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The Devil's Drum

by Luke Brindley

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1.
THE DEVIL'S DRUM In the capital square dictators parade weapons Tanks and missiles, thugs in jackboots goose-stepping  The ground shakes as the legions move as one Lockstep with the beat of the devil’s drum A father falls on his baby as the barrel bombs explode The only peace this country gets is when they stop to reload But the border's shut down so there’s nowhere to run From the pounding thunder of the devil's drum The city shook as the towers fell Could have been me or the one I love in that earthly hell As the poison cloud of concrete dust blocks out the sun I can still feel the echoes of the devil’s drum On the sidewalk where families lingered and laughed There’s blood spatter, melted ice cream, baby dolls, and body bags Prayer beads and glass shards glitter in the sun Shattered by a hit of the devil’s drum I’ve read the holy books and I watch the poison news I've sung with the gospel choir and I’ve howled the blues From the gates of eden to armageddon The whole world's shaking to the beat of the devil’s drum I see no end to what one human will do to another Neighbors, lovers, bystanders, and brothers As I think on this, I feel my heart pumping blood Pounding out the beat of the devil’s drum
2.
GOOD LOVE / HARD TIMES Confusion like a black tornado Ripping through my brain If it don’t let up soon Believe I’ll go insane The night’s dark as death’s shadow Horizon of Damascus steel The devil’s a fire-eyed hound Snapping at my heels Here comes that angel girl of mine Gives me good love in the hard times Good, good love in the hard times Anxiety like a top-fuel dragster Screaming across this land From the Acadia coastline To Sonoran sands White-hot hate and impotent rage Wounds that will never heal Blur the line between A nightmare and what’s real Every one of us down the line Gonna need good love in the hard times Good, good love in the hard times Words alone are empty All soul and meaning stripped away Like the hollow husks of rusted-out tankers Abandoned in the bay Love knows your weakness Love has seen your scars And will be standing by you When it all falls apart What you got’s not worth a dime If it’s not good love in the hard times It’s just a crashing cymbal or a ringing chime If it’s not good love in the hard times Good, good love in the hard times
3.
SALVATION BLUES I was born in the heart of a dark city  Looking for a sign from above Heavenly choirs, tongues of fire Angels or a dove After all this time I got nothing Except nothing left to lose On the corner with my guitar Singing the salvation blues The mega church preachers round here Are no help at all They wouldn’t recognize Jesus  If he valet parked their Maserati at the mall So I went to see the the shaman,  The yogi, the guru With the incense rising, they were harmonizing  The salvation blues  I saw the costumed kings of Wall Street The sultans of Silicon Valley She’s got a busted lip and a baby on her hip Shooting up in a Baltimore alley I heard my newborn daughter crying In the delivery room Sounded like the salvation blues  Maybe you’re a slave to your appetites A bloated barbarian licking greasy lips Or alone with your vows of chastity and silence Or Guns and Roses on the Sunset Strip Maybe you were born a prophet Maybe you were born a fool We stand shoulder to shoulder howling  The salvation blues In foxhole on the front line Young men born to die Jesus in the garden Asking his father, “Why?” It's written on the human heart Black as a prison tattoo …the words of the salvation blues
4.
RAILROAD AVENUE Before I was old enough to buy a six pack I had a wife and baby on the way Hannah’d wear a summer dress And we’d go walking after work every day She’d play the young wife and mother I'd try to be strong and know what to say We’d talk about baby names and saving up For the house we’d buy one day Our dreams would fly like starlings  Into a sky electric blue As we walked hand in hand down Railroad Avenue The baby’s gotta see the doctor So I change tires at the town garage I worry about bills as the impact wrench Pounds like an artillery barrage As I walk home from work Along the tracks in the dying light The neighborhood moms lean out the windows And call their kids in for the night As the streetlights come on  Playtime is through  As night falls on Railroad Avenue I work hard as any man Just don't see how we’ll ever get ahead When there’s less than nothing left over After paying for rent, diapers, and bread We could move in with Hannah's parents Save up for a place of our own Couple more years on the job Could try and get a loan A sip of Wild Irish Rose Keeps me warm when the cold cuts through As I walk alone down Railroad Avenue Ain't it crazy what you can get used to As the years roll by I stopped talking about moving away And Hannah never had to ask why We never got the house in Short Hills With the winding roads and old oak trees Starting to think those Hollywood endings  Aren’t for you and me What happened to those dreams We were so sure would come true When we were young on Railroad Avenue? Hannah says she’s happy And she’s got everything she needs But I see her one good dress Is coming apart at the seams All I want is to tell her “The best is yet to come” Make that promise and believe it Like I did when we were young From an open window I hear “God Only Knows what I’d be without you playing on Railroad Avenue
5.
RESTLESS CHILD
 You can trace the lines in your palm Chart the stars in the night sky Follow the movement of the moon As it pulls upon the tide Chant mantras, count prayer beads Pray until your knees bleed But restless child, restless child When will you find peace? You can run to the end of the highway Circumnavigate the earth But this hunger like a blast furnace Been burning since birth See the shaman on the mountaintop All the lawyers in D.C. Restless child, restless child When will you find peace?    Like wind whipping prayer flags In Tibetan air We carry our story With us everywhere From the chapel in your hometown Swaying with the gospel choir To the deserts of some holy land Beneath minarets and spires You can look to gurus and lovers Fasting and feasts Restless child, restless child... To that cradle of mystery Where all desperation will cease Restless child, restless child When will you find peace?
6.
LOVE IS THE LAW
 When the last cathedral crumbles And the monuments to superstition fall The priests in robes and collars Clutching collection plate dollars Will know love is the law When the laboratories go dark and the server farm shuts down Lab coats hung on the wall When all experiments are done The final algorithm is run The results say: love is the law Lady Justice at the door of the courthouse Her blindfold drops - her eyes open wide in awe As the scale falls and shatters She sees nothing else matters Because love is the law There’s blood on the streets of the city But there’s hope where there should be none at all And they still whisper stories Of coming glory Because they believe love is the law See the refugee, outcast, and orphan The weary wanderer - his back against the wall Open the gate Before it’s too late If you believe love is the law I had a dark dream like some Hieronymus Bosch vision All humanity swallowed in the devils open jaw Raise your voice, your pen, your guitar Wherever you are And shout, "Love is the law!" I tell you sometimes I’m tempted To take a swan dive into the black emptiness of it all Here comes that diamond shine In my little girl's eyes That says love is the law My guiding light - a beacon in the night Love is...love is the law
7.
MEET ME ON THE MOUNTAIN Broadway’s pulsing and panting  Like an overheated beast Swarming humans, diesel fumes The sun's cracking the concrete Quickly, before my spirit  Turns to stone Find me and remind me that We are more than flesh and bone Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain  Where the wind blows our troubles away… I got the nightmare news on the radio  On my phone, on the TV Gray-haired anchorman joking  With a young blond about World War III I used to believe in a world  I couldn’t touch or see Now money is king and  Dark confusion got the best of me Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain  Where the wind blows our troubles away… There’s a stranger in the mirror I’m afraid of getting older I swear I feel that icy cold  Hand on my shoulder So show me that life-changing smile And, if only for a while, Meet me on the mountain  Where we can see for miles and miles and miles Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain Meet me on the mountain  Where the wind blows our troubles away…
8.
BLACK COFFEE AND CIGARETTES The cold wind's creeping underneath the door Filling the space she was before Tell me how I’m gonna make it one more day I been hungry as fire and shaking like a live wire since she’s been away     The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone     I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes     Until my sweetness comes home They tell me Tuesday happened, Wednesday's come and gone I’m burning down Thursday, still trying to finish this song The colors have been drained from everything in this place It’s like my whole world is waiting for her to show her face     The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone     I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes     Until my sweetness comes home I’ve given up whiskey I’ve sworn off wine And I’ve been good about it Most of the time But if she’s not home soon To make it all right I might have to get high  Just to get to sleep tonight     The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone     I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes     Until my sweetness comes home
9.
Poison Blood 02:52
POISON BLOOD My grandfather became the town drunk When he got back from the war I remember crushed beer cans and empty bottles Like spent shell casings on his floor Some men get religion And wash away their sins Some spend their whole lives  Fighting battles they never win Some men are bound by bars of steel Some by iron chains Some men are bound by poison blood Running through their veins Dad would stumble in after the bar closed If he came home at all Mom would sleep with the phone by her pillow In case the cops called He smelled like another woman’s perfume Cigarettes and wine Spitting curses through clenched teeth His breath like turpentine Some men are bound by bars of steel Some by iron chains Some men are bound by poison blood Running through their veins I’m looking out our apartment window  Deal going down on the corner below Mary’s rocking our baby boy Singing lullabies soft and low I can’t tell you much About fate or destiny All I know is a man Ain’t nothing if he ain’t free Some men are bound by bars of steel Some by iron chains Some men are bound by poison blood Running through their veins
10.
LOVE YOUR FAMILY There’s fire in the streets on Capital Hill  Revolutions in distant lands Empires crumbling Whole countries changing hands Darkness descending With no end in sight Would anyone be surprised   If the world ended tonight?     I'm going home      Gonna turn off the TV     Put down my phone     Love my family  Everyone’s got something they’re screaming  But no one has any answers Fear and chaos pound out the beat Modern man's the dancer I see hate answered returned with hate No one changing hearts  I can’t tell you where we’re headed But I know where we start…     Go home      Turn off the TV     Put down your phone     Love your family  There's a time for the clenched fist A time for the open hand A time to take a knee  A time to take a stand All we have Is this short time together  Start a legacy of light That goes on forever      Go home      Turn off the TV     Put down your phone     Love your family 
11.
THROUGH THIS WORLD, AWAKE White sun through the window in the morning as I rise Clears away the gossamer veil of sleep from my eyes I see mankind in motion like some grotesque ballet I see everything I love will eventually fall away It’s something like being born, something like a fever break Going through this world, awake I’ve seen darkness of the deepest kind - things no human eye should see Joy flies on magpie wings - but sorrow runs deep So give me a drink, turn up the music, sell illusions of control Say a prayer, chant mantras, tell the sweetest lie you’ve ever told ‘Cause I don’t know how much more I can take Going through this world, awake Sun going down in the gun metal sky Orange ball of fire looks like god’s own eye Tears blur my vision like I’m looking through a flame As my heart fills with longing for something better I can’t name Like Adam and Eve in the garden tempted by the snake Cursed to go through this world, awake

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released October 9, 2020

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Luke Brindley Brooklyn, New York

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