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A Day Without The Rose

by Michael Mazochi

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1.
Well it’s a broken lullaby and a day without the rose On the passenger side of a van you left behind And I wish that you were standin’ in your famous actor’s mask Hiding all your tears in a post-war masquerade Cos I’d turn the falling rain to wine in a promise I cant keep In a silent shouting match with fate Id wish my words away We’d crack the window open wide and have a breath outside But only when we recognize how much of us has died -- So set the sails for Mexico, we’ll make our new homes there We’ll sit around and sing and tell our tales of western skies And let us speak no more of all our modern tragedies What’s lost is lost, we’re rollin’ on… We’re Roll, We’re Rollin on -- Well coffee stains our sleep in a bed that goes unmade My thoughts they search for vacancies in the hotel of the priest But there is no salvation in a land so torn in strife We only look behind so as to recognize the knife Like shoeless men on frozen streets all searching for a home We see what others speak they fear, so wicked and alone All temporary captives in the cage of iron law With geographic memories in cracks along the walls -- So set the sails for Mexico, we’ll make our new homes there We’ll sit around and sing and tell our tales of western skies And let us speak no more of all our modern tragedies What’s lost is lost, we’re rollin’ on… We’re Roll, We’re Rollin on -- We could be the ones to turn all of our days to night now We’ll Dance and take only what we want to from this life And I know, you’re hopeful of something more than truth But let’s forget that now, say lets forget that now, say lets forget that now -- So set the sails for Mexico, we’ll make our new homes there We’ll sit around and sing and tell our tales of western skies And let us speak no more of all our modern tragedies What’s lost is lost, we’re rollin’ on… We’re Roll, We’re Rollin on
2.
Snow is falling on rooftops On the mountainside This my friend is where my tale begins On a dark December morning The Winter of ‘45 This is where I got the name Cold Tom I was out collecting firewood For my wife and my children When I heard a noise just break on through the wire A girl she was a screamin’ In the mountain stream below me I burst into a run and I began to pray -- I said please lord don’t let me down I said please lord don’t let me down Don’t let me down don’t let me down At least not today -- When I reached the freezing waters My eyes they fell in sorrow She screamed “My lovers quarrel has put me here” And in a fate worse than Hellfire The man he was upon me He struck me right before I could turn to see And on the banks where I was laying My legs were torn and broken The man he turned around and he drove away And as I lay there watching I saw her disappear Into the darkened waters right beside me -- I said please lord don’t let me down I said please lord don’t let me down Don’t let me down don’t let me down At least not today -- The town was most suspicious Of a man who lay there watching My injuries seemed proof enough for blame The trial was in the morning The whole damned down was there I sat on the stand and I watched my lover cry And as I plead truth most sincerely The man was in the crowd And with a guilty verdict he let him out a smile You see he left no tracks behind him As the devil never does It was there that I got the name Cold Tom It was there that I got the name Cold Tom Yeah, it was there that I got the name Cold Tom
3.
Fast Johnny 03:49
There was a shadow down on the darkest part of town The night that Fast Johnny shot a poor man down All from miles around the whole town had come to see The bleedin’ kid called Johnny in his misery And the blood and the dirt in his veins let out a cold hard scream He was down on his luck and he hopped into his truck and fled the scene -- He was just a boy 19 years old Yeah his Daddy kicked him out for burnin’ in his soul He ain’t got no job, no place to rest his bones He had a 50-cent piece that he took out in a loan He’s playin’ guitar with the guns and the drugs that he could steal He’s an American fool with the cops on the trail of his boots -- Late on a Friday Johnny rolled down the street Looking like a half-dead hound-dog in heat And a man did recognize the scar on his head The cops were brought in they shot Johnny down dead Nobody came to hear a word that he moaned on the ground Yeah his Daddy was the only man who even heard a sound -- Johnny is gone, the only words you hear Is “It’s a safer place to sleep and you can breath the air” Johnny finally found his place in the stars He was buried with his chain and a beat up old guitar He left a note off to his dad that said “Id love to meet again” By the light of the moon they laid Johnny in his grave By the light of the moon they laid Johnny in his grave
4.
I’m gonna ride on the Rio Grande I’m gonna sail on a ship of fools And when they find me, my pockets empty I’ll be coming home -- I’m gonna drink all the rum and whiskey I’m gonna smoke, till my lungs are dry And all the women they may not want me So I’ll be coming home -- And If I lose my way, Ill find it soon enough If I lose my way, Ill find it soon enough -- I’m gonna gamble with the highest rollers I’m gonna bluff this whole damn town And on a Riverboat on the Rio Grande I’ll be coming home -- And if I lose my way, Ill find it soon enough If I lose my way, Ill find it soon enough -- If you don’t see me, please don’t be worried Like any sparrow, I need to sing I can assure you, watch the endless skyway I’ll be coming home I can assure you, watch the endless skyway I’ll be coming home
5.
Jesse 02:57
Jesse runs a restaurant on the other side of town She works her fingers to the bone to keep her kids around She don’t go out dancing but she pays her bills on time When she’s home she’s cookin’ meals like poets rippin’ rhyme Her Grandson laughs and she cant even help but to crack a smile -- Harry’s sellin’ houses to all the working class An honest man who makes his wage in a job that doesn’t last He don’t own no car, but he ain’t goin’ nowhere Ever since he lost the war he don’t really care But his wife spins the table she knows his soul and he’s doin fine Cos life don’t slow and broken hearts all beat in time -- Linda’s teaching children, with a love that doesn’t die Every child is like her own with a mind that’s made of fire Her health it has been fading, but she don’t turn away She loves her family with all she’s got until her dying day A hero as true as any that you’d hear in a song Cos life don’t slow and broken hearts all meet in time -- A man is in the corner, smoke whirls round his head An empty space is next to him where Linda laid her head In a world full of laughter, and buckets full of rain He can’t seem to quench his thirst and cut the iron chains But life don’t slow and broken hearts are free in time No life don’t slow and broken hearts are free in time
6.
Suitcase lyin’ by the side of the road They say there ain’t no train that can take him home -- Suitcase lyin’ by the side of the road They say there ain’t no train that can take him home Suitcase lyin’ by the side of the road They say there ain’t no train that can take him home
7.
Sweet Maria 03:44
Well there was a day when I would let my heart just break There was a time I feared to be alone But those days are just a shadow of the man I’ve become So down the open road I am bound Well darlin’ it is not that I don’t care at all You know it really hurts to see you go But I can only give so much before I’m gone So tell me when I’m back would you let me in, please let me in -- Senorita, Sweet Maria, Spanish Rose, On down the road, Down the road -- In dreams deferred a raisin dried up in the song In a life denied not so long ago But a ramblin’ man wont even stick around that long He recognizes when it’s time to go, and its time to go -- Senorita, Sweet Maria, Spanish Rose, On down the road, Down the road -- So where I’m bound I can not say at all No lookin’ back at towns I’ve left behind Cos the highway is a fantasy of hopes and dreams Maybe someday we’ll meet on down the line, down the line -- Senorita, Sweet Maria, Spanish Rose, On down the road, Down the road
8.
Golden Cross 03:07
Strung up upon a golden cross The stars all burn the night The widow of eternity She feels her place it has been lost Upon the ship of time I see her weather broken eyes -- The night is long and I fear your heart is breaking And I’m so scared of losing you I’ve got my song, but it won’t save me from this And I know you’re leaving soon Then you’re gone -- I know that is just a cry She is the Pagan child She walks the land, she is the sky And long before this burning night When rivers ran so wild I could not foresee a friend like you -- The night is long and I fear your heart is breaking And I’m so scared of losing you I’ve got my song, but it wont save me from this And I know you’re leaving soon Then you’re gone -- Rains will come, and wash away the fires To cleanse the damage that was done Beautiful child, rest your head tonight Sleep will help you find your home Sleep will help you find your home
9.
River 02:49
Well I’m back, or is it time to leave Well she said, “You’re learnin’ real fast my boy. Oh you know, the bottle is a man’s best friend, But I’ll never tell you when you are wrong.” Well I’ve cried, a thousand lonely nights And I’ve stood, at the end of a dead-end street But I wont, succumb to all this greed That echoes in the eyes of the pinstriped suits -- If this is the pill then I’ll swallow it down I’ll get my water from the underground If this is the pill then I’ll swallow it down The rivers all dried up for now Dried up for now -- Well I know, you were my only friend But you’ve turned, so sour like all the rest And I guess, I just expected more Than the same excuse I’ve heard a thousand times before -- If this is the pill then I’ll swallow it down I’ll get my water from the underground If this is the pill then I’ll swallow it down The rivers all dried up for now For now -- Well I know, where bitterness grows In your heart, unless you learn to let it go And children, are screamin in the streets They’re hungry and sad, but its all part of a plan I don’t see It’s all part of a plan I don’t see It’s all part of a plan I don’t see I don’t see I don’t see I don’t see It’s all part of a plan I don’t see
10.
Oh in the night, when I’m alone I feel these shadows calling me home As I lie weeping, with time at my back I feel my eyes close and turn to black -- Leave my grave empty, as a soldiers call May I die standing, and buried where I fall My body hollow, for my soul has fled Before darkest nights, skies turn to red -- May life grow from me Lord let my spirit free Forgive these wrongs I’ve done Lord let my spirit free -- The gallows tremble, of lives denied From the destruction, while leaders hide This land downtrodden, and covered with blood A Soldiers memory, drowning in the mud -- A poverty will soon reach us all Like all empires we too must fall We become soldiers, with our souls of war In this war of man, We will leave no more -- May life grow from me Lord let my spirit free Forgive these wrongs I’ve done Lord let my spirit free -- Oh in the night, when I’m alone I feel these shadows calling me home As I lie weeping, with time at my back I feel my eyes close and turn to black
11.
Well the traveling gypsie voodoo show has cursed the land to claim the water’s gold And the priests all held a benefit to raise the funds and trade for borrowed time The beggar held a stolen sign while pointing out the water’s poisoned soul Well the hole is dark and filled with sins of all the things my daddy’s done The liberties he threw away now haunt their dreams with suffocating screams Neath broken skies the prophet speaks of golden children cryin’ alone -- And in the eye of the storm, you find a place to go alone -- The priests were shouting politics and Marxist slogans buried years before Staring at the beggars face it’s hard to see a thing but need for food Society unequalled in the scope of crippled crutch and who owns who The singers sing apocalyptic tales and preach that the end is near Darwin’s speaking praise to those who line their pockets with the stolen gold While pacifists will sleep alone on city walls and keep a watchful eye -- And in the eye of the storm, you find a place to go alone -- Lawyers judges congressmen are running to the scene to keep the peace Between the warring parties who can only see themselves Even poets break their backs to see exactly what was done The doctors vomit enigmatic diagnoses but never offer cures The nurse is hurling medicine at priests and gypsies through the firing squad Never noticing that all their chemicals wont change the human form -- And in the eye of the storm, you find a place to go alone -- The teachers sell their students short to slave-ships just to keep their pension plans Security is screaming in the face of all the wars to come Teaching in their acting role manipulating innocence they’ve lost Didn’t know my baby was leavin’ for the water’s edge It’s a long black hole and the bottom is made of gold Her silhouettes now hanging like the fog before and old familiar storm -- And in the eye of the storm, you find a place to go alone And in the eye of the storm, you find a place to go alone
12.
His hollow sigh, in grains of sand Strings are stretching from his hands Singing songs no one can hear A poet’s song, where willows grow On reels of time where no one knows The disappointed angel weeps -- Songs of light, and we are cold Dark as night, in tales of old Transcending time’s refrain We are ground, and we are smoke Rough as wire, and light as air Transcending time’s refrain

about

The debut album released in 2005. Recorded in upstate NY just before Mazochi relocated to the west coast.

credits

released September 1, 2005

Michael Mazochi : (All) Vocals, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Steel Guitars, Bass, Mandolin, Violin, Keyboards, Drums, Piano, Percussion, B-Bender, Harmonica, Accordion-Organ, Duct-taped Guitars, Bells, Tape Loops

Except...

Mike Miller : Bass on tracks 1&3, Backing Vox on tracks 1, 7, & 8. Claps on track 7. Drums on track 7. Dulcimer on track 8

Josh Oxford : Fake Organ on track 7. Rhodes on track 10

BK & DR : Various goodies on track 12

Matt Sneed : Tape recorder

Sandra Scholz : Artistic Advisor

All songs were written, performed, recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed by Michael Mazochi (at home).

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Michael Mazochi Los Angeles, California

Started folky, got rocky, then digitized.

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