1. |
Strange Coins
04:25
|
|||
|
STRANGE COINS
(S. Puchalski)
My knees are weak like an old rag doll’s
These streets define war and walls
Gun to my head; no will to fight
With pockets full
Of straits so dire
So take what you want and I will face the fear
I am not a boy; I’m just a stranger here
It wasn’t ‘cause my world got small
It wasn’t ‘cause she owned it all
I refused a life of being led
That just toes the line ‘til I’m dead
But a lesson has been taught
Been humbled and disgraced
By every dream I chased,
so I came to this place I came to this place
I came to this place
With strange coins
You won’t hear me beg or plead,
just meet me down that old tank alley
And you, like me have seen the crash
When stardust falls it breaks like glass
And your gun in hand can’t pose a threat
Worse than my last cigarette
So take what you want,
then I will disappear I’m not a rich man’s son,
I’m just a stranger here
So take what you want
And I will face the fear
For I am not a boy;
I’m just a stranger here I’m just a stranger here
I’m just a stranger here
With strange coins
|
||||
2. |
Goodbye Consuela
03:37
|
|||
|
Goodbye Consuela
(S. Puchalski)
I’d come to see you, the odd stolen night
And I’d come to need you from the depths of desire
Because you are the best way to watch the lights go dark
On a devilish day that seemed all but lost
Behind your bloodshot eyes lies a piece of my soul
Goodbye Consuela, I’m giving up the ghost
I’d come to meet you for old time sake
Is it unfinished business or habit I can’t break?
Before the start is time to brace the fall
Or before we’re done we’ll have to get some more
In the ruin of the afterglow, I’ll play my guitar
And harmonize in the tail of a falling star
With just one drink I’ll speak your native tongue
For if I stay I know our lines will cross
Although you don’t even try, you make it so tough
Still, goodbye Consuela
All of our lines are cut
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
GIRL WITH THE SILVER HAIR
(S. Puchalski)
No angel in the bed
Yet subtle in her clothes
Enough to send me home imagining
Being on her own, is no prison self-imposed
She’s a house of settled affairs
No longer tangled blonde
Or that ginger wishing pearls
If black flowing coal, I’m unaware
Of younger days she had
When she was stark raving mad
She’s my girl with the silver hair
From otherworldly things
To pawning wedding rings
And skilled at the art of letting go
She understands me fine
And can read between the lines
Always knows more than she shows
From the marching of the dolls
To those image-stained facades
And all the sorry hands she’s been thrown
Have left that Je ne c’est quoi
And a certain graceful tone
She’s my girl with the silver hair
She’s my girl with the silver hair
I have no torch for the days
Of that devil-may-care
Nor all the love she gave nor all I took
But suspicions in her eyes
Ain’t her heart just like a book?
She’s my girl with the silver hair
She’s my girl with the silver hair
She’s my girl with the silver hair
|
||||
4. |
Post-dated Cheque
03:01
|
|||
|
POST-DATED CHEQUE
(S. Puchalski)
I can jump over your fence, babe
Like a young boy half my age
I can pick up, leave and run, babe
Easier than I could stay
I’ve never been one to stay
You said I wouldn’t know what to do
But I thought of you all of the way, babe
From Appalachia to the Black Hill mines
Where the sidewalks are diamond-paved, babe
And I brought that lie home to you
A crime that a child would do
I wouldn’t know what to do
I wouldn’t know what to do with this real life
In your dream house
So I sail across the ocean for a kick in the teeth,
A pretty thief’s kiss, a bed or just one dime
If the world’s spinning round then life’s a gamble
And I’m waiting for a hand that I can lay down
I got a late apology, babe
I got a post-dated cheque
And I’m twenty miles of rough road, babe
So please don’t let me go
Please don’t let me go
|
||||
5. |
Weight In Gold
05:07
|
|||
|
WEIGHT IN GOLD
(S. Puchalski)
These dreams awake with no legs to stand
Just grains of sand that are greater than the sum of their parts
When the Sandman comes
And given the chance I’ll learn to dance
And then twirl into somebody else
These dreams are worth their weight in gold
These dreams go on a lost crusade
When rivals oppose they hide deep behind honey brown eyes
It’s a good little war
To stand not afraid
Though worthless in trade I can always rely on the dark
These dreams are worth their weight in gold
Not to sell short, not to be sold
These dreams are worth their weight in gold
Year after day of pecking away long at the stone
All these dreams in her sleep never call
For my blank, white page
She gives me words
For whatever it’s worth
I will leave a note on her door
To me, you are worth your weight in gold
Baby, these dreams are worth their weight in gold
Darling, these dreams are worth their weight in gold
|
||||
6. |
When California Calls
03:57
|
|||
|
When California Calls
(S. Puchalski)
I’m living out a lie pulling all the cars of this train
I made up my mind to start all over again
There’s many a place I’ve never seen
There’s a picture of a man made of copper on the sand
And one day it could be me
And one day it could be me
I will drink your wine and sway
With a sketch outline of the coast and a tongue of paint
Until California calls
You know that getting old will close the shade on
seasons of change
Though broken-down and proud, I’ll sit on your porch awhile and wait
Cause’ I stood on that corner and played
To every kind of man you could brush aside or coronate
In hopes one is my ride, ‘til then
I’ll drink your wine and sway
Straight from the vine I hope to see one day
When California calls
When California calls
Sweetheart, don’t you fall, don’t you slide into the sea
I’ve saved up my whole life to behold
Those rainless days that you bring
So I’ll drink your wine and sway
With a sketch outline of the coast and a tongue of paint
When California calls
When California calls
When California calls
|
||||
7. |
A Good, Round Wheel
03:13
|
|||
|
A GOOD, ROUND WHEEL
(S. Puchalski)
My father was like you or me
He swayed in the breeze like a limb on a tree
But, grew quietly into an oak
Then he tempered some steel and cured it by road
And made a good, round wheel
My mother, she was just the same
Ne’er cast a stone; Never passed the blame
In this cold, cruel world
A cold world
This wheel goes round, fast then slow
By no reason of fate, you reap what you sow
This wheel’s invented miles before
Since it’s already made I’m just willing to roll
On a good, round wheel
Your brother lived life on the run
The closest in age and the prodigal son
When that road would appear
He would let it ride but he just couldn’t steer
A good, round wheel
While my sweetheart felt right at home
With a treacherous sea below a boat to row
And the glorious sound of an ocean
She’s my sweetheart from stern to bow
Who braved each wave and made it somehow
I see that ripple from the shore
But my road is paved
And I’d soon rather roll
On a good, round wheel
She said, “Home is for a good meal, to wear a few hats and
get a few raw deals and pray, ‘won’t you deliver me?’”
At the end of each day we see a little bit more
At the end of each day we see a little bit more
At the end of each day we see a little bit more
with a good, round wheel
|
||||
8. |
Hard Sell
03:32
|
|||
|
HARD SELL
(S. Puchalski/A. White/I. McKeown/J.Bowskill/G. Maguire)
Take away the walls for vines
Take away the laws and leave the crime
I couldn’t make the gold rush last
If I could take away the past
I’d take away that lonesome, blowing whistle
If there’s a killing floor, then take dead aim
Once on the killing floor you’re never the same
Now there’s blood in the stream
Still, you got to drink from the well
And I’m a pusher’s dream
But you’re a real hard sell
I got a mind to lose control
Though it wasn’t you who cut me to the bone
I was just afraid to lose all I had
The things I said, I can’t take them back
Since the glitter turned to rage from the weight of fool’s gold
I’ve made that killing floor less than some
I guess I played it fair, or just acted dumb
But every time that I breathe
Lord, it hurts like hell
Unless I’m standing on stage I’m a real hard sell
Without a little love, you pay too much
Without a little love, you’re just a salesman’s cut
I’d see the forest for trees
And fall under the spell
I’d pay all your fees
But you’re a real hard sell
|
||||
9. |
Josie
03:03
|
|||
|
--best not to push my luck.
|
||||
10. |
El Cortez
05:09
|
|||
|
EL CORTEZ
(S. Puchalski)
According to the lies of the saints
They’d drag us down the street
Lucky for us these invisible gods
They have no pull in state
The door that leads to her bed
At the back of El Cortez
Is made to echo our mistakes
And narrow those escapes
In the home of the loosest slots
Where I just can’t cut my losses
With these high times, old sins
I’m the shadow in the night
With the cotton mill eyes
For a lady of Mulberry silk
If there was a way outside these walls
You know she’d find the will
With a bag of blue pills
From Memphis Bill or drink herself in two
She always kept that wedding band on
She never mailed that Dear John
Because I’m just forbidden fruit
That can’t bear to know the truth
From the white lies
My black skin
Make the love and steal the crumbs
We all want to feel as one
Shake them off when you wake
Send me off and on my way
For once on this side of the moon
I don’t dish it out like a slave
But I’ll lay it all out for you
If attention’s what you crave
I’m bound to lose with a rendezvous
With her cracked porcelain skin
She’ll soon be bound to Memphis Bill
When that train comes in
We were always good as gone for one another
But I can’t put my finger on her
Or how that soul was never saved
It’d be like we never met
At the back of El Cortez
With her white pearls
My black skin
With her white pearls
My black skin
|
||||
The Parlour Brothers Toronto, Ontario
VINYL! Visit our Merch page for info.
Unvarnished and impassioned, The Parlour Brothers are a
North-Americana, roots-rock band dedicated in serving every song to its truest design. Unafraid to wear their individual hearts on a collective sleeve, their lyrically focused anthems seamlessly run the gamut from affectionate and encouraging to darkened and dire
... more
If you like The Parlour Brothers, you may also like:
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
THAT PASSED
by Patrick Regan Band
This collection of '90s work from folkie Patrick Regan and friends will appeal to fans of Fairport Convention and Pentangle.
go to album
Hooky
by This Frontier Needs Heroes
featured on Bandcamp Radio Sep 10, 2013
go to album
Crafting powerful songs about commitment and love, the Nashville singer-songwriter channels and subverts ’70s country and folk tropes.
go to album
Dakota Blue Moon
by Jackson Harden
Gorgeous acoustic Americana from North Carolina, stripped-back and sublime.
go to album
Caught Up On A Feeling
by Veronica Stanton
Stunningly beautiful orchestral folk songs with just a hint of country, delivered with heart-on-sleeve immediacy.
go to album
