Lyrics from “The Late Great Southwest”
All songs written by D. Mulligan except “Collapsible Plans,” by Mulligan/Poltz/Stuart.
All songs published by D. Mulligan/Desert Dirt (ASCAP).
Copyright 2007
POSTCARD
Send me a postcard, from where you wind up when you’re gone
Cause I’ve been wondering, where you’re moving now that you’re moving on
You ain’t talking very much
And you won’t look me in the eye
You’ve been hiding from the crowd
And you ain’t home when I drop by
You’ve been saving up your bread
And you’ve been whispering on the phone.
Sounds like you’ve got yourself a plan
I can hear it in your tone
Send me a postcard, from where you wind up when you’re gone
Cause I’ve been wondering when you’re moving now that you’re moving on
Don’t promise letters cause you’ve talked that way before
And nothing’s ever showed up at my door
So I ain’t hoping now for anything more
Than a postcard
DESERT ROSE
There’s a hole in your heart
As big as the Grand Canyon
And a weight in your chest
Like an atom bomb test run.
When the sun goes down
You come out from your bunker
With crazy eyes
A drug-induced slumber
Now you aren’t the same as the images I keep
From when you were young and your pride ran deep
There’s stain on your shirt
Looks like that desert dirt and teardrops
And oil on your shoes
You’ve been boozing at the truckstops
The feeling I get
Is that you want to forget where you came from
The ghosts of your past last forever
And then some
Now you aren’t the same as the images I keep
From when you were young and your pride ran deep
Deeper than the well where the dandelion grows
Now you’ve fallen out of bloom, my desert rose
GET BACK (OLDER WAYS)
It’s a long road out of here
Habit forms the deepest rut
When I came down I was looking for something
Now I can’t remember what
I wanna get back to the older ways
I wanna wake up to the yesterdays
I wanna make up for missing out
On what I thought that I could live without
The way time goes it’s hard to tell
When your heaven goes to hell
But you can see it in your own face
It’s like a stranger in your old place
I wanna get back to the older ways
I wanna wake up to the yesterdays
I wanna make up for missing out
On what I thought that I could live without
The fog has lifted and the sun’s begun to show
The wind has shifted and it’s steady as she blows
And now he knows
He’s gonna get back
THE PACE OF CHANGE
The masses plug themselves in
With the flip of a switch, the seconds begin
It’s inside all day, as daylight fades away
And the ways of before disappear
Machines flatten the earth
Knock down the trees, and rearrange the dirt
My spirit is floored, as the concrete is poured
And a little bit more disappears
The pace of change is changing
A familiar face has become strange
This place I have known for so long
Has lost the race to the pace of change
A girl that I met for the road
We made plans to depart but she never showed
She said she was trading it in, she wanted comfort like skin
I watched her freedom begin to disappear
A woman that girl became
Promotion she sought and made herself a name
But that game brought her fear, when she looked in the mirror
And another year had disappeared
The pace of change is changing
A familiar face has become strange
This place I have known for so long
Has lost the race to the pace of change
Make yourself slow down you’ve got to
Make yourself slow down
CANYON WREN
Canyon wren, canyon wren
Tell me when, tell me when
Will I hear your song again
Canyon wren
I have floated the length of this river
And its depth I have known
The cracks and the creeks and the caverns
You have flown
On the walls that give shade to these waters
Are the ledges you have flown
From there I can still hear you singing
Singing me back home
Canyon wren
Tell me when
Will I hear your song again
Canyon wren
The straightaways are long
And the rapids are strong
Still you laugh just like nothing could ever go wrong
Canyon wren, canyon wren
Tell me when
Will I hear your song again
Canyon wren
BROTHER OUT OF LUCK
Leavin’ Tucson in my ‘72
Trying to find the edge so I can break on through
I’ve got a brother up in Flagstaff, been sleeping in his truck
And you’ve gotta help a brother out when you’ve got a brother out of luck
He’d been working at the mill eight years come this May
Been working himself ill and he’d hardly missed a day
He hadn’t seen a raise in pay but he’d seen a cut or two
So he did what any honest working man would want to do
He took it to the parking lot where the working men could see
His boss looked awfully nervous as he was rolling up his sleeves
To the cheers of the men my brother knocked him down in one
But his boss called up the law and they’ve got him on the run
So I’m driving across this desert past the penitentiary
I’m getting to the pines and I can smell the trees
There’s a billboard that says Jesus Saves and I pray that it’s true
I’ve got a Smith and Wesson gun and my brother’s got one too
We’re gonna take a stand against the man in the suit
Cause we ain’t afraid of him and we ain’t afraid to shoot
We’re gonna say some things and we’re gonna say ‘em loud
Cause the working man like any man’s got the right to be proud
So I’m leaving Tucson and I ain’t leaving any tracks
I gotta do some things and I don’t know if I’ll be back
I’ve got a brother up in Flagstaff, been sleeping in his truck
And you’ve gotta help a brother out when you’ve gotta brother out of luck
MIRIAM
Miriam
What were you thinking
Walking around the mall
Holding hands and kissing the new boy
Up against the wall
I was there alone in the arcade
Winning you a prize
The color of your eyes
An emerald ring to put on your finger
You went down to a booth in the food court
And bought a lemonade
I was made to believe that was our thing
Miriam
What happened to our thing
Those days on the porch swing
Those nights playing ping pong
Your feelings seemed so strong
Now your dealings feel so wrong
I recall all the things that you whispered
That night we went so far
All the way at the edge of the county
Parked out in my car
You were too young to know what you were doing
But you knew just how to sound
Talking big about the plans we’d been making
For leaving this town
What happened to our thing
Those days out at rock springs
Those nights when I’d sing you songs
That summer seemed so long
Now this ending feels so wrong
COLLAPSIBLE PLANS
(cowritten with Steve Poltz and David Stuart)
We were only in love for a couple of weeks
Everybody we knew was wishing us well
Can’t gamble forever on a lucky streak
We watched our love go straight to hell
Spent our nights in a beach motel
We saved our money for contraband
Except a few pennies for the wishing well
A small price to pay for a golden tan
We never planned for this
It all started with a smoky kiss
I helped you up with a dirty hand
It all fell into collapsible plans
The storm rolled in and brought a terrible rain
It drove the crowd straight from the pier
And turned the beach into one big stain
Vacation smiles turned to fear
The weatherman said it’s time to go
It won’t take long to pack our things
And head on south to Mexico
It’s easy to leave when you’ve got no strings
You and me are all together
All for one and one forever
We never planned for this
It all started with a smoky kiss
I helped you up with a dirty hand
It all fell into collapsible plans
Just one stop at a liquor store
I tucked my gun into my jeans
Left the car running with an open door
It’s easy fuel for hard on dreams
I found the cash with no delay
My back was turned as the shots rang out
Slammed the gas and sped away
Shattered glass and a broken shout
I could feel your blood like drops of rain
I could taste the tears running down my face
I put the gun up to my brain
I’ll meet you in that special place
You and me are all together
All for one and one forever
We never planned for this
It all started with a smoky kiss
I helped you up with a dirty hand
It all fell into collapsible plans
We were only in love for a couple of weeks
Everybody we knew was wishing us well
Can’t gamble forever on a lucky streak
We watched our love go straight to hell
MINING MAN
A mining man in the town of Globe
Don’t get no rest while the copper flows
Day after day, hour after hour
Mining is money, money is power
To the mining man
A miner’s child in the town of Globe
Don’t get no rest while the copper flows
Boy after boy, once youthful and mild
It isn’t the choice of the miner’s child
A miner’s wife in the town of Globe
Don’t get no rest while the copper flows
Year after year, life after life
MIning brings solitude to the miner’s wife
DON’T WAKE UP
Don’t wake up, don’t wake up
I don’t want to watch you as you make my bed up
I know that you have made it clear
That you would not be staying here
So as the morning light draws near
Don’t wake up
In my bed, stay in my bed
Pull the blankets up around your head
I’ll close the curtains and the door
So the sun don’t come in anymore
And knock the clock on to the floor
So you don’t wake up
You slept through as the first snow came down
Now just an inch or two is sticking to the ground
So don’t you think that you could stick around
Just one more day
Stay, and watch it melt away
Don’t wake up, don’t wake up
I don’t want to watch you as you pack your things up
I’ll hide your atlas and your keys
Get down on to my two knees
I’ll beg you hard and beg you please
Don’t wake up