Grindstone (Uncle Tupelo)

If you find yourself standing
At the end of your line
Looking for a piece of something
Maybe a piece of mind
Fed up, lost, and run down
Nowhere to hold on
Tired of, take your place at the end son
We'll get to you one by one

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life
Every hour will be spent
Filling a quota, just getting along
Handcuffs hurt worse
When you've done nothing wrong

No thanks to the treadmill
No thanks to the grindstone
There's plenty of dissent from
These rungs below
The clockwork of destruction
Hanging low over our heads
Always a smokestack cloud
Or a slow-walking death

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life

No thanks to the treadmill
No thanks to the grindstone
There's plenty of dissent from
These rungs below
The clockwork of destruction
Hanging low over our heads
Always a smokestack cloud
Or a slow-walking death

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life
written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Coalminers (Uncle Tupelo)

Come, all you coalminers Wherever you may be And listen to the story That I relate to thee My name is nothing extra But the truth to you I tell I am a coalminer And I'm sure I wish you well I was born in old Kentucky In a coal camp, born and bred I know about old beans Bulldog gravy and cornbread I know how the miners work and slave In the coalmines every day For a dollar in the company store For that is all they pay Mining is the most dangerous work In our land today Plenty of dirty, slaving work For very little pay Coalminers, won't you wake up And open your eyes and see What this dirty capitalist system Has done to you and me Dear miners, they will slave you Until you can't work no more And what will you get for your labor but a dollar in the company store A tumbledown shack to live in Snow and rain pouring through the top and you have to pay the company rent and your payments will never stop They take our very lifeblood They take our children's lives Take fathers away from children Take husbands away from wives coalminers, won't you organize Wherever you may be And make this a land of freedom For workers, like you and me I am a coalminer And I'm sure I wish you well Let's sink this capitalist system To the darkest pits of hell written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Wait Up (Uncle Tupelo)

Are you surprised it's me
Hope I didn't wake anybody
Honey, please wait up for me
I miss you more than I need sleep

Guess I'll let you go
Even though I don't want to
Honey, please wait up for me
I need you and I can't keep up this speed

written by Jeff Tweedy
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Criminals (Uncle Tupelo)

We've got two kinds here
Those that bleed the blood
And those that work to will it
Can't believe the big screen
There's no justice in the hall
We're all criminals waiting to be called

We've got shackles to keep the laws
Made by men who bought and sold themselves
with not a prayer to keep their powers at bay
They want us kinder and gentler at their feet

They say don't step off the sidewalk
And don't cross over the line
But we'll serve time at night
When the light begins to dim
When the smoke seems to clear
You can say what you want
We're all criminals here

How many times will the teeth bite
the tongue looking for salvage
in the damage that's done
I searched for you every place
I thought I knew
still we're criminals
looking for something to do

written by Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Shaky Ground (Uncle Tupelo)

In memory of a miner
Who dragged himself to work
And worked himself to death
working for someone else
We follow each other around on shaky ground

His life had become to him
Worthless in many ways
An expired product off the shelf
Working for someone else
We follow each other around on shaky ground

The nature of his work
Gave him a minstrel color
Twenty hours a day
Little time he had for others
We follow each other around on shaky ground

Never got to see the world
He got a funeral and this miner's song
There is no right or wrong

Now it's down to the wire
Facing six feet under
Can only wonder and stare
His name was a number

written by Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down

Satan, your kingdom must come down
Satan, your kingdom must come down
I heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

Gonna pray until they tear your kingdom down
Gonna pray until they tear your kingdom down
I heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

Gonna shout until they tear your kingdom down
Gonna shout until they tear your kingdom down
I heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Black Eye (Uncle Tupelo)

He had a black eye He was proud of Like some of his friends It made him feel somewhere outside Of everything and everywhere he'd been Like his brothers
He emptied himself
And played it safe
Like their father
He wanted to remember
But he almost always
Forgot what he was gonna say

Black eye
Black eye

When he realized
That this one was here to stay
He took down
All the mirrors in the hallway
And thought only of his younger face

Black eye
Black eye

written by Jeff Tweedy
March 16-20,1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Moonshiner (Bob Dylan cover)

I've been a moonshiner
For seventeen long years
And I spent all my money
On whisky and beer
And I go to some hollow
And set up my still
If whisky don't kill me
Lord, I don't know what will

And I go to some barroom
To drink with my friends
Where the women they can't follow
To see what I spend
God bless them pretty women
I wish they was mine
With breath as sweet as
The dew on the vine

Let me eat when I'm hungry
Let me drink when I'm dry
Two dollars when I'm hard up
Religion when I die
The whole world is a bottle
And life is but a dram
When the bottle gets empty
Lord, it sure ain't worth a damn

written by Bob Dylan

I Wish My Baby Was Born (Uncle Tupelo)

Try to face up to the blinding sun
Racing for the final word to come
Facing up, it's hard to stay devout
I can see the sand and it's running out
And it's running out
We quote each other only when we're wrong
We tear out the threads and move along
We can't seem to find common ground
I can see the sand and it's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
The current drags to the bottom
A hemorrhage that moves us around
It pulls and beckons in a strong direction
High water forever bringing us down
I can see the sand and it's running out
It's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-22, 1922 / Uncle Tupelo

Atomic Power (Louvin Brothers cover)

Do you fear this man's invention That they call atomic power Are we all in great confusion Do we know the time or hour When a terrible explosion May rain down upon our land Leaving horrible destruction Blotting out the works of man Are you, are you ready For that great atomic power Will you rise and meet your savior in the air Will you shout or will you cry When the fire rains from on high Are you ready for that great atomic power There is one way to escape And be prepared to meet the lord When the mushroom of destruction falls there is a shielding sword He will surely stand beside you And you'll never taste of death For your soul will fly to safety And eternal peace and rest Are you, are you ready For that great atomic power Will you rise and meet your savior in the air Will you shout or will you cry When the fire rains from on high Are you ready for that great atomic power written by Bain/ Louvin Louvin Brothers cover

Lilli Schull (Uncle Tupelo)

A great crowd has now gathered
All around the jail today
To see me executed
And hear what I do say

Now I must hang this morning
For the murder of Lilli Schull
Whom I so cruelly murdered
And her body shamefully burned

The fire where I burned her
Is again now within my sight
Her lovely face recovering
And the fire that burned so bright

The cries of poor Lilli
Again I can almost hear
As she begged me not to kill her
Her life alone to spare

Now I bow down to Jesus
In penitential grief
And I beg him now to save me
Like he did the dying thief

God bless my aged parents
Who mourn for me alone
And my wife and baby
Who will be left alone

It was then that I heard a whisper
In a most gentle tone
My grave is one sufficient
To save the vilest one

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-22, 1992/ Uncle Tupelo

Warfare (Uncle Tupelo)

My Lord told his disciples
After I'm risen and gone
You'll meet with troubles and trials bear your rebukes and scorns

My warfare will soon be ended
My race is almost run
My warfare will soon be ended
And I'm coming home

You can rebuke me all you want to
I'm travelling home to God
I'm well acquainted with the crosses and all my ways are hard

They say my lord is the devil
They call his saints the same
I don't expect much more down here than grief and scorn and shame

God bless them holiness people
The Presbyterians too
Those good old shouting Methodists
Those praying Baptists too

And when you get to heaven
I want to see you there
And when I say amen
I want you to say so too

My warfare will soon be ended
My race is almost run
My warfare will soon be ended
And I'm coming home
I'm coming home

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-22, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Fatal Wound (Uncle Tupelo)

Don't the lights look empty
When the streets are bare
Almost as empty
As the look you give me
When I'm the only one

And it's a long one
So it brings you down
So say you have nowhere else to go
And nothing to do
So you hang around
You hang around

But you wait around until
You've received that fatal wound

Columns of sunlight
And glorious cities
Oceans of opportunity
And all your decisions seem ancient

But you wait around until
You've received that fatal wound

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Sandusky (Uncle Tupelo)

If you find yourself standing
At the end of your line
Looking for a piece of something
Maybe a piece of mind
Fed up, lost, and run down
Nowhere to hold on
Tired of, take your place at the end son
We'll get to you one by one

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life

Every hour will be spent
Filling a quota, just getting along handcuffs hurt worse
When you've done nothing wrong

No thanks to the treadmill
No thanks to the grindstone
There's plenty of dissent from
These rungs below
The clockwork of destruction
Hanging low over our heads
Always a smokestack cloud
Or a slow-walking death

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life

No thanks to the treadmill
No thanks to the grindstone
There's plenty of dissent from
These rungs below
The clockwork of destruction
Hanging low over our heads
Always a smokestack cloud
Or a slow-walking death

No light ever shines
Dead end tears that dry
Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life

Maybe a waste of words and time
Never a waste of life

written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar
March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo

Wipe the Clock (Uncle Tupelo)

Hunted down Someone said, no story, no gain Wipe the clock right now I despise what you crave I remember you When you wore a different face Never heard a story of anyone Who drove the blacktop insane Leaning on a stoplight Waiting for eventual change What's it matter right now It's not so easy to gauge Every time That you ask for more It's the sound that makes the colors go blind And everything comes in threes But your face shows two Lost in the watershed Way out of tune Ain't it hard When the spirit doesn't catch you Gravity's the winner And it weighs you down It weighs you down written by Jay Farrar March 16-20, 1992 / Uncle Tupelo