1. |
Shady Lady
03:25
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Mesmerize me with the arc of your graceful glide,
something to see in the evening time.
I guess I’m just lucky ever to meet my kind,
so flip on a record and skip to the shady side.
Black dog won’t leave, he won’t leave me alone tonight,
pleasure’s so brief then it’s gone like the dusk-dance of fireflies.
Certain of nothing ‘cept certainly out of my mind,
I’ll wait for your heel clicks (click-clack) then I’ll feel “all right.”
I know you’ve seen what’s up the road ahead,
the parting spectral words you softly dread....already a shadow.
Save your goodbyes, let’s see the world like it’s new,
I will savor each hour, pluck each petal with you.
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2. |
Heavy On the Clutch
03:00
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Grind your teeth like old transmission,
high-beams drift like apparitions,
ink black night that chokes the road ahead.
Break drum squeals and knees start knockin,’
keep your eyes fixed in their sockets,
vertigo from the jagged rocks below.
Oh, what a wicked road, even so, we’ve got miles to go,
fresh sheets and a roaring fire wait at home,
we’ve gotta fold up the map, put it in gear, give it some gas.
Hug that curve and mind your bacon,
hairpins crowd the road we’re takin,’
on and on and on and on it goes.
Breathe that petrol, sickly sweet,
feel the rumble through your feet,
Ink black night that chokes the road ahead.
Gas light low...
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3. |
Home Is How You Feel
02:24
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Though I’ve wandered far from home,
your shade will stay with me,
filled my life with sacred things,
that set my soul at ease.
‘Cause what you said was real,
“home is how you feel”,
all I need’s a quiet hour,
a place to rest my bones.
Strain my throat, a warblin’ note,
a respite from the cold,
the echos chase with healing grace,
the frostbite from my toes.
With memories so dear,
a song to bring you near,
all I need’s a quiet hour,
a place to rest my bones.
Tomb weary, shut out the light,
bones heal in time,
and now for the bari-slide!
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4. |
Fair Weather Rider
03:25
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Bow to the desert god whose dunes you tread upon,
fire is a well within,
pain is a shadow horse whose back you ride upon,
sun turns the sand to glass.
You should turn back, you should turn back,
fair weather rider you've come too far.
Kiss of a verdant vapor, blur some thing beyond,
lured by a vision of blue,
failure feasts upon the road and hills beyond,
bleached of their sanguine hue.
You should turn back, you should turn back,
fair weather rider you've come too far.
To you, I will boldly ride,
chip-tooth, split-lip, dewy-eyed to you,
been saving it all!
Cast my paisley pearls aside,
tote tea where sky and sand collide with you,
been saving it all!
This fold in my waking state,
years pool and incinerate,
I can’t get the feeling back.
Pain is a shadow horse
that leads me on and on,
can't get the feeling back.
Sleep in a bed of salt,
a hole where the well ran out,
may wings take my words…
Beyond, beyond this sunken road,
beyond, beyond.
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5. |
Strange Loops
03:30
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Though we conspire to deceive
our only desire is to feed.
Bearing the weight when it’s easy, setting it down when it’s hard,
picking the seeds from broken glass, mirror reveals who we are:
the grey-vest crow, the shadow that binds the dawn.
Carousel sleeps in the weeds
with matchsticks and coins stuck to the seats.
Pier creaks, a wooden cathedral, brine-kissed calliope crown,
saltwater taffy and spent cigars, burnt ozone tracks of the crowd,
the grey-vest crow, the shadow that binds the dawn.
Build a home between pilings,
safe and warm.
I’ll be there with the rosy-fingered dawn to see you off,
with black beak and obsidian eye to pluck the stars on high.
Strange loops conjoin in this dream,
and gently return to the sea.
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6. |
Down Low
02:50
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Shut the window quick!
Finger from tongue to wick,
who knows what’s out there in the dark?
Implore the sweet unknown
to send your letters home,
who knows? The answer’s in the dark.
There’s a place for us, there’s a place for us, (down low)
there’s a place for us to go.
Beneath the jasmine boughs, where it’s always cold,
with the earth between our toes.
Nothing left to chance,
or else they’ll wander back,
once yours, objects mourn your loss.
So drape the mirror there,
and tie your coal black hair
to soothe those who’ve gone across.
There’s a place for us, there’s a place for us, (down low)
there’s a place for us to go.
Between the garden row, where it’s always cold,
echoes whisper deep and low.
Place moonlit tulips and oh, honeycomb,
gifts for the ghost at your door way,
we can go our own way.
There’s a place for us, there’s a place for us, (down low)
there’s a place for us to go.
Beneath the jasmine boughs, the deep resounds with echoes froze,
and whispers sweet to the unknown, on our own, all alone.
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7. |
Hole In the Floor
03:11
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Dusty dreams, regrets renewed,
silk worm knots of worried thoughts.
Things we should be never will,
crowd my head, things unsaid.
And there’s a hole in the floor,
a pearl in the undertow,
only to rise when sleep fills my eyes.
Doom suspends a golden wire,
give some slack and take some back.
Warp and weft of who we are,
stained in red with skins we’ve shed.
And there’s a hole in the floor,
a glow in the ossuary,
phosphorus green where earth meets the stone.
A vessel to hold,
the bones of the long departed,
bore in the stone, a place for myself.
Pulse lightly,
thumb pluck the tine,
stir the night air.
Pull back your bow,
feel the poised
press of nothing.
I’m lying awake just sucking air,
a buckling weight I cannot bear,
I’ll wait for the cool collapse to find me,
me and no one else.
Sacred space,
leave no trace,
enfold into myself.
All I know is drawn below.
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8. |
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You dream fast, I dream slow,
once for “yes” twice for “no”,
our footfalls recall
the shadow play upon the red-brick walls.
Look who’s here, feasting friends,
some just flew in and out again,
spinning ‘round the room
like zoetrope with telescopic slide.
Slow drag lovin’, black-bride coven,
troubled by nothin’ and your swoon suits me.
Istanbul to Motovun,
dry your eyes, soak the sun,
hear the drums keep pace
in our ragged race to the sea.
Heart beat fast, heart beat slow,
settle in, miles to go,
as the frames fly past
they reveal at last you and me.
Sway lightly
bromeliad,
until we...
Go lightly, go lightly,
we got to go,
you dream fast and I dream slow!
Trouble come, trouble go,
you dream fast and I dream slow.
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9. |
Something Else
03:30
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You think me cold baby bird? Well you have the right,
with every pore I consume your sapphire light,
uncertainty suits me just fine.
(You are something else)
You see me when I can't see myself,
(You are something else)
as I contemplate the galaxies between us,
you whip the devil with your waking eyes.
Is it the time to be cool or else to be bold?
We've got two lives to destroy or gently unfold,
uncertainty suits me just fine.
You are something else,
you see me when I can't see myself,
(you are something else)
like a falling leaf I tremble, a falling leaf I shake,
then there’s nothing else.
Cuts like a knife, what do I care?
The solace you seek is written in air.
You'll find out...
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10. |
Temple Is Burning
03:24
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Cloak me in your hurricane, (temple is burning)
and blow the acrid smoke away. (temple is burning)
Roman wheel of flame,
that illuminates the plain.
Hush along the palisade, (temple is burning)
a writhing, crimson cavalcade. (temple is burning)
Lid-less eye of flame,
that consumes our sacred space.
Taste iron in my mouth, (cistern weeps below)
cracked lips ‘round the water spout. (dried up long ago)
Make way through the gloaming colonnade, (temple is burning)
and pick through the memories that remain, (temple is burning)
save all that you can from the flame!
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The Fantastic Toes Los Angeles, California
The Fantastic Toes – an LA-based ensemble specializing in swamp rock, Dracula blues, and other assorted mayhem.
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