...After the release of Blue Horse, they continued to tour constantly around North America, over to the UK several times, and once around Australia. Their popularity continued to gain momentum, and their music reached the ears of the likes of Joe Strummer and Emmylou Harris, both of whom became outspoken fans of the Tanyas. They graced the stages of numerous festivals and also played in many a stinky dive, but everywhere they were received with enthusiasm and genuine approval. Throughout all this madness they managed to find time to record their second album, Chinatown. Another hauntingly good bunch of songs; old-tymey and new-tymey, featuring their signature lush harmonies, and raw soul delivery - with special guests including former BGT member Jolie Holland, Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor on fiddle, and the legendary Olu Dara on trumpet. Shortly after the release of Chinatown, Frazey Ford announced the birth of her first child, and the band took the opportunity to break from touring and rest for a couple of years...
LYRICS
It's Not Happening
(© Ford)
The way your mind works
Drivin' so fast, carving your way
Through the city
Well you can't tell me
You get what you want
You've figured it out
And yer just fine
Cuz you're talking to yourself
You don't hear a thing
And all history unfolds before you
But you shut your eyes
But you shut your eyes
It's not happening
We all grew up and
We fend for ourselves
And we fend for each other
We fend for each other
Sometimes
But you keep on racin' and runnin'
Like something is chasing you
Like something's gonna get you
Well something's gonna get you someday
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Waiting Around To Die
(© Townes Van Zandt)
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Junkie Song
(© Ford)
Took a walk in my neighborhood
It was two in the morning
By the skytrain station
The streets were full of junkies and homeless
And they all wanted something
They all wanted something
And what am I supposed to do?
There are too many of you
Too many of you
Give some change, look you in the eye
Say that I too am human, I could easily be you
Easily be you
Don.t we all hover between apathy and compassion
Fill up all our days with so much distraction
Makes it easier to see what we don't want to
But we all live here
We all live here
We all live here don't we?
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Ship Out On The Sea
(© Ford)
I'm a ship, I'm a ship, I'm a ship
Out on the sea
None of my loves
Floating wild come back to me
So I write you a letter, I'll write you a letter
With this here pen
Don't make me wait, don't make me wait
Cos I'm your friend
I'm in love with the garden
That is down the street
And the earth is a warm thing under my feet
And the earth is a warm thing under my feet
Oh long streams of light
Lift me, from this dirty town
Cuz I'm losing stain, soak me yeah with rain, rain, rain, rain
I'm a ship, I'm a ship, I'm a ship
Out on the sea
And all these clouds flying by so fast
Well they confuse me
And the long leaves in the tall trees
Pale in the sunshine
And I was twistin' and turnin'
In the cool sheets past bed time
Plant me in the garden
Don't you let me roam
Cuz love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Plant me in the garden
Don't you let me roam
Cuz love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Plant me in the garden
Don't you let me roam
Cuz love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
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Dog Song 2
(© Parton)
Out in the trees, dirt on our knees
We laid him down forever
And on that hill there it was still
As in the ever after
He lays his rest we knew it best
To lay him down so gently
And now he sleeps where moss does creep
And no more is he with me
The birds did cry, and so did i
To think of life so lonely
And in their song, I heard it long
What sadness, and what beauty
Your friend is gone, but you live on
In life you loved him fully.
But now little streams and forests dream,
And All is made more holy.
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Rowdy Blues
(© P.D., arr. Ford/Klein)
Well i ain't gonna marry
Neither settle down
I'm gonna sit right here
'Til i tear this barrel house down
Ain't no use a weepin' and there ain't no need to cry
Because you got a home
Just as long as i got mine
Well i loves you baby
And i'll tell the world i do
I don't love nobody
In this whole round world but you
Did you get that letter
Mailed in your backyard
Well it's sad what they said
But your best old friend had to part
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Reuben
(Traditional. arr. © Holland/Parton/Ford/Klein)
Well who’s gonna shoe your pretty little foot
Who’s gonna glove your hand
Who’s gonna kiss your red ruby lips
And who’s gonna be your man
Is that you Reuben
Is that you Reuben
Where have you been so long? X2
Well papa’s gonna shoe my pretty little foot
Mama’s gonna glove my hand
Sister’s gonna kiss my red ruby lips
And I don’t need no man
Well I don’t need no man, no
I don’t need no man
Sister’s gonna kiss my red ruby lips
And I don’t need no man
Well the longest train that I ever saw
It was 90 coaches long
And the only man that I ever loved
He was on that train and gone
Chorus
Oh where’d you get that hat you wear
And that coat you got so fine
Well I got my hat from a railroad man
And my coat from a worker in the mine
Chorus
Well Reuben made a train and he put it on the track
Run it to the lord knows where
Reuben made a train and he put it on the track
Run it to the lord knows where
top
House of the Rising Sun
(Traditional arr. © Ford)
Oh there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun.
It's been the ruin of many young poor girls
And God I know I'm one.
My mother, she was a tailor, yeah yeah
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father, he was a gamblin man
Down in New Orleans.
I got one foot on the platform, yeah
The other foot on the train
I'm going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
Oh mother please tell your children, oh yeah
Not to do what I have done
Go and spend their lives in sin and misery
In the house of the Rising Sun.
Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time he will be satisfied
Is when he's all drunk.
Oh there is a house in New Orleans.
They call the Rising Sun.
It's been the ruin of many young poor girls
And God I know I'm one.
top
In Spite of All the Damage
(© Ford)
If I wanted to say to you
That I wanted to see your face again
That I want to hear you laughing
In spite of all the damage I've done
If I wanted to hear you talkin'
Or to hear your sense of things
Or to call you up on a Sunday morning
In spite of all the damage I've done
Well I broke up our home and left you nowhere to run
Yes I broke up our home and left you nowhere to run
i.m living out my days away
I think you understand that I could not stay
But I like to hear you laughing
In spite of all the damage I've done
In spite of all the damage I've done
Well I broke up our home and left you nowhere to run
Yes I broke up our home and left you nowhere to run
top
Lonesome Blues
(© Parton)
Some blues are just blues, mine are the lonesome blues
Some blues are just blues, mine are the lonesome blues
All the birds flew south for the winter
Left me these lonesome blues
My baby left me, hitched a train down south
My baby left me, hitched a train down south
I still taste his kisses
Like candy in my mouth.
I wish i had wings, just like an aeroplane
I wish i had wings, just like an aeroplane
Fly down, find my baby. never be lonesome again.
top
In My Time of Dying
(Traditional arr. © Ford)
Well in my time of dying
I don't want nobody to moan
All i want my friends to do
Come and fold my dying arms
Well, well, well so i can die easy
Jesus gonna make up my dying bed
Won't you meet me Jesus, meet me
Won't you meet me in the middle of the air
And if these wings should fail me lord
Won't you meet me with another pair
Well, well, won't you meet me Jesus
Jesus gonna make up my dying bed
I'm going on down to the river
Stick my sword up in the sand
Gonna shout my troubles over lord
I done made it to the promised land
Well, well, well i done crossed over
Jesus gonna make up my dying bed
Ever since i've been acquainted with jesus
We haven't been a minute apart
He placed the receiver in my ear
Threw religion in my heart
Well, well, well i can ring up my Jesus
Jesus gonna make up my dying bed
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I Wish My Baby Was Born
(Traditional arr. © Parton)
I wish, i wish my baby was born
Sittin on her mama's knee
But you, poor girl are dead and gone
And grass is growing over thee.
Oh i'm not no saint, no i never shall be
Til the sweet apple grows on a sour apple tree
Still i hope that the day will come
When you and i will walk as one.
I wish i wish my baby was born
Sittin on her papa's knee
But you poor girl are dead and gone
And grass growing over thee.
top
Horses
(© The Be Good Tanyas)
Instrumental
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Midnight Moonlight
(© P. Rowan)
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