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Pocket Knife

by Morgan Haner

/
1.
Paperback 03:24
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
2.
Bandolier 03:29
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
3.
Copper 04:24
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
4.
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
5.
Downpour 03:23
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
6.
Pocket Knife 05:18
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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

about

Written and recorded at home in the spring of 2021.

credits

released June 11, 2021

Morgan Haner -- all instruments and vocals
Drum programming by Morgan Haner
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Morgan Haner
All songs written by Morgan Haner

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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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