1. |
Over the Garden
02:41
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LYRICS
All summer standin' over the garden
The air was sweet and the flowers so alive with
A will to reach the sun but
I could not feel the sun at all
I saw hens and there were foxes
Somehow the baby birds grew strong enough to
Fly but I could not fly
Sing but my lips were dry
And when the curling vines caressed me so
I could hardly find the voice to say "Please: Let me go."
I waited every day in summer
Blooming four o'clocks and fireflies, they
Pleaded valiantly yet
My heart was still defiant
And then you came into my garden
Just as autumn winds were swaying the trees
And when you lit upon me
I felt your pulse go beat beat
And as I strove to shed these scales of gray
This trembling must have frightened you away
Oh no, oh my
Oh no, oh my
Oh no, away
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2. |
Next Year
03:24
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LYRICS
You caught me on a bad break;
Don't count me out.
I'll escape predicaments,
Never you doubt.
Meet me on the west coast.
Give me time.
When you see me next year,
I will shine.
The fires are burning low
While they sleep, I will stow away
As we disembark
I will cast off every charge they lay
Lay
Lay
When you see me;
When I come around, come around:
You won't believe
your eye-eyes.
Clean-cut and cleaned up;
No trash hanging 'round.
You'll be so proud, I'll
Take you to the pictures
Where the liars perish first
Gave them rope and they did their worst, it's true.
A heart-beat is all it took
Fractious truths and the Buildings shook, did you?
You?
You?
And in the movie: the hero gets the girl
And the fortune, too.
Like one of your stories, I’ll be the leading
Man: I'll be good to you, again
Where the liars perish first
Gave them rope and they did their worst, it's true.
A heart-beat is all it took
Fractious truths and the Buildings shook, did you?
You?
You?
When you see me next year
When you see me next year
When you see me next year
When you see me next year, I will
Shine.
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3. |
This is an Adventure
03:25
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LYRICS
Call it love, or adventure; or just to shake the dust
From some neglected fender, call it what you must
Put some distance between the author of your diary
And who you'll be when the pages burn.
You'll say; you'll see: There is no return.
Why would you wanna return?
Lost your heart to the ocean, your road map to the wind
Found an old roller coaster, and lost your voice again
It made your pay-phone calls cryptic and your biographers cringe
(They) came unhinged: It never made much sense.
Plot lines intertwined: It always ends like this.
It's how it always is.
Foreign shores and snow-capped peaks and penniless on uptown streets;
You're smiling in a snapshot.
Ran away and run aground, the romance of the lost-and-found,
From Sukhumvit to the Bowery.
Older now, and pockets full, the ring you wore, the westward pull
A microphone, a statuette, a flashlight.
Around midnight
Call it love, or adventure; call it an escape.
Say you came here for the weather. Know it's all the same.
Say we're migratory birds and you get close to the truth
How'd you do when the pages burned?
You say: You’ll see. There is no return.
Why would you wanna return?
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4. |
Diving Board
03:47
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LYRICS
The light from distant stars makes up for battle scars:
A scratch and scrape climbing over the gate.
Beneath the summer trees, stretched out like casualties:
The clothes we wore to the party before.
You're on the diving board, the diving board
Up on the diving board, the diving board
There's so much to learn about you. Here in the dark I've found you:
Tan-lines showing: Your smile is so knowing, oh.
One foot upon the ladder. You ask me "What's the matter?"
The breeze comes through. You're shivering, too.
We're on the diving board, the diving board
Up on the diving board, the diving board
If I decide to dive in deep
Will this become a raging sea?
Or will the waters melt with me?
With you beside me
Please come find me.
You're laughing nervously and I'm reaching out for your hand
Please proceed overboard with me.
The crickets all go silent. The world's intent on finding
What happens next? Just hold your breath.
Jump from the diving board, the diving board
Off of the diving board, the diving board
If I decide to dive in deep
Will this become a raging sea?
Or will the waters melt with me?
When you're beside me…
If I decide to dive in deep
Will this become a raging sea?
Or will the waters melt with me?
If you're beside me…
Please come find me.
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5. |
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LYRICS
Think on those nights, the lights, the crowd, the songs, the scene
Grasp at a final memory as you swing east
You're just behind the w__ing
Catch the city spread out, a picture in grey and brown and green
It don't reveal a thing
And now these films, the pills, the chimes, the clouds beneath
The pouty girls in uniforms, pressed and clean
The engines si__ng
A song that's between liberation and apology
As you take leave
Now the photographs: Look far away; seem fake
As they turn as they turn yeah
All these lives and they turn as they turn, yeah
All these photographs: So far away;
Watch them fade as they turn, as they turn yeah
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6. |
Chinese Tobacco
03:19
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LYRICS
For many years, I'd been searching for a fire
The only bule on a flight to Surabaya
Woke up at sunset, had a caipirinha
The city flickered on like a neon candelabra, singing
Follow me down, Follow me down, we're going
Home
The city had its heart, had its organs
I told my driver I was seeking its intestines
He said "no problem" called me "professor"
Spoke little English, but he knew what I was after, singing
Follow me down, Follow me down, we're going
Home
Drove till we had to walk: Me and the driver
Into a district that was run by Tamil Tigers
I swear that I could smell Ahpenyen cookin'
And then my driver was arrested by policemen, singing
Follow me down, Follow me down
I will be fire tonight.
And I will burn brighter tonight.
I will drift skyward tonight: I'm going
Home
I wandered alleys, in a maze of unknown faces
I wasn't lost enough, till I'd walked a thousand paces.
I was accosted by a pack of ragged children.
Too young to read but they knew about my mission, singing:
Follow me down, Follow me down, we're going
Home
Back in the states, so put together.
For kids of privilege, I'm the favorite professor.
But over here, they can tell that I am broken:
A broken man, being led by broken children, singing:
Follow me down, Follow me down
I will be fire tonight.
And I will burn brighter tonight.
I will drift skyward tonight: I'm going
Home
From a doorway, a plaintive whisper
A girl with skin as pale as alabaster.
Red hair swirled as she backed into the shadows
I took a step toward the end of all my sorrows, singing
Follow me down, Follow me down
I will be fire tonight.
And I will burn brighter tonight.
I will drift skyward tonight: I'm going
Home
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7. |
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LYRICS
Tally book in tow, you're searching high and low
For a merganser
(I'm) down in the beak, I can barely think
Why won't you answer?
Crazy as a loon, graceful as a swoon
When I told her
I'm migrating away, and you with naught to say
I still love you
It's over now, a greater scaup
Couldn't console you
Long after dark, was it just a lark?
A bird in the hand
A word I demand
Through an opera glass, the feather in my cap
Will falter
Before I take to wing, lover won't you sing
That you want me? You know you've got me
Do you still want me?
If this ends will you pretend that I didn't love you?
In spring when Robins sing, I'll be dreaming of you.
A bird in the hand
A word I demand
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8. |
When You Think of Me
04:10
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LYRICS
Too far: too far now. Thoughts tumble out: People and places.
In hand, grains of sand, slipping away, the names and faces.
Tow coins sailing out spinning around into a fountain.
Two boys awash in noise: Say "good luck" and this is away we go.
When you think of me, say "he was dignified and refined"
When you think of me, say "he was generous, oh so kind"
This road, how far it goes: Twists and turns and turns out a one-way.
Back home, circles close Sew themselves up, the scar is a fading
Line through lives you once were living.
Do you remember them: Brandon, Kathryn and me?
When you think of me, say "he laughed aloud, he made us smile"
When you think of me, talk of the ones I loved: “Drove ‘em wild”
In your winter clothes, just before the bus comes.
Oh and summer knows the things we couldn't run from.
Sing please, we made the darkness
Bright: A light in our time.
When you think of me, say "he was fearless, he looked danger in the eye."
When you think of me, say "he was smart, a smart-ass, a brilliant mind."
Then say "He was one of the good ones, a good man, and God Damn, do we miss him so.
"He was honest and modest and GOOD LOOKING. Tell us where did that good man go?"
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9. |
The Island
03:11
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LYRICS
Two vagabond sailors
Strayed for twenty-four years
Oh we were starved when our ships ran aground
Sated when we did draw near
Full we were living here.
The crews were elated
Though the games got out of hand
We pulled an island out of rough seas
Not just a castle of sand
No, not just a castle of sand
And when it did rain, we lay close and laughed
And when it got worse, we hid what we had
In Spring there was tension
The crews would stare out to sea
You went on foot to scale the tallest peak
I readied my vessel to leave, oh
I charted a route to the east
In summer, you came back, savage and bronzed
We feasted all night, we feted the dawn
Conquistadores say we're the lucky ones
The puritans, say we're the lucky ones
The historians say we're the lucky ones
Come on
Come on
Come on
Madly and sadly, again came the spring (came the spring)
The crews were both restless, you know what I mean (know what I mean)
We pulled up the anchors and took to the wing
I said, fond goodbye
We said, "fond goodbye"
This was yours and mine
We sailed on with the tide
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10. |
Fire Safety
04:41
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LYRICS
Smoke in the air, it felt like Christmas Awoke to a day deceptively dangerous
Scenes from the evening flickered round like an ardent moth being drawn to candlelight
Say a classic phrase, an eyebrow raised
Oh fire brigade
Raised me right, but they never taught me the finer points of fire safety
We let a spark fly, oh so carelessly into the dead leaves of some verdant history
So though it glowed we never knowed
We didn't know
I have seen you smile and now that I've seen you smile
I just want to make you
Smile
Close as matchsticks, a crowded kitchen we'd been acquainted, but you hadn't mentioned
You know how to soft-shoe, you hate romance But you fall hard for poetry and soft hands
I lied Took your side When you decried
The scene inside
Took to the street when the gin ran dry Walked to your favorite bar but didn't go inside
At the cemetery, you tapped away the cold till I reminded you of the last bus home
I sighed When you'd gone by I just sighed
When you went by you were so bright You went by I was on
Fire
I have seen you smile and now that I've seen you smile
I just want to make you
Smile
Raised me right, but they never taught me the finer points of fire safety
You let a spark fly, oh so carelessly and now the flames are catching inside of me
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Little Cinema San Jose, California
Purveyors of Fine Indie Pop from San Jose. Former Hollywood Gossip. New album “Safety” out now!
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