Ricky Ross - Trouble Came Looking (2013)

01 Trouble Came Looking
02 Now I Smoke, Like I Used To Pray
03 Any Drug Will Do
04 The Fear
05 How Will The Heart Survive
06 A Strange And Foreign Land
07 Sang O’ The Saracen Maid
08 We Shall Overcome The Whole Wide World
09 Good Man
10 Nothing More Than Travelling Now
11 Taxi Drivers Ride The Lights
12 Holy Night

Trouble Came Looking

I was down at the dump
Looking for crumbs
And what did I suddenly see
Out there on the edge
As certain as death
Trouble came looking for me

With the stand of a man
You might understand
He sang like a bird to me
I was ready to drop
So I turned my guard off
And let trouble come looking for me

Old friends, new friends
Strangers and family
Keep a watch out for things you never can see
I was doing my best for to keep up with the rest
When trouble came looking for me

I put a roof on my head
I got a wife and was blessed
To start my own family
I wanted for nothing
But the bank said 'here have something'
That's when trouble came looking for me

I asked for some time
Just a couple of weeks
To pay up and get back on my feet
But the man took my keys and my house and my lease
When Trouble came looking for me

Old friends, new friends
Strangers and family
Don't just say yes when somebody tells you it's free
I was just giving my kids the best of all things
When trouble came looking for me

Now trouble comes calling
In so many ways
It can flatter or lie and deceive
I was doing my damnedest
To keep away from all that badness
But trouble came looking for me

Time and again I'd say never again
Would I gamble on what I can't see
Nor will I take money from poor folks around me
When trouble came looking for me

Old friends, new friends
Strangers and family
I'm every old fool I worried I ever might be
I couldn't survive
By just staying alive
When trouble came looking for me

Now I Smoke Like I Used To Pray

Five years working on the railway
Five years digging up the roads
Two years trying to keep my own job
One year picking up the dole
Yes it's hard
Oh it's hard
It's hard
I know it's hard

Now I smoke like I used pray
And I hope this all blows away
I can go but I have things to do
They'll be up in an hour as dawn
starts bursting through

Ones got her birthday in December
Ones going to school next year
There's another one due September
There's just no work for me here
Oh it's hard
Yes it's hard
It's hard
I know it's hard

Now I smoke like I used to pray
And I used to pray all times of day
I can go but I have things to do
They'll be up in an hour as the dawn
Starts bursting through

If I got some time
I head over to the church
Cause unless that candle's burning
I only fear the worst
And I would talk if I could
Only worry God about it all
Or if I understood
What I'm going through

Now I smoke like I used to pray
I used to pray all times of day
I could go But I have things to do
They'll be up in an hour as dawn
Starts bursting through
Coming downstairs as the dawn
Starts bursting through

Any Drug Will Do

Coming back alone to a cold and empty house
That once was home in the dark
Coming back again to move the debris to the door
And the bills from the mat

Arn't we supposed to be the poorest of the poor
With nothing much to live, hope or go back for?

So we'll know every song
The radio plays but that's no boast
And we'll laugh at every joke
Though it's us they seem to laugh about the most
Cause we buy all their food and all their clothes
I'd love to stay I'd choose
A million different things for you
But you know any drug will do

No one needs to hear the story once again
How we can slip and not climb back
If I only had the power I'd pull a switch
To throw some light but I just can't

Cause we are just the poorest of the poor
No one seems to hear us until someone else says it first

So we'll know every song
The radio plays but that's no boast
And we'll laugh at every joke
Though it's us they seem to laugh about the most
Cause we buy all their food and all their clothes
I'd love to say I'd choose
A million different things for you
But you know any drug will do

Arn't we supposed to be the poorest of the poor
With nothing much to live or hope or go back for

So we'll know every song
The radio plays but that's no boast
And We'll laugh at every joke
Though it's us they seem to laugh about the most
Cause we buy all their food And all their clothes
I'd love to say I'd choose
A million different things for you
But you know any drug will do

The Fear

It's coming
It's coming
It's coming
The fear's taking over me

I owe it
I'll pay it
I know it
Before the fear takes over again

I could really be something
Do good for someone
Just give me a chance man
If I could get out of here

All I need is some more time
Maybe half a year or so
Just to get back on my feet get some time away
To find a place all on my own
Where I won't be too scared
I will not have the fear

They're coming
They're coming
They're coming
Coming again for me

I'm pleading
I'm bleeding
I'm begging
Let's get out of here
So if we lose everything
That's the worst that can happen
And if we lose everything
Is it more than we got now?

All I need is some more time
Maybe half a year or so
Just to get back on my feet get some time away
To find a place all on my own
Where I won't be too scared
I will not have the fear

Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred
Two hundred, five hundred, a grand

How Will The Heart Survive

It's been this way for long months now
Who knows how long to go?
No comfort from the summer sun
No work in winter snowThe boy who gave us all the sack

Drives through this way sometimes
He's younger than my youngest one
How can his heart survive?

I remember shaking off the dust from my shoes
On my way back home
And everybody counting down the days
Till friday night; working on how much we're owed

A girl writes on her legal pad
Says she needs to know my birthday
She lightly trims her nails and smiles
Then says that she'll get back to me
She knows it's hard
She says her dad worked till the day he died
So what's the point in asking her
How will the heart survive?

A Strange And Foreign Land

They came in the summer talking of new lives
Packed us in trucks and took us all away
We drove onwards and we sailed northwards
Till we reached a town on a bay
Now we go out late to catch the low tide
Then we wade out far, as far as we can
Catching cockles on the sand flats
Of this strange and foreign land

Sometimes it's quiet at the seafront
But I need to find some work or we don't eat
Cause there's no job too small for me now
When there's so many back home I need to keep
They said you've got such a big family
I said I do sir and I trust I will to the end
But it gets cold here by Christmas
In a strange and foreign land

This waters cold, colder than the journey
On the long road we took to bring us here
From Fujian, Moscow, Berlin and Dover
To a bed in a house in Lancashire
But It's getting dark and I need to find the shoreline
My voice is weak and I can't shout the man
I can't swim and I can't get any help here
In this strange and foreign land

When I look back what do I remember
Not the wind or the waters covering me
Not the cries of my poor brothers
As they surrendered to the sea
I still recall my struggle
To reach the safety of the sand
How could I ever
feel so grateful
To this strange and foreign land
How could I ever
Feel so grateful
To this strange and foreign land

Sang O' The Saracen Maid

I hae left the lands o the Orient
And traivelled the warld wide
Tae find the faither o my bairn
And rest there by his side

We found him in the desert sand
Sair woundit fae the fray
I took him tae my faither's tent
To tend him monies the day

His wounds wi silk I bandaged roon
Wi ointments rich and rare
I washed them daily wi my tears
And dried them wi my hair

La, la, la de de da
I sing the live long day
The stinging of the cruel wind
And the song of the saracen maid

My hips were girded wi tinkling coins
My briests wi the jasmine flower
When we lay in a silken desert tent
For monies a lovin hour

And the crescent moon filled the desert sky
Like the crest on a Saracen shield
And the stars o the east sang "Bismillah!"
Ower the lovers' silken bield

But I left the palms and the desert sands
For the pines o Bennachie
For the sake o the luve o a Templar lad
Who has cruelly dealt wi me

La, la, la de de da
I sing the live long day
The stinging of the cruel wind
And the song of the saracen maid

Now I shiver in the blast o the cauld, cauld wind
At the back o' Bennachie
And I greet at the grave o my bonnie, bonnie bairn
Wha ne'er again I'll see

So sing the song o Persephone
Wha traivelled this warld wide
What set her bearings for the north
With the lodestone o love as her guide

And when the simmer comes tae the Garioch-oh
Of an evening you may sense
A zephyr blaw ower Bennachie
Cairryin the fragrance o Frankincense

La, la, la de de da
I sing the live long day
The stinging of the cruel wind
And the song of the saracen maid

We Shall Overcome The Whole Wide World

We shall overcome the whole wide world
Anything that blunts or wounds or scars
The evil king, the common thief
Weapons, chains and names will cease forever

For the general, the gentle heart
For the oligarch a life of love and service

We shall change the way all people think
And people will be all that we believe in
And all the good and all the gold
Every book and story told will set us free

And step by step we'll climb the hill
We'll scramble to the top until
We reach the very place
From where we see the sky
And everything below is just our world to change

We can overcome this raging sea
Don't we have the rain the wind the sun for free?
The clouds the snow the moon the stars
Are nothing if they're not all ours eternally
The morning light the sky ablaze
The birds song gently shaking us awake

And blow by blow and street by street
We'll march and chant and sing and sleep
To change the rules we cannot keep
Which no one else could believe
This whole wide world would ever change
Except you and me

Good Man

People shouting
Throwing things at me
Telling me I can't drive through
The gates of my own factory
My own factory
My own factory
My father put it here
Built it with his own hands
So if I can't give you work
No one else can
No one else can

If things had worked out
The way I hoped they would
You'd be grateful to me
And I'd treat you like I think I should
Like I think I should
There'd be more holidays
And I'd be kinder than I seem now
At Christmas I'd pay for everyone
To have themselves a good time
Have a good time
So you need to understand
I'm not the kind you think I am
I'm not the kind of man
No, no, no, no, no
I'm a good man
I'm a good man

They're making trouble here
Right along the line
Doing it for years now
Giving us all a bad time
Giving us a bad time
It's the same ones
You should get rid of them
Come and talk to me
Tell me all your problems
What are your problems

You need to understand
I'm not the kind you think I am
I'm not the kind of man
No, no, no, no, no
I'm a good man
I'm a good man

Nothing More Than Travelling Now

I don't know where I'm bound
But I'm happy to have found
There's nothing more than travelling now
There's a sky up above
And there's home and there's love
And there's nothing more than travelling now

The morning is cloudy and the sky's cold and grey
I'm another day older and my shelves
Are overloaded with memories

There's a land far away
And I believe that I'll get there
But there's nothing more than travelling now

And I believe what I've been told
Some things are better than gold
And there's nothing more than travelling now

I pick up the journey each morning I wake
I walk through the valley where the mountains
Will bring me my shade
The sun is sinking low
I've got miles and miles to go
And there's nothing more than travelling now

I don't know where I'm bound
But I'm happy to have found
There's nothing more than travelling now

Taxi Drivers Ride The Lights

And the gulls all heavy with rain
While Carlyle shines like a pin
And the weary man still grinning
Did you hear about this one?
Well my head is nipped to spinning
With every word you sang and roared
But all the time I was listening
How the streets are filled with sinners

And the taxi drivers
Taxi drivers that ride the lights
Was on Waterloo Bridge
With the river ablaze with lights
And the thing about these things is
They're eternal but not forever
And something about tonight is
Like it never has been any better
Through the shadows of dead souls covering
The streets with footfall and chatter

And taxi drivers
Taxi drivers
Riding through the lights

It's blacker than a mourner's coat
Or the mane of the draymans's colt
All the other stone here's made of coal
And it covers the roofs with it's cloak
Till the dawn bursts through like a thief
Picking out precious jewels
You'd only see if you could look up from the streets
But it's colder than a  pitt street cell

Or taxi ride
Windows open through the night

To the garage on the western road
Nothing's changed but the year's all new
You get a two thousand year old view
But it quickly gets bent and confused
Like everyone else that you try
Looks good till you wear it awhile
I'm not stopping here I'm going on
To the inn at the turn of the mile
You should come and see the infant smile
And talk to his mother a while
It's the chance you might take one day
Look around and it's slipping away

Like tax drivers
That ride
Ride through the night
Taxi drivers riding, riding the lights

Holy Night

Holy, holy night
Three tired travellers
Caught in neon
One drives, two hold fast
To fir green leaves and needles
Sharp as stars

We can be together
Or we can be apart
But if we stay together
We'll go far

Holy, holy night
Wearied by the snow stuck traffic
They come bearing gifts
Smells of candle
Smoke and forest

We can stay together
Or we can stay apart
And when we're not together
You'll look back
And wish we were together in the dark

Holy, holy night
Three tired travellers
Move till morning
One drives, two hold fast
To gifts and bags
And memories
Of holy, holy nights

Here's the donkey
And here's the mouse
And here's the robin
Thank God, tonight we found him