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The Early Treasuries

by Abe Loomis

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1.
Davy 03:34
Davy (Abe Loomis) Come on Davy, knock me down I’ve been too long here in this town And nothing holds me any more I’m just the local dinosaur Come on buddy, shake a leg You want to see a giant beg But you gotta earn that golden crown Come on Davy, knock me down I won in Louisville last night Another day, another fight Left a dreamer on the mat He’d never seen a left like that A broken knuckle black and sore But I signed on for this before Way back when I was a kid And fighting was just what I did (chorus) I could have left here once I guess Just that one time if I’d said yes I’d be a millionaire by now Watching my money on the Dow I’d probly have kids and a wife Some kind of crazy happy life But now I’m really talkin shit Come on Dave where’d you learn to hit (chorus) I took my water at the bell Spat into the wishing well Walked out underneath the lights From running cars on summer nights A whiskey bottle cut my face Somebody threw it in some place A lot like this one years ago I guess my hands were kinda low (chorus) Come on Davy knock me down Come on Davy knock me down Come on Davy knock me down
2.
Beautiful Lie (Abe Loomis) The cemetery was like a celebration A wedding train was swinging through the fields A pageant worthy of the adoration Magi bowing down and making deals I don’t care if it’s a beautiful lie The piazza soaked with rain The morning bells’ refrain I don’t care if it’s a beautiful lie Tell me again The terraces hold flowers and generations Your cousin’s cousin finds a home right here Glad and grateful for your nightly patience Standing at the graveside pouring beer (chorus) You stood there blowing smoke into the starlight The cool marble pressed against your cheek Down below, the Adriatic roaring Neither of us ready yet to speak
3.
Trouble On The Inside (Abe Loomis) Dunbury Hill in a whirling snow Nobody moving down below The yellow grass is dull and dry The ground is cold gray is the sky You can run and you can ride But you know you cannot hide When the trouble, yeah the trouble Is on the inside Amphetamine, amphetamine You light the darkness in between I let you loose inside my head You crash my car, you burn my bed Chorus Dear .44, dear .44 When will you show me to the door? No more to walk the roads of men Dear .44, please tell me when Chorus My foolish love, my foolish love What are you doing here with me? I cannot give you anything As you can see, as you can see Chorus x 2
4.
I Need A Reason (Abe Loomis) Talk so fine and pretty Your eyes so strong and clear I honestly thought I could lie down And rest right here You gave me dreams in the woodsmoke A bottle of whiskey or two Now tell me -- my generous friend What you think I should do Cuz I need a reason to let you live I need a reason not to shoot you dead You stole from me the only thing I had in this world to give Now I need a reason to let you live Everybody thinks I'm crazy They say I made a mistake The tell me you called in the dead of the night Crying like your heart would break But they don't know you like I do They weren't there from the start They didn't see the poisonous tree That grew in the shade of your heart chorus Now every time I take a step The dust jumps up in the air The sun on the road make me think Of the gold in your hair And the cumulus clouds are flying Like the stories you whispered to me And everything shines on a day like this As far as the eye can see
5.
Let It Ride 03:20
Let It Ride (Abe Loomis) Don't talk no more Just let it ride We'll listen to the rain Beating down outside We could drown our troubles In the tears we've cried So don't talk no more Just let it ride Well we had it out And we thrown it in We could write a book On everywhere we been I think I've made my case I think you've made yours too And at the end of the day There's nothing left to do Chorus inst break I can see your face In the fading glow You never looked so good You never looked so low I still think you're wrong I'm still a little bit mad But it hurts my heart To see you look so sad Chorus x 2 Inst to out
6.
Lady On The Trampoline (Abe Loomis) Riding out along the river’s edge tonight I’m seeing colors in the twilight coming down I’m not accustomed to this feeling in my heart It’s been a long time since the circus came to town And if I seem a little shaky in this early evening air Don’t let appearances deceive you I’m all right But I’ve been barking like a hungry dog—it’s ringing in my ears And she is singing to my better soul tonight So I’ll raid the flowerbox for my lady on the trampoline With my heart up in my throat where it belongs Take all the guidebooks and I’ll burn them up into the breeze Singing hey hey I’ll write a thousand songs La la la la la… Delirium has taken over now for sure I’m just a pistol going off at every turn And in the wilderness and wisdom of her form I see those Western prairies where I’d love to burn She will not dare to turn her head and look at me Because she knows that if she did we both might fall But nothing now could save us and the sparrows in the trees Are only singing for the same thing after all (chorus) Inst Bridge I’m not the first to find some favor in her eye I will not be the last, your fairytales be damned But I’ve been listening to the all night radio And all the frequencies of spirit have been jammed But as I wake to smell the morning I can hear The sound of angels out there singing in the hall Beneath the wailing and the grinding teeth of lost and angry men Who hear the bells but cannot find the garden wall (chorus)
7.
Before The Autumn Rains (Abe Loomis) Before the autumn rains, I want to buy you a ring I want to holler your name, in every song I sing I want to be your man, sure as red wine stains Before the autumn rains Before the winter snows, I want to build you a home Four solid walls – a roof to keep you warm I want to sit by a fire, when the daylight goes Before the winter snows inst break Before the springtime flowers, I want to buy you a goat I’ll leave him out in the yard on a line like a hillbilly love note We’ll bring him sweet clover, and sit and talk for hours Before the springtime flowers inst break Before the summer heat, I want to make you my wife I want to take your hand, and hold it for the rest of my life I want to go out walking, and flatten the early wheat Before the summer heat inst break Before the autumn rains, I want to buy you a ring I want to holler your name, in every song I sing I want to be your man, sure as red wine stains Before the autumn rains
8.
Better You Than Me (Abe Loomis) You came into the room to question everything And everything that holds it all together You said we might as well be howling at the moon And walking out in every kind of weather You’re spinning puzzle pieces round inside your pretty head I’m shooting bullet holes in signs along the trail But after all we’re only riding blind my dear Inside the belly of the belly of a whale Tell me is it right for me to say these things tonight I know we’d die before we ever could agree But time has blown away the shiny things we had to say And if you’re suffering well better you than me Once you were kind enough to let me in your sleeping bag We lay like serpent upon serpent burning up I saw your graceful fingers wrapped around your quiet mother's neck And reaching for your father's coffee cup But now it seems to me you’re searching for a holy thing Pretending you don’t wish to be misread And maybe there is some advantage that I cannot see To waking up in someone else's bed (chorus) Now if we go back to the source the early treasuries Receive the sacred papers from those blackened hands You know I’d love to hear you say it all from memory But you were never much impressed with my demands And now those naked nymphs who ran along the water’s edge And called with every falling of a leaf Like silver birds they found the season fine to fly away And every one of them knew that I was a thief (chorus)
9.
It Won’t Be Pretty (Abe Loomis) They got all these sounds in the same machine All these voices high and clean I don’t know about you brother, but I’m ready to shout Little lost girls run on beats and fumes Whoa whoa baby in the empty rooms You can hear the engineer and the brakeman Having it out And it won't be pretty It won't be kind at all It won't be pretty You better find a wall And just love, love, love, love, love that girl to death Come on and love, love, love, love this world with every breath inst break Now there's ducks in the river, chasing the fish The cat's in the window like Lillian Gish I’m at the table with the dice in my hand Down at the Mirage Red rooster, hummingbird, stumbling prayer The sun in your eyes and the moon in your hair And the wine and the sea Well it's a marvelous collage chorus to out
10.
Pancakes 02:24
Pancakes (Abe Loomis) Well I ramble around on the old freight cars Most times I sleep under the stars It gets a little chilly on the autumn nights for me I’m a jack of all trades and a handy man Cook you anything you can thrown in a pan But I’ve got a culinary specialty Pancakes, pancakes From the Delta swamps to the Finger Lakes Soft and sweet, big and round Stir ‘em up, lay ‘em down Pancakes, pancakes Lighter than a feather and thick as steaks Any time of day it’s got to be Just the pancakes for me Well I’ve seen about all there is to see I even been up to Canadee They talk a little funny But they’ll give a man a hand From the port of Massachusetts To the dock of the bay The people are the same every step of the way And even when I crossed the Rio Grande… (chorus) inst break So if you see a poor soul coming down the line Busted and broke, and smelling of wine Don’t forget there but for the grace of god go thee Reach out to him and it only takes a little Warmth in your heart, oil on the griddle And he just needs the same as you or me… (chorus)
11.
Sorrow Is My Lover Now (Abe Loomis) Without a warning, you told me goodbye And in the morning, I thought I might die But took a chance and found somebody new It's not a big thing, I'm just over you And sorrow is my lover now And I don't have to show her how She opens up my heart with velvet hands Kisses me and holds me tight Visits almost every night And freely satisfies all my demands It was nearly more than I could bear And all around us, the memories in the air So when you called, and it was rather late I said I'm sorry, but I just couldn't wait And sorrow is my lover now And I don't have to show her how She opens up my heart with velvet hands Kisses me and holds me tight Visits almost every night And freely satisfies all my demands
12.
I Came Here To Confess The sirens called me late last night From the mission to the water side So I took down my sickle and my armor The words are always love and hope But their eyes burn just like the rope Wrapped around the hands of this poor farmer I came here to confess I came here to confess I came here to confess Cuz things ain’t what they seem I came here to confess I came here to confess Sometimes it makes me Makes me want to scream Inst break I tried to hide it for so long But it’s right here in every song And I know I don’t really have a prayer Cuz underneath these lights I feel There’s no hiding, no appeal And even if you love me, oh I swear Chorus Cuz I’ve got a workshop deep in a cave Where mermaids come to sing and rave And brush their long black hair back just for me For me My cousin was a sailor too She tamed the waves and turned them blue and Not a single one of us goes free

about

"The Early Treasuries" is Abe Loomis's first solo album

credits

released April 14, 2014

All songs by Abe Loomis

Produced by Jay Erickson

Engineered by Dave Chalfant & Jay Erickson

Album Art by Phoebe Berkel

Banjo, Rhythm Guitar, and Lead Vocals: Abe Loomis
Violin and Harmony Vocals: Tracy Grammer
Slide, Electric Guitar and Jungle Attack He-Man on Let It Ride, Before The Autumn Rains, and Lady On The Trampoline: Dave Chalfant
Harmonica and Harmony Vocals: Jay Erickson
Bass: Daniel Pac
Drums and Percussion: Tom Leslie
Mandolin: Sam Briger
Clarinet and Saxophone: Seth Paris
Keys: Peter Nilsson
Lead Guitar on Pancakes and Trouble On The Inside: Scott Hoffman

Acknowledgements

My heartfelt thanks to the musicians who contributed their time and talent to this album.

Among those musicians, I owe the deepest debt of gratitude to my producer and dear friend Jay Erickson.

I’m also deeply grateful to my family for giving me life in many senses, and to the brothers and sisters I have met along the road.

THE EARLY TREASURIES was recorded at Woodin Rock Sound Factory (Pawling, NY) Sackamusic (Conway, MA), and Soft Landing Studio (Brooklyn, NY), mixed at Ground Control Studios (Brooklyn, NY) and mastered at JLM Mastering (Brooklyn, NY).

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Abe Loomis Brooklyn, New York

Award-winning songwriter Abe Loomis publishes a song every month at patreon.com/abeloomis.

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