Country demos

by Henry Griffin

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1.
The Ghost demo 04:18
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If you've never seen a ghost Take a good long look at me I've been fading my whole life Now I'm an apparition Seems every place I crash these days Becomes a haunted house I might be a poltergeist But I'm no German chicken I've been spending all my time Hangin round this cemetery Talking with my future neighbors About my tribulations Ghoulish as it seems I forgot my dreams Left all my desires The day you buried me So call me Casper I'll be your friendly ghost Run your pretty fingers Cross my ouiji board If you're ever all alone And you hear a ghostly moan Don't break out the salt and sage For it might well be me And if you're not quite sure Just holler out my name I'll sing you some Hank Williams song To set the record straight So call me Casper I'll be your friendly ghost Run your pretty fingers Across my Ouija board I'll be your familiar Your blended metaphor Just run your pretty fingers Across my ouiji board
2.
(Wasting My Life) Waiting On You demo 02:21
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I'm stepping along some cloudy beach I'm spitting out sand from my daiquiri I'm hitching my boat to this coral reef I'm having a son cos I'm tired of grief I'm wasting my life just waiting on you I'm speaking my truth as a habitual liar I'm warming my boots by your funeral pyre I'm pushing my chips on this pair of twos I'm pressing my luck just waiting on you These dreams of you are killing me I just can't sleep anymore I'm hitching my Ford to the empire state I'm tearing it down with this hemi V8 I'm buried in stones calling out for more weight I'm thumbing a ride to the Florida Keys I'm chatting with God by unusual means I'm holding my breath til I turn blue I'm wasting my life just waiting on you Waiting on you
3.
cat and mouse 04:23
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4.
a traveling song 03:07
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Love of mine, think on me if ever you feel sentimental for you're a'traveling' in search of a dream and won't have much time for nostalgia and if your righteous path should meet a mountain so high it looks hopeless take my wings for to sail overhead I saved them for that very purpose and should you fall victim to a love that you were not intending don't be ashamed for chastity's sake I'll loan you this kiss for the spending love of mine, take a good long look at this comfortable life that you're leaving for when you return, it will be with new eyes and it might not look all that appealing but promise me you'll always be the kind not to make promises to any hopeless fool such as me who would only dilute your resolve love of mine, should you ever look back let it only be to mark your progress and should I wander into your dreams please try not to wake up too soon
5.
cowboy story 05:47
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They call me Utah, I was born in Denver Seventh of December eighteen-hundred sixty-two Was just a boy when I shot sheriff Gordon down in the street like a dog And now you’ve come to take me in and see me hanged and I might do the same if I were you But listen to me story, that’s all I ask of you Isn’t pretty, but it’s true Old sheriff Gordon had a reputation A high and standing station as a well respected man Rode into to Brillo back in 1873 With his dog and his gun They never asked him where he’d been or what he’d done Just let him fill his lungs up with their air the very day I killed him there was crying in the streets But those tears belong to me You call him Gordon, but I knew him as Chester Some folks called him rattlesnake, others called him slim He was the leader of the Chester Betton Gang down in south Delacroix The night they rode into my town I was asleep, mother sitting pregnant by the fire They left her beat and battered and before she passed away Chester thanked me for his stay They’re gonna hang me, ain’t no sense in crying I’ve made my peace with dying, boy, the rope don’t seem that bad I hope I meet her in that prairie in the sky where the buffalo roam Now I’m walking to their platform, up their stairs I ain’t got no prayers I need to say I’ll see my baby brother and I’ll tell him what I’ve done There’ll be music when I come
6.
my dear friend 02:19
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7.
melancholy girl 03:27
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Of all the girls I've known, she's by far the most peculiar No one holds a candle to that crooked smile Her lullaby haunts my days and stalks my nights She's my melancholy girl and I'm her happy man When I first laid eyes on melancholy girl I was nearly shot down dead by her beauty and her curls sitting neath her parasol, reading the stranger as I recall She looked me over once and began to sigh I asked her what the matter was, she said it didn't matter cus soon enough we all return to nothing I didn't rightly understand, but this story has a happy end cus later that October we were married And I sure do love this gal of mine who, as of late, Has taken a shine to reading Karl Marx to all the school kids I'm proud to call this ghoul mine, who can scare the sun right out of shinin' just to spend another night with her man Melancholy girl I could never claim to understand your pain But if it's all the same I'll stick around Melancholy girl, you're alright She said "Love is like a razor in your shoe, Though it's a peculiar thing to do - we keep dancing" You've got to keep on dancing anyway If you were a bat I'd be the belfry If you were a cat I'd be a mouse If I'm a photograph, surely you're an epitaph If I were a looking glass you would be the time that passes by and makes me want to cry Well it's been some time since we took our vows And we're as happy as two old cows She states off in space and I stare at her And brother if I had any advice, I would say don't think twice - find a spooky girl and settle down
8.
Send My Baby Home 01:24
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9.
The Demon and the Dead Man's Hand 05:01
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Turn your watch back twenty years and I'll lay this here scene A tale so tall and gangly it'd be foolish to believe But take my word it's truer than a blushing virgin bride The night a demon sprung from hell and tried to steal my hide I was young and handsome then, still touring with a band Called Johnny Calculator and the Texas Instruments Johnny picked the steel guitar and me the violin Little Eddie Circuitboard was a devil on the skins After three long nights in Tappahannock we just set off flyin In pursuit of deleware with women on our minds Blew a flat and hunkered down in Washington DC so I set out to find a bar and see what I could see Well it was hot as hell that night and I was three sheets in Thinkin bout the government and other kinds of sin When in a cloud of brimstone a stranger did appear Lookin like a gargoyle with the antlers of a deer He said "my name is Ahriman, I'm a demon born in fire Sent by that old lucifer to steal your sorry hide" I was taken back a step, still I knew where I stood I told him "sorry, Arnie, I'd help you if I could But you see this hide of mine's already spoken for At least until I finish out this country western tour" He sneered a sneer so snarly, put my schoolteachers to shame Said "well if you're not the giving type I'll win it in a game" I will admit, I had my share of vices at the time So I said "friend, you have a deal,  what game d'ya have in mind?" "How bout Texas hold 'em then" ol' Arnie growled at me And though I favor five card draw, I graciously agreed He delt them cards so hard and fast the edges they did singe And said "c'mon now, good old boy, it's high time we begin" I analyzed the river dealt, still smoking like a gun: An ace of spades, a 'nother one paired with the eight of clubs Arnie cackled ghoulishly, his eyes were all ablaze, Said, "I hate to tell you son, but this here's judgment day" He revealed those cards to me as if they were a noose: The very ace of spades was playin fiddle with a deuce I said, "now Arn that's quite a hand, but please refresh my mind Doesn't this here crowded house best your three of a kind? Arnies face was redder than a plot of Martian sand When I placed my cards down and he saw my dead man's hand He howled "alright son, you may have bested me this time but I'll be back in twenty years to claim your sorry hide" He vanished quite dramatically, I think I'd hurt his pride I stuck around to shoot some pool and catch some fraughlein's eye Soon enough the flat was fixed and we were off again I thought about old Wild Bill and how he met his end Twenty years unfolded like a humid summer night Now I'm too old to gamble, much too rickety to fight Was settin' on my rocking chair when Arnie kept his word Appeared with that same panjentry I earlier inferred He said, "old boy your time has come, I'm here to claim your hide" I said, "go on and take it, son, won't pay no nevermind" He crawled in through my ear canal and took hold of my machine But when he tried to lift the thing fell helpless to his knees "OH my aching back!" He cried and stumbled for a grip Only to be thwarted by a throbbing in his hip "I was born in fire" he moaned "I walked a field of thorns But never have I felt a pain so various before" I said,  "I hate to tell you son,  but there's the fuzzy side" Arnie screamed, "I change my mind, you keep your wretched hide" Now if there's any moral to this story I'll be damned But old age can't be bested even with a dead man's hand
10.
Betty Sue (No. 2) scratch demo 05:14
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I'm buyin me a riverboat casino And calling her the S.S. Betty Sue In honor of my third ex wife Who ran off with my best friend Mike Then left us both for my first cousin Lou Me and Betty Sue and the Mississippi River Drinking amaretto and bleeding gamblers dry We'll go fishing every night Set below the pale moonlight Me and Betty Sue number 2 Think I'll load ol' Betty Sue up with malt liquor Newport cigarettes and magazines I'll serve frito pies and fried bologna In memory of my first wife Carla Jean Me and Betty Sue and the Ghost of Carla Jean Drinking amaretto and bleeding gamblers dry We'll go fishing every night Set beneath that pale moon light Me a Carla Jean and Betty Sue number two Now me and Anne Marie were never married But she was my fiance for time Until one day I came home from the factory And caught her with our priest and Brother Dwight So Betty Sue will have to have a Chapel And in that chapel there must be a Pew And on that Pew a plaque for Anne Marie Cos I know that's the Christian thing to do Me and Anne Marie and Carla Jean and Betty Sue Drinking amaretto and bleeding gamblers dry We'll go fishing every night Underneath the pale moonlight Me and Anne Marie and Carla Jean and Betty Sue (number 2) Well it was just the darndest thing this morning I hitched ol' Betty Sue up on the shore Thumbed my way to town to pay my bookie And settle other various old scores When I returned it hit me like a hammer The sight I saw with my own baby blues Betty Sue was drifting towards the sunset Stolen by my no good cousin Lou Lou and Anne Marie and Carla Jean and Betty Sue Drinking Amaretto and bleeding gamblers dry They go fishing every night Set beneath that pale moonlight Lou and Anne Marie and Carla Jean and Betty Sue (Number 2)
11.
Pray for rain 03:21
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Pray for rain That's what she told me when she left In the night On that cold, lonesome train Nowhere bound Pray for rain? I didn't fully understand What she meant Oh, what could some old storm cloud Ever change? How could I see rain Beyond these tears? To me it looks like rain Every day If only I could cry Enough to flood the world Id sail that sea of tears on Back to her It rained today I was too blue to even notice Or care Til I saw that rainbow in the clouds And standing by that rainbow Was my baby
12.
The Bird and the Good Old Boy 04:06
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released August 1, 2022

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Henry Griffin Dover, New Hampshire

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