13 Weeks

by Brad Fielder

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Philip Carlson
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Chris J. Zähller
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Kris Brown
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1.
02:37
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2.
04:36
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3.
03:32
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4.
01:58
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5.
02:08
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6.
03:55
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7.
02:35
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8.
04:15
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9.
03:01
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10.
04:05
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11.
02:45
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12.
04:01
lyrics
13.
02:07

about

52 Week Club 2012

credits

released April 24, 2012

all songs written, played and recorded by Bradley Allan Fielder
January-March 2012.
song themes were supplied through the 52 Week Club
cover photos courtesy: Malvin Jesse Arter
song photos: Brad Fielder

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all rights reserved

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Brad Fielder image

Brad Fielder Norman, Oklahoma

Recalling the songsters of the early 20th century, songwriter and music maker Brad Fielder presents a program of original and traditional material. Inspired by old time, country blues, ragtime, and bluegrass, the songs are brought to life on acoustic guitar, banjo and resonator guitar. The occasional melodic augmentation is realized on kazoo, harmonica, or mouth horn. ... more

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Track Name: YOU WERE FIRST
To swim in the fountain
To dance in the field
To show me the sky, you were first

A drink on the mountain
A secret revealed
A reason to cry, you were first

In a boat on a pond
In a hollow'd out tree
In a west coast bar, you were first

On a stage out of town
On the way to a party
On a bench in the park, you were first

I've always been the last to recognize
What it is I've done for the worst
But in the lowest hour of my life
You showed me that you cared, you were first

Where the dust has settled down
Where the dog digs his holes
Where the beer cans pile up, you were first

At the outskirts of town
At the changing of the rolls
At the bottom of the cup, you were first

In anger and love
From a falcon to a dove
For the one up above, you were first

After all and after none
As the story spins along
We still work it out as one, you were first

I've always been the last to recognize
What it is I've done for the worst
But in that lowest hour of my life
You showed me that you cared, you were first

When the timing is right
And they lay my body down
I want you by my side, you were first
Track Name: LOST CLAIM
If you want to keep a clean name
don't go looking for a lost claim
in a long gone burnt out old flame
you've got to do you're best to kill the pain

-you must accept the fact, it will never be the same


On a late week night in a Summer month
I was sitting around stone sober for once
so I picked up the yearbook and looked you up
that's when I decided that I should be drunk
so I got that way

The more I drank, the more I thought
about the sad old days and all the stuff I'd bought
to keep you around and the things I'd sold
to give you that circle made of gold
and now I wanted it back

Well I almost talked myself out of doing
what I had already long ago ruined
so I didn't see the harm in me pursuing
that $800 worth of precious metal
that I knew was rightfully mine

I needed money, see, to pay off a loan
so I took another shot and picked up the phone
dialed your number for half the night
but it took three hours to get it right
and by then I was pissed

Your husband answered and I said, "Hey buddy!
hand the phone over to that fuddy-duddy
I feel the need to beat somebody bloody
if I don't get that god-dog wedding ring back!"

I remembered just as my yelling stopped
that my ex-wife's husband is a deputy cop
he knows where I work and he know's what I drive
and he's actually even been inside my house
and smelled things in there

Quickly I said, "Sorry, wrong number!"
he said, "Oh, no, I was starting to wonder
just how many illegal blunders
you were going to make in one phone call
and then he proceeded to list off the offences
I had already committed

There was verbal assault over a telephone line
and the threat to commit a violent crime
with a claim on a property that wasn't mine...
that's when I hung up and hoped he didn't know the trick
of dialing *69

Well, of course he had my number traced
and in 15 minutes there were at my place
by that time I was completely shitfaced
and had prepared my alibi to tell the judge

But he did not haul me in, instead
he sat me down and that kind man said
some powerful words that cleared my head
that I'll carry with my until I'm dead
and I'll share them with you now

he said
If you want to keep a clean name
don't go looking for a lost claim
in a long gone burnt out old flame
you're ex-wife tells me that you're insane

-you must accept that fact, it will never be the same

-you've got to do your best to kill the pain
Track Name: LITTLE MAN
Little man, little man
child of the promise land
born with fortune in his hand
he did know

From a quiet country home
Little man, he left to roam
just a pocket knife and comb
he did own

Little man went to town
just to see what could be found
he saw women standing 'round
wearing pearls

He found sinners at the bar
drinking, smoking on cigars
making money playing cards
and the girls

Of the ladies he was keen
for he was new on the scene
and they loved him for his green
and boyish ways

But the women and the booze
quickly broke apart his ruse
and he could no longer choose
as grown men say

Living in the greed and lust
Little man soon soon drank and cussed
it was known that he was just
twelve years old

Little man, little man
with a diamond in his hand
cheating out the honest man
for his gold

He was surely too soon caught
and his fortune was now wrought
with the fate of being shot
or to hang

Little man, little man
did not know to give a damn
he just smiled as he heard
the angels sing

Little man, little man
child of the promise land
born with fortune in his hand
he did know
Track Name: NORTHERN THEME, SOUTHERN SCHEME
I run a little stand where the food's no good
Open 24/7 at the Edge of the Woods
Got a great big light on the hi-way sign
Get's the people coming in most all the time

We'll pour 7UP in the wine
Set out a plate of clementines
Cold Cobb salad and boiled beef stew
We know how them yankees do

Here in the South we like our schemes
Passing off shit with a fancy theme

Serving sweet baked beans with chicken in a pot
Fake crab cakes and Bisquik knots
From a tall waitress with her midriff showing
To really get those Northerners going

Got a pond out back for fresh steamed clams
And chowder soup with chunks of ham
The men don't mind when the coffee ain't hot
Just as long as the counter girl is...

Here in the South we like our schemes
Passing off shit with a fancy theme

Yellow cheese steak on a hot dog bun
With a kosher dill pickle just for fun
You'll never find a fish plank finer
Than the service at the Edge of the Woods Diner
Track Name: DRINKER'S PRAYER TO ST. PAUL
I was down on my knees
As a twelve pack was heaved
When the thought was conceived
I should quit

While the church bells were playing
On the floor, I was laying
And my lips started praying
Like this

Can you help me, St. Paul?
Give your wisdom as I fall
I need your truth and hope
you understand

I'm not a Catholic, I'm a drinker
And a very heavy thinker
Were it not true I would not call
Please help me, St. Paul

As I said my first prayer
Came a scent to the air
It was breakfast prepared
In the kitchen

Tried to stand but I stumbled
Then to my wife I mumbled
From whiskey to water, I'ma switchin'!

Oh, help me, St. Paul!
I'm backed up against this wall
Of bottles and cans and pint glasses
filled to the brim

I need your truth, I need to hear it
Please take the poison out of my spirit
Were it not true I would not call
Please help me, St. Paul
Track Name: RAINBOWS AND RUGBURNS
We liked to study the Bible in her bedroom
one tiny piece of torn out page at a time
In a month we burnt through the book of Revelations
and every night we drank the blood of Christ

With those onion skin leaves on a cozy winter evening
Rainbows and rugburns for us both
What the church may shun us for
will not stray us from the Lord
As Jah will provide, Gideon promotes

We'd laugh and dance to songs we remembered
reading aloud from the Old Testament
Puffing like a chimney in November,
yearning for each other's full consent

Those onion skin leaves on a cozy winter evening
causing rainbows and rugburns for us both
What the church may shun us for will not stray us from the Lord
For as Jah will provide, Gideon promotes

We liked to study the Bible in her bedroom
one tiny piece of torn out page at a time
In a month we burnt through the book of Revelations
and every night we drank the blood of Christ
Track Name: CRUSH OF MUD & LIGHT
(instrumental)
Track Name: CHECK ONE-TWO
I went looking for my sweetie girl
Down where the streets are crossed
When she wasn't leaning on the light pole
I felt surely I was lost
'Cause I always find her here
At this time every night
When I feel the urge to get me
A little early morning delight

Walking to the roominghouse
My stomach surely sank
What if they had picked her up
And threw her in the tank?
What if she got busted?
Or what if she got cut?
What if some dumb crazy mark
Had sunk a shiv into her gut?

Old Morty he was working
Behind the flophouse desk
Luckily he quickly put
My racing mind to rest
He had seen my sweetie girl
With a new rich customer
Who had rented out three rooms
And if I wanted to see her, he said

Go on, check one-two
Or maybe check one-eight
You might even check two-seven if you think
It's not too late
She was here at least an hour ago
On what looked like a real hot date
So check one-two
Or maybe check one-eight

So I walked over to room twelve
And knocked for half a minute
When the cleaning lady came up and said
There's no one in it
To room eighteen I jumped and
Peaked in through the curtain
But all I saw was a used up Murphy bed
Of that I was certain

I took a little stroll
Across the parking lot
When I got to twenty-seven
I didn't need to knock
The door was left wide open and
The TV was still on and
A bright pink piece of rubber
Was floating in the john

Back to the office
I burst through Morty's door
Yelling at him that I had not found
That horrible woman
She was probably out hooking back up town
Working on her feet
So I slapped the old man and
Told him that I can't be beat

I checked twelfth avenue
Where it crosses eighteenth street
On up to old two-seven but
Them boys were selling meat
That night I didn't find my sweetie girl
She had vanished for all I knew
But every night since then
I still go back and check one-two

Yes every night since then
I still go back and check one-two
Track Name: PERFECT GAME
I need to find me
That perfect game
One when I just lose
There ain't no shame
That perfect game

I've played with them spirits
Played in the grass
It's easy to learn
But you don't win fast

Good folks be weary
Best mind them rules
Stay clear of fast timers
Game playing fools
Track Name: MEN WITHOUT WOMEN WITHOUT MEN
Those men without women
Better get them a dog
Have to wash their own linens
Need a hard working job

They get to keep their own money
Unless they're divorced
Paying out alimony
That a judge has enforced

Some choose to live for Jesus
And some are in jail
Those men without women
In their own kind of hell

I've spent me ten years
With a woman I love
Four cats and two dogs
In three roofs above
It has not been perfect
But by far no lemon
And I wish for goodwill
To the men without women

Those women without men
Better get them a gun
'Cause those men without women
Can get dangerous, son

And the world closes in
On the women without men
They gotta cut their own grass
Or pay a kid to cheat them

School clothes must be bought
By the women without men
While they make their two jobs
To try to pay the rent

For the men without women
Seems an easier life
While the women without men
Catch all the strife

I've spent me ten years
With the woman I love
Four cats and two dogs
In three roofs above
It has not been perfect
But by far no lemon
And I wish for goodwill
To the men without women
And I pray for good fortune
To the women without men
Track Name: LIPSTICK COVERED ROACHES
She's the definition of a hot mess
Make a non-believer holler God Bless
She can put a whole bottle away
And leaves lipstick covered roaches in the tray
Bobby says that she never looks back
And we all love it when she dresses in black

She could make a hundred dollars in five minutes time
And spend five-hundred like a couple of dimes
There ain't a single rule that she has not broken
Nor the dirtiest of words that she has not spoken
Lee said she can walk, and that's what she's gonna do
Through any door she pleases just laughing at you

Some call her a lady, some call her a vamp
She could buy the Hope diamond with a postage stamp
She feeds on caffeine, THC and fear
Got a hundred and thirty-two IQ between her ears
Tom tells me that I have to learn to do the dance
But I don't think I'm ever gonna get that chance
Track Name: THE WARRIORS
This old Seiko that I wear on my left wrist
Has a new black leather band from the Wal-Mart
And though it's water damaged on its antique face
Still ticks along like the day it was bought

It belonged to the good man, Tommy King Fielder
A warrior up against the Cold War lies
He came back to raise six kids and work the cattle
I found it at the farm after he died

I know we've all got those warriors in our lives
Once they're gone, we keep a token
To remember them by

This silver ring I wear on my right hand
Forged on a Coast Guard ship out to sea
Made from melted down war time five-cent pieces
Simply adorned with a carved out letter B

It was first worn by the good man, George Lowell Battin
A warrior of the big one in France
They'd beach the boat and carry on the dead ones
And then a fresh group of live ones would advance

I know we've all got those warriors in our lives
Once they're gone, we keep a token
To remember them by

This watch and this ring are always on me
My momma and my daddy's legacy
For the soldiers that they knew as their fathers
Two good men that fought to keep the peace

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