MAT D / Hard luck americana

 JERICHO GAP 

Twenty Seven souls to the right

beyond the Jericho Gap that I abandoned tonight

I've got the engine slowing down to a crawl

border town religion and a prayer for them all

but desolation is the law of the land

yeah, the dead held the deed but the deed turned to sand

on the road they left forsaken reaching out from the coast

marked as the moter of death my god I'm chasing a ghost

Pray tell? 

Are we on the Glory Road or the highway to hell? 

Great gods that decorated the skies

reduced to old derelicts for the rare passer-by

transfixed out on the edges of town

with the broke curios and the joints crumbling down

near the relics of a Hudson sedan

slouch hats overalls and all the dust in their hands

on a road that led our spirits to the edge of the pier

marked as the mother of death my god she stranded us here

they said

"If we're on the highway to hell then we're already dead."

Twenty Seven souls to the right 

beyond the Jericho Gap that I abandoned tonight

(c) 2023 SMC Music Group  (ASCAP)

PARADISE LOST

Bless the lackluster heart and the soul of this place 

though the spirit of death walks the halls every night with smile on her face 

I abandoned all hope once she turned down the light 

now I live out the dreams of the dead men that dwell in the shadows at night  

velvet visions of grace in their old picture frames 

faded forms solely versed in the knowledge of sin on the fringes of fame  

There's a shape of a the cross on a gold plaster wall 

all the blood that was shed for the bones in my bed raising  hell down the hall 

resurrecting what's left from the throes of desire  

if it's paradise lost I'll be counting the cost in the ashes and fire  

velvet visions of grace sacred doves etched in time 

every inch of them painted and pierced through the skin be it damned or divine 

be it damned or divine  

stacked  our cheap souvenirs on the cracked window sill 

put my face in my hands and I whispered a prayer to god we all killed 

I abandoned all hope once she turned down the light 

now I live out the dreams of the dead men that dwell in the shadows at night  

in the shadows at night

(c)2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

THAT JULY FLOOD

I want to make my secrets known

out on a lost highway alone

longing to wake the sleeping dead

all of the spirits in my head

nothing but hard luck tales to tell

stacked at the golden gates of hell

I left a trail of tears and blood

wild as a raging July flood

a trail of tears and blood

that July Flood

Died in a land that rusted red

carry my bones to the river bed

longing to set my spirit free

all of the ghosts inside of me

nothing but hard luck tales to tell 

stacked at the golden gates of hell 

I left a trail of tears and blood 

wild as a raging July flood

a trail of tears and blood

that July Flood

 (c) 2022 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

FORTY WATT MOON

There's a beating heart in this old caged machine

and a broken hymn that I can't bare to sing

there's a road we took and every dream that died

with our last sacred page on the passenger side

yeah our whiskey breath bent the metal roof

and all the love we brewed it was a 100 proof

from a dance floor still in a ghost town saloon

the colored lights flashing in praise

in praise

of a Forty Watt Moon

I earned these bloodshot eyes on down a trail of tears

to a broken hymn that I can't bare to hear

there's a road we took by God it's running on

and I'd chase after you but hell, the transmissions gone

where the gasoline done turned to sour mash

every gauge ran too hot  hell, it lit up the dash

in a tumbleweed blaze and a smokestack perfume

I'm going to burn for our sins by the light

of a Forty Watt Moon

So come on follow me down by the river side

where the waters rose and all that magic died

hell every holy house fell in some old raging flood

the chapel doors sank like a barge in the mud

where our whiskey breath done bent the metal roof 

but all the love we brewed it was a 100 proof

from a dance floor still in a ghost town saloon 

the colored lights flashing in praise 

in praise 

of a Forty Watt Moon

(c)2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

BIKINI BULL RIDING, COLD BEER, DIRTY GIRLS

Golden gods of the desert and their faithful would all gather here 

Beauty gilded in glitter the legends of an ancient frontier 

in a match made in Vegas made famous throughout the free world 

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls 

bygone prophecies written in Stardust and old tattoo flash 

laid to rest on some sweet sullen angel in a mudslide of cash  

on a marquee of neon in shades of blue diamond and pearl 

that read "Bikini Bull Riding, Cold beer and those damned dirty girls" 

they come mourning at midnight in pallid forms so debonair 

just to raise up their ten gallon hats and dead cowboy's prayer  

for all those damned old dirty girls... 

Golden gods became ghosts of the heavenly host's bagatelle 

while the spoils of their trade dance a slow promenade into hell 

in a match made in Vegas made famous throughout the free world 

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls 

Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and those damned dirty girls

(c) 2023 SMC Music Group (ASCAP)

FORD MARRIAGE 

 I met a punk'd out cocktail waitress on a restless Wednesday night 

at the Waxtown City Diner looking halfway out of sight 

small town living left her rode hard damned near put away wet 

not yet 

Yeah we stole on down the road in a junkyard auction Ford  

making love in every Motel that a boy could afford  

until we burned through all our money 'bout the time the engine  

froze who knows? 

I need to get caught up but she can't sit still 

that newborn baby she's a coming  with a gas tank left to fill  

They say you never pay for happiness with hundred dollar bills oh no 

I'll trade fan belt and a hub cap for a suit coat and a tie

we'll use her panties as a veil  and wrap an oil rag round her thigh

make a bouquet out of tumble weeds and hold on till we die 

my, my....yeah...my, my  

We had ourselves a cool Ford Marriage till the spring of 83

turns out house of love won't run on  truck stop grease and gasoline

I heard she settled down in Lincoln and our baby's twenty five...just drive 

Sometimes I take that road to Waxtown just to have a look around

and haul what's left of all this   heartache to rambling side of town

where the old man still remembers how to run a good time  down...slow down

 
I never got caught up I guess it wasn't meant to be

and if you love someone they tell you that  you've got to set them free

but all this freedom burns like hell in every broken part of me...of me... 

But I still got that dirty suit coat and that Sally Ann bow tie

and every memory of her naked  with that oil rag round her thigh and

every time I see a tumble weed I shake my head and sigh

My My...yeah My, My 

I met the only girl I  loved on a restless Wednesday night 

at the Waxtown City Diner looking halfway out of sight 

small town living left her rode hard damned near put away wet 

not yet...

no, net yet 

(c)2023 SMC Music Group ASCAP 

GRAVEYARD HONEY

down at the bottom where the sugar meets the bone 

 when the old girl comes a knocking boy she won't leave you alone  

and so she claims another body bores a hole straight through the brick 

Lord the harvest it's a coming and you'd better sow it quick  

before they wake

come keep your take 

Smoke out the kettle strong enough to calm the queen  

but if the drones wake up at midnight douse the yard with gasoline  

because the fire will leave no trace and mother nature takes it's own 

we'll give the bodies to the devil and the gold to god alone  

they're living still

upon that hill 

Measure time  

we are the damned and divine 

call down the kingdom to come  

no winding roads left to run   (come like a thief in the night) 

no goodbyes  (called down from glory) 

the world doesn't end till you die 

beneath our feet  

death tastes so sweet

Measure time we are  the damned and divine 

call down the  kingdom to come  

no winding roads left to run  (come like a thief in the night) 
 

no goodbyes  (called down from glory) 

the world doesn't end
 

till you die

(c) 2023 SMC Records (ASCAP)