The Americans EP
by The Americans
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Digital Album
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1. |
Prison Yard Walk
03:46
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2. |
Gospel Roads
07:53
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3. |
Mannie
04:12
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4. |
Kokomo Joe's
03:05
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5. |
Your Right Mind
05:36
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credits
released 29 October 2010
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- Track Name: Prison Yard Walk
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Well, you wake up in the morning
To a rapping on your door
Someone working for the warden
Says, "Get your feet on the floor"
You go walking down the hallway
You feel the eyes on you
And you don't know what they're thinking, you don't know
What they're going to do
You do the prison yard walk
One hour a day
With your head in the clouds
Your feet feel far away
You do the prison yard walk
And you're feeling fine
Taking it one day at a time
Inmate Receiving
New men walk in
Jeans once worn baggy
Are now worn thin
You hand them their Bob Barkers
And they look you in the eye
You're just twenty-three, and the world's already
Passing you by
You do the prison yard walk
With no laces in your shoes
We all must pay
For the lives we choose
You do the prison yard walk
And keep an empty mind
Keep taking it one day at a time
The girl who used to write you
Don't write you no more
You stared at her picture
'Til your heart got sore
You know she's going places
You're not allowed
But your memory gets hazy when you
Think about her now
And the prison yard walk
Is only a blur
You walk it with them
But you're thinking of her
You do the prison yard walk
With tears in your eyes
And keep taking it one day at a time
When you've heard every word
In your dying mind
And it's the same old voice
You've been hearing your whole life
You keep yourself busy
And do the best you can do
And they call that killing time, when it's the time
That winds up killing you
You do the prison yard walk
One hour a day
And it's hard to believe
It could be any other way
You do the prison yard walk
Right down the line
And keep taking it one day at a time - Track Name: Gospel Roads
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"Lift Him up, that's all"
He whistled as he filled his old suitcase
I threw my crutches in the trunk
Sealed the oils, and packed it all away
Every crossroad looked alike to me
In the poor towns where we drove
Just a dusty country highway
But my father called them gospel roads
When he raised his voice
They'd fall silent as if called by name
He spoke of people long ago
Living places far away
We'd shill them like the carnival
The old and the young
Turned their pockets inside out
And blessed our hearts for doing what we'd done
We brightened up their faces
Once weary and forlorn
They'd discover but a clever scheme
Where visions of their hopeful dreams were born
I put my hand in his
When it was time to go
We'd strike the tent and kick up dust
All the way back up that gospel road
He'd sand down his brand new boots
I'd read aloud his sermon
We drove all the way to Arkansas
On other people's money that we'd turned
My father used to warn them
"One day it will all fall apart"
Now that I know it to be true
I wonder if, for once, he was speaking from his heart
When the day came to bury him
I had a chance to start anew
But you stick to what you know
I took to his once I'd outgrown my Sunday suit
I pulled up my grieving roots
Before they had a chance to grow
I cut him from my memory
And I drove east down some old gospel road
The fire of greed burns so richly
In the torches on the walls
You can't take your eyes off it
Even as your castle falls
I know my loving mother
Raised me better than that
I used to wonder why she bothered
The whole world looked so much brighter from where she sat
At the table in the small room
At the end of the hall
Where I learned many a fable
All to do with righteousness and law
I can't take my mind off it
When the nights end alone
I see her face among the souls I sold
Into a heaven that I'll never know
Now when I drive down
Those old gospel roads
I feel closer to those tales of sin
I seldom understood, but often told
"Lift Him up, that's all"
It's all that I know
But the game's played out and every door's been
Boarded up along those gospel roads - Track Name: Mannie
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Hey Mannie, come back again
I wish you'd quit your wandering
The Black-eyed Susan's all in bloom
I've left the light on outside your room
Come back, come back
We were just two kids alone
Throwing horseshoes, skipping stones
Oh lord, Mannie, come back
Mannie, make me understand
Somebody said you've been on the lam
You've been running wild since the age of ten
God knows what sort of mess you're in
Come back, come back
They say you robbed a man in Pleasant Ridge
I don't believe a word of it
Oh lord, Mannie, come back
Say, Mannie, come back again
You don't know how your mama's been
It ain't like it used to be
She hardly says a word to me
Come back, come back
I wish she loved me like you
She's worried sick 'bout the things you do
Oh lord, Mannie, come back
Mannie, if you only knew
Your old life's waiting right here for you
It hurts me so to see you gone
To think you've just been putting me on
Come back, come back
I breathe your name with every breath
I've nearly cried myself to death
Oh lord, Mannie, come back
BREAK
Mannie, as I lie in bed
A dream keeps burning in my head
Your coat is black, flat as tin
And I never see your face again
Come back, come back
The country station plays songs just for you
And not one single word proves true
Oh lord, Mannie, come back - Track Name: Kokomo Joe's
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"Wipe those counters, wipe 'em fast
Your next paycheck is gonna be your last
If you don't roll it over, give 'em Coca-Cola
Lemon soda, vanilla ice cream
Takes soap & water for to keep it clean"
At three o'clock, when the school bells tone
The kids all count their change and head to Kokomo Joe's
They come strolling over, calling out orders
For lemon soda, vanilla ice cream
Takes soap and water for to keep it clean
"Time is money, Boy, you're spendin' mine
Every doorbell jingle is another dime
Go on and roll it over, give 'em Coca-Cola
Lemon soda, vanilla ice cream
Takes soap & water for to keep it clean"
Girls with their sweethearts, dressed so neat
Look right through a man flipping meat
I just throw down some coasters 'round their notebooks & folders
Hair down their shoulders clouds my mind with day dreams
Takes soap & water for to keep 'em clean
"Get your eyes of the girls, get that coffee warm
You tryin' to get lucky in that uniform?
Bring out the orders, like you're supposed to
Don't talk to no one, you understand me?
Takes soap & water for to keep it clean"
"There's an old saying, Son, let me pass it on
With a broom in his hands a man can do no wrong
It's all in the shoulder, just like I showed you"
Hour gets closer, sweating through the steam
Takes soap & water for to keep it clean
When the stools are empty and the floor is shining clean
I roll a cigarette and listen to that juke machine
I roll it over, pop in a quarter
Think it over, feeling low & mean
Be back tomorrow for to keep it clean
The room fills up with the smoke and the sound
I think about the way I'm going to leave this town
It's like I sold my soul here, following orders
Every "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Sir"
But I can see it in my dreams
It takes a poor man's hands for to keep it clean - Track Name: Your Right Mind
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Lady, please, I've waited patiently
For you to make up your right mind
The answers to your questions
Can't be so hard to find
You've got me on my tiptoes
Like a curious child
I can't keep my blood from beating through me
Like a river running wild
Darling, don't you harden up your heart
Make up your right mind
I'm only hoping to have more before me
Than I left behind
Now that you've made sure I'm yours
How ‘bout making yourself mine?
I've been spending every second dreaming
Just to have you on my mind
And the dreams that I've been dreaming
Only ever seem to turn out wrong
I've been watching TV shows
Seeing those people all get along
It gets awfully lonely having only
This one thing on my mind
And though your eyes are soft and loving
I fear they must be blind
All your hesitating has left me awake
Waiting on a prayer
When I close my eyes at night
It's like nothing's even there
I know it's no good
Feeling bad 'bout feeling bad
But I can't stop longing for a hand I've never held
A time I've never had
Sometimes it seems that any childhood dream
Could only lead to shame
Every boxcar in the line
Drives behind some engine pain
I don't mind killing time
But it's driving me to ruin
When I can see your eyes are wandering
And I'm staring right into 'em
But when it comes the time to cut the line
Get fed up, and throw it all to sea
I can't bring myself to ring the bell
On lost opportunity
I stand idly by
You cast your eye on someone other
The longer a sailing ship is longed for
The brighter shine its colors
