1. |
Come Down
02:26
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come down from the cloud you claimed as ground.
there’s a soil that will find you,
claim you,
break you down.
you dance like ballerina from one crumbling
sentence structure to another. it’s babel,
but you don’t care as long as you never see the gavel
come down from the cloud you claimed as ground.
there’s a soil that will judge you,
love you
come to terms.
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2. |
Roll Out
02:36
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The boy said, “Why am I slipping, slipping, slipping?
Why can’t I keep it together together ever ever?
Why can’t I just push buttons and levers?
I’m at my best when I just do whatever.
I just roll along.
I hum when I don’t know the words,
I go, La La La La La.
I don’t pretend to know the song.
My mom loves me very much. Often she understands.
She hopes I will find a girl that I
like enough that I would get with the program.
‘What is the meaning of this?’ I said.
Everyone was like, ‘Good question, kid!’
I smiled, I was so proud.
The world’s awash in compliments.
I just roll along.
I hum when I don’t know the words,
I go, La La La La La.
I don’t pretend to know the song.
I don’t pretend to know the song.
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3. |
Semaphore
03:29
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She calls from the door in semaphore,
“Please don’t love me anymore.”
And she repeats to herself that she is not cruel.
There is no cruelty, or love, in a heart that’s this confused
And there’s no logic bigger than bent to the task. And there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’
There’s just ‘what she’s going to do.’
Each time I cry the reply is the same:
“Kid, don’t you know the name
I gave to you? You are Going Down in Flames,
down any road besides the one I laid for you, and I do not apologize
if every other kind should cause you pain,
or if the place that my voice calls from sounds insane,
your every breath will praise my name.”
There is no shelter. There’s no quiet afternoon.
There is no release for me, just like there is none for the moon.
The earth will swing her around in circles
Til she’s crazy as a loon,
Til God should will that gravity or mass should change their tune,
And that’s not coming any time soon.
I woke into two worlds at war.
There is no logic anymore.
The premises keep shifting,
like tectonic plates, like glaciers drifting
off to sleep in some other lovers arms,
and darling,
for as bad as you hurt,
you are just the tip of the iceburg.
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4. |
Builder Down
02:25
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You and me, we set out on the road
For stories without heroes, for places unknown.
And we talked about later on when we’d settle down, as we built
Ourselves into people who never will.
I was born with a thorn in my normal side,
I can’t keep my feet on the ground.
I was built full tilt for destruction
And I will not let my builder down.
Alone I’ve spent so much time in my brain
That everything else looks a little bit strange.
But I have grown up, grown strong, and grown apart
From everyone that I held dear to my heart.
Now I’m loyal, and I’m lonely, but I am not one bit tired.
My heart is on fire. I’m burning alive.
I was born with a thorn in my normal side,
I can’t keep my feet on the ground.
I was built full tilt for destruction,
And I will not let my builder down.
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5. |
The Broke Leg Dance
03:41
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I don’t mind if it all burns down to the ground.
I’m just a boy who floats around on a cloud.
And as such I am much accustomed to falling down
With any change in the weather.
You can prob’ly see,
I’m not the kind to look in the sky and be like,
“Hey! You can’t do that to me!”
I dust me off,
I don’t care if there’s a smoking gun.
I set off on my own two legs, dragging the broken one.
I’m gonna mend it on the run.
Check out my broke-leg dance! You’re gonna love it!
All the steps we tried just kept us on the outside.
I really think we’ll be alright
It’s the Broke-Leg Dance, and it goes on and on.
It’s the Broke-Leg Dance, and it goes on.
Oh well, oh well, I suppose it’s going to be fine.
Either way it’ll rain or the sun’s gonna shine…
All the steps we tried just kept us on the outside.
But I really think we’ll be alright
It’s the Broke-Leg Dance and it goes on and on.
It’s the Broke-Leg Dance and it goes on.
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6. |
Occupied
02:25
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I’m occupied. Don’t you know?
I’m busy! I’m watching this grass grow.
Bring it on, C’mon, let’s go!
You got to find a way to let me go, let me go,
Let me go on record: The gentle static, the night
moves soft across the vinyl grooves.
The moon is soul and the whole sky is blues.
Folk’s bodies are rhythm and my heart is pop.
Pop! And stopped mid cardiac arrest by the cops!
But not for long, mom. The charges drop
Off of me when I plead sincerity, faith, true belief and beauty.
I plead the fifth. The fifth dimension. And everyone
In the whole penitentiary went free.
But don’t try to peg this on me!
I’m a round hole, y’square!
But eventually we’ll agree, won’t we?
And that’s part of why we’re here, circling this square,
Learning like that Christ who went where
Perhaps we too may dare…
Meanwhile, let me learn to guard my time.
So that the self I give to thee be truly mine.
My radiance and dust!
Summer rusts, And it’s beautiful that she must.
Meanwhile, I’m occupied. Don’t you know?
I’m busy. I’m watching this grass grow.
Summer rusts. I must occupy myself thus.
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7. |
Surely These
03:17
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Surely these must be leaves flung
From that bush which burned but was not consumed
Or thrown,
Like burning embers from that chariot which swung
Low, before it rose to take Elijah home.
These blazing boats detach and drift
Through the air, incendiary emissaries carrying gifts
From above.
Lord, what is the way these days that you articulate your love?
The message is the same one spoke
To the prophet Moses long ago.
Say to all powers and all thrones,
“Let my people go.”
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8. |
Suzy
03:41
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Me and Suzy on the side of the road
With a card table and a line of mason jars
And a sign with letters large, saying:
“SWEET SUNSHINE FOR SALE”
And the cost was just one kiss,
But no one stopped, no one was buying this.
So we sold them back and forth all day to each other,
Sometimes charging double.
These days I would not trade
For anything that I ever wanted.
Life is long. It’s longer than mine.
There’s lots of ways to make it a good time
And one is to love all things.
A good strong darkness gone. A golden dawn
Drops beads of honey on the ground I’m resting on.
Bells ring, birds sing, door swings to bring forth
Suzy-with-the-blurry-eyes, smiles, “Look, Jon,
We got a beautiful sky! It’s like sherbert.”
These days I would not trade
For anything that I ever wanted.
Life is long. It’s longer than mine.
There’s lots of ways to make it a good time, and one…
Is to forgive all things that cause you pain,
And move on. Out of a good strong night to a golden dawn.
If it didn’t kill you, it’s something you can build on.
Don’t let it harden to hate.
If you want to get anywhere, you won’t with that weight.
Don’t let it slip away.
It’s part of you. You’ve got to work it in some way.
And keep on working it in. Like bread,
The yeast, the wheat and its gluten.
It’s fine if it takes a long time.
This is how we make things rise.
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9. |
Senorita
02:52
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A wisp of Spanish song grazed me at the coffee machine
I whipped around and I said, “Please sing that again, again for me.”
And thank God, she said yes.
So Senorita, sing that song. Sing it over all day long.
En mis ojos there is only you.
Senorita, sing that song para mi triste corazon.
En mis ojos there is only you.
There is a road that will take us to Mexico,
But if we follow it far it will reach the stars,
The farthest one you’ve every dreamed of,
On the wings of ...
So Senorita sing that song, sing it over all day long.
En mis ojos there is only you.
Senorita sing that song, para mi triste corazon.
En mis ojos there is only…Round and round we go!
You’re a dream, baby, dream, baby…
I know you’re going to leave me.
You only wanted coffee.
And to sing the songs of your mother’s homeland,
But just in case you wonder, just now it felt like summer.
Somewhere between your coffee and your sugar and cream
You swept me right into a really, really good daydream.
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10. |
The Frozen Brine
04:35
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I read a fairy tale, ladies fair, knights in mail.
Try and fail, return to sender, fender bender, spend yer night in jail.
Turn the page, get in a rage, mark my place with a rusty nail.
I closed that book up quick as quick
Marked my place with a burned out matchstick
Filled my pockets with guitar picks and poured into the street.
Because summer was my lover but she said she had to go
There was no discussion so I said goodbye and braced for snow
But a shivering breeze reminded me of her heat and how I missed her
Then here she shows up at my doorstep, what was I to do, I kissed her
And though the thickness of our lips aligned might call to mind those days behind
And drag us, crazy, laughing, to the street
I’d better know she still will go. Leaves will fall and half way down they’ll turn to snow
And I will find the body that’s wrapped around this heart of mine chest-deep in the frozen brine.
Chest deep in the frozen brine.
A hard wind came and brought me fame and ‘hey there fella what’s your game?’
‘Oh me? I hurt like hell in Jesus name and you should do the same.’
See, this path would lead to joy except this path is joy. And hurts like hell, and boy
You wouldn’t believe how far this path has swept me out to sea,
And played havoc with summer and me,
Til I couldn’t even tell who was winning: me, or summer, or havoc.
But while sinking I saw it, my only hope:
On the crest of a wave, a beautiful rose.
I took hold and it kept me afloat
As the next Ice Age popped and broke,
And I thank whoever’s that rose was, because it wasn’t mine,
But it kept me chest-deep in the frozen brine.
Chest deep in the frozen brine.
This book’s gone mad, like a wild colt
That I can’t put down though she revolt.
Mark my page with a lightning bolt
Touched to my lips and I swallowed it whole
But I could not keep it down at all
Like there was something inside that did not love a wall
My stomach lining turned silver then, And my eyes went shooting gold
And to my surprise I find There is this heat
that radiates from down inside my chest,
deep in the frozen brine.
Chest deep in the frozen brine.
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11. |
The Meadows
02:48
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Don’t tell me what to do
Or where to go
I’m a billy goat
Lost in the snow
I am the winter
When to the spring meadows you go.
So if you’re going to the meadows, don’t be gone long
If you’re going to the meadows, take me along
‘Cause if you go off to the meadows, I’ll be waiting up
So take me to the meadows, we’ll sing them a song.
Don’t tell me what to do
Or where to go
I’m a billy goat
Lost in the snow
While the lioness waits in the wings
For the lamb she so adores to present her with a ring.
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12. |
Balm for Gilead
01:53
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There is a balm that falls on Gilead,
Where there’s cracks in our faces
Where the tears have laid their tracks,
Where our swords and shields
Have gone to rust o’er the years
from the salt in our tears
which have covered all the land.
When time no more may measure out our days
That blessed salve will do no more to ease our pain.
When the lion can lay down beside the lamb
There is a balm for Gilead that we will never need again.
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13. |
I Had a Vision
02:27
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I had a vision
I saw the Kingdom
Rising from the ground like the mist in the morning,
Bursting from the earth like the corn in season
I had a vision, I had a vision.
I had a vision
I saw the Kingdom
People moving perfect, like the pistons in an engine.
Like when you smell that something good is happening in the kitchen.
I had a vision, I had a vision.
Oh, my hard-headed daughter, my stubborn son…
Go on and be hard-headed and stubborn if that’s what it takes to get the job done.
I had a vision.
I saw the Kingdom.
Rising from the ground like the mist in the morning.
Bursting from the earth like the corn in season.
I had a vision, I had a vision
That we would build,
With our hands and our tongues,
a prayer for our young
That we would grow gentle as we have grown strong.
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14. |
Love is Away
03:16
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You can be the big man in town
You can spread the gospel, spread it all around
They all got religion, you can see the change
You’ll never find it while your Love is away.
Now, I have seen them down at the track
Seen them spin the tires till the road was black
Racers to your marks, checkered flag
You’ll never find it while your Love is away.
Now, I have looked my Lover in the eye
And there’s no truer prayer than true desire
I’m bending spoons, I move at triple speed
All you broken-hearted, listen to me:
The wish you want to wish is the gift that comes from God;
From the center of the cosmos, from the tip of your tongue.
You run willy-nilly, to and fro. Just stay.
You’ll never find it while your Love is away.
I’ve got nothing else to say.
You’ll never find it while Love is away.
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Jon Felton and his Soulmobile Frostburg, Maryland
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