1. |
From Scratch
04:29
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Fascinating abstractions
The chairs up on the table top
Look like the Garden of Babylon
With the columns of magnolias
You call me in the darkest hour
After the customers are all gone
You fog the window, and draw an arrow
All the distractions are so far in the distance
All the distractions are so far gone
Still you insist
That we start from scratch, and that's it.
Fascinating obsessions
You're down in the coat check
Guarding a body of intentions
From the circling wolves of portraiture.
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2. |
Today This Year
04:30
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I knocked on the lion's mouth, and through the valley it echoes
In that desert desolation, the coffee lasted just until this moment
And thank God.
Under the stoic Golden Gate, you met my arrival
Standing in the sunlight, your skin was a stained glass window
To your soul.
Today this year, the summer recovery near
You were so whole when I was all strain out
Hung from the clothesline.
You were so strong, when I was all gone
Hung from the clothesline.
You rolled up your sleeves and asked for the bags I've been carrying.
i said " Thanks for your kindness, but they've kinda become a part of me,
And I've got 'em"
Under the goose neck's embrace, you asked what brings me so far away from home
I said "I've been collecting names, and tracing them from headstones".
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3. |
Deer Ghost
04:37
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Bracing for the oncoming storm
In a warehouse where nothing stays warm.
Plywood on the windows and blankets under the doors.
Remnants of a party long gone
Just some frozen amber in the lawn
We braved the cold and went outside
Without our shoes on.
Unsure of what comes next,
But I can see it.
I know it doesn't exist.
Your pulse was hidden under a sheet
The grapevines clutching to the heat
You said "Why don't we even try something?"
So I bit my tongue and tasted copper
You used the blood to practice your penmanship
In a broken script.
I told you about the deer ghost.
It crossed the meadow and leapt over the road.
You bowed your head in the candlelight and froze.
I was looking at the ghost at George Washington Post
As it was waiting for me to come home
But when the morning comes it's understandable
Just a drawing pinned to the window.
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4. |
Light Goes Out
04:11
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Take control
I don't want it anymore
Take me back to the inventor
Tell me when the light goes out
And I'll swoop down like a hawk
Tell me when the house has been absolved
Tell me when the light goes out.
I've got a price on my back now
Tell me when you've burned the evidence.
In a fraction of a percent
I'm off the grid, independent.
Comparing what I've got
To the diagram I've drawn.
In the folds of existence.
I was practicing mindfulness
As I was scrubbing every dish
And it isn't what I expected.
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5. |
Elements
03:34
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I only think of you when it's too late
When your hands are dipped in ink.
When your hands are dipped in ink.
I only think of you when it's too late
When i've had all i can take.
And I've had all I can take.
I waited up all night at the cathedral
Where wax spills into a lake.
Wax spills into a lake.
I waited up all night at the cathedral
Pleading for a patron saint
To come and take me away
It's a beautiful night to be so uninvited
To be so longing.
It's a beautiful night to be up on the rooftop
To be so opened up to the elements.
I only think of you when I'm spinning
Under a tempest tin ceiling
Under a tempest tin ceiling.
I only think of you when I'm spinning
And I don't know where I've been
And I don't know where I've been.
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6. |
Sleepwalking
04:54
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we talked until exhaustion
we talked until the dawn
i wanted you to stay a little longer
but i know you gotta move on
we walked into the garden
of the candy coated trees
all i ever wanted
was a locket marked with your handwriting
we're gonna go out sleepwalking
gonna go with eyes painted on our eyelids
gonna go and empty out our pockets
gonna go out sleepwalking
we walked into the darkness
stealing bread from the back alley
escaping the rain under that blue black awning
when we were down at the pencil factory
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7. |
Wanderer
04:21
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wanderer, oh wanderer
walking barefoot 'til it hurts
crossing a frozen bridge to work
wanderer, oh wanderer
looking for obsessions to endure
thawing a frostbitten character
looking for a hearthstone to slowly burn a parable
into cinders and driftwood
your carpet bag holds a makeshift bed
holds a folded map
holds your tickets
remembers where you've been
even when you can't
wanderer, oh wanderer
bare mattress on the floor
won't you come and stay over?
looking for a hearthstone to slowly thaw a heart withdrawn
into something you can hold
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8. |
Stay Up Stay Out
03:58
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Tracing the highway under the haunted hum
Stripped of my senses and recalling what I've done
Take your time
I'll be here for awhile, overcome
Dangling our bare feet from the diving board
Anticipating your last night
Sunburned and beautiful
Take your time, I'm counting days and crashing on the floor
Can you stay up, stay out?
Until the wallflowers wilt?
Stay up, stay out?
Balanced on stilts?
Can you stay up, stay out?
Oh no, I'm so far gone
I've reexamined everyone
Embracing all the shattered glass
And cracks in the pavement
Take your time, we made it so much further than before.
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9. |
Call Me Late
04:11
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Faith quietly follows you
Like the words I spoke on Bird's Eye View
You practice your gifts, between shifts
The furnace burning in your chest
In a century old tenement
The spirits haunt every stroke of the pen.
You call me late.
I pace the floor 'til the day is done
Where have all the adventurers gone?
I guess you and I are the only ones.
List of lists, repeating wishes
In your head, infinite.
Florescent fumes, curling lips
I'm desperate for a passing glance.
Sorting through my documents
To find my worth
There isn't any.
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10. |
Bottleneck
04:30
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The bruised sun set on a marionette
The neighbors all gathering
Stars spinning, hanging above
So many memories that we're struggling with.
In the blue room,
This is a different one
Than you spent the last couple of months
The mechanical sounds are rainclouds
The clock hands are soaked, and slowing down.
When you're not there, you're hyper-aware
Competing in the World Fair
When you're grounded, not where you wanted.
Just a stiff upper lip and a kiss on the forehead.
It's everlasting.
At the celebration all the years show
Under the golden eagle lamp glow
The baby Jesus from the bottleneck
Somehow disappeared from above the kitchen sink
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Brian Keenan Brooklyn, New York
Brian Keenan is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, NY.
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