Marah - Kids In Philly Thu, 15 Feb 2001 10:27:00 +0100 "Gunnar Hedlund" "Hans Settler" Thanks to Gunnar! @ARTIST: Marah @ALBUM: Kids In Philly 01. Faraway You 02. Point Breeze 03. Christian St. 04. It's Only Money, Tyrone 05. My Heart Is The Bums On The Street 06. The Catfisherman 07. Round Eye Blues 08. From A Skyline Of A Great Big Town 09. Barstool Boys 10. The History of Where Someone Has Been Killed 11. This Town @SONG: Faraway You hey, I got on the bus, found myself a seat more people piling on, I watch the busy street and snow was coming down and more was on the ground what's rolling into town, said I'd better get back home I seen a rain soaked mattress 'neath the apartment house of death strewn in a vacant mess all watered-down and wet I seen the horse cops take the beat making horseshoes in the street, shovels in the sleet outside the dollar store I didn't have a broken heart I was not that lonely yet when life played a trick on me I'm afraid I didn't get, seen two lovers in the park felt the blood rush to my fists, they were sittin' on a bench entangled in a kiss which wouldn't mean a goddamned thing it wouldn't be no big to do but even from behind I could see that she was you she was faraway you, what is it you do treat me so cruel, act so faraway faraway you, what is it you do treat me so cruel, act so faraway sittin' on the bus, heard the driver signal sound more people piling on other people climbing down I seen a dumpster bum appeased dining on a dumpster feast he looked up at me, we turned the corner heading east and then we made a couple rights my face had faded white stopped at a traffic light and made a left on 17th then I got off the bus, found my apartment door held the keys up to the lock and they jangled to the floor well I jangled down beside 'em and I guess I might've slept 'cause when I woke up in the morning I was still out on the step singing faraway you, what is it you do treat me so cruel, act so faraway faraway you, what is it you do treat me so cruel, act so faraway @SONG: Point Breeze headlight cars do battle down the boulevard stopping in the corner bars or rolling to get home orchestrated stars all laughing at the weather charts reflectin' off the moon and Mars like they were spinning in a bowl, baby well waitress your tips are heads or tails and surely luck would never fail you hang your apron on a nail if this work doesn't pay as the diners sign the air for checks sayin', put your coat on, she'll come over wind their watches like you'd expect they've got tickets for some ballet thinkin' I thought I was beginning to see the light I was beginning to see the light and now there ain't no doubt about it baby all right, all right ... TV tubes do glow in ghostly white and blue panning cameras, Action News, your dinner on a tray I got the sound check blues, baby up the bottom, blow the fuse call for whiskey, tie your shoes up in Point Breeze there are no trees to shield the moonless sky, you're seen to walk the streets in baggy jeans and never say hello and its half a fifty gallon drum at a barbecue for everyone, the old folks chat the sodas flat, and there's not a single white thinkin' I thought I was beginning to see the light I was beginning to see the light and now there ain't no doubt about it baby all right, all right ... @SONG: Christian St. Saint Paul's is for soul salvage 9th Street for my fennel and leek 10 dollars is my lottery ticket and I get a haircut from the Vietnamese so come on Johnny's Market and Mario Lanza's Jackie Wilson, baby, Reet Petite I been a prisoner to a white Mr. Coffee down here on Christian Street so come on, so come on, so come on ... the sun rises on a statue of Mary the old ladies file into commune a fat guy in a blue Members Only knocks and disappears into a private backroom the corner payphone is for betting the numbers the pizza joint is for peppers and eggs the black boys all down in the schoolyard dance all crazy with the rubbery legs so come on, come on, come on ... six AM up at the Golden Donut in the evening they still ring the bells stop by the Smockey for a short Amaretto when the moon comes up a rising like a giant pizelle raise a glass a red wine or whiskey toast Belle Vista and my landlord too where'd you go Mr. Rocky Balboa Angelo Bruno, what has happened to you so come on, come on, come on... @SONG: It's Only Money Tyrone Josephine cracked her eyes black and bloodied screaming, gimme back, back all that money Tyrone so he snapped her neck back and slapped his lover put a bullet in her brain and threw her body off the bridge well nothing was found 'till the Brown River flooded and drifting down, down went a lifetime of things stolen cars, cracked up handguns and bodies given back, back to the world up above even if you don't want it even if you don't want it even if you don't want it hey baby someday it comes back the river's muddy guts backed up, exploded spilling out the facts, fast and a lot spilling out the facts of the city's dirty secrets like a city surfacing from out of the black driftin' down, down went a lifetime of secrets driftin' down, down went a lifetime of things stolen cars, train tracks, haz mats and bodies given back, back to the world up above a bag of dead kittens and mufflers and engines an army of rats and Colt 45 bottles and tires and shipwrecks and trashcans a porcelain Jesus and your old Christmas trees all busted and rotten, dismembered, forgotten borrowed or stolen, purchased or hot brokedown and useless, rusting, disgusting on an unwelcome comeback are you ready or not even if you don't want it even if you don't want it even if you don't want it hey baby someday it comes back @SONG: My Heart Is The Bums On The Street my heart is the bums on the street with nothing to eat and their dirty hands cupped up my heart is the squirrels in the park late Sunday evening dodging the raindrops my heart is a barrel on fire that blows burning ashes at a telephone wire my heart is the avenue wind rattling street signs with its delicate din what did I do to cause you to leave me girl if you just knew what I'm going through I lost my pride, my head hands in sorrow every inch of the city reminds me of you my heart is the schoolyard so empty vacant of smiles and void of all joy my heart is the ghetto at midnight teeming with beats and reverberate fear my heart is the newspaper blowing down the street when it's snowing and no ones around my heart is a saxophone solo from a third story window just before dawn what did I do to cause you to leave me girl if you just knew what I'm going through I lost my pride, my head hands in sorrow every inch of the city reminds me of you my heart is the smell of the sewer the taste of the lobster, the price of the wine my heart is the rush of the traffic the tug of the music, the scene of the crime my heart is the crowd that keeps cheering the trains by the river, the points that we score my heart is this wondrous city with its love and its life and its one slamming door @SONG:The Catfisherman I got my fat, sweet mama drop me off by the river I got a joint, 3 Millers and 12 chicken livers I got a spot 'neath the bridge by the expressway where the freaks shoot dope and peddle their asses their baby let me get on ... I got lantern run on a battery power I got a couple of friends coming by in a hour I got a radio play blues, soul and funk I only get one station, it's the one I want let me get on ... I got a couple of rods, they got tape where they broke I got a bobber, some sinkers and 2 packs of smokes I got the sun going down and the moon coming out and it's 83 degrees and I'm pissing in the river get out I got a buddy who swears he once caught a human head I got a tackle box, smell like dead worms, baby I got a sharp-ass blade 'cause a motherfucker wanna make trouble with a catfisherman on a pile of rubble, I doubt it come on, come on @SONG: Round Eye Blues last night I closed my eyes and watched the tracers fly through the jungle trees like fireflies on a windy night pulled up and onward by the breeze I can still hear the far off tin-canny sounds of their machine guns come unwound and I was shaking like Little Richard and I was sweating like ol' James Brown over by my window sill the moon was still on my cigarettes and wine sometimes there's wear I pray to Jesus sometimes there's where I pray to die but I could still sense the circling danger of those invisible bastards of a piss-hot day I was shaking with ol' Proud Mary I was sitting on the dock of the bay take the hits boys, take the hits don't smoke your bible and don't lose your wits because the sky is filled with shrapnel and your eyes are filled with tears hold your breath boys, hold your breath finger your trigger and welcome death your hearts are filled with fear fables tell of men who fell with swords dangling from their chest the old guys down at the taproom swear the Japs could kill you best but late at night I still hear the cries of three black guys I seen take it in the face I think about them sweet Motown girls they left behind and the assholes that took their place take the hits boys, take the hits don't smoke your bible and don't lose your wits because the sky is filled with shrapnel and your eyes are filled with tears hold your breath boys hold your breath finger your trigger and welcome death because the chopper's filled with your gut-shot friends your hearts are filled with fear @SONG: From A Skyline Of A Great Big Town I thought it was a new day I turned my sins against themselves we were sleeping in the sheets, babe I woke up in the air above my couch I guess I lost my redheaded blues swapped them for a thousand pair of shoes and the reflection in the barring eye that screams for all the luck I'll never lose I'm tying on a beery drunk you're leaving me the fire in your eyes to be a ship that's already sunk and never really stood the test of time my lines been flanked, it seems I've flunked I've tangled with the captain, walked the plank and I sunk I'm from a river home I'm from a tower made of bones I'm from the skyline of a great big town life in time will count your friends I've seen 'em fall to slow sad ends so I'm thinking all the words you've thunk and I'm tying on a beery drunk @SONG: Barstool Boys I don't even hold the wheel when I'm driving I don't ever look behind me in the mirror I don't care to see a new horizon or to watch an old horizon disappear I ain't never tasted wine or seen the inside of a bar and I been walking out of line but that ain't mattered so far 'cause I don't even hold the wheel when I'm driving and I ain't hit the breaks since I bought this car it's like I never been alone for more than a minute and I got nothin' to cry about when it's one wrong step got you into all this and it's one false move and you're out you're out, you're out ... it's a time clock with a late block screaming walk that walk or else you're all talk and it's eavesdrop and it's hard luck put 'er in fast and never don't stop up in a weightless sky ooh baby, where no one flies it's like I never been alone for more than a minute and I got nothin' to cry about when it's one wrong step got you into all this and it's one false move and you're out you're out, you're out ... @SONG: The History of Where Someone Has Been Killed there was a dumpster in an alley looked like a black bear in the road there is a stain of blood, a Sixers cap and the stench of piss and beer there was an outskirt's glow of lamplight from a half a block away and there was the ghost of greed the ghost of fury and the ghost of fear there was a charred spot in the gutter that would slick up in the rain there was a half tin can that been burned over the brand name tall windows paned and plywood where houses closed forever and the every night mosquitoes with no intent to land there came an old dog with a bad limp he had a slow gait, baby and a hunger there was some pigeons on a wire and they were open-eyed and still there was an aura to the whole place like someone else was lurking such is the history of where someone has been killed @SONG: This Town I've been around this town, this town I know it up and down I've got a mother in the ground and enemies surrounding every corner I remember you, yes I do, yes I do you were a pistol pointing up you been paralyzed by luck 'till you were out shaking a cup there on the corner