1. |
River Would Roll Us
04:02
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We were sailing a riverboat down to Peoria
We were writing a history of rain
Our captain was a silhouette of the glory of
Her eyes and the mystery of pain
My brother said Sisyphus was an astounding man
With stonefuls of happiness he borrowed
I said the Mississip’ had a confounding plan
To steal kisses from the dawn of tomorrow
And the water—it rolled
And it rolled every night
It rolled like the wheel of the day
The water—it rolled
And it rolled till the time
The river would roll us away
We made Dubuque Iowa in a torrential snow
We grazed by the gale winds unplowed
We had great unused piles of some providential rope
We tied to the tailfins of clouds
We abandoned our riverboat on a February night
I traded my cigarettes for cold
But whoever takes a silver bird to the estuary might
See the sunset spin pirouettes of gold
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2. |
Martha
04:41
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Martha, do you remember makin'
Art when we was kids
All them days struggling to stay in line
Picture books and finger paint
Coloring by numbers
Late into the night
Till the dinner bell would chime
And Martha, do you remember high school
Them books we'd never read
The poetry of wastin' so much time
Skipping class and skipping stones
On beaches that we held alone
Shootin' stars lit bonfires
In our minds
Oh, Martha, do you remember
Martha, do you remember
Martha, we was two of a kind
Martha, do you remember holding
Hands on your mama's porch swing
I played you a song on my steel-string guitar
Johnny Cash and Townes Van Zandt
I wish I'd taken a photograph
Drinkin' lemonade from a Ball blue mason jar
And Martha, do you remember makin'
Love beneath the full moon
We tempted fate and oh it tasted sweet
Grass stains and wrinkled shirts
When you walked away you know it hurt the worst
The day I lost you
I began my losing streak
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3. |
Relics
03:56
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Cleaning out a closet
Buried in a box
The hazy whore of memory
And all her golden locks
Skeletons awaken
They're taunting with their keys
Unlock pandora's nightmare
Releasing you from me
These relics are changing me
These relics are changing me
These relics are changing me
These relics are changing me
These battlefields promise
Thirty years of plague
Locusts swarm above me
Risen from the grave
Soldiers cry their broken pledge
To countries they adore
Their weaponry of misery
Foreshadow what's in store
We're treading brackish waters
In a frenzy of a sea
When our hearts have grown too shallow
We'll sink into the deep
We cast wide nets to see what kind of treasures we might find
We're buoyed by a hollow grace
We're running out of time
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4. |
Moving To Mars
03:05
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Moving to Mars with this wheel of fortune
Counting the cards in this game of dice
Hanging the stars off my front porch and
Everything is worth remembering twice
The supermarket is selling bottles of fermented love
The hardware store can hold your heart with asbestos gloves
So game show hosts pick up that phone
The deal you make might be your own
The beauty queen is wearing black and old combat boots
The grand-prize pig is making up with her new kissing booth
So punk rock kids pick up that phone
The stance you take might be your own
The basement’s flooded with years of lies
And my true face is still a great disguise
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5. |
Old Friends (New Lovers)
03:16
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Sweeter than saffron
Your milk white skin so fair
The great Silk Road bore riches
That next to you would never compare
Sunbeams will scatter
Through prisms, fashion color from light
But that spectrum it don't hold
A candle to the green of your eyes
And I can see
A love so sweet
Sweeter than a honey bee
Old friends, new lovers we'll be
Old friends, new lovers we'll be
Prophets speak of a savior
And poets turn words into psalms
Now I believe in a brand new religion
The revelation of you in my arms
Pennies they fall from heaven
Into wells that promise a wish
But I would trade every star in the night sky
For the chance that we might kiss
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6. |
Mix Tape
03:06
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I made you a mix tape in 1985
Heavy metal to twist your little sister
But the science was blinding and your girl just wanted fun
At the mall till they closed the Sam Goody
You caught Pac-Man fever at the hospital for kids
Who know more than their parents think they should
But the pills couldn’t power through alleyways of ghosts
And your REM dreams as we know them
When David said jump you said I’ll fly
When Vince Neil said smoke you said poison
Roses have vases and braces don’t lie
Your smile like a synth line you shattered
So where is that mix tape from 1985
I want to hear if my voice has grown younger
I speak like a gravestone or a ray gun in space
President of this useless rewinding
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7. |
Calatrava Dream
05:06
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I built you up
Like wordless poetry
Like grand geometries
Like praise in Glory Be's
I filled the vacancies
With visions from my dreams
I can't deny the grace
That filled this empty space
Before we embraced
I felt the symmetry
That fed our reverie
I built you up
Like a Calatrava dream
Chorus:
And I knew
I knew
I knew you from the start
And I do
I do
Believe we are an art
Now I lift you up
Like raindrops with no weight
I watch them breathlessly
And I know their every name
Their subtle ascendancy
A storm set to abate
To soar among the breeze
Requires remedy
For our broken wings
We pledge fidelity
To live in high esteem
I lift you up
Like the common blackbird sings
I build you up
Like a Calatrava dream
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8. |
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Took a train to New York City on a whim
You followed your heart east from me to him
He left you standing naked on the road
You followed your heart back to me at home
You begged for my forgiveness
You pleaded with a kiss
But, baby, to your chagrin I'm movin' on
That's the problem with freedom, baby
You're always free to choose
That's the problem with freedom, honey
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose
You laid down your future on the line
Complaining that your past was lost to time
You traded away your trophies for a change
You cashed in all your chips just a little too late
Now you're holding on to memories
You're older than you please
But, baby, lookin' back ain't no way to be
I relented and called your number
Because the heart's a lonely hunter
I heard the voice of another man
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9. |
A Better Way
03:14
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Once upon a time
You and I we shared a wistful language
We spoke in lovely rhyme
But now we're burdened by each other's baggage
It's a common misperception
That love feels like a chore
Yeah I've heard it before
There's a better way to fix a broken record
There's a better way to sing your favorite songs
You celebrate the differences between you
There's a better way to play along
We speak in a lonely tense
We cater to what's left of our devotion
We're hedging all our bets
We're banking on a river of emotion
You can change the conversation
And swim your way upstream
Yeah it ain't ever as bad as it seems
There's a better way to fix a broken record
There's a better way to sing your favorite songs
You celebrate the differences between you
There's a better way to play along
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10. |
Diamond Castle
02:06
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11. |
Kamikaze Love
03:33
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Pick a card from my hand
Let me guess your plan
Before your love rolls out of reach
It's a game you play
Always ends the same
Winning's something that you don't teach
Keep on searching for
An open door
Your barrier can't be breached
And you walk away
Against the grain
Broken shards upon the beach
You're a kamikaze love
You're a kamikaze love
You're a kamikaze love
You're a kamikaze love
That was me on the road
Chasing your trail of smoke
When you gunned it on the run
You were high, I was dry
Left me wondering why
The moon reflects the sun
Now I'm cobbling dreams
Into something concrete
Use a knife to cut through the pain
And everything I see
Is the love I bleed
Down gutters with the rain
And what would it mean
If I fell for your scheme
My dignity lost in the fray
And how would you feel
If your casting was real
And not some feeble one act play
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12. |
The Trouble With Fishing
05:32
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13. |
I Fall Every Time
02:48
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Maybe my story is
Just like a falling leaf
Casually making its way to the ground
And if all of my rotted teeth
Were valued by common thieves
Do you think you'd still keep me around
Or would you
Toss me to the curb like you did
Or could you
Settle on a house with two kids
If I'm asking too much then I know it's not love
Cuz I fall every time that it is
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14. |
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When the circus comes to town
Don't have sex with a clown
He might be a man of rainbowed renown
But don't have sex with a clown
His red nose is squishy
His car is quite small
And he wants to teach you
How to juggle his balls
His painted-on smile disguises a frown
Don't have sex with a clown
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15. |
A Line Without a Poem
03:21
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I was walking in my grandmother’s garden
Through a patch of baby’s breath
Fail to see myself in her reflection
A stranger in my skin once again
Spent my whole life a foundation with no home
Trying to fill some rooms to call my own
I’m a plot without a number
A line without a poem
Will you pick me up, give me somewhere to go
I was paging through my grandfather’s hymnal
Searching for the psalm we used to sing
Hurts me to hear my voice so lone and brittle
Foreign as a faith that won’t remain
Spent my whole life a foundation with no home
Trying to fill some rooms to call my own
I’m a plot without a number
A line without a poem
Story, resolution unknown
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Mead Lake's Most Wanted West Bend, Wisconsin
MLMW are a group of outlaws from the Milwaukee area who make interesting choices and/or music.
Mead Lake's Most Wanted recommends:
National Bellwether EP
by the inkwell collective
Stunning indie rock from Kewaskum-centric Steev Baker. "The leaves are falling, but then again, so am I ..."
go to albumIf you like Mead Lake's Most Wanted, you may also like:
Sparkling and knotty indie rock from this Australian group with interlocking guitars and shifting rhythms.
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The Melbourne singer-songwriter's captivating debut balances dreamy indie folk with driving, emotional rock.
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Would the Light Hold Me
by Oceanique
Celtic-inspired instrumentation, delicate harmonies, and reflective lyrics abound on the sisterly indie-folk duo's debut album.
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The Bridge in The Mountain's Hands (A Travelog)
by Haotian
Combining Chinese folk music, ambient, & spoken-word poetry, Haotian has made a gorgeous, enveloping travelogue.
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If you have a fondness for expertly wrought roots-rock with sharp lyrics and aching vocals, look no further—“Strangers” is for you.
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