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Last Call

by Stephen Simmons

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Full color package comes in jewel case with an 8 page booklet containing song lyrics with original artwork by Eric "Preacherman" Pace; album design by Alicia Bequette and photography by Bob Delevante
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1.
THE GOOD LIFE Well I’m laying on your pillow baby Your glass full of wine The finest of chocholates baby That money can buy Sheets made of satin Carpets strung with gold It’s the good life baby God forgive your soul So you’ve read Steinbeck baby You’re well versed in this world And you’ve read those urban poets I know you studied up North But tonight you’re slumming girl Your class be damned You wanna show me the good life baby So God’ll forgive your soul Well I’ve got problems baby Your money can’t solve And I’ve got issues baby I’ll probably never resolve Maybe you’ve got a good heart Maybe you’re really so blind But if you’re looking for redemption now baby This ain’t where you’ll find it But you know the sun’ll come up To replace the moon And you know I’ll always think of you baby If’n I leave too soon And I know that good heart of yours will Probably cry till noon But you’ll get used to it baby Just like the rest of us do
2.
Last Call 04:37
LAST CALL Well last call for all you sinners I thought I heard the bartender say And I took it kinda hard Though I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way The next thing that my mind knows I’m sitting right there in those stiff wooden pews right on the front row Preacher’s gotta Bible in one hand and a fist in the other And he’s got one last chance to try and save my soul But then I’m jerked back to reality with all my fellow sots And I look around the room And I have a drunken thought And I think of how the two situations are alike really a lot You know, for two things that well really are not Mamma get off the phone I’m waiting on Jesus to call He said he wouldn’t be gone long But it’s been over ten years now I think it’s time he finally called me home So there I was there in my quandary Finally having to come to terms with all my dirty laundry Now I’m no worse than any other man here Just by far probably the thirstiest Thirsty for sin, but yearning for knowledge Thirsty for gin man, and learning what I’d forgotten You know I ain’t looked in a mirror man in over ten years At least not looked in one honest Chorus Now I’ve made up my mind, it’s time for this to end Tired of this lifestyle tired of all this sin Tired a going to bed man and just not knowing If I’ll ever wake up again Now I don’t know what’s got me on the ball Ready to get down on all fours and start to crawl Maybe it’s intuition, maybe it’s gall Could be intervention, Hell the writing’s all over the wall Don’t remember how I got down here, don’t care, don’t recall But it don’t matter man, once you’re gone Chorus
3.
County Lines 04:02
COUNTY LINES There are boys here in this county Who can race and shoot and run Lead you to an early grave Really show you how it’s done Drag you through these gravel roads And blind you with their shine Make you wanna lose your breath Make you wanna lose your mind And there are girls here in this County Who can tease you with their love Control you with a wink The way they smell, they way they look They lay down by the lake Until they’re brown and golden tan They can take you out at night And turn your truck into your bed County Lines Run in funny ways But once they draw ‘em up They don’t ever change They say you can’t go back So don’t even try Take one more step And kiss your County goodbye Things down here don’t ever change That’s just the way they’re done Before you’re ever born We decided for you son That boy’s just like his daddy And his grandpa on and on Makes it hard to leave behind But so easy to be from And you may think you’ll have some say In when you come and go Just cause you drive all over town All over every county road But you’ll be sick when you wake up And realize it’s gone Yeah you stayed here all your life But your life left you alone Chorus You keep moving Trying to leave it behind Just end up in some other small town Behind some other County Line Chorus Take one more step and kiss this County goodbye
4.
BETTY I’M MARRIED Well this beer’s as cold As the night is hot And Satan’s own coals Ain’t as hot as Shreveport tonight I’ve been down here working But tonight I’m playing And I’m going home Sunday Back to Macon Well I knew that she Was trouble when I seen her And I told myself I was just being nice Till her hand was on my knee And I know that she saw Saw my hand and saw that ring But I swear that’s when Betty Moved a little closer to me Betty I’m married Betty I’m taken But she ain’t here with me Tonight to save me Yeah I’ve been lonely lately And you got me thinking That you sure look good to me But Betty I’m married Well the band did play And Betty did sing And she kept pouring drinks And she kept playing me And I found myself Out on the floor, out in her arms Swaying to the music Of a beat that I can’t keep Chorus Well the morning light Is always bright with no blinds And she lay sleeping there So beautiful in my eyes And she wakes to find me staring And she’s glad that I ain’t gone Yeah it’s Monday morning And I’m glad to be home
5.
Calling 00:57
CALLING Can’t you hear him calling Your Lord is calling you home Best you head the warning Find him before he comes I dreamed this song last night in my drunken head Woke up this morning but I still wasn’t dead Can’t you hear him calling Your Lord is calling you home
6.
Loserville 06:59
LOSERVILLE Well it’s another dead night around here Another Saturday night here in Loserville And all us losers are looking for something to do Well Robert Earle’s my best friend And my Daddy used to work with his Way back before they shut down the Textile Mill Well Bobby and William both live up the road And I’ve known ‘em for years now forever I suppose Not a bad group all in all as losers go Well I stole a twenty from my old Man’s wallet just cause it was there And we took off down the road just drinking our beer A dangerous combination of nothing to lose and nothing to fear I didn’t know just how fast life goes Took it for granted just because it wasn’t fun I suppose I suppose Well old man Johnson lives on the outskirts of town That crazy old man, nobody goes around Nobody ‘cept for punks like me and my friends We’d pull up in his yard and throw bottles at his house Open all his gates and let his cattle out And just for a laugh drive back by again Well I guess he finally got tired of all of our shit The day he came running out of that house choking that thirty-ought six I just prayed to God that he’d miss Well I heard the glass shatter and blood hit the dash Heard Bobby screaming but William didn’t make a sound And I was going too fast to ever slow down Well I tried to gain control but I ran off the road Ran right through his front yard right through his soul The look on that old man’s face forever etched in stone Chorus Well William’s been dead for almost six years Heard Bobby moved off and had a couple kids And they say Robert Earle these days most of the time don’t even know where he is But he was in the front seat with me on that cold January day The day that old man bloodied that rusty Chevrolet I still remember him screaming “Look Out!”, guess those were the last words that he’d ever say Well me I finally got out of that town Got thirty more years and I figure I’m Hell bound Sometimes I’d like to say that I’m sorry, but I don’t know just who I would tell Chorus But me I can’t help wonder tonight in my cell, what’s going on tonight….. down in Loserville.
7.
DIRTY SIDE OF ME Your eyes how they sparkle But I’ll never know why they shine for me Cause mine are dark and guilty Ashamed of all they’ve seen And Girl your image of me’s distorted But mine is sharp and keen. And I’m a lot more like something that you’d fear Than something that you’d dream. Cause there’s a dirty side of me that you ain’t ever seen Done things you wouldn’t believe Things that are evil, things that are mean And I ain’t trying to scare you Honey I just don’t want to deceive Cause your as good as gold and mine’s a ragged soul But I think that’s why God sent you to me Your words how they linger But I’ll never know how they came to me Cause even though my ears are open I’m long past listening And girl your prayers have somehow saved me From the things I’d stopped believing And I’m a lot more like something you can’t take back Than something you’d chose to keep Chorus Yeah, you’re as good as gold and mine’s a ragged soul But I think that’s why God sent you to me
8.
FORGIVE ME FATHER The summer sun was sinking My lonely heart was aching Cause I thought that I was breaking that girl She drew me in the evening But threw me out in the morning And I guess I had it coming that way Oh a strange fair-skinned girl With blonde hair looks like an Angel when she prays Forgive me Father For what I done here today I told her I was a singer I knew that she was dreaming When she laid back on my bed drinking her rum She never thought I was a scheming As she laid back just listening Never thought that I was coveting her touch Chorus She held me tighter than a lover Who just wants to play And in some strange twisted way It’s all that kept her from going insane Forgive me Father For what I done here today I woke up in the morning Wondered why no birds were chirping As the kettle was brewing my cup There weren’t no bells a ringing No new angel’s wings a singing Cause the whole time I was clipping them off Chorus Forgive me Father For what I done here today
9.
SHIRLEY’S STABLES I hardly take the old road since they built the Interstate Man I don’t know what possessed me guess I just felt like riding today I see Shirley’s Stables all boarded up and let go Truth be known that’s why I always take the Interstate home Ten years ago these stables were home to the best Thoroughbreds in the land Danny named this farm after Shirley, this farm he built with his own hands And Danny was my best friend, but there was talk all over town Cause Danny was a jealous man, and things were starting to get out The weeds have all grown up out in the pastures Where nobody ever rides at all The barn ain’t nothing but an empty stack of stalls But there’s a ghost in Shirley’s Stables That haunts the hills and the dreams of us all I still remember where I was the day they called the law I was out back in the main barn shoeing a mare that we just bought Sheriff had a lot of questions said they found Shirley dead that night Found a bullet in her chest matched the one in Danny’s 45 Chorus Sometimes I miss those days and the horses that I used to train Working on my best friend’s farm that shared Shirley’s name Sometimes I miss those nights and the way that Shirley held me tight All the times that we’d hide out the time that she was mine Chorus I hardly take the old road since they built the Interstate Man I don’t know what possessed me Guess I just felt like riding today
10.
LAY ON THE TRACKS Trying to find the silver lining In this cloud Is like trying to take a beat up old guitar And trying to find the sound I’m down in the floor I’m out in the trash I’m the ashtray over in the corner That you never clean out the ash Baby you’re gone and you ain’t never gonna look back But I’m the type of guy you know I ain’t never been good at that Cause If I can’t ride on the train I’d just as soon lay on the tracks You can lay new floors now baby You can repaint your walls A different tile every spring A new color ever fall But I’m down in the cracks And the creases of your floors And I’m in the closets of the rooms That you don’t use anymore Chorus I see you driving down the road Adjusting your mirror You turn it over to the other side So you can’t see me here But I’m under your hood In the plugs and the wires Still spinning outta control Down in the tracks of your tires Chorus
11.
JUST LIKE LOVE Sometimes you can’t see Looks like it should but your heart deceives Cause it takes up all the space in your mind And it grips you tight Freezes you till you’re paralyzed You know it runs on it’s own time Well it’s just like It feels a whole lot like Almost and close to what you’re trying to find But it’s not true And it’s not blind It’s not love but it’s hard to deny You know it messes with your mind Messes with the way you feel inside She’s got that look boy in her eyes And she looks as good As you hoped she would She comes to you but pulls back when love binds Back out of your arms boy back out of your life Chorus I want to see you But you’re busy tonight I feel relieved I feel pushed aside And I don’t know you And I don’t know what you hide But you give me an excuse to half try Chorus
12.
SHUT UP SAMANTHA Well Samantha loves her baby She feeds him everyday She comforts and cradles him In the usual ways She put a lot a thought in what to name him Puts a lot a thought in what time she bathes him But if you ask her why she made him She just looks away Well Bobby don’t work much lately Says baby I don’t care what they say about the economy And sometimes he yells but she tells herself it’s his baby And she tells herself he’ll change Shut up Samantha You ought to hear the crazy things you say Your life’s in danger If you choose to stay She visits her mama on Sundays Lets her see her grandbaby Sunglasses and extra make-up Helps her hide her shame Well three years ago this Thursday In her prom dress she was the queen But the bills and reality Brought a change in her king Chorus There’s a castle in the sky for kings and queens And there’s royalty in your mind every night When you dream But there’s a dragon on the bridge girl That breathes pain and fire And you wake up crying every time Chorus
13.
Grey Skies 06:17
GREY SKIES Grey skies, dead trees Rain slowly rolling down their brittle leaves Wet roads, can’t see my way Wipers dragging across my windows with a tattered blade Left home, this morn Left a place I’ve been ashamed of since I was born Driving on, this road Trying to forget, trying to forgive, trying to move on The wheels are turning faster now Why can’t I just get past it now Just when I think I’ve lost it It’s back around Here somehow Cross words, bloody lips Years of resentment balled up in a clinched fist Babies cry, kids hide But mama and daddy hide too behind their lies Fell down, silly me Go out and play child and let your daddy be He’s had a hard day, a hard life A million excuses a million lies Chorus Don’t know where, I’m bound for But I just couldn’t stay where I was anymore Just driving on, this road Now I’m driving fast, driving on, but I’ll never be alone Put the pedal down, turn the music up Anything to drown out, anything to speed up this truck Guess I’ll know it when, I get there Maybe see the sun, see the stars, maybe breathe new air Chorus Grey skies, dead trees Rain slowly rolling down their brittle leaves
14.
Baptism 01:09
BAPTISM Water was cold and it was clean As the Preacher took my hand Leaves rustled in the trees Said tonight the Lord shines on you young man The wind picked up into a breeze Heart tried to beat out of my chest He said Son do you believe Washed me in the blood and made me complete
15.
Bow Down 05:01
BOW DOWN Well I’ve tried to work the land here most all of my life And It’s run me in the ground And it ran off my wife I got a check here in my pocket from some big developer in town Daddy’s turning in his grave He never thought I’d sell out When Becky moved out She took Justin with her He’s my only boy The thing I love the most on Earth Sixteen years old, but I think he understands How I hate his momma and he resents his old man Cause I bow down to a dollar I bow down to the man Any thing to ease my pain Man I open up my hand And I bow down to the Devil Take his money in my hand Prey Jesus ain’t around man To see me bow down I took the money that I made from the farm Got a place just out of town Took a job with the county patrol But word sure does get out fast when someone can be had And say what you wanna say but there’s a price for every man Them Campbell boys that live out on Red Hill Road Got a trailer there in the woods Where they cook up their meth and there crack coke I look the other way see that they don’t get caught Cause a man just can’t live off of a state paycheck alone Chorus Well I was working late that night got a call ‘bout 3am There was a party out in a trailer ‘bout three miles from Red Hill They’d called in an ambulance some kid was looking bad Got a call from the Campbell boys don’t let this get out I walked in the trailer and them kids all scattered out Paramedics had a body face down overdose no doubt But I know that hair them clothes and them shoes There lay my first born dead at my own hands And I bowed down to my master I bowed down to my Lord Fell to my knees And cried in the floor And I pray Jesus will forgive me Cause God knows I never will Please Jesus swing down And see me bow down
16.
SWEET SALVATION This old white line is longer Than the time I’ve left to roam I always thought I was stronger I thought by now I’d have found my home But you can’t wait any longer You’ve been waiting all along Cause pain ain’t nuthin’ without hunger And my soul’s been starving for so long Sweet Salvation Finally know where I belong I’m ready for redemption Ready to finally go home Well I set out just a young man Hell-bent to make this world my own But even the best of laid plans Can fall apart out on the road And I don’t know how I found you In the kind a places that I roam It’s always the fool that’s the last to see It was more like you that found me Chorus

about

Last Call was recorded in Nashville by producer / engineer Eric Fritsch (Scott Miller, Carter Little, Rowland Stebbins). Features performances by Kenny Vaughan, bassist Dave Jacques, drummer Paul Griffith and cellist David Henry. Album folk art by Preacherman Eric Pace.

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released June 14, 2004

Produced by Eric Fritsch and Stephen Simmons
Recorded and Mixed by Eric Fritsch
at Eastwood Studios, Nashville, TN
Mastered by Jim DeMain at Yes Master, Nashville, TN
Photography by Bob Delevante
Design by Alicia Bequette
Album Artwork by Eric "Preacherman" Pace

All songs written by Stephen Simmons / Shiny Geode Music / SESAC
Copyright 2004 Locke Creek Records

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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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