1.Quiet Out Here
There’s a hard luck river that only gets water
After a heavy summer rain
The high wide desert goes on forever
The railroad’s not coming back again
The old rodeo grounds outside of the town haven’t seen a horse for years
And when the sun goes down the only sound is a trucker grinding gears
It’s quiet out here
The church bell tower counts down the hours
Til Sunday mass when people come back to town
The old family houses getting bought up by artists
Who’ve got some money to spread around
A Hollywood production comes in for a month and
Turns the place into a movie lot
A single-wide trailer right beside the graveyard
Standing vigil for the people time forgot
2. Silver Band
The old engraved design on this ring is wearing thin
Can’t tell where my hand leaves off the silver line begins
I will signify, I will testify again
Bear witness to the union I wear this silver band
There are only two of these in this forsaken land
One is on her finger and the other’s on my hand
I will signify, I will testify again
Bear witness to the union I wear this silver band
Best and worst will come and go and come and go again
We’ll be lovers, sometimes strangers, companions, easy friends
When it all is said and done, done and said, yeah then
Steadfast, everlasting I’ll remain her man
Diamonds don’t appeal to her she’s never been that kind
A bit of precious metal always suited her just fine
I will signify, I will testify again
Bear witness to the union I wear this silver band
3. Do-Over
Too many wasted chances, the days just slipped away
We never got around to saying what we really meant to say
I want another shot to be a better man
‘Cause now I understand, yeah I understand
Let’s have a do-over, let’s start again
Remaking all those times we failed back then
Forgive and forget hasn’t happened yet but I think it can
Let’s have a do-over, let’s start again
It’d be a shame for it to end like this knowing what we know now
I don’t think we’d make such a mess of it a second time around
I want another shot to make amends
And I think I can, oh, I think I can
What if we clicked our heels, what if we chant some words
What if we got that voodoo woman to turn us into birds
And we sailed across the hills to way back when
We could have a do-over we could start again
I want another shot to make amends, and I think I can, I think I can
Let’s have a do-over, let’s start again
4. Night Letter
Night letter, fifty words or less
Like neon, messages in glass
Cheaper than a telegram, faster than the mail
Night letter, night letter
Constellations, written across the skies
Big dipper, ladling goodbyes
A simple salutation leads into somebody died
Night letter, night letter
Maybe it will come via courier
In a handsome woolen uniform and cap
He hands you an envelope and says “Night Letter”
You think that nothing good can come of that
Night letter, night letter
Cold comfort is all that we receive
Typefaces in Western Union sleeves
We love you STOP We miss you STOP
Come home now STOP Please
Night letter, night letter
5. Solitary Sunset
A blonde woman in a Mercedes
Runs a hand through her hair
Driving down the Avenida Solitaire
On her way home to another edition
Of a bottle of wine and the television
And one more goddamn beautiful New Mexican sunset alone
“How long since he left?” friends’ll ask
“Seems like an hour ago,” she’ll say
When it’s been a year, five months, three weeks and four days
With just a guitar and an old leather jacket
Last kiss, then he was gone
And in a year, five months, three weeks, four days she still can’t move on
How did she read him so wrong
Now another day is over, he’s still gone
And the setting sun drops behind the Sandias again
She’s got a good job
She’s pretty and funny and smart
They ruled the dance floor at her company parties
Tearing it up like it’s a dying art
Now she’s just a blonde woman in a Mercedes
Running a hand through her hair
Driving down the Avenida Solitaire
6. Hell To Pay
There’s gonna’ be hell to pay
If you keep on this way
Gonna be hell to pay, no doubt about it
Rack and ruin is coming soon
Unless you start doing
Something about it
Crystal balls, tarot cards
All predict the same
Trouble’s brewing, coming soon
With only you to blame
But you keep doing what you always do
Dressing up for the chosen few
Who get to see all your new fancy outfits
All of your duplicity
All your smoke and mirrors
All your hollow promises
Still ringing in our ears
Oh, there’s gonna be hell to pay
7. Drylands
I’m not one to worry about some continental drift
I'm more concerned this drought we got is never gonna’ lift
Because the beans are getting thirsty and it hasn’t rained a bit
Living in the drylands
The river’s just a shadow of what it used to be
Some folks would probably laugh and say the same is true for me
But I’m still just as lively as a man deserves to be
Living in the drylands
Oh, I know, it must seem ridiculous
Oh, I know, we could just leave all this
But it’s as good a place as any for a body to exist
Living in the drylands
They figured out some time ago, make do with what you got
So our people planted pintos on some 100 acre plots
We pick ‘em and dry ‘em and cook ‘em in a pot
Living in the dryland
Me and my old dog we went out walking every day
She liked to chase the gophers til she up and ran away
Like our kid in Dallas and the other in LA
Living in the drylands
8. Magdalene
She slakes me when I’m thirsty
Feeds me when I’m lean
Magdalene, Magdalene
She visits when I’m lonely
Calms me when I’m mean
Magdalene, Magdalene
I know I don’t deserve her but no man really does
They say she’s laid with many, I don’t care because
Here’s the thing, I’ve been seen by Magdalene
She knows just what I’m thinking
Though she mostly won’t let on
Magdalene, Magdalene
She loves my old dog Lucius
And tends him when I’m gone
Magdalene, Magdalene
It’s not an easy world for someone of my kind
She takes me as I am and doesn’t bat an eye
Magdalene, Magdalene, Magdalene
It’s clear she’ll never marry
So I know better than to ask
Magdalene, Magdalene
9. Rapture
Well, I’m trying to muster up something hopeful to say
Though it’s sure for certain that we’re sitting right here in harm’s way
You know I’m not religious, I’m a born-again doubter
And I don’t see our brokenness is getting any better
It’s a compound fracture, so I’m hoping for a rapture
Maybe I’m just tired of worrying about what’s to come
Resigned to believing what’s done is done
But I’ll put on a good face, be shining like the sun
Lead a rousing chorus of We Shall Overcome
Trusting that it matters, while hoping for a rapture
Yeah, I wanna’ hear some angels
Blowing on their horns
Wanna’ see my people getting lifted by their arms
Off to a sweet hereafter, I'm hoping for a rapture
The sky may not be falling like all us Chicken Littles wanna’ cry
It could be millennia before we all just curl up and die
I can still hear that canary singing in the mine
Though it’s voice is getting weaker with each day in time
Heralding disaster, I’m hoping for a rapture
No, I’m not giving up, I’m not giving in
Though it looks like this is something we ain’t ever gonna’ win
So if this is our final chapter, I’m hoping for a rapture
10. Dancing Alone
Dancing alone, push back the furniture
Dancing alone, all because of her
Now that she’s gone he’ll carry on
Facing the music and dancing alone
Two steps and waltzes are his thing
While she likes to line dance and western swing
Over his shoulder she watched other men
Wishing she’s dancing with them
He found the note that said she was gone
So he opened a bottle, turned the radio on
He goes walking each evening around the town
Looking at houses with curtains drawn
Listening for music floating in the wind
Wondering who’s doing like him
Shuffling around to their favorite songs
Dimming the lights, singing along
11. Burn All Night
The street was dark and kinda’ derelict
But that old neon sign was still full lit
Hanging above the barroom door just like
A blood red moon on a cold black night
Liquid fire, tubes of glass
Electric wire, noble gas
Oh, burn all night neon light
The neighborhood was getting gentrified
But that didn’t mean much to folks inside
Cause the beer was cheap and the juke box played
All their favorite music from the Hit Parade
The parade keeps rolling on
Money and progress, arm in arm
Making boutique shops out of laundromats
Driving out the vagrants and the alley cats
Oh, burn all night neon light
Then one day that bar had a note on the door
Said “The place got sold. We ain’t no more”
My friends went by at auction time
And rescued that old neon sign
Now it’s hanging in my buddy’s party barn
He lights it up when a party’s on
Pours home brew from gallon jugs
Into that barroom’s old glass mugs
Liquid fire, tubes of glass
Electric wire, noble gas
Oh, burn all night neon light
12. Until It Is
Time is forsaking us, some kind of double cross
Each day has a new little twist
It was not so long ago I danced all night now I wanna’ know
Whose idea of a joke is this?
I’m piñon and juniper on a drying up aquifer
Putting up a good fight, all right
Still here, beating the odds
Still here, thanks to a benevolent god
Still here, don’t know much but I’m certain of this
It’s never too late until it is
Oh, I’ve got some regrets but I’ve vowed not to let
Them own me ever again
I’ll cleave to the good days and stay on the causeway
That spans from Hallelujah to Amen
I’m nopal and creosote
On a desert mountain slope
Pushing down roots, hanging on for dear life