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. |
Pour, Kid
03:34
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poor kid never saw it coming
there was the set up and the big take down
lost his sweetheart as the band got humming
and word well it gets around
sometimes there's just no consolation
you're missing cues and forgot what to say
thank God almighty for television
going numb in the cathode ray
it's so dramatic when there's no one to warn you
spend the evening sitting in the corner
oh to see the world through the tear in your eye
with the strong drink and the flimsy alibi
little girl there's far too many choices
for you to ever really get your head clean
and it's so easy taking cues from california
soap operas and checkout line magazines
oh to have just an unguarded moment
oh to be under your house arrest
to steal your love like an inside job
and crack your vault with a solo kiss
no this isn't just a sex song
we're all black holes so don't give me grief
i think you're perfect and you think i'm perfect to and
we're all just lying through our teeth
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2. |
Tourniquet
04:24
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they never told me about the part
about the hidden clause
yeah when i took this job
where you crawl so far in
a scratch beneath your skin
in an effort to be authentic
you cut the flow with a tourniquet of lies
it's starting to hurt
it's starting to hurt
it's starting to hurt on the inside
pleased to meet you you're a bit too close
you shake hands with your host
and it turns out it's your own ghost
sounded good at least on paper
till a few pages later
we are drowning in the inkwell
you're on your way to somewhere else
just like everybody else
if the people that you meet are sad
keep your heart towards the stars
remember they are never far
and sometimes they might kiss you back
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3. |
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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
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4. |
Bank
05:11
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BANK
music & lyrics by Bill Mallonee c. 2005
now, it's been known
for a train to jump its track
it's ok so you'll know
most the time they come back
and it's ok to lose your life
when you finally see your birth
it's ok to say i love you
figure sometimes it's gonna hurt
don't forget to bring kindness
don't forget to say thanks
don't forget to spend your love
no it will not break the bank
don't forget to bring some empathy
for the saints and the sinners
don't forget to bring encouragement
yeah we're all just beginners
up here under par cans
or down under the load
how i got from a to b
well God only knows
me i talk a real good game
practiced till i got it right
but most of the crying you'll do
it's inside most your life
yeah i done you wrong
and i hardly know why
i hope that you will remember
the more or less better side
i hope the Cross is big enough
when your sins reach to the sky
hope the arms are wide enough
to embrace one such as i
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5. |
Stay With Me
03:39
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i don't know what to do
mark of the beast is not a cool tattoo
all my life is a gradual weakening
stupid people i am figuratively speaking
oh stay with me oh stay with me
i've falling under such bad bad weather
till the drugs or whatever they were wear off
stay with me till i get better
morning sun on a rock and roll van
last night's noisy dream
stumbled and slipped on the path of least resistance
and i'm not what i see
God i could love you all of my days
if you'd just keep your mouth shut
i'm two parts weakness and another part dazed
a Trinity of God-knows-what
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6. |
Collateral
03:03
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some bombing near the factory
where all the goods got made
some bombing near the factory
and very little could be saved
like faith and hope and trust
i lit the fuse for both of us
and if you need somewhere to shovel that blame
tote that bucket over here to this grave
and if you need somewhere to shovel that blame
tote that bucket over here to this grave
this city's like an iron lung
the bellows well they're compressing all wrong
electricity blew the breaker box
and the generators didn't start up
i remember those setting suns
and the stars i used to wish upon
some explosion near the factory
i saw the flash and the kingdom fell
some explosion near the factory
i wanted to believe and i wanted to be well
it comes down to tears of pain
goes up to heaven like returning rain
and when it came it was beautiful and bright
and me i staggered out into the light
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7. |
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yeah it all comes down to geography of clouds
and coordinates of your scrap heap dreams
and your star maps the ones of hades
well if i were you i wouldn't trust the thing
i never waited for this to become
something it wasn't supposed to be
and the clang and bang of those big guitars
it's in the small things so holy and pristine
you were good with your cues
good with your promptings
and your hands were never cold
she says you may know her body
but you still don't know her soul
are we angel animal or machine
the volumes are heavy with critique and calibrations
and the question posed of man's purpose or his bent
and your wrecked up heart gets to weigh the evidence
could be the liquor or it could be the pills
could be the clash of chemistries against ambition's blind will
but after all there's never really been
quite such a thing as an original sin
and you're sucker punched reeling about
and you fall to your knees and you're down for the count
was it something the age slipped in your drink
or was it more like the air everyone breathes around here till they stink
and the temperature drops like a sledgehammer
as you lean hard into a december wind
but love given and received is all that really matters
and this is where the strings come in
there was a palace but the rooms were all barren
you know the one you had planned to rob
and me well i went down to the river
and let the current and the Spirit start to do its job
cause beginnings are waves never ending
and the endings are breaking in fits and starts
and the shards of our mistakes they're on magnetic tape
and the meter's pegging red in our staticky little hearts
well it all comes down to geography of clouds
where the light of love just passes right through
and those million faces you have worn
well none of them was exactly you
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8. |
Flowers
04:20
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round here there's just trouble
chasing after the wind
buy that line with all the money in the bank
and never ever look in
to be so damn enlightened
oh to be so free
to be so down in the bottom of the ninth
at the top of the century
I came with dirty hands
I came with blinded eyes
tongue tied I could barely speak the truth
about my tall lies
they sold me on some pleasure
till the pleasure it sold me
into something that looked and smelled
a whole lot like slavery
we all need new beginnings
the first steps make you better
maybe you're just a prayer away
from getting your shit together
flowers growing out of the desert
flowers out of parched ground
flowers coming right up through the cracks
of the pavement in your old town
flowering's not a science
it's more like a fine art
flowers coming right up through the cracks
of our broke up little hearts
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9. |
Rationale
04:02
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well there's an empty space it's the place at the table
where we would start each day
if i could quit shaking long enough
i could almost hear you say
oh my love oh my love
yeah i wanted to get for you just a small gift
but all my pocket change was taken
then i wanted to become for you your favorite gift
then my heart got close to breaking
tear it all down tear it all down
what's there left to say
tear it all down tear it all down
turn around and walk away
walk away
it's a flimsy reason at best but a reason's a reason none the less
and i need one to hold on to this wheel
and if i hold my breath long enough
honey a kiss is what i want to steal
through the lies of facts that we marshall to attack
each other's wounded little hearts
and then comes the hard sell you try to make to yourself
but kid you know it's your own fault
yeah and for all that you learn you're still a sad piece of work
and there's just no getting around
the world's just victims and we're playing fast and loose
but now you know the real truth
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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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