Get all 11 Michael O'Connor releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Burning Midnight, Hurricane, Crescent City Angels, Gunnin', Truth, Loose Ends, Bloodshot Vagabond, Devil Stole The Moon, and 3 more.
1. |
Wasted Days
03:00
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WASTED DAYS
That happy hour sun creeps through the dusty blinds
Off the boulevard into Darla's blackened eyes
Raking tips off the hustlers and Colfax queens
Making change for the cigarette machine
Lucky was sucker for her spray painted smile,
A Jersey pool hall junkie that couldn't keep a wife
With the pinball ringing in her ears,
Lucky slings his lines but Darla never hears
I've been running too long to matter
Tired of waiting for the light to change
Rains washed away every seed I've scattered
Running from my wasted days
She sighs "All I need is everything this town ain't,
Been skimming the till for six months straight"
A laughing heart escapes without regrets
As the getaway moon casts upon Darla's silhouette
I've been running too long to matter
Tired of waiting for the light to change
Rains washed away every seed I've scattered
Running from my wasted days
I've been running too long to matter
Tired of waiting for the light to change
Rains washed away every seed I've scattered
I've been running too long to matter
Tired of waiting for the light to change
Rains washed away every seed I've scattered
Running from my wasted days
Running from my wasted days
© Michael O’Connor
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2. |
Chicago
03:31
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CHICAGO
I kissed a clever little smile goodbye before I hit the road
A girl I used to love who just moved on
Simple mathematics, solve it as you go
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
She stacks the dishes. kids are barely fed
Sticks a fixed plate in the fridge
Empty as the promise he'd never drink again
He stumbles towards their marriage bed
As she counts nights in a row
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Brick and pavement, mortar, steel and iron beams
Maybe it's the lake that make this city feel just how it seems
Saint Valentine's a compromise when you're feeling weak as foam
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Tears and prayers won't save a boy from Cambridge Avenue
Blood in, blood out, without time for dreams
The police knocking at the door reveal what she already knows
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Brick and pavement, mortar, steel and iron beams
Maybe it's the lake that makes this city feel just how it seems
Saint Valentine's a compromise when you're feeling weak as foam
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
She runs these crooked streets for pills, jumps at the rattle of the jar
Robs her young love to strike the deal
And it's him who found her frozen face down in the snow
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Brick and pavement, mortar, steel and iron beams
Maybe it's the lake that make this city feel just how it seems
Saint Valentine's a compromise when you're feeling weak as foam
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
Yeah, everyone gets their heart broke in Chicago
© Michael O’Connor
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3. |
Gunnin'
03:28
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GUNNIN'
Twenty years in this factory
Twelve hours a night on my feet
Foreman says, "They're sending the jobs overseas."
Gunnin' for me
Dry as bone, poison in the well
Chokin' on the dust from the lies they sell
What passes for true in the land of the free?
Gunnin' for me
I don't want to be left out
Of the dreams my daddy taught me about
Prayers and stumbles bring you to your knees
Gunnin' for me
Punch that clock and don't drag your feet
Wrestled the devil but he can't be beat
From the end of my rope at the hangin' tree
Gunnin' for me
I don't want to be left out
Of the dreams my daddy taught me about
Prayers and stumbles bring you to your knees
Gunnin' for me
© Michael O’Connor
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4. |
Truth
02:44
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TRUTH
There's a rattlin' in my bones
Shaken from an earth of crumbling tombstones
God's children crushed by war
A rich man's fight is won by the poor
A rich man's fight is fought by the poor
Outnumbered by mindless thugs
Ashamed of those days when I bit my tongue
Til all I could taste is blood
Bite down hard and let it spill out
Bite down hard until it spills out
You can't hide the truth for long
The silver moon nor the burnin' sun
You can't hide the truth for long
With my last breath I'll be singin' this song
You can't hide the truth for long
Up from the ashes of Dylan's ashtray
They booed and they hissed at the way that he played
But he still had something to say
If Pete chops the chords, we're gonna get in is his face
If Pete chops the wires, we're gonna put him in his place
You can't hide the truth for long
The silver moon nor the burnin' sun
You can't hide the truth for long
With my last breath I'll be singin' this song
'Cause you can't hide the truth for long
© Michael O’Connor
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5. |
Words
03:01
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WORDS
Words come easy for you
The right phrase in the right time is how you do
Tossed in your wake a tongue tied fool
Words come easy for you
My bag stays packed by the door
Ain't left this room a week or more
A lick and a promise only leaves me sore
So my bag stays packed by the door
Lipstick lies hiding in the shadows
Whispering nothing ever mattered, now it's true
Words come easy for you
I've learned to make it day by day
Watching every tie that binds us fray
Nothing to hang up when I'm on my way
I've learned to make it day by day
Torn promises fall to tatters
Paint a picture off all we love splattered red and blue
Words come easy for you
Words come easy for you
© Michael O’Connor
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6. |
Home To Louise
04:11
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HOME TO LOUISE
Hard traveling, coming up thirteen
The back end of nothing makes it tough and lean
Oh, where's the gravy train?
Two chord song, ain't saving up for a four
Two chord song, all that I can afford
Where'd the money go?
Poor, poor boy can't find no relief
From the drunks on the dance floor
Kicking the mic in my teeth
But it's gonna be alright
When we get back home to Louise
Soundman is sketchy, he ain't sharing a dime
Laughing, it ain't funny
Spilling his wine
Hiding from the spotlight
Sweating through this suit and I'm feeling a wreck
Pockets are empty I can't call collect
Poor, poor boy tore my heart off my sleeve
Now both my ears are ringing
And I'm shaking down to my knees
But it's gonna be alright
When we get back home to Louise
White knuckle ride twenty nights in a row
Coast to coast on the radio
Oh, Where'd the miles go?
Rednecks slinging gravel at the watering hole
Bright lights shining from the Highway Patrol
Lord, What's the trouble for?
Poor, poor boy can't find no reprieve
From the Judge at the county
Putting on the squeeze
But it's gonna be alright
When we get back home to Louise
Getting all we please
When we get back home to Louise
© Michael O’Connor
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7. |
Crescent City Angels
03:57
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CRESCENT CITY ANGELS
I'd feel like the king of New Orleans if I could keep the rain off my head
I used to be the man down here now I'm looking for a bed
Good times come to an end and wash on down the street
Taking everything that we threw away and all we try to keep
Well, the ghosts out on Market Street might've laid this railroad down
If I hadn't miss the bus, I'd already be in town
Singin' one for Madeline or Matilda, you never can tell
I made my way across the Pontchartrain to fetch my Mademoiselle
Sunsets in Rosedale like none I'd ever seen
I pushed my luck in Mobile, a hole in the pocket of my jeans
It's been a long time since I've held my head up high
Town to town I'm a stranger hardly getting by
Lost my horn down the road a ways to those so-called friends of mine
If I could shake it off and make good time I'll be dancing with Caroline
A spark in the night I keep alive, ain't ever gonna let it die
J'ete mes filles la lumière de ma vie, they take me back every time
Ever since I ate your fried chicken, baby, in the parking lot of that old motel
Crescent City Angels got me under their spell
I did my fair share of runnin' 'round
Oh, but it never rang my bell
Crescent City Angels got me under their spell
© Michael O’Connor
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8. |
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SLIPS THROUGH YOUR FINGERS
She sang Devil with a Blue Dress On
Every night she sang and shook the tambourine
Through every song
Truckers pass through this part of town then out again
Here I am my feet buried in the sand
I'm standing still
Love slips through your fingers, a slamming door
Love slips through hands, you still want more
A neon silhouette forms a halo 'round her head
Her heart is past the speed of sound
And the drummers playing loud
Those little lungs sure sing the blues
Telling you the news, the words just roll right off her tongue
With every cheating song
Love slips through your fingers, a slamming door
Love slips through hands, you still want more
A well worn leather bag holds everything she has
Cigarettes and photographs, her daddy's silver flask
And she runs outside the door
Past the bikes all in a row
I beg her not to leave with every bend on my guitar string
Truckers pass through this part of town, then out again
Here I am, my feet are buried in the sand
I'm standing still
Love slips through your fingers, a slamming door
Love slides through hands, you still want more
Love slips right through your fingers
Love slides right through your hands
Love slips right through your fingers
© Michael O’Connor
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9. |
Man On The Street
03:40
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MAN ON THE STREET
It was a sixty-six, cracked and rugged it was mine
Two single coils, wailing banshees through the night
Bent, broke and stranded
Torn up pawn ticket, thumbed down a ride
Tumbling in the back seat, the man on the street
She had a homemade tattoo, one of roses, one of thorns
And a crooked tooth, blinding pearls as she laughed
Washed away in the tides
The hanging 'round and getting high
Shaken' out with the sheets
The man on the street
Well I thought it was cool to be hard and so cruel
Swore I'd land on my feet
The man on the street
A redheaded boy asleep the stair
Dreaming 'bout an old man who won't ever be there
Wasted days I've run
And all the things I ain't done
To be called a deadbeat
The man on the street
Well, I gambled and lost on the dice that I tossed
Time ain't ever been beat by the man on the street
© Michael O’Connor
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10. |
Hurricane
04:24
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HURRICANE
Momma slung drinks at the Party Doll
For a cold water flat above the bar
Old man raising a family on the other side of town
Made his way across the tracks once the sun went down
Me and my brother, not enough to eat
Beer-filled baby bottles rolling in the backseat
Left us parked in the alley in the Texas heat
That woman must have been insane
Living in the Hurricane
Tossed about like so much trash
Until grandma saved us from the CPS
Cuz’ there were parties down in Houston, down in New Orleans
Momma always traveled light once she hit the street
Come around in the middle of the night
Waking every neighbor, trying to start a fight
Screaming ‘bout her babies in the front porch light
With the shit running through her veins
Living in the Hurricane
Learned to make a fist when I was five-years old
Squeezed the anger into a red hot coal
Forgiveness aint a gift for someone else
The only one to burn is gonna be yourself
Lighting in my heels since I hit the road
Got the call she was gone and buried in a hole
When I find myself hummin' in the neon glow
Her old ghost stumbles through my brain
Living in the Hurricane
© Michael O’Connor
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Michael O'Connor Washington
Michael O'Connor is a guitarist, singer, & songwriter living in Washington State. A lifetime of hard-won experience has allowed Michael a rare insight into the world of the rough, the faithless, the romantic, and the unlucky, all of whom find refuge in his songs. ... more
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