Get all 14 Jeff Black releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of 20th Century Recordings 1990-1991, A Walk In The Sun, Folklore, B-Sides And Confessions, Vol. 2, Plow Through The Mystic, Christmas Sunshine, Mining, Sleepy Town, and 6 more.
1. |
All Right Now
01:59
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All Right Now
I took a trip up to killer city
a little town where I was born
I saw what a life there might have give me
I turned around and high tailed home
it's all right now
I dropped down to see the doctor
he gave me some strange strange news
he said I think you're going to live forever boy
but you're going to die a little bit before you do
help me solve a little mystery
got it right here on the edge of my tongue
help me solve a little mystery
baby while we're young
ain't no future in the worries
cows out walking in the corn
every night I go to heaven
every morning I am reborn
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2. |
Molly Rose
04:53
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Molly Rose
the first time I seen her she was waltzing through town
her steps and her stride put shame to the crown
her rhythms were soft and perfect and low
and her long flowing hair was as black as a crow
she worked at the punch house down on carpenters square
you know they never make nothing but trouble down there
I would have given my life to see her dance through my door
I was just a boy but she was much more
oh there she goes
her hand had been taken by the hard times about
I've a grave understanding of doing without
he was pale and mean and a scab of a man
the dirge of my life and a plague on the land
he whittled her down and badgered her prize
he played on her faults and he blackened her eyes
then for once in my life I took purpose and creed
I couldn't stand by and watch the bastard succeed
oh there she goes
the troubles were dark on all that we'll agree
but they had nothing to do with molly and me
although I was shaking I stood very still
he should have never mistaken my fear for goodwill
he laughed in my face when I told him to pray
I gave him the chance then he threw it away
I knew when he fell I could never return
I hope the blade that I buried in his belly still burns
I work hard for my time in Phort Laois for my sin
oh to see her shy smile hell I'd kill him again
oh there she goes
now when I close my eyes I see her walking through town
her steps and her stride put shame to the crown
her rhythms are soft and perfect and low
and her long flowing hair is as black as a crow
oh there she goes
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3. |
Avalon
03:54
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Avalon
I will not count these days passing by
I for one ain't ever going to die
with my wily cane there is no concern
it is known around here I've a lot to learn
don't look back don't trace the sound
whatever you do don't look down to pray
don't discard me
you'll never write me out
I am on my way to Avalon
I will own this time with no regret
are we not more than twisted silhouettes
I will not make the same mistakes
that those who came before me made
piss and moan or wait and see
if some empty dream will carry me away
hey don't you love me
you better kiss me now
shadows passing over stone
is proof enough I'm pressing on
I may not take the bounty so I'm placing
little on what all I thought
and everything on what I want to see
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4. |
Impala
02:17
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Impala
night fell over the cornfield
and threw a ring around the moon
dark as hell he couldn't see the road
so he turned the wheel too soon
higher than a kite
he'd been drinking whiskey
out behind the school
good looking boy and
haywire crazy
a perfect April fool
we were all of fifteen
freshmen so green
he was about twenty one
he always said
we were punks and losers
and he always packed a gun
he said when he was just a baby
wrapped in a letter and an old brown coat
his mama left him with the church of christ
and that was all she wrote
he told us he drove a stock car
down in texas under a secret name
he might as well have been the lord of glory
because we all thought he was the king
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5. |
Alice Carry
04:55
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Alice Carry
my name is Alice Carry and I was born in Oklahoma
I lived in McAlester when I was just a little girl
when I came to California I was seventeen and pretty
I wanted to be in the movies and shake out of this little world
Santa Monica Boulevard rolls down to the ocean
I’d go down from Hollywood to ride the ferris wheel
that’s where I met my Henry it was like I’d known that man forever
he’d say hey hey Oklahoma and he’d let me ride for free
there’s no dividing line between water and sky
here’s a picture of my Henry and I
down on the pier off of Lincoln Avenue
I loved Henry and he loved me too
I worked at the Cameo In the district down on Broadway
selling ice cream and candy and tickets to the matinee
on Saturdays and some Thursdays oh Hank would come to see me
he’d say hey hey Oklahoma and I’d let him in for free
see we were married in the winter you know those summers in San Francisco
I was with child and happy then to take the long way home
and somewhere between the mountains and the bay we raised a family
I never looked back on my life until I woke up here alone
some folks remember hard times and have regrets about decisions
what could have been or should have been and dreams that don’t come true
but I believe your days are set in stone way before you’re born dear
some of us are lucky and some of us just make do
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6. |
Days On End
03:57
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Days On End
I carry this with me
crossing all lines
not moving at all inside
the night never comes
no nothing aligns
I'm crawling under the wire
this time
for days on end
this world is lost
to the reels and the sounds
and the pictures that I won't replace
and all that I planned
fell away with the paper and rain
turning over and into the visions
of what might have been
for days on end
you're holding the door
with the back of your hand
on the edge of the step there you're standing
you're taking the day
like a far away song
I keep playing it over and over
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7. |
Miss Me
03:48
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Miss Me
I felt like everything was changing
it was just the way we were moving
and since I don't really care what people think of me no more
I jumped into the ruby cauldron
I felt the fires burning wild
now I'm waiting for the fool to take the cure
I was wondering about those numbers on those fallen crosses
and then it came upon me
right there while you were sleeping sound
oh baby did you miss me
I never meant to leave you lonely
and were you wondering why we came this way
I don't know of any reasons
I just know who I'm pleasing now
I'm doing the best I can to make it home
here's a little riddle for you
what do you break when you name it out loud
it's cold as hell and stranger than it seems
down on the beat it was barren
I seen the light and I'm glad it came to me
it was on my way back home
from an Indiana town
I was feeling dizzy
the dream came to me like a pounding
I wondered where in the hell I'd been
and what does this mean to me now
oh baby did you miss me
I never meant to leave you lonely
I'm so sorry for all the pain I've caused
I don't know of any reasons
I just know the gasoline on it
just made it worse
when water was all
I needed truth be known
thank you for waiting so long
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8. |
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An Evil lesson Is Soon Learned
I heard about the accident
did someone cast a spell
do you think the damage permanent
oh I suppose it's just as well
I heard you're staying with your mama
hey I cannot cast a stone
but when you're well and good and up around again
you better lock your goddamned door
everybody here is guilty
everybody takes a turn
the information's privy old boy
an evil lesson is soon learned
as I listen to your story
I'm surprised that you're not dead
and how the two big fat girls found you
bleeding hard from the head
and how it knocked every one of your teeth out
well there goes the appetite
for careening through the country
on the cocaine late at night
is it true that when they found you
you had barely half a chance
you said don't wake up the sheriff baby
just call the ambulance
now with an angel on your shoulder
and whiskey on your breath
in the ranks of parlour soldiers
who say they've had their brush with death
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9. |
Good Old Days
03:57
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Good Old Days
we pushed our way
through a crowded room
and the innocence was good
the smell of winter in our clothes
just babes out off the wood
fending off all those jesus lazers
in a white trash restaurant
silver dollars and golden rules
won't you give me what you want
say it
a nickel for every time
it come right down to you and me
someplace we know too well
that we hadn't ought to be
never a straight line
never a straight face
I'm going to say it one more time
these are the good old days
world on fire now
we won't let it spoil the play
let them see our benevolence child
for near stupidity
carry this good old karma around
like some idiot savant
I like to feel good too you know
so give me what you want
right down the middle now
so they say this life ain't fair
I got the charms to prove it
and the girl with the long brown hair
going to stay a wanted man
with a hat full of cherry plums
lord I'm taking it with me
taking it as it comes
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10. |
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True Love Never Let Me Down
I have been sorely disappointed
by temptation and every wild goose chase
it's all good for the gander
if you don't mind landing on your face
there is joy and restitution from my darker days
from when the devil tried to burn me to the ground
True love never
True love never let me down
I've put a lot of faith in people
who couldn't make a dime on my late show
they said we're sorry son you think too much
we don't know what you mean and the tempo's slow
thumpers on a mission yes and lovers on the mend
and quite a few folks living in this town
a little wiser for the living
but no worse here for the wear
so I'll be heading for the border now
with nothing to declare
except for rays of light rushing through my window
that push me out the door
the feeling that I get when I'm delivered
by all we're working for
little hands reaching for the likes of me
showing me another way around
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11. |
Remain
03:33
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Remain
hey I know a boy
who was born to this world
with a wondering eye and dreaming
a very old soul from way back before
Jesus and the turning of the wheel
I can't believe December's gone
hey mama look how much he's grown
the night becomes the day
snow turns into rain
winter turns to spring
so we must all
remain
there is a road into town
of dust and dirt brown
that I travel in my dreamtime
to a house full of people
that I know or so it seems
and these are memories that I cannot explain
the boy's been blessed with his mother's eyes
now I'm convinced that nothing dies
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12. |
Sunday Falling
04:08
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Sunday Falling
I can see her drifting down some river
the mill lays quiet for a change
the little ones are deep down
into the fields of play
from the big room I sit scheming
to let the clouds of august roll
over the hills into the distance
boy they're moving slow
it feels like sunday falling right into line
it's going to be good
there's no framework now no reason
no defining times I see
no delays in creation
there's no want
there's no need
if we can hold on a little bit longer
and let this whole world slip away
we can make this last forever
we can make this last forever
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Jeff Black
Jeff Black -
“His words and voice hold down center stage with a craft so deeply in the
artistic pocket that it obscures anything outside.” - No Depression
"The tradition of an artist delivering songs that are damn near perfectly crafted and filled with the wisdom of the ages."
Jedd Beaudoin | PopMatters
... more
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