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Black Sheep Blues

by Kelley Looney

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1.
Daddy had a dealership selling cars for a trade Growing up we never knew no hunger yeah he had it made I was always Mama's favorite everyone could tell In the end she had to side with Daddy yeah she served him well Brother Jim followed Daddy's footsteps brother John studied law I left town for Memphis with my guitar and the lines were drawn Now I'm free, won't be back no time soon I can feel their backs turning on me call it the black sheep blues Went back for Christmas a year later spent most the time with Mom Daddy acted like I wasn’t even there so did John Jim offered me a job with the business prepping cars for small change He said "you can work your way up if you're willing to change your ways" Not me I ain’t shining no rich man’s shoes I believe I can do better singing the black sheep blues Daddy died they found me in Austin offered a ticket for the plane Quit my job hitched a ride to Houston and I caught the train Mama's spirits lifted when I got there my brothers counted their gold They'd both gotten married had a lot of children and they looked so old Well I've seen oh my brother I'm not a bit like you And I sleep a whole lot better dreaming the black sheep blues Jim retired early from the business John's a D.A. downtown They put Mama in a nursing home I'm going to see her now
2.
Past the town of Franklin about an hour's hike There's an old abandoned well a mile off of the pike Dried up long ago there still flows an eerie tale of the woman at the well Mary was her name she lived a hundred years ago Inside her was a child the father was unknown Preacher he condemned her evil and impure She never said a word When she came to town she passed the dry goods store Baker pulled his blinds the grocer quickly locked his door A figure in a black cloak said when your baby's due I'll be there for you Mary had the baby a shadow paced the room The midwife a good wife knew exactly what to do She took the child made sure it never caught its breath while Mary slowly bled No remorse was shown as their conviction was upheld They let Mary bleed to death for she was sin itself In a rage he took the babe the seed of he himself He flung it down the well Buried in the backwoods no marker on her grave No words spoken for her he just turned and walked away Ye who sow the seeds of sorrow surely reap the yield of that bitter field Soon a drought descended dust blew hard and thick The townsfolk of Franklin couldn't even grow a stick Deserted to this day and haunted too so goes the tale of the woman at the well
3.
Only Human 02:56
I run faster than I'm able to go I think I've learned all there is to know I trip over things that I put in my way It's easy finding another to blame I thought that I was a shoo-in I fall face flat how am I doing? After all I'm only human You act so righteous it's hard to believe Surely God's eyes are rolling You say you've never been taken seriously You must be joking You're never wrong you thought I knew it You're always right just can't prove it After all you're only human We look all the wrong places for the divine We're only water when we could be wine These children at play will soon be soldiers at war It ain't been long since we walked on all fours Life's a game I'm assuming You learn to play while you're tuning Well that's okay we're only human Oh you better watch out 'cause we're only human
4.
Did he do it did he not? I suspect the whole damn lot The police, they don't know diddly squat They're all singin' the did he do it ditty At Precinct 12 the files thicken For every doughnut there's a dozen victims An anonymous tip, the plot sickens The did he do it ditty Scrub a rat and he'll come clean For a new house and identity is all it takes to make Sonny sing the I know who did it ditty He's the people's kind of guy You can look him in the eye He's got what it takes to testify Tells the truth, the whole truth half the time The judge winks the jury waffles He slams his gavel as the D.A. grovels Just like in a cheap dime store novel The did he do it ditty Now they know he was the one but they never found the gun He didn't do it, did he?
5.
I went to Paris to get lost in the crowd of other Americans talking out loud 'bout themselves, themselves, just themselves I had a whiskey the room became loud so I had another to drown' em all out I acknowledged the girl on the stool with the knowing smile I tipped my glass and got lost for a while in the ring of another noisy cheer When someone said whatcha doin' here? I fell out the door I crawled up the stairs that destroy all ambition of any who dare to entertain thoughts of escape some way out of there I fell on the sofa, a dream fell on me a voice from another room called out to me You remember when we had a reason to be? It was good for a while now you're nothing to me When I woke she spoke can I get you something dear? But all I heard were the words whatcha doin' here? I went to the station it was past time to go in any direction leaving no note I'd been gone such a long time in spirit I fear it had died from the cold I went searching for pieces of me I'd misplaced in the rubble of all of those misspent days Whispering ghosts leave the faintest trace I know all these streets but I can't name a face Amsterdam ain't the town to drown your fears or run like hell from yourself what you doin' here? I met a girl I'm sure she's the one but she's so full of dreams she runs and she runs She went away 'til another day I pray soon will come Now she's got her a man in some faraway town but she's so full of spirit he can't keep her down I'd never break her if she'd let me take her I would Just when you're thinking she's gone for good there's a sound so mysteriously clear And she's standing there what you doin' here?
6.
Little Angel 02:23
There's a rumor goin' 'round with golden hair eyes of brown They say she's new in town Little angel Ol' John he up and swore I never seen the likes before All hail a star is born A little angel Driving the critics wild Crowds come from miles and miles Why she's barely a child Little angel First saw her the other day Man I did a double take Looks a lot like her mom they say she's a little angel Turns heads where she goes Each day the legend grows By now I'm sure you know Little angel Sings a song so sweet and high Men swoon and women sigh All rumors verified A little angel
7.
Panic got us on the run Our mother fathers we've become Wrinkled eyes receding gums Time is running out on us All we want is to be young forever We're aching here sagging there Combing over thinning hair Our t-shirts tight jeans are flared We got viagra and our wives real scared All we want is to be young forever Our chins are tucked our tummies too Hips and lips all brand new With laser aim and razors true There ain't nothing that they can't redo All we want is to be young forever Our faces taut our noses new Our hips and lips and tits are too Liposuction transplants ooh We got more viagra and new wives too All we want is to be young forever All we want is to stay young forever All we want is to be young forever Mirror mirror on the wall All we want is to be young forever
8.
In a bent brown dirty Duster off drove Vera Mama waving faded to a speck Dreamcatcher hanging around her rear view mirror Saint somebody hanging around her neck Mama said when you make Nevada Got a father there somewhere I'm told But she blew straight through never thought of stopping More like him than she could ever know Now the low plain curled into the high sierra Quick she crossed the California line As she neared the shimmer of the fabled city Heaven in the desert night From a black on black Mercedes out jumped Gino Came up to the counter Vera smiled Looked her up and down while she made him cappuccino When she got off he was waiting outside He said you got something baby So you never acted you could start this week You didn’t come all this way to be a waitress Took his card she hardly stopped to think Up and over Highland to the burning valley She'd tell Mama California lies Of the life where lights and legend never faded Heaven in the desert night Now the town was fast she was even faster Wrong crowd somehow outran them too Hung up after Mama called to ask her Is it true? I can't believe that was you Ended up a downtown dancer Turning tricks to get a fix she broke Called up Mama but she never answered Vera drifted off and never woke From the canyon pass down to the dirty alleys Echoes haunt the California night Searchlights stab up through the long dark yonder Heaven in the desert night
9.
Free Men 01:45
They were two they moved by night No silhouette no shadow North star shone so bright above the promised land White blanket on a road of mud The last of March is nearing Footprints in a foot of snow never melt away Forty nights they were never lost for kindness of the stranger Free men they flew so high like clouds before the moon When the walls came tumbling down Some stayed a lot moved onward All they owned strapped across their backs A new world so it seemed Standing tall another wall The devil’s reconstruction After all of their blood and tears they’d only just begun After so many hundred years we’ve only just begun
10.
Calling out transmitter on Do you copy anyone? Nation or a plantation? Lately it seems all the same You say it's no use lighting the fuse when master's too good to the slave Can you hear me? Am I on? My weak signal almost gone Calling out receiver on Do you follow anyone? Salvation or damnation? Lately it seems all the same You say it's no use fighting you'll lose when you know they invented the game Can you hear me ? Please respond My weak signal going going gone Can you hear me? Am I on? My weak signal going going gone Can you hear me? Am I still on? My weak signal is going going gone
11.
East End 03:11
She stumbles from a strange bedroom dark and cold He pretends he's still sleeping Hours before she felt so warm Such things are so fleeting She gathers her clothes rubs the sleep from her eyes She disappears forever And the early morning cracks like a slow grin Merchant fumbles for the keys on the streets of the East End He waits in the park by the spray painted arch for the men who are willing to pay He goes for a ride past the swing set and slide as a child he used to come play And then he gets out they're gone with the wink of an eye They disappear forever And the loneliness cuts deep like a cold wind Lost souls roam like ghosts on the streets of the East End She comes home from school he waits in her room Mother's away for the day She's too young to leave besides who would believe She lets him have his way A last tear of innocence falls from her eye and disappears forever The sun shies away on a pale rim A man collects cans to buy cheap gin From the newly ordained to the old hand Those that fall from grace land on their feet on the streets of the East End

about

Sometime back in 2005 Eric “Roscoe” Ambel said to me that if I ever wanted to put out a CD of my own, that he would help. He said something to the effect of since I already had a few tunes in the can we could finish the thing in a session or two whenever I was ready. I’d recorded “East End” in 1998 with Ray Kennedy, and “Little Angel” with Doug Lancio in the early ‘00’s. So in June 2007 I contacted Roscoe and said ‘let’s do it,‘ to which he replied, ”What...feeling the heat of your self-imposed deadline?” A month later, in Brooklyn, we recorded “Did He Do It Ditty,” ”Whatcha Doin’ Here,” and ”Young Forever.” 2008 found me in Nashville and out at George Bradfute’s studio in Madison, TN, where we recorded “Woman At The Well,” “Heaven In The Desert Night,” “My Weak Signal,” and “Only Human.” Deadline looming, I contacted Doug in June 2011 and at his studio in East Nashville we recorded “Black Sheep Blues.” Finally, while out on the road last year with Steve Earle (who I’ve been playing with since ‘88) he says, “Come on Looney, finish the thing.” So at the end of the tour in late Fall 2012 George Bradfute and I began putting all the songs from over the years together in one place. We recorded one last track, ”Free Men,” that I’d been playing on the last Steve tour, and after a week or two and tweak or two it went full circle back to where it all started, to Ray Kennedy to be mastered. Finally it was done! Except for the artwork which I've decided to undertake myself—what was that deadline again?

Kelley Looney
April 30th, 2013

credits

released June 1, 2014

Produced by Kelley Looney

Co-produced by George Bradfute, Ray Kennedy, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel and Doug Lancio

Track 1 recorded by Doug Lancio at Studio G, Nashville, TN
Track 6 recorded by Doug Lancio in his basement, Nashville, TN
Tracks 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 recorded by George Bradfute at
Tone Chaparral Studio, Madison, TN
Tracks 4, 5 and 7 recorded by Eric "Roscoe" Ambel at
Cowboy Technical Services,Brooklyn, NY
Track 11 recorded by Ray Kennedy at Room and Board, Nashville, TN
Track 1 engineered by Chad Brown and Nick Newberry

Track 6 mixed by Doug Lancio in his basement
Track 11 mixed by Ray Kennedy at Room and Board, Nashville, TN
All other tracks mixed by George Bradfute at
Tone Chaparral Studio, Madison, TN

All tracks mastered by Ray Kennedy at Room and Board, Nashville, TN

Artwork by Kelley Looney

Design by Chris Bryson | Waxed Paper Press

Thanks to Steve Earle, Ray Kennedy, Eric Ambel, George Bradfute and Doug Lancio for their patience and good guidance along the way, all the fabulous musicians, the Looney/Herbert clan especially little bro’ Houston, always my number one fan then and now, Will Rigby, Chris Masterson, and Eleanor Whitmore for the pointers and good advice.
Kenny O’Connor for the endless crash on the ouch couch, Kurt Vitolo, Dukes crew Dave Nokken, Mike Lucas, Brian Denny and my wonderful family, Natalie Tournier, Julien and Camille Tournier Looney.


All songs © Bad Betty Music (BMI)
All Rights Administered by BUG Music, Inc., a BMG Chrysalis company
Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved

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Kelley Looney Nashville, Tennessee

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