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Steakhouse

by Steakhouse

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1.
Collector 04:20
It was a night not unlike this one In the autumn of aught-four I sat there waiting The smoky pall of burning leaves Was hanging in the air around the valley Sitting in a square of pale moonlight Drinking fire and breathing cigarillos I was listening for that night train To come creeping through the hollows of the valley I was counting each cold droplet As it rolled on down my back again and again 'Cause when I heard that old train whistle blow I thought Maybe this way someone wicked comes To drag me from my hiding place And take me back to Mad Town once again A debt collector from my past Came riding down the country on the night train He wore a coal black Stetson hat His eyes alive and hungry ‘neath the brim He’d warn the old conductor Not to stop the train until his destination He would walk up from the station And his leather hand would pull me back again I’d almost managed to forget The wickedness that brought me to this country Tried to start a new life, bought some land And took a young wife, a charade . . . ‘Cause your past is always coming to remind you Dragging like a torn and filthy wedding dress behind you Until I drank away the days Just waiting for that stranger to appear A debt collector from my past Came riding down the country on the night train He wore a coal black Stetson hat His eyes alive and hungry ‘neath the brim He’d warn the old conductor Not to stop the train until his destination He would walk up from the station And his leather hand would pull me back again I was thankful on the day That the collector came to take me back again
2.
Steakhouse 03:39
I woke up on her trailer floor Head pounding from the night before What evil brought me to this low down place? She walked by on the bright midway She turned and looked into my face At midnight she returned to me in spades She showed up with 2 bottles full She took me to this trailer court Her mailbox had been marked “Virginia H.” We did it once, silent and hard While lonely dogs were howling in her little front yard And I thought I saw a savage look pass quickly from her face She’s on the phone she’s talking low She said ‘I know a place, lets go. 'The steakhouse bar will serve one hour more.' We entered through a padded door Cigarette smoke filled the air A dark jukebox beside a dark dance floor And the only light hung above the bar And a line of locals raised their heads to stare With looks of hate and hunger written clearly on each face And she gave me over happily . . . It lights up on the edge of town While night is falling all around The Steakhouse Where you can look around and gaze The naked truth on every plate The Steakhouse They punched me up for all to see They dragged me back and cowboyed me In the Steakhouse The room was billowing with smoke I heard the door behind me close As the faces of occupants came clear Before I knew I should be scared They slammed me down into a chair They punched me dumb and shaved off all my hair And they took their turns, and they laughed and leered I was gagged and bound with duct tape to a chair They had their way with me And the night grew long, as I trembled there My blood lay in a pool under the chair And finally I renounced all of my hopes of being saved And the last thing I remember were their 15 voices singing
3.
We believed ourselves to be, the world’s last great horsemen Our gigantic and perfect bodies, our elegant style We stood our mounts and scanned the land below, the wasted Mojave All burned and bombed blasted black, under the unblinking sky Then a flash shot the sky in the west at Las Vegas Set the whole sky ablaze in a blinding white fire (We) felt the sting of flying dirt and ash, were temporarily blinded Forced onto our bellies laying flat, our horse’s eyes wild The cloud towered high in the west above Vegas And the seat of this mad country’s soul was on fire “Captain I’m afraid we’re late for the fight” (Through the) glasses I could see the howling mass, maybe ten thousand bodies Spilling out across the desert plane, in a long dusty line (They were) bail bondsmen, strippers, high rollers and housewives Riding taxicabs, or black sedans, or four-by-fours, even mini bikes Some were still dressed for work as card dealers-and-showgirls (The) hot wind at their hinds Running east from Las Vegas in a mad race for life The captain gave the order to mount Those bastards down there are in our way, he said We’re going to charge them We poised our bodies in the saddles A rictus of terrifying glee on each mouth Cantering towards that great cloud The red light from the sky shining in every eye And soon we were all singing Our pace gradually increasing We reached full gallop, charging into the hot wind Our song a savage and defiant roar
4.
Nuevo Laredo 04:48
To Nuevo Laredo I walked 24 hours In the terrible sun, or under blankets of stars And the kindness of people that I met on the road They kept me going I walked into town under a red sunset I slept in the bars, in the alleys and squares The hours passed slowly and I waited all night For the first light, for the moment When I’d rise up and wander in the blistering sun Toward the new land All the roads here point north Here in the land of the gun Now I’m washed up in Nuevo Laredo’s dirty sun There’s a place in the desert where no police guns go And my sister Malena said she meet me there After two moon-rises and hard luck night She’d be waiting But some very bad men brought my sister there But their blood bandana in her beautiful hair And her pretty face painted like a clown or a harlot In the daylight And that’s when I knew how much my dream of the north Was gonna cost me And all the roads here point north In the land of the gun And the streets of Nuevo Laredo’s a dirty song Now sing it I walked in the heat back to Nuevo Laredo My dreams of the north burnt away, far far away I drank my own tears for my sister Malena I’d never see her quite the same At home she would steal for me yams and tamales And bring them at night to my room For she always shivering and me always hungry The milk from her breast was so warm . . . All the roads here point north In the land of the gun I got a mark on my head I got a chill in my bones And I wander the streets and the alleys And always dream of the hills and the valleys Now I’m the streets of Nuevo Laredo’s dirty son Now sing it
5.
Interstate 05:32
Steam hanging low on the heather Burning in a flash sunrise Speeding o’er the breast of our mother staring’ in the blinding light Feeling the hum of the Chevy Passing with the speed of flight Fleeing o’er the interstate’s belly Keeled out on the tail of night Tonight they’ll be sending up rockets All up and down the interstate The towns will be blooming with fireworks My road on independence day We used to right the lines all night And go the way the road would take us From Omaha to Lake of Salt To the lights of Fabulous Las Vegas A shining interstate runs through it Over our mother country’s breast Fifty thousand miles of hard conduit Laid down in hard rock, blood and sweat See the lone power station metal palace of a thousand lights Floating against the sky like a jewel A beautiful and moving sight Cool air the crack of the window Soothing my hot forehead Smooth like the lips of the lover Blowing cool breath on my face Been 10 years since you died out here The black smoke, your soul’s ascent Honey I don’t know where you are now But I’ve been driving ever since The radio sound at four o clock in the morning I’m hearing voices that just can’t be there I heard a country song about an abortion I heard a preacher say he’s lost his faith A shining interstate runs through it Over our mother country’s breast Fifty thousand miles of hard conduit Laid down in hard rock, blood and sweat Someday this road will lead back to you Drive back to where my heart knows best Even at the coastline I just keep going, going Answering the sweet call of the West
6.
Spider Bite 04:13
A spider stung me on my wrist one night As I slept on the Mohave plain The hairy villain tried to crawl away I kicked him in the campfire Sucked all the poison from my punctured skin Then fell and went to sleep again And dreamed a picture of my puzzled face Framed in the window of a leaving train I woke up sweating on the burning plain The sun was high up in the sky again Blanket soaked with sweat and urine stained A firestorm raging inside my veins I looked far out into the desert haze The whole sky bulged with liquid flames A slender body seemed to float out there Swaying and writhing like in ecstasy That sting hurt all through me And gave me magic dreams With colors bright and painful No one could hear my screams Her misty ivory skin / and arms stretched out just straight I stared into here face / but couldn’t find a trace Of human warmth or pain / written upon that face But just an insect calm / a cold appraising gaze Over the chaparral / she floated straight toward me Soon her fingers reached / and touched my swollen face And when the venom pain / was softly soothed away And pulled my eyelids down
7.
Here we go downcountry moving At the darkening edges of another wasted day Our dust will rise behind, in dirty double barrels You see our taillights fade When we go downcountry moving When we go down . . . You see your mother, well she’s gone son Swimming in a whiskey bottle oh so many days She’s been gone so long, I can’t make her love you So let’s be on our way Here we go downcountry moving None but the sound of the radio a playin’ low Now that our worst fears are proven and we come all this way We can’t find her in that blank face, not a trace We wonder why, but the dead don’t lie Maybe she’ll send us a letter Maybe she’ll get better, become herself again Maybe listen to reason, beg our forgiveness Maybe she wouldn’t send us back With empty guts and hearts again But know that I’ll always be here son Even when the whole world seems against us every day It’s OK to hold my hand, and sit by me in the pickup Ain’t nobody’ll know but us When we go downcountry moving None but the sound of the radio a playin’ low Now that our worst fears are proven and we come all this way We can’t find her in that blank face, not a trace We wonder why, every last god damn time But she just won't say
8.
Sadness 03:13
Who’s that looking in the window? Tell him to come in and have a drink Stand him up and bless him Wash his hands in the sink The moon is your soldier The sun has your gold I could speak to ya, ya know Last one burned harder My eyes moved to the door Singer sing slowly Don’t want to hear that song anymore The moon is your hunter And the sun had to go His eyes tell a story of long ago I walk the streets that I never have seen Pass through this world without ever being seen So mama don’t carry on Because I’m already gone My old friend the sadness has come
9.
The Judge 04:04
The Judge sits peering into the fire His massive body is pink and pale Completely nude and devoid of hair He placed his palms on the rocky ground This is my claim he said What else could I call mine? Yet everywhere there is free-borne life Alive in pockets upon the earth Hey says whatever exists exists Without my knowledge and my consent This is my claim he said What else could I call mine? This is the Judge’s book And this is his writing hand Any creature not writ there Is living on borrowed land For only nature enslaves a man And only when each and all of them Is dragged to daylight and made to stand In judgment naked beneath the sun Only then can he be Properly suzerain This is the Judge’s book And this is his writing hand Any creature not writ there Is living on borrowed land And here come the baddest days Chaos rides upon the land The day you made his acquaintance Something was took from you This is my claim he said What else could I call mine? See him dance on tiny feet Head back and laughing deep He says he’ll never stop dancing He says that he never sleeps This is the Judge’s night His great dome aglare in light He says he’ll never stop dancing He says he will never die
10.
Six days will I ever get out of here? Slow drip, sheets too white Fake sleep and the howls from the next room Still can’t escape that sight The night I rolled with the 60 La Phantom Face aglow in the dashboard's pale light Searched for my bearings in the binnacle mirror The hot breathe of American midnight I saw myself in a heavenly light I saw myself in a heavenly light I took to driving on the runways at Westerly My pupils narrowing in the sodium lights Felt the Le Phantom start to gather its powers Flights of pylons blurring past on both sides But something moved out there in the headlamps A shadow shaping at the boundary of light My cruel fate was assembling out there Right before my bloodshot eyes At once a coyote dived Born from the dead of night Then just stood waiting there In the rush of headlights! The beast came headfirst in the windshield Then tearing metal and howl of tyres The air charged with the thrill of the impact My body tingles as the car starts fire The earth crashed down like a hammer Screams swallowed in the night’s great maw My face a-trembling in the binnacle mirror And in the mirror this is what I saw I saw myself in a heavenly light By freak of fortune I was still alive! There in the mirror was a stunning sight I saw myself in a heavenly, heavenly . . . And now I know His name is alive! I've heard the voices calling from the sky He tore my flesh to open up my eyes I saw myself in a heavenly, heavenly light I came to twenty-six hours later Six tubes plugging in my veins My thigh pierced by a stab of a handbrake And missing some of my best teeth “Le Phantom” steering wheel brand on my chest wall Traction bed and white-hot pain The TV gurgling the National Anthem I was screaming my own name! Has anybody seen A boy who looks like me Out by the ice machines Or wandering the runways Or can you hear my calls? Float through hospital halls? Or am I smiling in at you from your window? I saw myself in a heavenly light By freak of fortune I was still alive! There in the mirror was a stunning sight I saw myself in a heavenly, heavenly . . . And now I know His name is alive! I've heard the voices calling from the sky He tore my flesh to open up my eyes I saw myself in a heavenly, heavenly light I saw myself in a heavenly light I saw myself in a heavenly light
11.
Sleepers 04:46

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A year in the making, here, finally, is the new studio LP from Steakhouse.

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credits

released September 1, 2014

S T E A K H O U S E

Duane Petrovich - bass
Tony Sales - drums (except “Spider Bite”)
Reid Black - guitar, synthesizer, piano, organ, percussion
Mark Lee - voice, guitar, synthesizer, piano, organ, sound effects

With:

Ron "Have Trumpet Will Travel" Coolidge - Trumpet on "Nuevo Laredo"
Tim Marcus - pedal steel on “Downcountry Blues” and “Sadness”
Robert Schultzberg - drums on "Spider Bite”
Orville Albright - guitar on "Spider Bite”
Sean Sullivan - guitar on “Collector"

Recorded at Coast Recorders, Secret Studios, and Henry St. Stables, San Francisco, CA
Engineered by Karl Goldring, Sean Beresford, Sean Sullivan, and Steakhouse
Mixed by Karl Goldring and Steakhouse at Coast Recorders
except "Sadness" by Oz Fritz at Prairie Sun Studios, Cotati, CA
Mastered by Dr. Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose, Berlin, Germany

Muchas gracias:

Sean Beresford and Tom Richardson at Coast, Steve Katelman, William Cotton, Robert
Cardin Photography, Roger Kuhns, Jeffery Touzaeu, Brad Delava, and Neumann AG

Special thanks to Robert Schultzberg, Orville Albright, and Adrian McCullough

"Western Skies" cover image by Ernst Haas, 1978 (Getty Images)

All songs © 2014 Steakhouse
All recordings ℗ 2014 Steakhouse
www.steakhouseband.com

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Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.

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Steakhouse San Francisco, California

Steakhouse is a rock group from San Francisco, California. They play post-punk with bits of country/ western thrown in at all the wrong times. They've headlined big clubs in San Francisco but have yet to play a single rodeo.

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