Get all 89 Bill Mallonee releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, & WEST, ABOVE, BELOW & WITHIN (free single from Orphan Songs 2018), Here It Opens With A Prayer, But It Closes With A Song, A CLAMORING OF GHOSTS (2021), STUNNED (an anniversary song), "Lead On, Kindly Light" & "This World & One More" 2020, ORPHAN SONGS (2018), NEED TO BLEED (expanded version) Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love, FOREST FULL OF WOLVES (2018), and 81 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
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Fail/Straight, No Chaser words/music: bill mallonee
trails that led to the mountain top
too late to turn back, too late to stop
friends? they left with logs in their eyes
clapped invisible hands at my demise
and that's how the righteous always apply
the justice of God with a cold clear eye
ain't no souls here without a taint
in every sinner there lies the perfect saint
chorus:
lay down you sorrows...they'll still be there tomorrow
for you to pick up again
lay down your fears and doubts
give of your heart from the inside out
and all those sad mistakes?
They'll still be there when you awake
a million knocks at unopened doors
a million questions there are no answers for
always the last to know the score
with these splinters in my knuckles
sun going down and the city arises
shakes off the dust of her compromises
and down here kid, you know it never really ends
ya' gotta learn to dream in colour again
chorus:
i swam out far; way past the shallows
there was a thousand dreams hangin' on the gallows
and the shadows they cast on the tender blades of Spring
gave me just enough heart to sing again
sing of the kisses, sing of the failures
sing of rejection; straight, no chaser
sing of al that's poisoned you well
sing of all you had to sell...
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GO TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS
music/lyrics: bill mallonee
It’s good to see you old friend
I couldn’t pull you up for days
I heard you disappeared for spell
just outside Santa Fe
Did you go there for a new scene?
Did the train tracks get all crossed?
Did you go there for the mystics?
Did you go there to get lost?
Chorus:
to burn out like a sunset
o’er high deserts out west
burn out with every colour
leaping from your breast
and go to sleep with the angels
sleep with the secrets they tell
burn out like an old star
...and collapse on yourself
25 North and the snow cascades...
and for a moment I forget
just how good my hand got at dealing...
from the bottom of the deck
there’s a well I almost drowned in...
and were it not for love
you can fall pretty far and pretty hard...
but there’s always blue sky up above.
Chorus:
burn out like a sunset
o’er some desert in the west
burn out with every colour
that leaping from your breast
go to sleep with the angels
sleep with all the secrets they sell
burn out like an old star
...and collapse on yourself
Idle hands are the devil’s workshop....
I was employed there every day
sifting through those sad remains...
for a lil’ something I might save
I stole what there was left to steal...
from an altar made of bones
took back all those gifts I gave...
they were never your’s to own
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FROM THE BEATS DOWN TO THE BUDDHA
words/music: bill mallonee
there's always time to do in denver...
and note books to fill up
and tea to get you spaced...
when the mountains aren't enough
these asphalt vibrations...
that call so loud and long
that lead to a lover's bed...
or to another town alone
chorus:
It's always one step at a time...
when yer heart's crossing the center line
with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements...in tow
and the mystery that pursued ya'
from the beats down to the Buddha
and the things you never could quite let go of...
and the things you never could quite let go of...
running ink horn lines in red wine...
big sur sea sounds losing yer mind.
the bitter toll and burden of the miles
But something pretty close to love...
musta filled those bigger skies above
and keep your words all fractured and colliding
Lowell's post-war factories
America happily divin' in
leaving all the brightest and best
never felt that understood
you were poundin' on the Underwood
you were puttin' all their alloy to the test
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BAKERSFIELD (DRIFTER'S SONG)
music/lyrics: bill mallonee
You crawled into that boxcar...thinkin' you were alone
eyes got adjusted to the light...and those 50 other souls
some runnin' from the law...some runnin' harder from the Lord
most lookin' for an honest job...to feed the kids back home
chorus:
from the drought in Oklahoma...to the stockyards of Bakersfield
it's mostly bread you begged for...and some sawdust in your meal
the only gold i ever found...the only treasure i did find
was looking into your sweet eyes...your body next to mine
how much of this is punishment? how much your own choosin'?
how much got set in motion....when the garden fell to ruins?
would you be my brother and sister?...we all sure could use a home
the pride of man may stand tall for a spell...ah, but no one goes at this alone
There's so little we walk out with...and there's so much to be lost
seems to me it's easy to see...where all cut from the same cloth
so you crawl into that boxcar...thinkin' yer alone
let your eyes rest with a hallowed-ness...on all those other souls
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5. |
COWBOY SONG
05:16
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COWBOY SONG words/music: bill mallonee
Like a cowboy song........from a time bygone
long on brighter days
when the melody...gotta lil' buried
and the good things...they just fade
from the pure white dress...to the long black veil
to the broken paths ya' took
from the first breath pulled.....to the last shovelful
and the closing of the book
CHORUS:
Away to a River
Away to a Sea
Away to a better place of peace
We'll just wait
We'll just wait...and see
In between the seams...of the requiems
i saw you in the sun
And God's last Word...sweetest poem i've heard
in the warm fields where you now run
CHORUS
Like a cowboy song...sung out soft but strong
all forlorn in the night
God's......grace....is an open space
and we were all bathed in light
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TELL IT SLANT words/music: bill mallonee
Who knows how you got here?
And who knew what you’d find
who knows the stars and planets aligned...
Kings were out to kill you
Politicians just the same
funny how not that much has changed
chorus:
yeah, I love the way you made those words
come alive and dance
and I love it...when you tell it slant
You, stare down all the wardogs
and the lives with which they play
time to clean house, baby...wipe that smile off their face
stare down all the money...you weren’t the least impressed
stare it down from the back ally to the halls of Congress
Tell it with unblinking eye...tell it one hundred proof
just a glance and a wink, at that bottle of vermouth
double shot and chilled...you know how love gets outta hand
you know how some folks can relate...to a thirsty man
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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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