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Dry Goods and Sundries

by Chuck Melchin

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1.
blood stains on his tshirt so you know just where he’s been spent all his friday wages on a whore and mescaline he’s passed out in the carport smells like makers mark and sin best be gone before he wakes up the mood that he’ll be in i was gone soon as i could work my feet it was a tin roof pre-fab 427 washburn street sister had five boyfriends cause she loved a dirty fight wore her lipstick red as roses wore her dresses short and tight left no note behind her disappeared into the night didn’t even take a suitcase must have caught an early fright mama kept on with prescriptions his heart was bout wore out she kept a secret pill box in the wall behind the couch she had lots of pills to make him sleep and some that make him dream she got eyes that cut his soul out like some vengeful laser beam
2.
Willing Man 03:04
the belt is gone on the well pump honey the cistern’s running dry push the cattle down to the new grass push your prayers up to the sky i’ll truck on down to Whitetail baby see if big john can be found brush the cobwebs off his dowser find the water underground they tell me that a willing man earns the measure with his hands but if we don’t get some rain soon, i hope my savior understands cause i’ve been keeping records now you best believe i’m keeping score and i won’t bother knocking i’m just walking through heavens door Hank can’t feed his horses honey i can take them off his hands they can graze up on the high hill on the federale’s land if we get out of this one baby gonna settle up with the man they say he works in mystery well i don’t understand his plan sometimes when the prairie grass shimmers like a golden sea the only thing that matters is that you are here with me
3.
they shut down the bar an hour or so before pulled down the shades put the closed sign on the door she was dancing on the bar still and nobody seemed to care i said i got a place just a block or two from here i miss her my little bucktown girl i said tell me your name she said call me what you please and gave a little half laugh and she kissed me on the cheek said would the gentleman like to buy the girl a drink i said of course he would and washed a glass out in the sink her laughter sounded like a song sung in harmony till dawn when i woke up she was gone
4.
Blue 03:02
Seems like trouble always circles me round here Smoking ditch weed and drinking warm union beer Idle hands are just the devil’s now I fear Heading out of town my problems disappear Gonna start all over fresh in some place new And make the same mistakes again I made with you Call me bitter blue She only wanted what a woman wants it seems Find a man to pay attention to her dreams A double wide set on a level lot is all she’d ever need Covered by the kind of wound that never bleeds Somewhere far enough away so nobody knows my name it’s an old familiar story and the ending is the same
5.
Souvenir 02:59
you didn't think of her as a keeper she's just another souvenir if she's still around when the hockey game is over and you finish another beer then you're walk right over and ask her darlin, what's your name i got a hundred different reasons for leaving but i can't remember why i came she says i thought you'd never come over i've been giving you the signals all night did you think that i looked just like trouble did you think i looked like i might bite now that i have your attention tell me darlin, what's your name i got a hundred different reasons for leaving but i can't remember why i came she says i can't listen to coltrane it always makes me want to dance and when she turns around you slip away you knew that it was your last chance and you wonder why you ever went over and asked her darlin, what's your name i got a hundred different reasons for leaving but i can't remember why i came
6.
Double 02:45
In a ditch in god knows where The truck has left the road Blood was drying in my hair Carried double times the load Carried double times the load Pulling out from Beauceville With some timber and some weed Make it down to Caratunk Bring the people what they need Bring the people what they need Maybe one more trip or two Paying off my IOU and I’ll buy a second chance FIght this logging road all night Muddy windshield one headlight And the reapers come to dance In a ditch in god knows where The truck has left the road
7.
The Undoing 03:19
Holding on to a lie that she was there for the taking Long as i can my body is shaking A fantasy Telenovela casting me as the hero Plot twisting set the clock back to zero Falling down So I can start again got to die before you run Release me now I got years to go so much undoing to be done Rescue me Cut the bell rope cause I think the lifeboat is sinking on our knees and nobody’s thinking
8.
headlights on the left side there’s a ditch on the right you’d better find somewhere you can stop for the night you showed up with a five pack the way that you do road beers have a habit of following you she was there at the window prepared for a fight her eyes like a tractor beam had you locked in its sights my angel my baby she left me i’m crazy i fell down so thirsty to the bottom again said i ain’t no supergirl i can bleed too your words feel like bee stings when i’m talking to you said i’ll give you an option you just have to choose between me and my heart beat or the pull of the booze nothing but big rigs on i-95 there’s a rest stop in kittery might keep you alive but what good is living if theres no one to tell how the hole that you fell down is as deep as a well
9.
Cali Blossom 03:34
If I hadn't turned away If I had stayed to face All the things you had to say To me Would I still be lost in time Drivin' 'cross the LA line Feeling like I lost my mind Again The Cali-blossom nectar tastes so sweet And I remember when my hand was on your knee And your smile so young, so pretty and so free If you had just turned the page If you had just walked away There was nothing left to say To me Everything would have turned out all right Like a long forgotten night Fading like a lone taillight Again
10.
she threw her shit into the pickup bed threw the kids into the cab and then she slammed it into drive who's he think he's talking to with that sneering little smile he best be glad he's still alive she got a cold case of denial on her first year anniversary a long look in the mirror that says it's him or me now his brother comes around to say that he wants to see them kids but he's got the bato in his veins but they look like him like they look like you and isn't that a shame cause things won't ever be the same

about

This record was recorded mostly at the Treehouse, my new studio in southern New Hampshire, with me playing most of the instruments and a few friends recording parts remotely. I'm not sure why I chose to release this under my own name instead of the Bean Pickers Union. It just felt more of a personal thing than previous records.

credits

released May 5, 2020

All songs by Chuck Melchin
Produced by Chuck Melchin
All songs recorded at the Treehouse, Exeter NH except guest performances recorded remotely and Mirror which was pulled from a cell phone video taken by Andy Estabrooks.
Mastered by Dave Westner, Side Hill Studio

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Chuck Melchin Exeter, New Hampshire

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