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The Big Show

by Stephen Simmons

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none Simmons is a literary singer-songwriter: the analogy of seeing life as a circus isn't a new one, but I haven't seen it developed and extended as well as Simmons does on this album. All of Simmons's works are worth picking up; this one's great for how he mixes a discussion of his personal struggles with universal and political dimensions. Favorite track: Just What I Got.
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1.
I'm Late 02:59
I’M LATE     Well I was practicing the words To a song I probably won’t play And it got me to thinking ‘Bout the one that got away   And I was gonna write it down But I couldn’t find a pen And I thought I had the time to muse But when I was supposed to play forgot when   Chorus: So I’m coming to you tonight A little delayed upon this stage And I hope you will forgive me For I tried my best today And I tried so hard to please you But you know the muse is king And I'm the subject of a bloody tyrant Who uses me for his little plaything   So I threw my shit up in my truck Jumped in and cranked the key And I headed down the road still late But only fashionably   But I forgot my favorite harmonica The one in the key of E The one that goes so perfectly with the song that I was practicing Before I had to leave   Chorus Yeah I’m the subject of a bloody tyrant Who tugs on my little heartstrings         Music and Lyrics by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©copyright secured all rights reserved
2.
PARCHCORN FALLS   I’m gonna make it after all I’m gonna get up but it was a damn hard fall And baby you can take it with you when you leave It was something I never really liked anyways about me   Chorus: And I’ve been driving all night long And I’m so tired of throwing stones Baby do you think we could take a nice long walk Down on Parchcorn Falls Down on Parchcorn Falls   There’s a hummingbird on my windowsill And there’s a humming ringing between my ears There ain’t a cloud up in the sky And there ain’t a doubt down in this heart of mine   Chorus   There’s a time and a season Feels so right for no rhyme or reason And I’ve been thinking you and I could steal a little time For walking in our bare feet down by that cool creek side   Chorus   Oh Baby let’s walk Please baby out on Parchcorn Falls Oh Baby let’s walk Please baby down on Parchcorn Falls Down on Parchcorn Falls Down on Parchcorn Falls Down on Parchcorn Falls     Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©Copyright secured all rights reserved  
3.
Spark 03:02
SPARK     On a 747 with Halifax beneath Spilling into the Atlantic Sea Heading into Dublin, thinking bout a girl and wondering Yeah wondering what she means to me   I’ve been on a bus, in a van, on a plane Till the view all looks the same I’ve been the stranger in town, the one they talk about And seen the marquee with my name   Chorus: I’ve been looking for a spark I’ve been looking for passion I've been looking for truth I’ve been looking for a selfless love I’ve been looking for me Maybe I’m looking for you   It’s the way that the evening sky touches sea Yet so much lies in between It’s the way she calls my name, it’s the sound of midnight rain When she’s sleeping next to me   I’ve sacrificed love seen it die in vein Felt my heart give way to pride and shame But I won’t sacrifice the truth, not even for my muse Let alone for minor fame   Chorus   Maybe a song can heal a soul Like prayers don’t know where they come from or they go Lilting lullabyes under the cover of night Long ago I heard someone say Seek yourself and you’ll be on your way But sometimes that’s just like trying to making lightning strike  Words and music by Stephen Simmons ©copyright secured all rights reserved Shiny Geode Music, SESAC  
4.
EMPTY BELLY BLUES No. 32     Well there’s folk stars in East Nashville and country wannabees downtown Who look up to all the has beens in the Brentwood mansion crowd And the Goth kids in the malls, menthol-smoking, pierced and tattoed All think that Johnny Cash hung the moon   Well there’s slim and trendy girls out near the Five Points And hard candy Vandy girls out west are such a joy And there’s well-adjusted, well-kept, from Bellvue living in my songs But none of ‘em will ever let me stay for long   Chorus: And I’m singing each night for my supper And folks ask me how I’m doing and they can’t tell So I stretch the truth till it sounds just right But my stomach tells me things ain’t going too well   And my friends back home all say they’re pulling for me Such a tough business they say it seems But I just shrug my shoulders, sip their beer and nod but then acknowledge Rock 'n' Roll's damn sure good work if you can get it   And so I hang out with my Cousin and smoke his good weed And have lunch with my Uncle and let him buy mine for me And I find an old lost lover man just in time for supper And I ask my brother if his store is hiring part-time workers   Chorus         Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC © copyright secured all rights reserved  
5.
STEP RIGHT UP AND PLACE YOUR BETS From the instant our little spirit decides “Screw it” and bolts for the womb's door And ole sawbones welcomes us to this World with a smack on the ass We suck in all it's pain and glory Burning our tiny lungs Earth's oxygen For the very first time Beginning here It's all one magnificent gamble A dizzying, ever-expanding, incomprehensible Roulette Wheel But why we so fret a game played on the house's money Is beyond me Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC
6.
The Circus 06:10
THE CIRCUS   It’s so hard to keep it all together So hard to get everything just right Just when I think I got it all in order Man that’s when lightning usually strikes So I been trying to keep my ship tight Make sure everything’s where it goes Sure all my pictures are just hung right Starched and pressed my good clothes   Chorus: Baby take me down to the Circus Sometime when it’s in town Show me all around The Big Show On the fast rides How you laugh and smile How it feels when you let go   I been readin' in the papers I been listening to the radio They say you better get your house in order Least you be left here alone So I straighten up my posture And polish up these old dusty bones And my suit’s tailor made to order To greet the king of this Big Show   Chorus   I saw a man lying on the roadside Somebody had covered his face with a towel The police or the ambulance hadn’t even gotten there Guess it’d all just gone down And as I drove on I couldn’t help but think about it Couldn’t seem to get past what I’d just seen Did I just happen to drive by as his soul leaked out? Or did God come for him and just want me to see?   Chorus     Music and Lyrics by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©copyright secured all rights reserved
7.
C'mon World 03:15
C’MON WORLD   Dirt underneath my fingernails Grease in my hair My body old and frail I look a wreck, I feel a mess And I’d look in the mirror If I weren’t scared to death   Trouble goes on day by day She always says she loves me But she never stays If I had a penny for every heartbreak I’d buy myself a new heart To take mine’s place   Chorus: Trouble be gone and trouble be damned I’m just down tonight, I ain’t ashamed of my self I just want a love that’ll last awhile And enough good times to prove how I felt Somebody tell me if I’m crazy or not C’mon world, is this all you got?   So you get on with your life Drive down that road Pay your dues and be on time But on the other side There’s a grave dug for ya Do you live till then or just wait to die   Chorus   I’m not asking for the stars up above I’m not asking you to lasso the moon my love Stitch up these scars and try and keep my spirits high And give your best damn shot cause I’ll give mine   Chorus     Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC copyright secured, all rights reserved
8.
HEART TROUBLE When I was twenty-three See they cut right into me Stuffed wires in through my veins And screwed right into my heart Found I was born with this disease Seems my heart she didn't always beat Now the chunk of metal in my my chest kicks her into start Now I'm staring in the mirror At my six day beard At the bandage o'er my chest And all the things I fear As I wonder How long I'll be here Chorus: And Oh The words I heard Sound so hard to believe But Oh We all hurt We all have scars and we all bleed And Heart trouble's Happened to me Now I've lived to be an older man Who feels like he got a second chance To live passionate and true if not always smart We all think we hold this life in our hands But it's never guaranteed to last But you're a better man than me if you can fool your own heart Staring in the mirror Into all the faces I've peered For the one that fits my own As I now appear As I wonder How long I'll be here Chorus Yeah Heart Trouble's happened to me words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music, SESAC all rights reserved / copyright secured
9.
JUST WHAT I GOT I gotta van been across this land Been all across this country Gotta girl who rocks my world But she no longer loves me   I get a buzz sometimes just cuz I drink too much bourbon 'fore bed Cause I'm scared a creepy nightmares Rather be hungover instead   Chorus: And I don’t know when I’m gonna figure it out Just what I got in this world for sure And I guess nobody is without doubt But just for once I want something pure   I get a goose runnin wild and loose Runnin all over my grave at the thought Her looking so cold as she turned to go And me with my stomach in knots   I gotta scar proves the ground is hard On the side of my head I gotta scar proves the beat of my heart Runnin across my chest   Chorus   They say all you got in this world is what you came with And it’s all you gonna take a when you go So what about all a these things that I got now I’ll shed ‘em if it’s true what we’re told Or are they gonna stick to my soul?   Chorus   I gotta van been across this land Been all across this country Gotta girl who rocks my world But she no longer loves me   words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC all rights reserved / copyright secured
10.
KOOL IN NASHVILLE Chorus:  Would you teach me if I nicely asked you? Would you show me how it is that you do? You know I’ll be so thankful I promise if you will Show me how to be kool in Nashville   Don’t want no gold records No house in Hendersonville Work part-time at the coffee shop And it pays some of the bills   I see you each morning But never before ten You flirt with our cute barista And you always call me kid   Chorus   I’ve been to all your shows Like you grew out a beard I know all your groupies names I know their favorite beer   I watch you take your pick And I cry little hipster tears They drip in my PBR A cry that no one hears   Chorus   I’m really sorry That it came to all of this but do not fear I only want what’s yours You can scream but no one can hear you here   I promise to let you go And give back your vintage amp As soon as the local papers Hail me as your heir apparent   Would you teach me I tried nicely asked you? Would you show me how it is that you do? You know I’ll be so thankful when my shows so good it kills Show me how to be kool in Nashville     Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC Copyright secured all rights reserved
11.
HADLEY’S BEND   Gordon’s Gin goes down Easy in Hadley’s Bend If you listen you can hear the sound Of Old Hickory in the wind Trail of Tears had passed Through here it’s been said Now we’ve got a golf course Souvenir shops with arrowheads   Chorus: You can hear the sound of souls trapped in this bend There’s only one way out but a million ways in Hadley’s Bend   A Rayon City flat A masonite siding trap And a DuPont job that put Clothes on all our backs This place once made the powder That helped to win the war Then the cellophane and rayon Kept open these plant doors   Chorus   Bobby joined the service And now he’s in Iraq Susie ran off and got married At DuPont High she usta run track Sarah she let go In the summer of ‘92 We usta dream of retirement Now I’m wishing I could let go too   Chorus   Gordon’s Gin goes down Easy in Hadley’s Bend If you listen you can hear the sound Of Old Hickory in the wind     Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©Copyright secured All rights reserved  
12.
BORN WITH A MIND     I was born with a mind That will not be quiet So I read, I write, I process And all that it requires   I was born with a mind That will not let me sleep So I pour another drink As he only ignores my pleas   I was born with a mind That becomes obsessed and burns white hot And when focused will burn anything If I leave it on that spot   I was born with a mind That’s worried permanent wrinkles in my brow Anxiously fretting unchangeable things Leaving me with this permanent scowl   I was born with a mind That does not let me rest - yet I’m tired and wish I could sleep If only I could get some peace and quiet - yes?       Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC all rights reserved / copyright secured  
13.
Shine 04:19
SHINE     I was just a stone in the bottom of the river that caught your eye The way the light cast on me But I don’t really glow it’s just the ripples and the waves of the water And the way the light shone on me   Chorus: So why should I be surprised That my shine had caught your eye But I knew that you would put me down in time When I no longer shined   I was just a round old geode that someone cracked open In some Grandma’s flower garden And my jagged angles glowed in the sunlight among the tulips Just fools gold for children   Chorus   Oh it seems to take a lifetime to achieve perfection In your maker’s eyes But it only takes an instant to lose the attention Or the sparkle in a young beholder’s eyes When you no longer shine   I was just a singer in a bar with a beat up guitar And a sack full of songs at my show And I caught your eye and I suppose you had a fancy For things under lights that seemed to glow   Chorus   Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©copyright secured all rights reserved
14.
By My Side 04:43
BY MY SIDE   Well first light I’m headed out Won’t be back for sometime So few pleasures were allowed Precious moments like tonight   I’d love to ask of you To be here when I return And I’ll look forward if you do But if you don’t I won’t feel spurned   Chorus: Cause there’s too many times I’ve failed though I’ve tried And too many nights Without you by my side Now I’m still too young To give up on love so pure But I’m much too old To believe that anything is sure So babe tonight Can I have you by my side?   They say the Lord took from Adam A rib from his side Created a companion And a place to symbolize   And I’ve had many a companion Who walked ahead and who walked behind And it feels so right to have one Finally have one by my side   Chorus   In earlier years When time was on my side Squandered love in fear Confused with lust, consumed with pride   I sense those days are near an end From the whispers my soul hears Humbled by years I can’t rescind And how seldom love appears   Chorus   Yeah babe tonight can I have you by my side     Words and music by Stephen Simmons ©copyright secured all rights reserved Shiny Geode Music, SESAC
15.
I Am Not 02:41
I AM NOT     Well there’s moonstones And sandstones And there’s tombstones And there’s just rocks And there’s dogwoods And big ole redwoods And there’s deadwood And just plain ole logs   Chorus: Don’t mistake me for what I am not Won't find me at church, but I believe in God Write me off as some random crackpot Not sure just what I am But you I am not   Well there’s raindrops And there’s teardrops And there's lemon drops and london drops And when someone drops the ball we all make a fuss Well there’s firestorms And rainstorms And freezing cold snowstorms And sometimes the weather just sucks   Chorus   Well there’s black holes And little bitty pinholes And when our taxes get too high we make up loopholes And there’s just plain dots Well there’s red wine And there’s white wine And in the name of Jesus Christ there’s good ole communion wine But it won’t be fine before it’s time Unless it’s grape juice, but Hell just that don’t rhyme   Chorus   words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC all rights reserved / copyright secured
16.
LIMAVADY BLUES In a Limavady Hotel Banging my head against the wall And no one but these same ole blues That I got left to call I woke up this morning In the wrong hotel room Don't know what I did to lose you must've been Something I've yet to do Chorus: And I said “Oh you're gonna be the one that breaks me” And she said “No, I'll only love you long as you're wild and free” And she said “Oh, you could be the one that saves me” And I said “No, I can't save you from what you want to be” I feel asleep in Dublin woke up in Frankfurt Dreamed of you and home I found the Little House of the Devil Hoping to ease my troubled soul But I never found any answers Just questions more and more As my own words returned to haunt me to prove that I'm No better than I was before Chorus Put the wheels in the wind Towards you and the coast But California's shaking like a lost child Each time that I turn to go No matter how fast I'm traveling Or how far I roam When I wash my face in the morning the same ole blues Are the first to say “hello” Chorus words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC all rights reserved / copyright secured
17.
DANGEROUS DAYS FOR DREAMERS   These are dangerous days for dreamers And rather cautious ones even for the schemers   Dangerous for passion For beautiful things Dangerous for love For art, for dreams   Fatal days for the losers Who go down in fatal ways in bone-hard poverty It didn’t work? It didn’t turn a dime? There must be something wrong with it   These are grand ole days for vices who offer security For God, for dogma, for party Peddle that rainbow, that elixir, that shit somewhere else Sir Here it’s not very well regarded   In the old days the schemers were awash in laughter In drink, in self-praise Today? They seek forgiveness and understanding from their victims Their facades, their curtains all stripped away   These are dangerous days for dreamers I’m awake I’m asleep I’m awake I’m asleep But I don’t dream I don’t dare It’s not safe           Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC
18.
REVELATIONS No.34   There’s a million senseless reasons Why these stores on Main are closing down As a million changing seasons leave their mark On these people and these buildings downtown   A billion vulgar dealings Left these institutions bankrupt of soul And a billion greedy minions took great harvest A harvest they never laboured or sowed   With a hundred faceless coins in your pockets And a hundred unmarked bills in useless wallets   Thought she had the answers to our ails In her big and blue Star Spangled eyes Took the milk from her breast, then looked West And marched on towards a blood red sky   Self-worship was the only flowing fountain As other well’s soon ran dry Vanity’s once proud, majestic mountains Timber stripped and her stones long since mined   Fasten these brass buttons on this thin worn out coat Step into these sole-less boots and into the New World’s cold   There’s a pile of dried out bones upon that hill Underneath the maple’s Autumn turning leaves Driving by with my family, five years old Not sure if it’s a dream, a ghost, or an implanted memory   There’s a pile of faded letters in foreign languages Up to the threshold high And though I cannot read them they call out to me In the middle of this all revealing night   Confusing what’s not real and what’s certain to the eyes And confusing what can’t change and what could If I’d just learn how to try   The cosmos swung open and mankind Did clumsily appear And chaos was the order, but so was feared, And so hated as entropy was revered   And so we turned our love to Destiny and Fate As we struggled to take control of these quiet, desperate lives But Chaos never blinked he knew that Order Was Divine and really always on his side   Copycat calamity and original sin But don’t you get too close there boy this property’s condemned   Help wanted sign in the window of the Diner As you enter and take your seat within Old man in his corner wicker rocker Chastens you with a toothless grin   His stories from the old days make you long For simpler and easier times And the sweet nostalgic candy pulls you in As it’s cavity’s dig deep into your mind   He’s quoting Revelations and George Wallace And every empty suit and false prophet who dares to call us   We all stood at the alter vowing charity In an innocent time We took our bride with promises of love And honor and obedient lives   And the fruits of our love bore us children Named malcontent, apathy and denial But when the mother of our children shows her age we break our vows And leave her with these kids that just won’t mind   Ah but Stawberries will never taste so sweet to the lips touch And the thighs of all the women, they have surely lost their clutch     At the bottom of an eternal abyss Where once truth did lie We scratch around with the Veils of Maya Pulled back o’er our eyes   The thoughts in our head Can’t seem to find their way to our tongue Blood in vein can’t find the heart And the air can’t find our lungs   The artist’s of our time void of expression Collective petty thoughts of false conviction   We ride upon a great horse that does not trust us Command a mighty army that will not obey us   We bear children upon children who do not love us As we seek to prove that free will does not suite us             Words and music by Stephen Simmons Copyright secured all rights reserved Shiny Geode Music, SESAC    
19.
BARS ON WOODLAND     All the bars closed down early on Woodland tonight And it’s warm for the winter and a foggy night And it softens the glow from the streetlights on the edge of my road And Fourteenth and Ordway’s a Hell of a right When you don’t wanna go home but there’s nowhere to drive But I could come out all right with a girl I know just two streets over   And downtown is calling it’s vibrant and bright And tourists don’t come to shut it down while there’s still night But we all know their money and their time isn’t here forever But all things by the park they are eerily quiet No dogs they are barking long as no one’s in sight Could take the edge of this night in a house I know just four streets over   It’s come here so quickly thirty years old A life full of something just nothing to show And I hear my neighbor’s radio and it’s playing all the songs that I know And every now and again there are cars that drive by And they’re looking for that feeling they lack in their lives And I wonder if they’re going two streets or four streets over   Makes me so crazy I feel insane Makes me so crazy I feel insane Sometimes Sometimes             Words and music by Stephen Simmons ©copyright secured all rights reserved  
20.
SPINNER OF TALES   Oh I’m a spinner of tales And a drinker of wine A chaser of tales And a possessor of vice   But I got this guitar And I got me some wheels So I’ll say what I think in my heart And I'll go where I feel   Chorus: But I think that I love you And I like feeling this way And I know you don’t believe in my stories So I’ll shut up right now whatever gets you to stay   Oh I’m a spiller of drinks A maker of noise And a winker of winks For a second of joy   Oh I’m a drinker of beer A writer of words But ain’t no shedder of tears No matter what you heard   Chorus   Oh I’m a strummer of chords And a smile when you’re sad Elusive as Hell for sure But I like it like that   Oh I’m no real poet Just a singer of songs But Hell we all make it up don’t you know it As we go along   Chorus       Words and music by Stephen Simmons Shiny Geode Music / SESAC ©Copyright secured all rights reserved  

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Brand new album from Stephen Simmons. Official release date is July 19 2011, but you can order your advance copy here NOW directly from my Bandcamp Merchandise page.

credits

released July 19, 2011

Produced by: Stephen Simmons
Recorded and Mixed by: Eric Fritsch
at Eastwood Studios, East Nashville, TN
Mastered by Alex McCollough
at Yes Master, Nashville, TN
Photography by: Staci McQueen
Design by: Adam Pinney
Circus Photographs:(WHS Image ID 11749 & 77821) Wisconsin Historical Society

All songs written by Stephen Simmons
Published by Shiny Geode Music, SESAC
© 2011 Locke Creek Records

Stephen Simmons: vocals, acoustic guitars, harmonicas
Eric Fritsch: electric guitars, acoustic guitar, b-3 (tracks 3,6,7,12,13,17,18)
Tim Marks: bass (tracks 1,2,7,9,13)
Matt Crouse: drums, percussion (tracks 1,2,7,9,13)
Dave Jacques: bass (tracks 6,11,14,16,18)
Paul Griffith: drums (tracks 6,11,14,16,18)
Jen Gunderman: piano, wurlitzer, b-3, harmonium, accordian (tracks 2,3,7,8,9,10,11,13,14,16,19)
Dave Coleman: electric guitars, background vocals (tracks 2,7,9,13,16)
Alex McCollough: pedal steel guitar (tracks 2,11,13)
Wendy Newcomer: harmony vocals
Smith Curry: lap steel (track 3)

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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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