1. |
Too long
02:38
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I was younger than I am now,
and younger I’ll always be by your side,
and I think different than I did then,
but thoughts of you clearly come to me again:
you put that light on the moon,
it’ll calm you in peace,
you put that light on the moon
and you fall asleep
Lady Madonna’s got her heart full of wanting
which she sets like an alarm clock
to get up in the morning
and it carries her right through
on the east side of Providence
it’s the wrong side, but who cares?
when she’s got so much confidence
now I filled my cup with sweet lemonade
‘til barefeet in autumn no longer sufficed,
and wondered aloud the time that had passed
‘tween railings on stairways of grey cement,
and I strummed out a chord, and remembered a tune
that settled in nicely, if only too soon
I hope you call on my birthday
and sing that old song out of tune
‘cause I’m ‘bout done waitin’ ‘round
for that moment I would’ve found
your missing part in my heart and get mixed up
the cool night breeze upon your knees,
it pleases you to sleep,
and watch them still, those rainbows curl
across your closed eyelids,
steady as the sun goes, slowly settin’ down
you’ve been away for too long
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2. |
Out on the stoop
01:10
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you know, if ‘heads point east, there’s bound to be a storm,
as I secure the windows and you unlatch that door,
out on the stoop we’ll watch the clouds go by
as daylight gives its last,
and not to fear the wind’s increase,
what’s gathered here will pass
until that time, the rain will fall
and lightning’ll split the sky,
we’ll move to ‘neath the porch’s roof
and curse out those on high,
saying, “I don’t want anything to do with you,
I just need a little relief
from those menacing clouds passing overhead,
and a little time to strum in peace”
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3. |
A thanks
02:43
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formidable pastures lie up ahead,
and though you may lie in your bed
I’d grant you a favor, give you wish,
confer upon you the strangest of dreams,
and smile a little bit right along the way
for happy is the man who stands still
when all manner of dreams rush by along past him
and his coattails make sails in the wind,
and he couldn’t spare you a stray thought anyway
as much as he’d conspire worship
but I’d reckon enough to say this with ease
that no man like that can ever be pleased,
no lass who fears sadness ever lives
no beggar who cries loudly can forgive,
and I’m too tumbled to see it any other way
I’d reckon I’m alive, I’m happy, I’m seventeen,
I’d reckon it’s best not to overthink things
and everything just may or may not work out
in the end, you’re right, that we’re in joy:
we’re swimming in it, I can feel it ‘tween my toes!
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4. |
Martha & me
03:39
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Martha’s on the back step,
moving to the front left, you know?
she’s whisking a dozen egg yolks,
while my wounded leg soaks, you know?
and I’ll tell her I’ll settle more than just dreams,
I’ll settle checkbooks on silk screens, you hear?
but this kettled milk’s a scalded brew
tasting like my life’s through, by god!
[chorus]:
oh, but Martha’s like, “tell me somethin’ I don’t know,
I’ve been tired for years waitin’ for you to come back home
I feel lost in this town, besmirched, bereft—
I was on the back step when I lost the front left”
to her arms I’ll follow
the better thoughts of longing, now gone,
I gave her now an old thought,
that travels had stayed me, still and all, for good,
but she hands to me a creased note
that a better me once sadly wrote, “Dear one,
I’m in joy to hold your hand,
in joy I see the moonlight on your skin”
[chorus]
I’ll leave this town tomorrow,
and I’ll write to her and borrow his words
to find my love in going
for porch-lit nights are pointing me towards
a place that’s squarely ‘way from here,
away, away until I long again,
for smarting barbs are better things,
it beats the trapped-up thoughts of what’s been
[chorus]
just sing yourself an incantation
it goes like this, it’s kept me going:
“don’t tell me that the moon shines, girl,
show me that the moonshine will go on and see you there”
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5. |
Much easier
02:05
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sold on your grasp
around that glass
placed before you at ease
as I take my seat,
little silences break into our words—
but don’t you call a stranger,
what’s settled in your mind
I was nervous once,
I even lost my watch!
sold on your glances,
and I’ll throw my chances
that even your best thoughts
aren’t sellin’ on mine,
but the thought of you
leavin’ me here tonight
wasn’t making the night
much easier,
with your hands
resting softly on your lap
now I’m wisened to winks
and blushes on cheeks
that’d be comin’ up short
if I hadn’t made my mind
up to now, it’s been assumed
since you stepped up to
my stoop and brushed my hip real quick
and I didn’t even protest,
I’d put up all I had to give
but it wouldn’t sell for much
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6. |
Same old chords
03:01
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don’t look out your window
‘cause I’m not there,
see, that wall was too hard to climb
and I didn’t see any stairs,
but for now I might write you a letter
if only to call you to mind
for as long as talkin’ still ain’t easy
I can’t, and you can’t, and we can’t
[chorus]:
count on me to do much better
than the country songs on the radio
that tell you just what they mean
with the same old chords
and if the words they don’t come easy,
we could borrow some of those
from the old CDs we listened to obsessive
but now we’re shy to hear:
embarrassed to be around those old thoughts
that meant something before
and recall old moments lying by your side,
I can’t, and you can’t, and we can’t
[chorus]
and if we’re all headin’ on towards goodness
by words that sound just right
then for now we ought to trust that feeling,
if it works good, it’s good enough,
I ain’t singin’,
I ain’t even tapping my foot,
I ain’t singing words that aren’t easy,
I can’t, and you can’t, and we can’t
[chorus]
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7. |
Tired/He's comin' up
03:07
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at night I get so tired
I’m tired, aren’t you?
that a dream won’t stay up past the night
and see the daylight through,
no, it has slipped away
and you lie jilted in your bed
now I’m tired of the reasons
that reason can’t provide
a place at home that’s warm enough
to keep that doubt outside,
a door will open up
and a draft will cool your heart
now sleepin’ never calmed me,
that tired just stayed around,
tomorrow won’t bring a better hand
to scrawl some songs you’d love,
so I will rest my legs
on the stairs outside my home
→
he’s comin’ up, Elijah,
and he don’t know what to say to me
he’s sick, he’s tired, a yellow scourge
has got his brain on entropy,
and purple globes do follow suit
to send him down the road again
and pickled loves, a soured sort,
will make short work of him
now Ana’s here, out on the beach
with seafoam dancin’ ‘tween her toes,
and wonderin’ how it ever came
that all that comes makes twice what goes,
out to the ledge to find herself,
a smile in eyes did once occur,
but fears remaining of old loss
will make short work of her
and now I’m lost, Elijah,
and I don’t know what to make of it
the woodman, with his pipe alone,
does call me there to go and sit
but a famished world with all its pain
makes contemplatin’ hard to do,
so careful of those prickly dreams
they’ll make short work of you
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Steve K Carmody Providence, Rhode Island
Music born in Providence, RI.
Featuring:
Nupur Shridhar,
Tucker Dalton,
Sam Adler-Bell,
and Steve Carmody.
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