Southern Amusement 1928
Gospel Daddy
Singin’ ‘cause I kiss alright
you got to know it, baby,
almost every night
I say now come to me
I’m your gospel daddy
I’ll stay on your scene
you got to know it
like a skinny, white Al Green
singin’ come to me
I’m your gospel daddy
Pastoral Insomnia
(Previously titled: Broken Lullaby)
Where on Earth is
my little sheep-counter now?
I haven’t slept
in countless hours.
She said, “Now, one, two
baby, for you, and
three, four,
here comes a couple more.”
P-Farm Girl
Saw an angel in an orange vest
on the shoulder of the road
her diamond eyes they sparkled
and her raven hair it flowed
I went on up to tell her
though I knew she prob’ly knowed
“You’re the prettiest thing
that I have seen between here
and Pritchard Road”
Rosebud Matches
Gonna tell you one time, pretty baby
Just so you c’ain’t say you ain’t been told
Coming through your room just like Boo Radley
Bustin’ up your chifforobe
You keep coming back to me in pretty little flashes
I’m just Phillip’s kerosene and
You are a box of rosebud matches
Retablo
Thursday last I was down
in the bottom of a well
in a faithless town, face down
I had a 40 foot head start
on gettin’ to hell
but you were there, I could tell
Middle Distance
All the stream that pulls me in is there and gone again
All the plans to make you mine, the unrest all down the line
Least I’m consistent
Is there something out there in the middle distance
Can’t Do Nuthin’ ‘Bout That Now (Let’s Get Tore Up) (The Walmart Song )
Well your daddy he won’t own you
And he’s cast you out to wander ‘neath the stars
It all may be comin’ back to haunt you
And you’ve already swum among the bars
And you cain’t do nothin’ ‘bout that now
You Got Somebody
You got somebody
Washing your forks and your spoons
You got somebody curlin’ them curls
You’re just like $10,000 laying out on a plate
And I’m just a poor little boy from down the state
And I’m just a poor little boy from down the state
Southern Amusement
Had a girl the name of Evelyn Newman
Her house was strict but her camellias
Was steady blooming, Georgia blooming
She had me dying, but I was trying not to look it
My breath went willingly, as she took it,
As she took it
Bachelor’s Showplace
Well the note read, “you’re leaving town
You’ll be sleeping at your momma’s
When the sun goes down”
And the right words were all she chose
They were just some simple thoughts
But they were so profound
Ducking Francine
Some dinner plates broke
the sun awoke
a waitress in a flowered apron
walked into the scene
She was spoken for
I held the door,
the radio played
Charles Aznavour
It was surreal
not serene
30th Birthday Song
Well, now six months without a drink
And my thoughts have turned to thinking
How I’d trade in all my chips
For just one day of 29
Momma check your math
While I draw my birthday bath
The wheat’s off the chaff
‘cause I’m thiry years old today
Rosebud Matches
Gonna tell you one time, pretty baby
Just so you c’ain’t say you ain’t been told
Coming through your room just like Boo Radley
Bustin’ up your chifforobe
You keep coming back to me in pretty little flashes
I’m just Phillip’s kerosene and
You are a box a Rosebud matches
Your Heart’s a Jumble
Your heart’s a jumble, baby, now
You got me figgrin’ it out
I don’t know why I pray for Sunday
Hopin’ I’ll get some peace
‘Round this house
Bring Your Girl a Tangerine
Get your ass out in the yard
might not last long
or get you far
reach a ladder into the green
bring your girl a tangerine
French in Action
Well you’re prettier than Murielle
I’m more rugged than Robert
You’re on your 28th Galoises
I’m down to my last Flaubert
I spent the whole last semester
With my heart in emotional traction
Your Heart’s a Jumble
Your heart’s a jumble, baby, now.
You got me figgrin’ it out.
I don’t know why I pray for Sunday
hoping I’ll get some peace
’round this house.