Get all 14 CROCKETT HALL releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of a shadow behind the lattice, it must be (tk 16th), junebugs, SWAMP THANG (HE'S MY BOYFRIEND), pale blue dot, reverse cowgirl chords, happiness in death, bar-fly (let me be yours), and 6 more.
1. |
Conception
03:30
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come and mellow out with me in my room
we can waste time foolishly in my room
got a grievance if you don’t mind me imposing on you
since I was young I have believed there was a truth
and I lived lonely with the prophets, copycat in a suit
a mockingbird reflex I taught myself in youth
until I heard the lovely discord of the poets who sing
of how the prophets and the public are confused
still they repeat their misconception, an abortion of truth
salvation swings her hips and walks out of the room
people can’t you see that we’ve been carryin this
for far too long?
always searchin for a promise
a promise that never was.
it’s alright.
I’m sittin quiet on a blue bench again
as kids are guilted into water for their sins
and baby brother will you listen? this is where it begins
you’ll get devoured playin in the lion’s den
and you witnessed this conception I made in self defense
my slow survival in a costume made of hymns
and just as I am here singing, screaming, pleading for you
open up your eyes, you’ve got nothing to lose!
people can’t you see that we’ve been carryin this
for far too long?
always scratchin at a problem
a problem that never was
it’s alright.
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2. |
The Double
04:00
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not long after the suit and the tie were discovered
the mannequins ambushed the clerks
and paraded away from their shopping malls
and took control of the affairs of the state
there’d be no laughter, no love, and no happy ever after
just to work until that you die.
the devil’s on the elevator telling me
how he has ridden up and down
with his mannequin and his mannequin legs
he fits right into the capitol town
he looks as old as the sea but he can’t be older than me
he says god wanted him a beggar
so he left him his knees
not long after sir Newton invented the law
that brought us all falling back down to earth
oh we gave up on flight and embraced fears of heights
no more wings to the dreams of our birth
and all the laughter and love that rained from above
are now buried so deep in the ground
but sister don’t waste your time there’s no more gold to be found
it’s comin down on me
the world is pressin down on me.
devil don’t beg me
you don’t have to
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3. |
Apple of Eden
04:14
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think of how the apple feels
as it is plucked from it’s home
it doesn’t leave willingly yet surrenders
but oh how different I have been forever
I jumped right off of the tree
and into the mouth of a lover
and I was bitten. discarded and dented
naked and alone
my skin has turned to brown there’s no freshness left
just a rotting piece of meaty flesh
the red ants attack me on the ground
and I scream “I wanted to be free, oh free”
but her lips they seemed so welcoming
till she spat me out
the season’s had soured us all.
there are things that I recall from childhood
things at one time I was oh so eager to leave
and mother if you’re hearin this, I am sorry
you are the one and only girl whose heart I’ve broken
that I try to relieve
and pray to God that he can find someway to forgive me
for fallin right into her hands
and bringin sin and death all over the world
my winter is drawing near
the place that I called home sheds it’s autumn tears
soon I’ll be buried underneath a foot of snow
while the bitter and the sweet colored christmas lights glow
but I hope that when spring comes
I will shoot. I will sprout. I will reach for the sun.
and offer shade to the unwealthy ones
I will give and not receive
I will have become so beautiful
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4. |
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he said there’s no such thing as escape from a place like this
then he spun around the globe to dramatize the constant twist
and I stood there unimpressed at the edge of his enlightenment
taking comfort in the fact that I was young and so protected
you get so sick to death of wood and nails
the old man said to me
and its the martyrs not the poets that the public will believe
because its the poem, not the bloodshed that is becoming extinct
and there’s no such thing as escape
from a place like this
says the needle in the haystack
and the worm inside the fish
the redlight greens and again I’ve left my home
and the pieces fit together it’s the puzzle’s fucked we’re all alone
and there is no need to rescue anyone
no the princess in the tower’s just religion on the run
and a locked up life is a sorry one
you’ve gone and closed your eyes to the loaded gun
your prince ain’t gonna be here soon
2000 years of waking up to get the blues
And there’s no such thing as escape when the chains get thick
If the world becomes a prison
You’ve been payin heaven’s rent
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5. |
Cain(s) and Crutches
05:16
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They tore down the church in your hometown
And put up a place where all the rich men go to get poor
Yeah God don’t live there anymore
It rains all day in the city and the hookers have no umbrellas
There ain’t no time
They keep forgetting
Cause they’ve got money to make and happy homes to break
I use to wake up every morning water poured on my face
I had a nightmare I was drownin you were screamin we’re late
And so I pulled on my clothes shoved my feet out the door
Now its only canes and crutches no one runs anymore
And the carpet man puts the carpet down
And the furniture maker stuffs a bigger couch
But what you need is a cushion on your toilet seat
Cause you’re full of shit we’re all full of shit
Hey! I heard your daddy knows that you can’t keep your legs closed
Uh oh!
Did you forget about the cops callin up at the house?
Talking all about the neighbors caught you without your blouse
And I knew how you fucked him more than once before
But I kept my mouth shut it was your father who called you a whore
Is it lonely on that street corner without your umbrella?
When the rain falls down does it wake you up?
Are you worried that you’re late?
Have you had enough?
Cause there’s no need to be their puppet on a string.
But we’ve been raised to love this suffering
So stick around your lion’s den
and get that meat pulled off your bones
And I will offer up the apple and its roots
It’s not what’s asked of me
But it’s all that I can do.
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6. |
Letter to the Monk
03:36
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You walk away from the scene of the crash
With no legitimate scratch
No broken bones you’re an actor
Oh what you say is comin out in reverse
Oh is that how you rehearse
I’m stepping forward you’re fallin backwards
You catch yourself with the back of your head
I hope it opens your mind I hope you fill this on the inside.
And so the first step’s on the wrong path
You got lost!
Cause you’re afraid to ask
You know there’s no goin back or retracin your steps
Every move that you make’s a prelude to the next
There is nothing you can do about the past
Just leave.
Got a letter from the monk today
Sayin’ death is not a round trip ticket, you should pack your bags
Cause you’ll be leavin soon, you should have told the truth
But you’ve been walkin in a zig zag
I’m gonna get you on that straight line
Once we were men
Fueled by hatred
For ourselves our flesh was wasted
Woeful wood, we undo our deed
Leashed by sorrow
Hung from the trees
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7. |
Yellow Fever II
06:13
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My skin is blue
From runnin out into that cold November night
And after you
Oh son you shouldn’t hide among the trees
You make me stumble on their roots
But I will fall down when I choose
I wish you had a pair of roots
I think a home could cure your bullshit blues
I think you know that that’s the truth
But I guess you forgot about
The night you left
And stole your mother’s car and risked arrest
And how you kept us all worried to death
We’re still worryin about the life you chose
The road you took
And how it all sound lifted from a book
But one that left us or calls us crooks
Your love’s a thievery and you refuse to see
Don’t you decapitate me boy!
If you’re gonna put words in my mouth put em like I would!
Do you stop to think of what you’ve done anymore?
When you’re livin your life out on the run
Cause you left us out there on that cold November night
I just want the warmth back from my son
Claim this as birth
But it’s an adoption of what some men were
And now you’re tailgating that hearse
And you’ll follow that cab like a rich man’s purse
or the woman that you love
Oh but women only deal in handcuffs
If I cut you don’t call it permanent
If I run right out the door into the winter’s wind
Oh my shame moves to my heart and begs me to repent
But my pride pulls at my legs and it’s my legs that went
And I will hang you on this hook like every problem that I have
I will give you yellow fever; dress your children up in body bags
Go tell the world that you’ve been born and how you will not run
When you smell that storm you’re gonna stick right to your guns
But you’ve got shaky hands and a burnin tongue
And all you ever spoke were lies
so when the rain comes down we won’t let you inside
Yeah when it finally falls no one wants you
Do you stop to think of what you’ve done anymore?
When you’re livin your life out on the run
Cause you left me out there on just one too many nights
I just want the warmth back from my love
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8. |
The Arsonist
03:42
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Late nights I come in smoke choking my lungs
Sweet and easy it calms me right down
Oh the old skin is peeling
The cracks in the ceiling convert and the world spins around
Now the lions are preying on children for truth
and they’ll fatten them up with some guilt
Oh the fathers of future devoured in water
have died and the past is the proof
Set this tented top on fire
sings the three ring circus choir
oh the moon is no excuse
For the daylight that we desire
All the tightrope walkers fall to their deaths
and the crowd follows along
While the choir strikes up with a song of praise
here the dead men have no tongues
Don’t speak up!
While all the mothers of the clowns like me
who take this as a joke
Wish their little boys would leave the pigs alone
and finally make the trip back home
The puppet finds himself enslaved with us in carnival chains
He begs our maker to forgive his past
See yesterday he was a tree in the presence of Eve
Home of the apple that begot god’s wrath
But from creation he was framed his fate was set in place
Sometimes the devil does a righteous task
But me I’ll put my pretty things inside my lover’s vase
And I will sleep well when the day is done
You see I’ve stood outside the tent
and what an empty space
oh what a reason to stay on the run
Cuz we’ve all been blamed even some ashamed
held in the fire all for what we lack
There are no breadcrumbs through the woods
I’m just a son no pretty prodigal
My lightning strikes all over the southeast
the clouds come ruin the carnival
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9. |
Birth
05:36
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Hey momma do you still drop to your knees at night and pray for me?
Oh don’t wear a hole in the floor of your new house
I know this life’s been bad on you
I don’t make it any easier, the awful truth
So when you go to sleep at night
I hope your dreams tell you lies
I hope you see a little boy
Without murder in his eyes
And I hope the sun don’t come too soon
It’s one more day
One more day that we lose
So please don’t worry over me
I just pull up my collar
when I feel that winter’s breeze
So sadly I guess that this is different
than what was planned
It’s just that I’m so small
to get behind your big pulpit stand
And I know that this makes you love me less
Cause if it didn’t then its love that you would confess
No it’s the sins that I make that you put on parade
Where is the love that you gave?
It’s all I need to be saved.
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CROCKETT HALL Memphis, Tennessee
oh look,
another songwriter in Memphis.
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