Two Gallants
What The Toll Tells

01   Las Cruces Jail (05:46)

Well, I spent last night in Las Cruces jail
Rain and hail, born to fail
Nobody come for to go my bail
Sun, don't you rise no more

I shot one man on the county line
Took his dime and I blew his mind
Now I'm just sitting here, doing time
Sun, don't you rise no more

Well, a restless wind is whistling
Through my window, through my head
Through all the straits that I've survived
And in my hour of darkness
I keep counsel with the dead
Just enough to remind me I'm alive

I write to the governor to hear my plea
But he don't even answer me
The judge said he's gonna set my spirit free
Sun, don't you rise no more

Gallows high, he chose the day
Friday the thirteenth of May
But I don't plan to go that way
Sun, don't you ruse no more

Goodnight, my Andalucia
Don't buy all the lies that they feed you
And though you're headed slowly
To some place I can't respect
I'll keep you in my collection of regret

And that's twenty-one fell by my gun
Well they all fell the same
Just need one more to match my age
Then I'll count my killing done
But I won't deny my name:
Quickest wrist of the chaparral and sage

Well desperate times call for desperate men
I'm just a kid but I'll pretend
My time will come, but until then
Sun, don't you rise no more

But I see the gallows alter
That circle 'round the sun
They gonna hang me if I stay here
Shoot me if I run

That jailer better watch his pride
Or off my wrists these shackles slide
Hear my restless forty-five
Sun don't you rise no more

Goodnight, my Andalucia
Don't buy all the lies that they feed you
And though you're headed slowly
To some place I can't respect
I'll keep you in my collection of regrets

Down the highway, down the road
To infamy I'll ride
I'll take my pardon on the run
With a trail of death behind me
And Deluvina at my side
Two silhouettes against the sun

Well, I spent last night in Las Cruces jail
Rain and hail, born to fail
Nobody come for to go my bail
Sun, don't you rise no more

02   Steady Rollin' (04:28)

You might have seen me 'neath the pool hall lights.
Well baby I go back each night.
If you got a throat I got a knife.
Steady rollin', I keep goin'.

I don't mind how quick the seasons change.
You know to me they's every one the same.
The sweetest sunshine drips the drain.
Death's comin', I'm still runnin'.

Well I come from the old time baby,
too late for you to save me.
If I remain then I'm to blame.
But if you should ever need me,
I'll go where'er you lead me.
It's all the same, the same old game.

My lovin' lady she's a ball and chain.
I still can travel but my speed has changed.
I bring the money, I take the blame.
Steady rollin', I keep goin'.

But I shot my wife today,
dropped her body in the Frisco bay.
I had no choice it was the only way.
Death's comin', I'm still runnin'.

Well I come from the old time baby,
too late for you to save me.
If I remain then I'm to blame.
But if you should ever need me,
I'll go where'er you lead me.
It's all the same, the same old game.

Out waltzin' with the Holy Ghost,
from the Bowery to the Barbary Coast.
The land I'm from you know I love the most.
Steady rollin', I keep goin'.

And everyday is just another town.
The more I search you know the less I've found.
Me, I'm a sucker, just a slave to sound.
Death's comin', I'm still runnin'.

Well I come from the old town baby,
where all the kids are crazy.
If I remain then I'm to blame.
But if you should ever need me,
I'll go where'er you lead me.
It's all the same, the same old game.

03   Some Slender Rest (08:57)

And I’m a go make my bed
Tuck in the other side
These confessions are mine
But I’ll not claim a word

This restless parade
Yes I watched it go by
Through the cracks in my palm
Seen them all gone
Some sequence of lives

Well she calls out alone
With the pain in her voice
It’s the wound of betrayal
It’s the weapon of choice

Left her heart on display
Though that she’ll deny
Two tattoos of skin
One of ice one of tin
For the days have gone by

But I ain’t one to reminisce
But close my heart and clench my fists

Now the days swiftly pass
With the chest full of fear
Here the minutes are hours
But the moments are years

And old acquaintances passed
In trios, in pairs
And if they stay or they go
One struggles to know
One struggles to care

But out beyond the penitentiary walls
The wind blows hard the highway crawls

And if you should pass the James Hotel
Please stop in for I knew you well
But that was oh so long ago
And I never learned how to let go

But when you fear your own faults
And you’re sick of this life
When you’re reckless of hand
And trembling the knife
And all your doors prefer locks
And your death prefers spoons
Why wouldn’t you wait one last laugh at fate
Forever’s too soon

But across the field death bell knells
Listen close hear the toll tell

To run and tell my darling true
My breath is short
My days are few
So please come down
And take my hand
My last demand

And lead me to some slender rest
And please dismiss what I confess

04   Long Summer Day (04:54)

05   The Prodigal Son (03:13)

Well, I've been a disclaimer for twenty-four years
Poor mother drowned in a pillow of tears
I'm well known in story, famous in song
The black sheep, the blemish, the one who went wrong
The black sheep, the blemish, the one who went wrong

My crime is discomfort, my mind ill at ease
They'll grow on my shoulder, my favorite disease
My siblings, my rivals might tend to my wake
Grieve me not brothers, I was mother's mistake
Grieve me not brothers, I was mother's mistake

And all the grand expectations of an epic of wealth
Leave me long to crawl back to the womb
Well, I've tasted your grace, placed it back on the shelf
Drag your pedigree wives to your tomb
Drag your pedigree wives to your tomb

Well, I came from this city, a victim of peace
But I've grown far too filthy to attend to the feast
So I take to the hills to live savage and free
I don't need nobody, nobody needs me
I don't need nobody, nobody needs me

06   Threnody (09:34)

Gather 'round, you wounded people
Shadows fall upon the steeple,
Soon shall come the closing of,
The closing of the gates

For there is word of plague among us
Curse the one whose poison stung us,
All along the alleyways
The satyrs wait their fate

But who's to blame when all are guilty
Morals stained and conscience filthy
Abreast your idol replicas
Your replicas of lust,
In the sky I hear the threshing
Dare to watch your lord undressing
While you beg forgiveness,
You feed on his disgust

But if perhaps the salt might stain your skin
And if perhaps the smoke might weep your eyes
Listen while the threnodies begin
Know no one in here gets out alive.

But let your frailty not deceive you
A little pinprick, rest relieves you,
And dream of all the days that are,
The years that are to come

For you will dance and you'll be nimble
Pirouettes upon a thimble
And I will be beside you
Lest I lose you once again.

But if perhaps my sorrows all are show
And I should find a crack among the gates,
Guilt shall follow me where'er I go
Though I try I know I can't escape

And when you're gone the earth will crumble
I will try but I will stumble
And all through these city streets
My robes shall drag the ground

Hear the children swing with sorrow,
Yesterday was once tomorrow
No more I'll be troubled by the troubles of this world

But if I lose my step along the way
And if the speech of victim fills my throat
Out beyond the cliffs that shape the day
It's there I'll wander, there I'll stray

It's there I'll look for you when all my trials are done
I feign sleep to save my breath,
This love is loss, this life is theft,
And all that's left is some vain need to carry on

And though I fear the tightening of the skies
Against the dawn I'll watch you rise
Oh Lord, the company I keep within my head

The scent of flesh might tease the nose
It claims the calm, it clings the clothes

Could that be you, my love?
Your dust upon the wind?

07   16th St. Dozens (05:15)

Cops and junkies hurl their sophistries
And hail cacophony
Try not hard to shake this off of me
Howl you fools, it's all for naught

But on 16th street we wait for holiness
Vaccinate ourselves from loneliness
Masquerade through homes of homelessness
And oh, I hope we'll not get over this

Here the now is now upon us
Everyone must share this on us
Ancients have no more to loan us
All our debts unpaid

On 16th street we rise in numbers
Once a name now just a number
Scream for all the unsaid, unheard prisoners on parade
Sweet Dolores, mi mamasita
Seems each day I still re-meet you
Disculpame mi pobrecita
Guess I left things incomplete

But all this noise will soon be over
So let's drink until you're halfway sober
Red rover's already over
But the last thing that we need is closure

Now it's time for us to swallow all this loss until tomorrow
Pay back all the time we've borrowed
Anger well displayed

On 16th street we fall in numbers
No one questions, no one wonders
Scream for all the unsaid, unheard hoodlums on parade

08   Age of Assassins (08:01)

Oh when the summer sun come cutting
Like a clean razor blade
And I wake to the day and all the visions I've made
Reached out my hand for the curl of her hair
And whisper my dreams to the girl who's not there
Gather some memory from the night before
Where'd she go? she go, where'd she go?
Screaming of threats and slam of a door

Well I don't know, don't know, don't know
So I look to the window and the city below
From this bed of mine
Where I eat sweet jelly rolls

Think I'll put on my face
I'd like to fix me a drink
'Cause somewhere someone knows just what I think
Last night's but a question that hangs likes a noose
'Round my throat, my throat
Surely tonight, I'll invite its abuse

Well there's no hope, no hope, no hope

Goodness me, oh my
Oh my god, I still might be fine
Get through all the pains I fake
Poor boy could use a break
A break from my own daily hate, oh
"Pain is something no one else knows"
That's what I hear them say
But everyone bereaves the day
I said weary weary walk away

So I take to the streets like the dead to the grave
You light me a smoke because it's right to behave
And I'm all juiced up all morning because morning is when
Heros stand tall in the statues of men
And all the pigeons adore me and peck at my feet
Oh the fame, the fame, the fame
Someday they may use my head as a seat

Well I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait

Goodness me, oh my
Oh my god, I still might get by
Get through all the pains I fake
Poor boy could use a break
A break from my own daily hate, oh
"Pain is something no one else knows"
That's what I hear them say
But everyone bereaves the day
I said weary weary walk away

When I die alone bury me deep
Way out west past Sunset Street
So I can hear old 29 when she goes rollin' by
And when they come to claim my skin
And I go back where I begin
Place the stones at my head and feet
Tell them all I've gone to sleep

And as the city unravels her metal bedroll
I dirty her sheets with the stumble I stroll
And the people all stop just to watch me go by
With a thirst in my throat and a tear in my eye
So riddle me this while I lend you my soul in a song, in a song, a song
And balance the sky on these shoulders of mine

Until the dawn, the dawn, the dawn

Goodness me, oh my
Oh my god, I still might get by
Get through all the pains I fake
Poor boy could use a break
A break from my own daily hate, oh
"Pain is something no one else knows"
That's what I hear them say
But everyone bereaves the day
I said weary weary walk away

09   Waves of Grain (09:34)

Pray betray the deceased,
such an infamous freedom, such a militant peace.
How dare they distrust, do they know who we are?
And Your progeny's brave,
their tract houses waiting, pre-plucked and pre-paved:
To the ends of the Earth, wife, kids and a car.

But oh no, no, I see them falling.
Let's all pray for rain, Let's all pray for rain.
And all your children are reared by panic and fear.
But what when all your fields are rotten,
your waves of grain, amber waves of grain?
And your word is yet done: Inbreed us 'till we're all the same.

And Your collection of tongues,
you keep framed in your parlour, with your bibles and guns,
the fetus of Christ with a fistful of scars.
And your vision is clear,
while you blind your own kind in a curtain of fear,
your words twisted skywards distracted by stars.

But oh, no, no, the sky is falling.
Let's all pray for rain, Let's all pray for rain.
And you pour out your prayers and weep 'cuase you care.
But what when all your fields are rotten,
your waves of grain, amber waves of grain?
And you hide the dead while my friends head to die in your name.

And This playground is yours
spoke God when you met, behind closed doors.
Gesture your hand and the pawns shall subside
And though you play alone,
you never get lonely, you never get bored.
Who needs a friend when God's on your side?

But oh, no, no, I see them falling.
Let's all pray for rain, Let's all pray for rain.
And even I can't pretend we're not near the end.
But what when all your fields are rotten,
your waves of grain, amber waves of grain?
When your days are done, I hope you've had fun with your game.

And you accepted as fact:
Behold a white horse, with you on it's back,
a bow in your hand, a crown through your hair.
And the oceans shall rise
and slap on the shores of mountainsides.
Great waves of progress shall wet the air.

But oh, no, no, the sky is falling.
Let's all pray for rain, Let's all pray for rain.
And you fools in the back with your heads in your hats,
What when all your fields are rotten,
your waves of grain, amber waves of grain?
And my words won't be done, they'll never be done 'till the end.