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1.
When I Go 04:16
come, lonely hunter, chieftain and king, i will fly like the falcon when i go bear me my brother under your wing, i will strike fell like lightnin when i go i will bellow like the thunder drum, invoke the storm of war a twistin pillar spun of dust and blood up from the prairie floor i will sweep the foe before me like a gale out on the snow and the wind will long recount the story, reverence and glory, when i go spring, spirit dancer, nimble and thin, i will leap like coyote when i go tireless entrancer, lend me your skin, i will run like the gray wolf when i go i will climb the rise at daybreak, i will kiss the sky at noon raise my yearnin voice at midnight to my mother in the moon i will make the lay of long defeat and draw the chorus slow i'll send this message down the wire and hope that someone wise is listenin when i go and when the sun comes trumpets from his red house in the east he will find a standin stone where long i chanted my release he will send his mornin messenger to strike the hammer blow and i will crumble down uncountable in showers of crimson rubies when i go sigh, mournful sister, whisper and turn, i will rattle like dry leaves when i go stand in the mist where my fire used to burn, i will camp on the night breeze when i go and should you glimpse my wand'rin form out on the borderline between death and resurrection and the council of the pines do not worry for my comfort, do not sorrow for me so all your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me when i go
2.
red dog runnin down a long black road nose to the gravel, license to travel he don't care if it's your place or my place whole human race got just one face in his case up on the mountain sits a sleepy old coot rifle on his shoulder, pistol in his boot bottle in one hand, bible in the other no-count rebel, baby he's my brother ethyl in the gas tank, chicken on the farm semper fidelis on my good right arm elvis blastin on the color tv i'm a u.s. male, dontcha tread on me johnny's in the attic writin automatic talkin emphatic about the bureaucratic static jungle, low-pay high-rent bobby's on the pavement thinkin bout the government so go where you gotta, do what you will but it's another workin day up on capitol hill boozin cruisin snoozin and usin but somebody's winnin, somebody's losin one pound of flesh and a gallon of sweat just your daily payment on the national debt but all god's children got a right to be free, mister state trooper dontcha tread on me seems we live and die in a crossfire hurricane in the rain but "no pain, no gain." the sign explains still, jesse james in his coat of flames held up their one-way gravy train "nothin to lose but your workin blues and your chains," the man with no name claims well i figure i'll make me a sign of my own take the stars and stripes and the skull and bones and the cross of jesus and a golden crown and the serpent that bites when the boot grinds down tie it all together with a fine silk cord from the rusty antenna of my '63 ford now look over yonder, son, tell me whatcha see that's the flag of freedom, dontcha tread on me
3.
annie's lover was a medicine man, and he roamed the chokes and boulders hick'ry staddle in his big black hand and a star upon his shoulder he'd go down to the meadow at night, he would dance in the firefly light and she would dream like a pagan queen when he'd hold her annie's lover was a wildcat's brother and the badger's mad companion in his rainbow beads and his straw hat he was the king of mercy canyon in the winter she would trade her crown for boots of buckskin leather rise up singin when the sun went down and ride out on the heather they would meet in the meadow at night, they would dance in the fey moonlight dip and spin and skate the wind like feathers 'cause annie's lover was a wildcat's brother ... now if you wander in the twilight hills out past the gates of eden graze your pony where the dark spring spills and surely you will see them they come down to the meadow at night, there they dance till the morning light and all the bounding saints come 'round to greet them 'cause annie's lover was a wildcat's brother...
4.
grand prairie, texas, home on the range i come here for salvation but i'm just another stranger on a strip highway where nobody stops or stays hell-bent on revival, lookin to grow some roots i have mortgaged my survival for these worn out cowboy boots but there's just one horse in forty miles and he's the prized possession of the dallas zoo and he feels like a stranger, too ld silver, take me ridin through the foothills of my life i went easy in the saddle with a lever-action rifle and a tin canteen through a field of dreams way out by the beltline where the armadillos play with the noble bootjack rabbit in the evening of the day oh where my brothers have you gone for i return to thank you for the gifts you gave but the field is paved these nights i work the graveyard at the burger king downtown i get off in the mornin and i lay my burden down at the convenience store where stood my old front door st. peter when you call me, you can find me waitin here beneath this sad mimosa tree with a quart of drive-thru beer for home is in the heartland but the heartland cannot save you when the heart is gone and home's moved on
5.
sweet kate, open your gate, here i stand in the wind threadbare, snow in my hair, how i need you again for lone stalks the hunter's moon, time takes her toll love, please, mercy on me and my poor wand'rin soul love is a star that will not shine till the hour of your return i count the days in cups of wine and the candles i have burned and sunrise comes only when i am faraway in dreams or when the black thunder rolls i cannot save my own sad heart nor your poor, poor wand'rin soul i heard the grey wolf sing her serenade at night but you never held me by the light of day i climbed the redwood tree and caught the wren in flight but her wings were soft as morning and the morning slipped away (duet) open the gate, love so many candles suddenly morning slips away from me and the wax heart weeps and blisters and it's burning where he kissed her and the ghost of lost love whispers, "sweet Kate..."
6.
she's a walkin talkin breathin new age wonder, old time heathens don't know what to make of mary jane 'cause she ain't tryin to be no swami, she ain't mad at dad and mommy she don't curse the storm clouds when it rains when the sun refuse to shine she don't mind, she make everything look fine she got moon in her eyes, crescent windows on the skies and the rain comes down in sheets on the people in the streets and it carries all the secrets that they keep to the river where she sleeps she comes to me when i'm dejected, leaves her soul out unprotected tells me that the truth can make me free and she don't need what she ain't got, she reads me books by alan watts speakin words o' wisdom: let it be when the sun refuse to shine she don't mind, she take thunder for a sign she got stars in her head, supernovas in her bed and it rains most every day, but i like it fine that way 'cause the waters run so marvelous and deep in the river where she sleeps mary ain't inclined to drinkin, still she stumbles without thinkin anywhere she gets the urge to stray and everybody knows about her, they don't want to change or doubt her they just grin when she comes out to play when the sun refuse to shine she don't mind, she be movin down the line she got bells on her toes, generations in her clothes and she sings without a sound as the evenin rolls around and she dances as the twilight shadows creep down the river where she sleeps professor come to burst my bubble, says that girl is bound for trouble serves me solace in a paper cup but it looks a bit like agent orange and when he leaves he slams the door and just about that time she phones me up when the sun refuse to shine she don't mind, she just ain't the worryin kind she got dogs, she got cats, she keeps rabbits in her hats and the people that she sees, they're all buddhas or police and the banks rise high and perilous and steep by the river where she sleeps now one dismayed december dawn i wake to find my mary's gone and no one knows when she'll come back again and all the silent temple bells from styx to glenn to hazel dell are mournin all the nights that might have been when the sun refuse to shine she don't mind, she just leave this world behind she got wheels in her smile, she can coast along for miles me i'm walkin all alone, feelin soulful to the bone till i stop and I hang my head and weep by the river where she sleeps
7.
Lancelot 04:44
lancelot rode on a swayback mare he won in a card game up north somewhere he was bottom-out lonesome, he was too tired to care keepin one step ahead of the rain well he blew into broken bow late last year talkin up the vision of his lost guinevere but he couldn't tell a grail from a glass of beer so he settled for lady elaine he sang, "yodelayhee, i ain't no untarnished galahad down from arcadia like a dream in your head but gentle lady, lend me the true heart i never had and i'll wash the years from your bed with all the salt tears i have shed," lancelot said well mornin came sleepy and mornin came slow and the mirror revealed a face she didn't know and the last autumn robin was packin to go as another year slipped by the way so she rose and she dressed and she pushed back the night she put up her hair by the dawn's early light and the man in her bed was an eagle in flight and a crooked old crow in the hay he sang, "yodelayhee, i ain't no untarnished galahad down from arcadia like a dream in your head but gentle lady, lend me the true heart i never had and i'll stain the lavenders red with all of this good blood i've shed," lancelot said so bugles blow golden and banners fly blue but these days the castle's just drywall and glue and tiltin at windmills is the best you can do with the black knight of time on your lawn so i wouldn't know if he left or he stayed prospered or starved by the promise he made or maybe he straggled and maybe he strayed while the bright world went barrelin on singin "yodelayhee, i ain't no untarnished galahad down from arcadia like a dream in your head but gentle lady, lend me the true heart i never had and i'll bring you roses and bread and we'll fashion gold out of lead with all the illusions we shed," lancelot said
8.
they raised him up on the installment plan the homely son of a handsome man neither clear-complected nor expected to achieve a little bit ragged, a little big rough a little too rowdy for the summer of love now he's looking for a reason to believe and he's changed his name from frank to valentino he's growin out his sideburns and he's wearin platform shoes and he's drivin on the midnight road from medford down to reno and he thinks he's found a way to cure his workin blues he got himself married at seventeen she looked real pretty but she talked kinda mean he thought they'd work things out in the fullness of time twenty years later he's headed south the close-range victim of her sawed-off mouth leavin their salad days behind and he's changed his name from frank to valentino ... lord have mercy on the workin stiff pullin graveyards and double-shifts tryin to hold his own beside the pretty and the bright givin up the dream of his own backyard jugglin taxes and credit cards see him rollin like a ghost train through the night and he's changed his name from frank to valentino ...
9.
when i was just nine days old, jumped off my pappy's knee and i crawled out on the open road, a long-haul trucker for to be saved my money, bought a rig, factory stock and plain tricked her out, give the name, little liza, liza jane i said bull dog train she my ball and chain chokin churnin rubber burnin little liza jane i took to haulin overloads across the great divide missions through the rabbit ears, hell-for-leather, do-or-die crosswinds clocked at eighty knots, snow upon the ground black ice in the hammer lane, man, that don't even slow me down bull dog train she my ball and chain frettin fussin diesel-guzzlin little liza jane smoky at the chicken coop, he said the road was closed so i doubled back a mile or two and i took this little turn i know top froze over, bundled out, downgrade ten percent nailed her into boogie and then down that evil road i went singin bull dog train she my ball and chain slippin slidin skatin glidin little liza jane road so slick i couldn't steer, snow too thick to see runnin short on shoulder and my nine lives runnin out on me sheer cliff risin to the left, drop-off to the right and nothin past that guard rail but a thousand feet of endless night i said bull dog train she my ball and chain racin rockin tightrope-walkin little liza jane faster now and faster still, couldn't touch the brakes so i let liza have her head and i crossed my heart for goodness sake but underneath that driven snow, alligator bait chomped a tire, road went left -- me and liza went on straight we crashed right through that wooden rail, o'er the side we went thirty tons of smoke and chrome and thirty years of bad intent streakin like a cannon ball, a comet trail in space and the stars spun in my window, and the full moon in my mortal face bull dog train she my ball and chain rippin roarin eagle soarin little liza jane now lord i pray forgive me for all the wrongs i've done for all the bambis i have banged and the stogies i have bummed but as i stand before you, i swear by smoke and steel that we sailed down past those chasm walls and never grazed a wheel 'cause liza's tires were spinnin and her cab was cocked just so that we touched down like a jumbo jet when we hit that valley road below and she pulled it out like magic on a triple-digit ride and we made it home ahead of time, good luck and trouble on our side and drivers, when you're weary, and you just can't find the trail if you ask me to reveal the moral of this little tale, i'll say bull dog train she my ball and chain jumpin jammin hammer slammin little liza jane bull dog train she my ball and chain jumpin jammin hammer slammin rippin roarin eagle soarin racin rockin tight-rope walkin slippin slidin skatin glidin frettin fussin diesel guzzlin chokin churnin hell-fire burnin little liza, little liza little liza, little liza little liza jane
10.
elvis presley came to me in a dream last night like a sleepy golden eagle on the breeze wearin wings of spanish leather, he was lookin all right but his rebel heart lay bleeding on his knees he said, "sherman's wolves howl 'round the gate and the sheep have gone astray and priscilla's flown to paris, now she's lost to me" he said, "throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline 'cause somebody's driftin away" then he took me over cracker malls and chicken shacks where the lost souls prowl the lonesome oceanside they were waitin on the shadow of the merrimack floatin brave as davis sabers on the tide but he said, "dixie slumbers in the cold, cold ground and lincoln moulders in the clay and they got john wilkes booth on the radio "singin, 'throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline 'cause somebody's driftin away'" now the truth is plain and simple, but it flickers on my lips like a moonbeam in a blue kentucky pool 'cause the union, she's a clever and a worthy ship but she's prideful, and she will not bear a fool so the fleet sails blind past beauregard and the flagship founders in the bay while the captain paces on the quarterdeck cryin, "throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline 'cause somebody's driftin away" these blue suede shoes were made for someone else's feet me, I grow weary ever walkin down that line 'cause I never seem to reach the end of lonely street even though my heart's been broken for sometime oh, if you should meet me on the march from appomattox all in gray won't you take this message to the king for me tell him, "throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline 'cause somebody's driftin away" tell him, "throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline 'cause somebody's driftin away"

about

"Discovery of the year... [Carter] is a major lyrical talent." -Los Angeles Times

credits

released October 11, 1998

Produced by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
Associate Producer: Mark Frethem

Recorded in Tracy's Kitchen by Dave & Tracy except for (8) recorded in Donny Wright's garage. Mixed by Mark Frethem at Doctor Digital. Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering. Photography by Kathleen Williams, Dan Betenbender. Package design by Tracy Grammer.

Musicians:
Dave Carter: guitar, banjo, bass, vocals
Tracy Grammer: violin, mandolin, guitar, vocals
Eric Park: harmonica, accordion

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Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer Portland, Oregon

American folk duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer blend tradition and
innovation into a potent musical elixir. They transcend singer/songwriter stereotypes, delivering evocative, clear-eyed ruminations on death and life, love and ruin, that result in "music of haunting beauty and uncommon intelligence" (The
Oregonian). Carter died in 2002; Grammer curates their legacy and now performs solo.
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