1. |
Pretty Girls Make Graves
03:32
|
|||
Kerouac only yesterday
when he spoke to me
and he told me that
pretty girls make graves
I don’t quite disagree
with old Jack
Hurry back from the store today
There’s a war today
so I’m selling lemonade
to men in the street
They’ll pig out and they’ll dig until the come for me
early Wednesday of next week
Take off your dress for me
Undress for me
It’s addressed to me
It’s in my name
I’ll take that pen and I’ll sign in ink
what my last name really means
Boots off, kicked my boots off
Cut a plant in half
with a chainsaw
until I heard it bleed
Turn the water from the shower into steam
Fill the bathtub full of leaves
Emerald city west coast
Filled with new souls
I do my best
to keep my bedroom clean
I sleep with my head next to the heat
but my window lets me breathe
Shoes on tied my shoes
smash a bottle over the heads
of the ones you love
I’m going to follow old Jack out to the mud
Where I’m hoping to meet my God.
And I’m going out to the mud
Where I’m hoping to meet my God
And I’m rolling out in the mud
Where I’m hoping to meet my God
And Im crawling out through the mud
Where I’m hoping to meet my God
And I’m going out to the mud
Where I’m hoping to meet my God
|
||||
2. |
Charlotte Town
03:34
|
|||
Hey Ho the boatmen row
floating down the river on the Ohio
Hey Ho the boatmen row
floating down the river on the Ohio
Charlotte Town’s burning down
goodbye, goodbye
Burning down to the ground
goodbye Liza Jane
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye, goodbye
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye Liza Jane
Black my boots and a make them shine
goodbye. goodbye
Black my boots and a make them shine
goodbye Liza Jane
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye, goodbye
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye Liza Jane
There’s a gal in Baltimore
goodbye, goodbye
Silver doorplate on her door
goodbye Liza Jane
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye, goodbye
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye Liza Jane
Oh Eliza, that little Liza Jane
Oh Eliza, that little Liza Jane
Oh Eliza, that little Liza Jane
Oh Eliza, that little Liza Jane
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye, goodbye
Ain’t you mighty sorry
goodbye Liza Jane
|
||||
3. |
Oak Limbs
04:03
|
|||
Sorry I can’t refrain from asking
When we’re dust you'll get past it
You’ll be buried in your pretty casket
With your family friends and assets
The songs they sing are passive
You hope that they wont last and
they’ll keep singing them songs I promise
Even if you don't like them
Just go and plug your ears then
We chalked up
and we choked up
we talked up
and we toked up
and we woke up
when we found out we were dead
You cried out
I spied out
The bedroom window of my mother’s house
And the men who gossip told me to watch out
Money ain’t it brilliant
Just funny how the world ends
Strung out between two oak limbs
Girl don’t you catch this
It’s coming fast and endless
There’s no time to breath
when you're a favorite
You left the bed in protest
to go get high above my head
and fell asleep tangled by your necklace
in the kitchen
The kids balloons are popping
their brains are slowly stopping
still I drank my heart into abuse
I think I’ve met more people than I’d choose
Roll your dollars up
The men are drooling
Getting drunk to watch the world end
All that they can stare at is you
All that you can stare at is you
So lets all give our skin to you
Let's all drink our skin into abuse
Let's all bury our selves with you
Let's bury ourselves with you
Let's bury ourselves with you
|
||||
4. |
Alpine
04:04
|
|||
Twenty years and growing older
I slept on a riverbank
Glaciers stole my papers
Took my pen and drank my ink
We parked the van up on that shoulder
We paid our dues to the state
You took your hits and I took mine different
We slipped off into a daze
The fire cursed in our faces
I’ll sit on my side, you sit on yours
The freezing waves of salvation
You kept your feet close to the shore
My frozen mountain ghosts is growing anxious
And it’s pacing to the ground
I could barely breathe when
my alpine blood was running thin
I could barely breathe when
my alpine blood was running thin
|
||||
5. |
Route Eighty
04:28
|
|||
I’m afraid of drowning by my own hands
Eliot brought hyacinths to the Waste Land
Continued off and went to read his fortune
Beware of death by water is what she said
Detroit stuck between blizzards and a car wreck
Chicago didn't listen kept her neck bent
Seattle’s more of a dreamer in the basement
with an old damp door that’s rotting though you paint it
New York, old friend give me something to work with
I did not see your body but you said oh man, oh baby, is this even worth it
I’m going up the country, babe we’re leaving
Of course there’ll be wine, but water is harder to get
I passed Omaha on my way out west
I heard the city on the banks of Missouri
I passed Cheyenne on my way out west
I’ve got Route Eighty to thank for that
and I’ve got Route Eighty to thank
I didn't stop enough or I wouldn't be here yet
I’ve got Route Eighty to thank for that
I’ve got Route Eighty to thank
Billings and Bozeman and I’m fifteen miles from Spokane
I’m ten miles from Spokane, I’m driving through Spokane
I’m three thousand miles from home
Oh I’m three thousand miles from home
Think I’ll pass Cleveland
and straight on to Brooklyn
I know the end is coming
You saw me bleeding
You saw me bleeding
I’ve got Route Eighty to thank for that
But I’m coming home
I’m coming home
and I’m coming home
I’m coming home
I’m coming home.
|
||||
6. |
Nevada
01:50
|
|||
Out in the flats of Nevada
On the loneliest road in the state
Played a few songs with my best friends
The salt beds prayed for rain
Draw me a map of your insides
and paint me a bloodied king
Speak of life on the outside
The million miles of coastlines
I’ve never seen
When I return to Nevada
Will the asphodels know my name?
|
||||
7. |
Amos
05:12
|
|||
Hold wine on your breathe
Keep it open, your mouth open
When I was young I’d beg
to be older, to be older
Now I can't be bothered
cant be bothered
Hold wine in your hand
Keep your glass straight
please don't spill it
Go ahead and ask
Ask your mother, to ask your father
Find his power
What’s his power,
Secret power
Ain’t it obvious
Amos he brought the house down
with blood on his fingers
sheet-rocked the whole place
with black mold from last year
There’s piss in the kitchen
you killed those bastards
You are a hunter
you are a hunter
you are a hunter
you are a hunter
Burnt my cheeks in a windstorm
but I had to risk it
sold my breath to Alaska
in this North Country winter
The van’s getting older
is it worth it to fix her?
you are a hunter
you are a hunter
You are a hunter
with blood on your fingers
you killed those bastards
with only a hammer
You are a hunter
You are a hunter
You are a soldier
|
||||
8. |
Indian Summer
05:42
|
|||
I wish I was born on an Indian summer
when temperatures rose past the norm for the year
Under the blankets, I lay there sweating
Shorts are all gone packed away for the year
Out from the house I cried in the street
but I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it
Just one of those moments, you're sad for no reason
I think I’ll blame it on al of this heat
Some of my friends, they are hypochondriacs
always worrying about getting sick
plagued with diseases, I think they said twenty
but ten of those twenty they do not exist
When I speak of friends I speak metaphorically
always been taught to question hypothetically
When I speak of friends I speak with authority
some of those friends live a long way cross country
We break into houses that died in the nineties
All that we’re left with is aging uncertainty
I slip on wet floorboards, wood’s slick when it’s rotting
Others shine flashlights from far down the hallways
They stood between us, their fingers were flipping
their cigarettes burning and cigarettes teaching
what death it must taste like deep in our lungs
I said I don't smoke friends, except when I’m drunk
Except when I’m drunk
Foods scraps and papers are stuck in my carpet
with wrappers from sandwiches and extra strength Tylenol
from one of those headaches I got in the ninth grade
and lost all the vision on the right side of my face
The bottle’s now empty and there’s dust on the bottom
hydrocodone’s addicting, so I stay away from ‘em
But I’d take a headache to missing you any day
risk half my eyesight to keep out the memories
they sneak in at night when I’m easy and sleeping
they’re working their way deep inside of my brain
It’s fine for the time until I open my eyes
just give me a headache but keep me awake
keep me awake, keep me awake, keep me awake
|
||||
9. |
Northwest
03:44
|
|||
It’s a three day drive from here
if I drove through the night
Marked states off my checklist
of places I haven't been yet
I’ll pass over the mountains
in a country sided by oceans
My eyes will droop when I get there
Fall asleep in our apartment
There’s a Northwest smell I remember
of medicine and warm weather
We’d sit by the water
Make plans for the summer
We went to an island
Stayed in a rented cabin
We sat on the dock in the dark when
no other lights were on yet
When I knew, I knew it
Up on that counter
I told her I loved her
but she said it better
And everyone knew it
while they were out smoking
The beer ran down our chins
And I felt it more than ever
I felt it more than ever
I felt it more than ever
Left my key at a friends house
but another friend found it
The downstairs was smoked out
We were worried the cats were dead
Twelve egg omelets at 2 a.m.
I even knew it then
Threw the eggs into Green Lake
I felt it more than ever
I felt it more than ever
I felt it more than ever
I loved you more than ever
I love you more than ever
I love you more than ever
I love you more than ever
|
||||
10. |
For Okigbo
05:16
|
|||
Anna, oh Anna
bury your dead at the cross roads
Anna, oh Anna
bury your dead
Johnson, oh Johnson
on your knees at the crossroads
Johnson, oh Johnson
go sell your soul at the crossroads
Sixty-first and forty-ninth
by twenty-seven you will die
so go sell your soul
Dark waters and faces of black
Dark waters and faces of black
Dark waters and faces of black
I’m barefoot, I'm naked, and I’m crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I'm crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I'm crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I’m crying
Oh meet me, oh Anna
Oh meet me by the bodies, the bodies, the bodies
Oh meet me by the delta blues
Oh meet me, oh Anna, oh
I’m barefoot, I'm naked, and I’m crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I'm crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I'm crying
Im barefoot, I'm naked, and I’m crying
Before you, before you
|
||||
11. |
Stole Lives
02:26
|
|||
Stole lives
straight out to Denver
Issued a warning
Wasn’t in time
Old sons
just like their fathers
Drinking in alleys
Smoking in line
Gold men
Digging for treasure
Shot down their horses
Shot down their wives
Oh goodness, oh servants
Bring him his glasses
spit in his bourbon
poison his wine
Oh me, oh me
Oh my
Oh me, oh me
Oh my
Hold me, Hold me
Hold me, Hold me,
Today I die
|
Matthew Henry Denver, Colorado
Raised in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, Matthew Henry now lives in Denver, CO. His multi-instrumental folk sound draws inspiration from childhood migraines, fix-it-all family friends, and long drives on endlessly flat highways.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Matthew Henry, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp