1. |
Tottenham
03:50
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My father dropped me off
In the grocery parking lot
With a toonie & a five spot
To get myself some lunch
I bought a hockey card instead
A Gilmour '96
To show off to my friends
A memory on my mind
& it won't let me sleep
It was early in the morning time
Like it always seemed to be
I took a bottle to the park
& somewhere out there in that dark
The train whistle blew
& I saw you going free
Stale summer heat
Empty downtown street
Where the people ought to be
But people ought to be a lot of things
So I stomp this wasted land
Kicking at that great ol' can
Glory Tottenham
A memory on my mind
& it won't let me sleep
It was early in the morning time
Like it always seemed to be
I took a bottle to the park
& somewhere out there in that dark
The train whistle blew
& I saw you going free
Now I'm stuck on downtown time
Living by the page
& the place I knew as freedom
Has put me in its cage
I'll let remembrance be kind
So I can stay steady on the line
Nothing screams salvation like a little white lie
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2. |
Spadina Station
03:09
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I've got to keep myself standing somehow
A little clearness in my mind
I try to keep myself pure in thought
But I'm failing at it all the time
This delta pen & this notepad
Waiting on a thought I could use
While I'm kicking here alone, with the two in the morning
Last subway train westbound blues
Standing on the platform with my guitar
The handle's broken on the case, so it's under my arm
& the fella on my right, he's all bourbon stanked & red-eyed
He says he's been going hard, since Hoffman died
They say the last train's delayed, on a busted rail
& the lights in the haze tell a devils tale
& this whole damn world's just a-spinnin' freely
Every light in this town is burning down on me
100 broken words make the prayer
A thousand fires wouldn't make it any brighter down there
Man, look at me, with my words so deep
Or at least as deep as I can make them seem
I got to keep myself standing somehow
A little bit of clearness in my mind
But I'm fading & I'm buzzing, like a pair of old headphones busting
In the bottom of the night
There's a girl with a voice, like an angel from the skies
Sings in the language of the world
I got a voice that comes from the floorboards
& fools gold wisdom in my words
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3. |
Last Night I Got Stoned
03:11
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Last night, unless my memory fails me
I walked alone to the corner of Elm Street
& Johnson O'Leary, in town one night only
Rolled us one big enough to take the pain from an army
I got home lookin' like the demons had got me
& fell asleep to the sound of every word ever said to me
Every joke ever told, I laughed as if it wasn't old
Last night I got stoned
Last night, unless my recollection is mixed
I went to the bar where my friends & I live
But no one was there, not even a fly
So I stared at my phone, & I drank down a pint
Then I went to the station, to wait for the train
For what seemed like an hour, but the train never came
So I smoked all my smokes, & I walked the whole way home
Last night I got stoned
Last night, unless my hindsight is hazy
I zoned out on the couch watching a movie on T.V.
From '76, with Roman Polanski
He moves into a new apartment building & goes crazy
& I wondered if anyone in my building was crazy
& how would I know that it's not me whose gone crazy
& I felt kind of crazy, so I took a pill
& I burned down the bushes & I rolled down the hill
Then I lost track of time, & the next thing I knew I was old
Last night I got stoned
Just look at this dream that I rolled
Last night I got stoned
Oh what I'd give just to be alone
Last night I got stoned
Better the enemy that you know
Last night I got stoned
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4. |
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White doves with dynamite & an old lonesome song
The hours fly past & the night's nearly dawn
But pints pulled from heaven, that'll keep you along
White doves with dynamite & an old lonesome song
You can't fault the river for running so wild
Jumpin' up & down with the grace of a child
With an excitement & a fury that never goes tired
You can't fault the river for running so wild
Sometimes I don't sleep just to stave off the sun
There's something in the night of which I can't get enough
& in the morning I'm a soldier who's misplaced his gun
Sometimes I don't sleep just to stave off the sun
Rocky is the way, & green is the glory
Or at least I've been told & I'm stickin' to that story
Just one more shot, & I'll be along
White doves with dynamite & an old lonesome song
White doves with dynamite & an old lonesome song
The hours fly past & the night's nearly dawn
What's a sick boy to do when the medicine is gone?
White doves with dynamite & an old lonesome song
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5. |
Wreckage
05:03
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There's a wreckage by the water
You can hear it at night
Smashing itself against the boat dock side
& it echoes down river, & when the farm makes no sound
I can see its shadow dancin' like no one's around
In the forest in the morning
Stoned on the isle
& I sure would like to stay like this for a while, love
But all it can be is kept alive in my dreams
& I ain't sleepin' much, & dreams ain't what they used to be for me
Come hell or high water, paradise or low tide
Amongst these field snakes I'll wander 'til it's my time in the sky
I've grown tired of this growing up, this giving in, this giving up
Go yell up at the tower that these two hands have had enough
Put a twenty on the blue team, & the rest on my sin
Wait for the three knocks, & let that ol' devil in
Ain't no cross on my chest, nor idol I fear
But I swear on this cold blowin' wind if there's a g-d he lives here
There's a wreckage by the water
You can hear it at night
Smashing itself against the boat dock side
& it echoes down river, & when the farm makes no sound
I can see its shadow dancin' like no one's around
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6. |
Give The Drunk A Pistol
04:29
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Give the drunk a pistol, leave the car downtown
Ol' stumblin' mister, spirit heavy on the ground
Sir blackened lung, roper toe tapper, two packs on the day
Train jacket still neat & dapper though the pocket square is frayed
Coffee stain on his stetson, another shot on the way
Give the drunk a pistol, breakfast can wait
Ol' Freddy boy is for real, you'll excuse his departure
He's perched up on his barstool like a graveyard sculpture
High on the alley smoke & the dust from his crystal ball
Never been a son to anyone he just cripples up & down the hall
Of the old hotel, he's a shape-shiftin', wallet-liftin' saint
& when the cops come a-trailing, the desk clerk tells 'em where he ain't
Shouting vows at every passing girl, greetings aren't his strength
Thinks himself the machine, but he's just twistin' the crank
Says "you believe in sipping whiskey, boy, yeah & the devils just a friend
I'll slow down on my drowning when I see our savior rise again"
His hands scanning the panels of this boring hotel hut
57,000 channels & the cable's been cut
Freddy says "you don't know the night 'till you've carved her initials in the sand
& you don't know life 'till you've held it dying in your hands
& you don't know dirt until it's buried your every breath
& you don't know work until it's done in your head"
Freddy I've seen a little but I don't claim to know a thing
So thank you for your wisdom, let me buy you a drink
To find peace amongst these burdens, I lay hope for your glory
Freddy my shaking hands can only scratch out the story
Of life in the wintertime, defiant of season
And love old & splintered by drunken unreason
Between you & me, man, I'm feelin' pretty hot
So give the drunk a pistol, won't you load me a shot
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7. |
The Flame
04:02
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Glory be, a good nights sleep
& rest to come with peace
But I've been struck by the absence of time
& haven't slept in days
Glory be, an ease to the thoughts
That keep drifting past her name
For as long as I care to remember
I could not stay away from the flame
When I was a child, I sat on the counter
& put my mother in a screaming state
I picked up a knife, placed it on my finger
& admired the blade as it sank
I still have the scar, a pale white mark
The stitches like the tracks of a train
For as long as I care to remember
I could not stay away from the flame
Those lonesome nights when you can't draw a line
in the sand to keep yourself straight
Blessed the burn, of losing your turn
But it's good to know your place
Those lonesome nights, coked out of your mind
When your heart feels like a grenade
For as long as I care to remember
I could not stay away from the flame
I might go out asleep at the wheel
In some twisted metal fate
I might go out in a hospital bed
With my soul drifting calmly away
I'll probably go out with a gun in my hand
That I don't know how to aim
For as long as I care to remember
I could not stay away from the flame
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Carl Lorusso Jr. Toronto, Ontario
2017 Toronto Independent Music Award nominee for "Best Folk/Roots".
"Carl is a
powerhouse wordsmith whose songs represent the dystopian view of a youthful generation.”
-Harrison Fine, producer, FINE Productions
“Shades of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen rolled into his own unique style. Very well written & sung.”
– Randy Skaggs, Q108 Kingston
... more
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