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Adios

by Cory Branan

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1.
I Only Know 01:45
I was told this road goes straight to hell But it’s been twisted as the lies a liar tells himself So don’t ask me how I even got here I only know I ain’t gonna go back So what you gonna do with all that youth Just because it’s brutal doesn’t make it truth Left so many of ‘em sipping on that venom and vermouth I only know I ain’t gonna go back If our past is all we get to be My old life would have been the death of me While I find myself alive I might as well see where it gets me I only know I ain’t gonna go back I hope you come with me So we can see what happens I only know I ain’t gonna go back
2.
Imogene 03:51
That summer night was freckled with fireflies You had a look that I was either too young or too dumb to recognize But I remember that moon, I remember that night Sure as hell remember that light That shimmering light, you were hemorrhaging light Imogene, how couldn’t things be alright? Imogene, why couldn’t we be alright? You could say that I was never there enough You could say that I’m a no account, ne’er-do-well, roustabout, Detestable, itinerant, execrable degenerate- Fair enough You could say that I was a waste of your time But to say I tried to make you cry Is just asinine Imogene, can you imagine me trying? Imogene, have you ever seen me try? We poked fun at the pain We stoked the sun in the rain You was a runaway train, I was a runaway train But in the bloom of the wreckage We were one and the same This coming night could still do you some good The sun is setting just as red as when ya used to blush I know it’s been a while now momma but ya used to could We gotta act on the embers Ash won’t remember the way back to fire Imogene, is there anything you require? Hey Imogene, name a single thing you desire
3.
Blacksburg 04:21
She’s been emptying rounds in a dark bar She’s been getting around in a parked car You wanna know exactly how she feels? You gotta walk to hell and back in heels Baby’s been to hell and back She never left Blacksburg These mountain town bars are all bare bones Hell, a little Phenobarbital and pheromones Baby just looking for a little release Love’s the drug that she distrusts the least But you take whatever takes you back in Blacksburg There was a time this town could never have had her Now she never minds And it never matters She says this endless night feels indescribably As empty as them inside of me But if I can’t feel good again I’ll be damned if I feel this pain I’m in You just see who’s standing after the stars collapse On Blacksburg That’s her emptying rounds in a dark bar Getting around in a parked car
4.
I was minding my own, toasting my health With my bottle and my table and my heart to myself Drifting in and out of focus, staring into space When I caught you noticing me noticing your face What if I thought I knew ya? Really, what’s it to ya? Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? What’s a poor boy with exquisite taste to do? Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? Just so happens you favor the ocean, I tend to take after the moon We could pretend we could resist It’s not my fault we fit like this I say something funny? Feel free to confront me honey Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? What’s an overachieving underdog to do? Yeah, so what if I was looking at you? You really think you hooked me with that crooked little sway? You drive past an accident and try and look away You were smiling like a checkerboard and shining like a shoe Can’t believe I’m wasting these lines on you Alright, you caught me red-blooded You wanna make something of it? Yeah, so what if I was falling in love? Yeah, so what if I was falling in love? I ain’t gonna push it, I ain’t gonna shove But can’t nobody stop me from falling in love
5.
I had nothing when I walked in here Pocket full of fire and a killer idea Still had nothing when you walked in Looking like an Elmore heroine The air was wet, clothes was too I got the room key And we got through When the last asshole that rented this room Set the alarm for the crack of noon And you doused that thing with your flat champagne I felt a little love in my jugular vein The air was sticky-sweet, You was too The walls got paper thin And we got through I knew better than to cross that line But I’ll try anything seven, eight times It was love all the sudden it was love I cried But love is a son of a bitch one side And it was nothing much to you Could’ve been something But you got through You got through
6.
The Vow 05:02
My old man was young once Or so the photo album claims Flip the page the baby jumps Some twenty years and change From the cradle to the naval base A newlywed recruit Through the boot camp of a family man In a loose civilian suit But it was anchors aweigh now singing “Courage, service true” All them anchors will weigh you down if you ain’t fit for blue What did I know about it then? What do I know now? I have known the kind of man It takes to keep the vow I’d say “Well i just thought…” and he’d cut me off Saying ‘That’s what you get for thinking’ I remember thinking that’s probably not the best lesson for kids And although that was just something he said When I see what I get with my thinking I get to thinking there may have been some kinda genius In the effortless way he just Did I learned your word is one thing, keep it if you give it out But silence fans the fires a man requires to keep the vow What did I know about it then? What do I know now? I have known the kind of man It takes to keep the vow I could’ve curled up in one footprint, one giant laugh, one giant hand Until the sickness and the treatment shrunk him down to just a man A shrinking man still tinkering with my old busted car When his wedding ring must’ve slipped into the muddy yard At least that’s what he figured when he noticed it was gone I can still see him on his knees digging up that lawn Now the flag is folded and the numbers are carved Mississippi is glistening green Another summer’s softly calling off the search for missing things But I have found that something kept To keep me company On these nights when me and my old man Go digging into dreams What did I know about it then? What do I know now? I have known the kind of man It takes to keep the vow I can only hope as I propose to man the outpost now I’ll be armed with memories of the man it takes to keep the vow
7.
Walls, MS 04:00
I can see you ain’t from ‘round here I’d draw a map if you could use it But all the lost have ever found here Is some new way not to get to Walls, Mississippi You’re gonna need the nickel tour If you plan on passing through That black-n-white brochure of yours Will surely send you smack into Walls, Mississippi The sky is up, the grass is brown It ain’t that far to the casino Every other little town At least as far as we know is Walls, Mississippi The school’s all shop class and abstinence And field trips to the prison Nothing ever happens but Life and death decisions in Walls, Mississippi They put a camera in the steeple That way someone always sees us Topped the fence with broken stained glass Ya’ll can always visit Jesus in Walls, Mississippi The sky is up, the grass is brown It ain’t that far to the casino Every other little town At least as far as we know is Walls, Mississippi When all you got is shot or shoddy Lord, ya hoard a bunch of nothing Makes it safe to bet somebody Always up to something in Walls, Mississippi Can’t be a stranger if you’re staying We got a little newsletter Once the neighbors weigh in You can get to know you better in Walls, Mississippi But I wasn’t kidding about our starlight It’ll pinpoint the pain until The pit of you gets starlit and it’s Almost like there ain’t no… About all there is to see Hope I sure was help to you If you got nowhere to be Ya’ll are more than welcome to Walls, Mississippi
8.
Tonight the entire moon’s right down on top of you Inciting them deep blue dreams Phantom beams fathoming severed rememberings Whatever, it’s just a dead rock in the sky but it’s Shining light on all that love you buried alive In the cold blue moonlight Bedazzling, bedeviling, bizarre Jolting you right to the shrapnel Of an old broken heart Gonna be a battle getting better It’s gonna get bad alright Better let me hold you through the Cold blue moonlight Miss Simone moaning some good old oblivion And sweet relinquishing But that phonograph spent its momentum an hour ago And you can’t seem to move from this room where you froze Like an animal helpless in the oncoming beams Of the cold blue moonlight Bedazzling, bedeviling, bizarre Jolting you right to the shrapnel Of an old broken heart Gonna be a battle getting better It’s gonna get bad alright Better let me hold you through the Cold blue moonlight The sun rises starry-eyed, rising entirely Like it was nothing at all I wake up, it’s midnight and Nina’s still moaning low You’re still dead and I’m still along with a long ways to Go ’til I can stand to face this painfully clear Cold blue moonlight Bedazzling, bedeviling, bizarre Jolting me right to the shrapnel Of my whole broken heart Gonna be a battle getting better It’s gonna get bad alright Guess I gotta go through The cold blue moonlight
9.
You uppity little ghost- don’t you even know you’re dead? We police the past, your future’s in your head We’ve hollowed out our bibles to hide our golden guns We’ve raised a silver gallows in the jewelry of your sons That tattered flag is crimson with a blood that can’t be wrung Take one last drag of night air Cinch that blackness in a lung As we hoist another nightmare Look away, look away, move along- nothing to see here Look away, hey you there- are you even supposed to be here? We don’t need a reason, keep your dreams where we can see them Just like that- Aw baby right there Just another nightmare in America Ain’t no use praying, there’s no soul there to save Boy, you’re just the difference between a hole and a grave And that’s exactly how they’ll mark it, even if a camera sees us I’ll fill out some paperwork and sleep like baby Jesus Look away, look away, move along- nothing to see here Look away, hey you there- are you even supposed to be here? We don’t need a reason, keep your dreams where we can see them Just like that- Aw baby right there Just another nightmare in America Jury don’t look so sad at me, like conviction makes it right What you’re calling a tragedy I call just another night We all pray to fire power and really what did you expect? If you’ll allow me to interpret the power to protect I say it’s six in the chest, two in the neck You look away, look away, move along- nothing to see here Look away, hey you there- are you even supposed to be here? We don’t need a reason, these bullets scream for freedom Just like that- Aw baby right there Just another nightmare in America Oh say can you see? Just another nightmare in America Oh say you can see
10.
He said let me guess kid, the roses were red and her eyelids were blue? They’re all a soft pink La Brea but a sweeter extinction ya never knew Then what, she left or let ya push her away? No, she wouldn’t make it so clear Well the first drinks on me, you can stay so long’s ya know you don’t belong in here With these nighthawks beneath the chameleon moon Singing songs of the old salts around the rim of the wound Mostly it’s just the one tune How’d it get too late so soon? Around here they get so brimmed with empty that the whiskey won’t take You’ll be spilling your black guts and butt ends on some local piece of angel cake See that mirror there up above my bar? It has never once pretended You could take a good long look kid, I wouldn’t recommend it Just might see a nighthawk beneath the chameleon moon Singing songs of the old salts around the rim of the wound Mostly it’s just the one tune How’d it get too late so soon? I doubt a single wall of this club could stand If it wasn’t stuccoed up with stickers of these Long defunct pop punk bands And there’s little doubt whether I would be here If not for these three chords, you my dear And that nighthawk beneath the chameleon moon Who taught me these old salts around the rim of the wound Could only teach me the one tune How’d it get too late so soon? The roses were red for a while and her eyelids were blue
11.
Equinox 02:51
I met a man on the equinox My heart beating like a hummingbird in a box Bartender, another dark rum on the rocks He laid his fisherman’s coat on the ground One kiss and I laid my young body down And only the weight of his world in my thighs Kept me from falling straight into the skies with a Somersault and a sigh Sorry bartender forgive the schmaltz Let an old woman recall an old waltz with a Somersault and a sigh Occasionally I wonder why he went away Just up and left all his Gone here to stay The odd lopsided moon and reluctant sunrise Are sharing a square in the room where I lie Where I gotta get up, with no choice but either a Somersault or a sigh I know it’s nobody’s fault but mine if I Lost the key to the vault where I keep my Somersaults and my sighs I met a man on the equinox I look forward to these ever after shocks Bartender, another dark rum on the rocks
12.
Don't Go 04:55
I said, I sure had a real nice time tonight This was my first New Year’s dance You were beautiful and the band was alright Shame about your curfew, would’ve liked to had the chance Just to kiss you into 1941 Then you kissed me, whispering as time and I stood stunned Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go I know, I know, I know you gotta get But don’t go just yet You said I sure had a real nice time last night The wedding flowers strewn ‘round the room I knew that marrying you meant America too But Uncle Sam sure does plan one crummy honeymoon Then boom went the bandstand and the warships on the pier As you burrowed in my peacoat and you choked beneath their cheers Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go I know, I know, I know you gotta get But don’t go just yet Looking back at fifty years now since that kiss at your door To those giddy newlyweds, through the weeping and war At every monumental moment, at all the best of my life From your doorstep I had known it You were the rest of my life I sure had a real nice time tonight Reliving old New Years with you Hardly noticed the nurses and these damned machines All these supposed experts don’t know you like I do They don’t know that young girl stubborn as the statue of a mule They know nothing of my woman in the whirlwind keeping cool We both know what’s coming’s coming Honey, humor an old fool Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go I know, I know, I know you gotta get But don’t go Don’t go Just yet
13.
We always said we’d die for rock and roll But you didn’t mean it and I didn’t mean so slow We thought we’d both go out in some blue fireball of awesome Not watching moonlight drooling down the wall Nodding to some pleasant absentminded nurse’s song Wretched and catchy as a yawn You were there but you were barely there at all Like the paused fireworks of the trees in the fall From the waiting room to the wailing wall Visiting hours are over in east St. Paul When I searched your place as per our deal To burn the stash before your kin descend to steal I found your letter trying to leave you flying V to me Drolly addressed to the guitar My favorite part read “You won’t have to be alone, guitar Anymore than all of us are” You were there but you were barely there at all Like the paused fireworks of the trees in the fall From the waiting room to the wailing wall Visiting hours are over in east St. Paul Not to put a damper on adieu Heaven knows how much hell meant to you But go tell Tchaikovsky to tell that old electrocardiogram the news Doc says he’ll be damned you’re pulling through You son of a bitch you You’re gonna pull through I swear I knew that You were there when you were barely there at all Let the paused fireworks loose a blue fireball Through the waiting room to the wailing wall Visiting hours are over in east St. Paul We always said we’d die for rock and roll
14.
My father was an accordion player And rock and roll did pass him by He set records on the amateur hours Known as ‘the boy with the fingers that fly’ That was before I ever came around here Before the Dewar’s, the Jack and the beer Now he puts on a black tie and a lapel that’s too wide And knows that God is now having his jeers So dream tonight all your sweet dreams Of the bright lights and the big stage It get’s hard to ignore a twelve dollar whore Or the coming of your own middle age You gotta hold her so tightly she can’t breath Be thankful she’s waiting home for you For the old days are gone, except for the songs And those are all fading too My mother used to go out with Elvis And some of his shirts she keeps up in her room Sometimes I go and try one on, sing one of the King’s songs In the Ghetto, maybe Blue Moon I swear to my old man I don’t know the lyrics I say I can’t sing one of the King’s tunes He says some pretty, punk kid made it big while he did bar mitzvah gigs And sweated in the practice rooms So dream tonight all your sweet dreams Of the bright lights and the big stage It get’s hard to ignore that you play on the floor And the bass player has to pause to change the page You gotta hold her so tightly she can’t breath Be thankful she stuck it out with you For the old days are gone, except for the songs And those are all fading too Well, my father is an accordion player And it’s a truth that some try to refuse But what they don’t understand is I have seen it firsthand The accordion play the blues

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released April 7, 2017

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Cory Branan Nashville, Tennessee

Throughout his decade-and-a-half-long career, Cory Branan has been too punk for country, too country for punk, too Memphis for Nashville, and probably a little too Cory Branan for anyone’s damn good.

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