1. |
||||
|
Writing you a letter at the bus stop, babe
I didn’t wanna wake you up
We could sit around and make each other cry
You know it ain’t love if you say it too much
Oh I’m really just a stupid boy
All I do is shrug and clean up nice
I’m a fan of feathers on the river out there
I’m a fan of summer and all that light
Please don’t tell me where you’re gonna be
And I won’t tell you everything I need
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a bridge stake
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a cliff face
I like to go drinking at the VFW
In a city miles from the one I’m from
Fill my coat with these bedrock stones
Suck my knuckles when the night’s no fun
Gotta call you bout this weather, babe
I been sleeping in tobacco barns
Hung the word STAY from the Mendocino sky
But it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you, you swore
Please don’t tell me where you’re gonna be
And I won’t tell you everything I need
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a bridge stake
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a cliff face
Sometimes the best way out of the rain
Is straight back down
In the river
The best way out of the rain
Is straight back down
In the river
Sometimes the best way out of the rain is straight back down
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a bridge stake
Half of my heart is a runaway train
Half of my heart is a cliff face
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
We took the Valium
We took the dumb vows
We tried to ski down your lawn
We stole the dump truck
Oh well we jumped off
Off of the green bridge at dawn
And I know that you been
Crying in the bathroom, crying in the bathroom, oh
I know that you don’t
Think I really get it, think I really get it, I don’t
Dreaming, I been dreaming again
Of dancing in a different town
Dreaming, I been dreaming again
Of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
I will only let you down
We took for granted
We took for good then
We called the cops on your dad
We stained the pillow
We asked the last pill
How do you ever go back?
And I know that you been
Crying in the bathroom, crying in the bathroom, oh
I know that you don’t
Think I really get it, think I really get it, I don’t
Dreaming, I been dreaming again
Of dancing in a different town
Dreaming, I been dreaming again
Of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
Dreaming of dancing in a different town
I will only let you down
Dreaming—I been dreaming
Dancing—I been dancing
|
||||
3. |
The Blood in Your Face
05:48
|
|||
|
Your heart is just a tenant and that’s all that it is
Your heart is just a tenant and that’s all that it is
Your heart is just a tenant and that’s all that it is
Like a bluebird with a shotgun underneath your chin
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
Don’t matter who or when that’s what you was
We always know why we do those things
That we do—we just say that we don’t
We lie and we lie and we lie and we lie
Kinda hope that everybody knows
Kinda hope that everybody knows
Lift your hands / if you hurt someone
Lay them now / on your face
Keep ‘em there / if you been hurt
Let the blood move on into place
Let the blood move on into place
Hey there wait now what was your name?
Hey there wait now what was your name?
Hey there wait now what was your name?
Picking me out your teeth with a rattlesnake
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
You hung up the phone you were a mess in love
Don’t matter who or when that’s what you was
We always know why we do those things
That we do—we just say that we don’t
We lie and we lie and we lie and we lie
Kinda hope that everybody knows
Kinda hope that everybody knows
Lift your hands / if you hurt someone
Lay them now / on your face
Keep ‘em there / if you been hurt
Let the blood move on into place
Let the blood move on into place
The blood in your face is the blood in my face
|
||||
4. |
Joe Montana's Yokel War
05:23
|
|||
|
If the night is not the night, you would tell me, right?
If the night is not the night, you would tell me, right?
At the good news Baptist church, I sanded off my first tattoo
No store but the Family Dollar—it’s ten cents more for me and you
One more kitchen party, one more Keystone pyramid
Pour one out for what's his face—everybody's somebody's big regret
Hey Mike can you record this rap I wrote into your phone?
It starts off pretty mean, but it gets softer as it goes
Shadow cruiser, ragdoll crooner: don't let go
Backhoe shale chipper— daddy, chase that dirty gold
Ghost punk blowtorch, flak jacket child support
Pancake makeup, Joe Montana's yokel war
If the night is not the night, you would tell me, right?
If the night is not the night, you would tell me, right?
It’s still the night—it’s still the night
It’s still the night—I’m pretty sure you’re right
It’s still the night—it’s still the night
It’s still the night—I’m pretty sure you’re right
It’s still the night—it’s still the night
It’s still the night—I’m pretty sure you’re right
It’s still the night—it’s still the night
It’s still the night—I’m pretty sure you’re right
Real storms take someone meth till death till unmarked pits
Swear to waltz the truckbed swear to give as good you get
|
||||
5. |
One to Wander
04:45
|
|||
|
You can go west, you can go south
Drive right in to the devil's mouth
Grow out your sideburns, open a pawn shop
Close it at five and lick every lock
You can take a train, you can take a bus
Greyhound has discounts for heartbroken mutts
Swear off the downers, start a new band
Hello you don't know me I swear we'll be friends
But you can't shake
What you can't shake
Nothing will stay
Right where you set it to get it to stay
And are you one to wander / Wander with much regret
And are you one to wonder / What you can carry and fit
And what you can drop in some lonely spot
And say that you’ll never forget
Back to the piñon, back to the live oak
Pack up the rain in the smell of your coat
Promise to write, promise to call
Buy a new lighter and forget them all
But why do I keep that matchbook, you asked
If I always brag about blowing up the past
Why did I keep that gun in my trunk?
Why did I only bury the one?
Are you one to hang up right when someone says hello
Are you one to construct a new heart for every zipcode
And what did you drop in some lonely spot
and say you were happy to know
|
||||
6. |
Made Myself a Stranger
04:34
|
|||
|
Some people were just born to move
Their bodies through this world
Others throw azaleas off
The backs of big white trucks
And I can hear you crying through
The door that you keep shut
Half the night I wanna die
And half the wine is dust
When it was good it was good, and when it went bad, it went bad
You tell yourself you’re something else, don’t tell yourself that
Stranger— stranger! made my self a stranger
Stranger— stranger! made your self one too
Remember how the dancers kept the candles in their hands?
How they tried to get that light to stay inside the wind
And you can feel what you want both of us to feel
And I can ask the long salt flat if your love was ever real
You see that scream, you made that scream, now you’re gonna have to keep your hands
You see that blood, go and taste that blood, because you won’t ever put it back
|
||||
7. |
|
|||
|
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When you ain’t drank half your body in rye
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When the wolves aren’t searching up your spine
Will you still say “I love you, goddammit alright"
When the syrup bottle’s plastic and the sitcoms are trite
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When the menu seems different and they don't serve all night
And St. Francis he dances
In an old dining car
And I can’t say what I need
Without leaning in too far
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When you come across your old wedding ring
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When the rust comes right off in the bathroom sink
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When we can't name the ghosts that eat at our night
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When we're too tired too laugh, too scared to cry
And St. Francis he manages
An old tire store
And I can’t say what I need
Without leaning in for more
And I'd lick the light of the moon
Right off the face of the lake
If it would mean anything
If it would mean that you'd stay
Will you still say “I love you, goddamnit alright"
When the wolves aren’t searching up your spine
***
from Can't Get Right With the Darkness
© 2022 Clementine Was Right | The Blue Turn
All Rights Reserved
All songs written by Mike Young
Arrangements by Clementine Was Right
Executive producers: Jude Brothers & Gion Davis
Jude Brothers — Vocals, field recordings
Dick Darden — Drums, vocals
Gion Davis — Vocals
Hayden Johnson — Bass
Lisa Kori — Vocals
Kole Oakes — Accordion
Alissa Nordmoe — Lap steel, vocals
Nathan Smerage — Guitar
James Williams — Vocals
Mike Young — Guitar, synths, vocals
Recorded in September 2021 by Scott McEwen
at Memphis Magnetic Recording (901-310-8386) in Memphis, TN
Mixed by Scott McEwen
Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios
Art by Lyndsey Lesh
|
||||
8. |
Next Bus Out
04:15
|
|||
|
See the suicide hotline on the Triborough bridge
Kids playing soccer underneath
Badge number of the tollbooth dude
Everything in life I wanna keep
Like sugar shacks and goofy dads
The smoke that I should really let go
Dunkin Donuts when I'm drunk
Echinacea when I got a cold
If your hand is shit / you shouldn't fold / bluff until your ankles roll
And I'll be there for you on the next bus out
Yeah I'll come as soon as you call
Give up everything I said I loved
To show that you can trust me after all
Don't care if you vote, don't care if you smoke
I didn't say I didn't care at all
See the UPS driver in the pumpkin patch
Realize he got the address wrong
My cell phone dies in the bus depot
After talking to you all night long
Too many songs about the wrong way to snow
Like snow even cares how it hurts
Some people wake up where they didn't fall asleep
You shouldn't let 'em borrow your shirt
If your hand is shit / you shouldn't fold / bluff until your ankles roll
And I'll be there for you on the next bus out
Yeah I'll come as soon as you call
Give up everything I said I loved
To show that you can trust me after all
Don't care if you vote, don't care if you smoke
I didn't say I didn't care at all
Give me a sink to wash my face in
Give me a place to charge my phone
Give me a face that I can sink in
And keep a secret I should know
Tell me a secret that I shouldn't know
And I'll be there for you on the next bus out
Yeah I'll come as soon as you call
Give up everything I said I loved
To show that you can trust me after all
Don't care if you vote, don't care if you smoke
I didn't say I didn't care at all
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
If I can’t get right with the darkness
Lemme get right with the rest
If I can’t get right with the darkness
Lemme get right with the rest
Your friends all knew when they gave you those shoes
You’d be slipping out on the ice
Waving back with a creosote laugh
Kissing the roof your life
I found God at the county fair / turning his hair into cotton candy
Waiting for somebody with teeth to care / whispering all around me: if I can’t get right
Can’t get right with the darkness
Lemme get right with the rest
If I can’t get right with the darkness
Lemme get right with the rest
If I can’t / get / right
Lemme get a ride on the restlessness
I seen lightning that can’t decide
Whether it’s just showing off
I seen snow in the mouth of a crow
Convince itself it ain’t lost
I found love on the Oregon coast / weeping in a cabin over Amy Hempel
I don't know what to do with my ghosts / I don't know where to set the candle: if I can’t get right
I seen lightning (I seen lightning!)
I seen lightning—
If I can’t get right (can’t get right!)
Can’t get right oh whoa oh (goddamn)
|
||||
Clementine Was Right Denver, Colorado
clementinewasright.com
Clementine Was Right is the songwriting project of Denver-
based poets Mike Young and Gion Davis.
Chronicling years of uprooting, the music gallops and sways through lyric-driven, hook-smeared bootgaze and western emo, harmonizing and storytelling.
Reach out at: clementinewasright@gmail.com
... more
Clementine Was Right recommends:
We love Lisa's haunting and mischievous solo work, and this is her newest and most masterful yet!
go to album
A great western countrypolitan record, and we especially love the song "86 Cadillac DeVille" because we are always thinking about face tattoos and pinky-ring working the wheel.
go to album
Dust off this existential classic that is like if Jonathan Richman were two people, a brother and a sister, and they were anxious scientists warding off the doom with jokes and harmonies.
go to albumIf you like Clementine Was Right, you may also like:
supported by 4 fans who also own “Can't Get Right With the Darkness”
So delighted that Angel is finding that "hard won acceptance" that she sought and hope that her future path is one of authenticity. This work is one marked by melodious but not overwrought emotion, striking an intuitive balance of warmth and skill.
go to album
Hold The Door For Strangers
by Labrador
Philadelphia-based Labrador make unfussy and empathetic alt-country meant to sincerely bolster the downcast in times of strife.
go to album
Under The Surface
by Nameless Ghost
The wrenching songs on the latest from Nameless Ghost tackle loss and grief amidst toothy indie rock.
go to album
