Get all 12 Ben Roque releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mad Andalusia, Charmed I'm Sure, Hatchetfish, The Old Hush, Money in the Doll, Off Your Tiltawhirl, Amuser, Jackals, and 4 more.
1. |
To Bed With A Shovel
03:53
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Well if you're gonna rip a paper skull,
too many thoughts will hit the floor
I poured a ribbon 'til the jaw got full
of words tied up in bows
While I've been dancing on the devil's tail
the stars melt on the hill
and she fell down from the moon
and cried, "Is this for real?" Well...
Said all the thunder you can find in a shell
"It sure is fancy meeting you"
she didn't have to keep an eye on hell
cuz there's nothing to do
I got my polish and mahogany coat
I'll swan dive in the earth
and she fell down from the moon
and cried, "What is this worth?" Well...
Send me off to bed with a shovel
send me off to bed with a show
send me off to bed with a shovel
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2. |
Autumn Brawler
03:45
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Someone's knocking down your door, suddenly you're here alone
her letter came after she died, flowers drank all of her wine
you didn't have to tell your poem for me to know that you had one
like a question she'll become
oh no oh no... Autumn Brawler bet your eye I will petrify
Dressing up in the sunset, purple clouds around your neck
overcrowding in my mind, a skeleton is serving wine
if love is all she ever felt, a second thought said something else
blow a cloud of all that's left
oh no oh no... Autumn Brawler bet your eye I will petrify
blue ruin
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3. |
Rattle In A Boxcar
03:25
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Rattle in a boxcar, a spark on the rail
hollow in the brick wall and the hound found no trail
get the shovel, Lonnie's under the tree
whittling a root to keep his bones a mystery
he'll make a fine mystery
Swimming in a graveyard in a mahogany coat
scandal in the water and the poison in the joke
get the metal from Old Junk Iron Jaw
and leave the man alone to make some sense of it all
to make believe in it all
to make believe it at all
Moving in the mansion to burn down the block
paying off a preacher but they all died of shock
get the neighbor, I heard a voice in the smoke
laughing as he spoke he said that whiskey ain't a joke
the whiskey ain't no joke
Rattle in a boxcar, a spark on the rail
hollow in the brick wall and the hound found no trail
get the ladder, he's buried up in the tree
chasing down the hatchet 'til the sun is underneath
until the sky is underneath
until the sky is underneath
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4. |
Little Amuser
03:48
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Where all the cemetery flowers bloom
busting the windows in a carnival saloon
to vanish behind their cheap perfume
Well if you're here to sell me some fool's gold
sawed off a shotgun and I'll pour myself a road
lit out for Reno with a ghost
Now who is this candle lit for? Pour me a dream
Now who is this rain falling for? Pour me a dream
I know where all the headless roses grow
I hold a scarecrow in the coals
now who is this candle lit for?
Little Amuser's at the door
Sat down to poker with the tarot cards
I had a royal flush that broke the joker's heart
madness is only just a start
Ask me directions and I'll turn to smoke
just follow me and you might hear my favorite joke
moonlight is anybody's ghost
Now who is this candle lit for? Pour me a dream
Now who is this rain falling for? Pour me a dream
I've seen a vandal ride the setting sun
I know a wolf who cried no one
now who is this candle lit for?
Little Amuser's at the door
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5. |
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With birds in your hat
a milk white moon haunted maniac
he settles his debt
throws a bag of nails at the place he left
since I learned the trick from Jekyll
I hang like a kite
at the bar Fats won in a fistfight
I saw the man Houdini in the rain
but the thunder vanished with the train
since I learned the trick from Jekyll
Initials scarred in tree bark
a pin cushion charm
a dog's teeth in your forearm
have you seen this man?
since I learned the trick from Jekyll
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6. |
Swearing At The Sky
03:45
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Cinder block by an old fence post
pieces of a scarecrow lying in the road
weeping on the avenue is all I heard
she wasn’t back in time to find she wasn’t there at all
Wenonah’s on her way back home
It’s a funeral every goddamn day
singing in a strait jacket at the wrong gate
burying the hatchet was the only way
to pay back your mortician before he changed his mind again
Wenonah turns away
Wenonah turns away from home
Wenonah’s on her way back home
She never got away
someone’s orchestrating this
Counting down but you don’t know why
a front row seat with a broken eye
visions of a lit fuse circling the night
she’s spilling out the side to anyone at all
she’s swearing at the sky
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7. |
Riot Unraveling
02:48
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Lit fuse, perfume
raining nail let the weather in the room
wet money, striptease
bend them bones til the buzzards barely breathe
riot, there's a riot unraveling
Staircase, wet moon
cemetery talk is all she knew
camera, no eye
waking up inside a chalk outline
riot, there's a riot unraveling
No dice, checkmate
never met a clock without a face
click heels, keyhole
disembodied voices at the door
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8. |
It's Only Weather
01:59
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It's only weather we're in tonight
it's like it's been waiting for you
blow out the candle and come to bed
we'll listen to the morning
Some things just take their sweet time
and time is all I'm here to heal
You or the faces off the cards?
solitaire is just a game
roll up the carpet, we'll sell it all
and find some place we've never been
Some things just take their sweet time
and time is all I have for you
It's only weather we're in tonight
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9. |
Who Put Out The Light?
03:50
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I made the bed like a soldier, poured myself another sky-blue
I told the devil on my shoulder don't you have something to do?
I left a trail of sulphur matches, dared the sun to miss her cue
you'll never recognize your voice when you're asking who put out the light
I heard the sirens and lit a cigarette for Mona Lisa
I left the key in the door of a house I’m burning to the ground
the cops are digging for the bones of an answer that can’t be found
you never recognize your voice when you’re asking who put out the light
Well it’s one for the wagon and one for the rubber room
they trace him in chalk on a Labor Day afternoon
they found no name but he’s missing his last gold tooth
I bet my time on a bullet riding down the ragged line
I split the morning down the middle, I kissed the moon between the eyes
the paper told me all they knew but the ink wasn’t there to dry
you never recognize your voice when you’re asking who put out the light
Crows will heckle from a wire, blinking in my broken taillight
the clock is melting on a fence, dripping like a leaky roof
I’m dealing out another city, aces on the avenue
you never recognize your voice when you’re asking who put out the light
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10. |
Skeleton Key
03:34
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Hands, spinning on a clock
headless thoughts they start to talk
ginger tobacco and rouge say she's wounded
and tattooed by the sight of Skeleton Key
Clockwise Penny's on the fence
shoot the morning in defense
she left broken bones in bed
what decision was there left?
Blue candle on the bar
scratching tickets, dealing cards
bloody fingers on a glass
she don't gamble 'til you ask
what she left in Skeleton Key
Smoke carries you away
then you wake up half erased
red lips move without a sound
dig your heels into the ground
while she listens for Skeleton Key
Storm clouds gather in the mirror
faces all know why you're here
Barking Iron heard you call
wipe the footprints from the hall
Gun powder on her breath
keep your shoes on after death
she wore shadows like a dress
you keep asking "Have we met?"
but she's only there for Skeleton Key
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Ben Roque Burlington, Vermont
Noir/Lo-fi influenced musician, author (The Midnight Cabaret, Calliope Steam, Living Paint), and collage artist.
Booking/All inquiries: ben.belldrive@gmail.com
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