We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Dust Bowl Ballad

from Stranger in the Promised Land by Colin Cutler

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Stranger in the Promised Land via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    7
    releases

    Get all 7 Colin Cutler releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Live at the Flat Iron, Tarwater, If I Had My Way, I'd Tear That Idol Down, Hot Pepper Jam, Stranger in the Promised Land, Peacock Feathers, and Nelson County Wayside. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $40.80 USD or more (20% OFF)

     

lyrics

I was standing in the station when the circus came to town.
The bearded lady said to me, "Son, we’re looking for a clown.
We left our last one down in Amarillo, he was crying in his mask.
But can you make them laugh, boy?"

So we headed north for Tulsa blowing Oklahoma dirt,
And the tattooed dancers’ bodies, they were sweating through their shirts.
And the trapeze girl let her hair fly free, and then she bared her skin
Like teeth against the wind.

The lion tamer’s name was Al, and his wife had broke parole.
He was an alcoholic now, he drank whiskey from a bowl.
Our juggler was blind as the night; he’d stared at the sun too long--
He’d been trying to write a song.

I got drunk one day in Omaha, and pulled a bottle from my coat.
I pointed to the label, said, "See here, would you look at what I wrote!
I could sell my tears to the highest bidder, but I cannot sell my soul,
And you cannot make me whole."

I guess I made quite a scene, because a crowd gathered round,
Laughing, joking, jeering as they stoned the image of that crying clown.
And then I saw you standing there dressed in blue, and I turned my heart to stone,
But I knew that I was known.

You looked each one right in the eye; one by one they walked away.
And you slipped your fingers beneath my mask, and we watched the dying day.
We burned the cardboard down in the gutter, you said "Clown, come home with me.
Clown, come home with me."

The next morning, I woke up to a bed of empty sheets.
And the hardwood floors were cold and smooth upon my feet;
I left a note up on your counter, but I never knew your name.
But I knew I’d missed the train.
God knows I miss that train.

credits

from Stranger in the Promised Land, released March 29, 2019

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Colin Cutler image

Colin Cutler Greensboro, North Carolina

Armed with a guitar, banjo, a brace of harmonicas, Colin tells stories of love and loss with characters wide open as a Midwest sky and wild as the mountains, with poetry thick as a Carolina swamp.

contact / help

Contact Colin Cutler

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Colin Cutler recommends:

If you like Colin Cutler, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now