1. |
Strange Shadows
04:03
|
|||
|
You roll like a lucky strike
Hugging the gutter tight
You left in a red corvette
Dangling a cigarette
Just like a coin you flipped
Just like a rock you skipped
Was it a heavy load
Dragging the lies you told
I find your footprints where i walk
Your voice echoes when i talk
Every time I look down
Strange shadows on the ground
You write with a perfect script
But what did you write with it
You write to your daughter
That you forgot her
You look like an astronaut
On your Goldwing
Love is an afterthought
Life is failed scheme
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
Have you ever killed yourself
When was the last time you were born.
Have you ever killed yourself.
Crawled up the cross in a crown made of thorns
The time is right what's on your mind
You dug the hole so down you climb
Wake up lazarus
Rise and shine
chorus
Don't you mumble don't you pout
Don't you wonder what it's all about
Rise up Phoenix
Your flames are out
(solo)
Clean your blood
Bleach your bones
Burn the house down
You call home
Come on pilgrim
Roll that stone
Have you ever killed yourself
When was the last time you were born.
Have you ever killed yourself
Crawled up the cross In a crown made of thorns
|
||||
3. |
Imaginary Man Intro
00:14
|
|||
4. |
Imaginary Man
03:23
|
|||
|
Verse 1:
GCG
I made you up and all your noisy things
Em CG
Your clumsy mouth and your stuttering
G CEm
Glued the feathers on your lazy wings
C Am
Invented everything you ever told me
Verse 2:
GCG
Gave you hands so you could grip
Em CG
So you could pucker I gave you lips
C Em
So you could wiggle I gave you hips
C G B7/F#
Chorus:
Em B7
And what did you make of me?
C Am
A
G Em
CGCG
From imaginary woman to imaginary man
And fingertips so you could mold me
bitter rind a salty sea
Verse 3:
B7/F#
Love letter left in the sand
You made me up from a grainy dream
An inside out suit so you could see the seams
The leading man for your dramatic scenes
I invented schemes to stay alive
Page 1
Chorus 2:
And what did i make of you
A swollen sun to stare into
Love letter left in the sand
From imaginary woman to imaginary man
Bridge 1:
Em G Em G
Bridge 2:
G/Eb
G/D G/C
G/D G/C
Repeat the motions and the muscles learn
G/C#
Remove the neck and the head can't turn
G/Eb
Then light the hair and watch it burn
G/C#
With imaginary concern
|
||||
5. |
Imaginary Man Outro
00:14
|
|||
6. |
Mess Of Things
02:59
|
|||
|
Three golden balls above my head
A penny for a spool of thread
St. Nicholas are you feeling generous
A penny for a little angel dust
I've made a mess of things
I've pawned my bees and I've pawned their stingers
The rings got pawned along with my fingers
And what would you give me for this fancy guitar
It was my brothers and this is his VCR
I've made a mess of things
What will you give me for my Mom's husband's guns
What will you give to watch a man come undone
I tell myself whatever it takes
To deny I feel the ground beneath me shake
I've made a mess of things
|
||||
7. |
Arkansas Summer Intro
00:07
|
|||
8. |
Arkansas Summer
03:32
|
|||
|
Arkansas Summer
A black eyed susan in the rubble
Key of A
Chris Maxwell
Verse 1:
A G#
D
D Dm A
She is love she is trouble
G F#
Verse 2:
A G#
D
D Dm A
A big black crow in a robin's nest
G F#
Chorus:
Dm A G
GA
She beats down like an Arkansas Summer
Here she comes the destroyer
C#m
C#aug
With her loved ones on her shoulders
F#m
F#sus4
Little man threw sticks and stones
C#aug
C#m
F#m
Called her names and broke her bones
Left us all with a bloody mess
F#sus4
Little man your days are numbered
She beats down like an Arkansas Summer
F#m
Bridge:
D/F#
She told us gold makes the shovel heavy
Verse 3:
F A/E
D#m7b5
Dmaj7
And when it floods stand like a levee
Page 1
Blackwell brother is far away
and that's where that little man will stay
A black-eyed angel holds us tight
Drags us out into the light
Chorus 2:
When the drum become the drummer
she beats down like an Arkansas Summer
Page 2
|
||||
9. |
Arkansas Summer Outro
00:10
|
|||
10. |
Impossible Knot
03:36
|
|||
|
Convinced of who i thought i was
i rode my camel into town
hard candy on my tongue
the process had begun
To shake what held me down
Convinced I knew the way
I held my maps over the flame
Fooled around and got lost
The camel wandered off
Now no one left to blame
All I have
Are unfinished thoughts
Dangling like the ends
To an impossible knot
Tilted my sombrero
to shade me from the facts
of what my hubris cost
and all the things i'd lost
I prayed my camel would come back
Convinced that it was night
I tried to fall asleep
but fell into a grave
of memories that i made
but couldn't keep
Convinced of who I thought I was
I made my way back home
An act of revolution
Ended in confusion
Now I'm nothing but alone
|
||||
11. |
Devil Song
03:51
|
|||
|
I was surprised when I woke up dead
I was dressed in fire engine red
I even had horns on the top of my head
Renee Renee Renee Renee
don’t you recognize me anymore
I have fallen I am not my mother son
Did I lie with beady eyes
Did I lie between your thighs
down here everybody lies
for those of you with angel wings
go get the guillotine
chop my head off clip my wings
I have fallen I am not my mother son
say goodbye to the cruel cruel world make groovy love to a devil girl
she’s in a heavy metal band called Medusa‘s curls
we stay up late and sleep till noon throw costume parties under full moons
I’ve learned to whistle from the moon a devilish tune
I’m cutting holes in my hats for the horns to fit through
I’m handsome devil next to you
I have phone I’m not my mother son
|
||||
12. |
||||
|
7 am Merle fumbles
Black combs in blue Barbicide
From the blue pours a shot
Fills it to the top
Steady hands by his side
Through the door the World stumbles
Merle waves his razors in the air
Swollen and round the World looks down
Climbs into the chair
Drunk Barber shaved the World
You said you understood
Maybe some of that was true
Well it's hard to ignore a vanishing floor
Like the ones we fell through
Spin me around in your red leather chair
Spin me around
Merle kicks the hair across the floor
Flicks his cigarette out the door
And with a devilish grin heads back in
To give the World another spin
|
||||
13. |
||||
|
Allies to enemies
Alibis to apologies
I burrow like a bullet in these
Complicated strategies
I make promises no one could ever keep
And I make mistakes I'm doomed to repeat
Never been called lucky never had a lucky streak
But things have changed for me
Where the the traffic comes in waves
And the river comes to flood
Where the sun comes to drink
Leaving fossils in the mud
I wear worry wear it wrapped around my feet
Scars from wrecks and the bully across the street
Never been called lucky never had a lucky streak
But things have changed for me
Bloodroot sycamore fiddle head ferns
Lay up on these haunted mounds and wait for your return
Let it fall, let it fall let it fall on me like rain
Bring down the blue storm now everything will change
I've no clothes I burned them in the street
Wrap your love around, show everyone I meet
No I've never been called lucky never had a lucky streak
But things have changed for me
|
||||
14. |
Away We Go
02:51
|
|||
|
The future's wall to wall
The earth grows smaller
I don't have to rush
I'll call when i can see
Ruby's and seagulls
I don't have to rush
Away we go
Away we go
Goodbye to earth
For what it's worth
Goodbye
Black Seas and cypress trees
I scream I'm dreaming
For days and from so much
A distant wall to wall
And still I'm flying
I don't have to rush
Goodbye the crowd sighs
A silent falling star
No one cries or wonders where you are
|
||||
15. |
Last Song
02:30
|
|||
|
I know what the thieves are after
My gold teeth for each disaster
My pin numbers my lover's laughter
My Cadillac goes a little faster
Last song singing
I am sinking
I saw what the cook was serving
Steel spoons melted as he was stirring
The background music was so disturbing
Skinny cats around the table purring
The song I'm singing
As I am sinking
|
||||
Chris Maxwell Woodstock, New York
Chris made his name in the ’90 playing guitar and writing songs for the jagged junkyard rock of the legendary New York band Skeleton Key. Before that, he was the principal songwriter of Little Rock, Arkansas’ first band to be signed to a major label, the Gunbunnies, whose Southern Gothic jangle the L.A. Times characterized “…as if the Beatles met Faulkner on E Street." ... more
If you like Chris Maxwell, you may also like:
Out on the line
by The Blue Highways
The slashing roots rock on “Out On the Line” always makes its way to the kind of triumphant chorus that quickens the pulse.
go to album
Backed by a rotating cast of collaborators, the Australian singer-songwriter refines her folk-tinged indie pop sound.
go to album
Echo Dancing
by Alejandro Escovedo
The legendary Alejandro Escovedo returns with another country-rock scorcher.
go to album
Nina Nastasia & Jeff MacLeod join forces as Jolie Laide, playing noir-y songs that glow soft as moonlight.
go to album
24th Street Blues
by Tom Heyman
Tom Heyman documents life in San Francisco circa 2023, refusing to succumb to easy characterization & instead capturing the city’s nuance.
go to album
Drag All the Lights Inside
by Nesting
From Seattle comes this tumultuous art rock record, full of intricate songs that alternately whisper and kick.
go to album
The Southern California-based band makes airy and psychedelic folk.
go to album
