1. |
Abandon
05:41
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There's a palm tree standing in the next block.
The wind doesn't blow it. It just gently rocks
against the skyline tall and fine
It reminds me of you and how I wish you were mine
I didn't mean to throw everything in a bag but
the clock struck time and all I meant to do was get out fast
there's cars with dents and murdered out trucks
moving around outside too fast in the dusk
wiggling and waving in and out of lanes
causing dollars costing damage trying to make change
with abandon
I hate to turn too fast. I gunned it for the ramp
I wiggled my neck trying to loosen out a cramp
I'm vulnerable without your protection
when you give a signal I'll make some noise in your direction
We'll play with the changes we've given up toys
I see the signs of what you painted up front.
I'll tell you right now that's what I don't want
there's a man by the side of the road
holding up a sign that says anything helps.
He's holding out his hand but I hope he understands.
Not everything does, not anything people hand to you
with abandon
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2. |
Back And Forth
04:14
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You take my love and you give it back
and I never know how to handle that
but I give it back as best I can
watch you take it in, try to understand
Love is something that we give back and forth
We don’t deserve it at all, what we’re worth
Love is what we give each other back and forth
We don’t know what we deserve, what we’re worth
Take it in your hand and your heart
I don’t know if we will ever part
If we do, I hope to understand
The mystery of the supply and demand
You give me love, honest not fake,
as if there’s nothing more at stake
Sometimes it’s more than I can take
It’s like a thirst I can never slake
Love is something that we give back and forth
We don’t deserve it at all, what we’re worth
Love is what we give each other back and forth
We don’t know what we deserve, what we’re worth
I can’t take without giving
I don’t want to love without living
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3. |
Bridge And Tunnel
05:16
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I only notice the city limit sign
when I'm in the slow lane.
I never noticed how I feel so fine
until after you've stopped the pain
The skyline's black and blue
just enough red in it for bruise.
Not enough sweetness for some juice
just enough to remind me of you
I take the bridge and tunnel
One buzzes like a fridge
One aims like a funnel
And we're just passing through
There's light reflecting off the radio towers
shining in the water, standing in its power
cars in front of me swerving in and out of lane
asphalt groaning under tires shiny and stained
I slow at yellow lights out of a sense of caution.
One more thing I ain't been able to sell at auction
I round the corner past the stop sign
loud enough to make the car alarms whine
I take the bridge and tunnel
One buzzes like a fridge
One aims like a funnel
This time of night's for wishing and hoping
There's too many cars with their doors wide open
drivers with their hands on the wheel
looking around for company
The pedestrians playing wait-and-see
I'm a bridge and tunnel type
You can tell in this light
How far I travel from outside
How it doesn't affect my pride
Everybody's got to be from
somewhere these days
And nobody gets to stay
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4. |
Foil And Flame
03:47
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Candle lights don't make it a celebration
From overhead it looks like a constellation
If the view from above is smoke thin as lace
If there's nothing to love but a feeling to chase
Foil and flame
Forget your name
You won't need it
Soil and shame
Boil and blame
Appetite undefeated
Line the oven shine up whatever's cooking
If you're inhaling, who cares who's looking
Who can see from below as litter lands at your feet
Never old as bodies fold and sway in a haze so sweet
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5. |
Here With Me
03:54
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The moment I wake up
I look at you out of
the corner of my eye
and you’re pissing me off
What are you doing here?
Then I remember
how lucky I am
you’re still in the room
when I look out at the backdrop
weigh my desire and sense of doom
you could be anywhere else
happy and free
so I suppose one of us
is lucky that you’re here with me
I get through my day
manage all my work
try not to make others
feel like a jerk and then I know
I’ve got to come home to you
What do I do with
all the stress, the lack of poise?
Do I go out with the boys?
Maybe try to give the girls a whirl,
let them know: sorry, but I’m taken!
I’ve got a pearl She’s like a diamond,
watch her shine. She hits me hard,
she breaks my spine
Then she stiffens me back up,
pours some water in my cup
Luck ain’t got nothing
to do with it, it’s purely elective
until you get your hands on me:
then it becomes electric
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6. |
Offering
05:00
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All it took was a little fog and a string of lights
Sweep the street, keep the beat, wait for the night
You can't put it on a schedule,
you can't pencil it in on a calendar
All you can do is make offerings and hope
whoever's on the way will sing to you
in a register you can hear, wrap its arms
around you, call you dear, whisper in your ear,
be of good cheer
An offering, remember that's the thing
The minute you attach conditions is
the minute there's no more suspicion
The room you leave for error
is the room that rules out terror
The breath that you can catch
is the difference between you
and any wretch
Remember your entreaty
Remember your offering
Remember what you give
It may yet outlive you
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7. |
Outstretched
03:53
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I kept seeing the headline creep in
like fog at the edges of all my screens.
It came so unexpected. I still don't know
quite what it means.
Everyone who used to hit you
now says that you'll be missed
departures unexpected always
turn on this twist.
Now you're outstretched like a hand
No way to block out sunlight or the rains
Nothing left for your legacy brand
Until they send in the dozers and cranes
I wish you had lived long enough
to learn about the hurt you caused.
I wish you had been strong enough
to fight off danger's hungry jaws
But now you stand somewhere
you'll never have to pay a day's rent
with all the time in the world, perhaps to repent
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8. |
Perhaps Even Feeling
04:36
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I don’t want to ride around at the amusement park. Nobody looks like they’re having fun until dark. Pretty lights on the fairway, cotton candy and fried foods: you understand that the environment is set up to keep you in the mood.
It’s a game I don’t want to play. It’s not like I don’t want to know you in that way: I suppose that’s a strange admission, but they come with a price and it ain’t always nice.
What’s an amusement these days? Is it candy or a game we play? Is it a doll on a shelf at the store, or a six-gun toy you give to a boy who’s keeping score of what he can kill, wound or maim, what he can conquer, make tame, or leave crawling away from him lame? The tools help them feel the same.
I don’t trust the configuration of the terrain. Isn’t it set to keep us focused on anything but each other’s pain, when we could be healing, perhaps even feeling?
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9. |
Potential
04:46
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You pierce me with a glance
Pierce me with your eyes
And I wonder why
I shiver when you look at me
Because of everything
you think I could be
You see potential beyond
the present moment
You look at me out of time
While I'm passing through
You puzzle me so much
I wonder if time is happening to you
You're trying to give me a gift
You're trying to give me a lift
I don't know if I can give it
back to you in a way that's good
I'm waiting for tomorrow
When everything will occur
It'll no longer be a blur
It'll fall into my mind
And I won't mind
I hope that's what I'll find
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10. |
Some Assembly Required
04:52
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The day you said
I was doing the most
A tiny little box
came in the post
in the shape of a card
in the shape of a heart
I opened and read it
I hope that you're
ready to do your part
In time before you're retired
You can put this all together
One day in the future
Some assembly required
I woke up to wet streets
and the weight of history
surprised i never heard
a single raindrop
The small wonder is that
The rain stayed outside
The bigger question I suppose
Is when did it stop?
Perhaps I was distracted by the job
I guess I found the work absorbing
Too busy with the points I was scoring
Anyway it's neither here nor there
Much like you might be now
We'll see. Maybe you'll call
Maybe the phone will stay unringing
That's how I'll know it's you
I don't want to wait until I'm retired
To put it all together some assembly required
I don't want to hear about
how my enemies conspired
Someday I'll put it all together
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11. |
The Hard Part
03:53
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Don’t touch that dial
Just watch it spinning
Use it to tell
which side is winning
Could be a while
what with all the sinning
We bear it well
under all our grinning
The best lack all conviction
The worst flex them like criminal contradictions
Behind bars facing complaint
Figures look like someone’s hero if nobody’s saint
The hard part is finding truth
The easy part is evidence, all you need’s an infinite sleuth
Starting line for justice recedes
growing from dirty soil, getting lost in ever taller weeds
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12. |
Two Feet Left
03:45
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When two people band together,
live their lives in abandon
then events can conspire
to make one call the other a liar
leaving one of them bereft
standing on their own two feet
with two feet left
No way to handle it,
no way to be dextrous or deft
standing on your own two feet,
we all wind up with two feet left
After involuntary divorce
comes remorse, possibly
the seeking of recourse
There’s no time machine,
no way back, no way to put
a shine or sheen on past events,
cover it up with pretense
No way to handle it,
no way to be dextrous or deft
standing on your own two feet,
we all wind up with two feet left
You can’t rebuild a fractured timeline
It’s not going to be fine!
So you pick at the signs,
try to read into the record
but there is no way back,
no secondary effort.
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13. |
Where Nothing Happens
04:12
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Ever since they let me out of the room where nothing happens, I’ve been trying to get back in. They think it’s some kind of conspiracy, but I won’t let them win. They say there’s no news in a newsroom. It’s just where you go for some peace and quiet, the kind you keep between your ears when trying to make sense of your external fears or the eternal dears, the things you keep close to you forever, the luggage you slip into your pockets, the tiny gears that power everything, the little toys and sprockets you can assemble by hand when you want to start up the band.
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Saint and Kings San Pablo, California
I’m a singer-songwriter using guitars and keyboards to craft distinctive dispatches from intimate interiors, vast exteriors and all points in between. Drawing on years of pop, soul, indie, folk and dance-music fandom, I try to turn observations and narratives into succinct sonic snapshots. ... more
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