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1. |
Naga
03:56
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Gonna break me a mountain, gonna churn up the sea,
lift out all of the joy of the earth and let it rot within me.
I'm a take of life
Blessed be my memory when my actions die.
Play another anthem for me
I've been busted up so hard that I've become three
One for the earth, bury my bones in dirt,
one for the sky, one for the sea.
And all my days were reckless
till I got caught in the moment.
A slight of hand, a dream of seeming
somewhat less the snake I am.
Then wisdom broke my head in.
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2. |
funny bird
05:46
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Radiating up and out
the call is block by cloud
upon cloud on cloud on cloud
"You've left me free as spider's string
floating gently in the breeze."
Rhythm fades and I'm dancing with my own strings now
a thirst not slaked by the blood of anything
drink and drink all you've got
and never tire of nodding off.
I'll have none of your mystic superstitions
just got jumped in the alley by bare-footed Christians
who's faces were blank and who's hearts had lost hold of the vision.
In a shelter of fire, dead-set on desire,
they're crushed by the force of the light they aspire to
fill up my cup till the brims buried under the water.
The second is not coming.
It's been here and already gone.
The second you gave away decision
was the second you crippled your own cause.
And this funny bird will have no roots,
save the joy of solitude,
save the joy of cutting loose.
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3. |
Rhino's Horn
03:26
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I will walk alone, naked through this world
I release myself to danger
I'm not invisible anymore.
I will walk alone to places you will never know
into my own skin and never back out again
The breath that I take in is exhaled by the wind
blow me back to my home, I'm wondering alone.
You will speak my name but I'm impervious
I've shut all my veins with thoughts I won't explain
The breath that I take in is exhaled by the wind
blow me back to my home, I'm wondering alone.
Like a rhino's horn...
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4. |
frozen in the fields
03:17
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Will we break?
Will our bodies finally shatter in a moment?
I could take a lot more pain before I'd known of it.
Are we crushable?
Will gravity churn us into cold dust?
Are we combustible?
Or can I rise from a fire like a phoenix?
Although I've seen you out among the corn,
I'll never greet you with open arms.
If we were brothers,
would you help a brother out and show me mercy?
If we were lovers,
would you, at the final moment, ignore me?
If I don't fear you,
perhaps it is only your distance.
100 years to everything
you've got to remember.
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5. |
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The seed of love hurt
after the controlled burn
I watched it to the end
But now that it's black
I want it all back
I'm addicted to what I never wanted
Some may say we're born to love
but I'd always been cold
'twas not till I was broken enough
that I knew my first taste of love's sweet hold
Heartbreak made me lover
Adam and Eve did nothing but live
they did not know love till the Fall.
When she broke his heart
for the snake's golden charm
he only wanted her more
but honey they never did exist
nor did our sacredness
and I like you so much more
now that you're with another.
Heartbreak me a lover
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6. |
kangaroo tragedy
05:30
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No one could tell em like you used to
in our hearts you will always be
Tom McKnight tell us tonight
about the kangaroo tragedy
'Twas an innocent plot by your children
to comfort you in your loss
they picked out one whose face had a glow
for it had not seen too much boxing
In a crate the joey was packed
and shipped on a ship on the sea
from the wild, wild Down Under
and onto Tennessee
But the customs would not have it so
for the animal belonged in a zoo
and not in your arms though it would be calmer
if it was cuddled by you.
The quarantine fine was hefty
one thousand dollars or more
and this was a price and a promise
too much for you to bear
And so the kangaroo waited
at an unfamiliar port
while you filed the papers
to have it well cared-for
Your intentions were good and noble
to save it from its portly hell
on a island lakeside menagerie
owned by Barbara Mandrell
At this point your tears overcame you
so much so you could hardly speak
the joey had night died in the middle of the night
for travel had made it quite weak
And then somehow I let you trail off
leaving me without a clue
as to how the fuck you came up
with the story of the kangaroo.
No one could tell em like you used to
in our hearts you will always be
friends lean on in for Tom will begin
to tell us the kangaroo tragedy
And tonight though it cold on the water
I am content to shiver
and your memory will sail beside me
down the Cumberland River.
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7. |
O
01:31
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8. |
Ooooh
03:15
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There was a time
when your face needed no name
you were apart from the life I knew
Now is the start
of something much harder
Now is the death
of a light that was new.
Spring is the season
for careless lovers to take
but here in the autumn
all I want is a break
Hands that don't work
hindered by their own nerves
scratching at the surface
of tomorrow's heartache.
Ooh, you drag me into blue.
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9. |
moonlighting
02:57
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Suddenly the pattern has been upset,
feeling your every breath fill my head
there's no time to think, I don't care for thinking now
only in your care, shall I spend my dreaming hours
and it's a liberty
that's building inside me
Now I've been trying to keep my feeling still
I've lived my days alone and I've lived them up well
Each time I fall in love, love fucks me up
so let's be calm and careful, don't get me worked up
But the hush of the evening is inviting
Oh, let the ragged hosts out for some moonlighting.
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10. |
what was required
04:00
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There's a look on your face of innocence
slackened jaw and eyes devoid of reason
I can tell that you aren't filled with any sort of thought
and I love that and all of your parts.
I don't mind so much how dumb we look
when we're pressed together like library books
in the middle of the night standing where we stood
out in plain sight, we did what was required.
The novelty of the space between our jaws
litters every conversation with long pauses
syllables winding on throughout the hours
when your lips pause to kiss between the vowels
Let's be stupid, our mouths agape in the moonlight
Maybe Cupid, delights in seeing our blank minds
if I had my wits, I'd probably ruin the moment
so instead I'll resign myself to enjoy it.
Out in the light, we did what was required.
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11. |
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You're always talking about lifelines
strung between the ones you love
to hold you to your path as you crash.
You never even had the strength to fall apart from, did you?
Lean on me and you will fall
we are both weaker than we seem from afar
and when you hold hands try to forget
the place where you are is where you'd always been.
You're always waiting for the punchline
the joke's been over for a while
and as it passed you glossed over details
always forgetting how well you smile, didn't you?
Lean on me and you will fall
You give your heart for unreturned phone calls
let go your mooring and cast off from shore
and you'll find within yourself a promise you've ignored.
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12. |
bedtime
04:39
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I place myself close the wall
cover my form with animals
so it can't be seen at all.
I'll breath so shallow everyone will say
"where has our little dreamer gone,
and why did he fly away?"
I'm ready for the stars to fall on me
I fill myself with wishes of what
my next life will be.
Sing to me through a smile.
I'll never understand the words,
but it'll put me asleep for while.
Now's the time -- haven't you heard? --
to remember who we were.
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Oliver Orion Oregon
Oliver Orion currently lives in the wetlands.
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