(from The Last Night of the Revels ) You haunt me down, Lord, run me back across the stampede trail Into a wild disgraced by a stranger in a lover’s place Come on and build me a road so I can trip and stumble back home I want to stay with my folks, my dad is great, my dad give us the chocolate cake Cuz that's what a man do and I’m gonna be a man, too I’ll travel across the United States, at least the lower forty eight ‘til I can find me a sound: something I can reveal, …

(from Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) Make me your first time and I’ll make a little promise that I’m gonna make you mine, and well, These wheels beat a path to your door, if I didn’t know no better I’d say that’s what   they’re there for Teach me the words to say and I’ll say ‘em real sweet in an extra special way and hey Each moment that passes us by, it ain’t ever coming back it don’t matter how we try And oh. was it long ago? …

(from Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) Saw you in the t-shirt line after the show, did you know Guys have these chemicals that’ll make your heart beat One word could make your heart beat. Let the words call out from my lips to your ears Let my words fall out from my lips to your lips Let my words roll down your throat Let the words rise up like a note Let my love stamp round like the boots beneath your feet Let my love tug hard at the end of your lead Wrap my love up in your robe …

 (from The Last Night of the Revels ) Finely floating ‘bove the tops of the trees Where in the thick summer leaves birds are dreamin’ Distant spires tell the toll of the dawn As in the shipyards beyond the forge is steamin’ And like the first dark cloud in June We will block out the sun in our patchwork balloon But oh how passing strange… Your ways are softly yet so strong That I still think you’re around even after you’re gone Even after you’re gone. Foul …

(from The Last Night of the Revels ) Where ya been, where ya been my friend ­ ? I been sittin’ round here waitin’ for the world to end And I been thinking ‘bout the days we wasted fillin’ up In loving hope the nights would spill our cup And I been thinking how those glory days all disappeared And led us stumbling back through here again Oh yes, my friend, waitin’ for the world to end. Where’d you go, where’d you go John Grove? I’ve been lookin’ …

 (from The Last Night of the Revels ) Steady rollin’ along, oh strong vintage brings the boasts out of me You could float me back to Eden on a stream of mellow seasons Still my thoughts fly to Mocharabuiee. Where the blood laughs in the veins and black bottles drip to the drains With the filth and the foam. And all the stars up above you don’t shine bright enough to love you No, just bright enough to show when you’re alone. Oh and you’re alone. Well, you know there …

(From Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) She makes my whiskeys sour; she’s fine Gins and tonic come snow or shower; that’s right She like the tiny little bubbles in a plastic cup of that wine She like the tiny little bubbles in a plastic cup of that wine Cheap champagne poured by the dozen, She got lips of sweet Vidalia onions Oh, lissome grenadine won’t take off a loose of my tie. She like the tiny little bubbles in a plastic cup of that wine She like the tiny little bubbles in a …

(From Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) Hail Suzy Bailey, she don’t hail from this town, She takes to the water, no she don’t make a sound On this hot August night, good Lord have mercy if she takes me outright On this hot August night, Lord, don’t be cruel If it’s Sunday morning in a guilty man’s heart It’s a Saturday night in that other part, ah, Your half-hearted smile is the finest thing I seen in a good goddamn while If you read the directions on the back …

Oh let me begin, out where nobody’s been
And out on the edge of the pages where I feel your onionskin
And I’ve got no secrets, no secrets from you
And one thing’s for certain, I’ll be here all night
In your light.

And if the bridge falls down we’ll be in the ocean
Building countries out of sand
And if the walls fall down we’ll be pushing daisies
We’ll be pushing time

You don’t care if I lie cause you don’t know wrong from right
And you have the color of guiltless, ah guiltless, summertime
And I’ve got a secret; I’ll tell only you,
And one thing’s for certain, I’ll be here all night
In your light.

(c. Seth M Martin)

A curse on the sunlight for a curse on the shade
Four golden feathers with jasmine inlaid
Hands palms down upon the table
She said “son, do you trust cards to a woman like me
Do you have a pillow to lie upon?
Or do you tread swiftly on heat lightening?”

A sliver of moonlight heads bowed in between
Cat-head biscuits and corn silverqueen
Many a boy’s fortune of pinewood is made
And few are the number who take god’s peace to their graves.
“Will you stay here tonight for a traveler’s song
or do you alight swiftly on heat lightening?
Heat lightening.

(c. Seth M Martin)

(from The Last Night of the Revels)

I’ve seen the coast of Ireland and I want to climb them.
And I would sell you coffee on TV
And I would sell you fourteen
And I’d explain the how and why, if you buy straight from me
Hey, you’d better.

There’s a cross up in the dark night, it’s missing three lights
And Jesus with his arms raised screams TD
The score to beat is fourteen
And we start choosing sides the devil hides in history
Hey, he’d better

And I’m so out of fashion I must seem dashing
Or I’d be selling needles on the street
And though we’re only sixteen
Why we could have so much fun, if you’d run away with me
Hey, you’d better.

Like running into walls I’ve been dwelling on your love
Cause it’s the only thing at all that’s been keeping me from the life I’m deserving of
Oh, deserving of….

Always on my mind, no that ain’t exactly true,
But it’s close enough that I wouldn’t take it back if you said you never do
Oh, you never do, my dear, oh you never do
Could it be that you never do?

Like running into walls I’ve been thinking about your heart
Cause it’s the only thing at all got me stuck down in this lowest part
Oh, the lowest part, my dear, is this the lowest part?
And could it be that it’s just the start?

(c. Seth M Martin)

O the mind, the mind has mountains; cliffs of fall, frightful, sheer, An old-man-fathomed rather hold them cheap than hold them dear Then lull and leave me for a shore where fury has no reach. Why do you haunt me? Why do you haunt me? Oh! As I lay me down ‘neath the old, cold light of love Why do you haunt me? Oh! Why do you haunt me? Oh! My cries heave, herds-long, huddle in a main, a chief            Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince …

Booked in a corner room where dirty blinds block a western view And a wake-up call is a promise made that I’ll stick around another day. I see you here sittin’ by these paper walls and the bathroom lights you used to scrawl A letter you sent on motel print that said “Come to Point Coupee. Won’t you come to Point Coupee?” You broke my heart when you disappeared, you wrote me a note and now I’m here But it seems you’ve found another hole to swallow up your pilgrim …

(From The Last Night of the Revels ) Got money in my pocket that’s a-talkin’ to me Sayin’ it’s all gonna happen tonight Got a pretty little girl that I'm goin' to see But I’m still waitin’ in line. I hear a bass that’s a-thumpin’ All the people are stompin’ And the harmonies a-flowin’ like wine I bet my baby’s in the middle just a-jumpin’ to the fiddle But I’m still waitin’ in line. Oh but, yes, I must confess, I feel …

(from  The Last Night of the Revels) Tie your colors to the wheel, drive me down on Kentucky steel I’ve been searchin’ everywhere since I was born Drag me weary from the race, find me love and a pretty face I’ve been searchin’ everywhere since I was born Blew a boiler out on Dauphin quay, five miles out from Mobile Bay, Lord, they buried every Christian man I known Well, boss man sent down an engineer but, Lord, he did not shed a tear and I been searchin’ everywhere …

  Last night in my bed she was sleeping there, sleeping there Almost as if I had dreamed her there, dreamed her there And let it be said, if the girl were a car she’d be the fastest on the road…                           Gonna take her downtown, gonna spin her ‘round to the muddy sounds Of old country songs, and the mirrored lights when they hit her right You’ll …

Oh, you leave me breathless when you leave me alone, so don’t you leave me alone I’ve been guitar stringin’ and lamplight swingin’ round slow, undignified slow I wanna bite right down into the palm of your hands                                    And tell me would I taste all the things that you have done bad   Oh, you’re soft like a velvet, like a peach that’s …

 I don’t know but I been told gotta take it now cuz fortune favors the bold And in my mind I’m like a tall gondolier, I’m ducking bridges and stopping at piers And maybe I’ll meet you there.       Tie a red scarf about my waist, I could fall asleep with my hat on my face And in my mind I’m like a tall gondolier, I’m ducking bridges and facing my fears   So take all the words I say and won’t you, won’t you write ‘em in …

 A terror in light, a terror in shade A hunger inside like an appetite awake or dreaming The barrels and beaks, we square them with vine All the chambers and the churches all swaying ‘neath the weight of the whale.   A lady of lines, a queen for a day An arrow in flight brings a feast of all the splendid seasons Bright city lights on bare city walls All the scales and the senates all drowning in the wake of the whale   A spirit in kind, a friend and a foe A weakening mind like the …

A body washed up at the harbor today It wasn’t nobody so the newspapers say Stood six foot eight, don’t know how much he weighed But we think, like, probably, like, a quarter ton   Had a picture in his pocket of the Golden Gate Bridge, But we buried him 3000 miles from it. It has rivets the size of your fist in it. And each one weighs probably like a quarter ton.   And the fastest way down to the water ain’t the perfect way out. It ain’t the perfect way out.   …

(From Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) Lazy River, all my family’s gone               And your waters broke the back of my dreams Flowing red, flowing on.                 But don’t you let me catch you For spiders and snakes, rats and rakes like me.   For I’ve seen the stars fall out the sky An orb weaver suspended between royal oaks A lost sunken garden for the sinning of folks And there …

Honey, place your camphor light out on your window Now tell me have you missed your man? And tell me have you waited patient for his call? For it’s been four and twenty days since I last held you tender. Come and fill these arms with love And tell me that it’s me that you’ve been thinking of.   For I have wandered far but I was never ‘suaded Although the nights were cold and I Was attempted by the softest eye. For it’s been four and twenty days since I last held you …

(From Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) I wished I was born in the mountains So I could get used to feeling small Mama made me a child of the bayous             And I don’t feel, no I don’t feel anything at all. A tired moon outside is waning Like some long forgotten care The radio is playing Sons and Lovers out my door Like a bored and sleepy girl letting down her hair   And love will kill you all in stages Like some …

(From Rain is the Soup of the Dogs in Heaven ) Busted up at the gashouse where we’d left them for dead; Those demons in liquor will run you, boy, where your angels fear to tread. Well, don’t roll your drunk eyes at me I’m a be somebody someone someday, oh Yes, I’ll be the man you should have held on to some day. And I don’t mean to stare, my dear, but staring’s the only thing free The bottle is friendly but it costs you a penny and money don’t talk much to me, …