1. |
Fog Chief
04:23
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I am a bowl of winter wine
The hollow knife in burning pine
The valley ghost in northern lakes
September moss on cedar shakes
I’ve sat and smoked with driftwood kings
Through sleeping storms my beehive sings
Of junction love that knows no bounds
Cascading whims of potlatch towns
On the back roads, when the moon glows, in the dead of night
And the forest takes my hand and lights up both my eyes
When the dawn breaks, and the fox wakes, from his highway dreams
Then the island fills my cup with gold from virgin streams
Gemini spoke and from his lungs
Echoed the sparks of native tongues
Carried across the oceans now
Coming to rest on my mountain crown
Through fallow fields my hymn will trawl
But in the swamps my galleon stalls
To trade the fruit of honey days
For rusted wind, from haunted bays
On the back roads, when the moon glows, in the dead of night
And the forest takes my hand and lights up both my eyes
When the dawn breaks, and the fox wakes, from his highway dreams
Then the island fills my cup with gold from virgin streams
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2. |
A Train Is Coming
03:23
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Ambling down on the trestle track there
came to a place where the creek made bare
felt her heat before I knew her name
callus on my hand ‘cause I played the game
delirious and mocking was a scar on the tree
rustling and red in the oracle breeze
heard these words from the sanctified mouth
of the tunnel in the tangle of a jackpine:
“Go split wood on the old mainline
away away away tomorrow
leave your gold in the devilish pine
"
And then and then and then
She kissed my cheek, I felt the fluttering spark
and I became a bread for breaking
."
Heard a voice in the rattling dark
"A train, a train, a train is coming.”
Sunk my love in the old swim hole
Swinging from a log on a brakeman’s rope
remembering the valley from long ago
flooded by the water that she swore to hold
But she lit my soul with a stuttering dart
tied my hands for the chastity art
kept me down in the shuddering hull
while she sold my sails in the afternoon lull
She said, “Go split wood on the old mainline
away away away tomorrow
leave your gold in the devilish pine”
and then and then and then
She kissed my cheek, I felt the fluttering spark
and I became a bread for breaking
I heard her voice in the rattling dark
“a train a train a train is coming.”
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3. |
Thundercloud
03:31
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If you gon’ wake me
you gon’ have to wonder
if you gon’ wake me
do you want a thundercloud
And even on the wide plain
even in the riverbed
no-one’s gonna tame me
no-one’s gonna tell you how
With the wind from the west
I will break down your door
and I’ll take what’s mine
but no more
Coyote on the white bluff
mark him with an arrowhead
I will make the medicine
but you gon’ have to let it snow
Cause even on the Cascades
even in the Bitteroots
underneath a black sky
I will tell you what I know
With the wind from the west
I will break down your door
and I’ll take what’s mine
but no more
Yellowjacket
kicking in the dark womb
I can tell
secrets of the summer tomb
terrified, wildfire, plateau
Appalachian
where you gonna run to
rain upon me, this is how I made you
purified, sweeter than the last fall fruit
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4. |
Babble From A Beehive
05:17
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Last night I had a dream that I was flying
I dove into the palm of your hand
And all the restless winter streams were sighing
Made jealous by my storm across the land
They said when snow is fast falling 'long the treeline
My ghost is just a porchlight on the block
Coaxing silver aspen from the darkness
A moon that you have hidden in your clock
But oh my muse, I have so much to learn
In my burning youth
Talent’s just a dam to break
Like the lover and her vagabond
In the morning you will hear the fencewire ringing
Something in the hills has come to talk
If the rain is just my whisper at your doorstep
It is our passion that will pick the lock
So teach me how to sting them with a riddle
Just as babble from a beehive will erase
The hum of fools now stumbling past their fortune
I will bounce this broken tyrant with my ace
But oh my truth, I have so much to burn
With my yearning proof
Success is just a dam to break
Like a lover and her vagabond
When I met you on the mountain I was naked
I knew my knife was buried in the moss
You laid me down and told me just to listen
Now I will follow you regardless of the cost
And I swear to send my trouble down your trapline
In return your steam will fill my lungs
Then I will sing like bells across the heartland
Let me be taken when my work is done
But oh my sooth, I have so much to earn
With my learned couth
Fate was just a dam to break
Like the prophet who is here and then gone.
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5. |
The Flask
05:07
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We left at the quiet hour
the killing floor of the night
When the ghosts come by
and wrap our hands in wire
I filled the flask, I filled it for both of us
So lets get drunk and fill up each other's eyes
Saltwater and moonlight
Stinging, sharp, like moonlight
I don't know where we make room for all of our lies
Lets hide our secrets in a small town near the shoreline
Where there's a lover with a heart full of wine
When it tips, it makes a stain on the countryside
You can see it from the neighbourhood
They talk about it in the neighbourhood
I've known those hills
and the thrill of their gold
When the wind blows through
and God's finally known
It's where the bear hides
when his hair is on fire
He burns up the loose brush,
but he can't catch all the liars
It's where I hide
when my hair is on fire
The prayers that I write
when the smoke gets in my eyes
You and I are stealing everything
Let's hope the town forgives the thieves
If I'm the sidewalk, my father, he's the curb
If I'm the rails, my brother, he's the yard
If you're the callus line, your mother's the farmer's hand
If you're the ocean's breeze, you sister, she's the wind
Forget the front porch, and the ashtray on the rail
Forget the fields, we're stronger than the soil
I filled the flask, I filled it for both of us
The body we killed is buried on the hill
The body we killed is buried on the hill
Saltwater and moonlight
Stinging, sharp, like moonlight
Let's hope the town forgives the thieves
Let's hope the town forgives the thieves
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6. |
Heart Of Wind
04:57
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who is that coming on the highway humming?
dashboard never lies, home is my sights
bent bridge breathing like a saddle full of ice
blanket on the street, vulnerable and deep
beat the heart of wind, rain chimed on tin
arrow straight and swift, winter kissed my lips
what is so silent as a valley full of snow?
edges of the towns, blizzard on the boughs
see the smoke vision over fields set adrift
forever in the sky, spoken just in time
beat the heart of wind, rain chimed on tin
arrow straight and swift, winter kissed my lips
in the stove of my yearning, overnight, left burning
was the coal of the hills, where the air is still
in the wax of his wane, sunk the moon, yellowing
and I kept to his ray, every man needs a flame
who is up late in the storm of the soul?
cabin in the frost, light on for the lost
ridges red reading out the story of the season
surrender to the west, buried in my chest
beat the heart of wind, rain chimed on tin
arrow straight and swift, winter kissed my lips
.
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Roadopener recommends:
Brother/Sister duo from Montréal - most haunting record I've ever heard. The best album for walking around rainy streets.
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