The Lesser-Known Tristan Omand

Welcome To Lonely Lanes

Bowl another string
Have another round on me
I bought the last one
Even though it was best two out of three

And I don't mind losing once in a while
It does no injury I see
So just rack the pins and mark it spare
Pass another one to me

It's a lonely life, such a lonely life
Don't try fooling with what you don't believe
It's a quick-draw world full of loathsome lies
These are lonesome times
So lets forget all that tonight

It's about closing time
And they're polishing the lanes
Spraying down the shoes
The cashier counts the change

Oh, but you and I, old pal
Drunk as skunks on Tuesday night
We'll just stumble on home
It won't be a graceful sight

And the world won't mind
It'll turn and turn
While our lonely lives
Just burn and burn
 

Devil Don't Want Me Blues

I've got the same chord progression
It's an institution, you should know
So take your unchecked aggression
And hide it down below

Well, my fingers are hurting
From the same old blues
I've been out there searching
In the morning dew

Well, I didn't find nothing'
I found something to do
It's not called Satanism
It's the plagiarism blues

It was Sunday evening
Head full of smoke
Dozing off a little bit
Hope I don't choke

Well, I tried to sell my soul to the devil
But he said he was good to go
He said "You've got more problems then you'll ever know…"
"Even I don't want you in your plaid flannel clothes…"
"Go back to your flat-top guitar, go on down the road."

Well, I got me some feet down
In my shoes
They're tapping out the time
To the plagiarism blues
 

Night Time, East Side

Think I'll sit out in the back yard
Watch the bats go flying around
I hope they eat all of the mosquitoes
In this whole town

Because I'm getting eaten alive
That stuff from the corner store didn't work
But the wine just goes down easy
And temporarily replaces the hurt

It's night time on the east side
And I'm staring into darkened woods
And I'm hoping I hear rustling leaves
Or breaking sticks under the hooves
Oh, but the deer just aren't running tonight

And if living was so damn easy
You'd get to heaven doing half the work
But it's a daunting thing to thee I sing
You can't get lower than when you're in the dirt

So don't worry where I'm going
I've got the moon to guide me sure
It turns the leaves shades of black and grey
Like a scene from To Kill A Mockingbird

Maybe Nothing

Tried staring at a plant
Just to watch it grow
But I fell asleep
Tried telling a story
From a secret I didn't know
It was hard to keep

Oh, the temperature in the attic made Grandpa's fiddle...
The hide glue let go, it fell apart
Grandma thought it happened when he died, like a miracle
If she knew the truth it would break her heart

Because she's the type who sees Jesus in the blackness of her toast
What she sees in her coffee, I don't want to know
Maybe nothing, maybe some lonely ghost
Maybe nothing, is just the way it goes

Tried working a job
That tortured my soul
But I broke the chains
And I ain't got much money,
Baby, I've got holes in my clothes
But I know how to take the reins
 

Thirty Days Of Darkness

Just scorn my face
Don't let me come around no more
I don't deserve this darn disgrace
Or blood upon my door

Unchain me now, Lord, show me how
I've been washed upon the shore
My eyes are black, my blood is thin
My tears will run no more

It's been thirty days of darkness
My well is nearly dry
My stores are looking empty
There's vultures in the sky

My robes nearly rags
My feet they bleed and crack
My children are going hungry
And my wife is not coming back

Unchain me now, Lord, show me how
I've been washed upon the shore
My eyes are black, my blood is thin
My tears will run no more

Oh, the dog just lays around
And swats the flies in the burning heat
And it's like he can sense the sadness
As he sniffs the bandages on my feet

This is my one last time
To ask you, Lord, oh please won't you step in?
If you're really there,
Why'd you ever let the darkness come on in?
 

Old Straight Six

Well you're bending my ear, you're twisting my arm
You're taking the long way around the barn
Got a pocket knife, got a pocket watch
Got no cherry wine or bargain scotch

Got an old straight six
It's three on the tree
And it's worn and tired
And strong like me

I've got five more dollars and three days bread
And I'll make it farther than they all said
No need to forget me when I go away
You'll be reminded of me nearly every day

Got an old straight six, it's three on the tree
And it's worn and tired, and strong like me
Well I bet all the sand at Hampton Beach
That the life you wanted is within reach

Well, these chords have been used
In every which way
It's not the chords that are used
It's the way they're played

A Letter Home

Haven't gotten any new tattoos
Still driving that old truck
Sure, it's lost a quart or two
But it's never left me stuck down in a rut

And it's a long road to go down when you're going it alone
It might break your heart, or chill you to the bone
Oh, the commonality of hearts breaking on their own
Is like the saddest little ray the sun has ever shone

I don't drink too much or sleep too good
And the smoke makes mincemeat of my mind
But it's a welcome feeling and I knock on wood
Thanking dear God that I'm still alive

Sell a guitar just to pay the rent
Living on peanut butter toast
Spend my days wondering where my nights all went
Singing songs that nobody knows

Lost my hat in Johnson City
Threw a tie-rod east of there
So I cut my hair and headed down the Mississippi
On a steam ship straight out of a museum

I enjoyed the mornings most, they were misty and still
Except for the sounding of the horns off the reverberating hills
I was taller than I felt and more desperate for the road
And I couldn't barely wait to get the hell off that boat

Perpetual Road

Got a dollar in my pocket
And a rose in my left hand
And I'm limping back to you darlin'
As a broken man

It's been hard out here without you
Just a long perpetual road
I kept looking over my shoulder
Every place I'd go

But now I'm back for good
I swear, there's nothing quite like home
So put the coffee on, I've got stories to tell
About the time I spent alone

I built a world for us to live in
In my mind while I missed you
And I laid every brick, sank every nail
There was a barn to put our love in
I'm not so sure it could hold us
It's a bright burning color
That's never pale

All this time has felt like nothing
Since the first day that we met
Using the campfire
To light our cigarettes

It's been hard out here without you
Just a long perpetual road
I kept looking over my shoulder
Every place I'd go

So lets go on up to bed
There's just one more thing to do
Before we slip away and wake up again
In a world that feels so new

 

all songs written by Tristan Omand
© 2016 Tristan Omand {ascap}
℗ raised in a barn recordings {ascap}