Information/Write-up
Greetings from Diamond Joe
We are presenting this collection of tunes: some old, some new, on the c.d. format because the old albums are probably all scratched up. The project was recorded at Melodeon Studios here in Chemainus February 14–17, 1997. We set up in the round and recorded live with very little overdubbing, hence, the title Honestly. This is the way my music was written and the way I’ve always wanted it produced.
We wish to dedicate this album to the memory of Kel Kramer, a great entertainer, who was too soon stolen from us all. Anyway, we hope you enjoy.
Warmest regards,
-Diamond Joe
Diamond Joe White: vocals, guitar
Penny White: vocals
Doug Cox: dobro
Mike Vaira: guitar, vocals
Kim Kramer: bass, harmonica, vocals
Eric Lueke: percussion
Lara White: vocals on 'Honestly'
Jolene White: vocals on 'Honestly'
All songs and poems by Diamond Joe White (Shortgrass Music) unless otherwise noted.
Produced by Doug Cox
Executive Producer: Diamond Joe White
Engineered by John Ellis
Recorded at Melodeon Studios 1997
Mastered by Mark Franklin at Mediamagic
Album design by Mike Cassie
Special Thanks:
Mike & Susan Marks, Colin James, Mike Vaira, Eric Lueke, Kim Kramer, Gilles Therrien (for translation on Louis Riel), Doug Cox, Lara White, Jolene White, Penny White, Wendy Neilson, and all those who have contributed to the making of this CD.
Publisher Information:
© 1997 Malahat Mountain Music.
For a complete catalog or bookings, contact:
Malahat Mountain Music Box 10034, 2064 Comox Ave, Comox, BC V9M 1S5
Phone: 250-339-5145
Email: dobro@islandnet.com
Lyrics from "Diamond Joe White - Honestly"
1. The Hearse Song
Well, I seen my hearse a-comin'
Up behind me in my mirror
There was nothing I could do
To try and stop her
Hit the brakes or hit those bushes
Slow it down and start to pray
And repent for all the times
You ain’t been proper
Chorus:
Cause you’re driving down the highway of your making
Headed for the crossroads known as fate
You’ve got to do some hasty choosin’
Which way to go from here
I can hear the devil knocking on your gate
Sometimes times are bad
Sometimes times are golden
Sometimes you think you’re
Born a bit too late
But the times your baby loves you
That’s the times you hold in store
For when you’ve got to
Hang around and wait
Chorus:
2. Ode to Wilf Carter
Wilf Carter, I can still hear you singing
I can hear your guitar gently playing
Cause the time’s right for singing them old country songs
And recall how it felt to be happy
Chorus:
Wilf Carter, some called you Montana Slim
Well, you’re singing wherever they’ll hear
Both sides of the border, you sang with the best
But your time, boy, I fear, is drawing too near
3. 95 Point Ride
Now rodeo is part of every western cowboy’s dreams
And getting on them ponies, boys, ain’t like it always seems
Fifteen hundred pounds of animal to crush your very bones
And being the best of all is all you know
Chorus:
Well, there’s never been a man who’s done what Scruffy’s done
No one’s ever done it ‘less they lied
Well, he’s never been the best but no one’s beat him
Cause Scruffy scored a 95 point ride
4. Freedom’s Borderline
The morning breaks, her light shines through my window
Sleep won’t come to now to rest my weary mind
I’m travelin’ on the road that leads me homeward
Home across old freedom’s borderline
Chorus:
These summer winds will push us ever onward
In mountain meadows, we can rest in the light
5. Honestly
How many years can we keep counting the score
How many times, babe, can I ask you for more
How many miles, babe, do I have to travel
To get back, to get back, where we were before
Chorus:
But honest, honestly, I cry
Oh, don’t you think that we can get by
On true love, the true love
We started our lives with
Forget all the heartbreak
Forget all the pain
Forget all the times we thought we’d both gone insane
Just remember the love, babe
We’d sworn it together
6. The Rain Vote
Poem by Diamond Joe / Music by Doug Cox
Lyrics not fully transcribed here but appear to be in poem format. Let me know if you'd like a detailed extraction.
7. Rainy Day
By Alison Hogan (Whole Lotta Music, SOCAN)
Rainy day, rainy day, mama’s got the blues
On a rainy day, rainy day, mama’s got the blues
Cause she done lost her little daddy
What else has she got to lose
Why he was last seen playing pinball
At the Blue Wave Cafe
Now he ain’t been in contact since this time yesterday
Chorus:
Why you might be a big star
And you might have lots of cash
But not too many women
Gonna take that kind of trash
Repeat Chorus
8. Ship of Life
Well, the ship I’m on is bound for glory
It’s got Jesus at the wheel
With Moses on the quarterdeck
Saying “Boys, how do you feel?”
We’re headed for the promised land
Booked on the ship of life
You ain’t got no more sorrow, boys
You ain’t got no more strife
9. Maybe in the Morning
Don’t want to see you in the morning crying Daddy,
Why’d you leave me all alone.
Don’t want to see you missing, all those special things
That you’ll be someday needing for your own.
Chorus:
Then maybe in the morning we’ll awake and find the dew
Is shining like a diamond just the way you want it to,
Then maybe somehow morning will arrange a change and then
I’ll never have to go away again.
No … babe, I’ll never have to go away again.
All these years I’ve waited for the sun to rise
Upon a better life for you and me.
Hearing the children’s laughter, drowning out the sadness
That the world has given me to see.
10. Where’s the Reason?
Well don’t hold out your hand to mine
Until you know the minute
You can’t look back to change your mind
‘Cause while you breathe, you’re in it
Chorus:
Where is the reason
I’m always leaving
Or is it that I’ve grown too far behind
The highway is the travelin’ road
Well the freight train’s slowly dyin’
Flow with the clock those old seconds sweep
Boys you’ll only live by tryin’
11. High Rider
He was born a High Rider
Born to make his mark upon the day
A black man from the Southland
A cowboy that could show his worth some way
Verse:
He left his home, the lonestar Texas land
To take a chance on Alberta
The wind sometimes blew cold
But he knew somehow it would be better
So like a fugitive, he ran
Well, they called him John Ware
And there never was a horse he couldn’t tame
No man who ever rode the range
Would ever call old John by but his name
Chorus:
A prouder man never crossed over the border
There weren’t too many better on the Plain
His Texas grace brought change onto the Prairie
Like a rainbow following the rain
12. Just Like Old Beginnings
Come listen to my story
Come listen close to how it ends
It ain’t got no beginning
Just love and hope we shared as friends
Our love was meant to be
Our love, it was meant to last forever
But now you’ve gone from me
It’s hard to start up life again
Chorus:
Like my old truck last winter
You can’t jump start a broken heart
When ice is all you’re feelin’
You know, babe, the time has come to part
Where did the cover go
What happened to the first few pages
When did the villain enter
How come I never knew his name
Who could believe that it could end
Like this, so cold, so unforgiving
Now since you’ve gone from me
It’s hard to start up life again
Repeat chorus
13. Ferry to Nanaimo
Spoken Word Poem
14. Cowichan Bay
Sailing out onto the ocean,
Sailing out of Cowichan Bay
Letting these salt waves wash off the memories
Letting them wash me away
I’ve tried my hand at the carpenter’s tools
Tried to make a livin’ that way
Tried to make a life that’s fit for a wife
Just to keep me from going astray
15. Searching for Tomorrow
I was drivin’ down a mountain road
On a cold December night
The full moon shining upon that snow
Gave me my driving light.
As these visions crept across my mind
And the morning light drew clear
It seemed like all of those highway miles
They couldn’t bring me nearer.
Tomorrow’s waiting just around
Tomorrow’s waiting just around this range.
16. For Bob
Poem by Diamond Joe / Music by Doug Cox
17. Buffalo Skinner
Traditional, arranged by Diamond Joe White
18. Passin’ Thru
Where you going, boy
Where you headed
Counting them lonesome highway miles
Are you heading back for yesterday
And a mother’s worried smile
19. Ballad of Louis Riel
Louis Riel, I hope you’re doing well
Justly standing beside heaven’s gate
Shaking hands with the men who believed in you then
And waiting for those from today
Now Louis Riel, he lived down in Montana
He was banished on a false charge of murder
When Gabriel Dumont travelled far to tell Louis
Tes amis en besoin de toi
Chorus:
Liberté pour moi, pour toi, et pour tous
Was the cry Louis gave to his men at Batoche
Liberté pour moi, pour toi, et pour tous
Was the cry of the Métis rebellion
20. Fires of Love
Walking through the railroad yard
Makes him wonder how he got this far
Makes him wish that he could find the road again
Empty boxcars, row on row
Can’t show him which way he should go
They’ll only give him shelter from the rain
Chorus:
And when he goes to sleep this night
He’ll dream that everything’s alright
Gonna wake up in his dreams in baby’s arms
Hand in hand, they’ll walk that road
Where the fires of love began to glow
Far away from here and far from harm
The engine jolts the tracks awake
The train starts moving like a snake
In the darkness, he can’t tell which way he’s going
North or south or east or west
There ain’t no tellin’ which is best
He’ll just lie there, thinkin’, waiting for the morning
He pulls the bottle from his coat
He feels the whiskey burn his throat
Each drink helps quench the burning fires of love
For when she left, she took his heart
Now, she tore the life that he knew apart
He drinks and waits to hear the morning dove
Chorus:
He opens up the boxcar door
Wishin’ that the bottle held some more
He throws the empty chalice to the sky
He sees the morning sun’s first light
Like the fires of love it burns so bright
He’ll close his eyes and say his last goodbye
Chorus:
When he takes his final sleep this night
Gonna dream that everything’s alright
Gonna wake up in his dreams in baby’s arms
Hand in hand, they’ll walk that road
Where the fires of love began to glow
Far away from here and far from harm
So far from harm, far from harm, so far
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