I don’t know which way to go
And I don’t know why I don’t know 
For a man with a whole lot of blessings
I sure do make a lot of messes
So if you wanna know which way to go
Come join me under the tree 
I’ll be waiting for an apple to fall

I bought the house with the gray front door
It's all beige and gray except the floor
I guess the color was inconsequential 
In the face of the almighty eventual
If death is dragging your style down
Come join me under the tree
I’ll be waiting for an apple to fall

Someday the sun will rise
And I won’t be here to rub my eyes
I’ll be blinking at the father and the son
I’ll be blushing for the things I done 
Until they tell me that it’s time to go
Come join me under the tree 
I’ll be shaking it free
I ain’t waiting for an apple to fall

Come join me under the tree 
I’ll be shaking it free
I ain’t waiting for an apple to fall

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Apples

Sun on the door and the sound of water
And I don’t know where I am
An old purple quilt in a room simply built
But I don’t know where I am
It seems to be morning
In some sort of cabin
I don’t know where I am
Then I hear the voices of both of my children
But I don’t know where I am

Oh mom
You’re walking through the door
Nobody knows what’s on the other side
I don’t think we’re ready and I can’t say goodbye
But you are half on the other side
Half on the other side 

A place on the river
Where we always gather
Every august for years
Come with our children and now with their children
While the gray slipped into my beard
But my wife is changing
Time rearranging
Itself so she doesn’t know when
It takes her a moment to gather the present
We never know when it’ll slip away again

Oh dad
She’s walking through the door
Nobody knows what’s on the other side
I don’t think we’re ready and we can’t say goodbye
But she’s half on the other side

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

The Other Side

How am I gonna know if you don't call me up?
How am I gonna change if you don't bring it up?
I know you're mad, but you don't let it out
Just another subject we don't talk about

I know your daddy wasn't the best of men
So, how could I think that you would let me in?
You built an altar to your precious pain
And every time there's someone else to blame

Stack up all your promises
And all your grievances
Yeah, it adds up to nothing
Yeah, your loving

In a good book, you don't just skip to the end
And in a real love, you wouldn't just unfriend me
Heaven knows I'm not a perfect man
A coward will run, but my heart don't understand

Stack up all your promises
And all your grievances
Yeah, it adds up to nothing
Yeah, your loving

And I thought that I could know you
And I thought that you would stand by me
And I thought I could love you
But I was wrong

How am I gonna know if you don't call me up?
How am I gonna change if you don't bring it up?
I know you're mad, but you don't let it out
Just another subject we don't talk about

Stack up all your promises
And all your grievances
Yeah, it adds up to nothing
Yeah, your loving

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

It Adds Up

A woman in mind and a dream set away
A man sits behind a desk in the day
And all through the night
Doubt
All through the night

He asked for this while he was dreaming of that
Sealed it with a kiss and he put on his hat
And all through the night
Doubt
All through the night

Baby don't you leave me
Even if I ask you to go
Be a rock in a rushing stream
A channel in the wild flow

He up and he quit her to follow his heart
Found it was bitter and he fell apart
And all through the night
Doubt
All through the night

As the days fly by and the strange winds blow
A plan is a kite and hope is a crow
And all through the night
Doubt
All through the night

Baby don't you leave me
Even if I ask you to go
Be a rock in a rushing stream
A channel in the wild flow
Baby don't you leave me
Even if I ask you to go
Be a rock in a rushing stream
A channel in the wild flow

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Doubt

The party's over and the people are gone
A big ol' stack of dishes now to do
And he told you things no one should ever have to hear
Cleaning up this mess is up to you

You got those kids and they're gonna need you
To make a shelter from the shards of a broken home
The water runs and the time stands still
Gone is the life that you've known

Oh gal, hang on to yourself
Oh gal, hang on
Now's the time
I know you'll find
Some way to be on your own

There is a hole and there is a hunger
In the heart of a man who can't be true
I don't know why he has no faith in anything
Please don't let him take yours, too

Oh gal, hang on to yourself
Oh gal, hang on
Now's the time
I know you'll find
Some way to be on your own
Oh gal, hang on to yourself
Oh gal, hang on
Now's the time
I know you'll find
Some way to be on your own
Some way to be on your own

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

On Your Own

See them spinning bells
Pinned to a circle of wood
It’s a silver spray of melody 
A melody in the blood
And I rise up
It’s the memory of a quickened pulse 
It’s a waking dream of love
You go under it
And you go home

See them younger men
Playing that tambourine
And every note is a battleground
Keeping up with the drum
To fire it up
It’s the memory of a quickened pulse 
It’s a waking dream of love
You go under it
And you go home

See them nickel strings
Pinned to thinnest of wood
It’s a silver spray of melody
It’s the fire inside my blood
And I light up 
It’s the memory of a quickened pulse 
It’s a waking dream of love
You go under it
And you go home

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Spinning Bells

He waits for her like a kid waiting on a train
Leaning into the fear
Certain of magic when she draws near
He waits for a like a kid waiting on a train

See her picking up speed from the awful weight of the past
Thundering behind her
If she never stops, it’ll never define her
See her picking up speed from the weight of the past

Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know 
Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run
When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion
There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love

One night he gets home late and he forgets to text
Slamming the bathroom door
Crying her eyes out and crying some more
One night he gets home late and he forgets text 

She just echoing back to being left alone
Her mama decided to split 
Her dad would go out and get so lit 
She just echoing back to being left alone

Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know 
Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run
When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion
There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love

Coffee's getting cold while they're talking on the balcony
Holding hands, trying to make sense of the night
Bleary eyes nursing a new kind of hangover
Suddenly down when you thought you were on the upside

Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know 
Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run
When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion
There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Waiting On A Train

Today and tomorrow
Sometimes feel the same
I don’t how I got myself in this situation
I've been on the sidelines
With no one else to blame
But now it's time I got myself back in the conversation

How do I tell you
What I had to learn?
I don’t know how I lived so long in quiet desperation
I told myself I was nothing
Had nowhere to turn
Losing all the beautiful things in pointless isolation

Now I've got a strength I will never spend
Trying to hold something down for too long
Good times are coming my way again
Now that the wrong time's gone
Thank god for the wrong time gone

Pick it up, baby
There’s no time like the now
though everything you find today defies your expectation
I'm gonna build that tower
Though nobody taught me how
Love, just love, love is the foundation

And I've got a strength I will never spend
Trying to hold something down for too long
Good times are coming my way again
Now that the wrong time's gone
Thank god for the wrong time gone

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Wrong Time Gone

Baby, put on that party dress
and get your makeup right
I think you forgot that you're a pretty thing
so I'm taking you out tonight
I ain't no cowboy,
but I'm putting on my boots
Let's go get lost in something good
just like we used to do
So we'll

Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it
Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it

Nothing you can do
to make it all turn out right
Flying away is just for the birds
so you gotta stand and fight
Put on your best boots
you're gonna walk that mile alone
every man is a vagabond
whether or not he knows it
So, you

Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it
Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it

All that we can ever ask
in life is something to do
something to while the days away
with a happy attitude
we're staring into oblivion
whether or not we like it
our only taste of infinity
is the timelessness of trying
To

Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it
Find your gold
Find your gold
Find your golden maze
And get lost in it

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

Find Your Gold

Movies on a Saturday night 
Sunday morning got the shades pulled tight 
Make a little love above Havermeyer street
Then go get coffee and something to eat
With my baby

Monday I don't wanna go to work
By Wednesday, everything starts to hurt
Shoulders so tight, but we keep staring at a screen
Until the Friday happy hour scene
Tastes like freedom

I don't know what to do
You got me all kinds of blue
I miss walking around
And talking about the true things
With you

Oh Meg, (please) don't leave
You got me down on my knees
I don't wanna cry, but I can't see
The forest for the trees
And I'm lonely

I don't know what to do
You got me all kinds of blue
I miss walking around
And talking about the true things
With you

Oh babe, it'll be alright
I know it'll all work out
(x2)

I don't know what to do
You got me all kinds of blue
I miss walking around
And talking about the true things
With you

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

True Things

We will walk under a cloudless sky
In the garden, the garden on high
Alien sun 
Shining in our eyes

It takes everyone together
It takes everyone all together
This ridiculous world
Sister, try to sleep
Though the earth may quake
We’re sailing into the deep

We will walk under a cloudless sky
In the garden, the garden on high
Alien sun 
Shining in our eyes

There'll be no pain and no hunger
And the nightingales will all sing 
A song of the mud-earth 
Drifting like dust
No feather of doubt
No needle to rust

We will walk under a cloudless sky
In the garden, the garden on high
Alien sun 
Shining in our eyes
Alien sun 
Shining in our eyes

Words & Music by Matt Lenny. All rights reserved.

In The Garden

Evelyn

This song began life as a cover of Howlin' Wolf's immortal Smokestack Lightnin'. As I worked on trying to figure out how to sing his song convincingly, new lyrics, a new guitar part, and a new melody (with some borrowings) came to me. So, I scrapped the original cover idea and ended up recording this tune, entitled Blacktop Highway. 

If you want to hear (a lot) more about the making of this song, check out this podcast episode from the one and only Anywhere The Needle Drops: https://www.redchuckproductions.com/post/atnd240013

Lyrics:
Oh blacktop highway
Smokestacks in the wind
Don’t you smell those fires burning?
Oh

Sometimes I wish was
Somewhere on the road
Burning spark plug lightnin’
Oh

Oh what’s the matter baby?
Don’t you love what you have?
Something in you is crying
Oh

Credits:
Music and Lyrics by Matt Lenny (with inspiration from Howlin' Wolf).

Matt Lenny - Vocals, Guitars
David Jamison - Drums
Erik Vaveris - Bass
Michael James Shane - Keyboards

Recorded by the band, mixed by Matt Lenny.
Cover photo by Dogtown Studio.

Blacktop Highway

Inspired by a chance encounter with country legend Steve Earle, who showed him that a single chord can sometimes have more power than anything else, Michigan-based guitarist and songwriter Matt Lenny writes songs that fall somewhere on the rock and roll side of Americana. For fans of Jason Isbell, Neil Young, or Tom Petty.

Matt Lenny & The Breakdown

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