R-210 · 45 single · A/B
Nobody's Keeping Scores
Caleb North and the Even Breaks
In the PACEX catalogue from day one.
Both sides
Open a title for its lyrics.
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ANobody's Keeping Scores3:46
[Verse 1] Well, the chaplain's playing checkers with a corporal made of rain, And the colonel's got a map he holds upside-down again. The dancing girl from Bourbon Street is singing to the wire, While the paper man counts casualties and files them under "prior." And I asked the fortune teller in the market by the shore, She said, "Honey, don't you know by now — nobody's keeping score." [Harmonica] [Verse 2] There's a senator on television shaking hands with his own hand, And a farmer in the delta who cannot leave his land. The radio says progress, the sergeant says "dig in," And the new kid asks me plainly which one of them will win. So I pointed at the monsoon coming sideways through the door, Said, "Friend, you'll drive yourself half-crazy — nobody's keeping score." [Harmonica] [Verse 3] Now the quartermaster's dreaming of a girl in Illinois, And the medic's reading Tolstoy that he traded for a toy. The village kids sell soda pop at twenty cents a smile, And everybody's leaving here in just a little while. Well, I used to know the reasons, I had seventeen or more, But I traded them for cigarettes — nobody's keeping score. [Harmonica] [Verse 4] So if you see my darling, tell her not to read the news, The headlines and the truth ain't always sharing the same shoes. Tell her I'll come walking up the drive one ordinary day, With nothing much to speak of and too much I couldn't say. And if she asks me who was winning when they finally closed the store, I'll just kiss her on the forehead — nobody was keeping score. [Harmonica Outro]
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BThe Town That Moved the Sign2:54
[Verse 1] The welcome sign said eighty souls Beside the county road The chairman said a town that small Could never bear the load Of bringing in a factory Or even selling land So he sent his cousin out at dusk With a paintbrush in his hand [Refrain] They never built another house They only moved the sign [Verse 2] They moved it past the dairy farm And past the quarry gate They counted all the fishermen Who stopped to buy some bait The paper called it progress And the mayor bought a hat The school still had a leaking roof But they didn't count on that [Refrain] They never built another house They only moved the sign [Verse 3] My mother lived beyond the creek And never wanted much She found a bill inside her box For services and such She took it to the council With the bucket from her well Said, "When you bring the water out I'll pay you very well" [Harmonica Break] [Verse 4] The factory man came Tuesday And he asked about the train They showed him eighteen figures He asked about the train again He left before the luncheon And the chairman took it hard Now the welcome sign says eighty And there's paint in cousin's yard [Final Refrain] They never built another house They only moved the sign You can make the numbers bigger But the roof leaks every time
Heard on AFVN