MAT D / Hard luck americana

JERICHO GAP

Twenty Seven souls to the right

beyond the Jericho Gap that I abandoned tonight

I've got the engine slowing down to a crawl

border town religion and a prayer for them all

but desolation is the law of the land

yeah, the dead held the deed but the deed turned to sand

on the road they left forsaken reaching out from the coast

marked as the moter of death my god I'm chasing a ghost

Pray tell?

Are we on the Glory Road or the highway to hell?

Great gods that decorated the skies

reduced to old derelicts for the rare passer-by

transfixed out on the edges of town

with the broke curios and the joints crumbling down

near the relics of a Hudson sedan

slouch hats overalls and all the dust in their hands

on a road that led our spirits to the edge of the pier

marked as the mother of death my god she stranded us here

they said

"If we're on the highway to hell then we're already dead."

Twenty Seven souls to the right

beyond the Jericho Gap that I abandoned tonight

(c) 2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

PARADISE LOST

Bless the lackluster heart and the soul of this place

though the spirit of death walks the halls every night with smile on her face

I abandoned all hope once she turned down the light

now I live out the dreams of the dead men that dwell in the shadows at night

velvet visions of grace in their old picture frames

faded forms solely versed in the knowledge of sin on the fringes of fame

There's a shape of a the cross on a gold plaster wall

all the blood that was shed for the bones in my bed raising hell down the hall

resurrecting what's left from the throes of desire

if it's paradise lost I'll be counting the cost in the ashes and fire

velvet visions of grace sacred doves etched in time

every inch of them painted and pierced through the skin be it damned or divine

be it damned or divine

stacked our cheap souvenirs on the cracked window sill

put my face in my hands and I whispered a prayer to god we all killed

I abandoned all hope once she turned down the light

now I live out the dreams of the dead men that dwell in the shadows at night

in the shadows at night

(c)2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

THAT JULY FLOOD

I want to make my secrets known

out on a lost highway alone

longing to wake the sleeping dead

all of the spirits in my head

nothing but hard luck tales to tell

stacked at the golden gates of hell

I left a trail of tears and blood

wild as a raging July flood

a trail of tears and blood

that July Flood

Died in a land that rusted red

carry my bones to the river bed

longing to set my spirit free

all of the ghosts inside of me

nothing but hard luck tales to tell

stacked at the golden gates of hell

I left a trail of tears and blood

wild as a raging July flood

a trail of tears and blood

that July Flood

(c) 2022 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

FORTY WATT MOON

There's a beating heart in this old caged machine

and a broken hymn that I can't bare to sing

there's a road we took and every dream that died

with our last sacred page on the passenger side

yeah our whiskey breath bent the metal roof

and all the love we brewed it was a 100 proof

from a dance floor still in a ghost town saloon

the colored lights flashing in praise

in praise

of a Forty Watt Moon

I earned these bloodshot eyes on down a trail of tears

to a broken hymn that I can't bare to hear

there's a road we took by God it's running on

and I'd chase after you but hell, the transmissions gone

where the gasoline done turned to sour mash

every gauge ran too hot hell, it lit up the dash

in a tumbleweed blaze and a smokestack perfume

I'm going to burn for our sins by the light

of a Forty Watt Moon

So come on follow me down by the river side

where the waters rose and all that magic died

hell every holy house fell in some old raging flood

the chapel doors sank like a barge in the mud

where our whiskey breath done bent the metal roof

but all the love we brewed it was a 100 proof

from a dance floor still in a ghost town saloon

the colored lights flashing in praise

in praise

of a Forty Watt Moon

(c)2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

BIKINI BULL RIDING, COLD BEER, DIRTY GIRLS

Golden gods of the desert and their faithful would all gather here

Beauty gilded in glitter the legends of an ancient frontier

in a match made in Vegas made famous throughout the free world

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls

bygone prophecies written in Stardust and old tattoo flash

laid to rest on some sweet sullen angel in a mudslide of cash

on a marquee of neon in shades of blue diamond and pearl

that read "Bikini Bull Riding, Cold beer and those damned dirty girls"

they come mourning at midnight in pallid forms so debonair

just to raise up their ten gallon hats and dead cowboy's prayer

for all those damned old dirty girls...

Golden gods became ghosts of the heavenly host's bagatelle

while the spoils of their trade dance a slow promenade into hell

in a match made in Vegas made famous throughout the free world

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls

(c) 2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

FORD MARRIAGE

I met a punk'd out cocktail waitress on a restless Wednesday night

at the Waxtown City Diner looking halfway out of sight

small town living left her rode hard damned near put away wet

not yet

Yeah we stole on down the road in a junkyard auction Ford

making love in every Motel that a boy could afford

until we burned through all our money 'bout the time the engine

froze who knows?

I need to get caught up but she can't sit still

that newborn baby she's a coming with a gas tank left to fill

They say you never pay for happiness with hundred dollar bills oh no

I'll trade fan belt and a hub cap for a suit coat and a tie

we'll use her panties as a veil and wrap an oil rag round her thigh

make a bouquet out of tumble weeds and hold on till we die

my, my....yeah...my, my

We had ourselves a cool Ford Marriage till the spring of 83

turns out house of love won't run on truck stop grease and gasoline

I heard she settled down in Lincoln and our baby's twenty five...just drive

Sometimes I take that road to Waxtown just to have a look around

and haul what's left of all this heartache to rambling side of town

where the old man still remembers how to run a good time down...slow down

I never got caught up I guess it wasn't meant to be

and if you love someone they tell you that you've got to set them free

but all this freedom burns like hell in every broken part of me...of me...

But I still got that dirty suit coat and that Sally Ann bow tie

and every memory of her naked with that oil rag round her thigh and

every time I see a tumble weed I shake my head and sigh

My My...yeah My, My

I met the only girl I loved on a restless Wednesday night

at the Waxtown City Diner looking halfway out of sight

small town living left her rode hard damned near put away wet

not yet...

no, net yet

(c)2023 SMC Music Group ASCAP

GRAVEYARD HONEY

down at the bottom where the sugar meets the bone

when the old girl comes a knocking boy she won't leave you alone

and so she claims another body bores a hole straight through the brick

Lord the harvest it's a coming and you'd better sow it quick

before they wake

come keep your take

Smoke out the kettle strong enough to calm the queen

but if the drones wake up at midnight douse the yard with gasoline

because the fire will leave no trace and mother nature takes it's own

we'll give the bodies to the devil and the gold to god alone

they're living still

upon that hill

Measure time

we are the damned and divine

call down the kingdom to come

no winding roads left to run (come like a thief in the night)

no goodbyes (called down from glory)

the world doesn't end till you die

beneath our feet

death tastes so sweet

Measure time we are the damned and divine

call down the kingdom to come

no winding roads left to run (come like a thief in the night)

no goodbyes (called down from glory)

the world doesn't end

till you die

(c) 2023 SMC Records (ASCAP)

EXODUS

I'll pave a highway

some great glory road

abandon these ruins and forfeit my soul

time waits for no one

and I'm fading to gray

I'd pray for salvation but I've lost my way

No semblance of passion

only dust and desire

when I dream Lord I'm longing for ashes and fire

But I'm too old for romance

too stubborn to die

and I'd conjure a feeling but I'd only cry

If the dead don't weep

and we all move on

let the red dirt lay and soon I'll be gone

If the dead don't weep

and we all move on

let the red dirt lay and soon I'll be gone

I'll pave a highway

some great glory road

abandon these ruins and forfeit my soul

(c) SMC Music Group (ASCAP)