Get all 8 Terry Allen releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Cowboy and the Stranger, Gonna California, Bloodlines, Smokin the Dummy, Just Like Moby Dick, Pedal Steal + Four Corners, Lubbock (on everything), and Juarez.
1. |
Roses Red Roses
10:45
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CHORUS
Red Roses…Red Roses
Girl of Mystery
Her hair hangs down yellow
But her skin is Shawnee
She lives in Caliche pits
Outside of town
And fires her long rifle
At the sun going down
1
Her story is tragic
A sad one…but true
How just as a small child
She was captured by the Sioux
Then they made her a slave queen
To the Oglala Chief
Who forced her to do things
Beyond all belief
But the Cavalry came, charged
And killed as they went
Shooting and looting
And burning the tents
And Roses Red Roses
The slave of a brave
Was released from her torture
But never quite saved
Because after the battle
They took her to the fort
Where they bathed her and pinched her
And had her for sport
Then the chicken bird Colonel
Took her home with him
And all that had happened
Happened all over again
CHORUS
2
Yes the Colonel was a savage
Worse than the Sioux
And he drove her half-crazy
With the things that he’d do
So one night while sleeping
With her in his bed
She pulled his iron pistol
And bashed in his head
She ran through the valleys
Over mountains, across plains
She hid in dark caves
During the snows and the rains
And the dogs came Howlin
Sniffing for her scent
But they never could smell
Where the Red Roses went
INSTRUMENTAL
3
So she went down to Dallas
To beg for some food
But the cowgirls got ugly
Were hostile and rude
Lucky…she met Feathers
The Red Queen of Sin
Who clothed her and fed her
and took her right in
To the big house called Hot Horn
Behind a saloon
Where her face was all painted
To match her new room
And Feathers…her first friend
Introduced her to men
And what always had happened
Had happened again
But she rolled and she tumbled
Drank rosey red wine
And what once was her torture
Now seemed to be fine
She made lots of money
And spent it on thrills
Taking red wine to whiskey
and from whiskey to pills
CHORUS
4
Then from somewhere in Texas
In rode a strange man
All dressed in black leather
With a grace in his hands
His guns were blue silver
His pale lip was curled
And he stopped at the Hot Horn
For the wild Indian girl
Red Roses was now famous
A legend in the West
And men who knew the good ones
Knew her as the best
So the stranger was smiling
When he took her warm hand
Introducing himself
As the Sun Shining man
And he wined her, he dined her
He played with her knee
And charmed her with card tricks
Into submitting for free
And she did it…she did it
Because he was the one
The first one to make her
Burn as hot as the sun
CHORUS
5
So the three years that followed
Were a wonderful bliss
And Red Roses stopped sharing
Her wild Indian kiss
And her Sunshine became marshal
The best man in town
And news of their marriage
Spread for miles all around
But Feathers her best friend
Was wicked at heart
She’d temped Sunshine
Right from the start
And on the day of the wedding
The two were found dead
Locked bloody together
In Feathers brass bed
And Roses Red Roses
Was not to be found
Only her tear drops
Left stains on the ground
Where…in sorrow and hatred
She’d blown them apart
Disappearing forever
With a thorn in her heart
CHORUS
6
So…many years passed
And nothing was heard
Of Red Roses that flower
Not even a word
She’d vanished for always
Or so it did seem
Like all that had happened
Was just a sad dream
Then…from out of the desert
A wagon came to town
And the driver…a monster!
Spilled out on the ground
Shuffling and snorting
Toothless and yellow it spit
But crawled back in the wagon
And drove it to the pits
And it lived there a wreckage
All wasted and near rot
Screaming out at the sun shine
A shooting a shot
Like the red sun was the reason
For all darkness on the ground
And had to be shot dead
Before it went down
INSTRUMENTAL
Then one day was silent
Most unlike the rest
And the sunshine rolled freely
Into the West
And the monster had vanished
All but its clothes
Where found wilted inside
Was a dying red rose
CHORUS
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2. |
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COWBOY OF THE PRAIRIE
COWBOY OF THE PLAINS
FALLING FROM HIS SADDLE
GRABBING FOR THE REINS
LANDING ON THE DEATH ROCKS
WITH HIS BULLET HOLE AND HIS GUN
DYING THERE BUT BREATHING
STAINS IN THE SUN
YEAH THE COWBOY IS LYING
UNDER THE PALE RED SKY
THE COWBOY IS DYING
UNDER THE STALE RED SKY
AHHH SO COWBOY SURRENDER
STAY DOWN ... ROLL OVER ... AND CRY EEE YI YI YI YIPEELE YI
THEN ALONG COMES A STRANGER
WITH BIBLES IN HIS HAND
AN HE TAKES THE COWBOY'S WATER TRADING DUST FROM A PROMISED LAND
AND THEN THE STRANGER LEAVES HIM LYING
FEELING NO REMORSE
HE’sS A HEADED FOR AMARILLO
AND A RIDIN THE COWBOY'S HORSE
YEAH THE COWBOY IS LYING UNDER THE BLOOD-CLOUD SKY
AHHH THE COWBOY IS DYING
UNDER THE BLOOD-CROWDS SKY
SO COWBOY SURRENDER
STAY DOWN...ROLL OVER...AND CRY EEE YI YI YI YIPPEEEE YI
BUT THE COWBOY STARTS SINGING
A SOFTLY COYOTE SOUND
OH HEE TIMBS IE WAS A WILD ONE
SHOOTING UP A BORDER TOWN
AND WITH BOOTS OFF IN THE BLEEDING THE DAY IS ALMOST GONE
YET THE COWBOY KEEPS HIS SINGING
WHILE, THE STRANGER PASSES ON
AHHHH A COWBOY IS LYING
UNDER THE FINAL SKY
YEAH THE COWBOY IS DYING
UNDER THE VINYL SKY AND THE COWBOY REMEMBERS
THE STRANGER.. WHO PASSED. HIM BY EBE YI YI YI YIPPEEE YI
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3. |
Truckload of Art (demo)
03:27
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A Truckload of Art
From New York City
Came rollin down the road
Yeah the driver was singing
And the sunset was pretty
But the truck turned over
And she rolled off the road
Yeah a truckload of Art
Is burning near the highway
Precious objects are scattered
All over the ground
And it’s a terrible sight
If a person were to see it
But there weren’t nobody around
Yodel
Yeah the driver went sailing
High in the sky
Landing in the gold lap of the Lord
Who smiled and then said
“Son, you’re better off dead
Than haulin a truckload
full of hot avant garde”
(chorus)
Yes … an important artwork
Was thrown burning to the ground
Tragically … landing in the weeds
And the smoke could be seen
Ahhh for miles all around
Yeah but nobody … knows what it means
Yes … a truckload of art
Is burning near the highway
And it’s a tough job for the highway patrol
Ahhh they’ll soon see the smoke
An come a’runnin to poke
Then dig a deep ditch
And throw the arts in a hole
Yodel
Yes … a truckload of art
Is burning near the highway
And it’s raging far-out of control
And what the critics have cheered
Is now shattered and queered
And their noble reviews
Have been stewed on the road
(chorus)
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4. |
Red Bird (demo)
03:23
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HO DOWN DOWN
HO DOWN DEE
RED BIRD DANCIN
IN CUSTODY
GOIN DOWN
NEW ORLEANS
RED BIRD DANCIN
AN A RED BIRD SING
RED BIRD SING
RED BIRD DO
NEW ORLEANS
AN A RED BIRD BLUE
I BEEN BORN
AN I’M GONNA DIE
BLOOD RED WING
YOU GONNA MAKE ME FLY
GOIN IN
A RED BIRD DEN
AIN’T GONNA
COME OUT AGAIN
HO DOWN DOWN
HO DOWN DEE
RED BIRD DANCIN
IN CUSTODY
II.
HO DOWN DOWN
HO DOWN DEE
RED BIRD DANCE
A PENITENTIARY
A JAILER STONED
AN HE BARRED THE DOOR
RED BIRD GONE … YEAH
TO FLY NO MORE
BLACK CROW SEE
BLACK CROW KNEW
NEW ORLEANS IS WHERE
THE RED BIRD FLEW
I BEEN BORN
AN I’M GONNA DIE
BLOOD RED WING
YOU GONNA MAKE ME CRY
RUSTY WING
A DEAD DARK THING
CROWS TOO LOUD NOW
WHEN RED BIRD SING
HO DOWN DOWN
HO DOWN DEE
RED BIRD DANCE
A PENITENTIARY
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Terry Allen Santa Fe, New Mexico
Legendary Texan artist Terry Allen occupies a unique position straddling the frontiers of country music and conceptual art;
he has worked with everyone from Guy Clark to David Byrne to Lucinda Williams to Bruce Nauman, and his artwork resides in museums worldwide.
paradiseofbachelors.com/terry-allen
... more
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