richard hiorns
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Album - Pieces of Earth
AINT THAT PRETTY
I was only ten years old
when I drove my first pick-up
Drove it down every dirt road
all around these back woods
Then a voice came on the radio
said 'baby better roll'
It's just like world war 3
and that's my Hollywood
Oh oh aint that pretty
don't it make you feel so proud
see the fireworks over the city
see the buildings burning down
Lessons never bothered me
I never felt the need to read
You're so dumb and I'm so free
with my 47 inch t.v
see the newsmen running through the field
see the ticker run across the screen
telling me I'd better watch my back
coz' some of them punks they just don't understand
(Chorus)
I was only twelve years old
when I wrecked my first Ford truck
some people they just get in the way
Can't they tell that I can't wait
Can't they tell that I been trained
Can't they tell I'm in demand
Can't they tell that I can't wait
Can't they tell that I'm the man
Can't they tell that I'm insane
(Chorus)
BLUE BANDANA
She wore a blue bandana she lived in a trailer
all of her friends they thought they could save her
I thought she looked ok but then she started talking
I turned away and I started walking
Said she and a friend that lived together
both found strange marks like blackbird feathers
I tried not to laugh coz' I was brought up right
It's funny tho' sometimes things work out right
I was mistaken
I was forsaken
I nearly lost my haven of pure disdain,
I nearly forgot where i came from
and it aint some Hawaiian drag
She nearly had me fooled
Nearly had me groomed
Nearly had me crying nearly had me in my tomb
In a world of glass and painted wax
nothing was made to last
They call her the witch
Call her the bitch
They call her at 3:am dreaming of what they missed
They call her the girl in the blue bandana
she'll come and go, leave you so helpless and so alone
FREAKS
Hanging on the corner
87 and Bird
I hear a voice calling my name and I can't understand a word
The city sucks on babies
It aint a city at all
Don't listen to the one-eyed beggar from the old mission hall
They're lining the bridge
They're lining the bridge
They're out on their own
They're out on their own
They're out on their own oh no
Sonny's down at the station
coz' its Saturday night
Steps out in front of a greyhound bus and his attorney's there in five
It's easy at the poolside
There's no'one left to beat
You just don't wanna even have to think about that shit when you're picking out ermine chic
(Chorus)
Well there's swamp all around and there underneath you
where someday you'll sink and no'one will know
that you wanna rule the world so bad it hurts
You get a heel to those (freaks)
You can't be that low (freaks)
Go where the freaks don't go
Where the freaks don't go
LOST
Tonight I'll dream I'm in London town
All will be fine on the underground and all around the buildings will still stand
When the boy takes on the man
The whole world laughs so hard the sun burns out and stars break down
Its all so very sad
Lost in the past and I'm losing tomorrow now
Tonight could be another chance
The wind is whistling but the leaves won't dance so run home fast
It's all a scam
Lost in the past and I'm losing tomorrow now
The rain is seeping through my skin and bones
I tried so hard to think of where I've been but I'm just getting cold
Lost in the past and I'm losing tomorrow now
NEVER LONELY
Hanging around by the harbor mouth
where the mail boats come in
bringing roses and kings
But I don't hear a thing
no engines roar, nobody calls
Just sitting a while
waiting for nothing
pulling my face up to the wind
And I'm never lonely
Running around and around some town
Seems familiar at times in the dead of night
But I'm stuck in the wind
hanging on to the trees
and you're on a trapeze
Some things never go right
Every time you try someone's beating and twisting your mind
There's always somebody wants something from me
And I'm never lonely
Just taking it slow
I've seen them come and I've seen them go
Never stay in the same place
Never lonely
And I'm never lonely
FACTORY TOWN
Born in a factory town
No'one ever thinks aloud
But when the police turn around it's time to dance
Stumbling on a gravel path
along the edge and 'round the back
faster than a bullet racing 'round and 'round
Wishing for a shining light
Dreaming of a summer night
Chasing every minute that could be the last
Living in a market town
Nothing ever gets me down
even though sometimes the drumming gets too loud
(Chorus)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Brother I know it's all gone to the stars
Sitting in the basement playing cards and steel guitars
A breeze blew through the doorway of every home across the land
We were only just children but we knew it had to end
Strangers came and took you far away
Atlanta, Georgia 1969
Oh brother I always knew, always knew you'd be coming back alive
I never thought i'd see the day I couldn't make you smile
Oh brother whatever happened to the laughter in your eye
Everybody got their story, nobody ever hear
Someone got it straight, can't speak through all the tears
We rode the wings of angels never turning from the sky
We tred the earth so softly always moving to the light
And now it all just might as well be dreams
Atlanta, Georgia 1969
Oh brother I always knew, always knew you'd be coming back alive
I never thought I'd see the day you'd have nothing to say
Oh brother whatever happened out there
I stood on street corners with my banner waving high
A shadow on the skyline weaved its way over the pine
Never bought the lie you needed to believe
Atlanta, Georgia 1969
Oh brother I always knew, always knew you'd be coming back alive
I just never thought I'd see the day you couldn't even try
Oh brother what happened to you
I GOT A KEY
I've never been behind the wall
but I've seen people go and never come back
I think they found home (I got a key and I'm gonna get back there)
They must have found home (Don't look at me like I'm not from around there)
And every day some more go down
I'll follow them when I am ten
I got a key and I'm gonna get back there
Don't look at me like I'm not from around there
I watch them go and they strap the bomb
I throw some stones at passing bones
(Chorus)
The soldiers call, I duck my head
I think they saw me now, I think I'm dead anyway
(Chorus)
One day I'll stumble through the door
a yankie bank or a convenience store
And in a flash I will be home
I got a key and I'm not alone
This isn't gold and this isn't tin
This is a rock, a ticking clock
(Chorus)
I got a key and I'm gonna get back there
My papa says that they're not from around there
TEXAN HOLE
Waiting at a light in Amarillo looking like I got time to kill
Sitting on a cloud I close my eyes, the pilot comes on, says, no'one will die today
If I ever get down
When I fly to the ground
When I'm back to the earth that I knew
When I'm rolling on by, when I'm rolling on through
Eleven days in the sun (No, nothing is wrong)
Just this Texan hole (And the days roll on)
A thousand miles to go, no, nothing is wrong
And the days roll on
A light breaks through another morning, twisters turn and blow the corn
This highway's taken better men, I'm wondering how and I'm wondering when
When I fly to the ground
When I'm back to the earth that I knew
When the clouds roll on by, when the clouds roll on through
Eleven days on the run (No, nothing is wrong)
Stuck in this Texan hole (And the days roll on)
A thousand miles to go just to find a home
And the days roll on
LEFT AND RIGHT
Brittle girl dancing through the light, we run like prairie fire, can't slow down
All asleep, hording bags of weed, batteries and beer, gone to ground
They said the dance is gonna end
I've been looking left and right but I aint seen nothing yet
It's all the same, slow and painful rain
blossom on the lane, takes your mind away
One day you fear you'll age and dissapear
somewhere that the eagles stake their claim
I've been looking left and right but I aint seen nothing yet
Brittle boy waits outside the crowd, edges of the town
and everything gets him down, talks about the proud, how things are breaking down
Gone to meet the strangers in his head
I've been looking left and right but I aint seen nothing yet
DRIFTER
When Spring is gone and nothing comes
you'll dream of days when souls are one
Scramble up the road and down the line
scanning worn out thoughts in place and in time
And you'll stand up take a look around but there's nothing left above the ground
people running everywhere but nothing moves
She'll make you think you want her bad
She seems to know, seems to understand
And you'll get ideas when she cracks her smile
but she's laughing at nothing, she lives in the sky
On the fading road you'll follow her down and you'll dream you want her more than anything now
always racing to the stop sign, always slowing too fast
And the rolling wheels will take you back home over fields that never held you down
You know it's always safer to pass it on by
LOOK AWAY
Look away - and tell me what you see
Look away - is it all just a dream
Amy Joe rolled into town, beat up caddy, windows down
bandages to hide the frown and all the perils all around
Look away
Look around - they're making plans for you
Look around - 'till there's nothing left for you
Billy Billy had a fright, someone told the biggest lie
They creep up in the dead of night and rob you of your sleeping mind
You'll wake to muttered slogans and you'll wear your tag with pride
Look around
PIECES OF EARTH
Drifting into another time when the world was safe and wild
You can't always tell when it's gonna come but you know, when it does, where to hide
There's a little town off highway 15, seems quiet and so green
Don't take much to blow the lid off, just a new face that don't quite fit in
There's a rumour 'bout some missing people, no'one knew their names
and no'one says nothing they just shake their heads when you try to find out anything
but Billy from the railyard don't care if the whole damn world knows
for there midst the cactus his brother lay cold
And out of the clear blue day and drawing ever near
A lot of things you'd rather keep buried 'neath the leaves
I've heard people saying that we live in dangerous times
but it only gets much worse when you know the reason why
You'd like to trust the things you hear and cheer when they tell you to
It's too much to even contemplate that it might not all be true
So smile at those that look like you and spit at those that don't
they're probably the ones they warned you to be weary of
and even if they're not, well it's something you always meant to do
The biggest coward always needs the biggest excuse
And out of the clear blue day and circling the fields
A lot of things are hard to keep buried around here
Some they speak of chem trails making everybody ill
and others say the water's poisoned and the meat is full of lead
I don't know if any of its true, and anyway, don't bother me
There's madness in the eyes of half the people I ever knew
Radio guy tells me beware of everything I hear
then he says they're cloning aliens over at the military base
I think he might be crazy but then who am I to say
You should beware of everything I say
And out of the clear blue day and no'one left to hear
A whisper of something we lost when everything was clear
Drifting into another time................
All lyrics written by Richard Hiorns. Copyright 2004.