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Needle, Feather, and a Rope

by Blind Willies

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1.
One dime down On the ageless face With its surgical charm Its style and its grace Look how it moves without any pain There’s light in the eyes But it’s dark and it rains An amputated oath For the miracle of sight What God has given us Will finally be set right With hands cool as the clay That handles with ease The most clever and sharpest of knives To have ever been dreamed It's one dime down All memory’s erased From the skin the teeth the hair History can be replaced Mark down everything That you think you should keep But remember perfection remains One cent out of reach Oh you’re a pretty one Delicate and fine Please, please favor me With a thorn upon your vine One dime down And the wait won’t be too long All you need is faith In the promise of my song You are special to me And there’s nothing that isn’t deserved Step into my tent for something More precious than words There’s no bottom to the eyes Hungry scars upon the faces Of those who’ve come to stare And vanish without a trace Yes they came in the morning And waited far into the night For a Savior to fill them With riches and beauty and light It’s one dime down For anything you’ll confess Be it love or lies or hate Unburden yourself and rest Like a snake you may shed any scales That have weathered and cracked Your new skin will make up For whatever it was that you lacked You can sing, you can smile, you can grin You can dance, you can laugh For only one dime and that’s all Just don’t ask for it back Oh you’re a pretty one Delicate and fine Please, please favor me With a rose upon your vine
2.
The Lord thought he’d make a man He wasn’t thinking about me And when he saw what he had done Said “You shall abide or live in misery. Either way you will be tried By a jury of your fears Who will sentence you to labor Under a vale of tears.” There’s no shortage of pretenders But there’s no one like the Lord When I rose up from the dust I was cast into the sea There a beast in the dark water Came and swallowed me Like Job I am bewildered Like Jonah I’m deceived Is not a witness up in heaven Who will testify for me? Man ain’t nothing but a dream He withers like the grass You may sever both his heels But his pride will never pass He was made to be elastic To bend any which way The universe is blowing On this or any day The planets have no power A string of pearls up in the sky If we’re to make it through the night There’ll have to be a sacrifice Say hello to little Jesus Won’t you kiss him once for me? Before he’s dropped into the fire To dance his destiny The Lord ain’t nothing but a man Wanting to be kissed Afraid there’s something out there That’s bigger than his wish Many fears are born of loneliness And from this he can’t escape Like the silence in a bedroom That keeps a poor boy awake There’s no shortage of pretenders But there’s no one like the Lord
3.
Good and faithful servant With strong and tender hands Small town disposition Two legs on which to stand Keeping us from temptation With the down home tip of her tongue Salvation’s never felt as good This isn’t the first time that she’s come Trouble will soon be over Speaks the woman up on high Easing us into rapture Taking bets on who survives The world is full of tricks And we are vulnerable Stick your sword into the sand Paradise is irresistible Get behind your master That’s where you belong She’s riding on a white horse Love is the fulfillment of the law Don’t forget that she’s a country girl Making her way through America She’s just a country girl Only in America Good and faithful servant Closer than any friend She’s an inspiration to the people With a will that never bends Don’t ask too many questions Have faith she will provide Every spiritual desire That complements my pride Oh ain’t it a kindness Our Savior at long last Making all of our decisions Condemnation when we’re bad The world is full of tricks And we are vulnerable Stick your sword into the sand Paradise is irresistible No more expectations No more of your demands If you’re looking for a partner Must be a stranger in this land Because she ain’t that kind of woman No she ain’t that type of girl
4.
Sister, where you going with spikes on your heels? Your man’s not worthy of attention It may be natural, oh it’s what you do best You ought to move in some other direction You can touch fire, draw water from stone Deliver strength into captivity But all day I see as you smile and you slave Giving glory to your enemy God gave you a needle God gave you a feather And a rope Brother, when the time comes will you even make a sound? Standing on a corner with flowers in your hand Not that you can’t sing or clench your teeth and fight There are just some things the world won’t allow you to have There’s no guarantee if it’s mercy that you want There’s only one road but it’s endless and deep Got to go by yourself don’t try to compromise With anyone whose love drifts away like smoke Two white horses Side by side Goodbye brother You’ve been sanctified I’m waiting for something Another girl and a new skin Never said it had to make sense Just get me through the door God gave us a needle God gave us a feather And a rope Where I’m going now might disappear Don’t come running if you can’t see me I do believe it’s three voices that I hear The wilderness was never empty One begs forgiveness, one asks for sorrow One demands my sweet attention I don’t know how it ever got this far Guess I made the wrong impression God gave them a needle God gave them a feather And a rope
5.
Jezebel 04:52
Jezebel was free She wouldn’t be denied With wolves hungry at her feet She cursed them with her eyes Said “If you kiss me with your teeth You will surely die I don’t want you at my door I give my pleasure to the Lord I don’t want you at my door I give my pleasure to the Lord.” Winter came and autumn died There wasn’t any rain Men went to Jezebel To take her for a slave Said “If you run away We’ll chase you to the grave Better do as you are told Fetch us water from your well Better do as you are told Fetch us water from your well.” The sun burned out the sky Rivers ceased to flow Jezebel would never cry She could take it on her own Into a bed of fire Forced to lie alone Said “Though you cut me with a knife My blood will never fill your bones Though you cut me with a knife My blood will never save your soul.” Jezebel was strong and brave Painted like a queen She threw her scorn down at the dogs Held her head up in defeat And from a tower sinking down Into eternity Said “Though my temple be destroyed I give my pleasure to the Lord Though my temple be destroyed I give my pleasure to the Lord.”
6.
Last I saw Joey he was stealing again For a deadly habit he confides in as a friend There’s a girl who swallows fire on a peep show stage Joey swears he’s gonna buy her a wedding ring someday Try keeping it to yourself (2x) Danny’s still pissing on bathroom walls Peeking up the doors of adjacent stalls He marks his name in gold but still feels small So compensates with insecure girls at the mall Try keeping it to yourself Between your heart and a hungry lie Between the truth and your doubting eyes There’s only one thing that’ll pass the time Give yourself over to a reprobate mind Sarah’s showing off her pure white thighs Been seen with a black man twice her size She was studying religion making her parents proud But she fell into debt with the questionable crowd Try keeping it to yourself People come to listen but not for long They say “Why don’t you ever sing happy songs? Your mother treats you better than any boy deserves But all you want to do is ridicule the world.” Try keeping it to yourself Between your heart and a hungry lie Between the truth and your doubting eyes There’s only one thing that’ll pass the time Give yourself over to a reprobate mind Well well well well well It’s still good to be me
7.
I’ve been gambling since I was nine For women drunk on holy wine My mother loved me, but papa died She was always making deals outside Keep on trying Whatever seems to work You want it easy But somebody’s gonna get hurt Somebody’s gonna get hurt Strange days spinning round Bouncing off the madding crowd Every bird’s scratching at the ground If I had wings I’d never come down Not for crumbs in a parking lot Not for words in a sacred book Not for applause or a perfect mask Maybe for love if it’s not too hard Give it a shot when it comes back I made a mistake I made a mistake I made a mistake Big sky, open fate Charging through a narrow gate I’m gonna be somebody today All the finest women will want my name I got a chariot waiting out back Blades on its wheels you can bank on that Whether I live or whether I die Sometimes it feels like I’m on the wrong ride Sometimes it feels like I’m on the wrong ride I made a mistake I made a mistake I made a mistake again
8.
The night moves in like a petty thief The whippoorwill sings in harmony With the husbands, lovers, lawyers, and wives On a distant train in the smoke of your eyes You wouldn’t know it just looking at me I’m a driving force of history Get on board if you want to get right Touch your lips to the pain in my heart This must be the neighborhood Where Moses on a rock he stood Turning traffic into water and water into blood Making deals on the side for a gentile’s love The moon’s in a cardboard box tonight Sinking in a park where drunkards fight Over who gets to drink the last drop of midnight Who gets to drink the last drop of midnight? Spin me round little darling, what can you do? All my time’s spent dreaming about you Speaking in tongues painted in red Testing my faith at the foot of our bed I shot my heart in the veins of the world I’m not used to days like dust anymore Won’t you do for me what spring does To frozen fields and cold blood?
9.
Rattlesnake, Oh Rattlesnake What makes your teeth so white? “I’ve been on the bottom all of my life And I ain’t done nothing but bite I ain’t done nothing but bite.” Absolutely, Rattlesnake! Positively Now! I know all about those other young boys You’ve poisoned with a smile Josephine, Oh Josephine What makes your eyes so bright? “My husband won’t be coming home tonight For you I’ll play a wife For you I’ll play a wife.” Absolutely, Josephine! Positively Now! I know all about those other young boys You’ve educated with a smile You’re gonna take me with you Without compromise And do anything you have to To disappear Into the arms of a lie Pussycat, Oh Pussycat What makes your fur so sleek? “To common men I never do speak You won’t find me in the street You won’t find me in the street.” Absolutely, Pussycat! Positively Now! I know all about those other young boys You’ve hunted with a smile Isabel, Oh Isabel What makes your heart so hard? “Been scratching gravel all my days It’s a wonder I ain’t tired It’s a wonder I ain’t tired.” Absolutely, Isabel! Positively Now! I’m not like those other young boys Who’ve stolen your smile You’re cool water for my burning skin Your dark gypsy eyes I want to be your caravan And disappear Into a country mile
10.
Standing in the water Burning in the rain Waiting for the moon to break For the lights to change You always keep your hat on But never like to talk Except to tell me that we shouldn’t wait It’s better just to walk And watch out for the taxis Speeding past the curb You won’t say that they’re evil Just a curse upon the world Take your time Wake up from the fever That was low at first But made you a believer Everyone who knows you Says “You’ll come back again.” But they don’t read the paper They’re not worried about the end Everyday at noon When the sirens start to whine You crawl under a table And disconnect the lines Whether it’s the mailman Or the ghost of ancient Rome You’re not ready for a message Or to give up all you own Like a broken circus tiger Living on the road In a cage it’s come to think of Fondly as a home Take your time We can drink wine together From a bottle of courage For the Cowardly Lion Sitting in the twilight Staring into space Tracing every shooting star That’s falling out of place Keep thinking that I see you In the faces of the moon Drifting gracefully Cross a field of broken stone
11.
Sisters of Perpetual Curiosity Riding from the pearly gates Come to slum it with a tramp like me They say they want to know Just how it feels To have traded my perfect wings For the pleasure of the year Nothing’s as bad as you think it’s gonna be Nothing’s as bad as you think it’s gonna be You might guzzle down iodine Chasing it with apathy But nothing’s quite as bad as you know it’s gonna be Ladies, I was too eager For so much earthly delight I’ve always had big eyes Even for a little child But at least I’ve been well defined No schizophrenic state of mind I take responsibility For any evil that possesses me Nothing’s as bad as you think it’s gonna be Nothing’s as bad as you think it’s gonna be You might run into someone you knew She won’t even look at you You find out for yourself if it’s as bad As you know it’s gonna be
12.
Don’t let the Devil steal your joy (4x) Nobody told me they’d behave like this They tempt you with a flower Later they hiss Pleasure has no limit But you can’t deny the poison in her kiss I feel the rising of Mississippi water My love will turn the violent winter into spring Don’t let the Devil steal your joy (4x) With vulnerable pride I lost everything on a beautiful lie Her delicate hands Drew water from my bones into a box of sand Change is painful, feel like a stranger Wasting time is all that ever happens here Don’t let the Devil steal your joy (4x) Will you stay or will you run? Fear destruction when it comes? Forgiveness will see you through You may not deserve it Be glad when it comes to you Friends will leave you and health will pass Through tiny cracks in your victory mask But she comes under moonlight And it’s hard not to try everything she asks I’m so glad for the end of night I liked it so much I almost forgot to wake up Don’t let the Devil steal your joy (4x)
13.
I got a new mule to ride (2x) The old one needed shooting Don’t consider it a crime Fifty bucks from an old junkyard Get on top and you’ll go far It don’t need to be justified I got a new mule to ride It’s not too bright but it sure is strong (2x) Hitched to a wagon, easy to use How can a deal like that be wrong? Anyhow you can make it Anytime you can take it No matter what it’s called Might as well fake it See if you’re redeemed Seen me in a mask uptown Painted lips, hair hanging down Say “Ain’t you ever been satisfied?” I wasn’t raised to touch the ground Four legs are better than two Drive them hard before you lose The illusion of dignity It passes with the moon I don’t want to face myself Give me another name The keys to someone else I won’t ever have to die I got a new mule to ride Never tried to defy it Or pretend to deny it No matter the price I’m good for it Yes I shall be redeemed She got a new mule to ride (2x) The old one needed shooting Don’t consider it a crime Ride it from the grave to New Orleans From Cry Me a River to Troublesome Creek Before the Devil comes Say Time for getting on To the business of your dreams
14.
Soon my work will be over Into the valley I’ll go down Dreamed I died and went to heaven There was nobody around Just a storefront red light flashing On the dark edge of a cloud And a television playing Dirty pictures without sound Days they come Like an empty train When I’m alone And you’re away Some men will beg for beauty With terror in their eyes Better save those pennies Find another place to hide I’m so easily tempted By every shadow on the street Looking fine and distinguished As they come calling after me We must have done Something wrong To burn away With the morning fog But I want to do everything Maybe listen to the mountains sing Oh there’s a difference, a difference Soon my work will be over Out of death I will arise With a brand new perfect body That does everything but die Put on that black dress, honey Release a flower where you stand We’ll go walking in the sunshine With all its power in our hands Days they come Like an empty train When I’m alone And you’re away But I want to do everything Maybe listen to the mountains sing Oh there’s a difference, a difference Moving through fire Won’t change my mind Moving through fire And I can’t turn round

about

In April 2009 I watched a Frontline documentary, The Released, about what happens to mentally ill inmates after they're paroled. A psychiatrist questioned a man who had spent 21 years in prison for murder and had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He heard voices. The doctor asked him what the voices were saying. They were hungry, he said, they wanted to be fed and they were afraid. God beat them. "So they start crying. They got a needle. They got a needle and they got a feather and they got a rope. God give it to them, a needle, a feather, and a rope." I laughed. But the words stayed with me over the next few days, and a needle, a feather, and a rope became everything we have, everything we don't have, our fates and temptations, what we do with what we're given, what we don't do, who we become because of what we do or don't do with what we're given.

Needle, feather, and rope are knitting terms, stitches and tools. I thought about all the other images those words conjure. Later I read a paragraph in Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions that I understood well. "The prostitutes worked for a pimp now. He was splendid and cruel. He was a god to them. He took their free will away from them, which was perfectly all right. They didn't want it anyway. It was as though they had surrendered themselves to Jesus, for instance, so they could live unselfishly and trustingly--except that they had surrendered to a pimp instead." I grew up on a street in San Francisco where prostitutes and pimps bought and sold themselves daily. The scene under my bedroom window was a circus, a market, a world. There was a church on the corner, an elementary school, community centers, a music school. I'm telling you this so that you know some of my reference points, how the song grew, where the album came from. Between August 2009 and the end of the year, I began playing my songs with Misha, Max, Daniel, and Adam. We're proud of the music we recorded. It's dedicated to Vic Chesnutt.

credits

released April 1, 2011

All songs written by Alexei Wajchman* © 2011(BMI)
Produced by Lemon DeGeorge and Blind Willies
Recorded by Jay Pellicci in June 2010
at Tiny Telephone in SF
Additional overdubs recorded by Charles Gonzalez
at Radical House, SF
Mixed by Justin Phelps (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14)
and Gabriel Shepard (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12)
at Hyde Street Studios, SF
Mastered by Paul Stubblebine, SF

This record was recorded and mixed all analog.

BLIND WILLIES
Alexei Wajchman: vocal, guitar, harmonica
Adam Coopersmith: drums
Daniel Riera: bass
Max Miller-Loran: keys, trumpet
Misha Khalikulov: cello

GUESTS
Randy Clark: lead guitar (3)
Isabel Douglass: accordion (1)
Adam Nash: guitar slide at end (13)
Ken Rosen: tenor sax (4)
Andrew Walker: bass trombone (1)
Rachel Woods-Robinson: trombone (4, 9, 14)

Capp Street Revisionist Choir: Rachel, Rebecca Pingree, Nicolette Yarbrough, and all the boys

Art Direction, Design: B. Wajchman
Photoshop Genie: Ariel Sommer
Cover illustration and title by Emile B. Klein in
homage to Giulietta Masina, Federico Fellini,
Charlie Chaplin, Baptiste, and all the Children of
Paradise

*Absolutely Isabel was inspired by a traditional,
Rattlesnake, collected by Alan Lomax

Special thanks to Lemon DeGeorge, John Vanderslice,
Isaac Pingree, Alrik Bursell, our guests, our families

Lemon DeGeorge (Jolie Holland, film Genghis Blues)
Jay Pellicci (Deerhoof)
Charles Gonzalez (Rogue Wave, Mother Hips)
Justin Phelps (Cake, Dresden Dolls)
Gabriel Shepard (Frank Black, Peter Case)
Paul Stubblebine (John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder)

Diggory Records 2011

"Like The Band? Like Jack White? Then you’ll love Needle, Feather and a Rope, a majestic alt-countrified horn-driven take on the universe and everything in it . . . the new album is a shot in the arm, with the primordial sounds of Leadbelly and Lomax filtered through New Orleans blues, Randy Newman pop, Rolling Stones rock and roll, grandiose indiefolk, and just about every other genre that has followed."
Boyhowdy, Cover Lay Down

"San Francisco's Blind Willies is the kind of band whose music sharply divides listeners' opinions almost instantly. While some might take that as a knock, I consider it a testament to the intensity and tenacity with which they explore their own boundaries. A heady mix of americana, blues, folk, and rock 'n' roll, their latest album Needle, Feather, and a Rope showcases frontman Alexei Wajchman's incredible range of emotional nuance."
Laurel Kathleen, Best New Bands


"Any band that combines a Hammond organ and a cello has my attention, to begin with. Likewise a band that features a lyric about being tried “by a jury of your fears” in the song’s first 25 seconds.

'Lord Thought He’d Make a Man' is an old-timey song with sprinkles of Randy Newman, Kurt Weill, Tom Waits, and Jim Morrison concocted into slinky, rugged shuffle. Front man Alexei Wajchman has a sly sense of humor and a slightly unhinged singing and guitar-playing style that fully commands the aural stage (and I have no doubt of his command of the physical stage as well)."
Jeremy Schlosberg, Fingertips Music


"Blind Willies goes electric and adds some new members. Lead singer/songwriter Alexei Wajchman produces a haunting and gleefully sardonic album . . . Played live on KZSU in May 2011 and sounded fantastic!"
Alan Joyce, KZSU Stanford University


"Creative songwriting. Cello and horns sound great. Can be played on a variety of shows."
DJ Coach, KAFM


"Blind Willies are the brain child of Alexei Wajchman, a singer/songwriter from San Francisco, previously releasing two albums under the name Blind Willies and touring as an acoustic duo, for this third album he put together a band of accomplished multi instrumentalists and the result is 'Needle, Feather, And A Rope'.

With a wide range of influences including Dylan, The Pogues, Zappa, Leonard Cohen and many soul and
blues legends, Blind Willies offer up a promising mix of folk, blues, Americana and rock 'n' roll, all recorded in retro analogue folks, just like they did in the old days. The songs and lyrics especially are influenced by Wajchman's upbringing, stories of life on the streets of San Francisco, pimps and whores, gamblers and dealers, the general day to day life outside his window.

Opener 'One Dime Down' sets the scene with a maudlin cello, before bursting in with a collection of rustic sounding instrumentation, accordion and brass instruments giving a folky, almost carnival feel. Gogol Bordello immediately spring to mind, a sweet, upbeat Gypsy folk song, but where Gogol to me sound like Borat on crack, Blind Willies are more like Jagger fronting The Pogues. 'Lord Thought He'd Make a Man' continues the theme with swathes of Hammond, close your eyes and you can almost smell the whiskey and smoke from some small ancient bar that this band must surely haunt on a nightly basis.

'Jezebel' is like an old traditional folk tune, a tale of some poor lady of the night who gave her pleasure to the Lord, and nods its hat to The Pogues. The heartfelt 'Notes For A Cowardly Lion' has Wajchman solo with just a piano for company; simple, with some rousing harmonica, is nice. Stones influences come through in 'Last Drop Of Midnight' and 'Sisters Of Perpetual Curiosity', in fact it's probably the influence of the artists who pre-date the Stones to be honest. The vocals overall sit somewhere between Jagger and Mike Scott from The Waterboys, a nice combination.

A good mix of upbeat Gypsy folk and laid back, vagabond balladeering make for an interesting sound indeed and one to be embraced. The songs are well written, and tales of prostitutes and strippers, circus performers and thieves guarantee a worthwhile listen and a good read of the lyric booklet.

Blind Willies are the sort of band that turn up every so often on Later...With Jools Holland - World Music?
Folk? Blues?...yep all of the above. Whether you like these types of music or not, if you have a liking of well written songs about life then you cannot go far wrong with 'Needle, Feather, And A Rope'"
Ben Hughes, Uber Rock, UK

"On their third album Blind Willies open with the crazy mad-eyed fin-de-siecle carny sound of 'One Dime Down', which constantly teeters on the edge of chaos but by means of its momentum manages to reach the end successfully. The album as a whole takes this as its touchstone, as main man Alexei Wajchman has constructed a mad collage that isn’t quite folk, isn’t quite blues and isn’t quite Americana but could equally be classified as any of those things and several others besides. It’s intense and demanding music, uneasy listening. It’s angular and jagged, Wajchman’s voice alternately howling and caressing the lyrics . . . as [he] draws you into his world and his mad poetry."
Jeremy Searle, Americana UK

"In a state of sheer panic, I found out that the Danny Cohen and Blind Willies show started at 7 p.m. It was 6:30 and I was in desperate need of a shower and still had bed head from my disco nap. Buckling up my pants I ran unshowered down Geary Street to get my girlfriend and grab a cab to get to the Mission District. I thought the show started at 9-ish. Doesn't everything start after 10 p.m. in San Francisco? Not this show. Which was fantastic . . . Blind Willies are excellent. Their latest CD, Needle, Feather and a Rope, is on heavy rotation in my apartment."
Tony DuShane, SF Chronicle

I knew nothing about Northern California indie folk collective Blind Willies when “Needle, Feather, and a
Rope” came across my desk several weeks ago. After about a dozen spins of these phenomenal 14 songs, the Alexei Wajchman-fronted outfit has moved to the top of my list of pleasant surprises. Blind Willies lure you right in with the vaudeville-like strains of opener “One Dime Down,” and continue to mesmerize . . . If you’re looking to spend an hour of unadulterated musical bliss, “Needle, Feather, and a Rope” will do the trick.
Jeffrey Sisk, In Tune, The Daily News, McKeesport, PA


There's enough gypsy flair to give these songs that slimy carny feel, though as the album descends into madness the gospel elements begin to take over.

And so what begins as a trip into blindness becomes a tale of redemption. Of sorts. The resolution isn't half-hearted, but it's more resignation than acclamation. Life will wear on you.

All that may sound drearily deep, but the music is so searing and enthralling that the themes of good, evil, life and death are hardly overwhelming. Rather, such grandiose routes of thought seem like the perfect accompaniment.

An utterly ambitious album, and one that follows through with a massive emotional impact. This'll put you through the wringer, but in the best of ways.
Aiding & Abetting #329
John Worley

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