1. |
Ritual
02:37
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In the near dark, look straight in the mirror
Say all the right things, say em three times
Say them loud and clear.
It’s not what you’re looking for and you won’t find it here
Go on and knock yourself out, hope real hard, hope they all appear
And set you off in the near dark like a car alarm.
Screaming all night in a dozen different parts.
Not quite sure we ever got the ritual right
You tried so much but something’s always missing
Just can’t keep doing this every night
Hoping real hard for a spirit to visit
And set you off throughout the night like a car alarm
Screaming all night in a dozen different parts
Let every memory go on and play telephone
Mangle all the meaning of everything you feel the further you go.
Screaming all night in a dozen different parts.
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2. |
Scratch Paper
04:59
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If we’re killing time, well let’s kill it right
Pep talk the shadows till the light dies
Show me your problems and i'll show you mine
Tell me those things you won’t tell anyone
We’ll watch the lines in our faces run
We'll show each other the scratch paper we’ve become
Write it out on a napkin, spit it out at the light
Working out the answers, working through the matter
Drifting through the data, Oh god, scratch until it’s better
We’ll kill some time but it just won’t die, but you know that days gonna come
Time’s gonna fill up like a grave don’t let it hurt you
Till then we’ll sit and watch the old days, the old ways hanging by a thread
The old comforts turning blue, turning ancient
Then you’ll feel a weight lift from you, whether or not you really want it to.
Working out the answers, working through the matter
Drifting through the data, Oh god, scratch until it’s better
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3. |
I-5, Exit 174
02:41
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Exit numbers in my blood, welcome back to the fold
Most days I still miss this place, I even miss it when it’s cold
Take me now I wanna taste, every decision on my tongue
Call some folks on over, fake like we’re forever young.
We could have a few and maybe you could watch me dance
I’ll gladly humiliate myself for my friends, given the chance
We’ll stumble out and talk to murals, but they never answer back.
Opal Whiteley knows my name, but she never really asked.
Let's go over the bridge we’ll smile and nod in loving memory
That underpass full of train kids, full of poison, singing out of key
They looked real sick, but they’d insist they in fact were free
You’re as free as whatever bird you wanna be
Let hindsight kick us in the stomach gently while we sleep
Like tarot cards that you shrugged off, now you read em all and weep
I took this place for granted but now I’m taking it with me.
I-5, exit 174.
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4. |
Island Dream Again
03:17
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Dreamt I was an island, dreamt I was a beach
all loud and quiet sometimes out of reach
dreamt I was a postcard wishing you were here
with no one to send it to
there I was the desert, there I was the sea
underneath forever, kinda out of reach
the places that you go when there’s nowhere left to be
Any minute now I’ll be bursting at the seams
God if you’re there and you really love me, won’t you leave me the island dream
Dreamt I was a man that I just couldn’t be
I’m a little bit of love and barely out of reach
then I was an island I saw in a magazine
I see myself there
Any minute now I’ll be rolling down the stream
God if you’re there and you love me, won’t you give me the island dream
Saw myself in a magazine
Any minute now
I’ll be rowing down the stream
If you listen real quiet, I’m an island, I’m a beach
Sometimes if you love me, leave me out of reach
I swear I won’t lie I saw myself in a magazine, god help me
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5. |
Moonlight, OR-99W
05:51
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Bathed in Bugler smoke, I’ve never loved the moonlight more
Than in some far off town, far away from my own name, in a new heart
Busk until we’re drunk, do it till the day I hate my own voice
Can I sleep in your loft? May I borrow your microphone, and your guitar?
Snap a photo with your eyes and if it’s a blur, it’s all right
I swear I’ll get you that song the day that I am better at this
It's somewhere shining in the corner of the moonlight over 99 West
Find a space on the wall, have fun go painting in the caves
Find a couple lines, hold them together and hope it makes you feel brave
Try and find a voice, take a handful when you go, to see what fits
Busk until the dusk, after all the banks shut down and call it quits
Snap a photo with your eyes and if it’s a blur, it’s all right
I swear I’ll get you that song the day that I am better at this
It's somewhere shining in the corner of the moonlight over 99 West
I'll even sign it with a heart
Moonlight, Oregon-99 West
I'll even sign it with my name
Moonlight, Oregon 99 West
99 West
I've never loved the moonlight more
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6. |
Birthmarks
05:09
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The city slept like a log
Like a baby in the womb
As your body shut down in a hospice room
I hear the ancients moan looking for someone to talk to
Just looking for a home
I slept like a buzzsaw
Slept in all my clothes
Heart left on in the back like a radio
Apologies and pleas
Seeping into my dreams sound like
Song dedications from Art Laboe
If you’re gonna hang around leave me alone
Counting all the birthmarks that just won’t let me go
We’ll sit and count the days
till we’re all together again as ghosts
Make yourself a shadow
shut up and know I love you most
You’re like a polaroid
full of light and dark
Shook and shook till it was clear it was all a blur from the start
If you’re gonna be in my blood
Just leave me all the good parts
Hidden in the shadows of the birthmarks
A little sanity
Show me a little sanity sometimes
If you’re gonna be in my heart
Between the radio stations
In between all that hurt
You’re gone but you’re somewhere, I swear
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7. |
I'm A Bird
06:08
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So sorry for the late reply
The years learned how to drink and drive
Lit up like an ambulance, heart full of fear
Across the great divide
Left my baggage all over this place
with songs I couldn’t finish
Every song that hit a wall, every long lost friend
And all the hope we put into them
Back off into the dark you go
Like a word on the tip of your tongue
Barely out of light
You can do all you want to
You’re in my heart, barely out of sight
So sorry I never say goodbye
So sorry i never visit
Got lost in a theme park
Still looking for the end
With all the hope, I'll see you all again
Back down into the dark you go
Like a word on the tip of your tongue
Barely out of light
You can do all you want to
You’re in my heart, barely out of sight
Back off into the dark we go
I’m a bird that met a window
Falling out of sight
Where we can do all we want to
And we'll never part
Barely out of light
barely out of sight
you're in my heart.
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8. |
Stitches
03:53
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Off to Turnbull Canyon
let's go get uncomfortably high
this road forever twists and turns
like it just can't sleep to save its life
and you can really see where you come from
from up here
you can really see all those things you swear you won't forget
but you already do
from up here you can feel it all
I can feel the liquid quilt
look, ma - no hands
not a stitch of guilt
Almost through Turnbull Canyon
off to Hacienda Heights
I know that he can get us there
I know that I can trust him
but he should not be allowed to drive
I know that we'll probably be alright
but just as much, you know
we could still probably die
from up here you can see the start
youth covering me up like a quilt
Look ma - no hands
not a stitch of guilt.
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9. |
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Turn the light back on
then shut it off
Let us know you’re safe from harm
Sat there for hours watching a street light cough
Looked it in the eye
sat and watched it die in the neighborhood’s arms
keep your head clean the best you can
your dreams make cartoons of your memories
if you're not careful you'll wake up a cartoon of a man
Turn the kettle on
Find a noble kind of buzz
Cut it with some milk and hold it to your lips
When the morning comes
Turn your head up
The sky’s above is looking at you
it's painted like an old TV screen God put a magnet to
Give it all the hours
Like we did when we were small
Stare up till it feels like you’re falling forever
No fear at all
Keep the light on keep looking
I know you’ll find
A mile long grin stretched far and wide
like the one that you had on a late night school bus ride
After a field trip that went completely right
Turn the light back on
then shut it off
just let us know you’re safe from harm
sat there for hours watching a street light cough
Looked it in the eye, sat and watched it die in the neighborhood’s arms.
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10. |
El Monte Legion Stadium
03:31
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I wanna send this one out
to my dad in Lancaster prison
I love you anywhere you go
I swear soon I’ll come visit
till then here’s “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Send one to my baby
fifth night in a row, she's locked me out
tell her I'm waiting and I hope
she lets me back in somehow
Here’s “Always & Forever”
Art would you read my letter to my family back at home.
Tell them I miss them, give my wife a kiss on the microphone
And play “Gangsters Get Lonely Too”
I wanna send one out with forgiveness on my breath
to all the ghosts out here, all the ones that never left
Play em “Groovin’ on a Sunday Afternoon”
Art, all around my home
Somewhere in the heartbeat there
Are all those once in a lifetime dances
all our drunken relatives shared
Go on and let our love and our forgiveness into the air
with El Monte Legion Stadium
still lingering up there somewhere
Gone but it's somewhere
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Alex Salcido Cincinnati, Ohio
Alex Salcido is one half of indie rock-folk group The Harmed Brothers.
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