Music World
 
Find Artists:
 
 
 
Russian versionSwitch to Russian 
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter


Background information
Born October 21, 1976
Born place Moscow, Idaho, United States
Genre(s) Folk
Alternative Country
Rock
Years active 1997—present
Label(s) RCA Records
V2 Records
Signature Sounds Recordings
Associated acts Hilary Hahn
Website Website



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  J  →  Josh Ritter  →  Albums  →  The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter

Josh Ritter Album


The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (08/21/2007)
08/21/2007
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Edge Of The World
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Wait for Love (You Know You Will)
. . .



Deep in the belly of a whale I found her
Down with the deep blue jail around her
Running her hands through the ribs of the dark
Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc

I love the way she looks in her underwear
I lose my page then the plot then the book then I swear
She makes the most of her time by loving me plenty
She knows there'll come a day when we won't be getting any

The stain of the sepia the butcher Crimea
Through the wreck of a brass band I thought I could see her
In a cakewalk she came through the dead and the lame
Just a little bird floating on a hurricane

I was flat on my back with my feet in the thorns
I was in between the apples and the chloroform
She came to me often
I was sure I was dying
It was always hard to tell if she was laughing or crying

I thought I heard somebody calling
In the dark I thought I heard somebody call

Joan never cared about the in-betweens
Combed her hair with a blade did the Maid of Orleans
Said Christ walked on water we can wade through the war
You don't need to tell me who the fire is for

Oh bring me the love that can sweeten a sword
A boat that can love the rocks or the shore
The love of the iceberg reaching out for a wreck
Can you love me like the crosses love the nape of the neck?

Was it Casey Jones or Casey at the Bat
Who died out of pride and got famous for that
Killed by a swerve laid low by the curve
Do you ever think they ever thought they got what they deserved

Pity the bullet and pity the man
Who both find their place in the same sad plan
Who both are like the barrel going over the falls
Crying all the way down I never asked to be involved

I thought I heard somebody calling In the dark I thought I heard somebody call

General George began the day by taking pink little pills
Sent his men to the top of some hell of a hill
Through the whisper of trees came artillery breeze
He said I love the way the wind comes a'tickling my knees

Jane shot the apple right between the eyes
I was thinking of her when you came outside
Lemonade on your breath sun in your hair
Did I mention how I love you in your underwear?

Deep in the belly of a whale I found her
Down with the deep blue jail around her
Running her hands through the ribs of the dark
Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc

I thought I heard somebody calling
In the dark I thought I heard somebody call

. . .



What's it take to make the dime drop?
All of these kids who think they're quick on the draw
Always shooting at outlaws I'm busy keeping my Colt cocked
And I'm gonna know you when you finally come
Cause I got you in my mind's eye
I got you in my mind's eye

I'm gonna take up the Steinway
Waiting for the bullet that I'll never see come
I'm gonna start me a new wave
I'm putting up with you lightweights
Calling me out to the middle of the street
Oh I've got you in my mind's eye
I got you in my mind's eye

I got you in my mind's eye
My day might be coming yours is coming first
I'll knock you outta your daylights
And when you come for me some night
You better bring a shovel and be expecting the worst
Cause I got you in my mind's eye
I got you in my mind's eye

. . .



All of a sudden now you're back again
I thought you were happy with whoever or did you dream about me now and then
Did you look up at the stars and feel something for the constellations
All those lovers circling round their loves
Slings and arrows, dogs and lions, rivers separating touch from touch
The comedy of distance, the tragedy of separation

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

I said how is it that you come back to me?
You don't need the stories of my scars or in the stars to tell you nothing'sfree
I traded all the innocence I ever had for hesitation
I said won't you tell me where you been?
You put a finger to my lips and then you kissed me once and once again
The crickets all leapt up and met the moon with a standing ovation

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

I heard the night birds picking up the song
You threw your hair back and sang along
And I realized that I might lose you you might lose me
Drift apart in the night and never know why and not know how I said
what if we are like the Northern sky?
What if there are things that come between us that we can't take back and wecan't make right?
You said I don't know darlin' but I'm here with you
And we're coming to the chorus now!

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

. . .



If this was the Cold War we could keep each other warm
I said on the first occasion that I met Marie
We were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo door
And I don't think that she really thought that much of me

I never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the Bomb
She just came along and started to ignore me
But as we waited for the Big One
I started singing her my songs
And I think she started feeling something for me

We passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside
What five letters spell "apocalypse" she asked me
I won her over saying "W.W.I.I.I."
She smiled and we both knew that she'd misjudged me

Oh Marie it was so easy to fall in love with you
It felt almost like a home of sorts or something
And you would keep the warhead missile silo good as new
And I'd watch you with my thumb above the button

Then one night you found me in my army issue cot
And you told me of your flash of inspiration
You said fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought
And all night long you drove me wild with your equations

Oh Marie do you remember all the time we used to take
We'd make our love and then ransack the rations
I think about you leaving now and the avalanche cascades
And my eyes get washed away in chain reactions

Oh Marie if you would stay then we could stick pins in the map
Of all the places where you thought that love would be found
But I would only need one pin to show where my heart's at
In a top secret location three hundred feet under the ground

We could hold each other close and stay up every night
Looking up into the dark like it's the night sky
And pretend this giant missile is an old oak tree instead
And carve our name in hearts into the warhead

Oh Marie there's something tells me things just won't work out above
That our love would live a half-life on the surface
So at night while you are sleeping
I hold you closer just because
As our time grows short I get a little nervous

I think about the Big One, W.W.I.I.I.
Would we ever really care the world had ended
You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonight
I look at that great big red button and I'm tempted

. . .



I thought I heard you pulling up outside
It's just the wind whisperin' through the pines
I haven't seen who I'm looking for
Just empty shadows in my open door
The empty closet where you hung your clothes
The empty hooks where you hung your coat
The cellar steps or the kitchen floor
They don't catch shadows like an open door

Do open windows keep the rain away?
Do open eyes keep the ghosts at bay?
I thought an open door would bring you in
Now I guess I'm gonna have to guess again

I find myself hoping for a storm
Each silver lining is a crown of thorns
I find myself hoping for the rain
You don't see shadows on a cloudy day
Go to the corner where the ghosts hang out
They'll all agree with what I'm talking about
They'd haunt your halls and walk through walls before
They'd ever set foot in an open door

Do open windows keep the rain away?
Do open eyes keep the ghosts at bay?
I thought an open door would bring you in
Now I guess I'm gonna have to guess again

I'm saving nickels and I'm saving dimes
I'm gonna kiss you where the sun don't shine
And all those shadows gonna kiss them too
Just as long as they come in with you

Do open windows keep the rain away?
Do open eyes keep the ghosts at bay?
I thought an open door would bring you in
Now I guess I'm gonna have to guess again

. . .



Serenade me with rocks, love
No lullabies through the locks love
I locked myself in with the band
But the music's never loud enough

Decibels in the belfry
Hey what the hell if it helps me
I put a whip to the kick drum
But the music's never loud enough

So you're gonna have to show me
How that dance is done
The one where somebody leaves someone

My orchestra is gigantic
This thing could sink the Titanic
And the string section's screaming
Like horses in a barn burning up

He plays pianos with fistfuls
Of broken Belvedere crystal
And he's trying to forget you
But the music's never loud enough

So you're gonna have to show me
How that dance is done
The one where somebody leaves someone

He's impaling the front row
Fighting fires with arrows
And he'll act like he forgot you
But the music's never loud enough

So you're gonna have to show me
How that dance is done
The one where somebody leaves someone

. . .

Edge Of The World

[No lyrics]

. . .



I got someone on my mind
And she don't make me wait the way you do
But time
Oh she holds me all the time
And she don't make me wait the way you do

Wait for love
Sometimes babe we all have to wait for love

I got someone on my mind
And she holds me pretty much the way you do
But time She holds me all the time
And she don't make me wait the way you do

Wait for love
Sometimes babe we all have to wait for love

. . .



You're a real mean mama but you got a lot of time for me
And I know it ain't common to find your kinda love for free
It's a drag and a sigh and that's not all I'm calling real long distance
it's a real long distance call

Telephone ringing mama please don't you leave it alone
Don't leave no breaks in the line it's the only thing that's tied to home
It's a drag and a sigh and that's not all
This is real long distance it's a real long distance call

Woo!

. . .



He's riding the plains living up to his name
As the next to the last true romantic
He knows that his story is tragic
But he can't rest
Til he's next To you

All the girls know his fame the men curse his name
And they talk about him like he's magic
But he's the next to the last true romantic
And he can't rest
Til he's next To you

He's stolen hearts like they're horses
And horses when hearts can't be found
He keeps riding from one horse to one horse to one horse towns (It gets himdown)

He know's he's a fool to get caught up with you
But he's the next to the last true romantic
He can't let go of love once he's had it
And he can't rest
Til he's next to you

There's always whiskey and women and women and whiskey around
He can't tell which is worse to be dying of thirst or to drown (It gets himdown)

So he smiles through the pain he pinch Estelle he dance with Jane
Sometimes even he don't know how he stands it
But he's the next to the last true romantic
And he can't rest
Til he's next
To you

. . .



There are planets you don't know
And there are moons that you don't see
Invisibles between the rings of Mars and Mercury
The harbors that they built for the ships to set me free
And sometimes when it's all too much
I know they'll come for me
Come for me

. . .



I know the dog days of the summer
Have you ten-to-one out-numbered
Seems like everybody up and left and they're not coming back
The shadow that you're standing on's still here sometimes that's all that youcan ask
And your heart's still beating

You're not the fastest draw in town now
How many times you been shot down now?
Seems like everybody else could see the things you never did
But if you could yourself you'd probably never have made it through the thingsyou did
With your heart still beating

I know the dog days of the summer Have you ten-to-one out-numbered
It seems like everybody else saw trouble sneaking up behind
Left you half dead in the street but that just means you're half alive
And your heart's still beating

. . .



So save all of your light
For those who can't sleep at night
And who can't even sing to their shadows
Oh they ride into town
And they throw the shots down
And they save the last round for the windows

Singing don't let me into this year with an empty heart
With an empty heart
Don't let me into this year with an empty heart

I'm inside with my friends
We build fires and pretend
That the night could just bend on forever
While outside in the frost
Are the wolves and the lost
And we sing to the dogs or whoever

Singing don't let me into this year with an empty heart
With an empty heart
Don't let me into this year with an empty heart

There's a friend that I have
And for her I'll go back
You see all of these empties that I'm holding
They're too much for a man
Empty arms, empty hands
And she'll know me by the sound of my hoping

Singing don't let me into this year with an empty heart
With an empty heart
Don't let me into this year with an empty heart

. . .



I got someone on my mind
And she don't make me wait the way you do
But time
Oh she holds me all the time
And she don't make me wait the way you do

Wait for love
Sometimes babe we all have to wait for love

I got someone on my mind
And she holds me pretty much the way you do
But time She holds me all the time
And she don't make me wait the way you do

Wait for love
Sometimes babe we all have to wait for love

. . .


blog comments powered by Disqus



© 2011 Music World. All rights reserved.