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1. |
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Little Darling,
Who is it wears the ball and chain?
Take these shackles from my neck
That I might breathe again
A storm is raging,
The ceiling drips with rain
But summer breaks through
With lightning bolts and hurricanes
Now, on the pastures,
The prairies, and the plains
Sunlight bathes the lowing cows
And dries the window panes
"It's one or the other,"
Old man leans upon his sugar cane
He says, "Pour us another round
Of lightning bolts and hurricanes"
The green buds swellin'
In the merry month of May
Rough winds shake my darling, true
But life teems from decay
These violent delights
Must end with violent pangs
For summer breaks too
With lightning bolts and hurricanes
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2. |
The Mountain
03:00
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I'm going up on the mountain
Don't know when I'll be back
All my old friends and lovers
They welcome me back
They welcome me back
And some say the New River
Is as old as the Nile
Like that name they give her,
I hope to stay young awhile
Through the last brackish mile
Going up on the mountain
O'er the valleys and hills
Reaching out for new beauty
In the palms of old thrills
As it drains from the hills
Going up on the mountain
No, I ain't coming back
Leaving old cares behind me
Like a ramshackle shack
On a hill gray and black
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3. |
Feathertop
06:08
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And with these words
I breathe the spark of being
Upon my latest design
Dressed so neat
a pipe, a hat and feather,
And a coat so fine
And a coat so fine
Wooden arms start to animate
His pipe begins to glow a flame
He feels hunger he can’t satiate
He likes the fact he’s got a name
The papers show our newborn star
“Hay Man Sweeps the Countryside”
He stumps in cornfields near and far
With promises to change their lives
One day a wind comes and blows right through him
(His cares had long blown away)
And left him feeling
hollow, torn, and jumbled
So he had nothing left to say
Ah yes, he threw it all away
Blind seers exposing the lies
They hate to say they told you so
“Couldn’t we see through the disguise?”
“He’s nothing but a scare-crow!”
In dried-up cornfields near and far
Now the crows do as they please
The papers show our fallen star,
Riots burning effigies
An instant heap of sticks and straw
Has left a sense of innocence
Perhaps more human than us all--
This paragon of emptiness
The papers show our risen star
Lit up on holy funeral pyre
An elegy called “Straw Martyr”
Is carved into his sepulchre
And with these words
I breathe the spark of being
Upon my latest design
Dressed so neat:
a pipe, a hat and feather,
And a coat so fine
And a coat so fine
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4. |
Along the Trail
04:21
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ALONG THE TRAIL
You took my hand
And away we went
Along the trail
As the twilight hit
In the wooded hills
Where chaos sleeps
And our souls are kept
Where the love runs deep
And your mildness is
March’s dawning hold
On a barbwire fence
That is now turned old
But it looks alright
By the living stream
Where the trees grow high
Toward stars that gleam
And all the Springs we’ll see
On our ancient hill
While your eyes they shine
As they always will
And you plant yourself
Right next to me
And the sun goes down
Here we’ll always be
You took my hand
And away we went
Along the trail
As the twilight hit
In the wooded hills
Where chaos sleeps
And our souls are kept
Where the love runs deep
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5. |
On That Hill
06:01
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Swathes of leaves on that well-worn path
In their earthen gully graves
The woods grow dim, the beasts come out
From their hidden mountain caves
His old plank shack in shadows black
In sweat and pride was built
Veiled in vines, the once straight lines
Did sag and drag and tilt
Chorus:
The grass grows high
And in the wind it sways
And the sun beats down on that hill
On that hill they call his grave:
There’s a creek runs down, springs from the ground
Not too far, where he would drink
In the summer heat he’d soak his feet
And rest awhile and think
And he held the girl he called his wife
They tilled and grew their crop
And when the harvest finally came
She was about to pop
Chorus
There he died at a ripe old age
His son grown, his wife gone
Next to her he was buried
On that hill they both called home
His shack--no room-- an empty tomb
And the trail would disappear
But the spring would flow, and it would know
At last that he was here
Chorus
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6. |
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Mad pranks and merry jests
Mad pranks and merry jests
I should have seen them coming
They were just like all the rest
Oh those mad pranks and merry jests
Mistress toying with my heart
Mistress toying with my heart
The cat that maims the rabbit
Cruelly waits to rip apart
Mistress toying with my heart
Mad pranks and merry jests
Mad pranks and merry jests
Your shoe’s untied, the sugar’s salt
There’s something on your vest
Oh those mad pranks and merry jests
Mad pranks and merry jests
Mad pranks and merry jests
But the merriest of all
Was when you said you loved me best
Oh those mad pranks and merry jests
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7. |
Whispers
03:18
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Whispers
The wind on the plains
Restless
The eternal remains
They all will rise up at the omen
Snow-covered kings, yearly frozen
Sprung from the hills like new children
From the stone-laden tombs long forgotten
Clad in a cold fallen cotton,
They’ll emerge to the fields that they fought in
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8. |
The Witch's Familiar
04:32
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9. |
The Harbinger
03:48
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When will they show
The moonlight's glow?
When will they say
The world's ok?
Twinkle, twinkle
How I wonder?
Twinkle, twinkle
How I wonder?
How I wonder?
How?
When will they fall
The curtain tall?
When will we soar
The heavens' floor?
Twinkle, twinkle
How I wonder?
Twinkle, twinkle
How I wonder?
Twinkle, twinkle...
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10. |
Dance Again
02:39
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Let's dance
Sometimes, you gotta celebrate
Let's dance
Like you made it to the Pearly Gates
Let's dance
Tomorrow's gonna have to wait
Darling, I've been waiting
For this chance
when we could dance again
One glance
Like a tractor beam, she pulled me in
One glance
And I knew I'd have to glance again
One glance
I knew we'd have this dance again
Darling, I've been waiting
For this chance
When we could dance again
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11. |
The Shrine
03:15
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Through the woods up ahead
The trail forks off
At the top of the hill
A tree sticks out
Marking the split
And that’s where we put
The cool stuff we find
You see we go on walks
And sometimes find something neat
And our trek becomes
A pilgrimage
We pledge our gifts
All about the tree
At the branches,
Roots, and trodden leaves
And each new ring
Brings sundry new things
To adorn the wood
Relics, knicks, knacks,
Assorted artifacts
Like Dali meets O’Keefe
Tacked to the bark
Is an old rusty blade
On the handle hangs
A watch that still ticks
A nail up above
Holds half a cow's skull
And it’s missing some teeth
Feathers from crows,
Hawks and bluejays
Are placed with care
An old whiskey bottle
Props a tiny doll’s head
Keeping watch in the night
And the few who pass through
No matter which path they choose
Must face up to the shrine
Yes, and I only hope
That grazing deer at night
Don’t turn their gaze
From the eerie sight
And it brings them peace
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Joseph Houck Boone, North Carolina
Singer-songwriter from the mountains of North Carolina
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