THE WALKABOUTS

THE WALKABOUTS

NEW WEST MOTEL (1992)

  1. Jack Candy
  2. Sundowner
  3. Grand Theft Auto
  4. Break It Down Gently
  5. Your Hope Shines
  6. Murdering Stone
  7. Sweet Revenge
  8. Glad Nation's Death Song
  9. Long Time Here
10. Wondertown (Part One)
11. Drag This River
12. Snake Mountain Blues
13. Findlay's Motel
14. Unholy Dreams

THE WALKABOUTS

NEW WEST MOTEL

1. JACK CANDY

Jack Candy was as old as my father
But still I took a likin' to him
He said you will be somebody's treasure
But no one has discovered you yet

Jack Candy lived on Sky Valley Road
And that's where he did hid business, I gues
They say he sold a truckload of cocaine
But he never showed me any of that

This is a story that I've prayed to tell
This is a story that I've prayed to tell
About the day they drove him from this town
About the day I lost Jack Candy

I was walkin' up to Jack Candy's trailer
When he shouted I had better head home
The curtains closed as he went back inside
And I trembled 'cause he wasn't alone

Some say they took him out to a clearin'
And made him crawl until he confessed
Some say they hung him up by his bootstraps
Some say they let him swing in the wind

I walk along the Sky Valley Road
And out onto the great Northern Bridge
And for hours I stare into the cold
Sick and tired of denying I love him

I've lived a lie and I have lived it well
this is the story that I've prayed to tell
About a love and how I let him down
About the day I lost Jack Candy

Solo.

2. SUNDOWNER

Deaf as a fence post
Alone on a winter's night
Drunk as a racehorse
But I'll never fade outta sight

There's a wild below me
A wild up there in the stars
There's a history behind me
A child gone
Cold in my arms

Tell George and Tommy
I'm ripe for the takin'
These days it's a good year for the roses
And a bad year runnin' in place

But if they don't believe me
I'll do what I always have done
I won't be the sundowner
No, I'll never cheat on the sun

'Cause when the sun comes up
And the moon is gone to the bridge
I go to the bridge
I run and when I reach the edge
Onto the bridge I crawl
And when I find you, my friend
From the bridge I fall

This is the last place
That I've ever been, ever been
It's the last best place
That I've ever been, ever been
But in spite of my weakness
And all my desires to win
I won't be the sundowner
Tomorrow I leave here again.

3. GRAND THEFT AUTO

In this town
The blood will make you rich
Yeah
In this town
The blood will make you rich
In this town
I will do you one better
I'll change the thruth
When I change the weather
In this town
the blood will make you rich

And when you're down
You can buy the Jesus pose
'Cause in this town
All roads lead to this
And when you're down
I will kill it again
I'll give ya something
To forget about him
When you're down
All roads lead to this

And come tonight
Yeah
Come tonight
We'll take a ride
And come tonight
Yeah
Come tonight
We'll see the sights
You will lead and I will follow
You will lead me
Down to the hollow
you will lead me down
Grand theft auto
You will lead me down

In this town
We have got the midas touch
And in this town
The gold will make you blush
Some of it swims
And some of it glitters
In this town
We got the midas touch.

4. BREAK IT DOWN GENTLY

It soon appears
Long rented shores
Too big to name
And second to none

Save horses' hair
In pochets deep
Remember skies
Second to none

Word to the wise
Don't you sit on this fence
Electric and live
With evangelist zeal

Spin doctors gave you
All those remedies to choose
So you'd be the weathervane
For clouds that never move

Black rain
Black rain will come
Black rain
Black rain will come

To break it down gently
To wash it down slow
Goin' straight to the bottom
with a mind... of it's own.

5. YOUR HOPE SHINES

Lay my body down
By the shallows of the creek
You can lay my body down
Lay me in your reach

And when my body's down
We'll steal the thunder from the rain
And when my body's down
We'll shake the dirt right from the pain

I was goin' nowhere
Nowhere very fast
Threw my poison out the window
But it came blowin' back
Out along the highway
Right through the night of crime
Somewhere in the darkness
Your hope shined

Whisper wisdom's wirds
You can whisper wisdom's lies
But all of wisdom's words
Never helped me to survive

Days of all my arrogance
When you were not afraid
Threw my paycheck out the window
Tou threw it all away
Walked the devil's highway
Across the county line
Somewhere in the darkness
Your hope shined

Your hope shined
And the darkness fell
Your hope shined
Your hope shined
Your hope shined

Walked the devil's highway
Across the county line
But your hope shined
Your hope shined
First light in the mornin'
Right through the night of crime
Your hope shined
Your hope shined
Tell me.

6. MURDERING STONE

Man came down from the field
A lonely horseman
Headin' back to the stable
Said he was sorry
But his cain was not able
To save us all form ourselves

Man sees the blood on every door
And hears the laughter
In the good people's hearts
Their pockets empty
And their coats ripped apart
And the man makes a promise to the town

I wanna give you my murdering stone
Give you my murdering stone

Happy-go lucky's back in town
Happy-go-lucky says he's fit to be tied
Now that his hands have done
A sin worse than pride
And the man makes a poromise to us all

Won't you take my
Won't you take my
I wanna give you my murdering stone
My hands are heavy now
That all the guns are home
Take my murdering stone.

7. SWEET REVENGE

Fourteen and one half year
I was good fortune's slave
Road map on my face
Up to mu neck in lucky breaks

And durin' all that time
You know I wore this reckless coat
Filled up with matchstick men
And all the bibles that you wrote

Cover your eyes
Don't look now

And from these bitterroots
You know I've made a potent shine
One-half kerosene
One-half justice all gone blind

First I'll get even
And then I'll make you proud
Revenge is sweeter
When you can laugh out loud
Swing it low
Swing it low
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it low
Sweet reveng.

8. GLAD NATION'S DEATH SONG

These are the ghosts that I half believed
Guns & liquir & the carnival freak
But then one day my whole world shook
And I got arrested for stealin' a look

And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And I wanna hear you sing
And I wanna hear you.... sing

Well they dragged me down to the Debtor's jail
Where no one cried 'cause the drinks were free
And there I met you
You were passin' the hat
Sayin' give to the memory of a long gone dream

This is the sound of one hand clappin'
Yeah this is the sound of one man
Laughin' sayin' we are lucky
Yeah lucky is us
'Cause behind these bars we've been stuck.

9. LONG TIME HERE

If you want goodtimes
I know where to look
And if you want goodtimes I will

Thrown on the bed
With your junkyard religion
At the best of the western motels

Thrown with the pawns
And the hardscrabble rooks
Thrown with our ransom of kings

But if you want goodtimes
I know where to look
And I know it's a goodtimes you want

Long time here
Long time here
I'll keep you around
Holding this ground
I'll keep you a long time here

In 24 hours
We could be in Vegas
Where the heat is a possible friend

Whee snake eyes and boxcars
Will wet down your whistle
And steal all the noise form your head

But your hell is hotter than the typical thirst
And in Vegas the ice is not cheap

And heaven's a backroom
Where the gamblin' don't finish
And you keep makin' the same mistake.

10. WONDERTOWN (Part One)

I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown
Wondertown
I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown
Wondertown
With my hands of ivory
And my nerves of steel
I'll break the jackpot open
Just to prove it's real
I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown.

11. DRAG THIS RIVER

Quick
Burn it down to the wick
Burn it down to the heart
So teh ending can start

Here
Behind the riverhaus door
With an unloaded gun
And an unsettled score

Well I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river down

You
Nothin' comes to you slow
Nothin' comes to you hard
Though you beg like you're hard

And me
Don't shake the barrel at me
And never treat idle threats
Like you treat all your friends

And if you walk out that door
Don't come back
Because there 'll be no door

And if you walk out that door
Silence greets you
Silence will be yours

I hear ya callin' frmo the long distant shore
But you won't come back
'Cause you can't come back

The water's risin' and the levee is not sure
And you won't be found
No you can't be found
Drag this river down.

12. SNAKE MOUNTAIN BLUES

13. FINDLAY'S MOTEL

Findlay was on his last legs
But he made the rules
Said suffer fools gladly
But never end up as the sufferin' fool

He shook me down
Though it was mu first week on the job
Said travelers will trick you
But you will find out
All them things for yourself
Yes you will

Findlay he threw me the keys
As he walked out the door
Then he turned on the big neon sign
But only half of it burned

And I was there fightin' off dreams
When she pulled in the drive
The sound of her wheels woke me up
And there she was
Standin' inside
There she was by the stretch
Of a pine barren road
Where the night
never did what was told
Rooms for the night
At Findlay's motel

She looked like she had come down
From the Rattlesnake Hills
And she pushed the gun to my jaw
And told me to clean out the till
As I handed her over the cash
Findlay limped in, the old man
He reached for her gun
But she was stronger than him
Yes she was

Now bullets don't care
What they hit
And Findlay went down
And she dropped the gun to the floor
And said
You best call someone now

But my eyes they were fixed on the door
And I walked straight outside
Sayin' suffer fools gladly
As long as the sufferin' keeps you alive
For a spell.

14. UNHOLY DREAMS

Well I dreamed
I saw the devil's club

Growin' by the burnin' bush
And I dreamed
That all your razor teeth
Grabbed tomorrow by the root
And I dreamed
The long arm of the law
Was a one-armed acrobat
Yeah I dreamed unholy dreams

And I dreamed
That all the sacred cows
Had been trampled under hoof
And I dreamed
the moon had finally crashed
And lit fire to your roof
And I dreamed
That there were sights unseen
And it's visions could be sold
Yeah I dreamed unholy dreams
Unholy dreams
Unholy dreams
Last night
I dreamed
Unholy dreams
And in the mornin' when I woke
And you were gone
I believed
Unholy dreams.

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