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Johnny J. Blair + The Rover Boys - The Brakeman's Dead (Remastered 2020)

from SAN FRANCISCO SUSPENSION BRITCHES (Audio Diary Entries 1990​-​95) by Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large"

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This was an apocalyptic piece that I'd improvise lyrics to every time we performed it. I'd begin every verse with "Maybe about this time next year" and just start singing whatever came into my head that night (much the way Steppenwolf supposedly created "The Pusher"). The lyrics you hear here are what subconsciously rose to the surface long enough for me to put it on paper.

The song was recorded at Tom Mallon's in San Francisco, with (the late) Aaron Gregory at the board. The initial tracks were recorded live in the studio, then I had various guitarists come in and sweeten it with their own takes--without being able to hear what the other guitars were doing (kind of a John Cage method).

lyrics

THE BRAKEMAN’S DEAD © 2007/2021 Word2Soul BMI song written by Johnny J. Blair

ONE: Maybe about this time next year
You’ll be waiting in somebody’s room with a big light hanging over you
And a bunch of people will be asking you questions
For something that you didn’t do
Something that you couldn’t do
Something you believed in

TWO: Maybe about this time next year
You’ll be waiting in line to get a number
For just a piece of clothing, just a piece of bread
Or to get another number

THREE: Maybe about this time next year
You’ll come into a big bag of money
And everybody calls ya honey
Let me tell you something son
Money changes you, money changes everything
But it don’t change your heart

CHORUS: Help me to sail on the horizon
Help me to stand straight up
Help me to derail the lost train
As I drink this from Your Cup

FOUR: Maybe about this time next year
You’ll be sweatin’ in the sun on a hillside in another country
Pointing your AK47 at a bunch of people
You don’t know their language and you don’t know their beauty
But you only know your duty
FIVE: Maybe about this time next year
You’ll be askin’ the same old questions
And you can’t make one decision
Cuz you really hate the mercenary prison
Joe…
REPEAT CHORUS

SIX: Maybe about this time next year
Maybe about this time next week
Maybe about this time tomorrow
The brakeman’s dead
The conductor doesn’t know a thing
The engineer bailed it’s a runaway train, it’s a runaway train
I look up ahead I see a station
A town called Love, A town called Hope
A town called Eternal, let me off!
I wanna go there, I wanna go there
Someone stop this train! Stop this train!

credits

from SAN FRANCISCO SUSPENSION BRITCHES (Audio Diary Entries 1990​-​95), released April 26, 2011
Johnny J Blair: bass, guitars, percussion, violin, vocals
Bennett Green & John Stuart: drums
Michael Miller: lead guitar
Adam Savetsky: bass
Chris von Sneidern: surf guitar

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Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" San Francisco, California

"Johnny is a virtuoso"--Brian Wilson
"Pop music with a conscience.”--Goldmine
“the Harry Houdini of rock and roll.”-- Spotlight. Listen to Johnny's fast-paced mix of old school soul, psychedelia, punk/new wave, & classic pop/rock. Singer-songwriter in his own right, he was also a sideman for Davy Jones and The Monkees + performed with David Cassidy, Al Stewart, Buddy & Julie Miller, & others. ... more

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