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1. |
A Little Liberation
04:17
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Thrown down around I don’t know what to say
Cuz days like today there was too much at play
You’ve got to pull back the hounds of introspection
When the fox hunt becomes a game of second guessing
You gotta let it roll off your back like water on a trout
It’s probably not worth trying to figure it out
You can save yourself some space instead of all the cogitation
Let it roll off your back like the water on a duck
We can make this sucker fly with a little bit of luck
You can look in the face of grace for a little liberation
And I think that you’ll find all that worry just ain’t worth a dime
All of the sudden there’s just too much to process
You’ve got to shed off the weight and scrape off the nonsense
Because I’ve got suspicions of a bug in the system-man
But it’s already far way too late to run a full system scan
When it’s drizzling hard and visibility’s low
The streetlamps are dim, you can hardly see the glow
The traffic is jammed but it doesn’t seem to slow
You gotta hold on tight now, what you really got to know
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2. |
Family Tree
04:24
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Grandma I think you better put the genealogy away
Can’t you see how the family tree has just been withering away
You’ve been tugging on the branches, the control you’ve supposed
Pitting us all against each other so that you wouldn’t be exposed
I’ve hardly got any memories left of swinging from the old willows
And of how grandpa used his pocketknife to carve us bows and arrows
All the cousins running around among the corn silos
That old tree is weeping, his head hanging low
Grandma I think you’d better take an axe to the root of bitterness
You know I never ever wanted things to turn out like this
You’ve caused so much division and it’s gotten such
That it’s choked out the love among us to where we barely stay in touch
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3. |
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You know he's moving out of Carcasonne,
taking his wheat and his sheep to settle down in Catan
And with a brick and a wood he can build him a road
But he's circled the island and he's still so alone
The walls were going up in the South of France
They played a tune for you but you didn't want to dance
The farms were fenced in, and the cities fortified
The cathedral relocated outside of town,
but the spring was running dry
So he said he’s moving out of Carcasonne,
taking his wheat and his sheep to settle down in Catan
And with a brick and a wood he can build him a road
But he's circled the island and he's still so alone
A perfect hexagon and a roll of the dice
You came to tame the tiger, but he wouldn't play nice
A storm is coming in, and the sea is gonna rise
If there's pieces, there's a puzzle, there's a Builder you see,
but you can't see Him with your eyes
So he said he’s moving out of Carcasonne,
taking his wheat and his sheep to settle down in Catan
And with a brick and a wood he can build him a road
But he's circled the island and he's still so alone
Who is putting down the pieces, who is putting them down?
If it wasn't the chief, then why's he wearing the crown?
Swine and sea turtles, there are traders and thieves
Peasants pull the plows, princes eat as they please
It's the order and perspective, each is taking his turn
With the cards he was dealt, still he can't help but yearn
To take something out of here that he didn't bring in
But nothing comes from nothing, it's about origin
Of the species, all the pieces
If he warned you from beyond the grave,
I still think that you wouldn't believe
In the chasm, or even fathom
The intense loneliness that's so far off the board
It was written on your heart by the hand of the Lord
So if you're looking at the world in only 3-D
You've left out the dimension that's impossible to see
But if there's pieces there's a puzzle, there's a Builder you see
But the limit's no longer the sky
So he said he's moving out of Carcassonne
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4. |
Lay Him Down
05:14
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Miriam, go and lay your brother down
This basket-bottom needs another coat
Tomorrow he’ll be three months old
And I’ll be up tonight making sure he’ll float
Lay him down, lay him down in his bed and though he cries
The Lord watch over him until in peace he close his eyes
Miriam, help me lay your brother down
This fine child in best linens we’ll swathe
Come with me down to the riverbank
Where the princess is known to bathe
Lay him down, lay him down among the reeds and though he cries
The Lord watch over him till he be found with merciful eyes
Miriam don’t you cry
Again we send him on his way
You must believe as we send him out
He will return someday
And he’ll understand when he is grown
How you’ve loved him all along
His dear sister who laid him down
Is waiting here for him at home
Lay him down, lay him down, let her take him though he cries
The Lord watch over him and wipe the tears from our eyes
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5. |
Long Division
03:50
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I had to co-sign on a tangent and you should've seen the fine print
It was the square root of all kinds
of evil in this world
A social contract is like a terrible hex
if it's a function of y with respect to x
With a radius of a π in the sky
And no matter how you figure, I think it's gonna be a long division
He didn't come to bring peace but a sword
This wicked world will never change, O Lord
Teach us how to number out our days
That we can gain a heart of wisdom
to stand up and be counted among the faithful
Have you begun to calculate the point at which harmony boils to hate
It’s about the vector speed of a hit and run
The area under the curve of a bridge
is only integral to the way we live
If in the end the value of i equals the sum
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6. |
Industrial Park
03:26
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Lord, I can smell your goodness in the greenery
I’ve got to get back that purity I’ve lost
Cuz I have been disgusted with the fruit of industry
I’ve got to get out of this world’s black exhaust
I took the long road all the way around
Bypassed the shopping mall and all the weekend crowds
To where the roads are wide
and a man can hear the sound of change
And the steady sense of not having a home
Well it grieves me to imagine what marvels of machinery
Will fill this leveled mountain space when it’s done
And a cool wind brings a sadness at the change in me
That turns my glace to the ever-fix’d orange setting sun
When you hit the highway, when you run out of juice
When the blue sheet metal barrier forces you to choose
To take a turn, then there it will be
A sight familiar, and a nearness suddenly
You’d like to ride a while longer but home’s calling yonder
So running, running, running, running, you run run run run run
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7. |
Goodbye Barista
03:29
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I guess you've grown out of your apron and it's time to move on
I see your capuccino can no longer be improved on
I've got nothing left to offer
There's no contract I'd let you sign anyway
I’ve got this nagging feeling that I haven't done enough
And so my drive home from work tonight was a little rough
Cuz I've got nothing left to offer
But I can't stand to see you go away
I've got nothing left to offer
There's no contract I'd let you sign
But you've got so much left to offer
You’ve gotta get out there girl and let it shine
I've got nothing left to offer
But I can't stand to see you go away
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8. |
Favored Flora
05:01
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Well it looks like the Spring has blown off the leaves
the Autumn didn’t get
And it’s not raining now but still somehow
the ground is still all wet
And in my mind, it can only mean another winter’s fear
But it seems to me there’s another fragrance in the air
And I think it’s not far off now
Oh the laurel and the lily I remember from last year
How we had to turn the corner before the white buds would appear
The jasmine, the azalea, the riverfront in green
Through the cold we’re hanging on, the favored flora still unseen
Well they bound up all the bushes,
I think it’s time to cut them loose
They pruned that tree back so far,
gave doubt it’d ever again produce
And now the weekend’s raining down
and folks are sweeping off the tombs
All the trees, I still believe another season’s coming soon
I think it’s not far off now
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9. |
Fixing Screens
03:51
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Sitting in my own cafe
I heard the tunes and I was miles away
Up the stairs repairing window screens
In the maintenance bay with my buddy Chris Levin
There was a hand-sawn box with a speaker lead
To Jazz88 it was a somewhat static feed
But when we tweaked it right and got the tuning fine
We were fixing screens with them back in 1939
It was an honest day's work, just a-passing time
A brush drum solo, and a simple bass line
A smooth clarinet, the melody unwinds
Putting in the hours, with this friend of mine
On the other side of the world with a cool cup of jazz
But a finger-tapping shuffle I found is all it ever has
I was thinking bout when we were fixing screens
With that radio there, me and buddy Chris Levin
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10. |
怀念
03:24
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关起满室不足的氧气
点着烟蒂回味你的呼吸
搜索脑里未完的龃龉
对着空气还击着你的问题
推辞每次真实的相聚
困着自己渴望着你的消息
沾沾自喜拒绝的魅力
不着痕迹享受着与你的距离
也许喜欢怀念你多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你多于得到你
我关起满室不足的氧气
点着烟蒂回味你的呼吸
散落一地断续的谜语
对着空气还击着你的问题
推辞每次真实的相聚
困着自己渴望着你的消息
翻来覆去甜蜜的话语
故作神秘延续着你的好奇
也许喜欢怀念你多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你不需要抱着你
也许喜欢怀念你多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你受不了真一起
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11. |
Aperture
05:20
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When it’s foggy out like this the sun
Looks just like the full moon on a cloudy mid-autumn
I’m a stickler for punctuation
And I’ve never liked a loose translation
I saw your light shine on through and caught a glimpse of the treasure
Can’t seem to get a hold on it, increase my aperture
The gray and the rain have begun to brew a full uneasy expectation
It’s the kind of a thing if you’re wrong, you roll down the mountain deep into the valley strong
I saw your light shine on through and caught a glimpse of the treasure
Can’t seem to get a hold on it, increase my aperture
I”ve seen the curtain-falling speed of a skyline sunset
I’ve heard the echoed memories of a tragic regret
Let your oil work in deep into the innermost parts
Of my complex beating mechanical heart
and please start to increase my capacity
I plead the calling I received and vision strength for action
I need at least a brief reprieve from the great distractions
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12. |
Dreams Bigger Than These
03:32
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Well the Lord summoned up a famine and broke all supply of bread
But years before, to prepare a grain store, he sent a man ahead
Commissioned with his hands in fetters, an iron collar round his neck
Dragged by the hands by the man to a foreign land, not the kind of calling you’d expect
He said
I’ve got dreams bigger than these
I’m talking bout the sun and the moon and the sheaves
You put it in my heart, when will I get to start?
I’m gonna wait and work with what I see
Well he was working as hard as he could,
the Lord with him all the time
But passed over and forgotten, feeling like he hit the bottom,
dungeon managing a waste of time?
The word of the Lord had tested him for 13 years till the king
Upon a tip from the chalice called him up to the palace
and exchanged his shackles for a ring
“Store up the grain, put it in the silos!
The starved cows just around the bend!
I’ll keep the princes in line like when I was doing time, and teach the elders some more wisdom!”
I feel just like a prisoner, I feel all alone
I had a nice jacket, I was called out of home
I know you’ve always been with me, and I believe in your plan
And I’m up to the challenge, but I’ve got fettered hands
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13. |
Pull Back the Attack
06:18
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He wrote the book, I couldn’t finish the article
From through the log he pointed out my particle
It startled her to receive the friendship award
It’s all I can do to put away my sword
This chord is made up of three or four notes
But I hope it hits the bottom and up again floats
To the surface, turfless, and on its back in black
Is tatooed “Pull Back the Attack”
It smacked down in front of my visible path
That Saturday picnic out on the grass
Where the bullhorn come and he seek to inform
From what place a modern civilized city is born
Will a worn-out road go with juice made with corn
Cuz to me it just seems a little forlorn
Leave the war horse in the stable,
I’m going out with a sling and a stone
Leave the armor on the table,
I’m going out in the name of the Lord
I put three spaces together then I’ll drop my chip
And you won’t catch me reciting the java script
The only tip I’ll give is think for yourself
And get something on your mind other than personal wealth
For your health you’ll go as far as to drink the snake wine
You should really find the time to come up and dine
At the feast or at least try to escape the beast
Cuz it’s never been about the west or the east
The police are all out and the traffic looks good
But did anyone bother to check under the hood
And would you like what you find if in kind
The diagnosis from behind makes you want to rewind
This time I can’t tell if it’s black or it’s red
But the more I think about what the old man said
The more it makes sense, the need for recompense
Buried underneath the ground is where he found all your talents
Well I made my point but no one heard
Have you ever been summed up in a word
Like the toast he proposed, it was grossly verbose
It was a ghost, I suppose, he was afraid of the most
A boast about how he always kept from the vices
A pinch of dill and a tenth of the spices
All the nicest seats at the theater show
I heard you holler back from the front row
You know you always say to practice what you preach
Later on I heard you say it was a figure of speech
To teach was a gimmick, a self-proclaimed sage
Robed in sheep’s clothes but soon sprung the cage
To rage on the backs of the weakest contracts
It’s a fact, I did react by pulling back the attack
Black cats are doing more than just catching mice
Go and learn what this means:
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice”
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14. |
Cardinal
05:17
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The dew has melted off in time
The picket fence is nearly dry
Perched upon a cable line
The cardinal his head held high
Steadily the ivy climbs
Reminding him of simpler times
Wasps surround the flower vines
The cardinal his head held high
To the earth, looking down
Far above this old broken town
To be so red, his greatest threat
And noblest pride, his head held high
A joyful song the simple kind
In rhythm with the swaying pine
His wife in brown sings close behind
The cardinal his head held high
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