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Pull the Brake

by Wrinkle Neck Mules

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1.
Liza 03:07
Oh Liza oh Liza its time To make our run in the night Across the lower 40 and through the break in the pines Oh Liza oh Liza its time I met you in the spring one cold crazy day Snow falling with bright sunshine I never understood the first words that you said Something about the blue in your mind And you told your father I was an evil man And he cornered me at the feed store in town He said “Don’t you go near Liza, boy, or I’ll put you in the ground” All I could do was crack a smile I dreamed we danced a waltz up to the timberline And tiptoed along the power wires Your brown hair trailing us half a mile behind Oh Liza I dreamed you were mine But you told your brother I was an evil man And he came at me with a machete in his hand But he never saw my pistol, Lord, and when he hit the ground His eyes were shiny, silver and wild Oh Liza oh Liza you’re mine I wouldn’t try to struggle or fight Across the swollen river and to the old abandoned mine Oh Liza oh Liza you’re mine Oh Liza oh Liza you’re mine Oh Liza oh Liza its time Oh Liza oh Liza you’re mine
2.
Okeechobee 04:23
Looks like it’s time to trim the fat Digging a hole right through the glades And by the time we get through Well I’ll have no use for you Won’t you be so proud of the mess I made? With my sweet, sweet, sweet Okeechobee Running through the shallows with cottonmouth cypress knees Yeah my sweet, sweet, sweet Okeechobee’s calling me With a forearm tan and a bottle that’s where I’ll be One time I brought a woman friend home with me For too damn long she couldn’t stand the heat Nor mosquitoes She said I had to choose, but she never thought she’d lose But when it comes to the one I love its plain to see A four-wheel drive And a three-gun rack Two-eyed stove And a one-room shack Yeah my paint job’s starting to peel And there’s a crack in my windshield But you can bet each time I leave I’ll be looking back To my sweet, sweet, sweet Okeechobee Holy black water with sawgrass and citrus trees
3.
Walking gently I can’t disturb the buzzards that are circling my brain Slipping through the back door knocked to my senses Cold beer and Novocain Well, they told me you came from the good side Thank you ma’am much obliged The dust of Saturday is settling fine You go your way and I’ll go mine Isn’t it thunder whose always flapping his gums While lightning is striking and burning Straight into the fences, chain-link and barbed wire Chalk it up another lesson learned I asked a few pointing questions But the point did only stick me I asked a few pointing questions But the point did only stick me
4.
Eyes Down 03:20
5.
There are no half-truths Rise up early in the morning Dig deep holes for all your money For an hour or two I set the stage for surrender I left the door open for you Sugar and sunshine Bury them both at my graveside I hear the devil sips my friend John Daniels So I’ve got some of that hidden too Make a little gift before I pass right through the gate A couple fifths and a gallon handle They say the victors write the histories Could it be any other way? Fall off the stage at the church luncheon Fall down the stairs at the horse race Stumble through the table in front of my family Laugh in dysfunctions face Well, they say you can’t take it with you Im going to tell you otherwise
6.
Light of Day 05:09
Strung out on methadone and all her excuses Scared of the blues and the grays She’s never been gone, she’s broke down and then some Wiles away most of her days Halfway smoked cigarettes and all kinds of bad news Lingers around her lips Lighting 100’s with Red Lobster matches What could be better than this? Oh, but if you go downtown they’ll ask you to stay for a song Careful my friend that you don’t hang around there too long If you don’t watch out then you turn back around and you’ll be sucked in You’ll never see the light of day again So throw out the telephone and your verbal abuses Everytime I come around Feel himself changing conceals all his pain In a glass only half full of amberish brown Overexposure for underachievers Will win you a five dollar bet Trying to find something to replace the whiskey But church-going women ain’t it Four Lincoln Town Cars parked outside Beneath that Magnolia tree All that glitter and sparkly chrome Don’t tell you what lies underneath
7.
A Stonehenge of truck beds and third world dogs Cats scatter from the smokehouse Digging and scratching Digging and scratching at the ground This walking and roaming and can collecting Never made me no rich man But Mountain Dew and malt liquor Mountain Dew and malt liquor could pave this land I know its you out there in the lowlight Gather ‘em up, pennies on the dollar Shine on boys, we’re going to make ‘em scream and holler Gather ‘em up, pennies on the dollar Shine on boys, we’re going to make ‘em scream and holler Everybody wants to know what goes on in the trailers Till the storm invites them all inside Flapping and blowing drops the jaws wide
8.
9.
Weeps 04:23
They took the doors off the hinges today Put on his best suit and carried him away No more to stay here with you Even the dogs know he’s gone But they don’t know why he’s been gone so long Still she remains here with you And deliver me not from evil No more good I could do She weeps like a warm running wound But now the women and the corn can’t survive You don’t miss your water until its run dry But further along we’ll understand why And consider me not a stranger ‘Cause Im coming home soon She weeps like a warm running wound Put Lincoln on the lids and close them ‘Cause his gaze is frozen Staring into the sky so clear Confirming the fear that the ground ain’t going to bloom Dyings as natural as living But there’s no forgiving what I’ve got to do I’m coming to join you
10.
San Gabriel 03:34
Cut through San Gabriel and then head home My womens alone in our double it looks like it trouble again After the carnival sick from the cotton Telling my friends I’d forgotten my rhythm But still there just giving me hell Well, its alright Im back at home Its alright I ain’t sleeping alone The darkest of hours comes just before daylight And out on the avenue the girls are performing Soon they’ll be swarming around me And breaking the boundaries of comfort Uppers and alcohol the pair don’t mix Things have been bad but they’re fixing to turn In spite of all your concern I’ll be fine And the deadline is quickly approaching And the breakers are coming on strong On my own words I’ll be choking Won’t be long
11.
I found my demons Caught them where they were sleeping Now I know I’ll never be alone Shaving after drinking Come downstairs steadily bleeding And exposing my jawbone While my engine stammers and shakes Another quart of oil straight in the tank Push the pedal, pull the brake Seeing is deceiving And to think you had me believing In cottonwoods and two-step songs Got my papers of indenture So many years living up to my potential It’s probably time to take about twenty years off Good morning South Carolina Left a trail of dog bones behind you Hoping I might follow you inside Hoping I might follow While my hands they tremble and shake Got to calm them down with another round of drinks
12.
Notched logs board sealed cold enough to crack my eyeballs Remnants of the past are hanging from the ceiling and peeling off the walls Sulfurs heavy in the air and now the clouds are on the move I’m searching for the cracks in the vinyl just trying to find the grooves ‘Cause they were true to the vine Like cicadas singing to the night Long gone sounds Out of sight True to the vine Up and down the fenceline the grass is overgrown From the kitchen to the parlor to the back porch Their making Stellas sound like gold Tapes were running unawares and now the boys are chiming in Sound is drifting through the transom, I can feel that hickory wind again
13.
It wasn’t pretty when you set out across the fields in your nightgown Cursing the doctors, curse us all right on out And from Richmond, a two hour drive Nobody speaking, just the hum of the tires Everybody thinking: this ain’t how it should go Mecklenburg County Six tenths of rain The bottle underneath the truck seat never fooled Jesus or you Nor did America when they said they put those folks on the moon Vamonos is all you need to say They’re gonna move eventually Pull the suckers off of one row and turn around and do it again All hands on the good ones Fiddles and anger set me free All hands on the good ones Fiddles and anger set me free
14.
Reverent and royal the foggy eyes of middle California The sun sleeps in the ditches too lazy to burn it off With a name like smoke you’re built long just like a vaquero But at the rodeo you spent most of your time in the dirt Staring at the sea you saw the face of Cornelia Ruiz Staring back at you with that look that says she’s going to leave And out there on the flatland you tried to lasso the dogs But they bobbed and weaved and smiled at you with their yellowing teeth When things unravel, who will be there with the needle? It’s plain to see why there’s two kinds of laughter in the world I’ve heard of robbing the cradle But I’ve never heard of robbing the grave When things unravel, my darling will you count the days Behind the causeways the traffic lights are dim The beds are gravel but that’s all normal to them Dressed in amarillo to match your red eyes A painful contrast to the older and the wise Everyone knows there’s no humor in suicide But everyone laughed when your own bullet whizzed you right by Everyone knows there’s no humor in suicide But everyone laughed when your own bullet passed you right by
15.
All your talk about the man I find it hard to understand where you think this thing is going ‘Cause if you listen to my cadence I’m sure you’d be afraid of the warning signs you see I’m showing So I went down to Virginia hoping for to win you My arms still need something to hold Like my blues had all been bottled and you sold them back to me Just like they said you served it cold So put your guitars where your mouth is and hang ‘em down real low Got a quarter inch on lockdown lets go This box of wires and wood knows just what I need to say Baby you can have tomorrow, I’ve got yesterday From the moment that you came in it surely was a shame when You strapped that beauty on but you never played With all that starch up in your oxford and product in your hair You’re like a one man hit parade Load up the cases We’re headed out at dawn Don’t want to say goodbye Just want to be gone So but your guitars where your mouth is and hang ‘em down real low Got a quarter inch on lockdown lets go This box of rusted wires knows what to say

about

(c) Wrinkle Neck Mules / Gold Dust Twin Music (BMI)

Recorded at Haunted Hollow, Charlottesville, Virginia and PMD Recording, Ruckersville, Virginia

credits

released March 7, 2006

Produced by Chris Kress & Wrinkle Neck Mules

Edited and Mixed by Chris Kress
Mastered at Mayfield Mastering, Nashville, Tennessee
Cover Photography by Charlotte Clarkson
Design by Adam Stockton

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Wrinkle Neck Mules Richmond, Virginia

Don Imus once said that the Wrinkle Neck Mules “don’t have what it takes to make it”. Despite Don’s prediction, the band has garnered a cult following in their 14+ years of creating a “righteous Americana mishmash”.

To date, they have recorded 5 albums on Atlanta’s Lower 40 Records and Germany’s Blue Rose.
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