THE WALKABOUTS

THE WALKABOUTS

SETTING THE WOODS ON FIRE (1994)

  1. Good Luck Morning
  2. Firetrap
  3. Bordertown
  4. Feeling No Pain
  5. Old Crow
  6. Almost Wisdom
  7. Sand & Gravel
  8. Nightdrive
  9. Hole In The Mountain
10. Pass Me On Over
11. Up In The Graveyard
12. Promised

THE WALKABOUTS

SETTING THE WOODS ON FIRE

1. GOOD LUCK MORNING

Maybe you should disappear,
And now I've warned you so.
Bury your clothes out in the woods,
And hide your letters 'neath the stove.
There's a big house down in Wilkeson,
where you can dance on tabletops.
There's a card room in the back,
where you can dance on tabletops.

You'd better light a fire, underneath yourself,
You'd better light a fire, right here where it counts,
You'd better light a fire, you'd best believe the warning,
You'd better light a fire, this is your good luck morning.

Take my savings and my ring
And buy yourself somethin' to wear.
The bus rolls out of here at five,
They'll still be up when you get there.

Say hello to them in Wilkeson and tell 'em that I'll be back soon.
I know you'll do alright in Wilkeson, you tell 'em that I'll be back soon.

You'd better light a fire, underneath yourself,
You'd better light a fire, right here where it counts,
You'd better light a fire, you'd best believe the warning,
You'd better light a fire, this is your good luck morning.

You'd better light a fire, underneath yourself,
You'd better light a fire, right here where it counts,
You'd better light a fire, you'd best believe the warning,
You'd better light a fire, this is your good luck morning.

This is your good luck day,
This is your good luck charm,
They'll try to do you right,
Won't ever do you harm,
You'd better light a fire, you'd best believe the warning,
You'd better light a fire, this is your good luck.

2. FIRETRAP

Come back in the winter,
Won't steal away too long.
And when I'm back I'll set it all ablaze.
Got Jesus in my pocket
And matches in my coat.
I won't have to work alone this time.

From the trees upon the hill top,
I'll watch the old house close.
You can guard your back but my patience will be endless.
And all your stiff-jaw quiet, won't conceal what you have done.
You warned us all to sell or pay the price.

Now I wanna burn, I wanna burn,
Not only you can burn.

The newspaper and TV fools came trudging 'cross our fields.
Said the shots that killed my brother came from his own hand.
But that don't explain the tire tracks that came down from your house.
To make it look like suicide had always been your plan.

Now I wanna burn, I wanna burn,
Not only you can burn.
I wanna burn this signal fire, I wanna burn this firetrap,
Not only you can burn.
And it belongs to me now,
Right or wrong,

I'll come back in the winter,
On a trail of no remorse.
And my footprints will get covered by the frozen snow.
And no one in your family, will talk of me again.
Flames will die, and silence will return.

Now I wanna burn, I wanna burn,
Not only you can burn.
I wanna burn this signal fire, I wanna burn this firetrap,
Not only you can burn.
And it belongs to me now,
Right or wrong.
And it belongs to me now,
Right or wrong.

3. BORDERTOWN

I can sleep it off,
Sleep it back to sleep,
I can be most anything I want.
A long way from the shade,
The north side of the moon.
Down here only rich men lose their shirts.

And John Law wakes to sweep,
The morning off the street,
But no one cares if he has done his job.
And postcards never came,
From race tracks by the sea.
From a gambler who says: "You are still my lucky thing."

Bordertown,
There's been an accident in Bordertown.
Bordertown,
I am your accident in Bordertown.

Coyotes stirs the drinks,
And drives his stolen jeep,
And drives the kingsnake to its happy hole.
But I stand in the clear,
The only place he fears,
The only place he's never seen me stand.

Bordertown,
There's been an accident in Bordertown.
Bordertown,
I am your accident in Bordertown.

There ain't no seasons here,
But the freezin' still appears,
Everytime I call this home.
Can't be enough alone.

I can sleep it off,
Sleep it back to sleep,
I can be most anything I want.
A long way from the shade,
The north side of the moon.
Down here only taxi drivers know my name.

4. FEELING NO PAIN

Will you crash the engine of our ruin?
Who'll spill the flat cars of our shame?

I'm beat up tired from always doin',
What I shoulda done in the first place.

You can call in sick, no need to fear the morning.
You will drink by numbers, I will drink by faith.
The stairs are crashin', so is all the danger.
Shoulda took a breath, but I's too drunk to wait.

Can you still prescribe,
The remedies and lies,
'Til we feel no pain?
'Til we all have risen.
'Til we all have risen.

Porchlights shattered, but the veins still glow here.
Met you in a bar, out by the switchin' yard.
My best attempts, can only knock you down here.
You should wear this badge, or wear nothin' at all.

Can we reconcile,
The bottom of the pile,
'Til the poison tastes good?
'Til we all have risen.
'Til we all have risen.

Can you help explain,
The senseless and the vain,
'Til the vial's empty?
Can you still prescribe,
The remedies and lies,
'Til we feel no pain?
'Til we all have risen.
'Til we all have risen.
'Til we all have risen.
'Til we all have risen.

Will you crash the engine of our ruin?
Will you give me up to feel no pain?

5. OLD CROW

Now all of us knew Old Crow as the patron drinker's curse.
He paced along the barstools, beggin' quarters for his thirst.
Nobody knew where he came from,
And nobody cared to ask.

Then along came Billy Sunday, tellin' stories 'bout the past.
He said Crow had stole some gold and sunk it in the lake,
Held down by cement blocks in a broken apple crate.
Billy said it came from the murdered father of the bride.
Crow had worked their orchard land, until the night he did his crime.

Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.

Night heat chokes the valley,
Hiss of anger travels far.
A door is slammed, somebody's drunk,
The daughter jumps in Billy's car.

Speedin' down the driveway,
Outside her father bleeds and prays.
Old Crow is in the shadows,
As Billy Sunday gets away.

Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.

Gave Old Crow a quarter, asked him if he was the man.
That Billy Sunday said he was, and Old Crow grabbed my hand.
Said: "I loved that Orchard girl and to protect her I have lied."
Now Billy Sunday owns the truth.
'Cause Billy Sunday robbed it blind.

Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.

Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.
Old Crow lied.

6. ALMOST WISDOM

Got an earthquake shack near Elbe. Got a garden of dyin' cars.
Covered up deep in the mud of the powerline road.

And at night I can hear the lockjaw,
And the swagger of the devil's tongue.
Comin' on down from the wires of the powerline road.

Sayin' that tomorrow's just a cheap shot at today.
And that we've gone beyond our reckoning.
And if we don't face the troubles now, our families will betray.
And that's the one good reason left to give.
And it's almost wisdom.

Geneva took the kids back home,
Never heard from her again.
That's back when I worked all them 12-hour days.
Now I idle here wickedly, right through the thick and thin.
Never to believe what I cannot live.

Knowin' that tomorrow's just a cheap-shot at today,
And that we've gone beyond our reckoning.
And if we don't face the troubles now, our families will betray.
They'll take the one good reason left to give.

I was drunk on her suspicions,
And a fifth of Early Times.
I went down into Elbe just to pick a fight.
And there behind the laundry house, was Geneva in a car
She opened the front door and shouted to the night.

Shouted that tomorrow is the last chance for today.
Shouted soon we'll have our reckoning.
Shouted that the trouble here leaves us nothin' to betray.
And nothin' is the one thing left to give.
And it's almost wisdom.
Almost wisdom.
Almost wisdom.
Almost wisdom.

7. SAND & GRAVEL

The sky is always heavy here,
And the mules they roam in packs.
And the skulls we dragged from waterholes,
By the woodshed in a stack.

And fear don't ever come out alone.
And the bad moon flies by night.
And the choices made won't come again.
'Cause the first choice wasn't right.

No time for me to wash,
The sand & gravel.

Downwinders, we still watch the sky.
And each cloud has a name.
Thunderhead & casket face.
Keep your head on, don't breathe.

The hills will slowly cover you,
'Til their blessings are disguised.
And the choices made will travel home.
Leaving all their junk behind.

No time for me to wash,
The sand & gravel.

Got bags of ash and worry stones,
Buried by the fence.
And some Army water from a can,
Left over from the tests.

The great unwashed is out my door,
And it will lose you in a pinch.
And now that sorry don't mean spit.
I have memorized each inch.

No time for me to wash,
The sand & gravel here.

8. NIGHTDRIVE

Check the main road one more time.
Check the main road but I'm sure that you will find.

It is late and closin' down.
There are lights out there but they do not seem close.

Take these long knives for the ride.
One for every day we missed.
Cut it deep, then cut it wide.
'Til the blood runs clear.
On the night drive.

Lizards blinded by the center line.
Lava black, let mystery take its own sweet time.

Grab the antenna and hold it tight.
Turn it 'round til you find somethin' we can sing.

Take these long knives for the ride.
One for every day we missed.
Cut it deep, then cut it wide.
'Til the blood runs clear.
On the night drive.
On the night drive.

If we don't move, then we can never scar.
If we don't regret, it means we never pushed this far.
Cut it deep, then cut it wide.
'Til the blood runs clear.
On the night drive.
On the night drive.
On the night drive...

9. HOLE IN THE MOUNTAIN

Carved your name on the numbering hill,
Now it looks on the town with the promise to kill everything.
We lit this valley with atomic power,
But the lights went down in the closing hour yesterday.

And ghosty Bonny spins atop her grave.
Sayin' we had better save what we can save.

Oh no,
Oh no, hole in the mountain.

No this ain't the end of the world.
But I'm sure you'll find it waitin' its turn close to here.
All that's left is the salvage we brought,
Soon we won't recognize the things that we got, close to here.

And ghosty Bonny spins atop her grave.
Sayin' we had better save what we can save.

Oh no,
Oh no, hole in the mountain.

Send the storm kings across the flat.
Take it back while there's somethin' to take back.
Shake the cans 'til the crows go flyin'.
Bedlam's breakin' but that won't stop us from tryin'.

Hole in the mountain.
Oh no,
Oh no, hole in the mountain.

10. PASS ME ON OVER

Lead you over to the water,
Said "Hold it down until it does not breathe."
Tried drowning it on dry land for too long,
But it was not supposed to be.
This recklessness might kill you,
But I know you would miss it if it died.
This recklessness is not a curse,
It's just the old convictions runnin' out of time.

Pass me on over,
Let it pass me by.
We'll keep on movin',
Leave this shit behind.
Take all our money,
but ya know we'll never quit.
Pass me on over,
But don't pass,
Me back to this.

Birds on empty watertowers,
Owned it all but did not own a thing.
Prisoners of dry land for to long,
Until only our love remained.
By this river, we laugh loud
And leave for dead what we cannot explain.
Head out to the hiding place,
Covered in the strong arms of the aspen trees.

Pass me on over,
Let it pass me by.
We'll keep on movin',
Leave this shit behind.
Take all our money,
but ya know we'll never quit.
Pass me on over,
But don't pass,
Me back to this.

11. UP IN THE GRAVEYARD

The graveyard sits by the Prescott mill.
Where my old man lost his arm,
And for that I was ready to kill.
But he just looked tired,
And said: "Don't bury me near that place."

When he finally died
I was in the desert war.
But no one makes a funeral wait,
So they dressed him up in his wedding clothes,
And buried him by the mill,
In the place he said he'd never stay.

All you gotta do, is look around.
You can change the darkness
Into somethin' proud.
But up in the graveyard,
Some things never change.

Came back stateside,
Tried to set things right.
Drove out to the graveyard,
Underneath a half-moon sky.
With a pick and a shovel
I started turning over stones.

Just past midnight
I got cornered by some lights.
Two sirens howlin',
Patrol cars coming down from both sides.
The sheriff put on the handcuffs.
Said: "A night in jail will cool your head."

All you gotta do, is look around.
You can change the darkness
Into somethin' proud.
But up in the graveyard,
Some things never change.

Now he still lies 'neath the mill fire smoke.
A good man to his well-made bed,
Another ten, just ready to go.
But the ground there don't rest easy,
'Cause he won't let it rest that way.

You can bury deep, but you won't forget.
A heart will never leave you alone,
Even if you want to be left,
Up in the graveyard
Where some things never change.

All you gotta do, is look around.
You can change the darkness
Into somethin' proud.
But up in the graveyard,
Some things never change.

Some things never change.
Some things never change.
Some things never change.

12. PROMISED

Promise me my soul to keep.
And promise me you'll never sleep.
And promise me that when it's over,
We will drink the whole world sober.

Promise me that lines get drawn.
Point no point to wish me well.
Promise me there's no denying,
And you will stop to wish me well.

Oh promise me.

Promise me it'll all get done.
And a lion's share of good will last.
Promise me you'll turn away first,
And promise me you won't turn back.

For all the years we kept on trying,
It wasn't 'cause we were scared to quit.
Promise me there'll be no pity,
And promise me there'll be safer bets.

Oh promise me
You won't make these promises.

With calloused hands we forged this hammer,
Broke these rocks into equal parts.
Sent the sparks, flyin' off the handle.
Asked for nothing, but delivered much.

Never were the main event,
Always played the sideshow tent.
The drunken cowards came to look us over.
Can you promise we did not belong there?

Oh promise me
You won't make these promises.

Promise me the best you know.
And promise me you'll break down slow.
And when you find the nerve to quit,
Pass it 'round and we'll share in it

There is somethin' cruel about this,
But I know hopeful it's not far behind.
What was unknown just hours ago,
Is now the killer with the angel's eye.

Oh promise me.
Oh promise me.

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