Category Archives: blues

The Devil you say…

The Devil Just Doubled Down

If you gamble in the Devil’s House, you will pay…

This version originally appeared back in September of 2007 and is brought back as a special All Hallows’ E’en goody…

lyrics
The Devil Just Doubled Down

Now I’m not a betting man but I’ll play
these chips in my hand are just good for today
I thought I could buy a chance this way
but now I see that the devil just doubled down

It’s only a game if you think you can win
it’s only a bet when the fix isn’t in
it’s no fun playing if you know how it ends
so how come I keep putting my money down

When you gamble in the devil’s house — you will pay
you can bet the odds are stacked and they’re stacked his way
maybe you can win but you won’t take it away
At he end of the game it’s you on the table face down

It’s only a game if you think you can win
it’s only a bet when the fix isn’t in
it’s no fun playing if you know how it ends
so how come I keep putting my money down

(C)2007, TK Major

The Devil Just Doubled Down

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Just another bodhisatva on the lam

Dharma.

It’s the damnedest thing.

Not to mix metaphysical and cultural paradigms here.

We are born into a life we have no business pretending to understand, and, if we spend too much time pondering that, we either drive ourselves crazy or become paralyzed, frozen in the amber of our own, absurd ontological dialectic…

Like a deer, you can stare, transfixed, into the oncoming light of something you can’t decide is destiny or chaos or both… surrendering with the thought that, whatever it is, it’s probably bigger than you.

Or you can act like a human.

And run like hell.

previous versions
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Saturday, October 06, 2007

lyrics
Angel’s Vacation

He tried to do what was right
but it always turned out wrong
the heavenly host was not impressed
and he had to blow out of town

he came down to earth near Phoenix
in the middle of the summertime
he walked to the first bar he saw
and ordered whiskey, beer, and wine

An angel came down from heaven
hoping to get away
he stewed in the hotel bar all night
and baked by the pool all day

He pushed the desk clerk to a breakdown
and drove the other guests away
he punched out the hotel detective
and ran off with the pretty dark eyed maid

They laid out on the lam for 40 days and nights
and on the 41st they had to rest
the pretty dark eyed maid was all worn out
and the angel was scared to death

he knew they’d have no trouble tracking him down
angels have this certain glow
and when they said it was time to leave
brother, then it’s time to go

An angel came down from heaven
hoping to get away
he stewed in the hotel bar all night
and baked by the pool all day

(C)1990,2009, TK Major

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On a Monday morning…




You know the old saw about the mechanic driving the smoke-belching, beat up, barely running car… As a database guy in real life, you’d think I’d be more on top of my own IT…

But until recently I’d been using a highly informal matrix of data queries, guesswork, and eyeballing to figure out which of my ~150 songs was most due for a new, improved version — or at least a shot at one — here in AYoS.

But I finally broke down and used some of the handy dandy aggregate query functions that Bill Gates kindly hammered into my local DB manager, Access, and set up a kind of one-stop for quickly spotting songs that had only been done once or twice and/or which had never had a version score high in my idiosyncratic personal rating system (which is currently hidden from your sight, thank you very much).

Without Warning 

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Even though this song, “Without Warning Blues” goes back at least a few decades, a reasonable performance had so far escaped me. This one just barely clears my rather low bar.

Without Warning 

You came without warning
on a monday morning
the day was all shot through
by shadows from the past
afterimages of the last
time that I was with you

and it didn’t take nothing
to see that I was something
that you just had to do
Well it mighta been right
on a Monday night
to release a little energy with you
— it mighta been right
in the end it came down to you

And I didn’t mean maybe
when I put it to you baby
There’s just time space and nothing more
But instead of pain
we could have pleasure again
just like before you heard about the fall

so when you come come
come come come around me
please take some form
take some from I can see
Well ghosts are fine
but I like some flesh on mine
Ya can’t steal my love
Ya can’t have my love for free

Copyright 1974
T.K. Major

(C)2008, TK Major

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The Devil Just Doubled Down

The Devil Just Doubled Down

NEW SONG ALERT!

Think of this new song as a kind of Gnostic blues song, a sort of House of the Rising Sun — but not about prostitution and gambling rather, about the trap of desire, itself.

Or… just think of it as an excuse to write a song about playing cards with the devil… which was, itself, an excuse for some devilish alliteration.

Next, I’m going to write a song about playing cards with some dogs.


The Devil Just Doubled Down

more stream & DL options

lyrics
The Devil Just Doubled Down

Now I’m not a betting man but I’ll play
these chips in my hand are just good for today
I thought I could buy a chance this way
but now I see that the devil just doubled down

It’s only a game if you think you can win
it’s only a bet when the fix isn’t in
it’s no fun playing if you know how it ends
so how come I keep putting my money down

When you gamble in the devil’s house — you will pay
you can bet the odds are stacked and they’re stacked his way
maybe you can win but you won’t take it away
At he end of the game it’s you on the table face down

It’s only a game if you think you can win
it’s only a bet when the fix isn’t in
it’s no fun playing if you know how it ends
so how come I keep putting my money down

(C)2007, TK Major

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