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Brown Paper Bag

by Jonathan Burks

/
1.
hold me like you hold your liquor hold me like you hold your gun ride me like a freight train baby be my honey buns you and me's two peas in a pod two drunks in a brown paper bag i know i can't quite drink like you but i can still hang gin soak baby my gin soak girl apple schnapps of my eye rye whiskey of my world here's to you my darlin a toast to you my friend when we get together girl the good times never end you're smarter than most and tougher than the rest sexy as you wanna be and cool as a pimp long as I'm being honest, sometimes you're a total bitch somehow it suits you honey, don't ya change a bit you're complex like a russian novel you've got depth in spades you blush at the silliest of things yet you really don't care what nobody say you're classy and brassy, a woman to the core a feminist to the nth degree without the pomp and bore
2.
I Like You 02:41
as I travel down this path alone memories I keep stitched into the pockets of my soul like whiskey on a winters night making warm the cold i take a pull and think on good people that I've known I like you like i like having fun I like you like i like making love you are the sunshine in the darkness of my soul you are the goodness, the rock to my roll...home I've known women in my life who showed me how to live when all I know how to do was die I've lived long enough to learn to appreciate precious things if your cups overflowing go ahead and take a drink I like you like i like having fun I like you like i like making love you are the sunshine in the darkness of my soul you are the goodness, the rock to my roll...home
3.
you can call me a gin soak you can call me a lush you can call me anything you want it can't harsh my buzz life is for the living and I'm living it up can't nobody judge you when you just don't give a... sitting at the bar putting back a few must have drank myself a 6 pack or two heard some fools next to me trying to talk some trash couldn't seem to pay no heed as I ordered another glass you can call me a booze hound you can call me a drunk... when it came down to closing time when 2 o'clock came round didn't feel a bit sick or dizzy felt solid as the ground got up off of my barstool walked across the floor feeling loose and satisfied as i stepped out the door you can call me a wino you can call me a bum... woke up this morning wrapped in a hazy peace hit the snooze button and I went back to sleep I've tried clean living I've tried all kinds of things but traveling by wagon just aint the life for me you can call me a ginsoak you can call me a lush...
4.
Ped Xing 03:02
get out of my face with them gasoline fumes got a real bad case of them walking blues walk to work, walk most everywhere I go don't mind it none, but all them cars got to go away they keep getting in my way honking their horns, spewing their fumes in my face didn't nobody else take drivers ed in the 11th grade? they said pedestrians have right of way I don't care if its a big mac truck or a fancy car worth a million bucks if see me coming don't you get in my way pedestrians have right of way where you gotta be that you wanna run me down you've got the stereo on and the car's nice and warm you've got that steel encased frame to keep you safe from harm and personalized plates that say 'i'm da bomb' you got 4 wheels I got 2 feet don't need to be a rocket scientist to see you're going to get where you're going must faster than me once I got a ticket for j walking had to bite my tongue to keep me from talking back oh mr. officer how sweet, looking out for me would you like to hold my hand while i cross the street? I don't need a crossing guard to cross the street I look both ways from left to right and then i step off the curb like I know who's got the right
5.
Station Song 03:37
walk me down to the station see me off down the line give me a hug and a kiss but honey don't you cry aint no sense to sit and wonder or cry and blubber over me there's other fish in the forest and this monkey's out to see I'll be down in the darkness fumbling searching for my missing spark as the moth takes to the flame so flies my heart there's a howling ache gnawing on the marrow of my soul if I stay i'm bound to break break like brittle bones so won't you walk me down to the station see me off down the line give me a hug and a kiss but honey don't you cry
6.
Ha 02:47
I got some bucks in my pocket a gut full of blues churning in my stomach, in my heart, in my shoes burning in my mouth like a stubborn dying tooth I been searching every corner bar for good time to ignite this lonely lonely carcass moping round lame and lifeless oh me oh my man the irony is priceless the cure of my blues is the cause of them too hey hey hey ha ha ha hee hee hee if god has got a sense of humor the joke is on me do what I want, I got style, I got grace so gracefully falling down on my face it aint cool it aint good but it's o.k. I'll get on up out this rut someday I get stuck, I get stumped, I get carried away stuck in all the in betweens that aint got no names caught up in the bramble, stranded in the rain I keep on writing rambling songs but i aint going no place self medicated, frustrated and jaded so lonely lonely lonely getting fucked up and faded there's so many girls in the bar tonight for a change but my words keep getting slurred as they make their way out my face I aint known a woman's touch now for so many days I've reached the born-again-virgin stage of not getting laid I know what to say and I know what to do but I'm too messed up to get up and make a move
7.
Just a Path 01:52
my disposition is a little homely aint met a women yet who could comb me or mold me even when I was nothing but a rubbery substance in the palm of her hand I don't wanna die alone I just need some more time to roam it aint good, it aint bad, it's just a path I been loved and I been blessed by the goodest and the best in the present tense I'm appreciating what i took for granted in the past I messed up so many times I'm beggin to see the light and it aint good, it aint bad, it's just a path nothing to live for but life itself no pot to piss in, all is well I'm learnin to love myself after all what the hell it aint good, it aint bad, it's just a path the phoenix in my heart keeps tearin my life apart I stop drop and roll and roll and roll but can't seem to slow the coals burning in my soul I don't want to die alone I just need some more time to roam it aint good and it aint bad, it's just a path
8.
I'm not an easy man to love or live with I've spent a lot of time on my knees I'm done with bending over for forgiveness this heart is a fickle shark, love it or leave you ride me all the time like a circus donkey no wonder I bark and bray like a drunken ass my back is aching, I must buck and break free you can dangle carrots for some other monkey man a warm bed starts to feel like cold shackles a light kiss turns to vice grip too darn fast are we holding hands or playing bloody knuckles when we dance it just feels like a wrestling match I'm moving out of this dingy ol' dog house gonna let my tail surface and wag no more bending over for forgiveness no more all fours I'm standing on my own two legs
9.
bottle of wine deep running on 4 hours of sleep instead of getting a bite to eat I tottered to the bar and got blasted out of my mind,so wicked so divine now my body feels so dirty but my mind is clean a friend ran into me there falling out of my bar chair when closing time arrived she offered me a ride I gave her a hug goodnight said 'darlin you're alright' fumbled with my keys and stumbled up the stairs getting wasted, getting drunk getting lit and all tore up it aint good but that don't bother me none once in awhile you gotta let loose the reins run wild with the joy and the pain dumb down that stuffy brain and have some fun it aint cool the way I live let me be clear folks and friends I do the best I can but I'm a flawed man my role in this model aint glue it's more like a stompin shoe the pieces just make more sense to me when i'm smashed this world is one of woe this life it aint no joke it's as dear to me as all the good people i've known if you see me at the corner bar eyes glazed, drinking hard it aint cause i hate this life I love it so
10.
I don't like my roommate, I hate my job I like getting drunk but it don't pay a lot I like getting high, I like writing tunes love me some women, baby I miss you so dissatisfied, so doggone blue pacing the floor, wearing holes in my shoes drinking beer in the morning, smoking all day long I'm in love with a woman who's gotta get around if I had my druthers I would surely stroll stuff my duffle bag and just hit the road if I had the money I wouldn't even pack just hit that ol' highway with the clothes on my back I can't stand my roommate, lord I hate my job I like singing songs but it don't pay a lot going out and getting loaded, I aint never coming down I'm in love with a women who's gotta get around
11.
lord have mercy on my wicked soul it keeps taking me places I don't want to go again things that I've said and things that I've done they wont leave me alone I'm going out tonight, gonna drink my mind and look at the ladies looking so nice this space and this time they are mine to fill got a restless heart and a twenty dollar bill one dollar short and two steps behind I try and I try but can't seem to walk no straight line a fate and a path they get bent like a back so I just try to stand up as straight as I can got an itch in me that I cant seem to scratch short on patience and short on cash 'there's floor space at my place if you need somewhere to crash' darling you bet I said as she slid off my lap
12.
Heads Up 00:37
13.
I was going to get sober but there's too many bars there's too many bars, there's too many bars I was going to get sober but there's too many bars in between where I work and where I live lord have mercy I got the Milwaukee blues I got the Milwaukee blues, I got the Milwaukee blues lord have mercy I got the milwaukee blues there's a bar on every corner hallelujah amen if I had a car I would drive straight home I would drive straight home, I would drive straight home but I aint got no wheels and it's a long walk home and there's so many bars along the way guess I kinda like it and I shouldn't complain I shouldn't complain, no I shouldn't complain guess I kinda like it and I shouldn't complain I go from bar to bar and they know my name that's right, I like it and I aint complaining none I aint complaining none, no I aint complain none damn strait I like it and I aint complaining none go from bar to bar and I have my fun
14.
Stumble Down 02:49
I know regret is just a waste of breath but self-pity has got me wishing I could change the past don't know what you got till it's gone I really hate that cliche it keeps on punching me in my face as we stumble down the after-bar streets drunken angels arm in arm shout to the sun coming up 'here we are and there we go again' you throw your head back and laugh nostalgia's a wicked drug helps you cling to broken love keeps you thinking about the way things used to be if I don't watch myself I drift to 3 a.m. Riverwest porch-steps where I'm throwing rocks up at your window

about

tracked live with full band at Howl Street

credits

released January 1, 2009

Jonathan Burks, Joe Peschio, Nick Westfahl, Marc Luther Paul, Dan Boyles, Jacob Sutrick

recorded at Howl Street Recordings by Shane Hochstetler

mastered at Mastermind by Trevor Sadler

album art by Nick Westfahl

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Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.

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Jonathan Burks Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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