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Vigilantes of Love​/​Live at the 40 watt

by Vigilantes of Love

/
1.
a kiss for the miles to drive a prayer for when it rains one shot of perspective a couple more to kill the pain when all the best metaphors are hitting too close to home when all the best metaphors are bleeding from your bones i'm gonna die a failure but to happiness awake you can go to sleep in hell and wake up at heaven's gate think of all that we miss today that lay right before our eyes think of all that fades away in the hard-pressed compromise and this is dangerous terrain we're attempting to traverse it's a crying shame but it could be a lot worse so you proceed with caution though you're mumbling in the dark and that one shot of perspective has finally hit your heart faith she's a whistling train running hard in the dark and hope is like a thing untamed gonna lay to waste your heart love's a little bit of God there for all to know love's the everlasting arms that never do let go
2.
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
3.
yes you're a big ship loaded down with a whole lot of baggage and freight life's a luxury liner cutting through each circumstance and wave now the cold icy waters have sent the captain with his bottle off to bed yeah the temperature's dropping the radio is dead taking on water going down fast yes under the breakers send an S.O.S. tell all the passengers to spend what they wanna taking on water call it catastrophe or the hand of the good Lord reaching through call it a tragedy there will be no last minute interviews got to be a bit heavy-handed when you're swimming in the shark infested seas yeah to get my attention off of my treason and mutiny yeah call me irresponsible but baby call me undeniably true well at least for the moment when i first set my eyes on You got a big hole in a small heart asking You no begging You to fill gonna take some radical surgery but You know my nasty wil
4.
Blister Soul 04:06
yeah you got this place you go it's just a trip before the fall way past the fevered pitch just a spit from the wrecking ball said you woke up this morning said you woke up under a curse i've heard the blues are bad but this is something worse and the ambulance driver well he tips his hat and stares and he asks you in a grave voice can i take you anywhere yeah the thing we cannot speak of too painful to behold oh this blister soul there's a smaller place you go where there's hardly any sound where the deals have all gone sour and the house of cards comes down and the damage is costly it's beyond all dollars and sense you can't measure it with graphs and charts or any instruments yeah the thing we cannot speak of the secret we all know oh this blister soul yeah from the trumpet blast i hear the banging drum yeah from once upon a time to the kingdom come and the thing that's yours for free is the thing i need the most oh stifles every boast stifles every boast yeah the thing that's hard to speak of but the secret we all know oh this blister soul
5.
Locust Years 03:24
here's one more raw emotion to contend with one last bullet to defend the fort with i was drowning in complacency's cheap perfume yeah licking my wounds yeah one more specimen one with real potential if the suit fits well you're looking quite presidential i picked your face out of some police photos yeah steps of the wicked overthrown come have your way with me come have your way with me there's nothing left there's nothing left to see salome's over-weight she broke jacob's ladder where the corpse is honey you know the vultures gather yes i've always been taught that love was worth keeping yeah truth worth believing
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Avalanche 06:09
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 main 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 hey maybe it means i'm growing harder i would be the last to know God i wish that i was innocent wish 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 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 outside the rain has changed to snow and it's frozen in the well
9.
Doin' Time 03:41
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
10.
only heard a few stories really only seen a few works tractor paints on plywood covered with verse you see so much see not much at all but we're treading down serpents and we're breaking the fall if a picture's worth a thousand words what i've seen is what i've heard the image writhes flickers on the screen distance grows wide between the glory and the dream you may be out there on the river with your bridges all burned cannot swim a stroke 'cause you never learn never learn sure some wear it like a badge or a noose around their neck but call me home early Lord i swear there's nothing to protect
11.
Offer 04:54
they were making available the dreams of the past for a limited time while the supply lasts i got in line and i gave the man my cash yeah i was buying fake diamonds buying fools gold and i keep them in a sack shot full of holes in this land of plenty with an empty soul no mountain too high there's no ocean too deep no castle too strong there's no lock that'll keep no river too wide there's no desert too broad no stone you can't break no heart that's too hard from parting shots to parting the seas from stabs in the back to turning the cheek opening cells and throwing away the key and i distinguish a voice that i hear in the wind like a radio station not quite locked in once a whisper now as loud as a scream you're the judge and you're the law the criminal in place of us all father and mother sister and brother and friend you say give me your sickness give me your pain your empty cup and i'll fill it again why on earth are you digging your own grave
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.
Double Cure 05:40
yeah today i'm sick of all i am today is my setback first i swear i love you then i stab you in the back i wanna drink out of that fountain on a hill called double cure i wanna show you my allegiance Lord yes i wanna be a son of Yours so tired of all my toys they never last for long they keep beaming dreams and wishes to a big dish on my front lawn bet you all have got a story you're just aching to tell haven't we thrown our coinage down the wishing well so go and call your neighbor proceed with all due haste go grab your wife and sweet family see there is no time to waste we're gonna drink out of that fountain on a hill called double cure i wanna show you my allegiance Lord yes i wanna be a son of Yours ask me why i love Him He gave riches to this poor yes and i will one day see that face over yonder shore
14.
Well my name is russell perry and i hail from tennessee there's a million other fool rednecks roaming the hills like me i come with no credentials can make no claim to fame and i can throw a fastball by any man who ever stepped up to the plate i left home when i was sixteen there was not much left to do you could kick around on the farm teams sleep in those motel rooms you were handing out gospel tracts one night after the game so we compared our notes and dreams and we found they were substantially the same well my fastball would not fail me see i was earning much respect setting my eyes on a little major league prospect you know there never was a problem three good low inside pitches wouldn't take right out except this one little problem honey well quite frankly it's hard to talk about brenda oh brenda i'm out here all alone why are we drowning in the darkness hey but we can't tell anyone oh and i can't tell anyone well you see i have this dream a lot i am in a debtors' cell and i reach out to grab the key that will unlock my cell as my expectant fingers close on the steel so cold well it turns into a sword and it carves a name into my very soul i've been feeling it in these bones i'm so shipwrecked and worthless sometimes the promises of comfort are barely scratching the surface and all my doctors' faces are long drawn and lean could be something in his past maybe a little chemical imbalance i don't care to be remembered for the things i've said and done i don't care to be remembered for the games i may have saved or won i wanna make our love a big refuge and a fort from a lonely little world a broke down world a struck out little world that knows nothing of the sort

about

UBER-STRONG SET & recorded "live" to 4 track right after a grueling tour..."Lil' band that could" going for broke on a lot of songs!
Ga. super-star Randall Brambleet plays keys here!

credits

released December 7, 1998

Bill: guitars, vocals, harp
Kenny Hutson: guitars, pedal steel, mandolin, vocals
Scott Klopfenstein: drums
Jake Bradley: bass

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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

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