1. |
Philosopher
05:04
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I'm sitting in the trees
Singing to the breeze
Sitting in the shade can be a bore
But you always know what's right
Philosopher in a fight
Well here's another truth
You shouldn't provoke what can hurt you
Correctness doesn't always make it right
Get all the answers, stay up all night
Socrates in a field
Admit you know the yield
You know what happens when you reap what's been sown
'Cause you always know you're right
Philosopher in a fight
Well here's another truth
It's a bad idea to provoke what can hurt you
Correctness doesn't always make it right
Get all the answers, stay up all night
Correctness doesn't always make it right
Get all the answers, stay up all night
All night?!..ALRIGHT!!
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2. |
Political Song #2
02:23
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Had a good run at hiding the facts
And now they're bound to come slipping out
But they had to be hidden anyway
For they couldn't have taken the news a prior day
Why would you tell them where they're going
Well in advance; what's the point in them knowing?
For they would only get concerned
And why would they want to feel the heat before the burn?
It's true; even if the facts are dilute
It's true; I declare:
For they couldn't have taken the news a prior day
For they couldn't have taken the news a prior day
Yes they had to be sheltered anyway
Yeah they couldn't have taken the news a prior day
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3. |
Twilight
05:30
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This stain on the horizon's like a tear in the sun
I makes it's arrival when it's time's already come
There'll be no dancing or celebration when this is done
It's far too tragic and it's gone far too long
*Those things that were broken
Well some we will find
A few of them remembered
And laid out to dry
Except the aftermath feeling
Of having been alive - in the twilight
At the end of this era, to think I'll have lived
Far under the guilty I don't know if I'll forgive
Historian's have visions, prophecy what they see
And cast their conclusions without asking you or me
*Those things that were broken
Well some we will find
A few of them remembered
And laid out to dry
Except the aftermath feeling
Of having been alive - in the twilight
I've hardened, I've grown; the years they have shown
Yeah they weren't many, but they were the biggest one's I've known
*Those things that were broken
Well some we will find
A few of them remembered
And laid out to dry
Except the aftermath feeling
Of having survived - into the twilight
I could stand at the horizon, and think of what's been done
The sun's just a bastard whose time's already come
No I won't stand here forever; I just need a little time
To figure out what's yours and to find what is mine
*Those things that were broken
Well some we will find
A few of them remembered
And laid out to dry
Except the aftermath feeling
Of having survived - into the twilight
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4. |
A Catapult Into the Sun
03:01
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While people put clippings in bins
And others relegate their sins
To weekend trips of skis and mountains,
And fantasize beyond their reach
Until their gravity is breached
By alcohol and bleach,
They'll catapult themselves into the sun again
(They do this is every story I find myself in)
While some would choose to practice sins
And others sorting out clippings
Are cast into loony bins,
For dreaming far beyond their reach
And calling for walls to be breached,
(Not whitewashed over and/or bleached)
They'll catapult into the sun again
(Why does this always happen?)
I don't belong up in the clouds
I don't belong down on the ground
(Though I deserve to be around)
I don't belong up in the air
But even when I'll be found there
You know I'd really care
To join a catapult into the sun again
- To join everyone else in the light again
Some night when I am fond to think
And we are all too fond to drink
(and sleep in our beds too deep)
I will rise before they're done
And make coffee for everyone
We will smile once again -
A catapult into the sun again
Catapult into the sun again
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5. |
Nails
04:55
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When you're hung up on the cross
Nails drive into your flesh
Holds your arms in the air
And still you won't surrender
When you're the only carpenter in town
Spreading peace and love
Someone's always around
To build you a house or a coffin
But when life is a hammer,
You are the nails which hold me to the board
But when life is a hammer,
You are the nails which hold me to the wall
And you don't stop to turn around
Stay in the grove and the hammer's coming down
No you don't stop to turn around
Every tree you see is like a nail embedded in me
And you wanna build a house for me, just please drop that hammer
Some people call you God or Satan
There's no good reason for the label
It's just a convenient way to simplify the argument
And life's not very hard at all
But lot's of cold people walk all about
Get their knives in you and nail you to an idea
But when life is a hammer,
You are the nails which hold me to the board
But when life is a hammer,
You are the nails which hold me to the wall
And you don't stop to turn around
No you don't stop to turn around
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6. |
Painting
02:10
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Well I wanna kick a hole in a painting
Stick a needle in some clay
Turns out the same anyway
Or I could use plaster
To patch up the damage
And then it'd be much faster
To repaint it in my own image
* Or I could stick a mirror behind it
And see the world for what I know
(I wanna kick a hole in a painting
Stick a needle in some clay
Turns out the same anyway)
I wanna kick a hole in the world
Turn it all to smoke and mirrors
Watch the whole thing disappear
And then I'll light a candle
And float it down the river
For as long as I've this image
I'll never be a forgiver
*
*
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7. |
Phaedrus
04:11
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I am laser beam with too much focus
You are a rodent or a locust
Also a penny on the rails of my train of thoughts
Don't be sad if you get run over, when I derail
* Don't be sad if you get fried in my laser beam
Don't be sad if I am not the same I've ever been
Don't be sad if I do not get through to you
Don't be said if I am a different person
(and you don't know who I am)
I used to be at the top of my game
Fighting long battles of logic, reason and fame
But something went terribly wrong in my brain
A lifetime of achievements and nothing become the same
*
I am a laser beam that will not focus
I am in search of my own ghosts
Piecing together the scattered mosaic of my memories
Don't be sad if I don't remember when I derailed.
* Don't be sad if you get fried in my laser beam
Don't be sad if I am not the same I've ever been
Don't be sad if I do not get through to you
Don't be said when I am a different person
(and you don't know who I am)
I'm not the same
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8. |
Lost Train
03:38
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I've been goin', been goin' a long time, been gone
And I've been headin', been headin' to this place.
Been headin' at this pace
But I've lost track of the direction
I'm supposed to be headed at
And I've been meaning to ask for directions
I know there are paths
I know I could choose them
I know they will last
Whichever I pick, there must be a difference
(I don't know the difference - not yet)
I don't know which way I'm bound to
I am bound to my own ways
I am bound to find I'm lost
I won't be lost if I can change
I can change..
And if you need a sense of revival
Trust in me to time my arrival
Trust in me to find my chains
I'm in chains and I can change.
I can change..
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9. |
Slow Down
02:58
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I wanna you stop for a sec'
And ask you how are you doin'?
Slow down, slow down
With this new habit that you found
After a while you lose your memories
The people you know
You won't remember when you've seen
And maybe forget what they mean
You wear your heart on your sleeve
Because it's the only way to be
But it's getting so cold
Your heart is lying in the road
After a while you lose your memory
The people you know
You won't remember when you've seen
And maybe forget what they mean
Slow down, slow down
With this new habit that you found
I wanna you stop for a sec'
And ask you how are you doin'?
Won't you pause for a while?
It warms my heart to see you smile
And don't you lose your memory
There's too many years that you can't see
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10. |
Sit and Stay
03:46
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Rollin' through the western plains
To meet the mountain men
There's so many places that you wanna stay
But you won't be goin' back again
And the people you meet so many
And there's much that they have to say
But for stories you won't have any
If you don't take the time to sit and stay
Those who don't have what they need like me tend to roam
But it's where you could chose to sit and stay
You could almost call home
These cabins were built for the mountains
These cabins were built to stay
There aren't many people who'd come by a place like this
And there's fewer that would go away
And the people you meet so many
And there's much that they have to say
But for stories you won't have any
If you don't take the time to sit and stay
Those who don't have what they need like me tend to roam
But it's where you could chose to sit and stay
You could almost call home
I know I lack what I need
I know it's something I don't see
But it's where I could chose to stick around
That for now is a fine place to be
I'm goin' up to the high country
To breathe the mountain air
Yes I'm climbing out this dusty valley
Where I won't have to have a care
Those who don't have what they need like me tend to roam
But it's where you could chose to sit and stay
You could almost call home
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11. |
See Light
05:06
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Let me tell a story
About no one at all
Some old woman
You may have heard of before
She's been living her life
Soothed by sin
Afraid of herself
Afraid of him
Let me ask you a question:
Do you ever want to flee?
To be a different person
Than you've come to be
You've been wearing a black dress
With no one to mourn
Except a younger woman and a nicer young man
And the oaths they swore
(And when she gets away)
He takes advantage every time
She blames herself; he's always right
He dreams of nothing, she dreams of life
She knows this is wrong, but not what is right
Let me ask you another question:
What did he do?
Such a terrible person
Thinks he's better than you
Now the things you have to do
In order to live
Are becoming a burden
On your need to be forgiven
(and then she gets away)
She walks along the streets at night
And he still thinks she's by his side
He dreams of nothing, she dreams of life
And surfaces to see the light
(She'll surface one day to see the light)
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12. |
Where I Was...
01:35
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I awoke at eleven
I mowed the lawn at noon
I showered at one in the afternoon
I got ready at two
I left at three
To get to the place I was expected to be
I got there at four
The TV was switched on at five
Then I heard of the many until-recently alive
Where I was when it all went down
I was out of town
I recall like the others the whole world round
The exact date and time
What I was doing, no lie
The people I was sitting by
(The people I was sitting by)
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Peter House Rochester, New York
From the Southern Tier to the North Country, Peter House sings about traveling, community, philosophers in fistfights and Pennsylvania, and calls it all "country songs" even though most of them are only vaguely of that genre. Now living in Rochester, NY. ... more
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