Pokey LaFarge | Manic Revelations

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POKEY LAFARGE
Manic Revelations
2017 BIO

In three parts

I. Reshuffling the Deck

II. Ten Daggers on the Table

III. The Songs

`I. Reshuffling the Deck

Day after day, pencil in hand, always dressed in blue. Never feeling satisfied. Itchy. Incomplete. Attired halfway between a businessman and a janitor, Pokey LaFarge tries to make sense of trouble he's seen and trouble he's been in. This is the Great Why of his unending passion for songwriting. An unquenchable need to be heard in a world where everyone is talking and nobody is listening.

The songs on Pokey’s transformative new album MANIC REVELATIONS demand your attention. Here, you get the feeling this man is constantly reshuffling the deck in favor of some outcome or other. Each chord, each riff shades the stories he sets up in his lyrics. But make no mistake - no matter how the cards lay, he is searching for the purest truth; he loves laying in the muck. Whatever it takes to serve the song. He wouldn’t know what to do if his life were any other way.

Sit with him over a cup of coffee at The Mud House on Cherokee Street in South City St. Louis, and you’ll see for yourself: he easily is uneasy, pushing one squalid thought away to make way for another, sometimes darker one. It’s not that he’s a miserable guy; quite the opposite. To lay it plain: you simply don’t get songs like these without becoming very friendly with the darkness in your head, and with the social distortion of the day.

These are the currents Pokey dips into to create his songs.

In conversation, he’ll stare right through you as you speak. They call it the Quiet Eye. It’s that uncanny ability the best athletes in the world have; it’s what sets them apart. Pokey has it too. You see pitchers in Pokey’s beloved game of baseball look at a complex scene and instantly focus on what needs to happen to achieve a strike. That's the game. In a flash, the ball moves at 90-some-odd miles per hour, and the fate of an entire city hangs in the balance. When that pitcher’s focus delivers, a game is won - and a banged up old Midwestern city like St. Louis is instantly elevated to an all-century high.

Taking a sip of his ever-present cup of black coffee (switched out for red wine every day at sunfall), Pokey is the pitcher who breaks his stillness, winds up, and fires off the final strike of a shutout. At the table, he eventually tips his gaze to you, inhales, and launches back into the conversation. In these moments, Pokey’s as likely to agree with what you’ve just said as he is to turn the table upside down.

Knowing that music is as influential in today’s jagged American culture as the country’s favorite pastime, it’s powerful to see Pokey locking into and emerging from his Quiet Eye stance. Again, you don’t get songs like these without a little fire. And when the conversation turns to the heat that brews in his own belly, Pokey leans in, stares straight ahead, and offers this: “The darkness? The anger? It comes out in my singing. With a beautiful lyric and a beautiful melody. It comes out in the passion.”

“All these opinions out there…” he trails off, looking over his right shoulder at a painting of Woody Guthrie hanging on the wall. “It's about getting people to feel something. Other than anger.”

Plenty of feelings reveal themselves in the 10 forlorn, haunting melodies on MANIC REVELATIONS. Each one of these songs is the culmination of a decade of hard work in what has become something of a bellwether city. And with the release of these 10 songs, St. Louis will have something more than World Series wins to mark a moment in time.

But Pokey has no intention of winning any accolades with his music. He just wants to get more at home with the noise in his head. Comfortable would be nice, but nobody’s ever heard Pokey speak of a dream of an easy life. Those types of songs are for somebody else to sing. Pokey LaFarge makes good truck out of this thing that he pushes against - whatever it may be in a given moment.

“That’s what the record’s about: confronting,” says Pokey. “For me, this whole album is about composing and confronting.”

II. Ten Daggers on the Table

Pokey LaFarge is a musician. He is a storyteller. He is a feeler of feelings. He is a narrator of the messy, unkempt American experience. He sits, he watches, he writes. Everything that’s worth happening happens in his songs. Like the long line of writers and performers he descends from, music isn’t something Pokey does - it’s something he is.

This is why MANIC REVELATIONS shines like 10 daggers laying on the kitchen table in his St. Louis home. From that vantage point, in the center of this vast continent, Pokey takes long looks from shore to shore, feeling the direction of social winds, ingesting sights and sounds from all around, observing the news of the day.

And so he was ready for the evening when a sociological tinderbox caught fire. Mere minutes from his front door, night after night, social unrest caused everyone in America to stop and wonder which side they were on. In the face of this upheaval, Pokey took to his studio and began writing. That’s how artists deal with uncertainty: they bleed on paper until the pain subsides. Soon, he found that one song led to the next. He couldn’t put it down. One manic revelation led to another. In the thrall of it all, an album started to appear in front of him.

“The manic revelation is the state where artists create,” says Pokey. “I got to the point in writing these songs where I felt like a house on fire that just kept burning.”

“I’ve always felt that the live shows were the best representation of our music,” he says. “Only now do I feel that I’ve made a better record than the live performance.”

This is the one where the style of music recedes, as the foreground swells with evidence of Pokey’s observations of pain, joy, confusion. This one is where his artistic character shines. And where we see that artistic blood on the page, unvarnished and raw. MANIC REVELATIONS is the second coming of an artist who, over the past decade, has taken the workaday approach to building a body of work, and a worldwide fanbase. After a decade of struggle, it’s all paid off here. And it’s all riding on this album.

“A lot of things haven't gone my way,” says Pokey. “I've haven't become successful in spite of the things I had to overcome, rather, I've become successful because of what I had to overcome. It's all made me better. And now there’s no going back.”

True to this statement, there are no lookback songs on MANIC REVELATIONS. This album is all about looking outward, looking forward - and we’ve never seen Pokey’s observational craft in a more stark relief. This hasn’t happened by chance. Artists who write from real life experience have no choice but to change themselves if they want to progress their art. With this in mind, Pokey has been hard at work pushing out the corners on himself.

“This album is about confronting yourself,” explains Pokey. “It’s about confronting your city, its relation with the world, and all its people. In the pursuit of making myself a better person, I create better art. Which hopefully makes the world a better place. Still, at times, I need to get away from it all.”

III. THE MUSIC

MANIC REVELATIONS kicks off with a cold open.

A crack of the snare and an insistent upright bass riff are the clarion call. From there, “Riot in the Streets” throttles up, ripping MANIC REVELATIONS wide open.

Halfway through the song you realize this story—where the rich and the poor alike line up to riot, or peacefully protest, while TV news anchors somewhat unreliably narrate the scene—is reported judiciously; he isn’t swaying the listener to one side or the other.

“Look, I'm an opinionated person,” says Pokey. “But that doesn't extend itself into my writing. I’ve always been an observer. Telling a story isn't always about having an opinion. It's about painting a picture.”

In “Must Be A Reason,” people fall into and out of—and back into—love. On this song, and all over the album, he shoves in the crying wherever he can. Not because he thinks it’s entertaining. Because he’s lived it. And he knows that others know this sadness, too. On an album filled with personal and cultural pressure release valves, this tune is the one about the politics of romance.

“In a relationship,” says Pokey, “you run out of stories to tell. You run out of excuses. You run out of ways to get her back. Sometimes you’re on the precipice—she's getting ready to leave. But I always remember someone saying: the only way to stay together is to fucking stay together.”

“Bad Dreams” illustrates a classic “wherever you go, there you are” story: lovers leave home to travel the world. They want to escape the friction at home. Some call this “pulling a geographic.” When they return, it’s clear that changing location didn’t help; the real problem is still staring them in the mirror.

“You realize you’re coming home,” Pokey explains, “to the same problems that caused you to go away in the first place. It's not the city. You can’t get away from yourself.”

Now, if you listen to only one of these manic revelations, it should be “Silent Movie.” He wrote this one in 15 minutes. 15 minutes! That decade of looking and writing and traveling and playing culminates in this song. And truth be told, we’ve never heard this kind of song from this guy.

“Silent Movie” is on par with the best social narratives of Nilsson, Campbell, Kristofferson. As a lone guitar line drags the song along, Pokey pulls focus on a kid adorned in headphones on a Chicago El train. He may be on his way to school, or he may be on his way home. Regardless of the position of the sun in the sky, the world outside the windows is too much for this kid to take in. “Cover your ears and watch the world go by,” Pokey sings, “That’s how we survive.” A clarinet drizzles a saddening pattern over the entire scene, and we begin to wonder: where are we headed if a whole generation is growing up feeling this way? Shoving in the sadness. The song goes on: “Growing up is a scam / The truth is a lie / Better off staying a child / Till the day you die / Stay inside your mind / Or go outside and find a place to hide.”

“The song is about shutting out the noise,” says Pokey. “Coming up with your own soundtrack, in this country where there’s more questions than answers, it seems.”

Never feeling satisfied. Always dressed in blue. Diving into the darkness. Turning the table upside down. Wherever you go, there you are. Fucking stay together. Better off staying a child. This album is an epoch for Pokey LaFarge. You feel it all over these 10 revelations.

“Now I've found my groove,” says Pokey. “I don't have to overcompensate anymore. Nobody looks and sounds like me. And I’m OK with that.”

Tech Copy

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TECH COPY (VINYL) street date: 05/19/2017

ARTIST: Pokey LaFarge

TITLE: Manic Revelations (Vinyl)

LABEL: Rounder

UPC: 888072024311

1166100210

Produced by the Southside Collective

“Must Be a Reason” Produced by Tony Hoffer

Southside Collective: Pokey LaFarge, Joey Glynn, Ryan Koenig, Adam Hoskins, Matt Meyer, Luc Klein, Alec Spielgelman, David Beeman

Engineered by David Beeman

Recorded at Native Sound, Cherokee Street, St. Louis, MO

Mixed by Tony Hoffer at Hobby Shop, Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA

Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters

Vinyl cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering

All songs written by Pokey LaFarge, published by Pokey LaFarge Publishing (BMI), except:

“Must Be a Reason,” “Better Man Than Me” and “Mother Nature” written my Pokey LaFarge and Chris Seefried, Pokey LaFarge Publishing (BMI) / Hall Notes (BMI).

“Wellington” written by Pokey LaFarge and Luc Klein, Pokey LaFarge Publishing (BMI) / Luc Klein Publishing Designee

“I Will Never Change” written by Adam Hoskins and Pokey LaFarge, Trade Root Music (ASCAP) / Pokey LaFarge Publishing (BMI)

Package designed by Forefathers

Photography by Nate Burrell

THANK YOU

Pokey: Thanks to my family, Kentucky Mae, David Beeman, Will Godfred, Ben Majchrzak, Justin Brown, Justin Sauer, Nate Burrell, Tim Gebauer, Steve Pohlman, Chris Seefried, Tony Hoffer, Dave Cooley, Jason Deem, Jeremy & Casey Miller, the Africano family, Saxquest, Sean Dore, Chris Phillips, and Jeff Castelaz.

Ryan: The Whiskey Ring, Kellie Everett

Adam Hoskins: Justin Brown, Hoskins Family, Ellen Herget

Managed by Cast Management, Hollywood, CA

North America Booking: Al Marano and Frank Riley at High Road Touring, Sausalito, CA

International Booking: Dave Chumbley and Chris Smyth at Primary Talent, London, UK

Business Manager: Justin Sauer at Sussman & Associates, Nashville, TN

Legal: Bryan Christner

pokeylafarge.net

rounder.com

℗ & © 2017 Rounder Records, a division of Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Made in the U.S.A. 1166100210

LABEL COPY (VINYL) street date: 05/19/2017

ARTIST: Pokey LaFarge

TITLE: Manic Revelations (Vinyl)

LABEL: Rounder

UPC: 888072024311

1166100210

Side A

1. Riot in the Streets (3:42)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − harmonica, harmony vocals
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums, percussion
Luc Klein − trumpet
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone
Will Godfred − background vocals

2. Must Be a Reason (3:32)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − upright bass, background vocals
Ryan Koenig − guitjo
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar, vibraphones

Dave Palmer – piano
Matt Meyer − drums
Luc Klein − trumpet, background vocals
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, piano, background vocals
Will Godfred − background vocals

3. Better Man Than Me (3:34)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − harmonica
Adam Hoskins − rhythm guitar
Matt Meyer − drums
Luc Klein − trumpet, background vocals
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, background vocals
Dave Palmer – tambourine

4. Bad Dreams (3:26)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − electric bass
Ryan Koenig − electric guitar
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums, percussion
Luc Klein − trumpet, euphonium, piano, glockenspiel
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, background vocals

5. Mother Nature (3:38)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals
Joey Glynn − electric bass
Ryan Koenig − guitjo
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums, percussion
Luc Klein − trumpet
Alec Spiegelman − tubax, organ
Dave Palmer – stylophone

Side B

1. Silent Movie (3:45)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − harmonica
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums
Luc Klein − trumpet, euphonium, harmony vocals
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute, piano, harmony vocals
Kellie Everett − tenor saxophone
Will Godfred − background vocals
Dave Palmer – rhythm guitar

2. Good Luck Charm (2:37)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − harmonica
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums, percussion
Luc Klein − trumpet
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, harmony vocals

3. Going to the Country (4:05)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − electric guitar
Adam Hoskins − electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums
Luc Klein − trumpet, background vocals
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, background vocals

4. Wellington (3:55)

5. I Will Never Change (3:37)

Pokey LaFarge − vocals, rhythm guitar
Joey Glynn − upright bass
Ryan Koenig − electric guitar
Adam Hoskins − lead electric guitar
Matt Meyer − drums
Luc Klein − trumpet
Alec Spiegelman − tenor saxophone, harmony vocals

OUTSIDE JACKET CREDITS street date: 05/19/2017

ARTIST: Pokey LaFarge

TITLE: Manic Revelations (Vinyl)

LABEL: Rounder

UPC: 888072024311

1166100210

Side A

1. Riot in the Streets (3:42)

2. Must Be a Reason (3:32)

3. Better Man Than Me (3:34)

4. Bad Dreams (3:26)

5. Mother Nature (3:38)

Side B

1. Silent Movie (3:45)

2. Good Luck Charm (2:37)

3. Going to the Country (4:05)

4. Wellington (3:55)

5. I Will Never Change (3:37)

Produced by South City Collective

*Produced by Tony Hoffer

Mixed by Tony Hoffer

pokeylafarge.net

rounder.com

[Rounder Records logo]

[Bar Code]

VINYL LABEL COPY street date: 05/19/2017

ARTIST: Pokey LaFarge

TITLE: Manic Revelations (Vinyl)

LABEL: Rounder

UPC: 888072024311

1166100210

Side A

1. Riot in the Streets (3:42)

2. Must Be a Reason (3:32)

3. Better Man Than Me (3:34)

4. Bad Dreams (3:26)

5. Mother Nature (3:38)

[Rounder Records logo]

Side B

1. Silent Movie (3:45)

2. Good Luck Charm (2:37)

3. Going to the Country (4:05)

4. Wellington (3:55)

5. I Will Never Change (3:37)

[Rounder Records logo]

LYRICS street date: 05/19/2017

ARTIST: Pokey LaFarge

TITLE: Manic Revelations (Vinyl)

LABEL: Rounder

UPC: 888072024311

1166100210

Riot in the Streets

2 am, bars were closing

heard the news on channel 4 and

the TV anchor tried to say

what she thought really happened today

But, words are dangerous like the gun

takes away a mother’s son

a lot of people have had enough

just waiting for this time to come

ohhh, gonna be a riot

ohhh, gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot tonight

Right or wrong, battle lines are drawn

like the difference tween dusk and dawn

black and white in the light of day

but at night there’s only shades-of-grey

preacher speakin’, fist raised singin’

Barely missin’, tear gas whistlin’

Walking down west Florissant Road

It feels like this city is gonna explode

ohhh, gonna be a riot

ohhh, gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot tonight

Painted signs, a megaphone message

you can feel it St. Louis to Los Angeles

These words written on a door:

it ain’t just about the rich and poor

our past won’t go away

it haunts us to present day

there’s so much left to learn

as the bullets fly and the buildings burn

ohhh, gonna be a riot

ohhh, gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot in the streets tonight

gonna be a riot tonight

Must be a Reason

I lit a fire in my heart for you

but all you give me is cold, cold rain

Said you wanted a diamond ring

in return I get a ball and chain

Well, I don’t need nobody telling me what I already know

must be a reason

I love you

it’s cause you’re crazy

and I’m a crazy fool

My heart was just a thing you stole

polished up and made shine like gold

Now it’s just another thing you got

buried down in your jewelry box

but I could never leave you, who else could make pain feel so good

must be a reason

I love you

it’s cause you’re crazy

and I’m a crazy fool

And I know, yes I know, oh I know

The reason I will never go

though you make me cry

without you I would die

Cause it’s plain to see

you’re the same kinda crazy as me

I would fight for a life with you

The same thing that would kill me too

Love’s a war I cannot win

but I’ll see it through until the end

I made a promise till death do us part

must be a reason

I love you

it’s cause you’re crazy

and I’m a crazy fool

Better Man than Me

Better man, don’t you wanna be a better man

Better man, better man

I’m trying really hard to be a better man,

but it’s, easier doing wrong

I sleep all day, at night I go and play my sad songs

But if you want to find yourself a good woman

and have a family of your own

Better get a real job and stop going out all night long

I guess, I should have known right from the start

takes a better man than me to win your heart

Better man, don’t you wanna be a better man

Better man, better man

Maybe I don’t make enough money

Or maybe I don’t look as good as you do

Either way I’m wondering if there’s something I can’t explain

Well, it is what it is, I should just let it be

There’s no chance for you and me

Everyone is saying there’s some things you will never change

I guess, I should have known right from the start

takes a better man than me to win your heart

Better man, don’t you want to be a better man

Better man, better man, better man

Better man, don’t you want to be a better man

Better man, better man

Mama tried to tell me, my friends did to but I,

wouldn’t heed their advice

All the women in my life couldn’t steer my right

now it’s hopeless

I wish I had the means to get the girl of my dreams

but it seems that I was born to lose

It may sound funny but no girl will ever love me

And I know this

I guess, I should have known right from the start

takes a better man than me to win your heart

better man than me to win your heart

Better man, don’t you want to be a better man

Better man, better man, better man

Bad Dreams

She was wise beyond her years and it seemed like

she knew something about everything

She made me wonder what I’ve been thinking all these years

She opened her heart up to me

I felt, like I could tell her anything

But I’d rather listen to her talk to me or

just sing my tired soul to sleep

Bad dreams, bad dreams

Bad dreams don’t bother me

We can escape reality

Come take a trip with me she said

Have you ever woken up to find the morning time

won’t let you remember your dreams

and yesterday seems so long ago

The chemicals in my brain are the same thing

that drive me insane

but when the world starts to feel too small

she is the way to escape it all

Bad dreams, bad dreams

Bad dreams don’t bother me

We can escape reality

Come take a trip with me she said

Let’s go to a place we’ve never been to

Anywhere baby, I don’t mind

You know that I wanna walk with you

Put your little hand in mine

Bad dreams, bad dreams

Bad dreams don’t bother me

We can escape reality

Come take a trip with me she said

We can escape reality

Come take a trip with me she said

Bad dreams, bad dreams

Bad dreams don’t bother me

Mother Nature

You better use what mother nature gave you

till father time takes it away

she thinks her beauty is fading

cause that’s what her Mama say

She told her when she’s thirty

she won’t be wanted by any man

so you know, that she gonna try to

live it up while she can

however, her words will never, ever no never come true

that honky tonkin life style it can get the best of you

As the twig’s bent that’s the way the tree grows

walking the same ole path

you can do what they say you ought to

but you’re just living in their past

this world can be so lonesome

when you only have yourself

but being yourself ain’t enough when

they wish you were someone else

they don’t want you to have what you want to, you know I ain’t lyin'

who thought that being a woman could be, con-sid-ered a crime?

Do everything your mama told you not to

Same things she wish she would of done

Take time to live the way you want to

you gotta do it while you’re young

Daddy said, “marry a rich man”

you deserve to have the best

he’s rich and unhappy

that’s the price of success

You don’t need to get married, in the suburbs outside of town

move back to the city, babe, We love having you around

oooh, ah, oooh, ah, oooh, ah

You better use what mother nature gave you

till father time takes it away

she thinks her beauty is fading

cause that’s what her Mama say

She told her when she’s thirty

she won’t be wanted by any man

so you know, that she gonna try to

live it up while she can

however, her words will never, ever no never come true

that honky tonkin life style it can get the best of you

Silent Movie

I don’t read the papers

don’t watch the news

and if I did, tell me

what good would it do?

mess with my mind

i’ve no time for the blues

All people do is talk

can’t get away

they don’t know nothing

even less to say

I’ve no interest

bearing witness to you

Silent movie

cover your ears and watch the world go by

that’s how you survive

try and live the, life you wanna

before you go, when the credits roll

it’s all over now

It’s hard for me to say this

without feeling bad

I see people fighting

all over this land

all the rights are wrong

we couldn’t get along, if we tried

Growing up is a scam,

the truth is a lie

Better off staying a child

till the day you die

stay inside your mind

go outside and find a place to hide

Silent movie

cover your ears and watch the world go by

that’s how you survive

try and live the, life you wanna

before you go, when the credits roll

it’s all over now

Good Luck Charm

Living on my own has done too much harm

need a good luck charm

ain’t superstitious, things have gotta change,

can’t live this way

it’s been so long a waiting

for you to come and save me, and be my

Good luck charm

just what I need, to get off my knees

back on my feet again

Good luck charm

Is a hard thing to find

won’t keep me from trying or waiting, waiting

I’m better off when I have you in my arms

You’re my good luck charm

when I’m without you I make wrong decisions

get in bad positions

My conscience tries to tell me

you’re the only one who can help me, You’re my...

Good luck charm

just what I need, to get off my knees

back on my feet again

Good luck charm

Is a hard thing to find

won’t keep me from trying or waiting, waiting

Try, won’t you help me

I think I’m slowly fading

try won’t you help me

I don’t think I can make it

try won’t you help me

It’s been so long a-waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting

Good luck charm, Good luck charm

Good luck charm

just what I need, to get off my knees

back on my feet again

Good luck charm

Is a hard thing to find

won’t keep me from trying or waiting, waiting

Going to the Country

Going to the country

where the city cannot touch me

no sound of passing cars

no drunks from closing bars

you can see the stars each night

far from those city lights

and you fall asleep to the sound

of peace and quiet

In the city,

my heart feels contained

I want to set it free again

out on some prairie wind

jackhammers in my brain

are slowly driving me insane

so I’m going to the country

Oh, I’m going to the country

In the city,

I get the feeling something isn’t right

there’s gunshots every night

dead bodies beneath the street light

and there’s no jobs that pay

so we can’t afford to get away

and go to the country

going to the country

In the country,

I will think of you

and that city life we knew

everyday, as the danger grew

and how I tried to care

till we got used to living scared

wasting all your days

amongst the beer and baseball craze

deaf to the sound

of another building falling down

blind to the black man’s blood

Being covered up with mud

and the Mississippi flood keeps on rising…

Oh, I’m going to the country

Wellington

After three months on the road

I flew to Wellington, New Zealand

strung out and stuck in

a hole that I’d been diggin’

Down on Cuba Street

with no worries on my mind

trying to get a hold of

the strongest thing I could find

in Wellington, oh yeah

you got the best of me

and if I don’t wake up tomorrow

won't you bury me in Wellington

The sun was slowly fading

like a fire in the rain

I couldn’t stop the burning

I had in my veins

The flower of the poppy

I followed with my nose

I searched the whole town over

sweating through my clothes

in Wellington, oh yeah

you got the best of me

and if I don’t wake up tomorrow

won't you bury me in Wellington

But then, I met a stranger

bought what he had for sale

he put my hands in cuffs

and said, “son, you’re going to jail"

we walked towards a squad car

as he read my rights to me

looks like I better call up

the U.S. Embassy

Wellington, oh yeah

you got the best of me

and if I don’t wake up tomorrow

won't you bury me in Wellington

Oh, judge, is there nothing I can say

to save my skin and set me free today

Please judge, let me go back home

but if I must stay, will you make sure sweet opium

takes me far away

I miss my friends and family

but I’m nowhere near them now

locked up in the south Pacific

in a jail somewhere downtown

You’ve been a friendly Island to me

since I stepped upon your shore

if i ever leave a free man

won’t be coming back for more, to

Wellington, oh yeah

you got the best of me

and if I don’t wake up tomorrow

won't you bury me in Wellington

I Will Never Change

This world is always changing

but some things stay the same

I will always be here to love you, babe

I will never change

It’s, budding trees, flowers growing

falling leaves then it’s snowing

through the turning of all the seasons, babe

I will never change

I will, I will, I will never change

In this land of milk and honey

some have pastures and others have plenty

I don’t care if you have no money, babe

I will never change

People can make you feel lonesome

won’t you let me ease your pain?

It could all be over tomorrow, babe

but i will never change

I will, I will, I will never change

In this country of violence and dreams

there’s more questions than answers it seems

Please say you’ll be my sanity

and I will never change

I will, I will, I will never change

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