1. |
Vaughan Dr
02:48
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There’s a famous book about the street that I grew up in —
A street sign for a baby boy just got put in
They turned eighty acres into a million dollars
And a school parking lot
I’m crying as you cut down the crabapple tree
Said at least we’d always have the evergreen
But they turned it to mulch
When they bought our house and widened the street
I’m looking up at my father
Know that he’s gonna live forever
And I slide a tie over his head
Said his brain’s just not working
And his hands have been shaking
Can’t seem to make the knot that he’s been making
The last thirty years
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2. |
Guilt & Grave Markers
04:07
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Playing scratch cards in the driver’s seat
In an empty lot
Where I’ve done spent all my money
And pour out all my luck
And I stare in the rearview mirror
At progenitorial teeth
Crooked incisors in my bloodline
Of the men in my family
I’ve been chasing loves in states
I say are too far away
Or that I got too tied up in work
To call you on your birthday
You say that the chemo burns
And that you’d like to die with grace
My dad cleaned up your beard
As a final thanks
You’ve been fighting this off
And I’ve been neglecting your hospital room
You still remember my name
But the nurse says that it won’t be like that soon
You’ve been fighting this off
And I’ve been neglecting your hospital room
I say that I gotta go
But I don’t have a good reason to
When your legs were a bit more strong
And your lungs didn’t match the asphalt
You would take us down to the graveyard
Sit in the shade of the magnolias
We’d weave between the headstones
Leaving flowers for all the unknowns
I would trip as I carried your body
When we laid you to rest there
My sister and I were kids
We would dance in the green space
So unaware of death
And unfazed by the grey
You’ve been fighting this off
And I’ve been neglecting your hospital room
You still remember my name
But the nurse says that it won’t be like that soon
You’ve been fighting this off
And I’ve been neglecting your hospital room
I say that I gotta go
But I don’t have a good reason to
And when you were my age
You were building planes for war
And I spent all of my inheritance
On some drugs and a beat up car
Yeah, when you were my age
You were building planes for war
And I’d burn through your inheritance
When I crashed my first car
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3. |
Elaine May
03:37
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The summer was spent
Latched to hospital bracelets
Make a daisy chain from
Plastic jewelry
Hang it up
And tell myself I fell in love
Because you held my hand
Through the steroid therapy
When you cut your hair
I lost interest
I guess I never should have
Given you that ring
I was always the patron saint of loneliness
Tearing down whatever builds a life
At this rate
I’ll cut my palm trying to climb heaven’s gate
And make it out alive
I wore a black eye to your wedding
The first dance a waltz
The first dance a death march
You’re choosing Persian names
For all our kids
Except our youngest – Emmy Lou
When I met you I had lilies on my knee
But, I want a whole garden in my stomach
I was always the patron saint of loneliness
Tearing down whatever builds a life
At this rate
I’ll cut my palm trying to climb heaven’s gate
And make it out alive
My whole life, I’ve had cold feet
Humming Hallelujah when I leave
Jumping rocks until I run out
And I, I miss the whole thing
I was always the patron saint of loneliness
Tearing down whatever builds a life
At this rate
I’ll cut my palm trying to climb heaven’s gate
And make it out alive
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4. |
Praying In English
01:14
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Snow never fell
So snow never melted
So the dandelions
Are all out of sync with their bloom
And the suburbs alone
And all but forgotten
So the potholes joined hands --
They formed a community pool
And I heard you start
Praying in English
‘Cause your native tongue’s
Bringing down property value
And I heard you start
Praying in English
Oh, I heard you start
Praying in English
English… English…
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5. |
Petechiae
04:31
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I’ve been throwing up pills
That stop my gums from bleeding
My hips are still bruised
But at least I’m still breathing tonight
I’m still walking through parking lots
I’m still walking through--
In the meantime, all these headaches
Are just repeat trips to the ER
In the meantime, I’m just footsteps
On linoleum hospital floors
Hospital trips are mundane now
I get blood tests, and checkups, and groceries
I’m still making treks down, when the haze of the skyline
Fades out with the death
Of the summer heat
I watch my blood drain into vials
Wrapped in coban and fluorescent light
I sit in silence, the nurse counts my platelets
Then tells me that I’m still alive
In the meantime, all these headaches
Are just repeat trips to the ER
In the meantime, I’m just footsteps
On linoleum hospital floors
I was young, I was healthy, I was destined do great things
I was never meant to wilt with the seasons
I was supposed to be evergreen
In the meantime, all these headaches
Are just repeat trips to the ER
In the meantime, I’m just footsteps
On linoleum hospital floors
I was young, I was healthy, I was destined do great things
I was never meant to wilt with the seasons
I was supposed to be evergreen
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6. |
Shenandoah
04:00
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I see you spinning
A white dress in the Shenandoah Valley
You are another bloom
Amongst the field of wildflowers
You got passed up by devils
When you made a king’s crown out of holly
A savior in a thorn bush
A back road in foreign cities
You moved up north
When you ran away from home in the fall
I’ve been praying for rain
And you’ve been praying that I don’t stop
I buried poetry in your yard
Along with a bust of a saint
That was my last blessing
And I just gave it away
I see you spinning
A white dress in the Shenandoah Valley
You are another bloom
Amongst the field of wildflowers
I passed up on an angel
When you made that white dress out of ivy
A compromise in a church pew
I mourn the death on the freeway
And we’re singing dirges in the dark
And we’re singing dirges in the dark
You were built from all of the best prayers
And I was built in the dark
I see you spinning
A white dress in the Shenandoah Valley
You are another bloom
Amongst the field of wildflowers
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7. |
Arm's Length Prayer
05:20
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I was born on a day that God was sick
I was carved from the useless pieces
I’m playing bloody knuckles with the concrete
And tug of war with this broken sickness
The flowers in my gut are rotted
My teeth are curtained with blood
Paint the asphalt with my coffee ground vomit
Apologize until you say we’re good
I dropped the torch from my mouth
But you — a steadfast Lord Hound
Brought you bundles of carnations
But, I tarnish your salvation
You’ve been talking in your sleep again
Or I’ve been talking with a demon
They’re all strangers
An arm’s length prayer
We buried Saint Rita
In the gaps between my teeth
They fixed all of the street lamps
So we can finally see our feet
When we’re dancing with magnolias
In the February breeze
I can’t let go of
Dying like the evergreen
I’ve been working on the making the pieces fit
They name cities after feelings like this
I’ve been working on the making the pieces fit
I’m getting used to the getting used to it
You’ve been talking in your sleep
And I’m paralyzed in my dreams
Brought you bundles of carnations
But, I tarnish your salvation
At least, that’s what you said
Mrs. Dalloway of the Midwest
They’re all strangers
An arm’s length prayer
We buried Saint Rita
In the gaps between my teeth
They fixed all of the street lamps
So we can finally see our feet
When we’re dancing with magnolias
In the February breeze
I can’t let go of
Dying like the evergreen
They name cities after feelings like this
They name cities after feelings like this
They name cities after feelings like this
They name cities after feelings like this
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Smallville Nashville, Tennessee
I wrote a song once about a car crash and having too many teeth and I guess it just stuck.
welcome to smallville.
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