Get all 5 Confusionaires! releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of "Westernization" (2023), "Jerk Reaction Vol. II" E.P. (2021), "Jerk Reaction Vol. I" E.P. (2021), "From The Headache To The Heartache" (2020), and "It's Time To 'Make A Little Mess' With..." (2018).
1. |
What I Was Put Here For
05:20
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This must be some kind of mystery
Something from late night TV
On channels I shouldn’t be watching since
I’m susceptible to bad dreams
Some psychological symbol
Somehow they're letting me know
There’s a difference between what they want me to do
and what I was put here for.
I believe I have become a conduit
For things that I cannot explain
The path of least resistance is through my fingertips
By way of my brain
I can only show you what it sounds like
Play you the notes and the chords
There’s a difference between what they want me to do
and what I was put here for.
A couple of magnets and a half-dozen strings
fastened to a hardwood board
There’s a difference between what they want me to do
and what I was put here for.
There’s a difference between what they want me to do and what I was
What I was put here for.
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2. |
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I remember how it happened he don’t listen when you push him away
If I had myself a pistol I swear I’d make him pay
I get so nervous when he comes around here
Shaking like a Chevy taking off in 3rd gear
And the cooling off period is way too long
So I never bought a gun, I wrote another sad song
To you he’s the biggest rock & roll star in the world
But to me he's just another son of a bitch who's trying to steal my girl
You can hold someone in high regard
But it really don't matter who they are
Everybody wants what they can't have
It's all he can manage just to keep on staggering around
Concentrating every last effort on running his mouth
His liquor is brown and his drugs are white
Surefire recipe for starting a fight
In a redneck bar with some redneck guys
Who couldn’t shut him up so they blacken his eyes
To you he’s the biggest rock & roll star in the world
But to me he's just another son of a bitch who's trying to steal my girl
You can hold someone in high regard
But it really don't matter who they are
Everybody wants what they can't have
He wandered home alone a little while after the sun rose
He laid his head on the kitchen table and I guess he just never awoke
I heard the landlord found his keys in the door
Just as he did so many other times before
He could have gone pretty far with his rock & roll band
But his heart and his liver had a different plan
He could have been the one to breathe rock & roll new life
But in the end he was just another son of a bitch who’s flirting up my wife
You can hold someone in high regard
But it really don't matter who they are
Everybody wants what they can't have
We all want what we can’t have
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3. |
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The land here is all but used up
Nothing left but wishes, memories and dust
They're squeezing oil from the sand just like blood from a stone
But you're free to stay if you feel you must.
But I encourage you to come out west
To where that train hauled the last of our coal
Where we can lay on the beach until the ice caps melt
And the ocean waters swallow us whole
That train whistle doesn't sound lonesome
It don't sound half as blue as you'd say
She can’t get where she’s going half as fast as she’d like
She is happy to be on her way
I hear every word you are saying
As the horizon lures you away
I won’t be the last cowboy in this one horse town
But I’ve still got a couple reasons to stay
I’ll be on the coast before you know it
Rolling through with a trailer in tow
It’d be real nice to see your bright, shining face
I’ll be sure to leave your name at the door
That train doesn't sound so lonesome
Don't sound half as blue as you'd say
If that train could jump for joy, she’d hop off the tracks
With no regard for the passengers or freight
That train whistle doesn’t sound lonesome
She sings in a major key
I just close my eyes and harmonize
As she’s calling out to me
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4. |
The Apple From The Tree
03:16
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Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be truck driving men
For the most part I did what he asked, but the high way gets the best of me now & again
I still curve up my cap like a new york yankee and my wallet is secured with a chain
And when the song pour out, they’re mostly about how far the apple is from the tree
He could have been an English professor & laid it out for his wife and his kids
But somehow he landed on 18 wheels, a sore back, and a rotating shift
Too smart for his friends, too smart for his job, and the hand he got dealt in this life
So he went to a preacher to ask for some guidance, he said ‘son there must be sin in your life’
Put your money in the plate, put your money in the plate, you’ll be successful as my friends and myself
So he put in his tithe and a little extra, but not quite enough to come away with any wealth
So he went back to trucking, to deep contemplation, and lost his youth & mind to stress and worry
And the weight of the world that he carried on his shoulders, well he passed all that off on to me
Some say it’s the bourbon, or the money I spend drinking it that makes me act crazy each night
Gravitational pull of the moon drags my spirits away until the morning light
This town's got it's own short stories so choose what you want to believe
Between you & me it’s the proximity of the apple from the tree
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5. |
The Peacemaker
02:49
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If I had a pistol I'd wear it on my hip
I'd walk tall Like Jesse James and pull fast like Billy the kid
And I'd stay up late, and I'd shoot out the bulb that lights the moon,
And I'd only need one bullet, maybe two
If I had a pistol I'd wear it on my right side
A man with gun is scary, scarier still when he's just a child
And the school yard bullies would leave me be, ‘cause they don't know what I'd do
And I'd only need one bullet, maybe two
Since I got my pistol, I keep it holstered all the time
But that don’t mean that it ain’t done for which it was designed
Believe me when I tell you that when that bullet takes its flight
You hear what the latch on the gates of Hell sounds like
That ain’t just any pistol, that’s a peacemaker .45
Ain’t given me a single day of peace in my whole life
So I’ll write you all a letter that’ll put my whole sad story in view
And I'd only need one bullet, maybe two
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6. |
Heart Of Alberta
02:19
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Drop out of school at the age of 16
And point your rig rocket down 63
And get overpaid to push drill bits into the dirt’a
That’s what they do in the heart of Alberta
Snort it up your nose, don’t save a dime
It don’t matter if you’re getting overtime
You’ll never have to do a piss test if you never get hurt’a
That’s what they do in the heart of Alberta
Whatcha gonna do when the price goes down
When the bottom falls out, when they ghost this town
Whatcha gonna do when the well is dry
Besides thinking up brand new ways to get high
Ways; brother, you wish you’d never heard’a
We got it all right here in the heart of Alberta
Get pulled over with expired plates
And a half a pound of dope on the passenger seat
Cop is staring you down like he picked you up for murdah
He’ll take you straight downtown and make you sing like a bird’a
You’ll reduce your time to something quite absurd’a
Like 6 months on the couch in the heart of Alberta
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7. |
I Have Been A Cowboy
04:02
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I have been a cowboy for longer than I can say
It's put grey hairs across my head and lines across my face
Now I am emptying my pistol in a quiet and peaceful way
And I'm hanging up my spurs, and on the hook they'll stay
I have been a cowboy, but I cannot deny
That I prefer strumming chords by the fireside
Where the worst thing that can happen is the smoke blows in your eyes
Or a pretty cowgirl sits next to you and starts to harmonize
Whiskey tastes a little different when there's no threat to your life
And a woman’s love ain't half as sweet, till she becomes your wife
And she gives you every reason not to go back out on the range
When she wakes you from your nightmares and tells you everything is ok
I have been a cowboy, that much I suppose is true
And I can tell by the jingle of your spurs that you're a cowboy too
I find it hard to forget all the things I used to do
So I spin them yarns into songs and I sing them out for you.
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8. |
Slur Your Words
03:13
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You see that man out on the dancefloor with the 2 left feet
Looks like he's trying to drive a car from the passenger seat
He might not seem that smooth to you, but you have not yet seen a thing
He talks a pretty good game, but you should hear him when he sings
Slur your words
Slur your words
Forget everything you've been told
Disregard what you've heard
You don't know what you're missing till you're slurring your words
He carries around that cocktail glass like a bucket of charm
It won't be long til he's got a couple of girls like you on his arm
He might be flapping in the breeze, 3 sheets out on the wind
If you don’t want him floating away, you best hold on to him
Slur your words
Slur your words
Who you are, what you got, and how you make it work
The whole trifecta non grata, gotta your words)
Now for the sad part, wipe the tear from your eye
Because the life of the party is now saying goodbye
But the torch will be passed, and you'll see that spirit again.
He used to be me. I used to be him.
Slur Your Words
Slur Your Words
The wooly bully, wild thing, and the surfin’ bird,
You wanna get down, mama, got to slur your words
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9. |
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A child has no problem beliving in what he can't attain
It’s not my business either way
They leave that to you & I with our tiny hearts and our big brains
It’s not my business either way
Any old way you want to do any old thing you want done
Any old method you’d like to try with just about anyone
Any old reason why in any old time or place
It’s not my business either way
It’s not my business either way
I might not see you out at night when you’re tearing up the town
It’s not my business either way
That’s not really my scene… it wasn’t then and it isn’t now
It’s not my business either way
In the end the truth will be what convinces you
But that don’t mean that it will necessarily be true
When you’re firm in your convictions then the mind is hard to change
It’s not my business either way
It’s not my business either way
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10. |
The Whiskey Ballad
02:19
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My heart was pumping poison through my arteries and veins
Under guidance of my belly manipulated by my brain
But the brain was being poisoned from the pumping of the heart
The real culprit was the whiskey trying to tear it all apart
My belly was incensed at what the heart would insinuate
You can always trust your gut to guide you through the messes made
But the gut could not be trusted
For the whiskey it did hold
Caused the brain to lose its judgement
And the heart, it did grow cold
My eyes are rolling backwards
And they’re pointing at my brain
As if to say “you bastard
It seems you’ve won again!
You’ve teamed up with the belly
And broke the heart in two!”
Then the whiskey evacuated
The same throat it entered through
Some years have come and gone wounds have had some time to heal
My brain & heart & belly made an amicable deal
Not to cause each other damage nor any other living being
And I tune myself to the vibration that’s rumbling its way through all things
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11. |
Shed A Couple Tears
03:34
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The earth did not open up
The sky did not turn black
The integrity of the pillars of hell still remains intact
A choir of angels did not sing some familiar gospel song
I just shed a couple tears and moved along
I didn't turn to a pillar of salt
Nor did I burst into flame
In the roll call for the train to hell I did not hear my name
Heaven wasn’t quite ready, Hell said I don’t belong
I just shed a couple tears and moved along
I moved along from presumption
I moved along from regret
I moved along from the fear of judgement from everyone I’ve ever met
If you're looking for the man I used to be, that man is gone
He shed a couple of tears and moved on
A spirit did not visit me
Begging me to change my ways
And a man with horns in red pajamas
Didn’t warn me to behave
I was sitting in my living room when I decided I was done
And I shed a couple of tears and moved on
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12. |
The Faintest Of Hearts
05:51
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You’re going to need a plan B
That’s what they say
But the only thing a plan B has ever done
Is distract me from plan A
That long list of excuses
Became reasons I do what I do
The absolute worst that can happen is
I follow my path as it comes into view
This life ain’t for the faint of heart,
It’s for the maverick women and men
The ones who hang their hats on a 3 chord song
And get struck down with a ball point pen
I may have the faintest of hearts, but I’m a maverick, my friend
You’ve got time on your hands
Well, I know how that feels
I’ve never had a spare 5 minutes that I wasn’t
Actively trying to kill
You can drown it with liquor, poison it with pills
Or you can try to give it away
Or you can cherish every single one you’ve got
Those moments will run out someday
This life ain’t for the faint of heart,
It’s for the rebels and the nighthawks
But we are people of action,
We just live in a city that would rather just talk
I may have the faintest of heart,
But I still walk the walk
This ain’t what they said it would be
I believed it to be true
So you best keep a handle on what you’re doing
Before it starts doing you
Forget about the booze and the drugs and the girls
And expensive cars
I lean back on the wind from the speaker behind me
That amplifies my guitar
This life ain’t for the faint of heart,
It’s for the poets and the artisan
The ones whose purpose is fulfilled
When there’s an instrument in their hands
I may have the faintest of hearts
But I'll prove I can
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Confusionaires! Edmonton, Alberta
Confusionaires are a world-class traditional rock & roll band that are constantly pushing the boundaries of what traditional music can be. Hailing from Edmonton, Canada, the trio has built a sound that’s synonymous with the hardest-hitting and country and rockabilly acts around. Confusionaires appeal to both the purists and the rebels, and their sound transcends generational boundaries. ... more
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