Rip It Away
The “lightning in the badlands” was a real thing.
When I was 18 I took The Green Tortoise across the US from Boston to San Francisco. About a week into our 14 day journey I remember waking up in the back of the bus, parked by an isolated gas station in the late afternoon heat. A dark haired hippie girl with cool glasses offered me red wine out of a bottle. Later that night we sat on a prairie at the edge of a canyon. There was a storm beneath us and when the lighting struck, it would light up the canyon and the prairie all around it, really putting on a show. It was the first great thing I saw after leaving home.
“Rip It Away” is the song where The Previous emerged from the blues fog of our birth at The 8121 and started sounding like The Previous. Initially with Walt and Clay and Tuesday and Steve Mugalian and David Tobocman at The Highland Grounds, and then everything else began to coalesce around this driving invitation to our shows
Not taking anything away from the recording on Porch Music but “Rip It Away” was always greatest as a live number.
Lyrics
RIP IT AWAY
I’ve seen some lightning in the Badlands
and I’ve seen some fire from my fingertips
It it hit me hard
It hit me full force
and hard enough to rip these words
from my bleeding lip
Rip It Away
I’ve been some time in this California thing
and I’ve been a lifetime from my Boston home
It hit me hard
It hit me full force
And hard to make me wish that I was comatose
or D.O.A.
Rip It Away
And so I threw my jacket down on the floor
but there was still some leather crawling on my skin
It hit me hard
It hit me full force
And my skin was as thick as thieves
conspiring after me to
Rip It Away
Rip, Rip, Rip It Away
I gotta get back to me someday
Credits
Written by Andras Jones
Engineered & Produced by Earle Mankey
Andras Jones – Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Clay Goldstein – Harmonica
R. Walt Vincent – Bass
John Nason – Guitar
Colin Mahoney – Drums
& Deb Pasternak – Vocals
Purchase
$1.50