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Nathaniel Rateliff - South Of Here Album Lyrics



Nathaniel Rateliff - South Of Here Lyrics
(Featuring The Night Sweats)






David and Goliath

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

Can I get out of my head? I don't know
Somebody let me go if I'm falling now
Every time I knew and ran
Set me on my feet as someone else

These negative thoughts feel crazy
Well, why should I even care?
I wanna to be different now
I'm a square peg feeling round

Turn me around and then
Send me home
A baby I don't even know
I don't
And it's f*cking hell
And the old me is saying

Another round to kill
Never time to heal
That's how your story goes

I want it my way
Closing my eyes, baby
I'll find a way out

The reckoning is wrecking me
And nothing I've found
Can keep me from spinning out

It tells me I'm on a run
Then I'm back in the shadows, hon
The sun can't shine for me every day

I'm out on the road again
And all of the older heads
Keep calling me
They say, "Try to be gracious"
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Heartless

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

How was I to ever know it could get so bad?
Run around heartless
Run around heartless

Tried to make it to the coast when I moved out west
And I ran around angry
I ran around angry

Remember the flames in the grass how they dance in a line?
As the fire swept across the prairie it was on to burn ours eyes
It was so cold leaving the comfort of my Missouri home
And my childhood left me so broken, that I didn't know
We were coming out even
We're coming out even

I don't recall all things in the throes of the night
It never occurred to me it always, just heard me
And don't be appalled with the fall, it didn't hurt that bad
I've hit the ground harder
I've hit the ground harder

And I wanna feel something, honey
Hey, I wanna feel something good
If everything's leaving me wanting
Ah, then damn baby, then it should
Gonna run around tander
Run around tander
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Remember I Was a Dancer

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

The simple ways I never see
It always seems to drift from me
All the things that I'm trying to be
I just want to see some movement
To take me a little out of here
Some kindness or maybe
Or maybe I just don't care

I say umm, umm, wouldn't it be nice to see me getting somewhere?
And, mmm mmm, I ain't growing at all
Mmm mmm, take me out and put me down in the moonlight and tell me

Say baby, could you pick me up and spin me around?
Say baby, maybe I'll remember how to smile
Say baby, we could make it up as we go

Well, sometimes I start to feel like I'm breaking through
A new breath, a way to see
Is it humanly possible or even true?
I'm just up against a wall and I want to be free
Well, with untied hands well what could one be?

I say mmm mmm, it's a rhythm, it can lift you somewhere new
Mmm mmm, I want to feel the wave of change
She said, mmm mmm, yeah, lets go out and find it tonight

Say baby, could you can pick me up and spin me around?
Say baby, maybe I'll remember how to smile
Say baby, we could make it up as we go

Remember I was dancer
In a life somewhere long ago
I could try to put out the fire
Once it's gone, man, there's only smoke

Remember I was dancer
Remember I was dancer
Remember I was dancer
Remember I was dancer
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Get Used to the Night

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

I used to get around
You found one way
One to get around and one to get through
I'll feel tonight
Like so many lost days
I used to stay at home and writhe in my bed
Wish I could retire
Are you still hard-willed?
I used to do cartwheels to land on my head

I used to know it all
Now I can't remember much, man
Used to be a proud f*ckin' fool
You run ahead and I'll catch up, man
Still so much left for me to do
Get used to the night

This ain't your town
Going wrong down a one way
Yeah, I gotta hide myself from the storm
Don't know how long I will
You found someway
One to get around and one to get through

Used to do it all but I ain't got the mind now
Just feel tied up and used
Yeah, it could be said that I used to have something
I used to be you

Get used to the night
Get used to the night
Get used to the night
Get used to the night
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: NATHANIEL DAVID RATELIFF
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






South of Here

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

In the corner's where I've been
As I wander up the road
See, I'm lost but not abandoned
But it's hard for one to know
I just find the wind and float
But if I can't take it no more

Then I would have to move away
Maybe south of here they'd let us be
And I would have to just move on
And maybe go back home, remember who I was

In the corners that I've been in
Seems I've found no other way
Be the only one left standing
When everyone else is home

Say you can't hate the work that you love
And if it breaks, how do you know?
And do I hang in the balance?

And I would have to move away
Maybe south of here they'd let us be
And I would have to just move on
And maybe go back home, remember who I was

I wake and rub my head
Where have I been?
Where have I been?
Where have I been?
Where have I been?
Maybe south of here they'd let us be
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Everybody Wants Something

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

Breaking into the night, we were coming of age
We were just running around trying to be kids
Never want or need to be saved
We were waiting to fall and just drift away
I was looking for an answer, I was trying to find a way

Was getting nowhere, life was taking its time
I was staring out the window, just wasting mine
And all I wanted was a peace and calm
And somewhere to land that I could call my own
I was looking for something, I just don't know how to see it

Wait, is there ever time to figure it out?
Wait, is there ever time to figure it out?
Everybody wants something, they just don't know how to say it

All alone, even in a crowd
Time wasn't missed as it slipped away
Every night I was scared and proud
Sitting in a hotel trying to write a dream
I was trying to see the world for everything that it could be

Wait, is there ever time to figure it out?
Wait, is there ever time to figure it out?
Everybody wants something, they just don't know how to say it

Yeah, there's nothing but highways
And nothing but planes
I found myself sideways
Searching for answers and trying to make a change

Everybody wants, everybody wants
Everybody wants something
Everybody wants something
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Center of Me

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

It's the center of me but I still don't see
Feel it moving around
Can I admit defeat or disbelief?
Does it have to be now?

Hey wait, why do I wait until this shit gets harder?
Hey wait, my words are arriving now
So I wait, I wait until the shit gets harder
Alone in my head

Is it all I had, is it all that's left?
I'm starting out empty again
I cradled my arms, rocked myself to sleep
Be ten more years till I say what I need
Stuck in my mouth when I try to speak
And nothing comes out

Hey wait, why do I wait until this shit gets harder?
Hey wait, my words are arriving now
So I wait, I wait until the shit gets harder
Alone in my head

Said maybe, I don't want to sleep too long
Someone wake me, I don't want to sleep too long
I'm just gonna close my eyes and try to play it cool

I'm tired of waiting
I'm tired of waiting on myself
I'm tired of waiting
I'm tired of waiting on myself
Why do I wait until the shit gets harder?

I'm tired of waiting
I'm tired of waiting on myself
Why do I wait until the shit gets harder?
I'm tired of waiting
I'm tired of waiting on myself

It's the center of me but I still don't see
But it's moving around
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Cars in the Desert

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

Remember we were driving through the night
Pretending we were lovers lost in sleep?
I think you said that most of the time I'm right
Let go of the wheel and maybe we'll switch sides

Well, you were crawling out to raise the dead
And the ghost of you never left

Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good, good man

I couldn't find the light myself
It lead to falling down the stairs
And the stitches in my head
And not a lesson learned back then

Well you were crawling into your own wake
All the wounded you left downtown
I can taste your lips and not your name
It stains the corner of every page

Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good, good man

They said they hid you somewhere I didn't know
I dug everywhere through the dust and the mud
I turned it all over until my spade and hands were broken

Remember we were lying in your bed
I could feel your feet against my feet
And the sweat the fled our skin
Ice you rubbed into my chest

And like a fire upon your sleeve
You're gonna burn to put it out
And maybe someday when I can't sing
I'll go back to turning over ground

Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good, good man

Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good man
Tell me I'm a good, good man
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






I Would Like to Heal

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

I can taste the moonlight and I can taste the sun
And when my day is done
It's still there on my tongue
I would like to heal it even if the time is slow
And in my letting go I'll find some space to grow
And if I can't let go
Well, would you let me know?
I would like to stay forever in this pace and rhyme
You feel you're wasting time
I've wasted shares of mine

In the round you only sing the line it comes after
Bend around, you're only in, you're only in your own way

And are you troubled by the weight you have?
Is that the only way you learn?
And every consequence is such a drag
This much is all that I've discerned

I can taste the morning sun and I can taste the moon
It's waning as it looms above us all
I would like to heal it even if it takes too long
And finding that I'm wrong is hard to see
And if it takes too long, remind me to hold on
Every sense and feeling seems too loose in light of day
The sun is on its way for me

In the round the only thing the light it comes after
Bend around, you're only in, you're only in your own way

And are you troubled by the weight you have?
Is that the only way you learn?
And every consequence is such a drag
This much is all that I've discerned

Can it be your only way around it?
Is it me distracted laying down?
Hey, well look what you've found
You're coming around
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Call Me (Whatever You Like)

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

Well, they told me, they told me that you ain't got friends
And I'm staring around the room and I'm the only one that's left
It's a wonder, it's a wonder you come out ahead
In a moment thought for sure I'd wind up dead

Well, I've already, I've already been through this
It's a cold way to look at yourself and then just laugh
Well, it's high time, it's time that you get bent
And I point in the direction where I think it'll come to a head

Well, you just call me whatever you like
And you can fold me until it's right
I was gonna walk but I probably wouldn't get there fast
'Cause the wind could pick up and knock me on my ass

And they told me, you know this too shall pass
So collect yourself and play your dying number man
Well, you held it, you held it in you or hands
But you let it slip and watch it all collapse

You just call me whatever you like
And if they stone me, remember I tried
When you run there's no point, no point in looking back
You don't fall into the future and wind up in your past

You just call me whatever you like
Just call me whatever you like
'Cause I'm gonna keep pulling from the corners of my heart
And leave this cynical shit so far behind, yeah
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.






Time Makes Fools of Us All

[ Featuring the Night Sweats ]

In the storm we waited it out
To see if it would clear
But the weather was so hard back then
It stuck with us for years

And when the path seemed sure
With the windows rolled all the way down
You thought the world was yours
Time makes fools of us all and I'm feeling it now

Then the snow shut the highway down
But we kept moving forward
How many hours, as it all played out?
The sky would lift and clear

And all the weight that you shouldered
And if the grass looks greener now
It's just that winter is over
Time makes fools of us all and I'm feeling it now
Time makes fools of us all and I'm feeling it now

My hearts was broken for years
I was left with no way to thrive
The rooms were small and we all shared beds
But it kept us alive

And when disease came to steal you
I shaved my head and mourned
And out of grief, tragedy and hardship
A baby child was born
But time will make fools of us all and I'm feeling it now
Yeah, time makes fools of us all and I'm feeling it now

I cried and prayed
I thought that love would save me
And in my darkest hour
There was no way out from myself

Yeah, time makes fools of us all and I'm feeling it now
Time will make fools of us all and I'm feeling it now
Yeah, time will make fools of us all and I'm feeling it now
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Nathaniel David Rateliff
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.








South of Here was produced by Brad Cook, who co-produced the group's last record but takes over the reins by himself this time around. You can hear the warmth he's lent to recent records by Waxahatchee and Hurray for the Riff Raff in the striped back, country-leaning Randy Newman-esque arrangements on songs like "I Would Like to Heal” and the breezy balladry on "Everybody Wants Something.” There are new dobro and banjo flourishes throughout, and the Night Sweats' horns provide nuanced, simmering accents on songs like "Cars in the Desert” rather than trying to sound like the Bar-Kays.
-Rolling Stone
Performed By: Nathaniel Rateliff
Featuring: The Night Sweats
Genre(s): Roots Rock
Released: June 28th, 2024
Year: 2024

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