History From Below (2010)












9/11 lyrics - Delta Spirit

Say good morning to my friends
Oh, my Lord, it's 6am
The day ain't nothin' but a sentence paid
You work so hard and nothin' changed

The union crooks treat me like a pawn
They said to strike and I lost my job
The folks back east, they say the market's fine
I heard that before 1929

When Black Tuesday comes it'll be a hit
Right out of the air into the pit
There's one out now said The President
War World 3 will make your poor horns bend

All the old boys said they could make it last
Like Vietnam without a draft
Got the best in the biz for the marketing, yeah
We'll turn the Marlboro Man into a marine

The brave youth will come from far and wide
When 911 is the battle cry

Well, this American, proud tradition
Yes, they pulled the switch and cried for vengeance
If your God forgave all of your sins
Then why would you make martyrs out of them?

For money? Or power? Or glory?
Do you even care?

Bushwick Blues lyrics - Delta Spirit

Hold on to my hand
Never let go, never let go
We were just two kids acting tough
Then we grew up, me, not so much

All the other guys
That you've seen
Are nothing compared to me

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

When we first met
We spoke so brief
When you sang a sonnet
I hummed sweet relief

Do you recall that night
We took the L
Out into Bushwick?
It was colder than hell

So maybe there
We should have stopped
'Cause I'm left here
Feeling like a cop

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

To the other side
Of the state's return
I met a young girl
Well, I couldn't manage her

Because I think of you
In every girl I meet
It's no relief
That sounds to me just as sweet

So maybe I'm the fool
For feeling used
By the way we kissed that night
I though you knew

Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak after all

Salt In The Wound lyrics - Delta Spirit

I want to disappear
Far from the folks I know
I want to get an answer
To why I was even born

No one here can tell me
What's been haunting me all my life
Well, this rat race has left me limping
'Cause I balanced on the edge of the knife

Why am I here?
Oh, what should I do?
Well, is this the point I'm trying to prove?

If there's a God in my head
Then there's a devil too
How can I tell the difference
When they both claim to be true?

Maybe God is God
Maybe the Devil is me
Well, I just throw my chains on
And tell myself that I'm free

Chains, are they really there?
Is this just in my head?
Well, I'll just stay in bed

Life sure has its meaning
Over years I have postured the sun
Thieves and preachers robbed me
For many hat that I've hung

Now with my heart wide open
I listen to the wind just for a word
Sure, I know it's futile
But that's all I have in this world

To look down from the hill and howl at the moon
All the tears I cried never salted any wounds
Well, the earth is so tender and cruel
Well, if you're not there it's still so beautiful

White Table lyrics - Delta Spirit

Meet me darlin', won't you?
I've been waiting for you
At my lonesome white table
Ready, willing and able

Torn in two, beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn, battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true

Someday, darlin', maybe
You could be my baby
Until then I'll be waitin'
At my lonesome white table

Torn in two, beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn, battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true

Ransom Man lyrics - Delta Spirit

With a blindfold I can walk
I see colors when you talk
Could paint your picture with one black crayon
Yes I am your ransom man

I came for you, that is correct
My trunk is hungry from neglect
I would show you, but it's too direct
Well I am your ransom man

I wore some holes into my boots
It's been weeks now following you
They say Los Angeles is a desolate land
Well I am your ransom man

I took some work for a strongarm
You were a sucker for his charm
You see they love you with the back of his hand
Well I am your ransom man

Darlin' I know that you are sweet
Just a midwest transplant with your dreams
Well if I don't kill you he will kill me
Well I am your ransom man

Just one look would make the call
I put that bastard's head right through a wall
Be the great returning of glass into sand
well I am your ransom man

Kiss me on the cheek and I'll be gone
Please do not leave flowers on my lawn
Just wanna hear Dixie from a funeral band
Well I am the ransom man

Just wanna hear dixie from a funeral band

Devil Knows You're Dead lyrics - Delta Spirit

May the wind be always at your back
And the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rains fall soft upon your field
Until the day we meet again

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

May good luck find you at your worst
And bad love lose you at your best
May your days be rich and full of wealth
And your nights be long when you need rest

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

And the road, may it rise to meet your feet
And be downhill all the way to your door
May the grass below be green and the sky above be blue
May it be so forever more

And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm

Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven, my friend

Golden State lyrics - Delta Spirit

These roads stretch a thousand miles
In every way, I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well, I am blind

The Golden State has been home
But I place my stake to roam and to rake
But good souls we mend
Would teach me in what course to take

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

At 48 we seem so well
For three short years we worked like hell
I've been here before lyin' on your floor
It was good to me

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

These roads stretch a thousand miles
In every way, I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well, I am blind

Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead

Good friends remain
Even through the strain
Of a long road ahead

Scarecrow lyrics - Delta Spirit

Oh, scarecrow
You know why I'm asleep?
All the weight you bear you cannot carry

You know you're just like you're mother
And your bag all packed to go
And you hid your heart from everyone you know

You say you'd never love another
Unless they bore your own name
Oh, your kin, they trample on you just the same

Oh, I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow no one knows
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain

Well, your love that takes your picture
And your love that worships
Well, if you can't see it then soon you will

And you frequent the same strip club
You love to watch the ladies dance
Well, you always know I don't do shit like that

While I was out in Scotland
You were out with him
And you took your shot and you threw up your limbs

Well, I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot hold
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain

Well, you deserve applause for splitting me into
Well, I count you on the list of a mortal few
Well, I hope that you were happy
I could only wish you the best
But your beauty vacant setting in the west

And this may just say redundant
Because you've chosen your own fate
Was I more to you than just a pretty face?

Well, I'll give my love to a harlot, I will
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot kill
Well, I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted waiting for rain

Vivian lyrics - Delta Spirit

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here above the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you

Well, I'll fall for each breath as long as I could
Fighting with nothing, no
The last breath I took blew through the wind
And into nothing at all

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here below the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you

Well, I know it's hard to deal with the pain
You yell from your liver giving out
Well, just close your eyes and think of me
Oh, Jerry's not leaving this gal

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well, I'll stay right here above your house
Waiting to see heaven with you

Oh, your firey red hair and your warm brown eyes
You remember the day that we wed?
Forever our souls are intertwined
Not separate even in death

Sleep, oh, sleep, my Vivian
Heaven ain't nothing without you
Well, I'll stay right here beside your bed
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you

St. Francis lyrics - Delta Spirit

[Verse:]
They're all throwing stones at the back of my home
Kicking the dirt in the air
Well I left to think while they're thinking I'm stoned
Well I had no cause to be there

And out of this town while I had something left
Bury the fear in my head
Well it's all just the same cause the city's just as bare
It's full of people like me

[Chorus:]
We've all run away
Everyone wants but nobody needs
Silver and gold
Well everyone wants, but nobody needs

[Interlude similar to verse]

Well I ran to the woods and I preached to the birds
St. Francis talking to me
Well they said I'd find love in a pain I'd endure
If I would just listen to him

With my ear to the ground and my heart full of lead
Well I quietly listened to him teach
But with tears in his eyes, he just looked straight through me
I awkwardly waited for speech

We've all run away
Everyone wants but nobody needs
Silver and gold
Everyone wants, but nobody needs

[Interlude w/ changed piano part]

Once I was sure that this love was the truth
Well I quickly spit in his face
I returned to my home, friends and I, we threw stones
Bragging that we knew the way

[hummed chorus 1x until the end]

Ballad Of Vitaly lyrics - Delta Spirit

In the German sky there once was a plane
It carried 71 children and their mothers to Spain
Well, this plane was sure somethin'
It was full of young Russians
Proudly to gander at topics discussin'

Now Pete the Swiss was doublin' shifts
Jugglin' the iron controlled by his lips
Not a minute too soon children fell to their doom
Struck dead in the air, orphan a father or two

He just laid in the alley
Now orphan Vitaly met a young girl, married her quickly
Was so damn in love that they had their two kids

Had a great job, construction in Spain
They were goin' to see Papa from Caucasus mountain range
Now that damn Swissman crashed them into a plane
I will find where he lives, speak to his face
With the blood in my eyes, he will see my pain

Many weeks passed, for fear of a suit
The airline said nothin', Vitaly turned blue
For the killin' they done, no apology made
Is it 'cause we are Russian you treat us this way?

Through a friend that he new Vitaly found Pete
He came to his doorstep expectin' to speak
But Pete blew him off, threw down the pictures Vi brought
Pictures of the 3 most important he lost

As the pictures fell down
Re-enacting the day
Vitaly's eye blackened
No human remained

Well, so much can be said
For a man in his shoes
There's no glamour in vengeance
There's only this rule

That the lives that you lost
Can never come back
And the deed in return
Is worse than the act

Blinded by love and the pain of his loss
He could not remember the act of assault
He awoke in his room all covered in blood
The cops they'd come knockin', they knew what he'd done

The government leaned
Vitaly was free
They called him the hero, a man above kings
A shadow of man, they were praising his deed

He was alone, killed a father of 3
No deed that he did could make him complete
It could have been different if only Pete said
I'm sorry for killin' the few joys you had

But now there's nothin' for Vitaly to do
But step off a cliff or hang in the noose
Robbed of forgiveness that he could've gave
There's no man left to save

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