Eric Taylor has been one of the finest southern songwriters for more than three decades, and Hollywood Pocketknife, marked by plainspoken but authoritative singing, ranks among his finest work. One thing that I’ve always loved about eric’s music is the way his songs are often from a character’s perspective, completely, or at least seemingly, outside of himself. He begins this CD with the compelling title track in which his narrator imagines himself in Hollywood in the 1950s and early ’60s interacting with, among others, the likes of James Dean, Richard Burton and Marilyn Monroe. In the next song, “Carnival Jim and Jean,” Eric becomes Jim, a carnival hustler singing about breaking off his dysfunctional marriage to Jean, a carnival-raised singer and guitar player. Each of the other songs is as gripping, and as unique as the first two, often capturing the unique lives, or moments in the lives, of the kinds of people we might not ordinarily notice but for a skilled writer like Eric who finds something to zero in on: the guy in “The Peppercorn Tree” on the run from a settled life who takes off with his friend’s little sister; the woman escaping her abuser — Husband? Boyfriend? Trick? — in “Postcards, Three for a Dime”; and the guy just trying to be a better man in “Better Man.” In addition to his own songs, Eric also offers three he didn’t write including a chillingly lonely version of Townes Van Zandt’s “Highway Kind,” and an equally lonely duet with Susan Lindfors on her song, “A Matter od Degrees,” which documents the break-up of a relationship from both perspectives. The album ends with Vince Bell and Steven Fromholz joining in on a Fourth of July rendition of “Rally ‘Round the Flag.” – Sing Out!
1. Hollywood Pocketknife
Well, I wish I had my pocketknife
And the hands that could
I’d make myself a different life
Carve it out of Hollywood
I’d have a drink down at that Chinese Theater
I’d footrace a young James Dean
I’d cut a new road up to Salinas
Take the wheel from Turnipseed
(bridge)
Diamonds on the road out to Coconut Grove
I can hear her laughin’
Roses from DiMaggio followed everywhere she goes
But I can hear her laughin’
I’ll take her down to Monterey and beg her not to cry
Remember Mitchum the madman preacher
I’ll teach him how to play the clarinet
I’ll teach him how to love that hatcheck girl
And then I’ll teach myself
I’ll learn more about girls from Chaplin
Barrymore will teach me how to sail
I’ll get my Shakespeare from Richard Burton
When he gets back from Wales
(bridge)
My horse will come in out at Hollywood Park
I’ll run the back nine up at Woodland Hills
Maybe stop by Marilyn’s house
Get her off those pills
I’ll take her out for dinner and dancin’
We’ll talk for hours on the telephone
And this trouble that she’s havin’ with these Kennedy boys
Will clear up on its own
(bridge)
2. Carnival Jim and Jean
Ain’t nothin’ but a guitar, go ahead and play it
Ain’t nothin’ but a high price, go ahead and pay it
Ain’t nothin’ but a goodbye, go ahead and say it
You won’t do any better without me
You won’t do no better without me
I’ll just run this little hustle, honey, keep us fed
Stackin’ up the milk bottles made out of lead
Yeah, I’m a 3-for-a-dollar carney son of a bitch
But you won’t do any better without me
You won’t do no better without me
(chorus)
Out on the interstate, runnin’ Louisiana plates
Lord, I get lonesome when I can’t find her
I’ll catch her out of Halletsville, get her back I know I will
Lord, I get lonesome when I can’t find her
She won’t do no better without me
She won’t do any better without me
I’m pretty good with my hands, I can break it, I can fix it
Turn 20 dirty dollars from a two-dollar ticket
Say the smell of cotton candy ’bout to make you sick
You won’t do no better without me
You won’t do any better without me
Her mother was a fat clown little dog act
She used to hit Jean till Jean hit her back
I stole a little red guitar and some gasoline
She won’t do no better without me
She won’t do no better without me
(chorus)
I’m Carnival Jim and she jus’ Jean
And she’s cold as Minnesota, can’t cook or clean
She can play a little guitar oughta hear her sing
She can’t do no better without me
She can’t do no better without me
(chorus)
(1st verse)
3. Highway Kind
Well, my days they are the highway kind
Only come to leave me
Leavin’ I don’t mind so bad
It’s the comin’ that I crave
Pour the sun upon the ground
Stand to throw a shadow
Watch it turn into a night
Fill a spinnin’ sky
Well, time amongst the pine trees
Felt like a breath of air
MostlyI just walk these streets
And I tell myself I care
Sometimes I believe me
Sometimes I don’t hear
Sometimes the shape I’m in
Well, it won’t let me go
Well, I don’t know too much for true
But my heart knows how to pound
My legs know how to love someone
And my voice knows how to sound
Shame that it’s not enough
Shame that it is a shame
Follow the circle down
Where will you be?
You’re the only one I want
And I’ve never heard your name
Let’s hope we meet someday
If we don’t it’s all the same
I’ll meet the ones between us
And I’ll be thinkin’ about you
And all the places I have been
Why you were not there
4. Jail Widow’s Walk
Well, it takes a few dollars
Just to have a good time
A little somethin’ for the women
A little more for the wine
Well, if I had the money
Man, I’d go and spend it all
Instead of starin’ out this window
Down to Jail Widow’s Walk
Mr. John Watson drives a blue Studebaker
Keeps a shine on both his shoes
Used to whip my legs with a hickory switch
For the language that I used
Some run the shine, some the fast bennies
Another man’s money just as good as any
See, I got this situation confrontation with the law
Send my gravy and my biscuits down to Jail Widow’s Walk
Hey big Mercury ’54
Black bottom, red top, dent in the door
Might know that Studebaker but you don’t know the man
Mr. John keeps it loaded and he keeps it in his hand
Come along peaceful we don’t want no trouble, John
Take you back to Jackson if you give up the gun
See, I got this situation confrontation with the law
Send my gravy and my biscuits back to Jail Widow’s Walk
Ain’t no blues on jail widow’s walk
Everything is lip-rouge red
You got tears Miss Mama dear
You better keep ’em to yourself, keep ’em to yourself
keep ’em to yourself
Man, don’t shoot, I pray the Lord will slow your hand
Two by two’s the way we love in Dixieland
See, I got this situation confrontation with the law
Send my gravy and my biscuits down to Jail Widow’s Walk
Send my gravy and my biscuits down to Jail Widow’s Walk
Well, it takes a few dollars
Just to have a good time
A little somethin’ for the women
A little more for the wine
Well, if I had the money
Man, I’d run and spend it all
Instead of starin’ out this window
Down to Jail Widow’s Walk
5. A Better Man
I’m goin’ up to Little Rock
Goin’ take what little money I’ve got
Goin’ to sleep at night in a cardboard box
Keep things clean up and down my block
I’m goin’ to be a better man
Save the little babies from the garbage can
Goin’ to make right what I’ve done wrong
Then I’ll sing a happy song
Sing along, little babies
You little babies sing along
I’m goin’ up to Abilene
Goin’ to see if I can do anything
Goin’ to feed the hungry some bread and beans
When the nights are long and the streets are mean
I’m goin’ to be a better man
Maybe learn how to meditate
It’ll be a better place when these blues are gone
Then I’ll sing a happy song
Yeah, I can sing to the hungry
And then the hungry can sing along
Goin’ over to the reservation
Goin’ to help them build a wall around it
The poor will forget what being poor’s about
But you got to keep the rich folks out
I’m goin’ to be a better man
Goin’ to find the one true way and walk it
And if I can teach ’em how to lie to themselves
They’ll believe everything I’m talkin’
We’ll all sing a happy song
Man, they’ll be glad to sing along
Maybe I’ll just go on up to the District of Columbia
I’ll work for the cops, I’ll take your cocaine from ya’
I’ll save it all up and when Judgment Day comes
We’ll all have a little somethin’ we can fall back on
I’m goin’ to be a better man
Maybe learn how to play the piano
And I can own a nightclub up in midtown Manhattan
And a houseboat down in Amsterdam
We’ll all sing a happy song
We’ll rock the boat and sing along
Sing along, little babies
You little babies sing along
6. Olney’s Poison and the Houston Blues
Richard, Richard shiftless rambler
Live forever if you will
The Galveston moon is round and amber
Cut right out of wood and steel
Stratford Street times two in Houston
Smells like gesso, smells like rain
Can’t call me baby, you can call me darlin’
That’s a double-0 Martin, man, play that thing
(chorus)
Put the sunshine on the grapevine
Pass by the hard times
Ain’t no gamble if you think you’re goin’ to lose
Olney’s Poison and the Houston Blues
Black-haired Dutch boy, gypsy bone
Cut yourself a columbine, Fort Worth gone
Make a little bit of money just off and on
Playin’ dollar-bill poker and one more song
Olney’s poison is comin’ on fine
Go and pay the barman, Baby, pay him twice
Cadillac car just long as a train
There’s a man called Lightnin’ in the Third Ward rain
(chorus)
Little Joe Washington walkin’ crazy as hell
Down Velasco line and he ain’t lookin’ well
Beula Street barbershop cut ’em razor thin
Like the Sisters of Mercy wearin’ shoes and skin
(chorus)
7. A Matter of Degrees
It’s just a matter of degrees
This thing we would call a war
It started as nothing more
Than a difference in tone
Now everybody’s choosing sides
They paint it black and paint it white
Call it a matter of pride
It’s just a matter of degrees
So call it what you please
What is water and what is wine
Both are made from sun and earth and vine
And yielded from a tiny seed
But when the wind blows cold
You drink the wine to ease your soul
But the water it just starts to freeze
It’s just a matter of degrees
(Bridge)
Who’s the fire, who feeds the flame?
What is reckless and what is tame?
Call it by some other name
It’s all the same, it’s all the same
And now you’re on your knees
You listen to a closing door
Footsteps fading on the floor
You said it’s not worth waiting for
And just when you had bared your mind
And pointed to the end of time
Well, you never made it past the rhyme
So now is like before
It’s all a matter of degrees
And he hits you like a hurricane
You thought it was a little rain
When it came down through the trees
So you turn toward your heart
To find the answer, find the start
Cause it doesn’t matter who you please
It’s all a matter of degrees
No, it doesn’t matter who you please
It’s just a matter of degrees
8. Postcards, 3 For A Dime
(chorus)
Well, I’m goin’ North as far as I can
You and your drinkin’ I swear
I’m goin’ to find myself a decent man
And he’ll whip you if you come up there
He’ll whip you if you come up there
Now I ain’t lyin’ about my whereabouts
Been drinkin’ beer all day down at Judy’s house
Then Ben Lee Daniel comes showin’ up with another case
All hell broke loose down here, I guess,
When he slapped her face
(chorus)
You know, I been thinkin’ some about the Avenue
I guess you think I don’t recall, but yes, I do
You rolled me up in that Mexican rug on the front room floor
And you left me there with that friend of your mother’s,
Locked the door
(chorus)
The Cotton Bottom Lounge and the Bamboo Club
And she comes down here with my .38 snub
If I got friends anywhere, that’s where they are
And then she hurts my feelings
And she takes her car
(chorus)
Thought maybe I’d try just one more time
Since I bought these postcards, 3 for a dime
I’m doin’ six, straight six for Interstate flight
I’m no damn good
Yeah I guess you’re right
(chorus)
9. The Peppercorn Tree
Came out of Angelina County haulin’ cane and molasses
Another hot rod boy wearin’ mirror sunglasses
I had a friend down in Houston name of Jackson Lee
With a pretty little sister at the Tastee Freeze
Had a pretty little sister down at the Tastee Freeze
Parker Road on the near North side
We had flathead Fords and honeysuckle vines
Life’s about as good as it got back then
Livin’ right down the road from Rin Tin Tin
We lived right down the road from Rin Tin Tin
(chorus)
Now the Angelina River can’t carry me back
Up to Angelina County and live like that
Long as I live, boys, that’s a fact
I’ll keep the Angelina River runnin’ at my back
I’ll keep the Angelina River runnin’ at my back
Me and Jack Lee had some fallin’ out
So I took his little sister and we headed on South
She painted her toenails bubblegum
We had baseball cards and Jamaican Rum
Baseball cards and Jamaican Rum
Went down to Galveston, wild and free
Sammy Davis Jr., this girl and me
Well, I got a job dealin’ cards down there
She made it the best place anywhere
She could make anyplace the best place anywhere
(chorus)
You can the work in the oilfields and the shrimp boats, too
I tell ya’ sellin’ used cars’ll make a fool out’a you
Out of all the hard travelin’ that I ever seen
I come home in the evening, she’s waitin’ for me
When I come home in the evening, she’s waitin’ for me
Well, we never left Texas except for that one time
Somewhere in California back when Jack’s wife died
As ’bout as lonesome a moment as a man can have
Is drinkin’ sweet tea and bourbon from a jelly glass
We were drinkin’ sweet tea and bourbon from a jelly glass
(chorus)
Yeah, we would have if we could have maybe had some kids
I don’t know much about it, we just never did
Well, they’d all be grown and gone by now
Livin’ down here on the border in this little house
While we’re down here on the border in this little house
She never asked about the river, the cane or molasses
This ol’ hot rod boy wearin’ mirror sunglasses
She never talked about the trouble with Jackson Lee
Now she’s out there by the Peppercorn Tree
Yeah, she’s out there by the Peppercorn Tree
Yeah, she’s layin’ out there by the Peppercorn Tree
She’s out there by the Peppercorn Tree
10. Rally ‘Round the Flag
Yes, we’ll rally ’round the flag boys
We’ll rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
We will rally from the hillside
We’ll gather from the plain
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
We will welcome to our numbers
The loyal, true and brave
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
And although he may be poor
Not a man shall be a slave
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
(chorus)
The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star
While we rally ’round the flag, boys, rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
So we’re springing to the call
From the East and from the West
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
And we’ll prove a loyal crew
To the land we love the best
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
Yes, we’ll rally ’round the flag boys
We’ll rally once again
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
We will rally from the hillside
We’ll gather from the plain
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom
All lyrics reprinted with permission.