Get all 7 Morgan Haner releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Illinois Highway (Live at Founders Brewing Co.), Sleepwalking, Brace Yourself, Country Western Buddhist Blues, Pocket Knife, Paycheck Living, and Transmitter Blues.
1. |
Paperback
03:24
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I was busy staring a hole
in the page of a paperback
Nothing is making much sense to me anymore
There are things I can't understand
About myself or anyone else
And I've never been to this
part of the story before
I'm seeing the world through a dead man's eyes
I'm seeing the world through a dead man's eyes
I got all of the parts and the pieces
right here in front of me
But I can't put them together
They all fall apart
And there are things I can't understand
about my fear, my pain, and my pride
I don't know where to begin
I don't know where to start
I'm seeing the world through a dead man's eyes
I'm seeing the world through a dead man's eyes
I was busy staring a hole
in the note that you wrote to me,
envisioning every barb I could hurl in reply
There are things I can't understand
about myself and who I want to be
If you've got anything left to say
go ahead, let it fly
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2. |
Bandolier
03:29
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Gun racks and heart attacks
Camel unfiltered in a soft pack
Working to jobs, ain't making jack
That's news to me
There's a Congressman in a scandal now
You act like a hero and you take a bow
The sacrificial lamb and the sacred cow
That's news to me
He don't know the cause, but he has the cure
He can wipe it clean, he can make it pure
He don't know what he's saying
but he sounds so sure
That's news to me
He stomps his foot, and he pounds his chest
With his bandolier and his combat vest
I can't tell him apart from all the rest
And that's news to me
Well I said it so it must be true
Nobody wants to listen to you
Nobody wants to listen to you
Well I said it so it must be right
Although it doesn't help me sleep at night
Mad dogs have been known to bite
Calling from work on the office phone
The highway's jammed and you can't get home
Well, they gunned him down, he was all alone
That's news to me
American flag on the power line
You do the time, and you pay the fine
Well, it's someone's fault, but it sure ain't mine
That's news to me
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3. |
Copper
04:24
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Living like a pauper
Got a fist full of copper
Gonna try to make a dollar
Gonna have to lay low
For a couple of days
Until I get paid
Just for a couple of days
Until I get paid
They pay you by the pound
And they charge you by the ton
No, I can't skip town
Until the deal is done
Just a couple of days
Until I get paid
Just for a couple of days
They get you by the throat
They get you by the hair
You better watch what you're doing
You be careful out there
Just for a couple of days
Until I get paid
Just a couple more days
Just a couple more
Living like a pauper
Got a fist full of copper
Gonna try to make a dollar
Gonna have to lay low
For a couple of days
Until I get paid
Just for a couple of days
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4. |
Break It Again
02:33
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You know what I'm thinking
Before it's a thought
You know what I'm hiding
Before I've been caught
You know my intentions
Have always been good
You know what is missing
From under my hood
And we nearly lost our minds
In that house on the hill
We were learning how to swallow
The most bitter of pills
But to heal a broken bone
You've got to break it again
And again and again and again
I know you're exhausted
You can't catch a break
I know why you lost it
You didn't mean what you said
And we nearly lost our minds
In that house on the hill
We were learning how to swallow
The most bitter of pills
But to heal a broken bone
You've got to break it again
And again and again and again
And again and again and again
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5. |
Downpour
03:23
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Save your prayers for someone who needs them
Save your bread for someone and feed them
What you're seeing is the writing on the wall
What you're seeing is the writing on the wall
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away this time, my friend
Save your scripture for another day
He wrote the damn thing anyway
Listen close to what he's trying to tell you now
Listen close to what he's trying to tell you now
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away this time my friend
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away this time my friend
Judgement is coming and it's coming soon
Like a big downpour at the end of June
Got no reason to worry, got no reason to be afraid
Got no reason to worry, got no reason to be afraid
Because a sentence postponed
Is an execution stayed
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away this time my friend
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away again
I don't want to run away this time my friend
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6. |
Pocket Knife
05:18
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We were sleeping in the back of the car
In a truck stop station
Hoping that the cops wouldn't knock
On the windows at night
With a hatchet and a pocket knife
Nearby for protection
With a bedsheet over the windows
To keep out the light
Stopping on the side of the road
To check my transmission
Following the railroad tracks
All the way through the state
If it kills me, or it drives me insane
I'm going to make you my mission
Everybody tried to get me to quit
But I won't take the bait
There's something in the whites of your eyes
That I can't find in my waking mind
It don't matter how hard that I try
I'm coasting on fumes
Past the Gateway Arch and the river
And the shoulder is filled with old bottles
And pieces of glass
And now there's nothing but feed for the cattle
And grist for the grain mill
Where once there were flocks of wild geese
And tall prairie grass
And there's something in the whites of your eyes
That I can't find in my waking mind
It don't matter how hard that I try
Now I'm caught between love
And the fear of defeat I've been given
By a nation of cowards
Who tear my belief from my hand
Then I see you in silhouette,
naked, at dusk, in the highland
And I'm glad that exactly none of this
Went as I planned
Well there's something in the whites of your eyes
That I can't find in my waking mind
It don't matter how hard that I try
There's something in the whites of your eyes
That I can't find in my waking mind
It don't matter how hard that I try
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7. |
Rocking Horse
02:45
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My little rocking horse is my only ride
My little rocking horse is my only ride
Buy a ticket on the RTA
When it gets too cold outside
My little rocking horse in my only ride
Little Dollar Bill is my only friend
Little Dollar Bill is my only friend
Well don't you call him by his middle name
Unless you got a letter to send
Little Dollar Bill is my only friend
Little rocking horse is my only ride
Little rocking horse is my only ride
Take a seat in the back of the train
When it gets too cold outside
My little rocking horse is my only ride
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8. |
Sundown in Birmingham
04:23
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Sundown in Birmingham
Railroad children on the lam
Don't you tell 'em where I am
'Cause there's money changing hands
And they're shouting for freedom
But they go where I lead 'em
Like the Battle of Antietam
Where there's money changing hands
And my eyes, my eyes have seen
The coming of the Lord
Oh brother, oh brother, won't you meet us,
on Canaan's happy shore?
Sherman marching to the sea
This may be the death of me
I'm not as strong as I used to be
But there's money changing hands
Custer died like he should have done
I guess that's how the West was won
With an arrowhead and a loaded gun
And the money changing hands
And my eyes, my eyes have seen
The coming of the Lord
Oh brother, oh brother, won't you meet us
On Canaan's happy shore?
They say the rain's following the plow
But I don't see no rain right now
Just the greasy grass
And the hungry sow
And the money changing hands
Up north in the Iron Hills
They got the work that can pay the bills
Coal dust on the windowsills
And the money changing hands
My eyes, my eyes have seen
The coming of the Lord
Oh brother, oh brother, won't you meet us
On Canaan's happy shore?
When the fever breaks
Maybe we can tell
What we'll salvage and what we'll sell
But until then it's a march through Hell
While the money's changing hands
You can carve my name in hickory
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Massacre my enemies
With the money changing hands
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9. |
Embroidered Rose
05:25
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I think the thing I'll miss the most about you
Is the way you had of making me feel fine
No one every said a thing about you
That wasn't loving, friendly, generous, or kind
Of all the ways that I could think to lose somebody
I'd say that this one probably has to hurt the most
Trying to say goodbye across the telephone line
Is about like trying to reason with a ghost
He's going on the news
to give a speech and give 'em hell
They say that he's looking for a fight
So I think I'll turn in early,
think I'll turn off all the lights
'Cause the President is on TV tonight
Gonna have to call the family in to help me
'Cause tomorrow I'll have to go through all your clothes
I always liked the way that dress looked on you
The new one with the silk embroidered rose
He's going on the news
to give a speech and give 'em hell
They say that he's looking for a fight
So I think I'll turn in early,
think I'll turn off all the lights
'Cause the President is on TV tonight
The cemetary man is coming Tuesday
He said he's never seen this many folks before
We got a spot for you next to your daddy
But the stone is gonna cost a little more
He's going on the news
to give a speech and give 'em hell
They say that he's looking for a fight
So I think I'll turn in early,
think I'll turn off all the lights
'Cause the President is on TV tonight
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Morgan Haner Kalamazoo, Michigan
Morgan Haner failed music school auditions.
From the humble beginnings of self
recorded teenage basement tapes, 2 hours from any interstate in Illinois corn country, his more recent songs have been curated onto “best of” lists from Spain to Brazil and beyond.
His songs tell stories in the great tradition of American songwriting.
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