Artist: John Hammond Album: Wicked Grin {2001}

I lost everything I had in the twenty-nine flood
The barn was buried �neath a mile of mud
Now I�m down to nothing but the whistle and the steam
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

I said, hey, hey - I don�t know what to do
I will remember you
Hey, hey - I don�t know what to do
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

Now, there�s a fellow that�s preaching bout hell and damnation
Bouncin' off the walls of the Grand Central Station
I treated her bad, I treated her mean
Baby leaving town on the 2:19

I said, hey, hey - I will remember you
Hey, hey - I don�t know what to do
Hey, yeah - I don�t know what to do
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

Now, I always been puzzled by the yin and the yang
Come out in the wash but it always leaves a stain
Storm and the drang, the luster and sheen
My baby�s leaving town on the

I said, hey, hey - I don�t know what to do
Hey, hey - I will remember you
Hey, hey - I will remember you
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

Lost the baby with the water and the preacher stole the bride
Sent her out for a bottle but she came back inside
She didn�t have my whiskey, didn�t have my gin
With a hat full of feathers and a wicked grin

I said, hey, hey - I will remember you
Hey, baby - I will remember you
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

On the train you get smaller as you get farther away
The roar covers everything you wanted to say
Was that a raindrop or a tear in your eye
Were you dryin' your nails or waving goodbye

Hey, hey - I will remember you
Hey, hey - I don�t know what to do
Oh, baby
My baby�s leaving town on the 2:19

I will remember you
I don�t know what to do, baby

Liar, liar with your pants on fire
White spades is hangin' on the telephone wire
Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line
You'll never recognize yourself on Heartattack and Vine

Doctor, lawyer, beggarman thief
Philly Joe Remarkable looks on in disbelief
If you wanna taste of madness, well, you'll have to wait in line
Probably someone you know on Heartattack and Vine

Boney's high on China white, Shorty found a punk
You know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk
Well, this stuff will probably kill you, let's do another line
What'd you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine

See that little Jersey girl in a see-through top
With the peddle pushers suckin' on a lollipop
Well, I bet she's still a virgin but it's only twenty-five to nine
You can see a million of 'em on Heartattack and Vine

Better off in Iowa against your scrambled eggs
Than crawling down Cahuenga on a broken pair of legs
You'll find your ignorance is blissful every goddamn time
Your're waitin' for the R.T.D. on Heartattack and Vine

Boney's high on China white, Shorty found a punk
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk
Well, this stuff will probably kill you, let's do another line
What you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine

Liar, liar with your pants on fire
White spades is hangin' on a telephone wire
Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted lines
You'll never recognize yourself on Heartattack and Vine

Sane, sane, they're all insane
Fireman's blind, the conductor is lame
A Cincinnati jacket and a sad-luck dame
Hangin' out the window with a bottle full of rain
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said, roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son-a-bitch is never comin' back here no more
The moon in the window and the bird on the pole
We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said, steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at

Roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son-a-bitch is never coming back here no more
Moon in the window and the bird on the pole
You can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

I said, steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
Fifty dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
But nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at

Shine, shine, a Roosevelt dime
All the way to Baltimore and runnin' out of time
Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, ooh, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands

Check this strange beverage, falls out from the sky
Splashin' Bagdad on the Hudson in Panther Martin's eyes
He's high on the outside wearin' candy apple red
Scarlet gave him twenty-seven stitches in his head
With a pint of green Chartruse, ain't nothin' seems right
You buy the Sunday paper on a Saturday night

Can't you hear the thunder, someone stole my watch
I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch
Someone told the Chinamen down on Telegraph Canyon Road
When you're on the bill with the spoon, ain't no time to unload
So, bye bye, baby - baby, bye bye

Droopy Stranger, Lonely Dreamer, Toy Puppy and the Prado
Were laughin' as they piled into Olmos' Eldorado
Jesus whispered, "Eany, meany, meany, miney, moe."
Too proud to duck their heads, why they bring it down so low
So, bye bye, baby - baby, bye bye

The pointed man is smack dab in the middle of July
Swingin' from the rafters in his brand new tie
He said, "I can't go back to that hotel room, all they do is shout."
But listen to, "I'll stick with you, baby, till the money runs out."
So, bye bye, baby - baby, bye bye

Check this strange beverage, falls out from the sky
Splashin' Bagdad on the Hudson in Panther Martin's eye
High on the outside wearin' candy apple red
Scarlet gave him twenty-seven stitches in his head
With a pint of green Chartruse, ain't nothin' seems right
You buy the Sunday paper on a Saturday night
Bye bye, bye bye, baby - oh, baby, bye bye, oh
Stickin' with you, honey, till the money runs out

I bought the sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
And a black crow snuck through a hole in the sky
So, I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule
And I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba
And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree and I leaned it up on a dandelion tree, yeah
And I cooked them feathers on a cast-iron spit
And I filled me a sachel full of old pig corn, filled me a sachel full of old pig corn
And I beat me a billy from an old French horn
And I kicked that mule to the top of the tree, kicked that mule to the top of the tree
And I blew me a hole bout the size of a kickdrum
And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin', I'm whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

Now, I slept in the hollow of a dry creek bed
And I tore out the buckets from a red Corvette, tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Now, Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three
You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
With the strings of a Washburn stretched like a clothes line
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
Now, me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

Now, I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail
That I strapped on the back of my old kick mule, strapped that pack on the back of my mule
Bang on the strings just to drive him crazy
And I strum it loud just to rattle his cage, strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage, strum it loud just to rattle his cage

Sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

I stood on the roof of Stuart's old Dodge
Tryin' to get a better look at the Fledderjohn's lodge
Big sharp pistols, ammo too
Nothing bout books about World War Two
Rottweiler, Dobermann, Pinkerton guard
I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard
I ain't allowed, no, no, I ain't allowed
I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard

I seen a python swallowin' a Dobermann whole
Piranhas swimmin' in a mixing bowl
Buzz Fledderjohn's papers full of stabbings, the sky's full of crows
She's singing in Italian while she's hanging out her clothes
Carp in the bathtub and it's rainin' real hard
And I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard

Sailors ringing doorbells, sinners in the pews
Weathervane's squeaking to the west
I seen the cliffs of Dover and the deepest ocean blue
But one thing in the world I can recommend to you
I ain't allowed, I ain't allowed
I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard
I ain't allowed, I said, I ain't allowed
I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard

Molly be Damned smote Jimmy the Harp
With a horrid little pistol and a lariat
She's goin' to the bottom and she's goin' down the drain
Said she wasn't big enough to carry it
She said, get behind the mule in the morning and plow
She got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
She got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
She got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Choppity-chop goes the axe in the woods
You gotta meet me by the fall down tree
Shovel of dirt upon a coffin lid
And you know they'll come lookin' for me, boys, I know they'll come lookin' for me
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
Gotta get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Big Jack Earl was eight foot one
He stood in the road and he cried
He couldn't make her love him, couldn't make her stay
But tell the good Lord he tried, tell the good Lord he tried
Got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Dusty trail from Atchison to Placerville
On the wreck of the Weaverville stage
Beaula fired a Beatty for a lemonade
I was stirring my brandy with a nail, boys, I's stirring my brandy with a nail
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
Gotta get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Well, the rampaging sons of the widow James
Jack the Cutter, the Pock Marked Kid
Had us standing naked at the bottom of the cross
And tell the good Lord what they did, tell the good Lord what they did
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
Get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin' all the way to China with a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boy, while the hangman fumbles with the noose
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the, in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Pin your ear to the wisdom post
Pin your eye to the line
Never let the weed gets higher than the garden
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
Got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow
You got to get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Well, with buck shot eyes and a purple heart I rolled down the national stroll
And with a big fat paycheck strapped to my hip sack and a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve
In a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
And I left all my papers on the Ticonderoga and I was in a bad need of a shave
And so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein and shot billards with a midget until the rain stopped
And I bought a long sleeved shirt with horses on the front and some gum and a lighter and a knife
And a new deck of cards with girlies on the back and I sat down and wrote this letter to my wife
And I said, baby, I'm so far away from home and I miss my baby so
I can't make it by myself, I love you so

Well, I was pacing myself trying to make it all last
Squeezing all the life out of this lousy two day pass
And I had a cold one at the Dragon with some Filipino floor show
And I talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore sling
And I wondered how the same moon outside over this Chinatown fair
Could look down on Illinois and find you there
And I know I love you, baby and I'm so far away from home
And I miss my baby so
I can't make it by myself, I love you so

Shore leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave

There's a crooked street in Houston town
It's a well born path I've traveled down
Now, there's ruin in my name, I wish I never got off the train
I wished I'd listened to the words you said

Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
You'll be lost and never found
You can never turn around
Don't go down to Fannin Street

Once I held you in my arms I was sure
But I took that silent stare through the guilded door
The desire to have much more, all the glitter and the roar
Now, I know this is where the sidewalk ends

Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
You'll be lost and never found
You can never turn around
You don't go down to Fannin Street

When I was young I thought only of gettin' out
I said goodbye to my street, goodbye to my house
Give a man gin, give a man cards - give an inch, he takes a yard
And I rue the day that I stepped off this train

Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
Don't go down to Fannin Street
You'll be lost and never found
You can never turn around
Don't go down to Fannin Street

Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch Pink on a downtown train
Two dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain
Sixteen men on a dead man's chest
And I been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon and I can't stand up

Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Schiffer broke a bottle on Morgan's head
And I been stepping on the devil's tail
Across the stripes of a full moon's head
And through the bars of a Cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass
I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife
Come, admire the view from up on top of the mast

Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Yellow sheets on a Hong Kong bed
Stazybo horn and a Slingerland ride
"To the carnival," is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside
Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch Pink on a downtown train
Two dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner in the pouring rain

Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey, little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Well, cutting through the cane break, rattling the still
Thunder that the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill
Big light on a back street, hill to ever more
Packing down the ladder with the hammer to the floor
Here come the big black Mariah, here come the big black Mariah
Here come the big black Mariah, I seen the big black Ford

Well, he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Hunting Black Johnny with a blind man's cane
Yellow bullet with a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger and old bell Jim
Here come the big black Mariah, here come the big black Mariah
Here come the big black Mariah, here come that big black Ford

I was sent to the skies on a Benny Jag Blue
Off to bed without his supper like a little bride do
Here comes the old widow Jones
I got a wooden coat, this boy never coming home
Here come the big black Mariah, here come the big black Mariah
Here come the big black Mariah, I seen that big black Ford

Well, he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Flat Blue Johnny with a blind man's cane
A hundred yellow bullets shook a rag in the wind
An old blind tiger, on a bell you win
Here come the big black Mariah, here come the big black Mariah
Here come the big black Mariah, here come that big black Ford

There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn

The trees are bending over and the cows are lying down
And autumn's taking over, you can hear the buckshot hound
The watchman said to Reba the Loon
Was it pale at Manzanita, or Blind Bob the Coon
Pin it on a drifter, they sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin and sleeps inside a fridge
Now, there was a murder, a murder in the red barn

Someone's crying in the woods, someone's burying all his clothes
Now, Slam the Crank from Wheezer slept outside last night and froze
Roadkill has its season just like anything
It's possums in the autumn and farm cats in the spring
Now, there was a murder, a murder in the red barn

Now, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house or covet thy neighbor's wife
But for some it's murder is the only door they walking into life
Now, they surrounded the house, they took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised and we had months of heavy rain
Now, there's a murder, a murder in the red barn

Now, the raven's nest in the rotted roof of Chenoweth's old place
And no one's asking Cal about that scar upon his face
Cos there's nothin' strange about an axe with bloodstains in the barn
There's always some kind of killing you got to do around the farm
Now, there's a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn

Now, the woods will never tell what sleeps beneath the trees
Or what's buried 'neath a rock or hiding in the leaves
Cos roadkill has its seasons just like anything
It's possums in the autumn and it's farm cats in the spring
Now, there's a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn

Now, a lady can't do nothing without folks' tongues a-wagging
Is that blood on the tree or is autumn's red blaze
When the ground is soft for digging and the rain will bring all of this gloom
There's nothing wrong with a lady drinking alone in a room
There's a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn, there's a murder in the red barn
There's a murder in the red barn, ooh, murder in the red barn
I said, a murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn

Woah, I know I've been changed
Oh, I, I know I've been changed 
Woah, I know I've been changed
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name

I know I got religion
Lord knows I'm not ashamed
Oh, a holy ghost is my witness
And the angels gonna sign my name

Woah, I know I've been changed
Oh, I know I've been changed 
Oh, I know I've been changed
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name

Well, I know I been converted
Lord knows I've been redeemed
Well, you can wake me up in the midnight hour
I'm gonna tell ya just what I feel

Woah, I know I've been changed
I know I've been changed 
I know I've been changed
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name
Angels in heaven gonna sign my name