1. |
Man I Used to Be
03:55
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We were young when we learned to read
Our shared expression of joy and grief
We landed on a losing streak
Tore you from my reach
And it got the best of me
Every year get a little bit older
Like a tree grow another ring
Every year grow a little bit further
From the man I used to be
I grew up on a dead-end street
Felt the constant pull to up and leave
But the will within me turn the other cheek
Always sought reprieve
Till my demons came for me
All these years
Stacked against the wall
My future’s like a forest
Prepping for a fall
If I leave
I would lose it all
The dream
Of growing tall
I’ve been trying to make my peace
Between my roots and these destructive weeds
It's as hard to learn as it is to teach
Wisdom only speaks
In the wind between the leaves
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2. |
Avalanche
03:58
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Dawn breaks
I’m feeling I’m falling short
Feeling I’m destined for
Some kind of end
Open eyes
Like wounds not yet cauterized
You know I have seen the light
It burns from within
The ruins always testing our faith, well they start with us
And they move in to settle their claim, they’re surrounding us
I’m buried beneath
The avalanche
The avalanche
The avalanche
Night tries
To blind me with city lights
But I see right through the disguise
To the message they send
Terrorized
By what I have compromised
I’m desperate to rise but I
Have fallen again
There’s no fooling the powers that pull us apart, we trust
We're not losing the only chance we may have to adjust
Till we’re buried beneath
I concede
There’s nothing but false conceit
Hidden within you and me
It pacifies shame
But hear me speak
Through surrender we’ll earn our keep
Reclaim the world for the meek
Our loss is our gain
The stars need a darkness to understand purpose so night can sing
And we’re choosing to listen more closely so dawn can bring
Bring down the end
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3. |
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We’ve been together for so long now
I don’t need nobody else
Our love is ticking like that old clock
We keep upon our shelf
But lately things have changed
And your smile is looking strange
But it’s fine if the dishes are in the sink
It’s fine if you come home later than I used to think
It’s fine if you’ve had a bit too much to drink
It’s fine—it’ll be okay
You say you love me through and through
And you’d never break my heart
Our bond is tighter than super glue
And we can never break apart
I don’t want to know what you did last
night with someone else who wasn’t
me don’t want to know what you did last night
When did your love become
Just another guessing game
When did your love
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4. |
Fault Lines
04:45
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Nothin’ hurts us like love
Force-fed the truths I distrust
And I am a fool for choosing the apples that rust
My heart has been exiled to a desert of longing and lust
But we’ll find
Paradise
As we fall
We’ll keep
Listening
For our call
Shadows
Follow me home
Sorrow
Imperfect hope
And I am conditioned to spin all my wisdom into webs
And I built this prison to live in while my commitments clear my head
As my heart unspools
I become the fool
Abandoned as the rules
That once held me to you
Fault lines
Rip us apart
Cold lies
The promise we subvert
And blame is a fissure that triggers my defenses to erupt
The course we have taken awakens the purity we corrupt
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5. |
Perseids Appear
04:31
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Your eyes made my heart safe for music
I've hidden your name in each of my songs
Like the rain disguises itself in the surface of a lake
I'll wait for you to sing along
When the Perseids appear
Like the moon alight with tears
My voice it will carry you my muse
Across the universal blue
The night will bear us in her womb
Dawn sets your shadow to dancing
An hourglass devoid of sand
I remember when time was just a trellis laced with vine
A morning glory petal in your hand
How our bodies bow and break
Like smoke aroused by flame
Unbridled sparks convey
The heat that remains
The shore receives the sea like a lover
An island tucked into a tidal embrace
The poems I wrote will float with hope into destined undertow
Connected by a current of waves
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6. |
Curtain Call
03:42
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I've been thinking about
My windowpane
How it separates me
From the day's parade
Been staying up late
Drawing my shades
Afraid of the pain
I haven't the strength to face
But all in all
I'm still holding on
Despite all these missteps
And my curtain call
And all things considered
I'm still holding my ground
To spite all these little things
Wanna take me down
I've been thinking about
This roof overhead
And my child sleeping soundly
In her mother's separate bed
I've been notching my wall
With everything I regret
So many little lines I've drawn
Between my heart and my head
We promised each other the difficult
work of the love we keep
The love we keep
The love
Now the love is all that remains
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7. |
1997
03:49
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The night was swarming with junebugs
The air was stale as a beer
You kept talking like you were a lion tamer
Waving at the crowd so cavalier
You said you wanted other people
I said just get in the car
Your smile was a switchblade as you walked away
Slicing up a sky of cold scars
That was the year I fell apart
That was the year the dam burst
And the water flooded down
Through our swampy old town
And I swore to get even
In 1997
That winter was cold as a daiquiri
The sweetness as numb as your lips
I painted our room with that red you liked
Like bloodstains on my fingertips
And with my friend I drove to Saskatchewan
To learn why your eyes were glacier blue
It’s hard to know what side you’re on
When the world is round as a bruise
That was the year of rusty hearts
And I prepared for the worst
Like water flooding down
Through our swampy old town
And your taillights as you were leavin’
In 1997
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8. |
Fathoms
05:16
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I’ve been told there is a bottle
Overflowing like the breeze
And as we tread new waters
We'll learn the language of the sea
We are here
Until we disappear
We are here
Until we disappear
I’ve been told gold is a treasure
Only fools apprize
The only value that I measure
Is the vessel of your eyes
In fathoms we will fade away
Like the coral beneath the waves
Rough edges once so jagged now smooth as clay
The current will carry us carefully
As the eastern sky awakes
Reborn into the promise of daybreak
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9. |
Lost Cause
03:05
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Hi there Maria it’s, sure nice to see ya, it’s been-a long time don’t ya say
I’ve been piecing together the walls of my shelter, and I ain’t got a dime to my name
You’ve grown a little older, went searchin for the border,
and that town you used to dream of got a little closer.
Found a man with a pension, and your townhouse was fenced in,
they’ll never find out what you forgot to mention.
Like a song paused baby, I’m a lost cause lately, I’m a long shot maybe it’s true
Spend all my time drinkin, sleepin late and thinkin, about spending all of my time with you.
Hey there Melissa, I sure should’ve kissed ya, as you stared right into my eyes. I had a thing for your sister, that ended in a twister, and took away ten years of my life
I wish I knew you better, never opened your letters, they’re stashed up in the attic with old trophies and your sweater. We were birds of a feather, heading south for warmer weather, with that never say never, and find whatever is clever.
My lovely Darlene, you sure kept it clean, as you left all the tables unturned.
In your short yellow blouse, you lit fire to my house, igniting my cause for concern
You were always a fire ball, like a rocket you blast off, can’t believe what my eyes saw, when you stepped into southpaw. Took a left to my glass jaw, guess you have the brass balls, when they hauled you away, you were laughing your ass off.
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10. |
St. Sebastian Bay
03:35
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The lifeguard wonders what it’s like to drown
He puts the whistle to his lips then drops it down
And the chlorine would stay in your hair
Even when you were asleep
And I would dive into your dreams
All smooth, sleek, and deep
And you would try to hold your breath
Until the edges blurred
Broken bird
The traffic cop is in his car half asleep
Dreaming of the tickets he could give to you to keep
Remember when we drove all night
To St. Sebastian Bay
And froze out there upon the beach
With seagulls and the spray
And when you said you loved me
I didn’t say a word
Broken bird
The pharmacist never asked about the pills
You sold to the high school kids for a thrill
And now stand before the mirror
The bottle in your hand
Wondering why your life never
Turned out as you planned
And maybe it’d be better
If you never had occurred
Broken bird
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11. |
Old Wounds
02:54
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Well there's a time
for giving up and
a time for moving on
But there are chains
that try to keep us
shackled to the past, holding tight to our regrets
blinded in a prison of our own making of
Old wounds
Old lies
Old scars you just don't realize
have lost their pow'r to injure us
so open up your eyes
to those old wounds, old lies
And there's a road
that's straight and narrow
a river swift and wide
you're not alone
here in the darkness
I'm wandering here to, searching for the light
living for the day that we can find our way through
There's living water still
Let me drink my fill
Baby don't give up on me cause I am not my pills
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12. |
Crack in the Snow Globe
03:38
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I remember the night
You dimmed the lights
Under the brilliance of the moon
And in the living room
We folded the clothes together
The lilacs were in bloom
As were you
Your hair swayed the way
The curtains moved
But that was so long ago
And time has a way of breaking the mold
This season is bitter cold
Love like an ice floe
There's a crack in the snow globe
Last night you said goodbye
As day’s final light
Pushed shadows across the floorboards
And I wore my best disguise
Your boxes organized
In piles just outside the door
Your key in the dresser drawer
Don’t need it anymore
Our love a letter torn
And oh
I’m chased by the feeling
There’s nobody hearing
My prayer's unanswered but yet
Through cold there comes warming
But night leads to morning
I want to hold you again
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13. |
You're the Bomb
02:51
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I never did that well in physics class
And chemistry just left me confused
But I can see your eyes are smokin’
And your words are turning into one long fuse
So I guess I’ll say goodbye
Before you blow our roof to the sky
And I’ll just step aside
As your atoms divide
In the bomb that used to be you
You said your hero was Einstein
You’re sure glad he won that Nobel Prize
And I wanted was to just talk to you
But you said your secrets were classified
So I guess I’ll walk out that door
Before we don’t have one anymore
And the fans all grab their chairs
For this fireworks affair
Called the bomb that used to be you
When we talk about our prospects
You keep sayin’ Manhattan Project (woo!)
So I guess I’ll drive away
In my car you call Enola Gay
You used to be used to being
Used to being used
The bomb that used to be you
When I’m asked about our past
I guess I’ll say it was a blast
With the bomb that used to be you
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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
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Stunning indie rock from Kewaskum-centric Steev Baker. "The leaves are falling, but then again, so am I ..."
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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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