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Rank & File

from Cold Town by Brian Straub

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about

This one just came to me. The line about mother culture (and maybe others) came from the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. I love Geli's climaxing fiddle part toward to end of the last verse. I love this recording and I'm glad this song is finally seeing the light of day other than the odd Secondhand Sunday show from way back when. I've also started playing it live again now.

lyrics

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)

credits

from Cold Town, released December 2, 2017
Brian Straub - writer, vocals, acoustic guitar
Ed Hodge - bass
Henry Mansfield - keyboard, drums
Geli Weurzner - fiddle
Tom Humphreys - backing vocals

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

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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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