Bobby Long Songs

To run from that place I used to know

I left for the city with my sister and mother
My father stayed there working for some magazine
And though our house still stands
On some cursed and uneven land
I guess it's somewhere in the in-between

*They ran a story of me in the paper

About a ghost who wouldn't come back home

I got it through the post

Lit the fire and let it roast

I never want to feel like I'm getting old

That little place I knew so long ago

It’s never in some crazy place where you lose your face
It’s in the peaks and cracks of the unnoticed shade
So when you kick your feet
Down some forgotten street
It’s where it all floods back but it’s too late to take

My father wrote the story down in his letters
A spark had chased the wind down
To the town below
No there’s nothing left for me
Since I went and got myself free
I guess that place will always be my home
That little place I knew so long ago

1985

Searching for reasons against truth

Withholding blossom against the bloom

I seek the golden somewhere for me

Who told the prophets where to find

Their dying orders hung dry on the line

I seek that symbol, but it don’t seek me

The slow won’t beat the fast

There’s no going back

The heart only beats intact

1985

1985 is feeling black

I saw the measure pour to fill the cup

And what had spilled out, someone called it love

We want the measure, not the flood

So let the day break and the night stand still

Let the quaker try to have his fill

No crying wolf now, not for me

Time it moves right along

Just another selfish song

Though the years have come and gone

1985

1985 is painted black

Some things are in your head

Like the coming tale of death

I shouldn’t get upset

Or listen to a word they said

That 1985 is feeling black

The Song the Kids Sing

Beyond this place, beyond the cafés and stores

Lies the death of me

Where the adults don't see

The boards start to creek

Down this lonesome street

At the end of school, we start the new rule

And the teachers leave

We don't see the chapel, we don't see the city

We gave away my dreams

Carry me far beyond this town

Before I'm laid out in the ground

For all of you to see

Let me see that all of this is stone
And I shouldn't feel alone

And I shouldn't have to be

The song the kids sing

The kids shoot the wall

Speaking in that loose drawl

Just in front of me

I want to rant and sing

But what good would it bring to the factory

I want to turn this around

But I'm wedged in the crack with the hollow seed

Who planted this madness

Who planted this sadness all around me

I'm not from this town, I'm from another old town
Far to the east

It's close to my brother, it's close to my father

It's inside of me

♫ soundcl oud

The Dark Won't Get Darker

So take off your coat, and let in all the light

We can go for a walk, do anything you like

You could tell me all your problems

Set your stall, lay a marker

I’d tell you the rich stay rich

But the dark won’t get darker

You’ll be sorry if you never know

It’s what keeps us all complete

If you need a friend, or you’re feeling low

Then baby stick with me

Times pass and fall, down the darkened road

I saw you walking with a note

I saw you lay it on down

You could of told me your mind

So I could turn it around

You should tell me all your problems

Set your stall, lay a marker

I’d tell you the rich stay rich

But the dark won’t get darker

Hideaway

previously titled "Lulu's Song"

I spent many days on the back of this haze

With a mind to tell you you were wrong

It’s not that I was right, but the will of the fight

Drew you in when you thought I had gone

Hideaway, it’s your soul to display

And keep the words in your head

Keep from me all you wanted to be

Only you will have to regret

Everyone speaks of you with your foot on the pew

So I can see that you are what you are

But you came from inside with some tears round your eyes

Not for me just because you felt down

Hideaway, it’s your soul to display

And keep your ear to the ground

Keep from me all you wanted to be

It’s you who’s wearing the crown

It’s a long beating road to get back to the start

Still you can’t change what’s already done

So go lie awake at night and remember the trite

Senseless words behind the harm that you’ve done

Only you will have to regret

from Bobby's Instagram - April 15, 2015

Something Blue, Something Borrowed

It’s pretty hard to believe that when you get told something different

Now your life gets cold or something blue, something borrowed

If there’s church bells, you don’t want church bells

But they’re left out just like seashells

Now you’re feeling cold

You’re something blue, something borrowed

Ring, ring the silent and cherished bell

That flows out of the sky

I’ll forget the memory of your kiss

I thought I was your ending

Not some temporary guy

And I’m something blue, something borrowed

Something replaced

It’s pretty hard to believe that

You can keep something intact for so long until

You’re something blue, something borrowed

Then the rumours flow and the rumours flow

From the open sky to the undergrowth

Like swallows

You’re something blue, something borrowed

So open up the ventricle and close the bloody vestibule

Open up the mind and close the heart

You won’t answer my questions

And I won’t repeat your answer

And I’m something blue, something borrowed

Something replaced

Fill me with sorrow, until tomorrow

I’m something blue, your something borrowed

Friday, November 13, 2015

index

That Little Place

1985

The Song the Kids Sing

The Dark Won't Get Darker

Hideaway

Something Blue, Something Borrowed