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Hope to Leave No Harm

by Sister Helen

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1.
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
2.
Nameless 03:39
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.
3.
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)
4.
Around 02:49
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
5.
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
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.
7.
Mea Culpa 04:33
8.
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.
9.
Lou Rawls 03:19
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.
10.
The Flight 05:41
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.
11.
Vivid Dreams 04:59
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.
12.
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
13.
In Your Mind 05:03
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.
14.
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!

credits

released October 28, 2012

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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
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