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Come a Reckoning

by The Stubborn Lovers

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1.
There will come a reckoning they say And all this turned to dust And every soul will answer on that day The wicked and the just For now our natures rude and base prevail And every hope we've sown Has gone to seed or scattered to the gale As we our faith disown While we contemplate the fate of kings The sparrow spreads its wings As prophets and philosophers pretend To know which angry star Will fall like the descent of their last end It cares not who they are While we curse the light and wonder why The sparrow takes the sky Each night in fevered dreams I pace the road And cast my silhouette through every darkened pane I waken in what seems a place unknown To find my pillow wet with tears that leave no stain I fear hard rain is coming soon Yet I who have no voice but soul to sing Find grace in that someone Might count the feathers on this brittle wing Before the day is done While we store up treasures great and small The sparrow will not fall
2.
Here’s my rhyme: once upon a time, thought I’d found a golden dime Turned out it was just an old brass slug Like rose-hued dreams are never what they seem, sweet songs on the juke machine Stop spinning when somebody pulls the plug But when you swore you’d love me for forever and a day I thought you knew I trusted you would not lead me astray Then you left me alone and broke down on the road to Tacoma Now I’m letting you know, since I found this sweet little home o’ mine, I’ve been strong While I ain’t had much luck in finding new romance It still beats being stuck in someone else’s plans, so go on You take Tacoma, I’ll take my chances Chelsea days, living in a haze, thinking we knew true love ways If you were true then no one ever lied Life was good, did the best we could, so I’ve never understood How you could say you weren’t satisfied Then like a fool you went and pulled up stakes and moved out west Guess I’m one too ‘cause I thought you were different from the rest Then you left me alone and broke down on the road to Tacoma Now I’m letting you know, since I found this sweet little home o’ mine, I’ve been strong While I ain’t had much luck in finding new romance It still beats being stuck in someone else’s plans, so go on You take Tacoma, I’ll take my chances And it’s a long dark road you led me down I was lost for a time, but now I’ve found some light I know I’m bound to be all right Like some damn fool you went and pulled up stakes and moved out west Guess I’m one too ‘cause I thought you were different from the rest Then you left me alone and broke down on the road to Tacoma Now I’m letting you know, since I found this sweet little home o’ mine, I’ve been strong While I ain’t had much luck in finding new romance It still beats being stuck in someone else’s plans, so go on You take Tacoma, I’ll take my chances
3.
Gramercy 04:27
We pulled out of Baton Rouge With silver dollars in our shoes And a truckload of shine Couldn’t find a way to go Got Jesus on the radio Can you show us a sign Remember all is vanity And love is just insanity I’m wondering how can it be We thought it was real ‘Cause we were burned out and busted And we were flat-out disgusted And we drank all our wine And we smoked our last dime But we were free In Gramercy The world is going down in flames I stand here calling out your name Releasing all the doubt and shame That I’ve held inside So if you’re burned out and busted And you’re flat-out disgusted And you drank all your wine And you smoked your last dime Come back to me In Gramercy Oh just come back to me
4.
Right 04:37
Free me up from your cemetery mind Baby I won’t help you dig your grave I’ll drink a cup of the sacred wine And maybe buy another soul to save I feel the touch of your tombstone hands Coming on me like a bolt from the blue Now is the hour to make our stand Let me tell you what you got to do You gotta get right with your father You gotta get right with your mother You gotta get right with your sister You gotta get right with your brother You gotta get right with your husband You gotta get right with your wife You gotta get right with your daughter, your son All the people in your life I know your trouble yeah I’m from trouble town So baby take another shot on me Make it a double, we’ll shut this down And maybe find another place to be I feel the weight of your waxwork wings You’re counting feathers on a sparrow that flew Ours is the power to change these things Baby you know what you got to do You gotta get right with your teacher You gotta get right with your school You gotta get right with the wise one You gotta get right with the fool You gotta get right with your enemy You gotta get right with your friend You gotta get right with the beginning Lord you gotta get right with the end You gotta get right with your father You gotta get right with your mother You gotta get right with your sister You gotta get right with your brother You gotta get right with your husband You gotta get right with your wife You gotta get right with your daughter, your son All the people in your life You gotta get right with your teacher You gotta get right with your school You gotta get right with the wise one You gotta get right with the fool You gotta get right with your enemy You gotta get right with your friend You gotta get right with the beginning Lord you gotta get right with the end You gotta get right with your neighbor You gotta get right with your town You gotta get right with your country You gotta get right the whole world around You gotta get right with your cosmos You gotta get right with your god You gotta get right with your god You gotta get right
5.
Ghost Train 03:50
I wake up to the sound of the whistle Screaming in my ear I’m about a million miles From where I call here I look around at the world outside and see I look around at the world that cannot be All the letters and the rhythms and the noises come back to me Riding on a ghost train Bought this ticket years gone by But I can’t say when Don’t know how or where I’m going But I wish that it was then Got a suspicion it’s a dead-end track ‘cause the towns all look the same All the passengers know my face but not my name And if I ride any longer I know I’ll go insane Riding on a ghost train And the train man calls out “Final destination!” As I stumble into the station All the people walking ‘round like the living dead And the whistle keeps screaming in my head Pay my fare, buy my passage For the price of life Take the train at the end of the track Maybe this one’s right Look around at the world outside and see Look around at the world that cannot be All the letters and the rhythms and the noises come back to me Riding on a ghost train
6.
Jamestown highway Fourth of July If you come round my way I can get you high ‘Cause we all belong to the stream This ain’t a song, this is a dream This is America This is goodbye I turned up to work one Monday And they put me on the welfare line I went down to church next Sunday But the preacher didn’t have the time I rolled out my ‘56 Ford but the engine she up and died So I’m going down to the crossroads to flag a ride On the Jamestown highway Fourth of July If you come round my way I can get you high ‘Cause we all belong to the stream This ain’t a song, this is a dream This is America This is goodbye Well I’m sending out this call to join me Out here on the mother road If you’re burdened I will share the load Won’t you let me share the load? … You gotta get on board Yeah get behind me I was blind but now I see We’re gonna catch a train Ride it down the line You ain’t late, you’re right on time
7.
Tell me you want me I let it haunt me like a holy ghost Cry for the heartless Lie in the darkness, artless as a rose While I’m awake, in fever I’m shaking For all the sorrows that have brought me low But when I’m sleeping I can go deep in Down to the water, child, I will go Midnight motion on a raging sea Ride that ocean, let it carry me Hallelujah, row the boat ashore Rock my soul, shake me to the core Shake me to the core Tell me you need me I let it bleed me like a rolling stone Lay me down easy Wayward you leave me grieving all alone Follow a new star to where the blues are Fading to blackness with the dying day Pilot my steamship out of its dream slip Baby now watch me while I sail away Midnight motion on a raging sea Ride that ocean, let it carry me Hallelujah, row the boat ashore Rock my soul and I will praise the Lord I will praise the Lord Have mercy on a firstborn daughter Trying not to lose her mind What’s got me ain’t a thirst for water Whiskey, or the sweetest wine I need the love divine Midnight motion on a raging sea Ride that ocean, let it carry me Hallelujah, row the boat ashore Rock my soul, shake me to the core Shake me to the core
8.
I wish it didn’t taste like sin On my lips when I speak his name And his smile didn’t draw me in Like a moth to a kerosene flame Like the moon pulls the tide Like the galaxies collide I’ve got no resistance In the spell of his charms Dying to be in his arms This is my existence I burn, I pine He can’t be mine So devil take my heart ‘Cause it’s only good for love And I ain’t playing no more part in that Make me mean, make me cruel I’m done loving like a fool ‘Cause it’s shaking me apart so bad People think that hearts are grown Up above, but I know You make them with your art So devil take my heart You started all this way back when Putting shame into poor Eve’s eyes You’ve been playing us like pawns since then Now I’m done with your little game of lies Like a thief on the run Like a bullet from a gun I’ll be gone forever I’ll escape from your thrall You ain’t gonna see me fall Till the twelfth of never Leave love behind To hell consigned So devil take my heart ‘Cause it’s only good for love And I ain’t playing no more part in that Make me mean, make me cruel I’m done loving like a fool ‘Cause it’s shaking me apart so bad People think that hearts are grown Up above, but I know You make them with your art So devil take my heart Devil take my heart
9.
My mama was born beneath a Southern moon Her mama sang, her granddaddy played a war tune Right proud of the blood in their veins And there weren’t nothing more to know Down at the end of a red dirt drive A house lies dark-eyed, soulless but still alive Quite loud rings the echo of chains Through the white-pillared portico I spy a ghost in the shadow of a shotgun shack In the throes of a nightmare I’m going back To Cottonwood Run, where fates were spun With a hand on the fortune wheel At Cottonwood Run, the blood-red sun Is going down on the Carolina fields Can’t stop fighting till the battle is done And freedom is won Down at Cottonwood Run An evil was born beneath these Southern skies Wind in the pines like another mama’s soul sighs Right now with the time that remains We can still bring a reckoning See the smoke like the shadow of a sharp-tongued spire I’m going back once again and I’m setting fire To Cottonwood Run, where fates were spun With a hand on the fortune wheel At Cottonwood Run, the blood-red sun Is going down on the Carolina fields Can’t stop fighting till the battle is done And freedom is won Down at Cottonwood Run See the smoke like the shadow of a sharp-tongued spire Yes I’m going back and I’m setting fire To Cottonwood Run, where fates were spun With a hand on the fortune wheel At Cottonwood Run, the blood-red sun Is going down on the Carolina fields Can’t stop fighting till the battle is done And freedom is won Down at Cottonwood Run

credits

released November 18, 2022

PRODUCED BY THE STUBBORN LOVERS

Mandy Allan – vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion
Jenny Taylor – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pearl – drums, percussion, backing vocals

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Josh Doughty – electric guitar, backing vocals
Andy MacMillan – lead electric guitar
Jeff Porter – pedal steel guitar
Kelli Venaas – backing vocals

GUEST MUSICIANS

Jake Blount – banjo on “Cottonwood Run”*
Asher Fulero – keyboards on “Midnight Motion” and “Devil Take My Heart”
Antar Goodwin – slide guitar on “Right”
Todd Melton – electric guitar on “Counting Feathers on a Sparrow’s Wing”, vocals on “Jamestown Highway/Get on Board”
Dylan Rieck – cello on “Devil Take My Heart”
Dana Robbins – saxophone on “Gramercy”
Robin Suskind – pedal steel guitar on “Counting Feathers on a Sparrow’s Wing”

The Get on Board Choir: Nicole Campbell, Michael Donhowe, Zia Doughty, Sarah Fitzgerald, Hilary Hanes, Scott Jeffries, Toni Melton, John Nyen

*On this song Jake plays a gut-string banjo using a tuning borrowed from Lucius Smith (1884-1980)

Basic tracks recorded at Nettleingham Audio (Vancouver, WA) by Christian Barrow
Overdubs recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio (Portland, OR) by Kendra Lynn
“Counting Feathers on a Sparrow’s Wing” recorded at Loud War Studio and Feng Sway Studio (Vancouver, WA) by Patrick Tetrault; additional overdubs recorded by Adam Sweeney
Additional recording by Josh Doughty and Andy MacMillan
“Get on Board” reprise in “Cottonwood Run” recorded live on stage at Revolution Hall (Portland, OR)—special thanks to Ned Failing

Mixed by Larry Crane at Jackpot! Recording Studio

Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios (Pittsburgh, PA)

All songs written by Jennifer Kristen Taylor, ©2014, 2016, 2020, 2022; except “Ghost Train”, written by Jennifer Kristen Taylor and Brenden Jemison, ©1987; and published by Back o’ the Moon Music (ASCAP)

℗2022 The Stubborn Lovers

Art design by Tobias Berblinger
Front cover photo of Red Acres (Alamance County, NC) courtesy of the Taylor family

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The Stubborn Lovers Portland, Oregon

The Stubborn Lovers play outlaw country and Americana rock.

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