1. |
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Looks like I missed you by a millisecond
I took the South road you came through the Okanagan
When you hit the Slocan I was wishing I had sun protection
Just past Hope at the Coquihalla intersection
Looks like I missed you by a millisecond
Looks like I missed you by a millimetre
You were in Ontario and I was by the Fraser river
You were in the city livin' I was in the West Red Cedar
'94 Econoline and all the other forest creatures
Looks like I missed you by a millimetre
Looks like I missed you by a millisecond
You were pushing six when I was pushing out a belly button
You got a community I just got a vague intention
Maybe I can see you if we're moving in the same direction
But this time I missed you by a millisecond
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2. |
The Road
04:17
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The city was bringing you down, your fairweather friends all beg and borrow
The good ones get worked in to the ground and the rest find ways to drown their sorrow
But hitchin and riding on trains you thought you'd leave all that behind
They say the road is cruel the road is kind
Down and out black and blue lost lonesome broke and busted
Sleeping rough hiding out and left behind by those you trusted
Blind drunk, thinking that you could have stayed in school
The road is kind the road is cruel
A burnt out trucker at a Husky was going up the Yellowhead, Winnipeg West bound
Told you bout his wife and his boy in a Cape Breton island dyin home town
Somewhere in Alberta at a brake check offers you a line
He says the road is cruel the road is kind
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3. |
Blackberry
04:56
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As the blackberry grows it creeps and it crawls
And covers up the pieces that the people have missed
You thought that you could have it all
But all you can have is this
And the blackberry will reach up and grasp at your ankles
You'll take the camera and point it at the camera man
It will get harder to kick against the prickles
You'll look at your watch and say what is happenin here?
As the blackberry grows it'll climb up the wall
And pull down in pieces all the parts that you fixed
You thought that you could have it all
But all you can have is this
And the blackberry will reach up and grasp at your ankles
You'll take the camera and point it at the TV screen
Decades will pass daily with their trials and their troubles
While you grasp as if through molasses for anything tied down
You used to stand about 10 feet tall
Now you slouch down under the load like the rest
You used to want to have it all
Now all you want it this
And the blackberry will cover up your grave site to my friend
You who took the microphone and held it to the monitor
And if what we've done here will in death pay dividends
Someday they'll say that boy played like the rolling thunder
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4. |
10 Years Before
03:17
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It's almost like sunshine
And a breath of fresh air
Had a little baby girl
10 years before
And it's almost like moonlight
Got it on with a pride parade
9 months later Kristianne, stratocaster in hand
Came along playing to a thunderstorm
10 years before I was even born
It's almost like Iron Maiden
Licensed a line of Harley Davidsons
And they were gunna be turbo diesel (hrmph)
Direct injected (hrmph)
But then the plans all got thrown away
And sank deep in to the Salish sea
9 months later Kristianne came riding on a big clam
Naked and fully formed
10 years before I was even born
I hope that there were fireworks
Made out of galaxies
I hope there was a marching band
10 years before
And I hope it was a real good party
When some being in some dimension thought of you
9 months later Kristianne crash landed on a mission
Her spaceship all twisted and torn
10 years before I was even born
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5. |
Rocky Road to Edmonton
02:39
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In the merry month of July when from my home I started
Leaving PEI for better things departed
The fisheries gone to shit can’t stand the taste of potatoes
Dad was cool with it but Ma began to berate us
I told her not to worry I’m off to Fort MacMurray
To make a lot in a hurry and never have to beg again
Pay off all the loans send some back to home
I’ll be alright alone on the rocky road to Edmonton 1 2 3 4 5
(hunt the hare and turn er down the rocky road and all the way to Edmonton whack fallal de rah)
I bummed a ride to Montreal and found my wallet empty
No one there to call but Irish pubs a plenty
I met a madamoiselle who bought your man a whiskey
All was going well till her fella comes up briskly
I told the man to walk if he didn’t want a shock and
Poor old Frère Jacques’s face began to reddenin
Called myself a newfy give me a lefty loosey
Beggars can’t be choosey on the rocky road to Edmonton 1 2 3 4 5
So I stuck my thumb in the air to see what fate awaits me
Drivers not all there depressed perverted or crazy
Finally caught a ride in a big old 18 wheeler
The coked out bloke inside kept stopping to visit his dealers
Up around the lakes engine retarder brakes
Keeping me awake the sound was almost deafenin'
Dropped me at Portage and Main so I could bum for change
And jump aboard a train on the CN line to Edmonton 1 2 3 4 5
Woke up in Regina feeling rather peckish
Guess I might start tryin-a dumpster dive for breakfast
Found a Timmie Hoe’s not too far from the station
All the day old doughnuts cinnamon buns with raisins
Muffins and Eclairs Had me unawares
My bag upon the stairs while I was getting fed again
came out belly swollen all my gear was stolen
Had to keep a rollin down the rocky road to Edmonton 1 2 3 4 5
Well I arrived in the Big Onion smelling rather potent
Time to start hunting for gainful employment
Went to the recruiters dreaming still of riches
Put me with the users washing up the dishes
Way up in Fort Mac I'll have a heart attack
The foreman of the pack a-yellin and a-threatenin
Wonder why I come I miss my dear ole mum
I don't advise to none that old rocky road to Edmonton 1 2 3 4 5
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6. |
Always For You
03:44
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There's that first house that they put up on the land
Your great grandpa built that by hand
It's leaning but by god it still stands
And that old truck overgrown and forlorn
That made it through that winter storm
On the night that your dad was born
It was always for you
They took their second mortgage on the farm
The year before grandpa broke his arm
On the prairie you can watch a coming storm
For hours
And when the banker came knockin on the door
Your dad was still just crawling on the floor
They said to him we just need a little bit more
Time
It was always for you
And in a little wooden church they prayed
Asked the lord for one year's grace
The wheat board answered in his place
And all the trials and the triumphs of their lives
Had come to this, they realized
The first time you opened your eyes
It was always for you
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7. |
Babel
02:19
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When they were young they built their homes on the shifting yellow sand
And the years passed like great turning wheels
And the mud and the sticks turned to mortar and bricks
Turned to concrete and reinforced steel
And the songs they passed down of the great engineers
That made Babel rise and cover up the sun
Only spoke to the praise not the rot or decay
Or the damage all the years had done
And so centurions forded Euphrates
So a silver stream flowed to Madrid
And a great Khan danced in Cashmere pants
Like the devil never did
Those poor bastards built their tower on an ocean of dust
And looked down with pride at what they had made
But for all their calloused hands and the blueprints and the plans
You can’t raise corn in the shade
And the crown was made of silver and the crown was made of thorns
And of iron and brimstone and gold
But the kingdom was a dried out desert hide out
And the subjects were tired and old
And so centurions forded Euphrates
So a silver stream flowed to Madrid
And a great Khan danced in Cashmere pants
Like the devil never did
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8. |
White Xmas in Vancouver
03:24
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Well it was down on Commercial near 6th & the Drive
The McNeil-Bobb Kid got that look in his eyes he said
Hey man, let's have ourselves a White Christmas in Vancouver
I was picking guitar he was picking up butts
He said I got a twenty if you got twenty bucks
And we'll have a shit, man yeah we'll have a let's have a White Christmas in Vancouver
So I gave him the green and he made the call and it was
Go down the street behind the veteran's hall
Looks like we're having a White Christmas in Vancouver
And we got to the spot and we met the man
With a hood over his head and a baggy in his hand and he said
Look here man I got your White Christmas in Vancouver
And the train-core kids and the gutter punk skids say hey man spare a buck for a slice?
And the ski hill in North Van shines down from the mountain like a star in the Bethlehem night
And Josh is pickin banjo at the BCL and I'm in the alley with that ammonia smell
But low and behold, the money was gone
Jordan searched his pockets said something's wrong
And it came into question then whether we were gunna have any kind of white Christmas in Vancouver
And there was a hole in his pocket where the money fell through
And the deal went sour and the dealer got spooked and
it looks like we ain't havin' no White Christmas in Vancouver
(chorus)
And Slide Guitar Ray's at the BCL he don't know many songs but he plays pretty well
Well me and Jordan had to calm our brains
We were out forty bucks with no cocaine and
Shit man, all I ever wanted was a White Christmas in Vancouver
And we got to the legion and we ordered a pint
And then fucking McNeil-Bobb put orange juice in mine
And shit goddamn man, all I ever fucking wanted was a White Christmas in Vancouver
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9. |
End of Times
04:09
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Hey you ear to the ground keep on listening
Keep on listening
Deep down in Desolation Sound there's orcas swimming
Chinook fishing
Hey you nose in the wind keep on sniffin
Yeah keep on sniffin
There's something wicked this way blowing in
From someone’s kitchen
You think this is the best of times? Buddy, this is the end of times
And it’s all coming crashing down
But we never got to jump on beds like this before
Never got to chop off heads like this before
Never got to jump on beds like this before
Never got to chop off heads like this before now
Hey you sifting sand
Future uncertain
Rough neck with calloused hands
Must feed his children
Hey you staring at the sun
And shadows circling
Bald headed birds of carrion
Shouldn’t you be workin
You think this is the best of times? Listen, this is the end of times
It’s all coming crashing down
And we never got to jump on beds like this before
Never got to chop off heads like this before
Never got to jump on beds like this before
Never got to chop off heads like this before now
Hey garbage eagle garbage bear
With scratched up faces
The nature of the beast brings it back there
Once it has tasted
The times have always been hard
Might as well face it
The people’s nature makes them what they are
You cannot change it
You think this is the best of times? Buddy, this is the end of times
And it’s all coming crashing down
And we never had to jump on beds like this before
Never had to chop off heads like this before
Never had to jump on beds like this before
Never had to chop off heads like this before now
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10. |
Waiting For You
04:15
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You're mother thinks we're shadows being cast by our souls up on some other plain
I think that she's insane
I think this is everything
She thinks what we're doing here is something kind of like the dentist's waiting room
I think that we're in the chair
I don't think there's anywhere
That's outside of here
But I don't know anything
Don't listen to anyone
That says they do
We've been waiting for you
Your mother's been to places been with people so low down they couldn't see the sun
I've been looking out for number one
I can count all the good things I've done
On my right hand thumb
I have lived my life and will live my life always only trying to get somewhere
She lives her life already being there
I pray to the void that you will be like her
Like I wish I were
But I don't know anything
Don't listen to anyone
That says they do
We've been waiting for you
Your great aunty came and told us you were coming came and told it to us in a dream
And you just missed your great grandma Irene
I know they would have liked to have been
Around for your beginning
I thought that something here has happened, something's changing hands, somethings coming back around
I can't quite put my finger on it now
Something I have to do but don't know how
I don't know how
I don't know anything
Don't listen to anyone
That says they do
We've been waiting for you
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