1. |
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I've flown into a thousand small town airports
I've leaned against a million tan sedans
I set up shop to distill local flavor
All alone, smokin' a bone, standin' by the side of the road countin' paper
Straight on red through center-city Houston
Slow ride like a king without a crown
My mind is kicked-up backroads dust and static
Other minds are veiled behind the thunder coming down
If you wanna see me I'll be downtown
Spreadin' that spreadin' that New York money around
See me offer rides to local Kathy
I ask her, “Show me how the light glints on the river
Show me simple joy unalloyed, free
Maybe I'll come 'round to tastes sub-lunary”
Well there's a whole host of things I can't buy
The river deep and eagles flying
But others I'm gonna try
Brown leather, gasoline, cigarettes and black coffee
If you wanna see me I'll be downtown
Spreadin' that spreadin' that New York money around
Kathy says, “Where I'm from we don't pray for justice
We pray for mercy in my family
Something out of nothing is not something that we get
And what we get we give away down by the Mississippi”
If you wanna see me I'll be downtown
Spreadin' that spreadin' that New York money around
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2. |
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Up on the ridge with Killer and Kate
Kate she guards the sheep and Killer wakes up late
Unalike as a cat and dog can be
Killer the barn cat and brave Kate the Pyrenees
Late one night Kate screamed toward the tree line round 3 or 4 o'clock
She moved like a cheetah, growled like a bear, protecting the flock
Then she stopped, befuddled, no coyotes to be seen
It was just me and Marge, oh, having a go, all high on Dexedrine
Unalike as a cat and dog can be
Killer the barn cat and brave Kate the Pyrenees
Killer looks after the chickens, if it's all the same
His door tag on the old coop reads "Disinterest, Middle Name"
We fixed him up with a heated pad, thermostatically controlled
And he spends his lazy mornings gloating at us out in the cold
Unalike as a cat and dog can be
Killer the barn cat and brave Kate the Pyrenees
We are convinced that come the Rapture, these two friends will be
Called up to Heaven on an ox-drawn cart piled high with Timothy
Kate barking hallelujah, with Killer on her back
Thinking, “Sink this heavenly hullabaloo, I'm a cat, how ‘bout a snack?”
Up on the ridge with Killer and Kate
Kate protects the sheep and Killer wakes up late
Unalike as a cat and dog can be
Brave Kate the Pyrenees and Killer the epitome of a barn cat!
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3. |
MN Rt. 43
06:12
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The sound of this guitar brought to you by Brandt's, Winona
Make sure you tell whoever we've been here a hundred years, well, there you go
Over by the river, a railroad bridge just ends in a bunch of trees
I hope no old Wisconsin ghosts need to cross in any kind of hurry
Coyotes cry just for a minute
I dreamt that you were next to me in a hollow off the shoulder of Route 43
The flutter in my heart brought to you by driving fast through Rushford
I almost blew a stop sign in my haste to get halfway to Mabel
Permanence is old hat in New York but here it has the whiff of magic
A dirt road in this vastness makes it feel like something’s gonna happen
Coyotes cry just for a minute
I dreamt that you were next to me in a hollow off the shoulder of Route 43
Dust, dust, dust
Dust, dust, dust
This peacefulness I feel brought to you by a thousand stars a-shinin'
Clean sheets and a meal, and my thoughts, they get around to dyin’
The ghosts in these stark hills are real, and they’re multiplyin’
If you ain’t got a line to them, boy, you ain’t tryin’
And the coyotes cry just for a minute
I dreamt that you were next to me in a hollow off the shoulder of Route 43
Dust, dust, dust
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4. |
Joie de You
03:18
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Gazing down upon you, babe, from my bluff redoubt
The sunshine seems to take my point of view
I came up here to be alone with a bottle and a pack of smokes
And I wound up with a different view of you
I feel like laughing at myself for staring down at you
But no one here would find it funny
Your smile lights up and shames the sun and I know I'm the lucky one
If only I could feel a bit less sorry for myself
Cause I'd prefer to have an existential crisis
I'd prefer to be conflicted and unsure
I'm suspicious of this thing called joie de vivre
But despite myself I've caught the joie de you
Remember last November when the truck gave up and Chester died
And I said I had to go to town to think
Well of course you do, you see right through me every time I pack it up
And try to fix my problems with a drink
Lately I got 'round to thinkin' your faith in me through all the drinkin'
Is worth a bit of changin' on my part
I see the love behind your eyes, my love for you it never dies
And I'm building a new house inside my heart
It's got a strong foundation but no basement
It's got a sturdy roof but no sneaky hiding places
It's built so you and me to be on the level
There's room enough for our love as it grows
Well I'd prefer to have an existential crisis
I'd prefer to be conflicted and unsure
I'm still working of this thing called joie de vivre
But I'm mighty sure I've caught the joie de you
I'm fighting for the joie de me and you
Before God and man this love is true
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5. |
Old Stone Church
03:24
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My town to me is more than me
It’s God’s own country, the smell of the pine trees
Summer green
Windows and crosses, self-control
Holding my tongue, and then letting go
Once in awhile
They shouldn’t have changed this world
But you can’t look back if you’re standing still
So let’s go to the stone church and remember the past
You all know that old stone church the one that’s built to last
So let’s go to the stone church and celebrate the birth
Of our town every morning born anew
Free-fall from the Interstate into a different world
With a smile and a sigh I go down
I’m taking pains to stay the same but this land is changing me
From downtown Houston all the way to New York City
The trees are a constant, they change every day
The town is the people, some move away
Some come to stay
The river hugs the land, sometimes too tight
When I hear the flood, I think, we’ll be alright
Cause we’re together
They shouldn’t have changed this world
But this world is ours to change
So let’s go to the stone church and remember the past
You all know that old stone church the one that’s built to last
So let’s go to the stone church and celebrate the birth
Of our town every morning born anew
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6. |
Root River Gal
02:43
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Kathy sees the storm post up the valley
And she whistles to the left and to the right
And she swings down the ladder to the jon boat
And chokes the motor till it starts, alright
The warnings cover all of Houston County
And the river valley up to Lanesboro
The porch at Crystal Creek it warps and windles
And the trees sway ominously to and fro
Without the flood we grow old
Wither and die inevitable
Tied up south of Rushford someone asks to borrow gas
Tell her that she's pretty, scope her ass
“I’d watch it sir,” she says “I'm valley-born, I ain't your pal
And I swing like a Root River Gal”
Kathy speeds downriver with the levee on her right
Headed for the floodgates and a well-earned Hokah night
With Kathy on the river and my baby next to me
Got a feeling that we're gonna be alright
Without the flood we grow old
Wither and die inevitable
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7. |
John
06:21
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When we quit pigs
We had a lot more time
We had a lot more space
We had a few more dimes
To rub together underneath the open sky
I farm the valley
Others farm the ridge
This shelterin' valley
Helped to raise my kids
Now my daughter's moving back across the road
Sunlight shines
Down on the contour lines
And we work and play through
Bookmatched days and finished puzzle nights
We used to milk
We used to milk for pay
But we never milked the big farms
We didn't do it every day
Now our milking days have surely passed us by
Out in the pig shed
I have got 12 saws
Each with a purpose
Single and precise
This one roughs and this one cuts to size
Crops aligned
Along the contour lines
And we work and play through
Bookmatched days and finished puzzle nights
When we quit pigs
I tried to sell some things
But selling work
Ain't like raising living beings
So I'm just my bovine brother’s keeper now
And in my spare time
After I birth the cows
I mill my lumber
And I set the pieces down
This one matched with this by natural plan
I'm not an artist
I don't have that in me
I read the grain
It tells me what it wants to be
And this whole forest is a staircase for my dear sweet daughter's brand-new home across the road
Figure and grain
Family and name
And we work and play through
Bookmatched days and finished puzzle nights
Oh, John, we're not so different you and I
It's just you're here
Then I come by
this weird songwriter guy
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8. |
Flyover Country
03:23
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I knew I crossed a line when I crossed the line into Houston County
I recognized a special Tri-state feeling I can’t hope to understand
But I’ll keep trying
Whether I’m in Hokah or Mt. Kisco, Texarkana, Tonopah
There’s a calculus of borders and the meaning we give lines upon the land
Yesterday I drove past a quarry I had seen from the air
Boy, these East Coast-types must seem so lame, saying “it’s different being there”
Oh to be free in flyover country
To take a step outside myself and find I’m firmly on the ground
The people where I’m from, everyone wants to not be where they are
I know things ain’t so different here but humor me, I’ve traveled very far
Oh to be free in flyover country
To take a step outside myself and find I’m firmly on the ground
Saw a sign for Myrah, spun a vision of some occult prairie scene
The things you take for granted in Spring Grove are all still secrets to me
Oh to be free in God’s own country
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Harry Kimball Peekskill, New York
Harry Kimball is a songwriter, singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist whose compositions carry a wistful melancholy tinged with dark humor. Kimball borrows John Prine’s sepia realism and Warren Zevon’s playful world-weariness, adding the lyrical density of Stephen Malkmus and the literary sensibilities of Bill Callahan. Follow Harry on Facebook + Instagram @ harrykimballsongs ... more
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