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by Frank Gayer Martin

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1.
Memphis Train ©2002 Frank G Martin 12/19/02 I’m traveling north On a train bound for Memphis I have but one purpose To visit my sister And purchase a gravestone Inscribed with my father’s dear name He died up in Memphis While I finished high school And lived with my brother I’ll always remember He told us he loved us And he would return one day On that Memphis train I’m on my way Memphis train Well I’m from Louisiana A farm near Morganza My brother sells lumber They ship up the river I’d make a good a doctor But they say there’s war on the way Now I work for the railroad With clerks and the porters Who carry the baggage For sons and for daughters Of the last southern gentry Who know what it’s like to own slaves Chorus My father taught English To emigrant children That washed up in eddies Of the great Mississippi Up from New Orleans To backcountry hills made of clay They called him a dreamer He worked as a cooper He spoke French and German And was trained with a camera He married Amanda Now ten children carry his name
2.
Sixteen Tons 03:45
Sixteen Tons ©2005 Frank Gayer Martin That nine pound hammer, you make it ring Down in the pit, I hear you sing About the trouble I made when you were mine You bring it all up sixteen tons at a time Load up that train with number nine coal There’s plenty more down in the hole Stack it up deep and high You’re never gonna let that memory die You dig like John down in that mine You keep bringing it up in the back of my mind Swinging your hammer, driving that steel Letting everybody know just how you feel chorus That nine pound hammer, you make it ring Down in that pit, I hear you sing About the hole in the ground and the deep, dark despair But sooner or later, you’re coming up for air
3.
Instead of Here @2005 Frank Gayer Martin Liza’s in the kitchen Baking up the bread It’s early Sunday morning But something’s in the air She spilled the flour in the coffee But she don’t really care I’m hoping in a year I’ll be there instead of here Liza’s just laughing At the thing I gotta say Please marry, oh Liza Marry me this Saturday She don’t answer, but her blue eyes Never once turn away I’m hoping in a year I’ll be there instead of here I’ll be home in a year Oh Liza, that’s what I hear I gotta make it one day at a time In my mind I get away Visit you every day It’s the only peace I find Liza’s still sleeping ‘neath a quilt of shining stars And I’m watching her breathing In the hour before dawn It’s all so peaceful And my trouble is afar I’m praying in a year I’ll be there instead of here Liza, oh Liza Promise me you won’t forget That boy who adored Only you and made you laugh I’m sorry ‘bout the letter It surely is my last Was hoping in a year I’d be there instead of here
4.
Silver and Gray ©2002 Frank Gayer Martin Cutting the cane was his last chore He swung hard and opened death’s door Down he fell in the front yard By the ’59 Buick that still won’t start He looked up at clouds All silver and gray The silver light, it called And the gray promised rain He saw John run, but John’s too late No sirens wail down in the canebrake No siren’s moan would shoo birds away It’s better, he thought, it’s better this way Chorus There’s life hereafter, it’s on the other side The sad part is leaving, saying goodbye He’d been a preacher, a sinner and a working man Time for fishing when he finished, that was the plan The last words John heard him ever say Were “take the minnows and go fishing and I’ll be okay”
5.
Estella 03:16
6.
Killing Flu 04:26
Killing Flu @2003 Frank Gayer Martin 1918 - was in boot camp I woke up one night, my sheets were damp My veins were ice, couldn’t get warm I only felt worse by the break of dawn Sergeant took one look at me Shook his head and bade me leave Mercy, mercy true Save me from the killing flu They laid me down in a wooden cot In a row of ten by fifty lot We had some shade, but no relief When a soldier died, they just rolled his sheets Then came men all dressed in white Carry the body into the light Chorus My temperature ran a hundred and three By the second day, I could barely breathe On the night of the third, they knew I’d go They rolled my sheets and tagged my toe When the sun came up and I awoke By the grace of God, my fever broke Chorus Of all the soldiers in World War I Who never came home, their duty done There’s many more who never left And the Spanish Flu was their death
7.
West Texas Stars @2005 Frank Gayer Martin Just a month ago we left Waco Thumbing our way to find work Chasing combines at harvest time And covered in West Texas dirt Louis and me are brothers, you see And we’re saving up all of our pay And when the men go to town We’ll be sticking around Even though it’s Saturday Tonight the bands play in Amarillo You won’t find me in rowdy bars And I’ll lay down on the panhandle Beneath West Texas stars If these fields were seas and we had sails We could sail for days on end But it’s sorghum and wheat as far you can see Waving back and forth in the wind Well, I worked all day beside Pedro So I had lots of time just to dream About a West Texas girl who spun my world And promised her hand just to me chorus When the silos are full we’ll go back to school With money tucked in our shoes And if Louis has plans, he won’t understand I’ve got one thing left to do There’s a turn I’ll take near Dumas And my darling won’t be that far And If my timing is right, I’ll make it by night And we’ll walk beneath West Texas stars
8.
Hurricane Ivan © 2005 Frank Gayer Martin Being buried ain’t so bad It ain’t like I’m really dead Just a bunch of nothing left to do Pushing up real estate Laying like a head of state When nobody’s left to visit you But Sunday night was quite a shock Just before nine o’clock Sea walls and the river levy blew Flooding my sarcophagus Leaving all the crypts a mess And blowing off the mausoleum roof When Hurricane Ivan blew in the island We were all flying on a hurricane wind Ghosts like to party, screaming like banshee And we’re never going back To the graveyard again I thought it was the judgment day Called for Jesus right away Look the other way and let me through Just a life of petty crime I took yours and you took mine Now everybody’s gonna get their due Then the ghost of Angeline Such a sight I’ve never seen Flying like a sheet up in the wind Pulled me up to her side Flew so high, I thought I die But nothing’s gonna kill me again Chorus In the prior century Had thing for Angeline - so fine! Now we’re just bones and hair But we don’t really have a care Flying high, so high Well, the wind slowed by degrees We wound up in a tree Arm and arm, hiding from the light Hoping for the wind to change Praying for the driving rain And hurricane rides in the sky
9.
God is Great 03:25
God Is Great ©2005 Frank Gayer Martin If you’ve got a kalishnakov Or a RPG or just a rock And a good strong arm and a faith in God He will guide your hand, He will mark the spot For a roadside bomb and a place to watch And burn the fuse lit in the mosque By the cleric’s call for a solemn vow Praise for martyrdom, death to infidels God is great, God is good If you’ve got a young recruit With an M-16 and sharp salute And a radio to call a strike From high above in the dead of night At the speed of sound from the ships at sea Under beck and call from D.C. Where the president prays for victory And bows his head in humility God is great, God is good If you’ve got a refugee Full of rage and loyalty Strap some dynamite tight to her ribs And pray that she’ll have strength to live Long enough to shout Allah In a crowd of Jews in Jerusalem And feel the heat and see the light That beckons her into paradise God is great, God is good If all these martyrs pass through heaven’s gate How can heaven be so full of hate?
10.
11.
Your’re Shining ©2002 Frank Gayer Martin What made you smile I’m grateful for What made you laugh, I’m even more If it’s here just hold it fast Because I see now at last You’re shining… What brought you here I would bless What brings you near I would possess If I could capture in my hand I’d turn it loose and see if then You’re shining.. No darkness here, no shadows there I swear I see it in the air You’re moving on, it’s time to go You say farewell and yet I know The light of day the clouds will dim But not my memory of when You’re shining
12.
Always, Always @2006 Frank Gayer Martin Off the street, up the steps, through the door In a room you find little more An old woman, and someone’s children Always, always, always In the light of the kitchen dinner’s cooking All she has is enough for one more Oh, grandmother makes you welcome Always, always, always Always, always, always, a place at the table Always, always, always, a kind word to hear Always, always, always, a pillow and a blanket Always, always, always, you will find here Always, always, always, always Always you will be welcome here Make a space, set a place at the table Near a brother, a sister or a stranger All who hunger now are family Always, always, always Now your father may be lost to the bottle And you mother works a shift all night long We’ll say grace now, you are safe here Always, always, always
13.

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released June 1, 2006

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Frank Gayer Martin Glenwood Springs, Colorado

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