1. |
This Whole Broken World
02:42
|
|||
If you were a ship, and I the first mate
Out crossing the channels so deep
I’d not learn to swim, for if you’d go down
Down toward the depth of your fate,
I’d soon be there quick in your wake
If you were a carriage, and I held the reins
Out crossing the badlands so wide
I’d not learn to walk, for your axel fails
Tied up by those arid chains
Our wood and our bones bleach the same
If you were a leaf, and I a strong gale
All forcing the hold of your might
I’d move between the light and toss around time
And you’re bound there to follow my tracks
For that’s the step in this old crooked dance
If you were my own, and how I wish that you were
To steer ‘round this whole broken world
I’d not learn to love, as forever’s a long time
All broke down by life’s weary game
It’s enough to be posed in your frame
|
||||
2. |
The Month of May
04:28
|
|||
Last time I saw you
It was in the month of May
You floated down
as a leaf that’s lost its way
In days to come
I’ll lay broken on the ground
Just as a dream
Still waiting to be found
Does my heart echo
In this dark and lonely room
Is that the music
Of a song that ends too soon
Still far away
You lay in your featherbed
Just as a lady
Gone back to sleep instead
My heart’s a sparrow
Gone cutting up the light
I live the silence
Of a clear and starry night
I’ll build a tower
That no one else can climb
But through the keyhole
Is a man who’s lost his mind
And in the shadows
A path that longs for light
Just as the moon glows
With all its milky light
I’d fly away
To some old distant land
And as I prepare
On my own legs I stand
|
||||
3. |
Wealth of Sorrow
05:28
|
|||
Across you lie in your sticks and stones
Across the darkest ocean
But here I am all blood and bones
So constant in direction
Not a compass am I needing
What of the sea? She cried so sad
What of that sea all storming
I’ll build a boat with a rudder deep
So constant in direction
It will always keep me floating
What of the peaks that lie between?
What of those peaks all snowing?
I’ll dig a trench so wide and low
So constant in direction
For the quickest i’m returning
What of the rivers that roll and flood?
What of that water flowing?
I’ll build a bridge so strong and tall
So constant in direction
For the shortest I am traveling
What of the wind that blows away?
What of those gales howling?
I’ll rope the gulls and tight will hold
so constant in direction
That the clouds will give me pardon
What of the plains she cried so long
What of that vastness slowing?
I’ll cry the tears that’ll flood my way
So constant in direction
And across it I’ll come sailing
What of the silence among the stars?
What of that wealth of sorrow?
I’ll sing a song so sad and true
That the stars will line to light my path,
And point me toward your dear affection
|
||||
4. |
Where The Bluebirds Sing
04:11
|
|||
He slipped the loop off the three strand gate
And tires clamored off down the track
He looked at the fields, at what might have been
You can't change the future by looking back
No you can't make it rain, or will the wind to stop its blowing
Can't change the future by looking back
It’s the closest to death, save for dying
His shadow lay there flat on the ground
He yearned for the rain to come wash it away
You can’t tell a story without making a sound
You can't slow the day, or knock the world off its axis
Can’t tell a story without making a sound
She paid a fair price for trouble
This lonely world shone bright by the moon
She lay still in the ditch, as the buzzards undressed her
And the sun made its circles ‘round the room
You can't take it back, as the world it keeps on spinning
And the sun made its circles ‘round the room
In the long dark hours of burden
Mornin feels like it's never gonna come
The stone of her love lay heavy on his heart
Like the horizon beneath the setting sun
You can name all the stars, but not their place in the sky
Like the horizon beneath the setting sun
You can’t choose your fate, or lift the weight of the masses
Like the horizon beneath the setting sun.
|
||||
5. |
Dark and Dreary
01:47
|
|||
When a man has lost his will
When a man has lost his will to live
It's a dark and Dreary world mmm
My mothers gone by illness
My father he left by a triggered gun
It's a dark and Dreary world
Even in the noonday sun
The sun it spares the wilderness
The moon hangs cold on heavens rope
It's a dark and Dreary world
All deceived by pulpits hope
In ardor and in scarceness
A farrow soil 'neath rich and poor
It's a dark and Dreary world
And there's a lock on heavens door
|
||||
6. |
My Girl's Heavy
03:19
|
|||
7. |
All Over Babylon
02:55
|
|||
When Noah built the ark he said come little lambs now two by two
Come now while the sky’s still blue
When Noah built the ark he had a hammer and a chisel and a fine saw too
Oh lord he hammered and he chiseled like you’ve gotta do
But it rained all day, and it rained all night
And it drank the sinners, all over Babylon
When Noah built the ark he’d been waitin’ for a while for a rainbow sign
Lookin’ to the heavens with a jug of wine
When Noah built the ark he battened down the hatches and he hunkered on down
Oh with the skeeters and the elephants, Glory bound
|
||||
8. |
Down in The Valley
04:10
|
|||
With my feet in my boots and my boots in the stirrups swinging down
I sit in the saddle pointed just the other way from town
I don’t know when I’ll get there but it’ll ease all the hard times that I’ve found
But until then I’ll be sitting right up here with no feet on the ground
Down in the valley the girls are dipping their toes
While the men down at the station cry ‘oh lord, it goes how it goes’
Down here on Jackson the bums are kicking at crows
While the ladies of the evening cry ‘oh lord, it just goes to show’
I don’t need money or luck, I sing the song that I chose
I sit on the sidewalk believing anything that anybody knows
I don’t know when I’ll get there but it’ll ease all the hard times that I’ve made
But until then I’ll be sitting right down here laying down in the shade
Down in the valley the geese are swimming their eights
While the ladies of the evening cry ‘oh lord, you’re choosing your fate’
Down here on broadway the boys are getting up late
While the men out in the country walk the broad line between love and hate
|
||||
9. |
||||
In the year 1918 when the war came tumbling down
All men that were spared were home to Scotland bound
The foaming shores of France all churned and lay there washed in red
The mauled the mamed on a namely ship instead
Across the channel wide and to the north she did sail
A sea of fire couldn’t slow her down, nor could the strongest gale
She sailed away from Kyle of Lochalsh on the last day of the year
Filled with all the eager boys, she was Lewis bound to steer
The sails were full on the Iolaire, as an eagle spreads it’s wings
They cut across the Minch’s deep, feeling rich as any king
But as the lights of the harbor came, as a beacon in the night
The waves they crashed and the sea it roared and they saw a dreadful sight
The captain cried an awful noise, a name they’d heard before
Then a sound came thundering like death knocking at your door
Below the waves all sleeping still, for nowhere did they roam
They’d laid in wait, like some crooked fate, those mighty Beasts of Holm
As the sea came rushing in, and the ship was sinking fast
Two hundred weary sailors swam and saw their home the last
Their leather boots like cannonballs pulled and tugged them down
And who the war had spared, the sea it claimed them now
In the year 1919, the first of days to come
The Iolaire in the harbor sat, for this war had not been won
The mast it stood one hundred yards, like a branch up toward the sky
The last tree out on Lewis stood, as tall and sad goodbye
All the island mothers walked, and combed the windy shores
Sons washed up one by one in twos and threes and fours
Below the waves all sleeping still, for nowhere did they roam
They’d laid in wait, like some crooked fate, those mighty Beasts of Holm
|
||||
10. |
Young Jaime Foyers
02:10
|
|||
Far distant, far distant, lies Scotia the brave
No tombstone memorial to hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil of Spain
For young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain
From the Perthshire Militia we did a volunteer
Along with young Foyers that bold halberdier
To storm Bridges Castle right before break of day
With Young Jamie Foyers leading the way
While mounting the ladders for to scaling the wall
A shot from a French gun made young Foyers fall
He placed his right hand all across his left breast
And thus Jamie Foyers his Comrades addressed
To you Robert Percy who stands a campaign
If goodness should send you to Scotland again
You can tell my old father if yet his heart warms
His son Jamie Foyers expired in your arms
And if a few moments in Campsie I were
My brothers and sisters my sorrow to share
And alas my old mother, oh long may she mourn
Her son Jamie Foyers will never return.
“Oh, if I had a drink of that Baker's Brown well,
My thirst it would quench and my fever would quell.”
But his very live-blood was ebbing so fast,
And young Jamie Foyers he soon breathed his last.
|
Cahalen Morrison
Originally hailing from the high desert of Northern New Mexico, Cahalen has made a name for himself as a unique voice in American music. Over the past decade touring solo, as a duo with Eli West, or with his band Western Centuries, Cahalen has played shows and festivals all over the world. He is equally at home on guitar, banjo, mandolin, singing three part harmony or unaccompanied. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Cahalen Morrison, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp