intentional love song 16: everything runs down, everything runs away

[[ from a photo of Appalachia in the paper ]]

everything runs away

down this valley

everything runs away

the railway follows on one side

the highway holds to the other

the river flows in between them

down to the sea

everything runs down,

everything runs away

everything runs down, runs

down to the sea

there's even a mist on the river

who put that mist in the air?

as if someone drew it that way

knew I would need to go

knew I would need to stay

I could take a photograph of you

steal a photograph of you away

I could take a photograph of you

maybe give it back another day

I know there is nothing up above us

but a sky full of chance and blame

I know there is nothing up above us

but people like to give chance a name

Don't say you're going to turn it round

and make it like it was back then

Might as well pull all those trains back up the hill

and push that river back up the valley again

everything runs down,

everything runs away

everything runs down, runs

down to the sea

what do you see in the dark?

[[ Mine work, mine family.  ]]

daddy comes up 

from working the mine

black as sin

mama goes to him 

and strips him and 

scours his skin

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

daddy works nights 

and comes out of the ground  

with the sun

mama feeds daddy

then says come to bed,

your day's done

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

Gone to Ontario

[[ Two brothers on opposite sides of the American civil war head up to a remote part of Canada for the duration. ]]

I would not raise a gun to my brother 

for the whole of the damned USA

so we're both heading up to Ontario

and keep each other out of harm's way

We will walk across the river at Niagara

where they've slung up the new suspension bridge

we'll ride out on the Great Western Railway

into the wilderness.

Maybe we'll live side by side with the Ojibwe.

Maybe we'll live on our own

Maybe we'll live on a boat on the bay

But I promise we'll live, 

and when the war ends, 

I promise we'll live and come home.

We could marry some girls of the wilderness

We could send off for brides in the mail

We could settle in the middle of nothing 

Or open an inn on the trail

Met a man said a place they call Lion's Head

Is half way between Equator and Pole
I think that's where we'll climb the escarpment
And watch the stars roll

Devil in the Detail

[[ A blues song about the actualities of figuratively selling your soul. The devil is an empty belly. ]]

There was a man selling whisky.

There was a man selling cigarettes.

There was a man selling fast cars.

There was a man handing out regrets, handing out regrets.

And what did I have?

I had these fingers.

I had this voice.

I had this guitar.

I had no choice.

There was a girl from across the roadway.

There was a woman in a dark saloon.

There was a woman consumed my heart

Under the moon, under the moon, under the moon.

And what did I have?

I had these fingers.

I had this voice.

I had this guitar.

I had no choice.

The devil is an empty belly.

The devil is sleeping on the floor.

The devil is working enough to get by.

The devil is being poor.

And what did I have?

I had these fingers.

I had this voice.

I had this guitar.

I had no choice.

There's a devil at the crossroads,
at every intersection,

when you leave home forever behind.

And if you find a Jesus,
if you ever find a Jesus,

you will find him in your bread and wine.

cold

She caught a cold,

became a cancer.

Vitamin C 

was not the answer.

She didn't know.

She thought: a cold.

You wait it out,

you don't grow old.

She caught a cold,

a little sniff

(it was always cancer,

poor little stiff).

It comes upon you

from underneath,

gets a taste for you,

then bares its teeth.

It eats you up.

It scares you

down to the ground.

It rests awhile,

it breathes and

leans back to digest.

And then

it eats you alive.

She caught a cold,

She sipped a cold remedy,

But her boat was out

on a far bigger sea.

what god

What God has sent us

is not a pestilence or plague, 

is not the water rushing in like a wall.

What God has sent us

is not a pestilence or plague, 

is not the water rushing in like a wall.

What God has sent us

is nothing,

nothing at all.

What God has sent us

is not swarms of biting insects,

is not a plague of vile things that crawl.

What God has sent us

is not swarms of biting insects,

is not a plague of vile things that crawl.

What God has sent us

is nothing,

nothing at all.

Dear God. if you must,

even send us your agony,

take from us the first child we bare.

But dear God, have mercy,

if we share in your agony,  

make it a clear sign you are there.

What God has sent us

is not the worm in the garden,

is not the temptation and the fall.

What God has sent us

is not the worm in the garden, 

is not the temptation and the fall.

What God has sent us

is nothing,

nothing at all.

Dear God. if you must,

even send us your agony,

take from us the first child we bare.

But dear God, have mercy;

if we share in your agony,  

make it a clear sign you are there.

Orion & the Seven Sisters

[[ I think that's it. I thought about adding more. But that's enough. It's a longing song. You could sing the chorus again at the end. ]]

1.

She has lived all the seven sins 

on the seven seas

but shipwrecked herself
in the Far Ambiguities

Stranded herself between 

the one and the other,

she's married a stranger,

run off with his brother,

then walked out on him 

in the middle of a ham and cheese.

2. 

She has places to be, and men 

tend to hold a girl down

So she stands in the door after dark 

in her slippers and gown. 

She already knows 

she'll be gone before Christmas 

She just needs a night 

when there won't be a witness

Except for the stars that are rising up

over the town.

Chorus

When the cold days come

and Orion is hung 

in the sky

When the birds have flown

and no one is home

in the night

She will go with the hunter 

a sword on his belt

They will chase the seven sisters 

until time runs out

They will chase across the sky 

until time runs out

Kentucky Air

[v1]

Six days a week,

ten hours a day,

under the State of Kentucky

earning my pay.

[v2]

Half a mile under,

you're forced to crawl;

first you feel new muscles growing,

then nothing at all.

[stuff in the middle]

The deeper

I go I am

the closer

to hell I am

the closer

to hell I am

the farther

from you I am

the farther

from you

[v3]

Stand in this cage

and fall through the black.

Ride all the way to the bottom

and hope I come back.

[v4]

Some men might mind,

but I don't care

long as I know you will wait in

this Kentucky air.

[[ The first couple of stanzas are the typical coal miner's life, according to an interview with a miner. Six days a week, 10-hour shifts, hunched, different muscles, etc.

The rest is a story. He loves her and the cool air.

]]

A spirit coiled (the mocking ghost)

[[ this one began with something real -- Diplacusis dysharmonica, Diplacusis echoica -- and turned into a spirit walking at night in my peripheral hearing and mocking me, and this became a song to be sung with chants and drums and a chorus of mocking spirits]]

[the predicament of the soul]
A spirit coiled
in the curl
of my ear

talks to me
like a lurker
in the other room

I cannot tell
above the wind
that whistles by

Is this the me
who's talking? Whose
tongue is this?

My mind or spi
rit coiled within
my inner ear?

Whose tongue is curled
in my left ear?
Come out now!

[one explanation of the soul's predicament]
They say
the mocking ghost
will walk your words
back home.

They say
the mocking ghost
will turn your tale
around.

They say
the mocking ghost
will live in your
left ear.

[chant of the mocking ghost in insect voices]
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost

[wonderment from within]
My mind
or flight of birds?

My mind
or branches aching?

My mind
or not my mind?

[another explanation of the soul's predicament]

They say 

the mocking ghost
will show
another you.

They say
the mocking ghost
will bend the light
round you.

They say
the mocking ghost
will live in your
left ear.

[chant of the mocking ghost in insect voices]
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost

Whisky, whores, and gold (fuck this town)

[[ is it a Broadway song or a country song or a folk song? ]] 

Why should a man 

dig potatoes 

all day 

in these fields,

when there's gold 

to be dug 

from the ground? 

Why should a man 

hitch his wagon 

to the neighbor's 

pale girl,

when he could swing

a new dancer 

each night?

Why should a man 

grind out his life

in these 

four square walls,

when he could ride 

a straight line

till he's gone?

Why should a man

spend his days

signing checks

in this town,

when he could go

give a mountain

his name?

[[ first the noble-sounding stuff... ]] 

Ride 

with the morning behind you

Ride 

with the night in your eyes

Die 

with the stars rolling over your bones, but

Live

under infinite skies

[[ ...but then cut to the truth ]]

Course there's gold and whores and whisky,

Whores and whisky and gold.
Wouldn't want a girl to miss me

Wouldn't be a man to be told

All I want is whores and whisky

Give me whisky and whores
And gold.

I'm going out west, 

Cause fuck this town.

I will strike a match

I will burn it down

Fuck the thirteen colonies

Right from Maine on down

Fuck every city 
to the Mississippi

But, most of all, 
fuck this town.

I can't say I'm not going to miss you

I can't say I won't look around

But I can't stay another damned minute

Or I swear I will burn this place down

This highway

1st gear:
This highway snakes
through dark and day
before heading to town.

Look in its eyes,
you forget your way,
where you were going.

2nd gear:

Some towns, this highway
runs right through and cuts them in half.

Some towns, this highway
abandons and leaves them to wither.

How would you rather die?
Split down the middle?
Or missed all together?

3rd gear:
This town, the highway
just rolled over smooth.

This town isn't even
a sign in the wilderness anymore.

This town, the highway
punched a hole through and let out all the air.

4th gear:

This town, it tunnels under
This town, it wraps around
It squeezes the last living breath right out of this town

2nd gear:

Some towns...

1st gear:

This highway snakes...

[[ instrumental up to... ]]

5th gear:

Check your mirror:
the highway you follow
follows you.

[[ New highways kill a town two ways -- they run right through it and take everything away, or they go around it so no one ever bothers driving through that town anymore. Either way, the town dies. ]]

Five-and-Dime

Verse 1:
Here comes the river,
taking a new way,
way she never took before.
Old mother river
looks in my window.
Old mother pounding at my door.

Chorus:
There's a reason
(there is a reason)
put that cemetery on a hill.
This river
(old mother river)
she will never have her fill.

Verse 2:
Here comes the next town,
tumbling down river,
one lost shoe at a time.
One empty beer can,
one bent umbrella,
then the whole whirling five-and-dime.

rain on the mountains

[[verse 1]]

I am come down from the mountains...

Mountains, rumble in my blood
I'll break the bank
in every town
along the way

I am the flood (I am the flood)
And I will wash
(And I will wash)
wash you all away

[[verse 2]]

I am come down from the heavens...

Rivers, gather in my heart
We'll break the back
of every doubt
we meet today

Before we tear this world apart
And I will wash
(And I will wash)
wash you all away


[[verse 3]]

I am the bolt from the blue...

I am the answer to no prayer
You will be struck
before your ears
can hear my thunder

I am plucked out of the air
To lift all boats
(To lift all boats)
or send them under

[[refrain]]

Do you know how far
this rain has fallen?
Do you know how far
this river has run?

Do you know this sun
will burn it all away?
Do you know this rain...
will come again?

[[fade]]

||: ||: rain on the mountains :|| x3
there's a flood coming down :|| xX

[[This one is Flood personified -- the "I" is the flood and storm and so on. It's secular gospel, with plenty of room left for a religious interpretation if that's what you wanted to do with it, though the religion in question could as easily be Zeus & Co.]]

I took a train

A1.
I took a train (she took a train)
because I could not stand a plane
(she took a train) I took a train
because I just refuse to use an automobile.

A2.
I took a train (she took a train)
the time and place, I am not sayin'
(she took a train) I took a train
I think I dreamed through Mississippi with Lucille.

A3.
I took a train (she took a train)
I do not think it has a name
(she took a train) I took a train
I cannot say this train is actually really real.

B1.
I took a train (she took a train)
To see America once again
To see America
eye to eye
one more day

C1.
There's no conductor on the train
No sacks of mail, just pouring rain
Washing the outside world away

C2.
How far we'll go, I could not say
This train is burning yesterday
This train is burning yesterday

B2.
Get a drink at the bar
And from the observation car
I see America
city by city
fade away

I see America
city by city [town by town, field by field, depending on how many times we've sung this thing]
fade away

etc.

[[

I hope the song works regardless of anything you know beforehand, but the plan is:

1. It's a train song, but a train on no real line. Lucille is and isn't B.B. King's guitar. This train got the disappeared railroad blues, which is why it's got no conductors or mail, and it's burning yesterday.

2. Maybe "he" or "she" makes little difference to the song (except for slight possible implications about Lucille), but it might be interesting to think of Gladys Knight (and the Pips singing "she...") in a duet with... Willie Nelson? Ha! Midnight Train to New Orleans. Or maybe this should be a Bonnie Raitt song.

2. The Pips are parenthetical (woo! woo!), as in https://genius.com/Gladys-knight-and-the-pips-midnight-train-to-georgia-lyrics  

This is not a script for a video, but if it were, imagine we picked up Willie and friends along the way, let him sing his piece (Cx) with or without Gladys as we take the train through middle America, drop him off, and then let Gladys and Co. have that drink (B2) as the train heads into the sunset and for the coast.

I don't know whether she's leaving America behind or America itself is fading away or both or whether it's all a simple bottle of nostalgia and silliness. If it was a video, they would be at the back of a train heading west, in an ornate observation car watching the setting sun shine on America before it heads over the Pacific... ]]