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I Know Stories

by Bread and Bones

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Richard March
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Stephen Kymlicka
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Andrew Alexis
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1.
Bread and Bones 03:08
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Bread and Bones – © 2004 Richard Ruane Bread and bones, but a little too cold Rusty knife got a little too old Rusty knife won against a gun Turned my heels and away I run Away I run, but I should have stayed Should have talked, not run away Ran myself right out of time Caught me down by the borderline The borderline all fog and rain Rocks and stone on a cold hard plain Hurt my feet to walk a mile Took me back to stand my trial Stood my trial, but a little too bold Justice blind to the truth I told They heard the truth, but would not believe No sympathy did I receive. No sympathy that I deserve Bread and bones and a cold hard nerve Bread and bones, soon a little too cold No one to mourn, no one to hold No one to hold or be held to No one to tell my secrets to Let secrets pass and fall away Bread and bones in cold hard clay
2.
My Father is Gone 03:36
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My Father is Gone - © 2003 Richard Ruane In the coal mining hills of Pennsylvania My father grew up just above the mine But his father told him no You won’t be working down below ‘Cause I won’t see you fall before your time So my father had a job down at the railway Moving round the coal-filled railroad cars But one April afternoon My aunt came up to my room And told me there’d been trouble at the yards My father is gone, will not return. You can’t hold a life beyond its own turn Can’t hold back the night or hurry the dawn It cannot be changed, my father is gone There were people in their suits out in the parlor There were tall men come to shake me by the hand And a kitchen full of pies And my mother’s weary eyes My uncle told me “Son, now be a man.” My father is gone, will not return. You can’t hold a life beyond its own turn Can’t hold back the night or hurry the dawn It cannot be changed, my father is gone But I dreamed that he opened his eyes That he opened his eyes And all was all right My father is gone, will not return. You can’t hold a life beyond its own turn Can’t hold back the night or hurry the dawn It cannot be changed, my father is gone
3.
Time Is Passing 03:06
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Time Is Passing – © 2006 Richard Ruane Cindy's got a hard luck story She will not tell you what it is She says it helps her to remember To use what time we have to live Cindy's not someone you pity A force of nature, strong and true She will not dwell on her own problems She'll do all that she can for you Come and go with me The world is here, now go and see Rise up and go with me Time is passing on by Cindy does not seek redemption She'll laugh and say it will not come Her mother told her of God's glory But it never took when she was young Still Cindy has her own religion Made up as she goes along No God of fear and retribution Will meet her when she passes on Come and go with me The world is here, now go and see Rise up and go with me Time is passing on by Glory, glory, halleluiah The nighttime goes and day comes in This world is waiting here before you You may not get asked back again Come and go with me The world is here, now go and see Rise up and go with me Time is passing on by Time is passing Go with me The world is here, now go and see Rise up and go with me Time is passing on by Time is passing by
4.
You Call to Me 04:27
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You Call to Me – © 2007 Richard Ruane & Beth Duquette You call to me, I barely hear you Your voice is soft, like troubled air You call to me, why should I fear you I see a shape, but you're not there You call to me like a river to a stone You call to me like a soldier headed home You call to me like an echo of a sound I might have known You call to me, but I'm alone You call to me, and I ignore you I feel your thought, what might have been You call to me, I've nothing for you I will not hear that voice again You call to me like a sparrow to the sky You call to me like a shimmer to the eye You call to me like an emigrant who speaks a last goodbye You call to me, I won't reply Bridge: In morning sun, I watched you go away The curtain fell, but still the spell, has held me to this day You linger on, when you should go Don't hold me, let me go Don't call me, let me go And stay away You call to me, when day is breaking I see it stealing in from night You call to me, I don’t need waking Your voice is fading with the light You call to me like a boat calls to the shore You call to me like a pain that I ignore You call to me like a dream that left me shaken and unsure You call to me, not any more Through memories and empty hours and thought I won’t endure You call to me, not any more
5.
I Was Not Born Here 02:42
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I Was Not Born Here – © 2005 Richard Ruane I was not born here; another place can make that claim. Some people start one place and then they roam Not a native, I’m a migrant, but I’ve lived here most my life This is where I mean when I say home When I say home, it’s not a postcard in my mind It’s the place where I’m now living, not a place I left behind When I say home, I know where I want to be Everybody feels the need to have a home And it’s not perfect, there’s no perfection in this world Anyone could find a thing that they would change We could argue about the politics and policies and all But in the end what really matter would remain I have family from Ireland, from England and from Spain I’ve maybe got some native blood and more Five hundred years, a hundred years, some thousand years ago We all were migrants who lived somewhere else before
6.
Let Me Know 04:10
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Let Me Know – © 2008 Richard Ruane If you leave me, let me know I’ll wait ‘til you tell me so Wait until I hear You whisper in my ear You’ve gone away But until that day Sweet love will stay And hold me If you leave me in the spring Snow will melt and birds will sing Leaves come to the trees Flowers scent the breeze In spite of me But until that day Sweet love will stay And hold me If you leave me in the fall The world will hardly know at all Trouble I may know Won’t make the cold winds blow Or winter come But until that day Sweet love will stay And hold me If you leave, I won’t despair Heal by fire, earth and air Water lift my soul Carry me whole Away from here But until that day Sweet love will stay And hold me But until that day Sweet love will stay And hold me But until that day Sweet love will stay
7.
Fair and Tender Ladies 04:07
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Fair and Tender Ladies – Traditional Come all you fair, and tender ladies Be careful how, you court young men They’re like the stars that rise at morning They first appear, and then they’re gone If I had known, before I courted I swear I would, have courted none I’d lock my heart, in a box so golden And sealed it up, with a silver pin I wish I were, some tiny sparrow That I had wings, and I could fly I’d fly straight way, to my false lover And sing and call, with every lie But I am not, some tiny sparrow I have no wings, I cannot fly I bide my time, and weep my sorrow And try to pass, my troubles by Do you recall, our days of courting You lay your head, upon my breast I’d have believed, with all your lying That the sun, rose in the west So all you fair, and tender ladies Be careful how, you court young men They’re like the stars that rise at morning They first appear, and then they’re gone They just appear, and then they’re gone They just appear, and then they’re gone
8.
Blue Coyote 03:22
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Blue Coyote – © 2004 Richard Ruane There’s a blue coyote, I hear her howl She’s got a dark, dark sound that trails down to a growl In the night there's no mistaking, I feel it in my bones Like some old sad memory, like I’ll always be alone And I love to hear her, I always do But why, should that coyote sound so blue She howls about her places, where I'll never go She calls of what she's seen, things I'll never know But she makes me want to know them, makes me want to feel What that coyote knows, coyote knows is real And I love to hear her, I always do But why, should that coyote sound so blue Bridge: In the summer she can wail just like a train In the winter night I hear her sad refrain Seems like all the lies she ever heard she somehow could make true But Coyote why do you sound so blue Oh that howl will stop you, when you’re walking out alone Make you wish for things you miss, and make you dream of home Oh that howl will stop you, make you lose your way Make you feel you’re out alone and may be out to stay Oh I love to hear her, I always do But why, should that coyote sound so blue
9.
The Wolf Is at the Door 02:41
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The Wolf is at the Door - © 2003 Richard Ruane My son called me to the living room Said the wolf was at the door And I could see him through the window In the road the dogs of war Oh, and I might have let him in right then His smile so wide and kind But the whistle from the kettle Drove the whole thing from my mind My family seated round the table The loose tea steamed and brewed I sliced the bread to make the toast As the ghosts called out for food Oh, I might have fed them all right then Their pictures on the wall But everyone I’ve ever known Waits hungry in the hall There are many different places you might travel to Some on roads for many, Some on roads for few Through the din of conversation I heard the words “When I was young” And I can see me by the corner With my blanket and my thumb Oh, and I might have known it all back then The world small and confined But everything I’ve ever seen Pushed it further from my mind
10.
Slipping on Your Way 01:55
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Slipping On Your Way – © 2004 Richard Ruane You tell me darling that your love is pure That the world would end before you’d ever feel unsure But it hardly seem to matter what you say Every day, oh every day I know you’re only slipping on your way You tell me darling that our love is bright But I can see you say it just to be polite Oh it hardly seems to matter what you say Every day, oh every day I know you’re only slipping on your way Some people only tell you What you want to hear Some people never seem To make their meaning clear (Darling please now be sincere) Tell me darling, don’t you lead me on In a year will you be here, or will you be long gone Oh it hardly seems to matter what you say Every day, oh every day I know you’re only slipping on your way Tell me darling, am I wrong or right To ask you what it is you really feel tonight Oh it hardly seems to matter what you say Every day, oh every day I know you’re only slipping on your way
11.
I Know Stories 05:33
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I Know Stories – © 2006 Richard Ruane In a big world, I’m the biggest one around That’s not a boast, that’s just a fact and that ain’t a lie Got a castle, and it’s big and made of stone It floats in the air, way up in the clouds a mile in the sky Got a golden harp, and golden eggs and a goose who’ll give me more The harp will sing and play and lives just to please I’ve got a wife I love, and we float above in my castle in the air It’s a good life that we share, but I’m not at ease I don’t mix much, not with those people down below They’re petty and small; they’re nothing at all that’s what I feel But I worry, they’ll come up, they’ll find a way It’s something I fear; they're hiding up here and waiting to steal And my pretty place will be laid to waste, doesn’t matter that I’m strong, Doesn’t matter that I’m big it all will go wrong Everything I've known will be overthrown, though I’ll do my best I’ll lose In the end I won't get to choose I'll just go along Cause I know stories, and I know how stories go And I’m not part of a happy ending, what happens next, I already know I’ll be falling, falling down, I’ll be falling, all the way to the ground I’ll be falling, falling down, I’ll be falling, all the way to the ground I’ve got a good wife, she might be simple but she cares She can’t understand, why I’d fear a man a tenth of my size And she tells me, she says our story’s still our own It hasn’t been told; we’ll laugh when we’re old, I should open my eyes But in my dreams, it’s not how it seems; I’m always one wrong step behind And a voice in the back of my mind says you know you can’t fly My wife can’t see, where the harm can be, she knows I must be wrong But I worry, after I’m gone how will she get by? Cause I know stories, and I know how stories go And I’m not part of a a happy ending, what happens next, I already know I’ll be falling, falling down, I’ll be falling, all the way to the ground I’ll be falling, falling down, I’ll be falling, all the way to the ground I’ll be falling, I’ll be falling down, I’ll be falling, all the way, all the way I’ll be falling, all the way to the ground
12.
Walking Cane 02:15
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Walking Cane – Traditional/with added bridge and lyrics © 2004 Richard Ruane Hand me down, my walking cane It’s time to take a road that’s plain Hand me down that walking cane I will not pass this way again My sins they have overtaken, overtaken me My sins they have overtaken me I got drunk, and paid no mind I left my friends and home behind I got drunk, I paid no mind And now I’ve no path left to find My sins they have overtaken, overtaken me My sins they have overtaken me Hell is deep and hell is wide Full of souls, once filled with pride It might be deep, it might be wide I might have one foot there inside My sins they have overtaken, overtaken me My sins they have overtaken me Don’t you wait upon the doorstep for me darling Take the candle from the window, blow it out Don’t you see me in each stranger’s face that’s passing I’ve dug myself into a hole, too deep for getting out Oh hand me down my walking cane My time has passed, I won’t remain Hand me down that walking cane My feet won’t take me here again My sins they have overtaken, overtaken me My sins they have overtaken me
13.
I Dreamed I Rose 02:31
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I Dreamed I Rose – © 2006 Richard Ruane I dreamed I rose as angels rise Above my home, above my town And I could see below my eyes This world we know spread all around And every one who lives below I saw them there beneath my eyes Their hopes and dreams, their fears, their cares Their deepest truths, their darkest lies I did not judge, I only saw And understood what life can be I saw a purpose for us all One, now awake, I cannot see Oh, I’m of this world, and in this world With waking day before my eyes I see my way as any one But once I knew a dream to rise I dreamed I rose as angels rise

about

The first recording by Bread and Bones, I Know Stories, was released in the summer of 2008.
It was named Vermont's Best Traditional Album of the Year by the Times Argus newspaper.
Herb van der Poll wrote in Vermont's Seven Days "Duquette’s and Ruane’s voices weave delightfully through each other and the music. Their words are strong with a wealth of quotable lines. I Know Stories is a solid album made by musicians who know and love traditional American music. Check it out."

credits

released December 26, 2020

Bread and Bones:
Richard Ruane – vocals, guitar, mandolin and ukulele; Beth Duquette – vocals; Mitch Barron – fretless, fretted and upright basses and vocals.

We had additional help from Jeff Pratt – mandolin on Walking Cane, Matthew Witten – accordion on Fair and Tender Ladies, and Adam Frehm – Dobro on Bread and Bones.

All songs written by Richard Ruane, except You Call to Me written by Richard Ruane and Beth Duquette, Walking Cane, traditional with additional words and music by Richard Ruane and Fair and Tender Ladies, traditional. All original music published by Okey Dokey Folkie Music (BMI).

Recorded from April 2006 to April 2008 at Resting Lion Studio in Huntington, Vermont, and Toast Pirate Studios in Ripton, Vermont. We also recorded at a number of homes of friends who graciously allowed us to take advantage of their good acoustics and generous hearts. Our thanks to Cindy and Michael Seligmann (and Kathy Clarke), Jim Lienau and Brenda Myrick, Su White and Eric Warren, as well as to the Lincoln Community School and Centerpoint School. Thanks to Gertrude A. Ruane and Tom Ruane for generous encouragement and support and to Mark Mulqueen, Andrea Chesman, Susan Abell and Max. Mixed and mastered by Lane Gibson at Charles Eller Studios in Charlotte, Vermont.

Art design and band photo by Win Colwell (www.wcolwell.com).

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Richard Ruane Ripton, Vermont

Richard Ruane and Beth Duquette are a Vermont-based acoustic duo performing original music with a clear traditional-roots influence that is steeped in tradition, but of its own time. They are known for their strong, imaginative vocals and harmonies, often compared to classic sibling harmony duos. ... more

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