1. |
Asked For Water
04:47
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I’ve been told
To walk straight and give thanks
I’ve been told
Not to look at certain houses along the way
And it is
Insatiable and
Unrelatable
That old lactic acid dream
To build things out of sand
So long as there’s someone to be buried in it
We fed you starch
Let you march
But when asked for water, left you parched
Coca-Cola stains on bedsheets
Bedside
Goddamn
How alive am I?
Now he came down on a horse
She was bathing the kids
She was parking her car
He was holding a book
Bandana over his mouth
Then he was laid on the ground
And now
Who is in sight?
Look right
And it all funnels down
To just this one thing
Is my safety what will separate me?
Is my safety
What I’ll allow to continue to separate me?
Is my safety really that important to me?
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2. |
Tell Me About Yourself
03:46
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Tell me about yourself
What’s good for your health and
Do you believe that Greek is a language
Are you free
Are you mean
Is Florida green and
Does lightning strike
The people that it doesn’t like
Do you wake up in the middle of the night
Was your meal made right
And served with ultimate politeness
Do your begonias thrive with cyanide
And when your lady lies, ah
How you gonna keep her in line?
And how what you are
Is what everybody else
will have to learn how to get used to
Oh, I count my loss
It’s not some idle cost
Can’t you tell me?
Are they doing it wrong
Are they taking too long
Who’s got your money
And how are they gonna spend it
And what is your stance on immigrants
Maybe your policy is one that we can use
Oh, tell me
I’m dying to know
Tell me
Tell me about yourself
And how what you are
Is what everybody else
Is just gonna have to get used to
Oh, I count my loss
It’s not some idle cost
Can’t you tell me?
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3. |
Breadbasket Blues
05:41
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In the not-so-distant present
In the fields of gold
There’s a rail-rattling story
That must be told
Of a once-small devising gone awry
Adolescent in the scope
But a tarpit to our time
The mover and the shaker
Sit at the table alone
It’s just a hungry baby and a bad jawbone
Guzzling progress
Guzzling speed
Making plans to eradicate the chicory weed
But don’t forget, we’re doing this for you
I think I’m gonna ride it through
Everybody grooving
To those breadbasket blues
They’ve got an army
Can’t be seen or caught
Making post on every school of thought
Stretch-fingered mission
Pointed overreach
Into the acres and the bellies
Of every chum like me
But don’t forget, we’re doing this for you
This mass on my neck, it grew and grew
Everybody pulsing and convulsing
To those breadbasket blues
We are spitting in our napkins
We are asking why
A hundred years
Since we’ve seen the finches fly
All that I’m asking is to untie
The cables from the tables
To the ladder in the manmade sky
But don’t forget, we’re doing this for you
Intubation time is through
And a shot rang out across the prairie
Can’t you hear
Those breadbasket blues
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4. |
On the Range
05:47
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The bile in the rain
Dissolves the home on the range
Destination: fork and plate
A tendon in all
We wouldn’t dare to pull
Prepared for gripe and delay
This is the year of the balded gear
And the sureness of the blade
Move down the line by undoubted design
Each person a link in the chain
And the tails no longer sway
And the grass is no longer grazed
For who’d ever think to give thanks to
The born to be aborted
One dirty peek
And it’s all we’d need
A whiff from the trucks as they pass
Meet at the gate of anaerobic fate
Just how long will this last?
They come out billions in number
Incubated and casually plundered
None bear a name, nor hold any claim
To a life, stripped of all wonder
And the tails no longer sway
And the grass is no longer grazed
For who’d ever think to give thanks to
The born to be aborted
I cannot describe the crime
That lies beneath barcode lines
Driven into green homeland
Responsible for weakening
Our once efficient hand
What is the cost of the living lost?
Deeper in each decade, questions growing
But I’ve figured it out
It is relieved by doubt
But I’ll shout within my knowing
I will shout within my knowing
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5. |
Conductor
04:00
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Who killed the conductor?
Who sent the spy?
Let loose from the cabins
While we slept overnight
Our parcels still rolling
Set to arrive on time
But who killed the conductor
And I want to know why
Who spilled the honey?
Who robbed the hive?
White glove bespattered
White linen wrapped knife
The body still humming
Tho’ the sound be denied
And I’m trying to find some peace of mind
Who tore the pages?
Who rewrote the rhyme?
The sonnets ushered
Though at a different time
They’ve blown out the lamplight
Steeped their tea in brine
And I’m trying to find some peace of mind
I am trying to find some peace of mind
I am trying to find some peace of mind
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6. |
In a Line
05:02
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IN A LINE
They signed the papers today
Both sides of the room, red-faced
One walked away
I’d be lying if I said
I didn’t want it this way
I’ve seen aircraft crowd my sky
And the markets boom and die
Blue air for sending bullets through
But I didn’t know I’d choose for you
I didn’t know I’d choose for you
The grain that fed the hungry mouth
Grew in lines of only north and south
This, the grist that I’d share with you
But I didn’t know I’d choose for you
I’m tired of talking about crime
All this acid and lye
Oh, but I’m from the country
And I don’t know any better
Thought I had my little dogies in a line
Thought I had my little dogies in a line
Now the story told
Of Caiaphas
And Maribel in the bush
Are now colliding
I’ve simplified
On a single dime
And gone without
But never into hiding
I’ve heard legend of you
I have heard of what you do
I heard somewhere there’s a place for you
But I didn’t know I’d choose for you
I didn’t know I’d choose for you
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7. |
Last Stand
04:45
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When I got to Jackson, I was sleeping
My hat, the angle it should be
Dined on a table spread with muslin
Jawbone, fry bread, and cowpeas
I was soothed by the grooves of epic etchings
I was a boy in blue and had a steed
And the cavalry
Will carry me
Wherever these inflated shoulders lead
With only as much as suggestion
I’d take down whichever pigeon flew my way
And come in from the north, just like before
But found the tempt of gold as my pay
I’m a man, not unlike any of my subjects
Who took a leap in haughtiness and haste
As my pockets raged
I met a distant face
A chief and his nation ‘cross the bank
Doubled as an end and a beginning
The stream of fate began to swell
And to understand is beyond me
The tendency
To heroize the way that general fell
He’s just another tender, screaming baby
Convinced by himself and those in lead
And felt the crushing blow
Undeniable force
Of a stoic beast, provoked finally
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8. |
Off the Wagon
04:28
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Shoot ‘em up, shoot ‘em up
Shoot ‘em up, shoot ‘em up
Hats off, blast off, faster, while you can
Gold top of the land and
Ride along
Ride along
Over, over, water, woods, be damned
Light the torch of their clan
And if you’re getting dizzy, well
A horse will always have to stand
And shoot ‘em up
Comin’ out, comin’ out
Comin’ out, comin’ out
Backwoods backbones aching with the pain
Needing something to blame, so they
Run ‘em out
Run ‘em out
On discomfort, risky color
Good riddance to where they once stood
Let loose the collar on this mean old dog
‘Cause someone finally said I could
Yeah, run ‘em out
Growing tired of waiting
‘Round a rusty gate
And your lamplight is so clouded
That you cannot see straight
Ringing out loud through every
Snapshot page
Is that only the unloved and the unnatural
Have to hate
So they
Tune ‘em out, tune ‘em out
Tune ‘em out, tune ‘em out
Hand-select whichever text may suit
The visceral pursuit
And stack ‘em up
Stack ‘em up
Numbers, numbers,
Plunder, plunder, now
Gonna take them downtown
Unholy, rolling off the wagon
But that’s nothing to feel shame for now
Yes, they’re rolling off the wagon
And I’m trying to figure out how
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9. |
Look On
05:19
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10. |
Lemonade
02:34
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If survival came to electing bait
Just as it’s seeming to today
I’d say take all or no one
And if the speed of man
Should be quicker than
The coldest creek
Then you seek yourself out a new one
We’ll still raise and reap
In the clouded heat
So give me hideable
But also prone to aging
Even on a sunny, sunny day
Well, I don’t have a problem
Hiding in a cabin
Thumbing through the better books
And drinking
Drinking lemonade
I knew a girl
We worked the dirt
But the only word she knew
Was her own name
She’d twist and turn
And scheme and stir
But she got rope burn
By trying to pull out my braid
And comes a time
Even if you deny
You’ve got to find the line
Before it’s drawn
Right on your forehead
‘Cause none of this is going to go away
But I don’t have a problem
Hiding in a cabin
Thumbing through the better books
And drinking
Drinking lemonade
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Libby DeCamp Detroit, Michigan
Deep-diving time-tracing cinematic folk blues ramblings
Detroit, MI
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