Get all 26 Mark Erelli releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Lay Your Darkness Down, The Man I Am, You're Gonna Wanna Remember This, Jackpot, A Celebration of Leonard Cohen, Not Quite Christmas, Blindsided - Acoustic Selections, The Gig At The End Of The World, and 18 more.
1. |
Oklahoma
02:59
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I am just a Yankee boy
Born and bred in Boston
Where there ain’t no wide open spaces to get lost in
But out here that’s all there is
And when the wind gets blowin’
It makes a certain sound, almost like the ocean
There’s a new moon, and the latest country tunes
Droning on the radio
(Chorus)
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
I’m so far away from home
And I’m feeling low and lonesome tonight
As the wind howls in from across the great divide
I know I’m only standing
On a giant’s shoulders
I ain’t getting no younger and this world keeps getting colder
Sometimes I feel I’m barely
on my way to where I’m bound
Sometimes I wish I could lay this hammer down
Hellfire and brimstone
There’s some preacher droning on the radio
(Chorus 2x)
------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass, pump organ
Deni Hlavinka – vocals
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2. |
For A Song
04:57
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Weathered stones
I fished out from some rushing mountain stream
Yellowed books, with dog-eared pages
Wildflowers pressed between
Postcards from every place I laid me down to sleep
Little souvenirs to remind you of me
(Chorus)
Oh the road is not your friend
It’s just a means to an end
How I wish I could take you along
But I take it all on faith
You’ll understand someday
Why I did all I did while I was gone
For a song
I catch a glimpse
A glint off something shining somewhere in the great unknown
Like a beast
I chase it over hills and mountains, valleys, rivers, til it’s cornered on a scrap of paper
on a bedside table in some cheap motel
where the highway drones
Sometimes it feels like church, sometimes like I’m the last man on earth
Just a voice howling out into the darkness
Oh the road is not your friend
It’s just a means to an end
I’ll be home late, don’t wait up, just leave a light on
But I take it all on faith
You’ll understand someday
Why I did all I did while I was gone
For a song
(Chorus)
---------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic & baritone electric guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – piano, organ
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3. |
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He used to putter around in his barn all day
A tool for each job and each tool in its place
Whistling along to a song on the radio
While he poked through a Mason jar full of nuts and bolts
Lawnmowers and vacuums, windows with the glass all cracked
TV screens gone blank as cataracts
He’d take ‘em all apart when he got ‘em up on his bench
One by one, he’d bring ‘em back to life again
(Chorus)
He’s the fix-it man, he’s the fix-it man
He can’t put it back together then it was never worth a damn
Maybe he’s crazy for trying to save what’s already gone
Or just an analog hero in a world full of zeroes and ones
He used to have a wife but she passed a couple years ago
Someone thought he had a daughter out in New Mexico
Grew up in the Depression, it’s a lesson that he’ll never forget
There’s nothing so broken ain’t life left in it yet
(Chorus)
Now your phone’s made in China
And your car is made in Japan
Child labor sewing clothes in Malaysia and Vietnam
Hell it ain’t even broken and we’re going for the upgrade
Nobody thinks twice ‘bout what we’re really throwing away
(Chorus)
It’s out with the old, in with the new
It’s out with the old, in with the new
Out with the old
In with the new
It’s just out with the old, in with the new
-----------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Deni Hlavinka – vocals
Sam Kassirer – organ, Wurlitzer
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
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4. |
Wayside
02:54
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Romeos and Cassanovas
Lotharios with eyes that smolder
They all left you with nothing but a cloud of smoke
Now here I stand just a simple man
With a ten buck supermarket bouquet in my hand
I see you laughing but honey I ain’t no joke
(Chorus)
I wanna walk all the way with you
I wanna prove my love is true
All the others who tried fell by the wayside
I wanna walk all the way
Walk all the way with you
With bruised hearts and spooked horses
It’s best to tread lightly as a matter of course
‘Lest they slip the reins, jump the fences and bolt for the hills
I’m nothing if not persistent, I’m stubborn but I’m kind
And you can’t tell me anything if I’ve made up my mind
So if you run I’m gonna chase you, honey you know I will
(Chorus)
From the chemical rush of a brand new love
Straight through the valley of the shadow with nothing but a rind of moon above
‘Til mankind’s common kingdoms have all crumbled back to dust
‘Til ashes or even less is all that’s left of us
(Chorus)
-------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – organ
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5. |
Look Up
04:39
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All day long they shuffle through
Sneakers, sandals, high heel shoes
Scraps of paper, wads of gum
My work here is never done
They exit now in single file
I sweep the floors and scrub the tiles
Til dying echoes quiet the room
And leave me leaning on my broom
Above me now the fall of man
But it all depends on where you stand
Is He letting go or reaching out for Adam’s hand
(Chorus)
Look up, look up
There are angels flying low enough to see
Look up, oh look up
Four long years I’ve bent my back
Painting every plaster crack
The hand of God and Adam’s sin
Rain down in brush drops thick and thin
I ache with shame and head for home
Through the darkened streets of Rome
The night girls calling out to me
And drunkards praying on their knees
Above me now the canopy
The stars in all their majesty
Remind me of the master I will never be
(Chorus)
High above the blessed and cursed
Like ants they scurry on the Earth
Debauchery and daily chores
Always hungry, wanting more
I’ve sent them plague and flood and fire
Tried so hard to stay inspired
And somehow solve the mystery
Of what they ever saw in me
If I could only kneel before
The man who sweeps the chapel floor
Show him he’s as holy as the angels
Maybe more
(Chorus)
-------------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, nylon string guitar
Paula Cole – vocals
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
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6. |
End Of The Day
05:14
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Trees grow tall
Leaves fall
Flowers wither and die
The music stops
The curtains drop
The river rolls on by
The monarchs go
To Mexico
How do they know the way
Each question leads
To more mysteries
At the end of the day
Thunder booms
Clouds hide the moon
No sign of heaven’s blue dome
It’s just as dark
And raining just as hard
When I wake up far from home
A lonesome serenade
Whining down the grade
Reminds me I can never stay
Another trial, another test
Miles before I rest
At the end of the day
I’ve left a wake of broken hearts
I don’t even know where to start
I’m lost in the forest of regrets
Following the crumbs
Trying to undo all I’ve done
Somehow I can’t retrace my steps
Naked as a bone
Don’t leave me here all alone
With this hollow heart of clay
Ain’t everyone devout
When the sand is running out
At the end of the day
Campfire towns
Smouldering on the ground
With their embers all aglow
You’re somewhere down there I guess
The moonlight on your breast
Blue as the newfallen snow
I do what I do
You do too
That’s just the price that we pay
Stronger for our scars
And wiser by far
At the end of the day
--------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – Wurlitzer
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
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7. |
Hourglass
02:34
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When I was a boy I dreamt
I’d be an astronaut or President
Tie a blanket ‘round my neck and then pretend
I could fly up to the moon and back again
I’ve been a seeker, I’ve been a scientist
None of that prepared me for this
There’s no secret, ain’t no master plan
I only wanna be your man
Oh lover, there were others before you
Each one tried to teach me something new
But it never took and hearts broke every time
Truth be told usually just mine
Some men wanna make their mark on all mankind
Me I only wanna change your mind
I can see you have your doubts but I know I can
I only wanna be your man
I only wanna be your man
If you’re the ocean just let me be the wave
If you’re the gambler let me your ace of spades
If you’re the hourglass, make me a grain of sand
Falling head over heels again and again
I only wanna be your man
I only wanna be your man
---------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, nylon string guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, glockenspiel
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – vibraphone
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8. |
Netherlands
04:55
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Worn down brick and cobblestone
Laid out in herringbone in the square
Old man sitting on a milk crate
Playing squeezebox for spare change
People pass by like he’s not there
Oh but all his Old World waltzes seem to be
In a minor key
To a haunted man lost in the Netherlands
Sidewalk bar on a Sunday night
Watching girls in skirts on bikes come and go
Here’s a round for the one with the jonquil hair
And another for the things I might have dared when I was younger
If I’d only known
Oh tonight it seems like every memory
Is in a minor key
To a haunted man lost in the Netherlands
From a stained glass window pane
Of an old church black with acid rain comes a light
Candles flicker at the Virgin’s feet
And I want so badly to believe that someone
Has got my back tonight
Oh but all my prayers they fall so hollowly
No one answers me
And I’m gone again
Lost in the Netherlands
--------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – piano, organ
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
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9. |
Magic
03:15
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Now it’s another new bank
And you’d never know to look
But over there is where I used to buy my comic books
I’d read ‘em ‘neath the covers til the flashlight batteries died
Then I dreamed I was a hero
With the strength of 20 men
I’d battle my arch enemies til the sun come up again
On an ordinary mortal, anything but cool
Pretending he could fly as he rode his bike to school
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
I don’t remember growing up
It just kind of happened
Somehow it all worked out but not like I imagined
Most days I never notice but sometimes it keeps me up all night
I can’t go back to the garden
Now I know that it’s done
With computer and green screens, zeroes and ones
But somewhere in the cellar I’ve got those comics in a box
I always meant to sell ‘em, I guess I just forgot
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
Looking for the magic (2x)
And a reason to believe somehow
He was bored with his dinosaurs
All his blocks and balls
I was just trying to keep him from climbing the walls
I brought the box up from the basement and spread them all out on the floor
He was too young to read so he looked at the pictures
His smile grew wide and his eyes got bigger
And I know mine did the same as I lifted him up high
With a blanket ‘round his neck pretending he could fly
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
Looking for the magic (2x)
Looking for the magic now
Looking for the magic (2x)
And I feel it coming back around
--------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitar, harmonica
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Sam Kassirer – organ, Wurlitzer
Charlie Rose – banjo
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10. |
Moonlit Lullaby
04:07
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I’m drunk, and I’m drowsy
And I would go to sleep
But for breaking this circle of the company I keep
So let me lean on your shoulder
You can lean against mine
While we wait for the bottle to come round one more time
My mind is a-buzzing
Like the june bugs at the window
My heart’s all a-flutter, like the moths round the flame
My soul is half crazy
Like the loons on the water
Can’t you hear ‘em, don’t it sound like they’re calling our name
(Chorus)
So won’t you fill up the night
With your fiddle and bow
With your mandolin trills and that silver banjo
One more last tune before I say goodnight
Won’t you make it a moonlit lullaby
Won’t you make it a moonlit lullaby
There’s a sliver of silver
Going down in the pines
And the first blush of morning ain’t too far behind
Oh I’m leaving tomorrow
But I won’t shed no tears
I know just where I’ll find you this time next year
(Chorus)
Won’t you make it
Moonlit
----------------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass
Deni Hlavinka – vocals
Sam Kassirer – piano
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
The Moonlit Choir: Deni Hlavinka, Charlie Rose, Polly Mathewson & Mark Erelli
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11. |
French King
05:11
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Driving home on the Mohawk Trail last night
My thoughts aimless as the dry leaves in my headlights
When I saw a state trooper running out onto the French King Bridge
Flashlight sweeping the darkness over the edge
On a fair day you can see the Green Mountains turn blue
Standing on the French King watching the river roll through
But on a moonless night the black wind howls and moans
And the river moves like a serpent a hundred feet below
(Chorus)
Roll on river
Restless for the sea
Take this valley wash it clean
Who can say where a soul will find peace
Who will keep the river from the sea
I thought of a shepherd, his flock bedded down for the night
And the eyes of the wolves, moving just beyond the fire light
And my own little child asleep in his bed
As I drove on into the darkness up ahead
(Chorus)
-------------------
Mark Erelli – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Paula Cole – vocals
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Zachariah Hickman – upright bass, arco bass
Sam Kassirer – piano
Charlie Rose – pedal steel
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Mark Erelli Boston, Massachusetts
"You know those artists who release a great first record and then have enormous trouble following it up with anything as interesting? Yeah, that’s not Mark Erelli." -Red Line Roots
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