Get all 74 Stephen Simmons releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
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1. |
When It Rains
03:47
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WHEN IT RAINS
They say my Great-Granddaddy killed a man back in my hometown
Threatened the only one who saw if he told he’d be next in the ground
Drunk and fighting over money said the State’s appointed lawyers
Other man split town, three years past, the dead man’s bones lay rotting in the holler
Till two boys digging May Apple Root stumbled across the skull
Of the missing man last seen with my Great-Grandpa riding in the dead man’s truck
Chorus:
When it rains and beats down on the Courthouse
Washing away our guilt and our shame
When it rains in sheets down on the hillside
Washing away the dirt and the stains from a hidden grave
The mystery of the talking skull soon enough was solved
There were only two with the missin’ man any witness ever saw
The trial was a circus, I guess everybody wanted to see
The dirty ole bootleggers, murder in the first degree
There were only two that it could be according to the law
Other man took the stand that day and laid the blame on Great-Grandpa
Chorus
I’ve passed by this spot in the curve on the old Manchester Road
A million times a growing up I could find it with my eyes closed
The blood that’s running through my veins and the traits the mirror shows
Of the ones who came before us and their mysteries never told
The sins of our Fathers ain’t just the deeds that they done
But washing over truth trying to protect the ones they love
Chorus
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2. |
Colors Fade
04:13
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COLORS FADE
Every morning as school starts
Pledge allegiance to the stars
But there's things you don't see
With your hand over your heart
At my Grandpa's hardware store
Where I learned to work and more
You swing your hammer true
And to Sunday give the Lord
Chorus I:
And the guilt drips like molasses
From a weathered Sunday pew
As our souls seek forgiveness
Singing songs and seeking his truth
It’s true these colors don’t run
But they fade
You can drink from the cup
Once you’re washed in the blood
Secrets whisper in the wind
Our Elders keep from us
Like the color of our skin
And who we love ain't a sin
Within were all the same
Love don't have a color it just is
Chorus II:
And the quilt stitched from patches
Grandma's weathered hands on the bed
Different are our voices
Were all bound by common thread
It’s true these colors don’t run
But they fade
Time fades away
All things with age
It's only by God's grace
For the good we pray we change
It's true these colors don't run
But they fade
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3. |
Huck's Blues
03:55
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HUCK’S BLUES
You were a young man tending bar on the Square in town
Serving egg-burgers and Gerst beers to the country bumpkin crowd
Breaking up fights maybe even getting in one or two
At the Yellow Jacket Saloon
You married Miss Annie yall saved up and bought your own farm
From sharecroppin’ to weekend nights as the Shirt Factory guard
I’m sure six kids sometimes tested you
But they never mention Huck’s Blues
Chorus:
The only blues that followed you through life
Came after your spirit flew
I only hope you know the way we miss you
Even now it’s true
I was a little bitty runt when you took off
Playing horsey on your knees, feeding the pigs at your trough
The memories I have of you are precious and few
But I don’t remember Huck’s Blues
Chorus
Was a sad, sad day when you were called home
When people leave suddenly everybody’s so thrown
Yeah Grandpa I know you musta got down too
But I don’t remember Huck’s Blues
Chorus
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4. |
Cannon County, 1966
02:39
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CANNON COUNTY, 1966
Turned eighteen and I’m done with school
Got a job at the Cheese plant like you do
Got my first car Mamma co-signed for it
Cannon County, 1966
In a one horse town nowhere to go
Ride my Mustang all over these backroads
In a hard, dry county hard to get your kicks
Cannon County, 1966
Chorus:
July rolled around and the draft cards came
Seemed like a good excuse to get away
Finally get to see the world get outta these sticks
Cannon County, 1966
First week of November there’s an early snow
Wrecked my car this morning on the Murfreesboro Road
Daddy came got it till it could be fixed
Cannon Country, 1966
On a bus to Fort Campbell I’m headed North
Failed my physical in Nashville, marked F4
Back in Daddy’s truck, Four Roses we sip
Cannon County, 1966
Chorus
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5. |
Miss That Ole Farm
00:52
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6. |
At Granny's
03:29
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AT GRANNY’S
He’s sitting there
In that old wooden chair
And we’re playing horsey
He’s tossing me in the air
Frozen there in my mind
Already late for the sky
Uncle Glen comes in
Now we're all here
Wearin’ his coonskin cap
Says you can have it my dear
Fits your head child
Gets his guitar and the day is fine
Chorus:
Singing ooh ooh against the wind
From the holler you can hear the peafowls wail
It’s time for a cool, cool change
I’m just here to get my baby out of jail
Dad and Grandma sit
In that old kitchen table and chairs
With the plastic cloth
And the green and white squares
Daddy rubs his chin
Laughs out loud with a grin
Chorus
Geneva smiles
Says I love you child
And she’s sweeping the porch
And watching Price Is Right
Don’t understand they think
But she smiles and gives me a wink
Chorus
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7. |
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I’M HERE TO GET MY BABY OUT OF JAIL
I’m just here to get my baby out of jail
Then we heard the warden say to the lady old and grey
“You will soon have your baby by your side”
Two iron gates sprang wide apart
She held her darling to her heart
In the arms of her baby boy she died
Yet smiling in the arms of her baby boy she died
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8. |
Brown Suit
04:55
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BROWN SUIT
Grandpa, he came to me
In a dream last night
Where he said Son it’s my time
My time to die
But don’t cry, and don’t weep
And I’ll tell you why
Son I’ve lived a full life
But now God says it’s time
To go home, to Heaven
And I’ll watch over you there
Then he slowly walked down that old creek gravel road
In his overalls, alone, but not scared
I awoke, unaware
That he was really gone
Mamma dressed us in our Sunday clothes
Driving Main Street never seemed so long
Now sitting here, in the parlor
My Daddy’s crying
My Grandma she looks so sad
And she looks so tired
In a coffin, he lay there
Tucked neatly inside
His eyes closed and his hair combed back
In a brown suit, in a brown tie
Now it’s late at night, I can’t sleep
I can’t close my eyes
Mamma hears me up and comes down the stairs
What’s a matter my child?
I tell her ‘bout, the dream I had
And that I’m afraid to tell Dad
Mamma I dreamed that grandpa died
Did this happen cause of the dream I had?
Chorus:
Now my child, don’t you fret
You’ve done nothing wrong
Maybe this was God’s way
Of letting you move on
Now rest your eyes, and go to sleep
We’ll talk in the morn
I closed my eyes and forty years flew by
But that dream’s still as clear as before
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9. |
Faith
00:28
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10. |
Found
05:06
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FOUND
Well it’s one o’clock on a Sunday
And all the family’s here
This morning my cousin
He killed him a deer
And now it’s after dinner
My uncle’s are all gathered around his truck
Is this how we measure
A boy by the points on a dead buck
Well back in the kitchen
My aunts all pitch in
They help my grandma
Clean up after their men
And my little sister
Just turned ten years old
And she’s already learning
She says “grandma, where do these plates go?”
Chorus:
Lord you shine down all over this land
You shine down on this family
You shine down on this town
I’m thirteen years old and I’ve got a Bible in my hand
And I’m searching for a verse
That I don’t think can be found
Well back in the TV room
Grandpa’s trying to rest his eyes
He’s worked six long days
And the Sabbath is the Lord’s rest time
Chorus
There’s coming a day
When the world shall all pass away
Will you and yours be ready?
Will you heed what he says?
So Jesus come down
I guess we’re all ready for you now
We’re all ready to go home
Now that we’re found
Now that we’re found
Now that we’re found
Now that we’re found
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11. |
Beautiful
00:40
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Beautiful land of light
Beautiful home so bright, where there shall come no night
Beautiful crown I’ll wear, shining bright o’er there
Yonder in mansions fair, gather us there
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12. |
Cannon County, 1986
02:47
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CANNON COUNTY, 1986
Rubber tires crunching gravel on a limestone road
It never gets paved cause the County’s too broke
Playing in the yard till supper’s fixed
Cannon County, 1986
Little sister and me playing with the garden hose
Summer’s so hot the water never gets cold
Share with little brother or Mamma will cut her a switch
Cannon County, 1986
Hear Mom and Dad talking through the bedroom walls
“Share it with the kids when it’s time this Fall”
Run into the woods tell God my wish
Cannon County, 1986
Chorus:
Better job, better wage, moving away
Little boy crying in the woods all day
Gonna move outta this County and outta these sticks
Cannon County, 1986
Climbed up in a tree at Granny and Pa’s
Carved Jennie Fann’s name in the soft poplar bark
Pa cut that tree down for wood stove chips
Cannon County, 1986
Chorus
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13. |
Melancholy Days
03:26
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MELANCHOLY DAYS
The sun beat down on the road today
Looked like a puddle from a mile away
But it was just a mirage man
Just one of them things
An old man and his chevy on the side of the road
Smoke rolling out and his hood thrown up
But he wasn’t asking for help
So I never even slowed
Chorus:
Mamma always told me “Son enjoy the good times”
& Daddy always told me how to “Roll with the bad times”
Years go by, still drivin’ this highway
Mamma liked to ride after church on Sundays
Daddy liked to cruise into town on Saturdays
But they never warned me ‘bout these melancholy days
Sycamore hanging out over the road
That thing’d fall over if it came a good storm
But I slipped under its shadow
And it gave me a second a shade
Kudzu growing up the side of the banks
Kills everything underneath it blankets
But Granddaddy said we planted it that way
So nature’s not to blame
Chorus
Limestone dust kicking up in the air
Makes a grey cloud gives my truck a trail
Some kid braves the dust from the edge of his yard
He squints but never looks away from a stranger’s car
Reminds me a someone that I once knew
A ten year old boy with nothing else to do
Man how things change
Exactly the same
Chorus
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14. |
Eddie From Woodbury
04:40
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EDDIE FROM WOODBURY
That’s Eddie
From Woodbury
And everyone thinks they know him well
But they can’t tell
Cause you can’t sell
The truth like he can weave a good tale
Too well about himself
Well our Daddy’s
Are brothers and Eddie
Looked out for me from day one
First cousins
Blood brothers
Sure as we are our father’s sons
Others never knew who I saw
They never knew Eddie from Woodbury
Chorus:
He always wanted to live on a dead end road
Where the only people ever came down had a home to go
Now he can see off in the valley from the top of this hill
And see every light down there
And they all think they can see him well
They don’t see Eddie from Woodbury
It’s like some kinda metaphor
Like something that stands for
The way people in this town can give up and get down
An analogy
Something that helps you see
Till you can’t tell the man from this town
Till you can’t tell Eddie
From Woodbury
Chorus
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15. |
Facing East
03:29
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FACING EAST
She touches your hand
Brushes your hair in the bed
As the morphine drips
Aunt Callie Ann fluffs the pillow 'hind your head
I was the weird little grandchild
The runt of the bunch
You kept me when I had my appendix out
And chicken pox and such
Looking for shells on your creek gravel road
And arrowheads from your garden you turned up with your hoe
Grandpa drank whiskey
Four Roses and Mellow Corn
I was young when he passed away
But I remember how you mourned
Your boys they picked guitars
Drank whiskey too and shotguns
You stayed on their ass
And loved ‘em each and every one
They were upset when you finally sold the farm
But it reminded you of Grandpa and hated to see it fall apart
I ain’t worn my suit
In quite awhile
Shirt it don’t fit right
And my tie’s outta style
It’s warm for late September
And I’ve never seen it this dry
Standing in my native county
I’m sad but I don’t cry
The straps burn my hand all the way down
As we lower you deep into the ground
Your casket lay facing
Towards the East
To greet our Lord
Whenever we shall meet
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16. |
Fifty Bucks
03:02
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FIFTY BUCKS
I got an Uncle back home who taught me everything there is to know
From guitar pickin’ to throwin’ em back to the ladies hangin’ out at the shows
He had a K-5 Blazer and an Alvarez Yairi that rang through the holler from Granny’s porch
One day he told me I could even make money If I’d learn a few more chords
Chorus:
Said there’s a man that’ll pay you fifty bucks if you sing till they shut it down
Fifty percent off of draft beer and a burger on the house
You can play your own you can cover The Stones long as no one complains of the sound
If it all goes right you can always go back anytime you’re in town
For fifty bucks
I tried work and I tried school but a circle don’t fit in a square
So I picked up my guitar and slung it on my back and I went on from there
All these roads, all these bars are starting to look the same
But if I get loose and the people are down Hell who am I to complain
Chorus
Years get lost, and truth gets found, you give love you don’t get back
And I’ve heard tell you can even make some money, but I don’t know about that
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17. |
The Cross
01:35
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THE CROSS
On the cross where Jesus died
When I looked I cried
For such suffering did I see
All because of you and me
His love so great his did break
As he hung on that cross
He cried out “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”
Now what about you?
Who has ever loved you so much
As to hang on a cross
A crown of thorn they put on his head
As he hung for us instead
He gave his life that we might live
In peace and joy oh for his great love
Do not destroy a gift of love our lord gave
So now how will we live today
Let us give thanks for our lord
Who gave so much for us
Thank you lord Jesus
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18. |
Traveling Strange
04:26
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TRAVELING STRANGE
Grandpa said he never liked to drink
Had one bottle of beer in his life
Figured that it was ok
In Nagasaki in forty-five
I don’t know what he ever did
With all those bottles of sweet plum wine
Might ‘a given ‘em all away and I guess that’d been alright
Suspect it was more than that
Brought a tear to Grandma’s eyes
As she sat out on that porch swing
And read the Bible till she ran out of light
Chorus:
We’re traveling days from the things we crave
Just traveling souls on some kinda mystical plane
We travel in ways that I can’t explain
We’re traveling strange these days
I couldn’t of been four or five
Uncle Robbie took his bride
Carried the ring in a suit Mama made
Of velour down the aisle
A lot I didn’t know
A lot of things I was never told
Later I’d be back to this place
But it’d never be like before
Chorus
The square’s all still there
Sometimes I drive down
I circle around these same old stores
Mamma drug me in when I was a child
The Pool Hall over there
The greasy burgers and the wise old men
A stool that I used to claim
When I played hooky with my old man
I guess that things move on
I guess that season’s change
I used to think time just passed by
But now I know we just chase old things
Chorus
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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
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