1. |
Burnin'
05:55
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I burned down a house for you
Tore all my idols in two
The poster on the bedroom wall, remember
Staring down the ceiling stars alone at night
For ten years glow, they gave me light
I asked for a hand to end it
But those little white fingerlings bend
The curling trust of a helpless infant
Two brothers’ dreams to take the world laid sound to sleep
And this is the best you’ll ever be
Wipe away every tear
There’s nothing left to feel but joy here
Place to lay, green forgotten shade
A new soothsayer divining all the ways
Green forgotten shade
Green forgotten shade
I poured out my heart in the drain
Thought it would change the pain
And turn me into somebody that I could live with
But we’re four months deep in storytime land and he holds my head,
A spirit in the mirror or a knife in bed
Wipe away every tear
There’s nothing left to feel but joy here
Place to lay, green forgotten shade
A new soothsayer divining all the ways
Green forgotten shade
Green forgotten shade
Stumble hot through Sumer rumble
Tablet cabaret
Green forgotten shade
Green forgotten shade
Tarot cards and olive oil
Taste and see the flame
Dancers interlock and load, tip-totem off in dissonance
Burning down, it’s fate, I’m flaming out, I’m finally getting it
Pair of eyes to carolize two terribly surprise adrift
Heaven, earth, and hell between us—I’m burying the myth
Burying the myth, I’m burying the myth
So I’m brushing my teeth for you
Growing my hair and singin’ more too
I don’t want to spin in a teacup forever
But you’re grabbing the wheel and turning slow,
And you look at me
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2. |
Men of the Sleeve
06:00
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I’m not ashamed of dreams I’ve had
I raise a token, gilded and strapped
Construction bids, I’m building a ring
Intergrafting men of the sleeve
A corner thing we traded for cash
We moved against Brusuelas from west of Ash
Sat on the stash and boxed in the king
Two barrel clicks make a man convincing
Oh, it’s nice to be seen
To be stepping in through a door held open
When the madam leaves
Half a life spent chetwynd chasing speed
And temptresses divesting stock and key
Oh it’s nice to be seen
Oh, this life doesn’t hold
But I’m nothing sweet for the black suits listening
When I’m on the phone
Sugar girls and soldiers know the code
Caution takes the fun out of the gold
Whisper, shadow and gurkha smoke
The wicked children run Heaton Street
We’ll cross ‘em off the list next week
They run a game on trixies come from uptown
Bring too much heat when the count’s still down
I’d love to be out there cracking heads
But now I delegate from behind a desk
The corporate thing keeps my Brunellos like new
Progressive discipline, performance reviews
Oh, Jim Cagney and me
The difference lies in the storm drain, face down
Fate I’ll never see
Half a life hell bent and swingin’ free
Rolling up men of the sleeve
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3. |
View from the Getty
02:30
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Greenest grass I’ve seen
Walls of travertine
Is this a wishing well?
If you’ve got a coin, might as well
Throw it in
The horseman looks so free
Ooh, look at this view
Halls of naked Greeks
Marble ass cheeks
We walk the garden maze
The trellis kisses taste
So sweet
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4. |
Axe
03:32
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Poor boy strides the runaround
He’s laughing in the dark
An entourage of idiot hawks
Bought into his cult persona
It filled a hole
Under guise of Geils band
Her faces melting, two
Sommeliers in midnight boxes
Fetching Barb from next door
Crossbeam dream
Tattooed meth head shaking hands
He’s lookin’ kinda blue
Enshrined with Pisschrist plastic bottles
Sitting sukhasana at the corner store
But three nights clean
Port of call, O’ahu-bound
My girl’s a native spark
She ties my hands, blindfolded
Firewalking with an axe of Koa
She’s in control
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5. |
Smog City Blues
03:35
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Why do people shout in the morning?
Why the women crying at night?
I tried to have peace like the LA River
But truth is a useless peace of mind
Fireworks they buy in Tecate
Stereos you throw on the curb
You heard a terse pan-hand alley coin toss
The faux-car wash off-ramp beggars earn
Why do city people always seem to shout
At three in the morning?
Three in the fucking morning
Yell for Tré once more
My alloy sits by the door
Rhythm-knocking lovers at midnight
Filler in the kisses of mods
Scene chicks swingin' hips at an Echoplex gig
A stage hand rakes mind-out kids along
Why do city idiots appear to pity
Men on the sidewalk?
Favella tents up the next block
Cries to do something more
But it's you I see who's locking the door
Thought I could see the sunlight
Laugh at the morgue with lungs like
Carbon perfume and concrete
Dimwitted witness don't speak
Speaking in waves you can't read
Jonathan Gold withholding
Pleasant enough what I've seen
Melting away the shoe groove
Hole in the wall become new
Brush over neighbors tax-free
Orange and beige and palm leaf
Monomaniacally we
Dance in the Santa Cruz sink
Drown in the fumes of release
Cloud days that never become rain
Sweep the street to push it around
I love the sound--the mad thrash of a helicopter
I wouldn't sleep any better if it fell to the ground
Why do city people always seem to shout
At three in the morning?
Three in the fucking morning
Yell for Tré once more
My alloy sits by the door
Why does everybody say I ought to fix
The dent in my car door?
That's what I drive a Prius for
Stupid mindless dreck
This place has always got its foot on my neck
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6. |
The Legend of Asia Cafe
04:43
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Sewing threadless through the loom
That needle plunge and fadeaway
Seven-stretch, July on asphalt
Two-wheeled homebound bedding down
Fifth of hillbred men of spirit
Lean disciples Willa loves
Swing the door, the bell rings, in he comes
And they know his order
No one’s dining alone tonight when
Babatunde slips you the bag
You glide into this golden contour booth
And wait for the ancient truth
Meditative in the smokestacks
Teepees Zildjians on the couch
Eight P.M., it’s six-stroke time
They’re calling book tunes at Imbibe
Timmy Vaughn is here to see you
Curtis King just wandered in
Broody-eyed and worse still, cat brought sticks
Players start to holler
No one’s dining alone tonight when
Babatunde slips you the bag
You glide into this golden contour booth
And wait for the ancient truth
If you’re the one, the buzz, cut it off
A friend to float you through the changes
Sails for greener swamps
Congo Square is where we got it all from, baby
If you’re the one, the buzz, cut it off
A friend to float you through the changes
Sails for greener swamps
Congo Square is where we got it all from, baby
Cafe closed for renovations
Closed for good, rent’s going up
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7. |
Walls
04:52
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You, knocking down my walls
And all dishonesty falls
You, you don’t believe the smile
Don’t you see that I’ll be sad for awhile
Patterns encrypted argyle
Hiding in plain-sighted sighs
I wrestle with my genes
And face down the monster in me
Texturing plaster and knife
Chimes in a windless unwind
I find it
The melody under the skin
The parachute floating alone
Piles of Sobibor bone
I could be the Antichrist
Make the shuffle play Letterbomb twice
And you, you’re gonna see a wall of regrets
So speak now or forever hold your breath
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8. |
Raw Walrus
05:02
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I look at nothing when I feel the Buddha
I’ve stoned the apostles of peace
It’s an old way of knowing
If you’ve got licorice or grease
Someone standing in the frame of the door
Girl’s been waiting, but she can wait a little more
Lady I don’t even work here
This happens to me every time I come
Today in sweatpants and flip flops
Looking like a platypus nonplussed
Someone looking after me when it’s bad
Losing touch, lie about the time we had
I guess that you’re the wrong waitress
And this isn’t my coke
But the sign said OPEN
I was hoping I could sit here and smoke
Where do you think I’ve been
For the last two hours?
I liked it better when the paint was peeling
The coffee bitter, stronger, burned then, too
It’s a trip down a memory now
A silhouette of lonesome nights before I met you
Someone asking me to sign the dotted line
Thumbprint inkstain, throwing hands and rolling eyes
I take the stages Davis blew
The ghosts of hard bop fill this Greenwich greenroom
I feel them pulsing, whispering, valving spit
And I lose myself in the moment
House lights up and I’m half-lit
Cash in hand, had over rent
Baby I don’t even know you
But I want to be the apron on your hips
So let me take down your order
By sunrise, it’s me and you, orange juice, and grits
Someone cooking in a loose Navajo
Wake up smiling, make me feel I found a home
I guess that I’m the raw walrus
And this isn’t my dream
But the door was open
I was hoping I could sit here and scream
I don’t know where I’ve been
For the last two hours
There’s somebody sitting up
with the lights on, worried
For me
Why me?
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9. |
Sean Robert and Jesse
05:34
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I read the names engraved but never spoke ‘em
I spent all day just wondering who they’d be
Maybe only Easter-see-you children
Maybe summer long day friends for me
Acid-dripping resin lines the darkroom
Other peoples’ faces, most for pay
Dodging eight on Kodak from New Jersey
These shots wash out pangs a different shade
Red glow
Hang alone
Red glow
Strange to know the truth
Losing things like car keys on a show day
Or sleeping late through infomercial night
Little moments colored by depression
Little joy, the blinds drawn on
Zoning out of frame, the sharp shatter glass
Sorry lowdown nothing from the past
What did you feel? Did you feel?
Questions I can’t ask and aren’t real
Family pain we buried by the fence
Red glow
Hang there alone
Red glow
Feels like I know you
Red glow
Hang there alone
Red glow
Feels like I know you
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10. |
Same Song
04:04
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It turns out
All along
We were writing
The same song
And that house
Fresh with paint
Covers bruises
Years of hate
Hear the tunes
We would sing
Little voices
Out of tune
Out of time
That’s the truth
Love your brother
Wasted youth
Counting the reasons to give you a call
Thinking if I’ve heard your phone ring before
Tasked with my living, a man made in enterprise
Forward and formless, a mannequin despotantalize
Mhm
Mhm
It’s for only
Us to know
Us to ashes
Dust to coast
Ghosts are giving
Up us both
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Starsapien Los Angeles, California
Cosmic country & western from songwriter-producer Jay Siebold and his back-east band.
Apes Scrapes and Bandages out October 13, 2023.
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