1. |
Ashes, Not The Fire
03:47
|
|||
|
I stood and watched my house burn down
The life that we built, all gone to ground
The clues, the hints I failed to catch
And I'm the one who struck the match
Is there a trace of what you sold
For moments of grace, this poor fool's gold
I never knew how much you meant
Until I smelled that sulfur scent
And if you've been considering
The wages of desire
Baby, it's the ashes, not the fire
The flash and the spark, don't ask me why
I thought that we'd seen the worst gone by
But now, these bonds all repossessed
The years ahead, the lonesomeness
And if you've been considering
The wages of desire
Baby, it's the ashes, not the fire
|
||||
2. |
Real Nice Day
02:33
|
|||
|
Once, long ago
I set my sights
on distant lights
Oh, the miles I’d go
maps and charts
and seasick hearts
kept singing you a sunrise song
dreaming you could sing along
can’t imagine how my whole life long
just want to say I’ve seen your face
it’s a real nice day
up, I gave you up
a fairytale
I lost the trail
star, behind a star
I searched so far
and here you are
kept singing you a sunrise song
dreaming you could sing along
can’t imagine how my whole life long
just want to say I’ve seen your face
it’s a real nice day
|
||||
3. |
The Reddleman's Lullaby
04:21
|
|||
|
sometimes our house gets so loud
sometimes I stand ‘neath the blackest of clouds
love's when the walls all come down
times I forget just how much I can hurt you
the clock ticks slow
I’ve got miles to go
it’s hard being gone for so long
I’ve got a history of holding you wrong
don’t know what happens to me
I can’t find the notes in our sweet harmony
but I’ll drive all night
trade this fight for flight
close your eyes
let the silence wash over you now
nothing can hurt you tonight
the hours before daybreak
the stars sweep the sky
under the moon’s cleansing light
may you find peace
Taking for granted the trials
sometimes I have to drive hundreds of miles
to find it all falling in place
plain as the nose on the end of my face
between love and peace
sometimes wonders cease
please don’t forget what I said
specially the parts that I left in my head
everything I’m all about
sometimes gets lost in the screams and the shouts
let the highway flow
feel my heart beat slow
close your eyes
let the silence wash over you now
nothing can hurt you tonight
the hours before daybreak
the stars sweep the sky
under the moon’s cleansing light
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
couldn't call it tragedy
they always had a laugh
she’d flash a devil’s grin when they'd
call her his better half
she told him she was sorry that
she'd never had more school
and he'd squeeze her tight and say goodnight
said he loved to kiss a fool
& they'd go round, & they'd go round
don't know how they stayed aground
never seemed to bother her
they had no scratch to spare
they'd share a beer and do without
and no one seemed to care
back before he got his first promotion and a pin
somehow something clicked
when he acquired a taste for gin
but you can't hold back,
you can't hold back
when you're on that inside track
tell me what you wouldn't do
to keep your love from harm
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms
strangest thing, they never fought
wouldn't see them in a funk
she'd fly around the room a bit
he'd go out, get some drunk
but most the time you'd have to guess
they were heading down the path
wasn't hard to see the days ahead
to do the math
but you never know
you never know
when your tomorrow's long ago
don't go crying wolf again
don't sound that false alarm
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms
he'd been gone near half a year
don't think he ever knew
she went down to County
did the thing she had to do
don't suppose we'll ever hear
a word from them again
they've disappeared into the night
just like they'd never been
what might have been
what might have been
such an unoriginal sin
and there's a part inside me
wonders where you are
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms
|
||||
5. |
When You Were Young
04:12
|
|||
|
I remember how we listened
to the rhythm of the August night
I never wanted anything the way
I wanted you to hold me tight
with the windows all rolled down
ocean of the wind was the only sound
I remember every riot of the
summer's dying light
when you were young
you didn't think you'd know
you'd grow up to sing
the same sad songs
if I could spend another
minute with you
I wish I could tell you
what you meant to me
what you mean to me
when I looked up into the sailor's sky
I started losing you forever
it was easier than looking in your eyes
trying to say something clever
I wish I'd heard the race of your heart
so restless for the world to start
young enough to think I was
old enough to never say never
when you were young
you didn't think you'd know
you'd grow up to sing
the same sad songs
if I could spend another
minute with you
I wish I could tell you
what you meant to me
what you mean to me
|
||||
6. |
Sweet Calico
03:32
|
|||
|
do you remember where we met
that little luncheonette?
here's a photograph of you
just a mess at 22
I won't forget
do you remember when we kissed
I would trade my life for this
the sky was full of stars
One moment, only ours
and I won’t forget
I was holding your hand and
you were holding my heart
you were scared it would end
and I was scared to start
scared to speak my heart
and now I look in your eyes
and you look just the same
you’re every bit as surprised
that you don’t know my name
and now I’ve got to let you go
sweet calico
do you remember our first place?
I was such a hopeless case
When we signed the bottom line
all I saw were dollar signs
but you saw a home
and now they're saying I should go
have I said my last hello?
let me sit with you awhile
remember how you smile
once more for me
I was holding your hand and
you were holding my heart
you were scared it would end
and I was scared to start
scared to speak my heart
and now I look in your eyes
and you look just the same
you’re every bit as surprised
that you don’t know my name
and now I’ve got to let you go
sweet calico
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
once upon a time I had a dream
I sank without a sound beneath the stream
and just before the waters sealed me in
you appeared and gave me breath again
like roots that grow together after time
the tendrils on the bower intertwine
without you here I falter in the dark
I’m just a wildfire kindling from your spark
everything that’s left of me, the pull upon my tide
reflecting pale the flashing of your light
and I don’t know what I would do
without you by my side
my skies are full, the stars are yours tonight
you give me hell when I stop making sense
you lay me down when you’re my last defense
and to think I once could manage on my own
if I should lose you, I’d turn myself to stone
I know what it means to lose your trust
I know how it feels to fade to dust
and I don’t ever want to feel that way again
it pulls me under to think what might have been
everything that’s left of me, the pull upon my tide
reflecting pale the flashing of your light
and I don’t know what I would do
without you by my side
my skies are full, the stars are yours tonight
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
In a Moment (Sung For Me)
you can only go so far
before your race is run
you can wish on shooting stars
brighter than the sun
thought I’d seen the heaven’s jewels
the back side of the moon
I had not heard anything
until your lonesome tune
and in a moment
it all changed for me
the song your eyes sent
this melody
sung for me
you can run as far as oceans
a league or more tonight
I will burn a heat not measured
in grades of Fahrenheit
we can try to solve the clues
plumb the fevers deep
or we can sing in harmony
and rock ourselves to sleep
and in a moment
it all changed for me
the song your eyes sent
this melody
sung for me
there’s a love that strikes like lightning
burns a man inside
there’s a heat keeps you fighting
past the point of pride
and in a moment
it all changed for me
the song your eyes sent
this melody
sung for me
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
I've seen a man at Union Station
stands with his face towards the wall
screams in disgust at the top of his lungs
"when did these bastards get so small?"
some days I'll sit and watch the trains come
some days I'll go and have a drink
'cause I've never felt so lost before
some days my blood's as black as ink
I have come so far for this
I've fought hell's own war
escaped the rotten hearts of men
only finding more
once, as a child, I read the story
of Job and his plagues and miseries
but I'd trade the wrath of the god of Job
for all these powers crushing me
all of these mountains and vast oceans
the greatest walls, without, within
none can separate our love like the
the hate of such small men
they can't take my love from me
they can't stop my heart
I have waited for so long
for my life to start
but I will fight and bring you to my shores
for I will not give in, this love I swore
all for you
all for you
all for you
I still remember your black ribbons
to hold your hair behind your ear
I saw the skies lit, hellfire-red
the old world disappeared
and now, all these promises of freedom
sords, just a hollowed-out amen
all that I held as simple and true
gone, by the order of his pen
they can't take my love from me
they can't stop my heart
I have waited for so long
for my life to start
but I will fight and bring you to my shores
for I will not give in, this love I swore
all for you
all for you
all for you
|
||||
10. |
Ride It Out
05:17
|
|||
|
Well I met a man on boundary row
with dust caked on his tongue
and the bone and sinew ground to
ash and marrow
and they gave him hero’s ribbons
and
the homecome least he sought
And they sang the songs of grace
of vesper sparrows
She met a weary widow
with his ghosts arrayed like wares
on his prayer rug to be sold
to the highest bidder
She asked him when he’d fold
At the point of last confusion
Never crossed his clouded mind
to consider
If the dark fails the light
I’ll send you flares to find me
And if there’s nowhere to fall
we’ll stand and face the storm
And as the last stars of night
give way to dawn’s redemption
We’ll ride it out
What else can we do but ride it out
She says “I’ve given up the luxury
Of fortune-telling dreams
We can only see the shadows
'til we’re blinded
and you can pin the tag of hero’s curse
on the ever-fading badge
In the space between despair
and bloody-minded
And in my mind I’ll always be
a thousand miles away
But in my heart I’m standing
as your neighbor
And if I could control the winds
command the tides to pull me
what kind of man would shy from
such a labor?
If the dark fails the light
I’ll send you flares to find me
And if there’s nowhere to fall
we’ll stand and face the storm
And as the last stars of night
give way to dawn’s redemption
We’ll ride it out
What else can we do but ride it out
I’d ask you now to sing no more
the songs of grace and mercy
or shine your torch upon
the fields left fallow
for I can only battle
with the
weapons I’ve been given
what choice have I been granted
in this hour?
If the dark fails the light
I’ll send you flares to find me
And if there’s nowhere to fall
we’ll stand and face the storm
And as the last stars of night
give way to dawn’s redemption
We’ll ride it out
What else can we do but ride it out
|
||||
Doug Davis Winston Salem, North Carolina
If you like Doug Davis, you may also like:
supported by 6 fans who also own “Small Stars”
go to album
Maybe, then...
by Dan Warner & The Night Parrots
Diaristic songs from this Melbourne songwriter with a roots-rock feel and evocative, image-driven lyrics.
go to album
Passion Fruit Boys
by Passion Fruit Boys
Nashville’s Passion Fruit Boys nail the effervescent janglepop of ’80s college radio with bright guitars and immediate hooks.
go to album
That's How Rumors Get Started
by Margo Price
The latest from the alt-country favorite is her most direct and rocking album to date.
go to album
Downey to Lubbock
by Dave Alvin
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
go to album
Play It On The Tannoys
by Stranger The Horse
Rich and carefully-sculpted songs that cross-wire country and roots music with jazz, samba, and more.
go to album
An contemporary country-rock LP with a spaghetti-western feel, combining twangy guitars, dusky string arrangements, and yearning lyrics.
go to album
