1. |
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The Queen of Ballard Avenue © Brian Straub 2/2/17 FAWM #3
She told me she’s the queen of the Ballard Avenue
She read it on the stall in the men’s bathroom
She is the queen of the Ballard Avenue
She read it on the stall, so it must be true
She used to hop them trains like the hobos do
Up the coast to B.C., she’d be riding true
Straight up the coast, you know she’d ride true
Ain’t like the southern boarder, you can sail right through
Refrain
And sometimes I find myself howling out at the moon
That old morning sun can’t come up too soon
She eases my mind when I’m thinkin’ ‘bout the past
Gotta move on, man you can’t go back TAG
She stole herself a car at just thirteen
Rolled it off a cliff into a ravine
She stole a car, she was just thirteen
She knew right then that she’d be queen
She’s got New York stories to beat the band
She left there running, one suitcase in hand
She left there running, one suitcase in hand
It was all she had when she hit the Promised Land
Repeat refrain
Instrumental Verse
Laughing and drinking down at Hattie’s Hat
Those were the days, man you can’t beat that
You can’t beat that down at Hattie’s Hat
Those were the days and you can’t go back
Repeat refrain
Tag last line ad lib alternating last lines of last verse
She is the Queen of Ballard Avenue
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2. |
Cold Town
03:38
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Cold Town © Brian Straub 9/11/16
Verse 1
I don’t know how to small talk
I want to get straight to the heart of you
I’m tired of standing in the corner
Staring down at my shoes
Chorus
You’re a cold town, I just want to sing with you
You’re a cold town, I just want to sing with you
Verse 2
I know I don’t fit in
I ain’t really trying to
I don’t drink whiskey, beer, or gin
Ain’t got one single tattoo
Chorus
Bridge 1
I want to hear your sweet voice lifting up under mine
Won’t you join me in the choir, make it sound so fine
Chorus
Verse 3
All these people shuffling ‘round
They just give me the blues
I don’t know what to say
I never know what to do
Chorus
Bridge 2
I just want sing, I just want to sing, I just want to sing with you
I just want sing, I just want to sing, I just want to sing with you oo
Chorus 2x
2nd one – just sing “You’re a cold town” for both lines
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3. |
Girl Like You
04:01
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Girl Like You © Brian Straub 9/15/00
Verse 1
The bed next door is creekin’ but that don’t bother me no
It’s just good to hear that somebody’s getting’ laid
At least I know that the world is still spinnin’ ‘round
Verse 2
And maybe someday I’ll quit dreamin’, learn to play this here guitar
It’s a far cry from the land of milk and honey
Maybe I’ll pluck a little bird like you right out of the sky
Chorus
‘cause it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I’ve got you on my mind
my shoes are feelin’ way too big and the walls are much too close
and a girl like you will pass me by and move on down the line
to better things in time
Verse 3
I went to see the doctor and he told me what to do
I went to see the king he said the same thing to
Everybody’s telling me to find a girl who sings like you
Verse 4
I’m too tired to bang the walls too lazy to tie my shoes
And I’m too stubborn to sing the blues
So pick me up and dust me off and sing me a couple of tunes
Chorus
Instrumental Verse
Chorus
Tag last line 2 xs (“to better things in time)
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4. |
I Need No Preacher
02:19
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I Need No Preacher © Brian Straub 3/20/96 & 12/6/02
Verse 1
I been told I’ve got a chip on my shoulder
And I know that it’s true
I’m sitting here busted, the devil’s spitting out aces just for you
Verse 2
Now baby I don’t need to know who you are
‘cause I’ve seen your kind before
You sit there and you whine while men like me line up at your door
Instrumental Verse
Verse 3
On my knees in the dark I need no preacher
I just look down, I know I’ve gone astray
Just show me some vestige of the things I’ve learned along my troubled way
Verse 4
I need some resolution for my soul
Gonna drive down ‘cross the border tonight
Please stay with me, don’t you worry, I’ll be gone by the morning light
don’t you worry, I’ll be gone by the morning light
don’t you worry, I’ll be gone by the morning light
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5. |
Away From You
04:18
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Away From You © Brian Straub 9/24/16
You waltz into my life dancing on a flame
With your razor blade eyes, your kind’s all the same
Spinning tales of old from times in the past
Swearing you’ve changed this time for the last
With your flaming blond hair and knee weakening smile
I know where it’s headed and yet all the while
Chorus
I can’t get away from you
No matter what I do
I’m stuck like sawdust in glue
And I can’t get away from you
I saw you at my back door when I’s driving home
I just kept on going but it won’t be long
Till I’m back in your arms a slave again
To your wicked charms and your ways of sin
It’s happened before, it’ll happen again
You’re a wild tornado, a soul sucking wind
Chorus
Like a skiff on the ocean you just toss me around
I’m out for adventure, but I’m sinking down
I’d be fine if you’d leave me and I can’t make you stay
I still think about you when you’re worlds away
Out of sight out of mind, I’ve heard wise people say
But I’m a willing victim caught in your sway
choru
Oh but I’m just a fool, hell what do I know
You’ll stay the same, we’ll come and go
Revolving around each other like planets around the sun
Till I finally just drop and then there’ll be one
But you won’t let it go, you won’t let it be done
So you’ll kill yourself to haunt me just for the fun
Chorus
And I’ll never get away from you
No matter what I do
I’ll be stuck in graveyard with you
And I’ll never get away from you
And I’ll never get away from you
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6. |
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Never Cared Much For The Sun © Brian Straub 1/30/02
Verse 1
Maybe you believe that God
Lives in a house of gold
You’re riding on the bus
As a dead man’s poems unfold
Verse 2
Maybe you greeted everyday
With a scowl on your face
And everybody you met
Made you feel out of place
Chorus
I never cared much for the sun beating down my eyes
But you know sometimes the rain can make you realize
It ain’t as bad as it seems
Living on the in-betweens
I’m aimlessly running ‘round
But I’m glad I left that town
Verse 3
Maybe you’re looking for the answers
On some TV talk show
Get in line, sign right here
I’ll show you where to go
Verse 4
And maybe if I’d a known
What was that last offer?
Then I’d a chosen to live
Just a little bit longer
Chorus 2x
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7. |
Rank & File
03:01
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Rank and File © Brian Straub 4/26/05
Verse 1
I tell myself “I’m just one man,
And what can one man do?”
But every thought in my head
is pulling me away from you
Verse 2
This kaleidoscope is blurring my eyes
I don’t know where I stand
But tell me who had the balls to write
He’s got the whole world in his hands
Chorus
‘Cause if I had the world tonight
and I could make my life worthwhile
I’d carve the meat off the upper crust
And feed it to the rank and file
Verse 3
I’d incise eyes into every soul
To do my dirty work
With ears as big as oil drums
To find where cowards lurk
Verse 4
Mother culture would not whisper
And she would not hum
But every man would ask why
Before marching to any drum
Chorus
Verse 5
They lined them up on the ground
And shot ‘em in the back
“All is lost,” I cried
and pictured a fade to black
Verse 6
The world ain’t gone crazy
It’s the same as it ever was
Some people are busy loving
Some are killing for their cause
Chorus (X2)
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8. |
Nothing Like Them
03:52
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Nothing Like Them © Brian Straub 10/24,28,31/09
Had to turn my head away from the TV today
That hoarders show is a million miles away
Split my time between debauchery and sin
But them hoarders I ain’t nothing like them
AGD
Alcohol and smoke might see you through
Them junkies they ain’t like me and you
We might like to shop or gamblin
Them junkies I ain’t nothing like them
Chorus
But sometimes I think it’s all the same
It all leads to guilt and shame
Money and time down the drain
It’ll kill me or drive me insane
Sometimes I want to blame my mom and dad
For all the things I never had
Split my time between debauchery and sin
But dad I ain’t nothing like him
I hope you can excuse me somehow
I got other things to do right now
I got nothing left and it’s going to do me in
But them junkies I ain’t nothing like them
Chorus
Repeat last line of chorus
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9. |
My Grave Is Open
03:57
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My Grave is Open © Brian Straub 4/2-3/09
Verse 1
His hand crawls up the small of her back
Then he twirls her around the floor
And I’ve spent my life watching
Since I walked in through the door
Verse 2
They glide yes they glide
Like wheels on the rail
And I hide yes I hide
In my shell like a snail
Chorus
Oh what I would give to make myself live
In their shoes for just a lifetime
I’ve made my bed my grave is open
It’s the only life that is mine
Verse 3
How can I know, how can I know love
When I have never been taught
I’d steal a stare from below or above
Hoping I don’t get caught
Verse 4
So I’ll sit here tonight and watch yes I’ll watch
As the world passes me by
And I won’t fall or fail tonight
And I won’t know how high I can fly
Chorus
Verse 5
So no I won’t dance tonight
With the girl with the golden hair
All she’ll get from me tonight
Is a complacent stare
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10. |
Guadalupe
03:50
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Guadalupe © Brian Straub 2/9/17 FAWM #12
Her name is Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos
And we’re sending her back to Mexico
Ella es la madre de dos niños
Do we really think she needs to go?
Her parents brought her here when she was just fourteen
Give me your tired, your poor
And your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
Do we really mean that anymore?
Chorus
We’re sending her back to Mexico
For a mistake she made eight years ago
Now Lady Liberty cries in disgrace
And tears roll down her children’s’ faces
We say she lied on an application: a felony, a permanent stain
But is it really such a flaw?
She did everything we asked, to try and redeem her name
And now we’ll punish her with the letter of the law
‘Cause there’s a new El Presidente executing orders across the land
We’re tearing families apart
Is Guadalupe a threat to Americans?
Is that what’s really in our hearts?
On Wednesday Guadalupe went to mass to pray
On her way to honor her parole
She knew there could be trouble, but she went anyway
Thursday we put a black mark on our soul
Chorus
Her name is Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos
Do we really think she needs to go?
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11. |
Tearing It All Down
03:29
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Tearing It All Down © Brian Straub 4/28/94
You’ve made love to a thousand paupers and a couple of princes to
It’s so funny for me to think about this and remember making love to you
And it must be nice to have the freedom of mind and get everything you want
You teach me things about the world, everything a mother could hate or want
Angel of angels from centuries ago
When people roamed the country and did what they wanted, but that isn’t so
And only since the factories were built and stopped everything that grew
That changed everything, yeah everybody changed their mind except for you
Now I know, yeah I know that it all comes from me
The freedom or even the chains to be whatever I’m condemned to be
And I will keep on ridin’ as long as I can make you smile
You’ve done the same for me, gotta look outside yourself once in a while
Suddenly I feel that some things are being explained
It’s such a relief to feel or to let go of pain
And that innocence that turns to evil or is it the other way around?
I wanna make everything grow again by tearing it all down
Yeah I wanna make everything grow again by tearing it all down
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12. |
Struggle
02:50
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Struggle © Brian Straub 9/30/07
Struggle everyday and I don’t know why
Struggle all the time with everything I try uh huh
Sometimes I think I’m up, but I know I’m down
Just about a day it comes crashing down around me
Chorus
Oh and I know where it is, I ain’t lookin’ anymore
Time will follow that line right through that door I know
Friends don’t make it, they drop left and right
I try not to notice but I dream at night uh huh
I don’t know what’s goin’ on but I pretend I do
Fakin’ everyday’s the only way to get through for me
Chorus
I don’t wanna die, but I wanna stop
Getting up early and running ‘til I drop uh huh
All the bad stuff’s connected and it won’t go away
It brow beats my brain everywhere everyday it does
Chorus
Spinning wheels in a rut and I can’t slide out
When it’s all you know, you just lay about uh huh
I ain’t drinking anymore, but my mind still aches
I wake up in the morning I still got the shakes I do
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13. |
Redemption
03:58
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Redemption © Brian Straub 1994
Well I’m waiting in the shadows kicking cans in the alley
And I’m drunk mm hmm you know I have to be drunk
To be watching all those lovers as they pass through your door
How they can play the game that no one wins
And when you are ready, well I stumble on upstairs
With the morning sun trying to creep in through the back door
Even the sun could never catch you off guard
So I slip into the sheets, and you fade off to sleep
Chorus
Well my eyes touch you and I say “she needs redemption”
“Does she feel pain? Does she make a connection?”
Well I’d ask her myself, but she’s already sleepin’ yeah yeah
Well she tosses and she turns and she calls out in her sleep
And I wonder where she is, she’s the same when she’s awake
Why do I come, lord why do I stay?
All I want is love, I guess I’m only human to play her game
Chorus
Well she looks ahead and she just moves along
Never turning back, but she loves a sad song
Who needs redemption when you’re already sleepin’ yeah yeah
Repeat 1st chorus with same last line from second chorus (2x)
She never looked that good in white anyway
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14. |
Drive To November
02:26
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Drive To November © Brian Straub 8/17/01
I’m crazy as a rat in a coffee can
stubborn as them girls that I don’t understand
just a hypocrite like we all can be
looking for answers I still can’t see
I’m drunker than a skunk in a garbage can
so knocked down feelin’ not a man
or horny as a sailor on a two-day leave
or lonely as a widow and I wanna grieve
Chorus
And I’m tired of lies being fed to me
The ads online and on tv
I’m gonna drive this till the end November
when I get home, gonna sleep til September
I’m chasin’ my tail all over the room
sweatin’ and a shakin’ like a nervous groom
I can be real scared, think I’m all wrong
Or laugh so hard I hurt the whole day long
I can think so much that it hurts my head
Then run around town bein’ stupid instead
can’t think straight crazy as a loon
Like an old hillbilly howlin’ at the moon
Chorus
Instrumental Verse
Chorus 2 Xs
Tag last line 2 Xs
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15. |
The Things I Got Comin'
03:35
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The Things That I Got Comin’ © Brian Straub 4/30/16
Verse 1
I been leanin’ on the wrong things just to ease that pain
Alcohol and pretty women; lots of things I can’t explain
I been searching in the shadows ‘cause the light kind of hurts my eyes
Every thing I ever found left me high and dry
Verse 2
I have bought other people’s baggage when they only asked a dime
But it don’t matter how much it costs, trouble doubles every time
I ain’t been all around the world, but you know I’ve seen my share
Chasing my tail all around and around till I’s dizzy but still here
Chorus
The things I want ain’t gonna save me
The things I got they leave me empty
The things I lost along the way help make me who I am
It don’t matter who you (I) pray to
It don’t matter where you (I) been
The things that you (I) got coming are gonna come right from within
All this time I been looking out, now I’m looking in
Verse 3
I have worn my broken heart out on my tattered sleeve
Held my hard head way up high, I should’ve begged you not to leave
I have reached my open arms out begging “please, take me, please!”
The only peace I’ll ever get is gonna come straight from me
Chorus
Verse 4
I have lusted like a madman on my bended knees
Committed all them deadly sins gladly and with ease
I have asked the lord’s forgiveness looked the devil in the eye
Dosey-doed with both of them till my mama almost cried
Instrumental Verse
Chorus
Repeat last half of chorus
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16. |
I Live Next To A Giant
02:41
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I Live Next to a Giant © Brian Straub 10/31/09
I live next to a giant
He’s an ogre with no soul
Life right next to him
Has taken its toll on me woo wee
You should hear him howl
his sides all shaking loose
Just a glimpse of him
chokes me like a noose around my neck aw heck
Chorus
He goes stomping through the night
Likes to yell and fuss and fight
He goes crashing all around the room
Like brimstone, fire, and doom
I live right next to a giant
He’s right outside my window
screaming on his cell phone
Bet you thought them monsters
were always alone it ain’t so oh no
Maybe you like to wonder
where the wild things are
They’re bounding up my steps
on the way home from the bar with a bunch of friends never ends
Chorus
Instrumental Verse
Back at my window in the morning
Drinking coffee and sucking down smokes
Must have out been out pillagizing
and terrorizing folks of the town gets me down
Chorus 2 Xs
Tag Last Line 2 Xs
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17. |
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Everybody Loves A Song About © Brian Straub 9/18/08
Walkin’ ‘round town a September night
Making my way by the old streetlights
Songs floatin’ ‘round in my head
Gotta write ‘em down before I go to bed
Chorus
Because everybody loves a song about bars and beer
Heartache and tears
And getting out of here
Tossin’ and a turnin’ ‘til the morning comes
I finally get up but the day is done
Nothin’ on my plate, I got nothing to do
That’s a bad thing for me, I don’t know about you
Chorus
My back is hurtin’ and my knees they ache
I got neighbor nightmares ‘cause he’s a flake
Sometimes I feel like I got no friends
This going out alone has got to end
Chorus
I don’t pay rent at any bar in town
My heart is clear even when I’m down
So I’ll keep singin’ ‘bout the things I know
If you don’t like it, you can get up and go
Chorus
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18. |
Grandma Was A Hobo
02:52
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Grandma Was A Hobo © Brian Straub 1/21/02
Chorus
Grandma was a hobo back in 1935
She rode the rails all through the land just to stay alive
Warm weather, slow train, her feet danglin’ off the side
Cold weather, fast train, in a boxcar she’d hide
Verse 1
Well her folks they couldn’t feed her, so they sent her out on the road
She lived the life and wrote the story of Tom Joad
She worked the land all through the fields and she worked out on the river
And said on day the train, her soul it would deliver
Verse 2
Well she never got religion, she ain’t never seen no god
But she saw that South Central and man she fell in love
Never knew too many riders and she traveled most by night
Her face all in the wind and her wig-hat pulled down tight
Instrumental Chorus
Verse 3
Sometimes she comes to see me, I gotta meet her out on the line
I gotta hide down in the bushes or them bulls will have my hide
Out in the railroad yard telling tale after tale
‘til a slow one comes along and away I watch her sail
Chorus
Bridge
Oh and to this very day, she swears the rails are the way
Greyhound’s just a joke, and she won’t never fly
I beg her “Grandma please! You know you got bad knees…”
But on the rails is where she lives and the rails is where she’ll die
Chorus
Grandma is a hobo from 1935
She rides the rails all through the land because it gets her high
Warm weather, slow train, her feet danglin’ off the side
Cold weather, fast train, in a boxcar she hides
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19. |
The Difference
04:26
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The Difference © Brian Straub 9/7 & 8/10
Verse 1
My girl told me just the other day
My brain is programmed to think such a way
Men tune women’s voices out
I don’t know what she was going on about
Hormones and neurons, I wasn’t listening somehow
I was thinking “man, a cheeseburger would be good right now”
Verse 2
Sex on the brain every day all day
That’s what Dr. Freud and my girlfriend say
And I know I can’t say that they’re wrong
I have trouble thinking on anything too long
Dr. Jeckyl’s upstairs, but he’s just a snoring
Mr. Hyde’s trying to sow all the seeds he’s been storing
Chorus
Men want to fight it, mount it, or eat it
When we hassle the ladies, they tell us…hey fellas… just beat it
I hear men are from Mars and women are from Venus
Girls think with the hearts and boys… that’s just the difference between us
Verse 3
She’s got will power like I ain’t never seen
I’m dreaming ‘bout the donuts on the TV screen
She said it, she did it, man she quit them smokes
I play my guitar and make up toilet jokes
‘Cause I got the attention span of a gnat
While she rambles on about this and that
Verse 4
I like my life as simple as can be
Football and music and beer and TV
She’s on the couch talking a mile a minute
I’m watching the game wondering who’s gonna win it
Now I ain’t dumb, I want you to understand
When I’m ain’t listening, I’m just being a man
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20. |
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Don’t Sweat the Little Things © Brian Straub 11/22/09
I’m leaning on my horn you’re shooting me the bird
Yelling out the window names my mama ain’t never heard
You’re swerving in the lane screaming through the glass
All the ways from here to Sunday you’re gonna kick my ass
Chorus
Don’t sweat the little things
God will take you soon enough
The pendulum it always swings
You’re bitchin’s better spent on other stuff
I heard him on the radio his words stuck in my head
Don’t sweat the little things is what his dad always said
But it’s hard to remember eating popcorn in your seat
While they chattering through the movie and you’re staring at their feet
Chorus
Instrumental Verse
All the neighbors walk their dogs and they poop on the grass
They pick it up in their little bags, but it still winds up in my trash
I’m in line at the store waiting to be next
But the girl in front of me is responding to a text
Chorus
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Braintwang Seattle, Washington
From Baltimore to Seattle, I've been writing songs for over 30 years and have built up a body of work. My two previous bands, Armadillo Borealis and Secondhand Sunday, performed and recorded some of my songs that are represented here. This year (2016), I started Dog House Prayers and began documenting more of my songs through home recording. ... more
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