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Mickey Newbury, news:

Brian T. Atkinson – Looks Like Rain, The Songwriting Legacy Of Mickey Newbury (book 2021)

«She opened her eyes Lord
The minute my feet touched the floor
The cold hardwood creaks
With each step that I make to the door
There I turned to her gently and said,
«Hon, just look, it’s spring»
Knowing outside the window
The winter looked for Angeline»

Fantastic. Leonard Cohen sang about Hank Williams’ many floors above him in The Tower Of Song. Mickey Newbury keeps house in the attic. My words can not do Mickey Newbury (1940-2002) justice. But will try again. Last year, Gretchen Peters released a great tribute album with Newbury’s songs. In a letter sent to the magazine No Depression and addressed to Mickey Newbury, the artist Gretchen Peters explains her relationship to his music. She writes that the songs must come from «a very deep well of sorrow». She points out that this does not mean that Mickey Newbury was sad all the time. Once the songs are written, it is not his pain anymore. The pain belongs to the song, it belongs to the world.

In connection with the reading of the new book about Mickey Newbury, «Looks Like Rain» by Brian T. Atkinson, I hear all his albums again. Again, I am captivated by the beauty of the lyrics, melodies and performances, whether it is the most famous records he made around 50 years ago, or it is newer music from the 1990s and the beginning of this century. «I call it beautiful music.» And it’s no less nice that my wife thinks it is fine I am entering a new heavy Mickey Newbury period.

In my world, Mickey Newbury is one of the greatest. Not that I need to set him up against others. When he established himself in my musical soul 10-15 years ago, he found a completely separate area.

Mickey was surrounded by people like Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, and there is a lot of country and folk in many of Newbury’s songs, but also pop and a kind of «easy listening», often on the same album. I do not always think the latter is a compliment, but when it comes to Mickey Newbury, genre does not matter to me.

Mickey Newbury was perhaps best known for the albums «Looks Like Rain» (1969), «Frisco Mabel Joy» (1971) and «Heaven Help The Child» (1973), albums produced in the legendary Cinderella Sound Studio outside of Nashville. Cinderella Sound Studio was originally a two-car garage Wayne Moss converted into a studio! The albums have a completely unique atmosphere which together with the strong songs contributes to them being eternal classics. Mickey Newbury is the man who put together and arranged «An American Trilogy», a medley Elvis Presley included in his concerts with in the 70’s. Newbury was a musicicians’ musician, and his songs have been recorded by a number of artists such as Kenny Rogers, Waylon Jennings and the Norwegian Paal Flaata. Kris Kristofferson says he has learned more from Newbury about songwriting than from anyone else. Without Newbury, no «Bobby McGee».

Newbury as seen by others

In the book «Look Like Rain», Brian T. Atkinson lets a number of songwriters and collaborators of Mickey Newbury give their views og the artist and the person Mickey Newbury in each of their sections, and the mentioned Kris Kristofferson is of course included. And so are Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Tom Russell, Chuck Prophet, Darell Scott, Bill Callahan, Robert Ellis, Will Oldham, Andrew Combs, John Lomax III and many more. See separate picture for more examples. Atkinson has previously had a similar project about Townes Van Zandt.

I will more than give a review of the book, take the opportunity to write about Mickey Newbury. I would still think that «Looks Like Rain» has been a challenging book to edit. Contributors will necessarily overlap, and they repeat themselves from time to time. It is interesting to read well-known and lesser-known authorities to bring out their slightly different perspectives, but in any case to place Mickey Newbury right there at the top of «Tower Of Song», where I of course think he belongs.

Voice in his own class

Mickey Newbury had something many great songwriters could envy him. Gretchen Peters says in the book that Mickey’s voice was «operatic» and incredible, that his vocals are as genious as the songs. Mickey’s voice changed character over the years, but the achievements he makes with his soulful voice on, for example, the live album «Winter Winds» from the mid-1990s, do not stand in the shadow of anything. Mickey started as a songwriter for others. Pretty amazing considering his ability to convey his own songs. But then many great artists started their careers just like that.

Mickey Newbury and Townes Van Zandt

Mickey Newbury was unique. But his friendship with Townes Van Zandt, and the fact that he helped Townes get a record deal and establish himself in Nashville in his own way, makes way for comparisms. Both had great respect for each others as songwriters. Several point out that if Mickey Newbury had lived as turbulently as Townes, the legend of him would have been greater, and he would have grown as big after his death as Townes Van Zandt has done. As the new generation of songwriter Andrew Combs says in the book: «I think Townes’ lifestyle helped him appeal to young hipsters. Mickey was not hard living. »

Both artists started out with the lyrics when they made songs. Townes was concerned that the lyrics should function at its own as poems readon paper before he added the melody, and Mickey believed that if he had a good text, the melody more or less made itself. Many thinks Mickey Newbury’s «Live At Montezuma Hall» (1973) is right up there next to Townes Van Zandt’s «Live At The Old Quarter», among the best solo live recordings of all time. Here the songwriters and their songs appear completely stripped down and show that the songs shine even without packaging.

Songwriter colleague Guy Clark gave «Live At Montezuma Hall» to Rodney Crowell: «You gotta know about Mickey Newbury and his work.» Guy Clark was not a fan of the production of «Looks Like Rain». Will Oldham says that he demands absolute silence in the tour bus when «Live At Montezuma Hall is put on.

«Here comes the rain, baby»

«You know, I tried to keep the rain from fallin’
It’s not the rain in the skies, but the rain in your eyes
Here comes the rain, baby»

Guy Clark was not the only one having an ambivalent relationship with the production on Mickey Newbury’s records. Not me. I think both Mickey’s ‘rain songs’ and Mickey’s ‘train songs’ work. Not only are rain and trains important ingredients and metaphors in many of his lyrics, but you also hear the sound of rain and trains between several of his songs. At the same time, the soundscape you find on his three albums is recorded in Cinderella Sound Studio about 50 years ago, and the last album he released before he died, the autobiographical masterpiece, «A Long Road Home» (2002), are so timeless and beautiful that I never get tired of hearing them. Timeless, yet different. Soft strings are central to Mickey’s latest masterpiece and create a fantastic chamber orchestra atmosphere.

Did I say «train songs»? The most beautiful and touching of them all is «Cortelia Clark». «Cortelia Clark» tops the list of my favorites among Mickey Newbury’s train songs:

«I was just a boy the year
The bluebird special came through here
On its first run south to New Orleans
A blind old man and I we came
To Guthrie just to see the trains
He was black and I was green»

Read the words aloud: «He was black and I was green» – holy cow, as Larry Gatlin says. «Cortelia Clark» is about a blind street singer who won a Grammy in 1966. Cortelia Clark, who became a friend of Mickey’s, lost his life in an explosion when he had to fill paraffin on a tank. Cortelia had a funeral without friends and acquaintances, and when Mickey read about his death and burial in a local newspaper, he wrote this song. No one has received a more beautiful tribute:

«I read it in a week old paper
No one made it to his wake
Or laid a single flower at his feet
He was just a blind old beggar people said
But Lord I’ll wager
He will not be beggin’ on your streets
…Save a street in glory Lord for Cortelia Clark.»

Masterful songs

I’ve never written a song in my entire life. But I would think that there are a few things to pick up for songwriters in this book. How Mickey tinkered and tinkered and removed redundant words, about how certain songs developed over decades. A contributor to the book points out that the actual choice of words was also important. He avoided clumsy words like «that», preferring «for» to «because».

The melodies are also in a class of its own. You think you know where you have the song, but it constantly offers new transitions and levels fitting the song perfectly. Rodney Crowell describes the song structure as short and long verses about each other and choruses that are not really choruses.

Many of the contributors mention the early song «Just Dropped By (To See What Condition My Condition Was In»), made famous by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition and which gained its renaissance in the Coen brothers’ film «The Big Lebowski». I highly recommend listening to Mickey Newbury’s version of «Winter Winds» (recorded in 1994). The song should be written as a warning against LSD. Mickey’s son, Chris Newbury, says the song is inspired by an incident where Mickey’s friend and Townes Van Zandt took some pills he had received from his doctor for depression.

«Sweet Memories» is another recurring theme. I still think the song that is mentioned most often is «See Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye». Beautiful song, sad, strong and schizophrenic lyrics. Some even believe that the woman in the song, like Mickey, had to be bipolar. And again, it is pointed to the choice of words. It’s called «packed her soft things», not «clothes».

«Baby’s packed her soft things and she’s left me
She’s left me
She’s left me
And I know she didn’t mean to make me cry
It’s not her heart lord it’s her mind
She didn’t mean to be unkind
Why she even woke me up to say goodbye»

«San Francisco Mabel Joy” is one of Mickey’s best songs. There is almost more going on between the lines than on the lines. Steve Earle describes the song as close to Steinbeck’s wrtings. A beautiful setting that gives the vulnerables, the prostitute and her client who falls in love (?!), a dignity. The ending is amazing, notice the letter rhymes: «Stunned and shaken someone said: Son, she don’t live here no more/ She left this house four years today/ They say she’s lookin’ for Some Georgia farm boy.»

Steve Earle also points out how brilliant Newbury was as a guitarist.

Mickey as a human being

«They tell me ole Bud Rose hocked his guitar
Bought a ticket to Nashville to become a big star
Now he works on a bottle and he lives in a car
Do you still have your dreams?»
(Fra «A Long Road Home» (2002)

The book also gives us insight into the darker sides of Mickey Newbury, periods of high alcohol consumption, frustration with the music industry but also his supportive and friendly demeanor.

We gain insight into the challenges of constantly needing oxygen through a separate device, not least at concerts much of his last 10 years of life. The need for oxygen supply was a result of a lung disease, probably caused by chain smoking. It is especially interesting to read his most important collaborator through Mickey’s last decade, guitarist Jack Williams, considerations here.

It is a strength of the book «Looks Like Rain» that one of Mickey’s sons, Chris (known from the great song «The Sailor»), and Mickey’s wife of more than 30 years, Susan, contribute. Here from the song «Four Ladies»

«And Susie you found me
When I was hopelessly lost and I did not know where to go
And you had the answer and we came together
But Susan I needed you too long ago
God knows I’m trying to deal with my sadness
Although at times I swear I do not know
When I am happy or when it is madness
Do you understand
Why the winter winds blow»

Further reading and playlist

If you are going to read a coherent story about Mickey Newbury, Joe Ziemer’s biography «Crystal and Stone» recommended, but also «Looks Like Rain» is a welcome gift to us Newbury fans.

Just for fun, I’ve made a playlist, with some of it available on Spotify. I also include YouTube links with four absolutely essential songs. But listen to the albums in their entirety, as they were meant to be heard.

Encore

I’ve saved my perhaps biggest Mickey Newbury favorite all the way to the end, «Frisco depot»: The version found on»Frisco Mabel Joy» with Newbury is great. However, there is a version on the album «In A New Age / It Might As Well Be The Moon» (1988) that is more intense and almost twice as long. Mickey sings there with his heart on the outside of his shirt, with the fantastic extra verse, a verse that digs even deeper:

«Lord, when you’re chained, there’s nothin‘ you cherish like freedom
When you’re free it seems that you’re hell bent for chains
You dance with your demons till you got strength, Lord, to beat’em
Then you deal with the devil for the salvation you sold»

Mickey Newbury, aktuell:

Brian T. Atkinson – Looks Like Rain, The Songwriting Legacy Of Mickey Newbury (bok 2021)

«She opened her eyes Lord
The minute my feet touched the floor
The cold hardwood creaks
With each step that I make to the door
There I turned to her gently and said,
"Hon, just look, it's spring"
Knowing outside the window
The winter looked for Angeline»

Fantastisk. Leonard Cohen sang om Hank Williams mange etasjer over ham i The Tower Of Song. Mickey Newbury holder hus på loftet. Mine ord kan ikke yte Mickey Newbury (1940–2002) rettferdighet. Men jeg prøver igjen. Gretchen Peters ga i fjor ut et flott hyllestplate med Newburys sanger. I et et brev sendt til magasinet No Depression og stilet til Mickey Newbury forklarer artisten Gretchen Peters sitt forhold til musikken hans. Hun skriver at sangene må komme fra «a very deep well of sorrow». Hun viser til at dette ikke betyr at Mickey Newbury var trist hele tiden. Når sangene er skrevet, er det ikke hans smerte lenger. Smerten tilhører sangen, den tilhører verden.

I forbindelse med at jeg har lest den nye boka om Mickey Newbury, «Looks Like Rain» av Brian T. Atkinson, hører jeg alle albumene hans om igjen. Igjen blir jeg bergtatt av skjønnheten i tekstene, melodiene og fremføringene, enten det er de mest kjente platene han lagde for rundt 50 år siden, eller det er nyere musikk fra 1990-årene og begynnelsen av dette århundret. «Jeg kaller det vakker musikk». Og det blir ikke mindre fint av at kona synes det er helt i orden at jeg går inn i en ny tung Mickey Newbury-periode.

I min verden er Mickey Newbury av de aller største. Ikke at jeg trenger å sette ham opp mot andre. Da han for 10-15 år siden etablerte seg i min musikksjel, fant han seg et helt eget område.

Mickey omgikk folk som Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark og Townes Van Zandt, og det er mye country og folk i mange av Newburys låter, men også pop og et slags preg av «easy listening», alt gjerne på samme album. Jeg mener ikke alltid at det siste er et kompliment, men når det gjelder Mickey Newbury, spiller sjanger ingen rolle for meg.

Mickey Newbury var kanskje aller mest kjent for albumene «Looks Like Rain» (1969), «Frisco Mabel Joy» (1971) og «Heaven Help The Child» (1973), album produsert i legendariske Cinderella Sound Studio utenfor Nashville. Cinderella Sound Studio var opprinnelig en tobils garasje Wayne Moss omgjorde til studio! Albumene har en helt unik atmosfære som sammen med de sterke låtene bidrar til at de er evigvarende klassikere. Mickey Newbury er mannen som satte sammen og arrangerte «An American Trilogy», en medley Elvis Presley inkluderte i sine konserter med på 70-tallet. Newbury var en musikernes musiker, og sangene hans er spilt inn av en rekke artister som Kenny Rogers, Waylon Jennings og vår egen Paal Flaata. Kris Kristofferson sier han har lært mer av Newbury om sangskriving enn av noen andre. Uten Newbury, ingen «Bobby McGee».

Newbury sett gjennom andre

I boka «Look Like Rain», lar Brian T. Atkinson en rekke låtskrivere og samarbeidspartnere til Mickey Newbury gi sine betraktninger om artisten og personen Mickey Newbury i hver sine avsnitt, og nevnte Kris Kristofferson er selvsagt med. Og det er også Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Tom Russell, Chuck Prophet, Darell Scott, Bill Callahan, Robert Ellis, Will Oldham, Andrew Combs, John Lomax III og mange flere. Se eget bilde for flere eksempler. Atkinson har tidligere hatt et tilsvarende prosjekt om Townes Van Zandt.

Jeg skal mer enn å gi en anmeldelse av boka, benytte anledningen til å skrive om Mickey Newbury. Jeg vil likevel tro at «Looks Like Rain» har vært en utfordrende bok å redigere. Bidragsytere vil nødvendigvis overlappe hverandre, og de gjentar av og til seg selv. Uansett så tåler jeg gjentakelser om Mickey Newbury. Det er uansett interessant å lese kjente og mindre kjente autoriteter få frem sine litt forskjellige perspektiver, men uansett plassere Mickey Newbury helt der i toppen av «Tower Of Song», der jeg selvfølgelig mener han hører hjemme.

Stemme i særklasse

Mickey Newbury hadde noe mange store låtskrivere kunne misunne ham. Gretchen Peters sier i boka at Mickeys stemme var «operatic» og utrolig, at vokalen hans er like genial som sangene. Mickeys stemme endret karakter over årenes løp, men prestasjonene han gjør med sin sjelfulle stemme på for eksempel livealbumet «Winter Winds» fra midten av 1990-årene, står ikke tilbake for noe. Mickey startet som låtskriver for andre. Nokså utrolig med tanke på hans evne til å formidle egne låter. Men så startet mange store artister sin karriere nettopp slik.

Mickey Newbury og Townes Van Zandt

Mickey Newbury var unik. Men hans vennskap med Townes Van Zandt, og det at han hjalp Townes til å få platekontrakt og på sitt eget vis etablere seg i Nashville, gjør at man ikke kommer unna sammenlikninger i denne boka heller. Begge hadde stor respekt for hverandre som låtskrivere. Flere peker på at om Mickey Newbury hadde levd like turbulent som Townes, ville legenden om ham vært større, og han ville vokst seg like stor etter sin død som Townes Van Zandt har gjort. Som den nye generasjons låtskriver Andrew Combs sier i boka: «I think Townes’ lifestyle helped him appeal to young hipsters. Mickey wasn’t hard living.»

Begge artistene tok utgangspunkt i tekstene når de lagde låter. Townes var opptatt av at tekstene skulle fungere som egne dikt på papir før han satte melodi til, og Mickey mente at om han hadde en god tekst, så lagde melodien seg nesten selv. Mange plasserer Mickey Newburys «Live At Montezuma Hall»(1973) helt der oppe ved siden av Townes Van Zandts «Live At The Old Quarter» blant tidenes beste solo liveinnspillinger. Her fremstår låtskriverne og deres sanger helt nedtstrippet og viser at sangene skinner også uten innpakning.

Låtskriverkollega Guy Clark ga nettopp «Live At Montezuma Hall» til Rodney Crowell: «You gotta know about Mickey Newbury and his work». Will Oldham forteller at han krever absolutt stillhet i turnébussen når «Live At Montezuma Hall settes på.

«Here comes the rain, baby»

«You know, I tried to keep the rain from fallin’
It’s not the rain in the skies, but the rain in your eyes
Here comes the rain, baby»

Guy Clark og flere til har og hadde et ambivalent forhold til produksjonen på Mickey Newburys plater. Ikke jeg. Jeg mener at både Mickeys «rain songs» og Mickeys «train songs» fungerer. Ikke bare er regn og tog viktige ingredienser og metaforer i mange av tekstene hans, men du hører også lyden av regn og tog mellom flere av sangene. Samtidig er lydbildet du finner på hans tre album spilt inn i Cinderella Sound Studio for rundt 50 år siden, og den siste plata han gav ut før han døde, det selvbiografiske mesterverket «A Long Road Home» (2002), så tidløse og flotte at jeg aldri går lei av å høre dem. Tidløse, men likevel forskjellige. Myke strykere står sentralt på Mickeys siste mesterverk og skaper en fantastisk kammerorkesteratmosfære.

Sa jeg «train songs»? Den vakreste og mest rørende av dem alle, er jo «Cortelia Clark». «Cortelia Clark» kommer høyt oppe på lista over mine favoritter blant alle Mickey Newburys sanger:

«I was just a boy the year
The bluebird special came through here
On its first run south to New Orleans
A blind old man and I we came
To Guthrie just to see the trains
He was black and I was green»

Les ordene høyt: «He was black and I was green» – holy cow, som Larry Gatlin sier. «Cortelia Clark» handler om en blind gatesanger som vant Grammy i 1966. Cortelia Clark, som ble en venn av Mickey, mistet livet i en eksplosjon da han skulle fylle parafin på en tank. Cortelia fikk en begravelse uten venner og bekjente, og da Mickey leste om hans død og begravelse i en lokalavis skrev han denne sangen. Vakrere hyllest har vel ingen fått:

«I read it in a week old paper
 No one made it to his wake
Or laid a single flower at his feet
He was just a blind old beggar people said
But Lord I’ll wager
He will not be beggin’ on your streets
…Save a street in glory Lord for Cortelia Clark.»

Mesterlige låter

Jeg har aldri skrevet en sang i hele mitt liv. Men jeg vil tro at det er et og annet å plukke opp for låtskrivere i denne boka. Hvordan Mickey flikket og flikket og fjernet overflødige ord, om hvordan enkelte låter fikk utvikle seg gjennom flere tiår. En bidragsyter i boka peker på at valg av ord var viktig. Han unngikk klumpete ord som «that», han foretrakk «for» framfor «because».

Melodiene er også i en egen klasse. Du tror du vet hvor du har låten, men den byr stadig på nye overganger og nivåer samtidig som det passer låten helt perfekt. Rodney Crowell beskriver låtstrukturen som korte og lange vers om hverandre og refrenger som egentlig ikke er refrenger.

Mange av bidragsyterne nevner den tidlige låten «Just Dropped By (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)» gjort kjent av Kenny Rogers & The First Edition og som fikk sin renessanse i Coen-børdrenes film «The Big Lebowski»». Jeg anbefaler sterkt at du hører Mickey Newburys versjon på «Winter Winds»(spilt inn i 1994). Låten skal være skrevet som en advarsel mot LSD. Mickeys sønn, Chris Newbury, forteller at låten er inspirert av en hendelse der Mickeys kamerat og Townes Van Zandt tok noen piller Townes hadde fått av sin lege mot depresjon.

Låten som nevnes oftest i boka er «She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye». Nydelig låt, trist, sterk og schizofren tekst. Noen mener sågar at kvinnen i låten, i likhet med Mickey, måtte være bipolar. Og igjen pekes det på valg av ord. Det heter «packed her soft things», ikke «clothes», nei.

«Baby's packed her soft things and she's left me
She's left me
She's left me
And I know she didn't mean to make me cry
It's not her heart lord it's her mind
She didn't mean to be unkind
Why she even woke me up to say goodbye»

«San Francisco Mabel Joy» er av Mickeys aller beste sanger. Det foregår nesten mer mellom linjene enn på linjene. Steve Earle beskriver sangen som Steinbecksk. En nydelig setting som gir de utsatte, den prostituerte og og hennes kunde som blir forelsket (?!), en verdighet. Avslutningen er utrolig, merk deg bokstavrimene: «Stunned and shaken someone said: Son, she don’t live here no more/ She left this house four years today/ They say she’s lookin’ for Some Georgia farm boy.»

Mickey som person

«They tell me ole Bud Rose hocked his guitar 
Bought a ticket to Nashville to become a big star 
Now he works on a bottle and he lives in a car 
Do you still have your dreams?»
(Fra «A Long Road Home» (2002)

Boka gir oss også innblikk i flere sider ved Mickey Newbury som hans perioder med høyt alkoholforbruk, hans frustrasjon over musikkindustrien og hans støttende og vennlige væremåte.

Vi får innblikk i utfordringer med stadig å ha behov for oksygen gjennom et eget apparat, ikke minst på konserter, mye av hans 10 siste leveår. Behovet for oksygentilførselen var en følge av en lungesykdom, trolig forårsaket av kjederøyking. Det er særlig interessant å lese hans viktigste samarbeidspartner gjennom Mickeys siste tiår, gitaristen Jack Williams, betraktninger her.

Det er en styrke for boka «Looks Like Rain» at én av Mickey sønner, Chris (kjent blant annet fra den flotte låten «The Sailor»), og Mickeys kone gjennom mer enn 30 år, Susan, bidrar. Her fra låten «Four Ladies»:

«And Susie you found me
When I was hopelessly lost and I did not know where to go
And you had the answer and we came together
But Susan I needed you too long ago
God knows I'm trying to deal with my sadness
Although at times I swear I do not know
When I am happy or when it is madness
Do you understand
Why the winter winds blow»

Det er sikkert ikke slikt man bør skrive, men jeg var litt stolt da Susan delte et par av mine facebook-innlegg i fjor, og Mickeys datter, Annleah, fra sangen «Weeping Annaleah» («Sleeping Annaleah» i Nick Caves versjon), likte ett av dem.

Videre lesning og spilleliste

Om du skal lese en sammenhengende historie om Mickey Newbury, er Joe Ziemers biografi «Crystal and Stone» en bedre bok, men også «Looks Like Rain» er en kjærkommen gave til oss Newbury-fans.

Her kan du lese en artikkel om Mickey Newbury og Gretchen Peters hyllestalbum til ham fra i fjor.

Bare sånn for moro skyld har jeg laget en spilleliste, med noe av det som er tilgjengelig på Spotify. Jeg tar også med YouTube-lenker med fire helt essensielle låter. Men hør albumene i sin helhet, slik de var ment å høres!

Ekstranummer

Jeg har spart min kanskje aller største Mickey Newbury-favoritt helt til slutt:

Versjonen som finnes av «Frisco Depot» på «Frisco Mabel Joy» med Newbury er flott. Det finnes imidlertid en versjon på albumet «In A New Age/It Might As Well Be The Moon» (1988) som er mer intens og nesten dobbelt så lang. Mickey synger der med hjertet utenpå skjorta, med det fantastiske ekstraverset, et vers som graver enda dypere:

«Lord, when you’re chained, there’s nothin‘ you cherish like freedom
When you’re free it seems that you’re hell bent for chains
You dance with your demons till you got strength, Lord, to beat’em
Then you deal with the devil for the salvation you sold»
-Fra «Frisco Depots» ekstravers