back to
Lucky Number
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Stubborn Heart

by Ratso

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Deluxe 12" album on Champagne-coloured vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Stubborn Heart via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 1000  7 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      £16 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Stubborn Heart via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    6 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP  or more

     

1.
I want the birds from the skies The sparkle in your eyes I want the pangs of defeat The flowers so sweet I want everything I want the city at dawn The child being born Gossamer wings The bell as it rings I want everything But sometimes in the middle of the night all I want is you So I just keep doing the things I have to do to get through I want the dew on the leaves The tapestry weaves A butler named Jeeves A billion Chinese I want everything Sunsets and rain Disappointments and pain Breakfast in bed The dreams from your head I want everything But sometimes in the middle of the night all I want is you So I just keep doing the things I have to do to get through I want an island exotic A woman erotic The gross national product Every narcotic I want everything I want the rose and its thorn Situations all torn Elevens and sevens A place in heaven I want everything But lately in the middle of the night all I want is you So I just keep doing the things I have to do to get through
2.
Oh the lady will stun you when you meet face to face Her beauty unbounded by time or by place And she’ll dance round your shyness, poke fun at your gloom But you can’t help but smile as she gooses the groom She lives in the ruins of a honeymoon suite The optimal place for the star-crossed to meet And the oracle says that the maiden is chaste Now she’s throwing those pennies right back in your face And she’ll shine on you tonight Let her shine on you tonight 
Oh lady, our lady of light She will ask to be rescued from the first rays of dawn Then she’ll throw down a rope that is studded with thorns And at last when you climb it, when your palms are all torn She’ll be taking the sun in from a chair on the lawn And she’ll shine on you tonight Let her shine on you tonight Oh lady, our lady of light Don’t ask too many questions or you’ll end up like me Marooned on an island, circumscribed by her sea And I guess that I’m stuck here, to no one’s surprise I surrendered my freedom when I looked through her eyes And she’ll shine on you tonight Let her shine on you tonight Oh lady, dear lady, our lady of light
3.
She said no, but she meant maybe She said she wasn’t that type of girl. When she’d done wrong, she’d never admit it But I had empty pockets to prove it.   He said no, and he really meant it He was just that type of guy When he did wrong, he’d never admit it But I had black and blue marks to prove it.   Caribbean, Caribbean, Caribbean Caribbean, Caribbean, Caribbean sunset Caribbean, Caribbean sunset Caribbean Caribbean sunset   She was so much like a foreign language That you learned but never understood She said words just didn’t matter But when she needed them they always would   Caribbean, Caribbean sunset Caribbean, Caribbean sunset   I’d rather sleep in the streets at night Or I’d rather not sleep at all I’m not so sure of my friends these days Not sure of anything at all
4.
I’ve been chasing ghosts and I don’t like it I wish someone would show me where to draw the line I’d lay down my sword if you would take it And tell everyone back home I’m doing fine. I was with you down in Acapulco Trading clothing for some wine Smelling like an old adobe woman Or a William Burroughs paying for lost time. And I was thinking about my mother I was thinking about what’s mine I was living like a Hollywood But I was dying on the vine Who could sleep through all that noisy chatter? The troops, the celebration in the sun The authorities say my papers are all in order And if I wasn’t such a coward I would run I’ll see you when all the shootings over Meet me on the other side of town Yes, you can bring all your friends along for protection It’s always nice to have them hanging around And I was thinking about my mother I was thinking about what’s mine I was living my life like a Hollywood But I was dying, dying on the vine
5.
Hiding behind that woolen scarf Your eyes gave it all away And I often wondered in which book you read How much you had to pay And the things I tried to teach you, you already knew And the hangers-on reminded you of what you had to do And there we were living in moonlight And there we were laughing at the day And there we were living in moonlight They all knew about the baby And all those hoops you had to leap But I never once pretended That still waters must run deep On the highway of the upright, our backs against the wall You were proud I took the fall There we were living in moonlight There we were laughing at the day And there we were living in moonlight You never have to feel That there are people you can blame ‘Cause the gun that you just loaded Is impossible to aim My heart is like an ocean – it’ll never let you down You’ll know better this time around. Living in moonlight There we were laughing at the day There we were living in moonlight There we were laughing at the day There we were
6.
Matching scars, so tender to the touch Oh we put ourselves through so much But I know you’d like to see just how far We’d have to go to get these matching scars In the bars, New Jersey red lights Factory stars down on the turnpike Now there’s nothing wrong with loving from afar But you gotta get close to get these matching scars In my car, can’t seem to turn right See your face at every stoplight And would you wish upon a shooting star If you knew you’d get a matching scar? On the operating table They exposed your hungry heart Then they bruised and abused it And convinced you it won’t start Through the night, we been sleepwalking Too many words, not enough talking But one of us had to reach up for those stars And now we both got these matching scars
7.
Listen little man Little common man There’s a world outside Hanging on by a thread You can turn your back You can duck your head Or you can fly, way up in the sky So listen little man Listen little man Little common man All the vessels are cracked And your burden is heavy The water is pouring Out over the levee But it’s not so grim, you know that you can swim So listen little man There’s a blackheart beast lurking in the abyss And the whore of Babylon’s begging you for a kiss Everyone you see is marching around in blinders In case you needed any more reminders So listen little man Little common man To the sound that’s coming From that enemy within It’s no victory song From that broken violin It’s just a dirge, time for you to emerge Listen little man
8.
It was easy to leave you, it was turning a page I flew into freedom like a bird from a cage But it was much harder to get through the night Where the flesh and the spirit take their gloves off to fight Leaving you was the easiest part Now I got to deal with this stubborn heart You the holy pretender to the throne of my dreams Me the sensitive one coming loose at the seams Silence descends as the cameras roll You hit your mark as you unveil your soul Leaving you was just the next part Now I’m second bill to this stubborn heart They say give up an inch and then they take a mile But who gave you the right to start in on my smile You say that he broke you and you’ll never get free But the last time I saw him he resembled me I guess he could not free the horse from its cart You must put the whip to a stubborn heart Now it was easy to leave you, it was shedding a skin In this world it’s always the strong ones that win So raise up your glass, let’s make one final toast To the ungrateful guest and his generous host Leaving you was only the start It’s time to seduce this stubborn heart It’s time to seduce this stubborn heart
9.
With your mercury mouth in the missionary times 
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
 And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes
 Oh, who among them do they think could bury you?
 With your pockets well protected at last
 And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass 
And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass 
Who among them do they think could carry you? 
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
 Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes 
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
 Should I leave them by your gate 
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

 With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace
 And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace 
And your basement clothes and your hollow face
 Who among them can think he could outguess you? 
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims 
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims
 And your matchbook songs and your gypsy hymns
 Who among them would try to impress you? 
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
 Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
 My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums 
Should I leave them by your gate 
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait? 

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list 
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss 
And you wouldn’t know it would happen like this
 But who among them really wants just to kiss you?
 With your childhood flames on your midnight rug 
And your Spanish manners and your mother’s drugs
 And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs
 Who among them do you think could resist you? 
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
 Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
 My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums 
Should I leave them by your gate
 Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

 Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide 
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide
 But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
 Oh, how could they ever mistake you?
 They wished you’d accepted the blame for the farm
 But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm
 And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms
 How could they ever, ever persuade you? 
 Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
 Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
 My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
 Should I leave them by your gate
 Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

 With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row
 And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go 
And your gentleness now, which you just can’t help but show
 Who among them do you think would employ you? 
Now you stand with your thief, you’re on his parole 
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold
 And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul 
Oh, who among them do you think could destroy you? 
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
 Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
 My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
 Should I leave them by your gate
 Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

credits

released April 5, 2019

Ratso’s Stubborn Heart was Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Vincent Cacchione at Duct Tape Studios (2011 to 2018). All lyrics by Larry "Ratso" Sloman except Caribbean Sunset (Sloman, Cale), Matching Scars (Sloman, Bracy, Nelson) and Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands (Bob Dylan).

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Ratso New York, New York

contact / help

Contact Ratso

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Ratso, you may also like: