Get all 5 Richard Bowdon releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Outstanding in his Field, Free Size Songs, Dancin' & Dreamin', Downstream, and Hitchin' Doc's Highway.
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Backwards Upside Down
© by Richard Bowdon
All my taxes been collected / and my manuscripts rejected
All my carry-ons inspected / with a frown
I've been diagnosed diverted / and routinely disconcerted
Seems like everything I do is upside down
Upside down (upside down) / turned around (turned around)
It's like saying that the devil's glory bound (you know he ain't)
Just like Christmas in July or flocks of pigs up in the sky
Since you left my life is backwards upside down
All my songs are under-rated / and my paychecks are post-dated
Even mama said I'd better leave this town
Son each day you're gettin' older / you'd be better off in Boulder
Where the law on marijuana's upside down
All my foil's heavy duty / all my ice cream's tutti frutti
And I do my best to not act like a clown
Yes I always try to please you no I never taunt or tease you
Why'd you flip me on my backside upside down
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Song for Shakori
© by Richard Bowdon
Chatham sunshine, flashing on your hair
As we walk the meadow, flowers on the air
Evening brings a rising moon and everyone is there
It's always me and you, Shakori Hills
It's like a dream
When Carolina morning dawns that's what it seems
That's what we need to carry on just in between in between
What is right and what is wrong
It's been too long, we've been gone
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Mr. Pawn Man
© by R. Bowdon
Won’t you give me a C-note / Mr Pawn Man
I’m beggin for mercy here
I know you in business / this ain’t no Goodwill
But don’t make me shed a tear, cause I will
Don’t make me shed a tear
Won’t you do me a favor / Mr Pawn Man
I’m down on my luck, that’s all
My baby she left me and my family is gone
I got no one left to call, and that’s all
I got no one left to call
This Martin and me / have travelled a long long ro-ad
It’s clear to see
I’m harvesting seeds I sowed / seeds I sowed
When I come back tomorrow / Mr Pawn Man
You open your doors at ten
I’ll get that old Martin down off of your wall
And play that guitar again, at ten
I’ll play that guitar again
Won’t you give me a C-note / Mr Pawn Man
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Thank You Doc
© by R. Bowdon
Well I first heard Doc Watson / on the Circle be Unbroken
Playin’ Blackberry Blossom and that stud from Tennessee
First chance I had to see him / was at David’s Pub in Dallas
It was Doc and Merle and Michael / man I won’t forget that scene
He was live and pickin’ / in my memory
He’ll live forever / in his songs
If I could travel back in time / if I could stop the clock
I’d go and tell him thank you Doc
Doc started in the 50’s / with electric rockabilly
Then he rode into the 60’s / playin’ folk and bluegrass too
But whatever Doc was pickin’ / or those ballads sweetly singing
You could always bet your money / that he’d come back to the blues
Chorus
Doc never stopped exploring / always touring and recording
Crossing boundaries building bridges / with a Carolina flair
And if you ever wonder / if he’ll ever be forgotten
Just look up Americana / you will see Doc’s picture there
Chorus
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What's the News?
© by R. Bowdon
So you never know just who you’ll meet / going out in public now
Today I may have caught a glimpse of her / Doesn’t matter anyhow
She was wearing that old leather coat / That I gave her on the day
We went sailing on that rented boat / We sailed it all around the bay
I get the traffic in Toronto
and the price of avocados
Is there any news / about her love for me
Well my Twitter feed is hummin’
about the big storm that is comin’
And the riots in / that country overseas
What’s the news? / what’s the news?
I’m glad I have a lot of friends / Because they help me when I’m down
I get to read about the trips they take / without ever leaving town
I don’t know how many friends I have / Well I guess that’s not quite true
Last time I checked on Saturday / Six hundred and fifty two
What’s the news? / what’s the news?
I am mobile online all the time / it’s a habit you might say
all my friends they know just where I am / they can reach me night or day
so I always know what’s going on / what’s the trend and where’s the spot
where to find the people in the know / who’s in love and who is not
Map a route to Carolina
Chart the price of rice in China
Is there any news / about her love for me
Now Politico is hummin
About elections that are comin’
And what the President/ said last night on TV
What’s the news? / what’s the news?
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6. |
No Worries - Never Won't
03:11
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Never Won't
© by R. Bowdon
It's not untrue, I never won't keep loving you
If you'll always promise sometimes not to cry
Your promises to keep / I dreamed them in my sleep
I'll almost always never say goodbye, goodbye
I never won't stop telling you goodbye
Our love's become a knotted thread
of feelings running through my head
a ball of yarn, a tangled mess
unraveled from a wedding dress
It's not untrue, I never won't keep loving you
If you'll always promise sometimes not to cry
Your promises to keep / I dreamed them in my sleep
I'll almost always never say goodbye, goodbye
I never won't stop telling you goodbye
Just like on San Francisco Bay
at moonrise on a foggy day
as seen inside a crystal ball
that's out of focus, dim and small
It's not untrue, I never won't keep loving you
If you'll always promise sometimes not to cry
Your promises to keep / I dreamed them in my sleep
I'll almost always never say goodbye, goodbye
I never won't stop telling you goodbye, goodbye
I never won't stop telling you goodbye
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Pavin’ the Road
© by R. Bowdon
Pavin’ the road / pavin’ the road / pavin’ the road to hell
Clinging to my many supersititions walk up
I rarely learn my lesson / but when I do, you know I learn it well
And I’m paving the road to hell with good intentions walk up
Good intentions are what led me to the state that I am in
Bargaining with mothers of invention walk up
I know the weather’s better in the other place but all my friends will be down there
So I’m pavin’ the road to hell with good intentions
From your house you see the ocean / Waves that crash and break
Like those waves my heart is breaking / Scattered in your wake
Out of sight is out of mind / a saying trite but true
You can’t see me going crazy / All because of you
Climb down from that cliffside castle / Join me here below
Take a chance on our romance / cause I still love you so
Pavin’ the road / pavin’ the road / pavin’ the road to hell
A prisoner of many mere conventions walk up
I don’t know any secrets but if I did you know I wouldn’t tell
And I’m paving the road to hell with good intentions walk up
I want to thank the folks who sent me on this rough and rocky road
With a truck full of their inhibitions walk up
My engine’s stayin’ in the lower gears cause I’m carryin’ a heavy load
Just pavin’ the road to hell with good intentions
In your house of lost ambition / Silence ebbs and flows
From that cold and lonely fortress / No one comes or goes
Don’t you ever / wish you’d never / left me to my fate?
You belong down here with me / I swear it’s not too late
From your house you see the ocean / Waves that crash and break
Like those waves my heart is breaking / Scattered in your wake
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Must Be Dyin'
© by R. Bowdon
There's a flat and dusty road / that I walk down all alone
There's an old stone cabin / where I lay my weary bones
I'm just stuck here on the ground
Lord I sure ain't flyin'
No this can't be livin' must be dyin'
I ain't got no crop to sell / draw no water from that well
And I ain't getting any prettier / as far as I can tell
That old clock stopped yesterday / Lord it must want windin'
No this can't be livin' must be dyin'
There's a faded wooden door / where you used to live before
And I stand and stare / like I'm bolted to the floor
The people say you moved away / they might be lyin'
No this can't be livin' must be dyin'
There's a flat and dusty road / that I walk down all alone
There's an old stone cabin / where I lay my weary bones
I'm just stuck here on the ground
Lord I sure ain't flyin'
No this can't be livin' must be dyin'
When I see you with him well I just start cryin'
Lord this can't be livin' must be dyin'
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The Invisible Man
© by R. Bowdon
His parents both say he was born that way
And it must have been a voodoo spell
Don’t call it a gift from heaven above
He considers it a curse from hell
It's the power he has over women
They never even know he’s there
He’s the invisible man
the invisible man
He can make them see right through him
He can make 'em feel nothing at all
He can make 'em keep staring straight ahead
As they pass him in the hall
Of the fact of his existence / they're blissfully unaware
of the invisible man / the invisible man
So ladies look around ‘cause he’s in your town
Won’t you help him break the voodoo curse
He’s a pretty nice guy only quiet and shy
And I promise you you could do worse
Won’t you take a chance / on a new romance
And maybe you will fall in love
With the invisible man / the invisible man
His parents both say he was born that way
And it must have been a voodoo spell
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Cut You Free
© by Richard Bowdon
Hit the ground and run / til your work is done
Ask favors of the weak forgotten one
Only ask of life / help to find the knife
To cut you free from all this pain
Fleeting is the joy / of a wanderin' boy
Soon he grows up wanting costly toys
Did you finally learn / you took a fatal turn
When the road began to blur and burn
Stand in freezing rain / calculating gain
Wait 'til the time is right then just remain
Now the time is out / better to go out
With a whimper than a bang
It's been said you know / that the deepest snow
Comes when springtime's buds are soon to grow
Can you prove them wrong / if you wait so long
That your frozen bloodstream will not thaw
Claws of fate impale / men on fingernails
Polished and sharpened like the devil's tail
When the judgment comes / will you be the one
To claim responsibility
Do you try to hide / all the bad inside
With forgotten dreams and wounded pride
There's no need to scream / no one's ever seen
Hands with so much filth they can't be cleaned
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11. |
No Worries - True Love
03:14
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True Love
© by R. Bowdon
Thank you for the invitation / thank you I am fine
And how are you and yes it's true there's something on my mind
I've been around the block a few times, hard knocks I have earned
And through it all there's one thing I have learned
True love / was never meant for me
Or are you thinking I was never ready
True love was never meant to be
I can't get hurt I don't believe in love
Well I left home at 17 and went out on my own
I made my way some people say I'm better off alone
No pride is not a sin of mine I'm not a jealous man
Seems both of us are doin' what we can
chorus
Now that was 20 years ago / since I have learned to sing
My heart was just a block of ice that melted in the spring
Her invitation turned around the story of my life
When I invited her to be my wife
Cause true love / was always meant for me
I guess she saw that I was finally ready
True love was always meant to be
I might get hurt I do believe in love
I won't get hurt I do believe in love
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12. |
No Worries - Downstream
03:14
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Downstream
© by Richard Bowdon
Splitting the difference ‘tween fire and ice
Knowing what can’t be explained
Virtue can take on a clever disguise
Leaving us no one to blame
Lighting a candle while rolling the stone
Telling what nobody knows
Being together while feeling alone
It’s a pity but that’s how it goes
In the dawn / Looking around me to take in the rising anew
Before long / Riding the current that’s sweeping me downstream to you
A new day / A new month a new year a new life a new love starting soon
Drift away / Now that old song is over I’m singing a downstream tune
Everyone watching what nobody sees
Hidden while plainly in view
They’ll all be surprised on the day I break free
And slip away downstream to you.
They’ll all be surprised on the day I break free
And slip away downstream to you.
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Richard Bowdon Cary, North Carolina
A prolific singer-songwriter over four decades, Richard Bowdon carries forward the best Americana traditions of country,
rock, blues, and folk.
Richard was selected three times for the Kerrville New Folk songwriting competition.
Richard performs at festivals, fairs, showcases, restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries in the NC Triangle area.
... more
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