FROM A WHITE HOTEL

THE DANGEROUS ONES

 

let the television burn, baby, there’s a riot in the street
they said the wolf was at the front door but he was lying at their feet
we felt a change, a change, but ain’t it a shame how it all turned out
back then it was a long time coming but it’s a little late now
they’re gonna stack up the dead ‘til they block out the sun
these white boys with money make the whole world run
so let the wall hit your back, the blood hit your tongue
’cause you and me, baby, we’re the dangerous ones

if there’s a word for last winter, it’s something worse than “discontent”
i’m 37 years old, staying out of trouble ain’t enough to make my rent
so let it burn, let it burn, let the motherfucker burn it’s election day
they shut the water off last week, i guess it’s gonna burn anyway
they’ll ship the bodies back down with the cocaine and guns
those white boys with money make the whole world run
so let the wall hit your back, the blood hit your tongue
’cause you and me, brother, we’re the dangerous ones

you can curse and you can cry
you can scream yourself to sleep every night
or you can open up your eyes and take a look outside

every wall is gonna crumble every tower’s gonna fall
the earth is gonna rumble the siren’s gonna call
so you better look alive, alive, read the black not the white, forget the reds and blues
so quit looking for a way out start looking for a way through
a shot’s been fired but the war ain’t won
these white boys with money better learn how to run
the wall hit your back, the blood’s on your tongue
and you and me, baby, we’re the dangerous ones

lyrics and music — KA

CHASING THE SKY

i was born down there
where the river splits this town in half
with a song in my heart
and a whole world of worry hidden under my hat
out on a corner ‘neath a blanket of black
i said my goodbyes, swore i’d never look back
and i headed out west just trying
to keep the sun in my eyes
chasing the sky

i found some trouble in the back of a bar
with the bad luck boys
and i filled up the page
in the golden age of nothing but noise
but sooner or later, son, you gotta leave town
when you can’t seem to keep your chin off the ground
and you’re killing the pain
with a fistful of dirt and a lie
chasing the sky

and we can talk about the devil any old time
’cause i’ve been so close that i couldn’t tell his breath from mine

i’ve been running a while now, boys,
i’ve been all around the world
and i’ve never seen nothin’
like my green-eyed girl
she made me wanna straighten up and settle down,
heart beating like a storm on a window, now
i’ll be half a mile under the dust
before i tell her goodbye
chasing the sky

lyrics and music — KA

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

another motel sunrise burned the color from my eyes,
and i could say that i’ve been sleeping but those cigarettes don’t lie
the radio is screaming, somebody broke the dial
but a voice keeps coming through, lonesome and blue, every once in a while

at a cabaret in austin, i met a girl who couldn’t speak
said i’d love her for a season, i must have meant a week
i stopped keeping track of all those painted smiles
they all start to look the same but i still play that game every once in a while

every once in a while
you put your heart back on your sleeve
love goes in and out of style
every once in a while

i got whiskey and i got wine
i got a plate that i ain’t touched but i got all night
and there’s a girl in california says she’s carrying my child
but i ain’t too sure so i only think of her
every once in a while

now you say you’ve loved some losers but i’m the lowest down by far
and i’ll die just like that singer, in the back seat of a car
but if you’ll follow me on down the road another mile
out where the highway turns black, i’ll only look back every once in a while

every once in a while
somebody’s gonna leave
love goes in and out of style
every once in a while

lyrics and music — KA

GET LOW

big lou wallace said to billy the kid, “ain’t no god ever forgive what you did”
”lou,” said billy, “now maybe that’s true,
but if i’m going to the bottom, i’m taking you
we gonna get low.”

little kid twiss was a brownsville boy
if the water stayed dirty, kid stayed employed
he took two brothers to canarsie, put ‘em down in the sand,
said, “the ground ain’t solid wherever you stand,
you got to get low”

i got a head full of heaven, heavy and thick
seven come eleven, lost it all again
i was high as the moon coming over the trees
now i’m drinking from the river on my hands and my knees
i had to get low

they say the devil lives in texas but i saw him last night
he appeared in that smoke between darkness and light
he said, “there ain’t no valley you cross without fear
the big wheel’s spinning, boy, the wagons are here
it’s time to get low”

lyrics and music — KA

GEEK LOVE

see the carnival at daybreak / metal statues throwing shadows on the dust
and the ghosts that haunt the midway / settle down and lose their chains inside of us
and i’m not coming home

sister iphy plays piano / sister elly sings the blues
they do it breathing under water / so go ahead and tell me what passes here for news
but i’m not coming home

i fell in love with the pincushion kid / the sword swallower got mad
he might bleed a little every now and then / but he’s the best i ever had
and i’m not coming home

i don’t care if we’re in great falls, montana / or if we’re stuck in coeur d’alene
there ain’t nothing in this whole world like me / but all these small towns look the same
and i’m not coming home

lyrics and music — KA

BULLETPROOF HEARTS

 

you were born in the last days of summer, started breathing when the clock slows down
now you’re burning your way through the bible belt, baby, got the radio up loud
”raised on promises” sounds just a little cliché but when the chorus comes around
you got the windows down and you’re singing anyway
’cause one day it all goes away

and when it’s all over they take you apart
and find nobody’s born with a bulletproof heart
so shout it out loud all around the world
there ain’t no such thing as real american girls

you grew up a military son, daddy said you were just confused, that’s all
those words held about as much truth as a love letter written on a bathroom wall
so you headed down to gainesville and taught yourself how to scream
just another angry young man in a four-piece band searching for a scene
learning how to swallow your dreams

‘cause when it’s all over they take you apart
and find nobody’s born with a bulletproof heart
so shout it out loud all around the world
there ain’t no such thing as real american girls

you let the days roll by
you let the bad nights win
but you’re waking up now, got your eyes wide open
and the light is pouring in
hey, we don’t get to do this thing again

you heard the big, bad words and you felt the beautiful pain
for a while it all went wrong, but when you’re gone, they’ll say,
”she earned her mama’s name”
no one loves in vain

and when it’s all over they take us apart
and find nobody’s born with a bulletproof heart
so shout it out loud all around the world
there ain’t no such thing as real american girls

lyrics and music — KA

LITHIUM BLUES

i was born in winter or maybe it was fall
i’ve told this story many times, i don’t remember it at all
tonight the wind’s sharp as a razor and the sky looks like a bruise
and i’m stranded in los feliz trembling with the lithium blues

you took a part of me that i can live without
you took the words right out of my mouth
just when you think you’re hollowed out you find there’s always something more to lose
you left me out here in the cold, crying with the lithium blues

i’m gonna buy myself a house in the hills of tennessee
gonna find myself some shade beneath a weeping willow tree
gonna dig a little ditch and bury every memory of you
until the air starts getting thin and i’m choking on the lithium blues

go on and tell it to a preacher, tell it to the police
tell anyone you want, honey, just don’t tell it to me
’cause my ears they won’t stop ringing and i got concrete in my shoes
and i don’t dare close my eyes, i won’t see nothing but the lithium blues

i had ice water in my veins and storm clouds raging around my skull
now my hands they won’t stay steady and my senses have been dulled
if you’d only asked me, i’d have told you everything i knew
but i ain’t talking now, i’m just walking with the lithium blues

lyrics and music — KA

A LOVER’S WALTZ

a blackbird’s song comes creeping in
through sugar glass and paper walls
the window’s shut, the bell won’t ring
the shadows danced once, now they fall
there used to be a gypsy band
strings pulled tight across the floor
they played for me a lover’s waltz
but i don’t hear them anymore

i stayed a while on temple street
it never lived up to its name
the rain just seemed to fall in sheets
the women called but never came
my stitches torn, i came undone
the smoke we’d breathe, the drinks we’d pour
they’d linger on a lover’s tongue
but i don’t taste them anymore

now i’m living in a hollow home
on a bed unfit for man or beast
confession’s bones still in my mouth
the flesh of love between my teeth
we bled the everlasting now
tattooed with every word we swore
but promises and lover’s vows,
i don’t make them anymore

 

your list of disappointment hangs
from ceiling all the way to floor
but disappointment is a lover’s word
and i don’t speak it anymore

lyrics and music — KA

CLOTHES OFF MY BACK

 

come take the clothes off my back, let my name fall out of your mouth
we ain’t leaving this room until every dying star burns out
i’ve been to new york city, i’ve seen paris and berlin
i’ve been stuck inside of london with the la blues again
i’ve been following my shadow, chasing every falling star
i’d walk every dark and dusty mile just to get to where you are
i’ve been sick and i’ve been ugly, i’ve been reckless and i’ve been mean
if you stick with me, you’ll see visions like you’ve never seen
come take the clothes off my back, we won’t get no rest tonight
i ain’t no steve earle but i feel alright

lyrics and music — KA

FROM A WHITE HOTEL

houston’s under water, there’s trouble all around,
the colorado river has washed out all the higher ground
and the president’s in the news again, sending his regards out on the wire
way back in my traveling days, i kissed a girl in san antone
she was every faded fantasy i called upon when i was alone
but i’ll leave that here in this old house with everything i own
and set it on fire

i wasn’t even walking yet when i started talking loud
about getting out from underneath the shadows of the clouds
out in some brand new world to feel the burning of the sun and my desire
some days i wasn’t thinking, some days i wasn’t thinking straight
some nights i did enough cocaine to raise my heroes from their graves
i’d set it up in front of me, let it run around my brain
and set it on fire

then they sent me off to prison for telling half a million lies
and living all around the world on bread that wasn’t mine
i dragged every last excuse but i was burned by the truth and i was tired
well i ain’t no kind of outlaw and i never claimed to be
so you can take that cowboy shit and send it out to see
on a great, big wooden ship with all your love’s debris
and set it on fire

i’ve been weary and i’ve been lost
i’ve seen the other side, i just never tried to get across
so take everything i said i was and everything you know i’m not
and set it on fire

the world ain’t too much different from the way it’s always been
i guess the sky’s a little darker and the storm is rolling in
but it’s far enough away still that the wailing of the wind sounds like a choir
so don’t let me leave your side tonight, don’t let me slip away
into all the miles and memories spun together in the haze
take my wild and foolish fear that we’ve run through our better days
and set it on fire

lyrics and music — KA