1. |
Nothing but Stars
03:49
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Down the road from Parson's Mill
came the bastard boy from the brindle hills
Eyes as dark as a blackbird's wing
song in his heart like a rainy spring
She was the parson's pride and joy
caught the blackbird eye of the bastard boy
She said, "I swore an oath I would not yield;
My heart will stay a fallow field.
So stand your ground
or go your way
Should you turn around:
Nothing but stars in the Jackpine wind
Blowing the blackbirds home again
Nothing but stars in the Jackpine wind
Nothing but stars.
Said the bastard boy with the blackbird eye,
"I call your oath a flock of lies, and if for love you will not yield,
I'll be a scarecrow in that fallow field."
Summer's flown, the year's grown old.
The fallow field has turned to gold
Black-eyed crows, they rise as one
A scarecrow's work is never done!
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2. |
Mason Jar
03:02
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Mason Jar, Mason jar
the Milky Way is full of stars
The lid spun off, they filled the air
What all can you fit in there?
Mason jar, Mason jar,
Yerba santa, Scotch Pine tar
Ginger tea, a pint to share
No sign of trouble anywhere.
Save for me the way I feel
Sweet green water at the quarry fill
Rays of light through the sentinel pines
Mud in my toes, sun in my eyes,
Mud in my toes, sun in my eyes.
Mason jar, Mason jar
The nickel I got won't get me far
Gypsy rug, rise under me!
Wherever I is or ain't, I'm free!
Save the Autumn leaves for me
A lawn chair under a Chinquapin tree
Save my sweetheart's smile in there
And the smell of this smoky mountain air
Smell of this smoky mountain air.
Mason jar, Mason jar
The Milky Way is full of stars
The lid spun off, they filled the air
What all can you fit in there?
Porcupine needles, Madder root
Abalone buttons, strings for my shoes
Marbles in my head, my big red heart
All together in a Mason jar.
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3. |
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Come and listen, you fellows so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in the dark, dreary mines
It will form as a habit, seep in your soul
'Til the blood in your veins runs black as the coal.
There's many a man that I've known in my day
Who'll live just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope, or a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mines.
It's dark as a dungeon, damp as the dew
Where the danger is double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines.
The morning, the evening or the middle of the day
Is the same to the miner laboring away.
Where the demons of that death often come by surprise
One fall of the slate and you're buried alive.
Well, I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal.
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And I'll pity the miners digging my bones.
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4. |
Jump Up, Little Children
04:33
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It was the time of year when the hurricane blows
Lift the baby from the cradle, lay the steeple low
Lust grabbed his heart like a fist of steel
Rolled him over the edge like a Catherine Wheel.
When the hunter's moon rose over the farm
He thought he'd take that girl out back of the barn
But by the time the moon went over the ridge
He was swinging in the moonlight under the bridge.
Jump up, little children, yes, yes, yes!
Have you heard the news about Typhoon Ted?
Lonely ghost rider from the Book of the Dead.
Last I heard he was in defeat
with the army of souls down on Azusa Street.
Well, it may well be that when they crack the seal
He'll be hanging out in the city on the hill,
But I suspect that when the rapture falls
He'll have a candle and a spoon at the dark end of the hall.
Jump up, little children, yes, yes, yes!
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5. |
Cicada
03:28
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Cicada
Cicada
Floating on the shimmering air
wings of isinglass
the ground is broken open
where you have left the past
Cicada
Cicada
Slipping off the coat you wore
in the longest night
Blind and silent nevermore -
The world tilts in your ruby eye
Cicada
Cicada
Cicada, sing a silver wire
Mineralize the air
Mute, you dreamt it underground
Now you let it flare!
Cicada
Cicada
Cicada with your jeweled eyes
Let me in your thoughts!
Can you look straight at the sun
And see what we cannot?
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Springhouse California
Music from the Americana Borderlands - from artsong to the roadhouse and places in between:
Chris Kee and Jane
Selkye met in the San Francisco band Me Jane, and have played with David Phillips in various
groups for the last twenty years.
... more
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