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Lyrics for “Shoulda Been Gold” CD

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  1. Sexy Vacation
  2. Shoulda Been Gold
  3. Humboldt
  4. Byrd from West Virginia
  5. Raised By Hippies
  6. Bossier City
  7. Highway Down
  8. Texarkanada
  9. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet
  10. The Salesman
  11. Midnight in Orlando
  12. Soul Power
  13. Hope Against Hope
  14. Wonder Valley Fight Song
  15. Grapevine
  16. I See Hawks In L.A.
  17. The Mystery of Life

Sexy Vacation

I’d wash my hands of you but I like the way you smell
I’d turn my back on you but I’d never live to tell
I’d burn your pictures but you know you’re just to pretty
I’d burn your letters but I could never burn up
little Hello Kitty

I’d forget your number but it’s written on my brain
I’d forget the feel of your skin but it’s driving me insane
I’d look for other fish but you know the sea’s polluted
I’d try to be happy but you know I’m rather well suited

for the life of strife and trials and tribulations
I wish I could pretend it nothing but a
sexy vacation
Nothing but a sexy vacation
sexy vacation

I’d move away but I know some day you’ll be famous
I wish I was a 19th century shepherd named Patrick, James, or Seamus
Yeah, I’d write you off but you’re good for too much material
I wish I could eat my words but I can barely keep down my cereal

I’d just start over but you know we’re not getting any younger
what’s the matter has the mean old cat got your tongue girl
I destroy my radio when it plays your favorite song
but the melody lingers on and on

about the life of strife and trials and tribulations
I wish I could pretend it nothing but a
sexy vacation
Nothing but a sexy vacation
sexy vacation

I remember the laughter and the fun
but I knew I was under the gun
You always had me in your sights
even when we turned out the lights
and the road to hell is surely paved with heavenly delights

this life is rife with strife and trials and tribulations
I wish I could pretend it was
nothing but a sexy vacation after all
nothing but a sexy vacation after all
nothing but a sexy vacation after all
nothing but a sexy vacation after all

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Shoulda Been Gold

SHOULDA BEEN GOLD

Awake in the willows
awake in the scattered sun
I followed you through the shadows
And we wandered under trembling leaves
in the morning
in the morning

You wondered would I be yours forever
And I promised to as I carried you through the willows
I carried you
through the willows

shoulda been gold
coulda been silver
shoulda been gold
shoulda been delivered
surely I was told
surely we were different
shoulda been gold

Alone in the city
far away from that golden day
in the summer

I wonder will you ever walk with me again
I faltered I surrendered
on the palace floor
through the cheating door
on the silvery shore

CHORUS Ohhhhs

and you waited
curtains faded
at the window
and then you made your getaway
and I wonder where you’ll stay

CHORUS

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Humboldt

Half a mile from the county line
Half a mile and I’m feelin fine

In Humboldt, Humboldt

Spark it up and let it out
Breathe it in, what it’s all about
40 pounds in the back of my van
It’s all a part of the master plan
In Humboldt, Humboldt

When I cross that line I’ll be feelin fine in Humboldt

Chopper’s up in the sunny sky
Law enforcement is on my mind
I’d be glad to plant corn in the ground
But corn don’t go for $3000 a pound
In Humboldt, Humbold

Sweet mama walking through my field
Her feet are sticky with a bountiful yield

Don’t need no technology
Just the moon sun stars and sea
In Humboldt, Humboldt

When I cross that line I’ll be feeling fine in Humboldt
Cool my mind, I won’t do time in Humboldt

If I beat the DEA
Just ten stoney hours to my friend in L.A.

Next stop is a jumbo jet
Fly me to the fields of Tibet

Bye bye Bush, I’m outta here
Tibet is my new frontier
I quit my job at the 7-11
Now I’m headed off to a stoney heaven
Humboldt, bye bye Humboldt

When I cross that line I’ll be feeling fine in Humboldt

Let the bonfire burn and the children learn in Humboldt
When the weed is high, I hope I die in Humboldt
Hope I die in Humboldt

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Byrd From West Virginia

senator byrd.jpg
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Senator Byrd
Ooh

Born in Carolina to a family of miners
The flu of 1918 took his mother away
Couldn’t go to college it was the depths of the Depression
The valedictorian pumped gasoline instead

Ooohh

He found himself a sweetheart in Erma Ora James
The Coal miners daughter with the odd middle name
he labored in the shipyards during World War II
Welding Liberties and Victories for me and for you

Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Senator Byrd
Ooh

He burned the cross of Jesus in the West Virginia night
The darkness of America blinded his sight
Baptized in the blood of our national sin
The Ghosts of the Conquest rise again and again

ooohh

As a young man in Congress he studied law at night
For ten long years, he burned a different light
Presented with his J.D. by John Fitzgerald Kennedy
just before the young president was escorted into history

Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Senator Byrd
Ooh

Fifty years in Washington just passed before his eyes
The building of the empire, its burdens and delights
Did the suffering of the world or the folly of the day
Change a stubborn old heart to see a better way?

oohh

And when a reckless new President came calling for war
Old Bird from West Virginia
Sang out the score:

“The doctrine of pre-emption is radical and deadly”

Who will sing the song when the bird flies away
Vanished o’er the hillside at the end of the day

Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Senator Byrd
Ooh

A lone voice a cryin
A lone voice a cryin
A lone voice a cryin
Senator Byrd
Ooh
Senator Byrd
byrd.jpg

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Raised by Hippies

RAISED BY HIPPIES

She was born in a school bus on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Her parents had driven from the San Francisco Bay
It was late December of 1968
The skies was filling with the darkness of hate

Bobby and Martin were long gone

The Flower Children had sung their very last song
Nixon was heading to that big White House
and bombs would soon be dropping on the children of Laos

But a beautiful little girl was born on Christmas day
away from the madness that had driven them astray
she carried a sparkle right there in her eye
it shined through the night and it filled up the sky

She was raised by hippies
in the hills of Tennessee

raised by hippies
so wild and so free
raised by hippies
they did some things wrong
but they raised their children right
and they did it for a song

Her family moved to Chicago in 1982
Reagan was president no one knew what to do
Izods and argyles made her feel strange

she missed the hippie children and their earthy nature names

All the boys fell in love with her on the first day of spring
She went to class with no shoes on her feet
But her teachers tried to break her of her hillside hippie ways
they made her sit inside on the sunniest of days

CHORUS

When the Bobs fell on Baghdad
Her daddy wept and raged
Wrote Kill Whitey on a rest stop on the Natchez Trace

Oh Daddy don’t forget Bobby and Martin up above
remember the songs you sang in the Summer of Love
Summer of Love

She’s all grown up now with kids of her own
she teaches them the songs of her hillside hippie home

and that old school bus is battered but her engine’s good and strong
tomorrow’s sun will find us furthur along

the song book is dusty but they/we remember the tune
her uncle’s in the back reading the Chronicles of Dune

CHORUS

Run old Molly run . . .

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Bossier City

By: B.J. Bourgoin

My hands are shaking and I’m sadly learning
The truth behind your innocent disguise
You never thought I knew that you had been untrue
But I once saw the devil somewhere in your eyes

And now you got the nerve to ask me where I’m going
And I don’t believe I’d tell you if I knew
I’ll be gone when the sun comes up tomorrow
I believe it’s time to say good-bye to you
And it sure smells like snow in Bossier City
But there ain’t no weather quite as cold as you
I’d sooner stand in Mother Nature’s anger
Than to spend another lonely night with you

I’m talking but I’m feeling you’re not listening
My words they just fall heavy on the floor
Yes, it’s true that you knew I would not stay forever
And you won’t see me crying when I walk out your door

And it sure smells like snow in Bossier City
But there ain’t no weather as cold as you
I’d sooner stand in Mother Nature’s anger

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Highway Down

HIGHWAY DOWN.jpg

Highway how much I need you
Highway wind across the land
Take me away from all my troubles
Give me my two feet on the ground

Big Sandy Mountain’s there to welcome me

Sweet desolation highway 93
Lay my bag out on the Carson Sink
I can’t be 1000 miles from anything

Oh won’t you take my down easy
Bring me all the way down
Oh won’t you take my down easy
Bring me all the way down

Oh won’t you take my down easy
Bring me all the way down
I could get addicted to the Highway Down

I get all up in my head too much
Stressed out about things that were said and such
I should be lying in my bed till dusk
A bed of flowers overlooking the San Joaquin

CHORUS

I’m gonna heal my afflictions on the highway down

Lord knows I love this Valley
Though it’s as wounded as an alley
I see the weddings and the rodeos and the worn out fields
From a bed of flowers overlooking the San Joaquin

CHORUS
I could be addicted to the Highway Down
Talking to my devil on the Highway Down

Getting on the level on my Highway Down
Dig my grave with a shovel
on the Highway Down

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Texarkanada

TEXARKANADA
Texarkanada!
Texarkanada!
Texarkanada!
That’s my home

That’s my home
That’s my home

Caleximexico
Mexicalexico
Caleximexico
Mexicalexico
That’s my home

Well I can’t stay here
I won’t go back there
I feel like a monkey
sitting in a chair
My mind ain’t right
I ain’t where it’s at

I don’t know where to hang my hat

Texarkanada!
Texarkanada!

East west north and south
Your feet are in your shoes
and your teeth are in your mouth
But brother where are you
Still trying to find out

Busting out of Tustin
Look Out!

Calinevazona, Calinevazona, Calinevazona, Calinevazona
Going all the way to California
In a Ford station wagon
Going all the way to California
In a Ford

Minnesota, North Carolina
looking for the family in a truck stop diner

Strange turf, Evil Earth
Don’t forget what the graveyard’s worth

Hey, Hey Jimmy Carter
Never left Plains, Georgia
Walks the land, dirt in his hand
Ashes to Ashes
Do you understand?

Texarkanada!

Texarkanada!
Texarkanada!
Texarkanada!

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Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet

We walked along the river
heard the whistle of the Dixie Belle
well we never made it to heaven
and there are secrets we can never tell

but you know that I still love you
and I’ll always stay
As we watch the muddy water
carry our troubles away

Laissez les bon temps roulet
O ma cher, o ma cher
Laissez les bon temps roulet
O ma cher, o ma cher
Tout les temps, tout facon,
Tout mon coeur, oui, allons
a la bon temps roulet
(ma ‘tit monde, ma ‘tit monde)

Like a captured meander
you locked my heart away
I was a wild roving river
whiskey and sweet tokay

now we wander more slowly
the ghosts of the parish at our side
I know one day we’ll join them
but tonight
let’s take a ride

CHORUS

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Salesman

Oh the salesman is a bright shiny spirit
or maybe you’ve just had a bad day
or maybe your baby’s gone and left you

and that’s why you’re driving away

In a 1971 Chevy Nova with a 501 and a 12-to-1 etc, etc

Oh the salesman is a bright shiny spirit
his face filled with vigor and vim
just close the deal with a handshake
he’ll transfer that love
that gift from a above

to the object that winds up on your table

CHORUS:
And what are you in for now?
Oh, what are you in for now ?
And what are you in for now?
Oh, what are you in for now ?

Well the salesman takes a break and drinks his coffee
looks up into the night sky
and just like that other fallen angel

he asks his father why

bridge waltz:
did you lead me through the dark
to the land of sunny parks
to the days before your expectations
broke me heart, broke my heart, broke my heart

Oh, the TV is a red ruby Satan
broadcast to your soul from below
and the salesman has a bright shiny vision

that tattooed bar code
from which all riches flow
from Wall Street to Frankfurt to Tokyo

CHORUS

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Midnight in Orlando

It’s midnight in Orlando

Disneyland is done
they closed up Snoopy
and they sent him on the run

The planes in the sky above
shooting across the darkened blue
Someone in Space Mountain
has got the heart sick flu

It’s midnight

It’s mid, midnight in Orlando

I flew all this way
to listen to a man
who told us he could fill us up
with his six-week master plan

I’m listing all my losses
in this air-conditioned room
Locked up with a to a guru

in a Radisson Cocoon

It’s midnight
It’s mid, midnight in Orlando

Well I’m so sorry that I traveled so far away
Did you notice that I didn’t even call today

So I’m climbing into my car

and I’m heading for the gate
I’ve had enough of this Disney land
I’ve had enough to think

I’m heading for the swamp land
where at least I know what’s dead
where the animals don’t greet you

they just eat you instead

and I’m coming to free you
and I’m coming to get your child
I’m going to take you for a ride away, away, away

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Soul Power

Lyrics to come.

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Hope Against Hope

I know we’ll never see
The trees that used to be
Blanketing Ohio
The panther and the Iroquois

and geese that used to fly
And blacken autumn skies
South across Ohio
South towards Mexico

not long ago

CHORUS:
Gives me Hope Against Hope
Hope Against Hope
Hope Against Hope
Hope Against Hope

I know that you and I
Will never spark prairie fires
or walk to Oregon

But we still soldier on and on

To take a hopeless stand
on wild Dakota land
After you and me
The Snake and Colorado will run free

CHORUS:

Montana blue
Illinois gold and green
tears from your eyes

I don’t want to fight
but I can’t sleep

Hope Against Hope

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Wonder Valley Fight Song

I like rock
And rock gardens
I like to watch materials harden

The desk clerk at the Motel 6

Just past the Marine Base
He said this here is a nice little region, but
Stay away from Wonder Valley

Wonder Valley
Wonder Valley
It’s the land where a man can take a stand
Wonder Valley

You don’t need a de-louser

Better bring a douser to
Wonder Valley
Groove the land
Take a stand in Wonder Valley

Watch the sunset change the shadows
Watch the food thieves swinging from the gallows
Wonder Valley

Well the desk clerk at the Motel 6
Said he was looking for a 1966 Ford Fairlane

I said come on down to L.A.
He said oh, no
They just want to trick you
Then they’ll roll you

Well I stayed up all night watching the sun come up
All I want to do is drink a beer and have a cup
Of coffee
One after the other

You can talk about my guns
Don’t talk about my mother

Wonder Valley
Wonder Valley
It’s the land where a man can take a stand
Wonder Valley

The desk clerk said stay away from Wonder Valley
They sell the methamphetamine behind the alley

They could go insane
They could kill little Sally

I walked through the town
Like Johnny Cash
Didn’t have no trouble
Burning through my stash
in Wonder Valley, Wonder Valley

The marines fly their planes

And the lizards go insane
In Wonder Valley

When the missiles start to fly
Grab the kids, don’t wonder why . . .
Better head for Wonder Valley

Watch this

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Grapevine

Hang a new clothesline

wait for the sunshine
to climb up the lawn to day

watch the winter sky
turn into the summer sky
watch the flowers try to stay

once again I’m on my way

Up the Grapevine
Up the Grapevine

Call on the telephone
whisper your name alone
you don’t ever answer or explain

you don’t need to water me
it will not bother me
when you become a shadow again

once again I’m on my way

Up the Grapevine
Up the Grapevine
Ease my own mind
Up the Grapevine
I don’t mind
Cause I’m feeling fine
But I lose my mind
everytime I stay

Now the hills are turning green
there’s rain in the air supreme
the trails in the sky don’t mean a thing

so I drive in my car at night
and I turn off my headlights
and I see if the radio can lead the way

Up the Grapevine
Up the Grapevine

Ease my own mind
Up the Grapevine
Up the Grapevine
Take my own time
past the altitude sign
Up the Grapevine
I don’t mind
Cause I’m feeling fine

But I lose my mind
everytime I stay

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I See Hawks in L.A.

I see hawks in L.A.

I see hawks in L.A.
If you see hawks
Then maybe we should talk
I see hawks in L.A.

I hear trains in the night
I hear trains in the night
Lonesome sound
Lonesome as this town
I hear trains in the night

One more day on the 605
What if this place got buried alive?
The biggest quake the world’s ever seen
Let the snakes take over again

Do you watch clouds disappear?
Do you watch clouds disappear?
If clouds disappear
I’ll lend you an ear

Do you watch clouds disappear?

Just as I’m about to leave this town
Clouds roll in and the rain comes down
Just enough to make me laugh
Big tree makes the sidewalk crack

I see hawks in L.A.
I see hawks in L.A.
I see hawks in L.A.

I see hawks in L.A.

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The Mystery of Life

The mystery of life is never ending
Should a man take a wife
Or face the sunrise alone
In the stillness of the night
A voice will come a callin’
No matter what your means
The answer has no price

You may blame forgotten history
You may be ashamed of the treachery of men

But in the end it is each man’s destiny
To face the mystery of life alone
Of life alone

A promise never kept and a love affair betrayed
All the tears that you have wept for the righteous and the brave
And the moments that have crept from the spotlight of your memory
Sit like stones beneath a stream illuminating like a dream

CHORUS

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