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. |
Birds Taken for Granted
03:30
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When I see your face
And I see your face look away
I just don’t know
But I know there aren’t words to say
But I try so, not to burden your patient wings
With this snow
Cause you can’t fly straight
With a burden on slender bones
I wish I’d known the weight of that
Which I’d carelessly thrown and that it’d make
You lie on the cold stone, feeling pain
Cause you beat so hard
Beating with all your might
But you’re loosing ground and you’re
Cursing the gift of flight
With a harsh sound and you know that it’s just not right
And you’ve just got to give it time
So I lift you up
And take hold of your tiny wings
And I pray that some day when this songbird sings
I’ll be there to say
I’m so sorry I hurt you then
So glad that I’m here today
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2. |
Old Scratch
05:11
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In the wheat field he makes his plan
He waits encoiled, concealed, for the lazy farmhand
To make retreat there food in his hand
But his naked heel will be his poor life’s end
Oh he lies
In the streets he sure can blend in
Same shirt, same tie same blood on his hands
And he knows just the places you give in
He don’t even have to try, he just lends you a hand
Oh he lies
In the meadows, streams and drylands
He moves much slower there, chained feet, chained hands
In the church-house, much time there he spends
Chasing the truth out, turning man against man
Oh he lies
There are choices here my friend
There are cuts there are ties there are fences to mend
But what it takes is so great a demand
To give up what you hold so tight in your hand
Oh for life
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3. |
Baltimore
06:03
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The car is moving but the trees are still
I been drowning for weeks, I’m drowning still
And all I see is bad
The wind is colder than I’ve ever felt
The sun seems weak, could it ever melt
I never wanted spring so bad
This smell of cigarettes and sweat
Can’t get away from it
And this city feels the same as it always did
But I wish that you were here
This darkness rides again
I don’t think you’ve ever been to Baltimore
It’s grey and bent like a broken door
Without you nothing’s the same
Steeples to the unknown gods,
I will tell you their names…
Can I take much more
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4. |
The Gypsy
05:18
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Maybe she just doesn’t know, maybe she just can’t see
There’s nothing I can do with these crooked flames
The ones behind her eyes where they cannot be touched
She thinks only in rhyme but she thinks too much
She’s been taught to dance in beauty and in time
Body bathed in grace could never be mine
Hungry and full, in the cold and at night,
Now as young, then as old, with all of her might
She’ll dance… on and on
The day is long for her tribe, so much is unsure
Like where will food come from tonight and when will there be more
Loyalties must be few, we’ve got our own mouths to feed
And wars to march unto, and reasons to bleed
She watches the old women move, so graceful and free
When the long day is through, when that air is fit to breathe
Her garment’s pure as the snow, lips as red as the seed
Of love she has barely known, but she knows what she need
And she’ll dance… on and on
Never alone
Oh child I can’t hold you down, there’s no strength there's no arms
You could break any chains, you could loose any bonds
And dance… on and on
You’ll dance never alone
The beat of the drum is calling you home
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5. |
Pink Sky at Night
04:33
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The sky is pink tonight over layers of black and grey
The branches traced in white
And you’re a hundred miles away
The pink sky’s in the clouds tracing soft round shapes of blue
And in the snowfall’s silent sound
I’m two hundred miles from you
The silver in the dark has stripped everything left bare
And I’m feeling the depth of far
In this three hundred miles here
I could scream for hours I know
And no one would hear your name
Falling down deaf with the falling snow
On this four hundred mile terrain
I can’t make this change, no matter what I say
No matter how I strain
You’re still five hundred miles away
So Lord I’m asking You, cause I know You hear me anyway
That somehow I’d feel so near
At six hundred miles away
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6. |
Fair One
03:40
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You tears, purest prayers I’ve ever known
You eyes have seen what one can never own
This taste, its sweetness lingers on
Oh bliss, your eyes weeping with the dawn
The kiss you never gave me leaving in the rain
Does still constrict my breathing all the same
The touch, never felt, keeps me breathing through the pain
This heart, still beating, pounds your name
Your sad eyes haunt me like a dream morning’s chased every trace away
You skin, so pale, leaves me bleeding for another lonely day
But it’s your heart, softly beating, that’s drawn me to your door
Oh will I knock, will you unlock,
I long to hear so much more
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7. |
The Killer
04:09
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There’s blood on my hands
There’s blood on your heart
They’ll call it suicide among friends
They’ll write it on their chart
But I’ll know it was homicide
You’re breathing now,
But you’re breathing slow
And the blood is pouring out
From where the blade did go
From where the blade came out
The ambulance coming, but it won’t get here in time
Too many miles of open road
Sure enough when it arrives it’ll find you lying
And it’ll find me from the blood trail left behind
I’ve got no place left to go
Nothing left to see
Everyone I’ve ever known
Eventually gets cut by me
And my mind can’t stop my hand
Only one thing left to do
One heart left to slice
Lord I’m asking You
Please take my life
Cause I am a broken man
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8. |
You Are Dead and Gone
04:56
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Girl I can’t, you know I won’t
Walk this road all alone
It’s been so hard for so long
Sharp the rocks you tread upon
I’ve seen the flesh, I’ve seen the blood
And you are dead and gone
Curse the sky you crooked branch
Shout it loud your crippled hands
My broken teeth my broken bones
Have fallen from this mouth of stone
You took it all and gave me none
And you are dead and gone
How dare you Lord, how dare you now
How can you plan to work this out
You broke yourself and took it all
Why did you have to make her fall
Why does this blood taste like stone
Why is she dead and gone
Lord I can’t, you know I can’t
Carry this load with these broken hands
I leave my arms pulled from my chest
And leave this heart on your breast
Please have it all, and leave me none
Let me be dead and gone
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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
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House and Land offer a stirring take on classic Appalachian folk; this is delicate, heartfelt balladry.
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