1. |
A Man's Hands
04:32
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A man’s hands ain’t as calloused as they once was
And a farmer’s lands don’t get plowed like they once did
And it’s a strange world where a hard day’s work
You don’t even break a sweat
And nobody cares what you can do with your hands
They just want you behind that desk, behind that desk
This world is set up to tear a working man down
You lose your faith in yourself and the rest comes tumbling down
You gotta stand up straight, hold your head up high
Grab the world by the throat and look it dead in the eye
Say you can stand by me or you can step to the side
But I know what I need to do here in this world
Now if a man listens to what people say it will simply drive him insane He’s got a thousand voices saying be this a way
But you can’t be a thousand things
There’s one voice deep in your chest that’ll keep you on the right track
You gotta take a step forward and listen to it
And don’t let no one hold you back
Now this world is set up to tear a feeling man down
They wanna take out your heart and laugh while they pass it around
You gotta stand up straight, hold your head up high
Grab the world by the throat and look it dead in the eye
Say you can stand by me or you can step to the side
But I know what I need to do here in the world
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2. |
Gonna Be Me
02:44
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Well Darling, we’ve been a great romance
And as a lover, well you’re one of a kind You’ve made me happy, over and over
You’ve made your mark on my heart and on my mind
And I don’t blame you, For what you need to do
It’s the only life, you have to live
You know what you want, and you know what you don’t
And in your world there just some things that you don’t give
But I want a home, and a love that’s my own
And a woman who don’t want to be free
Well one of us is gonna be married
And we both know it’s gonna be me
Well I’ll never forget the good times we shared
On that I think we can agree
But one of us is gonna be leaving
And we both know it’s gonna be me
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3. |
In Your Corner
04:30
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People, they don’t know how to work for nothing
They just want it all right now
They won’t put in the time, can’t walk a straight line
Hope it falls in their lap somehow
With me in your corner, with me in you corner
I think that you got what you need
Cause I know what is work, and I know what is earth
And I’ve been driven down to my knees,
driven down to my knees, down to my knees
People, they don’t know how to savor nothing
In a rush they got somewhere to be
No time to sit with a friend, fiddle til the night ends
Or sip on a cool glass of tea
But with you in my corner, with you in my corner
I think that you got what you need
Cause I sure take the time, to make sure you feel fine
And we’ll take in the mountain’s cool breeze
Take in the mountain’s cool breeze,
the mountains cool breeze
But with me in your corner, with me in your corner
I think that we got what we need
A friend by our side, a rock in the tide
And a hand that can always be reached
A hand that can always be reached
Can always be reached
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4. |
Old Man Chair
03:25
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Now it’s just an old empty chair,
There’s no old man sitting there
There was a day that chair was booked
Full of life and advice, I rarely took
Tell me chair, did I do alright
Was he happy enough going into the night
Of his long life, that helped me make mine
Did I do OK this time?
Now that chair just takes up space
Instead of framing a wrinkly face
With sparkling eyes and a secret smile
That he flashed every once in a while
---
I guess it’s time to take it to the dump
The cloth is worn and the seat has a lump
Does me no good to keep old stuff
Tomorrow sounds like soon enough
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5. |
Half a Home
04:51
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My house is only a home when my kids are there
As their voices exit the rooms, I sit back in my chair
And and emptiness settles like a closed museum
The walls and the cats can wait to see em
It’s a strange price to pay for my freedom
A house that is just half a home
A house that is just half a home
I hang a quilt in the doorway that cuts off my room
Run the kerosene heater and take out my phone
Find a girl who’s just as lonely as me tonight, just tonight
And we’ll go somewhere, don’t let her come here
Don’t let no one get close to the things I hold dear
I can see my breath in the bathroom mirror
It’s all frozen but the kerosene and beer,
everything’s frozen round here
---
Then they come through the door, throw their things everywhere
With a wreck all over the floor, they flop down in the chairs
Their voices like music to a man who’s been deaf
Like a visit from a soul to the grieving bereft
And their laughter thaws my soul, thaws my soul
Like a dying plant that raises its head
At the touch of water flowing through its bed
I wash some dishes and and smile at their mess
Feel the warmth of this half a home,
and don’t think of time that they’re gone
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6. |
Ships in the Night
04:39
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I've got plans in the making with no place to go
And tears that quit falling a long time ago
Were we only two ships that passed in the night
Can I get it together--will it ever be right?
I'm feeling like my soul is going to come out through my skin
My head is heavy and the world is looking hazy
I'm thinking that I'll kill you if I see your face again
And when the silence starts to talking I go crazy, I go crazy
My illusions are moldy, there's dust on my dreams
My life is exactly as bad as it seems
Sometimes it's bitterness sometimes it's fear
I'm tired of tomorrow and it's not even here
The silence starts to talk to me when I am all alone
It asks me if I really think you're ever coming home
I don't want to hear the things the silence has to say
I must believe you're coming, that you'll be here any day
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7. |
Branded
03:16
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Well the last leaf, falling from the tree
Can’t hold a candle to the stubborn I got in me
When I make up my mind, and I dig in
Ain't a tractor or a mule pull me out again
Cause when I love, I don't let go
Through thick and thin and hot and cold
When I love I don't let go
No earthquake or a tidal wave can break my hold
When I saw you, and I took your hand
I bought a one way ticket to wherever you stand
When I saw you and pulled you close
I took a red hot iron and I branded my soul
When I kissed you, there was fire on your lips
I may have been born but darling I'd never lived
I thought I had seen til I held your gaze
And the sound of your voice I'll take straight to my grave
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8. |
Old Folks
03:14
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Most of the old folks are already dead
They spent a lot of time helping to grow my young head
Well the things they taught me helped me to form my life
Wish that I was able to say thank you and goodbye
I learned to make a fence and dig a deep hole
Drive an old tractor and laugh from the soul
Not to tell a lie and walk where you can’t ride
And use all the daylight and love til you die
I learned to put up hay and pull a big plow
Tend a summer garden and milk an old cow
To sleep in a cold room on windy night
Stand up for myself when I think I’m right
Most of the old folks are already gone
I hope that they’re happy in a far better home
Without their memory my life would be much colder
Will I be so treasured when I’m older?
I learned the measure of a man is the strength of his word
And all work can cleanse you just as long as it’s hard
The things I learned from them are the core of me
The strength they gave me has let me live free
So goodbye dear old ones you’ve lived your lives well
Lots of happy people and good stories to tell
I’m just one of many but I always felt warm
Hope I can do as well to keep my loved ones from harm
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9. |
Back to the Maker
03:46
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If our bodies don’t work right, and we’re all of tune
And were sick and in pain through and through
If we’re looking for someone who can find what’s the problem
I know what we all ought to do
Let’s go back to the maker, back to the maker
He knows what we are through and through
Let’s not go to someone who don’t understand us
And has no idea what to do
If our hearts are broken and our spirits wounded
And our eyes are not seeing light
Let’s go back to the maker, back to the maker
He made us and he can fix us just right
Now my mama has weakened and she has grown old
And the shell mama dwells in is crumbling
Her hands are not steady, they feel so numb
And her steps are slow, sometimes stumbling
There’s pain often present, and she gets so tired
But she’s got something to be happy about
She’s going back to the maker, back to the maker
And get a new a body that will never wear out
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10. |
But a Ghost
03:21
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If I were superman,
I'd use my x-ray vision
To look through the walls of your heart
To show you I love you a lot
Hold out your arms
It never is wrong
To be in love with someone
Wrap me in warmth
I'll forever be yours
Never let go
Never let go
Never let go
And leave me alone
Here on my own
Without you to hold
I'll always be cold
I know you've been hurt
By people and by words
It's hard but please don't run
I promise I'm not everyone
So I'll hold out my arms
And sing you this song
To help you belong
I'll wrap you warmth
And show you there's more
Than the pain you have known
The pain you have known
The pain you have know
Is now but a ghost
It's you I love most
Holding you close
Will keep us from woe
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11. |
No Heat Like Wood
03:25
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Well, I was the one who moved out
Round the corner I bought a new house
Got a lot of new stuff, still found it rough
Leaving years of my labor and love
In my old house I’d make the fire
In morning try to sift through the mire
Tried to find a way through, a way back to you
And a place for these lonely desires
There ain’t no heat like wood to make your bones feel like they should
Goes deep like the drifter’s old songs
There ain’t no heat like a fire to kindle your desire
To wake up and face a new dawn
New ways, new walls and new heartaches, new squalls
But I knew this new would get me through it all
Got a buddy said that chimney looks good
Save you some money get back to burning wood
Got a woodstove don’t need, sell it to you cheap
You buy the beer, we’ll get you back some real heat
So in my new house I light the flame
Can’t believe that these hands are the same
Think they can do some good, as I stack up the wood
Give some life to this life so much changed
New love, new aches, new smiles, and scrapes
But I knew this knew would
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12. |
Murder My Rest
03:25
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Is that your foot under the table,
is that your knee against mine
Is that that look that makes me fraid to
Even guess what’s on your mind
No sleep, no peace
Only a tempest in my chest
You can’t hide the red on the hands
That murder my rest
Is that that dress, that presses against you
Is your hair tousled and down
Is that that blood red lipstick
That slays me, without a sound
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13. |
How Strange
03:44
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How strange that you and I should be as strangers
We who have known each other well in bygone days
We who have often laughed and cried together
Now we travel on in our separate ways
How sad that you and I should know such sadness
We who have laughed so often and so free
We who have smiled at people, things and places
And now you are so far from me
How wrong that you and I should wrong each other
We who could not have known how it would end
Yet sometimes when I stop and think about it
I wonder if we might not be friends
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14. |
I'll Step Aside
02:58
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I’ve received the message that you sent me
It’s over and your heart has gone away
You didn’t have to tell me, we’ve been all we’ll ever be
I heard it in the words you didn’t say
We all have different ways of getting points of across
Different ways of saying it was just a fling
You didn’t have to tell me, you knew I’d understand
I heard it in the phone that never rings
I wish you well in your pursuit of happiness
We could have been together you and I
But somethings are not meant to be
I know it’s best that you go free
So I’ll just wish you well and step aside
I’ll miss the hours we didn’t spend together
For a little while our future seemed so bright
But we don’t have the same star in our vision
I read it in the letters you don’t write
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15. |
Soul Living On
04:34
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You will write the words that I’ve left unwritten
You will go the places I have never gone
You’ll take the many journeys I’d love to have taken
And your soul will be my soul living on
Your soul will be my soul living on
Your soul will be my soul living on
My eyes will continue to see where you look
You are so much a part of me
My spirit will become more spirit for you
And I will continue to be
I have been limited I have been bound
But with my love I’ve made you free
Now I can rest peaceful knowing my best
In you will continue to be
You will say the things that I could never say
You’ll give the things I’d love to give
You will walk in the pathways that I would have walked
Thank God you have the privilege to live
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Lucas Pasley Sparta, North Carolina
Lucas Pasley is a singer/songwriter, fiddler & banjoist from Sparta, NC, a town you should visit soon and go dancing at the Alleghany Jubilee. Ponies Back Home and Souls Living On are song albums while Stratford at Bow features fiddle/banjo duets. Recordings of Lucas's band Gap Civil are also on Bandcamp. ... more
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