Get all 12 Darryl Purpose releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Two Good Hands EP, Gentle Arms Of Eden - SINGLE #2, Live At Coalesce - 2005, You Can Walk Up There - SINGLE #1, Still The Birds (2016), Next Time Around (2012), Singer Songwriter Heaven - the songs of Kevin Faherty 2009, THE GIFT OF THE MAGI - & other seasonal stories (2002), and 4 more.
1. |
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Prince of the Apple Towns
purpose/zollo
Over songs of saints and martyrs / From Swansea to Crymlyn Bog
He’s been alive one thousand years / With eyes of sea and fog
Down the green and golden pathways / Among horses and cows
A huntsman and a herdsman / Under the apple boughs
CHORUS: In our songs of salt and barley / In our temporary crowns
In the sun that’s young once only, Prince...
...of the Apple Towns He was the Prince of the Apple Towns
Famous among the foxes / With songs carved out of soap
Where the children of the harvest / And the spellbound horses lope
In the shadows of the Mumbles / He ran his heedless ways
Tipsy from salvation’s bottle / Onto the fields of praise
CHORUS: In our songs of salt and barley / In our temporary crowns
In the sun that’s young once only, Prince...
...of the Apple Towns He was the Prince of the Apple Towns
BRIDGE:
In a song of New York City in winter windfall light
At the old White Horse Tavern, he sang the sun in flight
A boy as mad as birds after the birth of simple light
In his cups and all alone, Into that good night
Where his heart is still a bird’s nest / In a three-piece suit of spades
And the moon is always rising / Over hummingbird parades
And Swansea bells keep ringing / Unbound by gravity
In his chains forever singing / Like the sea
CHORUS: In our songs of salt and barley / In our temporary crowns
In the sun that’s young once only, Prince...
...of the Apple Towns He was the Prince of the Apple Towns
Prince...
...of the Apple Towns He was the Prince of the Apple Towns
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2. |
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Morning in blue forest, War’s dark aftermath
Bones of beasts and humans, Down the cypress path
An elephant came charging, New moon on the rise
Full of crazy anger, fire in her eyes
She was drunk with sorrow, And water laced with wine
Crashing trees and temples down, all along the line
Her great feet shook like thunder, lightning in her gaze
Every second stretched, into a thousand days
CHORUS:
And the whole wide world was singing of man and war and art
When Buddha Smiled at the Elephant, With His heart
But Buddha was the gentle rain, that fell over the land
He held the mighty elephant, like a lotus in his hand
The elephant stood frozen, like she had turned to stone
Such a force of kindness, the beast had never known
And so she swept away the dust, from her master’s feet
As Buddha beamed with loving kindness, down the broken street
Her giant tears came falling, down like crystal rain
When the Buddha came, to wash away her pain
CHORUS:
And the whole wide world was singing, Of man and war and art
When Buddha Smiled at the Elephant, With His heart
Instrumental verse
Buddha on his daily walk, to take alms for the poor
Came to tame an elephant, with love instead of war
The miracle of true love, like a constellation shone
Such a force of kindness, the world had never known
CHORUS: And the whole wide world was singing of man and war and art
When Buddha Smiled at the Elephant, With His heart
CHORUS: And the whole wide world was singing of man and war and art
When Buddha Smiled at the Elephant, With His heart
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3. |
Hours In A Day
05:51
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HOURS IN A DAY
purpose/zollo
He’s shining up his rifle as the coffee starts to perk
He’s scanning over headlines as the neighbors go to work
(It says) Another postal worker with a gun has gone berserk
And started shooting everyone he knows
He remember how his father taught him everything he knew
Why the wind would blow and why the sky was blue
And how he once met Lyndon Johnson and said, “I didn’t vote for you”
And Lyndon Johnson punched him in the nose
CHORUS: And there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day... ....to finish anything
He was afraid of being photographed like aborigines
He was afraid of being captured by the North Vietnamese
And when his little brother volunteered for service overseas
He was trying to turn water into wine
He bought a razor for this father and some roses for his mom
And then he split just like an atom splits up in an atom bomb
Cause the thought of spending Xmas in some hole in Viet Nam
Was enough to make him cross the borderline
CHORUS: And there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day... ....to finish anything
Thirteen years of driftwood and Canadian debris
Thirteen tired horses on the road to Calgary
Until the day that Jimmy Carter granted amnesty
He lived under a bridge at Reindeer Lake
He put old bones together like an archeologist
He found old fossil records where ancient lives exist
And how easily it shatters in the clenching of a fist
When he took all of the grief that he could take
CHORUS: And there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day... ....to finish anything
He drives clear through Alberta without any alibi
And as he crosses over he sees logos rushing by
Big electric billboards that are busting up the sky
The sky that never hurt no one
In the middle of Nebraska he finds the watertower
And all his guns are loaded and all his grapes are sour
On the Richard Nixon Freeway going 90 miles an hour
He wants his fifteen minutes in the sun
CHORUS: And there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day
there aren’t enough hours in a day... ....to finish anything
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4. |
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The Nearness Of You (Red Garland)
purpose/zollo
Stars are working overtime, the full moon is on fire
Miles swings at taxis with a huckleberry briar
John Coltrane is laughing and Philly Joe is too
And Red Garland’s playing Stardust on a piano painted blue
Pack of Viceroys, orange peel, empty birdcage swinging
On any day in Harlem Lady Day just might be singing
Bird is playing crazy fast, his sax fresh out of hock
And Red’s at the piano like the inside of a clock
CHORUS:
And the sun is lemon soda But the bebop moon is blue
And Red Garland’s at the piano Play-ing the Nearness of You
Playing the Nearness of You
Born in Dallas Texas in the midst of prohibition
His daddy worked on elevators his mama on a mission
To educate her only son, to shine his only shoes
And Red’s at the piano discovering the blues
Fire engine, Hershey Bar, big radio bringing
Big band jazz from Hollywood, the sound of Ella singing.
Once he was a welterweight, a boxer in the ring
He got knocked out by Sugar Ray before he learned to swing
CHORUS:
And the sun is lemon soda But the bebop moon is blue
And Red Garland’s at the piano Play-ing the Nearness of You
Playing the Nearness of You
Instrumental Verse
So take your sorry mittens off and let your hands be chilly
With Bird and Fats Navarro at the Downbeat down in Philly
Miles said play sparse and quiet, like Ahmad Jamal
Ain’t no need for a riot, Red, leave your work boots in the hall
CHORUS:
And the sun is lemon soda But the bebop moon is blue
And Red Garland’s at the piano Play-ing the Nearness of You
Playing the Nearness of You
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5. |
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The Meaning Of My Love
purpose/zollo
She forgets such simple things
Her cowboy boots and angel wings
The trellis where my memory sings
But I love her so
She’s so deep inside the mire
Wrapped up in foil and chicken wire
She has got to be the world’s worst liar
But I love her so, but I love her so
CHORUS: And the helicopters fly above The human things we’re all made of
Honey, don’t you know anything About the meaning of my love?
The sky is black, the grass is brown
She stands me up when I am down
And leaves me cold in this cartoon town
But I love her so
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Nothing broken, only sprained
She’s sketchy and so scatterbrained
But I love her so, but I love her so
CHORUS: And the helicopters fly above The human things we’re all made of
Honey, don’t you know anything About the meaning of my love?
She is sunshine, she is shade
She’s sweet and sour like lemonade
She thinks moonlight is retrograde
But I love her so
She never fell far from the nest
The only coast she knows is west
She’s shallow and so self-obsessed
But I love her so, but I love her so
CHORUS: And the BETTER ANGELS fly above The human things we’re all made of
Honey, don’t you know anything About the meaning of my love?
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6. |
Evergreen Avenue
04:34
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Evergreen Avenue
purpose/zollo
Evergreen Avenue, East L.A. / Every day is revolution day
Church bells chime a song a death / Down narrow lines of crystal meth
Black Cadillac and a blue Mustang / Shooting smack with the Breed Avenue gang
Bullets fly and ricochet / By the old boneyard where the bodies lay
In a crimson cape like superman / Waiting in the wild where the world began
Laying low in the dismal dusk / Like a hot tamale in a new corn husk
Mixing up the grits and the lard by hand / He's an empty pocket in a promised land
Jack old cars on crack cocaine / Driving all alone in the carpool lane
CHORUS:
Santa Ana's whirl in waves
Across the tombstones and the graves
Life and death is all we have
Forevermore on Evergreen Ave
Evergreen Avenue, Christmas morn / Chili relleno and the barleycorn
From 18th down to Chinatown / Cruising with Gabachos as the deal goes down
The sky is black and the moon is red / From Candlemas to the Day of the Dead
But the sky will be red, the moon will be black / When Mexico steals California back
CHORUS:
Santa Ana's whirl in waves
Across the tombstones and the graves
Life and death is all we have
Forevermore on Evergreen Ave
Evergreen Avenue, 3 AM / Shadows know what you think about them
Flashbacks fast as phantom jets / His heart remembers what the flesh forgets
And the flesh forgets what the spirit learns / That the world goes crazy right before it burns
And his blood ignites like gasoline / As he says a prayer to St Augustine
Chorus:
Santa Ana's whirl in waves
Across the tombstones and the graves
[Santa Maria, Madre de Dios, Ruega por nosotros pecadores
Ahora y en la hora, de nuestra muerte. Amen]
Life and death is all we have
Forevermore on Evergreen Ave
Forevermore on Evergreen Ave
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7. |
Everywhere At Once
05:11
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Everywhere At Once
purpose/zollo
The passage through the canyons
The motion of the heart
The bridge of true companions
That never falls apart
Sometimes love feels far away
Although it’s always near
Love is everywhere at once
Though we are only here
Ever since the world began
I’ve been in love with you
When the world told us lies
Our love was always true
The sunlight in your shining eyes
Your amazing grace
Love is everywhere at once
Though we are in one place
BRIDGE:
Everywhere at once, love is
Everywhere at once
Although we are standing still, love is
Everywhere at once
instrumental break
And we circle around the sun
And somersault through space
And love is everywhere at once
Though we are in one place
Everywhere at Once - Love is...
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8. |
Baltimore
05:29
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Baltimore
purpose/zollo
Through the shimmer of the river, you can see the lights of harlem
And the ghosts among the salt piles along the FDR
You can hear the heavy footsteps of the overworked and weary
Once upon a midnight dreary he was standing where you are
He wandered through Manhattan searching for his true beloved
Even though her worldly burden long lay buried in the earth
He sacrificed his scruples in an attempt to resurrect her
In the fundamental rhythm of death and birth
CHORUS:
Edgar Allen Poe lived his last days in the Bronx
He lived his last days in the Bronx But he died in Baltimore
He died in Baltimore, in Baltimore
And in a raging fever, He was sure he saw her spirit
Among the ghosts and phantoms forever between trains
Her face was pale and hollow, but her eyes lit up in flashes
And the snow flakes on her lashes fell upon on her harbor chains
And he heard the holy music in the bells of New York city
Where the loneliness and pity took him to the tavern floor
And in a frail whisper he said tell me pilgrim shadow
Why do we aim for Eldorado just to die in Baltimore?
CHORUS:
Edgar Allen Poe lived his last days in the Bronx
He lived his last days in the Bronx But he died in Baltimore
He died in Baltimore, in Baltimore
They found him in a coma, his clothes had all been stolen
Replaced by black alpaca and ragged gabardine
All the people in the tavern, they swore that he left sober
Even though it was in October, only days from Halloween
No one ever did discover the seeds of his destruction
Whether alcohol or opium, typhus, or TB
Or maybe he got shanghaied on some street obscure and lonely
Haunted by dark angels only, down to the sounding sea
CHORUS:
Edgar Allen Poe lived his last days in the Bronx
He lived his last days in the Bronx But he died in Baltimore
He died in Baltimore, in Baltimore
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9. |
Sheena's Dog
05:00
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Sheena’s Dog
purpose/zollo
Must be midnight in the Bowery now
But here it’s only nine
I’ve been watching as the sun goes down
On Santa Monica & Vine
I’ve still got her paperbacks and comic books from 1995
And I would drive my car to Sheena’s house
If I still knew how to drive, And if Sheena was still alive
CHORUS:
The moon’s behind a billboard now
And the streets are full of fog
And time is just a bone we saved
A bone we saved for Sheena’s dog
Sheena had a Cavalier
It was the best car she could afford
She kept it in her daddy’s barn
Where the grapes of wrath were stored
Seven sheepdogs in the chicken coop spilled into fields of corn
Seven weeks went by the sun came up
And Sheena’s dog was born, Sheena’s dog was born
CHORUS:
The moon’s behind a billboard now
And the streets are full of fog
And time is just a bone we saved
A bone we saved for Sheena’s dog
bridge:
Sheena’s dog was big and gentle
With ears that fell from side to side
I think I’ve grown more sentimental
Ever since that old dog died
She was making movies then
Once I was her movie star
I was playing Woody Guthrie songs
On Geronimo’s guitar
And we would harmonize at barbecues in her hillside backyard
And we’d walk all the way from Echo Park
Down Sunset Boulevard, with Sheena’s dog
Sheena’s dog Sheena’s dog
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10. |
Shiloh
05:32
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Shiloh
purpose/zollo
Seven swallows flying low
through the mist of April rain
Though the war was long ago
ghosts of the battlefield remain
So haunted is the choir hymn
Shadowlands of calico
And over them the swallows skim
And all is hushed at Shiloh
All is hushed at Shiloh, Shiloh
Rebel soldiers at the gates
April, 1862
The bloody war between the states
Between the sons of gray & blue
Here on these fields three thousand died
Shot down like the buffalo
Here on these fields of pilgrim’s pride
Around the church of Shiloh
Around the church of Shiloh
INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE
Warriors in shrouds of ash
Coats of oak and buckthorn roots
Lincoln in his stove-pipe hat
Standing tall in goatskin boots
Says: “We were conceived in liberty
Four score and seven years ago
We died for all men to be free.”
Across the fields of Shiloh
Across the fields of Shiloh
Shiloh, Shiloh.
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11. |
The Birds
03:29
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The Birds purpose/zollo
Still the long December night
Still this farm in dappled light
Still the scarecrows stuffed with straw
Still the well from which we draw
Still the sound of horses near
Still the songs of yesteryear
Still new apples on the branch
Still the silent avalanche
CHORUS:
Still the birds, Fly on high
Still they fly, sky blue sky
Soar above, the world of men
Still the birds begin again
Still the leaves turn red and gold
Still the young becomes the old
Still the promise of the Spring
Still love shines in everything
Still old soldiers pass away
Still new souls born every day
Still the songs of love are sung
Still the heart is always young
CHORUS:
Still the birds, Fly on high
Still they fly, sky blue sky
Soar above, the world of men
Still the birds begin again
Still the tale of time is told
Until we step beyond the fold
Far beyond this world of men
Ready to begin again
Still the birds...
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Darryl Purpose Denver, Colorado
Darryl went to Las Vegas at 19 and became a professional blackjack player, which he still calls the 'only real job I've ever
had'. He is a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
Since 1996, he has toured extensively and released 8 albums of original music.
Darryl's last two albums spent weeks at #1 on the RMR radio charts. Next Time Around and Still The Birds
... more
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