1. |
The Sparrow
04:14
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I opened my fists
I pressed my palms to the sky
I let the crows pick out
The jewels from my eyes
Oh God, I don't need to be original
Don't need no vision now
Please just plant crocus bulbs in my empty sockets
You cannot stop it
I cannot stay
Let me lay down
And turn to flowers where I lay
I opened my mouth
I let it fill up with rain
I let my voice drown out
The morning dew I became
Oh God, I don't need to be original
Don't need no language now
Please just plant crocus bulbs in my gaping mouth
The birds have flown south
I cannot stay
Let me lay down
And turn to flowers where I lay
I opened an egg
I found a wet baby bird inside
But he was not ready
I heard his first and last cries
Oh God, I don't need to be original
But did you see that sparrow fall?
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2. |
Voices and Words
05:04
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Lord, how long
Have people talked at me with wagging tongues?
For some conversation closes in like dogs
A wild pack with ears back and snapping jaws
And I can't think of anything worth saying
But then after twenty-three years
A word from her was buried here
And its veins branched out bearing seven songs
On each limb a letter that spoke in new tongues
And I could say anything to her
And the space between every breath that we breathed
Was filled with our voices and words
Whether whispered or hollered
They rained down like water
And curled through the cracking black earth
Late one night
I dreamed I went under the knife
Because they found something off in my tests
So they cut and opened up my chest
And I could feel everything they did
And the last words you said
They cut with a serrated edge
Because you thought I'd be numb to the pain
But you could pump morphine through each one of my veins
And I'd still feel everything you said
And the space between every breath that we breathed
Was filled with our voices and words
Now when you say my name
It's like an empty refrain
You repeat at the end of each verse
And the space between every breath that we breathed
Was filled with our voices and words
Now it's just a cold exchange
You might hear between two strangers
And it hurts all the more it's deserved
It don't mean anything
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3. |
Under Fog
04:00
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We were born under fog
Four blue eyes wet with dawn
Nestled in a thicket in wilderness
Sister, hear the cricket Mercy kept?
Come, faith
Move, twin
Move, you tiny mountain
In the warm before light
I had you before eyes
Mother, don't you cry, your child's with God
Mother, don't you cry, you child of God
We might lie still
But we roll like the hills
God's will never withers
So we bend with the river
Come, faith
Move, twin
Move, you tiny mountain
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4. |
Dear Alexander
04:19
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You are dear to me, Alexander
Tell me friend, how well do you remember
The glass jar to hold the frog and salamander
To keep them breathing through the frost of mid-November?
You said the air holes in the lid must look like stars to them
But maybe our stars are just holes that let heaven's light in
Have no fear with me
You are ever dear to me
I hope you can hear me
Alexander
It is clear to me, Alexander
The way that shame can make us all pretenders
After your family heard the scandal
They packed and headed back to the panhandle
Your thinning hair and body scream surrender
But you hold onto a hope you can't remember
But have no fear with me
You are ever dear to me
We can change by grace and mercy
Alexander
We're all wounded animals, Alexander
Who without warmth won't make it through the winter
Let's not huddle and hide in homes of rotting timber
But rise upon their brightly burning embers
Your broken brother's love grows ever tender
Love lives and breathes forgiveness, Alexander
So have no fear with me
You are ever dear to me
We survive by mercy only
Alexander
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5. |
The Moment and the Mile
04:54
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Blistered hands still hold the twine
But time ain't like a fishing line
You can't reel when you feel it pull
Echoes of a black nightmare
The screaming bobcat and the bear
But we sleep in sheep's shorn wool
Barely holding down the tent
I hold my sole and sweetest friend
I might die beside my love
When the sun returned to us
Love and light and life at once
I'd rise beside my love
I'd cut the brush and walk the wild
But time isn't measured in miles
No street, no two feet will ever be enough
And when our separate lives divide
No more the moment and the mile
We'll be friends again like love
Blistered hands still hold the twine
But time ain't like a fishing line
You can't just reel when you feel it pull
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6. |
Walk Upon the Waves
05:57
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A woman lay dying in a white paper gown
With all of her family gathering round
The husband cried "Please, baby, please don't go"
But it was just her bones he grieved when he laid her low.
Some people hang onto pain
Some people hold onto pearls
And all the things they've collected
Stay in this world
Later when praying the man thinks, "Maybe I'm all alone
And the voice I keep hearing is just a cold dial-tone.
Still it's a fine way to face the embraces of time
Like a lover or one crucified I stretch my arms wide."
Some people hang onto pain
Some people hold onto pearls
And all the things they've collected
Stay in this world
Jubilation or sorrow it don't mean a thing
They ring in then they're wrung out on a pendulum's swing
The greatest relief is when the coin's still in spin
Two worlds blur together as we begin again
Some people hang onto pain
Some people hold onto pearls
And all the things they've collected
Stay in this world
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7. |
Back to My Mind
04:17
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Everyone everywhere's waiting for now
The hour when the sun seems to sink 'neath the ground
The fluorescent heaven-sent reverenced moon
Seeps through the seams of this windowless room
Maybe it's mystical, maybe it's not
Maybe my feet won't keep me up when I try to walk
Either it's everyone else or it's me
But I lack the will and the balance to leave
Night sky clouds over with crows
And I turn over and over
How long, good God only knows
Will daybreak just make me feel older?
I've heard sounds swell around me above and below
The music of the living as they come and go
From sadness to gladness, from buoyant to blue
The feeling is lonesome but it's never been new
Night sky clouds over with crows
And I turn over and over
How long, good God only knows
Will daybreak just make me feel older?
They waltz and they kiss, these two hands on my wrist
And I clap along keeping time
It's a comfortable bluff to look up above
With a short simple supplicant shrug
Everyone everywhere's waiting for now
The hour when the sun picks itself up off the ground
Rise if you want to but I'm backing down
Back to my mind where I won't be found
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8. |
Monochromatic
04:51
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Close the curtain, shut out that thieving moon
Just stay in and compose your silent tune
Concealing thoughts and letting dingy details loom
In that cluttered mind there's hardly any room to breathe
Living monochromatically day after day
But your neutral tones are giving too much away
Dust off those memories you keep
Of when living seemed a laugh and love was all it said to be
All your enemies won't even put up a fight
They're blindsided, you attack in your perpetual night
I'll admit that I've got reservations
You've burrowed deep into a place in your head
Wanting privacy but you can't be left for dead
Pinned down by the who, what, where, when, why
Just alive enough to have some strength left to die
Disguises often have a way to reveal
All those battle scars that just won't heal
I'll admit that I've got reservations
Trying to understand through divinations
Frankly I am tired of this surveillance
I just want things to fall apart
So I can give you a second start
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9. |
Open Ocean
07:03
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Out in open ocean
The all in all
Soft and salt-scarred mouth
Swallow air and steam
And breathe sea
Black and blue
They blur on the horizon
Just like the blue into my lungs
I thought I saw you on a wave
But then the cold water you became
Comb the ocean floor
Lines into the sand
It's a name
I thought I saw you bear me o'er the waves
But then the cold water I became
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10. |
Until the Dark Can Sing
05:21
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I know I can change
My life, I know, can change
And if they take my legs
I'll beat down my arms
And stretch the skin until they're wings
And if they take my eyes
I'll cry out into the night
Until the dark can sing
Stay on my side tonight
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11. |
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May your smile never be crooked
May your path always be straight
And if you have purpose for a compass
May you never deviate
God keep you on your journey
God bless your shining face
And at the table of his glory
May you always have a place
Good keep you on your journey
God grant you strength to go
May your destiny be high
Although our heads are hanging low
May our love animate you always
May your love do the same
May we bear witness to its majesty
Unafraid to name its name
God keep you on your journey
God bless your shining face
And at the table of his glory
May you always have a place
God keep you on your journey
God grant you strength to go
May your destiny be high
Although our heads are hanging low
When your burden becomes heavy
May you feel his breath upon your brow
May you have faith that he is with you
Just as we are with you now
And forever
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Honeyman & The Brothers Farr Montréal, Québec
The band that would be king, Honeyman & the Brothers Farr is a good time for a long time. Simon Honeyman, Eric Farr, and James Farr have been playing roots-pop for 4 years and have an impressive resumé. They've played at Ottawa Bluesfest, Fringe POP, POP Montreal. As a band and as soloists, they've collaborated with ex-Unicorns Alden Penner & Jamie Thompson, Patrick Watson, & Kelly Joe Phelps. ... more
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