Get all 17 Floyd Thursby releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Empire of Summer (album, 2023), The Fuller's Field (album, 2022), Fahrenheit (single, 2021), Đóa hồn say (single, 2021), The South Lands (album 2020), Let it shine (single, 2020), To those in flames (album, 2019), Everyone Can See the Stars (single, 2019), and 9 more.
1. |
Eight Days
02:56
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I’ve got rotgut in my belly
I’ve got fire in my head
I’ve got something in my soul you mustn’t see
I’ve seen fleeting signs of torrid crimes
And fucking in the streets
I’ve got nothing in my pockets
Except a dollar’s worth of sweets
But I’ve got you girl
And you’re a firefly fainting from the heat
I’ve been driving such a distance
That I near forgot my name
But I’ll race the clock, I’ll snort the road right off the map
And hear that humming in the air
It’s not the wheels, it’s in my bones
It’s daylight dreams and motel nights
And sleeping all alone
But I’m coming back girl
I’m eight days, nine hours from coming home
CHORUS
Eight days, eight days
I’m run run running home, run run running
Eight days, eight days
I'm run run running home, run run running back home
You see the Bureau put me in a home
When I was just fourteen
I took the cane, I took the whip, I took the strap
And instead of cryin’ I turned to lyin’
Coz fiction works as good as truth
And Oswald killed the President
Like JFK killed John Wilkes Booth
And you girl,
You’re a rebel wrongin’ up a one way street
CHORUS
Now everybody lies to me,
Sells candy-striped confections
In packages of crisp sincerity
But I got rhymes for modern times
A pure and true conceit
This path is paved with precious lies
That fall beneath my feet
And that’s a fact girl
That’s a tattoo to bear upon your back
CHORUS x 2
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2. |
You gotta fly
02:49
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She’s the girl, the only girl
The one who likes her Sundays in the rain
Tuning in the radio
To greet the morning headlines with champagne
She keeps a journal by the bed
And jars of fruit her mother sent from home
All wrapped up in a ribbon bow
Stroking out her schedule with a comb
CHORUS
And in the end, you gotta walk, you gotta run, you gotta fly
When loving her is easy and she’s shining like a star
Sing it to the sun and to the rain and to the sky
No matter how or why you gotta walk, you gotta run, you gotta fly
I saw her in a dream today
Sneaking past the horses in the mist
Striding through the desert night
A filament of sunlight in her fist
CHORUS
So she's the girl, the only girl
The girl who hangs a bell out on the tides
I kiss her in the morning sun
I hold her while the wolf moon rides
CHORUS
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3. |
Sinatra's Bones
03:00
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I got a stomp-rack Hackensack fight-back letter in the mail
I got five clear days to bust my lady from the county jail
Bought pick and shovel, soap and razors from the store
Got to get my lady back before she sings no more
She made the A.B. chain break clean upon the stroke of five
We hit the hoedown south all crazy just to be alive
She said percs and pruno ain’t gonna fix my jones
I got to get a taste - I’m digging up Sinatra’s bones
CHORUS
We’re digging up Sinatra’s bones
Yes we’re digging up Sinatra’s bones
Right side radio and left against the wheel
You can’t ride the road without steel
She said for six smack months I’m jiving to the jailhouse junk
The smoke you sent I stashed it up my suitcase trunk
So I got the gear if you got the skin to get ripped
I’m clinging to the rope - I’m raiding Frankie Albert’s crypt
CHORUS
You take the one bone black and two bones right behind the eyes
You lock the 88 blind Sinatra bone between your lady’s thighs
She’s got the song and you’re gonna work that croon
And the Chairman of the Board he’s counting in the flatback tune
CHORUS
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4. |
Long Lost Friend
03:53
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It’s four in the morning, the night birds are calling her name
Well that’s how it feels when your thoughts flutter close to the flame
She gave me this photo of her and her friends in the park
And I know it sounds strange, but she blinked, and the whole thing’s gone dark
CHORUS
Goodnight my love, goodnight my long lost friend
Goodnight, I know that I’ll see you again
Goodnight my love, goodnight my long lost friend
Goodnight, I know that I’ll see you again
Just open your eyes
I remember the photo but Lord I’ve forgotten the day
Coz that was the time that me and my girl fell away
Fell away from each other, fell away from the plans we had made
Fell into the comfort of beds in which we’d never laid
CHORUS
A woman in profile, she turns to the storms in the south
With eyes that won’t open, and words that come torn at the mouth
But inside the frame there’s a girl and her friends in the park
And somewhere it’s morning, and we blink ourselves out of the dark
CHORUS
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5. |
Walk Free
03:20
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One day, you’re gonna leave here,
you’re gonna leave here, and walk free.
One day, you’re gonna love her,
you’re gonna love her, and walk free.
CHORUS
They said there’s no rebellion anymore,
no shotgun destiny
They made you take a bullet for the man,
but now you’re walking free
One day, you’re gonna go to town,
you’re gonna go to town and buy the next round
and paint that bastard sky to crimson hell
One day, you’re gonna walk tall,
you’re gonna walk tall, and walk free
CHORUS
One day, you’re gonna set sail,
you’re gonna rise and watch the rain come down
like a wall between the ocean and the sky.
One day, you’re gonna leave here,
you’re gonna leave this island prison
where an army of our convict fathers lie.
CHORUS
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6. |
A Bag of Knives
02:43
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I found me a bag of knives, all sitting in an old junk tree
I took it back home to my mama dear, she hit me with a stone eye stare
I took that bag to the policeman, I took it to the parish priest
Nobody wants the word on a bag of knives, they threw me out in the street
CHORUS
Now I got me a bag of knives
Six cleavers and a bone white shank
So get me a meeting with the mister mayor
I got something I got to say
But nothing gets down like a hole in the ground, nothing gets done like dirt
I put those cleavers in the holedark ground, I put the cleavers in the holedark dirt
I sent that sin down to Mister Jones, I sent that bag to hell
But I swear that bag crawls back to me, dragging stink across the bar room floor
CHORUS
I tell my tale to the mister mayor, I tell my tale to the street
And mister mayor knows I've got an old junk tree all hanging down low with blades
They tied me to the trunk of that old junk tree, wrapped me up fine in rags
Now I'm waiting for the devil with a bag of knives, six cleavers and a bone white shank
CHORUS
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7. |
Clementine
02:22
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You struck a match off your boot
You scraped the sole on devil’s root
You took your heel from off my neck
You tossed your hair like a shipwreck
So I raised a grin with both my hands
Held in place with rubber bands
I tied a laugh to the frigate mast
You know those teeth were made to last
CHORUS
Ooh ah ooh ah
Clementine
You got to got to get the Axehead Line
Clementine
Your vicious loving trails along behind
Way down below, beyond the sails
The lady waits with painted nails
The shipping news forecasting gales
You know you can’t grab a rat by a rabbit’s tail
CHORUS
Forsake the sea, but not by choice
You’ll lose the way, you’ll lose your voice
The sun don’t rise on the devil’s land
And she smiles as she takes my hand
CHORUS
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8. |
The Night Time Gate
03:52
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I don’t know when it all began
The hungry chance, the faded plan
I know that I was once a man
Of flesh and blood, and circumstance
But I paid my toll like anybody else
I had a dream I met my fate
She was walking by at half past eight
And she opened up the night time gate
Said, ‘once for love, and twice for hate’
And number three I knew was meant for me
CHORUS
And if once is for love and if twice is for hate
Well I know I did wrong and I carry that weight
And my eyes remain open, I’m standing up straight
But all I can see is the shadow of the night time gate
They say that hope from hardship springs
But I’d fly away on evening’s wings
I’d take the silence night can bring
To lose that drunken moment’s sting
For I loved a girl, but once I was a fool
CHORUS
I met my dream at half past eight
And I loved her by the night time gate
But all she said was ‘twice for hate’
And I knew that I must wait alone
CHORUS
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9. |
Away from the sun
03:45
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I emptied my bag onto the empty bed
I emptied my thoughts out of my empty head
I shot an empty stare through the screen of the blank TV
And I could not see the man that I used to be
CHORUS
I know that time can be a weapon in your hand
I know that love can treat you wrong
I know that wherever I am going my shadow’s gone ahead
Because I am walking away from the sun
I am walking away from the sun
She is gone and we are done – I got that telephone call
And I was crying like a drunken sailor sliding down a wall
But too long gone is too many goodbyes too late
I can be strong but I can’t turn back fate
CHORUS
So goodnight to the day that took my baby away
Goodnight to the day that stole my heart
Welcome to a night of shattered stars and a broken moon
Welcome to a sky that’s falling apart
CHORUS
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10. |
Stella Marie
03:34
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I wanted her to love me I wanted her to care
So when she was a-sleeping I stole a lock of hair
I stole a lock of hair And I sewed it in my skin
I had it with me always So her heart I’d surely win
One day she was a-drinking And she told me the truth
She said, “Floyd, I cannot love you I was unhappy in my youth.”
“I was pale and I was sickly, And I walked a crooked path
I thought that God was with me But he was not within my heart.”
She lived by the Bible But she also lived by fear
And a dream began to haunt her That the sea was drawing near
I wore the hair upon me But her heart was harder still
She thought only of her troubles And of the sea’s awful chill
She would cry out in the night
‘I’m Stella Marie The star of the sea
The waves move up To cover me.
Oh the star of the sea Yes I’m Stella Marie
Stella Marie The star of the sea.’
And when I die I pray the sea
To take my bones To Stella Marie
To lie beside My star of the sea
My star of the sea Miss Stella Marie
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11. |
All the town's asleep
03:33
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The soldiers have gone, my child
The night may be quiet, but your dreams are wild
Wait for the sun, wave to the moon
Morning is coming, the owls sleep soon
CHORUS
There is hope, oh there is hope
For all who dream on below
There’ll be peace, yes there’ll be peace
When all the town’s asleep
Where are the church bells now?
Where is the farmer, where’s the plough?
What does the future hold
When all of our fathers could raise no gold?
CHORUS
If we have bread, my friend
Break it with me, we’ll mark the end
If we have wine, sweet wine
Drink to moonlight, drink to sunshine
CHORUS
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Floyd Thursby Melbourne, Australia
"Floyd Thursby has a fascinating voice. But of course, all that would be insignificant without great songs as vehicles for that voice. Thursby has armfuls of them." (Rhythms magazine)
FB/Insta/Twitter: MrFloydThursby
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