Broken - The Batbus Demos
$15.00
All instruments, vocals, recording and mixing by Dean Batstone.
Mastered by Ken Friesen (Signal Path Studios, Almonte, ON)
Recorded between Sept. 2014 and April 2015
These songs were chosen from a stack of about 25 songs all of which were recorded as ‘demos’, usually on the day I wrote them, or the day after. There is no digital editing, there is no vocal tuning and I’m not an audio engineer, so there’s lots of less than stellar recording blunders, but they are all honest, first attempts at letting a new song come through me the way I was hearing it that day.
Some are co-writes with some very talented friends I’ve had the pleasure of writing with. Some songs remain in their raw state, some I’ve had a little fun with, adding a second guitar or a loose harmony. I’ve written notes under the song titles on the lyric sheets, as a couple of these songs are either old songs re-interpreted or re-visited, from an earlier time in my career. Sometimes, I ‘fall off the rails’ a little - sometimes I like that feeling. Sometimes I was drinking tequila or wine. Sometimes I was smiling to myself. Always, I was ‘in the moment’ and I hope that’s what you hear when you listen to this. Love y’all, always and forever…SWB.
Copyright © 2015 words and music by Dane Pontzius and Dean Batstone
After living and playing in Nashville for years, I met Dane while he was managing my ‘home’ H-D dealership in FL. Fast friends for 3 years, this song started by Dane as a tribute to my life on the road and the BatBus and he conscripted me to help him finish it, which we did. This is my attempt to record it with some of the original sentiment it had the night we wrote it, drinks in hand….
Pictures fading in my pocket
Records hanging on the wall
Every day that I grow colder
I leave more memories where they fall
So many words, so many faces
So many friends, so many places
Each one burns a picture in my mind
But I can’t rewind, well, not all the time
I’m movin’ on ‘cause I can’t stay
Close the door on yesterday
Take a picture, sing a song
It won’t be long ’til I’m movin’ on
Words like diesel through my engines
As I’m driving this old friend
A brand new picture in my pocket
Another town around the bend
If I had a hit, I’d probably hock it
A perfect song stuck in my head
Though I can’t recall them all
I had a ball, right before the fall
I’m movin’ on ‘cause I can’t stay
Close the door on yesterday
Take a picture, sing a song
It won’t be long ’til I’m movin’ on
This old bus still carries me
Draggin’ trails of memories
Her spirit strong after I’m gone
I’m movin’ on ‘cause I can’t stay
Close the door on yesterday
Take a picture, sing a song
It won’t be long ’til I’m movin’ on
Copyright © 2014 words and music by Dean Batstone
I think this song pretty much explains itself….
You can walk the harder road without money
You can walk the harder road without friends
You can walk until you fall, then Brother, you must crawl
‘Cause you’re on the harder road until it ends
You can talk all day about food to the hungry
You can talk all day about dying to the youth
Fast talk sells a Cadillac, but it won’t bring a dead man back
And Sister, we’re all dying for some truth
Truth is we’re falling in slow motion
While racing hand in hand towards some light
We’d love ourselves if we could find the notion
Let lovin’ someone else right now suffice
Singing “Damn, I’m feeling pretty fine tonight”
I could pour one more tequila for inspiration
Or pray to every worldly God I’ve known
Or sell this old guitar, fill the tank in this old car
Drive another thousand miles from No One’s Home
Truth is we’re living in slow motion
Too fast to even recognize the blur
We’d pace ourselves if we could find the notion
Living in the moment’s all we’ve learned
Singing “Great Big Me in this little World”
Suffer the children for not knowing
Suffer the old for knowing too much
Suffer the wise for holding deep inside
The knowing that truth lies in the touch
Truth is we’re dying in slow motion
Slow enough to read the writing on the wall
We’d forgive ourselves if we could find the notion
We’re too busy taking ‘selfies’ of our fall
Singing “Look how good I’m lookin’ for y’all”
Copyright © 2015 words and music by John Carlson and Dean Batstone
An award-winning songwriter in his own right, I met John through mutual friend Bud Moffet in North Carolina. We finished 2 of John’s songs in a few hours in the BatBus and I was immediately impressed with his originality, sense of melody and masterful guitar work. This is one of those songs.
I don’t wear a badge or a crown
No one bows down when I come around
Still I feel like something ain’t right
Not just with me, not just tonight
All over the world
I don’t rule legions or arms
I try every day to do no one harm
Still I feel like we’ve lost our way
Not just in my town, not just today
All over the world
In times like these I bend on my knees
In times like these I pray for peace
Not just for me….all over the world
I don’t wear the false hope of youth
I’ve stood toe to toe with the cold, hard truth
Still I feel it’s time we should start
To walk hand in hand and sing with one heart
All over the world
In times like these I bend on my knees
In times like these I pray for peace
Not just for me….all over the world
In times like these I bend on my knees
In times like these I pray for peace
In times like these I reach out my hand
In times like these I see the greater plan
In times like these we need one heart
In times like these it’s time to start
In times like these I pray for peace
All over the world.
Copyright © 2014 words and music by Dean Batstone
The oldest ‘new song’ on this record, I wrote this not long after finishing recording the ‘Unbroken’ album and have been playing it live ever since, so by the time I settled in to record it in the bus, we knew each other well…it cried for my old hollow body Epiphone electric, too…I obliged…
Well, if you walked in with nothin'
2 hours later left with nothin'
You'd think no one would notice you’d moved on
But this close to borderlines
Black 'n' white gets grey sometimes
If you're thinkin’ you owe no one, you'd be wrong
I’ve learned that there’s a price for every choice we make
And some debts that can’t be paid for with a song
There’s a code you have to live
Never take more than you give
‘Cause if you’re thinkin’ it’s a free ride, you’d be wrong
Wrong, wrong wrong.
If that waitress with the smile
And her almost undone style
Comes up short again tonight, she’ll be gone
She might walk out in the streets
With all her fingers and her teeth
But if you think she ain’t paid something, you’d be wrong
I’ve learned that there’s a price for every choice we make
And some debts that can’t be paid for with a song
There’s a code you have to live
Never take more than you give
‘Cause if you’re thinkin’ it’s a free ride, you’d be wrong
Wrong, wrong wrong.
That man with the black eyes
He’s vacant, mean and high
And he’d break me if I stared a bit too long
There’s only one way outta here
2 tequila’s for each beer
‘Cause if you’re thinkin’ there’s a back door, you’d be wrong
I’ve learned that there’s a price for every choice we make
And some debts that can’t be paid for with a song
There’s a code you have to live
Never take more than you give
‘Cause if you’re thinkin’ it’s a free ride, you’d be wrong
Wrong, wrong wrong.
Copyright © 2015 words and music by Dean Batstone
Some songs write themselves, it seems….this one came out of me whole and unprovoked, except perhaps by a moment of reflection towards the years of being somewhere, wondering if I should be somewhere else…
I can’t say I’ve no regrets, I’ve had a few
There’s a couple things I’d change, now how ‘bout you?
Though I’ve mostly liked the road I’ve travelled on
There’s been lots of days of wishing I were home
If I could slow life down
Bring the best things back around
I guess I know exactly what I’d do
Steal some time, to hold the ones I love
Steal some time, there’s never quite enough
If there’s one thing this old heart would gladly do
It’s steal some time.
I ain’t wise enough to be offering advice
And if I’ve lied, it seems I’ve always paid the price
I’ve worked hard for every little gain I’ve made
Oh, if I had one buck for every song I’ve played
Lord knows I’m no thief
But this time I believe
There’s one crime I could bring my heart to do
Steal some time, to hold the ones I love
Steal some time, there’s never quite enough
If there’s one thing this old heart would gladly do
It’s steal some time.
I’m not sayin’ life’s been easy, it’s been hard
I ain’t the kind to blame the dealer, or the cards
I won’t say I’ve never loved, I’ve loved a few
Though I’ve preached ‘to thine own heart be true’
These days are rushing by
You’re not here, I don’t know why
But I think I know exactly what to do
Steal some time, to hold the ones I love
Steal some time, there’s never quite enough
If there’s one thing this old heart would gladly do
It’s steal some time
Steal some time
Steal some time with you.
Copyright © 1979 words and music by Dean Batstone
I’d been writing songs for 4 years by the time I wrote this in 1979….I had not been on the road yet, but reading it, you’d think I’d been for decades. Re-discovering this song at this time in my career left me needing to find a place for it on this record…I think it fits…
I stumbled into town last night
Looking for a place to rest my bones
I’ve been ramblin’ too long
Singing the same old, tired song
One cold beer to ease my mind
One more whiskey and I’m flying
The bar maid sings a honky tonk
She look right through me with those eyes
There was something on her mind, I knew it all the time
I wondered how she’d make me feel
There was something in her eyes that drew me deep inside
For a secret I could steal
Lately, I’ve been riding down a road that never ends
Like a man who don’t know the difference
Between a lover and a friend
Roll me over, Lady Wind
Roll me, Lonely Lady Wind
Baby, you weren’t fooling me
A girl like you has been around
I guess you figured I would see
Pick up on what you were putting down
Some refuge now might be alright
I ain’t got no money for the cause
But maybe I could stay tonight
This old road can be so hard
There was something on your mind, I knew it all the time
I wondered how you’d make me feel
There was something in your eyes that drew me deep inside
For a secret I could steal
Lately, I’ve been riding down a road that never ends
Like a man who don’t know the difference
Between a lover and a friend
Roll me over, Lady Wind
Roll me, Lonely Lady Wind.
Layin’ here I could forget
All those nights so along and cold
Start to think maybe it’s time
Yes, it’s true, we all grow old
It’s no small surprise that I could see
What your smile was trying to say
But I never thought you’d fall for me
And I never thought that I might stay
There was something on your mind, I knew it all the time
I wondered how you’d make me feel
There was something in your eyes that drew me deep inside
For a secret I could steal
Lately, I’ve been riding down a road that never ends
Like a man who don’t know the difference
Between a lover and a friend
Roll me over, Lady Wind
Roll me, Lonely Lady Wind.
Copyright © 1986, words and music by Dean Batstone
First written as a pop rock song for my band and recorded [though never released] that way a year later in 1987, the style and sentiment of this song, once slowed down and stripped down, seemed to cry out to be on this record.
Clouds of fear come down on me
Shaking my security
There’s one for hope and one for greed
And one for those inside of me
Sorrow once washed me away
When my fire turned to grey
But like a river to the sea
The fire burns again in me
And I wait again on the sun
Until my 7 days of rain is done
And I’ll wait for you to come home
To the 7 days again of rain I face alone
For laughter, shed another tear
Life pass through another year
I curse the ones who hold me down
For the deaf can hear the sweetest sounds
And I wait again on the sun
Until my 7 days of rain is done
And I’ll wait for you to come home
To the 7 days again of rain I face alone
If your heart is really true
The maybe I can see through you
If darkness were the only light
Then Lord, I’m ready for the night
And I wait again on the sun
Until my 7 days of rain is done
And I’ll wait for you to come home
To the 7 days again of rain I face alone
Copyright © 2015 words and music by Dean Batstone
My small hand-held recording of this song is witness to how seamlessly it flowed from me….I wrote it, sang it, then set up the BatBus gear and recorded it in one pass…I overdubbed the second guitar…nothing’s perfect here, but it’s perfectly ‘Broken’…
There was a time, that was my heart
I gave without regret
Hallelujah, the angels sang
And blessed our tangled bed
In your eyes, the tangled thoughts
You find no words, but doubt my heart
You reel yourself back in
Safe behind your wall again
But there was a time we loved.
That was a smile you broke just now
I see your eyes still sing
Hallelujah, my angel’s trying
To fly with broken wings
In my mind the tangled thoughts
Time might grant you all I’m not
You’ll put that key back down
Close the door, turn around
There was a time we loved.
There was a feeling, deep and quiet
Fuelled only by our youth
Hallelujah, angels hands
Led me me to one truth
In our time these tangled sheets
Masked the thing you needed most
I was way too me to see
The best of you needs to be free
But there was a time we loved.
Copyright © 2015 words and music by Dean Batstone
35 years on the road….it’s not cliche to say it’s sometimes a blur….life is short…and fast…and faster…and…
These years spent burning words into my brain,
These years spent raging like a hurricane,
They slip by like sands of time that blind
I’m scratching for a piece of ground to claim
And hold long enough to give it back again
These years are measured by a hunger far too great
To satisfy with what’s left on our plates.
These days of speeding words and hotter suns
These days of instant stars and faster guns
Slow death bleeds the middle class
Scratching for what’s left of Daddy’s past
We can’t hold it long enough to give it back
These days are measured by how much we throw away
After feeding what we’re needing in these days.
These hours, mostly words fall on deaf ears,
These hours, we smart phone pictures of our tears
I can’t sleep as I wait for your reply
So I write another song that you won’t hear
That’s what I do these hours, these days, these years
In this life I offer no excuse and lay no blame
All I’ve left to give you is my name.
Copyright © 1995 words and music by Dean Batstone and Barry Brown
A prolific writer and Juno award winner, Barry Brown [The Family Brown] helped me finish this song about 20 years ago. I demo-ed it once before, but it’s never been released. Happy I recorded a version of it for this record.
Please knock, the door bell doesn’t work
That’s one more example of my handy work
That silence rings true in this house of lies
Where love used to live, but now my heartache won’t die
Home is where the hurt is
But I can’t bear the pain
As I unlock the door
And cross that threshold again
Each room holds a memory
That hits me where I live
In my hand I hold the key
To all that’s hurting me
Home is where the hurt is.
So tonight I’ll draw the curtains on my pain
And close the windows of hope that I’ll hold you again
I’ll walk these cold halls of my solitude
Alone in my heart, but haunted by you
Home is where the hurt is
But I can’t bear the pain
As I unlock the door
And cross that threshold again
Each room holds a memory
That hits me where I live
In my hand I hold the key
To all that’s hurting me
Home is where the hurt is.
Copyright © 2015 words and music by Dean Batstone
Sometimes my saviour….sometimes my muse…the Sister always manages to lead me somewhere and sometimes, I stay there a while…
Don’t send me no money for a ticket
For some Greyhound, one way from San Antone
I like it fine right here
Folks don’t bend my ear
And Sister Tequila takes me home
Don’t write me no letters of affliction
Of how I left you danglin’ on some string
I didn’t read ‘em then
I won’t read ‘em now
I let Sister Tequila wear my ring
I keep the faith
I keep the faith
Salvation only lasts ’til the bottom of the glass
So I keep the faith
The sign over the doorway reads ‘Lolita’s’
But all that’s left of her is her good name
Most folks keep to themselves
Like the dust up on the shelves
And Sister Tequila warms my veins
I keep the faith
I keep the faith
Salvation only lasts ’til the bottom of the glass
So I keep the faith
Regrets will only bleed you if you let ‘em
I might of had a few, I’m past them now
I worshipped you before
I don’t do that any more
I let Sister Tequila lay me down
I keep the faith
I keep the faith
Salvation only lasts ’til the bottom of the glass
But the Sister and me, we keep the faith
All songs by Dean Batstone Copyright © 2014, 2015 Battunes Music
except songs 1. © Dane Pontzius and Dean Batstone
3. © John Carlson and Dean Batstone
and 10. © Barry Brown and Dean Batstone.
All songs recorded ‘Live’ in the BatBus between Sept. 2014 and April 2015.