Get all 27 Jonathan Byrd releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Infrared, Jimmy Says, Fog On the Mountain, I Should Have Died, I've Been Everywhere - Covid 19 version, Pickup Takeout, Live at The Blue Note Grill, Live at NERFA, and 19 more.
Excludes supporter-only releases.
1. |
Poor Johnny
03:27
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Poor Johnny Jbyrd
Poor Johnny at the bottom of the lake. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
Poor Johnny at the bottom of the lake, boy went fishing and drownded.
I had a girl I loved the best. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
Lord knows, Johnny could've loved the rest, but the boy went fishing and drownded.
I had a bottle of ninety proof. Bottom of the lake, Poor Johnny.
I'd take one drink, he'd take two, and the boy went fishing and drownded.
Johnny was using my good cane pole. Bottom of the lake, Poor Johnny.
Got so drunk that he couldn't keep ahold, and the boy went fishing and drownded.
Then what happened, I never could tell. Bottom of the lake, poor Johnny.
He never could handle his liquor well and the boy went fishing and drownded.
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2. |
Temporary Tattoo
03:16
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Temporary Tattoo JByrd
I showed my love for you with a temporary tattoo.
I washed it off with the dirt. I didn't want it to hurt.
I was afraid someday our love would turn blue.
I wanted to keep it new like a temporary tattoo
You went under the gun to show me how much I meant to you-
a little rose with my name. It was the real thing.
You didn't understand you were wearing the brand of a damned fool.
All that I could do was a temporary tattoo.
I tried you on for fun.
You thought I was the one.
You must be sore. It’s hard to ignore a new bruise.
Now I'm out of your life like some Crackerjack prize.
Memories fade. Traces remain to remind you
I was only as true as a temporary tattoo.
All that I could do was a temporary tattoo.
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3. |
Lakota Sioux
05:09
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Lakota Sioux Matt Fockler
Summer is changing. Fall is in the air.
The geese are in migration. You can hear them up there.
The prairie's golden brown. The leaves are falling down.
The fawns have lost their spots
and the temperature's dropping down.
It was a big day I suppose when the Indians chased the buffalo.
Across the prairie in herds they'd go, till the blood began to flow
and they went down.
We ain't got no time, no to waste no time.
We got a lot of lives we got to keep in line.
Pretty soon the snow's gonna fly. You don't feed them, your people gonna die.
It was a big day I suppose when the Indians chased the buffalo.
Across the prairie in herds they'd go, till the blood began to flow
and they went down.
They like to paint their face. They like to paint their paints.
They like to decorate everything up and celebrate.
They like to congregate in a beautiful place,
dress themselves in feathers and leathers and dream their fates.
It was a big day I suppose when the Indians chased the buffalo.
Across the prairie in herds they'd go, till the blood began to flow
and they went down.
Then the cavalry came to take their land away.
They lied and died and lost every battle but they got their way.
Then they took their souls when they took the buffalo.
They took their families blankets riddled with the pox, and so
it was a big day I suppose when Custer went in for the close
and found himself with his pants down as the Indians rode around
and cut him down.
We ain't got no time, no to waste no time.
We got a lot of lives we got to keep in line.
Pretty soon the snow's gonna fly. You don't feed them, your people gonna die.
It was a big day I suppose when the Indians chased the buffalo.
Across the prairie in herds they'd go, till the blood began to flow
and they went down.
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4. |
I Was An Oak Tree
03:16
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I Was An Oak Tree - Jbyrd
I was an oak tree. It took a thousand years to grow.
I've seen kingdoms come and go.
I've seen the losers turned to lords and back again.
I held the rebels when they hung them from my limbs.
When men of fortune cast their futures on the sea,
that's when they came for me.
I was a slave ship under the standard of the cross-
a hallelujah holocaust.
Half were dead before we reached the other shore,
and the captain never saw the coming storm
that swept around the cape and took us by surprise.
Only eight survived.
I was a campfire, a pile of driftwood in the sand,
the only comfort in this land.
Eight hungry sailors roasted acorns that they'd found,
and left me burning as they stumbled toward the sound
of a church bell ringing out above the ocean's wind
and I was born again.
I am an oak tree out along the wild Cape Fear.
There is talk of freedom here.
Where is the kingdom that was here before I came?
Where have the people gone who only left their names?
A revolution's just a circle, after all,
and every kingdom falls.
I am an oak tree. If it takes a thousand years to grow,
I'll see kingdoms come and go.
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Jonathan Byrd Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Preacher's kid, Gulf War veteran, award-winning songwriter, Youtuber, teacher, and creativity coach from North
Carolina.
“One of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years. ” — Chicago Tribune
“...a folk singer with the heart of a rock 'n' roll band.” — K. Oliver, Free Times.
... more
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