1. |
Old Road
05:11
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It’s an old road get ya off when you get on it
Time just blow on by like a whistle in the breeze
And there’s a real thin line between
What ya need and what you want
And it can burn you down
And it can set you free
And the undertaker is gonna make his money
But it don’t have to be today.
The mountains high and the valleys low
The rich is rich and the poor is poor
Your train rolls by strawberry pickers
And a beggar at the station
Reaches out his hand
A preacher offers up his sermon for salvation
While the Devil takes what he can.
It's an old road. It's an old road.
The leaves they turn green to gold
And the weather goes from hot to cool
The whole damn thing is just circles and cycles
Maybe nothing’s new
But there’s a lot to see
And moss don’t gather on a rolling stone
And the fruit’ll tell ya ‘bout the tree.
The mountains high and the valleys low
The rich is rich and the poor is poor
And your train rolls by strawberry pickers
And a beggar at the station
Reaches out his hand
And a preacher offers up his sermon for salvation
While the Devil takes what he can.
It's an old road.
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2. |
Agnes
06:04
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Agnes in her long white robe
A girl with a sword to her throat
Kneels in defiance, in silence, as her last tears flow
And with her final breath, she prepares for the blow
Agnes with a mind of her own
Refuses the wrong father's son
And in defiance she cries out, I will not be controlled.
My hand is mine to give, my choices mine alone.
Oh Lord please help this sad and broken world.
Agnes only 12 years old
An enemy of the gods in Rome
Stands in defiance as tyrants strip her of her clothes
But one by one they turn away as her dark hair grows
Save for one, who she'll pray be restored.
Agnes bound with ropes
Shrouded in flames and smoke
Breathes in defiance of their violence as the fire goes cold
But her accusers still accuse her. Death is all they know.
Still, Agnes prays, "Forgive them. They know not what they do."
What pure thing ever remains
That lust and greed
That pride and vanity
Once they've seen
Don't seek to kill or destroy?
Agnes in her long white robe
A child with a sword to her throat
Kneels in defiance, in silence, as her last tears flow
And with her final breath, she prepares for the blow
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3. |
Boom Or Bust
02:57
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Up from the mines
Out to the market
Dig it up
Uncle Sam want it
"We can detonate a bomb
With the ore ripped from the ground."
And it's boom or bust
Boom or bust
Boom or bust
Two world wars
Good for business
Young men die
Old men get rich
Same old song, same old dance
One's good fortune is another's collapse.
And it's boom or bust
Boom or bust
Boom or bust
A German boy
Dead in France
A Mexican miner
Breaks his back
Mines and wars a dime a dozen
When one shuts down another one opens.
And it's boom or bust
Boom or bust
Boom or bust
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4. |
Then You'll Know
03:40
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When the last tree is cut down low
And the last field lay barren and forlorn
Then you'll know
Then you'll know
You can't eat money.
When the last fish is nothing but bones
Once the seven seas can't feed a soul
Then you'll know
Then you'll know
You can't eat money.
Our earth, a paradise
Forsaken for silver and gold
By those who heed no wisdom
And fear no price
But the price is our home.
When the last stream is poisoned and choked
And the time has come to reap what's been sewn.
Then you'll know
Then you'll know
You can't eat money.
Our earth, a paradise
Forsaken for silver and gold
By those who heed no wisdom
And fear no price
But the price is our home.
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5. |
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Big Tech has been good to me.
I've made a fortune and figure what I need
Is for more of my money to start makin' more money...for me.
They all say it: diversify!
So I fill my cups
With varied streams of passive income.
I'm in cryptos and condos and Coachella cabanas.
I got money in the markets and moose in Montana.
I got a yurt on some land just south of Dallas
Where the wealthy and hip go glamping...for a fee.
A considerable fee.
Ok, it's a grand a night, but what a grand night!
And you ought to see the lights.
I got about a quarter mile of the prettiest twinkling lights you've ever seen
Stretched and strung out in the trees.
And of course there's an espresso machine.
You can even get Uber eats to deliver right to your yurt flap.
Now I'm sitting in a cafe in the Seattle rain
And it's pissing and pouring and making me grey
So I start exploring some sort of escape on that vast information highway.
Kill two birds with one stone.
I'll find myself a seventh home.
And when I can't be there, well I'll just rent it out to strangers.
And there it is away down south
Overlooking a west texas ghost town.
Some land with a view my money can buy
Siren songing me from the internet.
Buy it sight unseen.
I'm gonna build the home of my latest dreams.
And you can bet it all be green.
Right down to the biodiesel in the bulldozers.
It took twice as long and cost twice as much.
Had to account for the desert and mountains and such.
But I've built me a home on the edge of my cliff
And now it's about ready to rent
I told a little white lie to my neighbor next door
Who shares the dirt road up to my place and her's.
Said she could most certainly rest assured
There'd be no AirBnB-ing from me.
And her place is just a little stone hovel
She built stone by stone before smart phones or Google.
And the woman herself is just as unkept and wild
As the terrain, or a Tasmanian devil.
And she don't wave no more.
I take it she's a little sore
At all the traffic leading to my door
That I said there wouldn't be.
And when I suggested we bring up a dumpster
She threw back her head and she laughed like the thunder.
Said, "What kind of dump truck you think could get up here
On that road of our's that you've destroyed."
And our road well it is in bad shape.
But it's nothing some asphalt and money can't save.
And I'm willing to spring for having it paved.
For all of us.
I hit a small snag in my rain water collection.
It seems for the desert it's not the best sort of system.
So as I work out some kind of solution
The jacuzzi tub sits dry.
I got my septic hanging from the side of my cliff
Cleverly hidden and holding our shit
Sitting on what the Devil called a wash
But it works fine.
And it's kind of tricky getting most supplies.
The nearest Walmart is not nearby.
Hell even a proper grocer is over an hour drive.
And don't get me started on the absence of a Starbucks.
But I am here at the very ground floor
Of an exciting new destination location.
And by the time we're booming
I plan to own a little more.
Yeah, life just gets better and better.
I hear we're getting a Dollar General.
And that's not too bad a start.
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6. |
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She said, "You look broken hearted,
And too stoned to play this game."
I said, "The world's gone crazy.
How can we live like nothing's changed?"
She said, "Just lay your head down.
You don't have to do a thing.
Or we can just talk about it.
It all costs the same."
Stoned and broken hearted at the end of all days.
He looked up, said, "Why you crying Momma?
Your eyes are sad and red."
She said, "The world's gone crazy,
And I got to raise you here."
"But don't we have all we need, Momma?
Don't you make sure of that?"
She said, "Of course, my baby.
Now let's get you off to bed."
Stoned and broken hearted at the end of all days.
A crowd gathered round them
As he wrote in the sand.
They all wanted blood,
But didn't want it on their hands.
And as they all departed,
He was heard to say,
"The world's gone crazy, sister.
To not be broken would be insane."
Stoned and broken hearted at the end of all days.
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7. |
La Puerta
06:16
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In the far west of Texas
On a spring day in '73
Five shots broke the calm
And a sheriff collapsed to his knees
And his killer was caught
And his killer would no more be free
And the deputy sheriff
Of Presidio County
Became a sheriff in whom
People believed.
To the eyes of the world, Lord,
He's Walking Tall
And down on the border
He is the law.
In his boots and his jeans
And his big Stetson hat
He stood a proud six feet and four
With his gun on his hip
And a star on his chest
A hero à la Louis L'Amour.
But south of the border
The whispers were starting to grow
That this gringo vaquero
Was far from a hero
En verdad he was the door.
Lo llaman La Puerta
Los que lo saben
Pero en la frontera
Él es la ley.
To the eyes of the world, Lord,
He's Walking Tall
And down on the border
He is the law.
The grass and the cocaine
Poured over the border
And the sheriff made many arrests
Of drifters and hippies
And line cooks and burnouts
As he righteously posed for the press
But the whispers grew louder
As 'ol Robert Chambers
And drug lords in Old Mexico
Like El Zorro de Ojinaga
Y El Señor de Los Cielos
Moved product
Without being slowed.
Lo llaman La Puerta
Los que lo saben
Pero en la frontera
Él es la ley.
To the eyes of the world, Lord,
He's Walking Tall
And down on the border
He is the law.
On the outskirts of Marfa
At the old county fairgrounds
On a cold night in December nine one
The sheriff's horse trailer
Sat loaded with cocaine
That measured just over a ton
And Sam the Informant
Disgruntled with Robert
Told detectives what
They there would find
And Robert was busted
And the sheriff, disgusted,
Gave the world a piece of his mind:
He said the cops and the crooks
Are about the same caliber people
This you must understand
The only real difference
Between a cop and a crook
Is that the cop is wearing a badge.
But Robert was talking
And the hammer was falling
So the sheriff he entered a plea
And at a courthouse in Pecos
The Sheriff Rick Thompson
Got two lives in jail for his deeds.
Lo llaman La Puerta
Los que lo saben
Y en la frontera
Él era la ley.
But in the eyes of the world, Lord,
He was Walking Tall
And down on the border
He was the law.
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8. |
Man in the Ground
03:01
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Chisel and stone, blood and bone,
When I leave gonna know I'm gone.
I don't wanna be just a man in the ground.
Steal the Sea of Galilee
Keep it where no eye can see
Take it with you to the grave.
Rip it from the picture's frame
Go down laughing with the blade.
I don't wanna be just a man in the ground.
Be it fame or infamy
The whole wide world gonna know my name
Sweat and toil, give or take,
The mark I leave is gonna make it plain
These words I sing ain't never gonna fade
I don't wanna be just a man in the ground.
There was a man who chose to go
In such a way the world would know
Regret now fills the bullethole
But that poor man ain't me.
I don't wanna be just a man in the ground.
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9. |
Chisos Mission Blues
05:56
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The spirits of the dead
Are singing in the room
Behind the alter
All out of tune.
They say their bodies lay there cold
Before they laid down in a hole.
Nobody sleeps, nobody can.
They're up all night with those Chisos Mission blues again.
They sing in three tongues.
Y hablas in tres linguas.
Viva Terlingua.
The cemetery jumps with the stories of the dead,
And the ain't dead, yet.
Sign the contract on the hood.
Ah, don't these Chisos Mission Blues feel good?
You can hear the living on the porch
From these little white pews,
Telling tales,
Some might be true.
A dog barks and chews at his claws.
The cicadas like a symphony of chainsaws in the yard.
The cock crows, the pussy purrs,
And bats a mouse with those Chisos Mission blues.
The Scorpion Mother
Eats her babes
Before she makes it
Out of the cage.
Nobody sees where she goes,
But all her dead children gotta know.
Murder or mercy?
Friend or foe?
The scorplets moan those Chisos Mission Blues.
El Alacran
Strokes his chin
Takes a hit
Grabs his lens.
Down to the Rio, barefoot in the mud.
He gives his blessing to the groom and the bride.
Guitars explode
But it ain't nothing new
He's shitdanging Chisos Mission blues.
To make love
A man builds a house
For his swinging neighbor's
Swinging spouse.
But he gets locked out when his wife comes to play.
And it burns him in a most vicious way.
He shoots the lock.
It ricochets.
Now it's an eternal Chisos Mission blues day.
El coyote laughs
And licks his lips.
Yellow-eyed
Playing his tricks.
Did you see
What you saw?
Hard to know.
Could be wrong.
He'll have ya howlin' at the moon
Howling Chisos Mission Blues.
Poor Mr. Perry
He brought his wife
She took one look
Said no dice
Back to Chicago
She's never to return
Now Perry hangs his head and he groans
Sing with me children
Sing all at once
Gee ain't this Chisos Mission blues nice?
Mescaleros in their masks
Sitting with the priest.
Las familias de los mineros
With their hands on their knees.
You can't hear it,
But it's there.
Behind the pictures.
Behind the stares.
Light a candle.
Say a prayer.
Thats those Chisos Mission blues in your ear.
The spirits of the dead
Are singing out of tune
Rattling the cross
Of 'ol Jesus.
The little mission bell
Just jingles in the wind
In walks a roadrunner
With chili on his chin
Two owls in the belfry
Both say "who."
Aw you know it's those Chisos Mission Blues.
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Keegan McInroe Texas
Keegan McInroe is a writer, musician. and international touring artist based in Fort Worth, Texas.
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