Cold-Blooded Old Times

Cold-blooded old times
 

The type of memories
that turns your bones to glass
Turns your bones to glass

Mother came rushing in
she said we didn't see a thing
We said we didn't see a thing
And father left at eight
Nearly splintering the gate

Cold-blooded old times
 

The type of memory
That turns your bones to glass
Turns your bones to glass

And though you were
Just a little old swirl
You understood every word
And in this way they gave you clarity
A cold-blooded clarity

Cold-blooded old times

Now how can I stand
and laugh with the man
Who redefined your body

Those cold-blooded old times...

(Bill Callahan)

Small Plane

(Bill Callahan)

So Long Marianne

Come over to the window, my little darling?
I'd like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of gypsy boy
Before I let you take me home

You know that I love to live with you
But you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
And then the angels forget to pray for us

We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry
And laugh about it all again

Your letters they all say that you're beside me now.
Then why do I feel all alone?
I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone.

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry
And laugh about it all again

For now, I need your hidden love
I'm cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said I was brave

So long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry, cry
And laugh about it all again

Oh, you are really such a pretty woman
I see you've gone and changed your names again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
And wash my eyelids in the rain

So long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry
And laugh about it all again

So long, Marianne, it's time that we began
To laugh and cry, cry
Laugh about it all again

(Bill Callahan)

Drover

The real people went away
But I'll find a better word, someday
Leaving only me and my dreams
My cattle and a resonator

I drove all the beast down right under your nose
The lumbering footloose power
The bull and the rose
Don't touch them don't try to hurt them
My cattle

I drove them by the crops and thought the crops were lost
I consoled myself with rudimentary thoughts
And I set my watch against the city clock
It was way off

Yeah one thing about this wild, wild country
It takes a strong, strong
It breaks a strong, strong mind
Yeah one thing about this wild, wild country
It takes a strong, strong
It breaks a strong, strong mind

And anything less, anything less
Makes me feel like I'm wasting my time

But the pain and frustration, is not mine
It belongs to the cattle, through the valley

And when my cattle turns on me
I was knocked back flat
I was knocked out cold for one clack of the train track
Then I rose a colossal hand buried, buried in sand
I rose like a drover
For I am in the end a drover
A drover by trade
When my cattle turns on me
I am a drover, double fold

My cattle bears it all away for me and everyone
One, one, one, one, one, one ...

Yeah one thing about this wild, wild country
It takes a strong, strong
It breaks a strong, strong mind
And anything less, anything less
Makes me feel like I'm wasting my time

(Bill Callahan)

Eid Ma Clack Shaw

Working through death's pain

Last night I swear I felt your touch
Gentle and warm
The hair stood on my arms
How, how, how?

Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory

I flipped my forelock, I twitched my withers, I reared and bucked
I could not put my rider aground
All these fine memories are fuckin' me down

I dreamed it was a dream that you were gone
I woke up feeling so ripped by reality
Love is the king of the beasts
And when it gets hungry it must kill to eat
Love is the king of the beasts
A lion walking down city streets

I fell back asleep some time later on
And I dreamed the perfect song
It held all the answers, like hands laid on

I woke halfway and scribbled it down
And in the morning what I wrote I read
It was hard to read at first but here's what it said

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah

Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory

(Bill Callahan)