1. The Beacon
​
your old boat is rotting 
the sails are all torn 
barnacles have grown down so far  
they cut the ocean floor  

and i’m afraid of succeeding 
for all that i could lose  
i feel safer with nothing  
stagnant is freedom from the pressure to do  
from the pressure to do  

and these crutches have taken me 
as far as they can
as strong as they are 
they don’t do the walking
they just help me stand 

and courage is nothing 
just fizzles and fades  
barely enough to keep going 
through this life of wasted days  
life of wasted days  

but i was your beacon and i was going to see it through  
couldn’t have you thinking i didn’t want to be with you  
i was your beacon, shining above you  
couldn’t have you thinking that i didn’t love you  

and the hull it is crying 
the waves have grown tall  
with a bit of luck this will all be over 
before very long  
with a bit of luck this will all be over 
before very long  

but i was your beacon and i was going to see it through  
couldn’t have you thinking i didn’t want to be with you  
i was your beacon, shining above you  
couldn’t have you feeling like i didn’t love you  

i was your beacon, i was going to see it through  
couldn’t have you thinking i didn’t want to be with you 
i was your beacon, i was going to guide you  
couldn’t have you thinking i wouldn’t be alright for you 
wouldn’t be alright for you  
2. The Tennessee

take me down in the tennessee 
if the cards say that it ain’t meant to be  
for the love of god, don’t tell me these things  
i tried to make it right in all the wrong ways  
but look what they’ve done to you, crow in the rain  

so take me down in the tennessee  
let me have a good night sleep 
​i’ll be just fine if i had a little company  
in the morning i’ll drive so fast  
i'll make the highway hold its breath  
gonna die alone and i think that might be best  

somewhere between the love and the rage  
you were all of my bad days  
unique in the things you think but not the things you say  
i want to drown it all in a bitter sea  
inhale sweet exhale salty 
i want to feel the wrath of god buried in me  
​
so take me down in the tennessee  
let me have a good night sleep  
i’ll be just fine if i had a little company  
and the mornings ain’t so great  
what is sunshine anyway  
when your eyes are burned even after you turned away?  

so take me down in the tennessee  
let me have a good night sleep  
i’ll be just fine if i had a little company 
in the morning i’ll drive so fast  
make the highway hold its breath  
i’m gonna die alone and i think that might be best  
i’mma die alone and i think that might be best  
3. Altana

altana, altana don’t you let go my hand  
​i might speak a language that you don’t understand  
but i’ll do my best girl to try to explain  
you’re a torch and i have gasoline in my veins  

altana, altana hold on  
we won’t be here very long  
and even if you can’t understand  
don’t you let go my hand  

blindsided while i was driving you home  
now we’re both laying dying in the middle of the road  
i can’t even shiver though everything’s so cold  
i thought we’d go together but i thought we’d be old  

altana, altana hold on  
help will be here before long  
and even if you can’t understand  
don’t you let go my hand  

people are starting to gather around  
eyes open wide and a hand on the mouth
touch me like you always did one more time  
i’d rather go up in flames than go too cold to cry  

altana, altana hold on  
we won’t be here very long  
and even if you can’t understand  
don’t you let go my hand  
​
altana, altana hold on  
help will be here before long  
and even if you can’t understand  
don’t you let go my hand  
4. Sally

​never drive for heaven’s sake  
wolves and bluebonnet rattlesnakes  
all loaned a hand to pave the way for sally 

and it happens still from time to time  
my thoughts drift back to I-95  
and the tears come 
i’m so mad at you sally  

with charleston halfway gone 
the road ahead goes on and on  
wasn’t but 300 miles to get to baltimore  

she fell sick off and on  
till morning broke with a red dawn  
a concrete sea with the wind behind  
she held strong but all roads lead to sally  

birmingham it’s been a while  
a hundred and one ten thousand miles 
in a fortnight until i see maria  

tell me friend, wheel in hand  
you drove me as far as you can  
but from here on out it’s all up to saint christopher  

so take a breath,  fall asleep  
there ain’t no more hours to keep  
there’s 18 wheels to take you home with sally  

she fell sick off and on  
till morning broke with a red dawn  
a concrete sea with the wind behind  
she held strong but all roads lead to sally  
​
all roads lead to sally 
5. Daddy Laughed

well i wish i was a steel belt tire rolling round a wheel  
never knowing where we’re going just that it’s far from here  
carrying the truck and trailer, all us 16 kids  
with mom & dad, mom & dad steering  

the old wood panel wagon, when the engine finally seized  
all over the interstate, oil and antifreeze  
he turned and turned the key but the engine only whined  
and daddy laughed, daddy laughed to keep from crying  

20 years of marriage, the vows didn’t feel the same  
all he had was work and all she had was his name  
told him that she loved him but she couldn’t make up her mind  
​and daddy left, daddy left to keep from crying  

and i feel just like a steel belt tire, fallen between the lanes  
the traffic goes around me and i’d probably do the same  
wishing i was a newborn child knowing what i know  
when to look away and not see the things i saw  

the cold side of the pillow, daddy laid in bed for weeks 
i shook that doctor's hand, damn near pulled him off his feet  
he finally spit it out that we didn’t have much time  
and lord i laughed, i laughed to keep from crying  
6. Deal With The Devil 

love is only what you feel  
​no matter what they try to tell you is real  
my hands shake and they all stare  
legs over top, that table i swear  
must’ve turned around four or five times in the air  

but i’m going to have to deal with the devil  
doesn’t even matter what cards i hold  
i’m too goddamn broke to raise  
i’m too proud to fold  

got this bird inside my cage  
who has grown prone to fits of rage  
but he still taunts me from that cage  
with his inch of flight sustained  
i kick and scream and i curse his name  

but i’m going to have to deal with the devil  
doesn’t even matter what cards i hold  
i’m too goddamn broke to raise  
i’m too proud to fold  

what if jesus died before  
he made it safely into the shore  
and pulls you under when he saves your soul  
late in the spring without control  
when the fish are a-jumping and the storms a-roll  
​
i’m going to have to deal with the devil  
doesn’t even matter what cards i hold  
i’m too goddamn broke to raise  
i’m too proud to fold  
7. Hail! The Copper Queen 

woken from a bad dream  
restless and i can’t sleep  
burning so pretty  
oh god forgive me  

a storm is coming 

the man found a money tree  
doesn’t grow up steep  
grows way down deep 
and the harvest is heavy  

a storm is coming  
down around the house obscene  
so get down on your knees  
hail! the copper queen 

dress as white as sharp pain  
struggling to keep sane 
the days are so grey 
nights are okay
​
and a storm is coming 

mother of the unclean  
bended on a bad knee
let me say one thing
come and lean closely  

a storm is coming  
down around the house obscene  
so get down on your knees  
hail! the copper queen 

hail! the copper queen 
8. Hell or Harlan

the first thing that i can recall  
is running and crying  
somewhere between true freedom  
and complete backwardness  
i got so stoned i forgot how to breathe  
you grabbed me tight and said listen real closely
and i laid my back to the ground like it doesn’t even matter 

and i know i was mad 
i know i was mad 
but you must’ve been madder  

and i could go home  
i could go back to kentucky  
i can’t make you believe me  
when i say i love you darlin 
i ain’t going back to harlan

and all the words i said to you 
didn’t do what they’re meant to  
i want to give up just to prove  
cause i don’t know how else to  
the last thing that i can recall is the wind  
the screaming and sirens  
and you walking into the flood  
till you couldn’t walk no further  

and i cried so hard  
oh god i cried so hard  
but you must’ve cried harder

i can’t make you believe me 
when i tell you that i love you darlin  
i ain’t going back to hell, i ain’t going back to hell  
i ain’t going back to harlan  

and i could go home 
i could go back to kentucky  
i can’t make you believe me 
when i say i love you darlin  
i ain’t going back to harlan 
9. I Am Not To Blame

walls closed in around me, pedals dead and grey  
a crowd to drown the voices, whiskey for the pain 
he never saw it coming lord, but i am not to blame  
​all my passions faded and all i had was shame  
  
i remember your breath so deep it used to shake your chest  
i know you tried so hard baby i know you did your best  
i know i’m stubborn as a child but i am not to blame  
can’t you see it’s true baby: love happens when mistakes are made  

you explained how you were hurt but i wasn’t listening 
i had a real bad habit of just defending my actions  
goddammit no one hears me, i am not to blame  
you are what it cost me and i’m just not the same  

so i walked until there was nothing left of my jeans  
when i’m exposed they’ll lock me up for indecency  
i found a man under the bridge but i am not to blame  
the echo of his screaming fell till all i heard was rain  

maybe i should not have been so honest  
and my sleeve would not have bled  
what if there’s some chance, 
some limb that i could lose to maybe save the rest 
what if i had said: i just miss you little shit head  

life is simple in this room, the floors and walls are soft 
my arms were restless but like they told me that soon wore off 
the swirling of the ceiling fan sounds like your steps coming 
the decor is bland and seating scarce but baby please come on in 
10. The Dirge of The Edward L. Ryerson (The Last)

manitowoc #425
began april 20, 1959  
and deep in the heart of the following winter 
she was launched as the largest lake michigander 
 
and she was the last of the american flagged  
new ships build for the great lakes 
with fore and aft quarters, built as a steamer  
the last straight decker, no self unloader  

fast and unique, she could do almost 20  
10,000 horsepower pushed her on easy  
her quarters were made to take care of her sailors  
her lines of design drew crowds of admirers  

didn’t take long for her to break records  
broke 25,000 loaded in superior  
she took it through the soo locks and on down to indy  
​she was built to haul iron ore and nothing else really  

after near 30 years of fast and smooth sailing  
i awoke one morning and heard from the captain:  
"she’s laying up early, this year things are changing  
it’s over my head and under their fingertips 
over my head and under their fingers"

and five long years now she sat at the dock  
and i sat at home waiting for the call  
and i took a dive straight deep in the bottle  
tried to convince myself anything is possible  

but i know she’ll probably never sail again  
she’ll go back to the steel mills, from where she came  
some piece of shit barge will drag her to the beaches  
and blue flame torches will pull her to pieces  

and along with her went the job of the watchmen 
some of the old freighters cut off the stern end  
pushed in a tugboat, cut the crew in half  
so lift up your bottle and drink with me to the last  

and down to the water, i stumbled to try  
oh i took off my clothes and swam for ontario  
and didn’t quite make it, reaching for summer  
i felt her grip just before i went under  

and the water she quietly closed in around me  
she wanted me since the first time she found me  
when i was a boy and rode in a boat  
testing her will with what she will let float  

and when she was done she gave me up for land  
body swollen from her loving revenge  
no name and no face, no life anymore  
just corneas glazed as the eye of a storm  

and who will remember the names uncheckered  
the fitzgerald foundered where the anderson weathered 
even in shelter, their back to the storm  
sailors will mainly just dream about shore  
11. You're Dead

shuffle your faces and bend at the knees
fan out your fingers and leap from the trees
hard to the earth if branches should fail
and run like a crime sprung from the jail

maybe daddy ran away when you were just a baby
maybe mama wasn't there to stop your going crazy
maybe it was some old girlfriend broke you in the head  
but if i ever see you man, you're dead 

derail from the course and let your wheels roll  
coddle the bottle and suck from the soul 
anger to sorrow, sorry indeed
pray to the wall and bleed, bleed, bleed

maybe you bought into their maledictions  
maybe they caught you young and beat you with religion  
and then told you the devil lived inside your twisted head  
but if i ever see you man, you’re dead  
​
if i ever see you man, you’re dead  
1. Snakes in the Shed

through the window i can see my cluttered floor
and my empty bed
but the front door’s locked, the back door’s locked 
the window’s locked, snakes in the shed

and the god forsaken sunrise and my black heels 
have me crying for my stars 
this has gone too far

and reckless indecision 
has decided that it’s time to burn it down

and the silent phone reminds me that you’re gone
but i’m still waiting for the sound

through the window i can see my cluttered floor
and my empty bed
but the front door’s locked, the back door’s locked 
the window’s locked, snakes in the shed

i didn’t notice you were leaking into me 
until i overflowed 
down i go

you say you love the singing
but you can tell i really hate the sound

i’m dead weight and i’m swinging 
around and round and round and round and round

through the window i can see my cluttered floor
and my empty bed
but the front door’s locked, the back door’s locked 
the window’s locked, snakes in the shed

through the window i can see
my cluttered floor and my empty bed

and in my ringing ears all i can hear is what she said
 
but i am threadbare, unaware 
i just need a place to lay my head

but the front door’s locked, the back door’s locked
the window’s locked, snakes in the shed
2. Elizabeth

your echoing footprints recall me 
to an old treehouse on a hill
where what befalls you befalls me
and i awoke to messages of love and a kiss
to her sweet elizabeth

the midnight melted through my fingers
and dripped images on the floor
and fate fails where waining ones linger
until the melting candle wax 
bled from naked silhouettes
and solidified elizabeth

it only last through the first cards of the game
when it’s all on the table you won’t feel the same 
but i remember my name
and this is all so many shades of insane

we took hands and danced before sunrise
on your wood stolen living room floor
two step and two step and spin counter clockwise
and awaking texas with every step
in sync with sweet elizabeth

it only last through the first cards of the game
when it’s all on the table you won’t feel the same 
but i remember my name
and this is all so many shades of insane

*i can see this mist enclosing
*soft sprayed tears like ocean’s clothing
*tides across my chest and fingers
*full moon’s pull it always lingers

beneath my hands upon your limbs 
tendons are rippling your skin like the warm texas wind
on a crystal lake at daybreak
morning is shaking the dreams of your waking
and sunrise through blinking eyes
pulsing quadriceps they squeeze and they flex
to your morning stretch 

*lyrics by Ben Balmer
3. Southbound Down

we woke to the notion 
from dreaming motion
to the rising tide at hand
and it was all i could do 
to rescue your right shoe
and a sleeping bag soaked with sand

southbound down the ocean highway
you let those heavy eyes subside
you held my hand and faded into shotgun
i steered us into the mountainside

and we could see city lights 
on the north horizon
a hundred miles away
you were shocked and shaken 
from sleep awakened
how far you could see with nothing in the way

westbound down the mountain highway
you let your windows fall to rest
you didn’t know where i would take you
i steered us into the metropolis

summer’s sweet and winter’s dire
fall’s remorse and spring’s desire
colored my eyes unclear
but i looked close enough 
and saw my own reflection 
in your windows flooding into tears

we stopped along the ocean highway
and held on through the rising tide
like it would wash away december
but it’s not always peaches in the summertime

it’s not always peaches in the summertime​
4. Becca's Song

there’s a favorite shirt in the parking lot 
like a mountain peak that the snow has wrought
and it stands alone in a sea of white
helpless against the frozen night

and her frozen fingers they comb through the snow
for her frozen effects as the deceiving winds blow

there’s a trail of clothes starting at her feet
leading down the broken street
there’s broken glass in the fallen snow
there’s an empty void where there was a window

and i still recall as crystal as the snow 
the flakes of frozen tears 
and reaching warming hands 
while the bitter wind blows

and i think i want to hold her 
and i think she wants me to
and i think that i could warm her
and i think she could warm me too
and i think she’ll be alright now 
and i think maybe i should go
and i think i think so much that i don’t know 

i don’t know 

through a broken window ​​
5. Turn This Truck Around

that storm rolled through the mountain 
as i rolled that mountain road
it’s 3 days to kentucky and i’m headed back home
the rain let up and the sunshine 
started peaking through the clouds
but if you say the word well i will turn this truck around

that albuquerque motel 6 gave shelter from the dust
it hurts to leave you baby i’m only doing what i must
i’m one day farther from you and i’m headed homeward bound
but if you call my line well i will turn this here old truck around

i just pulled off the side of the highway to unwind
troubled heart meets troubled soul makes for my troubled mind
i clench my fist and i’m wearing that steering wheel right down
but if you say the word well i will turn this here old truck around

my empty room is full of empty bottles whiskey wine
but all the bars in newport couldn’t get you off my mind
i grab my phone cause i thought i just might have heard the sound
and if you call my line i will turn this old truck around

i woke last night to the sound of your voice but it was just dream
it’s been 5 years since i kissed your lips and held you close to me
i wipe the sleep from bloodshot eyes and put my feet on the ground
but if you say the word well i’ll still turn this truck around​ ​
6. Water Soluble

and she is water soluble 
and if it rains she’ll come unglued

she stood fast and strong in sunshine rays
and she barely swayed at all on windy days

but she bared the scars of flame upon her leaves
and she burned at passers by who noticed these

but she is water soluble 
and if it rains she’ll come unglued

she so badly needed water for the flame 
and the liquid rendered her not quite the same

bonding agents helped keep her together
but she no longer suffers the weather

cause she is water soluble 
and if it rains she’ll come unglued

and one day she felt shaking in her source
and the clouds began to gather off her shores

she fought and swayed and doubled fully over
and gripped the dirt with fingers through the clover

but all she had was no use
cause then it rained 
she came unglued​​
7. Stripes

you had stripes around your arms and your chest
a twisted horseshoe and a pistol in your fist
you sang and sweat so hard the hair stuck to your face
your mouth was open, your eyes were closed in faith

i couldn’t help but love you 
i just had to let you know
i couldn’t only thank you 
i couldn’t stand it anymore

and all your hands ablaze and reaching for the blue
stand tall and freely fall into all that’s over you
and your silver belt buckle caught the light of the setting sun
and held back those chapters that couldn’t hold you very long

and the air around was bad 
but your breath was oh so good
so i breathed and i breathed in all i could

and you put on your clothes while i strummed my dobro
pretty much the opposite effect of what i was hoping for

don’t you know i don’t like the way 
you’re reaching for my door
how bout you come and lay back down 
cause i ain’t going nowhere 
that’s for sure​
8. Carolina

west virginia wild and free
tunnel through your mountain peak
oh please let me pass through safely
west virginia wild and free

the void outside my driver side door
300 miles of storming war
run away truck ramp what you here for
if i lose my breaks i’m done for sure

carolina like a theft
sheets of snow like frozen breath
her icy words sank to my depths
and took my foot off the pedal to the left

between the lanes as best i know
somewhere out along the road
i gave you love and watched you grow
and change into someone i don’t know

carolina let me go, memories down the ohio
rushing now from deep below
pretty like the mountain, cold like snow

carolina like a knife
through my windshield snowing blind
she ran her fingers through my mind
and pressed my foot on the pedal to the right

carolina like the dice
rolled too cold and turned to ice
too little too late i realize
grip the wheel and close my eyes
grip the wheel and close my eyes

change into someone i don’t know
pretty like the mountain, cold like snow​​
9. North Woods Song

well i could hear him work by the sound of his swing
the tone of the echo his hammer would sing
as it bellowed and it bounced 
off the birches in the back of the bay
they all recognized and responded

the channel buoys they bounce in his wake
of the old wooden boat due north through the lake
and the notions in the nighttime 
were just to keep her awake 
tied to the old big brass bed

and in the morning exploring wooden whereabouts
and in the evening believing rudimentary routes
without a doubt, without a doubt

and every morning and every day
he wouldn’t have it any other way
for the sweet talking woman 
the sweet walking little girl
the brightest that he had ever seen
the blinding west of all the sunset seas

the lantern illuminated lazy light on her lips
in shallow water she’d holler when it hid her hips
like come on in, come on in

it was a good day 
as good as any other day
when the sunrise found that he had passed away
well i suppose there’s only one way 
to say all that you’re wanting to say
on a day not a lotta, not a lot unlike today

not a lotta, not a lot unlike today

so come on in​​
10. Million Miles

well it’s cold and windy and it’s blowing off the river
and this here highway is long

this old international transtar 350 horsepower strong

down off the st. clair and right into the city
comes that dark white rolling fog

i set my coffee right down on the doghouse
well i got a funny feeling something’s wrong

got a double clutch and 13 gears 
in a sleeper i reside
got 2 overhauls and 10 long years 
before she died
i got over a million miles on my ride

almost feels slippery 
better keep it under 50
and i’m quickly shifting down

using jake braking 
well there ain’t nobody to waken
not over here in this part of town

but this highway’s turning 
i’m easy steering
but i just heard that funny sound

that ice is forming 
there ain’t no stopping
that 45ft tanker’s coming ‘round

got a double clutch and 13 gears 
in a sleeper i reside
got 2 overhauls and 10 long years 
before she died
i got over a million miles on this ride

the deciding factor before she swings and hits the tractor
and she burns me straight to the ground

might save a life and might stop this here jackknifing
not die here on the edge of motor town

well there ain’t no fooling 
can’t go to schooling
not for this kind of move at all

there’s a pumping pedals 
there’s thick black smoke a-bellow
from a big steel smoke stack tall

got a double clutch and 13 gears 
in a sleeper i reside
got 2 overhauls and 10 long years 
before she died 
i got over a million miles on my ride​​
11. The Leaves

well the leaves were a-falling covered the lawn
in brilliant red orange and brown
a rake in my hand i began for the grass
musta been four inches down

with the rake like a shovel i picked up the piles
tried to pack them into bags
but there was still more i was trying to ignore
inside she was packing her bags

and all too familiar my breathing is labored
heavy on, heavy on me
lost i can tell and running like hell
like the little black lines down her cheeks

when 5,000 bags sat on the curb 
one last stroll through the lawn
didn’t say a thing on our hands and our knees 
found 152 pecans

and blistered up hands looking again 
the wind was growing cold
too many leaves and not enough seeds 
this raking is making me old

and all too familiar my breathing is labored
heavy on me like her
lost i can tell and running like hell
like the black lines onto my shirt

we stood ‘neath the eves and in blew the leaves
and her hair danced ‘cross her eyes
they glistened like mirrors "remember me here,
this raking is making you die"

and all too familiar my breathing is labored
heavy on me like me
lost i can tell and running like hell
like the black lines onto my leaves​ ​
12. Riverside

yeah take me lord down by that riverside
and in the water let that current be my guide
well i've been broken oh lord by false allies 
they gave me freedom, gave me free 
but they told me lies

yeah take me lord up on that mountainside
and let me climb until i leave it all behind
and i let that world go past me by and by
they gave me free, gave me free 
but they told me lies

yeah take me love you take me by your side
take my hand inside your hand let me inside
i think of all those times you held me while i cried
you gave me freedom, gave me free but you told me lies

maybe a river will wash me right back home
maybe a mountain will beat me with her fist of stone
maybe your eyes will turn, maybe the skies will burn
maybe i’ll just take all of the hardest ways there is to learn

but when i wash up on another riverside
maybe the rapids will have healed my broken pride
here in the water in this river i confide 
you give me free, give me free 
but you told me lies

you gave me free, gave me free 
but you lied to me​ ​
13. Miracle Day

and if i die on the boat 
just push me out to sea
until your riptide tears 
tow me underneath

and if i die on the road 
just tell me i came through
you only lie to me 
about telling the truth

about telling the truth
about telling the truth
you only lie to me about telling the truth

and if i die on your couch 
just open up the blinds
and let my soul go 
in that dusty sunshine

and if i die on the stage 
just tell me i did good
it let me feel so 
uncomfortably good

uncomfortably good, uncomfortably good
you make me feel so uncomfortably good

and if i die in my bed just tuck me under the sheets
after a miracle day i still got to dream

i still got to dream, still got to dream 
after a miracle day i still got to dream​