The Magic in the Wine

It's not the trouble that you're in
It's not the Songs of Solomon<

It's not the spell that you're under
Or the hail and the thunder

It's not the fly on the wall
A thousand eyes that see it all

It's not the omens in the sky
Or the mysteries of time

It's the way that you walk
Coming home after dark
It's the magic in the wine
And the embers in your eyes

It's not the beating of your heart
It's not the fire in the stars

It's not the shadows in the street
It's not the secrets that you keep

Not the gold and silver chains
Not the music in the rain

It's not the jailers and the preachers
Or the rings upon your fingers

It's the way that you walk
Coming home after dark
It's the magic in the wine
And the embers in your eyes


The Magic in the Wine

King Snake Motor Blues<br>

A hot rod drove off the road last night
headlights shining in the cold moonlight
When old Davey Barrett pulled the car from the lake
Under that hood were eleven king snakes<br>

hmm hmm hmm
What's under that hood?
hmm hmm
Boy it ain't nothing good
The carburetor's missing
Instead the snakes are hissing
Someone put a spell
On that old black DeVille<br>

Billy ray never came home from the mill
They say he drove off in that old black DeVille
Someone saw him racing on the levee alone
The engine was a-hissin' like it gonna explode<br>

They found Billy Ray down the river tonight
Up and down his arms were eleven snake bites
Old Davey Barrett said he don't know what to make
Cause he never seen an engine with eleven king snakes

King Snake Motor Blues

Conjure Man

I'm the road when it's shining in the midnight rain
I'm the blood when it's running from the alleyway
I'm the steel in your hand
I'm your trouble when it lands
I'm your conjure man

I'm the stars when they're falling from a crowded sky
I'm the questions that remain when you wonder why
I'm the riddle in the sand
That you'll never understand
I'm your conjure man

I'm the smoke when it rises
In the pale moonlight
I'm the coal when it smolders
In the coldest night
I'm the broken minute hand
Ticking back where it began
I'm your conjure man

Conjure Man

There's static in the air
There's trouble on the road
Las Cruces in the rear-view mirror
Tommy Two-Snake driving close
If I don't cross the border, lord
I'll be dead in El Paso 

Well Tommy was a hustler
from Memphis Tennessee 
One day he looked the other way
And I took all I could steal
Lord he's driving closer now
That weapon pointed at my door
I was on the road to Mexico
Now I'm dead in El Paso

Now I ride a pale horse
My horse is a black 442
You can see me snaking round the bend
Along old highway 62
Forever here I shake my bones
Cause I'm dead in El Paso

Dead In El Paso

My album "King Snake Motor Blues" is on rotation over at Fat Cat radio! Check it out!

http://www.fatcatradio.com/

Station Identification for FatCat Radio

Skeleton Girl

Laying down in the cemetery
My feet were tired and my head was weary
The stars were shining like Tahitian pearls
That's when I met my Skeleton Girl

I watch her dance in the ossuary
Loveliest bones in the cemetery
Wish I could show her all the world
But it just ain't that easy for a Skeleton Girl 

Skeleton Girl
Skeleton Girl
Ain't got no place in the living world
Poor lonely bones
She just want to live
She tries to crawl up underneath my skin

I took her home to meet my family
I thought that they might react badly
My momma's happy that I ain't lonesome
My daddy told me: 
"Go get them bones, son!"

Skeleton Girl

Mr. Shine's Louisiana Rutgut

I saw him climbing out the creek bed
With his eyes looking wicked
I heard him laughing in the woodshed
I heard him laughing in the woodshed

I saw him pouring out the hog's feed
I saw the rising of hot steam
I heard him cuss at his bum leg
I saw the 'shine in the thump keg

He's drinking Louisiana Rutgut 
From the barrel of a shotgun
He puts the powder in the alcohol 
Then he flies like a cannonball

Best bootleg there ever was
One drink'll give you a good buzz
But Mister Shine keeps it secret
We all got our secrets

He's drinking Louisiana Rutgut 
From the barrel of a shotgun
He puts the powder in the alcohol 
Then he flies like a cannonball

Mr. Shine's Louisiana Rutgut

Devil Whiskey Blues

This whiskey was made
down in oil and flames
Soon you will see
it brings the devil out of me

This whiskey was made
in wickedness and shame
One more drink will
Put me in my grave

Now listen my brother
I ain't no wicked man
But I'll sure enough be buried
with a bottle in my hand

Devil Whiskey Blues

Jimmy Brown Resurrection Blues

Cold November day
I buried my friend Jimmy Brown
He done cross a hoodoo woman
hoodoo woman put him in the ground

Hoodoo woman hoodoo woman
Lord she never satisfied
She just keep on hoodooing
Lord until you die

Cold November day
Waves were pounding on the shore
That's when I heard that knocking
That knocking at my door

Oh lord who's that knocking
Oh it's my friend Jimmy Brown
Oh mama go and get my gun
And I'll put him back in the ground

Jimmy Brown's Resurrection  Blues

Whiskey on the Park Bench

People talkin
They wondering why I'm so mellow
People talking to me
Say I'm a cool kind of fellow

They say man how come nothing get to you?
Who's your Messiah brother who is your guru?
I say man ain't got nothin to do with that, all I need is eight dollars and a brown paper bag

I drink whiskey on the park bench
I drink it down till the morning light
I drink whiskey on the park bench
I drink it down till I feel alright

Now people searching
They looking for cosmic meaning
People looking around
They look for some magical feeling

I tell you, what if the answer's lying under your nose?
Cause we are made of flesh and bone
There's too much pain, that is understood
So I say do it if it feels good

I drink whiskey on the park bench
I drink it down till the morning light
I drink whiskey on the park bench
I drink it down till I feel alright

Whiskey On A Park Bench

Snake Oil & Turpentine

Drilling that bit down in the roots
Payday come, wear a new pair of boots
If'n I wager my money instead 
Pay me a visit to Whizbang Red

Drinking snake oil and turpentine
In some oil town on the Texas line
Betcha my lvery last mercury dime
things'll turn around in 1929

Well Little Joe Pickins fell off of that rig
Thirty feet down like a bucket of bricks
Tumblin through into that hole
The boss drilled down on his helpless soul

Hiding in the dirt at Pistol Hill
Three men fixin' to steal and kill
I ain't got no gun, ain't got no knife
I can sure as hell light a stick of dynamite


Snake Oil And Turpentine

Driving down HWY forty eight
Looking for a friend ain't no one seen in days
Well I walked up to his kitchen door
And saw poor Reggie lying on the floor.

Well his shirt was torn
He was breathing slow
I gave a splash of water and some alcohol
Well he sat up
and said in my ear
Run better run,
Best get the holy hell out of here

The clouds did scatter
And them dark shadows grew
That's when Reggie Shines started howlin at the moon

His eyes were yellow
And his teeth were mean
He snarled like sin
And took a swipe at me

He chased me out
Into the woods
He pinned me down
And scratched me good

I said Reggie
don't you know my name
That's when I saw a flash
Of doubt and shame

He said
"Listen Pastor, you can choose your fate.
You can die like a man
Or live like me..."

If you come this way
You pass on through
Cause me and Reggie Shines
Are howlin' at the moon.

Howlin' Reggie Shines

Wake the Dead

I am a brimstone lake of acetylene
200mph class five hurricane
And you're a bad devil-rebel with a deadly romance
You can strike a man dead with a single glance
We gonna meet up in the hills
Where the skeletons dance
Yeah we gonna wake up
Yeah we gonna wake the dead

I am the sound of the shadows movin in the night
I am the breath on your skin babe before the bite
And you're a whip-crackin'
Lip-smackin hungry hound
Never takin' nothin' from any crowd
I can hear the bones shaking
Baby under the ground
Yeah we gonna wake up
Yeah we gonna wake the dead


I got a flat black wing back Cadillac 472
I take the highway downtown looking for you
But you're never where they tell you where they want you to stay
But you never did to listen to them anyway
We gonna shout till the dead are spinning in their graves
Yeah we gonna wake up
Yeah we gonna wake the dead

Wake The Dead

Benzedrine Magazine

Benzedrine magazine
Nothing is just what it seems
Between the cover and the lies
You'll see yourself with an evil eye

You read the words,
You feel them burn
You lose yourself as the pages turn
How does it feel to be told
What is dirt and what is gold

Benzedrine magazine
Nothing is what it seems

I knew this girl
She had it all
Her smile hit like a cannonball
But she swallowed every crooked lie
Now she's hanging from
The edges of page 29

Benzedrine magazine
Nothing is what it seems

Benzedrine Magazine

Nebethetepet Boogie

Rising from the sun
Looking for the ancient one
She rolls back that stone
With her eyes aglow
She put her hands on that
Old bag of bones.

Well the bag of bones it crawled
Down the hieroglyphic hall
Then it shuffled to the left
And it shuffled to the right
It did a little thing they call
The Nebethetepet Boogie

I saw that bag of bones
Roll down to the record store
He put his headphones in
With a boney grin
He was dancing to old Memphis Slim

Lonely so he seemed
He went looking for a mummy queen
He knocked of the dust
Of a sarcophagus
She tumbled out when she heard the beat.
The Nebethetepet Boogie

Nebethetepet Boogie

Stay tuned for my 2017 EP: Snake Oil and Turpentine!! In the meantime, 2014's King Snake Motor Blues is still for sale! Check out my Bandcamp page below or follow my Facebook page for more updates!

https://joshpastor.bandcamp.com/album/king-snake-motor-blues

Josh Pastor

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