1. |
Slap Back Echo
04:12
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When I lift my feet up
In my swivel chair
Both feet up off the floor
I can spin around
A wave that’s churning backward
Bring me back to town
If I could pull in closer
Get the timing right
Jump and land upright on shore
Got a slapback echo
And a strobing light
Drop the shadow to the floor
There’s always time to travel
But there’s no time travel
My only wish is one wish more
I’d ask for brighter lights
A more careful process
A gentle start, a better day
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2. |
Birds in the Black
03:36
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Time makes you stronger
Crying makes you weak
The scars on your hands from the fire make you weep
Try to control it
The shaking of your voice
Five minutes to showtime
You’ve run out of choice
You know it’s a fact
You’ll open your mouth, it’ll turn up slack
The birds in the black, they always fly back for more
Again and again
They say they’re going to promote you
With a plan they have conceived
Oblivious to injury, the problem they can’t see
Time makes you weaker
Crying makes you strong
The shock from the microphone
Will clip you if you’re wrong
You know it’s the truth
You’ll open your mouth and it’s full of hoof
The birds in the black, they always fly back
The birds in the black, they always fly back
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3. |
Bright Blue
03:22
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Had enough of the radio news
Lady pulled a Britney choosing the wrong shoes
Out of the dark blows a black balloon
Took you to town crying Papa Calhoun
Whatever happened to
The time we burned bright blue
Had a good bickering
But what about the truth
What about it?
Fill up your tank with a cold despair
Sputtering engine sputtering hottest air
Whatever happened to
The times we burned bright blue
Had a good bickering
But what about the truth
What about it?
My baby don’t care about the horse race
My baby don’t care about the horse race
What about truth? What about justice?
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4. |
No Receipt
03:44
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My conversation skills are a mess
I attribute this to many broken words
I’ve memorized the length of your address
And all its curls
Someday, maybe
We’ll talk about the way we used to laugh
Count it down, baby
Fill the list with anything you lack
One by one you know I’ve got your back
We stayed up late and talked about the past
Put a spin on anything too dark
Our memories no longer what they were
Amber sparks
When you feel a cold dark forming
No glare to mark your way
Out of spite, the sun is going to find you
Burst and blind you
We figure out our method to survive
Tangled knot tied tight with baling wire
Stride to stride much shorter than before
Feet to floor
Ch2:
Someday, maybe
We’ll talk about the way we used to laugh
Count it down, baby
Fill the bag with anything you lack
With no receipt, there’s nothing to take back
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5. |
Glass in Blood
02:47
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Daddy died of too much love
In an avalanche of snow
Ma's around but they don't talk
Step daddy took a toll
She asked me to write a letter
To myself, as if she were me
I did it, and in it I drew her my chart
Told her how I longed for love to be
She's got glass in her blood, this woman of mine
She's got glass running through her in vines
Forever and endeavour
She's stubborn as they make 'em
Can't do enough right
She springs back with a smile
After a fight
And when there is a darkness
In the middle of the night
We lay up, stay up, welcome, welcome
To welcome the light
She's got glass in her blood, this woman of mine
She's got glass running through her in vines
Forever and endeavour
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6. |
Promise of Brevity
03:46
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Cards on the table
in the Monday morning light
A game left unfinished
from the previous night
I never meant to hurt you but
I took some delight
That's the very worst part of
a very good fight
I’m not going to tell you
That I did everything right (‘cause I haven’t got the right)
All I’ve got to levy is a promise of brevity
All my bones are aching
My throat is dusty-dry
We’ll count the same stars
Til the days that we die
If a cockroach can survive
a nuclear war
Then you can hang on
just one year more
What’s it going to be, all the billions in the sea
This is it. If you choose, could be sorrow for days, sorrow for days
You can be so free and name the birds in every tree
That’s a promise baby
A promise of brevity
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7. |
Iceland
03:16
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Turn down, turn down the light
Surrounded by water we wait
The snow on the mountains is icing on gold
Roll away slowly, we roll
I’ve heard it before the fight to survive
How it tangles the heart
And generates drive
I miss you already
In parallel lives
In Iceland, everything is fine
In Iceland, everybody cried
No wonder the old men drink like the British
Fall into the brine, the longest way home
Three doors will open, a fourth draws you in
Roll away slowly, we roll, away
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8. |
Light the Fog
03:26
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A box flammable
And rectangular
Open it slowly, let the secret of opposites
Infect a life
Tired of ambivalence
And perfection
Ignite
Light the fog and
Lift it higher, it’s the
Nighttime mist
Captured to be
A box flammable
A star chartable
Constellation angular
Trace it slowly
The parallels of opposites
Tie your life
To such ambivalence
Imperfection
Ignite
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9. |
Midnight Bagel Baker
03:45
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Working every hour of the night in the flour and the SAF yeast
Poppy seed and cream cheese
The knocking at the backdoor is distracting it’s fast acting I am rising
Visitors surprise me
I'm a midnight bagel baker
It's what I do thank you and please
You hold the lox and I can sing off key
There’s no escaping
This hole-y moly love
I’ve never seen the sun rising cuz I’m always in your heartbeat
Stomping on my aching feet
Boil it and bake it double whammy got a Grammy ™ for this bagel song
Bitter doughnut savory breakfast bomb
I'm a midnight bagel baker
It's what I do thank you and please
You hold the lox and I can sing off key
There’s no escaping
This hole-y moly love
Got to sleep sometime
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10. |
Through the Loam
03:05
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A seed buried in the underground
At the edge of the warmth of the sun
Could have blackened
Could have fell to dust
But it busted out
Found a pathway
Through the loam
Exhaled deeply through stomata
Clouds soon parted after rain
Sprout and flower
A hundred inches high
Spread its arms out
Like it could fly
Check the horizon, see how far you’ve come
Let your petals relax and wave
Hush a moment, hear the whisper of your name
Between the breeze and the pain
And through the loam
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Scotty Houston Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
“In the dark times. Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.”
- Bertolt Brecht
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