Desert Gold

by The Big Bend

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Matthais If you like bluesrock with some soul-elements you should try this! Favorite track: White Rooms, Red Cups.
Michael Beaver
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Michael Beaver Such an awesome song with a sad story and a girl's father you instantly despise with train whistles in all the right spaces. Favorite track: Her Daddy Knows.
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released October 30, 2009

Chet Vincent - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
Tad Wissel - Vocals, Bass
Andy Voltz - Piano, Organ, Vocals
Dan Dickison - Guitar
Abe Anderson - Drums, Percussion

All songs on Desert Gold arranged and performed by Chet Vincent and the Big Bend. Guest artists: Anna Elder (bg vox), Alex Sands (chimes). All songs recorded and produced by Nate Campisi at Mr. Smalls Studio, Pittsburgh, PA USA. Album art and concept by Jason Georgiades. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.


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Track Name: Busted Screen Door Blues
Your brother rides a bucket with the firebird paint,
calls it a Trans-Am, we both know that it aint --
bet it makes them rebel girls faint.
Well he don't bother me, he never said he was a saint.

Caught your mom climbing on my backyard fence
said she bringin' me flowers and her own home-made incense --
oh lord! I know that don't make no sense.
She better start telling the truth, these lies are making me tense.

I know you come down by the cigarette smoke
and how you slurred every word that you spoke, girl.
How you was gone when I awoke!
Well I didn't mean to laugh, I just thought it was a joke.

Your dad broke in to take the crown from my bed,
he seems to think it can give life to the dead.
I swear to God that's what he said --
tell him he got all that he needs, he can get on out my door.
Track Name: Sixty Hours
We bought shoes and sugar cubes off a store on route 19
On our way to Louisville or was it New Orleans
The bandages came off and we had to stop and take a rest
to let the blood out - in the air

It's getting harder to make arrangements
It's easier to slip away
The kid says he's got big things coming
But he says it like it's not okay

The protest boys are in the canyon - going underground
It takes them sixty hours just to buy them twenty rounds
He says that one day - he'll move west when things get bad enough
But I don't really think they've got - the stones for that

Track Name: The Sun and the Gun Smoke
Out here the smoke gets so thick you can't breath,
it stings your eyes, stains your teeth,
fear of the furnace is a quiet sound,
the song of skeletons moving around --
bury them deep in the ground.

The scenery changes every couple of hours
so keep your eye on the mirror in the tower,
keep your grip on the charms round your neck,
count the rings that age every step that we take together.

It's true what they say,
there's no place for you where I live
under the sun and the gun smoke.

I hear the hiss of the steam,
I taste the blood on the floor,
I feel the sparks on my skin,
I see the place where the secret begins.

Come back inside! Come back inside!
There's nowhere left for us to hide!
Babe, I hear footsteps out in the hall,
the only way out is to get down and crawl on our knees!

Track Name: All For Lona Lee
Bottles and bookshelves hide all the letters that I write
mostly late at night --
They're all for Lona Lee.

She tore the dress from her marionette, all those gold buttons painted red
now lost in our bed --
They're all for Lona Lee.

So doctor gives her pills but she puts 'em with her jewelry in a trunk
down below her bunk --
They're all for Lona Lee.

No cigarettes on the bus, driver says to hold my breath for a while
and try to count every mile --
They're all for Lona Lee.

I left so much behind: winter coats, and gloves, even once my shoe
well what else could I do?
I live for Lona Lee.
Track Name: Silver Dollar Table
Well the storms off the streets
The leaves are in the air
So dust your window curtains
and walk right down these stairs

Ain't your kisses I been missing
not your soft and rhythmic touch
Just this whiskey I been drinking
and the cash we'd make in love

Well It's just across the streets
From the stories I been told
But there ain't too many able
to keep it up alone

and I know that ain't - ain't much at all

At the Silver Dollar Table
I lost my last good sense
Sold my eyes down in Texas
Brought back the last week's rent

Kept going south Mexico
to loose my ball and chain
but I drove back up from Georgia
just to tie you down again

So double down my wages
put my house on up for sale
cause I've been feeling lucky
since I walked right out of jail

and you say that ain't - ain't much at all

They said it would be easy
they said it would be cheap
they said it'd keep me young
but I know it's out of reach

Well I can't go home
I take a hand at the cross
they can't track me baby
you know I'm already lost

but you can come and find me
by the whistle of my bones
and I guess you'll know it's me
cause I guess we're all alone

and I know that ain't - ain't much at all

It's just across the streets
from the stories I've been told
but there ain't to many able
to keep it up alone

and I know that ain't - ain't much at all
Track Name: The Last Night With Marie
The sun goes down slow on this old border town
where the midnight air heats up when the cops come around.
And your mercury mood, like the sirens outside,
wild whirlin' lights and the tears that you cried
for long lost friends who've betrayed you and lied --
but Marie, in this room, it's just you and me.

You often talk of electric storms out west
that bore the thunder that beats in your chest.
Now you feel a cold wind blowin' on your skin
and all those wicked looks shame the fire within
'till you're just too scared to even begin --
but Marie, in this room, no one can see.

The faded motel lights signal the dead
and a thousand other things that I ought to have said.
Soon the restless sun will cut through the blinds
and this feeling of fear washed from our minds,
traded for the empty ache of a love left behind --
but Marie, tonight, I'm down on one knee.
Track Name: White Rooms, Red Cups
I won't forget the way you dance
or the kids passed out in the chairs.
The music's loud, ah! gimme a chance
there's an empty room upstairs.

When we touch it feels good, but not like it should --
saying good bye hurts, just not as much as it could.

These off-white rooms turn inside out
red plastic cups crushed in the ground.
In the basement, babe, there's an ugly sound
but your fingers pull my hair when I look down.


Downstairs, your friends, they all call this cheap
but cheap drinks, babe, they still go down sweet.
Now come lie down in your best friend's bed
and just try to forget all the shit they said.

Track Name: It Only Happens When It's Late
Tonight the side streets are empty
the snow drove the city kids inside.
Even though the trees are dead,
and the flower beds are buried in stone,
I can hear them --
but tonight I'm all alone.

Footprints don't promise a place to hide
neither do the shadows from the stairs.
The sour perfume out in the living room
doesn't wash out, but I don't mind it
just as long as I'm alone.

Porch lights fade away when it's could,
floorboards tremble at the salt trucks passing by.
The furnace dial and the cough syrup vial
should stay where they are,
but I can't help it --
I just can't leave 'em alone.

The bed is hard and it is big.
I left the T.V. on downstairs.
The curtains sway and the half-lights weigh
hard on my heart,
but I still need them --
I just can't fall asleep alone.
Track Name: Her Daddy Knows
When I hear the drums beat out in the street
I know my love will come to see me.
When I hear the bells ring, and the wild dogs sing,
I know my love will come to see me.
And when daylight fails,
the east winds wail,
and shooting stars burn a trail through the veiled sky,
my love will come to see me.

The ground is cold on her bare feet
but still she comes to see me.
The wine she holds spills in the dirt
but still she comes to see me.
And the gilded throne,
and the stepping stones
outside her daddy's home beg her not to roam,
but still she comes to see me.

Pools of rust form on the iron fence
where she gonna meet me.
Two silver rings hidden in the tall grass
where she gonna meet me.
And my old suitcase, but I see her face
and a broken vase,
and a ribbon tied around her waist,
but still she gonna meet me.

The conductor says, "why two seats?"
I say my baby's coming with me.
I got a good job down in New Orleans
and my baby's coming with me.
But the pain starts slow, and it grows,
'till the last train whistle blows.
Somehow her daddy knows, and she's not coming with me.
Track Name: Unforgivable
I was cut down on your street
Needles in my feet
Standing on your corner looking bored

I said I was busy
Busy looking busy
But all the other options were explored

When you can't find nothing,
you don't go - singing round again
You'll just find a bigger bottle
When I'm not - a better friend

Now you said it was time
Time to draw the line
The clock was set far before - I know

Maybe it will swing your way
Promising new days
but you should know that I can't let this go


I'm Unforgivable

Well I am just a man
With roses in his hands
So I guess you've got to go have your suspicion

I left them on the bed
Smelling sweet - but long been dead
Still you don't know the lengths of my conviction


I'm Unforgivable
Track Name: Drifter's Ballad
Work bell rings at the break of dawn
man, every day is the same.
And we're just some poor old boys
only got ourselves to blame.

And men like us ain't got money
ever any longer than a day.
And men like us never got nobody --
we tell ourselves that it's okay.
Coz that's the way it's gonna stay.

When you hit rock bottom don't you pawn that guitar
man, it ain't worth a dime.
Those red-eyed boxcar nights are long,
it'll help you pass the time.

And men like us can't earn our way
so we drink the bucket gin instead.
And men like us can't get away
so we drink until we wind up dead.
Or wander streets that never end.

Don't worry about the girls you leave behind
man, they don't remember you.
Just one more poor drifter off the rail
you're gonna leave here that way too.

And men like us our, blood runs thin
and it's all we leave behind.
And men like us, we push it hard
though we never have much time
before we move on down the line.
Track Name: Right Now
Look at you, always such a mess
you spilled wine on your dress.
You didn't know, 'till we got in bed
that the stain would spread.

A dog barks, windows quake
but I'm still wide awake.
And I feel weak, it's as if I cried
but you're still sleeping by my side.

I know one day I'll feel this way
about somebody new.
Right now I hope I never do.
Right now I love missing you.

I never knew that you could sing,
a quiet sound morning brings.
BUt when you go, I stay in bed
and thunder pounds in my head.

Track Name: Diamonds and Keys
Well they took away my keys at the bar
so tonight I'm sleeping in the car.
I wouldn't drink another beer if I could
even though it might do me good.

The bench seat is room enough for one
it's all that's left once the night is done.
I crack a window to let in the air.
I won't sleep but I don't care.

Diamonds and keys, baby please
stars still shine on nights like these.
Hair-pins and dimes ain't so strange,
maybe some things never change.

The only other car in the parking lot --
a broke down old wreck next to my spot.
That red paint been peelin' off for years,
how come they let it rust out here?

I can still see my fingers in the dark
just enough to set the match to spark.
But tonight I'll let those lonesome troubles roam
and in the morning head on home.

Track Name: Desert Gold
Finally the rental car died,
it was on a highway in New Mexico.
The wheel locked and the engine lights glowed
and we drifted off the road.

At night heat rises from the rocks
and moves in waves across the land.
I can see the backseat in the rear-view mirror:
a book and a case of beer.

Desert gold, I been told, is a sight to behold.
Some grow old, I been told, and never see the desert gold.

Your hands are always cold,
and your heart beats slow.
Outside a shadow floats above the ground
and it doesn't make a sound.

I miss the loneliness of night,
moonlight stretched across the sand.
And while you sleep, I'll close my eyes
every time a car passes by.