1. |
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This is just a place
And you are just a song
Was it a disgrace that I could never play along?
Driving through the Gap, listening for a sound,
You put on Judee Sill and we sang along,
“Soldier of the heart, how’d ya get so strong”
And did you already know I’d fall apart?
The sound the honey locust makes
When its leaves shake in the wind
You said that you regretted that I had to be a man
You put the magnet on the photo on the fridge
Your brother in a tree his eyes aimed at the lens
Your father’s point-and-shoot, the moment still suspended
The bending branch reflecting the buried root
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2. |
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You wore my coat made of salmon skin
I wore the veil spun from spider silk
I wasn’t sure if you would let me in
But you drank the last drop of the stuff that I spilled
And slyly, I take my leave
And finely, finally, you trace the edge
From California you sent me a photo of
The water reflecting in the cove where you got lost
From the dusty valley on the grounds of the monastery
I called you across continents, not considering the cost
And slyly, I take my leave
And finely, finally, you trace the edge
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3. |
Agios Sillas
03:32
|
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|
Should I put some more wood on the fire?
Should I put some more wood on the fire?
Or should we snuff it out?
Are you too tired?
Did you see the bird land on the wire?
Was that another lizard on the tile?
Should we shut him out
Or let him stick around a while?
All in all an ‘I’ without remainder
Like a violet to the nose it was a favor
Sometimes to shut it down
So that we might savor
Again and again
You sat there peeling clementines
While I knew I was clinging to a version of you
And our love that we had run through
Unfamiliar beds and bathrooms
Layovers and foreign half moons
Holding on to a ghost already gone
Should I put some more wood on the fire?
Should I put some more wood on the fire?
Or should we snuff it out?
Are you too tired?
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4. |
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The bedside book and the breeze in the branches
Of the son of the tree that owns itself
Clove to the root like the Babylon ruins
Liquor in the glass and the piercing bluebell
Emily’s ear breaks a human heart
With nowhere to go but the places inside
The bark of the birch and the mark of the bite
Beneath the leaves of the tree that owns itself
And the nightshade bloodshot eyes
Red as the dye from the cactus bug
And the minutes fold like the time between twins
Like the seed spun toward the fallow floor
And the men hang their heads with the bend of the bough
Of the son of the tree that owns itself
And the light rushes in
Soft as your skin under mosquito net
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5. |
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Cicadas in the lemon trees
Do you still want me on my knees?
Cicadas in the olive grove
And I’ll be on my way
I lost my voice while overseas
Like Hades took Persephone
I saw the shadows on the wall
I swallowed all the seeds
I dipped my toes in the water
You left one foot out the door
I went like a lamb to the slaughter
A hungry wolf never hangs about
We took the fruit from the vine
Flattened as the fact abides
We went to the beach from Joni’s song
Come on, get out your cane
Well I was drenched down to the bone
You said you’d prefer to be left alone
But if you were just a thirsty sponge
then I’m left high and dry
I dipped my toes in the water
You left one foot out the door
I went like a lamb to the slaughter
A hungry wolf never hangs about
It seems I just cannot help
But to genuflect at the altar of your allergy to love
Cicadas in the lemon trees
Do you still want me on my knees?
Cicadas in the olive grove
And I'll be on my way
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6. |
The City Is A Painting
04:08
|
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|
The bower broke the art of fiction
She asks me to make her come and I say,
“First tell me all about your rare affliction”
The city is a painting and I
Make out only half the words she traced
On foggy mirrors, the parsing of lips
And tapping S.O.S.
It’s anybody’s guess
And I know all she’s got left to spend
Is her time on me so let’s pretend
That I’ve got all the time in the world
And she’s got all the time in the world
So let’s spend all the time in the world
The quixotic pause and the wake that followed
The floating buoys in the lake that swallowed
Our unlaid plans and the unmade plea,
The modest mention or the fierce decree
That we are all the same
We’ve only changed the names
And all the rest remains
And I know all she’s got left to spend
Is her time on me so let’s pretend
That I’ve got all the time in the world
And she’s got all the time in the world
So let’s spend all the time in the world
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7. |
Rain On My Parade
04:01
|
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Were you the rain on my parade?
Was I the wrench in the gear?
Were you the one who had to say
It only took a year
To realize we had been
Too close in the end?
And I was only gonna say it if you made me
Even then only maybe
Maybe, if you made me
Maybe, yeah maybe, if you made me
Were you ever gonna write
A song about the good times?
If songs could make it right
Then two songs make a longing
For you to finally write about
The ways that we could be
I was only gonna write it if you made me
Even then only maybe
Maybe, if you made me
And then only maybe, yeah maybe if you made me
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8. |
Condensate
02:42
|
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If we only sat behind the glass
Long enough to see
All the colors fading silently
And if we only knew the words
They had longed to hear
All your suitors sent off wandering
A finger on the condensate
I wonder why you’re hesitating
Dust in the tear duct
I ask only to hear you pause
And if the wish should go unheard
All I wanted was only a word
A finger on the condensate
I wonder why you’re hesitating
Dust in the tear duct
I ask only to hear you pause
And if the wish should go unheard
All I wanted was only a word
Only a word
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9. |
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10. |
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The much that calls for more
Margaret, will you meet me at the station?
The dress that you wore
I’m forgetting how it billows
All that I have is yours for the taking
Losing your page, leave it there on the table
And all that we have is yours for the breaking
Out in the yard, you are Cain, I am Abel
Now that I know how to walk
I can no longer learn how to walk
Up in Vermont, you told me you were always walking
Away
All that I had was yours for the taking
Losing your page, leave it there on the table
And all that we had was yours for the breaking
Out in the yard, come around if you're able
And all that I have is yours for the taking
And all that we have is ours for the taking
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11. |
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Draw circles around the spots
Mosquitoes bit and blood was lost
And I know you don’t love me
When I act in certain ways
You have a hard time filling up your days
Fold me into a swan
Show me where you cut your tongue
And I hope you remember
When I pulled slivers from your feet
Days we stayed in bed, Hunky Dory on repeat
Take me wherever you go
I won’t say I told you so
And I know you won’t tell me
When you’re afraid of moving on
Carve into floorboards the lyrics
From all your favorite songs
How is it that you got the worst of me again?
Draw circles around the spots
Mosquitoes bit and blood was lost
And I know you don’t love me
When I act in certain ways
You have a hard time filling up your days
With distractions and all your silly play
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Field Guides Brooklyn, New York
singin' with the frogs
in the pond
at night
Field Guides recommends:
Painterly
by Nico Hedley And His Family Band
Nico's songs burrow their way into your heart & take up residence, pacing around & reciting Dickinson poems while sipping whiskey 'til your heartbeat starts swinging in 3/4.
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Don't Get Comfy / Nowhere
by Carmen Quill
These arrangements are stark and stunning. The space around Carmen's singing and playing feels somehow both intimate and infinite.
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Pink in each, bright blue, bright green
by Dave Scanlon
Dave works some kind of alchemy with these deceptively simple & spacious songs. He is one of my favorite lyricists & guitarists. I've listened to this LP more than any other these last couple years.
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