1. |
Three Lonely Nights
03:40
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Three Lonely Nights - Doug Allen
I asked the Bartender to bring me a dose of that barley painkiller please
I found myself here after reading the note that you left on the front door screen
You’re not the first of your breakin glass breed, but you’re breakin my heart and I’m watchin it bleed
Double-cross lover, I still can’t believe that I’m calling again and you still won’t receive
I walked in this tavern searching my soul, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
I came in for one, now it’s two for the road, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
Our very first kiss, was a vampire’s bliss, the second one started the dive
The third guaranteed that I’d go on like this, never quite dyin but not quite alive
Now everything’s comin down three at a time on me, myself, and I
Three fingers more of single malt scotch and you’re going, gone, good-bye
Now it’s one for the money, two for the show, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
I came in for one, now it’s two for the road, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
You came after me with location and speed, bringin the heat to the hide
I got caught lookin at your wicked slider, chin music high and inside
Now it’s one, two, three strikes, I’m crying, I’m cryin
Pour me a pint of that Kilt-lifter ale and heal me tonight
Now it’s one for the money, two for the show, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
I came in for one, now it’s two for the road, three lonely nights since you’ve been gone
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2. |
Purple Cape
02:48
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Purple Cape – Doug Allen
I tried to make a purple cape, hot glue and Velcro tape
I never learned to sew and I never could afford
to shop for clothes at the vampire store - downtown
A purple cape will get you far, a super hero or a super star
A purple cape with make you stand up straight, and you’ll look better playing guitar
I almost wore my purple cape, that could be a big mistake
Flashy personal accessories often indicate
a narcissistic tendency for insecure people not like me
A purple cape will get you far, a super hero or a super star
A purple cape with make you stand up straight, and you’ll look better playing guitar
I finally wore my purple cape, I wore I out on a date
A purple cape can turn a perfectly ordinary date
into an embarrassing scene, but my baby likes it anyway
A purple cape will get you far, a super hero or a super star
A purple cape will let you stay up late, you’ll look better playing guitar
Oh, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Mick Jagger, David Bowie
Mighty Mouse and Elvis too - my favorite Count Dracula
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3. |
Drive This County Down
04:41
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Drive This County Down – Doug Allen
( Recounts the 1917 Bellingham Race Riots)
I work for Bellingham Bay
big timber feeds our mighty blade
We make our living cuttin native wood
work is hard, the pay is good
Another sawyer lost his hand today
Friday he’ll get his severance pay
At quittin time we were tired and stiff
in through the gate came the Hindu shift
Those bastards work for nothing
They’re gonna wreck our union wage
They’re gonna take our jobs away
they’re gonna drive this county down
Idle hands are drinkin hands
we grew more idle as the evenin passed
By 10 pm we were strong and brave
we knew the law would look the other way
We pulled 100 Hindus from their beds
from run down Old Town tenements
Then we headed for the Morrison Mill
and dragged those turban wearers down to County jail
Tonight we do what must be done
That mornin train will be southbound
We’re gonna ride em outa town
they’re gonna drive this county down
I’m a millwright by trade
I earn every dime I make
I don’t understand these immigrants
I’m not one to ponder circumstance
For what we did I have no pride
for our livelihoods we had to fight
No mills burned, no one died
the headlines said it was a race riot
Those bastards work for nothing
They’re gonna wreck our union wage
They’re gonna take our jobs away
they’re gonna drive this county down
Drive the county down, drive this county down
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4. |
Just About Had It
04:20
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Just About Had It – Doug Allen
There’s a river in my driveway, Rio Nuevo is it’s name
There’s a lake in my back yard, that wasn’t there yesterday
When the dawn came slow and eerie, and the heavens opened wide
And it poured down wolves and tigers, two inches more last night
For the farmers it’s a struggle, peat giving way beneath the wheels
Farm machinery sittin idle, like the water standin round in the fields
I knew a cowboy in Montana, said cuss the rain kill the corn
But if he spent one winter here, he’d be cussin up a storm
Now rainwater follows me down Railroad Avenue
And I’m mumbling from the strain
Forty-five degrees and a leak in my shoe
And I’ve just about had it with this goddamn rain
It’s been a long and stormy winter, the clouds rolling in like waves
First a downpour then a drizzle, and the next seven days looks the same
Now I’ve been thinking bout Durango, they say the winters there are fine
I’d come back here for the summer, when the sun shines once in a while.
Now rainwater follows me down Railroad Avenue
And I’m mumbling from the strain
Forty-five degrees and a leak in my shoe
And I’ve just about had it,
Just about had it,
Just about had it with this goddamn rain
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5. |
Rocking Horse
03:38
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Rocking Horse – Doug Allen
I didn’t say a word as you turned to walk away
After all what could I say
You were perfection, personified
Still pretty in my eyes
The rockin’ horse we tried to ride
Was much too gifted and much too wild
You throw a shadow, and draw it out
Weave it into a lingering doubt
But don’t leave your reflection in the mirror
I don’t need reminders that I couldn’t keep you here
I don’t need your echo, softly ringing in my ears
Don’t leave your reflection in the mirror
I’ll miss the letters you may not write
I’ll still wonder if you might
Keep the memories, that we hold dear
Burn the ones that got us here
You sat beside me in that Ford Fairlane
Crabbing down that blue highway
Soft suspension in the fading light
Road to nowhere and goodby
But don’t leave your reflection in the mirror
I don’t need reminders that I couldn’t keep you here
I don’t need your echo, softly ringing in my ears
Don’t leave your reflection in the mirror
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6. |
Little Red Bird
03:11
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Little Red Bird – Doug Allen
I sat down on my back porch to watch the sun come up
Drinkin’ July coffee from a Christmas coffee mug
I made a fried egg sandwich in a cast-iron fryin’ pan
Then I wrote this song and threw it in the garbage can
Then through my kitchen window came the prettiest sound I’d ever heard
Singin’ sweet, so he might meet a girl in the cedar tree, was a little red bird
The little red bird don’t need a microphone
Don’t need a band, he prefers to sing alone
Don’t need no drum machine to keep the beat
He just sits down on a limb so he can tap his feet
I had a second cup of July, followed closely by a third
When the sun fell down, he kept singin’ to the moon, the little red bird
Little Red Bird sing your song
Tomorrow might be gone
The Little Red Bird calls out my name
Said pick up your guitar and play
My baby called just to see what I had to say
I said I haven’t spoke 15 words in the last 3 days
I’ve been sittin’ here in my robe and underwear
But my fine feathered friend doesn’t seem to care
She said shower, shave and put a little Aqua-Velva where it hurts
Said I’m on my way, but I won’t stay unless I hear
That little red bird
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7. |
1884
05:38
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1884 – Doug Allen
Things were different in 1884
We were taking a country and fightin’ Indian wars
Territorial Marshalls rarely travelled this far north
And law took a different face and a different form
This is a story of an evil deed and a native boy’s soul
He rode south to Nooksack through the February cold
There was work there for the asking he was told
Cuttin’ trees, clearin’ land, maybe haulin’ coal
Well maybe rumor maybe lie but no job and no alibi
So he rode his pony north, into a bloodshot sky
Louie ride, Louie ride
Across the Frasier River, don’t stop at the borderline
Louie ride, Louie ride
Across the Frasier River, don’t stop at the borderline
Somebody found a shopkeeper dead in his burnin’ store
With a bullet in his brain lying on the bloodstained floor
An Indian boy was seen nearby with a rifle in his hand
Soon 200 men were ridin’ north with a cruel and hateful plan
The constable took the boy in for suspicion at his farm
But the posse found them later to the constable’s alarm
They raised their guns against him, and they threatened mortal harm
So he stepped aside and saved his hide, but left a shameful scar
At dawn they found the riderless horse and the tree that bore the lifeless form
If the boy had known his plight, he could have crossed the river late that night
Louie ride, Louie ride
Across the Frasier River, don’t stop at the borderline
Louie ride, Louie ride
Across the Frasier River, don’t stop at the borderline
Evidence implicates two men in both crimes
One took the shopkeepers business and the other took his wife
No one knows the dirty details, no one knows the awful truth
Except the long-since dead and the buries few
What if he were yours, how would you feel
What’s done is done, wrong is wrong, they knew better all along
Now they are burning, burning in hell
Now the Sto-lo say the boy is not at peace
Somehow we’ve got to fight for his release
It took 20 hears to analyze, 100 more to apologize
With this song I agonized and I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what we’ve done
Louie ride, Louie ride
Across the Frasier River, don’t stop at the borderline
Louie ride, Louie ride
Set your spirit free, set your spirit free
Set your spirit free to fly, to the other side
Things were different in 1884
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8. |
Beautiful World
03:58
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Beautiful World – Doug Allen, Feb. 2007
Do you ever think about this beautiful world
And the lucky orbit into which we’ve been hurled
Not too hot and not too cold
Water in the middle and ice on the poles
Lookin’ from a distance at the darker side
The continents are showing off their jewels tonight
It’s a beautiful world,
Do everything you can to make it last
It’s a beautiful world, fall in love, drink good beer,
And make your children laugh
We build our rockets and make our cars
But we can’t build planets and we can’t make stars
Six billion people, better make it seven
The experts say we’ll never make it to eleven
Earth don’t care if we perpetuate
But she’s given us permission to procreate
It’s a beautiful world,
Do everything you can to make it last
It’s a beautiful world, fall in love, drink good beer
And make your children laugh
We’re breakin’ down the ozone with aerosol cans
My fifth grade teacher poured Mercury in my hand
Glaciers come now glaciers go
Is it irreversible, hell who knows
Ain’t no cure for innocent fools
With military fever and petroleum flu
It’s a beautiful world,
Do everything you can to make it last
It’s a beautiful world, fall in love, drink good beer,
And make your children laugh
Fall in love, drink good beer,
And make your children laugh
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9. |
River of Souls
03:47
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River of Souls – D. Allen
Silver ghosts of the cold blue sea
Silent witness to history
Gather into the harbors and bays
For ten million years you have found your way
They say you follow the smell
follow the stars as well
All the way to the promised land
Nature doesn’t always provide
but Uncle Sam is on your side
That’s what it says in the recovery plan
There’s a river of souls, going to the sea
Leave their bodies where they rest in peace
River of souls, flesh and bone
Follow the water, the water going home
River-wild or raised in a pen
Look the same if we feed them red
You were adopted as our native son
It’s a broken home, better find another one
Where has the water gone
how did it get so warm
Where is the snow you depend on
Dark cloud in the way
a storm of silt and clay
How do you fight through this wall of pain
There’s a river of souls, going to the sea
Leave their bodies where they rest in peace
River of souls, flesh and bone
Follow the water, the water going home
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10. |
Highwayman
03:31
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11. |
Used To Me
02:15
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You’ll Get Used To Me – Doug Allen
You’ll get used to me
Just give it a year or two or three
Just go with the grain, climb on the train
And sooner or later you’ll see
You’ll get used to those football games
John Madden screamin on every play
You’ll get used to me playin this song again
And again, and again, and again
You’ll get used to me because I’ll stay
Day after usual day
But our future is bright
you’ll get used to the nights
Because I’ll love you in unusual ways
I left the toilet seat up and you fell in
Internet porn will always be a sin
Best left unspoken, I’m barely housebroken
But it breaks my heart to hear it again
You’ll get used to me wishin on a star
Used to me goin out to play guitar
You’ll be amused, that I’m so enthused
About playin for free in this peanut bar
You’ll get used to me because I’ll stay
Day after usual day
But our future is bright
you’ll get used to the nights
Because I’ll love you in unusual ways
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12. |
City Shoes
03:32
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Doug Allen Bellingham, Washington
Big Timber is my second recording, reflecting what life has been like for me in the northwest corner of Washington state. It was long in coming but I'm proud of it and The Union Wage. Please listen to some of the tracks - I hope you like it.
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