Friends in High Places 

Recorded at the Free House Studio and the Jet Studio - Brussels, Belgium in 2019
Produced by Nicolas Michaux

Boozing and Losing
The Four Thousand Dollar Days
Lonely Days In Hollywood
The Beginning
Mr Wrong
Telling Stories
Friends In High Places 
What I Tell You
Love In Vain
Nothing But Regrets
Toast In Heaven

LYRICS

Boozing and Losing

I’m bleeding through my eyes and doing all I can
Trying to devise a simple plan
Last night’s repose is breathing through my clothes
As a bitter wind blows throughout the land
Yesterday’s gone up in smoke
Tomorrow’s hard to find
I’m just boozing and losing my mind
I’m just boozing and losing my mind

A bolt out of the blue turned me on to you
But I don’t know what to do to be your man
So I bury all my days in dead end alleyways
Infinite delays and empty cans
That same thing is broke in me
That’s broke in all mankind
I’m just boozing and losing my mind
I’m just boozing and losing my mind

Yesterday’s gone up in smoke
Tomorrow’s hard to find
I’m just boozing and losing my mind
I’m just boozing and losing my mind


The Four Thousand Dollar Days

Our four thousand dollar days are over
And we’re back fishing dimes from the jar
We say goodbye to buying wine and roses
And goodbye to throwing dough on the bar
One of us picks up a clover
And the other one patiently prays
For skies that are blue and the return anew
Of the four thousand dollar days.

Once I had four thousand reasons
For thanking the good Lord above
But my fortunes changed with the seasons
And now misery fits like a glove
There’s a leafless tree in the meadow
And a ditch where a Model T lays
And I’m crying because it ain’t like it was
In the four thousand dollar days

Our four thousand dollar days are over
And we’re back wishing upon a star
One of us stands in the shoulder
While the other one heats up the car
Lately the air has grown colder
And the skies are all ashes and grays
And we are the ones with the memories of suns
Of the four thousand dollar days

We are the ones with the memories of suns
Of the four thousand dollar days






Lonely Days in Hollywood

Lonely days in Hollywood, all the windows closed
I’m lost but in the neighborhood, following my nose
I’m always misunderstood and everybody knows
Lonely days in Hollywood
Lonely days in Hollywood

Swollen dreams and discontent keep me up all night
I’d risk any accident just to get it right
They bleed me of every cent but say my future’s bright
Lonely days in Hollywood
Lonely days in Hollywood

I take all your bad advice, you take all of mine
Everyone is always nice and everything is fine
But every tongue is cold as ice and caught up in a bind
Lonely days in Hollywood
Lonely days in Hollywood

If this is what the future holds, are you reconciled
To be the one who fit the mold,
to be the one who smiled?
And if you’re caught out in the cold,
to be the one beguiled?
Lonely days in Hollywood
Lonely days in Hollywood

The Beginning
Back in the days when my spirits were high
And the ladies played dress up for catching your eye
You would say in those days
“Who’s that carefree guy always grinning?”

But now that old smile is the smile of a clown
And my heart it is low and my spirits are down
And my limbs are like lead
And my hangover head’s always spinning

I’m always on edge and I’m always off track
And all I can think of are things that I lack
Take me back, take me back, to the beginning
Take me back, take me back, to the beginning

The name on the lease is the one piece of me
That says I am here in this weird century
And we all see the signs
But we all disagree on the meaning

But back in the days you would swear it was so
That as it was above it would be below
And all that you needed
Were places to go do your bidding

But now I have no place in space and time
And of hope there is no trace on this face of mine
And the judgment’s against me
But I don’t know what crime I’m committing

We were up on the hill you were Jill I was Jack
Now my crown it is broken, we’re under attack
Take me back, take me back, to the beginning
Take me back, take me back, to the beginning
Mr. Wrong

I’m underneath the buzzards circling the sun
In the footsteps of an outlaw on the run
I’m looking at the crows feeding from the rows
Of golden wheat and corn and sorghum
I’m walking with my hat and black boots on
On the trail of a man named Mr. Wrong

Back in Santa Fe I set out on my way
With silver badge, tobacco, and gun
I passed out on the stairs when I stopped at Miss Claire’s
At Miss Mary’s they carried me to my room
Now I’m walking with my hat and black boots on
On the trail of a man named Mr. Wrong

Thin whispers of the man I pick up where I can
But I don’t know who he is or where he’s from
And the figure in the mirror says, “what you doing here?
You’re so far from the place where you belong”
And I never meant to do the things I’ve done
And I’m cursing the person I’ve become
Just walking with my hat and black boots on
On the trail of a man named Mr. Wrong


Telling Stories

I’m telling myself stories about the future
What will disappear and what will last
Everything around me’s getting newer
And I’m telling myself stories about the past
And I recall a time when me and you were
Making bets on eternity
Now I’m telling myself stories that are bluer
And I’m telling myself stories about me

The high-stakes drama was a let down
And we don’t know what was real and what was fake
The plot turned on some dime novel romance
And now we’re telling ourself stories for our sake
And I’m waiting for another sun to set down
And some new moon to do its job for free
And I’m telling myself stories about the city
And I’m telling myself stories about me

The gun was hid inside the maid’s gray bonnet
The family’s country mansion is for sale
The bankers and the nouveaux riches all want it
The drunken old aristocrat’s in jail
And the audience all think they know who did it
And everyone feels sorry just in time
Word is there will be a general pardon
For everyone who toes the party line

And I’m telling myself stories that will end soon
And in some of them I’m only in act III
I don’t know who’s the hero or the villain
I’m telling myself stories about me
But in all of them I give her my last dollar
And then recite a sad soliloquy
In all of them I choose death before dishonor
In all of my stories about me
Friends in High Places

I’ve got friends in high places
I’ve got pockets lined with aces
I’ve got faded lipstick traces on my shirt
I’m short on tomorrow but I’m long on yesterday
My eye is on the sparrow where the lonely go to pray
And I’ve seen pals in sad conditions
Make a thousand bad decisions
Taking vows and seeking visions in the dirt

Now, looks can be deceiving
Am I smiling? Am I grieving?
Am I free inside my heart or do I hurt?
I’ll give you even chances but the answer I won’t say
And I won’t tell you my name
But I’m not famous anyway…
But I’ve got friends in high places
I’ve got pockets lined with aces
I’ve got faded lipstick traces on my shirt
I’ve got faded lipstick traces on my shirt


What I Tell You

It’s good when everybody’s happy
It’s good when everybody’s home
When my head’s on your pillow
And my heart’s on your cornerstone
And the ghosts of Sleepy Hollow
Are sleeping like the brakeman’s bones
It’s good when everybody’s happy
It’s good when everybody’s home

It’s good when everybody loves you
And they feel they wanna tell you so
And the daggers of Calcutta
Are buried many feet below
And the stars they shine above you
And the weeping demons moan
It’s good when everybody’s happy
It’s good when everybody’s home

And I just want to tell you
What I tell you all the time
I’ll always be yours my love
And you’ll always be mine.

Yea, I just want to tell you
What I tell you all the time
I’ll always be yours my love
And you’ll always be mine

It’s good when you can see your future
‘Cause it’s only down the road a mile
And the morning breaks above you
And you wake in the perfect style
And the tears of old misfortunes
Are all used up and dryin’
It’s good when everybody’s happy
It’s good when everybody’s fine

And I just want to tell you
What I tell you all the time
I’ll always be yours my love
And you’ll always be mine

Yea, I just want to tell you
What I tell you all the time
I’ll always be yours my love
And you’ll always be mine

Love in Vain

I got what I was looking for
My day to lose myself to blame
I’ve given you my shaken core
I’ve given you my love in vain

My love in vain
My love in vain
My love in vain
My love in vain

I get my dues and just rewards
In daily blues and crying shame
I lost a limb, now I’m using yours
My pair of twos is a losing game

I got memories flowing fast
And I get caught up in the past
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got my love in vain

My love in vain
My love in vain
My love in vain
My love in vain


Nothing but Regrets

I asked the roving gambler about how he laid his bets
And all he said was, “kid, you don’t know how lonely it gets
But if I had a dollar I could pay off all the debts
From a lifetime of living with nothing but regrets
A lifetime of living with nothing but regrets”

I don’t know how this old hat
Came to lay such weight on me
When once upon a time it was the thing that set me free
And this beat up guitar now tells the story in its frets
Of a lifetime of living with nothing but regrets
A lifetime of living with nothing but regrets

I published some good songs set in the fingering of G
With a note of Stephen Foster and a coat of R. E. Lee
But neither of the two can tell me which blood red sun sets
On a lifetime of living with nothing but regrets
A lifetime of living with nothing but regrets






Drink a Toast in Heaven

Drink a toast in heaven
From your gold throne in the sky
At a barroom of the angels
In the old by and by
With the firmament about you
And the waters up above
Drink a toast in heaven
And let it fall on the ones you love
Drink a toast in heaven
And let it fall on the ones you love

If I told you a story
It would be about the One
Who will ride upon a donkey
Into the World To Come
But their ears are full of thunder
And their eyes are full of tears
Their ship is going under
And drowning in the years

But when your body’s sleeping
And your soul is roving free
Drink a toast in heaven
And look down on them and me
With the firmament about you
And the waters up above
Drink a toast in heaven
And let it fall on the ones you love
Drink a toast in heaven
And let it fall on the ones you love


All songs written by Turner Cody
 

VIDEOS

Lonely Days in Hollywood Boozing and Losing Telling Stories