Get all 29 James Tristan Redding releases available on Bandcamp and save 75%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Leap Songs, Part 5, Leap Songs, Part 4, Song A Week, Vol. 8, Leap Songs, Part 2, Leap Songs, Part 1, The Nashville 24, Vol. 3, Look Out World, Song A Week, Volume 7, and 21 more.
1. |
All I Need And More
06:04
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Lights are low in the harbor now
Today feels like a dream
All alone as the distant sounds
Fill my mind like laser beams
Time is still like the icicles
So bright beneath the stars
Let it all fall away as they
Guide my feet to where you are
But I don’t really feel like talking
And I don’t wanna’ tell you why
Cuz anytime I catch your glances
I see forever in your eyes
The difference in between this moment
And everything I knew before
Extraordinary don’t describe it
You’re everything I need and more
So help me off the floor
So help me off the floor
You’re all I need and more
So help me off the floor
Holding on by a thread tonight
To what I can’t describe
All I know is you took my heart
And broke it open wide
Take my fear take my doubt as well
And take me with you please
Light a flare and let it split the sky
Either side of you and me
But I don’t really feel like talking
And I don’t wanna’ tell you why
Cuz anytime I catch your glances
I see forever in your eyes
The difference in between this moment
And everything I knew before
Extraordinary don’t describe it
You’re everything I need and more
So help me off the floor
So help me off the floor
You’re all I need and more
So help me off the floor
You’re the northern lights the jet stream overhead
A map of where I wanna’ be
So let’s ignite the sky with blue and green and red
The brightest sparks I’ll ever see
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2. |
Lucky Penny
04:52
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Four foot eleven with eyes like heaven and a head full of doubt
Sky blue sun dress at a shotgun weddin' with no way out
Waited on a promise you knew was a lie stopped you dead in your tracks
Made it halfway across the great divide now you can't go back
You never been too lucky Penny when it comes to men
Swore he'd treat you like the Virgin Mary broke your heart again
Another name that you barely knew in your flat bed Chevy
Even cowgirls get the blues you never been too lucky Penny
Left the altar put the cash in a bag headed straight for the strip
One way ticket to the Fremont drag you and your crimson lips
A big mistake and you won't forget it where did you go wrong
Lost again but you won't admit it until the money's gone
You never been too lucky Penny when you rolled the dice
Bet it all and it cost you plenty more than once or twice
Let it ride on a card or two now you played too many
Gotta’ quit because it’s killing’ you you never been too lucky Penny
So write it down sell the rights to the story all your best regrets
Hit the gutter in a blaze of glory like a cigarette
Everybody thinks you're the fortunate one with a name like that
You got 'em all between your finger and thumb they ain't seen nothin' yet
You never been too lucky Penny all the dreams you dreamed
There's no blue ribbon no confetti nothing in between
Crossed your fingers you could turn it around it was just too heavy
Jump the ship because it's goin' down you never been too lucky Penny
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3. |
Building A City
05:44
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If you’re building a city
Let me share a few words
You’ll need money and courage
And a whole lot of dirt
Grab a hold of a shovel
And a bag of cocaine
Keep your eyes on the prize now
Cause it’s only a game
If you’re building a city
Start by digging a hole
Make it deeper and deeper
Dig until you see gold
Put the gold in a blanket
Wrap the blanket with rags
Raise the rags to the topsoil
Like some tattered old flag
If you’re building a city
What you need is a grave
Somewhere sacred and silent
All your secrets are safe
Tell your men to find God
And strap his arms round a stone
Send him down there to meet you
A divine bag of bones
If you’re building a city
Climb back out from the earth
Make a list of your assets
And their actual worth
Some will sell for a million
But that ain’t why you’re here
No your job is to make
All this peace disappear
If you’re building a city
Make the people afraid
To stand up for what’s honest
Lest they never get paid
Put their fear on a treadmill
Hook it up to the bank
Stuff their souls in the slammer
Let their auras go blank
If you’re building a city
You can take what you please
Hide your hand as you’re dealing
Bring the weak to their knees
Offer hope of redemption
With a tear jerking tease
And they’ll pay you forever
Because the first one was free
If you’re building a city
Remind me to run
To the opposite skyline
With a flask and a gun
If they ask how you did it
Well I won’t say a thing
Until it all crumbles
And they come for the king
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4. |
Mercy Mile
04:22
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I can’t take it back
I can’t change the facts
I can’t make the past be something else
I can’t get too close
I can’t let you go
I can’t dream of loving someone else
One more touch one more embrace
Please don’t leave me now
There must be some saving grace
To rise about the doubt
Go the distance take my hand
Lead me like a child
One more night baby one last stand
Just one more mercy mile
I can’t be so cold
I can’t see the road
I can’t draw the blinds or shut the door
I can’t seem to say
I can’t walk away
I can’t live without you anymore
One more touch one more embrace
Please don’t leave me now
There must be some saving grace
To rise about the doubt
Go the distance take my hand
Lead me like a child
One more night baby one last stand
Just one more mercy mile
It’s too late it’s not too late
All I need is you to stay
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5. |
Planting The Seeds
04:10
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Five foot nothin' leather for skin
County line furthest he's ever been
Diesel engine big cloud of dust
Live and die by the land
Ain't no backtalk do all your chores
One turned seven other one's four
Proud of teachin' and raisin' 'em up
Fine as anyone can
Soil is rich pockets are empty
House is fallin' apart
Work the field yield will be plenty
In the home and the heart
Nothin' comes easy there's no guarantee
Still he's planting the seeds
One hard morning he will not rise
Tears fill his children's eyes
Angels came down from heaven above
Guess it's time to go home
Ain't no bible for bailin' the hay
Ain't no preacher knows what to say
That don't stop 'em from spreadin' his love
Where the seeds have been sewn
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6. |
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On a Tuesday night on an empty train
There was a distant look on a young man’s face
I took a real deep breath let the moment last
When I reached his side I just had to ask,
“Can you tell me, son - have you seen a ghost?”
He took a long hard pause with both eyes closed
For a moment there I could almost feel his pain
Then he raised his voice and began to say
There’s so many ways to break a heart
Make your knees both hit the ground
Get the tears all falling down
But every stranger on a train is a second start
For a love that doesn’t bust
To finally find its way to us
Well I made my way to the window seat
And my newfound friend opened up to me
He said, “my daddy died a couple years ago,
Moved my mama in to a nursing home;
“Then a pink slip came, that was real bad news
But the worst by far if you want the truth
Is when we both gave up and she returned the ring”
And then he cleared his throat and began to sing
There’s so many ways to break a heart
Make your knees both hit the ground
Get the tears all falling down
But every stranger on a train is a second start
For a love that doesn’t bust
To finally find its way to us
My days are filled with sadness
And my nights are lonelier
Than the studio apartment
Where I used to live with her
Yeah my mama’s fading slowly
And I sure miss my old man
But I’m grateful for the stranger
Who asked me how I am, because
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7. |
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Telephone doesn’t ring FM doesn’t say a word
Only thing that moves is the shadows on the wall
Since she walked out the door the only thing I’ve heard
“Everyday I Have The Blues” playin’ somewhere down the hall
Well I’m starin’ at the moon out the window in my room
Checkin' my watch and counting down to twelve
It’s almost January 1st might as well be the last night on earth
All by myself but it’s New Years for everybody else
TV dinner’s gettin’ cold next door neighbors making love
Neon shines between the blinds from a bar across the street
Another bottle disappears a few more footsteps in the dust
Everything is faded except your memory
Well I’m starin’ at the moon out the window in my room
Holding my breath and counting down to twelve
It’s almost January 1st might as well be the last night on earth
All by myself but it’s New Years for everybody else
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8. |
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Liberate me
Inundate me
Venerate me
Won’t you please
Automate me
Detonate me
Until such time as the
morning comes for me
Liquidate me
Isolate me
Validate me
Take the lead
Cultivate me
Punctuate me
Until such time as the morning comes for me
Hold me hostage without ransom
So exhausted that I won't run
Turn me into the companion
I continue to become
Operate me
Motivate me
Dominate me
Nice and sweet
Formulate me
Permeate me
Until such time as the morning comes for me
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9. |
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Tiny claws on the hardwood floor
Whiskers twitching in the dark
Beady little eyes and heartbeat like a drum
Listening closely for the part
When someone’s clumsy thumbs
Fumble with the crumbs
Which tumble down into my empty grasp
The only way I know
As this beggar down below
Get away far and get away fast
Dreaming dreams of rising from the earth
My brittle bones made of wood
Leaves are reaching to collect the morning dew
How I wish I could
Toughen up and trust
Muster up the stuff
Just enough to keep control
But then I run again
Turn my tail and then
Spend the bitter end in a hole
And somewhere someone’s flying
And I know how they feel
And all I want is roots to hold me down
The getaways are fleeting
The learn to stays are hard
The listen closely but don’t make a sound
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10. |
Look Out World
05:44
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Look out world I’m gonna’ jump
And find out all the things I can become
No giving up now no turning back
Just these two soles that make their way along the tracks
Look out world I’m fallin’ down
I did my best but I can’t handle it right now
The lights are blinding there’s all this noise
Nobody’s listenin’ to this little tiny voice
Look out world I’m standin’ up
I got these boot straps that I’m pullin’ from the mud
There’s no more weakness or things to prove
And there ain’t nothin’ in this world that I can’t do
Look out world I’m gonna’ try
See this new determination in my eyes
I know my steps have wandered far
But here and now I’ve gotta’ make a brand new start
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James Tristan Redding Nashville, Tennessee
British-American songwriter, singer, audiobook narrator, studio player, Godin Guitars official
artist.
Founded global collective www.SongAWeek.org, performance art experience The Under Over: tinyurl.com/uoxuo (song circle underneath a highway) and writing retreat www.TheNashville24.com (annual challenge: write 24 songs in 24 hours).
Cuts by Sarah Harralson, Eli Alger, Emma Gale, David Easterling
... more
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