Family Traditions

by Aron Blue

Family Traditions cover art
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1.
03:07
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2.
02:02
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3.
02:20
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4.
02:53
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5.
01:18
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6.
03:14
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03:04
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04:03
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9.
02:44
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10.
02:50
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11.
03:33
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12.
01:54
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13.
04:20
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about

This is a demo version of an album I'll be releasing next year with a full band.

credits

released 01 August 2011
Aron Blue, vocals and guitar

tags

tags: folk alt-country brooklyn brooklyn country bushwick country folk female folk rock Brooklyn

license

all rights reserved

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about

Once when I was still a punk, I had a dream I should visit a little town about 50 miles from NYC. So I did, and while ... more walking around, I found a cassette tape of Waylon and Willie. Almost brand new-- sitting on a lamp post in a parking lot. I already knew all the songs on the tape-- my dad played it in the car every Sunday after church.

That's when I knew I couldn't be anything but who I was. less

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Track Name: Chualar
Chualar is a little town off of Highway 101
Far away from Frisco or LA
It gets so dusty there sometimes, that it almost blocks the sun
Ain't no sidewalks there to this very day

And all the stores say "Se Habla Espanol"

All my friends' moms and dads spoke another language to their kids
Most the time when we were doing something wrong
I'd hear their names, then a string of words that I could not understand
That's how I knew it was time for me to get on home

And all the stores say "Se Habla Espanol"

But if you looked out our front window,
we had a view of heaven

Todos los colores
que se viste el campo
en la primavera

People working in the fields all day need a place to lay their heads
And for that, I guess Chualar was all right
That dusty, violent, little town in the picture-perfect valley
Our little ghetto in paradise

Mi pueblito, mi pueblo...
Track Name: You Can Pry My Weed Out of My Cold, Dead Hand
CHORUS
Well, you can pry my weed out of my cold, dead hand (3x)
Help me, Jesus, tell me that you understand.

Just like that ol froggy say, it ain't easy being green
but i've been living the same way since the day i turned 19
that's the day i smoked my first marijuana cigarette
didn't hurt me one bit then, and it hasn't hurt me yet

(CHORUS)

well, i can smoke all the weed i want, and nobody gives a damn
but you and both know that's cause of the color that i am
the war on drugs is actually another kind of war
and green ain't the real color that you're being busted for

(REPEAT CHORUS as often as needed)
Track Name: Hotel Riverview
Well, it's a short way from the Riverview to heaven
Just watch the rich folks with their dogs outside
Dumb animals in fashionable clothing
They'll never worry where to spend the night, oh lord
They'll never worry where to spend the night

Well it's a short way from the Riverview to heaven
Just listen to that old man cough next door
He's traded in his final breath for one last drag of cigarette
and pretty soon we'll hear him cough no more, oh lord
pretty soon we'll hear him cough no more

And the Riverview's a dark and rough spot in this diamond mine
And the Riverview it shines because it simply doesn't shine
And you love me and baby I love you
So we checked into the Hotel Riverview

Well it's a short way from the Riverview to heaven
I know because you take me there each night
We got no money, we got no home, but here's a place we can be alone
And wrap our arms around each other tight, oh lord,
wrap our arms around each other tight

And the Riverview's a dark and rough spot in this diamond mine
And the Riverview it shines because it simply doesn't shine
And you love me and baby I love you
So we checked into the hotel Riverview
Track Name: Get Rid of the Drunk
Well, you throw things when you're drinking and you take off your clothes
And sometimes you throw up in the car
And I started hated drinking, cuz I started hated dragging
Your sorry drunken ass out the bar
But drinking with my friends is still so much fun
So I won't get rid of the drinking, I'll get rid of the drunk

CHORUS
Get rid of the drunk who's always hanging 'round
Trying to bring my drinking down
Making it seem like more work than fun
Get rid of the drunk who can't understand that it's
time to go at 4 AM
cuz honey, you got work to do at home

Well you're always saying one more round and it's on me
and I don't even know where the money goes
and I tried to keep up with you, but I always wound up sleeping
in the back of the bar in all my clothes
So tonight I'm leaving with someone fun
I won't get rid of the drinking, I'll get rid of the drunk

CHORUS

I'm sure you'll find another, with a real rotten liver
and both of you can drink til you drown
and I'll see you at the bar, or I'll see you in the gutter
and I will be the one looking down
ladies if your man ain't no damn fun
don't get rid of the drinking, just get rid of the drunk

CHORUS
Track Name: Chicken in Every Pot
Chicken in every pot
That's the promise that I got
But the one little thing they forgot to impart
is that the chicken in question's someone close to my heart
Chicken in every pot
Guess I've guaranteed my spot
Cuz I'm splashing around in this funny bath
and the temperature is rising fast.

Bok Bok

Chicken, chicken, chicken dinner
always such a winner
who cares if it's your neighbor
maybe you're doing them a favor
Chicken, chicken, so delicious
who cares if the methods vicious
we sure like to each each other
that's the American way, my brother

Chicken in every pot
That's the promise that I got
but the one little thing they forgot to impart
is that the chicken in question's someone close to my heart
Chicken in every pot
Guess I'm guaranteed my spot
cuz I'm splashing around in this funny bath
and the temperature is rising
the temperature is rising
the temperature is rising fast
Track Name: Pool in my Backyard
my daddy grew up picking fruit in Washington and Oregon and California
he went to school for free, and graduated cum laude when I was four or five
and the day we bought the house with the pool was the proudest day of his life

CHORUS
He'd say, look here at this pool
everytime I sweep it, I think,
never thought I'd be someone with a pool in my backyard

Well it ain't wise to fantasize about times
that probably weren't that different, much
but we weren't at war officially and people
didn't seem to cheat so much
besides I know those times were good, cuz I was told
no child had ever had such luck

CHORUS

economics and politics
they don't fit into songs too well
but this is just a song about dad
he was poor but smart and did pretty well

and no offense, America, but it seems to me
that we ain't getting the same deal

CHORUS
Track Name: Don't Sleep with that Married Man
Well my mama had a certain friend
who never seemed to find a man
she always spent her days and nights alone
one day my mama said to me
you're old enough to know why she
is always waiting by that telephone

CHORUS
Don't sleep with that married man
he'll leave you lonely and he'll leave you blue
so when you see a ring ridin that left hand
he better not be ridin home with you

Well that was a long time ago
now there's a certain friend I know
who did not heed her own dear mama's words
she'd wait and wait and pine and pine
and when it finally came the time
for him to leave his wife, it was not for her!

CHORUS

Of course there was this time when I
just met this really pretty guy
at a bar around the corner, where I go
well he told me all about his wife,
but he was there and so was I
and I was really drunk, and well, you know, you know

Don't sleep with that married man
he'll leave you lonely and he'll leave you blue
unless it's just for a one night stand
and you send him home before the night is through

REPEAT CHORUS
Track Name: Land of the Red, White and Cruel
Land of the Red, White and Cruel

40 children learning from one teacher
Are they learning anything at all
All the bridges are falling down
Empty houses in broken towns
and the TV tells us it's our neighbor's fault

Land of the Red, White and Cruel
I hate to say it, but I can't stop thinking that it's true
Goddamn Uncle Sam, what'd we all ever do to you
Land of the Red, White and Cruel

And all those churches teaching their political religion
Seem to think that God's another 3rd rate politician
punishing the poor for being poor
is that what God is for
I thought the poor were blessed in his name

Land of the Red, White and Cruel
I hate to say it, but I can't stop thinking that it's true
Goddamn Uncle Sam, what'd poor folk ever do to you
Land of the Red, White and Cruel

I know there are places in this country
where I could not safely sing this song
but what makes me even sadder
are the places where it don't matter
it seems our hearts are getting harder
even as the sky gets darker
it ain't just the outside of us gone wrong

Land of the Red, White and Cruel
I hate to say it, but I can't stop thinking that it's true
But Uncle Sam ain't a real man, the cruelty comes from me and you
Land of the Red, White and Cruel
Track Name: Green's the Color of Winter
The January streets are desolate and curbed of all desire
just like the summer fields of home, burned to protect from fire
Smoking under dusty mountains, in shades of velvet gold
Green's the color of winter, in the place that I call home

And Uncle John said that he never loved the Hudson
like he loved our little river
that goes dry every summer
but he had to live close to the one to write about the other
Johnny knew about the type of green that only comes with winter

That January green...

So why do we have to travel so far away from home
to understand the level of longing in our souls
see I slipped away so very long ago
but green's the color of winter in the place that I call home
that I call home
that I call home
Track Name: Deeper Down
And I believed everything that they taught me then
I raised my hand, I never criticized, I never played the clown
And all the lessons that they took from me
were bruises on my weary, wounded empathy
that I always shouted down

my weary, wounded empathy
that I always shouted down

CHORUS
Now I am different, I can't turn off the frightening
they see me coming, and it's thunder and lightning
and deep inside me, I know I am still human
but it gets deeper down every day

Sometimes I wonder what they see when they see me
I put on that helmet and I take off my identity
and I just wanted to make my mama proud of me
dear lord I pray each night, never let my mama see what I've seen

CHORUS

and it ain't nothing personal
that's what bothers me the most

and I believed everything that they taught me then
Track Name: Family Tradition
Grandpa got a visit from the FBI
they sure didn't like the newspaper he liked
Grandpa thought that working people ought to be free
A dangerous opinion in '53
Asked about his politics and Grandpa said,
"I ain't a communist, but I'm the reddest redneck yet."

CHORUS
Well there ain't no redder rednecks
than my humble family
so give us our due respect
cuz we're a dying breed
people ask me aron, why you hold on to that vision
I say leave me alone, I'm just a-carryin on that old...
Family Tradition



Uncle John went to Berkeley in '68
He met up with the hippies on the very first day
and then he punched a cop at some student strike
cuz you can't change the world without a little fight
Uncle John went to jail for a year and a day
cuz when he said "come on!" them hippies ran away

CHORUS

Well you can call me many names, I know how it goes
but the last man who called me liberal, I punched in the nose
Cuz just because I'm lefty, don't mean I won't fight
and a lib won't kick your ass, but a red redneck might
I follow the traditions of my family
we like to scrap a little, and we love to be free

Well there ain't no redder rednecks
than my humble family
so give us our due respect
cuz we're a dying breed
people ask me, aron, why'd you beat him to submission?
i say leave me alone, i'm just a-carrying on that old
Family Tradition

I said leave me alone, I'm just a-carrying on that old
cop hitting
hippie baiting
FBI investigating

Family Tradition
Track Name: Never, Never, Never
Never, ever, ever talk to cops
Never, ever, ever talk to cops
It's your right to stay silent, whether they tell you or not
Never, ever, ever talk to cops

If you tell a cop you're innocent, they can't use that in court
but if you say you're guilty, well your trial will be short
there ain't no way it's good for you and lots of ways it's not
never, ever, ever talk to cops

Cops know that most people are chatty little fools
and they got ways to make you talk, they teach 'em in cop schools
you wouldn't fight a prizefighter if you never learned to box
never, ever, ever talk to cops

of course, if you saw someone running down the street
carrying a severed head in each hand, and screaming you're all dead meat
you should tell the cops you saw that
but use your best judgment

you don't have to fight and you don't have to be a jerk
just gotta exercise your rights and you'll find that it works
Officer, I'm happy to cooperate but not
without my lawyer, I don't talk to cops

Never, ever, ever talk to cops
Track Name: Comfort of a Man
Well my mama, she done told me
Don't take your pleasure in the comfort of the world
Oh, but mama, where will I go
when the world is all I know

And do you mean money?
Or do you mean fame?
Or do you mean the comfort of a man
that I may not see again.

Mama, I just ain't got the strength that you do
you tell me to call on the Lord, but he ain't comin through
Mama, I'm flesh and blood and I love this old world
I know who I am I ain't nothing but a boy-loving girl

Oh my mama, she done told me
Don't take your pleasure in the comfort of the world
Oh, but mama, what can I do?
that old world keeps pushing through

And do you mean money?
Or do you mean fame?
Or do you mean the comfort of a man
that I may not see again.

Mama, I just can't be something that I ain't
You done raised a flesh and blood woman, not a sanctified saint

And I don't need money
And I don't need fame
But I do need the comfort of man
I may even see him again.
It all depends.

It all depends on the man.