
Passed out on the ground
And the little band from Texas
Played it loud and like they should
Stranger sitting next to me
Smoking something smelling good
He held it out for me to take
Like a dare—I didn’t know
If I should, if I could, so I just said no
We stopped for a burger on the way back home
A McDonald’s packed with late night refugees
Drunk and stoned
Laughing over a big Mac
Everything was funny to me
Outside I saw them waiting
For Hank, Randy, and me
Latino boys in black leather
All just standing there
Said Hank had broke in line
In front of one of theirs
One guy punched him in the face
Two others tried to pin him down
Hank turned and ran back inside
They followed him right behind
Jumped the counter knocking trays
Of food on to the floor
The crewcut manager dude
Just yelled “take it back out the door”
Hank ran back toward the car
But they caught him and held him over the hood
Under an oblivious starry sky
They were beating that boy but good
Randy tried to talk to them
With reason and common sense
It was about like a de-clawed cat
Trying to climb a razor-wire fence
Blood sprayed over the white hood
Hank was passing out
Randy pushed me back in the car, said
Don’t look up, don’t get out
He reached down under the seat,
Pulled a black pistol out the dark
Said “don’t you tell nobody,
Don’t you ever say a word”
Randy laid that .38
Across the roof of the car
Said “everybody better get back,
and let my man go”
I was crouched down on the floorboard,
Low as I could pray
Seen a empty beer can under the seat
And a book on the KKK
Don’t tell--whatcha done
Don’t tell--anyone
Don’t tell--
Don’t tell--whatcha done
Don’t tell--about the gun
Don’t tell
Don’t tell
For the last time, don’t tell
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8. |
Nine Bells
03:57
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Nine Bells
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
O my child
Welcome to the world
Such as it is
Such as it is
I ran through the woods
The green and the wild
Saw the river tearing at the bank
Like the fear in my heart
Fear at my heart
There’s blocks of shadow
Between bars of light
Train on the trestle
Heading towards the night
And I feel like that--
Going where I can’t see
But I know it’s there
I know it’s there
Sometimes I feel
Like a confidence man
And the truth is a secret
And the truth is a secret
Nine bells, and the blue sky rings
Shadows wither from under the trees
And I wrote this letter
Wrote this letter
Talking like you were standing here
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9. |
Side of the Road
03:52
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Side of the Road
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)/Gwil Owen(Turgid Tunes/BMI)
I was five years old, must’ve been October
Saw a white field thru the windshield
Mama pulled over
Took me down there, so I could understand
She pulled off a boll of cotton
Pressed it to my hand
By the road, by the side of the road
We were standing by the side of the road
Church in the country burned to the ground
Congregation all gathered around
Preacher in his robes
Shining red in the sun
Held a sign that said
It’s god’s way everyone
By the road/by the side of the road
They were praying by the side of the road
Down the road to Jericho, Jesus came
Saw a stranger sitting in a tree and called him by name
He called him down, took his hand--
What comes around
Can change a man
Baghdad to Basra, supply-line mission
They were riding in silence, hoping and wishing
For a little bit of luck just to bring them back home
Who’s watching you pass, Lord you never know
By the road/by the side of the road
Who’s watching from the side of the road
By the road/by the side of the road
Who’s waiting by the side of the road
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10. |
Tearing It Down
03:51
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Tearing It Down
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
14 years old and a jug of wine
Parking lot, middle of June
I was feeling a brand new kind of fine
Threw that empty bottle to the man in the moon
Laughing so hard when it hit the ground
Tearing it down
Watching it fall
Like a hammer to the wall
Tearing it down
The ring on the finger on the hand that ran
Down that young woman’s back
Glowed in a no-tell motel room by the highway
Where daddy ran it off the track
When mama found out—I can still hear the sound
Tearing it down
Watching it fall
Like a hammer to the wall
Tearing it down
In my hour of darkness
The clock stops as the angels retreat
Am I just another witness
To my own defeat?
Hey pretty mama with the red dress on
Let’s take a ride out to the edge
You make me forget about a good one back home
Sipping tea behind my privet hedge
So love me like you love me
While we’re lying here--
Tearing it down
Watching it fall
Like a hammer to the wall
Tearing it down
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11. |
One I Love
02:53
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One I Love
© Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)/Gwil Owen(Turgid Tunes/BMI)
It’s hard to speak your mind these days
They’re all trying to shut us up
I’m a-gonna keep on shouting, baby
Tell ‘em you’re the one I love
You and me got no say
In how this big world runs
They can do their worst, but first
I’m gonna tell ‘em you’re the one I love
Every morning, baby, I
Face the fire in the sky
Feeling lucky just to be alive
And I have to wonder why
Why it’s never enough
To tell ‘em you’re the one I love
I’m gonna say it to you, talking on the telephone
Whisper low as a mourning dove
Whoever might be listening in
I’m gonna tell ‘em you’re the one I love
They might try to kill us, child
With their bombs, bullets and guns
They might try, but before I die
I’m gonna tell ‘em you’re the one I love
Every morning, baby, I
Face the fire in the sky
Feeling lucky just to be alive
And I have to wonder why
Why it’s never enough
To tell ‘em you’re the one I love
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12. |
Don't Take It All
04:00
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Don’t Take It All
©Kevin Gordon(Little Rain Music/BMI)
Don’t take it all away
Leave something behind--
Let it stay for awhile
Somewhere in my mind
Here where the kids would play
Til the sun went down
When I came back this time
They were nowhere around
I lost my luck now where’s my saving grace?
Are you sure you came to the right place?
Don’t take it all
Without one more chance
Though I know I might blow it
Faster than a second glance
Don’t take it all away
Send your boys back home
Say what you need to say
Then leave me alone
I lost my luck, now where’s my saving grace?
Are you sure you came to the right place?
Where the kids would play
Til the sun went down
When I came back this time
They were nowhere around
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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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