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Two Thousand Pennies

by M Shanghai

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1.
Sea Monster 04:15
SEA MONSTER Sail a flat old world on a half moon sea Legend that you still lurk deep beneath Barely glimpsed your tail as it broke upon the waves We scattered off the deck, the supposed brave Oh sea monster have you made a fool of me? In your bed beneath the open sea In the past how we feared you having never really seen you Now you're exiled to a child's wildest dreams Voyage to a place unknown and remote The candle has been blown out hours ago Woozy with delight, tall tales under starlight Telling of your jaws and crushing might Oh sea monster have you made a fool of me? In your bed beneath the open sea Every mystery of earth has been discovered or explained We're too arrogant to tremble at your name The hunters came with spears The sailors wielded knives To bring the mighty monster down to size So come and show yourself Surely we'll be scared Tear apart this ship just because you can Oh sea monster have you finally gone to sleep? In your bed beneath the open sea How we used to be scared of those things we could not see So your services we no longer need
2.
MADE IN THE DARK Folks like us will one day return to dust And blow away in the careless wind Blind those eyes that are pure of sin We were made in the dark We crawl our way towards the light of grace The devil shows up in the damndest place Where does evil hide? In the vein or in the wire A cloud of vultures overhead No longer shocked at what the newspaper says The hawk will still prey on the do-nothing dove We're a get-ahead beast with competitive blood Talk of salvation, mercy, peace There's no advantage to side with the meek We were made in the dark We crawl our way towards the light of grace The devil shows up in the damndest ¬place We took refuge on the tracks Where the original sinners laughed And threw St. Michael from a moving train The sky broke open with knives of rain But the rain it brought us new life In childbirth a mother cried My sons and daughters recognize You have a lighthouse inside you that can save your life We were made in the dark My sons and daughters recognize You have a lighthouse inside you that can save your life
3.
LEAVING OKLAHOMA Mamma I want to do something wrong The years burn quickly and the days drag long I'm tired of humming this gospel song Toiling away my days On a dusty crop under the seldom rain The man I married he's like sugarcane His sweet eyes gaze affectionately At everyone else but me I'm leaving Oklahoma Across the mighty river bend Trade the stars over Tulsa For a piece of heaven in my hands Mamma I want to do something bad Quit my job and then I'll pack my bag Leave tonight with another man A man I barely know He told me Friday that I was his girl Ran his fingers through my unwashed curls I closed my eyes and the room it filled with light Stark as a brand new life We're leaving Oklahoma Across the mighty river bend Trade the stars over Tulsa For a piece of heaven in our hands California, I need your rumors to be true California, my blind faith is in you We're leaving Oklahoma Across the mighty river bend Trade the stars over Tulsa For a piece of heaven in our hands In our hands We'll soon have heaven In our hands
4.
SHANGHAI MOUNTAIN In the trees I find Shadows tall as a pine. As I climb, I see, I wish I was a fish, In a mountain stream. Oooh oooh If there’s sun on the path Let’s put all our shadows in that. Bring in the night We sing, Wish I was a bird In the wind Oooh oooh If you lose love, beware It can feel cold as the northern air. So tonight, run with me And we can be coyotes, In the breeze And the water laughs for free As the shadows wrap around the trees I wish I was, in the ground So I could move like a rabbit Not making a sound.
5.
TWO THOUSAND PENNIES The lunatics of summer singing silly tunes With nobody to impress or please They mostly tell the truth I got two thousand pennies To take you into town Heaven knows as the warm wind blows There's enough to go around Fire in the mountain return us to dust When everybody wants somethin' who's to trust? Sidewalk of diamonds, my pockets full of rust How is heaven gonna repay what this life takes from us? The boss man is a raven with beady eyes of black He wants all of us to pull the weight while ridin' on our backs A dead-man's smile upon me Peaceful as I lay Everybody wantin' more I got nothin' to send your way Fire in the mountain return us to dust When everybody wants somethin' who's to trust? Sidewalk of diamonds, my pockets full of rust How is heaven gonna repay what this life takes from us? Darling there's a darkness back behind our eyes And our skeletons are dancin' for the greedy enterprise Punch the clock as twilight overtakes the day All the turnstiles are windmills Just for you the city waits Fire in the mountain return us to dust When everybody wants somethin' who's to trust? Sidewalk of diamonds, my pockets full of rust Girl I got two thousand pennies tonight to spend on us Said I got two thousand pennies tonight to spend on us
6.
Marlene 02:17
MARLENE say goodnight marlene say goodnight, goodbye say goodnight marlene home to bed marlene i am not your father i am not your brother i am not your lover no need to yell at me the pain has taken you over covering like a quilt the pain has taken you over the kind that drink can't beat goodnight, goodnight, goodbye i'll get you, a car, I'll buy you have the saddest of eyes goodnight, goodnight, marlene three men have left you at sea now you're stuck here soaking with me home to bed marlene say goodnight marlene say goodnight, remember I am just a stranger i can never leave
7.
Entropy 03:18
ENTROPY Of all the Laws of Science One sticks in my craw It's Entropy, The Second Thermodynamic Law The rusty wheel quit turning The highway's gone to fire This whole damn thing is hanging by a wire Your ice cubes keep on melting And sure as sun will shine That lemonade you made ain't gonna turn to lemon wine The rivers foul the ocean Our mountaintops are sand We idolize the work of human hands Everything falls apart Don't you see Everything falls apart Eventually Everyone falls apart Even you and me Entropy
8.
SLEEPIN’ ENGINEER Hey scarecrow did you see that our train has missed the station? Check the schedule; ask the porter what has gone awry Three more stations fly by, all the passengers bury their eyes In books and drinks and windows until someone finally cries But the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t hear us And the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t wake We fear an early grave in the belly of a speeding train Home’s warm embrace is fadin’ far, far away Hey blackbird can you fly any faster; we are passing you On our trip to nowhere, you’re invited to hitch a ride The towns all look the same in a blur of flip card glory There’s a million and one stories flashing right before our eyes But the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t see this And the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t wake We fear an early grave in the belly of a hungry train Home’s warm embrace is fadin’ far, far away Hey moth why do you glide so close to burning candlelight? Some would call your curiosity a suicide She said, "we all perish any way, we could die on this train And dancing with this gorgeous flame makes me feel so alive" But the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t know this And the sleepin’ engineer doesn’t wake So we bust down the engine door To find an open window and a note that reads I’m off to see the world, you’re on your own You’re on your own You’re on your own
9.
Boxcars 02:19
BOXCARS Riding in boxcars Sleeping in rail yards While my friends tell tales of fast cars I got nothing and nothing's all that I need And it’s freedom to me Speeding past big stores Them and their price wars You take the low hanging fruit and I’ll take the main course I’ve got stories, and stories they come cheap And they’re freedom to me I’ll go home when the west winds call me I’ll find my way to that golden sea Where there’s a ship filled with nothing that I don’t need And it’s freedom to me I know joy like it grows on trees And it’s freedom to me
10.
SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR I don't miss going out on the sea The ocean isn't a friend to me All she wants to swallow me And pull me down All those men that were lost to the waves Haunt me, pleading they still can be saved Can't remember how many days I've lived on survivor's time I feel much lighter now that I'm dry Feet on dirt, with a bed by a fire I cut a feather with every stride And each step is steady But the nights are always the same Drowning in dreams, I'm back on the waves And the sails have blown away Leaving us adrift on the green Tired and dried out and little to eat Eye to eye with the sailor-soul thief Taking us one at a time I promised then if I was spared I'd collapse in a comfortable chair Snug and slippered, without a care I'd never sail again But the nights are always the same Drowning in dreams, I'm back on the waves And the sails have blown away And I cannot go on in this way Drowning in dreams, I'm back on the waves Every night swallowed in a storm And the sails have blown away
11.
Dillinger 03:42
DILLINGER Square in the middle of the Mid-western plain John the dispossessed came to carve his name In the hearts and minds of American dreams After speculators sold it all upstream Gin bottle courage and a slight of hand Playing cops and robbers he devoured the land All the stiff-suited G-men lost on the chase He left little else but legend in his wake He thrashed right through the whispering pines Slipped into dead of night Under cold steel darkness they did wait But Dillinger is already miles away Little Bohemia where the gang took rest Sleep with one eye open and a steel plate vest A dozen feds showed up on a cold Sunday night To surround the lodge, but only on three sides Agents staked out at the window above Firing rifles in their untrained gloves They finally had Dillinger pinned to the wall And they lingered through the long hush of the dawn He thrashed right through the whispering pines Slipped into dead of night Under cold steel darkness they did wait But Dillinger is already miles away Monday morning when the fog did rise All the innocent dead still had fear in their eyes As the feds washed the blood off and hung their heads down A new breed of lawman gonna come around He thrashed right through the whispering pines Slipped into dead of night Under cold steel darkness they did wait But Dillinger is already miles away
12.
WRECKING BALL SAVIOR O these walls we live inside Ain’t got much to do otherwise But to stand in their place Hold the living people warm and safe It’s been five years since love has flown From what used to be this tender home Now what’s left of the empty halls Just the ghost of a love gone wrong O my savior with a wrecking ball Be my guardian as I watch it fall Tear this house down that I call my past Most of what we fret about wasn’t built to last Yet another restless night All the stars are flirting up the sky While the wind creeps through a windowpane Come to wake me up and whisper his name O my savior with a wrecking ball Be my guardian as I watch it fall Tear this house down that I call my past Most of what we fret about wasn’t built to last Gather ‘round and watch this house laid bare Everyone loves a destruction when it isn’t theirs O my savior, in ashes we will walk Be my guardian through smoking clouds of chalk Tear this house down, into blessed black And tell that haunting lover I'm never coming back
13.
Zombie Zombo 01:56
ZOMBIE ZOMBO Zombie, Zombo Thousands of them, watch them go Through the streets of downtown Chicago Looking for your brain, yumma yumma Vampire, vampo Sleeps all day in a piano Flaps around the light on the patio Looking for your neck, yumma yumma Yeti, Yeto Two big feet, ten big toes Himalayan sasquatch-y freak show looking for your tent, yumma yumma
14.
O Lucy 03:50
O LUCY Ravens over a twilight sky O Lucy don't you weep Where the river comes to rise O Lucy don't you weep I saw something shimmering beneath the water so deep O Lucy don't you weep The Devil and the Holy Ghost O Lucy don't you weep Told me who to love the most O Lucy what to believe But staring at the murky water it became strangely clear Lucy, my fortune lay buried here I dove right in to these dark waters I'll miss you Lucy and all the sons and daughters For when the river's mighty arm Pulls me where the light no longer shines upon The branches of the willow trees O Lucy don't you weep What if there is nothing on the other side for me Just this quiet river that feeds the infinite sea O Lucy don't you weep O Lucy don't you weep

about

M Shanghai celebrates ten years together with the release of their fourth album, Two Thousand Pennies. Featuring a diversity of songwriting styles, powerful singers, and roots-inspired arrangements, M Shanghai provides a fresh take on contemporary American music.

credits

released October 9, 2012

Patty Hughes: bass
Matt Schickele: guitar
Dave Pollack: harmonica
Glendon Jones: fiddle
Hilary Hawke: banjo
Austin Hughes: resonator guitar
Philippa Thompson: fiddle, viola
Richard Morris: mandolin, guitar
Brian Geltner: drums, percussion
John Shanchuck: banjo
Harrison Cannon: bass

Everyone sings.

Produced by M Shanghai & Damon Whittemore
Recorded & Mixed by Damon Whittemore at Valvetone, NYC
Mastered by Richard Morris Mastering, Asbury Park, NJ
Artwork: Austin Hughes
Band Photo: Brian Geltner
CD Manufacturing: Groove House Records

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M Shanghai Brooklyn, New York

Since 2002, this Brooklyn collective's roots-based, original songs and joyous performances have created a fiercely loyal word-of-mouth following. They invite you to celebrate the release of their new album, "Bedlam", and to visit them for their monthly first-Saturday performances at The Jalopy Theater www.jalopy.biz ... more

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