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Over the Bridge

from Tips & Compliments by Matt Harlan

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lyrics

Running around in a different town, but the lights don't flicker quite like New
Orleans.
& I'm luckier than most I guess...I got a tank of gas & a paycheck in my jeans.
Some were hunkering down & I was Texas bound, on that long, black stretch of road that I once roamed.
Now I'm looking around & I can't remember how I called this concrete garden “home”.
I left town when the rains came, I just kept finding less reason to stay.
But there's times I wish I hadn't floated away.

Over the bridge & past Old River.
Back to Houston town.
Right back to that life I knew was keeping me down.
There's miles & miles of Texas, but that ain't all I've seen.
'Cause if it's pride I'm proud if it's blood I'm bound to that city of New Orleans.

Back in '75 I was staying alive turning cards to cash & blowing it all on dope.
When it got too deep I just headed East to the swamplands searching for my father's ghost.
Well I rolled in a gambler thinking sure as hell that things would stay that way.
But there was something in the Acadian wind that blew my luck every time I sat to play.
It was there I met my sweet Louise, she was born a red-stick girl.
We settled in the Quarter like an oyster pearl.

Over the bridge & past Old River.
Safe from Houston town.
Protected from the life I knew was keeping me down.
Sure there's pretty girls in Texas, but that ain't all I've seen.
'Cause if it's pride I'm proud if it's blood I'm bound to that city of New Orleans

I was traveling West down old I-10 & the cars were go & stop & stop & go.
& their angry drivers, burning up, were tell & show & show & tell & show.
So I gave a call to my old friend Paul just looking for a place to rest my head.
It's my first night back, & I'm cooking smack in a barroom filled with gambling fools instead.
Man, the levees broke & the floods came, & I'm left standing 7 hours away.
Drinking beer where the burned out junkies play.

Over the bridge & past Old River.
'Neath the lights of Houston town.
All wrapped up in that life I knew was keeping me down.
Sure I'm high & dry in Texas, but that don't mean I'm clean,
'Cause if it's pride I'm proud if it's blood I'm bound to that city of New Orleans.

credits

from Tips & Compliments, released October 19, 2009
Written by Matt Harlan (Ghost Moon Music, BMI) and Paul Quebodeaux

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Matt Harlan Houston, Texas

Matt Harlan is a troubadour of the first degree, bringing songs of bus-stops, coffee-shops and lives overlooked to stages across his home-state of Texas, the USA and Europe. His expressive vocals recall Chris Smither and Chris Knight, shading his poignant songs with soaring heart and aching grit. ... more

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