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No Straight Lines

by Bill Gable

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Also includes a high-res digital booklet (PDF) download with lyrics and images of travel mementos and instruments.

    **Click on each individual track for extensive session notes on how each song came to be!
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Signed copy of "No Straight Lines" CD by Bill Gable, which includes an attached 8-page booklet with song lyrics and images. Cover photo by renowned photographer Guy Webster.

    Includes unlimited streaming of No Straight Lines via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The "No Straight Lines" CD, which includes an attached 8-page booklet with song lyrics and images. Cover photo by renowned photographer Guy Webster.

    Includes unlimited streaming of No Straight Lines via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
I would not promise you my complete devotion deep and dependable like some ocean my heart so true and my soul so open kneeling before you when I come to pray but I’m a million miles away from anything at the edge of the world with no one’s hand upon me and anywhere a million miles away is where I will always be the truth never literal nor with any meaning the earth too elliptical its axis leaning only our dreams are ever worth believing pure and impractical in the light of day I’m a million miles away from anything at the edge of the world with no one’s hand upon me and anywhere a million miles away is where I will always be I would not promise you where I’ll be tomorrow where there’s a bird in the sky I may have to follow so hold me tonight to forsake my sorrow in the sweet of your hollow where I come to lie I’m a million miles away from anything at the edge of the world with no one’s hand upon me and anywhere a million miles away is where I will always be
2.
infinite merciful mother look at what I’ve done how quickly one thing leads to another once a thing’s begun I knew where my knife was before you could run oh, no I threw your heart in the water I watched it spinning round and round into the dark of the water where it never will be found now I sing my song for no one for no one can console me The moment I saw you together we knew how this would end I swore I would love you forever I was happy to pretend you always warned me my temper would never be my friend oh, no high in a church there is always darkness overhead so what good is lighting a candle when everything is said there’s not a thing I believe in without you in my bed oh, no
3.
when the sun is going down like a choir on the edge of time and the echoes fall across the sky I cut across an open field in the newly fallen snow every footprint I see is my own how big the world turned out to be how far away it’s taken me but wherever you lose it that is where you’ll find it everywhere the signs of fate a red bird on an iron gate and a yellow moon beyond the trees in the house where I was born where the hallway carpet still is worn and the rain collects behind the eaves so sure of everything I see the very essence of simplicity wherever you lose it that is where you’ll find it in the quiet hours at night when the table has been cleared away and my boots are drying by the fire there isn’t anyone I’d rather be and whatever road my destiny is the only road that I desire every cell inside me spirit that fills my body wherever you lose it that is where you’ll find it
4.
Sustenance 04:47
beyond the sun across the sea I thought the world belonged to me and headed off undaunted I ate too fast I drank too much stayed out too late could never get enough no passing feast could ever fill me up what it was I wanted was sustenance amphetamines never picked me up nor did bitter coffee from a Dixie cup ever enhance my living I wasn’t saved through innocence nor through reason nor through deliverance I tried them all and cast them out at once promising but never giving sustenance so tell me why somehow the moon is never bright enough and no one’s heavy load is ever light enough the truth was never true enough and you were never you enough god knows what I wanted I did the best that I could do it’s not for lack of loving you so many others so much worse off than us all that there was missing was sustenance I learned to breathe I learned to crawl I wanted more I wanted to have it all I never realized As everybody must That all that I was looking for was sustenance
5.
like a snake, my heart has split its skin somewhere far away it blew god knows why I let you in I came so close to loving you you’re not to blame, you were born too beautiful it’s the only thing you ever knew your soul so unscrutable I came so close to loving you I lit a fire in you that you can’t deny we both know you were terrified by the wild ride we could have had together but you ran home to your mansion on the hill you had your gypsy fling you nearly tore my heart in two I came so close to loving you can your man keep you satisfied? can he ride the reins like I do? can he cool your burning thighs? I came so close to loving you I lit a fire in you that you can’t deny we both know you were terrified by the wild ride we could have had together late last night, while you were sleeping I hitched my stallion out of view and stood beyond your doorstep weeping I came so close to loving you came so close, came so close I came so close to loving you
6.
Bill Gable – Vocals, guitars, guitarra, bass, percussion Judd Miller – Kaval Ethan Margolis – Cajon, palmas Manuel Gutierrez – Flamenco footwork
7.
nothing out of place in a state of grace awakened by the goose bumps on my skin when the tide rolls in when the tide rolls in nothing on my mind unaware of time unattached to all that might have been when the tide rolls in when the tide rolls in out beyond the breakers lies the mystery coming in from far away across the sea deep into a trance it will be sending me to remind me time and time again that everything today must now be put away so everything tomorrow may begin when the tide rolls in when the tide rolls in waiting is an art everything a part awaking as the eddies start to spin when the tide rolls in when the tide rolls in
8.
today arrived just like any other day utterly remarkable in every way I wiped my eyes and beheld the sky above me stars arrayed in a million designs there were signs that led me here and lead to where I’m going but there are no straight lines I used to be so sure of what it was I wanted but I regained my senses eventually I realized I’ll be on the very verge of beginning every second the rest of my life there were times I’d have given anything for any simple answer but there are no straight lines today arrived and took me totally by surprise with yesterday by no means over in my mind I closed my eyes and imagined a field of clover a shady riverbank where I could lie the world is mine to wander through and to be discovered where there are no straight lines
9.
Road of Pain 06:37
down your road never been an ounce of rain the rivers all run dry and any man who falls for you was born to cry but I would be so very willing to bear the stain begging for all the misery you got to give to me ready to walk your road of pain there’s not a thing in the world that I can do you’ve driven me insane I’d crawl upon my knees for you my soul inflamed but I would be so very willing to bear the stain begging for all the misery you got to give to me ready to walk your road of pain not a soul could save me now now that I’ve found your road of pain down your road there’s a cross at every lane where fools have met their fate who gathered up too much momentum and swerved too late but I would be so very willing to bear the stain begging for all the misery you got to give to me ready to walk your road of pain
10.
this is all I am an ordinary man humble in the face of life at the end of the day there will be no moment to pray there will be no heaven or hell in the wake of my surrender the sun will rise above and everyone I loved will gather with their tale to tell then everyone will go their separate way without a soul having ever truly known me at the end of the day everybody sees what they want to see every sinner finds his god at the end of the day no one comes to show us the way no one gives a nod or a hand judgment isn’t rendered bodies lie in state overwhelmed by fate nothing goes the way we planned but isn’t that a meager price to pay a simple man knows that nothing lasts forever at the end of the day at the end of the day at the end of the day
11.
All Are One 06:04
I’ve heard the end has now begun every man at last unmoving and the color that my blood will run you have pledged your whole life proving all are one, all are one all are one, all are one in my home remove your shoes I will set a place at my table bring your instrument with you we’ll make the sweetest music we’re able all are one, all are one all are one, all are one all are one, all are one all are one, all are one there is room for everyone and time to be forgiven let’s dance until the morning comes that’s the way to get to heaven down to you is up to me but neither of us any better you believe what you believe but we have got to live together all are one, all are one all are one, all are one all are one, all are one all are one, all are one

about

More than six years in the making, Bill Gable's new album "No Straight Lines" was written during travels to Spain, Portugal and Morocco and draws from musical and literary sources from that region.

The album features Gable on vocals, guitars and cello; Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group) and Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets, Bruce Hornsby) on basses; Larry Goldings (John Mayer, Curtis Stigers) on piano; Greg Ellis (Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussein) and Joey Heredia (Stevie Wonder, Sergio Mendes) on percussion; Ethan Margolis (Inés Bacán, El Lebrijano) on flamenco guitar, cajon and palmas; and Manuel Gutierrez (Duquende, Luis Winsberg) on flamenco footwork.

With evocative uses of oud, ney and zurna throughout, the production is counter-balanced by two gorgeous string quartet arrangements by the Argentinians Jorge del Barrio (Dianne Reeves, Sheryl Crow) and Eduardo del Barrio (Caldera, Stan Getz). Last but not least, the project features backgrounds vocals by Motown legend Leon Ware and others.

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released April 14, 2015

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Bill Gable Los Angeles, California

BILL GABLE is an uncompromisingly original American singer-songwriter, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist whose music spans the boundaries between pop, jazz and world music.

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