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 released March 14th, 2024), 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. |
Purgation
05:16
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Purgation Year: 2007 words/music: bill mallonee
i wrote this song on an old guitar
under the influence of a million stars
and with a head full of heaven and a heart full of hell
with an audible sigh and a cry for help
and if you look real close yeah but not too hard
if you run your fingers across the shards
it's all a broken glass honey there's no doubt
you can fill it up but it all runs out
let your hand be gentle let your gaze be warm
life falls upon me (us) and shadows they all turn
let the doubts disperse and the hope be gathered in
let the curse be drowned as purgation begins
now i've heard stories where lives reverse
i must admit i don't know how it works
oh to be safe oh to be hid
don't know how it feels but i wish i did
if you're a ghost well you're still loved
welcome aboard it's a big club
all of the fragile and all of the fake
ain't no erasing the master tape
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2. |
Blind-Side
04:45
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Blind Side Year: 2007 by Bill Mallonee
nothing much left to give
falling down short lived
pretty broke and pretty fractured
couldn't elude the hounds of capture
heard a record going round
i fell in love with the sound
with the sky and with the wind
the river underneath your skin
you're the joke and the punch line
never saw it coming from the blind side
the stupid treasures you dug up
held them up to the light and wiped off the dirt
you find your calling just to lose your trust
with your little heart and a wooden crutch
it's all one big circus sideshow
by now kid hey you should have known
where to reach and what to do
who left to pray to
when the gas is as good as gone
kid what you been running on
tired of get tired of spend
from beginning on down to the end
tired of poor tired of wealth
tired of my raggedy-ass self
and the dues they're never paid up
a few nickels in my rusty tin cup
no matter how and no matter what
more than likely won't be enough
it won't be easy but it won't take long
close your eyes draw a breath and be gone
this thing that has chosen you
and the needle spins out in the last groove
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4. |
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War Wound (Seeing for the First Time) Written by Bill Mallonee BMI 2007
wrote a letter to myself you might call it a way of checkin' in
love can turn against you and leave you stranded in the wind
and it's bracing this whole endeavor
wish you had two dimes to rub together
you take leave of your senses just in time to stagger back to the house
and you got into a jam and connections well they started going south
your heart's the purse sure enough
you play your hand but you'd better learn to bluff
if there are battles to be fought if there were hills i needed to die on
hey i surrender all 'cause when it's war baby you've already won
and the treasures you thought would last
well there's no vault to hold them fast
take a drink gonna steal a kiss
honey it's yours without clinched fist
and this diner is a church and the priest he says your order's up
and you're baptized in the neon and the coffee is your communion cup
pick up the check and be gone
the old jukebox is a carillon
and the dream is what they sell you
and the risk well there's some things they don't tell you
i am seeing for the first time and darling i hope it ain't my last
there were roadblocks that i sped through there were signs i just ran right past
did i show you my war wound dear
did i tell you the bullet's still there
well all the songs you wrote the bits and pieces and the sullied parts
didn't they tell you there are no guarantees just the promised breaking of your heart
and that faith you used to shout
poor kid what the hell was that about
i am lost beneath a streetlight standing by this naked patch of ground
and my heart is full of weeds and there is something like barbed wire all around
and the change is always too spare
and you vanish into thin air
here's the bait there's the switch
you are one failed magic trick
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5. |
Leaving Trains
05:19
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Leaving Trains Year: 2007 | Run Time: 5:19
Written by Bill Mallonee
falling rain swinging door
no one buying records too much anymore
neon glass folks walk past
storefront window on the world
they trace their feet
to an empty seat
by that windowpane
on the leaving trains
the scratch and hiss old stylus
come have a listen to his master's voice
most of what you know acuff-rose
the circle of truth is still unbroken
are you chasing or being chased
which one are you
you might find a deeper voice
down in the groove
step in here for a minute son sit yourself down dear
let me spin you one of those tunes from yesteryear
three minutes to explain sure you'll make your train
those melodies they ride for free
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6. |
Orphan Eyes
06:10
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7. |
I Saw the Light
04:10
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8. |
Nomenclature
02:53
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9. |
Undertaker
04:40
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Undertaker
Written by Bill Mallonee
undertaker better watch what you do
buddy i can see your every move
wash off the dust better sew my smile on right
make sure you comb my hair real nice
me and the girls are going dancing tonight
i was brutish at best
i was giving it all to the flesh
now i'm ready for the Spirit to be coursing through these veins
like a river after the rain
undertaker won't you please come near
yeah i got a little something to whisper in your ear
once had a girl she was pretty as pretty could be
but i broke her heart took her love from me
undertaker let us get this one thing straight
there'll be no friends or relations at my grave
commit me to Him like a thief upon the cross
i was never too good about counting the cost
if you need a little extra you can take my watch
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10. |
3rd shift tower gate
04:04
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11. |
all joy to you, baby
04:57
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12. |
Hollowed Out My Heart
04:39
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Hollowed Out My Heart by: bill mallonee
compass shot to hell maps they're all frayed
we were starving from the crumbs we picked up along the way
hands were never strong enough to carry all your fears
chorus tag line:
So i hollowed out my heart my love
make a place make a space for your tears
and it was never better when lost in the sound
yeah just outside the city walls but still sufficiently underground
my feet were never quick enough for the changing of those gears
no matter what i give no matter what you get
all these treasures from the heart well now aren't they all suspect
i handed you the wheel as i was too numb to steer
once i gave you all my heart all of that has passed
once i showed you all my cards well that will be the last
last time i ventured forth out into the clear
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13. |
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If I Should Fall From Grace With God Year: 2007. Run Time: 4:36
Written by Bill Mallonee
i've been sober for nearly forty winks
beating those odds ain't one of my strengths
when your faith's a beat dog howling chained in some front yard
if i should fall from grace with God
sonnets of love and gethsemane carved deep beneath my skin
hometown gatekeepers didn't like it much so i never did get in
somewhere between strawberry fields my backyard full of stars
if i should fall from grace with God
now i have stood in large places but mostly they've been small
i've ventured into spaces where i shouldn't have been at all
remove your shoes figuratively this is holy ground we're on
if i should fall from grace with God
well faith has its thorns 'cause faith she is a rose
you can still smell the scent if you lean in real close
make them pry it from your hand after you're dead and gone
if i should fall from grace with God
judas was the traitor peter the cowardly man
which one i most resemble the thirty pieces the silver in my hand
my eyes were always set on high the heart so deeply flawed
if i should fall from grace with God
Did You Know?
(left out verse)
i never understood it i never was impressed / with the differences people claimed they saw between saint peter and judas iscariot / some poor son of perdition from the very start / if I should fall from grace with God
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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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