LYRICS
Dark Americana: Stories and Songs
RISE AND FALL
Stuart Pearson
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People live in the rise and fall
People live through the rise and fall.
Beat them down, break their bones,
They’ve seen it all.
Cause they’ve lived through the rise and fall.
People pray in the church of pain.
People pray in the church of pain.
They raise their hands,
And rebuke the sins they’ve made,
When they pray in the church of pain.
People die from the rise and fall
People die from the rise and fall.
They lay them down,
In the bosom of the All,
When they die from the rise and fall.
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I SPOKE TO THE DEVIL ABOUT YOU
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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I spoke to the devil about you
I spoke to the devil about you
I spoke to the devil about you
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He told me of your secret sin
Of All the guilt you hold within
He sees beneath your soft skin…
Now I know... 'cause I spoke to the devil about you.
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He didn’t want it another way,
He didn’t want it another way
There’s nothing left that I could say
He didn’t want it another way.
I tried to protest, tried to run
I tried to throw away the gun
But he just wanted some fun...
I don’t know… just spoke to the devil about you
I spoke to the devil about you
He hissed it softly in my ear
Told me I had nothing to fear
Next thing I knew I stood here.
Don’t know how… but I spoke to the devil about you
He said to watch you as you die
He said to watch you as you die
See the blackness in your eyes
Put an end to all your lies
When you see him say I said hello
Give me a wink when you get below
I’ll catch you both when I go
Now you know... I spoke to the devil about you
I spoke to the devil about you
I spoke to the devil about you
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THEN SHE'S GONE
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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She will make you swoon in your motel room,
She’s the secret that you won’t tell
You don’t know her name, she’s in every vein
Till she takes you to sweet hell, then she’s gone
It’s a hot affair, see her everywhere
It’s not lust but obsession
The one you can’t ignore, she’s your favorite score
But the soul of discretion
Then she gone.
If you’re lost, she’s found, she will drag you down,
Can’t resist her seduction
That faint whiff of sin, let the darkness in,
That delicious destruction.
Trapped with no escape, in her tight embrace
Searching for some restitution
See the gloating smile, know you’ll stay awhile
Beyond any absolution, Then She’s Gone.
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IS IT STILL THE SAME
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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Help me to my dressing gown and help me to my feet
Take me to the kitchen there might be something to eat
I haven’t been outside for maybe six or seven weeks
Tell me, is it still the same?
Look inside the cupboard you might find some bread in there
You look sort of familiar- tho I remember darker hair
It’s getting pretty cold in here but I just don’t seem to care
Tell me- is it still the same?
Can you tell me what the hell is happening out there?
Mostly I stay in my bed or sometimes in my chair
I’m aIways terrified but won’t succumb to my despair
Just tell me, is it still the same?
I’ve hidden here inside my house since everything went wrong
I hope things can be sorted out and it won’t take too long
I don’t know how much time I have, I’ve never been too strong
But tell me--is it still the same?
I hope that nothing happens to a handsome man like you
You look a lot like my first son when he was 22
I wish I could come with you but there’s nothing I can do
Tell me--is it still the same?
Just tell me..is it still the same?
THE PERFECT STORM
Stuart Pearson
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I had a dream about you as the sky burst into flame.
We boarded all the doors and windows.
The ground below us opened to a pit that glowed blood red
you laughed and said "jump in - that's where the sin goes".
There's no alms to give the poor,
there's no calm to give the scorned
No tally for the gifts you gave in shame
I'd lie to give you faith,
but I never learned that trade
It was the Perfect Storm that blew my love away.
The scarecrows bore poor witness to a future birthed in stone
The ground belched colder with each shovel's bite.
The winds slurred with a sailor’s tongue
Kissed by a knucklebone,
The soot grew blacker in that crow filled night.
All the cradles in distress
Every face was uncaressed
The benevolent and righteous left maligned.
I knew you when you cried
The finest moment of that night
It was the Perfect Storm that left my love behind.
Every soul stared into space
Yearning for that better place.
They licked the juice that life spilled on its shoe.
The craters in your eyes
The feel of joy that I despise
It was the Perfect Storm that took my love from you.
Spiders start your spinning put your heart into your craft
Prepare to be desire's final doctor.
I'll find my needed tenderness inside a steel shaft
Abiding in the strong arms of my proctors.
There's no song upon the hills
There's no river running still.
I prayed and prayed to reach this state of mind
Grayed moments dropped away
leaving nothing left to say
It was the Perfect Storm that left my love behind.
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THE LAST CAB OUT OF VEGAS
Stuart Pearson
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The heat makes everything wavy,
that kicks up dust from the road,
And as the sky turns from orange to brown to black,
it feels a long way from home.
I never did the math, I never took the path,
That leads to logical turns.
You say it’s the last cab, the last cab out of Vegas.
There’s something big on the rooftop.
The moon’s a sad silhouette.
And every breeze is a teenager’s dare to go alone,
Where the dark won’t forget.
It’s inescapable, and I’m not capable,
Of saying “no” when I should,
And this is the last cab, the last cab out of Vegas.
Every sound is an echo,
Every light floats so slow away,
they’re blown away,
Like leaves into the night.
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I GAVE HER COAL
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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She wanted something I could not be,
She wanted more than just the finest out of me.
She wanted rubies , it took its toll
She wanted diamonds, I gave her coal
I gave her coal, I gave her coal
She wanted diamonds, I gave her coal
She wanted something I couldn’t give,
She wanted lifetimes but she wouldn’t let me live
She wanted silver, she wanted gold.
She wanted diamonds, I gave her coal
I gave her coal, I gave her coal
She wanted diamonds, I gave her coal
She wanted something I didn’t have,
She wanted stable but she wound up on a slab
She wanted endless - have and to hold
A warm forever, I made her cold.
I gave her coal, I gave her coal
She wanted diamonds, but I gave her coal
DEMON ROAD
Stuart Pearson
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There are stories
Way past midnight
Where the road ends
Where no one goes.
Is the wind blowing leaves around
Or something more alone?
Twirling to the howling waltz of the unknown.
There are angels
That danced with devils
In a roadhouse
The desert swallowed whole.
The walls are grey and crumbling,
Where the sex and violence flowed
From the woeful hitching rides on Demon Road.
There are markers
Maybe gravesites
Maybe tributes
To troubled heavy loads.
Police won’t answer calls there
And dogs won’t chase the crows.
Where the pavement ends, begins that Demon Road.
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PASS THE BOTTLE
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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Pass the bottle back to me
You poor boy, you look half dead
You know it’s very harazdous
To try to flee before your case is pled.
Pass the bottle back to me
I hear you don’t like whiskey no more
After all the ghosts of all the damned
Started hanging outside your door.
The verdict’s on the books,
The grave’s already dug,
Your body’s leaning on the brink.
Life just passes by,
In the blinking of an eye
There’s nothing left to do but drink.
Deny it all you want
Escape is not a choice
You heard the clanging of the gate.
Every man’s a pebble
And every woman grist
When the grindstone starts to grate.
Pass the bottle back to me
Won’t you let another man have a turn?
There’s no point in holding nothing back
When your bridges have all been burned.
Pass the bottle back to me
You can whimper and you can plead.
But there ain’t no place that you can hide,
When the devils at last are freed.
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THE RAIN'S NOT TRAVELING ALONE
Stuart Pearson
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I can hear each raindrop,
Banging on the tin roof,
Singing every saddest song.
But you won’t hear a solution,
Just another memory,
‘Cause the rain’s not traveling alone.
I can hear old crying,
like a harmony,
With new faces I blame it on.
And I guess I’m on a pony, running faster than me,
‘Cause the rain’s not traveling alone.
The rain’s not traveling alone,
The rain’s not traveling alone.
You can threaten and pray but it will return someday,
The rain’s not traveling alone.
I can raise my wishes to a higher place,
Swearing I won’t repeat my wrongs.
But that ghost of every retreat
Just sits and rattles his chains,
And says “the rain’s not traveling alone”.
Every fleshy second,
Every breathing hour,
Comes another test of hope.
So I’ll button up my jacket
And I’ll cover my ears.
‘Cause the rain’s not traveling alone.
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DOWN IN THE HOLE
Stuart Pearson / Hunter Lowry
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Enter the hangman
The law is just
My bones are gravel
My soul is dust
No time for protest, the wind blows cold
As I go down down down
down in the hole
down in the hole,
down in the hole,
down in the hole.
A thousand ravens make up my coat
A viper’s tongue lies inside my throat
My blood is sawdust, my heart is coal
As I go down down down
down in the hole
down in the hole,
down in the hole,
down in the hole.
And I go down down down,
down in the hole,
down in the hole
down in the hole
down in the hole
You can’t erase me, I leave a stain
Bone deep tattoo of your grief and pain
You burn my body but I remain
And you go down down down
down in the hole,
down in the hole
Yes you go down down down
down in the hole,
down in the hole
down in the hole.
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All performances by Stuart Pearson
All songs
(c) 2020 Hollywood Trax Music