MOTEL BOUQUET

Caitlin Canty - Vocals, acoustic guitar

Stuart Duncan - Fiddle (Tracks 2, 4, 5, 10)

Paul Kowert - Upright bass

Aoife O’Donovan - Harmony vocals

Russ Pahl - Pedal steel guitar

Noam Pikelny - Electric guitar, plectrum tricone guitar, electric banjo

Jerry Roe - Drums

Gabe Witcher - Fiddle (Tracks 6, 8)

Produced by Noam Pikelny

Recorded by Josh Grange at Resistor Studio in Nashville, TN

Additional Recording by Rob Evans at Haunted Hollow, Charlottesville, VA

Mixed by Jason Wormer

Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering, Los Angeles, CA

Album design and layout by Pearl Rachinsky Moreland

Photography by Caitlin Canty, Louise Bichan and Micah Albert

Aoife O'Donovan appears courtesy of Yep Roc Records

Noam Pikelny appears courtesy of Rounder Records

Paul Kowert and Gabe Witcher appear courtesy of Nonesuch Records

All songs written by Caitlin Canty © 2018 Silver Giblet Publishing ASCAP, except “Take Me For A Ride” (Canty, Kristin Andreassen, Yellowcar Music ASCAP), “River Alone” (Canty, Noam Pikelny, Noam Tunes BMI), “Leaping Out“ (Canty, Anthony Da Costa), “Onto You” (Canty, Pikelny) and “Scattershot” (Canty, Andreassen). All Rights Reserved.

1 Take Me for a Ride

2 River Alone

3 Time Rolls By

4 Who

5 Leaping Out

6 Onto You

7 Motel

8 Scattershot

9 Basil Gone to Blossom

10 Cinder Blocks

MOTEL BOUQUET LYRICS

1. TAKE ME FOR A RIDE

I said I would not go down this road again with you
I said we never get where we’re going you know it’s true
I said I got no use for a shiny car but there you are

You take me for a ride

How can you hold me like you do when you’re not here
How can you hold back a beating heart while it’s ringing in my ears
How can you trouble me through and through you know you do

You take me for a ride
You take me for a ride
Wrap your arms around me
I come untied
You take me for a ride

There are no stars tonight just a string of lights
I walked here by myself
Left the cigarettes behind the counter
Left the liquor on the shelf
Then in the dark a familiar spark and there you are

You take me for a ride
You take me for a ride
Wrap your arms around me
I come untied
You take me for a ride
You take me for a ride

2. RIVER ALONE

No sound of a dog bark
Only distant hum of cars and wind
And dry leaves falling

Where the light falls slant
She holds the river in her hands
November hits the ground
A blanket of yellow and brown

The rushing of the water drowns out
Birdsong and highway sound
She’s wringing out sun-drenched hair

Find her by the river alone
She turns to water
He turns to stone
Stars above her
How they shone    
Watching over

The current pulls at her bare feet and her legs
Up come a cold breeze
Arched trees bend in closer watching

She let the wind run his fingers through her hair
Let the sun touch her skin
Young brown golden

He found her by the river alone
She turned to water
He turned to stone
Stars above her
How they shone    
Watching over

Driving rain at night holds its breath under bridges
The road hisses
As he slows to leave the highway

Streetlights shine on power lines
Rain hangs like diamonds
A necklace for a heavy sky on a windless night 

He found her by the river alone
She turned to water
He turned to stone
Stars above her
How they shone    
Watching over

Blue smoke in the backyard
Snaking high above the barn
Cold blanket of stars pulls in closer
The colder they are

3. TIME ROLLS BY

Why does time roll by slowly
When you are away
Time rolls by slowly
Like a frozen river winding to the sea

Winedark night
Water moon bright as chrome
One flashlight lighting a silver path home
Waves crawl in
Tide slips out
Another day washes away
With my heartbeat counting the

Time rolling by slowly
A frozen river winding to the sea

Honey-hearted moon sparkling through the trees
A porch light swaying soft on the breeze
Wind rolls in
Clouds slip out
I’ve been sitting here a hundred years
With every breath counting the 

Time rolling by slowly
Like a frozen river winding to the sea
Time rolls by slowly
A frozen river winding to the sea

4. WHO

Who put the song on your lips
Who put the swing in your hips
Who put the cotton in your fingertips
Who

Who put the bird in your chest
Who put the beat in your step
Who put the fire on your breath
Who 

You took the salt from my lips
You took the love from my fingertips
You took the red from my mouth
Put the light out

Who put the moon in your cry
Who put the wind in your sigh
Who put the sun in your eyes
Who

5. LEAPING OUT          

Hold your hand to your heart
Keep it from leaping out
Leaping out

If I could have you would I want you
If I could have you
If I could

He's good at glances
He takes his chances
Good at glances
He's good 

When you were young having fun
He could make your heart ring
Ringing rung it out
Played it out like a child's plaything 

Hold your hand to your heart
Keep it from leaping out
Leaping out

Wild rose
A sight to behold
She was a rose
In a jacked-up truck
Scratching off her luck
Pick up truck
Wild rose 

I'm not sleeping
You're the reason
I'm not sleeping
I don't sleep

Blood and red wine
Flow in real time
Blood and red wine
Blood red wine 

Hold your hand to your heart
Hold your hand to your heart
Keep it from leaping out
Leaping out

6. ONTO YOU

What's that new song you've been humming
Your mind some place else
Thumbs drumming on the steering wheel
Man you're up to something
A warm front means a cold one’s coming
You got an explanation for every clue
I'm onto you 

You've been strutting around like some Dive Bar Duke
With your Pearly Snaps
Bought a brand new suit
Polished your disposition
Even shined your shoes
I'm onto you

We sit here in the kitchen reading paper news
Now have you've been wishing I was someone who
Could do all the dishes
Light up a room
Give you long kisses that send you to the moon
You slammed the screen door honey
I see through
I'm onto you

Do you think you could find a little sweeter action
A brighter laugh
Longer lashes
We all look the same when it falls to ashes
But you could burn the house down and look like nothing happened
You're singing that same song
It's out of tune
I'm onto you

The moon is hanging low like a landlord's light
On a dingy ceiling on a dirty sky
You're driving up ahead I follow two snake eyes
My heart is burning red as your tail lights
Drop out of sight into the blue

You pull up the driveway in the fallen night
Familiar crunch of gravel underneath your tires
Wonder why no one bothered to leave on a light
Fumble with your keys blindly step inside
Feel the cold air rush from an empty room

7. MOTEL

In a motel with a bouquet in the ice pail
You can tell them I'm doing OK doing real well 

I've got six strings in the morning
Rain danced on the roof last night
Moon rose without warning
Took its time crossing the sky

I could tell you about lonely roads and the high way
I could warn you about the trouble and the time it takes
But California woke up this morning with a sweet refrain 

Yellow sun beat on the window
Light cut straight through the blinds
It was love that broke my sorrow
Like the day breaks the night

Yellow sun beat on the window
Light cut straight through the blinds
It was love that broke my sorrow
Like a day breaks a long night 

In a motel with a bouquet in the ice pail
You can tell them I'm doing OK doing real well 

8. SCATTERSHOT

Dark cloud like a gun
Do you stay do you run
Barrel pointed at the heart of the plains

Green bird on the wire
Smoke before the fire
Dry leaves coil in a rattling chain

Yellow edges the light
Dust curls wind sighs
Like the moan of a faraway train

The rain came scattershot
Taking aim with every drop
Doesn’t care where it’s been or where it’s bound
It’s coming scattershot and it wants another round

Hard rain on the road
Do we stay do we go
Static hisses on an old tv

We packed up the car
Didn’t get far
River rising like you wouldn’t believe

It comes down scattershot
Taking aim with every drop     
Doesn’t care where you’ve been or where you’re bound
You’re running scattershot and it wants another round

First it’s filling up the wells
And it’s rolling through the streets of this town
Over the steps of the motel       
Lightning tore the sky from the clouds
Now it’s rising to the rafters    
Climbing up the steeple       
Ringing all the bells  
Ringing all the bells  

9. BASIL GONE TO BLOSSOM

All our basil gone to blossom
I loved him and I lost him
I wish gone meant forgotten
All our basil gone to blossom

And our honey it's been frozen
Since he left me without warning
I could use a sweetheart this morning
All the honey is frozen

He took my time and he spent it
He took my heart and he bent it
Oh he loved me said he meant it
We built a home and he left it

Now every day is just a number
The buzzing hours of summer
Just bleed one into the other
I will never love another

All our basil gone to blossom
I loved him and I lost him
I wish gone meant forgotten
All our basil gone to blossom

10. CINDER BLOCKS

If you left me
In the front yard
In the tall grass
On cinder blocks
In the wet sun
I wouldn’t rust

If you left me
In the dark hallway
Of your empty house
With the TV on
In the backroom
I wouldn’t hush

I’d run down the dark hillside
Through the black coal light
To a silver stream
Cutting through the velvet night
Like a sharp knife
Bright blade in the moonlight

If you left me
With your old news
Half-hearted empties
And your thin thank you
A cold goodbye
How could I love you
How could I still love you