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Driving the Nails (1991)

by Vigilantes of Love

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1.
Odious 02:32
forty days and forty nights i guess i been slightly morose i been slightly depressed there's an electric fryer in the next room killing going down here at high noon now that i've made myself odious to the greater cross section of our populace i saw the clinic i heard the screaming clean out the plumbing saw the body bags leaving these emotions of love move deep in my heart i got a molotov cocktail and i wait until dark well sure it's your body that's nakedly plain but less than nine months ago it was public domain i was thinking about the carving knife when i lifted that latch and those expensive french cosmetics when i lit the match well am i pissing you off my beloved public am i pissing you off well let's change the subject
2.
turn down the light placate the drunk kill the telephone i don't wanna sit this one out and have you rape me later on now ladies and gentlemen i used to be a notorious killer and then i became the world's greatest dancer always asking what the truth was and never waiting for an answer now it's the clay inside this heart of stone and the concrete in my head i know there's a fine line between the living and the dead and i used to go to slasher films and leave feeling pretty free it's really quite cathartic to see yourself up on the screen and i've been driving the nails firmly in your tree you've been talking to your Father on behalf of me nothing at these check points i care to defend so why do i raise the hammer up and drive the nails again now in the graveyard of my secrets there's a hope buried beneath all this talk of peace and righteousness has left me weary beyond belief and there's an unwanted mistress in my bed late at night she say "i know you're a criminal you been on death row all your life" turn out the lights and reconnect the phones fill the drunk's glass to the brink i'm ready for penetration honey but it's not what you think you gotta fill this stinking shell of false humanity fill it up with bullet holes from your firing squad of mercy
3.
Casualty 04:24
shell-shocked from fright i stay up half the night don't you ever feel the curse in the heartbeat of your universe and i had a hand my friend in ushering darkness in now i wish that even more i could show it to the door i hear one day you will level the cynics rage ever prayer that's ever been prayed will surely not be turned away and no tears shed for dying or dead that won't be wiped away justice locked up for weak and poor will soon come breaking down the door and Father why do i feel like a casualty i try to do what i should but it doesn't do any good does it i'm at the bitter end of rope of all my might have beens and i could be swinging from it or maybe then again i could use it wisely climb out of this pit of snakes i could use it wisely to pull up the veil that hides your face
4.
friends say my countenance or what amounts to it is a shroud of ash and brown turning clay into gold can sometimes get you down i suppose there are benefits in being retarded at least your life's a string of moments unguarded lawyer says my case is poor and the doctor says there is no cure for this war in my mind i can't feel remorse or hear their cries is the sun fading is the light dying or am i just going blind i have worn it like a badge i stitched it across my chest for everyone to see and i have made it a major tenet in my theology in the 20th century there's no reason or rhyme we've become the greatest experts at simply killing time darling use your riverboat dredge dive down dig down underneath my skin this faded cracked and thin veneer so easy to get in i will try not to drown you with what lies behind my kiss honey i should warn you first you swim at your own risk
5.
Lady Luck 04:58
now if i were a politician i'd want you on my ticket if i were a hunter i'd want you in my thicket and if i were a brain surgeon you'd be inside my knife if i were a gambling man you'd be inside my dice i'm as selfish as a schoolboy enamored with his prick now my life is like (becomes) a handgun and the hammer just went click now if i were a writer i'd want you in my pen if i were a junkie i'd want you in my syringe and if i sold magic potions you'd be inside my vial if i were on death row you'd be inside my file now if i were a seamstress i'd want you in my singer if i were a safecracker darling i'd want you in my fingers if i robbed a seven eleven you would be my faulty alarm if i were a fornicator you'd be inside my condom i believe i see this lie coursing through this world of yours and mine i've been breathing it in like atmosphere i've been drinking it down like wine it says "all you need is love" and "you can be the judge of it" tastes ok for a little while but then i wake up choking on my vomit something help me see just how worthless something help me excavate deep below the surface something help me drown Lord in your river of blood and grace i know that i'm leperous but hold me anyway
6.
Sanctuary 03:32
engine is hot and the wind is wild come on darling don't tarry aren't you weary of dreams and hard luck schemes this will be our sanctuary well car is warm from the chill outside that can creep into your bones i was trying to remember if i'd brought everything but there's nothing that you really own caution to the wind you can never go back again we have tried for years to play by their rules on the ladder of success and i was stepping up to make the first rung and saw this vision of my brokenness well then since that time i became an inspector of storm damage done for life i've been picking up the pieces of my might have beens and i hold them up to the light as far as the east is from the west deeper than the deepest ocean i've been running all my life on borrowed feelings devoid of emotion and the windshield wipers are counting time too heavy for us to carry oh was that a whisper of the holy ghost this will be our sanctuary
7.
driving late at night signals fading fast out here on the perimeter of my past map says there's no exits no run off ramps to stop and the future's up there down the road in the dark darling whisper words of hope into my ear radio is fading and it's getting hard to hear and i'm running scared for so long now i've been running scared for so long now now i've got a million houses but i seldom feel at home i've got a lot of friends but usually i'm alone offer you no alibis proffer no excuse because i'm dying just for something to hang on to the pieces in this puzzle never seem to fit life is like a handgun and the hammer just went click driving late at night you're kissing my neck conditions let's call them hazardous you whisper to my soul she's probing past my knee these are violent times baby wouldn't you agree
8.
Brenda 04:25
brenda pass the brandy to me one more time it must have dropped another ten degrees wind's been screaming like a battered woman it's a storm like i've never seen before and life makes you walk a thin grey line between the living and the dead haven't we been waiting all our lives to hear the angels sing inside our heads brenda pass the book to me one more time i can't recall the chapter or the verse i guess we shouldn't really be surprised i guess we should expect the worst it was another black friday when the bottom dropped out in a wall street i chanced to find a pearl i was terminally sick at the mayo clinic when i met this doctor with a cure now there's a witness in the courtroom of a heart in disarray and i believe his testimonial i would die for it this day while the light fades from your eyes brenda i am in a miserable state i wanna hold on to something strong trying to regain some innocence it's been going going going going gone and i feel just like an orphan knocking on the doors of a million homes sure i feel your arms around me but it still don't mean i don't feel alone
9.
Pleasure 03:25
public service non-stop thirty days for running down a traffic cop now i'm fresh out of the slammer got a new job running a jackhammer darling see the shackle marks on my skin it's a sad commentary on the shape i'm in pleasure it has been my now i'm struck by how often fountain pens are really nails in coffins nice tie handshake sign here we'll make you great i put the move on this woman named mortality she slapped me in the face with life's brevity maybe i need a hobby maybe a lobotomy seems like every wrong choice still small voice dies inside of me now i'm starving and thirsting and i gotta repent but sometimes with dogs you gotta rub their nose in it
10.
Shadowlands 04:37
got this gnawing empty feeling i've been trying to shake my life it's just a reel of bad out takes and my mind gets so numb from the dumb i've been dying for a savior i've been chaffing at the bit in every corner of existence every way out i invent Lord knows that the money's spent when they gonna take me from the shadowland i've been trying all day just to keep it together never in my life have i been so affected by the weather things that the people say i've been trying all day just to keep it alive crying all my life but it's only on the inside oh darling i will let you in hey we've hot new ways to treat the soul that succumbs electroshock and valium i've been victimized hypnotized sodomized here in the shadowland i'm still dying for a Savior i'm still chaffing at the bit in every corner of existence every way out i invent Lord knows i've made enough of them
11.
tender young flower grown up in my garden and i pray ever day that your heart will not harden a cynic's song surrounding you on each and every street at the altar in the bar in the faces you will greet a gift of something so profound straining all these words a gift of something so astounding dying to be heard bone of my bone you are flesh of my flesh blood of my blood you are breath of my breath you are my pride child and yes you are my crown how to keep the darkness from dragging you down i feel the weight of what i am and what i am not yet i'd like to pass on something besides all these deficits don't lose your guns
12.
Already Gone 02:08
i've got holes in my pocket i've got sand in my shoes i've been walkin' to the river i've been looking for you in between the seams and requiems that just drag on and on already gone i'm a garden of roses a graveyard of remorse i'm a drunken sailor trying to steer a straight course on the edge of memory of an ocean deep and long already gone i was dying of thirst i was starving to death looking for salvation but not holding my breath ah you come and save this drowning man in the undertow so long already gone
13.
now the brakeman calls down to us folks in the car below he say "the next stop is yours i'll bring your speed down slow" so i gather up my bundle my weariness and a sense of pride that's been running long past empty since i took this long train ride i've got one foot in the grave you always thought you had it made one foot in the grave the mirror holds a lonely face one foot in the grave regrets are like the pennies i saved one foot in the grave of love now i peer out over the edge to a canyon river far below you know i'm deathly scared of heights and i cannot swim a single stroke i don't recall if i was pushed i don't recall if i tripped or fell there were devils all around me but an angel just as well now the train has come and gone and i'm left here with unspoken words got my eyes on the horizon i'm stretching every nerve now they cannot take your city when He's armed and standing at the gate and they cannot storm your feeble heart when your hope dissipates
14.
if you're planning your escape if you're scheming your release if you're arranging your departure from the mark of the beast i've been searching through my notebooks i've been checking through my heart i've been building in my basement i've been trying to do my part (here we go) it's alright doctor it's only just my soul it's alright doctor ah you can fill that hole it's alright doctor i see people faint from fear i see people beat their breast i hear the last gasp and the death rattle in the corpse of the west if you're looking for a refuge a lifeboat in the sea she could be your finest lover or a horror that you flee and i want this hope to grab me burn this dross with fire gonna mix gasoline and flames mix one-hundred proof aching and one-hundred proof desire i'm gonna drive this text to this field of deeds i'm gonna plow a deep and gapping wound in the dry ground of your needs

about

From garage folk with a splash of Dylan to Athens folk-rock band, almost over night...This 1st national release (1991!) STILL sounds cool and feels great!

credits

released July 4, 1991

Bill Mallonee: acoustic guitars, lead vocals, songs
Billy Holmes: electric guitars, mandolin, keyboards
Ian Evans: bass, background vocals
B.B. Queen: drums

with:
Mark Hall: accordion
"Dog-Mess Johnny": harmonica
Alice Berry: background vocals on "Casualty" and "Guns"

Engineers: Joel "happiest guy in the world" Burkhart and Lamar Williams. Recorded At: dB Syntrax Studios, Atlanta Ga. Digitally Mastered By: Robert A. Vosgien at CMS Digital. Cover Design and Photography By: Flournoy Holmes/Art & Death & Lance Andrews Goldsmith. Design: Kenneth Maynard/Mojave Design, Nashville, TN. Cover Portrait By: Sheryl Perry.

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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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