better days are coming, by Matt Hudgins

better days are coming

by Matt Hudgins

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1.	climb the walls 03:40	lyrics	buy track
time to rise, at least so says the morning but I can't find a way to shine today 'cause nothing I can see is reassuring and everything I love is so far away climb the walls wasted days climb the walls 'cause I can't see no way and if I told you all that I was falling could I count you in my corner or just another mourner come tomorrow? 'cause there's nothing in this world as sure as leaving and nothing is to pure to go away and every time they ask you where you're running there's nothing in this world you know to say climb the walls no escape climb the walls 'cause I can't find my way and if I told you all that I was going would you offer solace or build another wall so I must stay? time to lay me down 'cause I can't stay here and time the only one who knows the way so pleased to meet you, glad that you could be near but where I'm going now I can't say there will be no more climbing walls feeling pain climbing walls seasons change and if I told you all not to weep dear could I capture all your sorrows in a promise that tomorrow there will be no tears? could I leave you with a kindness and ease your worried mind that all is fine?
2.	fucking with my head 02:43	lyrics	buy track
darkness falls and this time he stays down ain't no helpful heroes left in this town broken hearts and cancer in the air lately seem to find them everywhere mulling over things nobody ever said piling on these blues 'till I see red it's all I can do to live until I'm dead why does living keep fucking with my head head full of crimes and a belly full of beer fans of death and sickness, this is your year hope some day we all can meet again don't know either way but I miss my friends contemplating things nobody ever said piling on these blues 'till I see red it's all I can do to live until I'm dead why does living keep fucking with my head are we born to suffer until it all just ends? I wish living would quit fucking with my friends
3.	better days are coming 03:17	lyrics	buy track
better days are coming is the poor man's hope and prayer as he faces forces that he can't control working with his hands and earning riches for another man who sits in daddy's office watching ticker tape unroll better days are coming says the mother to her child as she wonders where their next meal's coming from daddy went to fight for freedom his daughter never got to meet him now every day's a battle but they just take them as they come this land was made for you and me now it seems they want to sell us all that which makes us free I may not live to see it and I hope I really still believe it better days are coming for you and for me better days are coming than this cold and lonely room says the sick man from the bed he can't afford no one sends him flowers he just waits upon the hour when his ashes gather dust on some shelf where the poor get stored this land was made for you and me but what happens when a working man can't feed his family? I may not live to see it and I hope I really still believe it better days are coming for you and for me better days are coming for you and for me
4.	gun control 02:41	lyrics	buy track
if you don't like driving in the snow then get the hell out of chicago if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen you'd better have some cold cash to spend this is not the way I want to tell you this is not the song I meant to write this is just a bit of tossed off sentiment 'cause I don't hold no claim on wrong or right because everything was rolling along fine but I can't seem to find no peace of mind and loneliness is my one constant friend a friend dropping by unannounced again this is not the way I want to leave you this is not the way I want to go maybe this is just a symptom of insomnia this time of night I'm glad for gun control I guess I'll be hungover in the morning but I guess that I'll be glad to be alive I'll be so busy this won't seem important till I'm all alone again tomorrow night
5.	wilkes county jail 03:59	lyrics	buy track
wilkes county jail you ain't hell but you ain't where I want to be as far as I can tell you don't give a damn about the likes of me it was just a busted tail light then they brought the dogs out and ruined my night four walls closing in on me a bunk and two squares basic cable and some bags of chips for sale a visit from my girl when she tells me daddy's not doing so well that woman takes good care of me I wish I was out there with her obviously glass window separating wilkes county jail you ain't hell but you ain't where I want to be as far as I can tell you don't give a damn about the likes of me wilkes county, I would gladly leave and never come back if you would only agree oh, judge won't you set me free I'm not guilty can't you see and I won't disturb any peace how have I made such a mess of things?
6.	dying young 03:38	lyrics	buy track
well somewhere west of nashville on highway 24 headed to the walker county line to make a score those blue lights started flashing, pushed the pedal to the floor and the devil had to hear those engines roar and I swear they would have caught me if I'd stayed on that old road but I lost control and lost count of how many times I rolled they found it belly up, four tires spinning at the stars but they never found the driver of that brand-new stolen car, no and that's not the worst example of my wild younger days I made my life a whiskey bender and a smokey haze the only things I done right was run around and sin always thinking death was just around the bend now I'm pushing thirty with a job that pays my bills and I just go fishing, maybe drink a beer for thrills you can try it with a needle, in your car or with the drink but dying young is harder than you'd think I guess I met a girl that you might say was meant for me got married and we settled just this side of tennessee had two good years before she said we're gonna have a son how could I know the best was yet to come? now I'm pushing forty with a wife and two kids should have put some money on how long I would live you can try it with a needle, in your car or with the drink but dying young is harder than you'd think from looking at my life now you might think I'd had a plan but I never thought I'd ever be this man my true love and I, we get out when we can we can't move too quickly but we do it holding hands you can try it with a needle, in your car or with the drink but dying young is harder than you think
7.	the road to la palma 03:27	lyrics	buy track
the road to la palma is paved with ancient stones beneath misty moonlight that chills to the bone one caballito to set things to right but one caballito won't sleep alone tonight for the stranger who comes seeking solace away from the home that he's known since his first waking day and the woman he loves but don't know how to say so never you ask what is wrong the road to la palma is constant and long the road to la palma has voices that say tread softly if you should pass often this way for 100 years wait in bottles of glass and you're not the first and you won't be the last to come dancing at night when the song fills the air of a west texas girl with her golden hair just to stumble away gripping close your despair for the many ensnared by her song the road to la palma is where they went wrong close your eyes now and dream of celestial seas smoky mescal, a gift from the gods bringing peace they surround you in the dark of the night the road to la palma so often has said that I am the black saint that lives in your head that I am true ugliness, I know the love that lives in your heart but is never enough and the road to la palma is paved with ancient stones laying heavy o'er dirt covering cortez's bones and men better than you who'd not long sit on thrones so come to la palma and drink while outside the moonlight is swallowed by night so like ink
8.	ptsd 03:18	lyrics	buy track
my mother told me that her prayers were answered she's blessed to have me back in one piece but peace is just another word that means nothing to me a shell of some old memory oh ptsd you have taken all the better parts of me and left a man that I don;t know and I don't want to be one the politicians don't want nobody to see with their idle talk of victory first time I ever saw my daddy crying was when I stepped off of that plane but tearful reunions just don't happen every day and none of them can see the change I wonder if they're better off without me I should have come home in a bag instead of a shadow and reminders of pain 21 guns and a flag oh ptsd you have taken all the better parts of me and left a man that I don't know and I don't want to be one the politicians don't want nobody to see with their idle talk of victory let me be I don't want your sympathy
9.	siren 03:10	lyrics	buy track
stabbed the table, slipped right through my hand bled out on the floor by the tv again siren asked the sheriff now what did I do he said son we ain't looking for you 40 dollars and I headed south the tank was bone dry not ten miles from your house siren must have been from the gunshots I heard some people, they just never learn I don't pray to no god for mercy for my dirty old soul I pay the price as I'm digging this hole nowhere else to go crossed the wires, she started right up I ain't never had me no brand new pickup truck siren ain't as fast as what's down in my veins I got nothing to lose or to gain 20 years from some judge on the rag came out with tattoos, a colostomy bag siren what the hell, my probation was blown by the gun in the glove box alone I don't pray to no god for mercy for my dirty old soul I pay the price as I'm digging this hole nowhere else to go
10.	lullabye 03:39	lyrics	buy track
quiet your mind, it's time to sleep come tomorrow there'll be plenty of time to weep never mind the woman who's not here with you never mind the things today that you just couldn't do a glass of milk and a bottle of pills but just take one or two, too many more will kill think about your mother and the blame that she would feel think of how it's better to have wounds that might yet heal quiet your mind, it's time to sleep you want to wake up fresh and head out into the streets pickpocket one more day from inattentive fate pawn off some sanity buy something that you hate don't go to sleep

about

executive produced by joel hatmaker, stephen greene & teh reaver

cole causey plays violin on "wilkes county jail" & scott baxendale plays mandolin on "the road to la palma." all songs written and performed by matt hudgins.

designed using ink and watercolor art by mark s. johnson and a photograph by daniel peiken.

recorded to 4-track cassette august-september, 2012 at the house of horrors. mixed and mastered by drew vandenberg at chase park transduction september 22 & 25, 2012.

a heartfelt thank you to: my family, brent jacobs, cole, scott and the rest of the shit-hot country band, drew vandenberg, nuci's space, everyone who supported my pre order fundraiser, joel hatmaker, stephen greene, teh reaver, brandi price & kyle harris, caley ross, michael perry, john nielson, kaya yamashita, derek homeier, matt crine, gregg & bonnie duckworth, mike walliser, josh price, bill, barbara & corey witcher, don and krystal schmid, lindsey simunec, chris mcneal, spencer adams, mark johnson and daniel peiken.

this album is dedicated to my parents, maj. grover and linda hudgins.

copyright 2012 matt hudgins, bmi

credits

released November 6, 2012

all songs written, performed and recorded by matt hudgins except: cole causey - violin on "wilkes county jail," and scott baxendale - mandolin on "the road to la palma."

mixed and mastered by drew vandenberg at chase park transduction.

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about

Matt Hudgins Marietta, Georgia

Visionary genius luminary mastermind of the Shit-Hot Country Band, The Sky Children, Tetchy Seisakujo, Hopalong Hudge and his Buckskin Buddies; co-owner of Superfluous Umlaut Records and New Songs of the Old West Publishing.