1. |
Railroad
04:36
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We searched up and we searched
down for the railroad at the end of town.
We searched high and we searched low
we never knew which way to go.
If all the rumours that we heard are true
then this day will be brand new,
and everything will just melt away and leave us with this very day.
By the railroad at the end of town
it’s been there years and now it won’t burn down,
the railroad at the end of town
it's where old folks go to make time slow down
at the railroad at the end of town.
Its where you go to get your first kiss,
it’s the reason why your gonna miss,
built up cities and cocktail parties
and in high rise buildings and old hotels,
there is a man who is working with a trench coat on,
he pulls a lever on the tracks to redirect the train,
it’s the first job that they gave my dad,
now he is working underground in a sterilised lab.
By the railroad at the end of town,
there’s an overhanging string of faulty power lines,
at the railroad at the end of town
its good luck now to throw your money down
at the railroad at the end of town.
There’s women going and there shuffling feet
as they make their way down the ghostly street,
blind they follow old signposts
but they never know which way to go
to where the clock is always telling lies
its always saying that’s its ten to five
and the trains come every hour or so
and then they leave behind a trail of smoke
how it is that they can go
when the trains run and the trains run slow
how it is ill never know
how people can people leave and people can go
at the railroad at the end of town.
It’s where I am going, it’s where I am going
to make matter form memories
and watch the rails roll on the track.
She didn’t know all her friends were dead,
even the ones she hadn’t met yet
she said take my head and oh lets go down,
at the railroad at the end of town.
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2. |
Can't Go Back
04:00
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The teachers would walk on the right in the snow
and the way that the weather was we got there slow,
but I enjoyed watching our footprints grow.
It was better when the lights bent over the east river
when you were my friend, when you were my friend.
Now every conversation is an act of violence,
I guess anything to mask how we aint be talking,
no we can’t go back we can’t go back we can’t go back toward the light when you were my friend, when you were my........
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3. |
Transport
03:31
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Your transport arrives in the morning
so you best get up before the sun hits
sun will come with no warning the sun will always come
and don’t look back till you’re on the track
get yourself ready and your bags all packed
lock the door close the blinds hide the view
and leave all you can behind you.
I will meet you by the train station
you will know me by a blue carnation,
ill make the sign of the cross as the morning train it docks
so don’t leave with no hesitation,
your safety I can guarantee
you’ll have you own house your own key be like your brand new
and leave all you can behind you.
Your old skies have become new; your old lovers are through.
You chop wood to keep us warm in winter
I hunt out in the forest but you get thinner
I write my book I read a few but nothing makes me happier than you with your head looking out of the window
I stamp on my feet as you play piano
it’s a melody we both can sing its old but it rings through
and it makes you sad for what you left behind
and now your eyes are on the road and not on mine
they’ll catch you for the crimes you have done
they will catch you they will catch you.
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4. |
15 Years
04:10
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Known each other for 15 years
married for 5 unfaithful for the rest
she thinks it’s for the best.
We grew our hair long in winter
I cut mine short when she cut me off
but I still look a mess.
And I wake up early in the morning
rest my eyes before sun gives her warning
and I’m down the road away I go I’m headed home to beat the cold.
I haven’t thought about her much since the autumn,
now I’m out the back I’m turning the soil.
Running away is not will kill you it’s staying the same
by not giving into change.
And I wake up early in the morning
rest my eyes before sun gives her warning
and I’m down the road away I go I’m headed home
to beat the cold of the strong north wind that blows
and its one love in a lifetime so now I feel old
and I know the truth and I know you don’t mind.
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5. |
I Was A Miner
04:51
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I love you and you love me but we could never be happy oh no.
Cause down in the mines where the suns a torch you don’t your eyes open focused on anyone.
And now that the sky is a curtain half drawn you don’t need the lights on your bike on your way back home.
And if you wanna go just go don’t write down in one of your poems
if you wanna go just go.
Cause I love you and you love me and you love me and I love you.
And now that the sky is a curtain drawn you don’t need your eyes open focused on anyone.
You said return to the sea return everything to me.
If you wanna go just go don’t write it with your breath on the window
if you wanna go say so.
The cars in the drive you’re not gone away
the cars in the drive you’re not gone you’re not gone.
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6. |
Family Tree
05:10
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There’s a note on the wall, little note on the wall
clean up after yourself, clean up after us all.
There’s a ghost in the hall little ghost in the walls,
they feed of our belief in what we cannot see.
And the family tree it is haunting me, live of the land be a family man, do the best you can only work with your hands, fall into their ways.
Salt mines have made our town a decay
now they control what is made the imports the exports, the trade.
Salt mines have shaped our town like its clay,
and workers can’t escape when family depends on pay.
When I was five years old I was on my daddy’s lap
pulling levers on the train
to make the train slow down make the train speed up
make the train go back
and now than I’m older I can see what needs to change
this is a dead end town and a dead end job
that my father had arranged.
The family tree still surrounds me,
I gave into its demands now I’m a family man
and I’m working with my hands when the train breaks down
I gave into its ways.
There’s a ghost in the hall
little ghost in the walls,
they feed of our belief in what we cannot see,
God knows I believe in what I cannot see.
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7. |
1748
04:23
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We headed out to California looking for our weight in gold
but we just filled our bags with iron ore
and headed back toward the cold.
Never to reveal our secret to anyone back home
where the streets were a diamond silver from a 1748 snow storm
that left our town for dead like a Ralph Emerson poem
I overheard my mother talk about the fortunes in her maiden name
she said that the secret was kept in somebody’s grave.
We spent the next couple weeks in a graveyard
searching for our grandfather’s bones
but we didn’t find any silver we didn’t find any gold
to save my only daughter from the ghost she’s become
and all the debts that she owes.
I have to sleep with the weight on my back
and there’s no time for eating
she has to watch her father turn in to some kind of thief.
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8. |
Lifejacket
05:54
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Son of a sailor floating at sea the last lifejacket was wasted on me.
I float up and down but I keep my head high
even though I know my feet won’t touch the ground.
And ideas come easy now with nothing around
like a seashell held to my ear I hear only sound
it’s not real but it’s clear something is there.
The lighthouse is my only focus
but its eyes remain distant so all is hopeless
like how I hear the sound of rescue boats
when it’s just birds over head
and every wave is a friendly face that pulls me further away
the truth is I am needed here I must have known it all my life
so just let it wash over me I don’t try and fight against her might.
And ideas come quickly now with no one around
everything passes through me like a book I have found
and devoured in days
I can’t retain a page but something stays with me.
Oh the last lifejacket was wasted on me,
Oh the last lifejacket was wasted on me,
Oh the last lifejacket was wasted on me.
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9. |
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When we got to the border I was glad to be safe
and our bags were like led weights as we climbed the gate.
And then you boarded that steel train
as we parted ways an exchange of information I was glad we escaped.
But I never heard from you if you made it back if your daughter knew
the ups and the sundowns i went through tryin to get to you.
And now spring turns to autumn too many times I can’t remember
how to bury the hatchet and to see what aint there.
But I can’t remember your face oh I wish wed never escaped
the ups and the sundowns we went through trying to make it right.
I let the light into my eyes no I won’t lose sight no I know I am right.
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