Get all 89 Bill Mallonee releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, & WEST, ABOVE, BELOW & WITHIN (free single from Orphan Songs 2018), Here It Opens With A Prayer, But It Closes With A Song, A CLAMORING OF GHOSTS (2021), STUNNED (an anniversary song), "Lead On, Kindly Light" & "This World & One More" 2020, ORPHAN SONGS (2018), NEED TO BLEED (expanded version) Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love, FOREST FULL OF WOLVES (2018), and 81 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
1. |
NAME IT'S NAME
05:27
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NAME IT'S NAME words and music: bill mallonee
well, i smelled the sage all in your hair
before i saw the light in your eyes
and my heart? It was a desert, dear
beneath your cloud burst skies
Of course that desert, she did bloom
after such holy rain
and the waste places, they were all renewed
but the flowers were all stained
I don’t know why these things fall out
so far from the rules
I don’t know how these stars line up
but sometimes they just do
Now hearts were made for Heaven above
But we’re full of ache and hurt
yeah, hearts were made for heaven, my love
but our skin is made of earth
One day I’ll be your answer, dear
after I walk off this curse
One day I’ll be your answer clear
but I’ll be your question first
Could be the way the light hits the trees
and loneliness collides
with Time that’s mingled on those leaves
of the pages of our lives
2
Ah, but on to something better, kid!
Past those places you should flee
past all those prisons we fashioned
and those chains for jewelry
On to something so elusive still
and plainly hard to tame
so much so that poets and theologians
can barely name it’s name
Now hating yourself and all you are
it don’t get much sadder than that
And I say you break God’s own heart
when you fall into that trap
On to something so elusive still
and plainly hard to tame
so much so that poets and theologians
can barely name it’s name
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2. |
LONG, LOST FRIENDS
05:24
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LONG, LOST FRIENDS Words/music: bill mallonee
No room for faking and no room for doubt
your heart keeps breaking and time’s running out
running down the track like a runaway train
catching up with ghosts is such a pain
So where to begin?
it’da been nice to meet
the person you’ve never been
and throw some of that caution to the wind.
So if I ain’t gonna show I’m counting on you
buddy don’t spare me the ugly truth
and all of those burdens and all of those words
and all that stuff that’ll never get heard
And speaking of long, lost friends
It’da sure been nice to meet
the person you’ve never been
and throw some of that caution to the wind
Like a bird on the wire that’s just flown
you are someone you have barely know
so have some mercy on yourself and the skin you’re in
might be the greatest act of faith there’s ever been
And speaking of long, lost friends
It’da sure been nice to meet
the person you’ve never been
and throw some of that caution to the wind
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3. |
STOP BREAKIN' DOWN
04:40
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STOP BREAKIN’ DOWN Music/lyrics: bill mallonee
This is gonna be short
This is gonna be sweet
this gonna be tidy
this is gonna be neat
like a deal gone bad
like the hand you’ll fold
when the cards hit the table
and the truth gets told
chorus:
Stop breakin’ down (x5)
...on me
I remember when
when we first met
nobody these days
plays that hard to get
I forgot just where
where my solo was
when I looked in your eyes
and the monitors buzzed
Is it gonna be just?
Is it gonna be fair?
I wonder where you got
got that idea?
It’s a glass hat’s broken
and these shards of trust
baby all that’s golden
gonna turn to dust
It might come quick
It might be swift
It might take forever
like a goodnight kiss
This is gonna be long
and real drawn out
Gonna take a life time
just to work it all out.
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4. |
DRESSED UP IN LOVE
04:44
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DRESSED UP IN LOVE words & music: bill mallonee
And the distance is wide and the chasm is deep
and all those city lights? they just put you to sleep
for the sake of a friend you will fake it
never quite sure if you’re gonna make it
Chorus:
And what to say about all this fractured-ness?
when it breathes a little too close; to close for comfort
May you know his caress, may you always be blessed
May you always be dressed up in love
In the early morning rain they take the leaving trains
and you wish they would stay but they don’t see it that way
Doesn’t anybody hear those symphonies of Autumn?
and we’re all left alone...throughly modern
And the distance is wide and the chasm is deep
and all those city lights? they just put you to sleep
for the sake of a friend you will fake it
never quite sure if you can take it
And it breaks in your hands...and he never calls
it’s all fragile and delicate...china doll
and the distance gets wide and there’s nothing to savor
Where’s your shiny knight?
Where’s your savior?
Repeat chorus
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5. |
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DID I TELL YOU THE BULLETS’ STILL THERE?
Words and music: bill mallonee
yeah, it's good to see yer faces
yes, it's been quite a while
i was covered with blood and disgraces
but you might say that's my style
i was moving from ‘tween devils and deep blue seas
i was driftin’ from twilight to dawn
i was going from pillar to post ya' see
when the shot rang loud and long
chorus:
Hey, did i tell you the bullets' still there?
Did i tell you the bullets' still there?
So close to the heart, we’d be friends from the start
Did i tell you the bullet's still there?
Now, doctors say it causes the visions
I’m told it accounts for the voices
it might correlate with self-hatred
but I don’t think that was one of the choices
Now, I see men all afraid and a-stumblin’
all greedy for profits and war
and they wrap up in their flags & their rhetoric’s rags
They’re all drunk but they call out for more
(Repeat chorus)
Now, I came here to pick up the loose change
of all my deficit days
I came here all those bad checks to claim
of promises I broke on the way
they were written with the best of intentions
they had lots of zeros in tow
They were written I think with invisible ink
but one day I’m told that’ll all turn to gold
(Repeat chorus)
Yeah, it’s good to see your faces
and it’s good that you see mine
just so you can describe to the authorities
what you saw at the scene of the crime
I was driftin’ tween devils and last calls
with this pawn shop guitar of mine
looking for God, or the next best thing
all done up in 6/8 time
all done up in 6/8 time
(Repeat chorus)
yeah, it’s good to see your faces
my, my, it’s been long time
love’s a river that runs..then it races
back to the arms of Love Divine
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6. |
AUTUMN GRACES
04:57
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Autumn Graces Words/music: bill mallonee
Autumn’s a riot all burnished and golden
and the secrets on the woodsmoke, she won’t let you hold ‘em
Stain of grief and a slow fiddle tune
branches caress a harvest moon
and me I feel small but it’s really ok
I will move your darkness away
how ‘bout you, babe?
Count up wins and count up your losses
bury ‘em deep at Jesus’ cross
I dunno how it works barely know what it meant
but love is a light and you learn how to shine it
and don’t we feel small but it’s really ok
I will move your darkness away
how ‘bout you, babe?
Enough of the rhetoric enough of endless wars
beat your swords into plowshares once more
Love on your neighbors and love on your kids
so much so they won’t know what to do with it
Could I have this dance? I’m not good on my feet
but i know the steps of your heart
And a new world is born, and a new world is born
every time we make a new start
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7. |
WARM UP ACT
04:49
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WARM UP ACT words/music: bill mallonee
I was born old and sad...and when I got all born again
I was more elderly and......sadder still
Been gettin’ ready since I was 7....I wept in a wood for folks I never knew died
and isn’t every song alive...and about leaving?
Chorus:
And I love you for the hurt you carry by yourself
and I love for the wounds you don’t show anyone else
and you can say “I love you,”
ah, but even if you don’t
Still, tell me like you really mean it.
‘Cause that might be...the only key;
I’ll have on me when it’s time for me to straighten up my tie
and cross those thin, thin lines
between here and bigger skies
I cannot speak a lick of Greek....but I’m told those Bible writers were fond of it a lot
but what they really needed was trains and train stations, ports of entry, love songs,
and power pop
they needed fiddle tunes and reels; high and lonesome and lots of pedal steels
to put it all across....
And doesn’t every age need it’s own words.....to grieve all that it lost?
2nd chorus:
And I love you for the hurt you carry by yourself
and I love for the wounds you don’t show anyone else
and you can say “I love you,”
ah, but even if you don’t
I might need to hear it like you really mean it.
It was raining outside a cabin in Carolina; pretty much been raining now for days
for years and for and lifetimes for tears behind the veil and bright times, I’d say
Autumn sunsets and motionless swing sets.....
but a sense inside your skin
it was all a warm-up act......
for a party about to kick in.
Autumn sunsets and all those good folks that we met.....
and a sense inside your skin
it was all a warm-up act....
for a party about to kick in.
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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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