Songs on Rotten Tooth, stick with you like a gnawing ache that befits the title. There’s a constant twinge and occasional wince as you get carried into stories of people screwing up and figuring their lives out. As with his previous albums, he continues to paint character sketches based of the people he encounters on his travels and around his studio, The Big Muddy, in Lanark, Ont.
Rotten Tooth
I’ve got a spider tattooed onto my left shoulder Day Before Tomorrow
I’m pacing down the hallway Don’t Forget To Grow Old
I can see it in your eyes Chicken Bones
You got your chicken bones, you put them in a pot I’m Goin’ Fishin’
Word to the wise, if your Mama ain’t taught ya: Dreamland Motel
They’ve got criers and screamers they’ve got laughers and teasers Sending Strange Weather
Listen up all you people all you talking heads Where Words Mean Nothing At All
Ever Since You Left Town
There Will Always Be Right Now
Roman’s Farewell
It makes me jump every time I see myself in the mirror
You know that “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” is my middle name
And that I’m one part Judas and another part Cain
The first step I took led me to the wrong side of town
And I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
Ya, I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
I’ve got a chip on each shoulder and a monkey on my back
I’m the only regret my Daddy has
Every step I take lands on a crack
My Mamma’s always bitching about the pain in her back
The day that I was born it rained like hell
And I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
(Chorus)
I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
Take more than pliers just to pull me out
I’m on the shady side of my family tree
That crooked little branch that wouldn’t grow straight
The little grease fire that you can’t put out
Ya, I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
Black clouds fill the sky wherever I travel
My footsteps sound like a judge’s gavel
Hell spit me out and heaven don’t want me
Because I’m mean as a rattlesnake and twice as ugly
Won’t you write this on my stone before they lay me down
That I’m the only rotten tooth in my family’s mouth
The telephone’s been ripped off the wall
I guess it don’t matter anyways
It’s probably too late to call
Stumble back to my empty room
And drink down my last swallow
Good Lord I wanna see ya
The day before tomorrow
Can’t tell if this is living
Or just running around
I feel like a rat on a tread mill
Or just some wine drunk clown
I sing my throat raw
But the words still sound hollow
Good Lord I wanna see ya
The day before tomorrow
But I slit tomorrow’s throat
Living each day like it’s my last
Always a hole in my pocket
Always a hole in my glass
I went fishing for yesterday
And I reeled in empty bottles
Good Lord I wanna see ya
The day before tomorrow
I can taste it on your lips
You’re leaving in your mind
It’s just your body hasn’t yet
And there’s nothing I can do
Just something I’ve got to say:
Don’t forget to grow old with me
I can walk you to your car
And put your suitcase in the trunk
I can wave till my arm gets tired
And I can watch you driving off
I can call you on the phone
And I can tell your machine:
Remember, don’t forget to grow old with me
You stir them all around until it’s piping hot
I know what I am and what I’m not
Come on in, supper’s ready
It’s a perfect day for a thunder storm
And everything that mattered just don’t anymore
Roll down the window’s babe, I can feel it coming on
When it rains like this, I just don’t wanna do nothin’
My baby, my babe she’s twice as pretty as yours
And she suntans nude out there in the yard
My neighbor tore down his fence and she don’t do it no more
That son of a bitch ruined it for the both of us
There’s a dirty old dog lying neath a shade tree
He don’t bark at nothing that he can’t see
But he’s twice as good looking and twice as lazy as me
I guess he’s got it all figured out
Yesterday you were born and tomorrow you’re old
It all passed right by ya, while you were poking at your cell phone
When your pretty little smile gets full of pretty little holes
Princess what you gonna do when you’re ugly like the rest of us?
Out on the porch there’s a rocking chair
I nearly busted both its legs from going nowhere
But with the right kind of eyes and the right kind of head
Kingdom Come is wherever I’m sitting
Don’t stand in front of a man and a fish he ain’t caught yet
There’s too many rat’s in the race, too many cook’s in the kitchen
Honey, if the world calls me tell them I’m fishin’
I’ll trade you 10 city blocks for a country mile
And for the great big money I’ll give you all my time
But come the end of the week I’ll be pacing and a twitching
And trying to give it all back for a little bit of fishin’
Where am I heading?
Where am I heading?
Where am I heading?
Wouldn’t you like to know?
And lonely men in lonely rooms staring at lonely T.V’s
They’ve got rock n’ roll bands and they’ve got one night stands
You can pay by the hour, the night, or the week
The spiders wage war on the roaches as the morning approaches
And I can’t put a name to that smell
I’m tossing and turning, praying and cursing
Down at the Dreamland Motel
The radiator’s hissing and the bible has gone missing
And the telephone don’t do long distance calls
And if that couple next door keeps at it I’m sure
That headboard is coming right through the wall
There’s a stain on the bed in the shape of Napoleon’s head
And the word “vacancy” on the sign is misspelled
Anyways it’s assumed that there’s always more room
Down at the Dreamland Motel
I ain’t ever stayed in a place like this before
The toilet is talking to the sink about the blood on the floor
And if I make it through the night I swear on my skin
That it’s Travel Lodge baby from now on in
The owner’s got a tattoo of a tear and two feet of beard
And a lady in the back and she’s singing in Italian
He walks with a limp and has some shrapnel in his hip
He says: I was ziggin when I should have been zaggin
He tosses you the keys and with a cough and a wheeze
He says: Good luck buddy….sleep well
And all transactions are final and if you’re suicidal may I recommend
The Dreamland Motel
My baby is probably curled up in a ball with television still on
Or she’s dreaming about whatever angels dream about
While I’m climbing the walls watching my skin crawl Waiting on the morning to come and show itself
In another week or so I know that I’ll be walking through that front door
And this will all be something time has chewed up and spit out
Till then I hope and I pray that she don’t ever have to stay
In a place like the Dreamland Motel
I’ve been speaking to the lord and he’s seeing red
SO let me have your attention cause this can’t wait
You best listen in to what I’ve got to say
He’s sending strange weather
He’s sending strange weather
Could be lightning, could be thunder
Could be sleet, could be snow
He’s sending strange weather
And told me to let you know
Now all you boys cutting up on Saturday night
With your drinking and your fussing and your fight, fight, fights
Best run for cover when those clouds go black from white
He’s got a righteous right hook coming from the sky
He’s sending strange weather
He’s sending strange weather
That ain’t thunder
That’s the big man clearing his throat
He’s sending strange weather
And told me to let you know
Now this ain’t Big Brother talking or the F.B.I
He’s been watch, watch, watching with his all seeing eyes
He’s had it up to the brow with your gluttony and crime
You ain’t gonna wriggle off the hook this time
He’s sending strange weather
He’s sending strange weather
I’m only telling you once
Then you’re on your own
He’s sending strange weather
And told me to let you know
Now I’m more sinner than saint and I know that’s true
But I was in the right place at the right time now I’m telling you
If you’re wondering why I’m not shaking in my boots
He said he’d cut me a deal if I just spread the news:
He’s sending strange weather
He’s sending strange weather
Good luck, nice knowing ya,
Now I gotta go
He’s sending strange weather told me to let you know.