1. |
Busted Sedan
01:49
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roll away the ashen sky
i said 'goddamn these hands of mine'
i'm going back again, gotta get in shape
and it ain't too long, too long to wait
golden bird with a branch in his hand
hanging from the mirror of my busted sedan
and the leaves are greening on the medicine tree
then summer's gone like a drip in the boiling sea
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2. |
Ohio
02:48
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the angel band will steal your spirit in the second song
played just like the light and they tore my very heart out
it was a lean time and i held my head for rain
you left for colorado and i held my head in shame
ohio
i tell you man the angel band is sweeter than a kiss
heard you sing it to yourself when you burned your fingertips
and your dad was downstairs sleeping on the fold out couch
deep in his recurring dream that he never talks about
ohio
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3. |
I Am The Hand
04:07
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city on the river in a drunken dream
and i come from the sea with my sisters and my brothers
slick with the grease from the bellies of machines
and they lift us up and i just don't think about it
the golden rails and the wind and water
the great walled city and our sons and our daughters
wed to the work and it isn't any bother
we sleep on our feet and i just don't think about it
come mother river in the shade of the trees
singing down the avenues the song of the machinery
call along the water, it goes into the sea
turning out the rhythm of the coming of the century
i am the hand i am the power
i am the company, i carry it with me
i turn it over in my head for hours
i take the wheel and turn the world around it
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4. |
Thunderstorm, August 27
01:15
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(a thunderstorm passes overhead, a freight train passes below the window)
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5. |
Cuando Era Caballero
02:51
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ah
ah
ah
ah
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6. |
I Talked About John
03:57
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i talked about john on the stairway last night
he was born with white wings but he lost them in time
i still got the words if you got the spirit
but sing it real quiet so the neighbors don't hear it
our voices carry in the old horsehair wall
a breath in the breast of my bonny-o
i talked about john and a pair of brown eyes
that were bloodshot, bedecked with blue ribbons and black flies
it sickens me kid, it's an eternal fountain
they're dusting for your fingerprints on the liquor store counter
security camera saw nothing at all
a breath in the breast of my bonny-o
i talked about john down on the pavement
while we watched the eclipse from the roof his car completely wasted
the city lights were singing behind every branch
beside us inviting the stray dogs to slow dance
now he dreams of dying on some faraway island like joe dimaggio
a breath in the breast of my bonny-o
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7. |
The Gift
02:50
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one long fall
you came in through the gap in the garden wall
put your cigarette out in the hallway and set off the smoke alarm
you had some pretty thing on your arm
between these lines
the legends are true and the eyes of the city are blind
maybe you come down here sometimes the door is open
but i don't think we've spoken
now you're coming downstairs in your yellow coat at a quarter to ten
i can see the moonlight coming through your lily-white canvas curtains
put the king on and you and i can go downtown
seven miles from boston see the sacred jewel laid in the city's crown
and all the stars fall down on massachusetts
one great gift
buried in the yard you can find what's left of it
and in the curse written on your lips and what you seek when you're suffering
and what you speak when you're suffering
and now you're coming downstairs in your yellow coat at a quarter to ten
i can see the moonlight coming through your lily-white canvas curtains
put the king on and you and i can go downtown
seven miles from boston see the sacred jewel laid in the city's crown
all the stars lay down on massachusetts
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8. |
Tell My Brothers
03:43
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throw away my electric guitar
throw away all my pretty clothes, too
throw away my prairie fire
throw away all my pills and my perfumes
tell my brothers i ain't born to wander
and i am cutting off my hair
tell everybody there's a new song coming
and soon they're gonna sing it everywhere
and it goes
throw away the terrible eye
i been living for awhile in my little white room
i been living in a kingdom of light
you can tell everybody that I'm coming home soon
tell my brothers i ain't born to wander
and i am cutting off my hair
tell everybody there's a new song coming
and soon they're gonna sing it everywhere
and it goes
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9. |
Oklahoma
03:52
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with this hammer i will pull up the spike at the center of the continent
hitchhike from taos to texas
tomorrow i'll be there in bells on the arkansas line
dandied up and seeing double in the hotel lobby
counting down the minutes and the spirits and the cigarettes
if you won't put your arms around me, your hands around my neck are fine
ooh
oklahoma
i don't know ya
i don't know ya
but i'm coming for ya
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10. |
David Saw The King
05:18
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david saw the king last night as alive as you or me
he had nothing on but the tattoo from the state penitentiary
standing in the rain you could see his name written in the mirror of the terrible street
david saw the king last night as alive as you or me
it was the end of days and we were counting them down in the back of the terminal bar
held our hands to the dimming light come down from the dying star
and even in the rain it was plain as day, we went to the window to see
david and the king pass by in a long black limousine
now in my winter quarters my hair and nails are stained by the terrible smoke
it's been seven days since the lightning came and split the centennial oak
the branches swayed on a wedding day high above the ancient sea
where david and the king passed by in a long black limousine
where david saw the king last night as alive as you or me
david saw the king last night as alive as you or me
david saw the king last night as alive as you or me
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11. |
||||
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let us go
over and over again
on the long road
vanish into nothing
i have received
startling visions
i have received
my shepherd's transmission
white like hudson river
on the way to serpent mound
it was peter's face in the fireplace
spread the message all around
gone to see the big empty
gone to oblivion
new york city's gone
i don't think about it none
let us go
on decoration day
all of our friends
we'll meet again on the highway
oh my sister
oh my savior
oh my sister
i'll see you later
blue as hudson river
blue as raven's beak
i come up on the big bridge
on the day of jubilee
i believe this is the place
the very same
sing the song like i oughtta done
it'll summon you again
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12. |
There Is A Ghost
02:43
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there is a ghost in this place, and i am sure of it
it comes in from the cold and opens all my cabinets
it lives in the bones of the house, in the attic
where my hair growed long and my skin was like wax
and i had a dream that we were cleansed
in a while brother sun brought me back to my first sense
white shimmering light willow branches on the window
i heard it all again on the sweet caravan to hillsborough
it was march or maybe april we still had the spirit then
and i had me a shirt spun out of beautiful white linen
and now i work the mornings on the federal hill road
and i tell you, there ain't nothing but the fever left to sow, so
come down charlie, I won't do you no harm
it's just the wind in the branches on the tabernacle farm
where we used to sit and watch the shadow dance behind the door
there is a bad wind now, and you don't come around no more
when you come back home we won't blame you
crowded in the wings we are waiting for you
when you come back home we won't blame you
crowded in the wings we are waiting for you
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Bird Friend New Hampshire
Bird Friend is a weird folk band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Geoff Himsel, Carson Kennedy, Andrew Eckel, and friends.
Bird Friend recommends:
adam's passed out on the floor again
go to album
The Audrey it Burns
by Abner II
talk shit sing in tune
go to album
burning sister taylor river
by wheel kid
things chatter in the dark down here
go to albumIf you like Bird Friend, you may also like:
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
A vibrant vision of "Central Americana" from the Costa Rica-based artist, blending heartland devotionals with playful Tropicália grooves.
go to album
Métempsycose
by Sophia Djebel Rose
French singer-songwriter Sophia Djebel Rose makes shadowy, minimal psych-folk with magnetic and immediate emotional connection.
go to album
