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. |
GREENWICH/CIRCA
04:07
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Greenwich (Circa) words/music: bill mallonee
Well, the streets were freezing over when i blew into the Village
2 feet of snow and i was soaked to the bone
no place to crash, and a little short on the cash
I hit 3 open mics, and waltzed with all the dough
Had a voice like an ancient text
guitar slung round my neck
Marine band harmonica
...always in tow
you summon up the past
to speak about the present
songs are just telling 'em
what they already know
chorus:
take the world a part and then
but, be gentle my friend
and try and put it
back together again
now most of the truth
are the things they never tell you
they keep it all disguised
under a wallet of fear
and what passes for riches
among the bought and sold
you learn to tell the fool's gold
from the things that you'll hold dear
chorus:
take the world a part and then
but, be gentle my friend
and try and put it
back together again...
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2. |
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
04:20
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NEW YORK STATE OF MIND words/music:bill mallonee
Rolling on the Thruway, past the farm where history was made
Dylan's country face and Music from Big Pink
Autumn in the Catskills always makes you think
There's no greater peace you'll find
Than a New York State of mind
You can take it to the City, you can put it on mean streets
or you could move it to the farmland; feel the earth beneath your feet
You could roll your dice in Nashville; where they auto-tune your grief
There's no greater peace you're like to find
Than a New York State of mind
You can swing down to Georgia where the peaches all taste sweet
You can it train o'er to Memphis, the city of the King
Tom Joad it to California, where the stars walk the streets
There's no greater peace you're like to find
Than a New York State of mind, etc.
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3. |
LANDS & PEOPLES
04:13
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LANDS & PEOPLES
words/music: bill mallonee
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
Plantin' dreams in the soil before the Great Divide
It certainly helps to have friend travelin' by your side
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
The sweat with every step to build a life that's true
Tethered to some prayers and maybe a hymn or two
Some things you count as treasure and some you just let lie
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
Some of them strode proudly & some they barely crawled
Some managed to to stay just outside the long arm of the law
On those who were here first? We worked violence & they died
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
Now kingdoms they will rise & kingdoms they will crash
History writes her deeds with ink made of blood & ash
It's running through our veins & it rarely does subside
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
Bridge:
We make promises with fingers crossed; deals brokered with a wink
Every bet is firmly hedged with flags & rhetoric
And it goes like this...
Now, closing songs from sad bandstands can bring you some relief
'Cross a parking lot that's littered with our grandeur & our griefs
Tonight moonlight plays her hand beneath a field of pure star-shine
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
All the lands & peoples stretching far & wide
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4. |
THE GOLDEN GATHERING IN
05:01
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THE GATHERING IN words & music: bill mallonee
Well, the faint amber glow from the old campfires
they are flickering out...they are flicking out
And the last few embers vanish
in the darkness' mouth...in darkness' mouth
chorus:
Hail to the saints
and all of us beginners
the lost sheep and the sinners
all those "where-the-hell you been?" best friends
the shaken & confused
all those winners at "born-to-lose"
at the golden gathering in
and those old cowboy songs?
well they rarely got it wrong
but the world is always losing
everything it wins
she'll be comin' 'round the mountain
shimmering like a fountain
and on her lips?
the sweetest of hymns
chorus
there's a blue moon in the desert
and "all shall be most well..."
said blessed Julian
to her sisters at the well
the discarded & ignored
the busted & the bored
the fallen & untamed
the one without a name
last chorus
Hail to the saints
and all us beginners
the lost sheep and the sinners
at the golden gatherin' in....
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5. |
FOREVER FOR YOU
05:58
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FOREVER FOR YOU words/music: bill mallonee
stumblin' in out of the rain...stealing all of your kisses
city blocks bathing in neon...thunder off in the distance
storm's hanging on hey, there's a bar on the corner i know
Clydesdale endlessly circle in a globe full of swirling snow
shakin' off the drops of the night in a tucked vinyl booth
a little gin please with a splash of vermouth
Chorus:
i came here for the skyline
and maybe a song or two
i maybe have come here for the skyline
but i'll stay forever for you
i was wondering...well just how brave was i?
talking a game...and shivering on the inside
taking off bandages....of recovery
holding you close...like a discovery
Chorus:
i came here for the skyline
when, now that's only partially true
i came here for the skyline
but i'll stay forever for you
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6. |
WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN
04:02
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WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN words/music: bill mallonee
when the walls came down
i saw my life...flash before my eyes
it wasn't as frightening...as i thought it would be
5 & 6 came together
number 7 was on the way...we would call her Teresa
after the saint
chorus:
when the walls came down
everything became as water
when the walls came down
falling bricks & mortar
it's raining, it's raining on me
tried to tell the foreman
you don't push your materials past whatever
weight they were ever meant to bear
But, with a shrug of the shoulders,
his eyes cast down & a shaking of head
100 souls...vanish in thin air
Writing the chapters
Building the cities up for nickels and for dimes
building America....one brick at a time
you come here with some dreams
ya' leave here berated, numb & null
...expendable
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7. |
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I'LL SWING WITH EVERYTHING THAT I'VE GOT
words & music: bill mallonee (admin BMI 2014)
With a suitcase full of blues
and a notebook full of secrets
most of 'em I'd say are pretty dark
And that plot of dusty earth?
that one over-grown with weeds?
Well, that dirt lot is a lonely heart
chorus
When it comes to fates & furies?
It's hard to get on base
when yer playing every game in their park
Ah, but ever since my eyes beheld
your beauty & your grace
I'll swing with everything that' I've got
There was a hall I'd frequent
on New York Friday nights
to buy a beer & dance away the blues
To laugh out loud with friends
and wink at all the ladies
and maybe even steal a kiss or two
Now, they say life's a game
and most are bound to lose
because the deck has been stacked from the start
But lately, i've been wondering
if life is what you give away
and what could more precious than your heart?
There's a story that I'm writing
Would you help me hold the pen?
On every page you will shine just like a star
And if that deck is stacked?
We'll just laugh & leave the table
And leave the dealer all alone there in the dark
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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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