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To The Roof Of The Sky (1998)

by Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love

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Steve Card
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Steve Card The songs are a moment of my life 22 and it was my soundtrack and somehow it still is...
Favorite track: This Time Isn't One Of Them.
Ryan Townsend (the overdubs)
Ryan Townsend (the overdubs) thumbnail
Ryan Townsend (the overdubs) I graduated from high school summer of '98 and went in search of adventure to attend college in the Midwest of all places. The culture shock was destabilizing and I entered something resembling a crisis of identity and a loss of faith. This album soundtracked my solo car trips during the following year in my '85 Caravelle on multiple 3500-mile drives. I blame Kerouac for sending me on the journey but I adore Mallonee for writing "Farther up the Road," a flicker of hope in the midst of despair. Favorite track: Farther Up the Road.
sugarmyshoulders
sugarmyshoulders thumbnail
sugarmyshoulders It is hard to pick a favourite track on this album as they are all so good. It is a classic slice of Americana with astoundingly heartfelt and intelligent lyrics. This is an album that keeps on giving. Favorite track: Farther Up the Road.
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1.
given what you want given what you need given what you get given what you have to bleed bleed some more and i will not mind and i will not curse and mean it most of the time given all i am Lord kill these grand pretensions falling way too short with all my best intentions moving much too fast with last chance on the line so you learn to lie it gets easier every time innocence there goes an old friend who tries to show herself now and again since you can't take her along sure you'll miss her not for long set the world on fire hope you make a killing set the world on fire or die in burning buildings
2.
look down for a little while yeah this time i'm really in you're on no first name basis with the stranger in your skin betrayal she's a girl yeah i slept with once or twice treason her next of kin she was more than nice and all your best intentions sleep under a sky with no stars and you run through my veins to my heart and you run through my veins when i'm sure of nothing and certain of everything else the longer that we do this we feel less and less ourselves hey why is it when you climb up here you can't find a place to hide hey why is it when you climb up here it feels like suicide look down for a little while time to bandage up these wounds time to find some spare parts time to ration fuel plant your victory garden place a flower there for me come into your kingdom Lord said the thief from the tree
3.
this is where the light starts to go backwards it fades in a shimmer off that western rim the path of ice that forms this spot stretches southward it's rumored here it got the best of him to the roof of the sky what does she hold in your room made of wind and of snow leaving God only knows what down below others with their crude maps and equally crude instruments they sounded out the heights and found another's secrets experience has led you to this dreamless sleep and all that's left you is another a hundred feet this is where the light starts to hesitate and flicker colors bleed from once favorable skies this is where your party lost all it's last contact a step below your point in the sky
4.
Paralyzed 04:30
it's all over it's all over too soon i knew it when you walked in that cold room sooner or later we all do what we must sooner or later comes down to trust it's all over you walked into the night i've been crying on the inside most of my little life so those weren't diamonds in your hands little bits of broken glass on the golden sand you can conjure up your best spin you can lie through your teeth but you can never see the hurt in the press release is that me is that you in the faded light it's hard to see the victims at the impact light any available witnesses who saw it all with both eyes is that you is that me paralyzed it's all over there's no explanation and all that's left is a messy clean up operation sooner or later we all become what we chose sooner or later truth be told you don't have to say anything each glance is a chapter with the verdict written in your eyes i'll take it at face value
5.
Avalanche 06:10
winter's quiet loneliness wraps itself against my will it's a bit cold it's a bit tattered but it's keeping out the chill sure my mean condition is entirely my own choice i just can't help but smile whenever i hear Your voice the pill was hard to swallow but not quite as bitter as before maybe it means i'm growing harder i would be the last to know God, i wish that i was innocent at least i think i do if i had her as a gift to bring i would bring that gift to you here comes the avalanche all my path is covered leave a light for the lovers mercy there's a word we could drown in every moment splash across the rocks at five pm and i can count all my components no, no this potion won't help anyone to try and tell the truth no, no that key it won't unlock the door to this prison cell or womb i have a picture wish it was a photograph you were holding little children right there upon Your lap it's never cold in that picture as far as i can tell outside the rain has changed to snow and it's frozen in the well
6.
Doin' Time 03:43
comes a time it's all been stripped away comes a time when it's time to take a good long look and walk away comes a time to lose yourself in song when survival's the game you play but you're barely just holding on maybe it's yours maybe it's mine same flesh and blood same crooked line backside of the backbeat yeah doin' time if my walls are crumbling can i set a spell if you fashion up the foundation it's all just shot to hell and my blueprints are really so suspect with my phone line good and twisted ragged measurements comes a time to let the whole thing go comes a time when you realize we've all been bought and sold yeah beat up cut down turned out of your game hey money moves the lips where once the spirit was untamed
7.
she's a given give me a gift down the shaft and something's ripped away you got wise long ago what she's taken has long been spent speak your lines under the influence fade into the dream my coat pockets dreams and fears drag them out across the table here trust the signs exactly as they lay here we kneel kiss the sky lose yourself inside the question why God's eye holds you in its gaze the unjust judge has summoned up the prisoner for more extensive questioning the courtroom chamber's full regardingless of the missing persons whereabouts and God you hope they show up a moment here too soon my coat pockets dreams and fears drag them out across the table here trust the signs exactly as they lay here we kneel kiss the sky i have learned the trust the alibis God's eye holds you in its gaze if they want your story well those who are familiar can contend to be that far behind hey bartender a partial block around the heart and loneliness a car that's empty always overflows
8.
there's a time for listening to the thunder there's a time for cleansing all the sins there's a time when i'm slowly going under this time isn't one of them no this time isn't one of them there's a time when joy is so elusive out of your grasp and three sheets to the wind there's a time crying is conducive this time isn't one of them no this time isn't one of them most of my life's been like a wedding the moment where the bride and bridegroom kiss sometimes i can believe all that i hope in this moment feels like one of them this moment feels like one of them four riders appear on the horizon systems and superstructures will explode peace will be a word for hypnotizers this time isn't one of those no this time isn't one of those that holy life should count for something those blessed words ever be recalled remember well who has really loved you to be loved is the best of all to be loved is the best of all to be loved is the best of all
9.
Filigree 04:00
so you try on this hat they call concession try to make your utmost best impression i had no idea just how much deception what's involved in my casual connection pull down down the walls pull down these walls so i can breathe what's underneath this filigree these materials help me get my thinking done take a wrecking crew to see what i've become when the mike smells like beer future's so unclear some call it sad but at least it's picturesque these are days for framing your own story these are days for taking inventory so you cling to the truth to find a place to stand do what you do or baby just what you can
10.
i have a friend knew isadora duncan yeah she wore her scarves too long hit the gas a bit too strong she lost her head still she saw the glory or so goes the story hope she was not wrong she waits underneath electricity what does she touch what does she see isadora duncan so free isadora she is leaping she is spinning with some urgency fantastic outspoken she is choking as she veers into heavy traffic were you listening to the angels between the lines of your symphony dancing under cobalt blue skies morning star free you taught me well loved me even better prayed over my fields when they were cold and barren yeah you held the truth from an austere trailer shoring up my failure i was long past caring
11.
you attempt to board the train though the car is full of liars recognize the tendency you're the great compromiser suppose sooner or later we're all just survivors prayer become the heart's lost words when you're too close to the fire if you get a patch of ground well it's there you draw your plan if you get a soap box it's there you take your stand all the kingdoms that rise up they collapse without a sound yeah the driving rain is cleansing driving rain is cleansing driving rain is cleansing out here on this proving ground well i remember the summer shimmer in the laughter we were lying to each other about what we were after and i'll admit that just perhaps judgment is too stern when your dreams have long been buried and your bridges they're all burned hear that there are secrets told that there are maps ah but everyone we've been privy to has closed on us like a steel trap leaves you full and noble dreams you never lost them stays with you forever long time after you're forgotten
12.
oh these odd years when reviewed i constantly find hey when i'm reaching for the light darkness is not far behind you might think i've learned a thing or two about playing it cool well you might think that that is so ah but no no the opposite's true you might think in the storm we've discovered the eye of the calm but i've yet to find a way to dodge all these sweaty little palms yeah you might think we've made some enemies but i just can't i recall who you might think it keeps us up at night but no no the opposite's true are there any words of wisdom i've picked up along the way why yes death usually comes dressed up in her finery and lace hey hasn't everyone in these bars been crying inside their whole life through well you might think we cease to hear it ah but no no the opposite's true kings and queens are bankrupt here at the mouth of the nile they say the pyramids they're all looted pharaoh won't be back for a while crocodiles are hungry see them polish their top ends with care i used to understand their language but now i'm just unaware used to install fire alarms before i ever started to sing after all these years i find i've been doing the same thing hey everyone stop check your pulse never mind it's code blue well you might think to call the doctor but no no the opposite's true
13.
On the Verge 04:56
on the verge of stealing the precious thing you're concealing give the cup of grief to me hey i'll drink it to the dregs if your senses are reeling you know that everything that rises must converge simply in a word you will lay your burden down and walk away you're slipping through the cracks and by the way we all start out as castaways thrown down coins on dusty floors distraction the order of the day so you mine a deeper vein to try and even out the score what lies behind these suffering songs and yearning well for something more we're on the verge fresh tar off the railroad ties bind us to that lonely route keep the home fires burning if the embers ever going out i'm on the verge of stealing that river forded in great haste give the cup of grief to me but thirst is all that we can taste
14.
conversations fade people moving out slow hey here's one for the record one for the road you can stand on your soap box all alone you can have the flesh but please leave me the bones some call it gold some call it dross some say i'm saved some say i'm lost so i say in the most respectful tone you can have the flesh but please leave me the bones making those records for the company team pull the shiny knob of the vending machine you do your best to play the hand that's thrown help yourself to the flesh but please leave me the bones touch of your love makes my heart full every lonely note reminds me of you and am i looking for heaven inside this drone you can take the flesh but please leave me the bones when my rhymes were wrapped at all cadences car crash on the retaining wall come Holy Spirit purify this soul you can have the flesh but please leave me the bones
15.
honey cover me with roses cover me in the leaves of fall on those beads of your rosary hey remember me when you call i'll be waiting by the telephone though you're just down the hall when i'm beat down cold and stoned wrap me up in your prayer shawl now some will steal your garden some will sow their weeds yeah some will rob you good and blind just to see you bleed honey cover me with roses this sack of bones and skin come and breathe upon this spirit 'fore winter settles in checking out of this cheap motel with the wind all in our souls God shows His face farther up the road now all those choices that you took asked more than you can give and all of those worst-case scenarios become your one life to live and all the greed and powers that be they have worked no ill effect there are never disappointments when there's nothing left now hunger she's a driver but you never knew her name you had assumed different destinations but now they're obviously the same hey you can take it all on the chin pretending you don't feel a thing and there is no bucket big enough for tears that make you sing honey cover me with roses yeah and do not spare the thorns you know some of us are waiting a lifetime to be born and if there are no roses and those dealers will not sell let your prayers become like kisses and they'll do just as well

about

Produced by: bill mallonee
Simply one of the best sessions I've ever done, with one of the best band.
Stellar engineering and co-producing by Tom Lewis makes this a milestone album...
"Roof" was the big record that led to the partnership with Buddy Miller on "Audible Sigh..."
A grand lil' tour de force here, this record and about 20 older VoL songs, were our staple set list for 18 months. This record is over 10 years old, but the tunes, the tones and the passion hold up well...! Enjoy!
A "must."
~ bill mallonee

credits

released May 18, 1998

Bill Mallonee: guitars, vocals, harmonica, songs
Chris Bland: bass, bgvs
Ken Hutson: guitars, mandolin, pedal steel, bgvs
Scott Klopfenstein: drums
Jake Bradley: bass on "Please Leave me the Bones"
Mark Cooper-Smith: piano

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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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