Ben Holland

Plays songs with guitar and harmonica. 

Lives in London south of the river. 

Stays one step ahead of his feet.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

 

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

I got a coal‑black mare :
but Lord how that horse can run
Yes she win every race :
man you don't see how it's done

I give her three gold teeth :
I put earings in her ears
There ain't no use a‑worrying :
I do swear the stuff is here

I cut her mane :
I put streamline shoes on her feet
Ain't a horse in the country :
I do swear my horse can't beat

Say she foxtrot and pace :
and I rode that horse today
Yeah when morning comes :
she had never broke her gait

She going to the race track at midnight :
and I rode her all night long
Yeah when morning come :
she had never changed her weight

She's a coal‑black mare :
she's got long black curly mane
Well I'll follow that horse :
man in any land

Black Pony Blues Lyrics

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

I got a coal‑black mare :
but Lord how that horse can run
Yes she win every race :
man you don't see how it's done

I give her three gold teeth :
I put earings in her ears
There ain't no use a‑worrying :
I do swear the stuff is here

I cut her mane :
I put streamline shoes on her feet
Ain't a horse in the country :
I do swear my horse can't beat

Say she foxtrot and pace :
and I rode that horse today
Yeah when morning comes :
she had never broke her gait

She going to the race track at midnight :
and I rode her all night long
Yeah when morning come :
she had never changed her weight

She's a coal‑black mare :
she's got long black curly mane
Well I'll follow that horse :
man in any land
Black Pony Blues Lyrics 

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

I got a coal‑black mare :
but Lord how that horse can run
Yes she win every race :
man you don't see how it's done

I give her three gold teeth :
I put earings in her ears
There ain't no use a‑worrying :
I do swear the stuff is here

I cut her mane :
I put streamline shoes on her feet
Ain't a horse in the country :
I do swear my horse can't beat

Say she foxtrot and pace :
and I rode that horse today
Yeah when morning comes :
she had never broke her gait

She going to the race track at midnight :
and I rode her all night long
Yeah when morning come :
she had never changed her weight

She's a coal‑black mare :
she's got long black curly mane
Well I'll follow that horse :
man in any land

Rolling Thunder

Locomotive Breath

In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all time loser
Headlong to his death

Oh, he feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow

Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way to slow down
Oh, oh

He sees his children jumping off
At stations one by one
His woman and his best friend
In bed an' having fun

Oh, he's crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees

Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way to slow down
Yeah, yeah

He hears the silence howling
And catches angels as they fall
And the all time winner
Has got him by the balls

Oh, he picks up Gideon's Bible
Open at page one

I thank God, he stole the handle
And the train, it won't stop going
No way to slow down

No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down

The rocks are bleak, the trees are bare, iron clouds go floating by .......

Tell Ol' Joe

The river whispers in my ear

I've hardly a penny to my name.

The heavens never seemed so near.

All of my body glows with flame.

The tempest struggles in the air.

and to myself alone I sing.

It could sink me then and there,

I can hear the echoes ring.

I try to find one smilin' face

to drive the shadows from my head.

I'm stranded in this nameless place,

lyin' restless in a heavy bed

Tell me straight out if you will,

Why must you torture me within?

Why must you come down from your high hill?

Throw my fate to the clouds and wind

 

Far away in a silent land

Secret thoughts are hard to bear.

Remember me, you'll understand:

Emotions we can never share.

 

You trampled on me as you passed,

Left the coldest kiss upon my brow.

All my doubts and fears are gone at last,

I've nothing more to tell you now.

I walk by tranquil lakes and streams

As each new season's dawn awaits

I lay awake at night with troubled dreams

The enemy is at the gates

 

Beneath the thunder-blasted trees

the words are ringing off your tongue

the ground is hard in times like these

the stars are cold, the night is young,

 

the rocks are bleak, the trees are bare,

iron clouds go floating by.

Snowflakes falling in my hair

beneath the gray and stony sky.

The evening sun is sinking low,

the woods are dark, the town is too.

They'll drag you down, they run the show.

Ain't no tellin' what they'll do.

 

Tell ol' Bill when he comes home:

Anything is worth a try.

Tell him that I'm not alone,

that the hour has come to do or die.

All the world I would defy,

Let me make it plane as day.

I look at you now and I sigh,

how could it be any other way?