1. |
Black on Black
02:40
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Black on black
day to day
the picture fades away
in the time it takes to blink.
Anyway
I don't care
all I need is here
a faded photo and a drink
The hours pass me by
a thousand words you said
and never once looked me in the eye
Black on black
like me to you
we didn't have to do
all the things we did pretend
If not Q
then P instead
if love is truth then God is dead
the logic all escaped me then
And if I knew the sum
of all the things you thought
I'd damn you for the fool I had become
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2. |
Fries & the Check
03:34
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I caught your stench just indirectly
out of the corner of my nose
It smelled like last year's lover
in a brand new suit of clothes
It stank to me like dying things
left out too long in the street
And I swear I turned to walk away when I said
"Let's go get a bite to eat."
Accusations fly, birds on the wing
drop their dinner on somebody's head
Shotguns may off when a pinch of seed might
just insure the conversation is dead.
If wishes were horses, mine would just show
when I bet the perfecta for blood.
And five dollar tickets mark my trail in the desert
that with water would just turn into mud
I tried sitting down with my back to the floor
but I didn't like the look of your angst
and if words were bullets, I'd still be a drunk
but you'd just be there loaded with blanks
If there was ever a way to dance on my grave
you'd be a two-step away from my neck
But I got out just one pace ahead of the smell
and I left you the fries and the check.
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3. |
The Ocean Doesn't Listen
03:35
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A west wind's blowing out across the bay
tossing storm clouds to the shore
and I see Laughing Gulls dancing in the spray
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more
February tucked its tail and took off at a run
March is pounding at the door
and I see sunken ships rising with the sun
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more
Stones are crumbling neath my feet
with the ending of the day
all I see will come to pass
or will it slip away?
I know, I know
what you're trying to say
but the ocean doesn't listen
and you know that I can't stay
Widows walk along the broken hills at night
like a thousand years before
and I see watchfires on the ocean burning bright
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more
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4. |
Coals of Reason
01:24
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The brash coals of reason
linger long once passion's edge
has burned the kindling paper black and brown;
and reflected, for a season, to stammer halt and hedge:
smoke billows, ashes blow around
and inspect the earth before they kiss the ground.
I can't believe the coals will burn,
I can't believe they'll die;
I long to track the rising, fading grey;
the grey remains that twist and turn
and melt into the sky;
if mind and heart were one I'd surely stay;
if the coals were out, I'd surely go away.
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5. |
Across the Street
03:00
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An old tom rooster by the road
with no friend but a lonely toad
who thinks he's going to be an athlete
the toad waves, heads out, waves again
the rooster cannot leave his friend
who's just performed a herculean feat
So he gingerly starts across the street
A drunken gambler sits and dreams
of riverboats and New Orleans
not thinking of how badly he was beat
tomorrow he'll forget today
wake up believing he can play
his way right up into the penthouse suite
His stake is waiting just across the street.
Well, there's one sinner dressed in rags
with Muscatel in a paper bag
he takes a drink and tries to be discreet
It looks like rain and cold tonight
but he thinks he will be all right
with shelter and a little bread and meat
It looks warmer just across the street.
Your family tree's an old buckeye
with all your children born to die
but you still watch out for who they meet
plant a vision, plant a seed
take a step and then proceed
as long as you have breath and two good feet
You try to help them as they cross the street.
Last year's lover on the phone
she's unhappy, she's alone
her voice reminds you why it was so sweet
Well, you might try another tack
but she will never take you back
though she might join you for a bite to eat
At a little place just across the street.
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6. |
Love is Light
04:29
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It's very nearly half-past four
the tag end of the night
and here comes the first false dawn
with its first small piece of light
But what do we need of other lights
or any other dawn
when we shimmer in one another's arms?
No more darkness, no more night
for we are dawn, and love is light
The sun is slowly coming up
so brilliant in its reds
and ordinary people rise
from ordinary beds
But what do we needs of other suns
when in sunshine's place
we see the living light of love in one another's face?
no more darkness, no more night
for we are dawn and love is light
No more darkness from now on
for love is light and we are dawn
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7. |
Fool am I
04:22
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In the land of the blind I could not see
a one-eyed man came to me
spoke of light and mystery
witch cried I and burned was he
Oh, folly, fool am I
to love the truth and live the lie.
I took a ship to Syracuse
a tyrant's thought to disabuse
he cried, "A song! You can't refuse."
I took his head to please the muse
To the land of Pharisees I fled
to beg for water and for bread
that woman left me there for dead
I broke the chains and shaved her head
Make me strong and make me brave
give me a thousand lives to save
a thousand sinners I forgave
now, take me home and dig my grave
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8. |
He was Doing O.K.
02:07
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Jesus went to dinner thought he'd have a little snack
Judas came and sat by his side
slipped him Mickey Finn, told the Romans come on in
they said, "Boy, we're gonna go for a ride."
He was doing O.K.
till he got in the way
So when the man says jump, I'm gonna say how high?
Turn around and run away
Caesar ruled the land but he really wanted France
and the senate told him not to attack
they said, "you may have Gaul, but you could've had it all,
and now you've got a knife in your back."
Et tu, Brutus?
Rasputin went to Russian thought he'd help the leader's boy
but the Tsar said he wouldn't be fooled
So, NIcky's boys they grabbed him
and they beat and shot and stabbed him
and then they threw his ass in the pool.
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9. |
Killjoy
02:42
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If I was a sailor, I would sail the seas
If I was the president, I would aim to please
And if I was graffiti, I would be Kilroy
But all I am I ever was an everyday killjoy
If I was Elvis Presley, I'd come back from the dead
and kill the tabloid journalists for all the lies they spread
And if I was Edward Murrow, he'd be in my employ
But all I am...
If I was Edmund Burke, then I would be a verb
and if I was Edgar Allen Poe, then I would be disturbed
And if I was Thoreau these days, I'd eat a lot of soy
But all I am...
If I was the king of England, I'd be screaming for a horse
If I was king of Scotland, I'd get me a divorce
And if I was prince of Denmark, I'd be a mama's boy
But all I am...
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10. |
Trouble
02:09
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Tell you bout the trouble that's been bothering me
Got two good eyes but I still can't see
I know what I want but tell me why can't it be
My foot's on the ground but my head's out to sea
I got trouble, that's all that I own
Trouble, like a ten-cent jones
Trying to find somebody who can set me free
My foot's on the ground but my head's out to sea
Tell me bout the trouble that's been bothering you
Got a weight on your back or a rock in your shoe
The only good card is the one that you threw
When the deck has been stacked there ain't nothing to do
You got trouble, that's all that you own
Trouble, like a ten-cent jones
If there's a solution I ain't got a clue
When the deck has been stacked there ain't nothing to do
Tell you bout the trouble that's been going around
Everybody's shouting something so I can't hear a sound
The ship of fools has just run aground
And everybody's getting off when they should be getting down
They got trouble, that's all that they own
Trouble, like a ten-cent jones
A smile ain't nothing but a twisted up frown
Sit on back and hear me expound about
Trouble, that's all that I own
Trouble, like a ten-cent jones
Take me to the river, I'm gonna jump in an drown
Everybody's getting off when they should be getting down
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11. |
Gene Wolfe Pastiche #12
03:00
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The moon is slowly dying, bleeding light upon the sea
A broken lighthouse falling to the shore
A lonely gull cries out, I say, "It's only me,
and I won't be coming back here anymore."
And the moon is still falling to the shore
And I won't be coming back here anymore.
Don't whisper me your secrets, I'd rather never hear
who haunts the lighthouse singing to the dawn
I've heard the ocean laugh for nine and twenty years
Tell me how much longer can these days go on
And I hear the secrets whispered in the dawn
Tell me how much longer can these days go on
Line up all the tools, they've never been alive
They can't be blamed for what they're made to do
I don't believe in omens; I don't believe in spells
But I wonder if I'm not one of them as well
Next time will be different
I'll shut the voices out
I'll be polite; I'll play the perfect host
I'll say hello; I'll say goodbye
I'll talk about the sea
I'll listen to their tales of wrecks and ghosts
and direct their feet further up the coast
Sometimes bones of broken ships come drifting up to land
They stay a while and then they drift away
Living here alone is more than I can stand
but I guess it's for the best if I just stay
The bones drift up and then they float away
and I guess it's for the best if I just stay
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12. |
Fool's Gold
03:56
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The thunder of the cannon, a crackling in the air;
rolling down the river to the bay;
The smell of fading summer, the banners of the fair;
They mark the passage of a pen scoring deep then back again,
like scratches cut in facile softened clay.
Gone between the nighttime and the day,
like scratches cut in facile softened clay.
Seeking the elusive sound hear it resonate;
I'm still left when meaning comes to naught;
the clatter of the train wheels, the closing of a gate
patterns built of vain belief,
nouns show up in bas-relief,
holding fast to beauty dearly bought.
Keep the visions after they've been caught.
Holding fast to beauty dearly bought.
Images go sailing past, the flowers of the heart,
that pass along from eye to hand to mind.
And promise they (as liars do) to always play their part;
To seek the treasures laid between
the shadow vision and the dream
Fool's gold on the street for fools to find.
To tell them what it is would be unkind.
Fool's gold on the street for fools to find.
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13. |
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I wish my blood was ice and my skin was bone
and my eyes were daggers of steel
I wish I'd cut you up; I wish I'd sent you down
before you could make your deal.
But if I'm the fall guy for certain, let's draw the final curtain
on Hamlet and his crazy facade,
and I'll meet you in the lobby where the players take their bows
and the crowd can't do nothing but applaud.
Now, if my mind was sound and my hearing straight,
I might forgive what I can't forget.
But it seems to me when the devil runs,
he needs a fast horse more than a pet.
So when the time comes for dreaming, I'll be real to your seeming
and we'll see who the pundits choose:
the prince or the pauper or the pretty young thing
or just the guy with nothing to lose.
If my time was my own, if my seeds had been sown,
if my hand didn't tremble at all,
then the end would be different but beginning the same
when Goliath wouldn't take his fall.
So, if I'm betting the under, I'll take the pints and the thunder,
and we'll see if you can cover the spread.
'Cause it's one for the money,
and two to let go,
and 3 Solid Blows to the Head.
I never thought it wasn't true
but I thought it wasn't you.
You wouldn't' have planned it that way
By the time I knew the truth,
all I'd given was my youth
and lost my only chance to make a play.
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Adam Stemple Minneapolis, Minnesota
Adam has played so much guitar it'd make your ass hurt. Road dog for 20 years, in town Irish bars for another 20. Played everything from metal to folk to ethno-gothic-sludge-jazz. Winner of two Minnesota Music Awards.
Adam Stemple recommends:
Drunkards, Bastards, and Blackguards
by Tim Malloys
The quintessential album for the Tims. Raw, profane, at times hilarious, at other times heart-breaking. Has my song "One Night in Boston" on it.
go to album
No Scars, No Stories
by Lojo Russo
I've known Lojo for 30 years and have yet to encounter a better voice. I leapt at the chance to produce this album full of amazing songwriting as well as inspired interpretations of others' songs.
go to albumIf you like Adam Stemple, you may also like:
Downey to Lubbock
by Dave Alvin
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
go to album
The experimental UK artist's latest album is decidedly genre-agnostic.
go to album
Following up their excellent comp of Bay Area talent, OIM release Whiskerman's new gospel-tinged LP.
go to album
The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith
by L.A. Salami
L.A. Salami's newest album incorporates his cross-genre folk and indie sound with hip-hop and poetry.
go to album
