1. |
Islands in the sky
05:08
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On the trail down south to the San Pedro valley
On the path that leads down to the cottonwood groves
It’s too late to stay here - not time to tarry
Another page now in my journey's now closed
And high up above the Huachuca mountains
The blue peaks and canyons are risin so high
They are climbin up there from the dust of the desert
Those Islands in the sky
And some where out east in the hills around Tombstone
The veins of silver and gold could be found
That could turn a man’s mind in the hint of a second
That could make a man scratch out his days underground
By the shanties and huts there rose up a township
There were hookers and gamblers and men half insane
Til one day it witnessed a moment of gunfire
That told the whole world of its fame
And here up on Boot Hill the mesquite surrounding
With names on the headstones and neat piles of rock
Tell stories of lives there snuffed out in an instant
Where justice did not need a judge or a dock
The men they don’t change by the San Pedro river
The years they’re strung out like the clothes on a line
They’ve swapped all their horses for flat bed Ford pickups
They take out their guns and they shoot up the sign
That says ‘please preserve peace by the San Pedro waters’
Beneath the Islands in the sky
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2. |
Rolling back the Years
03:26
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We are rollin’ down the highway from Denver to Tucson
Through the Rockies, through the desert all beneath that burning sun
In our Chevvy with the top down, wind is howlin’ in our ears
We are rollin’ down the highway, and we are rollin’ back the years
And the raging Colorado in the canyon far below
It rolls right on down to the south so well
The mighty sky above us, and a mighty hole below
Like we’re staring down the very mouth of hell
As the morning sun climbs up the sky there ain’t nothin here that’s wrong
As we laugh and shout for joy and I sing out those country songs
And my hat’s just blown off from my head but I don’t shed no tears
Cos we’re rollin’ down the highway and we’re rollin’ back the years
And the good Lord up above me smilin’ down on what he’s done
He made this place for every mother’s son
The Colorado rolls right on until its race is run
At the California delta far away
Now the sun is sinking low down, Tucson city’s come and gone
As we roll on into Tombstone, where the devil’s work was done
Where the streets are full of memories you still smell the lawman’s fear
We are rollin’ down the highway, we’re still rollin’ back the years
And we’re standin’ here at Dead Horse Point, where the cowboys stood in awe
And we watch the blue horizon far away
Can I see a puff of smoke out there rise up into the sky
Or is it my imagination run away
We are rollin’ down the highway from Denver to Tucson
Through the Rockies, through the desert all beneath that burning sun
In our Chevvy with the top down, wind is howlin’ in our ears
We are rollin’ down the highway, and we’re rollin’ back the years
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3. |
I am suffering
05:02
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I am suffering Lord though I ain’t done no wrong
I am sufferin’ Lord - reached the end of my line
I am sufferin’’ Lord - I ain’t got a dime
Dear Lord I an’t done nothin’ wrong
They are blaming me Lord for the death of a man
They are blaming me Lord though it wasn’t by my hand
They are blaming me Lord - you gotta help me make a stand
Dear Lord I an’t done nothin’ wrong
And these prison walls they are mighty small
With my hands outstretched I can feel them all
I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear me call
And the judge he says I’m a’ gonna die
He says I’m guilty - and I’m a gonna fry
But I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear my call
I am bleedin’ Lord - these prison walls
Weigh heavy upon me - I can’t stand at all
Blood in my ears is rushin’ - I might fall
Dear Lord won’t you hear my call
I am drowning Lord - I can feel the water
Around my ears - i’m a lamb to the slaughter
I am drowning’ Lord - though I’ve lived just how I ought ta
Dear Lord I an’t down nothin’ wrong
And these prison walls they are mighty small
With my hands outstretched I can feel them all
I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear me call
And the judge he says I’m a’ gonna die
He says I’m guilty - so I’m a gonna fry
But I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear my call
So for one last time Lord take me in your care
Cos the hanging judge he won’t hear my prayer
And the devil's waitin’ to take me to his lair
But dear Lord I an’t done nothin’ wrong
And the hangman Lord is puttin’ his sack
Over my face dear Lord - I can’t make a sound
I am prayin’ you’ll take me to your holy ground
Though Lord I an’t done nothin’ wrong!
And these prison walls they are mighty small
With my hands outstretched I can feel them all
I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear me call
And the judge he says I’m a’ gonna die
He says I’m guilty - so I’m a gonna fry
But I’m an innocent man Lord - won’t you hear my call
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4. |
Bitter Winds
05:18
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As the desert highway stretches ever onward in the night
I can’t see a semi or a flat bed or a train
There aint nothin out here but the white line on the road
Tonight the snow is blowing in again
Bitter winds blowing south through the canyons
Bitter winds blowing south in my mind
Bitter winds blowing through my life and chill me to the bone
Bitter winds blow me far away from home
We talked and we talked and all our words were just the same
With us it was always just the other one to blame
Now we’re left with nothing but the rules of the game
And a road that leads to nowhere and the turnings all the same
Bitter winds blowing south through the canyons
Bitter winds blowing south in my mind
Bitter winds blowing through my life and chill me to the bone
Bitter winds blow me far away from home
And right now you can see me sleeping on the midnight train
A long lonely whistle blowing tells me of my pain
And the days they are falling one by one from the frame
In the hearth I light a fire - burn my heart, burn my name
And I’m left here with nothing cept the ash and the stain
And there aint nobody here but me to blame
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5. |
Red Hot Momma
04:48
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She’s a red hot momma in her dancing shoes
She’s a red hot momma but you gotta pay her dues
She’s a red hot momma when she puts on her dancing shoes
She don’t treat me right and she sure does give to me the blues
Well every night she goes out on the town
Everybody loves her evening gown
She’s a red hot momma but she sure makes me frown
Everybody loves her but she surely brings me down
With her little black dress and her long blonde hair
They’d all like to love her but they just don’t dare
Cos when a man he tries to much
She tells em straight that they can look not touch
She’s a red hot momma but you sure can’t take her on
She’s a red hot momma and she sure does do me wrong
She’s run me ragged she’s broke my nerve
She’s the kind of woman I just don’t deserve
She’s a red hot momma but she surely is bad news
She’s a red hot momma and she just gives me the blues......
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6. |
Billy and Yasmin
05:36
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Billy first met Yasmin somewhere out there in a war
Shot up township in the desert, found her hiding in the store
When their eyes they locked together, shook their bodies to the core
And they danced there in the ruins - never felt like that before...
Took her home to north Wisconsin to a little border town
Where the north winds cut like diamond drills and the darkness gets you down
While they still loved each other, when the winter days came round
Every one just like another, and no comfort could be found
One day Billy woke up early, found the bed already cold
Caught himself there in the mirror - saw a hard man growing old
Called her name but found her missing - fortune lost when dice were rolled
Took his pick up to the river - she’s gone out there he’d been told
Found her standing on the cliff edge by the Choctaw waterfall
Saying Billy I can’t go on - can’t believe that this is all
Still see you standing in the shadows of the ruins dark and tall
But that was long ago - sometimes I’m wishing that I’d never heard your call
Now the pick up’s moving southwards like a snowbird to the sun
Following the Mississippi - caught by the mighty river’s run
Yasmin in the cab with Billy - kinda new light in their eye
As the road rolls south forever - they’ll find their comfort by and by......
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7. |
So tired
04:52
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So tired - but I keep rolling on
I just sing my sad old song
Tonight no-one’s listening
Moon is low, frost is glistening
So tired, I keep rolling on
So long - time that I was gone
So long - I just travel on
Stretchin’ out - that old highway
Nobody’s going my way
So long - I’ll keep rolling on
Cross in the sky above me
Dark waters flow
False gods and fallen angels
Litter this road
No-one will pay what I am
No-one will pay what I am owed.
So tired - i’ve nowhere to hide
So long now I’m just gonna ride
Spent my whole life tryin’ to
Swim against the tide
So tired - i’ll just let it slide
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8. |
Take me on home
05:34
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Take me on down to the railway station
Take me away to the place that I was born
Take me on down to the railway station
It’s time for moving on
Oh put me down on that old platform
Oh put me down where the trains roll by
Oh put me down oh Lord please help me
I’ll be leaving’ by and by
As I roll out me thoughts are a tumblin’
That old caboose car - wheels are a rumblin’
Oh take me up so that I can be ridin’
Oh Lord wont you take me on home
Oh lift me up into that carriage
Oh lift me up - its time that I was gone
Oh lift me up into the carriage
So I can roll on home
For the downward line is where I’m a goin’
Through my childhood land is where we’re a rollin’
There’s thunder above like the Lord’s voice is callin’
Fixing for to carry me home
As I roll out me thoughts are a tumblin’
That old caboose car - wheels are a rumblin’
Oh take me up so that I can be ridin’
Oh Lord wont you take me on home
Inst
As I roll out me thoughts are a tumblin’
That old caboose car - wheels are a rumblin’
Oh take me up so that I can be ridin’
Oh Lord wont you take me on home
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9. |
Grunt
05:43
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10. |
The turning wheel
05:56
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Jimmy left last Christmas day he didn’t leave a note
he surely didn’t tell a mortal soul
He didn’t take his band of harps, he didn’t take his car
And it was Amy’s greenbacks that he stole
Working ten hours straight and working late into the night
To try to keep the hunger from the door
But Jimmy he tipped every last long dollar out that night
Only stopped to throw the nickels on the floor
Watching as that wheel turns round
To misery or fortune down there in the killing bowl
You’ll find that you can stop and you see those dollars drop
So slowly as they eat away your soul
When Jim and Amy married he promised on his life
He’d leave the cruel tables far behind
And give her all his wages and he’d quit the pain and strife
That drew the crazy circles in his mind
Till one night as the pit head wheel was turning one last time
With so much beer inside him he did steal
Down to the gaming room down there behind the 5 and dime
And lost his pay pack to the turning wheel
Now Jimmy’s standing way out here beside the harbour wall
Not noticing the waves crash far below
Not seeing as the lighthouse flashes out across the bay
As the rich mens yachts pass slowly as they go
And he curses at his fate and he knows that its too late
As he throws his gaming tickets in the tide
His back turned to his children and his back turned to his wife
As the little slips of paper sail and glide......
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11. |
Cottonwood Groves
04:32
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12. |
Killing the Blues
03:28
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Leaves were falling, just like embers,
In colors red and gold, they set us on fire
Burning just like moonbeams in our eyes.
[Chorus:]
Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues.
Now I'm guilty of something...
I hope you never do
Because there is nothing
Any sadder than losing yourself in love.
[Chorus]
And then you've ask me... just to leave you
To set out on my own
And get what I needed.
You want me to find what I've already had.
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13. |
A boy from Arkansas
03:30
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Blew in from highway 101 - I’m just a boy from Arkansas
Runnin from all I’ve ever done
I’ve never seen this place before
I just don’t know my life no more
I’d like to show to you a picture of my little boy
If you’d like to know I’ll tell you bout him
He weighs 230 lb - I’m proud to say he plays football
Lorelei was all I ever knew - we fit together like a foot and shoe
She said she’d would be my wife - we’d be together all our lives
But she was fixing for to go
Then I lay dreaming and I saw my lonely life in Arkansas
A pool of sweat and burning heat - I couldn’t sleep there in my bed
I stepped out to the night below where southern life it passed so slow
Knowin I never could return, and watched my life begin to burn
I sure do like you British guys - I like your heart I like your smile
The way you go that extra mile - leave what you think of me unsaid
Don’t judge me cos you know that nothin would be gained
Find some way to ease me from my pain
And all across this desert land with burning sunsets and sierras risin
Looked for something new - I think that I’ve found it here today
By foggy waters on the Frisco bay that’s why I’m drinking now
I’ve had too many here but surely i would like to thank you fore I go
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Alan Courtney England, UK
I've decided to collect here all my solo recordings from 2002 onwards, when I left my job and started to work for
myself.
I was born and raised in Devon, but have lived the last 40 years in Malvern. I've played folk music in clubs, sessions, festivals etc since the age of 15.
I played in rock n blues, then folk bands Malthouse Passage and Set em up Joe. I've recorded many albums showcased here
... more
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