TomFlannery.com

Complete with my flannel shirt and assorted bracelets rubbing themselves vigorously against the strings. Makes it sound like I recorded this at the beach. But when you record quicky during your lunch hour such things happen….

Rolling Easy
(Tom Flannery)

I saw a drunk Santa Claus on Mulberry St he was weaving like a fish on a line
Still pissed off about last call but making the most of his time
That’s just how we do down here they did us dirty for years
But there still ain’t no better place to be unemployed with beers

We rolling easy
Rolling easy down here

Coal mines and data centers and all them churches and bars
For the sinning and the redemption inside all them used cars
Once you pull it off the lot well son you’re on your own
Get yourself a REAL ID it’ll streamline the loan

We rolling easy
Rolling easy down here

I ain’t never had the blues that the right pill couldn’t touch
A dozen years of catholic school didn’t add up to much
‘Cept feeling guilty all the time but not quite knowing why
And waiting on that probate check when my Daddy finally died

We rolling easy
Rolling easy down here

Bridge
I ain’t paid my taxes in 17 years
They still using punch cards downtown
So I think the coast is clear
For us to have one more round

It was the only thing he done right but I loved him just the same
He left a safe deposit box under another name
Mamma lawyered up and he admitted to it all
So now I got an extra sibling working down at the mall

We rolling easy
Rolling easy down here

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here…

Backwards Train
(Tom Flannery)

Homecoming queen pushing at the mall never batted an eye
‘84 was a long time ago And time sure does fly
then vs now are unwritten books by the score
But I still managed to say hello as cops led her to the door

Sweatpants with elastic bands and winter caps indoors
Covering up all the bald heads that sported mullets before
I lost track of 40 years and I ain’t sure why
The road I used to get here well it always makes me cry

I want to board a backwards train
I want to board a backwards train
I want to learn to dance in the rain
The way that young lovers do

I had to dig out the yearbook she was the prettiest thing I’d seen
Looking like an angel on the cover of a magazine
A restraining order by 22 kept the football star away
He took everything that he could before moving to LA

I want to board a backwards train
I want to board a backwards train
I want to crush those pennies all over again
The way that young lovers do

Maybe I’ll meet her for a drink like in that Glory Days song
But first she’s gotta make bail for the things to move along
It ain’t always as simple as what you hear on the radio
There’s always another mile that life needs to go

I want to board a backwards train
I want to board a backwards train
I want to learn to dance in the rain
The way that young lovers do

I want to board a backwards train
I want to board a backwards train
I want to crush those pennies all over again
The way that young lovers do

I always wanted to get the words “Taylor Swift” into a song. Otherwise not sure where it came from. I do like the line about the family tree that snapped in two though. Sometimes it’s the little things…

Martyrtown
(Tom Flannery)

Daddy got out on parole on my birthday
but he still didn’t have much to say
kissed me on the cheek but wouldn’t look me in the eye
Mamma in the backseat tryng not to cry
Stopped at a 7-11 on our way home
for some slushies and an ice cream cone
put it on his card but it got declined
so I said “here, you can use one of mine…”

Ten miles to the river as the crows flew
was that family tree that snapped in two
when that last big storm touched down
in Martyrtown

He’d lift me on his shoulders at the county fair
one year even Taylor Swift played there
she was still a kid wearing a cowboy hat
with a rickety old tour bus parked out back
But once they leave they never return
like touching that skillet and feeling that burn
there’s a bridge in this town that fell back in 92
that google maps still leads you to….

Ten miles to the river as the crows flew
was that family tree that snapped in two
when that last big storm touched down
Down here in Martyrtown

Martyrtown Martyrtown
not the place to be when that sun goes down
high school heroes giving it all kinds of hell
armed with a grudge and a story to tell

You can run but I can’t get clear
my name is yours and that still matters down here
Mamma scarred like a junkie’s arm
and I’ve been blessed with the family charm

Ten miles to the river as the crows flew
was that family tree that snapped in two
when that last big storm touched down
Down here in Martyrtown

So I got these songs……and I make quiet demos of ’em sometimes.

Before the War
(Tom Flannery)

She met him before the war
in the break room of the WalMart store
she caught his eye and he blushed like a kid in Sunday school
he ran back out to lawn and garden
before his smile could start to harden
but eventually he fell like a well-intentioned fool

It was before the war it was before the war
Love was worth dying for
Before the war

A child’s heart is never wrong
even when it don’t belong
in the kind of place that breathes just to break you down
backseats by the new landfill
they loved hard but quiet and still
they understood the dangers of the backroads of this town

It was before the war it was before the war
Love was worth dying for
Before the war

Two sides weighing in
on the wages tied to this kind of sin
Both pulpits leaving cracks for dollars to get through
to those who died for love
there’s no room in the sky above
you’ll simply need to find something else to do

Before the war one ear-bud each….
they’d fall asleep within reach 
of the other’s heart beating behind a bedroom door
Now it’s two different songs
Going on about who don’t belong
And the heart pierced with an arrow carved in the floor

It was before the war it was before the war
Love was worth dying for
Before the war

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here…

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here…

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here…

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here…

Today’s column is now available. You can read it here….