Get all 26 Jeni Hankins releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of String Unraveller Demo May 2021, The American Dream (Harlis and Freda), Voice Memo Demo, I'm Letting Go of You – Kitchen Single, The Wondarium: Songs For Kids, A Body is a Delicate House, I Fell Into the Fire, The Loneliest Snowman, I Fell Into The Fire – Limited Edition Handprinted, and 18 more.
1. |
Let Me Go By Lightning
04:03
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Let Me Go By Lightning
for Greg Hankins • 1956 - 2016
When the lightning struck,
Charlie slept inside you.
The lightning rocked him,
but he never woke up.
The lightning jumped
‘cross the pan of potatoes.
You held it in your lap
and raised it with your son.
And the lightning walked
in the fields beside him.
It hoed the corn.
It drove the plow.
The lightning talked
to Charlie like a brother
and when he died
the lightning took him home.
And I am thirsty for electro static.
I am dialing God’s telephone.
When I fly on up to Heaven,
let me go by lightning.
Ride that lightning bolt.
When the lightning struck,
you were in mid-sentence
in your Red Sox cap
telling an old joke.
When the lightning jumped
into your spirit
it brought an urgent message.
God was calling you home.
When the lightning spoke,
it was meant to be, child.
It came for you
and it came for me.
Now that lightning bolt’s
working in my soul,
won’t let me go
’til it carries me home.
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2. |
I Fell Into The Fire
02:26
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I Fell Into the Fire
(But I Never Got Burned)
I fell into the fire,
but I never got burned.
Well, the Lord is my Scribe
and I’m just livin’ his word.
You can look at a woman,
cut her pattern out fine,
but you never will know
what’s on that woman’s mind.
When you go down to Seagrove,
I know what you do.
You let that Carolina girl
whisper sweet lovin’ to you.
You can hang out your washin’
before the sun ever rise,
but the wind loves me bette
and your washing never will dry.
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3. |
Tazewell Suite
08:43
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Tazewell Beauty Queen
If you don’t mind the low seam,
and if you don’t mind the dark,
if you don’t mind the black face
that is every miner’s mark,
you can make a fortune
and you can buy a dream --
go cruisin’ in a Chevy
with the Tazewell Beauty Queen.
If you don’t mind the short fuse,
and if you don’t mind the smell,
if you don’t mind a summer
in a place as black as hell,
you can make a fortune
and you can buy a dream --
go cruisin’ in a Chevy
with the Tazewell Beauty Queen.
If you will make a gamble,
if you will bet your skin,
you can get your wish in
tires and chrome and fins.
You might be dusty now,
but you’ll be coming up so clean
just a-drivin’ in that Chevy
with your Tazewell Beauty Queen.
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4. |
Seventeen of My Own
03:04
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Seventeen of My Own
Got no time on my hands, honey babe.
Got no time on my hands, honey babe.
Sun won’t stay put
with babes underfoot.
Got no time on my hands, honey babe.
Hand me down some flour, my babe.
Hand me down some flour, my babe.
Fetch some milk from that cow
and mind your mother now.
Hand me down some flour, my babe.
No, we won’t sit down today.
No, we won’t sit down today.
Sitting’s for Sunday
and washing’s for Monday.
No, we won’t sit down today.
Seventeen of my own, I raised.
Seventeen of my own, I raised.
I had ‘em in a row –
now the time just seems to go.
Seventeen of my own, I raised .
Got no time to be thinking, honey babe.
Got no time to be thinking, honey babe.
Run those biscuits ‘round,
your Daddy’s back from town.
Got no time to be thinking, honey babe.
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5. |
Milk And Butter
02:46
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Milk and Butter
A jug of milk across your horse
will churn butter while you’re riding.
If the lord wants you, he’ll get you of course.
You’d be a fool for hiding.
Milk today, tomorrow butter.
Jonah don’t know my mind.
Us girls along the Dismal River
speak just as we find.
Momma needs that dollar honey.
If the mine will pay, no telling.
The Lord provides, this I know
if butter and milk ain’t selling.
A lovin’ spark tucked in your breast
will burn you up come morning.
Your old heart will just feel worse
’til my kissin’ sends you soarin’.
I’ve got sweethearts up and down this mountain
and I’ve been know to tarry.
On your lovin’, I’ll be countin’.
You’re the only one I’ll marry.
Sold that bloodroot down in town
to buy my wedding shoes –
high top boots for riding Nellie
and dancin’ all night with you.
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6. |
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It Don’t Pay Now
(To Bet On Us)
If there’s a mountain,
we’d have to climb it.
If I was sorry
would you take me back?
If there’s a wrong way,
we’re bound to find it –
no moral compass,
no emotional map.
Well I know that’s it’s hard
and I don’t want to say it.
It’s my very last card,
so I gotta to play it
I used to gamble –
a bad example
when every day
would be boom or bust.
I’m outa patience
with speculation,
‘cause it don’t pay now
to bet on us.
If there’s a lake,
we’d have to swim it –
too far out
and in too deep.
We think our hand
will finally win it,
but the dealer’s got
our ace to keep.
Every roller I met thinks
he knows what he’s doing.
Not a single one yet
hasn’t ended in ruin.
If there’s horse,
we’d have to run it
even though it won’t
leave the gate.
If there’s wheel
we’d have to turn it,
spinning right
into our mistake.
Lady luck will call,
but we shouldn’t listen
when we know all along
her hand is well hidden.
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7. |
Bear Is Back
02:35
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Bear is Back
The bear is back and the flood is coming.
Get the clothes in off the line.
Put the barrel out in the wash house –
have no feathers winter time.
The Dismal River’s rising steady.
Daddy’s trousers, sopping wet.
Eating eels for Sunday dinner
if the water rises yet.
And if I were a chicken feather,
take a zephyr for my friend .
Sail away to dear old England –
never see coal camp life again.
Tie the chickens to the chimney.
Take the cow on up the hill.
Put the hog up in the attic.
Dismal river’s rising still.
That ole bear’s just eating apples –
don’t mind water, likes to fish.
Oh, if we lived up on Jewell Ridge
never be as wet as this.
My good dress has sailed to Bandy.
Mama’s apron in Cedar Bluff.
Petticoat’s bound for Tazewell.
Atlantic Ocean, final stop.
I’ve a mind to take our washtub,
make a sail from Daddy’s shirt,
race his trousers to Bermuda.
Bet ten dollars, get there first.
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8. |
Cousin Joe
04:16
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Cousin Joe
for Joseph Fisher Casey, d. 30 July 2021
You always wondered how I could write
all the stories of our lives –
how the words flowed from my pen
and the notes came following them.
I had the words, you had the heart.
You always let me be the star.
Your cut-off jeans and crazy laugh,
I wish we could all go back.
I wrote your name into this song
just as a way of saying so long.
Did you play drums or guitar?
I can still see your big brown car.
You’d drive us kids to the Dairy Queen.
You were so much younger than you
seemed to me.
I wrote your name into this song
just as a way of saying so long.
And when I look up to the sky,
it’s my way of saying goodbye.
We’d ride the waves into the surf.
You picked me up when I got hurt.
Coke bottle glasses and a wild-eyed stare,
we kids would follow you anywhere.
Goodnight, goodnight, our Cousin Joe.
Safe journey to wherever we all go.
Tell them all I say hello, Cousin Joe.
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9. |
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Reckoning Day
There are somethings ain’t worth rescuing.
Some ships you watch go down
while you stand there on the shore
holding fast to the new love you’ve found.
There’ll be a love, catches you unaware.
Some angel will come your way
and you’ll take her into your heart,
though you know there will be
a reckoning day.
There are somethings ain’t nothing but trouble.
Some prisons you build yourself
brick by brick with your misfortunes
’til some angel pulls you from hell.
Look out for love, halos and feathers,
your wishes, things that you pray.
‘Cause your dreams just might come true
and you know there will be a reckoning day.
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10. |
Fire Next Time
04:03
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Fire Next Time
If the fire should rage
or the creek should rise,
is it some mistake
or is it no surprise?
If you choose to run
or you try to hide,
any way you turn
is never back in time.
God gave Noah the rainbow sign –
no more water but the fire next time.
God gave Noah the rainbow sign.
There’s no recompense
for the fire next time
if it makes no sense;
if the words don’t rhyme;
if the door slams shut;
and you can’t get through.
Couldn’t make this up,
but it’s all come true.
If you stop the flood?
If you read the signs?
Gonna do no good
‘gainst the fire next time.
At the rainbow’s end
would you send a dove?
When everything’s been spent
what survives is love…
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11. |
Listen To Your Heart
04:10
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Listen To Your Heart
How will you know when you’ve arrived
at the crossroads of your life ?
Need a miracle perhaps
to save the whole thing from collapse.
Listen to your heart.
Let it whisper in your ear –
tell you all the things
I think you gotta to hear.
The troubles that we have
Aren’t the troubles that we choose.
So listen to your heart,
it will tell you what to do.
The house you saw up on the hill
is not the answer that you seek.
There’s really nothing we don’t have
that we find we really need.
Did you see the little bird
bringing straw to build its nest.
Did he bring it as a gift?
Did he leave it as test?
Where could we choose to build our home,
if not a nest nor on a hill?
We’ll make a home here in our hearts.
We could live there if we will.
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12. |
No Final Goodbye
03:08
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There is No Final Goodbye
There is no final goodbye,
I’ll see you down the road.
Like a star that fell through heaven
a thousand years ago,
there in the palm of your hand
I see that starlight glow.
There is no final goodbye,
I’ll see you down the road.
I see you in the morning
the sunlight on your face
my friend I’ll always remember
the love found in this place.
Now I’m set to wandering –
a pilgrim on my own.
There is no final goodbye,
I’ll see you down the road
The bones of every traveler
their lessons will bestow.
There is no final goodbye,
I’ll see you down the road.
When you’re driving through the darkness
and singing yourself awake,
the cold night setting in your bones
and you reckon up your mistakes,
I’ll be in every stone
and in every blade of grass.
These days we spent together
will last and last and last, and last.
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13. |
Cinderella Blues
03:52
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Cinderella Blues
Live from Bromborough Folk Club, Wirral
Recorded and Mixed by Dave Burrows
When the world don’t care ‘bout your heartache
and you think there’s no prince and no ball.
And everyone left for the party
and you’re at home sweeping the floor.
Well, I’ll turn to you, my love sweet and true.
For you the sun always shines.
And all will be right when I’m dancing tonight
with my darlin’ in three quarter time.
When the clocks in the hall have tolled midnight
and it’s time you was already gone,
there won’t be no carriage or footmen
and no one to take you back home.
Who’s gonna kiss those red ruby lips
and make you his princess at last?
And who’s gonna wear the shoe if it fits
and will you be walking on glass?
What can you do with the Cinderella blues
when your fairy godmother has flown
let birds and the mice dress you up nice
little darlin’, it’s time you left home
let birds and the mice dress you up nice
Cinderella, it’s time you left home
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Jeni Hankins London, UK
Jeni Hankins grew up in the coalfields of Appalachian in Southwest Virginia among a family of miners, moonshiners, and
journalists. Her writing pulls the grit, gumption, and keen sense of observation out of that heritage like drawing water from her grandmother’s well.
In every song, Jeni’s “true sense of place shines through – old as the hills, but brand new at the same time.”
... more
Jeni Hankins recommends:
For me, this is the best of folk music, what it's all meant to be. After years of listening to Rebecca & Ken, I still get shivers up my spine when I hear them together.
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