GET ON BOARD 2009
Song List
1. Get On Board * 3:35
2. Rainbows 4:20
3. Breakdown and Cry 3:46
4. Candy Lane 4:28
5. Every Single One 4:20
6. Taken With You 4:52
7. Honorable Mention 4:00
8. Never Been In Love 2:00
9. On My Way 3:30
10. Night Train * 3:53
11. Western Plains Blues 5:24
12. What I Saw 4:53
13. Too Late Now 7:40
Credits
Tom Ovans – vocal, acoustic & electric guitar, harmonica, tambourine
Larry Chaney – Electric Guitar
Vicente Rodriquez – Drums, tambourine, percussion
Phil Ajjarapu – Bass Guitar
Lou Ann Bardash – vocal
Jesse Hester - Piano on “Every Single One”
DD Dagger, Mike Vasquez – Horns on “Night Train”
Horn arrangement by DD, Mike and Larry
Recorded by Mike Vasquez
Mixed by Mike and Tom
at Sweat Box Studio, Austin, TX
* Additional recording and mixing at Barking Dog
Mastered at Sound Mine by Peter Blackwell
Produced by Lonesome Duane
Executive producer – L.A. Bardash
Design by Joe Montgomery
Artwork - Mot Sha
Photo – Kid Flash
Words & Music by Tom Ovans © & Ⓟ 2009 (BMI)
Lyrics
Get On Board
I got lucky like an accident
I guess you better get on board
Had me a moment but it came and went
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
Tumbled through the dark into the day
I guess you better get on board
Now I’m just a rider on this lost highway
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
Has anybody seen my baby
I guess you better get on board
You know lately I’ve been going crazy
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
I guess you better get on board my friend
I guess you better get on board
Rainbows
It didn’t take much of anything or anybody
To realize everything was already pretty fucked up
You grow up rich you grow up poor
Seems like nobody around here ever did quite get enough
From the rusting factories to the unemployment lines
Things were getting pretty grim back east
I was just a working class kid
I didn’t know nothing about love and peace
There was rainbows
There was music
There was love
There was heartache
There was beauty
In the stars above
Hitch hiking west through the great heartlands
Across the Rocky Mountains and the deserts beyond
I’d seen the glory of God and the destruction of men
And the road that just kept going on
I found myself standing out on Telegraph Avenue
Out in Berkley California
But it seem like every where I went
The dream was over and nobody had nothing left good to say
There was rainbows
There was music
There was love
There was heartache
There was beauty
In the stars above
I was looking at you, you were looking at me
Beneath your halo beneath the trees
Where the rivers ran through the concrete sand
I reached for you, you took my hand
Sitting around a campfire near Big Sur
The whole crazy damn country at our backs
We could see the future coming like we could hear that train
Crawling down some coastal track
I drank some wine I played my guitar
I sang one last song
When your eyes caught mine I just had to smile
Cause I knew you were already gone
There was rainbows
There was music
There was love
There was heartache
There was beauty
In the stars above
Breakdown And Cry
Everybody wants something sometime
It don’t matter what
I found myself across that line
Looking for some of that
A rambling boy rambling ‘round
Oh you know how it is
I came and went I paid no rent
I burned every single bridge
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
Only you knew what I wanted
Only you knew what it meant
While everybody was acting a fool
Playing at being against
I went out to California
All the way to Monterey
I stood on the shore I heard the roar
Of a thousand million waves
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
How many times have I tried
To find my way back in
How many times have I realized
I’ll never see you again
Now the leaves are starting to turn
Season’s going to change
I like to think I’m in the autumn of my youth
Though people just say I’m deranged
I know time is running short
The writing’s on the wall
A faded laugh a photograph
I recall it all
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
Breakdown and cry babe
Breakdown and cry
Candy Lane
If you’re missing your life
Turn off your T.V.
If you’re missing your wife
Don’t you come looking for me
I know it ain’t easy
You need someone to blame
I know it ain’t easy
You need someone to name names
I’ve been up all night
Looking at an art book
I’ve seen nude pictures of men, women
Saints, sinners and crooks
I’ve been reading a poem
By a man named Ezra Pound
I guess he was looking for something
He ain’t never found
I live down town
Just across the interstate
On the eastside of nowhere
Where it never gets too late
I know a woman here
Lord, I love to watch her work
I give her all my money
Cause I’m in love with her
Candy Lane
Candy Lane
Candy Lane
Candy Lane…
Every Single One
Beneath a windblown light I’d seen something go by
I felt a strangeness in heart I’d seen the blood in my eyes
She looked at me, but I just turned away
I just couldn’t face what she needed to say
Last night I heard some mother say to her son
Said, “Go say a prayer for everyone”
Every, every, every single one
Every, every, every single one
I walked down the street I felt the earth begin to shake
With every tremor, with every quake
I found myself on a park bench alone
For the first time in a long time I felt so far from home
Last night I heard some mother say to her son
Said, “Go say a prayer for everyone”
Every, every, every single one
Every, every, every single one
Taken With You
When you find someone that’s true
Your heart will tell you what to do
There is nothing to know
Just let your feelings show
And you will see a brand new day
And you’ll believe in true love’s ways
When you admit like I will do
I’ve been taken with you
If it’s love he will call
And no teardrops will fall
And when he lays you down
There will be a joyous sound
And you will see a brand new day
And you’ll believe in true love’s ways
When you admit like I will do
I’ve been taken with you
So baby, baby don’t you fear
I’m sure he’s standing pretty near
Have a little faith in the night
Honey don’t you ever give up the fight
And you will see a brand new day
And you’ll believe in true love’s ways
When you admit like I will do
I’ve been taken with you
I’ve been taken with you….
Honorable Mention
See him walking down the street with his hands on his knees
Blowing kisses to the trees cause he don’t know how to feel
He’s been inside out he’s been outside in
He’s been looking too hard cause he don’t know where he’s been
He’s in trouble now seeing double now
He’s got a lot of information but no education
He just gets honorable mention
Honorable mention
Honorable mention
I got a breeze on shoulder as I try to shake my head
But I just get colder and I have to go to bed
There’s spiders on the wall someone left them there
It don’t make no sense at all cause they just disappeared
I’m in trouble now seeing double now
I got a lot of inspiration but no reputation
I just get honorable mention
Honorable mention
Honorable mention
Baby I’ve been hurt I’ve been left high and dry
Please don’t tell what it’s worth cause it just makes me cry
I can see it every day I can hear it on the street
It’s driving me to pray it’s driving me too sleep
I’m in trouble now seeing double now
I got a serious situation and a world on vacation
I just get honorable mention
Honorable mention
Honorable mention
Honorable mention….
Never Been In Love
Baby, baby the moon’s on fire
Baby, baby heart’s filled with desire
But do you think he’ll understand
Well I’m not sure cause I really don’t know
But he’s never been in the darkness
And he’s never been in love before
I should’ve known by the way he talks
I should’ve seen by the way he walks
He never looks me straight in the eye
With a face like that how could he ever know
I don’t know how he can stand it
Cause he’s never been in love before
I’m sorry baby if I’m late
But you know I don’t want to be here
But he’s got me working so much overtime
After all these taxes I can’t get clear
Maybe in another week or two
I can make it back to you
But now I see him coming this way
Why he’s so mad I think I better go
Cause I don’t think he’s going to believe me
Cause he’s never been in love before
Before
Before
On My Way
I’m getting ready
I leave today
Across that mountain
Swim that bay
On this train
Gypsy bound
I’m on this train
I can’t be found
Cause I can see
You don’t love me
So I’m on my way
On my way
I got some friends
I’ll try to find
I got some troubles
I’ll leave behind
Down this road
Just to see them smile
Carry this load
One more mile
Cause I can see
You don’t love me
So I’m on my way
On my way
Holy Moses what have we done
Look at this heaven that we’ve fallen from
From the gates of hell to these cities of steel
I tell you baby my love is real
Night is dark
Days are long
A broken heart
Must stay strong
Say goodbye
To this old town
Can’t let bad love
Bring me down
Cause I can see
You don’t love me
So I’m on my way
On my way
Night Train
I’ve been riding on the night train baby
Trying to make my way on back too you
Hoping that you kept a candle burning
Praying that your love for me is still true
Cause I been gone
And I know I was wrong
Cause I’ve come to realize that true love never dies
So I’m coming back home to you tonight
Thought I’d make it in that big northern city
Thinking somebody might dig the way I sound
Only to discover that it wasn’t what I wanted
That I left my heart in a small Georgia town
And I was a fool
Forever leaving you
Cause I’ve come to realize that true love never dies
So I’m coming back home to you tonight
Outside my window darling I see the night rushing by
I remember the day I left girl and the tears in your eyes
Now I can only hope that you can find a way to understand
And give me one more chance to be your man
Please be there waiting for me darling
Telling me that you still love me true
Cause I can hear these steel wheels turning
Bringing me closer and closer to you
And I will do anything
If you’ll wear my ring
Cause I’ve come to realize that true love never dies
So I’m coming back home to you
Yeah I’m coming back home to you
Yeah I’m coming back home to you
Tonight
I’m coming home….
On the night train
Western Plains Blues
I don’t think I can take it no more
Papa says we can’t make it
I don’t think I can take it no more
Mama says we can’t make it
Oh but every man here
Must learn how to fail
Oh but every man here
Must spend some time in jail
Johnny’s on that highway
Johnny won’t you please come home
Rose Marie’s in the city
Rosy you’re playing all alone
Oh won’t somebody tell that girl
Her pain ain’t nothing new
Oh won’t somebody tell that boy
The God-awful truth
The whole world is burning
Smoke is in the sky
The wheels at the mill ain’t turning
The rivers have all gone dry
Last night I heard the preacher say
Heaven help us all
As I sat by my window
I heard my baby call
Sally is my true love
It’s a secret we can’t tell
I meet her when that moon’s up above
Down by her daddy’s well
Sometimes I take her hand
And kiss her on the lips
Sometimes we lay down in the sand
She pulls me to her hips
I know I should be leaving
There’s nothing for me here
Like my brother and my sister
I should just disappear
Then I hear my mama cry
When she thinks she’s alone
Then its there I realize
I’m already gone
I don’t think I can take it no more
Papa says we can’t make
I don’t think I can take it no more
Mama says we can’t make it
Oh but every man here
Must learn how to fail
Oh but every man here
Must spend some time in jail
What I Saw
Grew up in the valley praying for rain
Grew up in the valley praying for rain
Well I heard a lot of thunder
But the rain never came
Went to the city eyes open wide
Went to the city eyes open wide
Well I seen a lot of people
And I heard a lot of lies
Standing at the auction waiting to be sold
Standing at the auction waiting to be sold
Another earthly body
Another heavenly soul
Tell me Mister what good are you
Tell me Mister what good are you
Well your heart is rotten
And your words aren’t true
Lights on the river, lights on the shore
Lights on the river, lights on the shore
Well there ain’t no light
For my baby no more
Went to the desert looking for the lord
Went to the desert looking for the lord
Now nobody believes me
When I tell them what I saw
Too Late Now
I was leaning on a fence
Down by the basketball court
In the land of giants
It don’t pay to be short
Had one eye on the game
One on a girl passing through
Something about her
Reminded me of you
It was in the city of angels
City of the dead
He brought you wine
He brought you bread
Through the hot summer days
Through cold winter nights
They hung on each other
With all their might
Just when things were looking up
It all came crashing down
He never heard those boys
Laughing in their suits uptown
And on that final night
With the city in flames
I can still hear
Her calling his name
Ooh, ooh baby
I needed you
To save me
Somehow
Where do you turn
On a subway train
When all of the faces
Are crying out in pain
Hang on by your feet
Get out at the next stop
Run for your lives and pray
That it ain’t the cops
He could have been something
He could have been a star
He had the talent baby
He had the heart
But there was something inside
A line he couldn’t cross
Why he didn’t even give a damn
When everything got lost
And the snow fell down
On old Saint Marks Place
As the tears rolled and froze
Upon her face
And the band played in that dive
All night long
And I can still hear him
Singing this song
Ooh, ooh baby
I needed you
To save me
Somehow
But it’s too late now
Well it’s getting late
Time to go back home
The game’s all but over
And that girl is gone
I’ve been thinking lately
About going back west
To try and do something
With this life I got left
But sometimes at night
When I’m on this street
I still feel the anger
The hunger and heat
And I remember that girl
With the darkness in her eyes
And I’ll never forget
The words she cried
Ooh, ooh baby
I needed you
To save me
Somehow
But it’s too late now
Too late now….