The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones

Songs from Lincoln Durham's
The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones

All songs written by Lincoln Durham / Published by Rayburn Publishing, SESAC

1. Drifting Wood 4:23

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar / Derek O'Brien: Guitar / Rick Richards: Drums

One path leads to destruction

I got two idle hands that'll get me there

Three stand before me to enlighten

I'd reach for the shores if I dared

Let the wind act as a savior

Let it guide like a savoir should

May the river have mercy

Have mercy on the drifting wood

I may be hanging from a tree come next morning

Gone to from whence I came

My world is burning down to ashes

By match or by chance it's all the same

Let the wind act as a savior

Let it guide like a savoir should

May the river have mercy

Have mercy on the drifting wood

These waters are deep and they are unheeding

I could swim upstream or just go along for the ride

The latter of which has this clear warning

That's to doom myself to a passive suicide

Let the wind act as a savior

Let it guide like a savoir should

May the river have mercy

Have mercy on the drifting wood

2. Last Red Dawn 3:10

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar / Jeff Plankenhorn: Mandolin / Rick Richards: Drums

I walk through the valley

I see no stars tonight

They've all died away

Because the blood they're spilling

Floods like a crimson tide

Red skies turn black as night

It means you'll see that next sun come

But if they're fiery red in the morning light

It means you'll see that last red dawn

I see all the misery

Of what is dead and gone

And the sails, they cry in vain

Because the ship they're sailing is made up of skin and bones

Red skies turn black as night

It means you'll see that next sun come

But if they're fiery red in the morning light

It means you'll see that last red dawn

I feel a storm coming

It whispers in the night

And the sea it just trembled

When it sees that last red light

3. Living This Hard 3:26

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar, Harmonica / Rick Richards: Drums

Stick our fruit mason jars

Snapping peas in the backyard

Been a year now with my hands in the dirt

Blood on my fingers can't show it hurts

We gonna see if next Sunday comes

I ain't gonna make it if the working ain't done

Working ain't done 'til the setting sun

I got an old dreadnaught through a Bell and Howell

It ain't the best of ways but it'll work somehow

I don't need me a little band

Because Mr. Davis says I got a sporting right hand

We gonna see if next Sunday comes

I ain't gonna make it if the working ain't done

Working ain't done 'til the setting sun

Look out boys you're about to learn

There comes a time when the cactus burns

Life ain't never gonna spare the rod

I can't keep living, living this hard

My kin folks say don't forget who you are

Them's words that's got me living this far

There comes sometimes when I get real low

I wish my memory didn't serve me so

We gonna see if next Sunday comes

I ain't gonna make it if the working ain't done

Working ain't done 'til the setting sun

Look out boys you're about to learn

There comes a time when the cactus burns

Life ain't never gonna spare the rod

I can't keep living, living this hard

4. Clementine 3:22

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar, Harmonica / Ray Wylie Hubbard: Guitar / Bucca Allen: Grand Piano / Rick Richards: Drums

Clementine, don't you cry for me

When the smell of the roses fades eventually

Just go for now and leave me to my sleep

I'm free from this world, from this painful heartbeat

Hey, Clementine

Don't you cry for me

Clementine, may your path be blessed

Never again to wear your black veil and dress

Let each step take you far from pain

Don't let this world leave its dirty old black stain

Hey, Clementine

Don't you cry for me

Clementine, now it's time to part

There's no breath in me, but still an ache in my heart

Just give me one last smile and dry your eyes

We had our time, and now it's time to say goodbye

Hey, Clementine

Don't you cry for me

5. Mud Puddles 3:27

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar (1929 Gibson HG-22), Wooden Cone Resonator, Fiddle / Rick Richards: Drums

I got a nickel that I keep here in my pocket

I got these snakeskin boots here wrapped around my feet

I got a picture that I keep here in a locket

Of a woman who's much too good for me

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

I got a pocket knife my daddy gave me when I was 20

I found this dusty old hat here at 25

The years of my living add up to plenty

But I doubt I'll ever make it to 29

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

In these familiar streets

I used to tread I see

Only shadows and demons instead

Constant reminders of the

Sins that I've made

Blood that I've lost

And the price I've paid

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

I said drifters they don't step in mud puddles

For fear they'll fill it up with their own blood

6. Reckoning Lament 3:10

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar, Harmonica / Rick Richards: Drums

Old sawbones got some age on him, that's why you show respect

He's long past his prime, his mind's a derelict

Another man with an open book, he laughs at your every move

He's reciting chosen verse of some Robert Johnson tune

He's singing:

"Whoa, the sun has gone to burnin'

Whoa, and the creek has gone dry

Whoa, black birds are circling

Over the hills, where the dead folk lie"

Sister runs the table, now she's shaking a pile of bones

Preaching to lose with the double-six cannot be condoned

Old blues man feeling might poorly, that's why he screams and howls

You ain't heard the slide guitar since the likes of Fred McDowell

He's playing:

"Whoa, the sun has gone to burnin'

Whoa, and the creek has gone dry

Whoa, black birds are circling

Over the hills, where the dead folk lie"

Ne'er-do-well in the dark corner, raising anxiety

Says the safest place in the world, is in-sanity

Strangers come from the four corners, with passion and discontent

They sing in harmony of the Reckoning Lament

They're singing:

"Whoa, the sun has gone to burnin'

Whoa, and the creek has gone dry

Whoa, black birds are circling

Over the hills, where the dead folk lie"

7. How Does A Crow Fly 2:36

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar (1964 Gibson J-45) / Rick Richards: Drums, Bird Feeder, Trash Can

I met a dove once white as snow

I turned her a shade of gray

A dove she wants to spread her wings

But a crow clips her dove wings away

How does a crow fly like an eagle

How does a crow learn to fly so high

Where he can rise up to heaven again

I went down to the depths of despair

I wanted loose dirt on my grave

I felt around in the dark for a while

Among the wicked and depraved

How does a crow fly like an eagle

How does a crow learn to fly so high

Where he can rise up to heaven again

How does a heart turn black as coal

How does a crow save his own wretched soul

How does a crow fly like an eagle

How does a crow learn to fly so high

Where he can rise up to heaven again

8. Love Letters 2:57

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar / Rick Richards: Drums

I've been picking all the wallpaper off the walls

I've been calling all the numbers on the bathrooms stalls

I'm walking down a gravel road kicking a can

I've been trying to figure out just who I am

I'm searching

For some peace of mind

To steady

My steep decline

If you're gonna live

Then you're bound to learn

I've got love letters to burn

I've been washing myself in muddy water

I don't want to be clean, but I think I oughta'

I've been putting my sins right up on a shelf

To forget your past is to lose your self

I'm searching

For some peace of mind

To steady

My steep decline

If you're gonna live

Then you're bound to learn

I've got love letters to burn

Asked a part-time thief, "What should I do"

He said, "Use that pain to sing them blues"

He said, "One more thing that'll help my brother

Before you can open that door, you'd better close the other"

I'm searching

For some peace of mind

To steady

My steep decline

If you're gonna live

Then you're bound to learn

I've got love letters to burn

9. Georgia Lee 3:19

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar (1964 Gibson J-45) / Clay Berkes: Backup Vocal / Rick Richards: Drums

Georgia Lee she's like a springtime storm

She's gonna teach me to be withered, weathered and worn

Dresses all tattered and torn

She's gonna wallow in the mud

Born on the front porch of an old wood shack

She keeps everything she owns in a torn up burlap sack

Gives no account for where she's at

When she gonna wallow in the mud

Hey

Hey, Georgia Lee

We're gonna wallow in the mud

She's got an old guitar she claims was blessed by Muddy's hand

She can't play for much, but she can sure play that "Hoochie Coochie Man"

She's glad to show you anytime she can

That she can wallow in the mud

She's a wild child of the age of 32

You ask her what she's looking at she says

"Oh, boy I'm looking straight at you

Now whatcha' gonna do"

We're gonna wallow in the mud

Hey

Hey, Georgia Lee

We're gonna wallow in the mud

10. People Of The Land 3:23

Written by Lincoln Durham
Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar (1929 Gibson HG-22), Wooden Cone Resonator, Fiddle / Idgy Vaughn: Backup Vocal
Alissa Durham: Backup Vocal, Cardboard Box / Ray Wylie Hubbard: Backup Vocal / Rick Richards: Drums, Cardboard Box

I've been around since the days of old

I'll stick around for years untold

I've faced the fires, and I've seen the rain

I've felt some pleasure, and all the pain

Seen my brother's blood fall into the sand

Shed by his neighbor's hand

We are the people of the land

And we ain't

And we ain't gonna die away

Silk and thread make a noble man

But it don't put the scars across his hand

A long gray beard and a wise old face

Won't be seen in your fancy place

Though my brothers are falling all around

You ain't gonna keep us down

We are the people of the land

And we ain't

And we ain't gonna die away

We're tilling up the land and we're staying strong

We're gonna be around when your money's gone

There'll be a time when you can hear them say

"Here come the people of the land

We'll be fortunate to be one of them one day"

We are the people of the land

11. Trucker's Love Song 4:46

Lincoln: Vocal, Guitar / Derek O'Brien: Guitar / Bucca Allen: Accordion / George Reiff: Guitar
Idgy Vaughn: Backup Vocal / Rick Richards: Drums

Another road, another city

The wheels keep rolling, on down the line

The price I pay, for this lonely life

Is getting higher, as time goes by

The only friend I know, is on the CB

We talk about the weather, because it kills the time

But, he'll soon fade away on that open road

And leave me thinking about you and I

I ride on through these dirty old towns

And every road sign says, that you ain't around

Another hard life long forgotten

On this lonely, dark highway

Through Amarillo, on my way to Colorado

It makes me remember how much I like that song

I'll be there long before morning

Thinking about you long after I'm gone

I ride on through these dirty old towns

And every road sign says, that you ain't around

Another hard life long forgotten

On this lonely, dark highway

Another road, another city

The wheels keep rolling on down the line

Singing along to "You Were Always On My Mind"

With my best Willie, it's getting better each day

You were always on my mind

And every road sign says, how far I left you behind

Another hard life long forgotten

On this lonely, dark highway

Songs from Lincoln Durham's The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones

Songs from Lincoln Durham's
The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones