Get all 93 Bill Mallonee releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of WELCOME TO STRUGGLEVILLE (Remaster by Pete Lyman) 2024, Comes To Life (New single & free download), GLIMMER Spring 2024 (demos are back up for 2 days), NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, & WEST, ABOVE, BELOW & WITHIN (single from Orphan Songs), HERE IT OPENS WITH A PRAYER, BUT IT CLOSES WITH A SONG (2022), A CLAMORING OF GHOSTS (2021), THE LOT OF EVERYMAN (a free download today), STUNNED (an anniversary song), and 85 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
1. |
GREENWICH (CIRCA)
04:07
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Greenwich (Circa) words/music: bill mallonee
Well, the streets were freezing over when i blew into the Village
2 feet of snow and i was soaked to the bone
no place to crash, and a little short on the cash
I hit 3 open mics, and waltzed with all the dough
Had a voice like an ancient text
guitar slung round my neck
Marine band harmonica
...always in tow
you summon up the past
to speak about the present
songs are just telling 'em
what they already know
chorus:
take the world a part and then
but, be gentle my friend
and try and put it
back together again
now most of the truth
are the things they never tell you
they keep it all disguised
under a wallet of fear
and what passes for riches
among the bought and sold
you learn to tell the fool's gold
from the things that you'll hold dear
chorus:
take the world a part and then
but, be gentle my friend
and try and put it
back together again...
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2. |
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
04:20
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NEW YORK STATE OF MIND words/music:bill mallonee
Rolling on the Thruway, past the farm where history was made
Dylan's country face and Music from Big Pink
Autumn in the Catskills always makes you think
There's no greater peace you'll find
Than a New York State of mind
You can take it to the City, you can put it on mean streets
or you could move it to the farmland; feel the earth beneath your feet
You could roll your dice in Nashville; where they auto-tune your grief
There's no greater peace you're like to find
Than a New York State of mind
You can swing down to Georgia where the peaches all taste sweet
You can it train o'er to Memphis, the city of the King
Tom Joad it to California, where the stars walk the streets
There's no greater peace you're like to find
Than a New York State of mind, etc.
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3. |
WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN
04:02
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WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN words/music: bill mallonee
when the walls came down
i saw my life...flash before my eyes
it wasn't as frightening...as i thought it would be
5 & 6 came together
number 7 was on the way...we would call her Teresa
after the saint
chorus:
when the walls came down
everything became as water
when the walls came down
falling bricks & mortar
it's raining, it's raining on me
tried to tell the foreman
you don't push materials past whatever
weight they were ever meant to bear
with a shrug of the shoulders,
eyes down & a shaking of head
100 souls...vanish in thin air
Writing the chapters
Building the cities for nickels and for dimes
building america....one brick at a time
you come with some dreams
ya' leave here berated, numb & null
...expendable
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4. |
THE GOLDEN GATHERING IN
05:02
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THE GATHERING IN words & music: bill mallonee
Well, the faint amber glow from the old campfires
they are flickering out...they are flicking out
And the last few embers vanish
in the darkness' mouth...in darkness' mouth
chorus:
Hail to the saints
and all of us beginners
the lost sheep and the sinners
all those "where-the-hell you been?" best friends
the shaken & confused
all those winners at "born-to-lose"
at the golden gathering in
and those old cowboy songs?
well they rarely got it wrong
but the world is always losing
everything it wins
she'll be comin' 'round the mountain
shimmering like a fountain
and on her lips?
the sweetest of hymns
chorus
there's a blue moon in the desert
and "all shall be most well..."
said blessed Julian
to her sisters at the well
the disgarded & ignored
the busted & the bored
the fallen & untamed
the one without a name
last chorus
Hail to the saints
and all us beginners
the lost sheep and the sinners
at the golden gatherin' in....
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5. |
SOLAR SYSTEM
05:14
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6. |
SOLILOQUY
04:44
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7. |
FROM DAY ONE
06:22
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8. |
NOTHING LIKE A TRAIN
06:14
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9. |
GOES WITHOUT SAYING
06:17
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10. |
BOTTOMING OUT
08:41
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11. |
BANK
06:39
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Bank
music/lyrics: Bill Mallonee
Originally from the album Permafrost (2006)
it's been known
for a train to jump its track
it's ok so you'll know
most the time they come back
and it's ok to lose your life
when you finally see your birth
it's ok to say i love you
figure sometimes it's gonna hurt
don't forget to bring kindness
don't forget to say thanks
don't forget to spend your love
no it will not break the bank
don't forget to bring some empathy
for the saints and the sinners
don't forget to bring encouragement
yeah we're all just beginners
up here under par cans
or down under the load
how i got from a to b
well God only knows
me i talk a real good game
practiced till i got it right
but most of the crying you'll do
it's inside most your life
yeah i done you wrong
and i hardly know why
i hope that you will remember
the more or less better side
i hope the Cross is big enough
when your sins reach to the sky
hope the arms are wide enough
to embrace one such as i
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12. |
WELCOME TO STRUGGLEVILLE
05:37
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Welcome to Struggleville
music/lyrics by Bill Mallonee originally from the album Welcome to Struggleville (1994)
all is quiet on the western front
there appears to be a lull
john and jane doe are sleeping well tonight
with the little thoughts inside their skulls
salome she's undressed to the nines
and although a few pounds fatter
she got pavlov's bells on her ankles and wrists
she coming at you with a platter
so i stole down to the waterfront
to escape the desert heat
oh what on earth you gotta do around here
to try and get yourself a drink
heard john the baptist preaching
"make way for the King
but if you want to recognize Him
you gotta tell me all your sins"
they are building a new gallows
for when You show up on the street
polishing the electric chair
they're gonna give You a front row seat
heard a sneer outside the garden
salutation so well heeled
"welcome all you suckers to struggleville"
i've been trying to negotiate peace
with my own existence
she got a stockpile full of weaponry
she breaking every cease-fire agreement
oh the whole thing is full of decay
as sure as i'm made of dust
and into rust i know
the beast is falling
they are building a new gallows
for when You show up on the street
polishing the electric chair
they're gonna give You a front row seat
heard a sneer outside the garden
salutation so well heeled
"final stop no points beyond struggleville
welcome all you suckers to struggleville"
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13. |
BLISTER SOUL
04:18
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Blister Soul
Written by Bill Mallonee from the album Blister Soul (1995)
yeah you got this place you go
it's just a trip before the fall
way past the fevered pitch
just a spit from the wrecking ball
said you woke up this morning
said you woke up under a curse
i've heard the blues are bad
but this is something worse
and the ambulance driver
well he tips his hat and stares
and he asks you in a grave voice
can i take you anywhere
yeah the thing we cannot speak of
too painful to behold
oh this blister soul
there's a smaller place you go
where there's hardly any sound
where the deals have all gone sour
and the house of cards comes down
and the damage is costly
it's beyond all dollars and sense
you can't measure it with graphs and charts
or any instruments
yeah the thing we cannot speak of
the secret we all know
oh this blister soul
yeah from the trumpet blast
i hear the banging drum
yeah from once upon a time
to the kingdom come
and the thing that's yours for free
is the thing i need the most
oh stifles every boast
stifles every boast
yeah the thing that's hard to speak of
but the secret we all know
oh this blister soul
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14. |
FRIENDLY FIRE
08:56
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Written by Bill Mallonee
lyrics
coming in for a few days my friend
yeah more than likely I'll be alone
yeah I asked if she'd like to go
you know how she loves Chicago but she just said no
whatever she wants
whatever she might need
I've got no more fight in me
I must confess my own helplessness
things got pretty weird inside right after the war
I got kinda quiet for a long long long spell
they say war is hell but it ain't nothing nothing like this
she just slams the door when I try to hold her
like I held on three nights at sea
I've got no more fight in me
mad dog bombardier hell I was mad dog all the time
I could drop that payload on a Roosevelt dime
but where we are there is no more north star
and it's all dark and uncharted in our skies
kid the flak was so thick you could get out and walk on it
and that's what I did right back to that little bride-to-be
but I've got no more fight in me
she says I've changed (funny thing)
don't people change all the time?
it's been twenty years or more Stan
since I had a good cry
Originally from the album Friendly Fire (produced by John Keane & Bill Mallonee),
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15. |
FLOWERS
06:05
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Flowers
music/lyrics by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) Â ©2005
round here there's just trouble
chasing after the wind
buy that line with all the money in the bank
and never ever look in
to be so damn enlightened
oh to be so free
to be so down in the bottom of the ninth
at the top of the century
I came with dirty hands
I came with blinded eyes
tongue tied I could barely speak the truth
about my tall lies
they sold me on some pleasure
till the pleasure it sold me
into something that looked and smelled
a whole lot like slavery
we all need new beginnings
the first steps make you better
maybe you're just a prayer away
from getting your sh*# together
flowers growing out of the desert
flowers out of parched ground
flowers coming right up through the cracks
of the pavement in your old town
flowering's not a science
it's more like a fine art
flowers coming right up through the cracks
of our broke up little hearts
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16. |
SKIN
08:24
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Skin
Music/lyrics by Bill Mallonee
from the album Blister Soul published CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©1995
now i'd seen him despondent
a few times as of late
sometimes the answer that love gives
is the hardest one to take
i know he was prone to paint
the voice of his own fear
so Vincent he picked up the blade
and he put it to his ear
look at yourself in the mirror
you're all rumpled red stubbled and gaunt
you walk a dead end path in a dry corn field
and now this morose response
your princess she don't wanna see you
no your princess she don't wanna hear
so Vincent he picked up the blade
and he put it to his ear
now look if you're gonna come around here
and say those sort of things
you gotta take a few on the chin
you talking about love and all that stuff
you better bring your thickest skin
sometimes you can't please everyone
sometimes you can't please anyone at all
you sew your heart onto your sleeve
and wait for the ax to fall
you there with the paint box
you there with paper and pen
me i got this blunt instrument
i'm gonna play on 'til the end
and you know you come with empty hands
or you don't come at all
you deal your best hand out in the marketplace
and let the chips fall
the package it comes wrapped up
there is a lesson here
Vincent he picked up the blade
and he put it to his ear
now look if you're gonna come around here
and say those sort of things
you gotta take a few on the chin
yeah you're talking about sin and redemption
well you better wear your thickest skin
sometimes you can't please everyone
sometimes you can't please anyone at all
sew your heart onto your sleeve
and wait for the ax to fall
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17. |
RESPLENDENT
05:37
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Resplendent
music & lyrics by Bill Mallonee from the album Audible Sigh.
Published by CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2000
yeah i remember the dark clouds
raining dust for days on end
blew all the earth out to california
and just left us here with the wind
in desperate times you know everybody's part
but it's your own lines you're like to forget
'til what you were meets what you've now become
grins and says "hey, haven't we met"
lost my firstborn that winter
and my wife on the first day of spring
and so i poured my sweat into the earth
yeah to see what that harvest would bring
and i remember howling fury
just like a plague of locusts
egypt's punishment for sins of pride
is that now what has come over us
how much of this was meant to be
how much the work of the devil
how far can one man's eyes really see
in these days of toil and trouble
honey we're all resplendent
yeah honey we are all thrift store
i'm like a wino with a twenty dollar bill
yeah forever and eternally yours
i can make you promises
if you don't expect too much
yes and i will run the distance
if you'll please please excuse my crutch
how much of this is failing flesh
how much the course of retribution
my my how loudly we plead our innocence
long after we've made our contribution
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18. |
Bill Mallonee
Bill Mallonee is an Americana artist w/ 80 plus albums over a 30 year career. Voted by Paste Music Magazine #65 in their
"Top 100 Living Songwriters" poll. He was the
founding member of Vigilantes of Love. He has worked with Mark Heard, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, & Peter Buck from REM.
His most recent work, "Lead On, Kindly Light" is a 23song double Cd released Feb 2020.
... more
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