The Old Man Laughs, by David A. Harley

The Old Man Laughs

by David A. Harley

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Full Digital Discography

28

releases

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Brookland Voices, The Road, In a Folkier Vein, Swan Songs, So Sound You Sleep (More Tears of Morning), Seven Years In The Sand (single), Nobody's Song, Marking Time - The 3rd Demo Album, and 20 more. , and , .

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1.	The Old Man Laughs 03:04	lyrics	buy track
The old man laughs and the room is that much warmer for memory puts his one-bar fire to shame huddled in the afterglow of a younger sun that burned with a sweeter flame. He smiles to recall the fertile spring when the rain on his flesh was soft and warm: the grass burst into tall green flames and he held a thousand stars in his arms. The old man laughs remembering how he chose a harvest moon to light his lullabies and offered into fruitful nights the rose that blossomed behind his eyes. He smiles, recalling autumn nights golden leaves and golden days when the fledglings tried their wings and flew into the Southern haze. The old man laughs….
2.	Till I Find You Again 02:39	lyrics	buy track
With my guitar I have built a wall Of alibis To shield my emptiness And drive away the shadows Of faces I try to forget I tried to write you a song But the words got in my way Just a wounded sky Bleeding moonbeams
3.	Before I Fall 03:15	lyrics	buy track
I know I can be clumsy / I'm hamfisted as they come I'm blessed with two left feet / And my fingers are all thumbs But I can tie my own bootlaces / I can use a knife and fork I get there in my own time / And if I can't run I'll walk I don't need a nanny or a minder and if I can't cope, I'll call But please don't pick me up (x3) before I fall I know I tend to stammer / And my tongue gets tied in knots I get confused and nervous / Tripping over my own thoughts But I'll make up my own mind / If I'm wrong I'll take the blame And I can finish my own sentences / Thank you all the same I don't need an interpreter and if I ever do, I'll call Only please don't pick me up (x3) Before I fall I'm defensive and I'm obstinate / When things I say and do Turn out upside down and in reverse / I may get mad at you As well as me, but I'm sorry / And I hope you understand I appreciate your putting up / With me the way I am I'm trying to do better, for you, most of all Only please don't pick me up (x3) before I fall
4.	The Chuck Berry-Beri 03:10	lyrics	buy track
I don't feel very much like dancing No song worth singing but the blues I used to feel like some kind of sex bomb Till you absconded with the fuse I think I need a holiday So I'm out here on a midnight cruise I've got the Chuck Berry-beri Got to get a shot of rhythm and blues I guess there's no time left for loving Looking into your backyard Dissatisfaction guaranteed But back to you was just a step too far The waves are blowing higher And we were shaking at the end of the cruise It's a fascinating rhythm But I need a shot of rhythm and blues I thought I saw your nightlight flicker But I don't think there's anyone at home Maybe I'll call you from the middle of nowhere While I'm stranded by the side of the road I still need a holiday But I can't afford another midnight cruise Still I can't break the habit I need another shot of rhythm and blues
5.	Love Is A Knife 03:41	lyrics	buy track
Breeze on my body, the sun in my face It's a do-nothing kind of day Laying back in the grass and closing my eyes Letting my head drift away But my mind rambles back to that faraway summer Less than a year ago 12 months can be a lifetime More than the long years before Was it so recent, that first light kiss That wakened my sleeping soul? It seems so long since you laid in my bed So many bad trips ago But love is a whisper, an echo, a candle Wavering in the wind And a year can bring changes too deep to ignore And wipe out the person you've been Now it's ten in the evening, the jukebox is playing "It's all over now" I doodle on beermats, chat with a stranger Close my ears to the sound "I used to love her": Lord knows I loved you God help me, I love you still But I talk at new faces and try to relate I wonder if I ever will? I suppose if I wait for an aeon or two It'll start to make some kind of sense But I've tried for a while, and I can't seem somehow To think past the present tense The fact is, it's easy to live without hope But once let it into your head And time is an arrow; love is a knife; Loneliness a single bed
6.	Snowbird 04:43	lyrics	buy track
I’ve got me a golden needle to help me tie my threads I’ve got a bottle for my baby and a blanket for my head So lay down, lay down mama, lay down and let me be Somehow I feel like old cold turkey has his claws in me If I had a silver dollar like I had one thin dime You know I’d clip that turkey’s wings with another shot of turpentine And if I had me a roll as thick as my right leg You know I’d fly back up up country like a snowbird to its nest I’m going back right now, back to my daddy’s farm If I can find me a rag to bind up my right arm Soul food when I’m hungry, white lightning when I’m dry And maybe I’ll get to feeling better by and by So lay down mama, lay down and let me be Somehow I feel like old cold turkey has its claws in me
7.	The Wheel (For Sarah) 01:09	lyrics	buy track
Sleep on Sleep sound The world will turn without you Sleep on Sleep sound Peaceful dreams will find you Some distant morning Your innocence Will brighten Better days For someone stronger Wiser The wheel will turn again And you'll come home
8.	Bottle 02:53	lyrics	buy track
I called out softly through the darkness Hoping someone might try the door Hoping someone might have the key But I don't trust the daylight anymore Someone knocked the bottle over It happened once before I suppose it might have been me But I can't trust the daylight anymore I believe I'm getting stronger Than I ever was before But I won't get up to look Because I don't believe in daylight anymore
9.	Where You Want Me 05:15	lyrics	buy track
You got me where you want me Just one thing I’d ask of you ‘Cos you got me where you want me Just one thing I’d beg of you Honey, please don’t flick my switches If you don’t want me to blow my fuse I’ve got no plans for leaving Nowhere else I’d want to be No-one else is on my mind There’s no-one else I’d rather see But if you don’t like my peaches Honey please don’t shake my tree Pass me that bottle Why don’t we drink a little wine? I can see you’re nervous But there’s no need to explain I’m not here to fool you You can take your time with me But if you don’t want sugar Take your fingers off my cane ‘Cos you got me where you want me Any way you want me, any time Any way you want me You can have me any time But if you don’t dig my taters Baby please don’t shake my vine Pass me that bottle Don’t drink all that wine It’s OK, there’s nothing to explain I’m not here to use you Take as long as you need But if you don’t want my sugar Please don't lick my cane You got me where you want me Just one thing I’d ask of you ‘Cos you got me where you want me Just one thing I’d beg of you Honey, please don’t flick my switches If you don’t want me to blow my fuse
10.	Age of the Hero 02:38	lyrics	buy track
Deep down I know I should forget you Get out with my ego intact My head knows the end of the game Is historical fact But my heart never quite seems to make it I can’t seem to learn to let go It’s a one-way ticket to nowhere But where else to go? I took someone else to a party In hopes of a two-way high And stayed for a while in search Of an alibi Slipped out for some air and some distance Got to thinking and wondering and then I wasn’t surprised to get back and find She’d gone home with somebody else Now I lie on my bed, my mind racing Watching dawn seeping in from the East And the Age of the Hero is over I can let go of that game at least And I wait for the future to tell me Whether angels are still to be found And I’m trying hard not to stop hoping That there’s still enough love to go round
11.	Blues I Blew 01:22	lyrics	buy track
There we were, my buddy and me Two grass widowers out on a spree Between the bar and the BBC And nowhere much to go Plans to make a wave or two Adding up to two plus two No complaints of nothing to do With another 12-bar to blow Another place, another day Nothing very much to say Another song I threw away Another blues I blew
12.	Communication 02:04	lyrics	buy track
Sitting it out at the full moon Reading my mail from the next room Can’t you see we’re dying Dying of communication? Checking it out with the radio Late late news is ‘no place to go’ Can’t you see we’re dying Dying of communication? Sitting it out in the bathroom Freaked out on ego juice Fighting it out in the bedroom Wondering what’s the use Everyone knows we’re dying Dying of communication
13.	Raggle Taggle Man 02:49	lyrics	buy track
He was a raggle taggle man In raggle taggle clothes Reaching, reaching for the stars As he wandered down the road Once the world was at his feet But then it fell apart His friends becoming strangers Who left him in the dark His world was all in pieces That he couldn’t shape at last While the wind was blowing Through the weeds and grass People tried to reassure him But still he lost all hope And looking at his life He knew he couldn’t cope So home alone he went alone And all alone he died But everyone who knew him Now remembers him with pride He was so beautiful inside. Oh raggle taggle, raggle taggle, raggle taggle man Oh raggle taggle, raggle taggle, raggle taggle man...
14.	The Last Musketeer 02:31	lyrics	buy track
Now that the war is over And the battles are all lost and won The glasses are raised and the caterers praised And the happy couple are gone Bound for the sun on a honeymoon cruise And nobody knows where they are The last musketeer has traded his sword For a mortgage and family car All the words like ‘forever’ are spoken Though the meaning’s not always quite clear The wine and the song have together run dry And the last of the guests disappeared And mum and dad take a look at themselves Now the last of the nestlings has flown The last musketeer takes stock of his life Amazed at the new thing he’s found And a lifetime away from just yesterday Well on the way to elsewhere En route for tomorrow they pause to shake Confetti out of their hair The treaties are signed and the campaign is won And another skirmish begins The bride smiles and the last musketeer Takes a look at ‘forever’ And grins...
15.	Marianne 03:21	lyrics	buy track
In the intimate oblivion of collusion I see you dancing with another man And I know that you’ll tell me it’s a really groovy scene But I never much liked dancing, Marianne So go take your problems to a new confessor Perhaps he’ll listen while he holds your hand But don’t expect him to provide you with the answers It’s not a caseload that he’s after, Marianne I’ve tried to talk it over as a lover But I can’t seem to make you understand You’re not the kind to be content with me the way I am And I like to make my own scene, Marianne I’ve got a little story I should tell you How sometimes a woman needs a man But I don’t think you even need someone to need you And I don’t think you’d believe me, Marianne And you tell me that I’m fettered by illusions And you’ve had all the chaining you can stand I’d hate to be the one to block your freedom But I’m not into two-timing, Marianne And you’ll tell every word I say is empty And I know that you don’t need my helping hand I’m not the one to say I didn’t love you But I never really liked you, Marianne
16.	Highway Fever 02:30	lyrics	buy track
Those easy-action formulae lie easy in my mouth Down streets I walked for ever while my head was blowing South That same old highway fever keeps burning up my socks The river keeps on running, I’ve been too long on the rocks All along the waterfront the chance is lost and found I’m halfway back to nowhere but my head is outward bound I’m on the run, my head is free, my cover has been blown And still I hate to sing these backstage blues alone Out beyond the fences windswept trees lay down to die But I'm staring into limbo as the 19.10 rolls by And I’m weary to my bones of scavenging for dreams I’d give my second-best guitar for an unread magazine I’m weary to my soul and home is far away Racing into sunrise and another Northern day I wish I’d half a chance of another drink or two This train moves too fast, and it’s bringing me to you

credits

released February 7, 2022

All words & music by David A. Harley except 'Raggle Taggle Man', for which the lyric was written by Alison Pittaway.

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about

David A. Harley England, UK

David Harley is a former professional musician, administrator, IT security editor, author and researcher, and former much else that is even less impressive. He now lives in Cornwall. More info at whealalice.com