Get all 16 Terry Lee Hale releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Terry Lee Hale featuring Sugarfoot, Deaf Heaven, The Gristle & Bone Affair, Oh What A World, Tornado Alley, Leaving West, Old Hand, Frozen: A Selection of Live Solo Performances 1993-2000, and 8 more.
1. |
Long Draw
05:38
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Long Draw
People don’t know nothing anymore
Can’t get it figured out
Folks just wandering around
Justify doing without
Fighting over water
A cool, clear, clean glass of water
Mother Natures calling, calling
Sending along her forget-me-nots
With it comes a warning, warning
But when have warnings ever been enough
You cannot make a law
And you can never make a law
long enough
Now spring has moved to summer
Summer is into fall
Way too much rain now
Or not near enough at all
We’re a long way from mercy
And it’s a long damn way to fall
Chorus: but if there’s hope in this house
I’m going to find it
If there’s hope in this house
I’m going to rope I’m going to bind it
If there’s hope in this house
I want to get up inside it
I want to magnify it
I want to take a long draw
We pruned ourselves trying to get even
Playing chicken with the truth
No matter what you’re hiding, holding
Folks acting like they don’t know the right thing to do
I’ve never seen nothing like it
Militant ignorance and proud of it too
Here-to-fore it’s been kettle scrape
Run by mullahs, rabbis, preachers and priests
They will fill you full of lead saying it and praying
For the wrong kind of peace
Danger, danger
Chorus: If there’s hope in the house
I’m going to find it
If there’s hope in house
I’m going to rope I want to ride it
If there’s hope in this house
I want to lie beside it
I want to magnify it
I want to take a long draw
We still have got to earn our future
We can’t be just treading time
This is not just a backwater
Where we can mosey easy going down the line
And no matter how you call it
These are strange days
Surely they are counting times
Chorus: But if there’s hope in the house
I’m going to find it
If there’s hope in the house
I want to rope, I’m going to ride it
If there’s hope in this house
I want to lie beside it
If there’s hope in the house
I want to magnify it
I want to occupy it
I want to take a long draw
Tuning: E E B E B D
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2. |
What She Wrote
05:53
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What She Wrote
See the station agent come judgment day
Adding up time and a price to pay
Note the needful, works to find
A seat for those deserving come leaving time
Just a reservation needed is what I know
There will be a seat for those that pay to go
There’s not much here that I’m going to miss
Maybe next place will be better then this
Chorus:
With the train steaming up getting ready to go
You’ll want to be on board
When it starts to blow
Unlucky skill suffers idleness
Get yourself a job and count yourself blessed
Nothing complicated I like it that way
Just do the paperwork, don’t complain
Not many people can do what I do
The shiny thing don’t shine like it used to
You’ve got to care when the threads are few
Or you’ll end up running with a skeleton crew
Chorus
Preservation polish, silicon breasts
Life around here is chumming for sex
Prospecting pleasure, imagination spice
A freak show live every single night
Too many secrets, not much free
Most take what they can, more then they need
Spend what they’ve got, living hog high
Greedy little bastards you can see it in their eyes
Put your back to the wheel
Feel the load
If you carry it alone
It’s going to make you feel old
I’m going to take my rest when the work’s done
Time enough later to have my fun
And at the end you just hope there’s luck left
I learned the harder you work
The luckier you get
Chorus:
With the trains steaming up getting ready to go
You’ll want to be on board
When she starts to moan, whining low
None the never less it’s what it is
And it comes to this, oh you’ve got to go
With the trains steaming up getting ready to go
You’ll want to be on board
When she starts to moan, whining low
None the never less it’s what it is
And it comes to this, if you miss that boat
That’s what she wrote
Tuning: B E B E B E capo 2
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3. |
Black Forest Phone Call
06:43
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Black Forest Phone Call
Seems the bombs are falling closer now
Getting harder to keep away
And I’m not joking when I say
I know one has got my name
An arbitrary selection, checkmark carefully placed
No one really knows it
Except on the naming day
Or if you miss that connection
Waiting on the mezzanine
Might it mean more later
That’s all she wrote, everything
Chance, luck, grace
Mixed up with faith
Will you even hear the click
That falls into place?
And there you’ll be
Tanned by glory
Or at last above shame
One step over, maybe remembered
Not lost, moved on and got away
Now I have got a number
And I know just what to do
I try to keep things steady
Though I know I miss a beat or two
It’s weary luck hurrah
If they miss you with their right
But we’ve all got scars
Most wear them out of sight
You can kill with kindness
Sure if you speak the truth
Or handed your card to turn in
And don’t even have a clue
And out so fast, mint newly, half undone
Shadows fall, secrets spoken
Uncallable name but not broken
Just gone and got away
Black Forest phone call
Dry, cold day
Dawning and broken
Is he happy got away?
Just another sound bite
The bastards reason why
A note writ loud there at the end
Too tired to try
Moved along, enough commotion
Passed on by, turn the page
Language done, lonely soldier
A part of fortune
Got away
Tuning: E A D G B E capo 4
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4. |
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The Sad Ballad Of Muley Graves
Keys unlock the door
Memories here, more
Cardboard boxes filled
Wonder why she kept them for?
Old posters on the wall
Nights I don’t recall
Hell I don’t
But all those years meant something
Not much saved
For here now, today
But I don’t buy lucky charms
Wonder why empty arms aren’t full
And I know
You just can’t hold it all
Kitchen table, pale sun
Used to think this was so fun, blessed
But old disappointment hard to let go
And not a lot to do on the weekends
Church bells ring, miserable cold
Can’t lie here, never could, won’t
So you find a new life, try not to complain
Life happens and you drift away
You just can’t hold it all
Railroad cars crash outside all night
Her heart beats here, still, quiet
That don’t change
And everything it brings
Summer, winter, autumn and always into spring
But it’s some part of lucky, I can still sing
The Wildwood Flower and know what it means
Long days, rocky road
Full speed but sure you know
Sure you know
Tuning: B E B E B E
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5. |
Three Days
04:20
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Three Days
Lonesome like a train
Been off all alone
Coming back around
But wound down slow
Aching in its heart
Whining overload
But she’s just a train and
What’s a train know?
Lonesome like the wind
That blows through the pines
Don’t matter where it goes
Not even trying
Cold as ice
Cuts me to the bone
But she’s just the wind and it’s how she blows
Lonesome like the bird
That cries through the night
It’s the midnight service
Sends shivers up my spine
I wish she could
I wish I might
But she’s just a bird
And she likes to cry
Chorus:
I hear them calling
They speak my name
And now I’m falling
Three long days
Lonesome like the call
That goes down the line
Nobody’s home
And she wasn’t lying
Let it ring once
Let it ring twice
Don’t matter
Let it ring all night
Lonesome like a train
Lonesome like the wind
Lonesome like a bird
Lonesome is what if
Chorus
Tuning: D A D G A#D capo 2
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6. |
The Central
05:32
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The Central
Honky-tonk bar
In the middle of a Square
Central Tavern looking for a scene
Fixing to go somewhere
Brought around the Cape Horn bar
Black-light room
Jimi Hendrix posters on the wall
Stage up in the back and the gloom
Pitcher beer and a little boxed wine
Burgers in the afternoon
Rock and roll most every night
Doors had to locked at two
Mary worked the nights,
George had to get the days
Me I was Johnny-come-lately
To Mike and Donna’s place
I helped on the weekends
Rock and roll nights and weekends
I worked on the weekends
Booking bands and working weekends
Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington
Was a $20 date back in 1987
Mixed up crowd, winos at the edge
Ronald Reagan was the president
10 or 12 bars for the upscale set
But the Central Tavern was different then the rest
A little bit seedy, an oddball nest
To get in you had to pass the ID test
Long old bar right there on your left
Leaning brick walls, no one to impress
She was a grand old lady,
Stood alone in the W est
She stood alone
Essential bar
One time and place
Lucky me with a front row seat
I’d have paid to been there anyway
Northwest style meant rain
And the music didn’t have a name
We covered our heads when the winter rolled around
Didn’t seem matter much anyway
But she’s gone now
And the weeds have grown
Dogs sniff around
But what do I know?
Friends on, friends on
Friends on the radio
We got my friends on the radio
I hear my friends on the radio
Helped to get them on the radio
Tuning: D G D G A D capo 5
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7. |
L.A. 9th & Grand
04:33
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L.A. 9th & Grand
White noise Sharpie, Garnet-Pinkie Dan
Lined up there with Eddie and his backup Sam
Don’t forget to bring the bank now Lynnie
Be sure to tell Ann
We’ll be set up down here by the parking garage
At 9th and Grand
Oh say can you see?
I’m the pennywhistle tight-lip, with an apple crumble heart
Two fisted tight-hipped, they gave me the name Little Fart
Me and my friends living light out here,
Just in from the Promised Land
Mostly just trying to get along
Doing the best we can
Oh say can you see?
I’m in charge of the gator bag out here and mostly we’re doing fine
My cute little pinochle dumpling got the watch
But I’ve got the time
So if I say leave the light on Eddie
We got to shake loose from this stand
The profits I know are steady but
The thumper is The Man
Chorus:
If you don’t run, you get nothing
Come back later find something
You want to fight? They ain’t funning
Wonder why? Lessons coming
Old don’t matter be the first to know
Fresh air in your face getting on down the road
LA 9th & Grand
You’ve got to pull the plug and go!
We tend to stay in our lanes out here
Learned what happens when you don’t
Of course you never really can be too damned sure
Good fortune always follows what you won’t
Tweezing life from these skinny little bones
For 2 nickels to rub together
They sure ask you take a whole lot of shit
Just to stand out in sunny weather
Oh say….
Money’s a magnate we all understand
Poverty and pride are brothers
Down here you can walk with anyone
Later try and kill each other
And maybe these streets are waiting to be plowed
And the mare works better with a shuffle
But the paperboy says “not much allowed and “if
The Man comes by its trouble”
Oh that’s the story
Tuning: D A D G B D capo 2
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8. |
Gold Mine
07:11
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Gold Mine
Paris leaving Concarneau
Guess it’s finally time to go
Doesn’t usually take as long as this
But could not avoid it
Travel costs a fortune, can’t afford to stay
Most of my work is east of here
And that won’t change
Even the ocean can get old
Addicting yes and won’t let go
Loving it as much as I do
Won’t pay the bills and that’s the truth
I don’t own a Gold Mine
Marseilles leaving Paris
It’s good to be heading south
Not sure where I’m landing
But I will find out
Friends think I’m crazy
Taking bets I’ll be back
Maybe, there’s always maybe
But I have got my doubts
Two years here and I’m thinking
Just what I miss
And for sure if I do return
I will afford it
I will bring a gold mine
Anywhere leaving Marseilles
One ripple, no trace
Take a good long look
Help yourself I don’t care
I’m getting out, moving on, going somewhere
London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid
Consider the shape I’m in
I’d even look at the Promised Land
From here don’t seem so bad
Weathers fine here it tastes like sin
Accidental in the wilderness
I hope she’s happy
C’est la vie
Me I’m waiting for a chance to be
I’m going to be a Gold Mine
Tuning: E G B G B E capo 4
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Terry Lee Hale Marseille, France
Currently a resident in Marseille, Hale has been releasing albums for more than three decades. Hale’s work is stubborn and transcendent of genres and deeply evocative in a way that only a true original can be.
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