1. |
Among the Hearts
04:00
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I shouldn’t be so calm against this setting
I know there must be something I’m forgetting
so I plan to say what must not be left untold
while we’re still young enough to grow old
This beach is okay but never special on its own
Endless ripples by the sea feelings washing over me
Anywhere we choose to sit becomes a throne
Wind is blowing in our face gusting fast rushing free
I want to throb among the hearts with you
beating within bony cages outliving all the ages
Chisel belonging into the face of the moon
So when we bid farewell lovers ever after can tell
they never felt a thing as real as we still do
Yon volcano's a doormat dormant if not dead
A city sprung up at its feet full of life twice as fleet
no ash and fire ever fell down from overhead
no wave tectonic was ever a slave to some chthonic beat
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2. |
Bondage Forever
04:25
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Threads from threads, thoughts from heads
Lives from the dead, from what has been said
I could tell you where it happened
but I’m not exactly certain it would
tell you: what’s named is not defined
I could tell you why it originated
except to pull back a curtain on its
beginnings might leave it misaligned
All I want to remember is bondage forever
The connection that remains despite constraints
Blood released in these arteries and veins
All I want to remember of freedom is never
Those ties that transfixed me below and above
Those eyes that bound me as we made love
Blindfolded in the back of the vehicle
I don’t remember what I was wearing,
only that the windows were open and so was I
Suddenly I was on a hill bleeding belief
and needy of pity, a paltry poem in my ear
escaping my mouth like bats against the sky
At some point it made sense to bury regret
Vicariously watch the pictures on the screen
It was only a matter of time before we met
a matter of time until I learned what you mean
I raised the possibility of an unreliable memory
only one in a series of regretful recollections
caused by faces far away and then too close
But I was overruled by hosts of influences
Anonymous voices both loft and hi-res
Asymptotically approaching an overdose
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3. |
Don't Ask
04:37
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Good things were good until they slowly slid out of view
Bad things just kept going but that ain’t been nothin’ new
We know we said we'd keep going but keeping going’s a difficult task
Why not wipe the sweat from our brow? Why not just consider stopping now? Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask
It’s a grave situation if we stand, day follows day on this godforsaken land
We gasp and groan to get a win, we avert our eyes, kill conscience as we sin
As fever rose, we filled a green Chevy and found a path to leave
Our progress cured our worry and our footfalls fed our belief
Sometimes coffee in our hands felt sweet and hot
Sometimes their stares at our descent in life was not
Now our skin turns amber, hazel, chestnut under these skies
Long haired and bearded, so weary of walking we drop like flies
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4. |
Haunted by Jewels
03:31
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Sandy and Randy Katie and Sherry and John
Sipping on brandy now that Bonaparte’s finally gone
Big machine rusted while his friends were in power
Cleanup on aisle three and afterward take a shower
He thinks has it been too long, too long
Fortifying them horribly behaved fools
Leftover bling feels wrong, feels wrong
Will it always be haunted by jewels?
The zanies ran our reputation into godforsaken ground
Now the sane have to use what’s left out of what’s found
Sandy and Randy Katie and Sherry and John
wonder what’s the point of art in the wake of the con
Prince on a boombox echoing up and down stairs
He tosses off new wisdom to whoever still cares
She thinks has it been too long, too long
Mischief from margins ended in misrule
He thinks we need a new song, new song
Will it always be haunted by jewels?
Sandy and Randy Katie and Sherry and John
filling open bags of trash on the big house lawn
tossing cups to get rid of the backwash swills
Girls and boys paying the bills for thrills that kill
She believes it’s been too long, too long
Fortifying them horribly behaved fools
Leftover bling feels wrong, feels wrong
Will it always be haunted by jewels?
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5. |
Hotel Bargain
03:54
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Across the road from the Greyhound station,
a neon sign reading “Divine” shines from on high
as she clambers down the bus steps in elation
and stretches out her spine, shoulders and thighs
She reaches the lobby and rents a single room
Non-smoking non-negotiable, just a shower’s fine
Elevator to the third floor will crawl instead of zoom
Footfalls echo in an empty hallway as she’s crying
It’s a hotel bargain of a sort
It ain’t nobody's luxury resort
But if they let me get some sleep
I’ll proclaim it heaven on the cheap
Can the congregation say amen for amenities
Can the choir holler out hallelujah for clean sheets
Can the pastor pull profundities out of profanities
Can the deacons offer care as we re-enter our seats
After a shower and room-service situation
she abandons obligations and closes her eyes
She waits for developments and confirmations
that a process in her mind lets her find by and by
Then she sits up in bed and turns on the light
and stares in the mirror until her eyes burn red
and tells herself ‘I’ll only be here for one night
but I’m always going to be here in my head’
I’m a hotel bargain of a sort
I ain’t nobody's luxury resort
I might as well let me get some sleep
proclaim myself heaven on the cheap
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6. |
Hourglass Tonight
03:44
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Sitting on benches, crooked and deaf as England
Waiting with care for the bell and a shop bill to come due
I care about them all but I must kick the demand
while the landlord takes her fill of what's found and true
Put me to the test where joy was pawned
Watch me rise to every occasion and fight
Stay out until you realize the sun just dawned
Remember where you left the hourglass tonight
Walking to a caught midday express train
Toweling off the grit to fake presentability
I mind how the washer and dryer must explain
the presence of a villain as marginal utility
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7. |
If I Wanna Hurt You
04:00
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You won my admiration on a technicality
You led with craft and polished practicality
You began with a glib gift for invention
and a healthy disregard for convention
You were selective and small-C catholic
Your intent was slow but your lessons were quick
You made it to the top on amity and amends
and a willingness to completely sell out your friends
So honey If I wanna hurt you
You know I know just how
You’ll bleed out in the spotlight
They’ll throw me roses as I bow
You will watch the world go grayscale
a final curtain fall so chilly and curt
You will drift off remembering it all
when I’m done making you hurt
You travel among the world’s players
What a shame your mind is misguided
You’re connected like a household plug
but that changes since I’ve decided
And honey If I wanna hurt you
You know I know just how
You’ll bleed out in the spotlight
They’ll throw me roses as I bow
You will watch the world go grayscale
a final curtain so chilly and curt
You will drift off feeling nothing
when I’m done making you hurt
Sucks your regard always came in batches
Pity your respect was just the luck of the draw
One day the cops are gonna light you like matches
and eat you in peace when they know what I saw
So honey If I wanna hurt you
You know I know just how
You’ll bleed out in the spotlight
They’ll throw me roses as I bow
You will watch the world go grayscale
a final curtain so chilly and curt
You will become an object lesson
when I’m done making you hurt
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8. |
Inside Her Skin
03:42
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She opens the letter quickly
and considers the physician’s view,
then she buys a Greyhound ticket
back to her old hick milieu
and ponders the pendulum's swing,
all the regrets that made her run
against all the love she felt herself offering,
the cares she casually chucks into the sun.
Against vicissitudes of tomorrow,
self-possession’s the only way to win.
Victory over defeat is subtle, but sweet
so long as you stay inside your skin.
She remembers how she felt
during the happiness of ‘03
when everyone in power was dealt
empowered evil, unbound and free,
and she inhaled Benny’s cologne
thinking that he might just be the one
before she left well enough alone,
before she left it over and done.
She feels what she used to love
and heard how she used to care,
but her eyes drift towards the clouds above
while the horizon returns her stare.
She thinks 'oh, girl you’ve gotten better
even if the future’s drained of its fun.
They’ve haven’t yet made you a debtor,
you know you don’t owe them none.'
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9. |
Lifeless City
03:31
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The wipers they whispered against a windshield clear
While rain poured down through air like pterodactyl tears
I was heading for a lottery ticket line
At a funeral that felt like a wedding
I was droning some deathless ditty
about renting a room in a lifeless city
A gap in clouds overhead came as shock and surprise
Glint of light through darkness like a jail break in the sky
Anything that flies can still fall face-down in a field
See bleached bones abandoned as stars spin like fears
I was heading for a lottery ticket line
At a funeral that felt like a wedding
I was droning some deathless ditty
about renting a room in a lifeless city
I was traveling home for the last time
I was hoping against armageddon
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10. |
Living In Yesterdays
02:43
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Lightbulbs in fog slide past car windows
Minutes pile up like feelings to be faced
Worries ignite like little sunlit minnows
Water surrounds them natural and embraced
She wonders if she’s deluding herself
Not like all memories belong in museums
She weighs what’s best for her health
Cautious loyalties or reckless freedoms
She knows there’s no living in yesterdays
It ain’t a ZIP code or a neighborhood location
She knows there’s no living in yesterdays
It’s no dream home no desired destination
She becomes drunk on opportunities cost and missed
She’s too busy wandering to get properly lost or kissed
She wonders if she’s deluding herself
Not like all memories belong in museums
She weighs what’s best for her health
Cautious loyalties or reckless freedoms
She knows there’s no living in yesterdays
It ain’t a ZIP code or a neighborhood location
She knows there’s no living in yesterdays
It’s no dream home no desired destination
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11. |
Sangfroid
02:58
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I wake up in bed afraid and alone,
You still hovering, toxic as smoke
You leach through me, skin to bone,
like a punch line to some dirty joke
I wish I could be stately
about everything you made me face
I wish I could be reserved
about how you work my last nerve
I wish I could freeze and replace
warm blood you never deserved
We were as temporary as a tone
Liquor tasted too late not to choke
A love snatched like a BART phone
Lit like bedlam, blind and broke
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12. |
Some Embers
03:39
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The news is grim: it’s her or him
and one must be dispatched
Mystery-haunted, not what we wanted
tiny eggs eventually hatched
Gloom leaves us
staring at those we love,
hoping that they’ll remember
the fire they regularly
inspired, that we’ll get to
carry forth some embers
The occult joys, the managed
sorrows our faculties still permit
sunder contemplation of nature
into sublime and subtly shit
I sure could use an apple
whilst trapped in this catacomb
it might keep a doctor away
but it won’t help me get back home
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13. |
The Timebomb
03:32
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The scars slowly fade but the syndromes remain
we inhale the vapors rather than inject the pain
Our time of explosion is yet to be known
We are uncertain of the size of the blast zone
Our elements combined running out of time
We’ll be nothing left they can charge with a crime
They sell us age but can’t promise strength or charm
Cerebral visions of earthly power no need for legs or arms
Stick together I promise they can’t turn us all into glue
If we wake up dead let's promise to never stop haunting them too
Surely every second to the timebomb seems like a second chance
Slowly we reckon with the timebomb if it don’t end it ain’t no romance
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14. |
Underneath Starlight
05:10
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Underneath starlight coming from far away
Burdens and loads possessed are easier to carry
Underneath starlight hanging from on high
Befriend no blame again before you go goodbye
She wakes up after zero dark and taps him on the shoulder
He shudders and he groans and says another day older
They crawl back into what they wear by faith if not by sight
Then he grabs the keys and map as they leave the premises
to spread across his lap like some undefeated nemesis
and she slips behind the wheel by sheer feel underneath starlight
Underneath starlight coming from far away
Burdens and loads possessed are easier to carry
Underneath starlight hanging from on high
Befriend no blame again before you go goodbye
He drives up to the gas station pump and fills the tank gladly
She notices the price per gallon jumped a few pennies sadly
A brief discussion on the matter approaches conflict but not quite
Then they pull slowly onto the highway casting poor concerns
toward navigation anywhere and horsepower they can burn
and she slips into gear and steers onward underneath the starlight
Action puts their minds off trouble behind
Action puts their focus on whatever lies ahead
They may be invisible long as they stand still
They may perish if it only be the gods’ will
She hits the border and taps strategic reserves of charm
He harnesses his hopes like horses and ignores all alarms
They know that the last thing anyone needs is to witness a fight
Between two weary travelers tied by blood if not by name
Headed toward a horizon and better days they just might claim
and they pull it off and peel into the distance underneath the starlight
Underneath starlight coming from far away
Burdens and loads possessed are easier to carry
Underneath starlight hanging from on high
Befriend no blame again before you go goodbye
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15. |
U-Turn
03:38
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She was a real space invader, down from the void above
Tending cells with a softer sell of light and food and love
Few sugar feeds are guaranteed peace over millions of years
Senses start small and slow before suddenly shifting gears
Were we self-made out of soul,
or just a left turn in time torrential?
Have we played our pinball out?
Will we ever live up to potential?
Are we gonna burn or will we U-turn?
Thrills, items and rites distract us from surrounding vacuum
Child, consider how full and fine are the lies that lead to doom
Were we self-made out of soul,
or just a left turn in time torrential?
Have we played our pinball out?
Will we ever live up to potential?
Are we gonna burn or will we U-turn?
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16. |
You Are (Ache)
03:26
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You are a baby parents ache
to keep safe and sound
Building a better world for you
for when they're not around
You are a list of rules and priorities
they want to see respected
Hard roads will take you far away
and leave you unprotected
You are energy limbs and sound
that shines and sings warning
You’ll never know a night so long
that there won’t be no morning
You are a child folks carried around
when you were younger
So long as you stay true to yourself
you can satisfy any hunger
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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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