1. |
High Life
03:59
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Made it through the war we fought, the one back in Vietnam
Couldn't afford to hide out in a school
Fixin cars to make it through, couldn't fix the holes in my shoes
But the kids were happy with the little that they had
80 hours a week was not enough, to give my wife everything she wants
Always threat-nin me to hit the road,
Stay at home beats on the kids, takes her ignorance out on them
They tell me at night lord, all that she's done.
Every day with the rising sun, say I love you but she breaks my heart.
Better off join back, to punch the clock
One day soon I'll stay in bed,
that'll be the morning when she wakes up dead.
Or the day her tracks head on out of town
Chorus:
So I guess I'll have to work a little more,
Guess Ill have to die out in the sun
Welcome back to the High Life everyone
Welcome back to the highlife my son
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2. |
A Blink and a Breath
04:08
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The shadow of the train
made a strobe on the earth
That grew larger than life
a thousand words worth
Parallaxing land
confuses the brain
Eastern or Western
towards going or staying
It feels wide open, under Western skies
dreams look just like, the way we planned
And we pull in the driveway home
& In a Blink and a Breath, it’s all gone
A break in the heavens
points out on the scene
abandoned farm silos
and rusted machines
A place to be buried
on top of the land
Bleached by heat
From suns distant flame
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3. |
Americas Best
03:28
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I am the watchman
Counting my steps
Bricks in this building
And, every last breath
I got, three in my rifle
And a anti-bullet vest
Dont you think I did some wrong
Cause Im one of Americas best
Did some tours of duty
In sandy foreign lands
Lost one of my jungle-boots
Hunting the Taliban
When I, sleep at night, It's
Phantom pains & memories of my leg
Why do I have to feel so wrong
Am I still one of Americas best
Years gone by now
Married, raising kids
Sweeping floors for rich folk
High on prescription meds
Know Im a, hard working Veteran,
They dont see, the war in my head
A problem for someone else to handle
Forget I’m, one of Americas best
Im still the watchman
Not doing fine
Dying at the VA
In their, cancer treatment line
Do you, think the’ll still bury me
With my medals on my chest
Cause they, act like I did them wrong
But I was one of Americas best
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4. |
Sleep Like Kansas
04:02
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Like the dust across the plain
Years behind the wagon trains
We follow in your shoes
Old engine pumps my water
Tornado warnings on my motorola
praying in the cellar gets us through
Small graveyard towns,
Feels like we dont belong here
Its all sacred ground
old mud houses & grassland
Interstate traffics far away
Interstate traffics far away
from this home town
Looks like they rolled up main street
thats ok, because we have a dollar tree
three stations on the tube
Tired as hell from a day at the grainery
Back to the wife & the 40 acre family
Cause of them I can not loose
What if we, sleep like Kansas
where the sky, meets the land like canvas
We're ships out on it’s sea’s
Windmills wave goodbye
Foreword to, the next painted sky
See you in our dreams
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5. |
Factory Lines
04:33
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How many hours do we have in a week,
just to make sure that my kids will eat
Had a new beginning bout a dozen times
Always working on the factory lines
Minimum wage or less you see
Is what I bring to my family
We have nothin', but we have it all
Cause I work the line on the factory floor
No gold watch , no ticket hoe
just a message on my telephone
Dont bother common back they say,
Factory's gone overseas away
Now Ill probably die in pain
Health care costs to much these days
Dont matter that Im red, white, and blue
USMC and some other tattoos
Bell rings and I walk the line,
makin' that stuff till closing time
I gave up on getting ahead,
the government won't care when were dead.
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6. |
Silver Thread City
03:32
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I live down in Silver-thread City.
working in a sawmill most of my life
Never want to move from Silver-thread City
This is where I found my beautiful wife
To get the logs to the mill in Silver-thread City
We have to un-jam the river with big long pikes
There’s not a church in Silver-thread City
But in the hospital tent you’ll pray for your life
But in the hospital tent you’ll pray for your life
Lots of single girls in Silver-thread City
Married men see them as widowed-wives
Hearts and souls are strong in Silver-thread City
In lovers arms they cry through the night
Im an old man at 20 in Silver-thread City
All this hard living took time off my side
Our train pulls out from Silver-thread City
At 20 years old well start a new life.
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7. |
Don't You Run
04:20
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8. |
Marshal Law
05:41
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Past the bridge at county line,
lives a good friend of mine,
blasting Johnny 99
His old trucks full, of new fruit jars
Travelin' with ghosts and scars,
Avoiding, behind the bars
Were Gonna make it out alive, When we make it out of here.
Only the tough ones can survive, While the rest just disappear.
And you dream for days, about the train & the river
And you dream for days, about the train & the river
And you dream for days, about the train & the river
Work all week, with nothin’ to show.
A car that never goes,
Past all the debt that grows
Brown eyed susan in the mason jar
To pay bills,we turn from law
Feed our kids & fool them all
Tug the barge down to deliver
It’s a dark night on the river
As I glide past the sleeping town
Nations blind, caught up in Marshall Law
As our, War Wounds grow sore
They all show me the door
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9. |
Roads Never Traveled
02:55
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Building the road,
that follows the tracks.
Leading straight back to nowhere
Power-lines lean, away from the wind
Sun rise lights up all who live there.
This path never ends,
Nor this crew that I'm' in.
A hardworking life is a good one.
I feel bad for the ones,
That travel this land
And each night,
Return back to no one.
As each traveler pass
I cant help but ask
How can they afford to come here
Cause for 12 hours a day
We work and we slave
And barley able to meet ends
Building the road,
that follows the tracks.
Leading straight back to nowhere
Power-lines lean, away from the wind
Sun rise lights up all who live there.
Roads Never traveled
and dreams unfifilled
Just swinging a pick axe
and paying the bills
As the breeze from the cars
blows dust in my mouth
that road never traveled
keeps kicking me down
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10. |
Red Hawk
04:14
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There it is again, Watchin’ over me
Just as I forget
You’re right back on my wing
Right there by my side
Everywhere I go
All the lows & Mountain Highs
When I thought I was alone
First time I saw it there
beside the road
waved a wing, I said a prayer
That don’t happen on it’s own
Be in another state
many miles away
And see that hawk again
never once looking afraid
Then it came to be
next I saw your wings
Souls watchin’ you & me
Watchin’ out for everything'
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Joe Cat Athens, Georgia
Joe Cat is an Americana Singer/Songwriter living in Athens Georgia. His Americana style gained many of it’s roots from that
sound. Joe Cat is a veteran troubadour, traveling the country and playing his music for everyone.
Prior to a life as a musician Joe Cat worked as a factory worker, a U.S. Marine, and many other low wage, blue collar jobs. His sound is Americana.
... more
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