|
1. |
|
|
|
|
Something in the salty air
makes prophets lose their teeth
turns soldiers into shaman
and sends them down beneath
the fragile surface, to the floor
under the endless clouds, to speak no more
Such beauty in nothing
brings a rich man to his knees
now he prays to fallen angels
with makeshift beliefs
crying 'save me, from what's begun'
I got no fortress, no where to run
Never did a great escape
unfold just as planned
when you need to get closer
you'll forget how to stand
on your own, with a conscience
when a savior, only watches
Every autumn breeze that never gets to grace the seas
ages me like sand to bone
Every golden chair that has a second heart to bear
knows it was once only stone
'You see' said the blind man
with tentacle arms
'you can be perfectly able
and never pay alms to
to no one, as to live like
the only speck, on the clearest night'
Now I see a broken man
to wise to spare a thought
on the paradigms lesser souls
I pray he's forgot
were all falling, through the same crack
in the framework of the devils back
Captain! Captain! send me out
somewhere far away
where I can hear an infant cry
with every praise I make
to myself, in the hot sand
the first pin through, a demons hand
no one plan to die tonight, i know they say the end is nigh
but every man must make his own
|
|
2. |
|
|
|
|
I was born six days ago
quick to be told
that I should close my mind
To hopes of seeing what Id left behind
So now I'm matching stray words with a face I know I've met
Trying syllables I swore I could forget
the later forties seemed to pass
While I was sat still
and asked to just move on
The decades fled and so has everyone
There's more to this, there's more to that
I've come here
to find you at your worst
Don't tell anybody that we're cursed
So I just stumble, let the damp earth meet my head
What I took still pains me to possesses
I keep pretty quiet when they
ask me like a baby
are you lost
No my friend, Im just learning to walk
They all say what I could be
So I should leave
so I should move my feet
No my friend, I first must learn to speak
Break the city limit
Just to stay alive
follow the coast to Norfolk
where someday Ill get wise
Break the city limit
all exits wide
the promise of an optimist
will keep my spirit high
The way you whispered get
your things
Its getting dark
Its almost time to leave
made me feel I knew you to the teeth
|
|
3. |
|
|
|
|
Washed up near Glasgow in October
Us standing by the dirt road would have looked better as a picture
Mountains wound behind and ahead like castles
The structure before us was silently quaint like an abandoned chapel
Your kept your distance for a while taking in the scene as a whole
Stand still until you cant stand and try hard to fight the pull
I could tell you had lived here once, but now it all felt new
And I said nothing, but kind of felt like I needed to
We stood quite some time by the front door
I saw the house was old, but very cared for.
The old man smiled when you kissed the fault lines of his forehead
He sat us at the table and gave us wine and sugar bread
You said to him,
we wont stay for long. don't want to be a bother
He said
Never, leave whenever you like, it wont be mine much longer.
When I found he was your father
He said
"son, I think you're a good man, but not half as good as you seem
No, I'm sure you're a good man, I can tell you regret something."
I said "no sir
I am pretension
I am a thief
I have been lied to
Through these very teeth
And your daughter
just might have saved me
and I am sorry
that I cant do anything
in return"
He said 'thats fine, we all do what we can
I said 'you don't understand'
I am the fire
I am regression
I am the spark
of thoughtless momentum
And your daughter
just might have saved me
And I am so sorry
that I cant do anything
for her'
He said 'no son you can'
just get her outta here while she still has dreams
So I made a promise
And I told him everything
|
|
4. |
|
|
|
|
Lie down on the water’s crest
where everyday you take your rest
every day is not new you're just turning a page
So keep the white sand in a clear jar
put pin wheels in the front yard
whatever will keep you unchanged
The wise man in the lemon tree
says he will find something sweet
He'll kindly come down
when you see that he's right
Getting lost is an art form
disappear and get reborn
choose what is sacred, know nothing is pure
Stare down the rabbit hole
the uncertainty of parable
is likely to keep you awake
So keep the white sand in a clear jar
put pin wheels in the front yard
whatever will keep you unchanged
Bury him by the orchard, my dear
where some life still grows
Bury it all near your heart, my darling
set fire to our homes
A girl by the riverbed
holds a white rose to her chest
holds her good god safe in a frame
Make a sailboat with an old leaf
you laid in wet concrete
whatever will keep you the same
Got pipe dreams and tea leaves
crafting new realities
whatever will put you to sleep.
So keep the white sand in a clear jar
put pin wheels in the front yard
whatever will keep you unchanged
We can find light where the pavements' cracked
taking the back roads, stay off the cardinal path
We're spending all our time living inside
deciding where were going
|
|
5. |
|
|
|
|
Last night we woke to the screams of the devil
hiding somewhere in my chest
To know someone's missing what's buried somewhere;
more than a man could confess
I stepped outside to get some blood in my knees
held you then just for solid relief
So steady your motives, while I calm my breathing
At the first sign of light, you said we were leaving
No, you're leaving and I'm coming along
But I still slept better wrapped in that blessing
All of my dreams had such glorious endings
When I realized we were running away.
When I realized we were running away.
Forget the guilt that still survives
and lives inside only to breed this haunting
Oh, I tried to make peace and believe
that there is worth hiding behind this wanting
You're only waiting on a wish just like everybody else
I'm very sorry, but sometimes I think I know that wont help
Wish to forget that wishes ever existed
We can change plans but we cant paint pictures
Rubbing my eyes to straighten the edges
and brighten my last sight of this fleeting calmness
Nobody moved we were glued to that safe ground
five of us laid out with one sprawling sundown
And that's what I'm planning on missing
You swear the view from the sky looks no different
So I would not follow if I thought I'd regret it.
Well, aren't we a damn lot of liars
Aren't we just a damn lot of liars
What did I do
To know you
like I know you
right now
|
|
6. |
|
|
|
|
The rolling hills of northeastern Virginia
pass like blurry slides while you drive
this is freedom
let the glass down, take in every sound
we can gather
It won't be forever
The dark mass that once served as the suns bed
soft and quiet against our skin
fell like children onto the grass,
watched the clouds cave in
keep those sunspots under your eyelids
watch them dance across the empty space
There's a lifetime waiting in a city we haven't named yet
The winding road ahead will only end
if we let it
north wind against the steel, how do you feel
you say weightless
so we were weightless
The shining gates that border this deliverance
are rising up at long, long last
We tread like planters on fertile earth
make the soil crack
stay the course, bind your wishes
Watch those dreams rise and curve your lips
I pray that this moment will never surface
I hope we stay free I hope we stay weightless
What weight we carried shed into the bedrock
splintered when it felt the air outside
We stood like knights on conquered land,
stake our colors high
Watch those dreams rise and curve your lips
If you keep whatever’s true in you by your side and
never lose hold of it
I'll never lose sight of this
|
|
7. |
|
|
|
|
The apple trees don't seem too pleased
we left them
Gone in the breeze, we ran on our knees
to find them
The poisoned leaves don't seem so pleased
we touched them
in the midnight heat, just like a disease
we caught them
But, lion love you're not all enough
to see them
the whitest doves we want so much
to be them
You’d think I would have noticed by now
you’d think I would have seen
When you’re walking at my side the grass has never been so green
The sunny skies don't seem surprised
we love them
in the summers light everything we prize
is golden.
Find the tallest perch for the widest search
we've been on
I bet you'll find it first a piece of earth
to stand on
and when we try to speak of love
the words are thick and cumbersome
and don't mean much to anyone
We will be kings
we will be saviors
We will be kings
but we'll eat like beggars
We will be queens
we will be jesters
we will be kings
and run through the colors
We will be kings
and run through the colors
|
|
8. |
|
|
|
|
Someone told a bad joke
Someone made a clown cry
If you are listening don't let the sun die
I can feel a dark could creeping over slowly
Someone made a tree trunk
so there could be cellos
sang to the river so we could see rainbows
I can hear a soft note falling from the balcony
Someone made a good dream
out of an old hope
made the best angel give you her halo
I can see a bright light breaking on the windowsill
I can see a bright light breaking on the windowsill
I can see a green light from the hollow egg shell
old men in top hats
with peacocks and daisies
watching from low stars, calling me crazy
Up in the tree tops
I heard someone calling
but it was just loose thoughts and little kingdoms falling
I can see a bright light breaking on your windowsill
I still see a green light from my hollow egg shell
You look like a dark ghost standing where the curtains drawn
I cant see where your body ends
|
|
9. |
|
|
|
|
Strip the walls of artifacts
Send them back where they cant breathe
Pace this burning hall all night
with every good intent to leave
some blessed brightness rising in me
is going to make certain I will
ancient maps point toward the edges of the earth
move in for the kill
claw through the darkness and the heat
down some more of that bitter cure for sleep
Remnants of my good sense
have been stretched far too thin
Treasure what fate gifted my hands
Know it wont save me again
The neighbor's lights flicker on when I rev the Packard
every mile balances the scale
Got clues from the monochromes strung upon the wall
a wolf hot on the trail
claw through the darkness and the heat
down some more of that bitter cure for sleep
|
|
10. |
|
|
|
|
The steam from the last train still lives in my lungs
so I try for a bit not to breathe
Like everything that I ever held closely
it all finds some way to get free
How can I think to myself for a minute
when i cant get a second of peace
Everyone's speaking like everyone's listening
and nobody knows how to sleep
Whisper it now what I meant for ten years
I think that's all ill ever need
but , If you were born to save me, there's no point in staying
That task is past complete
Even as the waves are breaking
they feel the same
as when we were alive
we were alive once went we
Even in the darkest morning
you'll wake at dawn
and see that nothings changed
no nothings changed
If you could give back every wrong turn you took
I know you wouldn't think to at all
We are where we are and have what we got
every stain that came with the fall.
My body aces from walking and changing direction
trying to keep with your pace
Gone to far now better start turning round
you kept all I thought was misplaced.
Talk of what's past like its written down
a spine you can only break twice
you’d better be dancing when you walk away
I might just be doing the same
|
released November 20, 2011
All songs by Matt Verdier, Jordan Poole, Alex Ludeman/Stork, Stork (ASCAP)
