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Something New

from Tips & Compliments by Matt Harlan

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lyrics

We used to hide up on the hills
Drinking beer & chucking rocks down at the highway.
At the rolling 18 wheelers that went crawling down the road.
Every time we’d hear ‘em hit,
Our hearts would start to thumping & ‘a pounding,
Just ‘a praying it was never someone’s daddy that we know.

& we’d sit out in the woods
Burning cedar with our lighters & just laughing.
Smoking cigarettes & lying about girls that we had known.
Every time we named a name,
Our hearts would start to thumping & ‘a pounding.
This town’s so small we’re praying that our cover won’t be blown.

We said, “My friends we’re bound to live a long, long, time…
& what’s the use in living if we can’t come close to dying?
I’d rather ball the world up in a pocket & be through,
Than to spend another minute being scared of something new.”

When we finally turned sixteen
We got our parent’s cars & tortured all the gravel.
We tried to point our reckless wheels to roll us past the edge of town.
One drove a Lincoln Continental.
One drove a truck that you’d hear coming for a mile.
One drove right off a cliff & left his brother in the pile.

I had a different haircut then.
It was long on top & shaved up on the sides.
I was looking for myself in places I would usually hide from.
I liked the older crowd I guess,
Skipping school & smoking reefer by the creek –
& all those older girls that let me feel ‘em up in the back seat.

I said “My friends we’re bound to live a long, long, time,
But what’s the use in living if we can’t come close to dying?
I’d rather ball the world up in a pocket & be through
Than spend another minute being scared of something new.”

I swear these tales I tell are mostly true.
Sometimes those city folks don’t know what all the small town boys will do.
When drugs & love & drinking is all you have to pass the time
‘Til we move into your city & try leave it all behind.

I made it back the other day.
I was glad that most my buddies moved away.
I visited a few that wound up stuck there in their graves.
The older kids they stuck around.
They up & found themselves a new, young crowd.
They just can’t escape the gravity that holds them in this town.

So we sat ‘round drinking beers.
They were smoking speed & counting down the years.
I was so sad to see them stuck inside a world of rust & tears.
So I turned around & waved.
& I told ‘em I’d be back same time, next year.
Just worried to my bones I’d find that there was no one here.

They said, “My friend we’re bound to live a long, long, time,
But what’s the use in living if we can’t come close to dying?”
Me, I’d rather ball the world up in a pocket & be through,
Than spend another minute being scared of something new.

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from Tips & Compliments, released October 19, 2009

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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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