1. |
Speedball
02:12
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Now Johnny likes his cocaine
And you know he ain't been the same
You know your world has been insane
Ever since you put that needle in your vein
And I can't believe you don't recall
That night with Johnny in the hall
Slinging his Kalashnikov
And screaming about drowning in the rain
There's got to be a better way
Must be a better way
There's got to be a better way for you
You're living off what you can scam
A broken window in the can
A husband that is on the lam
You wish you could believe the words he's saying
A broken, beat-up pickup truck
A narrow staircase two flights up
If he don't show you're out of luck
Do you remember when you weren't in pain?
There's got to be a better way
Must be a better way
There's got to be a better way for you
Now Johnny likes his cocaine
And you know he ain't been the same
You know your world has been insane
Ever since you put that speedball in your brain...
There's got to be a better way
Must be a better way
There's got to be a better way for you
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2. |
The New Yorker
03:02
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3. |
104
03:58
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Carl's got a Buick and he's built it to the nines
He knows just what to do with it, he's done it many times
Keeps it full of high test, runs it one quart short of oil
He don't have much cash in it, just sweat and blood and toil
Louie's got his Plymouth set up light & low & fast
Mom says don't you drive that way, you know you're gonna crash
Buys a plastic figurine, she's doing all she can
To trust her little baby boy into Jesus' plastic hands
Jesus riding shotgun and the pedal on the floor
Running from the devil and the cops on 104
Don't you get no tickets, boy, you know you got no cash
If you keep on driving that-a-way, you know you're gonna crash,
Yeah you know you're gonna crash
Uncle Abner's running goods through Port Ontario
Carl runs the cigarettes through wind & rain & snow
Carl's got his dignity, you know he can't hold back
When Louie's little Plymouth comes a-caterwauling past
Jesus riding shotgun and the pedal on the floor
Running from the devil and the cops on 104
Don't you get no tickets, boy, you know you got no cash
If you keep on driving that-a-way, you know you're gonna crash,
Yeah you know you're gonna crash
As they top the graveyard ridge the snow begins to fly
Louie's in the left-hand lane and someone's bound to die
Abner's coming towards them in his bright red pickup truck
You know this night is gonna end with someone out of luck
Jesus riding shotgun and the pedal to the steel
With a bonehead in the other lane and a nut behind the wheel
Don't you get no tickets, boy, you know you got no cash
If you keep on driving that-a-way, you know you're gonna crash,
Yeah you know you're gonna crash
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4. |
Yellow Eyes
04:46
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I found your brother running free
I led him to the trap that we laid in the trees
What happened next I won't describe
He was a fool to think that he could leave alive
Yellow eyes
Call of the night, call of the fen
Trade of the fireside for walls and rule of men
But you and I these things we know:
The hunger of the night, the cruelty of snow
Yellow eyes
I won't insult you or deceive
The cruelty of death supports this life we lead
But what of death, and what of life?
What will it matter here, beside me in the night?
Yellow eyes
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5. |
The Mighty Genesee
05:46
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You know exactly what I'm worth
Been here since the moment of my birth
You have seen me broken
You've been beside me all the time
Braved all the pitfalls of my mind
You have seen me broken
You know I never wanted to be here
Know the very depths of all my fears
I didn't have to be here
I never wanted to be so unkind
Never wanted to be out of line
Drank that cup of muddy water
Chorus:
Lord, I've been swimming in the mighty Genesee
Lord, I've been swimming in the mighty Genesee
Won't you take that muddy water and purify me?
You know how hard I fight to stay alive
Know how much I struggle to survive
Don't make me go through this
Sometimes I feel so far away from Thee
That I can't tell just where You used to be
Won't you say something?
Then, when I pull the covers from my mind
I find out just how much I'm blind
Why don't you heal me?
I didn't come this far to get shot down
Didn't tighten up to come unwound
Don't make me do this
Chorus
Seems that the sky has always been so grey
That the rain won't ever go away
Still the ice is melting
Weeds show stark against the softly melting snow
All around me I can see Spring glow
Still the ice is melting
I wander where the B&O
Used to run a hundred years ago
And my stomach tightens as I see the Genesee
Brown, where choruses of ice come crashing down
Brown the bridge and everything around
Madly rushing under
Chorus
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6. |
Radiator
03:23
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Packed up what I needed, headed out & hit the highway
Took one last shot to see if I couldn't get my head straight
Ain't got no backup here, I'm doing this one alone
Just me & my car, four lanes--my back seat for my home
New York to Madison, everything was fine
Four lanes, four wheels, 440 keeping time but
As the sky grew dark and thunderheads closed in
I lost my head when the S.O.B. gave in
Chorus:
Help me Jesus, I've been suffering for my sins
I lost my head again and I kicked my radiator in
My life's an awful lot like a '67 Vette
One screaming engine and a dump truck suspension
Like any hot rod that just is not finished yet
Sets the ground shaking but it's always breaking down
You learn a lot from life when you're out & on the road
Like how to get there and what not to wear
But you won't find out what it was that made you go
The highway don't care; it knows but it just don't care
Chorus
Listen here:
Take a good long look at me and tell me what you see
Ain't nothing worth dying for
I put my fist threw walls, throw stones at little kids
Ain't nothing worth dying for
You are the only God, the only one I know
You take me places where I never thought I'd go
But then I kick my radiator in
I got four flat tires and a broken heart again.
Chorus
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7. |
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Stoplight turned green and I did not wait to put the hammer down
Time I looked behind me, that Monte SS was nowhere around
Exhaust is rumbling
440 running
She's pretty quick but the body's nothing stunning
Stoplight turned green and I did not wait to put that hammer down
I'm not so young
I'm not so bold
I'm not so strong but you know I never hurt anyone
Sometimes I fear this will follow me until the day I drop.
I spent that night sitting silent in some dismal, cheap hotel
No one beside me, but you know that this was probably just as well
I don't ask why
I don't ask what
But it sure seems my hand kills everything it touches
I spent that night sitting silent in some dismal, cheap hotel
I'm not so young
I'm not so bold
I'm not so strong but you know I never meant to hurt anyone
Sometimes I fear this will follow me until the day I drop.
I knew this girl and she almost gave me everything I need
I'm sure she could heal me if only she could find out where I bleed
Try not to try to
Try not to mind it
That bullet dug so deep I doubt that I could find it
I knew this girl, and she almost gave me everything I need
I'm not so young
I'm not so bold
I'm not so strong but you know I tried hard not to hurt anyone
Sometimes I fear this will follow me until the day I drop.
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8. |
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In a kinder world where mercy has no price
We could maybe find a way to break the ice
In a better world where I could find my place
It would be a blessing just to gaze upon your face
I don't know you, but I owe you
In another life I doubt that I would mind
When it turned out justice was never really blind
If our somewhat better natures had their say
There might be some hope that this could end some other way
I don't know you, but I owe you
On that other shore, across the burning sands
You hold the throne, that golden scepter in your hands
You shielded me from wrong and pulled me from the fire
How can it be you have to prove you are no liar?
I don't know you, but I owe you
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9. |
Recordare
03:43
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Don't wanna live but I don't wanna die
I'll bet you never heard that one before
I wanna be the one that didn't survive
I want to smash the things that mean the most to me
Some will die in fear and loving hate
Some by gold as they're weighted down
Some will call out to a god, frustrated
"Can't you do a thing to help me?"
Chorus:
Recordare Jesu pie
Quod sum causa tue vie
Ne me perdas illa die
Ingemisco tanquam reus
Culpa rubet vultus meus
Supplicante parci deus
I wanna leave all that I know behind
I wanna walk off never saying goodbye
Won't you translate me? I need a surprise
You tell me I have got to keep on walking
There's so much that I could say to you
If I could notice, see, or care at all
Helicopters hover 'round ground zero
Waiting for their final call
Chorus
Twilight falls on the end of time,
The cruel hand of time
Embracing the hand that can take no more:
The hand at rest, the hand defined
Refining the blind process of the open door.
The death of death defies the hand that can take no more.
The fickle eyes on the cruel fingers of fate:
The eyes behold, blinded; the conscript blinkered;
The twilight tinker gazes into his crystal ball.
The tongue departs, the flickering flame that we'll see no more
Boxed within, the antivenin
The door's open wide
The door's open wide
Chorus
[The chorus for this song is taken from the Requiem, a mass sung for the dead. It's in Latin. Roughly translated, it means, "Remember, merciful Jesus, I am the cause for your journey. Don't forget me in this hour. I stand as one condemned. My face is red with shame. God, pardon your supplicant."]
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10. |
New Song
03:25
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This is a new song
I don't know what to tell you
This is a new song
I don't know what to say
Yeah, you really had it coming
Yeah, you really had it coming
No, I ain't got much to say.
This is a new song
I don't know what to feel
This is a new song
I don't know what to say
Yeah, you really had it coming
Yeah, you sure did have it coming
Nobody wanted it this way.
This is a new song
I ain't got no new direction
This is a new song
I ain't got no game to play
Yeah, you really had me going
Yeah, you sure did have me going
No, you can't ask me to stay.
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11. |
Another Day With You
03:56
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I'm sorta wondering just how much is required
Seems your integrity leaves much to be desired
I'm not sure what I feel, except I'm very tired.
I've done my best to try and stay the course we laid,
Done what I could to pass off all the games you played
But it seems the bottom line is I have been betrayed.
Chorus:
I can't stay. I can't stay. 'Cause I can't stand another day with you.
It's time I had my say, and I won't be denied
Your form of justice is selectively applied
Just 'cause you're powerful, don't mean you're deified.
You say that you're providing something that I lack
We must be travelling a very different tack
You stole my integrity, I want it back.
Chorus
How much is going on that never will be told?
Your face is awful kind, your righteousness controlled
Your heart is small and cruel, your actions hard and cold.
These pre-planned emergencies, I'm leaving them behind.
I've put up far too long and wasted too much time.
My boundaries are drawn, and you are out of line.
Chorus
I can't stand another day...
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Andy Smash & the Rust Belt Hotrods recommends:
THE POWER & THE GLORY/Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love (2011)
by Bill Mallonee
Come for the '70s Dodge pickup on the cover. Stay for Americana/Folk music played like rock-n-roll (a winning formula if there ever was one). THE GHOSTS THAT I RUN WITH is nothing short of AWESOME.
go to albumIf you like Andy Smash & the Rust Belt Hotrods, you may also like:
The new album from Italian psych-rock outfit Bee Bee Sea has heavy punk and power pop notes.
go to album
Rays’ post-punk explorations of existential dread hang together effortlessly.
go to album
Classic garage-punk with bluesy swing and plenty of grit from Bad Bad Men.
go to album
Shybaby kicks out the jams on “Is This Intimate,” a snarling rock record that takes no prisoners.
go to album
Jagged post-punk from Sydney captures the sound of the ’70s in its acute angled guitars and detacted vocals.
go to album
