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Hear Those Hammers Fall

by Ben Haggard

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1.
Walking down magnolia road walking along where the flowers grow got no time got no goal stop and shake the sand from my soul If I had a car I'd take it here drive it as fast as i think she'd go chase some things that's been chasing me let them find me where that old tree grows Some lives come and some lives go and I'm still scared of growing old the things I've lost that the years have stole find them down that magnolia road Faces long gone rise to my mind shining like the heat off the road lessons learned and truths take hold some things can't be bought or sold I've been tired and I've been worn done a few things left untold some I'm proud of some I ain't make my peace when that stone is rolled Some lives come and some lives go and I'm still scared of growing old the things I've lost that the years have stole find them down that magnolia road Here in the sand time moves slow pause to let your life unfold the things I've lost that the years have stole find them down that magnolia road
2.
There's dead men walking the streets downtown just like me they don't know where to go they say things used to be better how the hell should I know Hey brown haired girl wont you smile in my window save me from myself and my devil soul It's been a long time since I felt this lonesome feeling the kind that just sinks down in your bones this lonesome feeling has drove me from home I'm scared it'll chase me till I'm dead and I'm gone Hey brown haired girl wont you smile in my window save me from myself and my devil soul It hurts when I laugh and it hurts worse to cry cause both are just sounds of time passing by and the road keeps rolling and I keep looking back at what I ain't got and what I never had Hey brown haired girl wont you smile in my window save me from myself and my devil soul
3.
The tracks are all rusted the weeds grown tall but listen close you can hear those hammers fall Ghosts of those who were shadows cross the sight look down and sigh you can hear them in the night Can't turn back to see but theres hellhounds on my trail no one left to run to hear the ringing of the bell The tracks are all rusted the weeds grown tall but listen close you can hear those hammers fall Hear those night birds calling a cold song of fear keep on moving son there's nothing to help you here That long black train it's rolling down the track come to take you down and it ain't gonna be back
4.
These dark sun glasses sure hide a lot no I ain't been drinking well not that much it's these road weary eyes that don't close at night and your ghost hanging round outside the stage lights They're the blackness of the highway when you're all alone at night little things I should have said and done and ghosts in the taillights And I'm too damn young to be seeing the man I see when I look into mirrors I'm scared of what I'll be if I took down the shades and let in the light I'd be a different kind of man one you might not like Gonna get a long black car to ride through town lights in the front and lights all around sunglasses on my eyes and blood in my mouth if the devil's in georgia I'm headed south And I'm too damn young to be seeing the man I see when I look into mirrors I'm scared of what I'll be if I took down the shades and let in the light I'd be a different kind of man one you might not like
5.
It's a hard road I've been walking and theres no end in sight if I don't get home by morning meet you in the by and by the rains beating down on my old window pane and that lonesome train whistle echoes the sound of your name Operator please could you get mr. cash on the line tell him things down here are far from fine maybe you could let him know if he could just come on back this world could still use a man in black Those on top always looking down below those down on the bottom have nowhere else to go well it's a sad world we live in cause it happens all over again no one wants to lend a helping hand to save his fellow man Operator please could you get mr. cash on the line tell him things down here are far from fine maybe you could let him know if he could just come on back this world could still use a man in black
6.
Eatin' Pears 02:15
Eating pears in the kitchen barefoot on the cold cold floor midnight and I ain't getting sleepy you know you're getting old when you can't change no more Sunlight through the windows birds singing in the lot outside I'm wishing it would never end how long can a man live a lie Some days money for nothing but the chicks are never free don't want back what I gave you ain't no more guitar on the mtv eating pears in the kitchen ain't no more guitar on the mtv eating pears in the kitchen ain't no more guitar on the mtv
7.
If I had my way wouldn't tear no building down just sit and watch the trains roll by wondering where they're bound times like these they can test a man make him swim or drown I'm just treading water and listening for the sound So sing me a song about outlaws and the way life used to be this old world keeps rollin on but it ain't gonna bother me find a cool green pasture in the sandy hills I've known lay down by the railroad track let the whistle take me home Grab me a guitar and an empty bottle of wine break off that old bottleneck and I sure can make it whine play you a song about my life or just one on wasting time things ain't what they once was but the sun sure still does shine
8.
Drop Of Rain 03:01
Look in the mirror in the morning to see what kind of questions are looking at me I should have shaved about 2 days before it's getting easier to just sleep on the floor Make ten dollars a day to put up keep out signs but to sing my songs they won't pay a dime A nickel to drown my trouble and pain not a penny for a thought on how that's a shame There ain't a lot left to tell you but some words and some thoughts I'm too scared to show there's too few hours of sunlight each day and nights are too long to let this all go It's no easy path I've set for my feet the steps are all twisted and the band is offbeat all things aren't fixed by the ripple of time there'd be no more need for rhythm and rhyme There ain't a lot left to tell you but some words and some thoughts I'm too scared to show there's too few hours of sunlight each day and nights are too long to let this all go I hear the whining of the midnight train and these busy times make for a lonesome refrain a sea of faces can't make up your one drop of rain your one drop of rain
9.
Sitting in church on sunday morning fire brimstone hell and paradise wishing you were here and I don't know how somewhere I got so mixed up in life They tell me hell's full of little demons holy fire and burning soot but these days to me hell's more of little things that won't stay put Don't play me no sad sad songs I cant take no more doing wrong don't play me sad sad songs wait till I'm gone, long gone Wake up and tell me with a smile on something's wrong and you got to go i just laughed and turned away honey tell me something I don't know Don't play me no sad sad songs I cant take no more doing wrong don't play me sad sad songs wait till I'm gone, long gone gone, long gone
10.
Crow Jane 02:11
11.
Four Miles 02:34
Four miles to freedom and I can almost see the light and though you left me hurting I think I'll be alright Cause I'm crossing a bridge now and I'm going on an island your soul it sings out to me your heart shines like a diamond Four exits to heaven and I can almost see the light and though you left me hurting I think I'll be alright Laughing and talking rising all around searching for the music ear pressed to the ground For the life of me I just cant understand why you wouldn't stop and let us just be friends Four hours to sunrise and I can almost see the light and though you left me hurting I think I'll be alright Four exits to heaven and I can almost see the light and though you left me hurting I think I'll be alright Four miles to freedom and I can almost see the light and though you left me hurting I think I'll be alright
12.
On The Road 02:53
When I was younger my folks didnt know just what I was trying to do play that guitar til my fingers bled they said boy what's wrong with you Told them I knew their life wasnt for me couldn't be chained to a desk all day gonna make it big in a rock and roll band dream of working for MCA Well time flies when you're flying high until you hit the ground till then I'll keep on running just to hear that guitar sound Well I wasn't there in sixty nine but I heard some talk that it sure was fine got the blues didn't seem to care brothers' music was in the air And I wasn't there in seventy two but I heard the story and I know it's true a simple man showed them how it's done but Ronnie'd tell you he aint the one Well time flies when you're flying high until you hit the ground till then I'll keep on running just to hear that guitar sound Now it's rich folks driving down easy street in their long black limousines got my cheap sunglasses and my hair hanging down you know they don't want to deal with me Got just one thing to say to you getting down on life just watching the news spin that record kick off your shoes let the band sing away your blues Well time flies when you're flying high until you hit the ground till then I'll keep on running just to hear that guitar sound

about

A few notes on the songs:

"Time moves slow when you're seventeen, and then it picks up steam at twenty-one." - Jason Isbell

This record is a collage of places, people, and feelings that I just couldn't shake. Some of them never actually existed at all. Some of them are very real, and a few of them are all too much so. Maybe you can find someone you once knew, or a place you'd like to be somewhere in it.

Magnolia Road
Magnolia Road is probably the oldest song on this record, and its one of my favorites I've ever written. It's the first song I wrote that I actually liked when I read the lyrics again the next morning. That old tree still grows a few yards down from my great-grandmother's old house.

Dead Men Walking
This song came to me early one morning. It was probably a Sunday morning, and I would have been walking down the street in Columbia, SC. Anybody who's ever had a similar experience knows that on a college campus, the whole place is absolutely dead before about 11:00 or so, just you and your thoughts walking around.

Hear Those Hammers Fall
Another of the older songs on this record, this one is what the American South sounds like to me on a dark night. There are lots of ghosts around here if you've got eyes to see them.

Dark Sunglasses
Those rock star sunglasses cover up a lot sometimes. If I rode around in a tour bus, I'd have written this one at night sitting in the back of it going nowhere fast.

Calling Mr. Cash
Lots of people miss Johnny Cash, myself included. He was more than a picture of a middle finger and a bunch of pills, and sometimes I think there's a few people who have forgotten that.

Eatin' Pears
Dire Straits didn't get it exactly right. Or maybe the world's just changed since 1985, after all it never has stopped spinning around. Maybe one of the most personally meaningful songs on here.

If I Had My Way
Written in a summer haze in South Carolina. Ever feel like you don't need to be bothered by all the little things we put ourselves through in life?

Drop Of Rain
The guy in Dark Sunglasses woke up the next morning and wrote a letter back home.

Sad, Sad Songs
Someone once asked me why I didn't write any happy songs. This is an attempt at that, but I don't think I quite got there. Life has its ups and downs, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Crow Jane
This is the only song on here I didn't write. It's a song with deep roots in the Carolinas and dates back at least to the early 1900's. The recording actually was never intended to be anything more than a test of the microphone setup, etc...but it just seemed to fit, plus I could sit around and play music like this to myself all day long.

Four Miles
I wrote this song with one of my oldest bandmates. It grew out of an interesting trip down to Charleston, South Carolina for a Black Crowes show a few years back, but in the end took on a meaning all its own.

On The Road
My love letter to rock and roll, with special thanks to the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.


Special Thanks to (in no particular order):
Ralph, Beth, Caroline, Stephen, Tony, Artem, Mark, Rob, Chris, Duane, and others I may have forgotten.

credits

released May 7, 2013

Acoustic Guitar and Vocals by:
Ben Haggard

Engineered, mixed, and mastered by:
Stephen Cevallos

Produced by:
Ben Haggard and Stephen Cevallos

All music and lyrics by:
Ben Haggard
except:
Crow Jane - Traditional, arranged by Ben Haggard
and
Four Miles - music and lyrics by Ben Haggard and Artem Aleshin

Front cover illustration taken from "The Natural History of Selborne", 1879

Back cover photograph by:
Ralph Haggard

Album art design by:
Ben Haggard

Title Font:
Birmingham by Paul Lloyd

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about

Ben Haggard Columbia, South Carolina

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Ben Haggard started his musical training early with lessons in piano and cello. It wasn't until several years later that he found a true passion for music, when a neighbor gave him a copy of Hendrix's Are You Experienced. His playing is influenced by the mixture of stylings that have their roots in the Southern states he grew up in, including blues, country, and soul ... more

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