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Middle Country Stars

from Give It Time by Erik Yates

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Erik's debut solo album!

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about

I found this song after my housemate, slam poet Patrick Ohslund, left a slim volume of Su Tung-Po at my apartment. I read it straight through, sucked in by the rhythm and humor of his 1,000-year old pieces, and thought the three of us should take a sojourn to try and jot down the best lines of our lives.

lyrics

One thousand and twenty-five years ago
Su T’ung Po laid down his load
For one last mountain night
Beneath the stars so high
Aye, aye, aye . . .

I let myself into your apartment
The key was hidden in your heating vent
I read the words you wrote that night
and I drank most of your wine
Oh the night, oh the night, oh the starry night!

We made for the banks of the Yangtze
We followed the bells of a monastery
We wished our wives were near enough
to keep us warm on the mountain so high, aye, aye, aye . . .

I cried, ʻHelp me, I am mad tonight!ʼ
You cried, ʻSanity is a dreadful sight
ʻSave it for the valley down below!
Oh the night, oh the night, oh the starry night!

We made our beds of moss and stone
You lit your pipe and I lit my own
You sang a poem about the stars of the Middle Country
as they passed us by

You told me I could hear it in a thousand years
If the river ran high and the current was strong
And if singers still sang songs about singers singing songs long ago Oh the night, oh the night, oh the starry night!

He snored like a madman and I left him alone
I locked your back door, good friend, and I stumbled home
To make love to my wife
As the California stars moved to the East

One thousand and twenty five years ago
Su T’ung P’o laid down his load
For one last mountain night
Beneath the stars so high
Aye aye aye

Oh, the night, oh the night, oh the starry starry night

credits

from Give It Time, released January 7, 2018
Erik Yates, all instruments & vocals
Don Zimmer, recording engineer
Charlie Wilson, mixing & mastering

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all rights reserved

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Erik Yates Lyons, Colorado

Erik Yates' many years of touring with his fellow progressive bluegrass pioneers in Hot Buttered Rum have done more than gain him a reputation; they've honed his singing, his songwriting and his work on multiple instruments. All of this is on display on his solo debut, "Give it Time"(Yates plays every instrument on the album), and the result is ones that fans and new listeners alike will cherish. ... more

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