Get all 3 Ben Knight releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Fruit That's Never Ripe, American Highways [Digital Download], and Divining Rod [Digital Download].
1. |
Things Change
04:09
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A couple weeks ago, I went back to my hometown
I thought I'd just kick some rocks and see if Ma was still around
She found a boyfriend after daddy died last June
He is name is Lawrence and he sells insurance
I ain't seen him since the funeral.
Pulled up to the house, the shutters were all closed
I guess they went down south, cause Lawrence he don't like the cold
I saw my old Cherokee rusting in the weeds
Do you remember that night on 41 when you jumped the tracks with me?
CHORUS
Say things change faster than you know
Say things change, don't you hate to watch, hate to watch them go?
Woke up to the sirens, blaring in the morning light
Going to find some poor soul who'd lost his luck last night
Never used to hear the highway from our land
But the state changed the route and wrote it off as the 'Progress of Man'
CHORUS
Went up to the Quik-Pick, there's no coffee at the house
The clerk had a toothless grin and her hair was falling out
You know she talked real fast, but she was not mean
She said back in 1998, she was the homecoming queen
CHORUS x2
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2. |
Robbers
03:50
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I told you once and told you twice
don't you say my name while we're inside
Just keep that mask over your mouth
these liquor stores have cameras now
I'll give you a gun when you learn to shoot
remember how you cried when we got tattoos
just hold that sack open wide
don't you look at her, not in her eyes
CHORUS
Make like the wind, kick up some dust
no matter how this ends, they'll remember us
Pass me that bottle underneath the seat
I wanna wash down some of this robbery
There's a hairpin curve up ahead
don't you slow down, put her in the red
CHORUS
Mama always said we wouldn't be no good
I guess we turned that around like she said we would
if you make it out with all that loot
won't you go see mama in your brand new suit.
CHORUS x2
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3. |
Wedding Bands
04:39
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I put your hand up to the glass
I can't feel your skin, I can't make it last
It broke my heart when you turned me in
Baby that's over now, I'm yours again.
I remember when we met: I was just 16
From a broken home, penitentiary
You brought me in, taught me to read
Showed that good book, the one where Jesus weeps
For all our souls, lack of common sense,
for all our bad ideas, backed by good intent
I swear to God, in that jewelry shop
That night on Main, the night that I got popped
It was not cash that had me in that store
Baby, It was wedding bands I was looking for
BRIDGE
I believe in God 'cause i believe in you
Did you believe in me?
I gave it all I've got, I've washed myself clean x3
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4. |
Friday Night
02:35
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Oh, I got a paycheck and twenty dollar bills
and half a tank of gas in the Oldsmobile
Don’t look like much, she runs like a dream
It's a bench seat baby sitting next to me.
CHORUS
Hey girl, Hey girl, Hey girl,
I don’t want to fight.
Hey girl, Hey girl, Hey girl,
It’s a Friday Night.
Let's go see a rock and roll band
You can take my hips, I can take your hand
Breaking my back from dusk to dawn
Three am with my headlamp on
CHORUS
Oh, I got a paycheck and twenty dollar bills
and half a tank of gas in the Oldsmobile
Let me down easy, don't you let me down slow
Go and tell your daddy, come on let's go
CHORUS
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5. |
Yo-Yo
04:03
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There's no one else in the world that makes me feel like you do
You throw me down, you pick me up
You're a smoker and a bum. I'm the lipstick stain, the cigarette butt.
I'm a yo-yo. I’m a yo-yo. x2
Well i guess that I'm to blame for always setting myself up
Can't be a hooker and complain
Can’t complain when you're always getting fucked.
You're a yo-yo, you're a yo-yo. x2
I'm not a lamb, you're not a wolf; I know someday that you'll get full.
I'll get tired. Hell, I'm so tired now.
When the day is through, you know I'll dream, but not of you.
I'll go around this world in two big loops, come back home and shoot the moon out.
Like a yo-yo, like a yo-yo. x2
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6. |
Defector
03:35
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Oh, I joined up when I was just 18
Working for the right to live
Gave my heart to Old Uncle Sam and
I thought he gave me his
I shot those guns and went crawling through the mud
Believed every word they said
Fight for peace and fight for my mother, just like my daddy did
CHORUS
I'd be a solider of a righteous god and he'll be on my side
I fight to be free, I fight for my country and for that I'd gladly die.
Two long years and two tours of duty
Writing letters from my home
I did what they asked and just what they told me, but i felt so alone
These bombs we drop, they've got no heart but they tell me they got eyes
I can't see how taking children from their mothers would ever make things right
CHORUS
Two long years and 16 days I spent trying to understand this
The only thing that separates right from wrong is where the money is
So I grabbed my pack and I left my gun and I walked into the desert night
I was caught by men speaking foreign tongues, but I think I heard this right
CHORUS - 2
They said 'We are the soldiers of a righteous god and he is on our side.
We fight to be free, we fight for our country and for that we'll gladly die.'
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7. |
Araminta
03:40
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Across the ocean, across the deep blue sea
there’s a girl who was made for me
Across the ocean in the far, far east
is the love that I so need
She writes me letters, she writes them real neat
I can’t forget her; no, I can’t sleep.
Her heart is wise and our love is old,
and deep as the ocean between our souls
CHORUS
Oh Araminta:
pure as snow,
frail as bird bones,
strong as an oak tree
I’m a brand new man, babe, in the same old landscape
with the same old heartbreak, ‘same hand to hold
They tell me the ocean is too far to swim,
but I’d gladly drown if she’d pull me in.
I’d steal a boat, oh, I’d steal an airplane,
If I thought that she’d take my name.
CHORUS
Let’s start us a family, ‘still got my grandma’s ring.
Got socks for my cold feet; I’ve still got your memory
I’m a brand new man, babe, in the same old landscape
I promise I won’t hesitate with you anymore.
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8. |
Take You Out
04:14
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I had a pretty good show this week, so I've got a hundred dollars to my name
You know I feel so bad about all those bills we've yet to pay
Money's never meant much, I've got everything that I need
I've got this old guitar. Oh I've got you and I've got you and me
CHORUS
Let me take you out and we'll spend every dime
All that matters is now, working just to play
Oh, ain't that nice. Oh, ain't that life.
Gonna be gone for a while so i wanna spend some time with you
Even though the nights are long, I've got a love to see me through
I take you with me everywhere that I roam
Even if I drive all night, I'm gonna make it right when I come home.
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9. |
Mistaken Identity Blues
04:55
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Well you're such a classy lady
Studied art history, studied in Spain
With oh so many pretty people, you sold such pretty little lies
You move with the hips and you lost your Kentucky accent
but it was no accident
CHORUS
Oh but wait, don't that feel like faking?
Oh wait, don't it sound just like a joke we made?
I remember not so long ago when you and I would drink and walk the railroad tracks
But I guess I straightened up too, I got a job driving nails and a lover who never fails to love me back.
Got a house and a car and a dog in the yard
Got a kid on the way and a five year anniversary, tomorrow.
We're driving up to Chicago
CHORUS
BRIDGE
Well I wake and I go to work, and i kiss my girl and lie to her and I lie to myself
and it takes all I got, it takes a lot of coffee to get me out of this house
This is what I do now, this is who I am,
I outta be a thankful man, a thankful man
CHORUS - 2
Oh but wait, don't seal the deal.
Oh stop the car, this feels too real.
Don't it feel like faking?
Don't it seem like a case of mistaken identity blues?
BRIDGE
CHORUS - 2
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10. |
American Highways
03:48
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Well, I woke, packed my bag and was brought to my knees
Wondering how long I've been asleep
Grabbed my coat and my guitar, walked out into a dream
American Highways in my sleep.
CHORUS
I am drunk on mileage, I am chasing a childish dream
I am writing myself messages on bathroom walls that I hope to read
when I come back around, when I come back around, again
Well the sun's on the rise, makes a purple sky
The wreckage of this country belongs to me
Until this engine or this body breaks down, guess I'll drive
American Highways in my sleep
CHORUS
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11. |
WKY
02:51
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When I die bury me in West Kentucky
Float my bones down the Ohio.
Lay my stone 'neath the willow tree in front of Mom and Daddy's
Take me back, oh, take me home.
When i lay me down to sleep, I can't help but dream of home
Broken dirt 'neath my feet and that old familiar song
"Oh, the sun shines bright" and my memories linger on
Take me back, where I belong.
Miss my sister and my nephew, my brother and my niece,
The smell of my mother cooking and that Green River breeze.
I should be fishing with my father, instead of dying in these streets.
Take me back, oh Lord, make me free.
When I die bury me in West Kentucky
Float my bones down the Ohio.
Lay my stone 'neath the willow tree in front of Mom and Daddy's
Take me back, oh, take me home.
Take me back, oh, take me home.
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