Wandering Time

Early Morning Getaway

Think it was a dark and broken, graveyard night
The fog was thick, and the moon was bright
I was running for my life to save my hide

Feeling half drunk, and barely alive
A barbed wire fence wound on my side
And my heart it was pounding, right outta my chest

But I ran and ran, and jumped and rolled
I could feel the blood, I could feel the cold
I was all alone and on the run
I was waiting on the morning sun
It was nearly there

Saw a distant light in a cattle barn
Ripped the cotton sleeve right off my arm
And tied it ‘round the bullet wound on my leg
I hollered at the moon and stars-
“I cannot reside behind bars,
I’ll leave this world before I leave in cuffs.”

I could see the lanterns, I could hear the hounds
Trespassing on a burial ground
Then a ghost rose up and scared my captors,
I fell to the ground with maniacal laughter
I was home free!

Then I got up and kept on running,
I could hear that Plymouth Sunbeam hummin’
Let’s go darlin’

And before I got in the passenger’s seat
I had a moment of clarity right there standing on my feet
That all of this will be alright some day

 

Somewhere Between India & Idaho

Hey there, have you seen my girl?
I hear she’s been sleeping around
A doctor, a lawyer, a cobbler, a clerk
The milkman, a painter, and an eagle scout

And I get up in the evening
And I’m drunk to work in the morning
She lives with me in the house I built
And now I feel like it’s burning

I sing on the back porch, I sleep in the barn
I’ve tattooed over her name on my arm
I’ve done all the things that I think I should do
And I can’t help feeling that it’s all ‘cause of you

And believe it or not, I’ve had a few myself
Samantha, Rosalita, Marguerite, and Michelle
They were fun while they lasted, but now I can’t tell
Why I feel more at home in a cheap hotel

We grow older and older and older each year
How we haven’t killed each other yet, that still ain’t clear
She put a gun to my head, I said go ahead and pull
I heard the trigger click, in an empty chamber,
Now here I go, bus ticket, I’m leavin’ town

So I’m going where the streets are gold
It rains cocaine and cherry coke
There’s a beach where the fishes speak Navajo
Somewhere between India & Idaho

The Way Of The Wind

I’ve got a spirit, but I ain’t holy
Got a hole in my heart
There’s a train, I think I hear it
A song of love in the dark

The dawn is coming, birds are ringing
Bells are singing in the church
Ford Rancheros, and Plymouth Dusters
Can barely muster horsepower up the hill

But they all go, dressed in white, some in grey
And there I sit, in the farthest row,
Smelling of booze, and sex, and smoke

And the best of everything you know
Is how to numb your head
Stiff drinks, and lipsticked Winston cigarettes
Deaf to all the daily things,
Longing for the one, short moment
In the garden and the sun

I’ll leave that morning, with no goodbyes
Ten dollars in my coat
And as the sun shines through leaves
I’ll stop roadside and have a smoke

Like night a fallin’
Or years a passin’
I will not grow younger or grow old
I’ll keep you with me
In the sun and in the cold

My Favorite Haunts

It was a cold night, dark as anthracite
And the streetlights were shot out one by one
So I walked down to the real dead dive
And ordered Dewar’s on ice

The barkeep told me, a little story
About a place on the hill not far from there
Where you can get your kicks, or get real sick
Lose your money but feel good in the morning

I said it’s alright, by the bar light
Saw her coming in, she’d been gone so long
I wondered, did she find herself,
Or just find someone else
Man, I can’t escape this one

She sat down by me, and said real slyly
Do you love me, do you still love me?
I replied, I’m not so so sure,
It might be your memory that I’m infatuated with
Not who you are now

That’s when she hit me with a broken bottle
I fell to the floor in a pool of shame
My friends and neighbors came to my resuce
Said Jack, what are you doing here with Jane?
I said I’m leaving, and she’s coming with me
I’m gonna give her that ring, she’ll take my name

Aren’t we all so damn crazy?
The heart wants what it wants, wants what it wants
If love’s a fire, then I’m still burning
I’m just a ghost, she’s one of my favorite haunts

Until The Cows Come Home

I told all my friends,
That I was never coming back, back again
And all these short comings
And reasons for running
Were directly related to the way that I felt in the city

So I’m going to the country,
I’m going to the farm
I’m living off of rye and beans,
Working my hands and my arms to the bone

Until the cows come home,
Until the water runs clean
I’ll discover the good,
And find out what it means to breathe

Oh it’s been ten long years since I left
It’s been life, it’s been death
I’ve fallen down, I brought my guns to town
And they already think that I’m strange
I’ll be singing home, home on the range

And I’m not that city man, I was raised in a barn
Broke loose from a life I was shackled,
The future wasn’t bright
An explosive I dared to disarm

Until it feels right to leave
I’ll stay lost and alone
When the time is right for fighting
Even my tracks will be gone

Hello, Good Morning

Hello, good morning, the night-time is gone
Passed is the darkness, high up is the sun
Sold are the acres, bulldozed are the homes
Sick are the children, dull are the hoes

Dry is the river, picked clean are the bones
Baled like the cotton, before it is sewn
Sent are the letters, thrown are the stones
Hello, good morning, the night time has come

Closed are the curtains, closed are the doors
Scared are the women, the men just look bored
Don’t need a reason, don’t need a fight
Tomorrow means leaving, and now means tonight

Hello, good morning, down is the feeling
Blue’s the horizon, and time we are stealing
Hands they’re a tremblin’ and knees they’re hurtin’
Thoughts they’re assembling,
And eyes, they’re a burnin’

Head for the high ground
Or die in the low ground
Hello, good morning
The night time is gone

 

When I'm Low

I’ve been bad, I’ve been best
I’ve been north, I’ve been west
When I’m high

Don’t you fret darlin’
Don’t you cry
Don’t forget when I go passing by
I won’t lie, I won’t lie

When you’re high, it’s alright
There’s no reason to cry
Don’t you know

Well I hope that in the end
I can count you as a friend
To help me up when I’m feeling low

Baby please, have a heart
Let it beat, don’t tear mine apart
When I’m dry
Oh Lord, when I’m dry

‘Cause I need that smoke, and I need that drink
I need your love like a dish needs a sink
When I’m alone, when I’m alone

Well I got me a few dollars
I spent all my dimes
Gonna get me a bus ticket on Concord Coach Lines
Gonna be red eyed, for the ride

Oh, I’m rolling home, got my suit and my case
Can’t wait to see that look on your pretty face
When I get home
I can see the golden lights of home

Backsliding Reprobate Blues

Got a red rooster, got a red rose
Dirt on my fingernails, and on my toes
I’ll keep on digging until Mexico
Hold my breath, cover my nose

I’ll have me a drink, right there on the beach
Beautiful women within my reach
I’ll toast to lonely, I’ll toast to night
I’ll drink to dying, and cheers to life

Go down to Dublin, have me a pint
Steal me a car, or maybe a bike
Before they catch me, I’ll have some fun
There ain’t nothing like a life out on the run

They’ll tack my picture on every wall
Of every post office, and police hall
But I’ll be moving on into the sun
I’ll change my name and where I’m from

Hello, I’m Jack, last name Joe
By the moonlight, is when I’ll go
Maybe I will turn myself in
Probably not, I don’t mind living with sin

It’s that old backsliding, reprobate blues
Ain’t no use in hiding, it’s that old backsliding,
reprobate blues

I’ll find me a woman, and settle down
In some breezy land, in some southern town
We’ll buy us a dog, name him Jed
Say our prayers each night in bed
Oh, please don’t strike me, down ‘O Lord
‘Cause I ain’t running anymore

Two Dumb Lovers

Try so hard, but can’t get back home
Lost somewhere, down by Arkansas
Like a chain link fence, on a moonlit night in town
Almost like there’s no one at all around

Day and night she draws her veil
Imagining and picturing the nail
That she would drive through his head
In the picture she hung over the bed

And It’s such a strange simple dream
Two dumb lovers in a brown Plymouth Sunbeam
With Omaha plates, in some southern state
They’d rather not say
Turn down the road marked the way

A sound in the near, sent him to turn to stone
Like the sound of a bullet, right down to the bone
And his father and his mother hit the road
And abandoned him with a friend in Muscle Shoals

Far away from everyone
Broken down, misguided son
Couldn’t lie, couldn’t steal
Couldn’t love, couldn’t feel

Dreams & Fire

It was a three alarm, or maybe four
They ran for the door
Heard the struggle and commotion outside
Packed a bag in the smoke,
Couldn’t help but cry in the confusion

He wet a rag, held it over her nose
And he just held his breath
Felt the door with his palm,
It was satanically warm
Man, this is a fiery mess

His reasoning became increasingly ruined
Had no idea what his hands they were doing
But he smashed a window with a chair
Told her to jump for a tree branch
And just wait there, he would follow

And just as he got halfway over the threshold
He turned and saw a picture of them
And thought about a time when the world was quiet
And everything wasn’t literally burning

When he jumped he believed he could fly
Grabbed the branch and looked into her eyes
And right as the place collapsed, they let go
They fell and landed coughing on the grass

And as the flames were fought, they so playfully thought
This is our best excuse for moving on
So with the silence so loud, they inched through the crowd
Got in a car and waved so long

 

Running Free

Faithful friend, you were there for me
I know I will see you on the other side
On the other high, side of the road

Steady as she goes, don’t rock the boat
Bail out the water, and warn the crew
‘Cause this ship ain’t going down without you

Run on my friend,
I hope you arrive
To where you’re going to
Where the sky is always blue
And the leaves are always green
Run on, into the morning mist and the sheen

My old pal, running free today
Sniffing the air somewhere, way up high
You and I, we had some good times
So here’s to all those good times

Cinching Up The Rope

Deal your last hand
You’ve got nowhere to go now you’re gone
There’s a flashlight beam, atop a small city mountain
There’s some people partying up there

And you’re just a lonesome viewer
Watching from the greatest distance
Never reaching for the missing
The pieces that turned to dust
They’re all just flying in the wind
And your family and your kin
Keep cinching up the rope around your neck

And that time that you ran,
You probably should have never come back
Things have only gotten weirder
And the way you feel is mirrored
By every sad soul that you pass by on the street

So don’t over-do it, there’s lots of life to live,
So just plow through it
If a door slams, just open another
Don’t blame the sister for the faults of the mother
Think I read that in the bible,
Or maybe on the side of a bus
So when there’s no one left but us
We’ll be all we have to trust

all songs written by Tristan Omand
© 2012 Tristan Omand {ascap}
℗ raised in a barn recordings {ascap}