1. |
Southern United States
04:07
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-- Lyrics --
Southern United States
I had a dream I was standing under the Memphis moon
With William Blake painting and Crosby croonin'
And his father was a sailor
Since he left his mother young and since she dressed him the same
So he'd take after his father, without the last name
A Welshman from Tennessee
Yes, he spoke with an accent that resembled no other
He was cut from the cloth, and he showed me his daughter.
Oh, Lily was a rose
Married into money
Oh, but it only changed her clothes
And then she found out what everybody knows
With her eyes half-closed and her hands arisen
She leaned in to talk and I leaned in to listen
She said those political songs, they're worth missin'
I awoke at the wheel
With the wind, road and radio fluttering in my ears
I was following my heart, like I hadn't for years
I put on Lou Reed's Berlin
I had a friend once that asked me, Who needs Berlin?
Oh, I said I guess it depends on the State that you're in
I was stopped at the border
I don't know what it is they thought I had
But by the end, I'd had it
Low Texas drawl coming over the static
I looked up at the bristling stars
They looked so sad, it was the sun, the night and the states
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2. |
Off The Main Drag
03:44
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-- Lyrics --
Old gas station hasn't changed in decades
Cashier checks the time around her
Put my things on the counter
Pulled out my wallet like some pull down the shades
My only brother lent me his only car
Who knew I would drive it so far
Sometimes you move out of some sort of obligation
It was gorgeous on the outside, inside it was just a machine
It was the fastest thing I'd ever seen
I met Victoria at Victoria's Station
We'd always talked about going for a beer
She said, "It's strange now that you're here"
We went back to her place, 57th we crossed it
Now, she's as poor as me but she looks twice as good
I told her that because it's something I would
She shrugged a little and she turned off the faucet
And later on as we crawled into bed
I was thinking on something my father'd said
He said, son, you're better off, off the main drag
With my well-worn body wrenched like a rag
There I was straight off the main drag
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3. |
Cairo Blues
04:55
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-- Lyrics --
Cairo, Cairo
Cairo is my, my baby's home
See, women in Cairo, women in Cairo
Sure don't dance, they don’t dance alone
Should have never lent you my 45, I guess my lesson is not to lend
There's a big needle going over the line, and for a time you have a friend
But stone-cold silence in the room means the record is at its end
You're turning it over so many times, it's never going back into its sleeve again
Yeah, there's two sides to every story but it seems like you've got ten
When I get no letters, it's the Cairo blues you send
Cairo, Cairo
Cairo is my, my baby's home
See, women in Cairo, women in Cairo
Sure don't dance, they don’t dance alone
Now, I know that every time you get lonesome you go and fill yourself to the brink
Find yourself a man in a suit and tie introducing you to what he drinks
He's answering your questions funny now so you'll wonder how he thinks
He sees his reflection in your skin, you're gonna see yours in a hotel sink
Staring back, the Cairo blues it never blinks
Cairo, Cairo
Cairo is my, my baby's home
See, women in Cairo, women in Cairo
Sure don't dance, they don’t dance alone
Now, I’m looking at those thin winter trees and they’re looking like railings for the sky
I've got my bare hands in my coat pockets and it's so cold that I could cry
When I see that forest falling, all I hear is firewood
And it’s crackling louder than that record ever could
But it don’t drown out those Cairo blues for good
Cairo, Cairo
Cairo is my, my baby's home
See, women in Cairo, women in Cairo
They don’t dance alone
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4. |
Photographer Friend
02:41
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-- Lyrics --
Photographer friend, photographer friend
You know, I'll need you in the end
You ain't like my other friends, you never judge
A picture's worth a thousand words, it explains why we don't talk
As we travel past the perfumed rows of hemlock trees
With one wheel in my hands, and four more on the road
And you, you're hanging out of the window
One day we'll be married to different people
And any stills you keep'll keep us still until
You take the future and leave me with the past
Photographer friend, photographer friend
Most things, they never last
Photographer friend, photographer friend
Most things, they never last
You'll see the future
Change the colour of the past
Photographer friend, photographer friend
Most things, they never last
Photographer friend, photographer friend
Most things, they never last
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5. |
At The End Of The Line
05:33
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-- Lyrics --
I'm long gone honey babe, far away from my home
Went out to find myself, just found myself alone
Late night trains don't run the way they're supposed to
It's been months since I've been near anyone I was close to
At the end of the line wildflowers grow on the tracks
I'd return to the cities of my youth if I knew the youth would come back
I was holed up in my hotel room when I got a telephone call
The girl I saw in the lobby, girl I didn't know at all
It was her last night in the city and her friends left her behind
She had some thoughts and a bottle of wine
Could she come up and talk a while
But lord, I know what talking leads to
And at the end of the line, I only had one thought
Whenever something is free, usually then, you're not
F-Train to Coney Island, the corridor to my room
Yellow wine in summer, the subway's sweet perfume
It’s in the air around my clothes, lord, it’s in the bookstore you lived above
Sometimes a city is one too many, and a thousand ain't enough
And at the end of the line I'm reading to myself
Of all the spring afternoons in bars
Could it have been anyone else?
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6. |
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-- Lyrics --
I walked all along Laugavegur's length
Heard the Salvation Army Band
Walked into Kaffibrennslan
I had a vodka and orange juice
I had a vodka and orange juice
A wild fire took down Rosenberg
And as it burned, the kettles boiled
Fire, cold water, engines oiled
My coat was fat just like a goose
My coat was fat just like a goose
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7. |
Takk Somuleidis
03:05
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-- Lyrics --
I can’t be so sure
I can’t be so sure
Down by the shore
Down by the shore
I’m gonna go straighten out my blood
I was having a smoke out in the snow
You can never trust the folks you know
You were in the bath talking about your sister
And I hung out on the banister
Why would I steal what you’d still own?
My mind is sealed, my lips are sown
It was an invitation to your unveiling
With a green Munch behind the railing
It’s not your fault, you’re not to blame
Enthusiasm always wanes
Now, I’m staring at your shirtsleeves
And they’re looking like parentheses
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8. |
Pallbearer Blues
02:09
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-- Lyrics --
Last time I saw you, you'd seen my name in the paper
You shook my hand, wished me luck, said you had to go
But now it's my turn to see your name in the paper
You said you were leaving, but how's I supposed to know
You always did do things first, why, I guess this is no exception
It's the direction we all take in time
Ever since you were a kid, the world was never all that kind
But you always were, always will be, a friend of mine
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9. |
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-- Lyrics --
I was in T.O. I was laughing
At my friend who sold his soul
I guess it wouldn't have been so funny had I not just sold mine for less
Staring at the orange smokestacks and the sunset casting shadows until our faces drowned
I guess it's better to have left and laughed
Than never to have left at all
Found myself on subway coming above the ground
I, I used to tango
But that, that was then
You know, I danced too close to the band
That's how I got this ringing in my ears
And sometimes I just can't sleep from the sound
Oh, I can't hear it during the day, just at night
Or when things get quiet
Like when the subway comes above the ground
In Tennessee
Yes, I was looking for someone to throw me against the wall
I wanted to be inspired until disheartened
Spend all the money that I'd hard-earned
Just to see his name with flashing yellow-lightbulbs all around
But he left us in the Mississippi
He wasn't even thirty-one
If only he'd come up like a subway from the ground
In springtime, I was standing
With a brown dog at my side
I was sweating, staring at Mayan ruins
Then I was next to you on that bus heading straight, straight out of town
From Memphis and Nashville to New York City
Your jaw was wild and pretty
When you turned to me and you said
Am I in ruins, like the outskirts of the city
Where the subways all come above the ground?
And I said no
In Iceland, it was festival season
And I went knocking on your door
Yes, you opened up, and there you were
With the halo of the porchlight
You were crowned
We stayed up all night
Phrases fading like countryside in the rearview mirror
And I was hoping that one day you'd be next to me
Or at least someplace near
When the subway comes above the ground
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10. |
From The Fourth
05:07
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-- Lyrics --
Well, the windows was fogged up and the world it did freeze
With its restless passersby in the cold nighttime breeze
The violins dug in and one tear I did cry
My ears were ringing when we stepped outside
Your sweat sweetly mixed with the sea salt air
Oh, I was glad we decided to get out of there
Looking down the avenue
I could see the ocean so clear
You said, there’s only one cure for that ringing I hear
You said, there’s only one cure for that ringing I hear
Now, you were talking so close, I could see and feel your breath
You smiled and you told me the cure was death
You were always pretty clever, much more than you let on
Your kind of thinking was dead on
It takes two to tango, and took one to teach
You were in my arms, but you were out of reach
And the windows fogged up, and outside we did freeze
Amongst the restless passersby in the nighttime breeze
Every now and again when I go out at night
I pass by some stranger who asks for a light
Her handwriting, it don't match up to yours
She don't hang her shirts off the edge of her drawers
You said that all lamps are lit by one kind of fire
Yet in some kinds of light, I just can't call you liar
And in the wine-bottle bars and in the late night dawn
I often wonder which side of the glass you yourself are now on
I wonder which side of the glass you yourself are now on
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Leif Vollebekk Montreal, Québec
Some artists go on feeling like secrets long after they've started being told. Leif Vollebekk is one of these treasures. Born in Ottawa in 1985, he taught himself music using instruments inherited from his grandfather: harmonica, guitar, piano, an old fiddle. Leif has release 3 albums so far : Inland, North Americana and Twin Solitude. ... more
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