Get all 92 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), 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), "LEAD ON, KINDLY LIGHT" & "THIS WORLD & ONE MORE" (2020), and 84 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
1. |
||||
IN THE NEW DARK AGE (the only lamp burning bright is you)
words/music: bill mallonee
All the dominoes fell
we went under a spell
and all hell. broke. loose.
Everything you held dear
when the dust finally cleared
it was just as you feared
Chorus:
In the new dark age
Nobody puts up a fight
In the new dark age
You'll see no flares in the night
The only lamp burning bright...is you
All the mask came off
All disguises were dropped
The game was declared over
Love was escorted out
There was hardly a shout
I'll take the crimson & clover
We're all mystics & freaks
With the spirit beneath
Deeper than any ocean
Let the string section "riff"
Seal it up with a kiss
Honey, we are all golden
In the new dark age
no one trusts anyone
In the new dark age
they forget to have fun
The only light from the sun...is you
In the new dark age
nobody puts up a fight
In the new dark age
you'll see no flares in the night
The only lamp burning bright...is you
The only lamp burning bright...is you
from Winnowing (CD, Vinyl or Digital Download formats!), released August 20, 2014
|
||||
2. |
THREADBARE
07:03
|
|||
Threadbare Year: 2006 | Run Time: 7:04
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI)
is it ok if i cry in your arms
i used to do this kind of stuff when i was young
spent my youth ashamed and alone
with the deaf dumb and blind kind disowned
is it ok if i cry in your arms
i'll try not to stain your pretty blouse
a dam has broken somewhere inside
there was no foundation for the house
if i had more faith if i'd given more love
read better books maybe done the right drugs
the scrape of the blister across the ragged landscape of despair
leaves you all threadbare
is is ok if i cry in your arms
there's so much shit i'd like to forget
honey could we make a deal like our lips are sealed
could this be our ugly little secret
if i had more faith if i'd given more love
seen better movies or done the right drugs
the scrape of the blister across the ragged landscape of despair
leaves you all threadbare
say it's ok if i cry in your arms
you can tell the kids one day when i'm gone
who would enlist if they'd seen the script
you know i tried to warn you about the fine print
if i had more faith if i'd given more love
a b or c hell all of the above
the scrape of the blister across the ragged landscape of despair
leaves you all threadbare
|
||||
3. |
SOBER UP
04:09
|
|||
SOBER UP. Bill Mallonee & Victory Garden
"coming down from a dream; wake up call coming clean
here's a life a poured out cup
the last page sober up
sober up...and get home
more or less underneath
house of cards house of freaks
and the coins? they're all spent
on distractions and disappointments
here's a life a poured out cup
the last page sober up
sober up...and get home
and it's hard, so hard to make a stab
when everything is up for grabs
with skin so thin and feet so lost
and no pocket change, all bets are off
here's a life a poured out cup
the last page sober up
sober up...and get home..."
|
||||
4. |
STRING OF PEARLS
04:33
|
|||
String of Pearls Year: 2007 | Run Time: 4:23
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI)
hanging out your thumb and life on the line
trying to flag a ride that's taking its sweet time
hanging out your heart the one without a care
you rode hard wet a little worse for the wear
you're spending all you earn just to get reborn
where currency no longer has a say
hey enjoy the ride kid yeah enjoy the stay
on this debt that no honest man could pay
you're standing at the crossroads in more ways than one
you're standing at the crossroads of what you have become
one day you will wake up in a brand new world
and take your place upon the string of pearls
another round of heartache simply to pretend
you learn to wear your wounds on the outside in
looking your whole life to find a magic kiss
yes and one day we'll all laugh about this
|
||||
5. |
THE SAD PARADE
05:57
|
|||
Sad Parade Year: 2007 | Run Time: 5:38
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI)
far too much to explain
rain falling on the sad parade
and time is swinging like a willow
the strain of what's just out of reach
those stains of coronation speech
are sleeping on a velvet pillow
the card lay in your vest you pocketed the best
we all vanish less impressed in the end we always lose
you're the man with many hats you traded this for that
yeah but only unequivocally when you had to
he's a face that's just a prayer away it's true
he's the traveler in the sad parade with you
you could think you're long over past due
but you're wrong yeah you're wrong you're spot on
sure there were mines to be stripped
talk about a perfect fit
and diamonds are hard to find and follow
behind the doors of dark romance
the medicine of the last chance
and bitter pills are hard to swallow
the river boats don't change
clientele is never tame
these lives they're falling like the leaves of late autumn
they clutch their truth like drink
trigger fingers never blink
and their eyes? Always revising & speaking volumes
yeah and i am sitting in this room
on every hill there is a fool
and my conscience it's an unglued hadow
of a hangman that i haven't met
a lovely uniformed cadet
those killing fields never lying fallow
and if i lose this skin
and gain a heart of wisdom
i would carve it deep into this flesh of clay and mud
this room is growing dimmer
should i fix myself some dinner?
surely it's all got to be more than sugar in the blood
|
||||
6. |
SHE'S SO LIQUID
02:59
|
|||
She's So Liquid Run Time: 3:01
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2002
made a visit to your garden
to come there and ask for pardon
my offense was very great
my defense was second rate
she's luminous ya dig?
yeah and she's so liquid
tears were words and then again
falling down like English rain
once a king and now a fool
lead me to baptismal pools
and you put every fear to flight
and you bathed me in the pale moonlight
there were angels in the trees
looking on looking on looking on looking on
cross my heart and hope to tell
your kiss is like a wishing well
two coins tossed and here we crash
i don't think i heard them splash
|
||||
7. |
LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS
04:24
|
|||
Life on Other Planets Run Time: 4:25
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2002
i've got you and some scars for all my labors
you've got me everybody needs a Savior
i feel bad all these days that we spent running
you're all grown up and i hardly saw it coming
i believe it turns to gold
watch love begin to unfold
it's like a story you were once told
when you believed in God and New Romantics
and life out there on other planets
angel's wings and all these giants being slain
the smallest stone well it can get lodged in your brain
i see you and my heart fills with emotion
i push your swing but it's silent and in slow motion
i'm always falling in love
it's the least you can do
i'm always falling in love
with something other than you
pull me up God i don't know why i'm lame
i'm drowning in a sadness i can't hardly name
easily swayed by the power of suggestion
it's always hard getting past those first impressions
|
||||
8. |
THAT LITTLE SOMETHING
04:19
|
|||
That Little Something Run Time: 4:19
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2003
that little something that helps you along
that little something that keeps you going strong
that little something yeah what went wrong
that little something now she's long gone
could've been the way the words fell off your tongue
could've been the way her heart keeps moving on
to a different beat yeah and a different drum
that little something yeah she's long gone
i wonder why
it feels like a coin toss
all the bridges that we build
don't hold when we cross
that little place where secrets make their show
to a bigger place only lovers know
that little space once it seemed so still
that little space the one that's hard to kill
|
||||
9. |
CAN'T FAKE THE HEARTACHE
03:03
|
|||
Can't Fake the Heartache Year: 2005 | Run Time: 3:03
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2005
the rain is fallin' on your street
the rain is fallin' at your feet
it wasn't long ago we walked a different shore
now it's more than you can take
no you can't forsake
and you can not fake
the heartache
it should have lasted forever
why don't things last forever?
in the ocean air that tangled up your hair
is there sand in every kiss?
we crashed inside the waves
no you cannot fake
the heartache
I know it's hard to love me
I'm not good for your health
I know it's hard to love me baby
it's hard to love yourself
now it's just ticking clocks
and some sad songs on the jukebox
we sail for memories on a lonely sea
where the waters are never safe
it's more than you can take
cause you cannot fake
the heartache
|
||||
10. |
||||
Of Future Partridge Families Year (Back of the Bus)
2005 | Run Time: 3:42
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2005
you spend most of your days looking for a place
something you can reach out and touch and taste
you wind up in this skin alone in the world
trying to find your place on the string of pearls
we're sitting on the back of the bus
head in the clouds and a heart full of trust
sittin' on the back of the bus
there's a world of light inside the two of us
when love is a pirate truth walks the plank
orphan cries drown under thundering tanks
the best revolutions are the ones inside of you
but the ghost of illusion always wants her due
public transportation overnight sensations
further deliberations are needed
step off of the greyhound time to put your bags down
and be greeted
here's one for the boy here's one for the girl
forever starts now and it's the best of all worlds
your breath is so warm and your touch is bliss
your lips are so moist that we drown in the kiss
|
||||
11. |
CAROL MERRILL
03:50
|
|||
Carol Merrill Year: 2004 | Run Time: 3:50
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2004
film flies by 24 to a second
sound is down slo-mo kiss beckons
the world it spins with a madman's grin
i've been too long too wrong too much outta touch baby with you
and her skin was satin
but i've never been more aware
of that wound
as the fabric tears
bus stop blues and exhausting views
the wages and the cost whatcha gained stacked against what you lost
there's the door where your treasure
money's so demanding behind the door where Carol Merrill is standing
what's the sound of your dreams crashing
through the tinted windshield guardrails all collapsing
she was vacant but smiling as she showed off the prize
what did Carol Merrill say when the camera died
|
||||
12. |
PERFUMED LETTER
04:38
|
|||
Perfumed Letter Run Time: 4:38
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2003
do you remember what you wrote
in the perfumed letter
i was counting upon you
though i know you deserve better
the moon is on the waters
and the hands move on your face
of a clock that has no memory
of our sad farewell embrace
your love is fire and all aglow
it's shimmering and vertigo
we're shining hard like video
and i am all of nothing
i will never be enough
tryin' desperately to fill
all this void that keeps on showing up
uninvited to your parties
unwanted in your bedroom
while your innocence is checking out
with the better part of you
i forget what you wrote
in that perfumed letter
i remember taking note
that you had made me better
|
||||
13. |
SHIRTS & SKINS
06:02
|
|||
Shirts and Skins Run Time: 6:02
Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2003
i thought you grew up too fast
but that's the way the story goes
i've a picture of your mom and you
the background looks like snow
i know the snow well it's not really there
but that's what it does suggest
and the smile upon your young face
well it looks so tentative
the winners and losers
the same in the end
i was hoping for a perfect world
no shirts no skins
sometimes i like to dream
that you are smiling down on me
and all those things are really true
we say we believe
so i looked out at my riches
there was none for which to live
looked inside at all my poverty
s'all that i had to give
all those tears we cry
for everybody else
really are the ones we
saved up for ourselves
and the hardest part is letting go
of everything 'round here
the treasures make you laugh and cry
and all ya hold most dear
|
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
Streaming and Download help
If you like IN THE NEW DARK AGE /13 SEEDS OF HOPE & OTHER PERISHABLES (2016), you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp