Ruby in a Mountain of Rocks

by Scotty Houston

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1.	Hope You've Given Up 03:07	lyrics	buy track

2.	Bow (Hold It Like This) 03:00	lyrics	buy track

3.	Something Stronger 02:57	lyrics	buy track

4.	Do You Come Back? 03:56	lyrics	buy track

5.	Photo Booth 02:18	lyrics	buy track

6.	Coffee 03:24	lyrics	buy track

7.	The Summer You Went Blind 03:43	lyrics	buy track

8.	Diamond 03:31	lyrics	buy track

9.	(Also, Not A) Pirate 03:55	lyrics	buy track

10.	This Town 03:01	lyrics	buy track

about

Note: Many of these songs are included in the aurally improved compilation "Flash of a Smile".

Made at ChezFly June/July 2016. Two out of three song batches for 2016 ain't bad.

“I know you're looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks, but there ain't no Coup de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box”
-Meat Loaf

credits

released August 6, 2016

All songs by Scotty Houston except: Bow and This Town lyrics by Cherie Chavez.

Assembled with KXStudio, Harrison Mixbus, Guitarix.

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about

Scotty Houston California

“In the dark times. Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.”

- Bertolt Brecht

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Track Name: Hope You've Given Up: You caught it anyway, despite your attempts
At being better than anyone at building a fence
Now your xenomegaphonia has tied you up
And all the air inside the room has given up
And gone back up to the stars

Now you’re the disease that you sought to serve
Everyone is running from you and your boomerang curve
Sitting on a lawn chair, dreaming of god
All the air inside your heart has given up
And gone back up to the stars

Hope you’ve given up
Have you given up?
Track Name: Bow (Hold It Like This): Flash of a smile
Sitting still for a while
or turning soil
after a first rain

Smoke in the air
The smell of his hair
breathing shallow
to hold in pain

Hold it like - hold it like this
Tie the bow while I hold it like this

The present is always a gift
it comes, it goes, like the caws of a crow

Blue of the sky
The sound of her cry
Counting the stars
A swing and a sway

Hold it like - hold it like this
Tie the bow while I hold it like this
Track Name: Something Stronger: Up and away alone
Zeppelin with hydrogen bones
Lightning bothers the sky
Clench your teeth
While everybody’s learning to fly

Every day gets longer
We need to take something stronger
Between you and I
It’s quite a venture
A thirst to break
A quiet quencher

Can’t remember much before
Longest hallway, darkened doors
Somebody whispered your name
Clench your teeth
You get three tries in the game

Every day gets longer
We need to drink something stronger
Between you and I
It’s quite a venture
A thirst to break
Loudest quencher
Track Name: Do You Come Back?: If your spine grows back
And it feels wrong
Take a look down stairs
For an old song

The one you sang out loud
In your first used car
On your way back home
After a new kiss

Do you come back
After you’re gone
If the book’s been read
Or it’s too long
Rip off the cover
Because it feels good

If your spine grows back
But it still feels broke
And dawn doesn’t break
And rain doesn’t soak

Your shirt is inside out
There’s nothing here to see
We move along, along
Everything is free

Do you come back
After you’re gone
Will you hair be red
Or wake up wrong
Rip off your covers
Because it feels good

Do you come back
After you’re gone
If the book’s been read
Or it’s too long
Rip off the cover
Because it feels good
Track Name: Photo Booth: Did the photo booth eat your money?
icing on the cake of a hard day, honey?
You had to swallow your pill with ice cream

I heard you say that your car won’t start
Is that the part where I wonder how you got here?
Get some gas, put your ass in gear

The fog is rolling in and rolling out
Set the sun on fire another day
The fog is rolling in and rolling out

Got a shrug from the fortune teller?
I know it’s the coldest way to sell you but it’s
Fifty cents to buy your greatest fear

The fog is rolling in and rolling out
Set the sun on fire another day
The fog is rolling in and rolling out
Track Name: Coffee: What if I reached out
To get my hand slapped once again
For all the years that I put in
Down payment on a friend

But that friendship never sailed
Or it only sailed one-way
That’s always been a problem
I don’t know who to pay

Wake up, wake up
Someone’s making coffee

I wonder what you think
Because thinking is your thing
But you’re not big on solving problems
And you’re too afraid to sing

What if I reached out
And got that hand slapped once again?
You know I’ll probably do it
It’s a script that never ends

Wake up, wake up
Someone’s making coffee
You wouldn’t take another day
Track Name: The Summer You Went Blind: Going to take a green ride, a ride rode in silence
Stacey on the passenger side, wine in the cupholder
I should explain

Been a crazy long time since we drove up to Boulder
Bag of rocks at your side to skim the edge of the water
Nearest the brain

Playing all those oldies in the mezzanine of your mind
No one there remembers
the summer you went blind

You can swim to the island, or throw a stone from here
So close you can see it, or put an eye out on it
Blind in the rain

Playing all those oldies in the mezzanine of your mind
No one there remembers
the summer you went blind
Track Name: Diamond: Be like a diamond
When life gets diamond hard
No one can stop your bit
From drilling right through it

On and on you push and ply
Press your thumb into the sky

Now, you’re all wind
Look at your feet
All wind

You hear the phone ring
And let your hair fall down
Lands in a shadow
You don’t really need it

On and on the brightest light
The longest string, the highest kite

Now, you’re all wind
Look at your feet
All wind
Track Name: (Also, Not A) Pirate: Too many people in this room
Standing still and stiff as brooms
I never said I’d be compliant
Not a soldier or a tyrant
Also, not a pirate

The pilgrims back in Massachusetts
Sipping cran-a-berry juices
Had to fortify their sermons
Hard to steal but you could try it
If you were a pirate

Population exponential
Grown to maximal potential
I never said I was a pilot
I have a plane but I can’t fly it
Also, not a pirate
Track Name: This Town: I've never loved this town, so hard
As when it was tumblin' down
All over town
So hard all around me

I'm told it's a natural response
To losing your history
I'm just losing
Losing history

All my markers are gone now, and I've lost my history
I wish I'd left some bread crumbs behind