| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
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Down among the wines and spirits
Where a man gets what he merits Once he was written in letters of nine feet tall Now he finds how far he's fallen Since he set his mind on her completely Oh well, I guess that you mustn't have seen him lately Walking around with a pain that never ceases He starts to speak and then he falls to pieces Down among the wines and spirits Where a man gets what he merits Lives with the echoing words of their final quarrel The vacant chamber and the empty barrel But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor Clicks his fingers to that swinging door Suddenly he's calling out more, more, more I'm twice the foolish man I was before Down among the wines and spirits Bubbles escaping from him from the rim of a glass of grape She sails through his memory just like a ship of chaplet As it started to sink, he was drinking to drown his sorrows That fill his nights and they empty his tomorrows But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor Clicks his fingers to that swinging door Suddenly he's calling out more, more, more Speaks of invisible things he hardly credits Down among, down among Down among the wines and spirits |
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| 2. |
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Well you know your time has come and you're sorry for what you've done
You should've never have been playing with a gun In those Complicated Shadows Well there's a line that you must toe and it'll soon be time to go but it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows All you gangsters and rude clowns Who were shooting up the town When you should have found someone to put the blame on Though the fury's hot and hard I still see that cold graveyard There's a solitary stone that's got your name on You don't have to take it from me But I know what I spake You think you're like iron and steel But iron and steel will bend and break In those Complicated Shadows Go! Sometimes justice you will find Is just dumb not colour-blind And your poor shattered mind can't take it all in All those phantoms and those shades Should Jump up on Judgement Day And say to the Almighty "I'm still stinking of sin" But the jury was dismissed Took his neck and they give it a twist So you see you won't be missed in those Complicated Shadows You can say just what you like in a voice like a John Ford film Take the law into your hands You will soon get tired of killing In those Complicated Shadows Complicated Shadows Complicated Shadows Complicated Shadows Go! |
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| 3. |
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Well, there's a difference in the way that you kissed me
And there's a sadness in your eyes that you can't hide Why do you tremble when I hold you? I wonder if you feel the same I felt the chill before the winter came But it's easy to say that I won't give in again I was just tempted for a moment and then some But it's so easy when you love to lose to control Now look here if you will At the faithful man you stole I felt the chill before the winter came I suffered the guilt and then accepted the blame I wanted you before you ever spoke my name But I knew that we would go wrong Just as they do in all in those old tragic songs Did that melody haunt your mind? Just like a linger of perfume Now you're in someone else's arms, locked up in another room Is there's a difference in the way that he loves you Is there still sadness in your eyes, you can't deny? Do you tremble and sigh when he holds you just like I do? What were you thinking of to throw away our love? And it's easy to say that you won't give in again You were just tempted for a moment and half But it's so hard when you desire to lose control I don't know what this feeling is but it sure seems cold I felt the chill before the winter came I suffered the pain and then accepted the shame I will have lost your love by end of this sad refrain? I felt the cold creeping over my skin... Still as the air until the wind rushed in Still in control, holding on to my heart and soul Only inches from sin |
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| 4. |
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When I was away I needed you so
And now coming I'm home to stay I won't wake in the night and reach for you And turn on the light and to my dismay You're not there You're never around Or is it me? It's so hard to see I flick off the switch And stare in dark And wait for you to appear You're My All-Time Doll I'm out of control It's broken my mind But that's not all that you stole You're My All-Time Doll You're all I adore I'd swear to it now it but I already swore My eyes are blinded with tears But it's all my own fault My lips taste of cruel words My eyes sting with salt But you can take the way I feel about you And put it in a vault You're My All-Time Doll From near and from far I've known many a girl, Now... I'm closing in My heart is beating Like a whip on a hide It's raining outside You're My All-Time Doll I'm out of control It's broken my mind That's not all that you stole You're My All-Time Doll You're all I adore I'd swear to it now it but I already swore Every time I rant and rail Every time I try and fail Any time I want to quit And say, "That's the end of it" When I stand and start to leave You cool my brow, you tug my sleeve You're My All-Time Doll I'm walking, I'm pacing, my heart is racing I swear that clock is running slow It only speeds up for a moment or so Each time it's time for me to go You're My All-Time Doll I'm out of control It's broken my mind That's not all that you stole You're My All-Time Doll You're all I adore I'd swear to it now it but I already swore In the far flung cry of a closing saloon On the blank back side of that poisonous moon I tried not to think about you I thought I was immune.. You're My All-Time Doll |
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| 5. |
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I'm sorry to say that you don't know me
I'm sad in ways you never understood Each time I try to tell the ugly truth You always let it pass you by You said I 'd never tell you a lie Just because I could Did you really think I was a bad man? You always said that that should be my middle name But you don't know the half of it You don't know how that name fits You don't know my hidden shame Hidden shame, shame, shame That I can't get free From the blame and the torture And the misery Must it be my secret for eternity? Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me Well, there's a different kind of prison And it don't even have to look much like a cell It's already on your mind Boy, we can see it in your eyes So, here's the bars and walls as well Well, you know I'm never coming home, babe You said you'd stand by me until I cleared my name Sure it's easy to be strong When you know the charge is wrong But the days and weeks get long When you've got a hidden shame Hidden shame, shame, shame That I can't get free From the blame and the torture And the misery Must it be my secret for eternity? Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me I had a friend when I was just a boy We were like brothers, we would run and hide And we went walking on a high hillside And I really don't how it happened He turned to me and had this strange look in his eye And not a single word was spoken I must have pushed him, but I don't remember why And all at once, he lay there broken And I walked down without him and I didn't even sigh Hidden shame, shame, shame That I can't get free From the blame and the torture And the misery Must it be my secret for eternity? Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me They say you always hurt the one you love And I'm not saying if I did or if I didn't But like my shame, that kind of love is always hidden They locked me up here for the ideas in my head They never got me for the thing I really did Hidden shame, shame, shame That I can't get free From the blame and the torture And the misery Must it be my secret for eternity? Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me |
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| 6. |
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She handed me a mirror
That she had gazed upon The glass still held an image The glass still held an image But it was of a man I turned from the reflection To see who it might be Is that poor vanity quite how she pictures me? She handed me a mirror Rather than tell me "no" She let slip her handkerchief Gentle laughter flowed Just as her lips bestowed The dashing word like "brother" The crushing word like "friend" If there was no beginning How could this be the end? She handed me mirror So I could recognise The distance from my heart to hers The distance from my heart to hers The pity in her eyes She liked my pretty story I thanked her for her song And then I wrote a tale not very long to tell "You are much more than pretty. You are beautiful." She handed me mirror and I saw her instead She handed me a mirror She handed me a mirror And that is all she did? |
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| 7. |
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I dreamed of my old lover last night
I wonder if I spoke out loud And if by chance my husband overheard He put my face back in the crowd His eyes were clear and gentle then He kissed the troubles from my brow I long to fall to sleep again And I wonder how he would look now Would our kids grow sullen or grow strong? Would their limbs bronze in solitude and sun? I like the way it feels but then I rarely dream of anyone In the songs of shame and the tales of dread Where they seal the lovers' lips with lead And all the vines wind through their eyes Oh, but no one knows this passion now Oh, no one knows this passion now So I keep this fancy to myself I keep my lipstick twisted tight I long to fall to sleep again I dreamed of my old lover last night I long to fall to sleep again 'Cause I dreamed of my old lover last night |
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Is this is not a pretty tale?
Is this not a riddle? A bow shoots arrows through the air A bow drags notes from a fiddle But who is the beau of poor girl's dreams? That a king may send to battle Is this not a pretty tale? Is this not a riddle? If red is the breast of soldier's tunic hung with a silver medal And red is the thorn that protects the rose, a deeper red than the petal How deep is the red our redeemer bled, the debt of our sins to settle? How deep is the red? How deep is the red? How deep is the red our redeemer bled? How deep is the red? |
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| 9. |
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She could be no good, I'm telling you
Gather round boys for a tale that is tragic and true On the Mississippi riverboat, "Magnolia" No one onboard was smelling too sweet That precious one must have been stamping her feet Dictating demands all well and fine A few rods west of the Bridgeport line But the veil was drawn and the halo slipped Tippling tinctures and reciting scripture Faces where slapped just as kid gloves were suffered Vile threats were uttered and challenges offered On the Cumberland riverboat, "E.W. Stephens" Daggers were drawn on pistols pulled Staggering 'til dawn filled up with whiskey and rum And several drunken players ran amok Rampaging with the crew around the deck And I received a blow that was unkind It turned my cheek to the colour of gentian violet I wouldn't say that this journey had quite been the highlight Of the All-American Tour Teetering on the edge of war Out of the genteel Northern prosceniums Filled up with imitation Europeans Down along the river of rough damnations By the blood-stained cotton and the slave plantations |
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| 10. |
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It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane
Everywhere I travel the pretty girls call my name I give them a squeeze and they shoot me a wink I buy their hard-headed husbands a long cool drink You better come up smelling sweet 'cos you're a long time stinking It's a little too late to complain It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane Now if you catch my eye and you find that it runs down your leg It's like striking a match pretty hard upon a powder keg They tell you from the borders to the waters of the gulf If you take all the sugar you will end up in the sulphur And you're burning Hello baby I'm pleased to meet you I wouldn't do you wrong, honey I wouldn't cheat you, honey When can I see you again? Wrap you up in cellophane It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane When your eyes fill up with brine 'Cause you're drowning in wine It's like the last days of Rome With the despots and divine And there's no place like home for a little doll from China It's a little too late to complain It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane You can go west to Texas Go east to Mississippi You can run out of money You can run out of pity Throw open your purse until you're crying for mercy Go to Alabama Escape Louisiana I'm digging like a miner North and South Carolina And then if you continue you will end up in Virginia The women in Poughkeepsie Take their clothes off when they're tipsy But in Albany, New York They love the filthy way I talk Until they gargle with the finest champagne They can't get the grape and the grain It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane If I could find a piano Here in Bloomington, Indiana I would play it with my toes Until the girls all take their clothes off The women knock upon my door in odd and even numbers But none of them as wild as I've discovered in Columbus I gave up married women 'cause I heard it was a sin But now I'm back in Pittsburgh, I might take it up again Because they gargle with the finest champagne They can't get the grape and the grain It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane Up in Syracuse I was falsely accused But I'm not here to hurt you I'm here to steal your virtue Down in Bridgeport The women will kill you for sport But in Worcester, Massachusetts They love my sauce The women in Poughkeepsie Take their clothes off when they're tipsy But I hear in Ypsilanti They don't wear any panties Once they gargle with the finest champagne They hitch up their skirts and exclaim It's not very far, sugar It's not very far, sugar Pour a little sugar on me, sugar It's not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane |
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| 11. |
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I'm cutting up her pure white dress
That I dyed red That I dyed red I'm putting scraps in cheap tin lockets What time erases and memory mocks I'll send them over the ocean foam Right into those gentle European homes The slave ship "Blessing" slipped from Liverpool Over the waves the Royal Navy rules To go and plunder the Kingdom of Benin Where certain history ends and shame begins Dahomey traders paid in powder and shot Line up their prisoners and they sell them in lots They packed them tight inside those coffin ships And took them to the brand new world of auction blocks and whips I'm cutting up her pure white dress That I dyed red That I dyed red I'm putting scraps in cheap tin lockets What time erases and memory mocks I'll send them over the ocean foam Right into those gentle European homes White is the sheet on your fine linen bed The blood stained red on each cotton thread Merchants will gather at St. George's Hall To unveil the kneeling slave who is carved upon the wall So picture the scene on the Old Salt House docks Where they loaded the iron shackles and locks Between a sandstone crocodile, a barrel and a bale You will see the nameless faces they were offering for sale So, I sing the praises of God's glory As a blue cetacean floats in the basement An elephant on the second storey They queue all day to see him In my American Museum But the Lord will judge us with fire and thunder As man continues in all his blunders It's only money It's only numbers Maybe it is time to put aside these fictitious wonders But man is feeble Man is puny And if it should divide the Union There is no man that should own another When he can't even recognise his sister and his brother |
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Life isn't a game won or tied
Lost by either side Then some people's idea Of the straight and narrow didn't appeal to me If you were my life's companion As it seems you may turn out to be I'm contemplating How I hope I'll find you waiting At the very end of this crooked line Love isn't a trial of strength and weakness Through light into darkness Then some people remark The worthwhile fire never started without that spark If you were my life's companion As it seems you may turn out to be I'm contemplating How I hope I'll find you waiting At the very end of this crooked line |
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We were dancing together
To a dreamy melody When they called out "change partners" And you waltzed away from me Now my arms feel so empty As I gaze around the floor And I'll keep on changing partners Till I hold you once more Though we danced for one moment And too soon we had to part In that wonderful moment Something happened to my heart So I'll keep changing partners Till you're in my arms again Oh my darling I may never Change partners again Though we danced for one moment And too soon we had to part In that wonderful moment Something happened to my heart So I'll keep changing partners Till you're in my arms again Oh my darling I will never Change partners again Oh my darling I will never Change partners again |
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