• Home
  • Press
  • Tour
  • Music
  • Store
  • Lyrics
  • Contact Us
  • Photo / Video
    • Press / Venue Posters
    • Photos From Abroad
    • Studio / Shows
  • Bio

The Mulligan Brothers

  • Home
  • Press
  • Tour
  • Music
  • Store
  • Lyrics
  • Contact Us
  • Photo / Video
    • Press / Venue Posters
    • Photos From Abroad
    • Studio / Shows
  • Bio
Ceceilia
 
In the south of alabamy 
Near the gulf of Mexico
On the banks of the ol' Tombigbee
Walks an old lost forgotten soul
 
He was once a man of virtue
Sadly less a man of means
He said Cecelia I wont let'em hurt you
I'll set you free. I'll set you free
 
My love for you is stronger than these plantation walls
And it howls at the moon at night
It don't know about the law
And it is at your beck and call
I'll set you free 
Cecelia don't you cry
by and by 
Cecelia don’t you cry
 
She was born into subjection
She was born without a say
He was her first and only revelation
That she might not die that way
 
I will love you all the seasons
What you want is what I'll be
I'll be your rock I'll be your reason
Just set me free. Just set me free.
 
My heart is so much stronger than these plantation walls
And it howls at the moon at night
It don't care about the law
And every night I hear it call
I'll set us free 
Cecelia don't you cry
by and by 
Cecelia don't you cry
 
He had never been inclined to help another man die 
Until the boss man declined their wish to leave
With Cecelia at his side under that dark October sky 
They climbed aboard his boat and left that man to bleed
 
No sooner than the boss man died his fury fell out of the sky
Racer's storm was on the hunt they say
Revenge and water filled that boat and sank his one and only hope
As he heard Cecelia's cries fading away
 
In the south of alabamy 
Near the gulf of Mexico
On the banks of the ol' Tombigbee
Walks an old lost forgotten soul
 
From those murky, shallow waters
To the Caribbean sea
You can hear him cry Cecelia 
Come set me free. Come set me free

 


Lay here
 
I remember I was singing about September
When you walked across the boardwalk to that smoky bar
And I’d been singing for the last six nights
And I could barely talk to tell you just how pretty you were
But you were as pretty as a preachers wife on Sunday 
And I was useless like a church bell on a Friday night
 I felt like a tragedy all dressed in dirty clothes
When you walked out before I could say
 
How when you stopped in
And the world stopped spinning
I gotta let you know
Just how I’ve become an artist
At how things fall apart
Its the only thing I know
 
Won’t you just stay here
Would you just stay here
Won’t you just stay here
We can just stay here
 
Spent the whole next night on the telephone
We were both alone and waiting on a change
And I remember I felt as suave as a prom date
15 minutes late in a rented suit and his mothers car
The next night was a Monday and you came over to my house
We hardly talked about anything, but it never got quiet until we
Kissed our first of many and the clock hands took reprieve
From the round the clock labor of their day to day
 
Cause when you stopped in
And the world stopped spinning
I've gotta let you know
That I know it will I don’t know when that time will matter again
But I don’t want to let you go
 
Won’t you just stay here
Won’t you just stay here
We can just lay here
We can just lay here
 
I was thinking I’d swing by sometime around midnight
Turn my headlights off when I get near
Lets say you and me, we get the hell out of this town
Cause we’re the only thing that ever happened here
I’ve got 50 dollars and if we ride with the windows down
And I screen my smokes I think we’ll make it into Georgia
And improvise from there
Everybody know from here
That you can’t go to hell without passing through Atlanta first
I’ll find a dead end job and
Try to write a dead end song
Just thoughtless enough to make the radio
And we’ll drink wine like water
As if we had a sorrow to drown
If that don’t work it’s alright
We can just stay here
We can just stay here
 
Because when you stopped in
And the world stopped spinning
I gotta let you know
Just how I’ve become an artist
At how things fall apart
Its the only thing I know
 
Won’t you just stay here
We can just stay here
We can just lay here
We can just lay here
We can just stay here
We can just stay here
We can get away dear
We can just stay here
 
I remember I was singing about September 
When you walked across the boardwalk to that smoky bar

 


Sensible Shoes

the winter here is a week one, even it don't like to hang out here to long

just rolls into town and clocks in and sleeps until all the leaves are gone

the sunlight is strategizing, trying to skip right over town

the humidity's the only thing to gladly stick around

all the rest of us are stuck here for reasons we cannot explain 

everybody here's a stranger we just know each others names

all our sunrise reverends are sunset sinners too

we'll be better by our criminals than we will be by you

 

so when you're crossing this city

this city will cross you

draw a line through your name

I've got a line through mine

 

round about last call on dauphin street theres a short parade that scatters from the bars

a bunch of pretty girls with blistered feet that dig for their keys and try to find their cars

in those high heeled shoes that they should've know better than to ever wear

they do a compact mirror makeup check and they exercise that stare they're gonna use

to turn somebody's head 

paint another color on their blues

me I'm keeping my eyes peeled for one in sensible shoes 

how i hope you find me 

i hope you do it soon 

it don't feel like you're trying but darlin if you do

 

when you're crossing this city

this city will cross you

draw a line through your name

I've got a line through mine

 

this place is beautiful the way it mystifies its bad

just like if Norman Rockwell painted a methamphetamine lab

all our consciences are busted they're off doing their own thing

they'd rather make their living some place else by any other means

they say everyone who's climbed on top this city's soapbox 

has leaped from it to their death son

of this i am sure I'm no exception  

 

when you're crossing this city

this city will cross you

draw a line through your name

I've got a line through mine


 




Thrift Store Suitcase
 

I woke up this morning and wanted to throw myself away

tried to sell my soul but it turns out it just aint worth much these days

the sun cut through the curtains and awoke me from a sleep

my dreams cut through the daytime and the sour through the sweet

 

and the papers came and said today would be like every other day

and I just could not go back home this way

 

now I'm sitting on a thrift store suitcase

not a nickel on my name

with holes in my heart and in both of my shoes

just waiting on a train

the old man over my shoulder says you'll have to find another way I fear

to run from all your blues boy 

there aint no train that comes through here

 

the old man looks like Jesus, says I get that all the time

but if I were I'd leave the coast and throw away my cardboard sign

he said I looked like an old friend he'd lost somewhere down the line

and that if I were his friend and if he were the lord he'd turn the ocean into wine

 

he said I had a family down in New Orleans that just lived beyond my means

I thought I’d just go out and find my scene

 

 

now I'm sitting on a thrift store suitcase

not a nickel on my name

with holes in my heart and in both of my shoes

just waiting on a train

you can watch the some chase off the moon 

a million times I fear

before you run from all your blues boy

aint no train been through in years

 

amazing grace, no matter just how sweet the sound may be 

might save a wretch but not the chronically unsatisfied like me

when my suitcase washes up to shore 

you might find what I was looking for 

but I don't need it anymore

I don't need this anymore

 

 

now I'm sitting on a thrift store suitcase

not a nickel on my name

with holes in my heart and in both of my shoes

just waiting on a train

the old man says you oughta go back home boy

before we both catch our death out here

I know that'll be the day i catch the only train that comes through here

 

he said go home. all these days turn in to years

listen to an old man who knows that you can't get back home from here.

 




Oh Susanna

 
The city lights light up the skies and sidewalks 
And I realized the second they came on 
Surely that must be where all the light goes 
when it gets dark back home 

All the brunettes in New York City 
And all the hills and rain in Tennessee 
We road through them all for what seemed like years 
But I was thinking about you and me 

 
Oh Susanna
Don't you cry for me 
I'm coming home to Alabama because I've got no place else to be. 
Oh Susanna 
It's me who cries for you 
Lord I'm coming home to stay and honey you're just passing through. 

I played my guitar out on the shore line 
And the fireworks, they burned our in the bay 
We drank til July fifth and then we slept right through the sixth 
And I thought about you all three days 
Then I guess I woke up sometime on a Friday 
And realized that drug store wine, it just don't taste the same 
Without the sweetness of your kiss to end the bottle. but man, it damn sure still works wonders on the pain 

 
Oh Susanna 
Don't you cry for me 
I've got bones beneath my skin to keep me who I've got to be 
Oh Susanna 
It's me who cries for you 
You sure do walk away a straight line for all the circles that you do. 

Your entrance killed the laughter in the room 
And my presence killed the laughter in you 
And the cue card guy quit yesterday 
You're left without a thing to say 
You kindly pass on through 
That's how I'll see you 
That's how I'll see you 
That's the portrait that I'll paint in my head every time I think of you 

It don't take much for me 
Just a tree line, some cheap wine and a back yard sky 
Hovering over me like forgiveness just dangling on a string 
It could turn it all around 
Let's turn it all around 

Oh Susanna 
Don't you cry for me 
I've got bones beneath my skin to keep me who I've got to be 
Oh Susanna 
It's me who cries for you 
You sure do walk away a straight line for all the circles that you do. 


 


Kaleidoscope
 
It was a long night that turned into a long day back into a long night left to go
my worries were as many and as bright and as broken as the reflectors in the middle of the road
 
I guess i became a danger and all my friends became strangers. I was feeling as cold and as alone
as a new lovers hell and i could already tell that I wasn't going home.
I aint going home
 
I wanna feel like something God made even if it hurts sometimes
I wanna live and die the long way even if its hard sometimes
 
I'm sitting in a heartache and looking at kaleidoscope people through the bottom of my glass
I'm plenty old to drink but still pretty young to think that my future might be shorter than my past
 
theres a new light chasing off the moon light making way for those with some place to go
they're gonna close the doors after one more song but I aint going home
I aint going home
 
I wanna feel like something God made even if it hurts sometimes
I wanna live and die the long way even if its hard sometimes
 
God send me a radio send me a song
that'll send me far away or send me back home
give me a reason give me a way
bring me tomorrow and wash away today
give me everything i want
give me everything i need
give me all the means to believe
 
I wanna feel like something God made even if it hurts sometimes
I wanna live and die the long way even if its hard sometimes
 
even if it hurts sometimes
even if its wrong sometimes
even if you lose sometimes
even if it hurts sometimes

 

Momma Gets my Soul

 
When I die my momma gets my soul
here I'm fading just slower than the daylight and I still don't know
what will come to collect me or which way it will come from
but it won't be long now if I'm gonna die young
 
Find somewhere warm for my dear Caroline
Tell her that I’m sorry and I’ll be just fine
Tell her I went easy when I knew I’d lost the fight
why would I lose sore nobody ever won at life
 
Gather all my friends down at the bar
Divvy up my records and hand out my guitars
tell them pull a little harder tonight when they raise hell
make a big enough scene to keep the devil off my trail
 
Tell my girl to keep that sparkle in her eye
it’s alright she couldn’t love me and it was good of her to try
surely it’ll be the angels that call her when she’s old
if heaven don’t want her then i don’t want to go
 
Don't give me to no cold and deep, dark hole
reduce me to an urn and lighten up your load
I know God is a good man cause my momma knows him well
but the devils fast so tell dad to drive like hell
 
When I die my momma gets my soul
here I'm fading just slower than the daylight and I still don't know
what will come to collect me or which way it will come from
so when I die my momma gets my soul

 


Too Soon To Say
 
Theres a girl in my bed
only calls me when her lover don't call
Theres a girl in my bed
Hardly ever calls me at all
theres a woman I love
only knows me by another man's name
thats the price of always trying to win without playing the game
 
so we're the same
 
its just too soon to say if we're gonna be ok
headlights or taillights 
right or wrong night or day
its too soon to say
 
Theres a ghost in my head
only wakes me when i get the blues
i guess sometimes some things die and just don't get the news
theres a piece of my heart on a fence post in Ontario
If you don't live there you're dead there and I died there a long time ago.
 
So we're the same
 
its just too soon to say if we're gonna be ok
headlights or taillights 
right or wrong night or day
its too soon to say
 
Theres a boy in a bar
plays behind his tip jar all night long
no one seems to care that he's always playing the same song
he sings theres blood on the floor you all seem to ignore somehow
you're all pacified with your up casted eyes aren't you now
they say no offense boy but its best if we leave that blood be
You're bleeding to death boy theres prettier things here to see
 
so we're the same
 
its just too soon to say if we're gonna be ok
headlights or taillights 
right or wrong night or day
its too soon to say

 


Red Dress Lady
 
I peel my label into hundreds of shreds
keep my eye on the door
smoke my last cigarette
above bottles clanging and conversation
my watch is ticking and taunting and asking
How long you waiting on a chance she won't show
and I don't know
 
Suddenly I'm beginning to feel a little past over and a little naive
and just as i surrender my seat and reach for the keys to my car
 
there you are
 
there she comes like a spotlight coming down the hall
she shines from the middle I can't see nothing else at all
my red dress lady in a black and white town
don't turn around 
keep coming my way 
don't turn around
 
Im staying in and she's out there tonight
out on the town until nearly daylight 
I'm getting older and it's getting late
wonder if she would call if she knew I'm awake
everything is changing and my warm feeling is converting to burning
I can just see her waiting for somebody other than me
 
suddenly I'm beginning to feel a little passed over and a little naive
but just as i give up on sleep and reach for the keys to my car
 
there you are
 
she calls out like a church bell ringing through the streets
bringing hope to the hopeless and me to my feet
my red dress lady in a black and white town
don't turn around 
keep coming my way 
don't turn around
 
 
she's a beautiful song just too long to write and too perfect to know
I'm a sad sad song, but I wrote every note
 
there she comes like a spotlight coming down the hall
she shines from the middle I can't see nothing else at all
my red dress lady in a black and white town
don't turn around 
keep coming my way 
don't turn around

 


Come To Me


close the curtains

pull down the shades

I’ve been watching this clock for days and days

you’ll never understand

what its like to love you like I do

I’ll never get enough

just give me your love

 

Come to me

Come to me

I can’t wait for you to come to me

its getting late so hurry and come to me 

 

all that I am 

all i can do

I find myself lost without you

and you’ll never understand

what its like to lose you like I do

I’ll never get it back

until I’m next to you

 

Come to me

Come to me

I can’t wait for you to come to me

its getting late so hurry and come to me 

 

this emptiness 

won’t take nothing less

than the two of us

so come on lets go on and

fill it up

 

Come to me

Come to me

I can’t wait for you to come to me

its getting late so hurry and come to me 


 




One Trick Pony
 
I’ve got a job that breaks my body
I’ve got another one that breaks my soul
these days its hard to tell which one does what
I suppose they both define me
but mostly they remind me 
of everything I am not
 
A dusty replication
flesh and bone, lust and fear
I’m a one trick pony and its getting kinda lonely in here
 
I've got a heart thats always reeling
for another as much in need
how dearly misery loves company
I've got a heart thats always reeling
for another way to be
but misery loves nothing more than me
 
a dusty replication
flesh and bone lust and fear
I’m a one trick pony and its getting kinda lonely in here