Old Men and Old Hymns

from Bare Bones by The Gothic Cowboy (aka Melvin Litton)

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lyrics

13) Old Men & Old Hymns - m.litton

Birth ‘n death are the threaded needle
Mending an old dress
Life is an ancient riddle spun of the ocean’s brine
A roaring old rhythm unrhymed
Warrior horses ranged the earth
While wolf-women sang their prayers
And fire-infants played naked in the lairs

Old men like old hymns all seem to move so slow
And old sins are like old winds
They never cease to moan

On the millstone grinds the grain
And on the metals toil
While the jaded cross of olden man
Stands lonely there still
Forgotten like a scarecrow in the field
Through wool ‘n fur and silks ‘n flesh
Of the seasons and old centuries
The wine has ebbed ‘n flowed like truth ‘n misery

Old women like old roses fade with the years
They press their youth between the pages
To hold that season dear

The soul is like a raging river
It has no bones
And the night is a haunted memory
Illumined by the moon
The pirates’ old bounty of ruin
The demons of our fathers yet linger out the door
But the devil and his angels are no more

A young child with new dreams
Is dancing before my grief
The old fable for a new heart
Fruit from the same damn tree

And old men like old hymns
All seem to move so slow
And old sins are like old winds
They never cease to moan…

credits

from Bare Bones, released October 2, 2020

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The Gothic Cowboy/The Border Band Lawrence, Kansas

I'm a creekbank ghetto boy. Began my singin' near half a century ago in Canada, then hit northeast, down thru Nashville, Austin, out to Colorado and back to Kansas where I started out and will likely remain. My influences are Leadbelly, Jimmie Rodgers, CCR and The Band, while the juices of a hundred others flavor my music, not to mention the devil himself if that's what it takes to make a song... ... more

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