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Mercury 85

by Dan Johnson

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1.
OUT ON THE ROAD Eating hotdogs and frito lays out on the road for seventeen days the inside of my car smells like a dirty sweat sock i don’t got a boss and i don’t have to punch a clock Drinking more coffee than Juan Valdez I just drive to where my agent says I got my name written on the back of my hat And I never worked a day once I figured out where it’s at Out on the road Looking for a sign I’m looking for someplace I can’t find Out on the road Lord I’m losing my mind In the rearview there’s the troubles that I leave behind Drive all night and I sleep all day In the back of my Lincoln is where I stay When the sun comes up I pull to the side of the road And when the gig is done I pick up a pile of gold I seen a thunderstorm on the Texas plains I seen a lot of people look at me strange I seen an old man and his hands was all curled up I seen a waitress pouring some more coffee into my cup
2.
Rose 03:17
ROSE She was dancing in a bar I was playing in the band At the end of the night I had ten dollars in my hand We went to a diner And sat there in a booth Drinking coffee And dancing around the truth If you ever meet a girl With a tattoo of a rose Tell her that I miss her When the chilly wind blows She walked me to my door I invited her inside I poured her Carlo Rossi And told her my best lies We stayed awake all night In the morning light she left I kissed her one last time As she was tripping down the steps I been around the world I been in every place I looked all around But I could not see her face Tell her that I love her That I can’t forget her name Tell her that I love her And I know she feels the same
3.
DOWN THE LINE Adam’s back on the farm I haven’t talked to him in years He always looked so drunk when he was fighting back the tears His brother’s banjo with a broken string on the porch with a mason jar Waiting for Jimmy James in the back of the car I know you heard all about how I behaved on that trip Nobody talked on the ride back home I was mad but I bit my lip You must have been in Oregon looking for Casey when she changed her name We all went through a change or two but we come out just the same Take me to the tracks and let’s burn one down Talk about leaving this dead end town Watch the fire burn as the stars all start to shine Talk about the good times we’ll have further down the line I’m living up north and I heard you moved down south The weather here suits me but sometimes I have my doubts I look down the road but I can’t see around the bend So I’ll send this letter to you my dear old friend
4.
Somebody's telling somebody a joke Everybody's laughing as I put on my coat The crowd is crying and shouting for more I hear my name as I open the door You were sitting on the hood of my car I could see you smile in the light from the bar How did we ever take it this far Like the light from some burnt out star You like to keep it all between the lines My life gets a little bit messy sometimes Love is everywhere but truth is hard to find A lot of dumb stuff gets done in the name of having a good time I was smoking on the porch outside I saw Jimmy I heard he had died You left with him you said you needed a ride I went out in the yard and I cried and I cried I fell into the fire last night I didn't get burned I was all right I lost my shirt and I got in a fight I woke up on the lawn just at first light
5.
SWEET LITTLE JANE I have walked on a lonesome highway Where I dreamed a lonesome dream I saw the stars in the endless skyway Like the sand in a summer stream I saw the moon rise on the desert Spilling milk wherever she could fall I saw the sun set on the ocean From the top of a cold and distant wall (Chorus) Oh my sweet little Jane How I long to hear you say my name I have traveled in the rain and the snow How I love you, you never will know I hitched a ride on the southern coast With a man who turned and then he said Since adam left the garden He’s had to work to earn his bread I slept by the shore with a sailor She gave her life to dreams Her daddy’s up country Her son is way downstream At the station I stood by the tracks I watched the trains passing me by I saw the sun rise on the mountains Spilling gold and blood across the sky I hear a whistle from across the bay Don’t it sound to me just like your sweet breath I hear a dim and mournful howl How I long to kiss your sweet lips
6.
LEARNING TO LIVE WITH IT I moved back home, can’t find a job Just finished in college and the money's all gone And I don't know what I'm gonna do Cats are sick, car’s broke down Got a hundred fears that I can’t pin down And I don't know what I'm gonna do I’m learning to live with it Take it as it comes Learning to live with it Then I let it go Lucky in love never my name Women I've loved left like they came And I don't know what i'm gonna do Tired in the morning, tired at night Try so hard but I can’t get it right And I don't know what I'm gonna do All I got left is a black ink pen The teachers couldn't take it out of my hand And I don't know what i'm gonna do Empty page looking up at me I guess I'm as free as I want to be And I don't know what I'm gonna do
7.
WHAT DOORS ARE FOR Told you that I'd write this song for you You always knew just what I would do I've always stood outside of your door I'm the one that knows what doors are for Chased your love all over the place Gotten used to doors getting slammed in my face Took it then but I can’t take anymore I'm the one who knows what the door is for You want to follow me But there ain’t nothing is free Out here on the dirty dance floor You better just turn around You don't want to follow me down Down and down and down through the open door One door closes and another gets shown Lately I’ve been closing some doors of my own You been drifting far from the shore Maybe you never learned what doors are for Here's a number wont you give it a try It's not mine it might help you get by Don’t nobody know just what's in store Maybe you ought to learn what doors are for
8.
Allentown 04:51
ALLENTOWN I like to be there when the sun is going down She lights a candle and spreads a blanket on the ground It’s a two room flat way down in Allentown She don’t love me but she says she likes having me around She makes me coffee in a Turkish coffeepot She can’t be sold, she swears she can’t be bought She used to be a rich girl but she gave it all away Don't believe in god but she gets down every night on her knees to pray I like to sit here and just wait for kingdom come There ain’t enough time for me to get anything done Sometimes she’s high, sometimes I’m low I've been everywhere but there ain't no where to go In a world of people who are trying to be heard My love just smiles she never says a word She loves so many men swears she loves them all Whispers in my ear, pride goes before the fall I go down to the river and I look out at the waves My love stands before me like the sunshine of my days Puts it all down and lets the cards fall where they may Sits there and smiles like there ain’t nothing else to say
9.
Mercury 85 04:27
MERCURY 85 I live out in the lonesome hills Lumberyards and abandoned mills A million miles from the nearest town The night bird sings when the sun goes down I was born back in 81 Went to school and I had my fun Felt like a king for a time But the world fell apart like a ball of twine Got married and we had some kids Got divorced when we hit the skids It’s easy now but we’re all alone Everyone sits on a lonely throne During the day I go to work The slow leak hurts the worst So close but so far away I’m going to catch up again someday If you don’t mind maybe you could drive My Mercury ‘85 I know it don’t sound good but lord It's got a lot of life underneath the hood Getting home after dark Pulling in I hear a coyote bark Yellow moon up in the willow tree Can’t tell if I’m lonely or free There’s a neon light in some old bar And I know that’s where all of my old friends are But we don’t talk like we used to We don’t do the things we used to do Some of my friends went to Iraq I didn’t know them when they got back Some went to college some went out West I just kind of lost track of the rest We still smile and tell old jokes But the good old times disappeared like smoke Out ahead is a long dirt road And can’t nobody tell me where it goes Telephone up in the sky Call me up when I’m gone to die Pick it up when it rings I’ll tell you all about how the angels sing Though we live in castles made of sand And things don’t go like we planned Don’t you feel so alive When you're driving in my Mercury 85
10.
THINGS THAT MAKE ME BLUE There’s a house on fire in the pouring rain And I hear the whistle of a passing train Fortune teller and the weather vane Don't that whistle blow so strange Town to town and state to state Rolling stone with a heavy weight There’s a broken door there’s a rusty gate Tell the engineer that were running late Been standing on the side of this road so long Thinking of a girl I once knew Try to get it right but I always get it wrong Running from the things that make me blue Desert cities how they shine Like the light at the bottom of a diamond mine Tangled in these telephone lines I’m gonna get right when I get the time I live by the side of the lonesome road Where the sun just shines and the wind just blows Peaks and the valleys and the highs and the lows Deep cold creek and the shining snow Now all I see is the cars go past And the signs for the food and the beer and the gas It’s all going down hard and fast Don't nobody build a thing to last So I wrap my blankets all around me now See the stars are falling all around There’s a car that’s buried underground Like a ship that’s sinking without a sound
11.
The Fountain 05:40
THE FOUNTAIN Build me up and knock me down But you’ll never have my soul I’ve hidden it in the rainstorm in the lonely hours I’ll see you on the other side Where our names will start to fade Like the colors of a rainbow Or a river in the shade Listening to the midnight I hear you say my name I’ve forgotten all my plans There ‘s nothing left to claim I started out as pure As the winter’s deepest snow Now I am as pure As the feathers of the crow I recall the fountain Where we promised to stay near I recall the forest Where we lost all of our fear I remember my friends Who have all turned into dreams They carry all their burdens Over heaven’s golden streams So I listen for your whispers I look for your sign The clouds all speak about you The mountains brightly shine Now I’m going to leave you dear I’ve places I must be Promises I made That I would always stay so free My memory is weak I’ve lost every tooth Holding on to the meaning I might let go of the truth I feel there’s something special I’ve got to recall A place a face a memory Of a time before the fall A time when all I knew Was the shining of a light And every trembling of my heart Was crowned in sheer delight
12.
Drive 05:43
DRIVE I like to watch you drive Watching the night go by In Tennessee Little rolling hills Little rollings pills In Tennessee We got pulled over outside of Austin With a glovebox full of weed We ditched that van outside El Paso You could say we'd been received We went to San Antone Your brother he wasn't home But we do what we can Desert sun went down Lonesome highway sound But we do what we can Sitting there at the wheel With your eyes open wide Swear I'm gonna live forever Just to watch you drive California's a paradise I been there once or twice But you never get free We took a hand me down Taxi back to town But you never get free We made friends where we could When we need a place to stay I stayed longer than I should I've always been that way

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released May 15, 2014

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Dan Johnson Burlington, Vermont

low key folk music - (how many?) records, a few (dozen?) years worth of weird gigs, no pressure y'all... did shows with some great folks and I just love country bluegrass and any kinda folk song mostly...

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