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Hobo Postcards

by Jeff Andrew

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1.
Wooden Dress 03:49
Wooden Dress She was buried alive on a Saturday night Wore that wooden dress into the ground I was born in a box the very same night Earth closed up without a sound We broke through with the dawn to a cold morning light October in that rusty desert town Stole a can of gas and a little butane light Laughing as we burned the whole place down Lord, put me back I’ve walked down every track Seen this whole island on my own Now the road’s wearing thin like the soles of my boots Lord, put me back into the ground They caught up with us that night by a fire in the hills Drug us back to town through the midnight sky With an oak tree and a rope they strung her up behind the church Waiting around this time for her to die I left them all that night to their shitty little lives Grew up fast and lived to spite them all They said she was a witch and we belonged in the dirt Now they got nothing left except their walls -Chorus- They were right about one thing: I been up here way too long I’ve seen it all and now I miss the cold, cold ground I’m at the end of the line and I can hear that lonely song Earth closing up without a sound Lord, put me back I’ve walked to Hell and back I’m afraid to close my eyes when I lay down Now the road’s wearing thin like the soles of my boots And I’m swaying like a tree without any roots Lord, put me back Lord, put me back Lord, put me back into the ground
2.
Jersey Hill 04:57
Jersey Hill My mama worked the night trade down there by the docks Until my daddy up and left us to the junkies and the cops When she died I swore I’d find him when my shadow grew long And break him like a ship upon the rocks So I hit the road running like a train off its track Bound for Jersey Hill, they call me Westbound Kitty Scratch I got my knife, I got my secrets hidden safe in my boots Nothing but my banjo on my back Scraping cross the country with no money and no plan Flying signs and hiding in the park St. Christopher, come find me on the wheels of a train I’m just trying to make the badlands before dark “My memory’s a curse and my future’s a crime” Told me Alabaster Shandy on the Scarborough Line Dirty kids under a bridge out by Desolation Creek On the hunt for Bo Texino’s buried wine They told me there’s a place where you can bury the past Where the ground is soft for digging and no one ever asks So I left ‘em by the light of the Katastrophe Star Sailing like a ship without a mast -Chorus- I had my chance with Crooked Henry by the old Riddle Tree But some alleys are too dark, baby, even for me I got patches on my back to cover the holes in my heart And a tattoo of the moonlight on the sea There’s a ghost out there waiting in the cold and the rain Maybe I’ll go find him or maybe I’ll go insane The Gods will hear me laughing from the top of Jersey Hill When I catch that Westbound Train -Chorus-
3.
Please Let Me Sleep On Your Floor I couldn’t find nobody to put me up for the night So I slept in an alley with the streetlights so bright We take all this shit for you Your world is so full of pretty things My guitar doesn’t even have all its strings But I’ll write a song for you (like O’Carolan) Please let me sleep on your floor Please let me sleep out on your front porch It looks like rain tonight You know I won’t make a mess You know this is your blessing And you know I’ll be gone in the morning I’m trying to get home but nobody will listen I haven’t eaten all day and there’s food in your kitchen I can smell it If I could ask you just one little thing: Please answer the doorbell when it rings And don’t be afraid of me -Chorus- It was so cold in the city last night So I’m out here in the country ‘cause I don’t want to fight With the world anymore I’ve worked and I’ve worked and I got nothing to show The voices keep shouting and I don’t know Where to go anymore -Chorus-
4.
Prince George Hotel Room I believe I seen magic in the light of your eyes I believe I seen heartache in the dark of your cries When you kissed me in the moonlight with the creek running dry When you hitched up from Hundred Mile just to say your goodbye I found the stars in that Prince George Hotel Room I fell in love in that Prince George Hotel Room We laid it out in that Prince George Hotel Room Then we said goodbye In a tent by the river with the wind blowing strong In a field by the mountains where the freight train rolls along When you laughed in the sunset and I felt I belonged When I lost you in the Prairies and I knew you were gone -Chorus- Now it’s five long years I been out here on my own Five long years with a backpack for my home Midnight in the truck stop and an aching in my bones Sad eyes can’t find me and I know I’ll die alone -Chorus-
5.
What's Going On In The Alleyway? What’s going on in the alleyway? What’s going on in the alleyway? What’s going on in the alleyway? Don’t ask! Don’t ask! It’s a surefire way to beat the heat At night we can do it in the street The rich like to watch, they don’t want us to stop Catch an evening show and tip the cops -Chorus- You dreamt it as a boy and now it’s real They beat you down until you couldn’t feel You’re young, you’ll do well and we’re already in Hell Ignore the voices and stay put until it sells -Chorus- We’ll give you more than you could ever steal We’ll grind you like a butt beneath our heel The nights here are long and you have to be strong Survival’s all that matters, right or wrong -Chorus- What’s going on in the alleyway? You can watch if you like, but you have to pay! What’s going on in the alleyway? Don’t ask! Don’t ask!
6.
The Wandering Dead I rolled in on the Midnight Ghost, howling like a dog Werewolf Moon in the downtown night, drifting with the fog I met the Goddess of the Damned, pushing a three-wheel cart First she bummed a cigarette, then she broke my heart Then the city crept over me, closing like a fist I woke up in a strange place, covered all in mist There were hobos lined up on the road, crucified in the street Sacrificed for the suburbs, dying on their feet Barbed-wire windows to the sky, landmines on the ground Voiceless cries from the Ancient Pit, lost and never found I stepped out into the Void, down a ladder greased with blood One-way ride to the Catacombs, breaking every rung And talking to myself From the empty space inside It don’t do no good to hide We are the Wandering Dead Sister Mercy came and went, found me in a hole Asked if one day I’d repent – I just told her “No” The People tried to build a home beneath a long-dead neon sign The City came and broke it down, beat them back in line Lives tossed into a garbage truck, bloodstains on the floor Shelter from the winter storm, cops to bar the door Hypocrisy on the Lake of Fire, feeding a river a lies Running down from the Highest Ground, through the gutter to the sky A Gilded Palace for the rich, bedbugs for the poor You toss your sins into the street and then you slam the door So you can take your fucking Games and shove ‘em up your ass Try living out of a shopping cart, sleeping on broken glass And talking to yourself -Chorus- I sang the Gospel of the Renegades at the Skid Row soapbox show Broken souls beneath the power lines, gathering like crows The soldiers came and broke us down like cardboard in the rain Blistered fire in their fingertips, centuries of pain An Empire built on Stolen Land, a war against the poor Left to die beside a barrel fire, to burn forevermore I heard it all through the hotel floor, a story as old as time Bodies buried in the city walls, the old bones never lie So when the Sun burned through the sky, rising to the East I hit the hammer one last time, praying for release Then I heard the voices rising up, crying out in turn: “Know that one day all of this will crumble and burn!” But I’m talking to myself -Chorus-
7.
When The Whistle Blows Throw down the lashes, tear open the blinds See the magic in the moonlight unfurled Every question has an answer hidden somewhere in your mind Don’t shut your windows to the world Climb down the drainpipe, meet me by the tracks There’s a circus setting up in the field Be careful of the shadow trailing closely at your back If you’re broke then you must learn how to steal The highway is a carnival of whiskey and smoke Leave your troubles to the wind and the rain If you learn how to run you will never grow old When the whistle blows it’s time to catch the train When you’re thinking it’s time you took a closer look at crime Don’t forget that there are ways around the law That wants you to stay here, a prisoner of the dime Just walk away and leave your shackles where they fall These hills are old but they’re still full of gold The summertime will never leave you blue There’s treasure in the alleys and the cobblestone road You can find it if your heart is true -Chorus- When you’re in the last bar of a 12-bar blues And you can’t find the turnaround We’re writing the story with the soles of our shoes The change is in the merry-go-round So throw down the lashes, tear open the blinds See the magic in the moonlight unfurled Every question has an answer hidden somewhere in your mind Don’t shut your windows to the world -Chorus-
8.
Voice In The Floorboards An old hobo hiking down a road with no name No past but the dirt in his nails The steam trains are gone but the tracks are still there At night he hears the songs in the rails Wrought-iron brickwork and crumbling hotels The story of a working woman’s bed The piano’s a birdcage and the taps have run dry But the good times still ring in Molly’s head I am the voice in the floorboards I am the smoke in the walls I am the ghost of an old lonely building In my time I swear I’ve seen it all Now I wait for the big wrecking ball Great wars were fought in this factory town By the women breathing death in the mills Over pennies a day and a child’s right to play The gunshots rained down from the hills Strikers, Militias, Wobblies and Priests They all scratched their names in my walls Now their blood turns to dust when we bury the past No more stories when the last hotel falls -Chorus- The years fall like leaves from the branches of time My walls shake with the Songs of the Dead Their stories ring out like an old sailor’s rime When I’m gone there’ll be silence instead So take the plugs from your ears, put your head to the floor Trade your plastic for leather and steel Listen for the voices of the ones who came before They’re still there if you know how to feel -Chorus- The poor go to war but the rich go to Hell One day it’s all going to burn Dead soldiers leave nothing but stories to tell In their graves I can still hear them turn Silence is gold for the ones at the top They’ve buried the Living Memory Now the gravedigger’s hands can make the great machine stop Take the shovel and set yourself free -Chorus-
9.
Highway Girl 02:58
Highway Girl Broken shades and a twisted heart Wrap-around moon and we’re back at the start Werewolf howl and the road goes down Gas tank’s empty but we make it somehow She’s my highway girl, my highway girl… What she wants is what she gets I found her in the alley on the run from the cops She rode me from the valley to the mountaintops I step on the clutch, she pulls on my stick Machines are between us but the blood is so thick She’s my highway girl, my highway girl… Killing all my cigarettes Little blue spike in the electrical storm Eyes in the fire and a shadowy form Cracks in her hands and a circular scar Running to find the California Stars She’s my highway girl, my highway girl… She’s here and then she’s gone Fire in the sky and the mirror’s turning black Chasm up ahead but there ain’t no turning back Learning how to fly ‘cause the road’s about to crack We’re gonna leave the whole world behind -Chorus- Barbed-wire staff in the skeleton camp Dancing by the fire with the mystery tramp Seen her at night at the edge of the cliff Never gonna fall, she’s just gonna drift -Chorus-
10.
I Want You To Haunt Me Crow foot, raven foot, snakeskin memory Bring the storm to the people and the people to the sea Midnight and the moonshine and the mourning makes three I want you to haunt me Circus in the shadows and a unicycle train Sailing down the gutter in the pouring rain When God throws in the towel and the Devil’s gone insane I want you to haunt me From the bottom of the ocean to the far side of the grave From the edges of the highway to the dark side of the cave From the sins of the master to the secrets of the slave I want you to haunt me Blood on the water and a siren on the sea Tattoos on the sky, we write our own mythology A bottle full of poison and a dime store mystery I want you to haunt me Meet me in the attic, I’ll be calling out your name In a five-pointed circle, come on and burn me into flame When the Church is out of aces and the Goddess takes the game I want you to haunt me When we spill out of our eyes and throw the dirt upon your grave When you whisper dirty secrets to all the souls that you saved When you’re coming in low we’re gonna hide out in the cave I want you to haunt me…
11.
Spider Without A Web On the morning of the crash, she woke up in the rain Broken down outside a Montreal café So she tattooed her face and she slid under the stairs There was nothing left for them to take away With a handful of broken glass and her extraordinary care She wrote her name in blood and left it on the wall With the secret hobo signs and nothing left to lose She hopped a train and rode away into the fall If you don’t make it to the West, I’ll come find you in the East Meet me down at Bramasole’s and we’ll hitchhike out to sea The leaves are falling down on that last October night Full Moon came a day too late In the shadow of a streetlight, smoking in the rain She stands before the curtains of her fate Jackson’s in the alley calling out for Sneaky Pete Gumshoe Banshee plays a gin waltz on the saw The seas are rough and stormy and the hour’s getting late For a girl without a net to break her fall I fell through an endless sky, but I never hit the ground In that dream she heard my cry, spun a web of sound I fell into her moonbeam eyes, softly as I slept “No great dreamer ever dies,” cried the spider as she wept “We just open our eyes instead” At the burned-out gates of Heaven, there’s a purple rose in flames To guard the doorway to what’s left of the machine With a single drop of moonlight, she spun her glistening strand And we danced upon a spiderweb of dreams In the morning there’s no story like a cold and lonely bed She grabbed her pack without a word and hit the street It ends with a question, like a murder in the rain: She wrote the words out in the dust beneath her feet -Chorus-
12.
Midnight Train I went bust up in Dawson, Vancouver was worse I got lost in the alley on the way to the church The truth I used to see through the cracks in the sky I left it in the ditch on a road full of lies I burned down the house my grandfather built Look back on my youth through a tunnel of guilt Now it’s getting near midnight in this old hotel bar I can stumble upstairs, my room ain’t too far She said “Before I could sing, I had to learn to dance You’ll never find your way out if you don’t take a chance” The ghosts of my old world are calling me down I’m still up here searching for the Rose I never found I’m gonna take the road to nowhere, leave it all behind Set fire to the ashes, won’t be nothing left to find Break down in the mountains, ditch the truck and face the rain I’m gonna ride the Midnight Train At night I lay dreaming of the world where I was born Barefoot by a streetlamp and a melancholy horn Rexroth’s at the window, old Jacky’s at the bar Corso’s at Vesuvio’s with another stolen car The coffee shops are crumbling, the taxis are made of sand There’s a girl by the bookstore with trainsmoke in her hand Then I wake up in the moonlight with steel toes on my feet Whispered memory fading like the shadows in the street The night’s turning dark and the summer’s gone cold When the first snow falls I’ll be out on the road I’m too old to hitchhike but I still got my truck I’ll be a lonely old rubbertramp with a worn-out clutch -Chorus- I seen the far side of Heaven and all the Hells in between In the smoke from a cookfire and a rusty can of beans Midnight on the water and a star above the ridge I found my father’s ghost sleeping under a bridge A man in the alley told me things would be okay If I lined up all my problems and shot ‘em all away Now the highway is a cold moon, rising in the East On a Prince George hotel room and an old timber beast I see a clearing in the path and a house up in the hills You said you’d come and find me but I know you never will Thunder in the trainyard and a clanging steamship bell A secret on your red lips I know you’ll never tell -Chorus-
13.
Hobo Postcards Burning neon lights, star-eyed country nights I traded eyes with a Somerset Dame But I let it all break down, that night in Chinatown Ten years and every place just looks the same It’s cold and I got nowhere left to go I pray, but the churches are all closed The sidewalk calls, I make my bed of stone I’m gonna ride the broken staircase to the ground I been lost, I been found And the rain’s still coming down I been all around the world Now I’m going home Hooded eyes on the corner, a manic voice in the cold I drag the past like a rusty ball and chain I hopped a train to Heaven but St. Peter locked the gate Now I only believe in God at night when it rains Your face on the night we said goodbye Your tears were red, you had bloodstains in your eyes Lightning fell and the Earth begin to cry Thunder of steel and that high, lonesome sound -Chorus- Your team is chasing nightmares, just let go of the reins Take the junk you’ve found and build a home There’s no truth but in things, you must commit to the swing Let the blade find its own way through the bone Do you remember that little shack at the edge of town? Where the river bends and the tracks are broken down? Meet me there when the frost is on the ground Winter’s coming and it’s time to build us a fire -Chorus-

about

An electrified patchwork of folk, punk, Celtic and old jazz. Tracks 2, 7 & 8 feature the legendary STROH VIOLIN (a rare and body-less violin with a resonator and a phonograph horn). Gang vocals and screaming tracked in Leeside Skatepark.

"A backroads troubadour with a few things to say by way of viscera, nerve and hard experience...basically a raunchy Bob Dylan with blood in his teeth." - FAME Reviews

"Think The Pogues at their most engaging, singing early Tom Waits." - Leicester Bangs

credits

released September 5, 2011

This album is for Tempest.
1984 - 2009
www.myspace.com/tempestilence

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Corwin Fox at 30.06 Studio in Vancouver and TransOrbital Sound in Cumberland
Produced by Jacob Anger and Corwin Fox
All songs by Jeff Andrew (SOCAN)

Front cover painting by Thomas Buchan www.thomasbuchan.com
Rear cover and booklet photos by Dandy Denial www.flickr.com/photos/deesquared
Interior photos by Jonathan Dy www.jonathandy.com
Album layout and design by Juniper English www.rippledesign.info
Jeff Andrew plays a Tinker guitar, handmade in the Republic of East Vancouver www.tinkerguitars.com

www.jeffandrew.ca

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Jeff Andrew Vancouver, British Columbia

Fiddles, horns, double bass and subterranean percussion from the tunnels of East Vancouver. Songs from the road and beyond the grave.

"A backroads troubadour with a few things to say by way of viscera, nerve and hard experience." - Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
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