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The first EP from Hayes Douglas containing eight original songs is out now. To see all the music buying places the cool kids are into these days,, click here.
When Jesus comes a’ knockin’, you best let him in
Hayes Douglas is on a mission from God. Like the Blues Brothers. Except different.
It’s an odd thing converting to a life of Christian faith after leading a life in The Valley of Darkness, so to speak. The Christians Hayes Douglas saw in the public eye as he grew up did not make him want to join their club, to say the least.
Not much changed into adulthood. Religion now seemed more like a dumb reason to start a war than a life guidepost. Then came the actual “Come to Jesus moment” at the end of a very long and serious bout with depression that changed everything.
Many secular people in the US know “that guy from that church” who calls every blue moon to try and get him to come to service. Hayes had such a man in his life. He randomly called Hayes at the precise moment he was about to take the ultimate pain pill and check out.
“I know this is going to sound weird, but you just popped into my head out of nowhere, and it really felt like God wanted me to call you. Is everything ok?”
What had seemed like fairy tales and fables now felt as real as the pavement beneath his knees as he gave his life to Christ at that moment.
As a fan of blues rock all his life, Hayes knew he had to get off his butt and start making music. The Contemporary Christian radio station in his neighborhood played a few songs he could feel excited about, but only just a few. There was no Christian music that sounded like the music he loved or that sounded like his guitar playing, so he decided to change that. It didn’t make any sense to worship Jesus while listening to songs about sexual prowess, status, money, and self indulgence.
The guitar could stay; the lyrics had to change.
Hayes has recently released an EP of eight original songs primarily focused on:
- How Jesus’ teachings, taken literally, can help heal a nation
- About recovery from addiction, depression, and emotions gone haywire
- Feeling confident as a man of faith in a secular world that sees Christians stereotypically
Thank you for listening. Check out the lyrics below.
Lyrics
Lyrics are a connection with God, a source of entertainment, a coping mechanism, the truth of the soul, and the easiest way to communicate the intent of a song.
That’s quite the list, isn’t it? But it’s all about the lyrics. Even Jimi Hendrix’s best known songs are not his best guitar songs; they’re his best lyric songs. Lyrics are the heavy hitters in songwriting, especially these days. I think of song lyrics as an opportunity to tell a story set to music.
Inspiration for any song-story can come from any place you can imagine. They can fall right off of a funny quip heard in passing, or explode out of a stupid bumper sticker. They can pop into a songwriter’s head out of seemingly nowhere and stop everything as they transform into a fully-fleged idea in minutes. Or they can be the result of a thousand re-writes and endless moments of angst and self-doubt.
When those moments of doubt occur while writing lyrics in any particular song, I tend to fall back on two things: Waylon Jennings’ cliché definition of country music – three chords and the truth – and then a question: where’s my relationship God in here?
I don’t always stick to three chords, but the truth sets the songwriter free. It’s THE THING: a window into the unseen, which both songwriter and listener are desperate to understand.
The first song came, simply enough, from walking a dog. It was truly an awful song lyricly, despite working on it for weeks. This songwriting thing was beginning to feel impossible. Then one day, a genius idea arrived like advice from God himself: put the actual dog’s name in the song. The entire song, as it is now, came together in fifteen minutes.
RIP Diego. You were my muse sent from Heaven that got me started.
Thanks as always for listening. – Hayes
SOUL SUGAR
VERSE ONE
You made a bad decision one day
And ever since then life has just kinda got away
You feel weak for taking the easy way
Don’t worry ’bout it too much – you’ve got company
You took a drug that you wish that you never did take
Maybe you hurt someone in a fit of rage
Maybe you don’t recognize yourself any more
Wondering what the hell it’s all for
CHORUS
It don’t matter how far down the ladder that you’ve gone
Redemption is just as close as your ears to this song
It don’t matter if they say you’re just an addict or some hooker
The Good Lord is waiting for YOU
With a handful of sweet Soul Sugar
VERSE TWO
Halfway down that alley of pain
That you walked down a long time ago in the pouring rain
There was a hovering ball of light
Waiting for your hand, making footprints in the sand
If you should happen upon a sliver of right
In the night, in a life gone terribly wrong
Drop your crutch in that bottle or the mirror or the needle
And baby come along
CHORUS
Don’t matter how far down the ladder that you’ve gone
Redemption is just as close as your ears to this song
Don’t matter if they say you’re just some washed-up lonesome beggar
The Good Lord is waiting for YOU
With a handful of sweet Soul Sugar
BRIDGE
Got me a handful, a handful of sweet soul sugar
Tastes like honey raining down from the heavens above
Got me a handful of ever-loving sweet soul sugar
VERSE THREE
When the night has come and there no one left to choose
Nothing left to sell, nothing left to lose
Trapped at the bottom of a bottomless well
Here’s your room sir, your living hell
CHORUS
Don’t matter how far down the ladder that you’ve gone
Redemption is just as close as your ears to this song
Don’t matter if they say you’re just some washed-up lonesome beggar
The Good Lord is waiting RIGHT NOW
With a handful of sweet Soul Sugar
FAMILY
Well it’s the best time of the year, or say they say
When everybody gets together
Holiday season has a certain rhythm
The memories, the food, the weather
But not everybody is quite so lucky
There’s a million reasons why
Sickness and fear, people disappear
Makes you want to hang your head and cry
Or you can just walk outside and open your eyes now
You might be surprised
You’ve got family, in the smile of a little lady driving a big city bus
You’ve got family, in the small town diner where the sign says “In God We Trust”
You’ve got family, when you’re chillin’ like a villain with friends as you play your guitar
You’ve got family, no matter where you are
—-
All alone, keep checking that phone
Picking fights with my scrambled heart
This has been going on so damn long
I can’t remember the start
Tears you can hear when they hit the ground
Just another day, a little bit older
It all feels strange, kinda prearranged
With the devil on my shoulder
It’s time to go outside, and take the road that’s high
You might be surprised
You’ve got family, in the smile of a little lady driving a big city bus
You’ve got family, in the small town diner where the sign says “In God We Trust”
You’ve got family, in a world gone mad, that makes you want to run and hide
You’ve got family, no matter where you ride
Well the song says everybody needs a little time away
I heard her say
But people and time should never be thrown away
Don’t know when you’re going to get another day
Relationships can be like broken glass
There comes a point when you can’t glue it back
But you can try anew, with a heart that’s true
Something that you never thought you’d do
You’ve got family, in the smile of a little lady driving a big city bus
You’ve got family, in the small town diner where the sign says “In God We Trust”
You’ve got family, even if this crazy world makes you want to run and hide
You’ve got family ……
You’ve got family! At the church where you haven’t set foot in 20 years
You’ve got family! As you fight your way through the sadness, and the joy, and the tears
You’ve got family! When a whole town knows your name, not just a bar
You’ve got family!
No matter where you are
At the church or the bar
Both near and far
You’ve got FAMILY!
GET THE HELL OUT
Back in the day
I kinda lost my way
Was usually drunk by sunset
Man, what can I say
Got a little bit older
And a lot less bolder
When like a deer in the woods
My money up and ran away
Then there’s that time I turned green
I almost threw up my spleen
And I was all out of cash
So I dropped to my knees
And cried “Lord, help me please!”
And he said…
The party’s over Einstein
Please don’t make me shout
The party’s over genius
Why dontcha
Get the hell out!
Well, you haven’t lived
Until you’ve done CPR
On some rando at your house
Who took it too a little too far
Man, this used to be fun
But it’s all come undone
And I’ve lost track of
Who my real friends are
I’m paying wages to sin
Lord knows where I’ve been
And I was all out of cash
When Jesus comes knocking
Baby, let him in
The party’s over, Elvis
Nothing but demons about
The party’s over there, tough guy
Why dontcha
Get the hell out!
This place smells like a combination
Of really bad decisions and abominations
That powder on the table, man it ain’t no joke
Best you don’t get dead before you get woke, now
GUITAR SOLO
It smells like something up and died in here
Body fluids, ashtrays, and warm stale beer
I came in through the front, going out through the rear
Hope I don’t catch myself in a mirror
The party’s over people
I’m feeling kind of rough
(you ain’t looking to good ‘neather, sugar)
The party’s over people
I think I’ve had enough
The party’s over there Einstein
Please don’t make me shout
The party’s over people
It’s time to
Get the hell out!
REAL
The sand and the dirt beneath my feet
Crops that survive the summer heat
Harvest moon on september 23
That’s real
A good friend sitting you down to chat
An old man in a dirty cowboy hat
With a clean fishtail on his Cadillac
Man that’s real
But everywhere I go there’s a dog and pony show
Trying to take me for all that I’m worth
And everywhere it seems there’s a scheme on a screen
Distracting me from God’s green Earth
When a single seed makes a thousand trees, that’s what’s real
—
No person’s ever gonna win a rat race
Someone get all these red lights out of my face
Need to breathe that country air in the open space
That’s what I know
No man is gonna win an argument
With his other significant
You’re either wrong, or she’s got a resentment
That’s what I know
And every time I get a case of crash and burn
There’s a moral to the story, something to be learned
And everything I’m really sure I’m really sure of
Comes straight from the Lord above
Ain’t nobody know as much as they think they do
And that’s what I know
—
Might sounds like there’s wisdom here in this song
But the truth is I’m not sure what’s going on
Trying to stay in my lane and get along
That’s how I feel
It’s harder everyday to tell truth from lies
Getting scared by the look in people’s eyes
I’m asking ‘Lord, are these the end times?’
That’s how it feels
And everyone is walking around itching for a fight
Ignoring the good book, right in front of their eyes
And everything that happened, has happened before
The bible is an open door
And if we keep up this way, won’t be much of a country left man
That’s what I know
That’s how I feel
And man, that’s real
SUPERNATURAL MAN
Do you know that Supernatural Man?
Do you know that Supernatural Man?
I believe He can save this troubled land
For 30 long years I’ve been a time clock punching man
I’m not afraid to get a little dirt on my hands
I was baptized in the waters by an old mill on this land
To love and follow that Supernatural Man
Now I see trouble in the back hills and the streets
Fools quick to anger by folks paid to disagree
I opened up the gospels and there’s nothing ’bout it that I could see
A Supernatural Man is all about that love and peace
Solo
Tell me why does a vigilante man
Tell me why does a vigilante man
Carry that sawed-off shotgun in his hand
He’s an evil man who’d shoot his brother in the motherland
How could he know that Supernatural Man?
How would he know that Supernatural Man?
I believe He can heal that troubled man
I believe He can heal his troubled hand
I believe He can heal our troubled land
I believe He can heal our fractured land
I believe …
ELECTRIC GYPSY
A woman knows when something’s wrong
She can feel it
Might not reveal it
Some ancient knowledge buried deep in her bones
More than a suspicion
Some call it intuition
A man came walking from afar
He’s a teacher
And a healer
His reputation preceeded Him as He walked
She knew if she could reach Him
He could heal her
She pushed her way through the crowd
Screaming without a sound
They told her she wasn’t allowed
But she kept on pushing anyway
Saying “I’m not ready to die today!”
CHORUS
I can barely breathe but I’m holding on
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
I can barely reach but I’ll touch his cloth
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
————
A beautiful bouncing baby boy
Is gonna need a lot of love
And some help from above
Because his daddy died way too young
And the next man out
Did something we don’t talk about
And the boy grew into a man like you’d expect
Chasing wine and women
To fill his chest
Full of any kind of thing to fill that hole
In his heart
In the shape of his soul
Feeling mocked and alone
His mind wasn’t his own
He decided to check out and go
But when push finally came to shove
The call came in from above
CHORUS
I can barely breathe but I’m holding on
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
I can barely reach but I’ll touch his cloth
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
SOLO
I can barely breathe but I’m holding on
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
I can barely reach but I’ll touch his cloth
If it’s just by a tatter
That’s all that matters
Keep holding on …
Keep holding on …
Keep holding on …
Keep holding on …
COME HOME AGAIN
Every wolf wants to run with the pack
Food and love, shelter from attack
But every now again, a wolf has got to walk
The godawful lonesome road
The fight’s too big, or the game’s been rigged
No choice but to shoulder the load
Doubting Thomas woke me up again today
That guy always seems be lurkin’ round here
Scavenge another day, pride keeps you away
That, and a healthy dose of fear
The unknown is the hardest part
When will it end, why did it start?
When a wing and a prayer is all you’ve got
and your last good wing just took a good shot
Now you’re down to a tattered white flag and a plea
Sobbing to the Lord on bended knee
He said hey boy
now won’t you listen here
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
You’re on the other side of the end …
… man
So lend me your ear
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
And you can always come home again
All the bridges I burned, missed opportunities yearned
My adult got off to a slow start
Spent all my time on my outside shine
While my insides fell apart
Been a long, hard fight to make things right
It all starts from the heart
Living on the outskirts of what I’d call a man
Faking my confidence, flashing in pans
Smoke and mirrors life, built on high debt
It can be hard work to forget
Hey boy
won’t you listen here
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
You’re on the other side of the end …
… man
So won’t you lend me your ear
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
And you can always come home again
Be who God meant you to be
Be who God meant you to be
Drop your doubt and your fear and you’ll be free
Be who God meant you to be
If it’s true what they say, God created the land earth and sea
That means he created all living things, including me
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, forever it has been and will be
A come to Jesus moment is just coming home
The answer’s not in the fridge or the phone
Like the old ad says, and you can bet it’s true
The Good Lord will leave the light on for you
Hey boy
won’t you listen here
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
You’re on the other side of the end …
… man
So won’t you lend me your ear
Long as you keep me near
you’ve got nothing to fear
And you can always come home again
Home again
Can I please come home again?
Can I please come home again?
Can I please come home?
Can I please come home?
A MAN AND HIS DOG
Just a man and his dog rollin’ through God’s country
Don’t got me much time, or a whole lotta money
But I don’t really care, ’cause Diego is there
Running after rabbits, giving some poor squirrl a scare
The path we choose, it’s always right
If we get lost, that’s out of sight
These are precious moments, you never get ’em back
When all is right with the world, and your soul is intact
CHORUS
And every time I look his way
He looks at me like he wants to play
I just toss a stick and say
Did someone find a new toy?
Who’s a good boy
Just a man and his dog rollin’ through God’s country
Top’s rolled down, there’s a smile on my honey
Diego is there, and we’re going somewhere
To let me big boy stretch his legs in the cool mountain air
He’s got a best friend named Buddy, a girlfriend named Pumpkin
Next door neighbors are adorable munchkins
I got my fiest when I was only seven
Four-legged family straight from heaven
CHORUS
A thousand rope tugs and belly rubs
My boy is straight comedy in the tub
A million more kisses and hugs
He’s my bundle of joy
He’s my good boy
Every day there’s more and more snow
Circling ’round your eyes, and I know
The day will come when I call your name
Your legs will betray you, they’ll take you away
Who’s crying, I’m not crying, you’re crying
To tell the truth, inside I’m dying
VERSE THREE
Just a girl and a dream for her very own puppy
We’ve been informed it has to be cute and cuddly
No dog can replace my boy’s face
But I think the time has come to give another pup their very own place
There’s shelter nearby, you know we ain’t fancy
It’s the right thing to do, so we all just took a chance, and
There was Paloma right out of the blue
And her eyes said “Take me home with you!”
CHORUS
A million smiles, but all the while
Paloma’s was the widest by a mile
Looks like we’ve got ourselves another child
She’s an absolute pearl
Who’s a good girl
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