Naomi Ashley | Music: Another Year Or So

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Another Year Or So (BUY NOW!)

Released in December of 2007, Another Year Or So is arguably Naomi's strongest album to date. It has been described as "shining with great melodies and lyrics" and touted as a "great gift to send to ex-lovers or anyone else you find irresistible." Partially paid for by a CAAP grant through the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, AYOS explores the intricacies of loneliness in uncomplicated language and instrumentation. The track Linda was nominated as New Folk Song of the Year for the 2009 JPF music awards.

Point of Interest: Though most of the album was recorded at Strobe Recording Studio in Chicago, the track Slow Train was recorded live at the Uptown Poetry Slam at the legendary Green Mill with slampapi Marc Smith contributing the Carl Sandburg poem Mamie. The Fred Eaglesmith cover Soft on my Shoulder was recorded in Naomi and her husband Ben's meager first apartment together on Foster Avenue.

Listen      Lyrics      Another Year or So

Listen      Lyrics      Dangerous

Listen      Lyrics      Big Ed's Suicide Note

Listen      Lyrics      Linda

Listen      Lyrics      Lullaby

Listen      Lyrics      Soft On My Shoulder

Listen      Lyrics      Let's Pretend It's Love

Listen      Lyrics      Slow Train

Listen      Lyrics      That Kind of Girl

Listen      Lyrics      All the Best

Another Year or So (6:32)
Music and Lyrics: Naomi Ashley
© Naomi Ashley

Voices are raised; the door slams shut are you out for the night
They say that it's just a phase and if I could shut up it might be alright
I stand in the kitchen as you sit in the bar
And despite the bitching we've gotten this far

Chorus
Cause I, I've got your heart and you've got my heart
We've got each other's hearts
And we laugh, you make me laugh and I make you laugh
We make each other laugh
And I think that will hold us another year or so

The silence is cold and it's worse in hear than wherever you are
And I'm getting too old to act like the fear is not who we are
You answer last call as I lay in bed
And I'd take back it all if I could remember what I said

Chorus

Bridge
And I'll do my best to hold up my end of this bargain
If you do your best to come home

I hear the door close and I close my eyes and pretend to sleep
It's fine I suppose all the good and bad lies, the promises we keep
You take off you shirt and climb into bed
And nobody's hurt as you kiss my forehead

Chorus

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Dangerous (4:02)
Music and Lyrics: Naomi Ashley
© Naomi Ashley

I'm alone, so lonely
The only one who wants to know me
And I'm bored, I'm so boring
Sorry I'm pouring out my heart to you
There's no rules, there's no guidelines
There's just lost time sitting on a shelf
And whatever it is I'm looking for
I'm not finding it by myself

Because alone I'm pathetic
But with you I'm dangerous
Take my hand you won't regret it
It will be us us us us us

You're on stage, no one's watching
There all talking, not about you
You sing louder you play harder
Still there's nothing left you can do
You're not going to be a rock star
And as far as I can see
Whatever it is you're looking for
You won't find it without me

Because alone you're pathetic
But with me you're dangerous
Take my hand you won't regret it
It will be us us us us us

See you and me we're like minded
We're two ships lost out at sea
And whatever we're looking for it's not here
So why don't you come home with me

Because alone we are pathetic
But together we're dangerous
Take my hand you won't regret it
It will be us us us us us

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Big Ed's Suicide Note (4:06)
Music and Lyrics: Naomi Ashley
© Naomi Ashley

The other day I laughed so hard I almost cried
It was like a window was thrown open deep inside
The first time she smiled, the first time she held my hand
And why I can't forget her I will never understand

The sun came through the window and was shining on my back
Warm with all I feared and every quality I lacked
I left the bar to go back to my place
And all I saw before me was that look upon her face

Chorus
The warmest smile won't turn it away
And all the world's roses won't make it okay
It's there when you're dancing and it's there when you fall
You've got to befriend it, or end it all

Back at my place above the Bill Baker's garage
When I am lost and thirsty that girl is my mirage
I grabbed another beer and I drank it just because
I was thinking about her smile, wondering where she was

Staring out the window, through the screen
I see her on the faces of the people in my dreams
Kiss her good night hold her face in my hands
Then let her fade into the night, let her sink into the sand

Chorus

I might forget her for a week or so
Maybe for a few months, where did this year go
Every prayer I've prayed, every hour that's past
Every doggone day like every doggone day's my last

Chorus

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Linda (4:39)
Music and Lyrics: Naomi Ashley
© Naomi Ashley

Linda's a lady way past her prime
Smoking and joking looking for a good time
She goes a-chasing men half her age
She's been married three times but never engaged

She's been in love two times in her life
Ironically never when she was a wife
She knows every joke and she's heard every line
Smoking and joking looking for a good time

Chorus
Linda go on, you'll float away
On the ship in your bottle of Tanqueray
Linda stay strong and they'll never know
You're always alone

She once loved a boy with hair black as coal
With his head full of dreams and his nose full of snow
We'll take my daddy's boat and we'll sail round the world
Said the rich mama's boy to the fatherless girl

She ended up standing alone by the bay
Twenty-five years ago to the day
Now you ask her what's wrong she'll say honey I'm fine
Smoking and joking, looking for a good time

Chorus

She has a son twenty-four and a half
With hair black as night and is mother's laugh
He married his sweetheart and moved to Moline
He said he'd write often, Linda knows what that means

They sent her a picture of their baby girl
She looks nothing like Linda ...

Chorus

Linda's a lady way past her prime
Smoking and joking looking for a good time

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Lullaby (2:33)
Music and Lyrics: Naomi Ashley
© Naomi Ashley

You and me we're a lullaby
You and me we're a lullaby
You and me we're a lullaby
And I just wish that I could go to sleep

You and me are a bottle of pills
You and me are a bottle of pills
You and me are a bottle of pills
And I just wish that I could go to sleep

I'm tired of you and I'm tired of me
I'm tired of you and I'm tired of me
I'm tired of you and I'm tired of me
And I just wish that I could go to sleep

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Soft On My Shoulder (3:55)
Music and Lyrics: Fred Eaglesmith
© Fred Eaglesmith

You can come into my house
I think you think you want to know me
You say you know, you know me already
Well then you're gonna have to show me

We can sit upon my couch
Appreciate the late November
You can ask me all my secrets
And I'll tell you the one I can remember

Chorus
It's just we're not so good with words in the daylight
Oh but the night, we can talk until sunrise
And you ain't got much to say when I look into your eyes
So hang it up, play it nice, deal the cards roll the dice
I think we're hooked on something
Let's pretend it's love

You can call me on the phone
This conversation's an elective
You can ask me what I'm wearing
To get that particular perspective

We're better off all alone
Every syllable is poison
I guess I'm dying slowly
Because I can't say no to you

Chorus

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I watch you wave goodbye
It seems I've watched you wave goodbye most my life
I'm on a slow train
I'm on a real slow train

There's nothing to do but think of the stupid things I've done
They go rolling by me one by one playing trombones
I'm on a slow train
I'm on a real slow train

Man I need someone to talk to
But no one wants to hear me complain
I'm on a slow train
I'm on a real slow train

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There's the kind of girls you wait for and the kind of girls you leave
And the kind that go on running through your heart
There's the ones you stay awake for, the ones you cannot grieve
And the ones that you hold on to if your smart
And I guess I'm just that kind of girl

There are the ones that wear their troubles on their tear-stained faces
They're brave and they're seductive in their pain
Then there are the ones that take your troubles inside of their good graces
They give you all the answers and they love you all the same
And I guess I'm just that kind of girl

There's the ones that keep you guessing, the ones you keep undressing
The ones that get you confessing and the ones that need your blessing
There's the kind of girls who change you, the kind of girls who blame you
And the kind of girls that will remain to you
And I guess I'm just that kind of girl

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© 2009 Naomi Ashley. All rights reserved. | Site + Design: ENGAGE:DSN | Copy by: Al Kammen | Logo Design: Spilled Ink Press | This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.