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Goodnight Bluebird EP

by Ryan Morgan

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1.
Maricopa, AZ 02:51
MARICOPA, AZ In Maricopa, Arizona, Orion hangs so low it seems I could pull down his belt and hang myself like David Carradine. The sheriff's got the reputation as the meanest one around. He comes from Springfield, Massachussetts but he's damn sure local now. He's got the women all in chain gangs, and Mexicans in tents. In Maricopa, that's enough to win him fifty-six per-cent. Get down. We all drink whiskey and tequila at the old corner saloon, but there ain't enough liquor to get her lips to move. And when the wind comes whipping 'round, the guilt all flies up with the dust. The shit in attics and in cupboards and padlocked dirty drunks. Nobody asks in Maricopa, because nobody wants to know. El Chupacabra just retired to the house on down the road. Now, get down. Them unmarked vans speed down the highway down on Route 141, but just like Icarus before them, they ain't no match for the sun. And when the chaplain comes to visit with his oil and his cough, there's no-one left in Maricopa with the cash to pay him off. All the machinery's blown over, the trains are off the tracks, Maricopa came from dust and Maricopa's going back. Now, get down.
2.
The apocalypse, it came to Cleveland early. And it started down on George Washington Square. It's a couple hundred miles to Indiana, but just a block down to the tavern on St. Clair. And the Goodtimes' sitting anchored in the water, letting Erie rust away now at its hull. And the pyramid that overlooks the city just reminds us we once had rock and roll. Old glory hangs there fading on the tower, too damn numb to even feel the fear. But if you've got a couple twenties and an hour, you can buy it by the gram down at the pier. And you can smell that faded commerce down on Lakeside, and see it passed out down at Public Square. But you can't hear a goddamn thing except the seagulls when their voices don't get trapped in heavy air. And the Goodtimes' sitting anchored in the water, letting Erie rust away now at its hull. And the pyramid that overlooks the city don't seem to know shit about rock and roll. The apocalypse, it came to Cleveland early. And they're rubber-stamping freedom for the fare. At least the Cuyahoga got its fire, because there ain't nothing but ashes in the air. And the good times, they all left us for Miami where the sun shines in ways we'll never know. And the pyramid that overlooks the city don't seem to know shit about rock and roll.
3.
I met a girl on the train from Montreal to New York. A girl that went and won my heart when she sang along to Garfunkel's parts, whoa-oh. I found out at the border she was just 18, with Saint-Laurent fading in my memory. Oh, I said hello, bluebird, hello. Do you wanna sit and talk awhile with me? We fell in love somewhere south of Saratoga Springs. She was getting off in Albany, so I kissed her in Schenectady (or right outside.) She licked her lips and smiled at me. I sat and listened to her breathe. And I said goodnight, bluebird, goodnight. I hope you're thinking of me while you sleep. Oh, New York, you can be such a motherfucker when you try. There's a mist hanging in these Adirondack trees. I'm liable to go insane staring out at Lake Champlain so long. Bluebird breaks my little reverie, saying that she wants to come with me. So I said goodbye, bluebird, goodbye. Please don't follow me to New York. Oh, New York, you can be such a motherfucker when you try.
4.
Lester 03:59
Lester left a bomb at his old house, wrapped up like a Christmas present. Blow it up from the inside out, and he did it the only way that he knew how. Melanie was lost in Lester's room, found a box with her name on it. Black ink on pink silicon and some double-a batteries that said 'Who's Laughing Now?' And late that night, when Melanie was alone, the bomb went off, the bomb went off and the neighbors ran, picked up the phone, and called 911, called 911, and the flames shot up into the sky, so Lester won, ol' Lester won. Lester turned himself in last week. He drove up to the police station in a car full of gunpowder and cheap champagne to give him back the balls he lost. He said, 'no. I don't regret what I done.' And with shaky hands all fingerprinted, he said his last goodbyes to the sun and recited all the stations of the cross. And late that night, when Lester was alone, the bomb went off, the bomb went off inside his dreams, the restless drone of pride undone, of pride undone and the flames shot up into the sky so Lester won, ol' Lester won.
5.
I'm starting to think that it ain't no great shakes being the pride of Nacogdoches, Texas, where we sing them same songs about how yesterday's gone and today's just the same as tomorrow and the next is. Tim Howard won't save us, not that we'd ever ask him to. Out there in the world, you got lights and sounds and colors, but here, it's all Nacogdoches Blue. The universe found its way into town when Columbia scattered all over the ground here. I thought I'd soothe by brain inhaling the rain, but it just smells like a gulf full of oil around here. Well, Jesus won't save us. It's not like we never ask him to. Out there in the world, it's all lights and sounds and colors, but here, it's all Nacogdoches Blue. It's dawning on me that it only gets worse the older and drunker I get every day now. The Sentinel says twenty-one never ends and money's the only thing runs out on this town.

credits

released February 11, 2011

Guitar/vocals - Ryan Morgan
Additional vocals on tracks 1 and 3 - Warren Malone
Produced by Warren Malone
Mastered by EW Harris
All songs written by Ryan Morgan
Cover art by Daniel Furnish
©2011

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