Get all 8 Bill Davie releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Night Sky, Raise Your Heart/Bill Davie LIVE, The Water Dance, Lifelike, Gravity, Phobia Robes, Write At The Light, and The Lunatic Cafe.
1. |
Intro.
01:55
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2. |
Cloud Chowder
02:40
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Cloud Chowder
I had a small catastrophe,
it followed me around.
It held my sense of humor tight,
it would not put me down.
It cut holes in my apology.
It stripped me where it shows.
It fell in my theology,
and took off in my clothes
I shouldered my presumptions.
It burned up all my wood.
It switched on my assumptions,'
then it started feeling good.
And it felt so good, I don't know why.
And it felt so good it had to show.
And I don't know where it's gonna take me next,
all I know is I wanna go. I wanna go-go!
I had a natural disaster.
I jumped into my space.
It got me moving faster.
It set a dreadful pace.
It lessened my dimensions.
It had me losing weight.
It pointed out my tensions.
It was destiny, or fate.
It channeled my expression.
It made me think I could.
It sorted out my tensions,
and it came out feeling good.
And it felt so good, I don't know why.
It felt so good it had to show.
And I don't know where it's gonna take me next,
all I know is I wanna go. I wanna go, I got to go!
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3. |
From Where You Are
04:28
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FROM WHERE YOU ARE
Lonely men
feeding pigeons at sunrise.
Talking tears
at feathered ears that do not cry.
And all the dead or dying bums
whom you depend on for your crumbs
they run from where you are
from where you are.
Find a doorway,
rest the bottle at your feet.
Take your places,
tourist landmarks of the street.
Family pictures crowd your mind.
They're growing fuzzier with time.
They run from where you are,
from where you are.
People stop
to frown and talk about you.
But they don't come near,
'cause something might rub off of you.
There's not much more that they can do,
but thank the lord that they're not you,
and run from where you are
from where you are.
And all the dead and dying bums
whom you depend on for your crumbs,
they run from where you are
from where you are.
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4. |
The Lunatic Cafe
01:49
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5. |
The Price I Pay
02:38
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THE PRICE I PAY
I went down to the guitar store
and I sadi, "Won't you help me, please?
The tips of my fingers are falling off,
I got water on both knees!"
The lady said, "That's what you get
when you walk in that 'rock n' roll way!"
I said, "I guess you're right,
I'm just a singer in the night,
and that's the price I pay."
I went down to the pharmacy,
and I said, "I hope you got what I need.
I'm so depressed about oppression, murder , rape,
and American Greed."
The pharmacist said, "Ithink it's all in your head,
and have you had your One-A-Day?"
So, I wrote him a poem, pretended I didn't know him,
and figured, he's the price I pay.
I went down to the psychiatry store
and I said, "Doc, things just ain't right.
I wet the bed, I got this ringin' in my head
and it's rat dreams every night."
He said, "It's clear we need some treatment here,
and I'll have you feeling better today."
He stuck a wire to my head, I said, "I'll get drunk instead,
and it's a smaller price I'll pay."
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6. |
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UPON THE EDGE
by Alan Copsey
The evening of the morning of
the last day in this world,
the time's gone by so quickly
I can still see where I stood,
upon the edge of something
understood just partly, even yet,
but it's so far away from where I've got to go.
Back to the life I live
surrounded by the others struggling through
to find an order and a sense
to what seems senseless and untrue.
And through the leaves upon my shoulder
shines the wilderness sunset,
but it's so far away from where I've got to go.
I've got to leave this land that feels like home to me.
Where I've spent more than a lifetime in these few days.
Where my soul will wander freely like an eagle in the air,
and the beauty of my living will be with me from now on.
The evening of the morning of
the last day in this world,
the time's gone by so quickly
I can still see where I stood,
upon the edge of something
understood just partly, even yet,
but it's so far away from where I've got to go.
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7. |
Chicken Gumbo
02:25
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CHICKEN GUMBO
Close the doors tight,
insulate those windows right.
Let me say, I don't get out much anymore.
I stay inside and wait
for the hell to break.
What kind of crazy things wait outside my door?
I got my lead screens,
i got survival dreams,
and lots of hope for the future of our nation.
I got my canned food,
I got my ears glued
to the civil defense monitoring stations.
My friends all tell me that i'm pessimistic
but I prefer to think of myself as realistic.
When the big one comes, and the earth begins to rumble
I'll be happy underground
eating Chicken Gumbo.
Late at night or early morning,
we won't get too much warning,
before the country is a glowing orange fountain.
But some of us won't wait.
We'll make our planned escape.
Me and Ronnie, we'll be safe inside our mountain.
My friends all tell me that I'm pessimistic,
but I prefer to think of myself as realistic.
When the big one comes, and the earth begins to rumble
I'll be happy underground
eating Chicken Gumbo.
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8. |
Mantra Man
00:39
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9. |
What Have You Learned?
03:15
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WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
Heaven bless this critical mess
I've gotten you into.
Late nights in the coffee shops
and crazy institutions of higher education
become a recreation ground
and something you'll get used to.
And what have you learned here
or have you just been burned here?
You cam to me with problems,
you were craving my attention
concerning D. H. Lawrence love
and reading comprehension.
I told you this was not your place,
and I was much too quizzical,
but you just got more physical.
And what have you learned here
or have you just been burned here?
And what have you learned here
or have you just been burned here?
School days,
a twenty year phase.
School days,
a twenty year phase.
So now you're graduating
and you gotta pay to do it.
You went without a meal last month
but somehow you lived through it.
Your folks are flying up from California
to attend it,
but you've just glad to end it.
And what have you learned here,
ro have you just been burned here?
And what have you learned here,
ro have you just been burned here?
Heaven bless this critical mess I've gotten you into.
Heaven bless this critical mess I've gotten you into.
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10. |
Our Day
02:58
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OUR DAY
Well I can't remember when
the thought of seeing you again
didn't make me feel that life was worth the living.
And it seems to me so true
that I only take from you,
'while so unselfishly, you do all the giving.
And yet you say you love me,
that you want to be my wife,
that you want to be part of everything that holds meaning in my life.
Oh lady, this is our day,
and I'll be with you each and every step of the way
When my branches will not bend,
and my hope comes to an end,
it'll be so nice to know that you're there waiting.
Tell me I'm okay,
and to blow my fear away,
and to let me know it was wisdom I was chasing.
Just to know you're thinking of me
and that I don't have to hide
all the feelings that before you came along were kept inside
Oh lady, this is our day
and I'll be with you each and every step of the way.
And I'll be with you each and every step of the way
Well I can't remember when
the thought of seeing you again
didn't make me feel that life was worth the living.
And it seems to me so true
that I only take from you,
'while so unselfishly, you do all the giving.
And yet you say you love me,
that you want to be my wife,
that you want to be part of everything that holds meaning in my life.
Oh lady, this is our day,
and I'll be with you each and every step of the way
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11. |
Yad Ruo
02:31
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12. |
Arnie's Soup Kitchen
00:47
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13. |
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THAT VACATION I PROMISED YOU
Your hand on the wheel.
We're through asking questions on how we feel.
Your smile reflected in the window.
Loud music playing on the stereo.
Here's that vacation I promised you
way back in the summer of '82.
So many other plans to see through,
we lose sight of the things that we want to do.
Like looking at you
and flying in the sun.
So many destinations, but you're my only one
Your hands on the wheel.
Lets see how much time we can steal.
The workaday world will wait for me.
It's time to reset priorities
So here's that vacation I promised you
way back in the summer of '82.
The road is just a door we're walking through.
I can breathe again when it's just us two,
and I'm looking at you,
and we're flying in the sun.
So many destinations, but you're my only one.
Look look look look look look down the road
open your eyes and look off down the road
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
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14. |
Electric
02:40
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ELECTRIC
I hear the beat,
I feel the beat,
but I'm still stifled by my limitations.
See this guitar?
It's brought me far,
but it can't handle every situation.
Ooo, I wanna go electric.
Ooo, it takes bread to go electric.
Ooo, won't you help me go electric
and let me sing in your bar?
But you say, . . .
I find my seat,
and watch my feet.
They're always jumpin' 'cause they can't escape the beat.
I look at my room,
stare at the gloom.
Some funky rhythm not would surely be a treat.
Ooo, I wanna go electric.
Ooo, it's somehow more eclectic.
Ooo, won't you help me go electric
and let me sing in your bar?
It's a nice bar.
Nice bar!
I could play here,
maybe take us both far!
Ooo, I wanna got electric.
Ooo, where the music's much more hectic.
Ooo, I wanna go electric
so let me sing in your bar,
but you say,
"no way, Jack!
You see the doorway
come back some other day
as someone else!"
Now ain't that just the way?
I mean the way of the world!
You assassinate a squirrel
backing out of your driveway.
And what will the Rabinowitz's say?
Sometimes it just
don't
pay,
to start your day.
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15. |
Miracle
03:04
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MIRACLE
You and I have seen our arrows fly.
We've known all the right buttons to push,
where it hurts, and how, and why.
But there's a reason why we'll make it,
'cause every time that I just can't take it
I climb back out into love again.
I climb back out into love again.
Once or twice I knew that we were through.
We couldn't talk, we couldn't sleep,
all our worst fears were coming true.
But something broke inside of me that
showed me something I didn't know I had.
I climbed back out into love again.
Oh, and I climbed back out into love again.
Now, Jesus, he stepped out on the sea.
I never knew what that chance he took
could do for you and me.
But there's no other way to explain it.
A miracle any way that you paint it.
We climb back out into love again.
Oh, and we climb back out into love again.
Yes, we climb back out into love again.
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16. |
A Little Drinkin'
02:18
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A LITTLE DRINKIN'
Well, damn right, baby, I'm tight.
I plan to stay that way for the rest of the night.
There ain't enough on the news
to tell who's wrong and who's right.
I did a little drinkin',
so I could stop thinkin',
and now I drink, you think, too much.
All of this is just a mirage.
The military complex, the mortar barrage.
Step into my new
mental montage.
I did a little drinkin',
so I could stop thinkin',
and now I drink, you think, too much.
I was thinkin' 'bout the Russians again.
It's a confrontation nobody wins.
And the next thing I knew,
I was diluting my vodka with gin.
Now, don't try to argue with me.
I turned off my head when I turned on the tv.
I'm gonna sprout some roots
and make like a tree.
I did a little drinkin',
so I could stop thinkin',
and now I drink, you think, too much.
Well, I was thinkin' 'bout the CIA.
It's a symptom or moral decay
when you're lyin' in bed
and you still gotta watch what you say.
Now baby, I think you understand
how a thinkin' man's head can get all out of hand.
Well, I got no solutions,
but I did have a plan:
Well, I did a little drinkin',
so I could stop thinkin',
and now I drink, you think, too much.
Well, I did a little drinkin',
so I could stop thinkin',
and now I drink, you think, too much.
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17. |
News
01:10
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NEWS
The news is good.
You knew it would be.
Yes, I can be what you want me to be
'cause it's me, 'cause it's me.
My palms are sweaty
but I think I'm ready
to ride that long road to the sea,
to the sea, to the sea.
You were questioning my attitude,
but everything's right at that latitude,
listen to me.
Well, there's a quiet wind blowing tonight.
It's such a peaceful, serene kind of twilight.
It's just a matter of time 'fore the moon starts to glow,
so let's go, let's go let's go
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18. |
Civil Disobedience
02:32
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19. |
The Same Sun Always Sets
03:19
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20. |
Old Dragons Passing Over
04:39
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21. |
Onward
04:36
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22. |
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23. |
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24. |
Chances (Bonus Track)
03:46
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25. |
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26. |
Rain Today (Bonus Track)
02:23
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27. |
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Bill Davie Seattle, Washington
Bill Davie began playing and singing when he was three years old. He wrote his first song at age 11. He produced eight recordings of original songs, five self-published books of poetry, and continues to be an active writer and performer at clubs, coffeehouses, colleges, and concert halls in the Pacific Northwest. ... more
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