LYRICS:        airports and ferris wheels

copyright 2004 Jordan Mycoskie/ Halftoe Records

 

GATE 32

Jordan Mycoskie

 

An overweight Betty Davis wannabe

Gets off a plane at Gate 33

She was from this town so she knew

There was a smoking lounge at Gate 32

She pulls a pack of Winston’s and sits next to

A ten year old with a fake tattoo

He reads a Playboy like its news

While his uncle gets a beer and shines his shoes

 

Standing in an airport in old St. Louis

Stuck inside a Smoking Lounge at Gate 32.

 

An older man from Birmingham

Whose shoulders sag pronounces “Damn” every other word

He’s talking to a life guru

Who’s seen it all at 22, it’s not his fault, he can’t help but sound absurd.

And two older gals, I guess their pals

Because the fabric all around their leopard skin luggage is the same.

 

Standing in an airport in old St. Louis

Stuck inside a Smoking Lounge at Gate 32.

 

Ain’t got time to save

Ain’t got bills to pay

I love my work and I got a car

Little Rock was not that far

 

The pilot sitting next to me has a flight at gate 13, we’re at gate 32

I hear over the intercom my flight has move again

So I get a beer and shine my shoes

And I read the news and a Playboy too

I walk around with an Ice Cream cone

Smiling at all the folks that laugh at me

When I’m writing a song in the middle of a smoking lounge standing up

I might as well be smoking a bong but I’m just sitting her acting like Cody Canada

 

Standing in an airport in old St. Louis

Stuck inside a Smoking Lounge at Gate 32.

 

 

MEMPHIS

Jordan Mycoskie

 

Come on down to Memphis, down by B.B. Kings

Down the street from Silke’s, smell the Mississippi

Yeah, Tennessee is funny, it lingers like a bruise

But God created Memphis, the day he made the Blues.

 

Go everywhere before your grey hair takes your life away

Make memories from seasons and friends you’ve made along the way

 

Come on out to Fort Worth, where bricks line the road

You can dance with a White Elephant after Margaritas at Joe’s

But carefully examine before you choose a girl

Those margaritas are sweet but they’re the strongest in the world.

 

Go everywhere before your grey hair takes your life away

Make memories from seasons and friends you’ve made along the way

 

Well come on out to Key West, sit at captain Tony’s bar

Oysters on the half shell, Buffett on guitar

You can see a banker from St. Louis and a hometown girl from Texas

When the feeling’s right Margaritaville nights don’t stop until breakfast

 

Go everywhere before your grey hair takes your life away

Make memories from seasons and friends you’ve made along the way

Friends you’ve made along the way.

 

 

MARY

Jordan Mycoskie

 

Mary had a frightening dream in her bed last night

She was a twenty year-old Ferris wheel her enemies would ride

Mary worked the carnival on Saturdays and Sundays

Just letting people have their fun then going on their ways

Mary’s gears were mean and rusted from all the rides she’d give

She was turned into a Ferris wheel by a handsome evil prince

 

Waking up was awkward

The dream was too real

Mary felt herself for nuts and bolts

Thought she was a Ferris wheel

 

All the townsfolk rode her once or twice I guess

They rode her and forgot the time but Mary gave her best

All the folks that climbed aboard had touched Mary’s life

All the folks that climbed aboard were never very nice.

 

Waking up was awkward

The dream was too real

Mary felt herself for nuts and bolts

Thought she was a Ferris wheel

 

Poured herself some orange saw I wasn’t laying by her

Hammered nails in the window left me and stoked the fire

Oh, Mary don’t lock me out I want inside your dreams

Fire up that Ferris Wheel I want to hear you scream

 

There was Carol Ann Johnson from college admissions

She said “Mary, get a job as for college keep on wishing”

And her first English professor that gave Mary her first “F”

Said “Mary all your questions are just a waste of time and breath

And her first boyfriend from freshman year brought his brand new family there

They rode Mary two or three times and never said thank you.

 

Poured herself some orange again saw I wasn’t laying by her

Screwed screws in the window left me and stoked the fire

Oh, Mary don’t lock me out I want inside your dreams

Fire up that Ferris Wheel I want to hear you scream

 

 

SON OF JOHNNY HORTON

Jordan Mycoskie

 

He lives by himself in an old backpack home

He’s always polite, he’s always alone

He’s just a victim of another man’s dream

Besides Vietnam he never complains

 

Says he’s the lost son of the late Johnny Horton

If you don’t believe him, he’ll play you a song

Drugs and good music is all that has saved him

That is my secret don’t pass it along

 

He’ll look through your eyeballs to open your mind

Said depression is petty and always be kind

I’ve been with the big stars boy listen to me

Dylan was beautiful and Willie was free

 

But I am the lost son of the late Johnny Horton

I know every word to all Daddy’s songs

Drugs and good music is all that has saved me

That is my secret don’t pass it along

 

His earlobes are hidden by the tattoos he wears

A diamond for hope and a heart for his dear

Under his left eye a prison tattoo

A teardrop of sorrow in dark faded blue

 

He is the lost son of the late Johnny Horton

If you don’t believe him, he’ll play you a song

Drugs and good music is all that has saved him

That is my secret don’t pass it along

 

 

HEARTBREAK FOR HIRE

Jordan Mycoskie

 

Well she walked in the East Dallas bar

I knew what she was when I saw her

Pigtails and pink leather jeans

Luckenbach t-shirt, tattoo of Texas

Madonna meets Willie and a Hell’s Angels Queen

 

Every Sunday morning she watched her father preach

Her mother taught her all the ways of a lovely Georgia Peach

She went to school in Austin, became a firefighter,

Now she holds a second job as a Heartbreak for Hire

 

Advertising freely as a Heartbreak for Hire

Heaven gave her beauty and the devil gave her fire

Gets paid in sorrow, feeds on desire

She’s good at what she does boys, she’s a Heartbreak for Hire

 

She’s a heartbreak for hire oh man, she was forged with fire

Any man she wants ain’t got a chance

She’s a heartbreak for hire she feeds on desire,

All she needs is just one dance

 

So were sitting at the bar, my buddy Nate and me

She purrs which one of ya’ll drive that ’56 Chevy

Nate stuck out his hand, she said tonight you’re my man

They drove off in that pickup and I’ve never seen them again.

 

Advertising freely as a Heartbreak for Hire

Heaven gave her beauty and the devil gave her fire

Gets paid in sorrow, feeds on desire

She’s good at what she does boys, she’s a Heartbreak for Hire

 

 

COCKTAILS AND NEON LIGHTS

Jordan Mycoskie

 

Cocktails and neon lights college girl thinks its alright

If she pretends for a while she can be herself

She’s talking to an older lad  he’s a maitre’d with an uptown pad

He got 5 stars for being cool, student teaches etiquette at polishing schools

 

Cocktails and neon lights everybody’s out at the bar tonight

The problems of the day can wait outside cocktails and neon lights

 

Cocktails and neon lights a young songwriter breaks the ice

he tells a story of a song but forgets the first six words

A brown haired girl taps her toe the words to every song she knows

She boasts to be his manager and wishes he was in love with her

 

Cocktails and neon lights everybody’s out at the bar tonight

The problems of the day can wait outside cocktails and neon lights

 

Cocktails and neon lights boys are enjoying fraternity life

the bravest one winks and smiles at the household name from the porno isle

The porno star watches the boys, drinks her gin and with a soft voice

calls her friend and says "hey Jen, do you want to feel eighteen again?"

 

Cocktails and neon lights everybody’s out at the bar tonight

The problems of the day can wait outside cocktails and neon lights

 

Cocktails and neon lights Cupid's drunk as a fiddler's wife

He's taking shots of Jagermeister and laughing with the young songwriter

 

Cocktails and neon lights everybody's out at the bar tonight

deceptive women and pretentious fellas time erases what the whiskey sketches

 

Cocktails and neon lights college girl thinks its alright

if she pretends for a while she can be herself.

 

 

COLD IN THE MORNING

Jordan Mycoskie

 

Well its cold in the morning when you are gone, I just want you here

I tell my shoes they're beautiful and I broke all the mirrors

My thoughts are my enemy and I've found a friend in beer

If you want we can take some time, but I just want you here.

 

You want to say you know how it felt the day you finally found yourself

but what you find when you return will be me across our bridges burning

and me on an island alone

 

I talk to you tonight, your talking to the shell

of the thoughtful kind understanding man you told time would help

Said you'd always be there but you were always somewhere else

You offended all my thoughts so I took you off my shelf

 

How can time help?

if I can't love you I'm gonna love somebody else

 

Well its cold in the morning when you are gone, I just want you here

I tell my shoes they're beautiful and I broke all the mirrors

My thoughts are my enemy and I've found a friend in beer

If you want we can take some time, but I just want you here.

 

You want to say you know how it felt the day you finally found yourself

but what you find when you return will be me across our bridges burning

and me on an island alone

 

 

STILL BE AROUND

Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, Mike Heidorn

 

I don't see you through the windshield

I don't see you in the faces looking back at me

Alcohol doesn't have much that matters to say

And imagine where you and time to kill will stay

 

When the Bible is a bottle and the hardwood floor is home

When morning comes twice a day or not at all

If I break in two will you put me back together

when this puzzle's figured out will you still be around

to say you've just been there walking the line upside down

 

Walked and breathed many a cancerous mile

with the bat of an eye too slow to beat the coffin

They won't play us on the t.v.

you can't see us on the radio

pay to move off the shelf and into our minds

till you can't tell the truth when its right in front of your eyes

 

When the Bible is a bottle and the hardwood floor is home

When morning comes twice a day or not at all

If I break in two will you put me back together

when this puzzle's figured out will you still be around

to say you've just been there walking the line upside down

VINYL RECORDS

Todd Snider ©2002

 

I’ve got a dusty old pile of vinyl records sittin’ on my floor

I’ve played each one of ‘em over and over a dozen times or more

All I’ve got is a beat up chair a mattress a fork and another to spare

And that dusty old pile of records on my floor

 

I got Willie, Waylon and Woody Guthrie

Jimmy Buffett, Lyle Lovett and Bobby Gentry

Jerry Jeff, Bob Dylan, Donnie Fritts,

The Dead, The Doors, Patsy Cline, John Prine and more

I got Jackson Browne, Townes Van Zandt, Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Harry Chapin, Guy Clark and Van Halen

I got Rita, Kris, Keith Sykes and Country Joe when he was singin’ with the Fish you know

I got Emmylou, U2 and Arlo, James Taylor, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Mojo Nixon,

Hendrix, Haggard and a whole lot more

In that dusty old pile of vinyl records I got sittin’ on my floor

One time in San Francisco

I was standin’ in an airport line

In one bag I had all my clothes and in the other was all them ol’ records of mine

The lady said I could only bring one bag

I had two, Oh what a drag

I had to jump on the plane and leave all my clothes behind

 

But I got Willie, Waylon and Woody Guthrie

Jimmy Buffett, Lyle Lovett and Bobby Gentry

Jerry Jeff, Bob Dylan, Donnie Fritts,

The Dead, The Doors, Patsy Cline, John Prine and more

I got Jackson Browne, Townes Van Zandt, Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Harry Chapin, Guy Clark and Van Halen

I got Rita, Kris, Keith Sykes and Country Joe when he was singin’ with the Fish you know

I got Emmylou, U2 and Arlo, James Taylor, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Mojo Nixon,

Hendrix, Haggard and a whole lot more

In that dusty old pile of vinyl records I got sittin’ on my floor

 

Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Richie Havens and the Who

Aretha, Prince, Gram Parson, the Burrito Brothers too

John Lee Hooker and Bill Monroe, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Monroe

Ray Charles, Todd Snider, the Clash and the Ramones

 

I got all of Booker T’s, Tom T. Hall’s,

Bobby Bare, Belafonte and the New York Dolls,

Billy Joe, Jimmy Croce, Kiss, Crosby Stills and Nash,

John, June and Roseanne Cash

I got Forbert, Fromholtz, Stevie Ray,

T-Birds, Yardbirds, Sam and Dave,

And as some of y’all mighta guessed already

I got piles and piles and piles of Tom Petty

In that dusty old pile of vinyl records I got sittin’ on my floor

 

PIECE OF ART

Jordan Mycoskie

 

I went down to the sacred store this morning

I saw myself in the stained glass standing there

I was still wearing my blue jeans and your lipstick on my neck

You let me drink your love

There was poison in your blood

It felt like a shot of whiskey

When you leaned over and kissed me

Yeah, the bottle’s gonna miss me.

 

Last night I was on fire, now tonight I burn in hell

I woke up in the bottom of a one night whiskey wishing well

Tonight I climb on down that well without my stolen heart

Cause the day that you get hurt will be captured in a piece of art.

 

Nighttime comes and all I do is wander

I taste your breath after every single shot

You start to fade when the wind blows out the neon

I start to cry when the first bar locks

 

Last night I was on fire, now tonight I burn in hell

I woke up in the bottom of a one night whiskey wishing well

Tonight I climb on down that well without my stolen heart

Cause the day that you get hurt will be captured in a piece of art.

 

Every morning I wake up to a picture of you

I should have listened to Mr. Clifton he said you’d do just what you do

So go on and paint your picture with all your stolen hearts

Cause the day that you get hurt will be captured in a piece of art

 

Last night I was on fire, now tonight I burn in hell

I woke up in the bottom of a one night whiskey wishing well

Tonight I climb on down that well without my stolen heart

Cause the day that you get hurt will be captured in a piece of art.

BRADLEY JAMES LIONHEART

Jordan Mycoskie/ McCullough Furgeson

 

Bradley James Lionheart makes his living digging graves

He’d talk to his shovel and sing to the souls he could not save

Bradley James Lionheart was a choir boy before the start of his twelfth grade year

He couldn’t go back to altar after he felt young violet so near

Violet Lynn Rosemary walked in on a young man brewing moonshine

In the basement of the gym she looked at him and started quoting bible lines

 

This is where dreams wave their last goodbye’s

accept regrets and could-have-beens

Where fairy tales and whispered spells

are stolen by a scattered wind.

 

Violet Lynn Rosemary took a drink of Bradley’s Rolling Thunder

Some say it was a trance they began to dance and were married six months later

Bradley James earned a wage working at the Pinehurst Cemetery

Yeah, then one day he dug a grave for his sweet Violet Lynn Rosemary

She drank the moonshine one more time with her pills she was so brave

He worked the graveyard she raised his kids in her mind from day to day

 

This is where dreams wave their last goodbye’s

accept regrets and could-have-beens

Where fairy tales and whispered spells

are stolen by a scattered wind.

 

Bradley James Lionheart makes his living digging graves

He talks to his shovel and sings to the souls he could have saved.

 

PEPPERMINT GROVE

Jordan Mycoskie

 

With a pink makeup pencil and a men’s bathroom mirror

she opened the door to a young poet’s dream

He looked up the address asked for directions

to the florescent garden where stripped roses sing

 

And the note that she wrote said please come alone

I’ll meet you at midnight in the Peppermint Grove

Passion filled daffodils singing sunflowers

Life is so sweet when nothing is sour

 

Nobody knows exactly what grows

within the garden of the Peppermint Grove

There’s passion filled daffodils singing sunflowers

Life is so sweet when nothing is sour