We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Locket Full of Moonlight (16 song UK version) 2003

by Bill Mallonee

/
1.
if i could draw for you that perfect circle where form and substance gradually collides it may have been your laugh or maybe just perhaps it was your locket locket full of moonlight her words they held the scent of roses she was the love of Christ and the law of Moses it poses many many questions but suggestions flood the night they're pouring forth from your locket full of moonlight perfect circle perfect kiss perfect train we might have missed perfect picture deep within perfect secret under your skin i've spoken about a self i hardly know and i can live with that if it's that self you'll hold well she is my glittering prize forever shining bright yeah we're all mesmerized by that locket full of moonlight
2.
Shellshocked 05:25
say a prayer for me i think i'm worse off than you thought i was i'm increasingly afraid i might hurt the ones i love ever since i was a kid the skies were always blue so even when the well was dry your sea was always full now i cannot hold the joy whatever device i employ and the techniques i have used well i'm the only one who's fooled when you're wanting to be something and you get good at pretend til you're thinking you are someone that you've never really been are there angels on the waters in this turbulence of thought hey babe i'm all shellshocked the cut came fast and deep but this will come as no surprise baby i was always told the hand is quicker than the eye and if radio is waves and waves are like the ocean i'd be drowning in your swells instead of going through the motions truth is like a stone and falsehood's always liquid but with eyes so blind and hands so numb you can hardly tell the difference from the part that's on the stage and underneath these lights we are traitors and we're treasonous hidden just out of your sight you can look into your mirror you can inspect every trace yeah i may have found my id but i have yet to find a face
3.
just what were you expecting what were you hoping for only wish i could have given oh given you a little more first you learn to laugh it off but that will only go so far you'd always like to be someone else but you're only who you are only after the glow only after the fade of her kiss only after the heartache do you know what you've missed been there and tried with all my might but i couldn't move the stone words sound different in the night over your telephone i still see you in the streets sometimes even our eyes meet i hear your voice in this old house i still hold you in my dreams
4.
her wings are as soft as roses and as you might have guessed although they're made of roses they are fragile none the less see i handed you a book and that book was my life as i recall that moment it was all such sweetness and light you came from california by way of tupelo yes there were some others before ya you said ah but you don't need to know so i fell into an ocean but it was her sea green eyes as i recall i was calling it was all such sweetness and light i was moved more by her tears than i ever was a sermon got more from every tender kiss than i ever got from book learning cannot say why the tides changed maybe i held on too tight but for a while i was a child and it was all such sweetness and light she told her friends i'd come to her on some noble steed ah but it wasn't anything like that maybe empty-handed and full of need ah but at least good for a laugh love makes you better than you really are sometimes it happens overnight come with the sunrise you are all sweetness and light never handed you a single word when you set foot on that leaving coach yeah it's hard to say i'll miss you girl with a lump in your throat me well i'm still swimming for shore in those sea green eyes but i recall once before when i was all i recall once before when i was all i remember once before when it was all such sweetness and light sweetness and light
5.
just how did this start this breaking of our hearts or anything anymore that beats true the transitions are forced i'm drowning in remorse the awkward silences are a tragic novel the things that we once said like the vows that kept us from walking up there next to God was that just two dumb kids talking one more voice i'll only hear on your phone machine one person who's getting free and another casualty we're so close we can touch God how i'd love to we're a million miles apart at my table for two finished the coffee in your cup just after you went pressed my lips upon that lipstick stain babe it was a sacrament one thousand little tugs at a heartstring you once pulled like the smell of your perfume my love and our little rituals you're deep inside my skin like the ink in my tattoo but we're a million miles apart at my table for two and the seasons they keep changing and the world spins so unsure there's only so much rearranging you can do with the furniture in these motel rooms of autumn and the shadows are getting longer and the grave is the last room we all check out of
6.
Overflow 03:59
as you walk down your road may the wind rise to greet you eyes linger long under the light of her face may your burden be as nothing with the smile of Jesus may your heart overflow with the touch of his grace i once knew a boy who was drowning in sorrow joy as elusive as the morning dove her body was a vessel and the sail was her kiss and they sailed on God's love together radient you will swim for her shores drown in her passion drink deep the waters of love that's a-flowing behold in wonder the children she bears you and you'll nurture the flesh and the blood of your bones though the sun may beat down and the land be as barren though the thunderclouds fail to give up their rain though confusion may sound like a trumpet for battle there is a truth that will always remain
7.
Jaws of Life 03:25
if i forgot something out here along the way let it be forgotten we didn't need it anyway it's hard to believe we ever made it out of town look how far that we've come considering what we drag around loved all my simple chords and i loved your def low end loved the big bang boom and that piece of crap we traveled in made us some records that really weren't so bad made us some real good friends with this 6-string drag must be Something must be Someone bigger than pulling me out jaws of life from my skin you can tell she's in love 'cause she's got that summershine face you can tell he's in love he wants to bask inside her rays took my things to the Goodwill to give them away for free they said hey kid we like those blue suede shoes but you can keep that Christmas tree babe what's your poison yeah we choose our own trouble babe here's my poison whatever's cheap make mine a double strange fascination with what never satisfies we're either eyes glued to the ground or Lucy in the skies
8.
starts at that place near the lake of tears it's at that part of your throat where the lump first appears we've been taming the world with an old tweed amp but it snarls at your tent just as you're breaking camp so we drove all the night but we're not any nearer now the sun's coming up in your rearview mirror God i miss my wife and i miss my kids and those little ways you die just to live through this you're all writing your chapters with swagger and flair and i'd love to read them ah but i'm not there well there will be no medals won't get a crown for this little thing you picked up you can't put down you've been spending what you have to pay all your dues for this thing that you love takes me farther from you it's always the sound of a lonesome guitar under cool autumn sky under solitary star yeah it's all that stuff a child's faith believes they say all the rivers they run to the sea so here's to the joy and no regrets what with all of these dear friends and loved ones we've met and i'm so bad at the math when counting the costs you just go where you will under the sign of the cross
9.
Dirty Job 04:05
ten years gone and a few songs i'm drifting in this place conclusions drawn in blood they're the hardest to erase yeah and you could call it fate and say it could be worse but sometimes you've got to wonder if the whole thing was a curse and it's gnawing at you till the hours they get late and it's there by your side when you awake they used to think bloodletting could make you well again so i bled some soft and some i bled on ten till i couldn't separate my bleeding from my health yeah but most of all as i recall i was just trying to save myself what is the illusion and what can you lean on there's this sword called coming-up-empty that i have fallen upon she's this job description and no one will walk you through it yeah failure's such a dirty job i don't know if i'm up to it good night america wherever we have been and good night to my family good night to my friends i'm changing my address until we meet again i'll be checking into a world they call oblivion and the suit swallows you full but it's the only one they had for me in the window
10.
out beneath the milky way trying to find a place to stay it got harder after time became this line you crossed and somewhat undefined now i'm drifting beneath those things that held me up all those thing my hands could touch like my lips upon yours they're all gone that's all gone that piece of the romantic always dies a death that's tragic and the part that felt so clean and new that's now vanished inside you never underestimate distance is a feather or a crushing weight somewhere in the darkest night lost your locket full of moonlight
11.
Hat in Hand 03:47
pen the lament and shadow your eyes there's a vapor trail stretching across a kansas sky dirt lot kids making dirt lot plans shuffle forward your hat in hand could be the hangman could be the noose could be the engine could be the caboose it pays to know on which side you stand shuffle forward your hat in hand yeah gold in this house there's gold in my band there's gold in your blouse honey gold in my hand it's a rhythm and mystery you don't quite understand shuffle forward your hat in hand run fast after everything and that's just what you'll miss live your life opened armed or with a clenched fist dirt lot kids doing dirt lot deeds way too much living in the minor key burn all these sins in a Love so grand shuffle forward your hat in hand
12.
there's a wreck on the highway and it hasn't been there long south bound on eighty-four back side of oregon there's no silver lining in these clouds today all the clues a few good leads they got swept away been out proclaiming a thousand miles from home with a few tools of the trade and a lot of more less alone we live these lives like they never will run out sand through the hourglass but we've lost the count so you listen to the wind and you listen to the rain and trace the trail of crumbs up the path again when you're writing your chapter know how much i care and forgive me darling when i'm not there the soap box has never been as big as you hoped was it the scar on the wrists you showed them or that lump in your throat you pull your life from the wreckage and it's there you set up camp some beat up guitar and some old tweed amp
13.
Half Mast 04:54
who would have ever thought it would come to this who would have ever thought you would betray it with a kiss and the days bleed into others and nights they look the same the empty glass it holds no answers and the mirrors are all full of shame the thoughts they turn in circles stomachs tied in knots these memories all lead back to you and you are what i have not got the lie is that it happens always to someone else the line you crossed no turning back and who on earth could ever tell the flag is stuck at half-mast it's been that was for awhile put to bed the old dreams and rearrange your smile i'm turning off the tv set i did not need this my love your thick and heavy farewell note well i need something to thin the blood main street is never on the map in the bars where you now dream and last call is but a whisper where eternity should be screaming a sinner's worthless currency a psalmist's sad lament the prophets are without vision and the shepherds are way too content i'm opening the window up room is spinning black my love and all i have is this farewell note well i need something to thin the blood
14.
here's to all you ragged ones and torn some of us are waiting here a lifetime to be born there are some things you will save ah but most we'll cast away bearing the load bearing the load stories in your face well they use no words at all my cadences they're all car crashed on the retaining wall and there are no graveyards we know better than our own bearing the load bearing the load turn out on the highway yeah and it's never what it seems just what was that tugging at your sleeve prayers slip through the fan blades or they open every door bearing the load bearing the load
15.
16.
Going South 05:29
years been cruel i'm going south the river's high and the bridge is out this nagging doubt we're all alone cannot scrape it out of your bones something young has now grown old something warm is growing cold when all the doors are slamming shut all the windows boarded up i'm going south it's all i see don't like what it's doing to me makes you less than you should be i'm going south by slow degrees and another page that we turn another bridge that we all burn the safety net i cannot find another shiny ax to grind so i love this life and i love your part i love your eyes honey look in my heart but here is where it's blown to bits say your lines and i guess that's it

about

The darkest album I've ever made. These were wonderfully ragged, beautiful, lyric & guitar driven sessions. Never overthought. Recorded and mixed in 10 days.
Sure, there's a few "bright spots" of hope here and there. Very few.
Themes of failed marriages, betrayals, confusion, and wayward-ness are writ large here.
Such was the "raw data" for Locket.

PLEASE NOTE: The UK version is the 16 song version. It is ONLY avaliable in digital download format.
HOWEVER we do have 10 copies left of the US 10 song US version!
This is the last of the hardcopy Cds, friends. Only 10 left.
There are NO plans to ever make anymore. Call it a "scarcity issue."
The album itself?

Released December 16, 2002 the album ended up being a beautiful (although tortured experience) of guilt, admission & catharsis, thanks to the superior studio musicianship MIke Steele (bass) and Mark Cooper-Smith (drums, piano.)

Produced by myself & Mark-Cooper Smith

credits

released December 16, 2002

Bill Mallonee: all guitars, vocals, harp,
Mike Steele: Bass
Mark Cooper-Smith: drums, piano

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

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

contact / help

Contact Bill Mallonee

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Bill Mallonee, you may also like: