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Last Record In Apartment Ten

from Crooked Songs by Rance Garrison

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about

This actually was the last song I recorded in Apartment Ten of the Cedar Towers Villa (not nearly as classy a place as it sounds), where I had lived and recorded all of my work from the time I graduated high school in June of 2004 til I moved to Nashville in May of 2006. The song was written about my sense of nostalgia for my hometown even though I hadn't actually left yet. An anthem to the town of Pennington Gap, which bore my great-grandfather's name. Sort of a long, Dylan inspired thing.

The timing is off, like a lot of these early tracks, because it was so hard to do overdubs with Soundforge.

lyrics

Holed up at 247 West Morgan Avenue
The train whistle's blowing as our minds go askew
They left Main Street in tatters after Loretta's closed down
But they're trying to rebuild it and give new life to an old town
Dr. Tom's been laying low though his grave's been vandalized
Most people are waiting for something, but they don't know what til it arrives
I'm still waiting myself though it feels like quite a sin
Writing nonsense and making the last record in apartment ten.

Messrs. K and M will paint your picture for a fee
And put it in an antique frame for your loved ones to see
Mr. Marx was wasted they caught him on the street
A bottle of mountain moonshine was lying at his feet
And though I hardly knew him I know I won't forget
The words that poured from his tongue like smoke from a cigarette
His wife left him in New York State and said she hoped she never saw him again
So he spends his nights listening to the last record in apartment ten.

They led FDR down the long road that makes up memory lane
Bob Dylan slept in Cumberland forty miles away
At first light vultures circle the crest of Cemetery Drive
Just one more reminder none of us can make it out alive
But me I feel so nervous though my shaking may subside
If I could see your pretty face and have you at my side
But now I sit here all alone on my face there comes a grin
As I contemplate the last record in apartment ten.

February 22nd, the year 2005
The Lonesome Highway unfolds beneath a Heaterswitch Sunrise
The rooftop of the coffeeshop I stared down into Main Street
So afraid of falling I nearly lost the feeling in my feet
The country music station plays in every store in town
I've been lost since I was born though through your love I was found
I passed by a thousand signs proclaiming woe until all men
Who dare to close their ears to the last record in apartment ten.

There's a feeling of leaving that caught me unaware
I built to monuments and hid them all underneath your stairs
I rounded up my companions though there were few that I could trust
Some pierced my heart with flaming swords others murdered me with lust
And now I ride a sinking ship I know it's weighted down
With the lure of fool's gold and hollow paper crowns
And everyone knows where you're going, babe, but not where you've been
You've been making your last record in apartment ten

Don't you worry my fair love you know that I adore
The very way your body moves when you slam the door
I got this strange idea that there could be a way
To lock up the pandora's box in which my soul was displayed
And if they put it in a museum won't you please steal it back for me?
I was not born just to die, no, I was born to be free
But if being free means that I must be alone again
I'd rather make my last record in apartment ten.

White lines slash the freeway into opposing sides
I've got the Bible in my hands and steam in my strides
A cut and paste evangelist is all I hope to be
To spread a word of comfort and the hope of eternity
And though I've lost every last inch of my faith more than a thousand times
I've always regained my ground with God on my side
And if I should slip and fall into that hole again
You can find me making the last record in apartment ten.

credits

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

Music and lyrics by Rance Garrison

Rance Garrison: guitars, vocals, keyboards
Keaton Lawson: percussion

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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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