The Treehouses & Trainsmoke EP

by Jeff Andrew

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Digital Album

Immediate download of 10-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

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1.	Places 04:16	lyrics	download

2.	Map Of Secrets 04:08	lyrics	download

3.	Jo-Annie's Shack 03:38	lyrics	download

4.	Dirt Alley Rose 05:25	lyrics	download

5.	Cambie & Cordova 04:20	lyrics	download

6.	Don't Lose The Night 04:57	lyrics	download

7.	Halifax In The Fall 05:08	lyrics	download

8.	Old Boots, Rusty Shovel 03:44	lyrics	download

9.	Driftin' On 04:22	lyrics	download

about

A quick blast of an EP, set down in three days in between tree planting contracts. Features new versions of some older songs and gang vocals recorded in Leeside Park, underneath East Hastings in Vancouver. The physical version comes with a songbook zine that gives chords and lyrics to all the songs - but you gotta come to a show to get it!

credits

released 13 August 2010
This album is dedicated to the ghosts of Linden House and Pac-Flav.

Jeff Andrew - guitar, dobro, fiddle, vocals
Jess Hill - vocals on "Don't Lose The Night"
O'Mally - vocals on "Driftin' On"
Tyrone Show - drums
The Tunnel Dwellers (gang vocals on "Places") - Fraea the Banshee, Jess Hill, Joe Trucker, Julian Flinchum, CJ Leon, shayne avec i grec

Recorded and mixed in 3 days by Tyrone Show at 30.06 Studios. Mastered by Corwin Fox at TransOrbital Sound. "Driftin' On" recorded a long time ago in an attic far away by Jeff Andrew. Produced by Jacob Anger. Pictures & text, blood, sweat and tears by Fraea.

All songs by Jeff Andrew (SOCAN) except "Places" (words by JA, music/chorus by Phill Saylor-Wisor) and "Don't Lose The Night" (words by JA, music Trad, via The Shiftless Rounders & inspired by Jess Hill).

Thanks to all the travelers and everyone who helped with this project!

www.jeffandrew.ca

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about

Fiddles, horns, double bass and subterranean percussion from the tunnels of East Vancouver. Songs from the road and beyond ... more the grave. An electrified patchwork of folk, punk, Celtic and old jazz.

"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." - Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange less

jeffandrew.ca

Recommendations

discography

Hobo Postcards

Sep 2011
The Treehouses & Trainsmoke EP

Aug 2010
Vagabonds & Wastrels

Jan 2009

contact / help

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Track Name: Places: Places

The Kootenays taught me dreaming and how to fall in love
The Prairies taught me hitching and what heartache really was
The Island told me stories about clearcuts and rust
Nova Scotia taught me ballads and watch out for Sheilagh's Brush
Haida Gwaii was like a vision from a faerytale rime
At the Edge of the World I heard a voice as old as time
Dawson taught me drinking and hold on to your toes
The Alaska Highway was my first song on that midnight road

Go...my my my
All the places I go, all the places I go

Prince George taught me working and skid row hotels
In the Great North Woods waiting for an axe that never fell
Ottawa taught me the river and how to love the snow
In Quebec City I swallowed tear gas and stuck around for the show
In Toronto I caught a bus with fire in my blood
It rode me out of Peterborough just before the flood
Manitoba left me stranded on the side of the road
I said "FUCK THE GREYHOUND! I'll make it on my own"

-Chorus

Oregon taught me never trust the weather on the coast
California gave me the Redwoods and a forest full of ghosts
Washington showed me traintracks where Wobblies used to roam
In Portland I saw the battle scars from the FBI's war
In San Francisco I walked from North Beach through the Chinatown slums
Sang a Dead song on the corner with the Scum Fucks and the bums
In Big Sur I rode the highline with that endless ocean glow
Golden Gate to Bixby Canyon, there's a bridge for every road

-Chorus
Track Name: Map Of Secrets: Map of Secrets

Since I left my home
Since I left my home
Never once have I looked back
Since I left my home

I danced with an angel
Eyes as blue as her soul
She taught me how to hitchhike
And she left me on the road

When I left my home
When I left my home
Knew I couldn't be the only one
When I left my home

I was 18 and brave; said I wouldn't be no slave
Combine machinery and childhood dreams betrayed
So I learned to trust the shadows and the voices in the trees
Drumbeats on the full moon night calling out to me

When I left my home
When I left my home
Never once did I look back
When I left my home

Footsteps on the highway, a ghost in every town
Echoes of the old world everywhere
Shadows of the Goddess, spirits cast in stone
Echoes of the old world everywhere I roam

Everywhere I roam
Everywhere I roam
I see the cracks in what we've built
Everywhere I roam

I dreamt the city shadows were flaming in red
Falling down a ladder on a dried-up riverbed
When the highways are forgotten and the traintracks are dead
Follow me to Salem like the prophecy said

Trying to find my home
Trying to find my home
Searching every pair of eyes
Trying to find my home
Track Name: Jo-Annie's Shack: Jo-Annie's Shack

She rides a bike without a helmet, she got chickens in the yard
She don't drive a car, no sir, no way
She don't drink no more, but she smokes a pack a day
Last week one of her chickens ran away

When I can't sleep at night
Big round moon and the darkest kind of light

Breaking away to go
Hanging around too long
Staying up all night in Jo-Annie's Shack

Small town in the Green Hills, a kingdom in the woods
Tucked away in her own little paradise
Remebering New York City and the last night on Earth
That night a folksinger saved her life

When I can't sleep at night
Big round moon and the darkest kind of light

-Chorus-

Now it's four o'clock in the afternoon and I been up since three AM
Drinking cold coffee all day
There's a fresh pot in the kitchen, but it don't make no difference
I just like it better this way

All these people with their frowns
I try so hard not to let 'em bring me down
I close my eyes and try to dream
Of all the places that I been
Remembering that night in Jo-Annie's Shack
When I was breaking away to go
Hanging around too long
Staying up all night in Jo-Annie's Shack
Track Name: Dirt Alley Rose: Dirt Alley Rose

Midnite coffee keeps me warm
This music keeps me whole
She said "This place is hard to find, but I'm glad I found you here
'Cause I've never been to a wedding
But I've seen my share of wakes
Last night I dreamt I was a butterfly, but this morning I woke up as a snake"
I said "They found me in a burned out alley
Tied me up like an old pair of shoes
They left me in the grease-stain sunrise with nothing but the needles and the blues"

This world ain't much for dreamers like us
We’re freaks wherever we go
But now the nights are getting cold and I'm so tired of being alone
I just want to fall in love one more time

Maybe I'll see you out on the road somewhere
In the mountains with your thumb to the sky
You'll be dancing with your backpack and you'll be singing a song
Looking like you're living a dream
Looking like you're living a dream

This place is cracked and crumbling
That's how I like it best
Broken bottle glass and empty hearts and all the rest
She stopped under an October streetlamp
With the wind wrapping shadows around her feet
With her eyes full of heartache and the cold in her cheeks
She smiled and sat down next to me
She said "I've walked between the stars and the mountains
I've hitchhiked every road you can name
I've seen all there is to see and all I've ever found was me
Ten years and I got no one left to blame"

My hands are as patched-up and scarred as my clothes
And we both got the same miles of dirt in our toes
But you're pushing thru the wreckage like a dirt-alley rose
Lord I hope you never lose your thorns

-Chorus-

The radios are crackling in the alleys
That old jazz that always sounds best at night
"Our adventures are the love songs we write to the world"
She told me as we stepped into the light
She said "I know there's an answer on the highway
There's a home waiting for me out there
I keep my faith wrapped up with the beads in my hair; now I'm sorry babe, but I got to go"
My heartache has a rhythm like a freight train
Comes and goes like a po' girl on the run
'Cause you're a sad old song that gets better every time I hear it sung

My traveling boots are falling apart
I can fit my whole life into a shopping cart
When my last wish is gone I'm going to make a new start
I promise I'm going to find you someday

Maybe I'll see you out on the road somewhere
In the mountains with your thumb to the sky
There's some magic out there we're gonna find it I swear
We just got to hang on to our dreams
We just got to hang on to our dreams
Track Name: Cambie & Cordova: Cambie & Cordova

Manic street preacher, wild-bearded dream teacher
A wandering light in the fog
A whisperer in shadows; he was right there at the gallows
Crying: "Freedom is a backpack and a dog!"
The world whips around her, no peace has ever found her
But you can light up her day with a smile
And one ever asks why the cops come so fast
As she stands up to walk the last mile

There's cars on the street, people trying to sleep
The rain beating down on their souls
At the corner of Cambie and Cordova there's a door:
Turn left if you're rich, turn right if you're poor

In an old shopping cart, she keeps a piece of her heart
All that's left as she tries to hold on
A cold wind is blowing and the doors are all closing
As she dreams of a child dead and gone
"I need to get to sleep," he says as he cries
Head in hands on the park bench at dawn
"When will it end? I had so much to give
Now all I've got is this bell and this song"

There's cops on the street, people trying to sleep
The rain beating down on their souls
At the corner of Cambie and Cordova there's a door:
Turn left if you're rich, turn right if you're poor

A place to get warm, a shelter from the storm
Wrapped in old newspapers and sin
But from the madness inside, there's no place to hide
When the daemons all call from within

There's cops on the street and a woman on the floor
Of an old hotel bar by a cheap liquor store
At the corner of Cambie and Cordova there's a door:
Turn left if you're rich, turn right if you're poor
Track Name: Don't Lose The Night: Don't Lose The Night

I drank all night and I slept all day
Underneath a bridge, away from the rain

It was already dark when I hit the road
No money in my pockets, no silver, no gold
The sun crept up over starry fields
My shadows are falling, my secrets revealed
I can't remember my dreams anymore
I'm trying to hold on, but I don't know what for

Stay here with me baby, don't lose the night
The storm is coming, hold on to me tight
I'm trying to be strong, but I'm afraid of the light
So hold on to me baby, don't lose the night
Hold on to me baby, don't lose the night

You came to me with a promise and a gun
Showed me the answers, left me with the sun
Now I'm waking up and I'm all alone
No way to find you, but I'm on my way home

-Chorus-
Track Name: Halifax In The Fall: Halifax In The Fall

I miss your midnight eyes and your smell up on my clothes
I miss the way you work your stolen streetcat style
You twist me up inside like bagpipes in the rain
It don't take nothing, just a whisper or a smile
The ocean tells a story, the moonlight writes the words
When O'Mally's in town we'll have a ball
So meet me on the corner where the bird shits on the King
We'll take Halifax in the Fall

Your moonshine smile sets my throat on fire, you're a pawnshop mystery
Forget all the yard dogs and the broken glass, skip the gutter and climb that tree
I've seen Montreal and I've seen New Orleans and there ain't no place I'd rather be
When the darkness comes, we can light up the sea - like Halifax in the fall

They threw me out of Gus' Pub the last time I was here
But I look different now and I think we could hide away
In an empty sailor's pad with a leaky clawfoot tub
Or break into the Bluenose and set sail
We'll find a crew of drunken sailors at the secret punk house show
Win the race out to the Banks and burn it all
When the Citadel surrenders and the Ghosts are on the Hill
We'll take Halifax in the Fall

-Chorus-

Let's fill up another Growler or get a gallon jug of wine
Turn your face up to the sky and taste the rain
We'll ride the great Nor'Easter to the end of the line
Wait for Sheilagh's Brush to blow us all away
Now Pac Flav is gone and the One World is too
North End's always good for a brawl
When the harbour's on fire and the telegraph's too late
We'll take Halifax in the Fall!
Track Name: Old Boots, Rusty Shovel: Old Boots, Rusty Shovel

Big trucks crashing through the bush
Chopper blades tearing at the sky
They got machines to break the land, but we plant 'em all by hand
Turn your wrist and you can hear your body cry
Freezing in a lonely tent at night
Fall in love at breakfast then you're gone
Then the sun's beating down like the Hammer of the Gods
Every day we sing the same old song:

I don't want to plant trees anymore
I don't want to cut another line
I just want to plant my last piece so I can find
Some peace of mind

Bush camps and trailer parks up north
Small towns and barges on the coast
Clearcut salmon stream, your city life's a dream
It's the little things that tear your heart the most
Ghost wind blowing down the road
Bones of the forest left to rot
Shadows of history in the cold misty dawn
I'm so tired but I don't know if I can stop

-Chorus

Elves dancing wild around a fire
Or in a bar singing heartsick country songs
Chop some wood, light a smoke, pull up a stump and tell a joke
Have a drink and we won't think about tomorrow
Bag 'em up and break your back out in the rain
Three thousand times every day
Boom and bust, stab and thrust, slash and burn, greed and rust
How long, O Lord, tell me how long?
Track Name: Driftin' On: Driftin' On

I rode the river from the mountains, dreaming all the way
Now I'm lost in the delta and every branch looks the same
The sky's getting darker and the clouds are rolling in
It's the same old situation I always find myself in
Hey, I'm just driftin' on

Midnight on the water and a star above the ridge
I found my father's ghost sleeping under a bridge
Six in the morning, woken up by a cop
I wonder if the nightmares are ever gonna stop
Hey, I'm just driftin' on

Memories of magic and crystal in the hills
You said you'd come and find me but I know you never will
So take all your worries and make a little song
Best to keep it simple so we can sing along
Hey, I'm just driftin' on
Big blue world keeps rolling on

Blue fog on the valley and the mountains glowing gold
I found my way to town as the sun split the cold
Sat down on the sidewalk, read a sign across the street
It said "Jesus and the Magdalene made love here last week"
Hey, I'm just driftin' on

A preacher shared his breakfast and shivered as he spoke
He said "Things are getting harder and my spirit's almost broke
I used to miracles and live for signs of Grace
Now I'm praying for my soup and I'm just trying to hold my place
Hey, I'm just driftin' on"

-Chorus

A man in the alley told me things'd be okay
If I lined up all my problems and shot 'em all away
I found an empty building and the rain's coming down
But there's cops on every corner that want to run me out of town
Hey, I'm just driftin' on

I hear the highway calling and a freight train rolling slow
I'm gonna find the secret rivers running through my soul
The days are getting longer and these games are getting old
I'm gonna leave this city world, get back out on the road
Hey, I'm just driftin' on

-Chorus