1. |
An Invocation
03:21
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Well I held my shoes on the black of the river bed
And I sold my rib and i dumped my head again
I raised the sea, it took all my courage then
Cos old friends might never come back again
And I buried my fire and I burned my hand away
I love your tail lights, I’d sail em any other day
But I signed a treaty, I don’t know why my friends are so far away
I woulda thought a win, long eyes singing again
Beams and rafters, hunger and laughter
Imma come after you
Beams and rafters, build me up backwards
Imma come after you
Beams and rafters, hunger and laughter
Imma come after you
So I washed your blood in the mud of the river bed
And I stole back my bones and I hit the road again
I could use one or two, a few more days with you my friend
Cos I’m ’m afraid you might never look back again
I’m afraid you might never look back again
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2. |
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There is a hat sitting on the waves
All by itself in the middle of the lake
Hidden in shadows of the mountain peak
Like some sad secret that they can’t help but keep
It has no way to make it back to the shore
It don’t belong to anyone anymore
But when you were stretched out in front of me
I belonged to everything
I heard a song back when I was a child
About a mansion in the midst of the wild
It had no doors, fences, windows, or walls
Had no driveway, had no address at all
That song rhymed words that my mouth couldn’t make
It had a rhythm that my feet couldn’t fake
As I got older it slipped away into dreams
As I got older it got harder and harder to sing
But when you were stretched out in front of me
I could sing anything
I wrote a book all alone in the dark
I had no fire, no flicker, no spark
I had no paper or pen
I wrote it in blood on the back of the wind
I wrote for one hundred nights
I wrote until my rivers ran dry
I wrote until my fingers felt frayed
And then I turned on the light and I looked down at what I’d made
But I’d just made a mess of it all
Made a tower just to watch it fall
Made up my mind - I made it up by myself
Now my hands are tied and I can’t make anything else
But when you were stretched out in front of me
We could make anything
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3. |
No Complaints
07:33
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I’m a farmer, I’m a farmer of fire
I burn the bridges, I burn the ships every night
So I can’t run away but I can’t face you and fight
It gets harder, it gets harder each time
I bite my lip real hard for ya babe
Got my dark shades on for ya babe
I dip my fingers in your cup
I anoint my forehead with your blood
But you’ve already passed by
(It gets harder each time)
Look I know you’ve had your feet and your hands bound back
I know you had to escape in the night, had to cover your tracks
I know your fear is a big black cloud, and it’s loud, and its rounding up yesterday’s rain
Oh Marie I would wrap you in my love if it didn’t rattle like chains
So we went round, unlocked every door
Neon signs, and arrows on the floor
I swallowed rocks to fill my throat
If I can’t cry then maybe I won’t rock the boat
(I just hope it still floats)
In the morning light he’s been watching you sleep
He’s been floating prayers up to gods that he don’t believe
He says “Jesus I’m warning you - no, sorry, I’m begging you please
Toss me to the waves again and again, just give my baby some peace
And I will place my hands upon your wounds
I will pay my rent down in your tomb
You can drive your spear through me like a train
Fix me to the rock - I swear I won’t complain!
No, no complaints (just say she’ll remember my name)
Set me on that hill so I can look out at the sky
At the setting sun as my baby takes flight
I watch her soar till they’re both outta sight
It gets harder - no, I mean easier, it gets easier each time…”
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4. |
A Moon Spell
05:30
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I fell under a moon spell with you
I fell under a moon spell with you
We danced for the sundown in your red dress
You gave me your lips in the humming bird’s nest
And I fell under a moon spell with you
You held tight to my waist in the water at midnight
The stars blurred like a candle flung mid-flight
Ablaze with no shadows of doubt
That their fires would ever fade out
Lost in wonder, transmitted o’er mountains, down under,
The mesa, the outback, the tundra
What’s in a name? They all look the same
When I’m locked into you and the spell of the moon
I fell under a moon spell with you
I fell under a moon spell with you
I took to the wing ‘neath your black eyes
I waltzed you ‘round lake beds, my wild heron bride
And then dived, dived down to the depths of the moon and you
Feel it vibrate!
The world shudders and shakes off the old state
The new skin shimmering like a true name
Long hidden from view, from theft and misuse
And now newborn and out of the blue
There goes the old world, if just for a minute
The old cold world, eclipsed by what’s always been in it
Tipped forward, unfolding its folds
Its silvers and golds slipped through and stirred into a moon spell with you
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5. |
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I built a cage for the birds out back
I took the fire from the fiery crack
I swung the hammer and I manned the forge
I gassed up your car and I went to the store
I cleaned the kitchen with a mop and pail
I got the tiger by the tiger’s tail
I burned the bodies so the flies wouldn’t swarm
I chopped up the wood to keep the winters warm
But honey you can have the last word
A gentle kiss on the forehead that we both deserve
It takes a truck full of kindness to lift our curse
So you can have the last word
I fed the chickens and I walked the dog
I lit the lamp in the heavy fog
I spun the lighthouse ‘round and warned you off the rocks
And I still get the door every time you knock
I killed the dragon in the dragon’s lair
I rubbed your feet and I combed your hair
I pledged my vows to the moonless night
Then I swept up the stairs and turned off the light
But honey you can have the last word
Like a ringing bell on a flightless bird
Some things you hear, they can’t be unheard
That’s why you can have the last word
Honey you can have the last word
Like a kiss on the forehead that we both deserve
It’s gonna take a truck full of kindness to lift our curse
So you can start off with the last word
And honey you can have all the goodbyes
All the fare-thee-wells and the half-way tries
I got my arms full up with the drifting surf
So you can have the last word
I see you coming and going
Don’t know which is worse
But you can have the last word
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6. |
What It Means
06:06
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When I say the words I say
To the air and the stars, or to your face
I don’t know if you know what it means
I mean a cat, it has nine lives
Lands on four feet, and with its one pair of eyes
It can see in the dark for miles and miles
But it can’t read
It means the pulse and the heat
Under your neck and down in your feet
Is a thing I want next to me most all the time
To be the voice inside your phone
To hold your heart’s heaviest stones
So you can breathe, and you can sleep
And you can cry
When I whisper, whisper the words
To the aeroplane or the passing bird
And say “would you please send these on to her
If you’re headed that way”
It means the time when I was twelve
Lost in the pines, ringing hard on that bell
Looking for God in empty wells
And getting strange
See I never had a blazing sword
A burning bush, or a flaming gorge
Just a choir chained to the doors
Bound to itself
So I wanna stare into your milkyway eyes
I wanna lay my head down amongst your thighs
And not be surprised when I wake up and I’m still myself
And I will be good, silent and large
The dragon you’ve hidden in your dad’s garage
I won’t make a fuss every night when you retire
And if the neighbors start to complain
Just say it must be the sound of the distant rains
And not the sound of some great beast
As he’s choking on his own fire
Just to rest, to be possessed
Deep in your arms, and high up in your chest
Look out onto this glowing world with a sliver country girl
As it fades from view
And bow our heads, and board the train
Shrug off all of this trying to explain
All that we’ve seen
Is what it means
Every day
When I say
I love...
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7. |
The Lotus
07:47
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(Does it go on forever?)
It rained for ten minutes today
And the cactus and the coyote did a dance and sang your name
Now there’s a full-bellied moon hanging over us in outer space
If she can kiss both of us at the same time then what’s keeping us so far away
This was almost the perfect world
When you were stretched out in front of me
I could see the shape of the whole damn thing
Glowing like a newborn star in your body
And all our daughters were suns, burning up with the hum of the harmony
This was almost the perfect world
Hail Marie! Are you full of grace?
Would you bring your face back to me?
Hail Marie! Aren’t you full of grace?
Would you bring your face round so I can see?
Bring your northern sky to my northern sky, my water sign is opening
Bring your northern sky to my northern sky, my black water sign is opening
Bring your northern sky to my northern sky, my northern sky, i’m waiting
This was almost the perfect world
(Does it go on forever?)
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8. |
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If you knock on my door one of these nights
And no light comes on inside, it means I’ve gone
And if I’ve left you no note saying where or why’d I go
It’s just cos I assumed you’d know how the thread moves along
I have waited for the sound of your hand upon the latch
Holding my breath so I could catch
Your spirit drift into the room
Open as we were
Our hearts out in the rain
Bleeding for the moon
Beating out of time
And warmed inside the fire
That’s held back by the skins wrapped round
All of the gods I found in you
So if you’ve come ‘round to late
Sometimes that’s just what it takes
For us to see our own face
In the dark of the glass
And if you don’t recognize your own sad, lovely eyes
Staring back into the night, just recall
The sound of our voices
As they rang out in chorus
The laughter and joy we found spread out before us
The night I first knocked on your door
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The Whiskey Priest Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Whiskey Priest is song-writer Seth Woods. He sings about horses, oceans, trains, mountains, deities, hands, science fiction, sex, vegetation, drinking games, deserts, depression, party people, seagulls, death, monks, memory, autumn, driving, and breakfast. He has never met a drum machine he didn't like. ... more
The Whiskey Priest recommends:
beautiful, funny, serious, quirky songs about life and love in a post-religious mess. one of the best records i've heard in years.
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Becoming All Things
by Mountain Time
this is chris simpson. chris was in mineral and the gloria record. his songs are some of my favorites. i also play bass in this band, but that's totally incidental! his songs and these records are A+!
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American Reclamation
by Dust on the Breakers
they are awesome! they've been called dream pop, americana - i'm not sure how to classify them. a cross between low, damien jurado, the stills. members of crookeed fingers, 16 horsepower, devotchka...
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