1. |
Streets of Portobello
03:05
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In Puerto Rico
well. I pronounce it like a white-man does,
because I was a white-man once
out in Rio...
Rio "days-of-broken-arrows!"
but Puerto Rico
bitten by a sick mosquito
that turned my skin and eyes to yellow
now playing cello
along the the streets of Portobello
oh... things change so fast
you turn around and you're someone else...and
turn and in a second's flash
your private jet is about to crash
just north of Reno
from Villa Grande Cappuccino
where I was living incognito
with Madonna
"Hold all my calls until mañana."
"Senior, Gambino,
please come and play at our Casino,
and stuff yourself at the canteeno."
..while in the ghetto
it's rice-and-beano's-jalapenos!"
so, I rode a rented mountain bike
high into the country side...and
deep into a village town
where.... it was "all fall down"....
So I wrote a Credo
good liberal, hippie, old Bandido
with rosaries from a bordello
I bought a cello
on the streets of Portobello
on the streets of Portobello
(break)
oh... things change so fast
you turn around and you're someone else...and
turn and in a second's flash
your private jet is about to crash
on my libido
bitten by a sick mosquito
that turned my skin and eyes to yellow
now playing cello
on the streets of Portobello
I'm playing cello
on the streets of Portobello
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2. |
Nine Times Around
03:05
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I heard a dog bark
there was a vicious pound
and some wild wind
blew my big door down
it was a white out...
blizzard, covered the town
nine times around
nine times around
So, on the down hill
up at Sugarloaf
there was a big man
from the outermost
who took his gloves off
and wrapped me in his coat
nine times around
nine times around
I went to walk around
circle the village square
on the thin hope
that maybe God was there
well, I was knee deep
in my petition prayer
nine times around
nine times around
West of the Great Lakes
an empty highway stretch
on an entrance ramp
I nearly froze to death
bargained my mother load
of virgin crystal meth
nine times around
nine times around
and in Nebraska
where there were frozen farms
became a red neck
when I flagged him down
and he bought me pancakes
ninety seven pounds
nine times around
nine times around
I had simple dreams
sunshine, food and shelter
but they just never seemed
to stand up through the winter weather
for four full months....
I had a kitten once
slept on the cellar stairs
but I swear to God
I didn't see her there
we had to put her down
inside the frozen ground
nine times around
nine times around
but medication now
somehow keeps me calm
but the truth be told
it's really never gone
yeah, in Omaha
the snow's still coming down
nine times around
nine times around
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3. |
Collision with the Night
03:35
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Let's wait till it settles
the mood is still pretty thick
and the cold air is quite intense around here
so I wouldn't want to make a final judgement to quick
and I'm tired and I'm twisted
and I'm doubled down in pain
and if someone pried me from this wreckage right now
I'd only wreck it all again!
so, how's my love life doing, you ask
well, it's doing alright
considering that I've been through
another head-on Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
I should learn from all this
but I don't think I will
like a stunt man tempting death
I think the danger of love was my thrill
where I dangled from that dark thin edge
and I was up-right for a devil-chase
till I blew down from that high windy ledge
face first flat onto the interstate!
you said... you heard about my accident
well, that's not quite right
you see, heart break's no accident
it's a head-on Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
Bridge:
It's true, I've been in the hospital
but just to get a some rest
not like I ever really lived there!
I was more like an... overnight guest!
so yeah, you might say I was a little upset
but wouldn't you be?
I still find that it's hard to forget
But I guess that's just the way it's gonna' be for me
as I try to start moving on...well, you know...
well, try as I might
somewhere between dusk and dawn
another head-on Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
Collision with the Night
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4. |
God Pray
03:29
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I looked in the book
I'm told, the one and only holy book
I stole from myself
from the only shelf that I could reach
to teach me the truth
all about my transgressions
and youthful indiscretions
and sin and damnation....
and I thought to myself
if I showered in a rainbow
and bathed every night
and I blew away my kilo
believing in the myth...that
...It was time for dealing with
this sin around my midriff
and ridding all the world of it
god pray, curse sin and damnation
god pray, my control
to take away the guilt of implications
and pillage mammon gold
So I called all the brotherhood
and cousins from the projects
from Mercer Street in Tangle-wood
with all their stolen objects
and rented all the Legionnaires
back stairs banquet halls
to get them there to tell them all
we're praising God with alcohol
god pray, curse sin and damnation
god pray, my control
to take away the guilt of implications
and pillage mammon gold
(bridge)
stillborn brown stone babies
war torn down Delancy Street
dead armies beaten silent
still cry for their Mother's ....
love, .....but for her crimes,
pain and strife, passed along
......and on and on...and on and on
I was born to this quest
like a virgin to the fire flies
to get it off my chest
all the weight of the worldwide
and purify my heart
but still inside the torture cries
and even when I close my eyes
still I see the fire flies
god pray, curse sin and damnation
god pray, my control
to take away the guilt of implications
and pillage mammon gold
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5. |
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how could I ever re-pay you?
I'm terribly short on a plan
when Vagas got lucky
we moved to Kentucky
with five hungry kids in the van
you know I'm so full of excuses
financial, ridiculous wreck
If I had a shovel
I'd still be in trouble
'cause I'm buried full up to my neck
and though..
death is the wages of sin, it's true
red's still my color of rage
I'm so freakin' mad
at my communist Dad
I'm still making minimum wage
from who could I ask for a favor?
no chance it would do me much good
I'd use it for whiskey or resting from labor
just like my dead dad said I would
so please, please, tell me the moral here
please, please tell me what's true
while I repeat the story line
then I'll leave it for you....
How could I ever re-pay you?
will something turn tragic again?
like my brother Morrise', who married my niece
and then they drove off with my van!
which I'd only borrowed from Mason
one terrible bulk of a man
and how so it cost 'em when somebody crossed him
like the jungles in North VietNam
and my spiritual life's in foreclosure
though my knees are all bloody from prayer
I dont mean to blame in Jesus' sweet name
But Christ, why is life so unfair?
so please, please, tell me the moral here
please, please tell me what's true
while I repeat the story line, repeat the story line
then I'll leave it for you....
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6. |
All Water Falls
03:51
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when you took my pulse
like shopping in a store
just trying on some clothes
I asked you for your hand
and you said, "Well, I suppose,
if we're just talking friend to friend."
So, we started slow
my hopes were to impress you for a little awhile.
then through a hole in time, a thousand-million miles
where it would only ever end...
...where all water falls down over us
down over... from
high mountain top snow
where all water, with no effort
can touch heaven
then fill valleys below!
bought you pretty things
re-fried all my tasty Spanish recipes
read you passion poems
on my bended knees
how even water falls for you
but I'm slow in mind
missed your simplest of
of sheltered pantomimes
but talked until the morning
on a hundred times
then woke up and called for you...
.... where all water falls down over us
down over... from
high mountain top snow
where all water, with no effort
can touch heaven
then fill valleys below!
(Bridge)
I grew a garden green and lush
with butterflies and morning doves,
and built a house with my own hands
deep inside this valley land,
and decorated picture frames
with northern lights and morning rain,
and gathered from the mountain stream
so I could fill your every dream
where all water falls down
where all water falls down
(Chorus)
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George Engel Hartford, Connecticut
George Engel, a singer/songwriter and for MANY years the owner and operator of Connecticut local music label, Sling Slang Records, has recorded his own songs with his bands, Baby Boot Box and George Engel and the Wedding Band.
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