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The Pugilist - Full Album

by Damned Rivers

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1.
2.
I have no retort against the notion that there's fear in my heart that your love is a bloodsport and I can't begin to imagine what state of mind you're really in so let it out don't you start pulling your punches now we're toe to toe we are performing for an eager crowd who wants to know who's gonna win so we have got to duke it out I won't stop now even if I'm up against the ropes I'm gonna make it out somehow I just wanna grow so why won't you step aside maybe we both can make it home but you're gonna let it out why would you stop pulling your punches now we're toe to toe we are performing for an eager crowd who wants to know who's gonna win so we have got to duke it out if you feel the sky is falling you'd better rise to take it's place you've gotta youthful optimism why would you let it slip away and if you think it's indecision with which I occupy my time you've never had to make a choice with someone hanging on the line had to say "I'll be fine"
3.
Prizefighter 04:13
don't let 'em get you down though lord know that they'll try that's the earliest flaw of man, we've been fighting each other since the dawn of time so stay up on your feet give 'em the old one-two but if you turn and face at me well I'll tell you right now that I don't like to lose if you think my eyes are looking kind it's cause I'm searching for your weakness cause I may be going down but now without a fight I'm a pugilist right now I have been for so long and I might well still be by the end of this song I won't be throwing in the towel till it's covered in my sweat if you place your money on me no promise I'll win, but it's a pretty safe bet cause I've never thrown a fight no I'd never waste the day yeah who's got time for that what with all the consequences we pay if you think my eyes are looking kind it's cause I'm searching for your weakness cause I may be going down but now without a fight I'm a pugilist right now I have been for so long and I might well still be by the end of this song a prizefighter, oh yeah if you should happen to lose be sure to thank the ones that did this to you that's the hardest part of life painting silver on the deepest of hues if you think my eyes are looking kind it's cause I'm searching for your weakness cause I may be going down but now without a fight I'm a pugilist right now I have been for so long and I might well still be by the end of this song a prizefighter, oh yeah
4.
Bookend 03:53
I know I was just a bookend to you put there to hold your stories up while you found something new but you gave me your consolation prize a little something for your efforts and a shot right at my pride don't know what I was thinking giving everything that I have looking for a new end to the same old story I want it back every single thing I said to make you laugh I want it in tact there's just some victories I really need to have I've been keeping my hands in my pockets for a little while trying to keep my chin up without sticking my nose into the air but they want me to take this bribe caught cold like I'm faded or I never tried but if I'm going down they'll have to go to the cards, yeah he lost but the man can fight fair don't know what I was thinking giving less than all that I have looking for a new end to the same old story I want it bad the kind of happiness the cynics scoff at don't want it to lack any properties I think it should have down in the foothills of Georgia I spent a lot of time looking up toward higher peaks; greener leaves I think I'm ready to scale the bluffs and I'm taking you with me but you should speak if you've had enough don't know what I was thinking giving less than all that I have looking for a new end to the same old story I want it back the kind of happiness I had in photographs I want it to last not the kind that you blink and then it's passed
5.
I've been feeling kinda ill I read the postcards on my windowsill and you know it brings me back to secret message pressed in candle wax it was a hot damn shame I got a little too close to the flame and it melted away now if I'm rolling on wheels let me be going downhill let me be half empty so I do not spill I'll take the long way home to buy me some time if I'm in hot water that would be fine I'm sweating out the sickness uh huh, oh yeah I could have been your punching bag hanging round but never striking back but you were always in the ring looking for something a bit more challenging and I was too easy offering up what you wanted to take from me so please, please, please if I'm rolling on wheels let me be going downhill let me be half empty so I do not spill I'll take the long way home to buy me some time if I'm in hot water that would be fine I'm sweating out the sickness uh huh, oh yeah I've never been much good at caring for myself never seen a doctor when I'm in poor health and you may think that I don't care when I feel like hell and I'm just lying there truth is I just don't know what to do except lay around, pretend I don't think of you oh but I do and the medicine makes me blue now if I'm rolling on wheels let me be going downhill let me be half empty so I do not spill I'll take the long way home to buy me some time if I'm in hot water that would be fine I'm sweating out the sickness uh huh, all my life cause I bit the poison apple now I'm paying the eternal price I'm sweating out the sickness uh huh, woah oh yeah.
6.
I got your blood on my shirt hope it didn't hurt you were wounded so I carried you until you could desert me I'm fed up k, maybe that's a lie my heart has already decided I'll love you till the day I die well that was not my choice sometimes you gotta burn it down just to build it back up it was not enough just to treat you kind and I feel like hell or a hole in a wall in a cheap motel I'll let you break me down just to build me into something you like that's right I was your crystal ball you could read it all you were more a clouded vision I never thought you'd fall for me we'd cut up laugh until we cry then we'd go our separate ways we never said goodbye that was also not my choice, it was yours sometimes you gotta burn it down just to build it back up it was not enough just to treat you kind and I feel like hell or a hole in a wall in a cheap motel I'll let you break me down just to build me into something you like that's right I'll let you break me down just to build me into something can't say I'm shocked can't say that I didn't see it coming can't say you're the lucky one to lose my loving well but why won't you let me love you is there something I could do oh darling let me through sometimes you gotta burn it down just to build it back up it was not enough just to treat you kind and I feel like hell or a hole in a wall in a cheap motel I'll let you break me down just to build me into something
7.
No Words 03:54
He's strung out like a Tennessee river with whiskey in his blood and arrows in his quiver we weren't sure exactly what to do cause were sitting on the sidewalk staring at the moon and we all we all just stay the same we don't change he said please fix my boots so I won't finish last make sure that man of yours stays way back in the past if love's forever how come it never seems to last so drink it down and drink it fast I stopped once to ask if he's ok with his fists up in the air he drove me away cause his girl would nibble at his pride till he was't smiling and neither was I and we all we all just stay the same we don't change he said she rigged my boots so that I would finish last I guess I'm drifting now so far back in her past she told me love's forever but that it never seems to last so drink it down and drink it fast there's no words I know it seems absurd but I'm chasing after her like a dog after the birds it's futile, I'll do it for a while till I fall down to my knees and I can't help but smile cause we all just stay the same yeah we all just stay the same we don't change I fix my boots so I won't finish last do what you need to cause I'm coming back love's forever if we'd only let it last so take your time
8.
Cobblestones 04:08
I can't put you up again on a pedestal like when we first began and I could only see the good in you I know you knew it too that's how you snuck on through over time you know it happens slow like when we walk on the sidewalk; break the cobblestones I won't wait for you the time it takes you to make up your mind I'm moving on I didn't know it was afternoon till the sun went down time wears a heavy crown I take no solace in the moon if fate told you where to go and what it would bring would you change a thing or just let go and follow suit into the stream you know the ebb and flow like when you knock me down you knock a domino I won't wait for you the time it takes you to make up your mind I'm moving on because it's not enough to keep me in your back pocket I'm first string but you have not been choosing me and it hurts me that you keep back-burning me so keep the heat down low let it simmer slow keep the heat down low this time but it's not gonna keep me warm because it's not enough over time you know it happens slow like when we walk on the sidewalk; break the cobblestones I won't wait for you the time it takes you to make up your mind I'm moving on
9.
if I've outlived my glory days give me one good reason I should stay no I think it's time I made a change and moved just a few states out just because I'm moving on that don't mean I'm giving up no I've made up my mind I'm throwing down the gloves there's other ways to keep up the fight so I ran the devil through with his own pitchfork I said you got two or three good points but I can't be the advocate for you there are times in our lives where we must hold fast to the truth no matter how much they're compelling even though it's a southern town I'm locking my front door when I go out leave a challenge for the kids who're sneaking round if you want in kid you gotta commit I'll shake your hand when you say your name but that don't mean I'll commit it to my brain if there's one thing that I got to explain I met you that don't make us friends so I ran the devil through with his own pitchfork I said you got two or three good points but I can't be the advocate for you there are times in our lives where we must hold fast to the truth no matter how much they're compelling and ain't nobody ever gonna leave this town it's become some kinda shelter for the wicked leave your burdens outside the city limits just make sure your fences are picket so we can see through if we need to and I think we'll need to yeah we'll keep our eye on you so I ran the devil through with his own pitchfork I said you got two or three good points but I can't be the advocate for you there are times in our lives where we must hold fast to the truth no matter how much they're compelling and ain't nobody ever gonna leave this town it's become some kinda shelter for the wicked leave your burdens outside the city limits just make sure your fences are picket so we can see through
10.
when the sun peeks above the treetops the runaways decide to head home and the demons that they have not been facing are still waiting there, stronger than before with the chardonnay caked up in her mustache her breath was thin the air there was a fire in her stare it's alright honey, go wait in your room I'll take the fall this time and though time has scattered us as time tends to do I hope you think of me when the wind messes up your hair and that train pulls on through where the sunflowers grow above your head you know that you are in the right part of town and the rope swing that hangs down by the riverbed will take you up, but soon you'll come down and if you don't let go you will not reach the water you'll come back to the shore but at least you didn't drown I blamed you then, I cannot blame you now you can't always take the fall there came a time when I just had to go I hope you don't resent me for it and I hope you can forgive me when the wind messes up your hair and by chance you don't ignore it a young man works on a construction site he thinks he can lift any weight he can work away the days and even the afternoons but at night he has to eat what's on his plate we used to fight cause we were brothers and I think it hurt when I said goodbye but I hope that he forgives me when the wind messes up his hair and that train pulls on by
11.
he was hanging on by the spurs of his boots lord, he tried to climb but he fell down every chute his failure sometimes seemed absolute but he kept on truckin he keeps on like it was his only task if you're in is way he will strike you hard and fast he's got no other choice, if he stops he'll get passed yeah honey he was built to last nothing gets graded on a curve his aim is as true as his word though as loud as he gets he is rarely ever heard he keeps on singing he'll take a swig if he's handed a flask his language sometimes gets too crass it's cause he's faced the fights and he's faced the facts yeah honey he was built to last these things we think about never really seem to bother me I was really kinda hoping you would agree cause I might seem crazy thinking the past was in the past you know honey I'm built to last, yeah he'll bend but you'll never see him snap he leaves the past back in the past and if you can't find the words for his epitaph it's cause honey he was built to last
12.
there's a thousand different ways to tell you how I'm feeling and I'm telling you none of them would feel genuine so for the hundredth time this year I guess I'll just stay silent till I can figure out some way to speak my mind I know that in some ways you feel like you fell short I'm writing you to tell you that's not true this is a letter from a fan who knows your perseverance maybe a little better than you do I remember when they used to say that he'd get so close to death he'd hear his angels speak and then he'd tip his hat and thank them for reminding him he's weak he got so used to living life inside a cloud that when he'd call to them for guidance he wasn't very loud there was a time when you stood tall and next to no one back in those days don't think I ever saw you lose now even though today you are a different kind of champion I still remember every single move now don't listen to the people who just try to doubt you no in those situations don't listen to the doubts of your own just close your eyes and keep on fighting like you've always kept on fighting you're still the king even without your throne I still remember when we used to say that you'd get so close to death you'd hear your angels speak and then you'd tip your hat and thank them for reminding you you're weak but you got so used to living life inside a cloud that when you'd call to them for guidance you weren't very loud but still they'd answer still they'd answer this is a letter from a fan you saved my life that's no exaggeration it happens once in a generation nothing's as trivial as it seems

about

The debut album from Nashville folk-rock band Damned Rivers is “The Pugilist,” a triumphant story of transformation and recovery. The record tells the tale of a boxer at the end of his career, staring down the possibility that his life is changing forever.

This story was born from Ian Mauldin, principal songwriter for Damned Rivers, while living through the hardest year of his life. Looking for meaning and drive in this new chapter, Ian wrote a story about a boxer, fighting for his life.

This is an album that bends without breaking. Wielding unshakable optimism against the challenges of life, the album takes you on a journey that leaves you brimming with the confidence needed to go down swinging. The Pugilist himself gets KO'd in what would be the hero's triumphant moment in any other story. But, in the end, sometimes loss is the necessary catalyst for change. In this story, the hero is eternal, built to last and, in some form or another, his name is carved in stone.

credits

released July 12, 2019

Damned Rivers is:
Ian Mauldin
Mark Summarell
Kyle Hassenfratz
Ricky DeMeo
Annie Johnson

Recorded and mixed by Mark Summarell
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson
Album Art by Brianna Goral

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Damned Rivers Nashville, Tennessee

Damned Rivers is a band out of Nashville, TN who make their own blend of americana and folk, writing heartfelt lyrics against a backdrop of punk rock energy. They utilize strong dynamics and earthy tones to write songs that are gripping and memorable.

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