Lyrics "translation" help needed

[withak]

I downloaded a live recording from taperfriendly.com of a band called Broke Mountain (http://www.brokemountain.com/) and am trying to puzzle out the lyrics to one of their original songs. It's called Piedmont Foothills and they say it was written partly by their banjo player. I can make out the chorus just fine, but in most of the verses the singer is too incoherent for me to understand.

Here's the recording:
http://www.spiralseisiun.com/erik....lls.mp3 (http://www.spiralseisiun.com/erik/Broke_Mountain-Piedmont_Foothills.mp3) (5.1 MB)
Even if you can't help with the lyrics, you should download it and give it a listen anyway because it's a great song. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif It has some nice mando picking in it too (so as not to be totally off-topic).

Here is what I have for the lyrics so far. The nonsense bits in parenthesis are the parts I can't make out from the recording.


Piedmont Foothills
Broke Mountain

Chorus
Piedmont foothills, oh they’re calling
That rolling land that I still long to see
Blue Ridge Mountains formed and falling
Someday, somewhere I want to be

In a car drunk (to bed/today?) headed home where I began
Watching through the window (lets us breathe)
(Well I know by the way) ain’t got no place to go today
Those mountains are as far as I come

Chorus

Well I’m (slicing with the little day), through mountains and by trees
That drives us on (to radish through the stem)
I’m cruising down those crooked roads, yellow lines and (do-br-os)
(Those happy ashes separate the song)

Chorus

These tobacco fields are passing by with the golden sun and the navy sky
I’m (preaching at the orchids) on the hill
There’s a (drunkard in the road today), (general water and healthy way)
This (is the navy words that pulls the teeth) that thrills

Chorus


While it's certainly a funnier song the way I wrote it down, I would really like to get some other opinions on the missing lyrics. Thanks in advance for any help.

[pathfinder]

You're right -- it's a great song. #I played along on mando with it four times. #But there's too much audience background noise to decipher the lyrics. #And they do it kinda fast. #

I couldn't get the band's homepage to download, but maybe they've cut 'Piedmont Foothills' on a CD that you could buy. #Or maybe they'd send you the true lyrics if you sent an email to them.

[Flowerpot]

Bwahaha! Your translation cracks me up!!!

Preaching at the orchids on the hill? Navy words that
pull the teeth? Those are some classic lines, there!

Just remember, the "happy ashes separate the song"... so
if you make some "happy ashes" by smoking the right thing,
maybe the lyrics make perfect sense just the way you wrote
them. Boy, those lyrics are just too funny... but if you
sang it that way, you know, nobody would notice.

[withak]

Maybe I shouldn't have posted my guesses at the missing parts; they might give a little too much insight into my mind. It's like an audio Rorschach test. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Anyway, I was going to email them about ordering a CD so I'll probably just ask about the lyrics then.

[withak]

Apparently I wasn't as wrong about the lyrics as I thought I was. Here's the response I got from the band when I emailed them.


as for Piedmont Foothills. Unfortunately, when we cut our cd, we left it off. But next summer/fall we'll be recording again and it already is the front runner for title track. Words may be a little tougher to get to you. Only one member of the band knows exactly how they should go and he isn't even the one who sings it. They are somewhat strange and very geo-centric, meaning they only make sense to people who are from the Piedmont Foothills area. For example, "I'm slicing with a Little Dan (pocket knife) through mountains hid by trees, (then something about a steeple.) It's the ROanoke river and (something indescernable), it's the gentle water and a healthy land, it's a mamoth largemouth full of teeth and gills!" Your best bet is to make something up, that's what Robin does!

[Plectrum]

In a car, truck, or van headed home where I began
Watchin' thru the window lakes and streams
Well, they're (?) #by the way , they ain't
got no place to go today.
The mountains and the valleys I (?)

(That's all I got)

[natep]

even better, it may really be "preaching at the orchids on the hill." although, it could be "peeking at the orchids". That might be more reasonable a guess, cuz it would be awful silly, though surely not unheard of, to be presuming to tell orchids how to conduct their lives. Although, one might like to practice sermons out by the orchids, which would be like preaching to them. Oh, words. never mind.