North Star was released in 2018. It was recorded at Garland Lane by John Elliott and at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco with Scott McDowell. “Designer Drugs” produced by Jinx McGee at Banana Pop Studios in Austin, TX. It was mixed by Todd Sickafoose at Eary Canal and mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering. All songs by John Elliott (BMI) 2018.

Piano, Guitar, Keyboards & Bass by John Elliott

Drums by Andrew Laubacher

Viola by Hannah Hens-Piazza

Upright Bass by Oscar Westesson

Pedal Steel by Tim Marcus

Flute by Ryan Zwahlen

Mandolin by Avi Vinocur

Banjo by Patrick Dyer Wolf

Cello by Joseph Chang

Album Artwork by Grace Park

AT THE END OF THE YEAR

I wanna be simple now

Simple

I want to talk to people

I want to tell the truth

I want to ride beside a river like good people do

I want to get out of the city and all these cities

I want to take myself to 1344

1554

1993

I want a rundown in style

I want to get out from under all these people talking

I don’t care about what they say

I don’t care about any of it 

And I do want more

Yes, I do want more

I don’t care if you like my stuff

I don’t care if you like me 

I just want to get enough to get out of this

And I just wanna walk, just once, my way out of the wilderness

Is there anything sadder than a faded bumper sticker from an old election that was not even close? I think that there’s not, ‘cause you cared once and you still do.

Now all I hear is:

Everything is changing 

Down here at the end of the year

I don’t know what it is, but it’s changing

Down here at the end of the year

I don’t know what you are, but you’re changing

Down here at the end of the year

I don’t know what you were, but it’s over

So I saved a little money

Thousands of dollars

I’ve got mid-to-low four figures now

And the way I figure it, if I leave today, I can make it a couple of months before I gotta figure it out

There was danger, it got desperate

Down here at the end of the year

All my angels got distracted

Down here at the end of the year

I took the easy money because money’s hard to make and it’s easy to take. It was easy to take it. And I took the easy love because love is hard to find and when’s it easy, you had better save it. And I took the long, long road ‘cause I like the scenic ways. I like the ups and downs and the price of the mistakes. And I took the underground ‘cause I didn’t like the sound of all the singing. 

Down here at the end of the year

Down here at the end of the year

Down here at the end of the year 

CRASH THE PARTY

The natives are restless, they cannot protect this, they cannot pay up or get out. They are selling this city, they are selling this country, the natives are giving up ground. I was tangled and troubled, cornered and humbled, no way to go around. 

I’ll go on

I’ll go through

I’ll do the best that I’m able to do

Give me time and I’ll crash the party

I HAD ALL THAT I WISHED FOR ALL THAT I HOPED FOR ALL THAT I TALKED ABOUT IN THE CAGE OF THE WINTER IN THE RAGE OF THE SUMMER WALKING A TIGHTROPE OF SHELLS I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF OR WHAT YOU’RE AFRAID OF I DON’T CARE WHAT’S GOING ON

I’ve got God on my side

I’ve got anger and I’ve got my pride

Give me time and I’ll crash the party

DESIGNER DRUGS

I don’t wanna take designer drugs, I don’t wanna take ‘em

The waves roll in and the waves roll up, I wanna roll with ‘em

I wanna roll with ‘em

I just get so down sometimes

I’m reminded of all my former crimes

I’m never ready

I’m never ready

I’m never steady

I’m not steady 

But I don’t wanna take designer drugs, I don’t wanna take ‘em

The waves roll in and the waves roll up, I wanna roll with ‘em

I wanna roll with ‘em

But I get so down sometimes

I’m reminded of all my former crimes

(no one’s died no one’s died no one’s died no one’s died yet no one’s died no one’s died no one’s died yet no one’s died no one’s died yet no one’s died no one’s died)

All this time

In all this time

All this time

I don’t wanna take designer drugs, I don’t wanna take ‘em

The waves roll in and the waves roll up, I wanna roll with ‘em

I wanna roll with ‘em

I just get so down sometimes

RINGS ON RING FINGERS

It’s not so bad, being alone

I do what I want, there’s no one else home

I roll around everywhere single and mingle and I look at all of the ladies

So I don’t regret the choices I made

I guess nothing is lost if nothing is saved

And I don’t expect myself to behave

I don’t think I ever will

On nights like these, her memory lingers 

And I am aware of rings on ring fingers

I could be over it

I could be wrong about the loss

I could be wrong about the reason she could let me go

It’s no one’s fault anymore

The young ones are weak

The old ones are shaken

The ones that I want are already taken

The ones who are not are drinking too much and I’ve been through drinking before

On nights like these, her memory lingers 

And I am aware of rings on ring fingers

WHEN I MAKE MY HOME

When I make my home, I will make it under leaves

Hard upon a mountain and not far from the sea

I will bring a woman there and we will build a family

So when I make my home, I will make it under leaves

And when I make my home, I’ll be quiet for awhile

I will speak in simple sentences and not be quick to smile

I have been confused by speeches and distracted too by style

So when I make my home, I’ll be quiet for awhile

So long restlessness

So long aimlessness

So long wicked, wasteful thinking

When the time is right

When the time is right

I will make my home and invite all of my friends

From the cracked and crooked corners where the laughter never ends

They can stay and rest awhile and I’ll at last make my amends

So when I make my home, I’ll invite all of my friends

YOUNG ONES

I woke up late and I crept out of the bed where we slept, out of the bedroom and into the hall, what started out simple just ended up small so I left and I went far away, something about getting straight, something about how it’s never enough, standing on shoulders and circling love like the young ones with the soft skin, sitting on porches and living in sin, I been too far for too long, I can’t be censured and I won’t belong...I never took nothing for free. 

This is the land that I love, mothers and fathers above, mothers and fathers above and below, this is my country, this is my home, I will go but I’ll never be gone, memory makes us live on, memory makes us awake and aware, what is not seen is most of what’s there like the young ones with the soft skin, sitting on porches and living in sin, I been too far for too long, I can’t be censured and I won’t belong...I never took nothing for free. 

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE IN THE VALLEY

All my friends are in the valley

I been down, but I can rally

There’s a picture of Tina Turner showing a lot of leg

There’s a marionette, Japanese-looking, hanging from a lamp

And peacock feathers in a vase or a vase

And my jacket hangs askew

It was up to me

And it was up to you

Now everyone’s faces are looking a little tighter

But everyone’s prospects are looking a little brighter

The losers are losing, the winners are winning

And both of them are looking

And both of them are looking 

And all my friends are in the valley

I been down, but I can rally

Not far from here, not long ago, I met a girl

She was interesting and she smelled good and one look led to another

So I flew there and she flew here

And I went there and she came here

And she moved here and I stayed here and we moved in together

And we moved out together

And all my friends are in the valley

I been down, but I can rally

Dave’s got a bullet hole in his door

This neighborhood’s seen that before

Most of my friends I don’t see anymore

Or even talk to

And she’s here too, driving around

Maybe I’ll run into her

I know what her car looks like

But last night I turned on the computer

And then I turned on the internet

And then I turned on the radio

(I haven’t got a television set)

And two guys were talking, two guys were trying

Two guys were trying and trying isn’t anything at all

It’s not about money

It’s not about time

It’s not about truth and it’s not about crime

It’s not about who you hurt or who you hate

It’s not about who left you or who set you straight

It’s not about your father and it’s not about your dad

It’s not about your grandpa who had what you don’t have

It’s not about the army and it’s not about the Lord

It’s not about the masses or the touchdowns that you scored

It’s not about your big buck stores or your big buck towns

It’s not about your far off shacks or your run down clowns

It’s not about your churches with eleven parking lots

It’s not about what he’s got and it’s not about what you’ve got

We all get nothing

We both got nothing 

And all my friends are in the valley

I been down, but I can rally

All my friends are in the valley

I been down, but I can rally

THE TRUE LOVE WHO LOVED ME

I wanna be there, then

The smell of her there when she let me get close once

She once let me in

I know what love acts like, I know how love moves

I know that it’s tortured, I know that it’s bruised

We do not discuss it, there’s nothing to say

I know that she loves me, but just not that way

It’s a tired old story, it’s been written before

We have all heard a version, we don’t need anymore

But I just have to tell it for the way that it burns

How it aches when she’s near me, how it hurts when she turns 

And the end of an evening when I know she won’t stay

I can tell that she loves me, but just not that way

There’s no telling the future

There’s no point to the past

And whatever is here now will not wait and won’t last

Someday she’ll have a husband

And a daughter and sons

And a house in the country where the water still runs

I’ll be somewhere with someone

I’ll be getting old too

I’ll be over it mostly

I’ll find something to do

But I’ll also get lonely and remember someday

The true love who loved me, but just not that way

The true love who loved me, but just not that way

PIRATES ARE TAKING OVER

The pirates are taking over, the pirates are jumping in

We had it once, we’ll always have that

 You better pack your suitcase, we’re gonna have to go

I don’t know why, don’t ask me, I don’t know

The good times were here for a good while last year

So come on now, let’s be clear

We gotta be clear here

We gotta be clear

We gotta be clear

The pavement was electric

She was so eccentric

I was so annoyed

I’m just a little boy

I wanna play with you

I wanna fool around

I don’t wanna love you yet, but I will love you now

I will love you now

We are gonna die

It’s gonna happen soon

I will stay with you if you want me to

I wanna be here for a long, long time now

I wanna live here for a long, long time

I wanna live for a long, long time

I wanna be here for a long, long time now

I wanna live here for a long, long time

I wanna live for a long, long time

I wanna be here for a long, long time now

I wanna live here for a long, long time

I wanna live for a long, long time

I wanna live for a long, long time

I wanna live for a long, long time

(I’ll rise again)

All words written by John Elliott 2018.