1. |
Many Things
03:14
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MANY THINGS
you taught me how to sit
on dynamite and watch it tick
you made sure the fuse was lit
and you taught me to get over it
you said “unfurl your talk
and learn to love with blinders off”
you taught me how to drink
you taught me many things
you told me go for broke
that everything goes up in smoke
“don’t wait for morning, don’t wait for spring”
you taught me many things
without you – I’m a crooked tree
a crippled crow, a broken stone
the most wondrous thing I’ll ever see
is you,
you taught me many things
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2. |
Petaluma
03:00
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PETALUMA
Petaluma Petaluma I came for the sunshine
gotta get my head together
Gotta step back into time
Petaluma Petaluma we were on some kind of ride
never looking for a landing
Always thought i’d be alright
99 99 99 was a hole in time
Its really true you can’t change people
Its all animal I think
You can’t ask for an attraction
You can’t pull back from the brink
And I thought I knew you too well
And I guess its probably true
Its half-committed, one foot out -
that magic that you do
99 99 99 was a hole in time
Through a washed out grassy hillside
Rode my bike out to the farm
But everything out there was rusted
All the boards were dry as bone
Petaluma Petaluma I came for the sunshine
And I never thought I’d say it
But it shines far too long and bright
99 99 99 was a hole in time
99 99 99 was a waste of time
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3. |
Rear View Mirror
04:18
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REAR VIEW MIRROR (Combs)
I found a drink
called a Rear View Mirror
Erased every thought
from there to here
Made fresh wounds fade
Then disappear
for a golden hour
My head got clear
You were passing through
You were never there
I took a train
called The Rear View Mirror
A bullet train
shot me out of here
there was coal black stack
And canyon oak
And when i looked out back
All I saw was smoke
I was passing through
I was never there
I was never there
I was never there
Must be a town
called Rear View Mirror
A red clay town
On a baked frontier
They never bore you with stories you don’t want to hear
Never soak your shoulder with wet warm tears
You were passing through
you were never there
You were passing through
You were never there
You were never there
You were never there
You were never there
You were never there
You were never there
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4. |
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And here you find yourself in Los Angeles
How do you make your way here in Los Angeles
Looking up at dirty palm trees
A cactus in the yard
In a neighborhood that you have never heard of
And can you make your name out
On the little mailbox?
You’ve staked quite a claim out
In Los Angeles
You’ve staked quite a claim out
In Los Angeles
Heady, deft explorer of the new world
Pizarro or Magellan in the new world
Sizing up the landscape from a taco stand downtown
You and margaritas and the inevitable sound
Of bees around the courtyard
trying to hunt the syrup down
We are all the same here in Los Angeles
You will do just fine here in Los Angeles
You will be just fine here in Los Angeles
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5. |
The New Normal
04:25
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I woke up with a start at the start of the new day
To my new way of living
I was asleep in the seat of a truck
Out on the highway
And it was no way to be living
But I guess I gotta get used to the new normal
The new normal, the new normal
Well she has a way she can be, she can know you
Understand you, she can show you
She has a way she can be, it can throw you
To be seen but not be loved too
I guess I gotta get used to the new normal
The new normal, the new normal
I sat in the bed of a dead river from long ago
To see if its old flow could show what I don’t know
And I hoped with the hope of the slow
Until I came around, an insane sound said you gotta go
I guess I gotta get used to the new normal
The new normal, the new normal
I was down for the count in the first round of the first play
On the first punch of the first day
I was down for the count and I found I could not stay
But It took me four years to understand the game
Now I guess I gotta get used to the new normal
The new normal the new normal
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6. |
With Care From Someone
02:54
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WITH CARE FROM SOMEONE
You stood not near
Yet here so clear
Your story had to start
The jingle sun
Has really run
Into my aching heart
And now we shall see
What the future will bring
As we swing freely as one
And now we shall know
What love will show us has begun
So here's to you
With care from someone
This evening came
But not the same
As yesterday had been
Today had come
You're with someone
To hold now deep within
And maybe we'll find
This time is designed
For finding the meaning of one
And now we will know
What love will show us has begun
So here's to you
With care from someoneAnd now we shall see
What the future will bring
As we swing freely as one
And now we shall know
What love will show us has begun
So here's to you
With care from someone
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7. |
Time Bombs
03:40
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TIME BOMBS
You lie in bed and listen to the rain
Morning coming slowly like a distant crawling haze
It's almost light you drive down Riverside
Watch the muddy water roll forever right on by
All these time bombs, all these time bombs
You order eggs and coffee black and strong
Sit back in the booth and look at everybody talk
You hide your head but you can’t shake the chill
If nicotine won’t get you then the worry surely will
All these time bombs, all these time bombs
She loved you it was plain for all to see
You know you had it better than you ever could believe
Was it just about a year or two ago
That she started looking past you,
Now who knows where her mind goes?
All these time bombs, all these time bombs
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8. |
Secretly Happy
03:05
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SECRETLY HAPPY
Well you’re faced with displacement
And every single trace
Of you will have to move from the apartment
You’re looking low in a truck
Everything is all packed up
It's sorted out - your home is now storage compartment
She is wise, she has found
A face appropriately down
But you both know that’s not the whole of the picture….
In a weird way it's ok
it's like you know just what to say
It's like you’re both reciting some strange verse of scripture
She’s happy, secretly happy
Your black humor gets you through
You do what you have to do
But there’s no glint of an emotional suture
For the wound you incurred
all public crying is deferred
You can’t change the past
Maybe you own the future
You can’t change the past
Maybe you own the future
You’re on the road once again
And you’re not your only friend
But it feels that way sometimes
it's hard to miss it
You’re on the road once again
And it's got open open ends
And it feels kind of good to hit it
It feels kind of good
You must admit it
It feels kind of good
You can admit it
She's happy, scecretly happy
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9. |
No City Can Cure Me
03:14
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NO CITY CAN CURE ME
Looks like a good time, a good time to start all over again
Here comes that old familiar, familiar feeling again
It’s a habit of mine, it’s a habit of mine,
Wore the floor boards out just walking about from doubt to doubt to doubt to doubt
Must be a city for me
Wore the brake pads down just movin around from city to town to town to town
There’s no city for me
No city can cure me
Looks like a good time, a good time to start all over again
If you’re looking hard at the beginning it always shows you the end
It’s a habit of mine, it’s a habit of mine,
One more round on the merry go down
Got a brand new friend in a brand new town
Must be a city for me
You’re getting’ good when it comes to making the start
Now you’re finding you’re feeling lost where you are
There’s no city for me
No city can cure me
Looks like a good time, a good time to start all over again
Here comes that old familiar, familiar feeling again
Familiar feeling again
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10. |
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LOVE WILL FINALLY FIND YOU
You might have your patience tried and tried
You might have a cloud across your eye
but love will finally find you by and by
By and by, by and by
You might be a statue in the sand
You might feel the time slip through your hands
but love will finally find you by and by
By and by, by and by
You might have to lose before you win
To understand the value of the prize
but love will finally find you by and by
By and by by and by
You might have to learn to wait and wait
And it will be your curse but not your fate
cause love will finally find you by and by
By and by by and by
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11. |
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12. |
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13. |
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James Combs / Great Willow Los Angeles, California
GREAT WILLOW: think close knit harmony singing inspired by the best of the classic Laurel Canyon cosmic-American-music
tradition. It’s its own thing but finds some inspiration in the music of folks like Gene Clark and Gram Parsons. “Beautiful Twang” we call it. But the songs are also contemporary and highly personal - like a box of sun-bleached family photos.
greatwillowca.tumblr.com
... more
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