1. |
The Lark
02:46
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When the lark whistles in my chest
And muscles me away from work
I go driving in the dirt
Light a spark in the service of the moment
Yeah, my heart
Wants to know if you will
Go invent the road
Invent the road, invent the road
When the dark hunts my chest
And humbles me, where can I turn?
Will you go driving in the dirt?
Light a spark
Set it burning in the moment
Yeah, my heart
Wants to know if you will
Go invent the road
Invent the road, invent the road
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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2. |
North Side of the Road
02:35
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We live on the north side of the road
About a mile from town
On the coastline of a cornfield
And on every side there are more fields
Making an island of our home
And off to the west side is a mill
In a railroad town
Population 500 people
It's hard to make time for other people
Out here on our own we do what we will
We hear the tornado sirens sometimes
We're on the flight path to Detroit
Out here on the north side of the road
In a quiet town
With only the wind lashing the cornfield
Animating the grass out on the airfield
Yawning out away from our home
On the north side of the road
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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3. |
Witches
03:06
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Put some music on
And get your body up again
You wake and turn a light on
But witches turn it off again
Why heaven never helps you
Who can tell?
Every hope you want to cling to
Gone as well
Livid, wondering
What part you’re playing
Living wondering
What are you, plain?
Put your boots back on
Get ready to go out again
Be wary in the shadows
Where witches want to draw you in
Some force you to remember
Some command
What curse could you have countered
Had you planned?
Living, wondering
What are you, plain?
Forever wondering
What part you play
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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4. |
When I'm a Happy Drunk
03:06
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When I’m a happy drunk
Head in the clouds where the sun shines nearer
When I’m a happy drunk
My mumbling eyes can see clearly
When I’m a lonely drunk
And everyone’s out doing something better
When I’m a lonely drunk
Midnight calls are my answer
But when I’m an angry drunk
Lit by the fire of my disappointment
When I’m an angry drunk
Old regrets are my cancer
Hard to shake all those fears
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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5. |
Guitar Case
03:55
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Guitar case
Romancing the girls
They can’t help but look as you go past
With your black handle
And buckles of brass
Guitar case
Diplomat to the world
In South Carolina or Japan
Conversation is what you demand
Guitar case
Softly showing your age
You gave your best years to the band
With your patina of stickers and cracks
Held together by smoke
And two old callused hands
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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6. |
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You’re mine in a mining accident
Underneath a mountain
We can have a good talk
Underneath a mountain
We can really connect
Will you be mine in a mining accident?
You’re mine in a hurricane cellar
Underneath the debris
We can have a good talk
Underneath the debris
I think we can connect
Will you be mine in a hurricane cellar?
You’re mine when the government falls
When anarchy reigns
We can have a good talk
When there is no law
I think we’ll really connect
Will you be mine when the government falls?
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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7. |
Friends and Foes
02:50
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Now we’re older, friends and foes
The bar is shorter, we all sit close
Telling stories, telling fables
Close to home old friends and foes
Bitter talk is tough to quell
Rivals round one dinner bell
If you can’t beat them just ignore them
Find your own status quo
So goodbye Mary, goodbye Jane
May your hearts absolve the change
The common ties that serve to bind us
Reveal us all just working folk
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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8. |
Broken Barrows
03:33
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City bones
Cope with the humdrum
Only when they jangle upstate do they know
Narrow roads (chimney smoke)
The torch of moonlight
Shining through the ribs of pine and scarlet oak
Never once
In sixty summers
Did he ramble out beyond the bricks of home
So catch a ride (sail the tide)
Through broken barrows
Away from man’s light on this trolley of lost souls
Far from home
In shadow country
Crackling feet blanched by moon on top of stone
White and lithe (late at night)
Retreating softly
Across the hearth of land to spend a new year’s night
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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9. |
Song Clerk
05:02
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Song clerk
Punching in, punching out
Song clerk
Pens one for regret
And for that lady’s eyes
They’re stocking up
Before the memory dies
They’re stocking up
Their carts a mile high
Tides turn
Coming in, coming out
Time clerk
At home or at your desk
You labor all your life
It’s market day
New oysters in the night
So dream away
Forever chasing tides
Songs of joy and hurt
The young and quick to burn
The worn unhurried words
For all the weary world
Another major work
Bound never to be heard
So humbly sung at first
Betraying all its worth
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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10. |
The Classics
03:37
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The classics are playing
Inside your throat
The classic ring out again
From the pockets of your coat
Through the village of the dead
Underage and overfed
No one can blame you
For playing the classics all night long
The classics will save
Your wretched life
Maybe once, maybe twice
Some old song will still the knife
And from the shadows of your room
They give you strength to make your move
So who can blame you
For playing the classics all night long
I remember when I first
Heard this song
Giving focus to my rage
Moving stones before it's gone
Maybe you go back there too
Where the muscles of your memory hurt
And who can blame you
For making a classic of this song
© 2011 Timothy Monger / Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
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Timothy Monger Ypsilanti, Michigan
Solo artist, leader of Timothy Monger State Park, co-founder of Great Lakes Myth Society, curator of Log Variations, writer, and proprieter of Northern Detective.
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