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You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To

by Richmond Fontaine

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    with 8 page booklet made in Europe

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  • Black 150gm vinyl with insert
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  • Limited Edition vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    180gm vinyl with gatefold jacket, poster card, and exclusive cd with 7 bonus tracks!

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  • LIMITED EDITION Yellow Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    We've uncovered a VERY LIMITED supply of the YELLOW vinyl version of the album. This was a product originally available as a Record Store Day release, and sold out quickly.

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1.
2.
Wake Up Ray 03:38
Wake up, Ray It ain’t no use, ain’t no use Maybe some guys just ain’t meant to I was living in Montana once and I was married For a while it rolled so easy But she got to where she couldn’t stand our place She got to where she cringed at the way I slept and ate I bought her a bird, a finch she called little Joe And then one night she blew into a rage In a snowstorm she ran outside and opened up the cage Wake up Ray let’s get out of here This town’s done nothing it’s clear but try to do us in Wake up Ray, the sun’s coming up and still I can’t stop thinking How can someone you love so much grow against you so? All I did, all I did was try to toe that line The same line you see everyone else toe Now all I remember is running through the snow Looking for Little Joe as the wind blowed Wake up Ray, I need a cup of coffee in a bad way Let’s get out of here this town ain’t done nothing It’s clear but try to do us in
3.
I Got Off the Bus I got off the bus, a friend of mine said he’d pick me up But he never showed up so I made my own way A little Mexico came into sight Where once were just dying streets Where once were just small town streets And now the sprawl seemed never ending I called a girl I used to know, a nurse from Saint Mary’s We had a place on 7th street but I left her in a rough way Her dad said she got married was living in Stockton with a baby He said he couldn’t remember me but I knew he was lying The night seemed never ending I woke up to see a policeman standing over me I told him I grew up down the street that had to mean something He said he didn’t care as long as I didn’t block the stairs I sat in the movies, drank off a pint until I fell asleep until a nervous sixteen year old kid was telling me I had to leave I know what you abandon dies, what you leave leaves you too I know you can’t go back if there’s nothing to go back to I sat by the river. The sky was full of stars and the water was rustling There were men camped across from me and the night seemed never ending The night was never ending I woke up to see a policeman standing over me I told him I didn’t mean to run out on everything He said he didn’t care as long I got out of there
4.
Whitey and Me (Don’t Ride Him Down) He sold off the horses to some guy in Arizona Whitey and me couldn’t get them back ‘cause we were flat broke I hated him for what he’d done to us but I knew he was in a bad way I heard he ended in Douglas holed up in the Gadsden Hotel And shot all that money away He fell apart in his underwear, in the lobby Crying for his sister who hadn’t been alive for years Don’t ride him down, don’t ride him down Never seen the reason why to kick someone who’s so torn up inside Whitey and me got on with a ranch but the place folded and we never got paid We ran into him outside of Winnemucca when we were all down to moving hay He broke down crying about what he’d done to us Said he carried it around like a growing weight He had a tattoo on his hand that read “I stole more than I ever gave” He was drunk in the morning, left us his watch, some drink-tokes, and then walked off the job and drifted away Don’t ride him down, don’t ride him down Never seen the reason why to kick someone who’s so torn up inside Don’t ride him down, His name don’t mean nothing now Never seen the reason why to kick someone who’s so torn up inside
5.
Let’s Hit One More Place Let’s hit one more place before we go home Let’s go in when it’s dark and come out with the sun I know we’ll be wrecked all day we’ll be broke and undone But let’s hit one more place Remember when we’d disappear We’d go on drunks for days and we’d never fight Never too tired, or too loud, or you weren’t feeling right All our old friends are done in or just trying to stay clear But let’s hit one more place We’ll hide in the back until we’re us again Maybe there ain’t nothing left but two strangers that used to be friends Who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and nothing between them that was sad Let’s hit one more place before we go home Let’s go in when it’s dark and come out with the sun I know we’ll be wrecked all day we’ll be broke and undone But let’s hit one more place
6.
I Can’t Black It Out If I Wake Up and Remember That house we’re passing is bad luck to me, the whole block is too And that field across that street used to be one big building It burned down when some bums broke in, they were lost in the flames And there’s that alley where I saw that fight where the guy was just left to die And see I told you they closed down the Fitz I once saw Brian in handcuffs outside of it When he saw me he started laughing and yelling my name I used to know a girl who lived down that street She had two sisters who were in low end nudie magazines She’d lived on her own since she was 16 She was always a good friend to me So please don’t go down her street I heard she got killed in a car wreck in Wyoming So please don’t go down her street See that apartment building my uncle lived there ‘til I was thirteen All summer he’d take me to the river swimming We’d sneak into the movies without paying Everyone said he went bad but I don’t care about that I just don’t understand why he’d run out and leave my mom and me And my mom worked in an office down that street You could always see her on break on the back steps smoking Dressed up and worried, she was always broke and worried about everything I can’t black it out if I wake up and remember I miss them all so much
7.
Don’t Skip Out on Me Don’t skip out without taking me Don’t skip out on me I know you think I’m just a liability But I can carry my own weight Please just don’t skip out on me The bus from Tonopah can take my money too I got an aunt in California, she’s always promised me a room Just don’t run out on me while I’m sleeping My guts ain’t right and my health’s been failing It was your fault as much as mine and we both know that’s true We’ve traveled some hard miles that has to mean something too I can’t keep my eyes open, it’s getting harder and harder Don’t skip out on me
8.
Two Friends Lost at Sea I can’t believe it’s true You’re fucking that guy you used to Laying on your back with your eyes half closed The lamp I bought you is probably watching My blood pours doom and my eyes see it too Why do I always think of things I don’t want to? I don’t care if she plays my old Armstrong records to him Or makes pancakes in her underwear for him in the morning But does she wake him up in the middle of the night just to start talking? We were two friends lost at Sea I ain’t drifting that bad anymore, can’t you see it’s true? I had dream last night we were driving on vacation You told me a story of a woman who was dying So she pulled out her heart to give to her husband But her husband had another woman waiting Dressed up with their bags at a train station You were in a swimsuit all brunette and laughing Trying to make it with me while the woman was dying And the car started spinning and I started sinking My blood still bleeds doom and my eyes see it too Why would it hurt worse than it used to?
9.
Three Brothers Roll into Town Three brothers roll into town One’s just out of lock-up One’s a drunk and a clown The other don’t say much of anything They’re worried he’s slow but he Don’t mind ‘cause then they don’t expect anything They drive to the biggest city they’ve ever been They stay in a basement room with their cousin In a part of town called Felony Flats The cousin’s out of work They sleep on the floor in sleeping bags Time, time don’t mean anything when your 16, 19, and 20 They cooked their meals on a Coleman stove The oldest got a job washing dishes in an old folks home The middle got on with a construction crew and the Youngest helped his cousin collecting scrap metal for a Guy who never paid what he was supposed to At night they’d sit in the basement room Intimidated by the city and not sure what else to do They drank by the case Rainier in cans The middle would make everyone laugh The oldest would start talking about how he should have killed their dad But he stole a watch and a wallet from an old ladies’ drawer They found them in his coat and he was caught cold He called his brothers before they took him away He said time, time don’t mean anything I’ll be out before you know it and then together we’ll leave Then the cousin got kicked out of his basement room For having too many people and cooking when he wasn’t supposed to So he went back to their hometown but the brothers wouldn’t leave They just moved into their van waiting for the oldest to be released He was sentenced to just three months But in a holding cell he got into a fight and for a year was sent up They held on through the winter living in their van Listening to the radio at night from their sleeping bags Time, time don’t mean anything when you’re 16, 19, 20 Time, time don’t mean anything when you’re already sinking at 16, 19, 20
10.
Tapped Out In Tulsa I tapped out in Tulsa I was laid flat this time I always knew it would catch me I’ve always had an edge Cut right down the center of me I tapped out in Tulsa I ain’t been here long I ain’t been here before Blew my job at Fair Meadows To go on a drunk with a girl I didn’t know She went crazy with a knife in a barroom Man, she was 19 I tapped out in Tulsa I ain’t got it in me anymore To play around with living so low
11.
12.
A Night in the City For once I didn’t go home after shift I called my wife and said I’d be late Every day it gets harder to go home I rode with a guy from work named Ronnie I’d never been to his house before His wife was high, on the couch watching TV Their kids were fighting in the yard so we got out of there We drove to a strip bar called Mary’s but the girls there were so young And who am I? Just a middle aged man, I’m who they hate Ronnie went to the front and sat at the line so I left him there I bought a bottle and I didn’t call home, I didn’t go home A night in the city The city at night I got sick behind a car, slept against a bank wall Ate at Annie’s Donuts and made it to work on time Is this all there is? Is this what life is? A job that means nothing A woman who sleeps right next you but she ain’t yours at all A one night rebellion that ends up just being a drag Like a weight around your feet that ain’t heavy enough to send you down I remember in the back of a bar called the Blue Sea My wife sitting on my lap whispering, “You and me, only you and me” A night in the city The city at night
13.
Easy Run 02:59
Easy Run Do you think an easy run could find us? And Flannigan and Cassie will be there and old Leon and his wife Annie will be sitting in the corner playing records She’ll play them all night Do you think someday that might happen for me? My uncle will be sitting in his recliner and Hong Kong movies he’ll be watching When we’re all together eating I’ll sit next to Annie Under the table she’ll hold my hand and no longer will I ever mess up anything Do you think someday that could happen for me? Do you think an easy run will find me?

about

UK/Europe Orders decorrecords.com

credits

released March 18, 2016

Richmond Fontaine:

Dan Eccles: electric guitar, piano
Sean Oldham: percussion, vocals
Freddy Trujillo: bass, vocals
Willy Vlautin: vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
John Askew: baritone guitar, electric guitar
Paul Brainard: pedal steel, trumpet
Jenny Conlee-Drizos: keyboards
Dave Harding: acoustic guitar

Recorded and mixed by John Morgan Askew
Assistant engineer: Tim Shrout
Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback, and Scenic Burrows
Mixed at Scenic Burrows
Produced by John Morgan Askew

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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

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