1. |
Banshee
02:40
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I'm just waiting for the rain to fall
All over me
I'm just waiting for the rain to fall
All over me
Call my name and I will breathe no more
Speak no more
Call my name and I will breathe no more
Speak no more
Wail away
Wail away
Wail away
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2. |
This Witchy House
04:08
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The attic bats cast shadows
On the creaky wooden floor
And the garden rats all twine their tails
Between the vines
You and I will sweep the dust of ages
From this house
We will set our hearts
To make this place a home
The neighbors shake their old heads
At our many indiscretions
And our opinions crease their brows
And purse their lips
You and I will face the stony whispers
Without quaking
We will set our minds
To make this place a home
This witchy house has faded paint and cobwebs
But the hearth is always warm, and the table's set for tea
We will roll the bones together and consult the tarot too
As we intend to make this place a home
The magpies set their treasures
In the corner eaves
And the nesting crows keep watch
High in the pines
You and I will laugh and croak with corvids
By the plenty
We will settle in
To make this place a home
This witchy house has starry glass and tall weeds
But the hearth is always warm, and the table's set for tea
We will read our lives in starlight, through planets, palms, and charts,
As we intend to make this place a home
This witchy house has something more to offer
Because the hearth is always warm, and the table's set for tea
We will build our lives together, with magic and with love,
As we intend to make this place a home
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3. |
Oh Hilda!
03:38
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She picks a daisy for her chain
As the sea-breeze brushes her skin
Her straw-hat broad and golden
While the sun sets on the beach
Reach the blue and leap
Oh Hilda! Cannonball into the deep!
Oh Hilda! Shell-combing in your negligee
Oh Hilda! Swimming all your cares away
Oh Hilda, living all your reckless days in painted dreams
Oh Hilda, is it easy as it seems?
She rests beside the willowed pond
While the weeds provide a cushion
Her hair a tangled, fiery crown
As the clouds coast on the breeze
Cast your line into the green
Oh Hilda! Churn the mud with sturdy feet!
Oh Hilda! Dayfishing in your flour sacks
Oh Hilda! Never thinking on the things you lack
Oh Hilda, living all your lazy days in painted dreams
Oh Hilda, is it easy as it seems?
And no royal dress of gold brocade
Could best you in your skivvies
No slender centerfold or twenty
Could match your laughing bounty
She sets aside her book and yawns
As the bubbles dress her form
Her arms outstretched to bless the dawn
While her puppy kicks in his sleep
And the kettle sounds for tea
Oh Hilda! That every day could be so free!
Oh Hilda! Bathing through the morn in simple bliss
Oh Hilda! Lounging in your oven-warmed largesse
Oh Hilda, living all your pleasant days in painted dreams
Oh Hilda, is it easy as it seems?
Oh Hilda, is it easy as it seems?
Oh Hilda, can I join you in your dreams?
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4. |
Please Mr. Dracula
03:06
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Dear Mr Dracula,
Have you ever considered
Needing a constant companion
Throughout the millennia?
Have you ever felt alone
In that big drafty castle,
Stalking the musty halls
In your best evening wear?
Because I'm lying right here in the moonlight, and my neck's long, bare, and clean
I can strike a languid pose, and I'm willing to be yours
Hey Mr Dracula,
What's with the hold-up?
I've been writing you every week
Since I learned your address.
I don't want to sound desperate
I have other options
I've thought through the consequences
Of my ghoulish sentiment
And I know you think you've got till the end of time
But you've only got till the end of my life...time
So hurry up and take me,
I only need one bite
Oh please
Answer me
Entangle me
Savage me
Oh Mr Dracula
I don't think you'll answer
I hold no delusions of
Your generous nature
You probably get thousands of
Pleading messages
I know that I'm not your first,
But I can hope to be your sweetest
So if within the next 50 years or so,
You deign to change your mind
You know where I am
I'll be waiting every night
Oh please
Come to me
Set me free
Ravage me
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5. |
Sunset
02:26
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Hold me close when the room quakes and the windows crack
Tell me the roar is just a humid breeze
Pour me a drink to steady all my nerves and reassure me
Sift through all the wreckage for your life that was
Paint and brushes mixed among the picture frames
Provide a shelter for our neighbors and spare what we can
And just like that, the world shakes and collapses
And the sun will set upon us, glass and ashes
Walk along the seaside, spot the rubble
Remember the shape this city used to hold
Remind me once again how resilient we are
And in a sense, our lives can be rebuilt again
And in a sense, you can never measure all that we lost
And just like that, the world shakes and collapses
And the sun will set upon us, glass and ashes
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6. |
Generation of Peace
03:44
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Does a river care if you wade out in its waters?
It'll knock you down and wash you to the sea
Doesn't matter if you worship or believe in it
It just is, and it will be, for as long as it can
Oh, everyone's nostalgic for the place where they grew up
So you can keep your Western arrogant perspective
It's not that you don't matter, but you don't matter more
Than the people you evict, belittle, and ignore
With your colonizer's mind, you think, "Oh I could make it better,
And I don't need a conscience or your permission."
You watch the dollar signs and skulls collide in fireworks
In a land of burning riches and collapse
So I'll keep an open mind just to upset you
And I'll know my moral growth is not completed
I'll get strong, and smart, and skilled, and even happy
As I dedicate my life to knocking you down
Here's to say it's hard to be optimistic
Here's to say it's easy to despair
Here's to say I will not be complacent
Whatever life we make will be our own
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7. |
Small Adventures
04:46
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We toddle off to distant lands, making maps on tracing paper
Holding all your love inside our stitching
We make new friends and fight our battles softly
The light inside our hearts will guide us home to you
And we'll whisper small adventures in your dreams
In your dreams
It's dangerous to be yourself in the world outside
So take this darling wrapped around your heart
If just a look and a funny voice can save you
Then I'm so grateful for our small adventures
And every conversation can be improved
By a healthy dose of silliness and care
And every car trip is an opportunity
For our loves to go on small adventures
We toddle off to distant lands, making maps on tracing paper
Holding all your love inside our stitching
We make new friends and fight our battles softly
The light inside our hearts will guide us home to you
And we'll whisper small adventures in your dreams
In your dreams
Defend us from our nightmares and insecurities
With cotton fluff and a never-changing smile
Let every sadness disappear inside this room
So we are free to live your small adventures
And every time we part
You're there to bridge the distance
This lifeline that we share
This tin-can telephone keeping us whole
We toddle off to distant lands, making maps on tracing paper
Holding all your love inside our stitching
We make new friends and fight our battles softly
The light inside our hearts will guide us home to you
And we'll whisper small adventures in your dreams
In your dreams
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8. |
These Complicated Days
03:20
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I can make a black dot crawl its way across the ceiling
As I settle on this bed in swirling thought
The morning slinks in stages through its shades and moods and colors
And I'll follow as the sun strides cross the sky
(repeat)
I draw my breath, I sink down deeper
I send awareness through the roots of the earth
I want for comfort, I want for steady times
I reach for sensory security and close my eyes
This late, lazy morning
This scarred, uncertain weekend
This frozen, calming afternoon
These complicated days
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9. |
Gone Again
04:22
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Her heart's no longer beating, though she's still walking around.
Laying down for a nap, I know she's out on the town.
And when I wake, I'll catch a glimpse
Of her dress or hair in the half-light,
But when I move to touch her hand, she's gone again.
A note on the door reminds me of what I want to forget
There's a face and words and pain in ballpoint ink
And when I sit here, I don’t see it
Not a blur in my periphery
But when I get up to track her down, she’s gone again.
Turn the pictures to the wall, and cover all the mirrors
The only face I need is on my mind
The memory is going, but the hurt is always fresh
Each time I think on her she's gone again
She's gone again
Passed away, but not passed on, she flutters through my heart
Dusting off the past in a haunted house
Is it all just a delusion, or does her spirit walk these walls?
Either way, to me, she’s gone again
Keep your doppelganger phantoms, and your weight upon the sheets
The only ghost I need is on my mind
The memory is going, but the hurt is always fresh
Each time I think on her she's gone again
She's gone again
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10. |
Skeletons
06:03
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Before the dawn, you scramble out the door and go to church
Remembering one small but vital thing
You take your seat, the grinning skulls all turn to you
Saying, “This is not your time, but it might be soon”
So you bolt up and say sorry for your intrusion
You run and run and run back to your nice, warm bed
You hold your breath and hide inside the railway cut
While they wander past in a wheezing bleating mass
You hunker down against the reeds and keep your peace
They rant about their choices and their gods
Eventually, they pass you and forget your name
But you’ll always keep their hatred in your mind
All I see is skeletons without a mask
Walking blindly through the smoke, their lungs a rotten afterthought
All I see is corpses before the burial
Smiling, laughing, falling all to ashes one by one
All I see is echoes sounding to a stop
Reverberant and loud before the silence
Are they conscious of their fate?
Do they believe they will be spared?
Are they ignorant or special, cursed or blessed or damned?
All I see is skeletons without a mask
All I see is ghosts waiting to fade, waiting to fade, waiting to fade away
You wander through the store with dark glasses on
Breathing like you’re on the surface of the moon
You spot the pauses, stares, and glares
Take mental notes, perceive politics, mark lines in the sand
Ironically, the difference between you and them
Is the masked ones are the thinking humans
All I see is skeletons without a mask
Walking blindly through the smoke, their lungs a rotten afterthought
All I see is corpses before the burial
Smiling, laughing, falling all to ashes one by one
All I see is echoes sounding to a stop
Reverberant and loud before the silence
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11. |
Stay in Touch
05:20
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Measure friends in flowers on the balcony,
In the scents and colors sent out on the wind,
We give them pride of place within our memory,
And we hope to keep them growing, we hope to keep them growing
I hope my letters find you safe
I hope you still are loved, though out of sight
I hope you live beyond my expectations
And of course, I hope we stay in touch
Paint your past adventures on the window glass,
In the oil and dust of fingertips and love,
We go forth and forge new exploits, mirroring the past,
And we hope to keep exploring, we hope to keep exploring
I hope my letters find you safe
I hope you still are loved, though out of sight
I hope you live beyond my expectations
And of course, I hope we stay in touch
Once again we’ll meet, and once again we’ll part,
And in-between we’ll fill the empty space
There’ll come a day when we will never meet again
I hope that time is not already past
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John Dingo Williamsburg, Iowa
John Dingo is the musical alter-ego of S.P. Burnham.
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