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From Hell to Hollywood

by Bill White

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The Fishermen & the Priestess
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1.
From Hell to Hollywood 03:10
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I left my wife and kids in the house of the rising sun Found a dead man in the swamp his pockets were full of junk Jumped a riverboat to Memphis then caught a bus heading west At a rest stop in El Paso I got sloppy drunk A copper found me in an alley Shook my shoulders good He said boy whats your story? I told him I was on my way from hell to hollywood He put me back on the greyhound where I passed out on Seagrams 7 Came to in a desert town 200 miles east of heaven When I said I came from Memphis, my seatbelt beat me senseless Said we both got on in Texas and I couldnt argue with that He told me he was from Durango born in a whorehouse parlor Married a luckless cinderella who never lost her shoes He stuck around to help her out like a good husband should But he got fed up and hit the road from hell to hollywood When we pulled into the final station a bunch of cops were waiting They cuffed my buddy then they chained him and dragged him by the hair Seems he escaped from a Juarez prison Swam across the rio grande Caught a bus out of E Paso headed west to the promised land Me I found a flophouse in a rundown neighborhood I was also on the run from hell to hollywood Why hollywood? you ask whats so special about that place? Because a man can go unrecognuzed unless he has a famous face People on the highway dont usually last too long Running from the law or just the shame of doing wrong Everones up to something Mosty its no good We all keep a running from hell to hollywood
2.
Hell's Bells 02:59
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Hells bells Ring in the Wells A song The whistle tells Of a meeting at the apponted hour With a strangle in the haunted tower Close my eyes I dont want to see it Put it away I dont need it It might be true I still dant believe it Too many possibilities Hells bells Spin round in spells A curse For better or worse Better to beat the trouble of the day Than fly to others and lose your way All the outstretched arms of those you have harmed Take the pictures off the shelve Take a look inside yourself Hells bells Ring in the Wells A song The whistle tells Of a meeting at the apponted hour Wuth a strangle in the haunted tower Imagine the most infernal Torments of torture eternal And you wont be so terrified ofroads taken by those who have died Better to imagine an imaginable burn Than a trip to wild countrues from which there is no return Hells bells Fear sells Whatever comes next I wish you well
3.
The Girl in the Song 02:44
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She is supple as a willow Lighter than the air I hold her for a moment Then she isnt there She leaps out of the music Like a polished violin Before I can tie her down She is back in the song again She is the one I have been loving all along My heart was stolen by the girl in the song I have known her from all the songs Ive heard She is the music, the rhythm, and the words Though she has been seen on stage and on screen I think it would be wrong To call her anything but the girl in the song Her furry little boots The way she moves her legs When she is pretendng to be still The way she moves her eyes When she speaks to me Makes me feel like the king of the hill She is the one I have been loving all along My heart was stolen by the girl in the song I have known her from all the songs Ive heard She is the music, the rhythm, and the words Though she has been seen on stage and on screen I think it would be wrong To call her anything but the girl in the song She asked me if i liked her hair rolled back into a bun I said i liked in hanging down, she answered "thats no fun" her dress is to the knee her shoulders bare and free her bodys like the trunk of a rowan berry tree thats the way it is with the girl of the song
4.
One Friend 02:39
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One friend stole my money One friend stole my wife One friend stole my loaf of bread and cut it with a knife One friend stole my future One friend stole my past One friend stole three shotgun shels and tried to make them last One friend stole my water One friend stole my land One friend stole the aur I breathe I cut off both his hands One friend stole my walking stick One friend stole my bed One friend stole my friendship Now all my friends are dead
5.
Mister Two By Two 04:02
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Good night, Marion Roller Girl with a butt like a boulder We were going steady With a ten cent ring But I liked Gloria bettery I told her in a letter She said first I had to take off the ring And it broke It was the cheapest thing I could afford At the time Gloria and Marion (Paula and Jennifer, Robin and Joanne) Were best friends they stuck like glue Until I came along Mister Two by Two Paula from Sweden Taught me how to kiss Her best friend was my girfriend With two, I couldnt miss They were an unlikely pair It was uncanny Like Barbie being best friends With Little Orphan Annie Robin was a raven In a velvet shawl Every day after school Wed get stoned and ball Her best friend Joanne Took me to the movies one night The next day they both wrote a note Saying "We hate you, Bill White"
6.
Close the Door 02:59
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close the door somebody left it open wide close the door you dont want to look inside conspiraces are being hatched like flies decisions are made who and where and why you dont want to know what is going down cover your ears keep your nose to the ground close the door close the door its the changing of regimes just like they tried with the vietnamese im not like the raven crying nevermore im just begging you please plese please close the door surrogates of satan have eyes wude apart mouths that keep moving after the taking has stopped behind eery door the proud and the profane you dont have to look you know their faces and names you already know this so i need say no more just turn off your porch light and close the door
7.
Maniac Cops 02:51
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A cop is a criminal who has risen un the ranks The outlaw who becomes the law If he can rise above the law, he becomes a politician Receives diplomatic immunity He may be a person of interest in 84 murder cases But he us nnever indicted because no judge will convict him Because he is the judges boss Black people say they cannot breathe White folks dont breathe any better Cops kill indiscriminately They dont care what race you are All people are excuses for cops to use their liscence to kill If it wasnt for the coppers, we would not need policing If t wasnt for the railroad law, there wouldnt be any crime If ut wasnt for the pigs, there would be food enough for all If the police were not armed, the people would not need to carry guns Every day we live in fear of maniac cops
8.
Zig Zag 05:32
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as we zigzag beneath the sea torpedos aimed at you and me we forge ahead but cannot see that things to come are not to be His fist an ugly claw coming down on her face Like a hammer He was a cop And she was a piece of trash He found in the slammer When her body was found Between some rocks in the river There was relief that she was just a whoreI it is only the old who die from this infection They are going to die soon anyway So its a waste to wallow in useless attention On something that kills only one percent They were just some random colored kids Who were killed in a teenage gang war in south central Twice as many killed as the gangsters in the Saint Valentines day massacre They still talk about that valentine Like it was the greatest tragedy in the history of Chicago while page 12 of the LA Times ran one forgotten paragraph on South Central Its a black thing see, so the whites dont worry Theyve got fences to keep this kind of shit at bay Its a waste to wallow in useless attention On anythng that doesnt affect us personally It is safe here on ths cruise ship in the middle of the blue 200 miles away from anything Living like the rich folks do But they found a woman in her cabin who died in the middle of the night And by the time they came to port there were a dozen more who died Stiill these fools engage in the spreading of contagion contagion of the body and the mind And when you see the fusion of perception and confusion You are looking at the future of mankind
9.
All Around the World 04:17
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chorus Ive been all around the world Because the world is round Ive been all around the world Because the world is round If it were flat I would fall off When I reached the end of the sea But there us no end to the world It goes around and around you see i took a knife and cut off alfredos head then i plugged billy the kid when he got out of bed They kicked me out of Spain with Diana But I left a horse on the top of their piana Ive been in too many apartments With Polanski So I climbed the holy mountain with Jodorowski repeat chorus I wore a barbed wire vest when I preached I lived behind a mask on a Swedish beach On the night of the long knives I wore a dress And fell in love on the shanghai express England sings like Shakepeare do If there hadnt been a Hamlet There would have never been a you I played every part in every Chekhov play I left my tears in Moscow and headed for the Frisco Bay I polished up my ship and set my compass for the East But as the day got hotter the light of the sun decreased Shadows glowing across every port Im lost at sea and got no place to land no more repeat chorus
10.
They're Closing Down the Store 04:38
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Ive been doing this all my life Now they say I cant do it any more Thogh it sounds like such a little thing Jesus Christ, Theyre closing down the store Theres nothing I can sell you That you cant get somwhere else You can find it at a better price If you dont buy it off the shelf Ive been doing this all my life Now they say I cant do it any more Thogh it sounds like such a little thing Jesus Christ, Theyre closing down the store They say the land that I stand on Is with more than my little stand A man aint worth anything If he cant increase the value of his land Theyre closing down the store on you and me Leaving us with nothing but a ring of useless keys Ive got no money in the bank Just my returement coming in Gotta go across the equator If Im gonna find a place I can afford to llive Ive been doing this all my life Now they say I cant do it any more Thogh it sounds like such a little thing Theyre closing down the store

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released August 9, 2020

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