Get all 18 John Ralston releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Moon Feathers, Turn Eternal, IV, Verbal Tan, Golden Greats Vol. 12, Golden Greats Vol. 11, Golden Greats Vol. 10, Golden Greats Vol. 9, and 10 more.
1. |
Country Station
03:40
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Let's get lost,
And unknown,
Unheard from in some time.
Move out to the country
I'm hoping for nothing. Nothing from a Country Station.
I can't stay here and fill up my head with numbers.
Miles of days that all look so much the same.
I'm hoping for nothing. Nothing from a Country Station.
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2. |
Yer My Blues
00:52
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2,000 miles an hour go flying down the road
I feel just like a gun without a hand to hold
I'd tell you what I was thinking but I can't get it through
Yer my blues
Black was the number, and none was the color
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3. |
Boxer
03:39
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The boxer can't find his way back home
Ft. Lauderdale, Montreal and Tel Aviv...
The boxer got lost in Amman,
In Northern Ireland, the mist and sea…
The summer begins, for me.
When I can't get to sleep...
When I have had too much to dream…
I think about you, wonder where you are.
Picture you in a house with your family
The summer begins, for me.
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4. |
Traveler Blues
02:53
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Oh tiny love,
Dark was the night.
My feet did trudge on toward what I hoped was daylight.
Wings of a dove lifted in flight.
Towers above pinpoints of shimmering lights.
Oh tiny love,
Black water high.
I swam above sharks in the night like a shipwreck sailing home.
I'm an old photograph.
Just a face in a place in a time that you used to know.
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5. |
In Our Golden Age
00:31
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6. |
Golden Age
01:58
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Time was slipping past in our Golden Age.
Who could've known then of our numbered days?
With nightmare numbers crawling cross my walls, in a color-coded carpet as darkness falls.
And a psychic government that knows my name…
Now I'll have to learn to live in vain.
Debt suppression, soft depression, sharpened claws - don't want anyone to see me fall.
Time was slipping past in our Golden Age.
Who could've known then of our numbered days?
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7. |
Pickup Truck
03:17
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I smashed my head (and you smashed your teeth)
On the roof of your truck (on the steering wheel)
It didn't look good. Yeah, we fucked it all up.
Sitting like stones in your pickup truck.
Called Doug's phone. Said he'd head right out.
We pushed it off the road - you and your bleeding mouth.
We didn't get caught. Call it stupid luck.
Waiting for a ride in your pickup truck.
Now is never then.
Now is never then.
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8. |
The Stranger
03:44
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Every night, a single dream re-runs itself on my screen
Repeating its only theme - the Stranger
And he walks down a hall
I study as each foot falls
Never falters, alters or stalls - the Stranger
Could it be me? I don't know, I don't know.
Could it be you? I don't know, maybe so?
But every night, a single dream re-runs itself on my screen
Repeating its lonely theme - the Stranger
And he walks down a hall that's both infinite and small
He never gets anywhere at all - the Stranger
Could it be me? I don't know, I don't know.
Could it be you? I don't know, maybe so?
Does it mean anything? Probably nothing at all.
But every night, a single dream re-runs itself on my screen
Repeating its only theme - the Stranger
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9. |
Problems
02:42
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Wake up in the morning. I've got circles in my head and I've got circles in my head. And, I've got problems.
Wake up in the evening and I probably should be dead, and yeah I probably should be dead, but I've got problems.
Wings of wax, a tarnished ax, I'm all that's left of one. Stranded on the surface of the sun. But I do not think I'm done. I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done.
Sometimes I get seasick when I'm walking out in traffic.
Well, I do not like to be out in a crowd.
Pour another drink down my neck. Damn them all to hell, I'll be back.
Bottle of those bees for someone else!
Wings of wax, a tarnished ax, I'm all that's left of one. Stranded on the surface of the sun. But I do not think I'm done. I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done.
I don't want to live, and I do not want to die, but I always want to Be…and that's my problem.
Grant me perpetual motion. Grant me hope and love and harmony.
Wings of wax, a tarnished ax, I'm all that's left of one. Stranded on the surface of the sun. But I do not think I'm done. I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done.
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10. |
White Beaches
03:14
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beaches.
I won't waste my time here. I don't know why I'm wrong.
I just can't get my head right, though I've tried for so long.
Roaming around the old white beaches, looking for a better reason that the ones I've seen myself.
I can't get my head right, and I don't want to show you. The old white beaches…I'll be back before too long.
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11. |
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Sometimes you gotta sing real low
Keep one eye open, or close your eyes in the middle of a busy road
Sometimes you gotta let it go
Sometimes you gotta hold it close
How long has this been going on? Many a lifetime and many a lifeline has known.
Sometimes you gotta duck
Sometimes you hold your head up high
Keep your fingers crossed, or point that finger back at the other side
Sometimes you gotta let it ride
Sometimes you gotta stand and fight
How long has this been going on? Many a lifetime and many a lifeline has known.
Sometimes I am the moon
Sometimes I am the other side
Keep it to myself or else try like hell to make it last all night
Sometimes I gotta get shut down
Sometimes you gotta drag me out
How long has this been going on? Many a lifetime and many a lifeline has known.
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12. |
Morning, New Morning
03:41
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Morning, new morning
Sweet is the air
I want to love you and end up nowhere
Morning, new morning
Don't know what you've heard
But I haven't been dancing in a while now and I'm sure that the sign on my door (and the flag in the air) say,
"Don't come around here"
Still I know you heed no warning
So, don't come around here.
But will you meet me in the morning?
Morning, new morning
Bright is the sun
I want to love you and end up as one
Morning, new morning
Don't know what you've heard
But I haven't been dancing in a while now and I'm sure that the sign on my door (and the flag in the air) say,
"Don't come around here"
Still I know you'll heed no warning
So, don't come around here.
But will you meet me in the morning?
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13. |
Cows
05:05
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They took the money, shipped out the jobs.
"But, who are they?" sighed the mob, who turned on their TVs and fell asleep and dreamt "This world is too big to keep."
A man feels helpless to make a change
A power struggle seems out of his range
The "Haves" and the "Have-Nots" with nothing between. A two-headed being, coming apart at the seams.
One head toils and struggles for their ends to meet, while the other head's burden is the gold that he keeps.
They took the money, shipped out the jobs.
But who are They, who've resigned the mob to inherited anger and directionless lines?
Whose hands are not broken, but frozen in time?
One man of Hope. One who believed in the strength of the people. But did we chip in?
No. We the Mob watched intently with each nightly news getting numb from a sickness called "Refusing to Choose".
Surrounded by statues, grotesques, charlatans, fakes…no one lifted a finger except to get in the way.
When Woody Guthrie sang "This land is your land" no one had to wonder just where he did stand. But you can eat what they feed you and pray the words that they've made. But a snake knows its own tongue never gets in the way.
What I've been saying in a roundabout way is: Without hope, how do you expect to be saved?
And no one's perfect. Yes, that much is true.
But, the man who gets my vote is the one most like me and you.
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14. |
Goodnight
01:54
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Goodnight, sweetheart I hate to let you go
When morning comes, we'll need new eyes
Goodnight, sweetheart I hate to let you go
When morning comes, we'll need new eyes
When the morning comes, we'll need new eyes
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John Ralston
“I live my life in ever widening circles, each superseding all the previous ones.” -Rilke
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