Eleven Dark Horses

Everywhere But Home

I'll rest my head upon this dead end road
I'll break my trail in the early light of 'morn
But for now I must rest upon this dead end road
Got the man on my tail, and the breeze is getting cold

Well I'll take my chances here and there
I've been nearly everywhere
I've been nearly everywhere but home

Well beans make a feast when you've lost all of your dimes
And it's hard to make a fist with your courage tossed aside
And before I die and throw my spirit down
I'll spend my time wondering what this crazy world's about

And I'll take my chances here and there
I've been nearly everywhere
I've been nearly everywhere but home

So I'll button down my shirt and flip my collar up
And walk into the mist as the sun is coming up
And I'll take my chances here and there
I've been nearly everywhere
I've been nearly everywhere but home

Conversations With A Wounded Man

He said I'll kick your ass up and down the block
And I don't care what happens
And if you die, I'll dance on your grave
And just spin all around laughing

Well, I replied, I think it cannot be done
And I'm really not afraid
It seems that you've got a thorn in your paw
From a life swelled up with rage

And you're one sorry son to the highest degree
With a chip on your shoulder, and steel toes on your feet
I know daddy rang your neck when you were seventeen
I know we all got problems, but don't spill yours on me

Conversations with a wounded man
Conversations with a wounded man

Though I'm one-fifty wet, and about five-foot-eleven
I've got a strong mind and a strong soul
And you're two-fifty-five and about six-foot-seven
One day Karma will swallow you whole

And you're one sorry son to the highest degree
With a chip on your shoulder, and steel toes on your feet
I know daddy rang your neck when you were seventeen
I know we all got problems, but don't spill yours on me

Conversations with a wounded man
I know they're hard to understand
Conversations with a wounded man

Well we tossed a few back, and laughed like old soldiers
Who just got home from the war
And at the end of the night, we both decided
There's no need in fighting no more

Samantha's Buick

I guess she smoked too many cigarettes
Last night outside the bar
And when she left
She could barely get herself to the car

She almost hit an old man
On the way back to the house
He didn't get clipped
But the shock made his weathered heart give out

Samantha never knew
She just kept on driving
And parked her Buick sideways on the lawn
All these years of drinking
And barely getting home
It's quite surprising that she isn't gone

She's just blowing off steam, she said
And spending half of her check
On hundred dollar bar tabs
And menthol cigarettes

And I wonder when she goes
Will she go easy
Or burdened by her regrets

 

Hotel Sheets

Hotel sheets, they aren't smooth
They're stiffer than a board
And they're making me feel
So far from you

They've had their share of tears
And their share of whores
And that's why tonight
They shall not be used

I brought my homeward pillow
And unrolled my sleeping bag
And stared at the ceiling for a while
I'm stuck right in the middle of feeling good and feeling bad
This time, I've stopped counting the miles

I'll be home pretty soon, but soon ain't soon enough
And I'm waiting on your voice and your sleepy smile
In a fifty dollar room where they air is full of dust
It's my temporary home for a while

Hotel sheets, they aren't smooth
They're stiffer than a board
And they're making me feel
So far from you

 

21 Windows

Drove all the way to Houston
In a VW bus
With a headlight out and three bald tires
And a bumper made of rust

And it used to be alright, a long time ago
And the timing wasn't tight
Back where the North winds moan
They did moan

And along the road to Jackson
They picked up a ragged man
With a tee shirt like an oil slick
And a fiddle in his hand

Well, he sawed that thing for hours
And when they reached No Man's Land
He got out and said "So long," and they watched him in the mirror
Soon enough he disappeared and the road was getting clearer

And it used to be alright, a long time ago
And the timing wasn't tight
Back where the North winds moan
They did moan

Somewhere outside of Denver that VW bus broke down in the rain
They had to just leave it there and hitch and catch a train
Well they fell asleep in each other's arms and woke up in Spokane
Kicked off their boots, set down some roots
That was forty-some-odd years ago today

 

The Place

When you get to the place, walk don't run
When you get to the place, walk don't run
This ain't no race, this ain't for fun
Just do what has to be done

Oh, the old woodshed that I used to go
Well, I bumped my head walking through the door
When I opened my eyes, guess what I saw
A map to phe place where the pines grow tall

I grabbed my hat, put on my coat
My tire was flat, I stuck my thumb out on the road
Got picked up by a stolen car
I didn't ask questions and they brought me as far
As three miles out from The Place

And on mile number one, I think I saw a ghost
In the heat of the day, I was beginning to roast
I wiped my brow, and loosened my shirt
It was high, high noon when my feet began to hurt

And on mile number two, my pace slowed down
I walked with a strut past the burying ground
Where folks are dying to get in
And living to stay out

And on mile number three I started picking up speed
I dropped right down to my knees
I couldn't believe I was at the spot
This place has all that I haven't got
 

No Designation

It was one of those nights
When you're not quite right in the head, to say the least
And every set of headlights in the rearview mirror
Looks like the Police

And as you're thinking hard
And passing mile marker number forty-nine
There's a strange hovering thing
Way up there in the sky

And that pedal goes halfway to the floor
And you think to yourself,
I'm not in my old Hometown anymore
No, no, no

And the trees flow by
Like a big old blur
And you wonder just how much more weirdness will occur

And there will never be another like me
No, there will never be another like me

And before you know it,
You're where you sort of figured that you'd be
And you thank your lucky stars you made it there
And not head on to the trees

Man, it's amazing all those times we made it home in one piece
We're lucky we didn't end up to be a couple of little white crosses
On the side of the street

And there will never be another like me
No, there will never be another like me
No designation
No designation

 

Bluebird

There's a song on the radio
I can't tell if it's horrible
Or the most brilliant thing I've heard
Well, this time I decided I'd settle
For second instead of third

The chorus is angry
And the verses are shaming
Some old lover from before

There's a bridge in the middle
With a little optimism
And just a hint of unsettled scores

I don't know who sang it
And I don't care to name it
Because, Home is where I'm headed for
Yes, Home is where I'm headed for

And all of a sudden, all by itself, the dial starts to turn
And a voice it starts to rattle, I pulled over to hear it
A poem titled Bluebird
I didn't take a breath, I just sat and listened
To every gravel-road-like word
There's one inside us all, dying to get out
Just one little innocent bird

And when it was all over, the signal it cleared up
And a snare drum crack snapped me back with a stir
It was Jack Frost singing "How Does It Feel?"
Well Bob, I feel like I've never felt before

There's a song on the radio
I can't tell if it's horrible
Or the most brilliant thing I've heard

 

North Dakota Romance

Now, Jeanie was a waitress at a diner
Joey was a steam pipe fitter
The summers in North Dakota were green
And the winter time was bitter

They drove a car that was twenty years old
And rode into town together
Went to the pictures on Saturday night
Had a little house by the river

Now Jeanie was a sweet little thing
Joey had a history of anger
She had no idea when she said "I do."
That he would someday put her in danger

Domestic Silence, means words not spoken
Between two people soon to be broken

Many years they flowed by
And it appeared that they were alright
To their friends and their neighbors
Well they must have never heard the fights

Now, Joey wasn't much of a thinker
And he threw some punches down
But he was a dark and nasty drinker
One night he hit poor Jeanie around

He grabbed her by the hair
And bent her over a desk
So she took a pair of scissors
And stabbed him in the neck

You never know what you're looking at
Until you find out what happened
And sometimes crying
Takes the place of laughing

Domestic Silence, means words not spoken
Between two people soon to be broken

 

After The War

After the war, will we be friends
Will there be settled scores, wounds on the mend
I cried out in the street, when will it end
Are we doomed to repeat what we don't intend

Like a wingless bird
Or a friendless friend
My heart beats with the sound
Of discontent

So grab hold of me
Don't be scared
Don't let go of me
When we get there

Head bowed down
Or head in hands
In old Hometowns
Or forgotten lands

I cried out in the street, when will it end
Are we doomed to repeat what we don't intend

After the war, will we be friends
Will there be settled scores, wounds on the mend
I cried out in the street, when will it end
Are we doomed to repeat what we don't intend

 

Gone Gone Highway

Oh, she's sitting in the window looking out upon the day
Where she's been, Lord, I don't know
But I do know where she stays

Near my heart with my family
Near my body and my soul
On a gone gone highway
Or a path where no one goes

Like a carousel she dances, and she calls out my name
I look up, but there is no one
Just the place she used to stay
Just the place she used to stay, Lord
Just the place she used to stay

For she tied a handful on Lord, one dark and twisted night
Now she's in the family graveyard
With the Earth to hold her tight
With Mother Earth to hold her tight

And on some evenings when the mist falls
You can see her walk in white
When she gets to the stone wall
She disappears into the night
She disappears into the night

Oh, I loved her like no other
I'd give my life for hers today
But she gave hers for another
So in my thoughts she'll have to stay
In my thoughts she'll have to stay, Lord
In my thoughts she'll have to stay

Like a carousel she dances, and she calls out my name
I look up, but there is no one
Just the place she used to stay
Just the place she used to stay, Lord
Just the place she used to stay

 

all songs written by Tristan Omand
© 2014 Tristan Omand {ascap}
℗ raised in a barn recordings {ascap}