Get all 13 Julie Christensen releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Price We Pay for Love, 11 From Kevin: Songs Of Kevin Gordon, Looking For Mercy, The Laughing Men (new audio), Breaking Open, The Music Time, Burning Star-Brother Remix, A Sad Clown, and 5 more.
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1. |
The Cardinal
04:37
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The Cardinal
Julie Christensen
Oh the cardinal he's a red red bird
Up there in my hickory tree
Singin' too---purty purty purty purty purty and a-
Callin' back to me.
I danced at the home games in crimson velvet
I always wore black whenever they played away
I fell for a boy with a bird on his helmet
And I wonder about him to this very day
Oh the cardinal he's a red red bird
Somewhere he is a-flyin' free
Singin' too---purty purty purty purty purty never
Comin' back to me.
Under the stands, we stole a kiss
To the strains of the band, I tore my dress
[Instrumental Chorus]
I traveled the world, I sang hundreds of places
(I'd) sing it all again if I had one more go
Yet I still see the boy in the thousands of faces
For I have not forgiven him, God only knows
Oh the cardinal he dives way down hill
Down where I can barely see
Singin' I'm purty purty purty purty purty but I'm
Scarlet as can be.
Oh the cardinal he's a red red bird
Oh the cardinal he's a red red bird
Oh the cardinal he's a red red bird.
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2. |
Shed My Skin
04:19
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Shed My Skin
©Dan Navarro
Come on and take a ride
Across the border
To a place that once was mine
Out of focus
Out of order
Pictures from another time
On the outside
Turning lighter
So much darkness in my eyes
Gas or water
On the fire
Makes no difference
Something dies
So I take a piece of who I am
And stretch it thin
Every time I start to feel the walls
Closing in
I Shed My Skin
Come on and take a ride
On the dragon
Hiding out behind the lines
Piling bodies
On the wagon
Everyone's a friend of mine
But when I feel that bitter chill
In the wind
I swear that I can feel the room
Start to spin
So I Shed My Skin
I Shed My Skin, Oh
Through the smoke
Through the rubble
Through the crossfire - friends in need
On the inside
Of the bubble
We see what we choose to see - yeah.
Heart of Darkness
Hope and anger
The road to freedom paved with fear
Lead me back to
Where I came from
Somewhere far away from here
But the light to find my way back home
Is growing dim
And the sirens from behind my walls
Draw me in
So I Shed My Skin
I Shed My Skin
I Shed My Skin
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3. |
Riverside
05:18
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Riverside
©Laura Curtis and
Julie Christensen Stone Cupid Music BMI, Laura Curtis ASCAP
Bought a beater from John Morrow
It was thirty-five dollars without tags
Grabbed the keys
Climbed in through the window,
Goin' down to Riverside
I did something
I don't remember
So I can't apologize
In that red dress, she kicked in the fender
Sat down on the road and cried
I will get release
I will make my peace
Hit the mud and fly
Demolition time
When the flag goes down
In between jobs for building silos
I just barrelled through my pay
Tired of waiting for a sure thing
Goin' down to Riverside
‘Cause they get bored down in Winterset Iowa
Come around to watch us drive
Gonna floor it out onto the highway
Goin’ down to Riverside
Bridge:
Nothin' in this world is made to last
Gas tank under me, window’s got no glass
Safer than a race, 'cause you don't go too fast
When you know you're gonna crash
I will get release
I will make my peace
Just like you and I
It’s demolition time
When the flag goes down
I ain’t waiting
For a sure thing
Goin' down to Riverside
So grab the keys and climb in through the window
We’re goin' down to Riverside.
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4. |
Broken Wing
04:28
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Broken Wing
©Laura Curtis and
Julie Christensen Stone Cupid Music BMI, Laura Curtis ASCAP
I see a hologram of us
Dance across the table
When I rub my eyes
It's just the empty bottles
Like the knowing in your bones
Right before the rain
I could feel the storm coming
In the quiet of your pain
Broken Wing
There's no moremedicine
We both knew this kind of hurt
And we went after it again
Broken Wing
Driftin in the wind
When we watched each other fall
It felt like fly____ing
I have a photograph of us
And we're laughing at the sky
But now I can see the hollow aching in our eyes
I can't save the part of you
That doesn't see a way to be
And it's killin me to leave you
But staying here is gonna be the death of me
Broken Wing
There's no more medicine
We both knew this kind of hurt
And we went after it again
Broken Wing
Drifting in the wind
When we watched each other fall
It felt like fly____ing
Felt like fly_____________ing
Felt like fly_____________ing
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5. |
Girl In The Sky
04:20
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GIRL IN THE SKY © Amelia White
It's a long way down when you're standing on a high wire
every tide of the wind can shake you to the bone
lose your focus and the ground will surely break you
you asked for the danger, you had to try
you passed on a simple life, your father cried
you wanted to get that high, but it's a long way down
Im so lonely I"m only a Girl in the Sky
Far from holy I'm only a dreamer
Everybody thinks your life is so exciting
they'd love to taste the altitudes they' ve never known
when the birds sing out they think of you and wonder
how you came to that leap of flight and passed them by
why you changed to a different girl who had to try
how dare you to get so high, but it's a long way down
I"m so lonely I'm only a girl in the sky
far from holy I"m only a dreamer
everyone walked away when they saw that I knew that I might fall
OH I MIGHT FALL…. LORD I MIGHT FALL
I'm so lonely I"m only a girl in your eyes
far from holy I"m only a dreamer…….
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6. |
Saint On A Chain
05:39
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Saint on a Chain
©Kevin Gordon, Little Rain Music(BMI)
I grew up right down the road
Never had too far to go
Making it here, your chance is slim
Folks leave this town, you won’t see them again Mama died in ’93
This silver medal she gave to me St. Christopher ‘round my neck Wherever I go, my soul he protects
Every river’s a daughter of the dirty rain
But see how it shines
Water’s running like the blood pushing through my veins See how it shines, like a saint on a chain
Heather was so sweet to me
Her daddy owned some property
Maybe my drinking was a little much
She turned cold to my touch
That story ‘bout the woman,
maybe it was true--
Heather put together 2 and 2
Kicked me out and changed the locks
On my motel door now the sheriff knocks
BRIDGE: Now after work I take my lonesome down With a Percocet, and a double shot of Crown But now the higher I get, the harder it seems
To get back to that place that floats like a dream
One hand on the wheel, doing 85
All my trouble just flies on by
I want to forget everything I know
I want to close my eyes and just let her go Rearview glow of the city bright
Angel of death got no headlights
You who’d protect me, I ask no more
Just carry me ‘cross to that other shore
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7. |
No Mercy
03:20
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NO MERCY
© 2014 David Olney,
Julie Christensen, John Hadley
That's just the way of the world
You're a swine, or you are a pearl
You're a king, or you're a fool
That's the law. Just the rules.
Do you have any questions?
Look, there is no in-between
What is real and what is a dream
Nothing's sacred, Nothing's profane
You're no different, you're just the same
You can keep your suggestions.
Oh____There is No Mercy
Oh____There is No Mercy
When did words become weapons of coice
In their sinister whispering voice
In their smiling, sweet disguise
Just some lies among all the lies
To fit any occasion
Oh____There is No Mercy
Oh____There is No Mercy
They tied my hands behind my back
Stood me up against the wall
They accused me of a crime
And demanded confession
Oh____There is No Mercy
Oh____There is No Mercy
Oh____There is No Mercy
That's just the way of the world.
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8. |
Gasoline
03:24
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Gasoline
©Julie Christensen
Golden girls with oily curls
Manly men and all their friends
Pump dinosaurs into the bellies of machines
Gasoline
Get that black stuff out the ground
Out of the deep, we're goin' down
Even if it stinks like a latrine
To get the gasoline.
Gasoline
Gasoline
I___ wanna get out of here
But I___ don't have the means
Or the gasoline.
Gasoline
Gasoline
Instrumental break
Never mind who's president
It won't matter how you pay the rent
When that well runs dry your cash won't mean a thing.
Just Gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline
I wanna get out of here
But I don't have the wheels
Or the gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline
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9. |
100 Floors
04:12
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Down a Hundred Floors © Julie Christensen
This burning pain, I'm going numb
Can’t find my breath
It will not come
The wind was siphoned out of me
And I want to cry all day.
Things that I know how to do
The little chores that get me through
I can operate about an hour
And then I crumble
And then I tumble
Down a hundred floors
In an elevator with no doors
And it’s hard to be alone
You are never coming home
Like a flower being crushed
A drying blossom turned to dust
I knew that I could get the call
But that knowing
Didn’t break my fall
Down a hundred floors
In an elevator with no doors
And it’s hard to live alone …
(Instrumental verse)
They tell me you’ll be lighter as a spirit
Than you were as flesh and bone
But I do not want to hear it
You are never coming home.
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10. |
Would You Love Me?
04:21
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WOULD YOU LOVE ME?
©Chuck Prophet
Sittin' in a movie
And I'm starin' at the screen
They're draggin' Jesus from the town
It don't look good to me
Well, if I had a bucket
Or better yet a spoon
I'd go down to that river baby
I'd bring that river home to you
Would you love me?
Would you really love me?
Would you love me?
Would you really love me?
Elvis rode the wheels
Right off the gravy train
They could've shut that mother down
But they rode it just the same
Oh, and the women threw their panties
And the women threw their bras
Elvis hung his head and said
"They'll forget me when I'm gone, when I'm gone"
Would you love me?
Would you really love me?
Oh, would you love me?
Would you really love me?
I was afraid you wouldn't answer
Did I wake you up?
Listen, I still got this box of band aids here
From the night we patched things up
Oh, there's still some at the bottom
Yeah, I got the box right here
Man, if I could hold that moment to my chest
I swear I'd disappear
Oh, would you love me?
Would you really love me?
Songwriter
CHARLES PROPHET © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
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11. |
Broken As I Am
04:56
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Broken As I Am
©2013 Julie Christensen
Stone Cupid Music BMI
The moon is almost full
And I can feel it pull
I can almost see the fireworks from Disneyland
And on this outbound train
The whistle blows a tired refrain
And I hope that you will take me back
As Broken As I Am
Broken as I Am.
The moon is almost gone
And I am movin on
Did some dirty work to get away from Disneyland
If you can hear this train
Clear out on the lonesome plains
Well, I hope that you will take me back
As Broken As I Am
Broken As I Am.
Instr
I couldn't see the forest for the trees across the road
Instr
But I never really found the one to lighten up the load
You lighten up the load
The moon's a thumbnail dome
And I am headed home
'Cause I've had my fill of fireworks and Disneyland
And now the leavin' train
Is gone and out of range
And I feel like you're the only one who even gives a damn
So I'm begging you to take me back
As Broken As I Am
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12. |
Live and Not Die Trying
05:10
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Live and Not Die Trying
©2015 Julie Christensen
Stone Cupid Music BMI
My dreams are rich, but my aim is poor
My aim is truly untrue
I was aimin' for that homeplace
But it just kept slippin' through
You would think I had it all,
But I just had everything.
You would think I'd seen it all,
When I'd probably seen too much of what the world can bring
The show must go on, weather permitting
Just want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want my pockets to be lined with a modest sum
Made with my own two hands
I want the streets to be paved with goldenrods
And smiles upon the land
'Cause there's a lot of room at the bottom
And still it is not lonely.
I was on top of the world
With the weight of it all on me, and I need wings.
The show must go on, weather permitting
Just want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want to Live and Not Die Trying
The end of the rainbow is fading off the ledge
The end of the world has lost its edge
My dreams are rich and my aim's been poor
Oh, but I aim to please you true
And a little bit of heaven underneath the clouds
I want to build for you.
'Cause there's a lot of room at the bottom
And still it is not lonely
We are on top of the world
And you are my one and only, and why I sing.
The show must go on, and on and on and on.
Just want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want to Live and Not Die Trying
I want to Live and Not Die Trying
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Julie Christensen Albuquerque, New Mexico
Julie Christensen’s story is woven into decades of Roots Music. A veteran of Leonard Cohen’s bands, she co-fronted post- punk rockers Divine Horsemen, which rebooted to release 2 new albums. While the pandemic was still going on, Julie moved from Nashville to NM and began the 2+ year process of recording "The Price We Pay for Love," out 4/14/2023 on WireBird Records. ... more
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