Get all 7 Noah Zacharin releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Points of Light, silence spoken here, crow dark wind II (perhaps), Waiting on Your Love, crow dark wind, a Startle of Wings, and Strange Rider.
1. |
Ten Tons of Road
04:21
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there’s a blue cloth on the table
a pint or two to hold it down
you know how the wind blows wild
in the dim light of this town
there’s a pair of hands I’ve held
a pair of eyes in which I’ve drowned
where’s the paradise I’ve been shaken in
when love made the sirens sound
ten tons of road beneath my wheels
a million miles of skies above
cannot take me far enough
to ever forget our love
I keep a couple of pieces of gravel
in the heel of my left shoe
they remind me as I travel
of each step I took away from you
there’s a carving in an old oak tree
my sweet-edge penknife made
where are you my darling
it’s cold in the shade
ten tons…
now the tulips they are opening
as the daffodil begins to wilt
the crocus it’s just history
see this house I’ve built
I wanna know everything
I wanna love everyone
when you come to me and my money’s gone
I’ll buy you drinks with gold of the sun
ten tons…
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2. |
17 Minute
04:51
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flowing river don’t mean much to me
nor wind from the north rattling the leaves
only steam and whistle and wheels that shake the joint
metal on metal on to the vanishing point
train pass by every 17 minute
each one got one of my old loves in it
oh I’m gonna miss that train
sweet jellyroll and whiskey in the jar
I rolled for the nine I got snake-eyes in my own backyard
but I’m alright with how she got free
my watch keeps good time and my knife keeps me shining company
train pass by…
train blow a whistle like baby’s loving
sweet in the leaving as it is in the coming
oh I’m gonna miss that…
stars fall from a quiver in the sky
by a pond I shiver splashed by the sound of goodbye
but everything is diamond everything is coal
‘round a blues bend there’s a bluegrass banjo roll
train pass by…
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3. |
Bed of Nails
04:10
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he got a face like a catchers mitt
pitch a little mother’s love at that
she gets by without a trace of wit
who’s on first when no one’s up to bat
she sells cheap pills by the schoolyard
on Sundays from a back yard shed
he sails up and down a ragged shore sure
his drowned child’s not really dead
it’s so pleasant on my bed of nails
staring up at points of light
try not to move don’t think about too much
falling stars and fireflies tell you it’s alright
she got the stripped elm body of a boy
wild child with wind in flaming hair
he got a flask of silver by his heart
all the joy and love tin-man needs are there
he got strips of duct-tape stuck to his head
they help him hear the voices when they call
she got a mirror mirror on the wall
seems nothing’s fair at all
it’s so pleasant…
aqueducts and order legions on the hill
coliseum nights and other blasts
all fall down like jack and jill
tragic tale and a kamikaze cast
it’s so pleasant…
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4. |
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this whiskey made it through the winter
it’s still got a bite
I lift one to the master
farewell farewell goodnight
too many losses for my fingers
hands can’t steady anyone
here on crumbling mountain
there is so much work to be done
I was driving my particular darkness
a radio voice placed him in the past
the whole world dimmed a little
Texas stars at half-mast
can’t blame the constellations
the spirit or the sun
on a one-lane road of moonlight
there is so much work to be done
I don’t have much to hold me here
no pistol pony wife or kid
but I got a sweet cabin and a guitar from Austin
and what little good I did
and if I get another morning
I’ll know it by the sun
angling in on a whisper
there is so much work to be done
he wore denim and a stetson
had a chisel a pencil and a grin
a master with a job don’t ask how or why he just asks
what and when
so play it on your daddy’s dobro
or fire off a twenty-one gun
there’s salt in the rio grande and
there is so much work to be done
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5. |
Red Red Bird
04:45
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oh my darling sometimes you feel so far away
I got the stumble of an infant the embrace of a man of clay
you work to find sweet water a place where you can pray
oh my darling sometimes you feel so far away
but my heart is a red red bird
soars above the dust and dirt
sings a song you never heard
my heart is a red red bird
nothing we can count on to face the rising flood
best we get might be to hold each other slip together in the mud
oh taste the racing water feel the cooling of the blood
nothing we can count on to face the rising flood
but my heart…
nothing in the word can put the leaf back on the tree
or colour the ghostly outline of those who hover just out of reach
oh teach me how to find that better hour that you see
nothing in the word can put the leaf back on the tree
but my heart…
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6. |
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it’s the same old story I once loved a girl
when I was in her arms I was in a perfect world
I held her for a day short of forever then she went away
now the seas we swam and the skies we shared are gone
what have I got to show for it
what have I got to show for it
what have I got to show for it now
it’s a sweet old season of leaf and pretty thing
boys and girls go arm-in-arm bees buzz about the nectar and the sting
soon the shiver’s on nights blow cold and they grow long
faded petals fall like a thousand setting suns
what have I got to show…
now an elegant woman wants to put joy back in my days
she wants to paint a little colour on the grey face of my little pain
I hold her in my arms but she leaves before the dawn
without leaving even a trace of scent behind
what have I got to show…
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7. |
Lester Brown
02:51
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bowler and a tie
silk and satin guy
fine Italian shoes it’s Lester Brown
you hear the ladies sigh
you know the reason why
word is out: Lester’s back in town
and when he walks by
twirls a stick and winks an eye
the ladies blush like springtime on the rose
steaming apple pie
evening drawing nigh
won’t be long before the sunset hour glows
now there’s a sweet magnolia breeze
catbirds in the trees
a little sugar with your lemonade
you can curtsey if you please
hear the cornet melody
Lester’s back on the Basin Street parade
and when he walks past
it happens all so fast
he lights ‘em up like match to gasoline
and the setting sun’s outclassed
at how that Lester lasts
dusk to dawn he shines on New Orleans
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8. |
Tom Morrow
04:36
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I got a friend his name is Tom
his granddaddy’s name was Jesse
now Jesse is gone like yesterday’s song
he taught Tom that each day is a blessing
my friend Tom
my friend Tom Morrow
Tom Morrow he the man
you got pain
you got sickness or sorrow
he’ll be there as quick as he can
his dad is Todd it’s Todd Alexander
for short they call him Todd A
he can seem a scary guy with thick wrists and a voice of thunder
when the heir walks in the sire runs away
my friend Tom…
his mom is Hope she had but a single child
she lays all her daffodil wishes on him
good thing he wakes each day shining a brand new face
that’s my boy she beams as the light streams in
my friend Tom…
now there’s a tingle in the east oh hail ye resilient beast
you’re not a fool for grinning
you might ache between the eyes you might slip don’t be surprised
it’s not just your head that’s spinning
my friend Tom…
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9. |
Done Gone Gone
03:53
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I wake with words I might have said
stale upon my tongue
before I can reach the bottle
I taste every one
other words I might have kept inside
call me deacon at the dawn
the sun shines bright and I can’t hide
it’s a good thing you done gone gone
it’s a good thing you done gone
I never minded my life alone
I breathe easy in the dark
you came careening in overdrive
at a man contented in park
I should have seen it coming
you quickly made yourself queen to my pawn
your smile it was a hollow thing
it’s a good thing…
cause we were head and tail
hare and snail
farm and jail
rock and sail
we might both be flesh and bone
one’s precious gem
one is sinking stone
pull back
bullseye
baby’s gone
a time or two I told my life
life, let’s just pack it in
I was saved by the vision of my mother’s face
or the sound of a guitar string
often still I shiver
you might be back a little further on
all’s well that keeps going (keep going)
it’s a good thing you done gone gone
it’s a good thing you done gone
it’s a good thing you done
it’s a good thing
you’re gone
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10. |
Something Like a River
02:47
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11. |
Been a Long Day
07:46
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been a long day
from a blistered dream into a blue sky alone
high-noon cicadas
buzzed about my baby and how I’m on my own
I set her adrift
she got the strong oars I got trajectory of the sinking stone
and the mud is thick
no one gonna haul me up and warm these bones
some of them have new men
some of them are born again
with the dark and the autumn coming on
one thing’s sure: none of them are coming back again
been a long day
asking the earth not to be so greedy
leaves will fade
after all my carelessness could someone still need me
I’ve wasted time
more time than many even get to spend
all along the line
I plant white lilies and ask when the losses will end
some of them…
been a long day
it’s a little later so I feel a lot more like myself now
half-moon is pale
even the stars are settled behind the cloud
and a little jazz
papers the walls of the rooms downstairs
and a little breeze
says there’s room for me in the wind out there
some of them have new men
some of them need to be born again
with the dark…
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Noah Zacharin Madoc, Ontario
Zacharin writes and performs as if his life depends on it. Multi-genre, versatile guitar man; literate writer (parallel life as poet and translator with extensive international publication in prestigious journals, anthologies, etc.). Zacharin wishes to move you, that's all... ... more
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