1. |
Frost
03:26
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I won't be home til sunrise
til dawn's blush is in the sky
don't wait up, just leave on the foyer light
Part of it's the work I'm doing
Part of it's the cold
and part of me just don't want to come home
The light of your loving mind
which reaches out soft and blind
will surely know this as cruel
and as unkind
but once the frost has fallen
we can not be reprised
morning light south on park
neath a carpet of forgotten stars
consigned from the warehouse of the night
like them it's written in your face
or hidden in a deeper place
fear of the famine in delight
and i wish I could be to you
the clear blue miles the crow flies through
despite our dearest promises
the heat will singe the spool
it's hard to believe in time
when we are the moment's fools
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2. |
All The Way
04:35
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That morning I lost you somewhere along the way
between the roar of the engines, the radio
and the tolls I was trying not to pay.
But your silhouette lingered
like a leaf in the mirror
you managed a few miles, before being blown away
I'm too old now to bet my soul on a look
not naive to believe in the love I read in ancient books
can't feel anything at all
except the highway now
if you need me I'll be staring between the lines
All the way to Montpellier
Someday soon I'll find my way
All the beauty in the world seems a window away.
I felt like that when you leaned right in
and I left you leaning that way
like I'd woke up in the morning
leading someone else's life
the scene was familiar but the light just ain't quite right
The way you're twisted distorts the shape you were in.
Nagging regret, a wish in present tense, highlights the inhibition
from a fever pitch an alpine ridge
a thought ascends
Sometimes it takes a drive to cut away the truth from the sense
All the way to Montpellier
Someday soon I'll find my way
stop in town at the brightest hotel
ask for a place a little closer to hell.
And in the morning fog, footsteps on the river,
and the river that washed the leaves to the sea.
Oh river take me away from here now...
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3. |
Westbound
03:52
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Rollin' 105 on the Yellowhead highway
green pine and cottonwood marking my way
Mary in the back seat has lost her shoes
while she sleeps away between the grocery bags and the booze
don't know where I'm going, there's an exit sign
for the next town northbound, but I can't read the name
Country on the radio reminds me of you
though you hate this song even more than I do
So I rolled the windows down like the covers in the morning
Don't you know that ain't the only reason I keep them open
Canada day at a City Motel
with the fireworks display don't you hate that you cant turn away
Light on your face and the colours so bright
cause the sun don't ever set out here though I know you just might
We were lost from the crowd, couldn't find a friend around
I kinda liked it that way made it easier for you to stay
And the gunpowder fell on our shoulders soft as rain
Don't you know we ain't the ones to feel the pain
Outside the top of the bill
was sounding kinda run of the mill
and I guess sometimes the town
is just too small for the sound
but that kid in the broke-down barn
sang you cant always get what you want
and getting what you need
is usually just the greed talking
Sometimes that morning sky is just an alibi, ain't it then
Driving westbound i rolled the windows down like the covers in the
morning
Don't you know that ain't the only reason I keep them open
Driving westbound i rolled the windows down like the covers in the
morning.
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4. |
This Much I Know
03:57
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Standing in the rushing wind
sea foam at your shoulder
like a Turner you'd find
in some dark cabaret
I know you prefer portraits
to wild landscapes
cause you don't like the feeling
of being swept away
your lips were stained with merlot
in the cold north wind's salty blow
you said 'pretty soon I'll have to go home
This much, oh this much I know'
It's raining outside
that brings bluegrass to mind
in the garden the chickens run
between wire and twine
There's been rumours of a smile
and long dark hair
that runs like a river
through the midnight air
your lips were stained with merlot
in the cold north wind's salty blow
you said 'pretty soon I'll have to go home
This much, oh this much I know'
It's been a year now
since we walked that walk
we're going our own ways
we hardly even talk
But you spring out of others
like a jack in a box
oh, time is a chisel
and the heart's a hard rock
your lips were stained with merlot
in the cold north wind's salty blow
you said 'pretty soon I'll have to go home'
This much, oh this much I know'
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5. |
Conversations
04:30
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Your voice on the other end
There's no distance anymore
This time I'm reminded again
That life I live can also be yours
I heard you got a brand new friend
cause on the old ones you cant depend
the only promise I ever wanted to keep
was to meet you out where stale streets
weren't strapped to our feet
When the wind is cold you close the door
when you're falling from the sky you pull the cord
every shape begins and ends with its form
but not talking, talking lasts longer than the words
I heard your voice through the wall,
figured you were hearing heartbeats in the midnight rain
you know the other side of reaching out is wondering how
much more you gave than you were given
You were carrying your burdens
like they weighed more than your life
you told me you were staying
now I'm just hoping you're alright
When the wind is cold you close the door
when you're falling from the sky you pull the cord
every shape begins and ends with its form
but not talking, talking lasts longer than the words
(casual conversation)
You know you'd be happy it happened
then kinda wishing it hadn't
as if our moments were cash in hand
we could never repay the loan
after the afterglow
When the wind is cold you close the door
when you're falling from the sky you pull the cord
every shape begins and ends with its form
but not talking, talking lasts longer than the words
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6. |
If I Had Another Day
03:44
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You took me down you took me out
Like I didn't know what I was talking about
We could never live
in the looks that we stole along the way
At the end of the day
didn't think that you would stay
You take me in til I grow old
so you can talk to me whenever your alone
Do our aces fall in jest
when we keep our cards so close to our chests
So you swallow your regrets
and laugh it off until another one
Broke my heart to give you yours
A church bell rings another tolls.
But I didn't pay my dues
no I never really took to what I owed
When the beggar comes for you,
you better borrow what you can to see you through
Went out walking all alone
set out to find my way back home
but I had lost my way
yes I left it on the wayside out of mind
But if it meant another day
Maybe I'd throw it all away another time
If it meant another day yes i'd throw it all away another time
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7. |
Toronto
05:35
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I'm at the corner of Bay again,
under a grey december sky
holiday shoppers swarming around
a band blowing festive rhyme
cheeks twinned with tall lapels,
like East Berlins, tucked away
the buildings are so kind sometimes,
they block the sky so your heart don't stray
I thought I put this city away
sometime in the last decade
I've said goodbye about a dozen times,
and that's eleven times too many
In the meantime I've been Abelard,
and like Casanova cast out my angels
the fever burned through the clothes I wore
fucking rednecks and hipsters, and the culture wars
As midnight cradles the Bloor bridge
and the cars run hard and blind
the singer's theatrics rubbed me the wrong way
I had a great case but I couldn't find the crime
Then my mind ran away again,
into the night sky shy as smoke
there must be a reservoir on the edge of the wind
of skins I've shed, and skins I've broke
There must be a reservoir on the edge of the wind
of skins I've shed, and skins I've broke
Wagonwheeling in the back of Free-times
Cantante sweats, he senses the win
Leary on the drums and Lucy on the keys
you've got twenty bars till the beat kicks in
And Trotsky howled like Dylan
neath a bookshelf in Tecumseh valley
while my comrade in arms shot Tequila
I was taken out back and beaten in the alley
(aaahhh)
By two men in long fur coats
who said they were someone's men
'whose men?' I screamed
They shrugged, they didn't care
'Oh just the ones that took us in'
I washed my eyes clean on the headstones
In the park with the queen's own swans
i gave them the knee of servitude
and in the morning all I owned was out on the lawn
There must be a reservoir on the edge of the wind
Of skins I've shed and skins I've broke
You can run but you can't hide
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8. |
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Now the leaves are starting to change
like curtains on a summer you assumed would last a little longer
crows are circling over the reservoir
there's something in my mind that I fear
there's something in my mind that I fear
Now it's been weeks since I called home
and months since you held me in your arms
have I been following my heart too close to the bone
oh, way too close to the bone
we do our loving together, but face memory alone
And I've gone through all the pictures in my mind
I've played that record through a hundred times or more
the one that hits only when you're alone
that's when I feel it all coming home
that's when I feel it all coming home
Cars going by in the road
mailman comes at 11am
I know I won't answer the door when it rings
cause I've been living on airplane mode
I've been living on airplane mode
Winter'll be here in a little while
ain't that just like the summer to surrender
in the ground you reap what you sow
but good luck pushing up july in december
when there really ain't nothing left to remember
Nothing left to remember...
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9. |
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I could never quite decide between left, right and straight
the signal says that I'm late
But my lateness is no burden
The feeling is alive it's just the tone that's not right
I've swallowed my tongue so many times
feeling that lateness was some sort of burden
Hey there holy rose softly calling
go on with your manuscript song
See that when you come back...
When you come back bring me too
You're standing in corners, with your marionettes shy
You midnight brow, your Lorca and Rimbaud
You'd never be caught checking your coat
But honey there's something, something in the light
That somehow you saw in me
like the dawn's first daring
Hey there holy rose, softly calling
You're gone off and you're married now
So when you're gone you wont be forgotten
Someone to hold you when you fall
I want someone to hold me when I fall
Trying to find my own way through the crowded line
You know paths are a jungle and the route's undefined
Thank god, timing is no measure
I wanted to be Hemingway in my younger days
but I got a fire in mind that makes me stray on
Thank god timing's no measure
Hey there holy rose softly calling
go on with your manuscript song
see that when you come back...
when you come back bring me too
Bring me too, bring me through
Trying to make the decision of a lifetime
you know you don't make it you know it makes you
When you run out, and there's no room to be clever
But I won't decide what I miss the most
till my head's on my knees and I'm dreaming of the coast
And yeah, there's no room to be clever
Hey there holy rose softly calling
go on with your manuscript song
See that when you come back...
When you come back bring me too
I was staring at something in red
about the druids and the ancient religions
Somewhere down on Dundas street
the day after the championship parade
carrying legacies of Lavapiés
Joan Manuel and my golden days
And a thirst that cannot go unspoken
Hey there holy rose softly calling...
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10. |
Somewhere
03:32
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Somewhere in this part of me
is something that I'm supposed to be
but I hardly ever come 'round anymore
And it's not about the weather
or at least not entirely
cause I've never seen it snow like this where I live
It's just I kinda miss your face
and the thought of staying in this place
gives me the creeps, I can't say why
But here comes johnny here comes sue
and we'll go swinging two by two
and dance the night away, til they kick us out and say
'go home. to your family and friends, go home.'
Stucco walls and city hall
concrete, gesso and beat up car
remind me of what I tried to be
When you're drunker than you wish to
and sober friends won't lift you
you stay with those who stay when all the best have gone away
and go home, to your family and friends, go home.
Past the bridge and by the freeway
past the inhibitions of your ways
where the old folks go to die
and you think on your demise,
go home.
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11. |
Rue St. Jean
04:27
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Like custard on the cliffs
like napoleon at waterloo
i'm stuck between the world coming at me
and the world as I want it to be
There's doubt in desire
there's shadows in the things I know
but all these miles I've travelled
have etched my longing in the snow
And we walked, down the Rue St Jean
my dream, flowing like wine
give me your cup
let me fill it up
please don't turn away
The winter holds a hard hand
to the soft palm of a soul
the truth is hard as ice
when you know your wisdom's full of holes
Each to their lives,
to their things to fulfil
I still think of you often
I know I always will
'cause we walked, down the Rue St Jean
my dream, flowing like wine
give me your cup
let me fill it up
please don't turn away
(guitar)
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