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Cold and Weary

from God's Tattoos by William Lee Ellis

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about

The first of two dream songs on the album, this one came to me during my time spent in Japan. It acknowledges the many homeless that live there in larger cities such as my former hometown Nagoya, where the people of the street exist in almost ghostlike anonymity even though they live and move in plain sight, their clothing lines hung with almost meticulous pride in the many makeshift camps set up behind bushes, in parks and under highway overpasses.

lyrics

Your charade takes on a glow
Walking past the bums below
What you’ve got is clear and plain
They don’t even have a name

Lo unto the Son of Mary
He came into this world cold and weary
Gather round, hear me clearly
We come into this world cold and weary

Fire warms the hearts of men
Just as dogs eat crumbs any way we send
This holy ghost needs to be fed
Drop the sermon, let’s break bread

Lo unto the Son of Mary
He came into this world cold and weary
Gather round, hear me clearly
We come into this world cold and weary

Is he any less a man
Who lives on streets and scrapes the can
Heed what your Good Book do say
You can’t even glance his way

Lo unto the Son of Mary
He came into this world cold and weary
Gather round, hear me clearly
We come into this world cold and weary

Sleeping in the rain and snow
All God’s children got pride you know
Don’t judge too hard or reprimand
We’ve all pissed in our pants, my friend

Lo unto the Son of Mary
He came into this world cold and weary
Gather round, hear me clearly
We come into this world cold and weary

credits

from God's Tattoos, released July 11, 2006
William Lee Ellis - vocals, guitars
Amy LaVere - bass
Paul Taylor - drums

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William Lee Ellis Memphis

"There's no one else playing exactly the same sort of music as William Lee Ellis," said legendary producer Jim Dickinson of the Americana/blues master acoustic guitarist. "It's as if he's invented his own sort of 'holy blues' genre."

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