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California Bound

by Michael Mazochi

/
1.
Will I find my home, on this lonesome road Or be shipwrecked on the shoreline To the land of my mother, I will walk with my head high Just to see her smilin’ face again Well weary are the troubles of those who live too long In the arms of bitter solitude So I’m Giving up my things and the place I did reside For a breath of air that I ain’t found ---------- Well I’m scared of this unknowin’ feelin in my bones But I never did care for wrong or right So let the sun shine on the mainline to help me find my way And know, its just somethin’ I need to do ---------- Well my friends they might miss me, this much I know is true And they’re more than any man could want So may God in his heaven look down upon these fields And be sure that the land serves them well ---------- Well I’m scared of this unknowin’ feelin in my bones But I never did care for wrong or right So let the sun shine on the mainline to help me find my way And know, its just somethin’ I need to do ---------- Well I’m bound for California out from the eastern shore And my path is troublesome and far So may word of my travels find you all so well And know that Ill see you all again
2.
Waterside 02:54
I’ll choke the night and I’ll hold the rain A few more hours till you come back to me Secured in paths of the burned and blackened bone I’ve kept my vices in a tomb of stone The streets decay neath the winter’s frozen plain My plight is yours alone to hold Was I the one who cast a broken stone I’ll walk with you as the north wind folds --------- and if the dark has breached the gap I’ll meet you by the waterside -------- In my silence I will burn the curtains guard Its been draped upon my tunneled sight I’ll wear my scars in the songs that I sing To guide you back on home to me -------- and if the dark has breached the gap I’ll meet you by the waterside -------- If my arms should fail to keep me afloat I will dive down and grip the earth I will dig a hole through the molten sands of time To find my way back home to you -------- and if the dark has breached the gap I’ll meet you by the waterside If the dark has breached the gap I’ll meet you by the waterside
3.
Well I woke up in the morning lord, Black Crow on my bed Well I woke up in the morning lord, Black Crow on my bed And I tried to shoo him out lord, but he was watchin me instead He came a creepin’ through the window, silent as I slept He came a creepin’ through the window, silent as I slept Shackles round my neck lord. Oh as my baby wept ----- Now I’m ramblin’ down that road Poor boy got no home ----- Well he showed me down to the river, pennies on my eyes Well he showed me down to the river, pennies on my eyes And it nearly broke my back lord, when I seen that black fog rise He took me walkin’ on a tight rope, made of blood and bone He took me walkin’ on a tight rope, made of blood and bone And he tried to lay my body down, neath that cold gray stone ----- Now I’m ramblin’ down that road Poor boy got no home ----- In the cold gray dawnin lord my mind was well made up In the cold gray dawnin lord my mind was well made up That black crow won’t bury me, you’ll have to come for me instead
4.
Recompense 04:08
3000 miles from the home that I once knew And I’m feelin like the railroad man Who ain’t seen his family for many a lonesome day But somehow I know I’ve just begun The canyons I hear in the coldest hours of night But cold ain’t so cold in the west And the ghost of the rain blows a hard and dusty wind ‘Cross thirsty fields to meet me on the stone ------ Oh I feel the compass of age And I see the things I can’t believe And I wont say I’m alone here, but I’m wishin for my home Someplace back east through the fallen snow ----- The mallet I have pounded on roads I’ve walked along Grows weary with the sentiments of loss And the words that I have found, have begun to turn around To leave me to sit in wild wonder ----- Oh I feel the compass of age And I see the things I can’t believe And I wont say I’m alone here, but I’m wishin for my home Someplace back east through the fallen snow ----- Some place in the distance a lone dog is cryin’ out And it echoes through my ears to chain my mind To days that I have spent in a mournful recompense Blind to all the time that I was wasting ----- Oh I feel the compass of age And I see the things I can’t believe And I wont say I’m alone here, but I’m wishin for my home Someplace back east through the fallen snow
5.
Tonight 02:54
I wanna rise tonight, from the fields and the corn in the pale moonlight I wanna break free, from the shackles of my family and the bad memories In my father’s eyes, I see the trouble of a man who saw too damn much I don’t wanna feel old, but reminders of the fall have strickened my mind I wanna leave tonight, but the shadow of a doubt has crippled my legs I wanna fall asleep, but the medicine only seems to speed my heart In my darkened times, I see the error of my ways and I know I’m gonna change I don’t wanna be scared, but the snake in the grass is starin’ at me I wanna feel tonight, the pleasure and the pain of impossible sight I wanna tempt fate, and the ignorance of all who would die for the fool In my ageless fight, I bear the burden of the memory of a motherless child I don’t wanna leave yet, but my poisonous blood is stirring my bones I wanna burn it down, but the hope of revolt has replenished my wells I wanna raise the flag, but disbelief in the cross has broken my arms In my righteous mind, I know my mother was a saint but not to their god I don’t wanna die alone, but how can I relate to the merchants at bay
6.
I feel you here Serpentine smile Your ghostly laugh And beady eyes Why won’t you leave Leave me alone Medical spell Just quiet your bells I know your smell I know it well Words fall in shame On sheets of stone I know your smell I know it well Your echoes spite In mournful cries In waves of joy In guilded lies I feel you here Serpentine smile Your ghostly laugh And beady eyes
7.
In Waiting 01:13
Well she sailed on a ship of tarnished gold With flames from stern to bow With the flake of taste and the whip of fools She’s pulled my eyes to the floor In the eyes of mornin’ my darling wept She’s gone in the way that she’d run From the dead of the night with a twist of fate To the streets of solid silver Wrapped in the warmth of eiderdown She jerked from her sleep without breathing And she said “my love, its time go” As the bronze of the fall was in waiting
8.
Jacob Row 04:58
On the shores of the alimony and all that’s dead and gone Through the thickest fog I’d ever seen, my first child was born His names was Jacob Row, for the ship his daddy did sail And I didn’t recognize the bars on which his freedom jailed Well he was just a baby in November of ‘73 In the bitterness of abandon I did watch his conscience flee And he gasped on through the evening of many a midnight mud With a fire they had not seen before just risin in his blood ----- They sang “Hail hail and row Jacob Row” ----- Well he became a mariner out on the lonesome sea And he conquered many an army leaving only misery To every land he traveled and every land he sold But he traded in his blessings for a pocked full of gold The men would sing his praises and the ladies screamed his name “Jacob Row the Mariner the man who’s half insane” And he came to a fortune teller who told him of his fate How his body would be taken and his soul they would forsake ----- But they sang “Hail hail and row Jacob Row” ----- One night Jacob Row came to a gambling town And he bragged of all his fortunes to all who were around And he met many a damsel and he drank from many a cup But with a decadent sip of madness you know Jacob’s game was up And they dragged his body down to the cold and lonesome sea Some say his selfish spirit still walks in eternity And on the shores of the alimony and all that’s dead and gone Through the thickest fog I’d ever seen Jacob’s child was born ------ They sang “Hail hail the son of Jacob Row”
9.
I’m called the loyal housewife, a virtue to be told I pace the floors most every night and day My husband went away to leave my boys and I alone With raging fire and military rag Well times were hard when we first met, just tryin’ to make ends meet We had one child and one more on the way They promised him his union dues to take the field and fight Our first born child still cryin’ in the night ------ Government man oh government man where can my baby be It’s been six long years since he last said to me I’ll take your for my bride to be to love eternally I swear by God I won’t leave you alone ------ His daddy was a coalminer, his daddy just the same But there ain’t no minin work in troubled times In fear that he had shamed his name, he up and moved away Only to lay his daddy in the ground So he took a job in Louisiana, a peasant for his pay He worked when winters freeze bit to his bones And even so he barely made enough to scrape on by So he traded in his spade for enemy fire ------ Government man oh government man where can my baby be It’s been six long years since he last said to me I’ll take your for my bride to be to love eternally I swear by God I won’t leave you alone ------ He left one early mornin’ I watched the taillights fade I knew our lives would never be the same He sealed inside and envelope our wedding photograph The only way I can recall his smile ----- Government man oh government man where can my baby be It’s been six long years since he last said to me I’ll take your for my bride to be to love eternally I swear by God I wont leave you alone I swear by God I wont leave you alone
10.
Well I awoke in the morning to the wind in the trees On a southbound train that blew away the breeze And I’ve been away so long that I forgot my name And every town that I see they look to be all the same On the beaten down path of the dustiest rover I found the footsteps of our fathers that have been washed over And I’m longin’ for a day gone by ----- So don’t say nothing bout the best laid plans I got the blues so heavy lord that I can’t stand Mama I’m coming back home to you ----- Well the streetlights have changed now from green to red And the people at a stand-still like a cold stone bed Everybody’s leaving but we’re here all the same Just talking bout the past in a coat of rain The rain drops an anchor that pins me to the floor And the steel hits the earth but doesn’t move anymore And the whimper is on the dusty field ----- So don’t say nothing bout the best laid plans I got the blues so heavy lord that I can’t stand Mama I’m coming back home to you ----- So now I’m headed back to the down where I was born I’m gonna catch the falling rain until the hours of mornin’ My spine may buckle my body may break From all the things that I’ve forgotten but cannot forsake If I break down in Kentucky I’ll meet you just the same So just wait another minute ‘cause I’m not to blame And mama I’m comin’ back home to you ------ So don’t say nothing bout the best laid plans I got the blues so heavy lord that I can’t stand Mama I’m coming back home to you So don’t say nothing bout the best laid plans I got the blues so heavy lord that I can’t stand Mama I’m coming back home to you
11.
Lonesome 03:33
When you met me I was desperate and cold I was a cast away from nothing much at all You took me in and gave me all you ever had And I couldn’t understand the kindness that you showed I felt a dead man resting on my broken limbs And I couldn’t recognize the tears I wiped away Your hands were subject to the circumstance we found They danced in the spaces that I had long ignored ------ Now I ain’t lonesome anymore With you waiting by my side ------ I learned to listen when there was nothing yet to say I’d already spoken like fools I’d set on fire Your words were broken strings that snapped upon my door And I bled my sadness into your open arms ------ Now I ain’t lonesome anymore With you waiting by my side ----- Fallen wings of failure were fruit upon your vine But we cannot have them and no we won’t this time You fought the madness that was rapping at your gate To live in the silence of all that you’d create ----- Now I ain’t lonesome anymore With you waiting by my side Now I ain’t lonesome anymore With you waiting by my side
12.
Amber-Jean 02:12
Well I’m turnin on the radio somewhere on the left coast Riding out to see my girl to rock and roll and dance all night Dancing to the rhythm and blues ‘Cause the night gets cold so baby pull me close to you Then I heard a moaning sound started looking for a town The motor’s overheating and there ain’t another soul around Oh in this damned “Tex” town Well I gotta get my girl and turn the joint upside down ------- Amber-Jean my pretty Amber-Jean With your clear blue eyes and your legs lookin’ long and lean ------- I got my smokestack lightning temperature rising A gasoline machine and another nod to Maybellene Ugly babe as it seems ‘Cause when the motor cools off you know that I’m a runnin’ for you ------- Amber-Jean my pretty Amber-Jean With your clear blue eyes and your legs lookin’ long and lean ------- Engine block ridin hot don’t know when its gonna stop I pour the water on the hood baby so it’s understood I need those mad cat rhythm and blues So I push it to the floor and I’m burnin back home to you So I push it to the floor and I’m burnin back home to you
13.
Well the sun is comin up on over the hill And I believe I’ve had enough, yes I’ve had my fill You see I’ve been up all night and worked my hands to bleed Just to turn over that soil and lay down that feed You know the wintertime is comin’ and I hope that you’ll keep warm ‘Cause it’s a chilly wind that blows out on this morning You see I’m doing my best but its give and its not take And I swear that if I could I’d give us that break ------- I wish that you would mourn me none ‘Cause Ill be back on home when the day’s work is done ------- I remember when we met I was a young man still And the beauty that you were leaning on that sill I told you I was lost and looking for the road You had the kind of smile that can’t be bought nor sold You took me inside and we talked all night Of the virtues of the men who refused to fight You promised to stay home and I took this job You see the boys don’t come back after going so far ------- I wish that you would mourn me none ‘Cause I’ll be back on home when the day’s work is done ------- You know the mind gets hazy in the early morning hours ‘Cause a man can get crazy when his heart goes sour But I try to think right and I try to stand tall But I don’t know why mama you’d need me at all ------- So I wish that you would mourn me none ‘Cause I’ll be back on home when the day’s work is done I say I’ll be back home when the day’s work’s done
14.
Well the eloquence of words has all but shattered my last nerve As I am wasted in my dance of deception Indecision is a term that will always seem to burn Through the winds of trial and broken ideas aging As guilt will guide the priest to the fable of a feast I am sinking into holy thoughts of leavin’ And to ask where I belong has long been written in the song I cannot change the words I’ve chosen to be screeching ------ And so I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll reap the spoils of what I’ve sewn Yeah I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll breathe and walk with you another day ------- On a dark and empty street I will be carried by the beat Of all the men who have lived and died before me Leaving homes we come from far just to hide our battle scars Of the loves we’ve known to which we’ll be returning Like evangelists of old trading money for their souls I will tell the tale of all I am perceiving And I’ll strum for all the days that I have battled through the haze And my tongue it will be raging ------- And so I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll reap the spoils of what I’ve sewn Yeah I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll breathe and walk with you another day ------- With a vision in the night of a young man in his fright I will face the part of me from which I’m racing And so I will keep the crutch of all the times that we have touched Just to stray from fears of growing old ------- And so I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll reap the spoils of what I’ve sewn Yeah I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll breathe and walk with you another day And so I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll reap the spoils of what I’ve sewn Yeah I’ll keep my eyes on the white line And I’ll breathe and walk with you another day
15.
Field Song 04:38
I met a blind man who walked in the shadows He’d poke and he’d prod until the night would fall lame On the pallet of justice he’d wave his black pen Saying “Night holds no meaning for me” I met a young child stillborn in the meadow Screaming “How can I live in a world full of blame” As urgency fell through her words like a hammer Her troubles too many to name Now the son of the daughter of the preacher’s white robe Was shouting that only the night would complain On the robe there was stitching from the hangman’s white hood Among the seams of ageless difference The blackbird of virtue stands patiently near Among silently sweeping soft soldiers of song Songs of the railroad and songs of the fields To be passed to their children at daybreak Now the lawbook of death holds no deals of mercy No questions of truth or of doors not to open And the princess of tremble can shake as she may But shaking cannot buy your freedom It was then that I knew that the world held some mercy For truth in pursuit of the goodness of time So I spoke my words softly to the child in the meadow “the aim of your life is of living”

about

California Bound is the second album by Michael Mazochi. It was released in 2006 from Michael's time in the Angeles National Forest. California Bound was the 2006 winner of the LA Music Awards "Folk Album of the Year".

credits

released October 1, 2006

California Bound was written, performed, produced, and mixed by Michael Mazochi (at home).

*Except

Mike Miller : bass on tracks, 2,3,5,8,9,10,11,12,13 & 14. Backing Vox on 1,2,3,4,8,10,12,13, & 14. Electric Guitar on 3.

Jake Blunt : Violin on tracks 9 & 14

Josh Schult : French Horn on 10

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Michael Mazochi Los Angeles, California

Started folky, got rocky, then digitized.

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