Get all 5 Benjamin Shepherd releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of This Was Supposed to Be Temporary, Never Enough/Halls of Sin b/w Molly, The Minors, and Me, Hold the Line, You Got Caught (demo), and Eleven For The Road.
1. |
Hate in My Heart
02:52
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There’s hate in my heart
It feels bad but it feels good too
I don’t know who to hate
It can go in any direction
There’s hate in my heart and I want you to know
You will see it eventually
I’d understand if you want to go
Being alone is a gift, I believe
A twisted truth to save face
Somebody in my parking space
An overplayed popular song
Myself when I come on too strong
That time you went behind my back
Another unmanned drone attack
The way it’s a virtue to lie
Their wrinkled faces and their pricey ties
Making people to believe
You got Jesus up your sleeve
A proudly written opinion piece
Those who don’t share my beliefs
Neverending hosptial bills
Another t.v. ad for pills
When your words hit too close to home
Indirectness in a song or poem
Watching Storen blow the lead
My own laziness and greed
People I was made to fear
It’s all the same if your heart’s all you hear
There’s hate in my heart
It feels bad but if feels good too
So I need some time to think
Being alone is a gift, I believe
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2. |
Criminal of Circumstance
03:23
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Who among you has the grace
To come along and take your place
Cemented somewhere in the halls of time
If it's your calling it's no crime
Y'talk real loud and throw in style
Y'give an inch and take a mile
Not a jester nor a prince
Where'd you find that audience?
Is that the breeze outside rushing?
Will it slowly come to rest so I can consider what it said?
Like a cat stuck in a tree without a care
How'd you even get up there?
Now you could knock em over with a glance
Criminal of circumstance
I don't have no kind of time to waste
Will someone come and take my place?
Fear of success' taking him alive
Had a brush with it but he'll survive
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3. |
Love Is Not Enough
03:59
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Bleary eyes, quarter-sized
and a worn out pair of shoes
Walkin ‘cross the footbridge
with a brand new bottle of booze
A few young gents, experienced
with nothing wise to say
Arguin, lookin to win
each fight along the way
Oh but who would come along
and show me that I’m wrong
When you’re in it
Love is not enough
There are some things that you must give up
It don’t matter
Who’s wrong or who is right
At the end of the night
Gone are days of prideful ways
and keepin it inside
I approach all comers
with a heart that’s open wide
Go on and put me to the test
tell me something real
I’m inclined to let you know
exactly how I feel
Oh but who would come along
and show me that I’m wrong
There’ll come a time
When love is not enough
There are some things that you must give up
It don’t matter
Who’s wrong or who is right
At the end of the night
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4. |
Mary
02:59
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Mary knows she's no saint
But they treat her like something she ain't
She goes from place to place
lookin for salvation with another hard case
The West Side was easily won
with no regard for the smoking gun
She didn't care who looked
as she slipped it back into her pocketbook
She'll tell you you're the one
She'll tell you she's just having fun
and hang you out to dry
Mary, don't go and make me cry
"I'd give it all up for you"
Each time I say it it becomes less true
But I'm in too deep to quit
And I'm just startin to get the hang of it
Mary knows it's no thrill
paying off those doctor's bills
She says "let's just sit and not make a sound"
She's tryin to figure out how to turn it around
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5. |
Money or Time
01:50
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To be without money or be without time
This is the choice of our culture’s desing
Everyone knows you can’t live without pay
But what is it for at the end of the day?
Your time slips away and you can only look back
And see what you’ve missed out on while building your stack
You can’t get away there’s just too much to do
Japan ain’t goin nowhere but neither are you
And there was a girl I remember so well
Had stars in her eyes and a laugh like a bell
I wanted to show her of what I could give
But I worked day and night and forgot how to live
And that’s how it goed with spending your time
There’s no getting it back once you’re nickeled and dimed
There’s frost in the engine, there’s rust on the wheel
Such are the losses of this sucker deal
Now I’m without money but not without time
Here by the choice of our culture’s design
Everyone knows you can’t live without pay
But what is it for at the end of the day?
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6. |
Thirty Hour Day
05:17
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It’s almost past the magic hour
The light is startin to fade
I don’t know how I worked my way
to the end of another day
When she gets home around midnight
I’ll be waiting there
Tryin to keep my head up
In the easy chair
You all don’t know what I could become
without these bills to pay
If I never had to sleep
Or if the lottery fell my way
That’s how it was before her
And though my time is scarce I’ll say
since she’s been around it feels
like there’s thirty hours in a day
Rollin down the boulevard
Trouble’s getting harder to find
We could be
King and queen of a kind
I told myself for ages
“you’re better off alone”
Never kept too much around
So I could pick up and be gone
But if home is somewhere behind you
and you travel the world end to end
and you keep going long enough
you’ll go back home again
Rollin down the boulevard
Trouble’s getting harder to find
We could be
King and queen of a kind
When I see how you look at me
There’s no doubt in my mind
We could be
We could be
You and me, we could be
King and queen of a kind
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7. |
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We were down at Red’s house
Just the other night
Chore boy and a rose and we were feelin alright
The out-in-the-county connection
Was comin through to see
About the new kids on the block
and how deep our pockets could be
Billy had to open his mouth
grumblin about the price
And right then the room turned colder than ice
The out-in-the-county connection
Turned and cocked his head
Stared us down
and this is what he said
“This ain’t for the soft ones
my money don’t grow on trees
If you don’t come through
I’ll have you beggin on your knees
It’s three up front, and three more
The next time you see me
Mmm hmm hmm
So don’t go pissin in the breeze”
The deal it never went down
and I stopped goin to Red’s
But all that talk had gone to Billy’s head
The out-in-the-county connection
had left his mark on him
And anyone who’d listen
would hear that story again
“I can tell that you’re no soft one
that ain’t hard to see
I’m sure that you will come through
and I’ll throw in a little somethin for free
It’s twelve up front, and twelve more
the next time you see me
Mmm hmm hmm
Do we have a deal if you please?”
Y’told em how bad that you really really are
Worse than a cheap convenience store cigar
Ruined like a newspaper that’s left out in the rain
And it don’t seem like you can go back to bein good again
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8. |
Girl from Bowling Green
04:37
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This girl from Bowling Green
Was like amphetamine
Hadn’t seen her in a year or so
When she came through town not long ago
She said, “If it’s alright
Could I stay here tonight?”
I wasn’t really sure
But I couldn’t close the door
I’ve braved the weather
I’ve been tarred and feathered
And friendly with the losing end
But I don’t think I’ll be doin it again
She said, "Walk lightly now"
I said, "I don't know how.
And if I could, you see,
you wouldn't keep me company"
She had the darkest hair
That I’ve seen anywhere
And those hollow eyes
That never showed surprise
I’ve braved the weather
I’ve been tarred and feathered
And friendly with the losing end
But I don’t think I’ll be doin it again
Winter by the lake
Seemed like the spell would never break
We were on a roll
Giving in, relinqueshing control
Where it may have mattered most
Never giving up the ghost
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9. |
Love Is Not Enough
03:59
|
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Bleary eyes, quarter-sized
and a worn out pair of shoes
Walkin ‘cross the footbridge
with a brand new bottle of booze
A few young gents, experienced
with nothing wise to say
Arguin, lookin to win
each fight along the way
Oh but who would come along
and show me that I’m wrong
When you’re in it
Love is not enough
There are some things that you must give up
It don’t matter
Who’s wrong or who is right
At the end of the night
Gone are days of prideful ways
and keepin it inside
I approach all comers
with a heart that’s open wide
G’on and put me to the test
tell me something real
I’m inclined to let you know
exactly how I feel
Oh but who would come along
and show me that I’m wrong
There’ll come a time
When love is not enough
There are some things that you must give up
It don’t matter
Who’s wrong or who is right
At the end of the night
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Benjamin Shepherd Richmond, Virginia
Southern antifolk with a lyrical focus.
ALBUM RELEASE SHOW SATURDAY APRIL 8TH AT GALLERY 5 IN RICHMOND
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