We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The High Country

by Richmond Fontaine

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    with PDF liner notes and lyric booklet!
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    compact disc in digi pack with booklet

    Includes unlimited streaming of The High Country via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    8 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8.49 GBP or more 

     

  • Buy Disc here if you live in Europe

1.
I’m just fucked, Arlene. I don’t have any guts... Her father was a logger and he was always out of work. Her mother hardly said a nice word, ever. Then the girl got pregnant by a kid she knew, and she waited a long time before she told him. But they got married anyway, even though she didn’t want to. They lived in a trailer home that was way out and alone. Then the kid, who was also a logger, got his leg crushed by a falling tree. He hardly ever worked after that. And the girl, she miscarried in the eighth month and that’s really late and hard. And after that the kid just quit talking to her. She got a job in an auto parts store. All the guys there kept hitting on her and bothering her ‘cause they all knew her husband and they didn’t like him. This is up near Clatskanie, which is in the mid- dle of nowhere. After work she’d take long walks by herself on the logging roads. And each night she’d go home and make dinner for the kid and then she’d watch TV with him. And no one knew how it was for the girl. Then finally one day the girl disappeared. For a while it was in the papers and on the radio, but no one ever saw her again. No one ever knew what hap- pened, not even the police, who were sure it was the kid but could never pin it on him. That’s all I got so far, Arlene.
2.
3.
In the trees, in the trees, there’s a bar called the Chainsaw Sea Where Claude Murray drinks Rainier and lives on speed He stays in the back room with his wife Melanie Below the concrete is buried the fat man from Mississippi and A hooker he met in Clatskanie who was on her knees one night in the Eagle Lodge bathroom and started laughing at it In the trees, in the trees there’s a bar no one wants to see Hidden in 300 acres owned by a speed freak, Angus King He ain’t left his house in St. Johns since 2003 He opened the bar in the seventies when he left the army addicted to speed They pulled all his teeth in 1993 The Chainsaw Sea The girl from the auto parts store was crying, on a logging road sobbing From the hill Claude was always watching every week the girl broke down looking over a clear cut valley His heart all it did was ache making his mind shake Then he’d beat Melanie and Melanie would sing, ‘Harder’
4.
It’s time for him to get up But he won’t until he’s late Then he coughs and yells, ‘Oh fuck’ He bangs around and turns on all the lights and Yells at me for misplacing the keys That he always leaves some place he can’t find High Country, please let me dream He slams the front door and his truck coughs away I have an hour until It’s still dark and the bed is now free It’s mine and not his Not in a home that his mother owns Stuck on some logging road I’m saving, but until High Country, please let me dream of the High Country
5.
6.
My dad got sick so I moved back to town but Month after month it started grinding me down I should have just stayed away he never liked me anyway Even when he was sick There are so many churches here and it’s always raining and At home no one says anything at all, and what ain’t seen Is how to be when you feel like you’ve been set in concrete I can’t stop thinking about you and the way you were on the phone that night Your voice suddenly fell apart with the sound of his truck coming home You said once we both had eyes that were dying But maybe we ain’t dying Maybe we’re just meant to be It’s all a wreck and we both know it’s true But what if you could leave with me and I could leave with you too It ain’t always wrong to give up and run
7.
8.
Let’s meet on the logging road No one has to know We’ve been fighting this for a year But now it’s clear we’re meant to be But if you want to spend your life treading on breaking ice Then I’ll leave you alone, but I know you hate it here ‘Cause all it does here is rain and The logging trucks are driving me insane I’m gonna leave You ain’t stuck you’re just scared The whole world falls apart from fear But that ain’t me and you So tonight lets meet in the safety of the trees We’ll walk together alone on some old logging road Make our plans to get out of here
9.
10.
Behind the Eagles Lodge we were hiding Friday night while everyone was in the bar drinking For ten minutes we went missing I kissed your face underneath the broken awning Please let’s just go, Please let's go before it’s too late Why oh why do I get so scared I think I’m dying? All I want to do is drown with you while they’re all watching The ships in the river they’re all passing they’ll take us away Like misfit cargo they’ll let stay But please go, I hear his voice so go, they’re all coming out to smoke
11.
12.
It was getting dark in a sea of trees Everyone was tripping except me Amber couldn’t quit talking ‘cause she was on speed Kevin was listening to a mix tape of Judas Priest Crystal couldn’t stop laughing then she took off her clothes We were all pretty fucked up Crystal was laughing and then she weren’t Her clothes were on a pile by the cooler but she weren’t I screamed her name ‘til my voice broke But she was gone We went for help but we couldn’t find the logging road We couldn’t remember how far Man, we couldn’t find the car It began to rain and night came I tried to start a fire but the lighter ran out and Amber went insane Kevin told her to shut the fuck up and then Amber started crying She said we were all gonna die, she said we were all going to die Things really fell apart then, things really fell apart I screamed her name ‘til my voice broke I screamed Crystal ‘til my voice broke But she was gone
13.
On a Spree 02:40
Claude Murray stayed up for three days He was in love, he didn’t know what to do He was going raving fucking mad Even his wife knew something was wrong They parked outside the girl’s house Until the one legged kid finally left the house They followed him along the logging roads and In the darkness the kid’s truck broke Claude’s wife jealous and crazed also up for three days shot the kid in the face See, all along she thought he was in love with the kid She started singing, she started singing with glee His wife had the strong back She dug the hole, under the Trees, she dug the hole Claude’s patience came undone when she was only half done He shot her in the back of the head And the Trees started laughing ‘cause they knew Claude hadn’t shoveled since ’82 He was coughing and sweating and sweating and coughing He thought he was dying and the Trees sang with glee
14.
I can see a room, a place for me and you The windows aren’t painted shut and the sheets are new We won’t bother anyone and everyone will just let us be In the city and we’ll have enough money So that our lives, they’ll be almost easy You’ll walk me to work and pick me up in the evening We’ll walk along the avenues and have dinner at any place we choose And all the scars I have I’ll no longer see They won’t even be a distant memory I can finally see a place for you and me
15.
16.
The Escape 03:30
He saw the girl as she walked down the road With a suitcase, a flashlight, and all alone He followed her to town where she stood alone In the back of the auto parts store Then a man came under blankets of rain They embraced, they embraced, they embraced Claude was enraged he called Angus King Said if he didn’t come he’d burn down the Chainsaw Sea Muddy and wet his wife’s blood on his chest He pulled out a knife The Trees from the mountains they all screamed But the girl couldn’t hear anything but Claude’s raving and he raved and he raved The girl held her love dead on the street His throat cut, his eyes missing She cried and cried and cried Claude was insane screaming in the rain, screaming ‘Melanie’ Angus King drove up and saw the wreck Pale as a ghost he shot Claude Murray in the head The girl she ran down the road But he threw her in the car and headed for the logging roads And the Trees cried no, please, please let her go Angus King began shaking at the sight of the Chainsaw Sea He began hitting himself in the face and he couldn’t stop He told the girl to run, he told her she better run
17.
Leaving 04:29

about

Produced by John Askew / Recorded at Type Foundry and Scenic
Burrows, Portland, Oregon / Mastered by Jeff Stuart Saltzman

credits

released September 5, 2011

Dan Eccles: guitar
Dave Harding: bass, guitar, vocals
Sean Oldham: percussion, keyboards, guitar, vocals
Willy Vlautin: vocals, guitar
Deborah Kelly: vocals
Paul Brainard: pedal steel
Ralph Huntley: keyboards, accordion
Collin Oldham: cello, cellomobo
John Askew: keyboards, vocals, scenic sounds
Matt Moore: Claude Murray
All Songs Written by Richmond Fontaine
All Songs BMI Winner’s Casino Music

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Richmond Fontaine Portland

Richmond Fontaine was formed in 1994 at Portland Meadows racetrack in Portland, Oregon as songwriter/vocalist Willy Vlautin and bassist Dave Harding pored over the racing form and talked music between races. The two took their mutual love of Husker Du, Willie Nelson, X, The Blasters, and The Replacements and started playing music together. ... more

contact / help

Contact Richmond Fontaine

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Richmond Fontaine, you may also like: