Pride And Joy

A cover of Lungs by Townes Van Zandt, recorded on my iPhone.

Lungs

Yes, I did use delay and chorus effects on this acoustic cover. Yes, this is the second cover of this that I've done. Worth it.

RIP, Prince—one of the greatest who ever was.

Purple Rain

Sit and swallow medicine down
Pull from bottles and empty them out
Kill myself slowly till I get my fill
Only emptiness gives me a thrill

Feel like smoking myself out again
Can't tell the ember from ashes my friend
If you could see me you'd know I'm burnt out
Charred and fettered by what weighs me down

What weighs me down, what lifts me up
Makes me a joke and a joker the same
Gives me a reason to rise and fall out
I thank the unknowing for what weighs me down

Women I've known have been better than most
But there’s a devil for every host
I've fought the devils and angels alike
Can't help but call them my fellow mankind 

Heaven’s hell for the sinners I guess
Hell’s a haven for cold-blooded guests
I'm caught between them where I can be found
Pushing up under what’s weighing me down

What weighs me down, what lifts me up
Makes me a joke and a joker the same
Gives me a reason to rise and fall out
I thank the unknowing for what weighs me down

Give it time honey, give it space
Spend all your money saving face
Write a letter say the word and
You’ll be better after the hurting

Call it evil call it good
You can call it misunderstood
Just don’t call me when my time is out
Won’t hear you under what weighs me down

What Weighs Me Down

I've been working on the border
Between the truth and lies
Been digging all this time

You said idiots and assholes
They can’t see the signs 
I guess that makes you blind

Cuz all I can see in the lines being drawn
Are blueprints of our own demise
Even as I sit and write out this song
I know that you’d say I'm too kind 

If I could out-box the shadows
Keep the ignorance at bay
Bet you life I would give it my all
Just to fight another day

To be sure your self-assured
That’s the best that I can say
While you paint the world in black and white
I’ll keep hoping for the day
You find another shade

Give me one more ounce of silence
One more hour of gray
And I might fade away

Take me anywhere that you know
We can find a place
That’s ours for a change

Cuz all i can see in the walls rising up
Are bars under paper-mâché
Too thin for home, too heavy to break
Still I hate complain 

If I could outlast the shadows
Keep the loneliness at bay
Bet your life I would give it my all
Just to fight another day

To be sure I’m insecure
That’s the best that I can say
While I’m hung up in this veil of blues
I keep looking for the day
I find another shade

Find Another Shade

This is one of my favorites songs by Dave Van Ronk. Enjoy.

Hang Me, Oh Hang Me

Man, is this a rough take or what? Yes. Yes it is.

Lyrics:

Monday morning hammers me
harder every week
Spend the best part of an hour
Fighting out of sleep

I can't stand to hear you say
It only gets worse
Wore my voice out singing along
To the same old verse

Drink my coffee black as oil
Down for its cold
Take a heavy breath to feel
How 25 is old

Maybe too far for a start
And too fast for an end
Maybe somewhere in the midst
Of letting myself mend

I don't have a story
Don't even have a line
On finding guts or glory
In the upside of a dive
But I got six strings below
Ten fingers getting sore
All I know is how I've been
Ain't doing it anymore
All I know is how I've been
Ain't doing it no more

The watcher waits in anguish
As the reaper sows
While the pretty people are all
Lining up in droves

For the talents they are due
To the master's hand
Poured out for their kingdoms
That they built upon the sand

And I'm one among the crowd
Whom a storm will gain
Just a man who stopped too long
Watching for the rain

Looking everywhere for ground
Feeling more unsure
That ever there was anything
Around but endless shore 

I don't have a story
Don't even have a line
On finding guts or glory
In the upside of a dive
But I got six strings below
Ten fingers getting sore
all I know is how I've been
Means nothing anymore
All I know is how I've been
Means nothing anymore

How I've Been

Here's a little custom blues I wrote for ya. And yes, I have a lone star in hand... beer, that is. Give some grace here, my voice is a bit shot tonight.

I do believe my woman 
left me for another man
I do believe my woman 
left me for another man
Took my money and 
broken heart in hand 

When I saw her Monday 
said she loved me so
When I saw her Monday 
said she loved me so
By that time Sunday 
said she had to go

Well begging pleading
Babe don't do me wrong
I's begging, pleading
Please don't do me wrong
I's good to you honey
Solid as a stone

Six long years I 
Gave my love away
Six long years been
Given love away
All that time she
Threw me out today

Well I'm gone away now
To lone star state
Well I'm gone away now
To the lone star state
Those lone star ladies
Always treat me great

You know Lone Star ladies 
Never do you wrong 
Those Lone Star ladies 
Never do you wrong 
Love you Texas-sized
Twice as fast and twice as long

Cajun Cooking

Every Time I Close My Eyes

Well the shadows on my mind
They keep me up into the night
Tell me what I fear is right
Every time I close my eyes

So the devil came to prey
On the rising sun today
And he takes me by his side
Every time I close my eyes

Can the hungry find a meal
And the writer words to steal?
They can find them where they lie
Every time they close their eyes

I'm a wise man and a fool 
Play a king and jester too
And the part fits me just right
Every time I close my eyes

Old Columbus turned his sail
And the brave new world did wail
As she braced anew to fight
Every time she closed her eyes

Carry me on down the line
Lay me down just where you like
I have rage enough to fight
Till at last I close my eyes

When the despot and the priest
Makes the working man his lease
Turn your eye towards the light
Every time you close your eyes 
I'll turn my eye towards the light
Every time I close my eyes

natespell