Get all 12 Balto releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Wrong End, Spanish Wine, No Hard Feeling (4-Track), From Them to Us, From Us To You (A Cover Tape), Magnet / Mind, Black Snake, Mojave Blues/Still Don't Know, Bullshit Dream, Songs for Viktor, and 4 more.
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With the edge of the Mojave curling up into the fire
The highway is a black snake, the back of which I ride
I can feel the city breathing out over the rise
But the engine coughs and shudders, I think the dream’s about to die
With final mile stretched out, the needle met the dash
I ran hard upon a promise, but I couldn’t make it last
Well I swore there on the hood with the skyline below
I’d walk among the failures, shipwrecked sailors and their gold
The undiscovered genius, the thousand secret songs
The million dollar smiles getting tired getting old
Hey there baby don’t you look so sad
The sun is just a big star running out of gas
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Warning to the saints not to look into the lights
Nothing there to save you when you’ve sold it to the night
Pawn whatever’s left to lose beneath the palms
For every fire burning there’s an ocean in the dark
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Burnouts on the blacktop, restless in the heat
Leather under leather, Empty veins and busted strings
Nebraska girl no longer checking groceries, saving tips
She’s the shadow beneath the shadow of a phone that never rings
Call the number at the bottom of that faded billboard sign
If you start to get too lonely and need someone to change your mind
All you ghosts that never made it take your seats behind the bar
Sing your karaoke music in the space between the stars
Just a small town girl supersonic rocket man
Tell me all about your pain tell me all about your plans
All you television spirits, can I buy y’all a round
I’ve played every dive in Portland but I’m kinda new in town
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Warning to the saints not to look into the lights
Nothing there to save you when you’ve sold it to the night
Pawn whatever’s left to lose beneath the palms
For every fire burning there’s an ocean in the dark
credits
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2. |
Still Don't Know
03:15
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I had a fever
And I've gotten Higher
I've felt that Lightning rod electrify my spine
And I've known the dark days
brokenhearted in the worst of ways
oh man I've been so low I thought that I could die
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I don't know what love is, I thought I knew well
I still don't know it when I feel it, but how can you tell
I want to know, but I don't know how
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The cheap thrill of jealousy
anything to keep her closer to me
man, aint it strange the way the pain keeps it alive
but she says it's more than that
but you've got to want it bad
and you've got to give yourself away before your time
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Baby there's a red moon on the rise
I think that time is on our side and we can make it if we try
Baby, I've got to learn to let it go
You want my heart how about my soul
think it over twice, then let me know
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Because I want the real thing
I want the weight it brings
I want your dreams to be your dreams upon this turning wheel
I've just got to know you
I've just got to be what you need
I mean the good the bad the beautiful and everything in between
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Balto Los Angeles, California
Card Carrying Cultists of the Great American Song, The Great American Groove, and the Great American Highway
Balto recommends:
Men Who Share My Name
by Hip Hatchet
Men Who Share My Name is a beautiful work of art - a devastating folk record - portrait of a man and his life. Philippe, the mastermind behind Hip Hatchet, played piano, accordion, and sang for Balto.
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I heard Widower's (alias of Kevin Large) song "Grasp" performed live when I first moved to Portland and it made a lasting impression. Fantastic record from start to finish. Really, really sad.
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Popular music bent into something you've never heard by the producer of "October's Road". Keyser Soze will knock your socks off.
go to albumIf you like Balto, you may also like:
Out on the line
by The Blue Highways
The slashing roots rock on “Out On the Line” always makes its way to the kind of triumphant chorus that quickens the pulse.
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Echo Dancing
by Alejandro Escovedo
The legendary Alejandro Escovedo returns with another country-rock scorcher.
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Turn My Radio Up
by The Coffis Brothers
Big, sunny country songs from this Santa Cruz duo summon the spirit of late-period Byrds.
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