Gordon Carter - Singer Songwriter

He turned 21 in `68,
I remember the day
My brother got a letter
and he had to go away
My daddy said go get him son,
My mother cried all night
He took the train to California
and left to join the fight

I can close my eyes,
and still see today
Him smiling at the window as the train pulled away
They called him a hero, one of Montana’s best
They sent him home in a wooden box with a flag on his chest

Chorus-
They gave my mom his purple heart and a letter edged in black
Uncle Sam said he was sorry but that didn’t bring him back
Daddy said he died for freedom but that didn’t make it right
I headed for the border in the middle of the night

By the time they sent my letter I was already gone
I was living like a hobo in south Saskatchewan
They called me a traitor to the land of my birth
It don’t matter where you lay your head we’re all brothers on this earth

Chorus-

All the men in my family have all marched with a gun
My grandfather’s father fought the battle of Bull Run
But I am just a hippie who’s brother died in Vietnam
Ain’t never shot nobody and I’m proud of who I am

Chorus-

A Pit Pony's Tale
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN))

My parents were sent here from a farm back in Wales
They smelt the salt sea air felt the wind in the sails
I was born on the beach in the rocks and the sand
We were all sold at auction to work in this land

Side by side with the miners we worked every day
For one pail of grain and a handful of hay
We live in a stable right next to the shaft
Two hundred feet down in the dark and the damp

Chorus.

I am a pit pony I’ve worked all my life
In this dark old coal mine where there’s no day or night
All I’ll ask when its over and worked through my time
Lift these tired old bones back to the light

The miners they work for the same poor pay
But they get to leave at the end of the day
The dreams they dig for will never be found
And ponies weren’t born to live underground

Chorus.

I hope there’s a place where pit ponies go
When we’re done with the work
We’re too weak and too slow
No muck to your knees no coal slag or gas
Just the warmth of the sunlight on a field of green grass.

Chorus.

One Spring Morning (listen to sound clip)
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Chorus
It’s another spring morning, winter is leaving
The trees with their blossom give thanks
And the snow is melting from off of the benchland
The rivers run high in their banks

She told me that, she’d found another
And someday that I would too
But a heart, that’s only known deception,
Might not know not know a love that is true

The sun still rises, and the mornings keep coming
And I am waiting here still
For that someone someday that might be my only
But I know that she never will

Chorus

So for all of you lovers, hold on to one another,
Stay close don’t you ever let go
For the heart that you cherish, and keep close beside you
Is the only one you’ll ever know

Chorus

Percy's Place Listen to soundclip
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Chorus
Grandpa had a small café
Down on the main street
The old timers said it was a pretty good place to eat
He had little round glasses and a big fat belly
And whiskers like steel wool
If you ever sat down at Percy’s Place
You always left there full

When he came to visit
We’d pick him up at the train
Cause he sold his car in forty-four
And he never drove again
He blew up bridges in World War One
And he fought at Vimmy Ridge
He talked to dad about the war
But he never did to us kids

Chorus

Every morning we’d have inspection
We’d line up by the bed
He’d check the blankets and the shine on your shoes
He was stiff as a pencil lead
And when he gave you the evil eye
You could feel it down in your guts
Us kids thought he was really neat
But dad just said he was nuts

Chorus

I was nine when grandpa died
It seemed like yesterday
Dad said mom was crying
Cause her dad had passed away
Now forty-two years have gone really quick
But I guess it’s quite awhile
I’ll never forget those rough old whiskers
And the way my grandpa smiled

Chorus

And I’ll never forget those rough old whiskers
And the way my grandpa smiled

Chilcotin River
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Ice on the windshield it`s forty below
Driving home at midnight cause I got no place to go
This old house is empty except for a memory or two
I'm holding things together and I'm thinking about you

Chorus

Now I've got Emmylou on the radio my heart is slowly sinking.
I knew that it would finally get me all this partying and drinking.
Every time I had a chance I made a wrong choice
Now all I have are these lonely notes from her sweet and haunting voice.

If I could make my life over don't know how much I'd change.
Maybe try a little harder to come in from the rain
I know I should have listened a little more where you're concerned
But the lessons of the heart are the hardest ones to learn.

Chorus

That old Chilcotin River in the canyon called farewell
Her power and her beauty ain't no tongue can tell
Sometimes I just drive out there to look at the world
To remember how things used to be when you were my girl.

Chorus

I'm Sorry Tom
Music and Lyrics By Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

They hung old Tom McMurty, they left him dangling in the sun
They said he stole bill Johnson’s horse because he had the old man’s gun
Now the wheels of justice it seemed to me moved a little too fast
Because that horse they’re all talking about is right here under my ass

Chorus

I’m sorry Tom, what else can I say
You’re in the wrong place at the right time
Guess it wasn’t your day
I’m sorry Tom what else could I do
You shouldn’t have taken that gun
Your rambling days are through

Ole bill used to leave that rifle hanging on his horse
And I owed Tom a little money so I gave him the gun of course
The way I had it figured old Tom and I were square
Considering the outcome is still hanging in the air

Chorus

There ain’t no moral to this story and I don’t think there ever was
What happened to my buddy Tom I guess it’s just because
But if you steal your best friends girl you better be heading south
If someone hands you a stolen gun don’t look a swift horse in the mouth

Chorus

My Mother's Eyes
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

There’s an empty old farmhouse on the side of the road
Where I was born and raised and sometimes still go
My mother was a city girl left on her own
She met and married my father this was never her home

Chorus
She said heartbreak valley is where we lived
And she would always blame the land for what it could not give
I was so young I did not realize
The depth of the sadness in my mother’s eyes

My father he worked from daylight till dark
He’s been gone for twenty years and you can still see his mark
The willows and the bunch grass have taken back the fields
And the river still winds past the cedar clad hills

Bridge
I was not there when she passed on
I could not breathe when he said she was gone
I often wondered why he never cried
But I know that he loved her by the look in his eyes

There’s an old family photo on my bedroom wall
And when I get to thinking sometimes I recall
The faces that hold those old memories
I can still see her eyes looking right back at me

Chorus

The depth of the sadness in my mother’s eyes

A likely Story
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Well I’m head’in down the road with five friends of mine
Look’in for a place to have a good time and that’s Likely
If you’ve ever been there and had the deacon pour beer that’s Likely

In the town of Horsefly they got a bar ,
Down the Beaver Valley road it’s not that far
But it ain’t likely, it ain’t Likely
They got the beer but no atmosphere
It ain't Likely

Brenda works the pub down at Big Lake
If you drive by there it’s a big mistake
That ain’t Likely, that ain’t Likely
If there’s a nicer smile north of Hundred Mile
It ain't Likely

We were head’in to the Anvil to have a beer
But Hartley said he don’t like it there
But ain’t Likely, it ain’t Likely
I don’t know how he would know
Cause he was comatose
It ain't Likely

I made a promise to my wife about the trip next year
That I would quit drinking beer
That ain’t likely, that ain’t Likely
So sit right down and buy us a round
And that ain’t Likely

Well I’m head’in down the road with five friends of mine
Look’in for a place to have a good time
And that’s Likely, that’s Likely
If you’ve ever been there and had the Deacon pour beer
That’s Likely
If you’ve ever been there and had the Deacon pour beer
that’s Likely

When You Get Old
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Ain’t suppose to drink coffee no more
Ain’t allowed to smoke cigarettes
Had to swear off of alcohol
But sometimes I sneak a little bit

Chorus
When you get old you can’t do nothing you want to do
Even if you could, you can’t
Drag these bones once more around the block
How’d I get this old, it’s quite a shock

Used to have lots of energy
I could party all night long
Now I’m in bed by quarter to nine
I don’t know what the hell went wrong

Chorus

They got these aerobic girls on TV
Every day at half past two
Their spandex shorts keep my heart rate up
It’s pretty good what exercise can do

Chorus (twice)

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The River
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

They’ve covered the ground to the waters edge
With six feet of roadbed gravel
A pioneer's dream and a workingman’s home
Buried by the rich man’s gavel

Chorus
Used to lie on the riverside
Watch the water rolling past
Felt the silt between my toes
Listen to the meadow grass

They said two weeks was all we had
To move everything we’ve ever owned
The money they placed in my father’s hand
Would never buy this family’s home

Chorus

There are men who all their lives
Dream of gold and what money buys
They scar the land for their own gain
Steal the stars from the midnight sky

Here I stand by the riverside
Here the diesels rolling through
Cast my fate to the river gods
Wonder where we’re headed to
Wonder where we’re headed to
Wonder where we’re headed to

Alberta OilFields
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Alberta oilfields up to your ass in the mud
You ask me why I keep working on these rigs
Maybe it’s born in my blood

Katie struck gold when she stole the mother load
She took the kids, the house and the car
Got this pile of junk in my daddy’s army trunk
Baby that’s everything I own

Chorus!

Charlie the weasel down at the bank
I figured he had something to hide
He’d get all high and mighty every time he talked to me
And he was layin’ Katie on the side

Chorus

I ran into Charles down at the bank
As a matter of pride I broke his nose
I scored me a ride in a brand new city cruiser
Baby that’s just the way she goes

Chorus

Got me a job working downtown
In a suit selling used cars
But there’s too much month at the end of the money
And it’s way too close to the bars

Chorus

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The Day They Shot Ginger Down
Music and Lyrics by Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Let me tell you the story of the blacklist miners
When the company owned this town
When to keep a man quiet they’d shoot him in the back
And that’s why they shot Ginger down

Old Jimmy Randall, he lived down the street
From us when we were just kids
He was standing right there when the bullet split the air
Knocked Ginger off of his feet
Knocked Ginger off of his feet

Chorus
It was a black day for Cumberland, a black day for the miners
And anyone who lived in this town
When they hired old Dan they put a gun in his hand
The day that they shot Ginger down
The day that they shot Ginger down

The cops and the company took the body down the lake
In the hot July air
But they had to give it up when they hit Boulder Hill
There were five hundred miners there
They were ready and waiting there

His funeral was the biggest that this town ever seen
They carried his white coffin high
It stretched from the main street all the way to the graveyard
And everybody knew why
And there was not a dry eye

Chorus

We’re all workingmen here and we drink Lucky beer
Do we hold a grudge? You bet!
You can’t murder one of us and expect any less
Some things you just can’t forget
Some things you never forget

Let me tell you the story of the blacklist miners
When the company owned this town
When to keep a man quiet they’d shoot him in the back
And that’s why they shot Ginger down

Chorus

Where You Gonna Go
Music and Lyrics By Gordon Carter (SOCAN)

Now I remember the night in the fifty-nine Olds
The end of March it was awful cold
Sitting back there in her daddy’s car
Drinking Cy Newman’s wine from a pickle jar
It was pretty good stuff

Now her old man he hated me
He was pretty smart and he could see
He knew that I was up to no good
He said he was going to kill me
And he probably should

Chorus
Where you gonna go whatcha gonna do
You never know what’s waiting for you
If you come up short take some of mine
Be true to yourself and have a good time

There was Sonny and John and Derwood and me
At the end of the road at half past three
The night was young and we were slow
And we figured we needed some chicken to go

Now old Gordie Thomas had a chicken house
And we snuck up there as quiet as a mouse
I was the smallest so they gave me a boost
And I snatched me a chicken right off of that roost
It was a real beauty
Sonny wrung its neck

Chorus

Now cooking was a thing that my mother didn’t teach
So we lit us a fire down on the beach
For two hours it sizzled we ate it half raw
We were the sickest four guys you ever saw
It’s called salmonella justice

Now the very next morning the cops came around
Asking about these feathers they’d found
Old man Thomas he was pretty pissed
He kept talking about some chicken he’d missed

Now the old man said it was an awful disgrace
The look of guilt all over my face
There was a lot of hollering and yelling and screaming and tears
And I never ate another chicken for years

Chorus

Well the old man now he’s eighty-two
His hair has gone silver but his eyes are still blue
He’s always been stubborn but you know it seems strange
I think he’s been waiting for me to change
Well that sure as hell ain’t ever gonna happen

Sonny and John they had a cousin name Glenn
And I didn’t really know Glenn back then
But since then Glenn and I have become friends
It’s time to laugh or I’ll sing it again

Chorus (twice)

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