They first met in the mountains of BC, at tree-planting camps and open-stages. After traveling separately they met again one particularly dark rainy, dismal winter in Vancouver. At Trish's Chinatown house they would get together to share songs and stories over red wine and Chinese tea. Here they were joined by fellow travelling minstrel, Texas-born singer/fiddler Jolie Holland. Jolie introduced them to the songs of another mad traveler, Obo Martin, from whose song 'Be Good Tanya' their name was culled. Bonded by their passion for old-tyme music and a shared love of vintage clothes, they soon began performing everywhere they could, from thrift stores, cafes, galleries and bars to the streets of East Vancouver, front porches and house parties.
In the spring of 2000 they set out on the road to tour across America in Sam's 1977 Dodge Van. Braving fires, ice storms, bad road food, and laundry, they gigged their way through the heartland of the south and down to New Orleans. When they made it back alive they hunkered down to record their debut album Blue Horse in the small studio/shack of their friend Futcher. Around this time Jolie left to return to San Francisco, but not before recording on a number of tracks - most notably, her stirring vocals on the traditional number 'The Lakes of Ponchartrain', and 'The Littlest Birds', which she co-wrote with Samantha Parton....
LYRICS
Littlest Birds
(© Parton/Holland/Barrett)
Well I feel like an old hobo,
I'm sad lonesome and blue
I was fair as a summers day
Now the summer days are through
You pass through places
And places pass through you
But you carry 'em with you
On the souls of your travellin' shoes
Well I love you so dearly I love you so clearly
Wake you up in the mornin' so early
Just to tell you I got the wanderin' blues
I got the wanderin' blues
And i'm gonna quit these ramblin' ways one of
these days soon
And I'll sing
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs...
Well it's times like these
I feel so small and wild
Like the ramblin' footsteps of a wanderin' child
And I'm lonesome as a lonesome whippoorwill
Singin these blues with a warble and a trill
But I'm not too blue to fly
No I'm not too blue to fly cause
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs...
Well I love you so dearly
I love you so fearlessly
Wake you up in the mornin' so early
Just to tell you I got the wanderin' blues
I got the wanderin' blues
And I don't wanna leave you
I love you through and through
Oh I left my baby on a pretty blue train
And I sang my songs to the cold and the rain
I had the wanderin' blues
And I sang those wanderin' blues
And I'm gonna quit these ramblin' ways
One of these days soon
And I'll sing...
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs....
**I don't care if the sun don't shine
I don't care if nothin' is mine
I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my lovin' in the wintertime
** Syd Barrett
top
Broken Telephone
(© Ford)
I'll be the wind in your leaves
The warmth of the sun
I'm always drawing your colours
I'm always tracing your footsteps
It's a hard world it's a cold world
I could never say what I mean
I went looking in all the wrong places
There's nothing wrong with you
Broken telephone
The lines are down
The wires no longer reaching
Connection's gone
Higher and higher
I am taken by what you've given to me
Higher and higher
I am taken by what you've given to me
What you've given to me
I'll be the wind in your leaves (repeat first verse)...
Broken telephone the lines are down
I throw myself at nothing
I throw myself at nothing
Higher and higher I am taken by
What you've given to me...
top
Rain and Snow
(Traditional)
Well I married me a wife
She gave me trouble all my life
She ran me out in the cold rain and snow
Rain and snow, rain and snow
She ran me out in the cold rain and snow
She came a runnin on down the stairs
Combin' back her long yellow hair
And her cheeks were as red as a rose
As a rose, as a rose
And her cheeks were as red as a rose
Well I ain't got no use
For your red apple juice
And I'm not gonna be treated this a way
This a way this a way
And I'm not gonna be treated this way
I see you sitting in the shade
Counting every dime I've made
I'm so broke and I'm hungry too
Hungry too, hungry too
I'm so broke and I'm hungry too
I'm so broke and I'm hungry too
(repeat first verse)
top
The Lakes Of Pontchartrain
(Traditional arr. © Holland)
It was on one bright March morning when I bid New Orleans adieu
And I took the road to Jackson town, my fortunes to renew
I cursed all foreign money, no credit could I gain
Which filled my heart with longin' for the Lakes of Pontchartain.
I sat on board a railway car beneath the morning sun
And I rode the rails 'til evening and I laid me down again
All strangers here no friends to me 'til a dark girl towards me came
And I fell in love with a Creole girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain.
I said my pretty Creole girl, my money here's no good
If it weren't for the alligators I would sleep out in the wood
You're welcome here kind stranger, our house is very plain
But we never turn a stranger out on the Lakes of Pontchartrain.
She took me to her mama's house and she treated me quite well
The hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlets fell
To try to paint her beauty I'm sure t'would be in vain
So handsome was my Creole girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain.
I asked her if she'd marry me, she'd said it never would be
For she had got another and he was off at sea
She said that she would wait for him and faithful would remain
'Til he returned to his Creole girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain.
So fair thee well my bonny old lass I may never see you no more
But I won't forget your kindness in that cottage by the shore
And at every social gathering a golden glass I'll drain
And I'll drink all health to the Creole girl from the Lakes of Pontchartrain.
top
Only in the Past
(© Ford/Parton)
Run away to the seashore
It doesn't matter anymore
It doesn't matter anymore
Words dry up and fly away
With the passing of the days
Eventually you just let the stone fall
I dreamed that i saw you you were down at the corner store
You were looking thru magazines and you flew out the door
I was trying to wave to you but you wouldn't wave back
Now you know i understand you're with me only in the past
My palms are not open they're closed they're closed
Colours streak the sky
We laugh and we cry
And we dance in the cool grass
With the fireflies
We dance in the cool grass
Sunset birds
Sweet sweet music
Swallow our words
You set sail and you left this town
Run away run away you're so far from me now
So far from me now
Run away to the seashore it doesn't matter anymore it
Doesn't matter anymore
I dreamed that i saw you you were down at the corner store....
top
The Coo Coo Bird
(Traditional *with add. lyrics © Parton)
Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies
She never hollers coo coo till the fourth day
Of July
Gonna build me log cabin
On a mountain so high
So I can see Willie as he goes on by
Well I've played cards in Texas
And I've played cards in Maine
Oh I'll bet you five dollars I'll beat you
Next game
Jack of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds
Oh I know you of old
You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey
Oh I know you of old
You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold
*Sometimes I feel much younger
Sometimes I feel so old
Sometimes the warm sun shines sometimes it's
Dreadful cold
Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird
How I wish she was mine
She never drinks water she only drinks wine
(Repeat first verse)
top
Sleep Dog Lullaby (Dogsong)
(© Parton)
All the dogs are haunted
And the snow melts on the grass
You were what i wanted
But the fever could not last
In the day i am dreaming
In the night i am cold
While the stars are up there singing
All the dogs are growing old
No regrets, they're out the window
Frozen on the silver pane
Gone like winter let the wind blow
Let the dogs howl at the rain
In the day i am dreaming
In the night i am cold
While the stars are up there singing
All the dogs are growing old
Oh the cats are in the alley
And the rats are on the wire
Time is breathless as a blossom
And it's bursting with desire
And the dogs they wander freely
Through the streets of long gone dreams
Drift like ghosts down the backroads
All the way to new orleans
In the day i am dreaming
In the night i am cold
While the stars are up there singing
All the dogs are growing old
top
Momsong
(© Ford)
You said to yourself that we did not love you
All of the years didn't mean nothing
You told yourself we would not forgive you
Mistakes that you made would keep us separated
Comin' home hard day done
Comin' home hard day done
Don't you know it's your laugh we laugh that
Pulls us through
And the strength and the love that we carry
We got it from you
top
Don't You Fall
(© Parton)
Don't you fall in love with me
Don't show me your affection
I can't give you what you want from me
I don't want the attention
I gave away my heart before
And it only caused me sorrow
How could I think of loving someone
Today or tomorrow
Don't you fall...
I've been so long confused
Was I loved or was I used
Now the sun goes up and down
And the weather rains and shines
I lost my heart somewhere
Oh I need to take more time
Don't you fall in love with me
Don't show me your affection
I can't give you what you want from me
I don't want the attention
top
Up Against the Wall
(© Ford)
Up against the wall
You don't stand so tall
Better run run run put your armor on again
She is 12 years old
Nothing she don't know
She says you're 32 but you wanna be 16
I know that you did not receive
What it was that you needed when you were growing
But tell me what's the worth
You're repeating history verse by verse
What do you prove
No matter what you say I think you'll lose
You'll lose
You'll lose her
Up against the wall
You don't stand so tall
Better run run run put your armor on again
Isn't it time we recognized that we all live
Such broken lives sometimes
And it's sad but true that you still carry so
Much with you
top
Oh Susanna
(© Stephen Foster)
top
Light Enough to Travel
(© Geoff Berner)
www.geoffberner.com
Wound up drunk again on Robson Street
Strange cuz we always agreed
At the start of every evening
That's the last place I wanna be
Coffee drinkers dressed in black with no sugar
They don't give me no respect
They say 'look here comes another one'
And i don't know what they mean yet
Chorus
And i say
Keep it light enough to travel...
Don't let it all unravel...
Promise me we won't go into the nightclub
I feel so fucked up when I'm in there
Can't tell the bouncers from the customers
And i don't know which ones i prefer
Promise me we won't go into the nightclub
I really think that it's obscene
What kind of people go to meet people
Where they can't be heard or seen
Chorus
Broke the windows at the logging company
Just to get a little release
Had to throw down my accordion
To get away from the police
And I say...
top
|
