1. |
Degas and Cassatt
01:51
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There’s a risk this is nothing
There’s a risk of delusion
There’s a risk I have been
A foolish woman
Then I think of Degas
And what he said when he saw
That painting by Cassatt
Said, “So it’s real!
“So there’s someone who knows
How I feel.”
My mind’s spinning records
That no one has made
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2. |
Body in Motion
02:51
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I wanna be a body in motion
I wanna make a quiet commotion
Don’t you wish you were a wave in the ocean?
Rollin, rollin, a body in motion
I wanna be a Kenmore sewing machine
Nineteen sixties army green
Keep things together with my seams
From a needle piercing unapologetically
I wanna be a body in motion
I wanna make a quiet commotion
Don’t you wish you were a wave in the ocean?
Rollin, rollin,
A body in motion
I wanna be
that thing that sits on people’s desks in the movies
A system of weights and of strings
That moves back and forth click-clacking auspiciously
To be honest
I had to look up what auspicious meant
It means conducive to success
I want to
Conduce
Success, success
I wish I weren’t a mess
Success, success
I wish I weren’t a mess
I wanna be a body in motion
I wanna make a quiet commotion
Don’t you wish you were content with knowing
You’re no one,
no one
You’re just a body in motion
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3. |
Wild Guess
02:59
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The sun didn’t come out this morning
I bet it won’t come out anymore
What is there to do but believe the worst is true?
At least I’ve got my fear to keep me warm
My pretty little fear
I get you out of bed
I brush your pretty hair
I make sure that you’re fed
We both know, my dear
You’re a wild guess
Sauntering around my mind
In your Sunday best
My friend hasn’t called back since last evening
I bet that’s the last friend that I make
I’ll go to sleep resigned and if I make it through the night
At least my fear will be there when I wake
My pretty little fear
I get you out of bed
I brush your pretty hair
I make sure that you’re fed
We both know, my dear
You’re a wild guess
Sauntering around my mind
In your Sunday best
This afternoon I got to thinking
Pretty soon my thinking got to me
I heard that kettle sing
I let some worries steep
And I poured myself a big old mug of
Anxie-tea
My pretty little fear
I get you out of bed
I brush your pretty hair
I make sure that you’re fed
We both know, my dear
You’re a wild guess
Sauntering around my mind
In your Sunday best
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4. |
Baby in the Eighties
03:44
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Slept like a baby in the late eighties
I am older now, just holding on
Most days it’s caffeine that gets me up and going
I am older now, just holding on
And on and on and on
And on and on and on
I was doing fine in the mid-nineties
I am older now, just holding on
Most days it’s wine that sets me unwinding
I am older now, just holding on
It’s a strange time I find myself in
A strange vine we’re climbing
My fists are gripping, but my grip is slipping
I am older now, just holding on
Tell me baby, tell me nicely,
Where is this old machine driving?
Cause I wanna be near you, but most days I can’t hear you
I am older now, just holding on
And on and on and on
And on and on and on
I started writing songs in the two thousands
I am older now, just holding on
Most days it’s the rope that keeps me from drowning
I am older now, just holding on
It’s a strange time I find myself in
A strange vine we’re climbing
My fists are gripping, but my grip is slipping
I am older now, just holding on
I am older now, just holding on
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5. |
Clean Hands
02:05
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I hurt someone I love
With just a word
It was enough
To hurt someone I love
I hurt someone I love
With just a word
It was enough
What was was it worth
What did it cost
Will you forgive me?
And now I live inside my thoughts
It feels a lot like being lost
No way to turn back
Or to earn back
Your trust in who I was
Maybe it’s time
Maybe it’s age
Maybe the things I want have changed
I want clean hands
I want clean hands
I want clean hands and a mind I can live in
Flip the record
Lift the leg up
And set it spinning
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6. |
||||
There are things to do if you need to wait
Read magazines that are out of date
Think of a time in which you thought
It was the end when it was not
And on you raced, spirits blazing,
To face another red letter day when
Sure, the news is worse and worse
But there’s still more love than we deserve
There are things to do if you want to see
The face of God in humanity
You can shout hello to the man who rocks
By his front door where no one knocks
And watch his face light up and change
See how he looked in younger days
It didn’t even cost a dime
You don’t have much but you’ve got time
There are things to do if you want to feel
Close to the ones who are not near
You can say their names loud as a gong
You can fold them sweet into a song
You can count them on your fingernails
Move to your toes and then your hair
In fact there is so much to do
To think how someone’s counting you
So if you need to wait, pull up a chair
You can do these things most anywhere
I’m sure there are a few I missed
This is an indefinite list…
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7. |
Angel with a Pompadour
04:03
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Oh my, field of flowers
Oh my, sky full of stars
Oh my lands, oh my waters
Look at your daughter
Who holds her head up in the dark
How did that one song go
Something bout an angel
Who wore a pompadour for a halo
My well is pretty dry
But I’ll sing for her
I’ll lift the rusty lid
I’ll let the record twirl
Everybody wants something from you
You just got that way
But oh my darling, is it lonely
To be the hand that’s holding
Everyone and everything
How did that one song go
It made the sound of grace
It rode to town on six white horses
With west virginia plates
My well is pretty dry
But I’ll sing for her
I’ll lift my tired head
I’ll let the spirit twirl
Oh my haunts and my hollers
Oh my valley of days
Oh my dark, rushing waters
Look at her daughters
Look at what the light hath made
Look at what the light hath made
How did that one song go?
Thought it was meant for me
But it’s for my little sisters
I can hear their running feet
My well is pretty dry
But I’ll sing for them
I’ll that one song go
We’ll let the B-side -- spin
Oh my darling ain’t it something
To see the sun come running
Out from behind the rain
Oh my darling ain’t it something
To see the sun come running
At the mention of your name
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8. |
Time
02:14
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I never say much
Of the real stuff
Til my coat’s on
By the door
Then the truth comes
And the love runs
Tell me, what else
Are doors for?
Time, sweet time
I thought I had you
Thought you were mine
Time, sweet time
I thought to have you
Meant you were on my side
I like to think love
We are unstoppable
A shame it’s just not true
I never get much of my work done
Unless I’m running out of you
Time, sweet time
I thought I had you
Thought you were mine
Time, sweet time
I thought to have you
Meant you were on my side
I ask for days and days
I fill them with drivel
I want so much!
I only need a little
I never say much
Of the real stuff
Til my coat’s on
By the door
Then the truth comes
And the love runs
Tell me what else
Are doors for?
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9. |
Again, Amen
05:03
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I got black-out drunk when I was 21
On a red wine cooler from Food Lion
On the back stoop of my rented apartment
Haven’t we all ruined something we borrowed?
I got sick in a box of library books
My friend was there from childhood
She cleaned me up, tucked me in real good
Saying, ‘I don’t envy your tomorrow’
Haven’t we all ruined something we borrowed?
When I came to I saw a box of what
Looked a little like kool-aid and a lot like blood
Like a sacrifice had happened in a bookshop
But the Bible was the hardest pill to swallow
Haven’t we all ruined something we borrowed?
When I came to next, I heard fumbling in the kitchen
I stumbled in and found my friend doing the dishes
She asked, ‘How you feel?’
I said, ‘My playback reel is missing!’
She laughed and poured me a glass of water
Haven’t we all ruined something we borrowed?
I’d assumed I’d spilled of the love that I was grieving
She cracked a can of ginger ale and said, ‘well, not completely
You were praying, hell, I couldn’t lift you off your knees,
Saying, God, I see the road but I can’t follow
Or have I just ruined something I borrowed?’
Ashamed, amazed I said, ‘so that’s what I was doing!’
She gave my back a gentle pat, said ‘come, let’s take communion.
A little gin, a little ginger, for our blessing and our ruin
Or tell me something sis, ain’t ya thirsty?
Haven’t we all turned down a little mercy?
Hey, I’m sorry for my tangent, I know that we just met
I had a point when I began, now I guess I forget
Oh yeah, you asked me, do I believe?
Some days I do, some days I think something believes for me
Alright then, Amen
Again, amen
Amen to us miserable offenders
Who come to you on dirty knees after all-night benders
Amen to the men out with their nets and their fishes
Amen to friends doing other people’s dishes
Amen to the moments when we don’t mind the waiting
After all, isn’t everything a little sacred?
Amen to the shy girl hungover on a beach
One day she’ll be your mother, one day she’s gonna teach you
Of a love that you can never ruin
No matter what you think you did, no matter what you’re doing
Alright then,
Amen
Again, again,
Amen
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