LYRICS FROM THE NEW RELEASE
Woodland Studios by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
- PLAYLISTS
Woodland Studios on Spotify and YouTube - REVIEWS
The Guardian, American Songwriter, Uncut - INTERVIEW
The New Yorker
A revealing and engaging interview with Amanda Petrusich - KURATED NO. 226-A
Read about the album
David Rawlings and Gillian Welch (David McClister photo)
WOODLAND STUDIOS LYRICS: GILLIAN WELCH + DAVID RAWLINGS
On their seventh collaboration Welch and Rawlings have a lot to say and they say it well
All songs by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Empty Trainload Of Sky
Empty Trainload Of Sky
Saw a freight train yesterday
It was chugging, plugging away
‘Cross a river trestle so high
Just a boxcar blue
Showing daylight clear through
Just an empty trainload of sky
Well it hit me and it hurt me
Made my good humor desert me
For a moment I was tempted to fly
To the Devil or the Lord
As it hung there like a sword
Just an empty trainload of sky
Was it spirit? Was it solid?
Did I ditch that class in college?
Pulled the curtain from my eye
I said hey hey, my my
Saw a freight train yesterday
It was chugging, plugging away
Just an empty trainload of sky
Just an empty trainload of sky
Just an empty trainload of sky
What We Had
All my world is changing
I don’t know where I’m going
Apartments rearranging
The beggar winds are blowing
Seems like ancient history
You were sleeping and I was driving
While you were lying next to me
I’d scan the blue horizon
I used to dream of something unseen
It was something that I thought I wanted so bad
But now I only want
What we had, what we had, what we had
What we had, what we had
What we had, what we had, what we had
What we had was unspoken
It flowed like wine, like music
What we had is broken now
Though we thought we could never lose it
I used to dream of something unseen
It was something that I thought I wanted so bad
But now I only want
What we had, what we had, what we had
What we had, what we had
What we had, what we had, what we had
What we had, what we had
What we had, what we had
What we had, what we had, what we had
Lawman
[Verse 1]
Sylvie gonna bring a little water
Baby’s gonna cry until he’s fed
And the fire’s gonna burn down to nothing
Poor folk gonna scrap for a piece of bread
[Verse 2]
And the preacher’s gonna preach from the Bible
Devil’s gonna laugh at what he said
Gambler gonna lay down his last gold dollar
Shadow’s gonna creep from the farmer’s shed
[Chrous]
And the lawman
Lawman
Lawman gonna kill my honey dead
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 3]
Now the ground’s gonna freeze when fall is over
Fever gonna burn in a big brass bed
The big iron gonna rust, everything’s dust to dust
Lawman gonna kill my honey dead
[Chorus]
Yeah the lawman
Lawman
Lawman gonna kill my honey dead
The Bells And The Birds
Listen how the bells they ring in the morning
What do they say to you, my love?
Some hear a song and some hear a warning
What do they say to you, my love?
They say we gotta get a move along
Farther down the line
Can’t be wasting our time
Listen how the birds sing in the evening
What do they say to you, my love?
Are they rejoicing or are they grieving?
What do they say to you, my love?
They tell me that life is sweet enough
To cheer us on our way
Just enough for today
Listen how the bells they ring in the morning
What do they say to you, my love?
Listen how the bells they ring in the morning
What do they say to you, my love?
What do they say to you, my love?
North Country
I don’t make it up this way too often
The cold is a little bit hard on me
Gotta wait for the season to soften
Before I make the trip from Tennessee
Way up in the North Country
I guess it’s just my blood getting thinner
This ain’t easy living, no siree
We used to steal away and watch the fireflies after dinner
It’s a slow-motion dream that you never see
Way up in the North Country
Wintertime in the pines and the snow is coming on
You’ll be back when the cold winds blow, I’ll be gone
Some long dark night, you might send me a letter
Full of sleepless devilry
I’ll tell you now we could be together
If you ever get tired of being free
Way up in the North Country
Hashtag
Once I saw your old familiar face
I was walking in a new watering place
Been a little lost for a little while
People sometimes go out of style
Make a new habit, have a new kid
Maybe both, God forbid
But all at once you seemed to know
The very thing that laid me low
Caught it like a new form of the flu
Chalked it up to our old friend, the blues
The questions and the answers you’d found
Talked me out of that breakdown
You said time makes the wheels spin
And the years roll out and thе doubt rolls in
In the truck stops, in the parking lots
And the chеap motels
When will we become ourselves?
When will we become ourselves?
When will we become ourselves?
You laughed and said the news would be bad
If I ever saw your name with a hashtag
Mm, singers like you and I are only news when we die
So here I’m sitting round another night
Looking at your boots, Jesus Christ
That’s some mighty big ones to try to fill
Never can and never will
So here’s another song that’s over now
You’re another sun that done gone down
Put another good one in the ground
Good lord, it’s going round
The Day The Mississippi Died
Way up on the Erie, they like their chops so fat
I’ve seen the League of Women lick their fingers like a cat
While out in California, they like their Soya beans
I pretty much eat anything from soup to turnip greens
I try to treat my neighbors like I like them to treat me
Even when they got that dog and cut down that tree
I hate that barking dog, miss that old oak everyday
I don’t expect everyone to see the world my way
Now the truth is hard to swallow, it’s hard to take
But I do beliеve we’ve brokеn what we never knew could break
I’m just so disappointed in me and you
We can’t even argue, so what else can we do?
So fill ’em up once again, boys
Fill ’em up and over the brim, boys
There’s whiskey, but the water’s done run dry
So we’re drinking to the end
Of a long long friend
And the day the mighty Mississippi died
Now the other day, I saw a living picture torn from Hell
Taken down in Kensington, a place you all know well
I saw demons laughing, breaking people just for play
I cried at the table, then I put my tears away
I dug my hands deep into the black Mother Earth
Tried to raise my spirits up for what it’s worth
You laughed and said, “Aw honey, now what did you expect?”
Not these tears and nightmare years where madness goes unchecked
Oh fill ’em up once again, boys
Fill ’em up and over the brim, boys
There’s whiskey, but the water’s done run dry
Oh we’re drinking to the end
Of a long long friend
And the day the mighty Mississippi died
And the day the mighty Mississippi died
My pony, he did stumble and sent me to the sky
When the jury brought the verdict, it was the blue tail fly
I’m thinking that this melody has lasted long enough
The subject’s entertaining, but the rhymes are pretty rough
So fill ’em up once again, boys
Fill ’em up and over the brim, boys
There’s whiskey, but the water’s done run dry
Oh we’re drinking to the end
Of a long long friend
And the day the mighty Mississippi died
Turf The Gambler
Poor old Turf the Gambler, he was a friend of mine
Crashed upon the pavement by the Beast
We’d been playing poker, of course, and drinking wine
When we heard his soul had been released
We glued him back together and passed a hat around
Paid to have it stitched above his bed
Embroidered words he’d spoken would greet his tired eyes
When he awoke, transfixed but not dead
Poor old Turf thе Gambler and now he tells his talе
And shows his scars from here to Hollywood
To waitresses and actresses and princes who preside
Over everything you thought was gone for good
Poor old Turf the Gambler
Here Stands A Woman
You told me that you loved me
And that would never change
Now I’m looking in the mirror
And I know that I’m to blame
‘Cause it’s all gone, babe, like the song says
Fallen from her curls
Here stands a woman
Where there once was a girl
Come a long way from Danville
Where they wear that Danville curl
The mother and the father
Who kept me in their care
They’re both gone like the ribbons
That I used to wear
But it’s alright, Ma, things got tight, Pa
So I went and pawned the pearls
Here stands a woman
Where there once was a girl
I come a long way from Danville
Where they wear that Danville curl
You told me that you loved me
And that would never change
But I’m looking in the mirror
I know I’m not the same
‘Cause it’s all gone, babe, like the song says
I been all around this world
Howdy Howdy
[Verse 1]
Tell me, what did the blackbird say to the crow?
Dry your eyes, don’t you cry, ain’t gonna rain no more
Men on the levee, dry wheat in the field
Pretty soon hear the tune of the threshing wheel
[Verse 2]
Tell me, what did the moonlight ask the willow tree?
Tell me who is more blue, is it you or me?
We’ve been together since I don’t know when
And the best part’s where one starts and the other ends
[Chorus]
You and me are always gonna be howdy howdy
You and me always walk that lonesome valley
You and me are always gonna be howdy howdy
[Verse 3]
Tell me, what did the riddle say to the song?
The Devil, he’s blowing Reveille and we ain’t got long
Let’s play the Spider Bit the Baby-O
Last time, last rhyme, one more for the road
One more for the road
[Chorus]
You and me are always gonna be howdy howdy
You and me always walk that lonesome valley
