New West Motel Lyrics

New West Motel

Jack Candy

Jack Candy was as old as my father
But still I took a likin' to him
He said: "You will be somebody's treasure,
But no one has discovered you yet."

Jack Candy lived on Sky Valley Road
And that's where he did business I guess
Some say he sold a suitcase of cocaine
But he never showed me any of that

This is a story that I've prayed to tell
This is a story that I've prayed to tell
About the day they drove him from this town
About the day I lost: Jack Candy

I was walkin' up to Jack Candy's trailer
When he shouted that I('d) better head home
The curtains closed as he went back inside
And I trembled 'cause he wasn't alone

This is a story that I've prayed to tell
This is a story that I've prayed to tell
About the day they drove him from this town
About the day I lost: Jack Candy

Some say they took him out to a clearin'
And made him crawl until he confessed
Some say they hung him up by his bootstraps
Some say they let him swing in the wind

I walked along (the) Sky Valley Road
And out onto the great northern bridge
And for hours I stared into the cold
Sick and tired of denying I loved him

This is a story that I've prayed to tell
This is a story that I've prayed to tell
About the day they drove him from this town
About the day they drove him from this town

I've lived a lie and I have lived it well
This is the story that I've prayed to tell
About a love and how I let him down
About the day I lost: Jack Candy

Sundowner

Deaf as a fence post
Alone on a winter's night
I'm drunk as a racehorse
But I'll never fade outta sight

There's a wild below me
A wild up there in the stars
There's a history behind me
A child gone cold in my arms

Tell George and Tammy
I'm ripe for the taking these days
It's a good year for roses
(And) a bad year for runnin' in place

But if they don't believe me
I'll do what I always have done
I won't be the sundowner
No I'll never cheat on the sun

'Cause when the sun comes up
And the moon is gone
To the bridge I go
To the bridge I run

And when I reach the edge
Onto the bridge I crawl
And when I find you my friend
From the bridge I fall

This is the last place
That I've ever been, ever been
It's the last best place
That I've ever been, ever been

And in spite of my weakness
And all my desires to win
I won't be the sundowner
Tomorrow I'll leave here again

'Cause when the sun comes up
And I need a friend
To the bridge I run
When I need a friend

And when I meet the edge
Onto the bridge I crawl
And when I find you my friend
It's from the bridge I fall

Grand Theft Auto

In this town
The blood will make you rich
Yeah, in this town
The blood will make you rich

In this town
I will do you one better
I'll change the truth
When I change the weather

In this town
The blood will make you rich

And when you're down
You can buy the Jesus pose
'Cause in this town
All roads lead to this

And when you're down
I will kill it again
I'll give ya something
To forget about him

In this town
All roads lead to this

And come tonight, yeah come tonight
We'll take a ride
And come tonight, yeah come tonight
We'll see the lights

You will lead and I will follow
You will lead me, down to the hollow
You will lead me down
Grand theft auto
You will lead me down

In this town
We have got the Midas touch
Yeah in this town
The gold will make you blush
Some of it's cooling
And some of it's glitters
All of it's cold
And it gives me the shivers

In this town we've got the Midas touch

And come tonight, yeah come tonight
We'll take a ride
And come tonight, yeah come tonight
We'll see the lights

You will lead and I will follow
You will lead me, down to the hollow
You will lead me down
Grand theft auto
You will lead me down

Break It Down Gently

It soon appears
Long rented shores
Too big to name
And second to none

Save horses' hair
In pockets deep
Remember skies
Second to none

Black rain
Black rain will come
Black rain
Black rain will come

Word to the wise
Don't you sit on this fence
Electric and live
With evangelistic zeal

Spin doctors gave you
All those remedies to choose
So you'd be the weathervane
For clouds that never move

Black rain
Black rain will come
Black rain
Black rain will come

To break it down gently
To wash it down slow
Goin' straight to the bottom
With a mind . . . . of it's own

Black rain
Black rain
Black rain will come
Black rain
Black rain
Black rain will come
Black rain
Black rain
Black rain will come

Black rain will come

Your Hope Shines

Lay my body down
By the shallows of the creek
You can lay my body down
Lay me in your reach

And when my body's down
We'll steal the thunder from the rain
And when my body's down
We'll shake the dirt right from the pain

I was going nowhere
Nowhere very fast
Threw my poison out the window
But it came blowin' back

Out along the highway
Right through the night of crime
Somewhere in the darkness
Your hope shined

Whisper wisdom's words
You can whisper wisdom's lies
But all of wisdom's words
Never helped me to survive

Days of all my arrogance
When you were not afraid
Threw my paycheck out the window
You threw it all away

Walked the devil's highway
Across the county line
Somewhere in the darkness
Your hope shined

Your hope shined, your hope shined
Your hope shined, your hope shined
Walked the devil's highway, across the county line
But your hope shined, your hope shined
First light in the mornin', right through the night of crime
Your hope shined, your hope shined

Lay my body down
By the shallows of the creek

Murdering Stone

Man came down from the field
A lonely horseman
Headin' back to the stable
Said he was sorry
But his cain was not able
To save us all from ourselves

Man sees the blood on every door
And hears the laughter
In the good people's hearts
Their pocket's empty
And their coats ripped apart
And the man makes a promise to the town

I wanna give you my murdering stone
Give you my murdering stone

Happy-go-lucky's back in town
Happy-go-lucky's says he's fit to be tied
Now that his hands have done
A sin worse than pride
And the man makes a promise to us all

I wanna give you my murdering stone
Give you my murdering stone

Won't you take my
Won't you take my
I wanna give you my murdering stone

My hands are heavy now that all the guns are home
Take my murdering stone

And I wanna give you my murdering stone
Please take my murdering
Please take my murdering
Please take my murdering stone

Sweet Revenge

Fourteen and one half years
You know I was good fortune's slave
Road map on my face
Up to my neck in lucky breaks

Cover your eyes
Don't look now

And durin' all that time
You know I wore this reckless coat
Filled up with matchstick men
And all the bibles that you wrote

Cover your eyes
Don't look now
Cover your eyes
Don't look now

First I'll get even
And then I'll make you proud
Revenge is sweeter
When you can laugh out loud

And from these bitterroots
You know I made a potent shine
One-half kerosene
One-half justice all gone blind

First I'll get even
And then I'll make you proud
Revenge is sweeter
When you can laugh out loud

Swing it low, swing it low
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it low
Sweet revenge

First I'll get even
And then I'll make you proud
Revenge is sweeter
When you can laugh out loud

Swing it low, swing it low
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it: sweet revenge
Swing it low
Sweet revenge

Glad Nation's Death Song

These are the ghosts that I half believed
Guns & liquor & the carnival freak
But then one day the whole world shook
And I got arrested for stealin' a look

And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And I wanna hear you sing
And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing

Well they dragged me down to the deptor's jail
Where no one cried 'cause the drinks were free
And there I met you, you were passin' the hat
Sayin' give to the memory of a long gone dream

And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And I wanna hear you sing
And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing

This is the sound of one hand clappin'
This is the sound of one man laughin'
Sayin' we are lucky, yeah lucky is us
'Cause behind these bars we've been stuck

And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And the glad nation's death song sings
And I wanna hear you sing
And I wanna hear you . . . . hear you sing

Long Time Here

If you want good times
I know where to look
And if you want good times I will

They're thrown on your bed
With your junkyard religion
At the best of the western motels

Thrown with the pawns
And the hardscrabble rooks
Thrown with our ransom of kings

But if you want goodtimes
I know where to look
And I know it's goodtimes you want

Long time here
Long time here
I'll keep you around
Holding this ground
I'll keep you a long time here

In 24 hours
We could be in Vegas
Where the heat is a possible friend

Where snake eyes and boxcars
Could wet down your whistle
And steal all the noise from your head

But your hell is hotter
Then the typical thirst
And in Vegas the ice is not cheap

And heaven's a backroom
Where the gamblin' don't finish
And you keep makin' the same mistakes

Long time here
Long time here
I'll keep you around
Holding this ground
I'll keep you a long . . . .

Long time here
Long time here
Long time here
Long time here
I'll keep you around
Holding this ground
I'll keep you a long time here

Wondertown (part one)

I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown, wondertown
I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown, wondertown
With my hands of ivory
And my nerves of steel
I'll break the jackpot open
Just to prove it's real
I'll break the jackpot open
In a wondertown, wondertown

Drag This River

Quick, burn it down to the wick
Burn it down to the heart
So the ending can start

Here, behind the riverhaus door
With an unloaded gun
And an unsettled score

Well I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river down

You, nothin' comes to you slow
Nothin' comes to you hard
Though you beg like you're hard

And me, don't shake the barrel ar me
And don't treat idle threats
Like you treat all your friends

Well I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river
I'll never drag this river down

And if you walk out that door
Don't come back
Because there'll be no door

And if you walk out that door
Silence greets you
Silence, will be yours

I hear ya callin' from a long distant shore
But you won't come back, [well / 'cause] you can't come back

The water's risin' and the levee is not sure
And you won't be found, no you can't be found

Drag this river down

Snake Mountain Blues

Mr. ten dollar man
Let me tell you where you're bound
When you drink your green liquor
Lord, you'll roll to the ground

But you come around here
With your money in your hand
Tasted my woman
You'll die where you stand

Snake Mountain's gonna crumble
Lord, and fall from the sky
'Til that woman of mine
Keeps on telling her lies

If I'd die Lord, she'd weep
And she'd weep and she'd mourne
As soon as I was buried
Forget I been born

Well my daddy, he rides on a long holy train
And the first winds of winter
Well, I'll see him again

And it's goodbye to that yellow-headed misery I've known
Snake Mountain is callin'
Is callin' me home

Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues

Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues
Got the Snake Mountain blues

*[One verse of the original is left out.
It goes something like this:

Well the Snake Mountain blues
Have got me down low
I could die in the morning
And no one would know
Well, my woman comes 'round
My body she'd found
Go down to Dundee
(And) Have her a time]

Findlay's Motel

Findlay was on his last legs
But he made the rules
Said suffer fools gladly
But never end up as the sufferin' fool

He shook me down
Though it was my first week on the job
Said travellers will trick you
But you will find out all them things for yourself
Yes you will

Findlay he threw me the keys
As he walked outside
And he turned on the big neon sign
But only half of it burned

And I was there fightin' off dreams
When she pulled in the drive
The sound of her wheels woke me up
And there she was, standin' inside

By the stretch
Of a pine barren road
Where the night
Never did what was told
(I never did what was told)
Rooms for the night
Room for your rest
Rooms for the night
At Findlay's Motel

She looked like she had come down
From the rattlesnake hills
And she pushed the gun to my jaw
And told me to clean out the till

As I handed her over the cash
Findlay limped in
The old man he reached for her gun
But she was stronger than him
Yes she was

By the stretch
Of a pine barren road
Where the night
Never did what was told
(I never did what was told)
Rooms for the night
Room for your rest
Rooms for the night
At Findlay's Motel

Now bullets don't care what they hit
And Findlay went down
And she dropped the gun to the floor
And said, you best call somone now

But my eyes they were fixed on the door
And I walked straight outside
Said suffer fools gladly
As long as this sufferin' keeps you alive
For a spell

Unholy Dreams

(Well) I dreamed I saw the devil's club
Growin' by the burnin' bush
And I dreamed that all your razor teeth
Grabbed tomorrow by the root
And I dreamed the long arm of the law
Was a one-armed acrobat

Yeah I dreamed
Unholy dreams

And I dreamed that all the sacred cows
Had been trampled under hoof
And I dreamed the moon had finally crashed
And lit fire to your roof
And I dreamed that there were sights unseen
And their visions could be sold

Yeah I dreamed
Unholy dreams

Unholy dreams
Unholy dreams
Last night, I dreamed unholy dreams

And in the mornin' when I woke
And you were gone
(Well) I believed unholy dreams
Yeah I believed
Unholy dreams
Yeah I believed

All lyrics written by Chris Eckman. �1993 Fire&Skill Publishing (BMI)
except Snake Mountain Blues written by Townes Van Zandt

Please e-mail corrections to Chris: chrisbhall@yahoo.com