1. |
Danny
04:02
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Danny was about 17 when he first got his crown -
He knew he was good for something,
Until the queen of hearts shot him down,
His spade was burnt to nothing.
But Danny picked up all his clubs and then became a man.
His thoughts and tongues were changing.
He would give up his kingdom of cans
If he knew he had a queen worth savin’.
Oh, you know it wasn't nothing new,
Just a change in a lying hope
There was water where no river flowed.
When Danny met Suzy Wade he knew he had it comin',
There was a fire in the air.
But when your castle burns to nothing
You hardly notice the wear.
So Danny took his things and went down the road,
His clothes were filled with soot.
There's no wings for a heavy load,
Just a shopping bag and a pair of boots.
Oh, you know it wasn't nothing new,
Just a change in a lying hope
There was water where no river flowed.
Danny travelled many lands in search of a queen,
But no kingdom would take him.
No people want to to tell their king
That they had another to save them.
And so he took his boots and bag and went under a tree
And asked the lion to console him.
He said, "You can be happy,
If you don't promise a king to hold them.”
Oh, you know it wasn't nothing new,
Just a change in a lying hope
There was water where no river flowed.
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2. |
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Summer at Michael's house
Give up the brine and louse
There wasn't people there
Just ghosts and a worn out chair.
And now I find when I return again
Cursing what I gave -
Because the light of time can amend
The changes our world made.
Looking at the worn out room
Where dust and webs now bloom,
I feel his scent has stayed
Reminding me of his dad's ways.
And now the boy has returned a man
Knowing what to say.
“I have had about all that I can stand:
A dad can't act this way.”
The boy hurts again
Thinking of his long gone friend.
Because he can feel
The image that memory steals.
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3. |
Ten Ton Heart
04:15
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I's sinking like a stone in the middle of the sea,
None of this salt can make a bird out of me.
I'd tell you the words but I don't know where to start,
Cuz I been pulled to the bottom by a ten ton heart.
I wanted the truth but got honesty
Like a boxer who fights but doesn't know how to bleed.
You don't get a prison, it comes in parts
You learn how to build it with a ten ton heart.
Don't let it go.
It goes deeper than you know,
I'd say so,
Come in from the cold.
I see the sun and the moon and a blur of stars
Flying on the windshield of your speeding car.
Cuz quickness is a state, but slowness is an art
But you wouldn't know the difference with a ten ton heart.
I saw a man pacing with a gun
Sayin' he was gonna start a revolution.
He flew headlong like a speeding dart
Into the pit of his ten ton heart.
Don't let it go.
It goes deeper than you know,
I'd say so,
Come in from the cold.
I told the jester like I told the king
That everything I do doesn't mean a thing.
He just laughed, said, "you know where to start:
Ask the cause of your ten ton heart."
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4. |
August
03:05
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It was hot that winter and it was hot that June
And it seemed the leaves, they had fell too soon
With our dreams of stealing away
I felt your hand, was cold to the touch.
Had I given too little or kept too much?
But I think that you wanted it that way.
We fell behind, you know,
With the wind and sun and snow.
We took debts we couldn't pay -
Trading time for better days.
There's times where I've wanted to see you again,
And others, still, where I'm glad we're friends.
But either way you still have some of me.
Cuz I've woken up out of darkling dreams
Where I felt you in my silk and seams
Asking myself, "is this how I want it be?”
The days they come and go
Like a light which dims and glows,
Showing sides of you
As I see more of me too.
I had seen your face in the ashes and rain,
With a gleaming smile smeared like a stain,
And I asked what it was that had burned around you.
Because all I had and all I had done
Was turned to dust under your bright sun
Like the lies we tell that we wish were true.
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5. |
This Machine
03:36
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I am the teller of what's been told.
I have grown young as the world grows old.
And its wisdom I fail to see:
All it’s been running is this machine.
I am the poison in the well.
I am the garden in which we fell.
Even then I still could see
The snake was crawling in this machine
I was the runner on the hill
When the Romans had Jesus killed.
As I looked up and saw him bleed,
I saw the cogs of this machine.
I'm the Lakota, I am the Sioux.
What dies in me, brother it dies in you
Cuz when a woman or child grieves
It is the sound of this machine.
I am the peace I am the war.
I am the taker when there's no more.
Whether it's tanks or noble steeds,
You'll feel the rumble of this machine.
I am the ache in hearts of men.
I am the light, the darkness and the end.
Cuz there's a grave whose silence screams,
And it's been dug and waits for this machine.
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6. |
Lost
04:19
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Wake child, shake the stardust from your eyes.
How did you come, if you know not where you're going?
I've searched the morn and night where dreams pass away
To find what it was all for: the passing of night into day.
Go out, there is no direction.
Does the wind blow where you tell it to?
The lakes and shores can't tell you where to go.
So take your oars and dig where your desire blows.
Sleep comes to the proudest of the weary
As life does to the stillest of the dead.
So rest your head and try not to figure the weight and the cost -
To find your way starts with getting lost.
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7. |
Opium
05:19
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When I saw standing there
With her eyes and long flowing hair,
I could have bowed my head and cried:
For she was the world and the world was mine.
Opium has clouded my mind.
And though I don't want to die,
She never treats me unkind.
As I spun her around
She didn't make a sound,
Just a long, hard wheeze.
She couldn't tell me nothing I wouldn't believe.
Opium has clouded my mind.
And though I don't want to die,
She never treats me unkind.
When all my things were sold
And the world turned purple and gold,
I thought, "This is the song heaven must sing,"
As I watched her fingers wear all my rings.
Opium has clouded my mind.
And though I don't want to die,
She never treats me unkind.
And one day she came to me
Saying, "This can no longer be."
I had exhausted all my charms.
I said, "One more night won't do us no harm."
Opium has clouded my mind.
And though I don't want to die,
She never treats me unkind.
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8. |
Rumor
03:32
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In the brush beyond the gate,
I stole your hand and led the way
To the plains where we grew tall
Because the land had nothing at all.
Tell me where your clothing goes
In the night,
In the night.
Cuz when I see your curves and lines,
I know it's fine -
I know your kind.
I know your kind.
Take a walk around the sun,
Rumor talks but it just can't run -
Like these stories of us we've told
That we've heard from tongues unknown.
Tell me where this rumor goes
In the day,
In the day.
Cuz when I feel this hand in mine
There's no time -
We're doin’ fine.
We're doin fine.
Under the sky, the colors run -
Exploding everyone and none.
And if you listen very still,
You'll hear the past you just can't kill.
You just can't kill.
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9. |
The Lovin' Kind
03:20
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An old cross settles with the sun
On the LA County line.
She's still playing Lincoln
In the back room of her mind.
And she sees and hears him breathe
The minutes, hours and time.
The morning sun begins to run
Down the rails of a sign -
This ain't no place for the lovin' kind.
In the hills of Echo Park
She's lookin for the sound
Of him knockin' at her door
To see that she's still around.
Cuz she dreams when it had been
Just the wind and him at night
Now all her soul is in that road
As it flees and dips and winds.
She ain't goin' back to the loving kind.
In the morn, he looks to the west
And sees her risin there.
He moves his hand across his chest
Making shadows with her hair.
And the light bends and starts to mend
Where she rose at his side
As the wind moans down that road
Sayin', "No one owns no one tonight."
Cuz they both never were the lovin' kind.
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Tar & Flowers Los Angeles, California
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