1. |
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Coffee in the kitchen
My afternoon religion
No mass, no circus tricks, no sleights of hand
Blacker than molasses
Hell, I feel fantastic
Despite the tracks not falling as I planned
A lonely mug for one listening to Ernest Tubb
Sing Tomorrow Never Comes, lo-fi but clear
I’m still here
I always feel alive
On a lonesome county drive
Windows open floating down Centennial Road
Give my head a shake
Out by the Huron’s banks
With a copy of the latest Rolling Stone
I may not ever make the cover, but I always rediscover
When dreams die, a new dream always reappears
I’m still here
And when my attitude gets loose
And hurls the blues my way
I just sink inside my soul
Ignore the toll it tries to take
Repeat ad nauseam I am okay
I am okay
I am okay
The moonlight is so loud
Cresting over evening clouds
The stars sparkling with ease and pageantry
I drift off as I admire
My waking life retires
And settles into dreams comfortably
Today it was okay, and though tomorrow might see rain
That sunshine finds a way to reappear
I’m still here
I ain't goin' nowhere
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2. |
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Last night out in Livonia
The jukebox stood me up
Willie Nelson on the way
So was a little Rush
But the barman taking orders
Stuck in a couple dimes
And skipped past all my songs
Even "Always On My Mind"
And I thought of you like I always seem to do
You're the anxious orange colour
That hovers in each night
When the bright lights from the highway
Block the stars' shine in the sky
I always seem to find you
Like a lamp that remains lit
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
Last weekend was a wedding
Down Hastings County way
For an old musician buddy
I knew from my blossom days
Another friend came with a secret
He had plans to get engaged
On a big trip with his girlfriend
Or I suppose now fiancée
And I thought of you like I always seem to do
You're the anxious orange colour
That hovers in each night
When the bright lights from the highway
Block the stars' shine in the sky
I always seem to find you
Like a lamp that remains lit
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
Open up the stables
That's one well-behaved horse
Home here in the city
Or more like this big town
When the time is right, not morning or night
Speed River slows right down
The moon don't bother showing
I can't bother with the bed
So I crack a sparkling water
And bust wide my writing pad
And I think of you like I always seem to do
You're the anxious orange colour
That hovers in each night
When the bright lights from the highway
Block the stars' shine in the sky
I always seem to find you
Like a lamp that remains lit
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
As I stumble forth a midnight poet
|
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3. |
Need No Grave
03:36
|
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|
Hey sorry 'bout the sight of me
Guess I couldn't take the things I've seen
Didn't leave a note
Don't have relatives or folks
Thought I could exit wordlessly
But if there's anything my soul can do
Do help you empty out this hallowed room
I'll commandeer sunshine
Until your afternoon unwinds
To a paler shade of evening blue
Hark the herald
Homebound train
Preach the good news
Die in vain
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
Hey sorry about the extra work
I bet you probably think this dude's a jerk
Coulda done it in his home
Coulda disappeared alone
Coulda saw a shrink and healed his hurt
But if you wanna know how low the stakes
To solve this one and doner case
Is the quiet was his plan
And you've all had a helping hand
In sneaking him past heaven's gates
Hark the herald
Homebound train
Preach the good news
Die in vain
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
Hey sorry about the mess I made
But at least you kept your maiden name
Mine was too complicated anyway
To spell or say
But when the fuss and sadness dissipates
I know you'll earn a stoic sense of grace
One that says "I knew a guy
That never had a reason why
But I still loved all of his brave mistakes"
Hark the herald
Homebound train
Preach the good news
Die in vain
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
Hark the herald
Homebound train
Preach the good news
Die in vain
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
Plant a white birch in my name
I need no grave
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4. |
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|
Pull the curtain over your hotel year
Fire to the corner depanneur
Holding your lashes and lotus in curlers
Grandaddy's ghost just disappeared
Can't go to church, can't walk down Church
Without bursting into tears
Singing hymns like that severed parishioner's head
Stoned in his hotel year
They shut the well down down at the tavern
Use my elbows at the Margarita Mile
She was a lava lamp sorority sidelined
The bride with the staple gun smile
Made love to some folksinger's sister
Heard he mighta just changed careers
Me, I'm hopeless eating almond butter
Better off in my hotel year
You can't swelter in the winter, sister
But I swell, chatter away
Blackened my daddy's daylight debt
How night's nectar melts away
I want a bursting Bakersfield baby
To steal the water, rob the steer
I'm a communist first day out the feds
Retiring my hotel year
Giving thanks to my hotel year
Surrender my hotel year
I'm going hungry
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Ivan Rivers Toronto, Ontario
CELEBRATED FOLK ICON of the CN TOWER CITY // there's no such luck // such wrecks as us //
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