THE WALKABOUTS

THE WALKABOUTS

SCAVENGER (1991)

  1. Dead Man Rise
  2. Stir The Ashes
  3. The Nightwatch
  4. Hangman
  5. Where The Deep Water Goes
  6. Blown Away
  7. Nothing Is A Stranger
  8. Let's Burn Down The Cornfield
  9. River Blood
10. Train To Mercy

THE WALKABOUTS

SCAVENGER

1. DEAD MAN RISE

Wake up dead man, there's a noise
You must attend
It will not quit
Wake up dead man, there's a noise
Your sleep is done
Your secret's out
Dead-Man-Rise
And clear the dust right out your throat
Dead-Man-Rise
You've been away from here too long
Dead-Man-Rise
Dead-Man-Rise

Wake up dead man, fate has spoke
I'm yours to kiss
He's yours to forget
'Couse much has changed since you've been gone
Love's grown wise
It's rules habe broken

Wake up dead man, there's a noise,
there's a noise you must attend

Wake up dead man, there's a noise,
there's a nooise you must atten

Wake up dead man, there's a noise,
there's a noise that will not quit.

2. STIR THE ASHES

All dressed up for the day of the dead
I have been waiting
It's coming soon enough
The doors are open and the prowlers have all fled
So tired of waiting
So tired of hanging tough
Stir the ashes round
Underneath my shoes
Just stir the ashes round
Make 'em dizzy, in the mud
Make 'em dizzy, round and round and round

Come and sit by the lonesome potter's grave
Come and pull the weeds
Come and write your name
Sitting here the sirens seem so far away
They're back in timber town

Three cheers for timber town
Pull me right out of the dark
My vision's never been this true
The spoils have been crudely cut
The balancd has been lost for good
Stir the ashes round.

3. THE NIGHT WATCH

I'm thee nightwatchman and nothing gets behind my back
Work out at the goldmine in a tin can shack
Don't come up behind me cause I won't be mincing my words
Don't play twenty questions with all of the scavenger birds

I'm the nightwatchman

It's up to me and the devil to do all the dirty work
Got a thousand dirty secrets rolled up in the sleeve of my shirt
Don't come up behind me I will be playing for keeps
Don't do this for good looks I do this so someday I'll sleep

I'm the nightwatchman

I knew about secrets
I know what secrets are worth
Gold is a secret
They're draggin' it out of the dirt

Yes
I'm the nightwatchman.

4. HANGMAN

Hangman take these heads from me
And swing 'em from your money tree
Hear me laughing in my sleep
These heads are yours, they're yours to keep

Please don't skip the last details
Rewards are yours beyond the pale
And if you slip, just look around
Your wrists are shackled to the crowd

Hangman is your passenger
Hangman is your passenger
Hangman is your passenger
The hangman is your passenger tonight

Stretching the rope with one of his hands
And in one of his hands he holds a bible
Looks at the road with one of his eyes
And with one of his eyes he will watch you driving

Hangman is your passenger
The hangman is your passenger tonight

Hangman take these heads form me
And swing 'em from your money tree
Wagered on the judgement call
But everytime you lost it al.

5. WHERE THE DEEP WATER GOES

Into the heart of this old sunken ship
A white knuckle journey you won't soon forget

Out where the deep water goes

Into the veins of this old lizard skin
To Tierra Del Fuego and then back again

That's where the deep water goes
That's where the deep water goes

Soon you will fathom how deep it goes down
And the bottom's a good place to start

Our bottle is empty
The searchlight is off
Oh the bottom's a good place to start

Out of the tumbler and into the flame
Out from the shadows where no one gets blamed

That's where the deep water goes
That's where the deep water goes

It's all muddy ground there with no place to build
But the deepwater never complains

Our slow boat to China will get slower still
But the deepwater never complains

That's where the deepwater goes
And it goes.

6. BLOWN AWAY

Out past the trees there is nothing to burn
Just an empty gas sttion
Left to me in a will
Just a plate of bone china and plenty of salt for the wounds

At night there are voices
By the old station house
They come from an angel with a kerosene tongue
She says: "There is trouble,
A trouble no one can name"
She says: "Help is too late
Wehn the memory doesn't remain"

Blown down the wind
Let the trouble begin
Get blown away
Never look back again

Down on the troubled wind
Down on the troubled wind

You can come on the nightbus and spend a few days
You can set some explosions and fall asleep in this bed
But I know that you won't stay with hundreds of miles to go
Trouble has no friends when trouble needs somewhere to go

Blow down the wind
Let the trouble begin.

7. NOTHING IS A STRANGER

Spent another season in the valley of the bones
But higher ground was callin', callin' me back home
109 answers to 110 proofs
Back up to my bed o' nails and my leakin' roof

Hold me sober and hold me still
Hold my past up against my will
Nothing's wrong when your head is gone
Nothing is a stranger to me now

All that good behavior
I knew it wouldn't last
At the funeral of fossils
I buried up the past
But just like I predicted
The past came jumping up
Jumped up like a devil
Who had finally seen enough

Saw a lighthouse in the wheatfield where I drove off the road
But when I got there, there ws nothing but darkness in a hole
And down inside I saw my favorite place
Furniture all busted and the arson on her face

Nothing is a stranger to me
Nothing is a stranger to me
Nothing is a stranger to me now.

8. LET'S BURN DOWN THE CORNFIELD

9. RIVER BLOOD

Highwater is everywhere
Highwater is telling me to go
There's poison in the course it runs
There's ashes from the factory on the hill

Watch it all fall down
From the mountain to the ground
Watch it all say no
River Blood
Oh River Blood
I've always found that river

Test my grip and then I'm sure you will believe
That I cannot let go
I live on fruit I have preserved
In mason jars beneath the basement floor

Watch it all fall down
From the mountain to the ground
Watch it all say no
River Blood
Oh River Blood
I've always found that river

These walls are covered in black bullet holes
And each one has a christian name
One's my father, one's my son
I stick my fingers in to prove their real

River Blood
Oh River Blood.

10. TRAIN TO MERCY

Last time that I saw you
Your were on the killing floor
Last time that I saw you
All the tears had turned to day

Still I haven't panicked
Come and pull the stitches light
No room for the panic
Come and pull the stitches light

There is a late train to Mercy
but I hope it never comes
There is a late train to Mercy
But I hope it never comes

Well it moves like winter
It moves with brute force
Well it moves like winter
Leaves an empire in its course

Heard the brakeman holler:
"Cannot slow it down"
Heard the brakeman holler:
"Cannot slow it down"

Help me poor Melissa
Hide the hope behind your door
Help me poor Melissa
Put the hope into your trust

Is the whole world big enough
For the bitter and the sweet?
Is the whole world big enough
For the bitter and the sweet?

There is a late train to Mercy
But I hope it never comes
There is a late train to Mercy
But I hope it never comes.

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