1. |
Left By Me
04:34
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Left by Me
It shouldn't seem so lonely,
this singing to yourself
but your voice is sounding strained these days
and nothing seems to help
you were thinner at the eyes and you were
rounder at the waist
just whistling the old lines
to fill up the empty space that was
left by me
on the periphery of the revelry
the tired tent was placed
you were captured by your keepers
ensnared by their embrace
you were always fond of pretty things
that with your promise you deface
you'll always be the empty one
some song learned and forgotten,
left by me
and who protects the lonely?
who preys upon the sick?
and who made up all the stupid rules
but can't stand to make them stick?
I was weaker when I met you
I was just a little bird
in a terrifying windstorm
when I found my only shelter
next to you
and maybe you will find her
that lover that you serve
but for now you'll have to settle
for the one that you deserve
and that's no one now, you knew it then
as you stumbled through the night
you said,
“no one will ever understand me”
“no one will ever understand me”
it shouldn't seem so lonely...
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2. |
I Like Your Hat
03:44
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I said “I like your hat”
“I like your face”
my face was smudged and dirty
I saw your eyes and I thought
that maybe this was something
but you probably
drink too much
need too much
love too much
or not enough, and I
think too much
give too much
want too much
or not enough
and I'd leave you someday
I couldn't stay
I'd leave you someday
I couldn't stay
there always was
some comfort in
knowing how to love him
now that he's gone
what's to be done
with this useless information?
cause you know he'd
drink too much
need too much
love too much
or not enough, and I’d
think too much
give too much
want too much
I always knew that I'd
leave him someday
I couldn't stay
I'd leave him someday
I couldn't stay
I wake up now
all anew
don't want what I used to
now I've come to mourn the loss
of the many things I'd clung to
find that I can pick them up
and hold them close
then I let them fall
and watch them go
and I see them on
the ground below
but there's still one thing
I long to hold
and I'll find it someday
and I'll wanna stay
I'll find it someday
I'll wanna stay...
I said “I like your hat”
“I like your face”
my face was smudged and dirty
I saw your eyes and I thought
that maybe this is something...
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3. |
Waterpark
04:00
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either turn it up or turn if off
give me nonsense, give me meaning,
but I can't stand this in-betweening
and this circling is never gonna stop
though you return exactly where you left,
it's faster if you're on the outside
Sunday morning at the water park
they take our tickets at the gate and
turn us out into the humid day
we sit and watch the rides just starting up
and see the fountains spring to life,
and give our bodies to the concrete river
it's ignorance that brings us to the top
so suddenly just looking down
at the people on the ground and there's just
time to squeeze your hand before we drop
and the shouts and all the water 'round
drown out your shaky voice as you say
“why do we do this to ourselves?
there must be something comforting
about the way we feel
when panic and our love are circling.”
breathless, laughing, running from the spot
we burn the day away just playing
in the temple of our lost Decembers
evening comes, it's finally cooling off
the people leave into the darkness,
and the silence everywhere descending
either turn it up or take it off
no, don't go away, I'm here,
I just sink into this despair sometimes
I wore it well, but now it's old and frayed
if I can change my mood just like my clothes,
we'll fit me for a whole new wardrobe
“why do we do this to ourselves?
there must be something comforting
about the way we feel
when panic and our love are circling.”
our time was short,
our time had just begun
and now it's past and over,
just some fragment of a summer
but it's always sunny there inside the park
and that momentary danger
keeps us waiting for the next adventure
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4. |
Acorn Armies
02:51
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you emptied your pockets of acorn armies
lined up to the ocean shore
you built them a galleon, a ship made of leaves
to carry them off to war
the wind on the water was stirring the sea
the enemy drew their swords
with dandelion canons, they fought so bravely
then sank to the ocean floor
you wanted to save them
you wished you could fight
you wanted an answer
they're gone
eleven years later you woke up early
to pace up and down the floor
you watched your reflection saluting a stranger
alone in his uniform
the smoke in the mountains, the steel on the rails
approaching, the engine roars
we stood on the platform awaiting the train
that would carry you off to war
I wanted to save you
I wished I could fight
I wanted an answer
you're gone
I wanted to make you an image of me
to wish upon and hold
so the moon and the stars and their mother above me
would carry you safely home
would carry you safely home
would carry you safely
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5. |
Comfort
05:11
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when I'm looking for comfort
I think of the cold hard wood
of my mama's piano bench
and my too-long sleeves
your face when you're sleeping
your thoughts curling up in dreams
wrapping me up
keeping me warm
always trying to find her
I'm looking behind the breeze
that blows on the ocean
sailing the ships to sea
always coming back again
sailing back home to me
sailing back home
I found her
a queen on her throne
lay down my head beside her
slept soundly in a world of my own
but when I woke I was alone
when he's looking for comfort
he thinks of that long hard ride
to the park in the summer
the sky open big and wide
the peeling of oranges
the taste of the air in spring
jumping into the water
the way that we sing
always trying to find her
he looks to that distant grace
that was taken in childhood
the trust that they chased away
he uses his fingers
to sort through the cold remains
I found her
a queen on her throne
lay down my head beside her
slept soundly in a world of my own
but when I woke I was alone
when I'm looking for comfort
I think of the cold hard wood
of my mama's piano bench
and my too-long sleeves
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6. |
Photographs
04:20
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you said you'd remember this moment forever
to hold and to make you feel happy again
but I've never had that kind of peace with the past
and a photograph will always be sad
the corners are rounded on the celluloid scene
your father's open-eyed stare, his head in the mouth
of a blue concrete shark, teeth glistening white
signed, “Somewhere in Vegas. December. Love, Dad.”
you said you'd remember this moment forever
to hold and to make you feel happy again
but no matter how recent that moment is past
a photograph will always be sad
take out the chain, hold it up to your eye
and your friends are all there under the water park slide
six got to grow up, one had to die
but they're all still together, in color, inside
a photo's a token, a memento, a lie
that we sell to ourselves at the loneliest times
still it helps us remember as the seasons slide by
that once we existed, that we too were alive
you said you'd remember this moment forever
to hold and to make you feel happy again
and now that I've met you I might understand
that a photo won't always be sad
that a photo doesn't have to be sad
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7. |
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I was approaching something blank again
with no safety net, no medicine,
misused and slightly bitter
five years had passed since I had faltered
a little dab, the landscape altered
I look around and I couldn't see myself
till I became a
Christmas caroler mercenary
singing for all of those who could afford me
like some maître d' of cheer
and the more I smiled, the more I sang,
the more the rest it started to seem okay
until I thought I might survive another winter,
a winter in the rain
as an atheist it's hard to believe
that I owe my present happiness
to singing 'bout the baby Jesus
but content-free I sang those words
inside of me then something stirred
an ungodly lust for all the living left
that year I was a
Christmas caroler mercenary
singing for all of those who could afford me
a wind-up ornament of cheer
but the more I smiled, the more I sang,
the more the rest it started to seem okay
until I thought I might survive another winter
a winter in the rain
I don't think it's a coincidence
that I met her doing what I love best
when all the rest it seemed was at an end
for every door that closed, ten others opened
I found delight in blindly groping
no need now to keep it to myself
now we're two
sunshine-loving mercenaries
singing for your smiles, your generosity,
not a seasonal delight
who want you to know that chasing what you want
can sweeten up a bitter heart
can free you from yourself, can save your life
can free you from yourself
can save your life
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8. |
the Wanderer
03:35
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love of mine, lost in an afterthought
let me taste the sorrow on your lips
redefine anger and emptiness
with whispered words, we make an endless list
into a new life
out of an old song
under the warm winter sky we come
love of mine, suffering silently
a wanderer who never knew his name
Oliver, we'll call him Oliver
some day we'll find an offering to make
out of his lost life
into a new song
under the warm winter sky we come
love of mine, taste the water
just feel the way the blood runs through your veins
afterwards, your breathing is softer
in rhythm now, our breath becomes the same
in rhythm now, our breath becomes the same
in rhythm now, our breath becomes the same
in rhythm now, our breath becomes the same
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9. |
All the Angels
04:59
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all the angels have gone to sleep
and it seems that God's not watching anymore
the water's shallow but the sky is so deep,
the clouds are dark and heavy with the storm
one last look at the empty place
where we loved and fought and kept each other warm
we cleaned it out and we left the state
to forget the faults that others will be glad to confirm
and there's no point in wishing
there's just doing and being done to
and some of us humans
just can't help but wondering
what is it He's trying to prove
and there's no point in praying
when the emptiness falls on the room
and as for myself,
I just sleep through their suffering
please don't wake me up
in sleep I am satisfied
a proud procession of lazy days
the meals they mark the passing of the time
and “poor” is a costume my mother made
from the little scraps my father left behind
and there's no point in praying
it won't stop him from swallowing you
we were made from the stars
we were made to reflect him
and he, he was made to consume
so until that day
when our dreams have all turned towards our doom
I will take all the love and the pleasure that comes to me
but don't wake me up
in sleep I am satisfied
in sleep I am satisfied
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10. |
Vivian
04:46
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binding
a tether is tied
tied around your finger
it's a lie this time
after
there is a light
careful how you hold it
where you shine this time
lonely
you learn how to make
a world that you can live in
children for you to save
tracing
the innocent lines
then paint your favorite colors
yellow, black and white
Vivian, he borrowed from a ghost to make you live
painted in the colors of your face then traced again
tying
end on to end
then climbing out the window
brace for the sweet descent
meanwhile, safely inside
no one knows your secret
how you gave them life
butterfly armies will fight for you
by the side of a girl who never knew
how you wish that it were true
Vivian, he borrowed from a ghost to make you live
painted in the colors of your face then traced again
whispering the stories from newspapers that he read
scribbled in the tenets of philosophies unsaid
losing
a tether untied
falling from your finger
to this life you've left behind
after
there is a light
careful how you hold it
where you shine this time
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11. |
Nico (the Dark Divide)
03:32
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Nico, where did that memory go
of the dark divide and the pirouetting leaves?
chaos, all those that came before us,
through it hear her singing you to sleep
clutching your penguin
watching the ceiling
as the fan above you spins into oblivion
what once was scary can be appealing,
can watch over you until it's time to
wake again
Nico, where did that little boy go
with tiny hands too small to span the keys?
A gentle breeze and a dozen lemon trees
the thought remains, but the memory recedes
the thought remains, but the memory recedes
just close your eyes and drift until you dream
just close your eyes and drift until you dream
just close your eyes and drift until you dream
just close your eyes and drift until you dream
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The Summer Januaries San Diego, California
Rachel Erin Robinson - vocals, fiddle, guitar, piano
Sean Michael Robinson - vocals, guitar, piano,
drums
The Summer Januaries formed as a busking duo in Seattle, injecting fiddle tunes into harmony laden arrangements of their favorite songs. These inventive arrangements soon became the defining element of their sound. They have continued writing original music, performing throughout the world.
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