Get all 17 Sam Steffen releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Too Much of a Good Thing, Poor Thing, Maxims, Mantras & Moral Tales, Say When, Unravelled Tales - Volume 2, Unravelled Tales - Volume 1, Roubles and Kopecks, Nothin to Write Home About, and 9 more.
1. |
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Your eyes look heavy, your shirts stained with tears
You look like you aint had a good night’s rest in years
The evening is young yet, but the morning, she nears
All that lies in darkness soon will be made clear—
you can lose the burden, add your complaints to the pile
Why don’t you take your coat off and stay awhile?
You look like you just seen the worst part of a brawl
I’d hate to see the other guy, if he even made it out at all
Youre on your last legs, with your back gainst the wall
If you try to move you know you’re just gonna fall
But seeing you try, man, you know it just makes me smile
Why don’t you take off your coat—and stay awhile?
I got friends in low places, I got enemies close-by
I could tell you some stories that’d make you laugh til you cry
You can’t win em all, but you know you can try
But I ain’t sellin nothing that you don’t wanna buy
I ain’t gonna pressure you out of your own denial
Why don’t you take your coat off and stay awhile
Can I fix for you a cup of something warm
While you dry off, take shelter from the storm?
The sails right off of their riggings have torn
Anything that needs doing’ll have to wait til the morn
your troubles out there are lined up in single file
why don’t you—take off your coat, and stay awhile?
Wipe your muddy boots off, hang up your dusty hat
You’re makin me nervous pacing the floor like that
the bus is busted, the wheels have gone flat
there engine’s been burned up, along with the map
even if we were able, I wouldn’t drive one more mile
why don’t you—take your coat off, stay awhile?
you can make yourself at home, here, do just as you please
it’ll be morning fore the jailer gets back with the keys
the guards have gone home, soldiers stand at ease
You can do whatever you like—anything except leave
Ain’t nobody in here gonna put you on trail
Why don’t you—take off your coat and stay awhile?
You don’t need to get angry, we’re all in the same boat
It’s not like anyone put our fates to a vote
It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and that’s all that she wrote
If it don’t make a good story, it’ll make a fine anecdote
I’ll even tell it to you, long as you don’t touch that dial
Why don’t you—take your coat off, and stay awhile?
I also have struggled, I ain’t no different from you
Had all of my money strung up in my shoe
Had everything stolen from me a time or two
Had to start over, and relearn all that I knew
Be not afraid of me, honey, be reconciled—
Why don’t you—take off your coat, and stay awhile?
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2. |
Stuck
06:34
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Met a cloud passin overhead through the windowpane right beside my bed
“Hello down there, are you,” it said, “Alive?”
I said “How am I to tell, sometimes I look alright when I feel like hell
I guess I’m doin well—enough to get by”
I met a tree out on highway nine, a lone handsome ponderosa pine
He said he wished he had legs like mine so he could run
I said I’ll give you these here boots if you teach me how to lay down roots
He said sometimes there’s substitutes, but this just aint one
And isn’t it just my luck—soon as I get goin, the goin get’s tough
Lose my shoes and the road gets rough on me again
I bet it all and they call my bluff, they leave me fifty cents when I need a buck
And I’m just trine to get out of bein stuck right where I am
I’m still standin in the same spot where I began
Cept I’m sunk now a little bit deeper in the sand
And I’m cryin out for help cause I need a hand
You know I’ll return the favor someday, if I can
I met a doctor who was ill, who said it was only a matter of time until
The disease would begin to kill him or itself
He asked me what my trouble was, I said I’m just waitin for my bell to buzz
And even if it never does, at least I got my health
I met a lady in a turquoise hat, she asked me a few questions about this and that
And in 30 seconds flat she forgot my name
She told me her biography, along with most of the whole world’s history
And for what escaped her memory she felt ashamed
Chorus
I got a pen that just won’t write, got a pack of matches, not a one will light
I got a song for you tonight, but it won’t make you stay
I got a knife that just won’t cut, a refrigerator door that won’t stay shut
I got a lot of things here, but what good are they?
I got one eye that just won’t blink, got a thirst I can’t quench with just one drink
I got a brain that just can’t think it’s troubles through
I got a parrot that won’t repeat, got a hunger in me that just don’t wanna eat
I got a heart that just won’t beat for no one else but you
Chorus
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3. |
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Moved to the city the other day,
Less to be there than to get away
I got a quarter of the space I had, and the rent it costs a pile
My roommates all work through the night
Come home at dawn put out the lights
Sleep all day and all afternoon
Wake up again when they can see the moon
Their trash all through the apartment’s strewn
They say I’ll be like them pretty soon
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while
Time came when I should’ve wrote
I sent a postcard to my folks
Dear Ma, I’m so depressed I’ve forgotten how to smile
Nobody knows my name
And every day is about the same
The sun comes up and the sun goes down
People just trine to move around
Everybody wears a frown
You say hello, they look at the ground
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while
My coat’s dirty, tattered, torn
My pants is old and warped and worn
My boots is so full up of holes and get worse with every mile
Walkin round here and there
It’s hard to make it most anywhere
Trucks a honkin, trolley’s squeakin
Trains a rumbling, cars a beepin
At 3 am the neighbor’s screamin
Fore you know it, I’ll be leavin
I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while
I was bred in the place I’m from
But here I feel just like a crumb
When you’re used to woods and mountains, the city’s what seems wild
Sometimes people start to yell
What at, though, you can’t always tell
Hey—what’re you lookin at?
Hey—how are you doin, cat?
What do you know? How bout that?
Look out you don’t step on that rat
I think I gotta get out of the city for a while
A good job has been hard to find
That’ll keep you out of the daily grind
Every morning its like herded sheep, all in single file
The workers come in from outside
In a car or bus or train they ride
The builders build the buildings tall
Back you right up against the wall
Make you feel that you’re pretty small
Til you got no room to yourself at all
I think I gotta get out of the city for a while
Folks tell me in a while I’ll see
A change start to come over me
You’ll still think you’re miserable but you’ll just be in denial
You’ll get away for a week or two
Go to the shore, take in the view
Youll miss the sidewalks and the throng
They’ll sing to you like a siren-song
You’ll see you’ve loved it all along
You’ll start to feel like something’s wrong:
You’ll think you gotta get back to the city for a while
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4. |
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The time now has come for facing the facts, our love has grown cold to the touch
We’re giving it everything that we have and our best still ain’t good enough
Perhaps I’m to blame for trying too hard to make this into something it wasn’t
For making the case that it matters to you when both of us know that it doesn’t
But who knows in spite of all that went wrong, it might still have turned out okay
If you hadn’t a snagged me and dragged me along every little step of the way
You don’t have to make like you’re really upset, you don’t have to tell me you’re sorry
You don’t gotta act like it’s the end of the world, it’s only the end of our story
I can’t really say that I’m glad it occurred, but I won’t say I’m sorry it’s over
The things about me that you still haven’t heard are probably best left undiscovered
But you never know somehow we might’ve pulled thru, might’ve even gotten married someday
If you hadn’t a lived like you’d nothing to lose, every little step of the way
I like to believe I can account for my part more than only part of the time
That what looks like a fault’s just a lapse in attention rather than a flaw in design
The vultures that swooped down to feed on my spleen were merely doing what they were made to
The leeches that drained me and sucked my bones clean shouldn’t have frightened or phased you
And as for the demons that hounded my heart, you know I could’ve kept em at bay
If you hadn’t a pushed me and pulled me apart, every little step of the way
You said you were tired of having this fight, the one that always ends in confusion
With one of us kissing the other goodnight and returning to the routine illusion
The picture in glass that hangs on your wall, the one in which everyone’s laughin
Seems to account for how I can recall events that never actually happened
But even with my head in a fog, I might’ve made it out of the gray
If you hadn’t a thrown a wrench in the cog every little step of the way
From now on I’ll do my best to be fair whenever telling people about us
I’ll say that our roads ran together awhile and then quite simply went on without us
You’ve taken your portion and dealt out your share of insults and harmful lines
if you’ve told me once I’m an old so-and-so, then you’ve told me a thousand times
And who knows, even in spite of the odds, we might’ve overcome the forces at play
If you hadn’t a toyed with and tempted the gods, every little step of the way
your promises frequently died in their birth or unraveled like thread on a spool
And your favors all cost me more than their worth, and your help was at best miniscule
Cause you never so little as tried to be kind, and you never so much as succeeded
in the object of snubbing and robbing me blind, a hint would’ve been all that I needed
But who knows, despite all the reasons to go, I might’ve found the courage to stay
If you hadn’t accused me of moving too slow every little step of the way
I have been called many things in my time, but a traveler’s what I mainly am
With nothing to tell of where I am bound, nor to say of where it was I began
When I come to a fork in the road, I pause; sometimes it’s just a second or two
Long enough to suppose that I am the sum of everything that I’ve been through
But the light’s never still where I stand alone, and I can afford no further delay
And I dream that I’m always arriving at home with every little step of the way
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5. |
Something Blue
06:19
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So you say you’ve finally found the one you been awaiting all your life
And you say that now he’s asked for you to come and be his wife
And by the way you’re smiling now, I don’t suppose you told him, “No,”
I don’t suppose you said where he could go—
And every bride within your family’s had some tradition to stick to
With something old, something brand-new, something borrowed, something blue
To wear or carry down the aisle to satisfy the trend
And you say you’d like my advice, just as your friend
For something old you got that wedding dress your great-grandmother sewed
For something new, you got that wedding ring of 14 karat gold
For something borrowed you could take the torch I been holding out for you
And hell, invite me to your wedding, I’ll be your something blue
I guess I should be happy that you found someone to love
Who, from the gutter of the world, knows that you’re outside and above
Who’s probably lived a lonesome life, looking high and low for you
Who, in so many words, can see you like I do
And I guess I should feel relieved, rather than despised
To know I’m not the only one who can see what’s in your eyes
And to realize beyond any doubt, that there would have been no way
to be the one to say, “I do,” on your wedding day—
for something old you got that memory of the two of us, alone
for something new you got that house I spose you’ll make into a home
for something borrowed you could take the heart I wore on my sleeve for you
and hell, invite me to your wedding—I’ll be your something blue
it may be too late to tell you now what maybe never needed sayin
I may’ve missed the opportunity when you caught that outbound train
All I’ve got now to look forward to’s a lifetime of time to kill
because I loved you then, and now, and always will
and I spose there must be moments, like the spokes on fortune’s wheel,
when the broken things within us will begin again to feel
when the broad daylight of morning will again seem warm and soft
but for me, that day’s still a long ways off
for something old you got that story from the madame’s crystal ball
for something new you got a family and a portrait on your wall
for something borrowed you could take my dreams which have always been of you
and hell, invite me to your wedding, I’ll be your something blue
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6. |
Backslidin
06:10
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The woman takin care of me takes care to never let me be
You know I’d go home but she’ll just be standing there
In the porchlight with her rolling pin, she’ll cross her arms, say “Where you been?”
I’ll say “I can’t say,” and she’ll say, “No, you tell me where,”
I’ll say “I can’t say,” and she’ll just sigh and frown
And I’ll try to sleep just knowing she’s still standing there
Thinking how every time she trusts me I just go and let her down
The time it sure has slipped by fast, my curfew’s come and gone and passed
And my money all got spent before my tab was paid
With another night of streets to roam and anywhere to go but home
I’ll begin to wonder of the impact my impression’s made
I’ll begin to wonder if I been lost or found
I’ll begin to wonder just how far off the path I’ve strayed
And if it’s likely I could make it back if I just stopped and turned around
But now I’m frightened, more of myself than of the thunder or the lightening
More of the dawn than of the night that knows no brightening, lets me keep on hidin
I know my wrongs need rightening, and tho I know when it’s just bait well I’m still bitin
The more I wait the more I feel the noose a tightenin, and the stakes’re heightening
And tho I hardly feel the slack and know I won’t fall through the crack
I’m hardly gone before I’m back—backslidin
The preacher asks me if I pray, I tell him each and every day
He asks me, “How?”—as if he really didn’t know
I tell him first I close my eyes then I just kind of wait to be surprised
“And does that work?” he always wants to know
“And does what work?” I say for my response
“Are your prayers answered—does God say ‘yes’ and ‘no’?”
I tell him: “Father, God does whatever the hell he damn well wants.”
I try to keep the leash on tight, try to do what’s good and just and right
And it’s not too hard, so long as no one’s keepin score
But somehow midway down the line I find I’m cursed by my own design
And its no use explaining what I do things for
And its no use trying to use my words
Cause all I say is something someone’s said somewhere before
And comes out sounding just like nothing that I ain’t already heard
But now I’m frightened—more of my self than any madness I’m ignitin
More of my heart than of my love that needs requitenin, that feels your spitenin
I know my wrongs need rightenin, and tho I’m running low on fuel, well I’m still ridin
And tho I’ve broken every rule I was abidenin, seems no one’s mindin
And tho it used to be an act, I used to do it just for laughs
Seems now the whole charade is cracked and I’m just back—backslidin
My teacher taught me to be sick of science and arithmetic
“What good,” I asked, “is any of this stuff anyways?”
He warned me with a tired scold that “if you don’t do as you’re told
Well, you’ll find out for yourself one of these days—
And you’ll find out just how far you can get,”
And I found out right away because I cursed him to his face
And only lately have I thought of it as something I regret
The officer of my parole, he says I’m under his control
And that if I even laugh too loud, well, he’ll be at my side
I can feel his eyes upon my skin, I’d shut them out but they lock me in
They say, “You’re lucky,” but that ain’t quite been verified
They say, “You’re free again,” but that ain’t quite been proved
They had my story written out before I testified
And I was sentenced for I knew of what I’d even been accused
And now I’m frightened, more of myself than any foe that I’ve been fightin
More of the truth than of the lies that they’ve been writing, they’re self-indicting
But my wrongs need rightening, and tho I know the fuse is close well I’m still firin
The gate that leads to my destruction’s ever-widenin, slowly closing in
And tho I knew it for a fact when the cards were dealt the deck was stacked
I still went all in for a jack, and now I’m back—backslidin
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7. |
Cold Shower
03:15
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You wake up in the morning and you’re still drunk from lastnight
There’s a tooth missin from your grin
You know you gotta get up but you can’t find the light
In fact you don’t even know whose bed you’re in
The woman beside you just whispered she loved you
Which you’re sure you must’ve misunderstood
All you need now’s a cold shower—a cold shower
A cold shower’ll do you good
It’s the middle of summer and it’s a thousand degrees
There’s steam risin up from the street
The air conditioner’s broken and the icebox won’t freeze
There’s no place for you to get out of the heat
You race to the pool but you can’t get in it’s full
Of every person in your neighborhood
All you need now’s a cold shower—a cold shower
A cold shower’ll do you good
You’ve bought into everything and you think it’s all swell
living safely in your American dream
you’ve been breathing in foul air so long you can’t even smell
you’ve never drawn a single breath that’s clean
given the chance to upgrade and enhance, you
hesitate, wondering whether you should
all you need now’s a cold shower—a cold shower
a cold shower’ll do you good
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8. |
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I came here by request to see my cousin whose been ill
Intending to remain but a week or so
My very first day here, I came down with a chill
That was nearly seven years ago
They put me in a room where a man had just expired
Of some disease of which I’m sure I’d never heard
They told me all about how much he’d been admired
And how sad it was his condition could not be cured—
Chorus- I think I’m coming down with something serious
I don’t know how long it’ll be before I’m over this
I think I’m coming down with something serious
I don’t know if I’ll be getting up again
I’m sweating like a pig but I could use another sheet
My temperatures somewhere around 103
This morning I woke up and then I fell right back to sleep
When I opened up my eyes I could not see
There’s a man here with a cough so bad he cannot talk
Just hacks and wipes his blood off in his sleeve
I asked the nurse, “How long before I get to see the doc?”
she pointed at him and said, “That’s the man you want to see,”
chorus
Today I got a call from my boss back down below
He said I was due back at work—or else!
But I worked all my life, and what have I got to show?
As of now, I haven’t even got my health
They put me on a cart and wheeled me to a room
where they strapped me to an old X-ray machine
everyone agreed that something must be done—and soon!
but they never told me what any of it means
chorus
There’s a girl here from Duluth, she cannot speak a word
She communicates through shapes made with her hands
Whenever she’s around, I feel a pounding in my nerves
I get dizzy, weak, and cannot seem to stand—
They listened to my heart, they opened up my veins
They looked inside my blood for some kind of sign
The nurse reported back that my heartbeat was just the rain
And it turns out my own blood ain’t even mine—
chorus
Yesterday I wrote a letter out on the lawn
“Dear Uncle,” it said, “Sorry I misspoke.
If you reading these words now, it means that I am gone
And no, I don’t mean, stepped out for a smoke.
I’ve been the child of privilege, known prosperity and wealth;
Please take my things and give them to the poor.
If you’d like to keep my books, please—go, and help yourself
Where I’m going—I won’t need them anymore”
Chorus
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9. |
Storm Beyond the Calm
05:56
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I had a girl I loved her madly; towards me her feeling was lukewarm
Later on I learned she had me in the calm before the storm
I thought that love would last forever, but I could not have been more wrong
You can’t dress for the weather in the storm beyond the calm
I aint been here in a long time, tho I guess not much has changed
There’s still a beauty in the lightning, there’s still a comfort in the rain
They say the night is always darkest the hour before the dawn
And love stands at its starkest in the storm beyond the calm
I tried livin in the city, but I couldn’t find a friend
So I moved into the country, started talking to the wind
Now I toil in my pasture, and I sleep out on the lawn
And I feel right at home here, in the storm beyond the calm
I been up and down the mountain, I trudged through the desert dunes
I drank from pleasure’s fountains, and howled at bluer moons
But there’s no gold in el dorado, and in gilead’s no balm
You’re stuck waiting for tomorrow in the storm beyond the calm
And there’s no one to write home to from freedom’s giant cage
Everyone that claims to know you just turns your anger into praise
Goliath wants a rematch, but David’s busy with his psalms
Words are useful as a wet match in the storm beyond the calm
So I guess I’ll keep a goin down the road that’s got me lost
Leaning gainst the breezes blowin, weighing the spoils against the cost
I tried admitting I was weak once, but I’ve never been that strong
In the storm beyond the calm
I been out on a short limb when the branches have been sawn
I brushed against the heavens seen the gorges neath me yawn
Death can grin to hear my laughter, but I’ll sing another song
And survive one more disaster in the storm beyond the calm
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10. |
I Wanna Go Home
06:21
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Just a traveler—on a road
Making good time; making head-way to nowhere at all
Left my footprints—where it snowed
That’s as good as any farewell letter I could scrawl
I mouthed the words I could not say—as tho I thought I could undo
The choice to stand and stay remains—tho it is I who have now forsaken you
An empty feelin burns me through—I can’t waiver
I can’t linger in this moment anymore
With midnight stealing into blue—my whole horizon
Is disappearing in a sudden blur
I rapped upon the frosted glass—wherein my gaunt reflection shone
When I climbed in the cabbie asked—“Where have you been,
but first, tell me where you goin?”
CHORUS: I wanna go home—home—
Home—that’s where I wanna go
Breakfast table—a broken plate, mama’s bathrobe
Dragging dirty round her ankles on the floor
A stream of boxcars hauling freight, and November
coming early and unwelcome through the door
I woke up inside a bus that had carved all night to make it through a storm
I’s just in time to see the fog rise up from out of the Pennsylvania corn
No tomorrows—in this town
Just a motel with its neon flashing “Vacant” in the cold
must be shrinking—these things down
in my memory, either that or else I’m just getting old
I found a sign that read “free meal” and pressed upon a door to see
I nearly cried when the waitress come and asked me: Son, what’ll it be?
CHORUS
I been to Nashville, outer space, Oklahoma
Now I’m sitting in my Philadelphia room
Trying to read things I’ve erased, or written over
Or told myself I’d reckon pretty soon—
Barring not that I should fail, still I—have struggled to resist
the thought that where I’m trying to land may well not even exist
Life’s a strange sort of museum—full of routines
Full of desperate efforts catapulting loss
So many visions—you can’t believe em—til its too late
Til your faith wears the same odor as exhaust
I clicked my heels three times and prayed—to a God I could not see
I stamped and addressed myself so the postman would know exactly where to deliver me
CHORUS
Just a traveler on a road making good time; making headway to nowhere at all
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Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho
Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more
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