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Good Friday

from Crooked Songs by Rance Garrison

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about

I remember this song was written on Good Friday in 2005. I had gotten into watching the news for the first time in my life. I was just eighteen. I remember seeing the Terri Schiavo case being played out like a drama, the media using it to draw ratings. Something about that seemed wrong to me and still does. Some things are no one's business but the family's. Or maybe I'm just naive. I know I was then. People tell me I still am.

Also, the Pope was dying. I'm not Catholic, (raised southern Baptist, now a sort of new-agey seeker type Episcopalian) but I've always had a deep respect for the Catholic faith.

I was really pleased with the music on this song. Up to that time, probably my favorite recording. I overdubbed four guitar parts for the first time, and added mandolin. The effect was a sort of eerie acoustic blues. I also felt like the lyrics were pretty solid. I was kinda proud of myself for this one.

lyrics

Turn on the TV and it's nothing but bad news
Turn on the radio I see why the blues
Is slowly coming back in style
I turn on the light but in the corner there's shadows
Out my window a framed man hangs from the gallows
Strangled and drowned on his own bile

There's nothing to learn from sliding away
From the evils that men do every day
I'm diving head first into a world gone wrong
Got killer's fingers and a sarcastic grin
Gonna block aide my room if you come here again
Trying to sell me something I can't even use.

My mind's made up I ain't got nothing to learn
I just want money in my pocket-money to burn
I'm gonna take back the farm with an executioner's style
Gonna tear up the road with a shovel and an ax
Gonna dip all my windows in candle wax
Advertise my invention on the low end of the dial

Nothing to learn from turning away
From the abominations you see every day
I'm doing a cannon ball into a pit of despair
Gonna smoke like a freight train til I cloud up the sky
I won't say nothing if you ask me why
I ain't being cruel, babe, I just don't care

Pontius Pilate told Herod the King
"I'm waiting on a phone call, tell me if it rings
There's a man who's selling me a gun and some ammo, too.
And if he asks tell him I apologize
For that man we killed they called Jesus the Christ
I was just tryin' to keep my job, ain't nothing he wouldn't do."

Nothing to do but turn away
From a world that's had it's last hey day
Just wait for the end to come and hold on to your seat
If you try to wake me up, ma, I might just stay in bed
See, I got this bad throbbing in my head
I'm gonna stay right here til the world finds its feet.

credits

from Crooked Songs, released May 1, 2006
Produced by Rance Garrison

Rance Garrison: acoustic guitars, vocals, mandolin

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Rance Garrison Norton, Virginia

Rance Garrison is a singer-songwriter and music producer from the Appalachian region of Virginia. He has released several albums of original music including 2017’s Deplorables and 2015’s The Fireside Season which Whurk! Magazine called, “Virginia’s most secret weapon: a moonshine-swilling, snake-handling, junk-shooting, redemption-seeking opus.” ... more

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