Get all 13 The Crux releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Keep the Crux in Christmas (2019), Onstage, Witness, Witness, Witness, The Holiday Play (Ratcatcher Bonus), Crux Interpretum (Tapes 1-3), Keep the Crux in Christmas (2015), Crux Interpretum (Tape Three), Crux Interpretum (Tape Two), and 5 more.
1. |
Badge On
04:55
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Loaded gun strapped to my chest
My heart beats ‘neath a bullet-proof vest
Shining my shoes, I’m going out tonight
Sit down at Frankie’s, napkin on my knee
It’s just as greasy as it ever used to be
Sitting at our old booth, thinking of you
Caught in the cadence of your memory
I’m just the same man that I used to be
Trying to do right, in the chaos of the night
When I got my badge on
The night lasts so long
It’s so hard to do what they tell me to
When what’s right is so wrong
Is this the way that it has to be?
Keeping our love beneath a lock and key?
I work for the law all night, while you work beneath the red light
Is this some kind of inside joke?
Where the bad guys are good and the good guys are broke?
Someone’s running for reelection, someone’s pushing crack in the classified section
We rendezvous at 3:45
A jaded cop and a prostitute
Your face powdered pink, I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling
And as the streets steam
We’re wrapped in bed sheets
The squeak of the bed, the sound of our breath
And I come into a blue dream
I’m wide
Awake and things are very strange
The city is a mountain range
And all at once
I try to run
There’s sirens on a school bus
From my hometown
I’m spinning round and round…
And the boss
Feeds me shots of everclear
I’m putting on my riot gear
And we march
I use my torch
On houses made of cardboard
Smoke rises up
There are demons driving dump-trucks
The city’s just a chain gang
One big judicial gang bang
And then I see your face…
Gazing out into an empty street
I tell the waitress I’m too hungry to eat
Just, sitting at our old booth, thinking of you
Pay for my coffee when I’ve had my fill
A dime, a nickel, a dollar bill
And I’m gone, walking on, into the dawn…
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2. |
Mad Lolly
04:57
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Gentlemen, you are far too kind
May I ...inquire a jar of wine
For as you pour, so shall you find
What's kicking 'round this old cat's mind
Hey Lolly Lolly Lolly, Ho Lolly lo, Mad Lolly Lolly
- hey, what's that?
She's everywhere that glasses clink
She's right outside and in your drink
She's got every single Idaho potato
Wrapped up in her trunk
She's a fast driver, a swan diver, a bee hiver
Yes, that's the stuff
Don't get me wrong, I'm no empty suit
I don't do well at playing cute
But if you should wish to change my mood
Dear sirs just top 'er off
Hey Lolly Lolly Lolly, Ho Lolly lo, Mad Lolly Lolly
... come closer now
I bet you heard she brings good luck
Dice and rubber ducks
But, cowboy, nothing comes for free
You still don't know her specialty
Grandpa's at the country store
Selling live ammo and the ways of the lord
They're lining up, they all want more
Get your live ammo and the ways of the lord
Gentlemen, I do believe...
It's time I up and took my leave...
If you've got no change to spend on me
I'll have to call my friend
Hey Lolly Lolly Lolly, Ho Lolly lo, Mad Lolly Lolly
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3. |
Man of Earth
03:01
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Locked inside the garden, right beneath the rose
Lies a painted little dummy, crooked little nose
His hands lay crossed beside him, pointed to the East
Rain creeps in his silly head, drops of dummy dreams
And it's only mud and wood
You should have known that I would do no good
I'd let you go, overflow, now you sleep alone
it's just a shame
Of all the time I've wasted, one thing still rings true
January's cold winds need February's youth
I went outside to see her, pricked my finger on a thorn
Saw the clay creep from the place where my skin was torn
And I hardly have the chance to sigh and say
Won't that pirate ship come take me away
For heaven's sake, just yesterday I came out here to play
But not today
I've been to school on Sunday, I've seen how the story goes
Adam gave the creatures names and Eve grew from a bone
They bit into a secret, lord they shook that thing
Adam had to leave the place but a bit of him remains
And I guess I should be moving on
Ain't it funny how the world looks in a song...?
Ain't it funny how we work the plow, what comes from it now?
A Man of Earth
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4. |
Old Joe January
03:11
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Old Joe January put a tack inside my boot
He pawned Melinda’s dollhose for his 1,000 dollar suit
I’ve been hollering all morning, since that icy sun come up
I’d take a swig of whiskey, but that bastard stole my cup
And last month for Christmas, my pa got a new shotgun
Got a notion to go fetch it, gawd knows that poor fool he better run
People call me Freddie and I’m every mother’s son
But when Old Joe spits tobacco at my sister just for fun
I start a’feeling nasty, got that venom in my veins
I disappear, I’m drinking beer, I’m sitting in the rain
And I see my field a flooding, rising high with mud
And I see that train a’coming, rolling with it’s boxcars painted shut
Straight through town runs that old freight line
Just like my brain and my veins and my spine
And I lay face down in the mud to pray
The sun will rise but not… today
Old Joe January tied a rocket to my mule
He dirtied up my garden hose from siphoning my fuel
He broke the strings on my guitar, he can’t even play
He stole my hog and shaved my dog and ate my birthday cake
So fellas bang them banjos, ladies make your washboards whine
I’ll be fifteen hounds a-howling, hollering from in them lonesome pines
Well, Old Joe January got arrested in the spring
But I know he did not do it, he was busy stealing my TV
Now he’s headed up the Hudson, foot on that lonesome trail
And I’m headed to the station to pay that fucker’s bail
And I see my field a flooding, rising high with mud
And I see that train a-coming, I reach down for my ticket stub
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5. |
The Beat
02:32
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Everyone's talking about the beat
They hope that it comes to them sweetly
Discreetly you fall asleep
You dream, your eyes fluttering, praying with each breath that you breathe
You're so soft
Still don't know the cost
You're so soft
You don't know when you get lost
What have you won?
You're done when you are done
What have you won?
You must walk until you run
I wish you well
The rest can go to hell
Try to wake you up
You just clench your eyes and yell
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