Get all 6 Mandolin Jack releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Raking Through The Ashes, Jukebox, EXILE, Phoenix In The Ashes, Lonesome Road, and Oil, Grease & Diesel.
1. |
SMOKESTACK JACK
02:27
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Headin’ out west on an all-night drive
In an old black flathead ‘55
Four guys trying to keep this dream alive
We’re looking for the man called Smokestack Jack
Put the whole gone world back on the map
The only one who’s gonna show us where it’s at.
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack is gone & won’t come back
We’ve got guitars and a gallon of wine in the trunk
Brownsville blues and beers up front
Been looking for Smokestack Jack in every honky-tonk
We’ve been down the track to the railroad’s end
Heard the clickety-clack of ol’ Southern Train
Turn around, and we’re back on the road again
So I’m here behind the wheel
Of this westbound automobile
I still don’t know what is real
And what’s just yakety-yak
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack is gone & won’t come back
I wanna meet the man who’ll shake my hand
Show me the way to the promised land
Preacher, teacher, leader of this rock & roll band
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack
Smokestack Jack is gone & won’t come back
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2. |
THE PREACHER'S STORY
03:16
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In a white-timbered back-street hotel
The bar was made of zinc
A row of old chrome barstools
Where the customers sit and drink,
He looked like a preacher
Whose faith had left him weak
I sat a while beside him
He took his time to speak
He said, pour me another drink, boy
Get out your pen and write
I’ll tell you a story
I’ll show you the light
He said he went looking for his father
Who he never knew first hand
Just a grey and faded photograph
Of a travelin’ man
And while he told me of his journey
He showed me his battered guide
A picture of his hero Sal
Folded up inside
He said, pour me another drink, boy
Sit with me tonight
Listen to my story
I’ll show you the light
He said, just read the scriptures, son
Check all the fine detail
Don’t end up like me, boy
With the hellhound on your trail.
There’s gospel on the radio
Jazz in the air
When this old preacher got up to go
There was a halo in his hair
(he threw me a coin & said …)
Pour yourself a drink, boy
I hope you got this right
Listen to my story
I'll show you the light
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3. |
SLOW ROLLIN' TRAIN
03:39
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Friends will come, friends will go
Some on the fast train,
Some on the slow.
The whistle blows a long lost chord
Calling out for us
To get on board.
Train, train, I hear your sound
But this time I’ll stand my ground
Slow rollin’ train
My sweet girl was at the station
Waiting ‘round for
Some salvation;
We check’d the time, we check’d the date
Check’d every hour,
That train was late.
Train, train, it’s been so long
Love my girl but now she’s gone
Slow rollin’ train
One day I’ll stand by that rattling track
Wait for the train to carry me back
Mile-post for my head-stone
That train’s rolling over my bones
That train’s rolling over my bones
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4. |
THE GOOD TIMES
03:28
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New shirt, new shoes
And a table for two
It’s the good times
Good wine & good food
And a romantic view
It’s the good times
But one word out of line and the tables are turned
Found out all my bridges are burned
I planned what to say but it all comes out wrong
It feels like good times are gone
Good times, good times
They come and they go and you never know when
Good times, good times
Stay with me - we’ll see - Good Times again
Old friends are like family
And all that evokes
It’s the good times
Sharing old jokes
Round the campfire smoke
It’s the good times
Drinking beer and whiskey, staring into the flames
Remembering faces and places and names
Some of the best couldn’t stay ‘round too long
It feels like the good times are gone
Good times, good times
They come and they go and you never know when
Good times, good times
Stay with me - we’ll see - Good Times again
Life moves on
You see a ghost in the mirror, you look back it’s gone
Good times, good times
They come and they go and you never know when
Good times, good times
Stay with me - we’ll see - Good Times again
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5. |
PHOENIX IN THE ASHES
04:19
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The city that I left behind
Won’t ever be the same
I got on board and now we ride
A strange and alien train.
Someone’s been foolin’ ‘round
With kerosene and matches
I guess I won’t be ‘round to see if there’s a
Phoenix in the ashes
I saw old Jimmy by the track
Waitin’ on a long-gone train
Said the old days they won’t come back
There’s no reason to remain.
He’s been walking all the way
From Coeur d’Alene to Natchez
I guess he won’t be ‘round to see if there’s a
Phoenix in the ashes
Mother’s by the highway
Bent down to the ground
Picking up beer cans to sell for scrap
At 45 cents a pound
She wouldn’t even let me know
Where her hidden stash is
I guess she won’t be ‘round to see if there’s a
Phoenix in the ashes
Cisco says he’s doing OK
Just thankful he’s survivin’
Selling candy, snacks and pumping gas
Slippin’ and a-slidin’
Tonight he’s through but in his rear-view
A red and blue light flashes
I guess he won’t be ‘round to see if there’s a
Phoenix in the ashes
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6. |
MUD CRAB BLUES
03:22
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Me and my cousin, out on the creek
Trying to catch some muddies for us to eat
Nothing in the net, nothing in the bottle
Mud-crab slide and mud-crab scuttle.
It don’t matter to me,
It don’t matter to me,
Only one place that I wanna be
Here in the roots of my family tree.
Me ‘n’ Alby, Garto out in the Bobcat
Floatin’ ‘round wondering, where’s all the fish at?
Wanna get a beer, tastes so sweet
But you gotta hook one big enough to keep.
Chorus
Sitting on the deck, pickin’ the blues
To a coupl’a kookaburras and some kangaroos
Putting on a show for the neighbourhood dogs
With fine backing vocals from the green-tree frogs
(they’re singin’)
Chorus
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7. |
GOODBYE MINNESOTA
02:45
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A leaf falls, the sky cries
I’m starting to say my goodbyes
It’s a perfect day for a sad farewell
Goodbye Minnesota
The window pane drips with rain
The open road calls out to me again
No sleep to fight, no dreams to quell
Goodbye Minnesota
You caught my hand, you sought my eye
A long hello, a brief goodbye
Friends take time, as we know so well
Could you be mine? Only time would tell;
Now I find time’s slipp’d away
It’s a poor turn of fate
That won’t let me stay
Midnight train, a speeding car
A whispered note on a steel guitar
The steady toll of the crossing bell
Goodbye Minnesota
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8. |
STEEL WHEELS
02:55
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Night train rolling down the railroad track
The iron rails buckle then they buckle right back
I see the leading diesel pulling us over the crest
I lean my head against the window try and get some rest
Steel wheels screaming in my sleep
Diesel locomotive don’t you know I got a rendezvous to keep
She’ll be waiting at the station at a quarter to three
My black-eyed Rosalita saving it all up for me
I’ve been away up in the North working my fingers to the bone
I catch the night train bring my money back home
Steel wheels screaming in my sleep
Diesel locomotive don’t you know I got a rendezvous to keep
Station after station picking up all night fares
Smell that dirty diesel in the midnight air
My head feels heavy, my eyes like lead
I can’t wait to get some rest in Rosalita’s bed
Steel wheels screaming in my sleep
Diesel locomotive don’t you know I got a rendezvous to keep
Bright lights burning through an early-morning town
Sleep finally come I lay my poor head down
Rosalita search the platform, breathing diesel smoke
But I’m five more miles down the track before I woke
Steel wheels screaming in my sleep
Diesel locomotive don’t you know I got a rendezvous to keep
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9. |
IVY
02:45
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Ivy, you don’t look like any girl I know
Ivy, I’m ready for your Wild West show
Part Betty Page, part Warhol
Red cowboy boots, black camisole
Like a tattoo under my skin
Oh mama, I’m suck’d in
You better believe it, I’m possessed
I want you to play me like your Flame Job Gretsch
Strummin’ your fingers, making me ring
Driving me wild when you bend my string
Like a tattoo under my skin
Oh mama, I’m suck’d in
You always bring out the bad in me
Turn up and turn me on
Take me back to my used-to-be
One more time and I’m gone, gone, gone
You leave me stumblin’ like the Living Dead
Lost my mind, lost my head
Wrap around me, Poison Ivy, please
Let me get a taste of your disease
Like a tattoo under my skin
Oh mama, I’m suck’d in
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10. |
BIG TRUCK
03:09
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When that big truck comes & runs me down and I’m lying in the dirt
And all the rest is history
Don’t stand around and tell me that I got what I deserve,
That’s between that eighteen-wheeler and me
Yes, it’s just between that big truck and me
It’s just between that big truck and me
I want my own sweet piece of heaven
To be the last thing that I see
When it’s just between that big truck and me
Met a girl in Montana, she had eyes for me
She calmed the troubled waters of my soul
That she got mad when I left town, was no surprise to me
I just had to let these wheels roll
When that big Air Horn blows
Telling me I’ve run out of road
I wanna keep drivin’ ‘til I hit the next horizon
Just to see where this old road goes
Bad lands highway, straight as any die
Cutting right across this grey and arid land
No turn or retraction, it just looks you in the eye …
Showed me how to be a better man
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11. |
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There’s a cloud on the horizon
Rain on the wind
I believe I should be leavin’
I’m not sure where to begin
It’s a long and a lonesome road
But I won’t walk alone
It’s a long and a lonesome road
That will lead me back home
There’s a shadow at my shoulder
Hesitation in my tread
I’m going to need you here beside me
To guide me through what lies ahead
I’ll see my friends; I’ll see my family
‘Though the way may be hard and cold
But this sweet, sweet harmony
Will surely help me reach my goal
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Mandolin Jack London, UK
Mainly a songwriter - in Americana mood ; with some mandolin, a bit of guitar, some boogie-woogie keyboards and starting to get to grips with some lap-steel!
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