Treeless Plain

Red Pony
Branded
My Baby Thinks She's A Train
Rosevel
I Am A Lonesome Hobo
Place In The Sun
Plaything
Old Ghostrider
Hanging Shed
Hell Of A Summer
Madeline
Nothing Can Take Your Place

RED PONY


Red pony, its a gift from me/from me to you
Ride it well my love, hold your head up high/across this land
Sand in your eye, sun upon your back
Next to you my love/all colours turn to black
Blind pony, it is a gift from me/from me to you

BRANDED


I once told someone I/truly loved them
They laughed at me and they/spat in my face
But I woke up to a brand-new morning;
I destroyed compassion without a trace (mark my words)
If youve broken a pure heart, youre branded for life.
Every day people will/die for their causes
I give my blessings to them/every one
I only wish my life too could be taken
One life is a small price for a good deed done (mark my words)
If youve broken a pure heart, youre branded for life
You were there with the Devil, you handed him the knife
You said "Drive it home", so he drove it home
You said "Twist it", so he twisted it.

MY BABY THINKS SHE'S A TRAIN


My baby thinks she's a train
She hears voices, little voices/only she can hear
She hears voices, such little voices/sliding in her ear
My baby thinks she's a train
She don't know the difference between pleasure and pain
My baby thinks she's a train
She walks out the door, & she's drinking/kisses like rain
Well shes a backwoods girl/she don't talk pretty
She makes it quite plain/she puts a dollar down on a heart
But she cannot pay/one dollar down & a dollar a day, etc

ROSEVEL


Please don't drag me back to Rosevel/underneath your creaking bed
No air, no hatches under there/no pleasantries hatched overhead
Chorus: I left/what was left of you, What was left of you/couldn't he kept,
And I warned you I would have to cut off dead wood,
Please don't make me say those words again/to satisfy a whim
I left too much kept under ice/don't drag that hack up again (Chorus)
Please don't send me back to Rosevel/in between your knuckle bed
I turned my back on life itself/I couldn't tell it wasn't dead (Chorus)

PLACE IN THE SUN


Let's not talk about love/that's something you feel for a dog or a cat
And you can tell him all your troubles/& that puppy dog won't answer back
You may shut your shutters, you may draw your blinds and run
But you'll never find, no you'll never find your place in the sun,
You may throw in your lob/you may hop on a train & never come back
You may even leave a note confirming that those dirty rumours,
Well they were all hard facts
You may tell yourself that you cannot trust anyone
But you'll never find, no you'll never find your place in the sun
You may climb these mountains, you may look down on everyone
But you'll never find your place in the sun.

PLAYTHING


I thought this was a good place to start/looking out on my treeless plain
The good Lord has our best interests at heart, He's
making an effort and starting again
Chorus :I just wanted a plaything
The only good ones a dead ringer for the real thing
I just wanted a plaything, the right way to say the wrong thing.
Now you're wearing someone elses pin/I'm as blue as the night is long
Hiding in corners I overlooked in
Filling in cracks where the splinters belonged (Chorus)
Sometimes I wonder what the good Lord has in store

OLD GHOSTRIDER


Old ghostrider, old ghostrider
Even people in love get hit by bullets, old ghostrider (don't shoot)
Footsteps/on a spiral stairwell
When I'm trying to say, "Some other time Jack, I just don't feel well"
The air is so thick you could cut and fry it
The noose is so tight you can't untie it/Here he comes now
Old ghostrider, etc
This is the hole/he crawled to die
This is the bar/he lost his eyes
Over the sleepy roofs he rides/over the stinking bodies he slides
Here he comes now, Junior .. Old ghostrider, etc

HANGING SHED


The berries are black and ripe and ready for picking
The chicken is dead, but it's still kicking
& theres one thing you must never forget;
what you did that night behind the hanging shed.
The goods you promised me, they were never delivered
Your cheques are curling at the corners, yellow and withered
& theres one thing I won't let you forget;
what you did that night behind the hanging shed...
A strange unholy tale/a man beyond the pale
A men possessed by greed/a pasture gone to weed/an ugly wound unveiled
One thing kind sir, still hanging over your head
is what you did that night hehiod the hanging shed.
The moon is full and fat and white and sick to the core
The blind man is croaking with his hand out for more
& theres one thing I will never forget;
what you did that night behind the hanging shed.

HELL OF A SUMMER

It's been a hell of a summer to be lying so low
Dogs and cats dropping down in the street
Yellow bellies crying trick or treat/trick or treat, and I say to you ....
It's been a hell of a summer to be lying so low
Every word of kindness tastes like bile
Deep in our hearts, we knew it all the while, and I say to you ...
In the heat of the summer, to be kept lying way down so low
What you have sir, dispose of at your will
What you cannot have sir, you must kill/you must kill, and l say to you
It's been hell

MADELINE

In an old house in Paris, covered in vines
lived a girl by the name of Madeline
She was not afraid of spiders or mice
Madeline loved winter, snow and ice
She watched from her window, onto the street below
The soldiers and the ladies stopped to say hello
They asked for her pleasure, be it whiskey or plain
But there's no need for drink to take away that kind of pain
And in the middle of the night, Madeline would reach for her bedside light
Saying something is not right.
And wearing a face as pale as ash
she'd sit and watch the raindrops fall and splash
Then she would turn to rest once more
And like all good children watch no more

NOTHING CAN TAKE YOUR PLACE


I could think all day about all of the things I could say to you
But I won't even try to sway you
I might drink a few, what's the point, I've got too much to lose
No I don't want a drink I want you
Chorus: Most times my mind is open to reason/everything falls into place
But when you start to talk about going then
that's something I cannot face/nothing can take your place.
Pacing around my room. I keep facing disasters that loom
Yes my very survival's at stake (Chorus)