1. |
Cinder and Soot
03:30
|
|||
Looking for a bar that don’t want to be found
Somewhere in the dark on the edge of this town
Somewhere in the dark on the edge of this town
Where I can play my part somewhere in the background
Looking for a northern star over a southern town
I’ll start a revolution and forget my cause
Manifest a union of my gut and my heart
Manifest a union of my gut and my heart
Find a million uses and then pull it apart
Take the same avenue I’ve taken all along
There’s country side killers on the highway roads
They’re running like cowards from the crowded coast
They’re running like cowards from the crowded coast
Waiting on the hour when it all goes cold
Country side killers coming down on the highway road
Start another brushfire
Let it burn real good
I wouldn’t try to put the thing out even if I could
Let the flames grow tired
Get a real good look
I’m killing all my borrowed time in the cinder and soot
I’m gonna head to the desert for a couple of days
Waiting on the weather and the wind in my face
Waiting on the weather and the wind in my face
Get my shit together and steady my pace
Heading on out to the desert for a couple of days
I don't own this state of mind it’s just been rented awhile
Workers on the road for the next ten miles
Workers on the road for the next ten miles
The sun’s coming up over the worthy and the wild
I’m safe among the static haze of the radio dial
|
||||
2. |
Dance Away My Decadence
03:14
|
|||
Dance away my decadence
Dance away my decadence
The swans will start to sing their songs to mark the end
So dance away my decadence
Kingdoms crumble empires fail
Four winds blow and trumpets wail
My famished heart has found a feast in all this hell
Kingdoms crumble empires fail
You bring the mirror I'll make the smoke
The coast is clear no one will know
Strike up that scripture I stacked up on the stove
You bring the mirror I'll make the smoke
The storms won't stop the skies won't clear
But somehow you're still standing there
In a sun lit dress and stars stuck in your hair
The storms will stop and skies will clear
Dance away my decadence
Dance away my decadence
The swans will start to sing their songs to mark the end
So dance away my decadence
|
||||
3. |
Long Before I Rust
03:34
|
|||
Way out past where everyone turns back
I went and built my home by hand
Set every stone way off the beaten path
Drove every nail and settled in
So save you bread crumbs and throw away your map
It don't matter where you are or where you've been
I'll take what I can get and I'll put it all on black
Burn whatever's left and start again
500 mile down another five to go
These badlands ain't that bad at all
Waiting on a Greyhound to open up the road
I may be down but I ain't out
I'll take this heartache to my grave
And I won't pray for providence
There's blood out on the tracks and I'm wide awake
But I won't make those same mistakes again
I'll get the next round as long as I'm alone
Go and fill my glass with something I can trust
I'm working on my way out where ever I may roam
I'll fall apart long before I rust
500 miles from where I first lost my mind
In the backseat of a burned out Chevrolet
Just bury me alive in those city lights
And say what it is you came to say
I'll take this heartache to my grave
And I won't pray for providence
Come tonight if I die before I wake
The means won't justify the ends
And I won't make those same mistakes again
|
||||
4. |
Raise the Rent
03:36
|
|||
I left my home in el Dorado
To look for work in Avalon
The trail went cold west of Ohio
A borrowed myth a siren's song
On the south side of sorrow
Another place I've never been
This town's been rusted shut and hollowed
Buy out the work and raise the rent
Buy out the work and raise the rent
Here's to our health and our demise
It's hard to sing the blues when you're seeing red
It's even worse to never try
Railroad tracks across the midwest
Spider web throughout the plains
We all come from the wrong side of them
Dust and blood burn in our veins
So bury your last silver dollar
And grab the hatchet while you wait
We're turning wine back into water
Because this ain't no time to celebrate
This ain't no time to celebrate
Here's to our health and our demise
It's hard to sing the blues when you're seeing straight
It's even worse to never try
|
||||
5. |
Palomino Gold
03:30
|
|||
I've got that west Texas sweat burning in my eyes
Running down my neck messing with my drive
I wouldn't be caught dead dying by your side
I've got leaving in my head trouble on my mind
Tried to play it straight take it stale and slow
I was early out the gate in a cloud of smoke
I swear I'll make my way to a place I can lay low
To a town of fifty-eight on the edge of Mexico
The road along the mesa won't get you anywhere
That's just where I'm going to do my time
I'm running out of road I'm going in this blind
I've got a pistol in my hand and trouble on my mind
Palomino gold a diamond highway weeps
This place it seems so old with no sign of history
I turn my lights down low my sights are set on sleep
I shouldn't be this cold wrapped in a fever dream
The road along the mesa won't get you anywhere
That's just where I'm going to make it right
I'm running out of road I'm going in this blind
I've got a pistol in my hand and trouble on my mind
I've got that west Texas sweat burning in my eyes
A feeling of regret running down my spine
I hope I don't forget that girl I left behind
I've got leaving in my head and running on my mind
|
||||
6. |
The Real Bill McCoy
05:07
|
|||
The name is McCoy I'm a brick mason's boy
I'm a honest boat builder by trade
I hail from Holly Hill and my friends call me Bill
But I've buried that name in my wake
Work as hard as we can me and my brother Ben
But lately the work has been slow
Hard times they come and hard time they go
But these hard times won't leave us alone
Leave us alone, leave us alone
The railways came in and the highways began
We sold the boat yard up in Jacksonville
So to Gloucester we went gave them every last cent
And left with Henry L. Marshall
The Marshall was fast and we couldn't be kept
We ran rum from Nassau to Maine
Whiskey and rye, champagne and wine
New York won't be dry not today
I'm an honest boat builder is what I use to say
My veins remain clean not a trace of the drink
But what a man needs who's to say
Still the best I assure the uncut the pure
The only thing watered down is the bay
We couldn't be bought stayed ahead of the law
We stay safe three miles off the shore
Supply and demand greenbacks in both hands
These hard times ain't so hard no more
I'm an honest lawbreaker but I carry my weight
The name is McCoy I'm a brick mason's boy
I'm a honest boat builder by trade
It was a calm quiet night not a cloud in the sky
But hurricane Perkin's awaits
The orders came in when one ship turned to ten
And the storm rolled right in off the port
The thunder was swift it ain't hard to admit
There really ain't much worth dying for
I'm an honest bootlegger so give me my pay
There's holes the Marshall and booze in the bay
It's all over brother so anchor's away
I walked on the water and got wrecked in the waves
|
||||
7. |
Five O'clock Shadow
03:34
|
|||
The dirt beneath my nails tells you I'm working
My empty wallet says that I still drink
The rust along my strings tells you I'm playing
But I wish I could tell just where the hell you've been
I scratch the paint from my voice every evening
The ringing in my ears won't go away
Rome is burning down fiddles are singing
While I whistle dixie in the rain
My shadow says it's five but I ain't shaving
My television's on and lies to me
The bags beneath my eyes the ain't done packing
So there ain't no telling when they're gonna leave
Carved into the kitchen table
Is your chicken scratch name
I'll leave the light on leave the lilies in the vase
If you come home I won't be awake
I can say that I am always treating
Myself or my things all that nice
These dirty knees have never been from praying
But I swear to god I'll always treat you right
|
||||
8. |
Kill the Lights
04:02
|
|||
This caged canary no longer sings
This coal mine's empty you can't hear a thing
The lights from the city they hide the stars
And all the pretty girls are on their way home from the bars
Just one more promise to make and break
Just one more asshole filling up ashtrays
Imported lager aborted faith
And all the desperate boys are just waiting to get saved
This holy water is all dried out
Just like our mouths and bank accounts
The city moans but we don't make a sound
Nothing left to do but kill the lights
On this eighty proof August night
Take only what you can't leave behind
I'm a walking dead man busting at the seems
Striking up the house band lighting up these streets
Another goddamn romance another goddamn dream
Another broken heart stands in the way of everything
|
||||
9. |
Poems Like Gunslingers
02:59
|
|||
You go and drag my name through the mud from states away
But when a child make a mess it don't much bother me
Red eyed and wild like a double wide serenade
You walk a mile in your own shoes call it strife and cry for praise
Well the grudge that you carry must be murder on your back
But over your friends and your wits its the only thing that seems to last
You bring a hunger to a table disguised as a diplomat
You may be willing but you ain’t able killing time in the final act
You say you don't like my songs
Hell I barely like my songs
But I hope they all sing along
Because this one's for you
You brought plenty of noise to that quiet town
Now they all want you to quiet down
Because it's hard to make a sound when there's nobody listening
So I'll have to sing just to get through
You say you don't like my songs
Hell I barely like my songs
But I hope they all sing along
Because this one's for you
The only thing you'd ever talk about
Is becoming the king of this town
But your crown rusted out so bad that she left you
And I know it's true because she left for me
|
Greg Loftus Massachusetts
Calloused road-worn Americana from southeast Massachusetts. Greg Loftus spent the better half of the last decade living in Austin TX where he spent his time honing his songwriting skills and fronting the Alt-Country outfit Carpetbagger. Greg is currently working on his forth full-length solo record 'No Kings in the Wild' which is due out during the Spring of 2024. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Greg Loftus, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp