Nightmare

Corey took his medicine, he took it from the high shelf
As he was walking to his cell, he wouldn't say nothing at all
'cause he was doing hard time

Corey took her medicine, she took it from the high shelf
As she was talking to herself, she wouldn't say nothing at all
'cause she was doing hard time

GILES COREY to town:
With the stones stones stacked I'm taking hours of this
They're going to pay for this, they're going to pay for this
Well don't tell me to take it easy, you take it easy
and take what's coming
With the stones stones stacked I'm taking hours of this
They're going to pay for this, they're going to pay for this
'cause little Abby's taking over as undertaker
You turn your back on your friends, now take it back to me

(MARTHA COREY to Giles:
If they, honey, take you from me,
I'm with you babe, I'm still with you
And if I'm hanging high, honey
I'm with you babe, I'm still with you)

It went down, it went down
all around it was a nightmare
I made it, my sweat beading
I can't wake up but it's a nightmare
A showdown in my town
with at beaten path to the Gallows Hill
Well misery, she loves company
but oh my god, my demons hate you
(Giles to Martha): Sad eyes, I think you're bleeding too
well don't look now we're in a nightmare
(Giles to town, to future generations): Hold us up in the Good Light
(Giles to martha) Hold on, (Giles to himself): Hold on



This is a sad folk tale that has a special place in my heart via the family tree.

Back in the somber, puritan community of Salem, Mass in the 1690's, an 11yr old girl named Abigale Williams and some of her friends were overwhelmed with boredom, oppression and very few "unsatinic" ways to have fun. But an exotic slave named Tituba secretly captivated the girls with exciting stories and rituals from where she came. Until one day they were caught in a type of ritual that shocked the town to its puritan core. Presumably, instead of having to cope with the responsibility of having participated at will, Abby and the girls acted possessed by demons. They further deflected blame onto others by claiming the possessed ability to see witches...

The rest is history: a small town sent into mass hysteria with hundreds accused of Witchcraft, and 20 souls executed. Among those killed, an elderly married couple: Giles and Martha Corey. Martha was hung, and Giles was pressed to death under the weight of stones. He left in his wake the folklored "Curse of Giles Corey" which inflicts a heart or blood ailment upon every Salem sheriff ever since. Also among those hung at Gallows Hill: two sisters with the maiden name Towne.

Seven generations later in southern Minnesota, the paths of a surviving Corey man and a surviving Towne woman met again. They were my great great grandparents.

Colorado Song

I am miles away from anything
'cause silence is what I've been craving
in a mountain town whose sky is unveiling
the bluest blood this side of the canyan

There are traces of Shawnee in my blood that begin to sing along
with the frequencies of this mountain's tuning fork
My blood it is spilling over this old dominion
and it dries into rust like the red foot hills
The westerlies rushing through the passes
are messing up my hair like the hands,
like the thirsty hands of a love who has finally found a way
to break free of the restraints, now take me
I feel the power of everything it funnels down into me
and I will breach this, this wisdom

the cries of the falcons
bouncing around the rock faces
fall on my ears, I can almost understand them
with an old language etched into my past

Well I don't know the source this chanting
I can only hear when I'm still and quiet
But I will ride up close to it
Yes I will breach this wisdom

Awake

"It's time to wake her up," those demons say
they're the restless winds at play when I'm awake
It's time to wake her up under a harvest moon
a burning silo in a prairie field

But never mind this heat we're in
it's already past 4, and we're alone
do I know, is there someone I know well enough to wake
but I'll wait for the day to make it easier to think
and I think that someone's got it in for me
and you walk in

"It's time to wake her up," those demons say
they're the restless winds at play when I'm trying to sleep
And we're two severed friends under a harvest moon
two burning silos in a prairie field

But never mind this heat we're in
it's already past 4, and we're alone
do I know, is there someone I know well enough to wake
and I'll wait for the day to make it easier to think
and I think that someone's got it in for me
and you walk in

But I said move on, it's time to wake him up

"It's time to wake him up," those demons say
they're the restless winds at play when you're trying to sleep

Tuesday with Zooey

Fall descending on a Tuesday night
resurrecting a world in the shadows
pulled from my shelf all bound in pages
copyright stamped 1955

(On the Upper East Side in a kimono
before her in overly golden rows
the lovely women in furs and coats
but mother, she don't even bother
They came to the world in a radio show
and grew up to shatter the status quo
with an existential chip on his shoulder,
the world is bending on brother)

I am meeting Franny and Zooey
the timely friends of our undoing
St. Seraphim of Serov leading
the plaintive pilgrims to the something

I'll finally toss it aside
with indifferent spit in my eye
The meager mediocrity
is shunned in the shadows

Autumn landing on the tip of my shoe
Kicks are treading the walks in my 'hood
clouds and sweaters must come from heaven
and what awaits on page 55

(On the Upper East Side in a kimono
before her in overly golden rows
the lovely women in furs and coats
but mother, she don't even bother
They came to the world in a radio show
and grew up to shatter the status quo
with an existential chip on his shoulder,
the world is bending on brother)

I'll finally toss it aside
with indifferent spit in my eye
The meager mediocrity
there's a world in the shadows

Shotgun Wedding

I'm the bride of an easy rider
It's hard to say how it happened
What happened there stay there in Vegas
on a lost scroll in an empty bottle

Something new, something blue
the fuzzy dice hanging on your mirror
they roll like heads in the wake of
heat brought from a pair of snake eyes

My four-inch heels are the skins of
two rattle snakes from your desert
they roll like wheels on the pavement
gambling with the devil's highway

My veil is laced with the drugs of
cactus flowers from your desert
which side of the veil will you stand on-
the magician or of the fool?

Bring it over, bring him over I want to see him
cocked and ready set to go, to fire off in the chapel

I will be in Vegas within three clicks of a ruby slipper
slip into something nice, and stand before the reverend
the shotgun wedding vows are waiting at the end of a dusty line
the end of the isle
I will be in Vegas within three clicks of a shotgun trigger
trigger the first event of the rest of my life
the shotgun wedding vows are sealed behind the sugar and bloody lips
of the sex and violence
Here comes the bride, walking down to Reverend Hill
kiss me on my bloody lips, kiss my on my bloody lips

I don't wanna go home

Working on the Blood Folk EP and made a mastering break thru tonight!