Get all 27 Jonathan Byrd releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Infrared, Jimmy Says, Fog On the Mountain, I Should Have Died, I've Been Everywhere - Covid 19 version, Pickup Takeout, Live at The Blue Note Grill, Live at NERFA, and 19 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
1. |
.38 Baby
02:39
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38 Baby
one in the chamber and a full magazine
she got a barrel like you ain't never seen
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She my 38 baby, shot a big ol' hole in my heart
you just a rabbit on a hickory stump
she says jump, boy, you better jump
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She my 38 baby, shot a big ol' hole in my heart
she got no safety when she's gettin her kicks
shot a hole in the window of the motel 6
quick on the draw and her pattern is tight
she's got her finger on the trigger tonight
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She my 38 baby, shot a big ol' hole in my heart
she was a child and her daddy was hip
made her a rattle with a Bakelite grip
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She my 38 baby, shot a big ol' hole in my heart
one to the heart, one to the head
I'll love that woman 'til the day that I'm dead
She' my 38 Baby, she's my 38 baby
She' my 38 baby, shot a big ol' hole in my heart
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2. |
Slip Away
03:41
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Slip Away
Free and clean, you're daddy's girl, dancin' down in Mexico,
all night long and nobody knows. You're just a poet and you had to go slip away.
Slip away.
They try to love but you slip away.
It's been a while since you paid a bill. Forgiveness is a shallow well.
What you're given is all you've got- the way you look and the way you smell slip away.
Slip away.
They try to love but you slip away.
Can't go home again for shame. You try to make it in a border town,
running tar to hotel rooms. The sailor boys call you down. You slip away.
Slip away.
They try to love but you slip away.
Even when the deal goes south, you never figure yourself for a slave.
Confederacy is the easy way out, but you take your freedom to your grave and slip away.
Slip away.
They try to love but you slip away.
Your uncle came and picked you up. You was toe-tagged and skin and bone.
Took you back to Shasta Lake, but nobody ever took you home. You slipped away.
Slipped away.
They tried to love but you slipped away.
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3. |
Starlight
04:07
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Starlight Jonathan Byrd
He held a toothpick ‘tween his teeth, a mischievous carpenter.
She boarded the train and gave him a kiss, a tentative wanderer.
Star light, star bright, you’re the only star I’ve got tonight. Starlight.
He stroked her hair and showed her the dough, no more than bargainer.
She followed him back to the sleeping car, oh, Saint Christopher.
Star light, star bright, you’re the only star I’ve got tonight. Starlight.
That’ll get you all the way to Thunder Bay. Wait outside the Finlandia.
I know a man who'll give you a room. You don’t have to work for him.
Star light, star bright, you’re the only star I’ve got tonight. Starlight.
Train kept a-chuggin on through St. Paul, her face in the window,
drinking black coffee and cutting her hair on the white linoleum.
Star light, star bright, you’re the only star I’ve got tonight. Starlight.
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4. |
Mama's Got Wheels
02:49
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Mama's Got Wheels - JByrd
Mmm it's a sixty-three.
Mmm it's got heated seats.
Mmm a little Detroit steel,
Mama's got wheels.
Mmm not a lot of flash.
Mmm paid for in cash.
Mmm everything is real.
Mama's got wheels.
You wanna ride? You pay for the gas.
You wanna drive? Don't drive me too fast.
You wanna know how quality feels?
Mama's got wheels, baby, Mama's got wheels.
Mmm, what would you pay,
mmm, to feel this way?
Mmm, let's make a deal.
Mama's got wheels.
Mmm all it needs is love,
mmm, and a tender touch.
Mmm it's got the factory seal.
Mama's got wheels.
You wanna ride? You pay for the gas.
You wanna drive? Don't drive me too fast.
You wanna know how quality feels?
Mama's got wheels, baby, Mama's got wheels.
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5. |
A Big Truck Brought It
03:15
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Big Truck Brought It Rob Vaarmeyer
Keep your Kenworth running strong for regional, bulk, or hauling logs.
Air suspension's got a nice soft ride. Fairing's got a toolbox inside.
Piano-hinge doors stay quiet and square and that huck-bolted cab ain't going nowhere.
600 horses, charging straight and true, and it's aerodynamic, to save you fuel.
If you got, a big truck brought it.
If you want it, there's a big truck on it.
Picture a semi in your mind, flat-nosed grill, red oval sign.
The classic-looking semi, it was defined by the Peterbilt 389.
New model's got a sloped-grilled hood. That lets you see the road real good.
If you like that, that's just fine. Me, I drive a 389.
If you got, a big truck brought it.
If you want it, there's a big truck on it.
Air-braking haulers go by many names. They're all a little different, but one thing's the same-
whether Sterling, Mack, or Western Star, a big rig brought it to where you are.
If it's Freightliner, Eagle, Volvo, or Ford, Playboy mudflaps or Baby On Board,
hauling solid gold or a load of manure, a big truck brought it. You can be sure.
If you got, a big truck brought it.
If you want it, there's a big truck on it.
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6. |
Pale Rider
03:45
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Pale Rider
A seagull flies out over the ice and perches,
half a moon above the birches,
pale rider on a white horse.
The sunset shines in the eye of a loon as she watches
falling shadows for the foxes,
a little blood on the bone knife,
pale rider on a white horse.
The raven dreams he sees through the eyes of the dying
into a sky full of dark wings.
Night comes to take us home,
a little blood on the bone knife,
pale rider on a white horse.
The sun returns and burns gold into the shallows.
An eagle watches from the willows.
There's a flash in the river.
Night comes to take us home,
a little blood on the bone knife,
pale rider on a white horse.
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7. |
Poor Johnny
02:50
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Poor Johnny Jbyrd
Poor Johnny at the bottom of the lake. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
Poor Johnny at the bottom of the lake, boy went fishing and drownded.
I had a girl I loved the best. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
Lord knows, Johnny could've loved the rest, but the boy went fishing and drownded.
I had a bottle of ninety proof. Bottom of the lake, Poor Johnny.
I'd take one drink, he'd take two, and the boy went fishing and drownded.
Johnny was using my good cane pole. Bottom of the lake, Poor Johnny.
Got so drunk that he couldn't keep ahold, and the boy went fishing and drownded.
Then what happened, I never could tell. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
He never could handle his liquor well and the boy went fishing and drownded.
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8. |
Working Offshore
04:47
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Working Offshore
It was Houston Texas, 1958.
I was looking for work from state to state.
The Man said, "Son, you're way too young,
but there's jobs to be done, working offshore."
I caught a 64-footer to a Grand Isle rig.
I told em I was eighteen, just to get the gig.
Two-fifty an hour, a steak and a shower,
energy was power, working offshore.
It's a long way out, just to trust your luck.
It's a long way down, just to bring it back up.
They put me in the crow's nest, lining up a run.
I was lining up another when that one was done.
When the sunset bled, the Gulf turned red,
two men to a bed, working offshore.
It was ten days on, five days off.
My back was getting strong, my head was getting soft.
I lost a finger in a chain, had to retrain,
a little pain for my gain, working offshore.
It's a long way out, just to trust your luck.
It's a long way down, just to bring it back up.
So, I packed it up in 1959.
I went back to school to get what's mine.
I heard then, eighteen of my friends
never came in from working offshore.
No telling how many men have fallen.
Now it's two-fifty, what, three bucks a gallon?
You're standing in that line, just keep it in mind,
there's men still dying, working offshore.
It's a long way out, just to trust your luck.
It's a long way down, just to bring it back up.
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9. |
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You Can't Outrun The Radio- Jbyrd
I was driving out in Kansas
when I heard that song you love.
Big sunflowers, for all their graces,
turn their faces to the sun.
Son, you can't outrun the radio.
My friends tell me, "Move to Austin,
maybe Nashville, Tennessee."
If I can get back to North Carolina,
I'll let the music come to me.
See, you can't outrun the radio.
Even Dale Earnhardt. He was hell on the speedway.
He was a champion seven times.
He thought he'd make it one more five hundred,
and went four hundred and ninety-nine.
When it's time, you can't outrun the radio.
Now I'm laying in this hotel.
It's all uphill to fall asleep.
I check the FM on the alarm clock,
and pray the Lord this lap to keep.
People, you can't outrun the radio.
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10. |
Close Enough To Touch
04:07
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Close Enough To Touch Jbyrd and Anthony daCosta
Do you ever wanna stone me?
Do you ever think you're all grown up?
If you ever get lonely, I'm
close enough to touch.
Close enough to touch.
Deep cover on a dark night
can't take away all my love.
Behind the cloud, I'm a satellite,
close enough to touch.
Close enough to touch.
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me lovin you, lovin' you?
Can I turn it off?
Can I ever stop lovin you, lovin' you?
There's a ghost on the telephone.
Will it ever be good enough?
There's a voice on the radio,
close enough to touch.
Close enough to touch.
I got my heart tied up in twine,
a bandana with all my stuff.
A red hawk in the western sky,
close enough to touch.
Close enough to touch.
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Jonathan Byrd Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Preacher's kid, Gulf War veteran, award-winning songwriter, Youtuber, teacher, and creativity coach from North
Carolina.
“One of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years. ” — Chicago Tribune
“...a folk singer with the heart of a rock 'n' roll band.” — K. Oliver, Free Times.
... more
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