All the songs in this playlist are my originals, for better or worse. If you like anything and want the chords/lyrics, shoot me a message and I can send them along.

All My Original Songs

Christmas Songs

How We Talk To Ghosts demo

Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes- Paul Simon

Record Year- Eric Church

Like A Wrecking Ball- Eric Church

Can't Help Me Now- Rob Thomas

Springsteen- Eric Church

Monroe Lights

She Must Have Come From Brooklyn

May Day

Polaroid

They Say


Verse 1
C/B->C
They say
You left home and you never looked back
With your
Sheepskin and your gunnysack
They was
Waving at you, you was waving back
Am->C
But who was leaving 
Was it them or you?
G->F->C
They say eyes straight ahead but
everybody’s looking in the rear view

Verse 2
They say you
Traded the small town for the city lights
Beverly Hills and private flights
So bright you couldn’t sleep at night
But so dark 
it was all you wanted to do
They say eyes straight ahead but
Everybody’s looking in the rearview 

Chorus:
Am
Coming home
C
Can make you sick
Am
Roll the windows down
F->C
Boy this is it
Am
Carolina pines
C
Condominium mists
G
Ghost towns 
Am
Where you used to live
G
Ghost towns
C
Where you used to live

Verse 3
Now you
Roll around in your brother’s car
Take the
Back way to the little bar
Where they
Still think they know who you are
But you don’t 
And heaven help em if they do
They say eyes straight ahead
But everybody’s just looking in the rear view

Chorus

Verse 4
Road soda 
And a joint in hand
Hallelujah 
and God’s plan
Headstones
And the progress of man
Some make it back
Some never do
Old boy it’s eyes straight ahead
Don’t look back in the rearview 

Chorus

Verse 5
Now you’re 
Back on the road out of town
Wheels up 
and the pedal down
So fast 
You can’t turn back around
So slow
It’s all you can do
To keep your eyes straight ahead
Not look back at the ghost looking at you

They Say

Slip Slidin’ Away- Paul Simon

And now for something completely different…I rarely write slow songs, but I’ve been wanting to play around with slower tempos and lingering silences, as well as longer held notes. But I had no idea while recording this that it was going to be eight minutes long, it certainly didn’t feel that long while I was playing it. Perhaps there is some fat here that can be trimmed? Still, I am pleased with the tempo and the silences, if you are too, let me know

All The Time

Hey Bob Dylan

I.
G 
Hey Bob Dylan,
C.               G
do I ever cross your mind?
G
Have I ever been on yours 
C                 D 
like you been on mine?
C.                           Em
been thinking bout woody at greystone
G.                                                C
How you must have eased his mind
G.               Em
Hey Bob Dylan, 
D.                           G
laughing as the trains go by

II.
G
Hey Bob Dylan, 
C.                    G
man you tangled me up good
G
Having Visions of Johanna, 
C.                       D 
working in the old northwoods,
C.                                      Em
Thought I might find you down in Mobile
G.                                      C
With a parrot that talks but I never could
G.                       Em
Hey Bob Dylan 
D                                   G
don’t think twice, man, it’s all good 

III.
G
Hey Bob Dylan, 
C.                          G
wiggle wiggle- what the hell?
G.                                           
Slow train coming, hard rain 
C.                           D
falling, yeah I can tell
C.                                Em        
Do you desire a salvation, 
G.                          C
come back home An infidel?
G.                     Em
Hey Bob Dylan, I don’t know you, 
D.                         G
but you know me well

IV.
G
Hey Bob Dylan, 
C.                        G
you got a lot of nerve
G
Maybe Ramblin jack and van ronk 
C.                                 D
never got what they deserved
C.                           Em
Your Judas kiss, your pillbox hat, 
G.                                     C
all the bridges that you burned
G.                       Em
Hey Bob Dylan, 
D.                     G
rolling stone, turn and turn

V.
G
Hey Bob Dylan
C.                          G
I got stuck in a series of dreams 
G
In Tangier, and old Algiers, 
C.                                      D
I know you know what I mean
C.                          Em
Brownsville girl hanging on my arm, 
G.                      C
not dark yet But I can see
G.                       Em
Hey Bob Dylan, in the mirror, 
D.                         G
is that you or is it me?

VI.
G
Hey Bob Dylan
C.                       G
I think I seen a shooting star
G
Mr. jones and Gregory peck
C.                             D
Riding highway 61 in a stolen car
C.                         Em
Thought of you and Lanois 
G.                                     C
Heard rolling thunder in a parish bar
G.                        Em
Hey Bob Dylan it don’t matter 
D.                          G
where I go there you are

VII.
G
Hey Bob Dylan 
C.                                  G
Can I talk to you real quick?
G
Turned around, saw jokers and clowns,
C.                             D
My own reflection made me sick
C.                                              Em
Now was it John the Baptist or Abraham 
G.                         C
who pulled that trick?
G.                        Em
Hey Bob Dylan, hey Houdini,
D.                         G
Subterranean and homesick VIII.
G
Hey Bob Dylan in the basement 
C.                            G
Motorcycle in the yard 
G
Train keeps running on bloodied tracks
C.                                        D
Well it all came down so hard
C.                         Em
Meet me in the morning 
G.                         C
up at greystone In a stolen car
G.                         Em
Hey Bob Dylan, woody’s waiting
D.                     G
Up ahead but not too far

IX.
G
Hey Bob Dylan I been wondering 
C.                             G
Bout your Spanish leather boots
G
Bout the two guns that you carry
C.                              D
One that sings and one that shoots
C.                          Em
Bout a machine that kills fascists
G.                          C
And Pat Garrett too
G.                         Em
Hey Bob Dylan I been wondering 
D.                          G
Bout Billy 4 and Spanish boots

Verses X-XVII would not fit here, write me and I will send them to you

Hey, Bob Dylan

v.I
Been sleeping in the snow
Been sleepin in the hail
Laying in my bed of roses
This bed of nails
Just some small time rhinestone cowboy
Boots for sale
Heart like a hotel 
And hands on the wheel

c.
So come on baby, ‘cause we’re almost New Nashville
Just cross the border, out of this town, out of this hell
I’ll pick you up from your mansion on a hill
Come on baby ‘cause we’re almost New Nashville

v.II
You in the moonlight
Don’t need no one’s permission
Turn this town on its head turning out your superstition
Whole county’s got a fever but they ain’t got no ambition
Just this one-way ticket to perdition

c.

v.III
Born from the ashes of the night’s last cigarette
I do my best James Dean but you take what you can get
Ain’t seen our names in neon, don’t want no Lear jet
Don’t mean we won’t ever see it, just means we ain’t seen it yet

c.


All lyrics and music by Kevin Smith, (c) 2013

Almost New Nashville

Must Be Christmas

A Bar Called Hell

Prisoners of Paris

Lover - Taylor Swift

Starting Over- Chris Stapleton

Little Red Corvette - Prince

If I Had A Boat - Lyle Lovett

Raspberry Beret - Prince

Cherry Bomb - John Cougar Mellencamp

Wagon Wheel - Bob Dylan

Purple Rain - Prince

Elvis Loved Christmas

You Get Used To It

Terror

Vincent Black Lightning 1952 - Richard Thompson

Battling the Old Gods

Kent Babb wrote a great piece in the Washington Post about fathers and sons, and it inspired this song. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/05/22/dale-earnhardt-jr-dad-nascar-death/

Bud Heavy/Don’t Lift (for Junior, Babb, and me) - May 23, 2025 - KS.m4a

Runaway Train - Soul Asylum

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

A Little Vampire

On The Road To Bethlehem

Emperor of Maladies

v.I
Can you sing with me Willie Nelson?
Will you strum with me John Prine?
I ain’t got no crowds comin’
Just keepin’ busy, killin’ time
Will you dance with me Ginger Rogers?
Can you lead me through the air?
Ain’t got no rhythm in my two left feet
Sure as Hell ain’t no Fred Astaire

c.
But when the room goes dark
Somebody light a spark
And put your lighters in the air
Even if it’s just you and me
It’s still plain to see
There’s legends here
Got out lighters in the air

v.II
Sing me a story Lyle Lovett
Got that TVZ on my mind
Jeff Tweedy stayed there with me when
Uncle Tupelo lost his mind
I heard that Grievous Angel
Had dried out in a Whiskeytown
And I played that Cripple Creek Ferry 
The night they drove Old Dixie Down

c.

v.III

Will you sing with me Bob Dylan?
Will you strum with me John Prine?
Someone tell Little Feat I’m willin’
Got my weeds, my whites, my wine

All lyrics and music by Kevin Smith, (c) 2013

Lighters in the Air

This track is from the album About a Girl and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kevinsmith

Song for Tara

Who titles a song "Buckets"?  Well, I do.  It's one of those turns of phrases I love..."Is it coming down there? Oh yeah, it's raining buckets."  Some of my favorite songs seem to begin like this, by taking a favorite phrase or word (I'm thinking of John Prine's "Big Old Goofy World" which is full of such turns of phrase, or Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate"), so I thought I'd try my hand at it. Plus, I like the way it starts out sounding spiteful (I hope it's raining where you are...buckets) but then turns that a bit because the person it's directed towards actually loves the rain, so it isn't spiteful. 

D A-A7 C G
I hope it’s raining where you are
Buckets
Cause you always loved the rain
I remember driving so far
So far to bring you
Buckets of rain

I hope it’s raining where you are
Buckets
Cause I sure could use some rain
I wish you’d drive so far
So far and bring me
Buckets and buckets of rain

There’s a desert where you stood
And that can’t be no good
This much I know
My feet have turned to sand
And my promised land
Now lays fallow 

Did you leave for London Town
Where it’s always coming down 
Like you always said you would?
Or are you Seattle bound
On Rainier in the clouds?
Is the rain soaking you good?

Buckets

Garnet and black til I’m out on my back, baby!
With exactly zero apologies to Clemson fans…

G D Am D
GDAmCD
C:
True palmetto, no regrets
No promises I should have kept
Just ones that maybe I ain't
 made Good on yet
I got my feet out the window, my head in the clouds
Looking down the road, my radio up loud
True palmetto rooted in this solid ground
V:
I got the garnet and black across my back
Got the whole word spelled on my Gamecocks hat
(cause only Yankees advertise that they ain't got game, like that)
And the only purple I wear is on the side
Of a crown royal bag, I caint hide
The fact that I ain't got no Tiger pride
Instrumental
V:
They say I might kill myself  setting out with a beer
And sitting in the summer sun
But honey they can keep talking I ain't worried
Cause I know only the good die young
Just get me down 17, Past the garden city pier
I know a little drinking village where we can always get a beer
They might have a fishin problem but theyre always glad to see me when I'm here
C
V:
Call up my brother, load the dogs in the truck
We Calling in sick, cause we don't give a fuck
If it don't get done today, it'll still get done
Cause like bear said when mama calls, you come running
And the Lowcountry's calling like it's always known I'd be coming
Home again,  mama here I come
C:
V:
Lets Roll that number, smoke it to the head
There's a crescent moon shining, We got the beach for our bed
but we ain't sleeping, there'll be time for that when we're dead
no tonight we're running  til we get to Brookgreen
Past them moss covered arms of them low hanging dreams
And when we get to Atalaya, I'm getting down on bended knee

C:

All music and lyrics by Kevin Smith, (c) 2013

True Palmetto

Verse 1:
She's always singin'
A sad song
She tells me nothin'
When I ask her what's wrong?
But she's no liar
And it don't take long
Before she's singin'
Another sad song
Baby's got a radio
And she keeps it on
Specially in the evening
And just before dawn
When the light's uncertain
And the shadows grown long
She's always singin'
A sad song

Chorus:
And I know it don't make no sense
Sometimes
That's just the way it is
Sign of the times?
But I promise you this
No lies
And all I can give
My life

Verse 2:
With the snow falling down
she says there's no good songs
About winter
Unless you like Christmas songs
And I don't
She said I think that's the
Saddest thing ever
I should write a song about
That but I won't
Drive to work in the morning
With the headlights on
Home in the rearview
It's just going going gone
How come songs about hometowns
Are always the saddest ones?
She always asks around midnight
And how come we sing along?


Verse 3:
She's always singing
A sad song
Every time I come around
She says baby it ain't you it's
Just the sound of thunder
Is such an awful lone some sound
And I feel like singin'
A sad song
with you right by my side
Cause a sad song
Ain't always a bad thing
And that's the way i feel tonight

All lyrics and music by Kevin Smith, (c)2013

She's Always Singing (A Sad Song)

CT/SC...Posting New Originals and Covers Every Week 

Originals,Covers,General Acoustic Goodness 
Folk Music/Music for Folks

All my original songs, as well as all covers, are grouped in Playlists. Some of the playlists were created as albums (A Field Guide To Pagan Saints demos) of rough home recordings, and some are grouped according to genre/artist.

If you like any of the originals and want to cover them, have at it! Just make sure you give proper attribution AND let me know- I'd love to hear them!

Sometimes the missus joins me with her fiddle, and the dogs and the kids and the general jubilee provide ambiance, but for the most part these tracks are just me. 

All tracks posted here are recorded (rather poorly) on my iPhone using the Voice Memo app, with the exception of the About A Girl album tracks (grouped in a set), which were recorded in the studio and released by Crafty Records. So, they're all demo quality and, while they may not be the prettiest, they sure are real!

A Boy & His Washburn

Pinned to spotlight

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