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The Stone Soup Sessions

by John Egenes

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    Feel free to help yourself to any and all music here on my Bandcamp site. If you feel the urge to pay something for it, that's fine. I appreciate it very much, but it certainly isn't required nor expected. Thanks for listening. --john
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1.
This old truck of mine, gonna roll it on down the line and leave a little girl behind, and I don’t want to Another load, another run; headin' out of a setting sun thinkin’ maybe she was one I could hold onto I’ve grown used to the way it feels, this home on eighteen wheels where the truckstop showers and meals never make me feel clean Another one of those lonely nights, in the glow of the running lights with a full moon in my sights, and a long haul in between I go where the highway takes me to the places in my mind where the objects in my mirror appear much smaller like troubles left behind the open road is the perfect place to lose a troubled mind in the tail lights and the diesel smoke blowin’ out behind These big wheels roll along, and they won't steer me wrong singin’ their highway song, always runnin’ in my head When I get to the end of the line, gonna find a light to shine and rest this heart of mine, let my memories be my bed I go where the highway takes me to the places in my mind where the white line in my mirror is still connected to the past I left behind I go where the highway takes me to the places in my mind where the road ahead appears to hold more promise than the life I left behind
2.
Call me a saint, call me a sinner man with the Bible, he comes by every day thinks he can save me, make me a winner but I’m the one that got away in the graveyard, six feet under ain’t no soul here left to save I hear them crazy sons of bitches and I feel ‘em walkin’ on my grave Take a spin on the wheel of fate watch the letters goin’ round and round. they spell love, and they spell hate they spell gone, like a lonesome sound in the graveyard, six feet under ain't no soul there left to save when them crazy sons of bitches come a-walkin’ on my grave with a pick and shovel they're gonna dig a hole I'm gonna take a number, and stand in line they're gonna push me in, and cover me over ‘til I’m out of sight and out of mind Some buy trouble with a credit card and some, with a conversation that winding road runs long and hard between survival and annihilation when you’re in the graveyard, six feet under there won’t be no soul there left to save you’ll hear them crazy sons of bitches and you'll feel ‘em walkin’ on your grave
3.
I work hard on my image, I want my fans to know that I always put my best foot forward I try to put on a good show but the people show up with their cell phone cameras like to photograph me onstage and at the end of the night they put the picture on the Facebook page They always seem to get my guitar face with the drool runnin’ down my chin and now there’s pictures made of every escapade in all the places I shouldn’t have been On the wrong side of town, foolin’ around with women half my age they take their telephone cameras and they call up the Facebook page Oh, I’ve lost control Fallin’ farther down that hole Trying to keep my good side showin’ in the digital age But there ain’t no privacy in a social network community Lord won’t you help me get my picture off the Facebook page I never used to mingle with the great unwashed I traveled in a private plane I was always protected by the company lawyers now I’m livin’ in the public domain thrown into the crowd where anything’s allowed and everybody looks better than me I tell you, bein’ a star ain’t what it used to be Oh, I’ve lost control Fallin’ farther down that hole Trying to keep my good side showin’ in the digital age But there ain’t no privacy in a social network community Lord won’t you help me get my picture off the Facebook page there ought to be a law about the picture on the Facebook page.
4.
There’s a storm in the distance, a bird in the sky it dodges the raindrops as she watches it fly She writes in her journal, and tries to keep score and she tries to make sense of all the pain that’s been laid at her door. She has dreams about dancing, she’s out on the floor safe in his arms, she’s not alone anymore she can feel his heartbeat and the touch of his hands and the way he pulls her close to him she knows he understands And she dreams about dancing, it’s all about sharing to the music of loving and a song about caring and the night is for dancing with the moon up above and the dance will heal her heart, she’s a woman in love. Lost in the music, two people as one With a song of devotion, their dance has begun And when she wakes from her dream, She’ll laugh and she’ll cry And she’ll know the rain won’t ever drive that bird from the sky And she dreams about dancing, it’s all about sharing to the music of loving and a song about caring and the night is for dancing with the moon up above and the dance will heal her heart, she’s a woman in love. And she dreams about dancing, it’s all about sharing to the music of loving and a song about caring and it came in a dream, like a storm from above and the rain will heal her heart, she’s a woman in love. the rain will heal her heart, she’s a woman in love.
5.
Borrow trouble, lend a hand we left our silent lives behind in a house of cards on shifting sand at the edge of the sea, in the land of the blind We had it all and we let it go just a bunch of fools without a clue hypnotized by the TV show hopin' it would tell us what to do In the land of the blind, in the land of the blind in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king We had it all and we threw it out that easy life, it was fine with me but now I know what it was all about and it's a helluva road to eternity In the land of the blind, in the land of the blind in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king Oh the one-eyed man he plays his fiddle and everybody sings along but there's no one left to solve the riddle they're dancin' to a one-eyed song The light's a-dyin' and it's fadin' fast blind man got no day or night if you're livin' every day like it's your last y'know, one of these days you might be right In the land of the blind, in the land of the blind in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king In the land of the blind, in the land of the blind livin' in the land of the blind, we're followin' a one-eyed man
6.
Interstate 40 don’t hold much for me From Little Rock to Nashville, Tennessee But I’ve been pushing this rig from Charlotte to Seattle, Washington Now I’m on my way to Nashville on a big red label run. I’ve driven northern 80 ‘cross the plain My windshield wipers slappin’ at the rain I’ve crossed the great divide so many times I can’t keep score I’ve drove a hundred sets of tires off a hundred trucks or more And it’s been heartbreakin’, and I’ve been bellyachin’ About working this big rig rodeo, always moving down the line Been driving a Freightliner, and there ain’t nothing finer But it’s been 21 days from Macon and that Georgia gal of mine. I started out of Tonopah the day before yesterday And I ain’t seen much of interest on the way. But I could feel them doubles dancin’ as I made the Denver climb And I think I’d like to be in another place, in another time And it’s been heartbreakin’, and I’ve been bellyachin’ About working this big rig rodeo, always moving down the line Been driving a Freightliner, and there ain’t nothing finer But it’s been 21 days from Macon and that Georgia gal of mine.
7.
Give me a hundred dollars, let me find a place and I'll buy a frame to put your picture in I'll keep it with me, just to see your face Give me an empty barstool, sawdust on the floor and I'll drink alone for just a few more hours until I don’t remember anymore flowin' like a river, take away the pain whiskey in the bottle, take me home again Give me a hundred dollars, let me place my bets and I'll wait until my horse comes runnin' home, take my winnings, and settle up my debts. flowin' like a river, take away the pain whiskey in the bottle, take me home again Give me a hundred dollars, and let me take my place
8.
Saw a little bird sitting on a limb high in the briarwood so many things revealed to him from the shadows where I stood He had some ribbon and a piece of string for his love when she came home far away, she was on the wing and the little bird all alone, the little bird all alone I said, "if wings could carry me, I'd ride the wind and sail away but fate has claimed my destiny from the shadows where I stay" "Fate is nameless by design," the little bird said to me, "And she never was a friend of mine, and I know she'll never be, I know she'll never be." And it's a long, long way a long, long way but come someday I'll fly away
9.
He’s a walkin’, talkin’ lie in a banker’s suit and tie just a cowboy on the lone prairie he says’ he’s your saddle pal, put your stock in his corral but he’ll steal your horse before he takes his fee He’s driving cattle in his sleep, the herd’s a half a million deep and the trail ahead’s as pretty as you please but to the stockyards they will go, to their final rodeo while the campfire smoke blows softly through the trees It’s time to get along little doggies and move that rounder’s money up the line and when the sun sets on the trail, and you hear that closing bell you can still pretend that you’re a friend of mine Banker howlin’ at the moon, paper hits the floor come wintertime the closing prime won’t matter anymore And now it’s hard times tradin’ down on the jobs that left this town when the stampede come, and the banks they all went bust where did all that money go? Well, I guess we’ll never know we trust in god when we put it all in trust It’s time to get along little doggies and move that rounder’s money up the line and when the sun sets on the trail, and you hear that closing bell you can still pretend that you’re a friend of mine you can still pretend that you’re a friend of mine
10.
one time out on the road I stopped at a barber shop in a small town I stumbled into it by chance, it was hidden away on a back street, in the old section time had sort of passed the place by and the doors and windows hung off the building like an old suit the barber was a small man, he had glasses and thin grey hair he had a kind face and a delicate manner about him he told me he'd been there since 1957 half a century in the same place treadin' water, cuttin' hair seems hard to believe nowadays we talked about the times back then and about how music was when we were young and about the music now, and how it all sort of seems to come out of computers these days he said he'd never even used a computer. he talked about all the changes that he’d seen over the years he apologized for having to raise his prices "that was a couple of years ago", he said turns out that a couple of years ago was back in 1986 now, some folks sit down and write a song because they think they’ve got something to prove and others, they try to right every wrong ‘cause to them, life’s one big mountain to move y’know, you can choose just one thing to get along you put your head down and you stay in the groove he asked me how I wanted it, and I said, oh, just shorten it all up a bit "number one or number two?", he asked I didn't understand what he meant at first but that old shop suddenly brought back memories from when I was a kid and I looked over at the "Approved Haircuts" poster on the wall It was faded and shopworn probably hung there back when the place was new it had drawings of mens' haircuts and each was a shorter version of the one above it it was as if more time, and more work made you smaller and smaller I chose the number two and I figured, what the hell the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one is a couple of weeks he didn't cut hair the way they do these days he didn't gather it in his fingers and take little snips with a comb and scissors he used an electric blade, runnin' it up from the bottom he asked if I wanted it tapered or blocked and I didn’t know, so I said tapered I was a little uneasy at first but then I figured, the man's been doing this since I was a boy I reckon he knows his job seven bucks later and a three dollar tip I left that old shop with the best haircut I'd had in a long time
11.
Man beholds the heavens, stardust makes the man Searching for the pieces that fall into the plan Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change coming down, someday Cosmic observation, a universal chart Stars like pearls of wisdom shine on worlds apart Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change coming down, someday Dreams will become our realities Changing the rules we obey Holding up the many possibilities That separate tomorrow from today People in the heavens, out beyond the sun Searching for a new home, pilgrims every one Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change coming down Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change come Gonna be a big change coming down, someday
12.
13.
My Solo 06:14 video
my solo’s coming up my hands are getting sweaty and my mouth is getting dry my heart is beating faster and the place is full of people they’re staring right at me everybody says I’m good they all think I’m a hero and they’re waitin’ for my solo I’m gonna make it happen and I hope I can remember just where to put my fingers I hope this old guitar turns out to be my friend because my solo’s coming up yeah, my solo’s coming up got a solo coming up got a solo coming up now she’s walking out the door taking her belongings she leaves me blowin’ like a leaf like a feather in the wind I’ll have the place to myself and I won’t have to answer to anybody else I’ll eat anything I want I’ll fall asleep in the chair watching television come and go as I please and maybe take a long vacation now I’m waiting on my solo I’m gonna make it happen I hope I can remember just where I left my life I hope my solitude turns out to be my friend because my solo’s coming up I got a solo coming up got me a solo coming up now my solo’s coming up and I’m lying here and thinking that my life is almost over and there’s nothing left to do it’s one more door to open and you pass through it alone if I could make my body younger I don’t think that I’d do it because the older that I get the more I understand that we live until we die and not a minute longer and now I’m waiting for my solo I’m gonna let it happen and I hope I can remember just where I left my soul and I hope that my departure turns out to be my friend because my solo’s coming up yeah, my solo’s coming up My solo’s coming up got me a solo coming up

about

This album was put together from spare parts. It’s a hodgepodge, stone soup mixture of offerings from friends and compatriots around the world. It has somehow managed to organically synthesize itself from its humble beginnings as musical rocks and boiling water into the feast it has become. It follows the same folk process that has carried our music and stories down to us over the centuries, and it did this within a digital environment.

I’ve been blessed over the years by having many great friends who also happen to be great musicians. A few graciously shared their chops with me to create this record from the ground up—within what students of digital culture might call a communal, bottom-up system. I simply refer to it as the 21st century folk process.

Digital media allows—requires—that music (and all other content) be made and consumed within a community, and this is done via a many-to-many network of both creators and consumers. The music industry has done a fine job throughout the past century, filtering and supplying (and fueling) our music consumption. But in today’s digital communal world we will no longer wait as passive consumers for it to deliver what it thinks we should hear.

The musicians and engineers on this album were supplied with minimal song sketches and were given little or no direction about what to play or how to play it. I relied solely upon their musical instincts. This wasn’t such a big gamble. I knew each of them would step up and deliver whatever suited the song, and I wasn’t disappointed. And it made my job as producer redundant, which is what digital culture is all about.

It has been a treat to sift through all the tracks submitted by my friends. It was a pleasure to hear how each perceived a particular tune, and what they did with it. And it was even more fun to experience the taste of all these ingredients landing together in the same pot of rocks and boiling water. If you care to add to the soup, or if you want to use some of it to make your own, I’ll be supplying stems from these tunes for you to download and remix, repopulate, and share. Just follow the QR codes. You can be a part of the 21st century folk process.

Enjoy

--je

credits

released May 10, 2011

................
Musicians:

Mark Andes
Rob Bird-Robinson
Gary Brandin
Rob Burns
Jane Clark
John Dodd
Gunther Flutney
Tony Gilkyson
Read Hudson
David Kilgour
Mike Moroney
Shawn Nourse
Marcel Rodeka
The Sami Sisters
Amilia K. Spicer
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins
Lynn Vare
Terry "Buffalo" Ware
John Egenes

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John Egenes Dunedin, New Zealand

Download anything you see here for free (you can pay if you want, but you don't have to...) Author, multi- instrumentalist and session musician for countless artists, producer, songwriter, all around likeable guy.

And you might want to read his book, Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America
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