Get all 16 John Lyle releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of New Songs, Normal at Both Ends, Random Chants, Where the Story Goes, Battle Royal, Joy & Mischief!, Wild Awake, Known Corners, and 8 more.
1. |
Just My Kind of Girl
04:02
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Just My Kind Of Girl
I asked her what she did for fun, she said she didn’t know
She said the days seemed shorter now love had lost its glow
She said all her bags were packed and waiting on the bed
And if I thought I had a chance I’d better shake my head
She said complete removal was quite beyond the pale
She had to stick around a while until she saved the whales
She had to stick around until she made me see the light
All my ideals are only clouding up my sight
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
Too bad she lives so far away
She’s half asleep and far too deep into this crazy world
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
She said she’d given up on hope and all that it implied
She looked at me and said I see sadness in your eyes
She said when you stop arguing with what has to be
You’ll learn the only lesson you’ll ever learn from me
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
Too bad she lives so far away
She’s half asleep and far too deep into this crazy world
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
I got a funny feeling we met somewhere before
Maybe in a focus group the year before the war
You had a red bandana wrapped around your pretty neck
I would have loved you way back then but someone stacked the deck
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
Too bad she lives so far away
She’s half asleep and far too deep into this crazy world
Ain’t no doubt about it, she’s just my kind of girl
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2. |
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Lyrics for this song co-written with Penny Lyle.
Old Joe Calls From the Hill
Old Joe calls from the hill
To the boy standing alone
Old man drunk by the still
Don’t know nothing he’s done
Momma in the kitchen
Cuts you with her tongue
Old Joe calls from the hill
To the boy standing alone
Hair yellow as straw
Eyes blue as the grass
Heart lone as the pine
But it don’t know what to ask
Somewhere from the hill
Old Joe’s plaintive moan
Drifts upon the wind
To the boy standing alone
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3. |
My Love Is Everything
02:48
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My Love Is Everything
Clean and pure as a mountain stream
Dignified as a college dean
Alive as life has ever been
My love is everything to me
My love is everything she can be
My love is everything to me
My love is everything
Dancing in the heart and mind
Of everybody she can find
Reaching to the heavens
Probing inner space
My love is touch and sight and sound
And always in good taste
Yet one thing can defeat her
And bring her to her knees
And force her from my memory
Like the moon removes the sea
But what care I for Father Time
He too is growing old
And at least for now, I am warm
While he is always cold
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4. |
Centers
03:34
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Centers
I’ll bet nothing can get so small
It can’t be cut in two
And I’ll bet nothing can be bigger
Than what’s inside of you
I’ll bet it all goes on forever
Not just outwardly, but in
I’ll bet we’re each of us a center
And that’s what we’ve always been
So if you’re feeling out of things
Lonely tired and blue
Remember you’re a center
And there’s centers all ‘round you
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5. |
Little Knives
02:41
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Little Knives
I’m tired unto death from all these little knives
It’s not the big one that gets you
It’s when they come in fives
I don’t know what I want but I know I want it now
The snow lies heavy on the powerline tonight
I don’t know where I find the strength to hold you tight
Maybe it’s the same place I finally come to see
All the contradictions holding me down
Ain’t nothing but the chatter from a brain-dead clown
Ain’t nothing but the chains I’m dragging to my grave
Don’t the rain sound lovely hiding in the air
I tried to cross my heart and say it wasn’t there
Help me tie my shoe and point me to the stair
I need to be deliberate in everything I do
I’m being left behind by everyone but you
I want to go so slow I get behind my mind
If I could see through this illusion I wouldn’t say a word
I wouldn’t try to argue what we both know is absurd
I wouldn’t lift a finger in anger or in trust
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6. |
The Camel's Back
03:31
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The Camel’s Back
If you’re disappointed, the old man said to me
It’s ‘cause you expected what was not to be
That’s when I shot him and as he went to hell
I said remember you’re my major disappointment number twelve
Disappointment number twelve didn’t break the camel’s back
I’d guacamole for a camel
If a camel had the knack, I’d climb upon its back
I’d ride into the desert ‘til the desert starts to crack
Righteous anger burns the sea, floods the land and calls to me
Kill the moon and blind the sun until the revolution’s done
I was feelin’ like a mountain climber lost inside the Alps
When she came between twin heartbeats and said she needed help
That’s when I unloaded, and as she met her fate
I said, remember you’re my major disappointment number eight
Disappointment number twelve didn’t break the camel’s back
I’d guacamole for a camel
If a camel had the knack, I’d climb upon its back
I’d ride into the desert ‘til the desert starts to crack
Righteous anger burns the sea, floods the land and calls to me
Kill the moon and blind the sun until the revolution’s done
I was telling these stories to another friend of mine
When he came up with this classic line
Don’t that gavel get heavy? I said let me be the judge of that
And you’re the worst disappointment I ever had
Disappointment number twelve didn’t break the camel’s back
I’d guacamole for a camel
If a camel had the knack, I’d climb upon its back
I’d ride into the desert ‘til the desert starts to crack
Righteous anger burns the sea, floods the land and calls to me
Kill the moon and blind the sun until the revolution’s done
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7. |
Higuey Haircut
03:52
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Lyrics for this song co-written with Penny Lyle
Higuey Haircut
Higuey haircut’s mighty fine
Takes a bite out of my mind, my mind
Barber, help me travel light
When I take my homeward flight, tonight
Broken pavement tricks my feet
Sunshine burns the hanging meat, the meat
Sugar coffee don’t do squat
Por favor, another shot, make it hot
Tim can rollers on her head
Clank upon her marble bed, the bed
Power and water come and go
But nothing stops the passing show, the show
Hot merengue fills my ear
Time to have an otra beer
An otra beer, over here
Ay carumba, she can’t do the rhumba
She might have a bug
Chills and fever, will they ever leave her
She might have to take a drug
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8. |
Way Past Now
03:59
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Way Past Now
Way past now, past the burning cow
Where the salesmen never stop
Where the road rolls deep
And keening sheep sacrifice their crop
Noble steeds have lost their feed
While Agnes chews her mop
Way past now, space and time have wowed
But no one calls the cops
I’m feeling helpless, Agnes
And a little reckless too
Take me down your garden path
And I will go with you
Way past now past the trampled vows
And the pleasure that is cruel
Some old man with an empty hand
Speaks the language of a fool
I just listen to my teardrops glisten
As they slide into the sand
I’m too tired to fall asleep
But I’ll do what I can
I’m feeling helpless, Agnes
And a little reckless too
Take me down your garden path
And I will go with you
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John Lyle Sechelt, British Columbia
The lyrics for most of the songs appearing in these albums are available in book form: "The Kindest Lies: the Lyrics of John Lyle", published by Leaky Boot Press (June 28, 2013).
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