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Hearts Crossing the Center Line​/​WPA 21 (Songs inspired by the writings of Jack Kerouac) 2011

by Bill Mallonee/WPA

/
1.
FROM THE BEATS DOWN TO THE BUDDHA words/music: bill mallonee there's always time to do in Denver... and note books to fill up and tea to get you spaced... when the mountains aren't enough these asphalt vibrations... that call so loud and long that lead to a lover's bed... or another town alone chorus: It's one step at a time... when yer heart's crossing the center line with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements in tow and the mystery that pursued ya'... from the beats down to the Buddha and the things you never could let go of... and the things you could quite let go of... running ink horn lines in red wine; big sur sea sounds losing yer mind. the bitter toll and burden of the miles But something pretty close to love... musta filled those bigger skies above and keep your words all fractured and colliding Lowell’s lonely factories... post-war America gettin’ free leaving all the brightest and best you n’er felt that understood, bangin’ on the Underwood puttin' all their alloy to the test
2.
SOBER UP music and lyrics: bill mallonee Coming down...from a dream wake up call.....coming clean here’s a life....a poured out cup the last page....hey, sober up sober up...and get home more or less...underneath house of cards...house of freaks and the coins...well, they’re all spent on distractions and dis---appointments here’s a life...a poured out cup the last page...hey, sober up sober up...and get home And it’s hard, so hard to make a stab when everything’s all up for grabs with skin so thin and feet so lost no pocket change...all bets are off here’s a life...a poured out cup the last page...hey, sober up sober up...and get home
3.
ONCE YOUR HEART GETS BROKEN (IT JUST KEEPS ON BREAKING) words/music: bill mallonee It came as a whisper...it came in the night as you were driving...past the neon lights and it was last call...and that’s enough said all that was given...turned from green to redone CHORUS: One thing they don’t tell you...there is no mistakin’ once your heart gets broken... it just keeps on breaking it just keeps on breaking Another one down...3rd one this week reporters speculate...about toxicity it was said that he trafficked...with magic potions we’re all filling our holes...picking our poisons CHORUS: One thing they don’t tell you...cause they’re good at fakin’ once your heart gets broken... it just keeps on breaking...it just keeps on breaking All the simple truths...take you by surprise they come into sharp relief...in a certain slant of light time to drop you bags...time to pick up your key don’t worry tipping the bellboy...you won’t need your things CHORUS: One thing they don’t tell you...till after you’re shaken once your heart gets broken... it just keeps on breaking... it just keeps on breaking
4.
PILLOW OF STARS (FATE AND SAD REVERSALS) music/lyrics: bill mallonee pass me that paper n’ pen and shot to boot let a dreamer preach a sermon and a fool speak half-a heart full chorus: and baby, when you love... ya’ find out who you are wherever you lay your head... may there be a pillow of stars and though fate and sad reversals may slow your journey home you’ll get there cause that deal was done... a long, long time ago... And what cha said with your eyes was more n’ you wanted to speak my how we use these stammerin’ tongues to steady stumblin’ feet I dunno why I rock this way or why I roll with such an art dunno why speak these words to break my own heart
5.
(I REMEMBER) ALL THE JUNKIES AND EXILES Words/lyrics: bill mallonee No longer strong...the sap it slows down when you don...your late autumn smile phantoms die on rooftops...of Mexico City I remember...the junkies and exiles and they die in the hush... of sun-drenched cathedrals and they die in the barbed-wire... of failures and upheavals and they die at the gateposts... of their children’s tongues on sweat sheeted beds... disowned chorus: a prayer to gentle Jesus...tequila at the bar so you to remember to forget...who you really are Old Bull with his needles...checking out in style I remember...the junkies and exiles so you burned every bridge... and stole more than a kiss broke a heart a long the way... to say all this just to stand on a soap-box... and pretend it was a throne till that old soapbox... became your home you learned to pray alone... with just the tears of a child ‘cause God? Well, He might show His face...with that late Autumn smile too many highways... too many kicks all for something like that... but nothing not like this
6.
BAKERSFIELD (DRIFTER'S SONG) music/lyrics: bill mallonee You crawled into that boxcar...thinkin' you were alone eyes got adjusted to the light...and those 50 other souls some runnin' from the law...some runnin' harder from the Lord most lookin' for an honest job...to feed the kids back home chorus: from the drought in Oklahoma...to the stockyards of Bakersfield it's mostly bread you begged for...and some sawdust in your meal the only gold i ever found...the only treasure i did find was looking into your sweet eyes...your body next to mine how much of this is punishment? how much are ya' choosin'? how much got set in motion....when the garden fell to ruins? would you be my brother and sister...we all could use a home the pride of man may stand tall for a spell...ah, but no one goes at this alone There's so little we walk out with...and there's so much to be lost seems to me it's easy to see...where all made of the same cloth so you crawl into that boxcar...thinkin' yer alone let your eyes rest with a hallowed-ness...on all those other souls
7.
NOMENCLATURE 02:53
NOMENCLATURE (music and lyrics: bill mallonee) this is one of those nights...a halo rings the moon you venture out on those hard streets of gloom the moon shines so bright pinned to her curtain of blue but the only sound you hear...is the shuffling of your shoes this is one of those nights...where there’s no where to hide another neon happy hour...fell a lifetime shy and your hearts a lonely ocean...and your heart’s an empty tomb the only sound you hear...is the shuffling of your shoes I’ve sung a million truths whispered a million lies learned to do ‘em both looking straight into your eyes keep to the back roads...hey, the underground’s even better you navigate the strange terrian...with a different nomenclature this is one of those wher God could show up soon... but the only sound you hear...is the shuffling of your shoes
8.
(WITH SOULS AS BIG AS) WESTERN SKIES words/music: bill mallonee I hear they call it walkin' wounded oh, if words did just what they should nomenclature is a treasure that get's looted baby, ain't we all just damaged goods? With souls as big as western skies like a field that is straining but lying fallow all the fruits dead 'fore it arrives growing up into your own shadow If i could just hear you whisper my name disturb the universe's dead air whispered like you really mean it before i vanish in thin air awaiting something like catharsis you've already blown the whole damn thing here's your ghost and there's your pauper each exchanging wedding rings So, conjure up the memory of the laughter seems like it all once fell down for free where'd the hour glass finally run out? the one lying crushed beneath your feet?
9.
Hard Luck and Heart Attack Run Time: 4:20 music/lyrics:Bill Mallonee clouds break for a moment when you're coming off Desolation and Frisco's your appointment you're the way you were before trying to gaze east but with no one to depend on and the blisters on your feet yeah from coming down the mountain your friends won't let you down but friends they're not the refuge you're tearing up the town with a hip flask of red wine scrawling visions buzzed in that five and dime notepad saving them just because us angels seemed so sad CHORUS: a ticket from the coat-check girl her words and flesh are laughing taking down her number on that lipstick-stained napkin sainthood for anyone yeah who knows you lose it to save it a prayer for everyone who's ever been out on the pavement a sound inside of me as i'm falling through the cracks hard luck and heart attack of hard luck yeah and heart attack arms around me if i'm going through the ceiling service stations of the cross yeah the doctors they need healing things clear for a moment when you're coming off Desolation between nothing and the atonement it all bleeds behind your cadence
10.
WITH YOUR SKIN INTACT. words/music: bill mallonee Seems you were searchin' pretty much all the time stole a few glimpses crossing the centerline just get down in the chasm and run in a river of doubt easy to get in there a lil' harder to get out CHORUS: to get out with no compass to get out with no map ah, to get out with your skin intact you chiseled it on paper carved it in notebooks yeah, you did it on wine and all those 'bennies" that you took just to stay at the wheel in case wea ll forgot never missed an experience no, no, not on yor watch maybe it was in 'Frisco? maybe Mexico City? from Buddha high desolations to a mother's chains of pity if love is an anchor maybe you needed more when yer driftin' alone 1000 miles from shore you shook your fist at the readers of most of your books said they dug all the wrong things and the wrong is what they took yeah, you saw it coming saw it all about to go down sometimes you quit running just to get outta town
11.
GOING DOWN Words/music: bill mallonee I’m going down...I’m going down again what you thought was solid...isn’t a little more than scared of just living in this skin I’m going down again I’m going down...down, going down today something else got the last say words lose their meaning or jet get in the way I’m going down today I’m going down...going down still peeling off the labels but something has been killed craving is a mad-dog and it’s nipping at your heels you got every act down...except that one of your will I’m going down still...I’m going down still watch my best and you can see right through faith and falsehood entangling you It’s easy to get lost and it’s hard to find your health you get good at the fine art of lying to yourself So, I’m going down...town tonight going out, going out....going out like a light please, tell me baby, it’ll be alright I’m going down tonight...I’m going down tonight
12.
FROM THE BEATS DOWN TO THE BUDDHA words/music: bill mallonee there's always time to do in denver...and note books to fill up and tea to get you spaced...when the mountains aren't enough these asphalt vibrations...that call so loud and long that lead to a lover's bed...to another town alone chorus: It's always one step at a time...when yer heart's crossing the center line with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements...in tow and the mystery that pursued ya'...from the beats down to the Buddha and the things you never could quite let go of... and the things you never could quite let go of... running ink horn lines in red wine......big sur sea sounds losing yer mind. the bitter toll and burden of the miles But something pretty close to love...musta filled those bigger skies above and keep your words all fractured and colliding Lowell's lonelt factories, post-war America gettin' free leaving all the brightest and best you never felt that understood, banging on the Underwood puttin' all their alloy to the test It's always one step at a time...when yer heart's crossing the center line with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements...in tow and the mystery that pursued ya'...from the beats down to the Buddha and the things you never could quite let go of... and the things you never could quite let go of...
13.
FROM THE BEATS DOWN TO THE BUDDHA words/music: bill mallonee there's always time to do in denver...and note books to fill up and tea to get you spaced...when the mountains aren't enough these asphalt vibrations...that call so loud and long that lead to a lover's bed...to another town alone chorus: It's always one step at a time...when yer heart's crossing the center line with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements...in tow and the mystery that pursued ya'...from the beats down to the Buddha and the things you never could quite let go of... and the things you never could quite let go of... running ink horn lines in red wine......big sur sea sounds losing yer mind. the bitter toll and burden of the miles But something pretty close to love...musta filled those bigger skies above and keep your words all fractured and colliding Lowell's lonelt factories, post-war America gettin' free leaving all the brightest and best you never felt that understood, banging on the Underwood puttin' all their alloy to the test It's always one step at a time...when yer heart's crossing the center line with your knapsack dreams and ragged elements...in tow and the mystery that pursued ya'...from the beats down to the Buddha and the things you never could quite let go of... and the things you never could quite let go of...

about

From "Ti Jean"
(Hearts Crossing the Centerline)
Songs inspired by the writings of Jack Kerouac

This Ep is based on the life of Jack Kerouac.
Except for From the Beats Down to the Buddha, all of these tunes were written over the last 10 years. Jack is one of my favorite authors. Jack's writing is deeply personal and journalistic.

Often misunderstood and even misappropriated by his peers, he considered himself a religious writer, a seeker searching for contact with permanence & transcendence. He never lost his love for his French/Catholic roots.
Kerouac, with the preciseness of an "outsider," challenged post-war America to assess it's values, it's goals and even it's lack of spiritual focus.

HARD LUCK & HEART ATTACK was inspired by Kerouac's work entitled Desolation Angels.
It opens with Jack atop Mount Desolation where he would do fire watches for the U.S. Forestry Services. It touches on his self destructive lifestyle, trips to San Francisco to hang with his friends. Above all, I wanted to highlight Kerouac's reverent belief in the innocence of the American spirit. I tried to write all these songs from Jack's mindset.
I've been to Lowell, seen the "On The Road"manuscript, toured the Kerouac museum. Jack's old Underwood is there. visitors were invited to type a message on it.
I quoted from this song and addressed it to "Ti Jean," (Little John) Jack's mothers term of endearment for her son.

Tenderness was one of Kerouac's overlooked qualities, I believe.
It is my hope that by listening to these songs, some of that virtue of his tender spirit might be restored to his legacy.

bill mallonee
Santa Fe, NM Jan. 2011

credits

released January 14, 2011

Personnel on:
"Buddha," "Skin Intact," "All the Junkies & Exiles," "When Your Heart Gets Broken (It Just Keeps on Breaking)," "Bakersfield," "Western Skies," "Going Down," " Pillow of Stars," " Nomenclature"
Bill Mallonee: vocals, guitars, bass drums on
Muriah Rose; vocals, keyboards
____________________________________
Personnel on SOBER UP:
Bill Mallonee: vocals, guitars
Muriah Rose: vocals, keyboards
Seth Hendershot; drums, smiles
Robbie: bass
(produced by Tom Lewis & bill mallonee)
____________________________________
personnel on "HARD LUCK & HEART ATTACK"
(produced by: Buddy Miller & Bill Mallonee)
Bill Mallonee; Vocals, guitars, harmonica
Ken Hutson: guitar, bgv's
Jake Bradley: Bass
Brady Blade: drums

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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.
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