1. |
Beneath The Falls
04:58
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I saw you beneath the falls
You kept me waiting before the law
Though water is all I can see,
I can't perceive a single drop.
I didn't know what it was to be guilty
until the waterfall rushed in and filled me
man I don't even know,
I tried to put on a show
it was a shadow play only you could animate
I saw you beneath the falls
You kept me waiting before the law
The wall that I can't even see behind
is made of tiny drops
The only afterthought that you could give me
was that the shame of it was to outlive me
it must be like that I guess,
I want a chance to confess
It feels like after all I was set up for a fall
I saw you beneath the falls
You kept me waiting before the law
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2. |
Nameless
03:39
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If I lose
this
I'll know what confused is
and if I know
this
I'll be known in show-biz
and if I love
this,
I'll make strange discoveries
and if I kill
this
maybe I'll know stillness
I don't want anything
please don't tell me what it is I need
I might know everything
either way you'll get nothing from me
Nameless,
but I still know what it is.
and if I found
you
could I get around you
and if I had
you
I'd pretend I had to
become nameless
solitary, aimless
it don't concern
you;
I'd go if I were you.
I don't need anything
please don't act like something I would want
I'm in a better place
so far from the ways I used to haunt
Nameless,
but I still know what it is.
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3. |
Philosopher King
04:17
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When my Dad was like me
he was handsome and frisky and always wanted everything
he could see
so he drank lots of whiskey and called himself philosopher-king
of the street
till my mom pregnant with me said that she wasn't going to sing
her defeat, oh no
she in her infinite wisdom
made plans the first time she kissed him
she got it out of her system
she made him swear
whatever you fill your mind with,
whatever you feed your heart,
wherever you build, that's where I'll live
whatever you need, it's yours.
Look at me: I'm their boy
I'm what you get when mix together silver and brass
in alloy,
and everyone knows there are those who say they'd kill to have class,
Why be coy?
You're watching the wall when you could be out there shaking your ass
with the hoi polloi.
They with their innocent mingling
Keep all us poet-types singing
Who cares what philosopher-kings think?
I'll have you know:
whatever you fill your mind with,
whatever you feed your heart,
wherever you build, that's where I'll live
whatever you need, it's yours.
Thou splendid Illuminato,
hold us incommunicado
and make Peoria look like Chicago;
No, I insist,
whatever we fill our minds with
whatever we feed our hearts
whatever we build, we'll abide with
until it falls apart.
I will not be ashamed,
I come from the soil
should the dirt be blamed?
I will not be misled
to believe this love is
politics instead
(Cacophony is silence
into the ears of tyrants
you're only making the same mistake
you're only making the same mistake)
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4. |
Around
02:49
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You're all very kind
but we won't be cool
until I've repaid
your investment in full
So hello, it's me,
your prodigal son
I just want a way
to show everyone
I'm around
I'm young and alive
from dandruff to toes
and I could be a slave
to that life, I suppose
alternatively,
I could do as I please,
but I don't please much
and not much pleases me
I used to wake up from my sleep to find that I was smothering
and too afraid to take a breath I would prepare my mind for death
and ever since I've had no doubt the small can always be snuffed out
I fear to let that silence grow. I want a way to let you know
I'm around
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5. |
The Wind in The Trees
03:31
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I've been tripping over this,
since I first experienced
that the water in a kiss
causes something to grow
And it shame of it all is,
I can recognize the bliss,
But it's too easy to miss
what you don't wanna know
Cos I don't want this for myself
I'd rather be
I don't want this for myself
You see how every leaf
acknowledges the breeze?
I wanna be received
like the wind in the trees
Everywhere I go you're warned
That there's bound to be a storm,
I need no stage to perform
Nor a reason to dance
Don't mistake my ways for free,
I am moved unwillingly
but I will be what I will be,
Apologies in advance.
And I don't want you for myself,
you oughtta be
I don't want you for myself.
I'm moving in your arms,
I'm shaking at my knees
I hope to leave no harm,
like the wind in the trees.
My belly scrapes the ground,
and I move invisibly
(Restless, silence, life of runaway imprisonment)
But you gave me shape and sound,
like the wind in the trees
(Fragrance, violence, your audible tension, my diligence)
I'd linger
in beauty
your fingers
running through me
you'd only
be covering
the fact that
I'm nothing
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6. |
||||
Give me my violin to play! said the devil on his dying day
Even the devil knows how to pray: give me my violin to play!
Today must be his dying day, that even the devil might sighing say,
"I surrender unto thee; this savage idol is older than me! "
I want to take you, I want to take you
where you don't want to go
I want to teach you, I want to teach you
what you don't want to know
so listen up! And listen well,
it's meant to be this hard,
this waiting life that you call hell,
it is its own reward.
This savage idol demands affection
Its world is tribal, it needs protection
it's not for granted, it's not forgiving
it gives you life, but not a living
I want to be strong in you
I want to belong to you
I wanna proclaim you,
burn me if you wanna, tyger, I'm gonna tame you
I'm going to mold you, I'm going to mold you
out of this maiden clay
They bought and sold you, they bought and sold you
and I will make them pay
the politics of guitar licks
are still up for debate
but I the rage I know
at every show
is neither love nor hate, but devotion to
This savage idol
too dread to mention
who binds his bible
in cat intestine
This savage idol
that eats your children
is suicidal
can we rebuild him?
I lived as a ghost.
This savage idol
it lies pathetic
under some kind of
an anesthetic
like a New Year's toast
or a comedy roast
or an idle boast
or a whipping post,
I lived as a ghost.
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7. |
Mea Culpa
04:33
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8. |
Downtown & Brooklyn
04:41
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Friday night
with all the pressure that implies
and I'd run out of alibis
and so I had to go
I went and I saw the show
people whom I vaguely know
stand in line and make a row
and I left without goodbyes
My head and my back
the bones of my body stacked
atop each other clicker-clack
as I walk on
and I feel so far gone
in my head I write this song
hoping I won't wait too long
at the subway track;
I'm singing,
Downtown and Brooklyn, take me home tonight
and the F train,
the F train knows I need it, yes,
and never comes with speed, it just
lives to spite me
I have no control, I have no power
I could be standing here for an hour
for all it cares to expedite me
there's a death-song in my head,
and I fight the urge to sing
there's a man on the saxophone,
he's playing "My Favorite Things"
now when I'm underground I'm practically dead
all I want is rest and end and bed
and too many thoughts come into my head
and this is when they like to screw with me
and I'll be raw before they'rethrough with me
sometimes don't know what to do with me
all my best-laid plans
am I mouse or am I man?
Downtown and Brooklyn, take me home tonight
my life's a pattern of mute invitations
fear of acceptance and new obligations
humiliations I never have borne
self-judging rancor and self-serving scorn
all my friends and their personal trials
and all of their bands and their passionate styles
Kentile Floors and the county of Kings
these are a few of my favorite things
when the train comes
I still feel dumb
feel like I been had
I simply remember my favorite things
and then I don't feel so bad.
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9. |
Lou Rawls
03:19
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Pretend
we're traveling through time
and we don't know where we'll wind up
Pretend
you're in the valley of the blind
flashing smiles
and putting signs up.
What kind of world do you want to know?
And your kids to live in?
Man, you've got nowhere else to go--
or are your dreams that vivid?
Enjoy
this haunted aura
because it's only temporary
Enjoy
these words of Atrum's bedlam wisdom
and nostalgia half unburied.
I am with you,
don't you know I was already there?
I am in your mind, my love.
I am with you;
wherever you go I will be there
as long as you are thinking of
*unintelligible*
So come on waste the day with me
and I will take you places you would never leave if you could
it ain't my fault don't blame me
oh it's all my fault please forgive me I'm so sorry I'll be good.
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10. |
The Flight
05:41
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Won't you take me away
from this terrible place?
I don't know what to say
as long as we're here.
Everyone who remains
voices rattle my chains
and their picking my brains
is all that I fear.
Well that's as may be, but
you're gonna have to pay the price if you wanna be free
(for everyone that comes to me
you know it don't come easily)
And I want to be perfectly sure that you're
everything that I've been looking for
(What kind of secrets can I share
if I can't take you anywhere?)
Hey, kid, wait, I think you're charming, too;
you're innocent, you think you've got harm in you.
You wanna fly? Start jumping.
You wanna fly? Get jumping!
And if you let go now
the air may not hold you
why should it when you're so
indifferent to this truth
And if you are so sure
we cannot make you stay
then where else would you go?
There's no place called away.
Bid me safe return to sender,
let me soar and not surrender.
Won't you take me away
from this terrible place?
I don't know what to say
as long as we're here.
Everyone who remains
voices rattle my chains
and their picking my brains
is all that I fear.
Kid, the only angel Heaven ever sends
is the one who brings each moment to an end
(And so I come on silent wings,
deliver souls from tyrant things)
No wonder they call us as light as a feather!
You've got to be earthbound to return to forever.
(The only state that you'd call grace
is in the solitude of space).
Go on! If you can't fly---move!
You're lazy for someone with so much to prove!
You wanna fly? Get jumping.
Too tough to try? Ain't that something!
And if you let go now
the air may swallow you
what's stopping it now you're
submissive to this truth
The sky's a jealous hand
that circles you around
there's only its command
there is no up and down
Feel so high since I surrendered
am I flying or just suspended?
Feel so high since I surrendered
am I flying or just suspended?
Won't you take me away? I'm ready
Won't you take me away? I'm ready
Won't you take me away? I'm ready,
I'm ready to learn how to fly.
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11. |
Vivid Dreams
04:59
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Slowly wind and creep
falling away from sleep
the pillars start to moan
supporting you all alone
Reach the mystic sight
startled they seem tonight
eternity came in between
me and my vivid dreams
Returning to what really believes in me
setting myself free in the colors resplendent
my world, my land craves endless ability
me and my vivid dreams.
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12. |
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I often feel like Dale Petroskey
It's up to me to guard the past
These crazy days, I guess you've lost me,
The only game in town is covering your ass
"Z is for Zenith,
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.
I is for me,
not a hard-hitting man,
but an outstanding all-time
incurable fan."
They love me here,
they always will
I kinda screwed up
They love me still
This whole damn world is going down
Meanwhile in Cooperstown
I often feel like Dale Petroskey
It's up to me to guard the past
These crazy days, I guess you've lost me,
The only game in town is covering your ass
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13. |
In Your Mind
05:03
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Everything's over, after all
I found a time that's beautiful
Sing on, beaten soul, you deserve
light at the end of the musical
Spit in my face, 'cos empathy
does not exist when you survive
A trick that never ends and is the joke
I'm always laughing, after all
I find I slowly fall back in your mind, when you fear I hope I am in your mind.
This might seem challenging, just because
I'm all alone and miserable
so I look into the sun for some help
it burns and blinds me, it answered me
Darkness is my friend, can't you tell
I feed off changes in my sight
Ambience takes over next to me
lost in the music, come find me
I find I slowly fall back in your mind, when you fear I hope I am in your mind.
Tell me what I can't know
it's not wrong to ask, is it?
Tell me what I can't know
cos someday I may have to go
into the valley of shadow
just to pay a visit.
What goes on,
my love?
What goes wrong
inside of
because your mind
was all minds
because your mind
was all mine.
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14. |
Seven Against Thebes
04:41
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Oh familiar,
strange and divine
I can't tell you,
but I know it's mine
If I worship,
if I protest,
Time folds inward,
inner incest.
Don't you remember the youth of the world? It was magic.
There was nothing but spirit, and that's how all old things were made
Now nothing but spirit is left of the girl,
and a militant cry from the youth of the world
at the body's unbending intention of lasting an age.
And I am coming
to claim what is mine.
You specters of the past
I wanna see you in the shadow of sunset
You teasing memories
Outside the gates with nothing to show for
I want your autograph
I'll sell it back to you when this is all over
These friends won't bury me
I know the city will fall but not yet
Seven against Thebes!
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Sister Helen New York, New York
2003-2017
Sister Helen was:
Nathan J. Campbell-
Vocals
Chris Krasnow- Guitar/Vocals
Eva Lawitts- Bass/Vocals
Clint Mobley- Drums
... more
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