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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Pretend You Don't Know Me, sweetnsour sally, If I Told You, The Shine, and It Used To Be A City.
1. |
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Pretend you don’t know me—
Pretend that I’ve never said a word
Gather up all of my belongings and set them outside on the curb
Imagine what happened the first time our thoughts were overheard
I’m struggling through slumber
My mind winds into a knot
Twisting & turning every possibility I’ve got
Doubling over before I get the chance to take a shot
Strange ideas in the afternoon, weird sleep every night
when it feels like they’re after you, you’re probably right
There’s changes in the weather
Like you like to change the way you wear your hair
The changes in the world today have left us feeling unprepared
Rock and roll the windows down,
Let the sirens swim through the air
I’ve got a lot inside me
If you drive me I will drive you
crazy in the afternoon, weird sleep all night
because when it feels like they are after you, you’re probably right—
when at last the night takes over & you drift off to dream,
I’ll be behind the glass trying to find out what it means to have strange ideas
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2. |
Brainstorms
03:27
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The cloud has been keeping me alive,
telling me where to go & what to buy
& all around the world is weird—
I cut my hair & shaved my beard
watch while the sky grows awful dark
we are all plugged into one big heart
wait a minute I’ll call back soon—
before too long I’ll be with you
& if you want I’ll fix some tea
a cup for you, a couple cups for me
we’ll sit and talk the whole night through—
watch the sun replace the moon
& cut me roses for my bed
so many brainstorms in my head
it rains and rains & rains some more
but that is what I am thankful for
so, remind me to tell you my dreams
& wake me if I start to scream
a dark horse keep me up at night
neighing, braying, trying to fight me
I’d fly around the whole wide world
to be your boy, to be your girl
& learn things that I never knew
I’ll call you if I am feeling blue
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3. |
Gravity
02:41
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If you fall like sugar falls
from inside my mouth
will you let me hold you by the hand
& if it feels unexpected from this height—
you feel weightless?
will you let me hold you tight?
Will you breathe deep into me,
let me close your eyes?
There’s no need to try to see just how high we may be
Silently, we let ourselves inside
gravity is actually a constant feeling
that pulls me down gently to the ground
& makes me think of you
I’m restless & I’m breathless
imagining your eyes, drawn to mine
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4. |
Bought & Sold
03:38
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Take your teapot from the table
Mix your mistakes with your mood
Fix yourself a cup of whiskey
Send your baby a couple of nudes
Maybe hang me from your saddle
As you cross the country cold
I love it when you buy me
I hate always getting sold
If you have somebody over
I can come back some other day
I am a couple of months sober
But that feeling never really fades
If you find that I’ve grown quiet
The words get stuck in my head
And though I know I can’t deny it
I want to take back what I’ve said
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5. |
The Fallout
02:52
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There’s a full moon glowing over
The ocean & I’m still alive
They’re catching something in the Basin
& the nets are full of lies—
Well call the doctor! we’re all fainting, we’re all scratching at the door
There’s a whistle in the wind that I have never heard before…
Could you sing out Hallelujah
before you fall to sleep?
I’ve been praying, afraid the fallout is silently about to creep
& the sickness that we bury in the closets, in the dark
is taking shape & growing fingers…another lynching in the park.
Call me Moses or call me crazy, I have heard it all before,
chop a tree down, shoot the sheriff, or whoever is keeping score,
cut the lights out, Tchoupitoulas, just be ready, be prepared
there’s no need to be embarrassed, everyone I know gets scared
Reach your hand out, I will kiss it, pull you up onto the train,
but don’t worry if you miss it, I promise I’ll be back again
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6. |
Bouquet
03:28
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Sixteen delicate roses
tied together on display.
Some humble way to make people pause:
Come in & smell the bouquet!
Kicking carols down a Christmas-cobbled street
while wind whistles through the snow
Can candlelight grow wings and carry me
to the home I used to know?
Sixteen sweet-petalled roses
fit together so peacefully
I’m a vase & I’m broken
I’m only partially me
~
I’ve got secrets and you’ve got me,
you’ve got what you need right now.
I’ve got pieces I don’t intend for you to see
The curtain calls us all to bow
Sixteen quiet stolen roses
starting to wilt in front of me—
It gets hard for me to notice
I need to step outside and breathe
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7. |
If I Had A Daughter
03:59
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If I had a daughter, tell me how I could explain
if everyone forgot her standing outside in the rain
or if all of the monsters turn out to be real
or if no one believes her when she tells them how she feels?
Would I ever learn to trust the world to treat her right
or would I find a way to never let her leave my sight?
I know one day without warning she will wind up hurt—
Another storm’s approaching and my worries are getting worse.
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8. |
Sweetnsoursally
03:43
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Come on over sweetnsour Sally,
come lay your headache on my heart,
come in out of weather, we’ll watch as the winter falls apart
Will it rain this time tomorrow?
there’s an aching in my bones—
A dying phone on the dining room table, seems I’ll be eating all alone
Come on over sweetnsour Sally,
Come with your questions & your doubt
Please deliver me from evil, just pop your little pills into my mouth
When it comes my time for dying
worms will turn my body back to earth—
You will see my smile in a mile of country flowers,
splash some whiskey for me on the dirt
Come on over sweetnsour Sally
I found some shelter from the storm,
I will show you my collections & teach you some old tricks for keeping warm
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9. |
Used To It
02:37
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My best friend’s got snakes in her pockets
She has got a real hard time digging for change
And her brain is fried & her heart is a bleeding, bloody mess,
but that’s the worst of it…
she’s got real good friends
in real high places,
never forgets a face,
but every time that she meets you,
she will call you by a new name
just get used to it
& get used to love—
it’s only confusing when you’re bruising from the slightest touch
& your fingers hold fast to a hand you are losing
just fold before you lose too much
my girl’s got electric lips,
fire in her hips & a real quick whip
that will snap you into place,
wipe a smile clean off your face
turn & walk away & leave you with a touch of grace
so get used to love…
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10. |
Broken Down
04:10
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I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired of singing
I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired of breathing
so, I take out my teeth and I put them in a jar by the sink
I sit down on the curb outside my apartment to think
about where I’m at—
it’s a gray morning and the cars are rolling slow
seems something happened here last night I’ll never know
the dust is blowing nobody’s meeting my eyes
nobody’s talking too hurt to feel surprised
about what’s happened right here—
I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired of drinking
I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired of thinking
So I walk down to the river and I draw your name in the mud
I find a little bottle and I fill it all up with my blood
& I watch my arm bleed all over me
I guess you hit a nerve when you asked if I was feeling all right,
You see my little sister finally had her baby last night
two thousand miles away might not be too far for some,
there’s not much to say when you don’t have anyone
to compare yourself to
to see right through
to be next to when you want to break down
I think I’ve broken down
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11. |
Handstands
04:00
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On the weekends, Quarter’s crazy
There’s a baby in my brain
So cut the music, cut the laughter
Play some poker if you can behave
cuz there are singing preachers & parasitic pictures
& they all want to kiss her, though there’s a new one on the way.
Oh! be careful of your heroes, every year is just more of the same damn shit
Every summer it’s the same thing,
it’s a bummer, so you leave
California or New England,
Anywhere is a relief
from singing preachers & parasitic pictures
who all want to kiss her, though there’s a new one on the way
Oh! be careful of your heroes, no one always does what they say
—there’s a woman selling roses with a basket full of bread,
she has told me doing handstands has protected her from death
& all those singing preachers
…turns out everybody shares some blame
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12. |
Until
03:41
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When you let your hair down
I want to lay on the ground
& feel your fingers
hold my heart
when the world
pulls me apart
I have walked many miles
& I have talked through slanted smiles
now when I find
I’m all alone,
it cools my mind
to be your bone
& as I lay me down to sleep
I pray I may be yours to keep
I’ll be your lover,
I’ll be your friend
I’ll be your burden
until the end
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Anthony Oscar New Orleans, Louisiana
folk songs
joke songs
news songs
blues songs
new orleans, la
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