Zach Bryan
Zach Bryan - Camper
updated
To the south-side of Boston
You showed me where
Your old man stayed
Took twenty-eight years of
Blood I was lost in
To feel loved on my own Birthday
And I always felt like
I’s in-between something
Like home and somewhere far away
But tonight on the West side
in a bar out in Brooklyn
I saw tears outline your face
How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week
But you’re all grown now
There’s smoke seepin’ out
Of your bloody teeth
But you’re home somehow
And I’ll be upstairs
With the guitar I’s given
When I was barely fourteen
When did McGlinchey’s get so crowded?
And why are the crowds so damn green?
I lost my mind on the streets of the city
And maybe I lost all hope too
Took twenty-eight years of blood pumping through me
To get to this evening with you
How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week
But we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seepin’ out
Of the bar down the street
But we’re home somehow
How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week
And we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seepin’ out
Of the bar down the street
But we’re home somehow
You took a train to the south-side of Boston
You showed me where your whole heart stayed
Took twenty-eight years of blood pumpin’ through me
To feel loved on my own Birthday
You’re getting rid of me
Got drunk, fell asleep, And woke up
In Eastern Tennessee
Woke up on the wrong side of a Lifelong fight between
Who I was, Who I am, And which one’s right
Baby’s out with the bathwater
He ain’t got no chance
Oklahoma knows the old ya
So boy get up and dance
These songs used to free me
Now there’s nothin free in this
Just 808 beats,
what we used to be
and back-door politics
Now everyone knows an outlaw
Country to their core
But the only outlaw I’ve known
Served in the Corps
And I ain’t heard
“Shake the Frost”
in a Couple years or more
You had a vandal grin
Framed by a suit and tie
You were sayin’ you were
Out of here
With your breath framed
By cocaine and beer
Who’da thought she would ruin you
Leave your whole damn family in shambles too
I got a call from your mom months back
Sayin “I wish he didn’t leave town like that,
I wish he didn’t go out like that.”
But love’s gonna bring you home
Even god didn’t see it comin’
But no matter where you’re at
We’ll always find the way back
We’ll always find the way back
We’ll always find the way back
Tokin’ poison to some killer’s song
Your old man’s Trans-Am in Kodachrome
Bumper sticker to the back right
State Champs eighty-three through eighty-five
She’s smokin’ cigarettes in the kitchen
Tom and Jerry’s on the front room television
She always sat under the oak tree
Sayin’ “God I miss the old me”
God I miss the old me…
But love’s gonna bring you home
Even God didn’t see it comin’
No matter where you’re at
We’ll always find the way back
We’ll always find the way back
We’ll always find the way back
Baseball in the Fall with a worn glove
The leaves might change
But the roots stuck
Them shoes still hang
on the top wire
I’d say I don’t miss you
But I hate a liar
Saw you in my dreams last night
You had a vandal grin framed by a suit and tie
Tokin’ poison to some Killer’s song
Your old man’s Trans-Am in Kodachrome
Your old man’s Trans-Am in Kodachrome
Your old man’s Trans-Am in Kodachrome
So pack the car and dry your eyes
I know they got plenty of young blood left in ‘em
And plenty nights under pink skies
You taught ‘em to enjoy
So clean the house
Clear the drawers
Mop the floors
Stand tall
Like no one’s ever been here
Before or at all
And don’t you mention all the inches
That are scraped on the door frame
We all know you tip toed up to 4’1 back in ’08
If you could see ‘em now
You’d be proud
But you’d think they’s yuppies
Your funeral was beautiful
I bet god heard you coming
The kids are in town for a funeral
And the grass all smells the same as the day you broke your arm swinging
I’m that kid out on the river
You bailed him out
Never said a thing about Jesus or the way he’s living
If you could see ‘em now
You’d be proud
But you’d think they’s yuppies
Your funeral was beautiful
I bet god heard you coming
If you could see ‘em now
You’d be proud
But you’d think they’s yuppies
Your funeral was beautiful
I bet god heard you coming
The kids are in town for a funeral
So pack the car and dry your eyes
I know they got plenty young blood left in em
And plenty nights under pink skies
You taught ‘em to enjoy
Recall your hats
Erase the claim
Like who gets to ride shotgun
Your pocket knife, it went missing
I think we know who got that one
You use to let her
Cut the ribbons
On all of her own presents
It made me nervous, but now I see
We’re just taught different lessons
Listen to the sound
Them good times will
Find their way back around
And I’ve got the answers
Go on and touch my skin
Them better days always
Come back again
Life’s a boat boy
It all comes in waves
On the radio, Her laughter and sweet mistakes
And I wasn’t loved well as a younger child
So I pray these better, unstable days
They stay awhile
So don’t get hateful
lord, hot-damn,
There’s a fire burnin’ in the back forty
I’m still finding out who the hell I am
And I’m so tired of wasting it away
Going to find the time to realize
I’m in deep on better days
She always told me
There’d be times like this
With a blue guitar, a city bar
And a streetlight kiss
But I’ve never known quite
What I deserve
Try so hard and wind up gettin’ burned
So don’t get hateful
Lord, hot-damn
There’s a fire burnin’ in the back forty
I’m still finding out who the hell I am
And I’m so tired of wasting it away
Going to find the time to realize
I’m in deep on better days
So don’t get hateful
Lord, hot-damn
There’s a fire burnin’ in the back forty
I’m trying to change the man I am
And I’m so tired of wasting it away
Going to find the time to realize
I’m in deep on better days
Going to find the time to realize
I’m in deep on better days
It took me thirteen years to bloom
They broke up but he’s alright
We’ll be in town ‘till late tonight
Dyin’ in the boons
And I hate a hungry crowd
Worst of ‘em all
Talk the loudest
I guess I’ll die out here
With a hammer and a beer
Just dyin’ in the Boons
So leave me out of that
talk downtown
I have found
everything
I’ll ever need
Real dee-eeep
In the boons
I met a girl deep in the city
She said she don’t mind
Sittin’ with me
I let my troubles float away
I had myself
A Simple day
Just dyin’ in the boons
And how I miss the quick-stop line
They say hello every time
No concern for politics
Come on home
I’ll check for ticks
Love me gently in the boons
And why does everyone I know
Have somewhere else to go?
Won’t you look up from your hands?
Let’s be still while we still can
Stay a while out in the boons
So leave me out of that
talk downtown
I have found
Everything
I’ll ever need
Real Dee-eeep
In the boons
Let me die out in the boons
It took me thirteen years to bloom
I’m beat up but I’m alright
I’ll be in town till late tonight
Just dyin in the boons
It was early summertime
We fogged up the rear window of my
Sixty-Seven, three-hundred, in-line
My lungs have been hurtin’
And it’s likely my liver
Has taken a lickin’, too
Them Beale Street boys are handy
With A clap on four and two
The thrill is gone so slow and easy
Won’t you love me tender?
The way you move’s a drug
and I am on a life-long bender
So rest them tired eyes
and let your dress fall to the ground
We’re the only ones left
Who love Otis in this town
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues
Cracked up skies
Tried on a couple lives
To find the one that fit
Cold wind comin’ and the heat quit runnin’
But you keep my candle lit
Pictures on the wall say it all
With the kind-a-conviction
Make a river burn
You got a skeleton key on a chain around your neck
I got a chain around my heart
Church bells ringing in the air down the hill from the house where you were born
I said baby don’t you think we aught to live a little bit before Gabriel blows his horn
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues
I need you like Memphis the blues….
I’ll see fogs lift with suns as we roll to play a show
In Carolina, Oklahoma or Chicago
I’ll grow to know the road to home in places far away
Wrinkled, bald and beat to shit, to never waste a day
Enough people will hate me that I know I did it right
But to never meet a human to say that I don’t like
Let me learn the hard way and cut it close some times
That use the attic chest where every lesson lies
I’ll have some kids and teach them that we are all the same
Sufferin’, smilin’, silhouettes of every passin’ day
And the love I have will always be something my friends yearn
That memories were never cheap and never easy earned
I hope to choke on jack and coke in a bar during a northern winter
On a night the man was tight and right as rooftop lights flicker
If I’m lucky enough ill understand losing someone close
Ill clench my teeth on New Year’s Eve and try to talk to ghosts
I’ll stumble through a market on a summer day in June
Smell the salt and asphalt on Sunday afternoon
I reckon I’d be lucky if i made it half as far
To only die as on hills that are closest to my heart
If I’m lucky enough notebooks will be strewn across my room
Play catch in the backyard on a Monday afternoon
If I’m lucky enough ill tell the truth every chance I get
‘Cuz smiles faked to appease another is worth ten regrets
If I’m lucky enough I will get through hard things
And they will make me gentle to the ways of the world
If I’m lucky enough I’ll have the courage to leave and go
Wherever my healthy beatin’ heart tells me to go
If I’m lucky enough I’ll get high and invite a guitarist over
And he’ll play sweet notes until a New York City’s rooftop sunrises
If I’m lucky enough I’ll meet some kids in school that
still know how to play instruments
If I’m lucky enough I’ll see fogs lift with suns as we roll to play a show
In Carolina, Oklahoma or Chicago
Ill grow to know the road to home in places far as way
Wrinkled, bald and beat to shit, to never waste a day
I’ve been layin’ ties on
Coal in the ground
But I’m leavin’ this evenin’
on the same tracks I laid down
There’s some boys out in Jersey
that are calling me out by name
I got a reason to believe
I ain’t glory bound anyway
And if you’re reading this letter
tell my mother and my brother that I love ‘em
He’s got the better blood of my old man and our cousins
But he made a bad deal
with some boys out on Oak Island
And if he don’t pay they say
they’re bound To find him
But if I find ‘em
on that island first
The worst is yet to come
‘Cuz no blood in the mud i’s raised in spends
Life on the run
And I went to Jay’s tavern
and it happens that them boys were there
Recognized his backside
from the color of our mother’s hair
And my brother found another way
to make himself a decent little livin’
He turned around and found himself a lickin
only blood could give him
And I told him I was there to keep him clear of that island
He said, “I love you Mickey but I found out that I’m them.”
And I got some bad blood
with some blood out on Oak Island
And if he stays I say I am bound to find him
But if I find ‘em
on that island first
The worst is yet to come
Cuz no blood in the mud we’s raised in spends
Life on the run.
I’m across the ocean, missing home
There are lights on sparklin’ towers
That shine dark when seen alone
Somewhere there’s a mountain
that overlooks the sea
I wonder if that mountain
has got more rock than my band and me
And I ain’t no victim to a naive boy’s dreams
But i wish you were here now
to see these damned old sparklin’ things
It’s a long road to heaven
It’s a far drop to hell
I pray we outlive this fountain
I reckon time will tell
The stronger folks keep goin
No matter where they’ve been
And there are lights on sparklin’ towers
That I’ll never see again
I am not the person that I was yesterday
And the things I’m seeing now
Will never be the same
Do you think God’s a person?
Or the blinking lights?
The reflect in her eyes while she walks these streets at night
Do you think God’s a person?
Or is he just the sound, of laughter through the walls,
In a place I haven’t found
It’s a long road to heaven
It’s a far drop to hell
I pray we out-live this fountain
I reckon only time can tell
The stronger folks keep goin’
No matter where they’ve been
There are lights on sparklin’ towers
That I’ll never see again
Do you think God’s a person?
Or is he just the sound,
Of early mornin’ creakin’
on some floors way out of town
I’m breathing in a life
And my legs are wokin’ fine
Do you think God’s a person,
Or the slowly-passing time
Greens are greener in the
Heat of summer
Calmness on this evenin’
Seems a drug
Graham and Lucas are
Having kids while
Steve’s busy raising his
While I climb out a hole I
Never dug
Likely there’s a spot
Twenty minutes or so
Used to get waisted
Ridin’ rodeo
Now it’s all
Mechanical Bull
Are the old ways dead?
Or livin’ in my head
There’s a smile on a photo
Catchin’ dust In your old A-part-ment
Are the old ways dead?
Or livin’ in my head?
It’s all veneer and up from here
So take a rest.
So I’ll set off runnin’
Like I said i’s gonna
And find another rodeo
I’m a mechanical bull
Throw a quarter and
Watch me go
And I get a little sad in the eve’nins
Knowin’ I’ll
never get a beatin’
Like being young and dumb again
In this life’s long rodeo
Maybe I’ll move to Texas
Let my soul grow bored and restless
And learn to rope and ride like Le Gros
Maybe I’ll learn the mando-and
to pick a banjo too
Ride all night on the highways
like Two-Show
Are the old ways dead?
Livin’ in my head
There’s a smile on a photo
catchin’ dust in your old A-part-ment
Are the old ways dead?
Or livin’ in my head?
It’s all veneer and up from here
So take a rest
It’s all veneer and up from here
So take a rest
It’s all veneer and up from here
so take a rest
Took a few years to get here brother
Greens are greener
in the heat of summer
Calmness on this evenin’
seems a drug
Right out the window
And our hearts
They beat on borrowed time
Pack the car while the creek’s runnin’
Cast-a-line with the dawn comin’
You know I wanna believe in somethin’
Somethin’ like you
Reckon God is a funny man
For puttin’ beauty in these ugly hands
And I don’t quite understand
The joke quite yet
And it was cold but I was warmer than I’d ever been
I’ll get old but I wish I was younger then
I reckon god’s gotta be a funny man I do
‘Cuz I got you
One piece in hot beach sand,
Make it through to the weekend
The shape you take when you sleep-in
Reckon God is a funny man
For puttin’ beauty in these ugly hands
And it was cold but I was warmer than I’ve ever been
I get old but I wish was younger then
I reckon God’s gotta be a funny man I do
‘Cuz I got you
You know the time goes
Right out the window
And our hearts
They beat on borrowed time
So pack the car while the creak’s runnin
Cast-a-line with the dawn comin’
You know I wanna believe in somethin’
Somethin’ like you
Way up in Philly
He was a bad man
But you can’t bet your life on the table
When you’ve got yourself
a bad hand
So I went and got my good friend, Mickey,
And we made ourselves
A bold stand
Wound up bleedin’ on the bar floor
And we don’t bet on ball no more
Where the bets are tough
And bartenders mean
The Great American Bar Scene
My brother from Tulsa
Has got himself a warrant
but he’s on the run
Up in Cheyenne
They hemmed me up
and asked me some questions
But I ain’t no damn rat man!
Put cuffs on so tight
He started bleedin’
From his wrist down through
To his right hand
Put “State Trooper” on
The record machine
The Great American Bar Scene
Neon lightin’
And wooden floors lightly
As her feet quietly
Slide across
Tough boys have all
Came and went
She’s heaven sent and I’m
At a loss
So if you’ve got the time
I’ve got the quarter
And a two-steppin’ song
Called Heyyy-Porter
Why’s love always feel like a fever dream?
In The Great American Bar Scene
My heart stays hurtin’
And hands stay workin’
And I’m still just
A sinnin’ man
I’ve tried like hell
To keep my health
Treat others well
And understand
While life’s unfair, uncertain and mean
In The Great American Bar Scene.
And I’m not by your side
Just know that I’m halfway to Dallas
I’m stoned out my mind
I’m half buzzed bout full time
Since you left me to die here last August
When you make it to Nashville
You can tell by one hat tilt
That shit just ain’t my scene
I like out of tune guitars And taking jokes too far
And my bartender’s Extra Damn Mean
So roll where you’re rollin’
I’ll be prayin’ you’re fine
Wherever you’re goin’
Stay walkin’ that line
‘Cause they’ll eat and they’ll spit ya’
But ain’t their fool
They don’t know ya like ida
Back home on barstools
I’m out on the road
When I’m goin’ I go
I make music with all of my friends
I miss your silhouette
catchin’ Coastal sunsets
And the sound of that
Rusty-door-hinge
But that day’s bound to come when I finish this run
And I’m rollin’ right into your arms
And that bullshit you see on the late-night TV
Is a long way from our beatin’ hearts
So roll where you’re rollin’
I’ll be prayin’ you’re fine
Wherever you’re goin’
Stay walkin’ that line
‘Cause they’ll eat and they’ll spit ya
But you ain’t their fool
They don’t know ya like ida
Back home on barstools
So roll where you’re rollin’
I’ll be prayin you’re fine
Wherever you’re goin’
Stay walkin’ that line
‘Cause they’ll spit ya
You ain’t their fool
They don’t know ya like Ida
Belly-laughin’ on stools
There’s a reason all them boys back when sang the blues
And please don’t ask me
how these last years went
Mama, I made a million dollars on accident
I was supposed to die a military man,
Chest out too far with a drink in my hand
But I’ve got folks who like hearing me rhyme
I think of thunder under metal roofs all the time
Why’s everyone acting like they ain’t human?
Take me back to green grass and knowin’ what I’s doin
‘Cuz I just need a friend right now
Sittin’ close until the daylight’s out
It ain’t been my week it ain’t been my year
And I hate to admit I just need you here.
So close your eyes
Do you think of when you’s younger
Won’t you rest your mind
Smell that Northern Thunder
So close your eyes
I pray you see those memories
The way this life blackens all the things you used to be
So close your eyes
Do you think when you’s younger
Rest your mind
And smell that Northern Thunder
Won’t you close your eyes
Think of what this used to be
The way this life blackens all your younger memories
Lovesick, homesick. Sick of the road too
There’s a reason all them boys back when sang the blues
when you lay like that
Reminds me of a love I’ve never had
If loving’s wrong
what’s a boy to do
I ain’t scared of death
I’m scared of losing you
You ain’t outta my league you’re outta this planet
But damnit if you ain’t
drilled into my skull
Take a trip uptown to clear you out of my mind
You’re like sandpaper
the more I try, you bind
Winter was a drag
but Spring was a friend
I’ll love you ‘till the summer comes back again
And they’ve been trying to smooth me out
For twenty-seven seasons now
For twenty-seven seasons
When I close my eyes I think of times
I could smell and hear that northern thunder
Every pine has it’s time
To outgrow the rains of days of younger
I’ll be still at the cuttin’ mill
Just make me a roof you can hide under
Take a trip uptown to clear you out of my mind
You’re like sandpaper
The more I try you bind
Winter was a drag
But Spring was a friend
I’ll love you ‘till the summer comes back again
And they’ve been trying to smooth me out
For twenty-seven seasons now
For twenty-seven seasons
(Bruce howls)
Take a trip uptown to clear you out of my mind
You’re like sandpaper
The more I try you bind
Winter was a drag
But spring was a friend
I’ll love you till the summer comes back again
And they’ve been trying to smooth me out
For twenty-seven seasons now
For twenty-seven seasons now
For twenty-seven seasons now
The ballgame on
Man on the porch singin’ baritone
Tan line leads to that gentle place
Between her collar bone and her stone-cold face
Dock hand boys all say goodbye
To the women that they swear
Are going to be their wives
They’ll be gone by the wintertime
And they don’t wanna bother
With no friend of mine
Wet, Hot, American Nights
Shake your body dry under coastline light
Wet, Hot, American Nights
We snuck our Fords to the shore
and drank a bottle bone dry
We snuck our Fords to the shore
and drank a bottle bone dry
Davey got back from his first tour
He ain’t the same boy that he was before
Twenty’s too young to nearly die
American boys are a friend of mine
Heard Mary got that job
that she wanted out of town
She was better than the sum
of all of us anyhow
She still stops by
Whenever she can
She’s tougher than my brother
With a balled left-hand
Wet, Hot, American Nights
Shake your body off under coastline light
Wet, Hot, American Nights
We snuck our Fords to the shore
and drank a bottle bone dry
We snuck our Fords to the shore
and drank a bottle bone dry
Screen-door cracked
The ballgame on
Man on the porch singin’ baritone
Tan line leads to that gentle place
Between her collar bone and her stone-cold face
When I think of that summer of hope I choke,
Cause even if we didn’t catch a little bit of something,
We’d park that boat by the bluff at the days inn
I got a need to find trouble when things are alright,
I pine for pain in the morning light,
And even with my baby sitting next to me,
I’m a self sabotaging suicide machine,
And you’re going, going, going,
‘Til the Lord calls you home in,
Your work boots and your worn coveralls,
And you’ll show them, show them, show them,
With your high collateral loan on,
That home where your children play with dolls,
‘Cause I was raised by a woman who was hardly impressed,
And I carry that shit real deep in my chest,
‘Cause I ain’t ever been one for cheap excuses,
And apologies have always been a little late or useless,
But if you give me four minutes and a little ‘bit of time,
I’ll make them old days an old friend of mine,
And I can talk to God and I can pray all day,
But you can’t heal something that you never raised,
And you’re going, going, going,
On Thanksgiving day when, you’re sneaking off to drink some alcohol,
And you’ll show them, show them, show them,
While you’re kissing all the knees of,
Every scrape and every bloody fall,
My old man bought a big bass boat,
When I think of that summer of hope I choke,
Cause even if we didn’t catch a little bit of something,
We’d park that boat by the bluff at the days end
Bout the only break I catch
But I am not the kind of man
To blame the dealer on a losing hand
Have a lone star in my eye
The darker the sky
The brighter it shines
Pumpjack cheques and baler twine
A ton of grit or maybe it’s spite
And if I weren’t a flatland boy
I’d say I have a hill
A hill that I will die upon
if the climb don’t get me killed
If there were such heights around here
for a guy to lay his pride
Maybe I’d rest before I died
if I weren’t a flatland boy
If I weren’t a flatland boy
I hammer down, hair straight back
The World blurs past, tell me hows it that
My horizon line’s static
I guess at least it’s a sure bet
Was taught to not throw the first fist
But if you take a hit-Finish that
son-of-a-bitch
In a life having the upper hand’s a myth
Your only fighting chance is
too stubborn to quit
And if I weren’t a flatland boy
I’d say I have a hill
A hill that I will die upon
if the climb don’t get me killed
If there were such heights around here
for a guy to lay his pride
Maybe I’d rest before I died
if I weren’t a flatland boy
If I weren’t a flatland boy
Retired rail ties, point-nine wire,
Neighbor kid on the fencin’ pliers
Fargo that turns over fine
At forty-below if you cuss it right
A sly thumb of Rye sometimes
Keep a bottle hid with the Bio-Mycin
You can dull the edge, you can look ahead
But you can’t get there,
It goes on forever
Oh it just goes on forever
You keep your head down, it goes on forever
But I’ve got plates for Purple Gas
I’ve got plates for Purple Gas


