Get all 7 Mike Roy releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mike & Eileen Chapter One, Live at UMBC - Oct 17 2002, ShotFriction, Lullabies & Family Songs, The Whistlestop, Songs from the Valley, and Roy.
1. |
Po'land
07:04
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Old Harrison's chained, everyone's the same
says "I reckon it'll all fall apart"
in his rock-n-roll clothes, at these rock-n-roll shows
he thinks to himself "Yes, i guess I'll fit right in"
A sound when off in poor George's head
and all of his thoughts they all have fled
Oh baby, am I crazy? Am I AWOL, or do I glow?
Yes I know this pain that's ripping you, yes
it's ripped me too.
Eight ballerinas collapse to the floor
holding their temples begging please no more
while the Handicapper General, with her snarling nose flared, is making sure all is on the level
and everyone's scared
While she thinks so clearly, with the greatest of ease
grabbing their necks, slowly begins to squeeze.
You're given the freedom to choose, but all your options they maybe seem gone
Like maybe you threw out the baby with the bath water being drawn
Ah but you swear your eyes are open wide and working just fine
You say that maybe it's just dark outside, all of the time
But you're stuck in the dust bowl, breaking down
You've been stuck there so long you've grown into that frown
And that Handicapper General is pushing you around
Oh I say "Baby, am I crazy, am I AWOL, or do I glow?"
"Yes I told you you could along too, but it's you who must decide what you must do."
Me, I'm mounting up, I must be moving on
I'm just passing through these cultured iron bars
passed your hoops of fire, with the dull flickering flame
Man the sweet trail is speaking, and it's speaking my name
No I can't stay long, thank you just the same.
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2. |
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Old Auggie Bill and Crazy Pete were chased clean out of the town for starting fistacuffs with the lawdogs who were corrupted. The pistol shots rang out loud with a screaming sound, followed by "Get out of here, don't you know when you're not wanted?"
Into the dusky night they trampled on, further out into the west, while the sunlight set a fire upon the mountain. "Is it a lack of trust" asked Crazy Pete "or just some kind of conniptions?" but old Auggie just looked straight on ahead wearing the same old weary smile.
"You know we ride right in" Pete said "spot the drag, and make our way to the scare. And from the windows you can hear the cheated folks' relief. You slap the bad man down, I take his side-kick out and we push 'em into the square, where all of the sudden the town folks are yelling with some kind of angry grief."
"And we try to calm 'em down, to cool 'em out, try to speak for a second, just to remind them that these are the men that rob them blind. And I start screaming back like they can't hear, but it don't make no difference. But you just keep quiet with that sad look on 'til they start kicking our behinds."
"I just don't understand" Pete shook his head, "I'm saying what's the use in trying? We go back in to town every couple of days and start all over again. They want those bad men out, as much as us, those thieves that rob them blind, but when the time comes, it's like all their reason has disappeared with the wind!"
"Dear Pete my boy, we did our best. In a couple of days we'll give it another try." said Auggie Bill from under his mustache looking so coy. "Yeah I know we will" young Pete replied, "just like every time before. It's just hard sometimes, you know, being some kind of unwanted hero of a cowboy."
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3. |
She's Gone
04:01
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Well she's gone down the road
where she's gone I just can't tell
with packed up things she stepped upon the rail
she did not say "fare you well"
Well she's gone down the line
wearing a smile and one flower in her hair
she kissed her mama goodbye saying she'd be fine
and left here without one care
she's gone I just don't know where
My thoughts and my heart how they pound
It's like it's beating a hole right through my chest
my ears are hot, filled up with the rolling sound
one second more and she'll be gone with the rest
one second and she's gone, I guess
Well she's gone now I know
I ran far and as fast as I could
that old steel stallion's stolen her down the winding road
nothing left behind, and nothing owed
one story ends and one begins to unfold
she's gone down the road
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4. |
She Has A Pop Song
05:04
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She has such a beautiful face
my knees shake when the light shines
Is she alone? Who does she lean on when she's alone?
I want to scream, I want to scream, I'll scream it
Mr. Has-it-all-together shouts "It's all so cut and so dry!"
But you're so lonely and you make me want to cry
She has such a beautiful way
bright brain can spin ideas like a record when she's alone
with no one to lean on
I want to scream
She has such a delicate way
Her arms holding her own stomach when she's nervous
or alone. No one to lean on when she is alone.
I want to scream, I'll scream it.
Mr. Has-it-all-together screams "It's all so cut and so dry!" while he paints your picture with his black and blurry eyes.
Mr. Has-it-all-together screams "It's all so cut and dry!"
in his own ear that's throbbing, because he believes in his own lies.
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5. |
An Attempt
06:07
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I wish I could just self-destruct, but I don't
I just take it all in, again, the same
And you can see the truth behind these eyes
that I can only begin to explain
This hypocracy is the enemy with which I sleep
and the hatred of which I now breathe
There are so many misconceptions here explained
only by a language you can't read
So you trip on, trying to make sense of the
ancient scribblings on the wall
While those who claim that they can read them
distain your bloody knees because you fall
But the words themselves say that they're so wrong
They just hide their scars beneath cloaks so long
Oh what those words say, I wish I could fit into a song
but the song would be much too long
And nobody's life changes because of a song
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6. |
A Father's Daughter
08:36
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Well she left that night, to the slamming sound, the doorjamb pounding against the screen, smashing up the silence
Sliding through the grass she slipped her way through the old town and out to the highway
She walked a bit 'til through fog lights gleamed and though her teary eyes could hardly see
She caught that ride so quick, her nightgown stuck to her sweaty sides, hiked up a bit showing some knee
"I Hate" she screamed inside her head, which like her heart was now pounding
Still soaked from her daddy's sweat from under an hour ago when he came to show he loved her
She laid there still after he left, trying not to breathe as he walked down the hallway
In a bloody blur she grabbed some cash out of her dresser drawer and ran down through the house
"Howdy miss" the driver said as he pulled up and through the window he could see that she'd been crying
"How old are you" "Sixteen"she said as she was sliding into the seat beside him
She tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes and sit still and stop her shaking
"I'm not from around here," he said "I'm just passing through this town"
All she managed to cry out was "Please take me!"
Her dizziness reflected by passing lights and shadows were diffracting in the moisture
She strained so hard to simply block it out this time as she has done all of the times before
Still remembering the first clear as day, and all that had been shattered
She reeled inside there in the night, she sat cold and wet with her fists clenched white under her thighs
After an hour or so the driver cleared his throat to speak but he just peeked at her in the mirror
Semen's smell swimming in the air her breathed, he saw her nipples strain piercing at the fabric
He was thinking "This must be some kind of dream, a drenched young girl hitch-hiking at midnight"
And like the stories he'd read there on the internet, he knows how those stories end
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7. |
This Pearl
04:22
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Dive deep you scrawny wretched spew
with that lustful search that rules you
into the blackness below where you take
what you shall never know
Wearing black, your goggles on sharp spear in hand
Down so deep you plunge never to understand
You grope and steal in white flashes and return
with your daily catches
Now you cut slice fast so sharp it don't take long
While you sing with skillful grace, man, but there ain't no
art in your song
You cut so deep that a burn remains
But this pearl you seek you'll never find in your empty game
It feels good so quick, so sharp to the end
and you split, and you don't think twice, you don't try to comprehend
For you it's how it must be, your black goggles on,
lest you really see
So you dive down, again, again, again, again
all the while you feel like a worthless piece of shit with some skin
You know you take and take but patience is wearing thin
Ah but this pearl, you shall never win
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8. |
Truth be Told
09:17
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One day a young boy wandered far from his home and deep into the woods where he knew he was not supposed to be
And because he had no knowledge of where he walked he soon slipped down the side of a great ravine
and into the most terrible trap that held him fast
by both legs, digging in so deep it's cutting off the circulation
The boy cried out loud, he screamed into the evening air
but he was far to far from his home and could not get free
he kicked and screamed and thrashed all about but with each turn it just dug in deeper, drawing blood from his skin
But he kicked, and kicked and screamed again
and yelled at the darkening sky through the trees
In a flash a flying lady appeared one of God's most beautiful creatures with wings of air and beaming with light
She descended down through the trees
Amazed by her beauty the boy just sat still as she approached and he hadn't noticed that because he was still the trap began to open
retracting its teeth from his legs
And as she neared he just stood up with proper respect
Not realizing he was actually free
He just bowed his head low as she floated a foot off the ground
She was so bright up this close that he could barely look at her
With his head bowed down he saw that he was no longer trapped at all, he shut his eyes tight
because he was so glad
And when he opened them again he was standing on cool grass on the trail facing home
and she floated just up ahead and he followed her all the way back home
back home to where he wished he'd never left
The scrapes and the cuts on his legs were bandaged and eventually they healed
but his eyes, because of the light, were forever altered
and he could no longer look into dark places, for if he would he would see nothing there
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9. |
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I'm looking at the stars in the sky
but I'm thinking about the ones in your eyes
The road is wet tonight
I rode a lot of miles today, this horse is tired
but he don't mind
Your heat's not left me yet
I got them windows rolled up tight
I can still smell you in my clothes
The moon hung low off to the left
and like smoke, clouds drift over and through but don't remain
Slow forest beside me just clapped hands with itself as I sung this song, and the words were your name
I don't fear this breeze's blow
and I'll be back for you and we will go
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10. |
The Death of Dan Tucker
05:45
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Dan Tucker was the son of a mean old man
known to wash his face in a frying pan
his mama combed his head with a wagon wheel
his papa died with a toothache in his heel
Get out the way Old Dan Tucker, you're too late
Dan Tucker was a scrappy little son-of-a-gun
started wrastling them bears when he was young
he'd turn 'em inside up and upside down
'til they got outta the road when he was coming to town
Get out the way of Old Dan Tucker, you're too late
Dan Tucker was a crack-shot, flip of the wrist
he used to shoot all day and never miss
he could hit the fly on the back of his old dog's ear
and nick a stone that was thrown 50 feet in the air
Get out the way of Old Dan Tucker, you're too late
Now Dan Tucker started mixing it up one day
with a couple of boys from down around the frisco way
There was three of them, he was just one guy with a big old mouth as his only alibi
He called their mamas something awful that I will not repeat, he said that their daddies all were dancing with two left feet
He got their guns drawn out and a smile on his face
'cause he was gonna prove he was no low down disgrace
Get out the way of Old Dan Tucker, you're too late
Dan Tucker shot first and he got one down
but not the other two before they spun around
He fired three quick shots from down on his knees
he got one in the arm and watched the other leave
He laid there now, in the dirt on his back
suffering from three bullet wounds and a heart attack
He was thinking as he looked up at the old blue sky
"Dan Tucker was never supposed to die"
Well the sun went down just like any other day
Dan Tucker's blood had all flowed away
The birdies in the trees were singing a sad old song
I was thinking we could sing along
Get out the way of Old Dan Tucker, you're too late
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11. |
Take a Piece
05:36
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Come on take a piece off the end
of the gift given here by a friend
I'm wondering about who will know in the end
just how much will be left
Your right, you deserve it, it's being withheld
Never mind the sound at all, or the smell
stick to your guns and your permits you write them so well
be sure that you cross your Ts
So your life, let me get this straight, is all about you
To earn and save and polish all the good things you do
the rest goes into the closet with the broom
bullet-proof padlocks, but hinges rust
Baby come on, join the party let's get on being friends
You don't belong, being different is just pretend
If you won't agree, well i'll forgive you cause you're pretty and I don't care all that much
Oh the mess seems to stem from two snares
Lust is one, Pride completes the pair
Just seems so rare the man who will fight for what's fair and then share with those who have less
Come on, take a piece off the end
of the gift given here my friend
The miracle is that the gift never ends
there's enough for us all not to go hungry
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Mike Roy Raleigh
Born outside of DC, raised in MD, college in Baltimore, made a record there, moved to TN, wrote a record there, moved back to MD recorded 2nd record, went on tour, met future wife in NC, moved to RI for two weeks, went back to DC to meet up with future wife, moved to NC, married wife, had 3 kids, finished 4th solo album called Mike & Eileen Chapter One. ... more
Mike Roy recommends:
Bryan Cates is a master craftsman.
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Jeff Conlin is a long time friend and collaborator. His organ mastery takes center stage in his new southern soul outfit The Satellite 4... very worth checking out.
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It's a Beautiful Sound
by rob watson
Rob is a great friend of mine, and an astoundingly good song-writer. I was proud to start The Whistlestop with him, and perhaps someday we'll bring it back to life. Check out his solo album.
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House and Land offer a stirring take on classic Appalachian folk; this is delicate, heartfelt balladry.
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