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Heaven, Hell, and Houston, TX

by The Port of Dream

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1.
What are we really living for? Who can tell you the meaning now? Half forgotten and ignored torn from pages that were long written down What they know is just a distant shell of the past heading nowhere on a bullet and we're getting there fast Go and tell me the story now and I'll send you on your way if your secret's written down fall down on your knees... echoes from the radio who can sell you forgiveness now? take the pill and wash it down hold my hand and I will even show you how What we sow was reaped long before we were born what they know can't fill a jar, a mind or a soul Go and tell me the story now and I'll send you on your way If the secret's written down fall down on your knees and pray
2.
Houston, TX 04:51
Well the lights went down in Houston The bars are all closed There’s locks on the doors And bars on the windows So no one creeps in on you Late at night Fucking your flatscreen Or watching your wife The faint smell of piss as I Walk down the street The homeless man muttering Through 3 crooked teeth And the frat boys and rednecks And gaybashin’ goons The methheads and junkies With crusted up spoons (But there’s no place that I’d rather be Lovin’ in the land of the free Texas, Oh babe can’t you please Wrap your big dumb arms ’round me?) From the wannabe gangsters To the broken down whores To the grocery store clerk With a face full of sores From goofy Joel Osteen And his bible totin’ friends To surburbanite housewives With cellulite bends To the Pageant Queen Angels I never did bed And their CEO husbands that give real lousy head All the closet-case preachers And Aliens too And the beer chugging racists From the klans of the ku (chorus) It’s teen mother central And the home of the brave Where no buffalo roam But the Rockets still play And the cops’ll all greet you With their pistols and sticks It’s just highway graffitti saying “Come suck our dicks!” Houston’s a husband That you can’t ever leave Cause he'll black both your eyes And knock out your teeth It’s cowboy hats and hoodies Bibles and beer It’s rebel flag stickers And xenophobic fear It’s bigass beer and whiskey Titty dancers too It’s Saturday nights With nothing to do It’s gangfights at nightclubs It’s a thousand degrees It’s hell or highwater It’s roaches and bees It's boarded up houses and boarded up stores it's dead-malls and crack-dens if you're lookin' to score She's a lover and fighter that's armed to the teeth with a novelty pair of truck nuts underneath From Grandmas in fastlanes To assholes in trucks With union-made stickers Saying “Socialists Suck” It’s prayer in the classroom It’s peace and it’s war It’s parking enforcement It’s less and it’s more
3.
Around Here 03:06
"I hear the world's on fire and I don't even smoke" the flight attendant failed to laugh at my off-color joke Now I'm grounded in Atlanta without my carry-on I guess Ohio's got my suitcase my one-way ticket's gone I understand it now ma'am, you've made it loud and clear, there's no one I can count on to have a sense of humor 'round here. This quarantine-age-riot is enough to drive me mad, I'm sending ransom letters back home to mom and dad I'm under so much pressure I think I'm gonna pop My best friend got arrested for selling flour to a cop he didn't have much sense now it's 90 days of fear I'm pretty sure it's not against the law to bake a cake around... Here I go again playing myself laughing at nothing as I'm spinning around I'm shaking and cursing at nothing at all I may lose my marbles but I'm having a ball I wish I were Madonna then I could express myself Gotta make the message clearer if not for my mental health It's lonely out here waiting for the world to fix its ways I'm out here counting sheep like an inmate counting days It's better just to get sloshed and watch Hulu on the couch order in from Taco Bell start your foaming from the mouth I could drive my ass to Texas I hear it's warmer in the South I think I'll just sit here crack a beer and lay about 'round here
4.
Life gives you nothing And you give it all There’s blood on the ceiling, Blood on the walls Don’t know how it got there Or just who to call Set yourself up Just to watch yourself fall You’ve been broken, Beat down, Lost and alone You’ve been helpless afraid of it all So take my hand And I’ll jumpstart your heart Baby, I’ll jumpstart your heart I wandered forever In search of myself I found lots of answers That weren’t any help But I’ll never know Just quite how you felt When the ground opened up And brought nothing but hell But I was broken Beat down, Lost and alone I was helpless Afraid of my heart So grab those cables And switch me on babe, And jumpstart my heart Baby, You jumpstart my heart. Bridge: So take all the pain And kiss it goodbye With quick, careful aim, Right between the eyes And let it lay there And never arise Cause you know And I know And you know That I know Well, You know how it ends When you can’t let it die The ghosts of the past Still haunt you inside So just grab those cables And give it a spark Send thousands of volts Straight to my heart And let go…
5.
It’s kinda crazy how this played out, Another night on the floor Not sure how it got this way And can’t take much more There’s a monster in your closet He stole your socks and your soul No telling where he went But I know somebody knows It must not be much fun Fighting with yourself, You pulled me into this one So I guess I might as well, Ask that you do me a favor, friend Wake me up and tell me how it ends This back and forth drives me crazy, And tell your friends not to call, They always bark like a pack of dogs And they drive me up a wall. It’s the same fight, different day I wear my heart on my sleeve But you packed my shirt right up, And you told me I had to leave.
6.
Funny how we do things As lost as we are And it’s funny how we move things But we don’t know how far My life and my shelter ain’t quite what they seem But I love the rain here And these late night schemes But I can’t lay here just because you want to I can’t shake you off of my mind And I can’t go back to all those years I just move on and love you more Over time. Funny how we say things Just because we can All the times I should have said this Or held on to your hand I can’t tell you the future And I can’t relish the past we just held on to nothing and let go way too fast
7.
I could take the long way home Even though I promised you That I would be waiting When you got back Fancy this and fancy that I never gave much thought to what Could Turn back on me Or turned you on. But all my ghosts will be satisfied Need something to forget sometimes I think I need a new way to get by Why can’t you be satisfied? A rumble and a broken mirror The luck will find you no matter where You choose to sweep the glass Or the truth. Truth is that I never dared To ask the why, the how, the where It never meant that much to be that clever anyhow. And all my ghosts will be satisfied Need something to forget sometimes I think I need a new way to get high Why can’t you be satisfied? I don’t Mind if I'm not Clever like you You don’t Mind if I exist at all As lost As you Are I Do pity you But words And ghosts You know Won’t save you
8.
The Nest 04:03
I wont walk Away from you Just tell me how it is That these broken parts fit After all these years? Just tell me why it is That we always seem To keep on walking Away from who we are And responsibilities All fall around our feet As we walk across the shards? You wont see any scars. You wont see any scars. I was separated at birth from you A pair, completely lost We were umbilical, chemical Something like a bomb Just waiting to go off A blasted home That fucking roof torn off The people blown to bits And now I know After all these years The parts no longer fit The parts no longer fit The parts no longer fit Like the bird That fell down from the tree I still watch you move You twitch And crumble I fell I tumbled Straight toward the earth I was as sick as you were And as lost as you were too But I love you Yes I love you Ever since I fell down from the tree Ever since I fell down from the tree This nest you built wasn’t big enough for me Ever since I fell down from the tree
9.
Secrets 03:18
It's not a big thing, just a favor I'm so sorry I'm embarrassed and afraid to ask We need a little time To get right to the bottom and explore each other's hidden pasts You know we can take this one at a time You don't need to hurry, we've got all night Stop me if you think you've heard this before Love is built on trust, and I'll trust you much more... Why don't you tell me all your secrets? Don't you think that I would understand? Tell me all your secrets, I know what you know all of mine Why don't you tell me all your secrets? Don't you think that I would want to know? Tell me all your secrets, I know what you know all of mine It's such a shame that we waited so long To discuss the things we fear the most I swear to Jesus That your secret's safe with me on my mother and the Holy Ghost Even if you think I already know It's not just what you hide it's in what you show Even if you think I already know It's not just what you say, it's in what you don't
10.
Good girls go to Heaven, Bad girls stay right here Blinking neon halos The smell of week-old beer Angels Don't Fly Tonight I can speak your language Come on babe, take a seat What is it you do again? Oh yeah, that's really neat Come with me, I'll let you take control I know just what you are You're a star You won't leave disappointed You won't be quite the same If you don't act like an asshole I'll tell you my real name. Come with me, you know I'm in control You know just what we are I'm a star
11.
The Dance 06:47
"Normal's" a dance We do with ourselves But we can't tow the line anymore An ass-shakin' jive But your rhythm's all wrong And this dance has become such a chore You've waltzed past the grave In search of yourself And you found lots of answers That weren't any help The judges have scored And the game has been played And you've got no more soul left to sell. We're all just searching for Rhythm and Rhyme And the means to sell off the game But the crowd's all gone home And the dancin' is done And all you have left is your name A partner can save you Yeah, that's what they said Another to catch if you fall But you gave up on us Just as soon as you saw We were tied to a train going nowhere at all Now we all just fight through the static and hum And reach for a place to call "whole" We once danced for two Now we're dancing for none With no one to care for your soul.

about

The second full-length album from The Port of Dream. Following up on the mild success of cross-country collaboration EP "Six Songs To Fight Over...and Make Up To" with North Carolina's Kevin Brawley, comes an album that is a bit poppier and brighter in tone than 2010's "The Promise of Rain." Offering a little more hope and just a sprinkle less venom, "Heaven, Hell, and Houston, TX" still features the genre bending DNA of previous Port of Dream work. There's plenty of folk, goth, rock, and pop influence throughout the album, ranging from the begrudging love song for a city "Houston, TX," the sarcastic pop country twang of "Wake Me Up (and Tell Me How It Ends,)" and the mildly Dance/EDM flavored creeper anthem "Secrets." If you like your playlists diverse and grew up on "shuffle" mode, this is an album that should scratch that itch.

credits

released March 12, 2021

All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed, mastered, reverse-engineered, second-guessed, abandoned, rediscovered, re-recorded and released by Christopher Many.

Cover art: Apocalys Art (teespring.com/stores/apocalys-art)

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The Port of Dream Columbus, Ohio

Someone gave that weird metalhead at the party an acoustic guitar and asked him to sing something. Often sarcastic,biting, and self deprecating to a fault. Music that stares at its shoes but says something mildly funny while doing it.

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