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1. |
Drink Ring Jesus
04:52
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DRINK RING JESUS
Well I thought that I saw Jesus soaked
In a drink ring on some magazine
And man what’s wrong with me I don’t know
Cause I’m too damn young to start seeing things
Or so I’m told
Well they’re talking on some TV show
Bout how it’s been a year since they changed everything
And man what’s wrong with me I still don’t know
Feels like I should care but I just stare at the screen
In my work clothes
Chorus:
Maybe I’m only growing old
But I been thinking bout changing things
And if God should save my soul
Then I’ll need my drink ring Jesus
To come rescue me
If I’m going home
Well it’s late and the light of the TV’s on me
Hear strange voices, in foreign tongues, incessant ancient chants
Always trying to find strength in my time of need
And I was looking in this glass when the answer
Was right there underneath
And I thought something was wrong with me
Something wrong with the way my life had been cast
I been looking for signs and things
When they were everywhere even under my glass
In my drink ring
Chorus
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
All rights reserved
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2. |
Time To Pay
03:10
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TIME TO PAY
There’s gold there in them hills
Said the Devil to the preacher
And you can help yourselves to all you’ve found
It’s all the same to me
And you can have your damned ole city man
Self-righteous fools out in the street
And the gold you found is all around
But you just pave the road beneath your feet
Chorus:
There comes a time
To be brave
Your soul is mine
Now it’s time to pay
And I can tell you think you know my friend
Just how you’ll handle me
Well son Judas thought he was slick too
So don’t fool yourself there priest
Well if it’s gold or power or flesh you crave
Then feast them eyes on me
I’ve got enough to go around my child
So just sit back in that seat
Chorus
Well it comes and goes, it ebbs and flows
And it gets on you and me
It makes a funny sound, but it’s all they’ve found
And it’s in the dirt beneath your feet
But if it’s love you crave just take it to his grave
With the other fools that just don’t see
I’ll find another soul who’ll trade his for gold
So don’t try that shit on me
Chorus
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
©copyright secured
All rights reserved
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3. |
Carpenter Skills
03:05
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CARPENTER SKILLS
Well I’m out here
Out here on the road
Seemed to wonder
Who’s watching over my soul
Feels like I’ve been out here
For ten years in a row
Lord I wonder
Where this road really goes
Man I wonder who knows
And man I don’t know
What makes a man even go
Makes a body want to
Jeopardize his immortal soul
Jesus you sent for
All of us in sinner’s clothes
God I know you didn’t want to
Give up your precious ghost
For our petty souls
Jesus you sent for
All of us in peasants clothes
With the skill of a carpenter
For our fixer-upper souls
And lord I don’t know
Just where eternity goes
Seems like just yesterday
I was washing clean this same soul
Sure seems so
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
All rights reserved
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4. |
You Give Us
04:17
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YOU GIVE US
Sometime I get so sick of this life
Sometimes I think I must be losing my mind
Sometimes I wonder why I even still try
World leaves me struggling for more air every time
Been taking chances with my life
Just silly chances wonder how I get by
So I keep trying to indulge in this world
An excessive cold and lonely ole void to be hurled
Chorus:
You give us this life, you give us this world
You give us each a short time on this earth
But only you know how things are gonna turn
You give us a choice, you give us your word
Been Having problems with my soul
Four way stops and don’t know which way to go
So I go down each road halfway and turn back
I end up nowhere always lost in my tracks
Been taking chances with my youth
Tried to take the edge off with smoke and booze
But I took the edge off so many times
That I’m smooth and shapeless till you can’t recognize
Chorus
But there’s a man in a stained robe up in the air
A woman with a child in need of a room and an inn
Do we believe, this time will we really care
Or will we do it all the same again
Chorus
Sometimes I get so sick of this life
Sometimes I think I must be losing my mind
Sometimes I wonder why I even still try
Lord come back quickly why there’s still time
Music and lyrics by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
all rights reserved
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5. |
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DEVIL’S WORK IS NEVER DONE
He was pretty sure he didn't believe in Heaven
But there at the end he wasn’t quite sure
And I almost lost that lousy son-of-a-bitch
After fifty years of damn hard work
Every year they say it should get a little better
Cause this world is going straight to Hell
But they ain’t never stood on this side of the shovel
Hell ain’t a kingdom it’s a hole if you can’t tell
Chorus:
It looks so easy sounds so damn simple
You think these souls fall right outta the sky?
Jesus back off, this one’s mine
Working all day hustling and a slaving
Just another soul somebody thought that they could save
Chalk me up another one
The Devil’s work is never done
You and you’re father think you’re so damn clever
With your forgiveness and your talk about love
But I’ve been busting my ass and it’s high time
You showed some respect for the work I’ve done
You cry when you lose them
You bleed for every last one
A bunch a sore losers
Is what I think you’ve become
Chorus
You guys always seem to get all the good ones
The poor and needy downtrodden masses
Sometimes the whole deck’s stacked against ‘em
But still I can’t break ‘em, their hearts are the truest of the pack
Seems like all you ever leave me
Are all these poster child souls who think they’re above the fold
You know the ones with their high profiles
But they got no timber in their souls
The famous and the powerful
Those Deceitful wagers of wars
And all those Goddamned politicians
They very ones that evoke your name just for a damn vote Lord
Chorus
Words and music by Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured all rights reserved
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6. |
Cryin' Elvis
03:13
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CRYIN’ ELVIS
Oh there’s a cryin’ Elvis
Looking down on the stage at me tonight
I’m in some random bar
In this very un-random life
His eyes are squinted
His sideburns thick and full
Thirty years of hard living
Corroded all around his skull
Chorus:
Jesus they say you’re coming back
And that Elvis never left it’s an act
But you both left tears down in your tracks
Billy Batson yelled Shazam
And lightning’d strike him where he'd stand
Had Captain Marvel to lend his hand
Hardwood boards upon my floor
But I can’t feel ‘em anymore
Though my bare feet have been exposed
Ears are ringing in my head
But I heard that rock n’ roll was dead
Guess these ole ears have heard too many shows
Chorus:
But Hank you’re never coming back
But the trains still hot upon them tracks
And your long gone lonesome daddy’s gone now Jack
And Johnny’s gone now that’s a fact
The cash is spent with no change back
And how can the circle remain intact
Boxes in the corner stacked
Packed neatly all intact
But what good is storage for
Milk crates stacked up in there tight
My vinyl records slid inside
But things don’t sound like they did before
Chorus:
Natty Bumpo cleared a path out West
Through our minds and the wilderness
But these days hatchets are worth much less
And Captain America helped to win the big war
Then got froze and sent up North
And woke up to a world he didn’t know no more
Oh there’s a cryin’ Elvis
Looking down on the stage at me tonight
I’m in some random bar
In this very un-random life
Words and music by Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured all rights reserved
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7. |
Dante's Blues No.7
03:24
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DANTE’S BLUES No.7
Oh there’s a house of pain
In this bar again
But I gotta gallon of pride
To keep my humility shy
I seek an end to strife
To wash down a bitter life
So I tried a shot of envy
Now I think all things should belong to me
Chorus:
Oh where’s Texas Pete?
When I need a drink
Red hot and mean
The strangest angel you’ve ever seen
It started pissing me off
How I always got caught
So I mixed up some wrath with anger
Dante was no stranger
I sipped on a quart of sloth
Fell behind and got lost
A whole damn keg of carefree
Tapped it with some sweet apathy
Chorus
Bartender was taking too long
And he didn’t get my song
So I started pouring my own drink
And he slapped my hand for my greed
Half-gallon jug on the top shelf
Took it all for myself
I chugged it till there was none
For punishment I’m a glutton’
Chorus
I saw her in the corner
Somebody shoulda warned her
Filled my glass with lust
Best rush there ever was
Words and music by Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured all rights reserved
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8. |
His Time
04:18
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HIS TIME
All’s quiet on the water
Last night’s fog lifts and reveals a Godly mirror
It’s early and my mind’s a wandering
As I sit out on this porch watching the sun grow nearer
Chorus:
Well it’s Springtime
In the valley
And it’s a cold time
Till the sun comes o’er the hills
But it’s my time
To take if I want it
But it’s his time
That I borrow from
Last night I heard you up and walking
And you thought your lover was still in deep in his dreams
But I lay there and I heard you softly praying
And as you sleep off the morning babe I wonder what this all will mean
Chorus
I’m thirty years old now and I never saw it coming
I never thought that I would live to see this day
When I’d sit out on my porch and watch the season’s slowly changing
I’m thirteen years old again, I guess that nothing’s changed
Chorus
All’s quiet on the water
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
all rights reserved
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9. |
Next Stop Redemption
04:00
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NEXT STOP REDEMPTION
Flying through the night no town to be found
Smoking these tracks with the hammer down
This train is trying to find its way home
Picking up people like a lost and found
Hitting every depot that’s long been abandoned
Man this train is going where we need to go
Chorus:
So come on all aboard all you sinners
This train is leaving the station
We may be in Hell tonight
But this journey’s only just begun
You can leave the things you want behind
We can all start anew in that station on high
This train is headed for your salvation
Oh oh Next stop redemption
Don’t matter who you are or where you’ve been
Everybody’s welcome to this communion
The Lord’s table always has room
The blood of mine for the blood of Christ
The blood of yours mixes with mine
This ole engine can’t get there too soon
Chorus 2x
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
All rights reserved
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10. |
Long Way To Go
05:02
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LONG WAY TO GO
You can run for the hills
Or the cover that darkness gives
You can run wherever your poor heart desires
You can run till you’re weary
From the darkness within ye
But pretty soon you’ll soon be looking up higher
You can run from the dealer
Give up your seat at his table sir
But sooner or later he’ll deal you in
Cause you can’t run from your maker
This world’s sweet, but you can’t take her
With you if you’re following him
Chorus:
But oh oh
Don’t give up on my soul
Oh oh
Just got a long way to go
You can walk down that aisle
Get down on your knees child
Stare down and face the congregation
Or you can get down on your knees
In your bedroom if it pleases you
And beg for the power of redemption
Or the power to change
The power to remain
Give you strength in bold new ways
Cause these things that will lead you
In this world man can teach you
But there’ll come an end to these earthly days
Chorus
And I heard somebody say
You gotta walk that lonesome valley
On your own just to prove your worth
And before all that be inspired
Some medieval sorcerer had conspired
In a dusty old book from the old world
And before all of that
I heard “I am that I am”
And “As a man thinketh so is he”
And I guess everybody’s saying
The same things in different ways
As I am right now so let’s all agree
Chorus
But oh oh
Don't give up on our souls
Yes oh oh
We just got a long way to go
Words and music by
Stephen Simmons
© copyright secured
All rights reserved
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Stephen Simmons Nashville, Tennessee
Stephen Simmons was raised in the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee. As a songwriter and Ten years as a Road Dog, Stephen’s vision has grown to entail more than just reflections of rural America. Stephen’s records (which were compared to everyone from Johnny Cash to Ryan Adams) combine virtuosic songcraft and musicianship with unparalleled artistic honesty. ... more
Stephen Simmons recommends:
My friend/collaborator/touring partner Dave Coleman's fine new roots rock album.
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My friend (and bandmate) Molly Jewell's great new ep.
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Up the Partition/Elephant Song
by Ole Mossy Face
My favorite Nashville Band: We also jam together when we get the notion.
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THAT PASSED
by Patrick Regan Band
This collection of '90s work from folkie Patrick Regan and friends will appeal to fans of Fairport Convention and Pentangle.
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Caught Up On A Feeling
by Veronica Stanton
Stunningly beautiful orchestral folk songs with just a hint of country, delivered with heart-on-sleeve immediacy.
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