1. |
Beautiful Life
04:15
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I’m walking slowly, I’m taking my time
All our lack of talking is starting to rhyme
I’m letting go of lonely, letting go of strife
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
You do not have to be good
Even the best of us have been misunderstood
So get up on to your feet
The sun is shining repentance through the leaves
I’m walking slowly, I’m taking my time
All our lack of talking is starting to rhyme
I’m letting go of lonely, letting go of strife
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
You do not have to be known
Even the best of us have sometimes felt alone
This whole world is your home
so reach out your branches, let your roots back to the soil
and watch the rain help you grow
I’m walking slowly, I’m taking my time
All our lack of talking is starting to rhyme
I’m letting go of lonely, letting go of strife
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
Oh, you look so amazing
Your hair, it drives me crazy
dreaming of God on a sandy shore
Saved by amazing grace or maybe my lack of faith
The seasons change but they come back the same
They’ll wash you clean with their rays
I’m walking slowly, I’m taking my time
All our lack of talking is starting to rhyme
I’m letting go of lonely, letting go of strife
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
I just can’t get enough of this beautiful life
Oh, Give me all you can of this beautiful life
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2. |
Left Of Your Joy
03:47
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Well, I guess the darkest nights will hide their stars
but lately your cloudy skies are the crowded bars
and I’ve been squinting at the distance,
waiting for the light to break,
worried, dear, about how long that might take
God’s been closing windows and slamming doors
The rain keeps leaking in, what the hell was that house for?
Love came at so high a cost that you could not afford
so now you’re throwing up your hands and feet are kicking up a storm
But there’s still light in your eyes
It’s small, but it still shines
There is nothing in the past that you belong to
and even if the memories come and find you
Well, it is not their task to try and rescue what’s left,
what’s left of your joy
What if the valley’s too wide to hold your dreams?
What if your heart has grown too dull to gleam?
What if it’s ancestral; it’s running through your jeans?
It’s all too much and now you’re bursting at the seams
But there’s still light in your eyes
It’s faint, but it still shines
There is nothing in the past that you belong to
and even if the memories come and find you
Well, it is not their task to try and rescue what’s left,
what’s left of your joy
Your sorrow does not flatter you even if the tears are true
I’ve seen you sing your way through deeper blues
Sacred songs and holy water, they don’t last long enough to bother
And all the things you miss just wash from the surface
There is nothing in the past that you belong to
and even if the memories come and find you
Well, it is not their task to try and rescue what’s left
what’s left of your joy
What is left of your joy?
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3. |
I Want To Love You
03:07
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We took the sign down off of our humble house
so no one seemed to know what we were called
Yeah, the funny thing is we became everyone’s business,
bouncing checks from thoughts that were appalled
I want to love you without calling you mine
I want to know you without wasting your time
I want to see you without me going blind
Is that fine?
Everyone’s help is to make you like themselves,
a carbon copy of what they have found
But mistakes are not permanent, l
Love makes circles out of them,
so if I’m lost, I’m sure to come back around
I want to love you without calling you mine
I want to know you without wasting your time
I want to see you without me going blind
Is that fine?
When I lose my leaves, oh please do not pray for spring
It’s the winter that sets us free
We took the sign down off of our humble house,
so no one seemed to know what we were called
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4. |
Wild Heart
03:53
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Callous fingers from your strings,
trying to make the guitar sing
and once again release the joy it brings
But even with the old notes played,
the strings are rusted and slightly frayed,
so I can’t get it sounding quite the same
When you get caught in what they want,
it’s hard to remember who you are
A wild heart kept in the dark,
a tired hand that’s fumbling for the door
Kept the branches dry from rain,
but you brought matches and propane
and now the air in here could light a flame
Why so set on being right?
All your words braced for the fight,
but there are so many ways to see the light
When you get caught in what they want,
it’s hard to remember who you are
A wild heart kept in the dark,
a tired hand that’s fumbling for the door
When you get caught in what they want,
it’s hard to remember who you are
A wild heart that’s kept too long in the dark,
a tired hand that’s fumbling for the door
(The door is not locked, open it up)
When you get caught in what they want,
it’s hard to remember who you are
A wild heart left in the dark,
but the light can no longer be ignored
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5. |
Carolina Coast
03:16
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It’s that time of year when my eyes are misting all day long
and the bones that hold my mind are prone to breaking
And the Carolina coast feels like a friend that once was close
or a feeling from a dream I could not shake
So I am packing all my things into the smallest bag I have
And I am hoping that the salty air can cure just like my mama said
And reading Rumi talk of God like he always was a friend,
I hope that’s how I will remember him
I hope that’s how I will remember him
The whole way there, I was worried about how you would see me,
yeah, I never quite got used to this here body
But the sun was shining bright and casting fairies on the sea
and so I never even thought, once, to say sorry
So I am taking all our things and placing them onto the sand
and I am thinking about how your hand feels almost like my own hand
And about how we make plans but we don’t always follow through,
yeah, I hope that’s how I will remember you
I hope that is how I will remember you
There were three new words tied into the rope that we had found
as the day began to spread across our shores
You looked upon the world as if it all was hallowed ground
and the future was a dream I could ignore
So I am taking all my bags and throwing them into the sea
and I am hoping that your hand will stay this close to my body
And we will stay as long as it feels good, and then we’ll leave,
yeah, I hope that’s how you will remember me
I hope that is how you will remember me
I hope that is how you will remember me
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6. |
Becoming My Own Home
03:32
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It’s fire season again and the ash in the air has my eyes stinging
and I can hear the winter slowly awakening
The mountains are my only goal so I can shed my skin and be made whole and the crisp air and the red clay will be my salvation
Well, your absence sets in with the early frost
and the things that I’ve loved are the things I have lost
The wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats
This year I am becoming my own home
This year I am becoming my home
The birds are already leaving, I guess you got swept in their migration
and now every nest I come across looks abandoned
Pacing every inch of this room
looking for one spot without memories of you
but the blisters turn to callus if I just keep walking
Well, your absence sets in with the burning trees
and the things that I’ve loved are the things that I bleed
The wine from the water, the flesh from the bone
This year I am becoming my own home
This year I am becoming my home
Well, I found my way out of this chain-link language
to let my words go without eyeing the finish
And the floorboards cracked and rotted till they all fell down
but we couldn’t keep our eyes off the ground
With the heat on high and the windows open,
this winding road is the path we’ve chosen
The sunrise and the sunset are keeping time,
but the only eyes that see them are mine
This year I’m becoming my own home
This year I am becoming my own
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7. |
||||
I remember hiding my liquor in the travel mug as I walked down
to the old church where I had surrendered
my day’s freedom to fuck with the sound
Play an old song, turn all the mics on
so all your friends and family hear your vows
for you to jump on a train I’d soon be off
if we could only get our feet to the ground
And all your friends, they all gather around you
I take another gulp and turn up the volume
They’re all praising Jesus for making you brand new
Despite your last name, you look exactly the same to me
Out of town friends came crashing the party
We talked about what we’d all done differently
Two star buffets, running through the rain,
desperate for anything to make me feel clean
Well, now you are smiling, I know you’ve been lying
It’s okay, babe, we’ve gotta convince our friends
Till one of them touched me, ushering/assuring new feelings
I knew suddenly we were nearing the end
Then all the guests, they start beating the glassware
till the couple kisses and applause chokes out our air
We’ll surely miss them for the next 60 years
Though we are still here, it seems that love makes you disappear
Oh now they get up and pull us aside
saying, “friends, isn’t love such a beautiful ride?”
I try not to shrug, say, “sure, man, it’s fine,”
and take the quickest route outside
Where all the birds are picking seed from the sidewalk
My speech is slurred but I keep trying hard to talk
You’ve lost your patience for the crooked way I walk
Though you say we’re fine, you keep on constantly checking the time
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8. |
Bandages Of Time
05:00
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I always try to leave a little part of me off
somewhere deep inside you
but the ones that have been breaking off lately
just seem so far from my truth
I watched your eyes both parting tears like they were Moses
and your savior standing off on distant shores
wondering if I had ever really noticed the man I was before,
if he was there anymore
And I always thought I could predict
both our futures from the way your lips went sailing
Oh, but my tongue is a rudder, too,
and it sent me off to find another island
I watched you wish that you had never even met me
And for your sake, I guess I wish the same
I spent three long day inside of the belly of a whale of your blame
Forgot my real name
And when we’re born, tectonic plates move
until we grow up to a mountain
And all our actions break away our youth,
but we still dream of it in fountains
I’m sorry that I chipped away what makes you strong
I was searching for myself beneath your stones
But I just found there is no cure for all our longings in a temporary home, so I left you alone
And I awoke with your pain beating hard
against my heart till it went faster
And the sky was full of flames,
and the sun was tossing rays like God’s laughter
But how am I supposed to walk on water
when I am the only reason for the storm?
And the only thing that I have called a master keeps changing its form since the day I was born
Well, I know that words could never ever heal this;
you must wrap yourself in bandages of time
And the truth will grow from pain that I have caused us
till it falls from the vine
And one wind can’t blow us in different directions
One of us must do the work to row away
I volunteer my arms to break the wet reflections
if it’s you that needs to stay for some brand new day
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9. |
The Silence
04:16
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Another knot of dreams
They keep chewing up my sleep
and spitting out my whole work-week every morning
Well this city is a sea
and its undertow grabbed me
and dragged me off into the deep without a warning
I’m longing for the silence, a field to lay my head
where the engines and the sirens are no longer my debt
And I can finally hear my conscience, listen close to what it said:
“If you don’t make your bed, you don’t have to lie in it.”
And in the morning when I rise,
every step’s a compromise:
motor fumes, and burning eyes, and drunken violence
Through the city, tall as trees,
hydrant rivers fill the street,
and I can hear the birds and bees in the next apartment
I’m longing for the silence, a field to lay my head
where the engines and the sirens are no longer my debt
And I can finally hear my conscience, listen close to what it said:
“If you don’t make your bed, you don’t have to lie in it.”
I’ve got my backpack and my tent,
and a thumb pointing to heaven,
and a couple bucks to spend if I get hungry
This land demands no rent,
though the air I breathe is lent,
and the sun is so quiet as it shines on me
I’m longing for the silence, a field to lay my head
where the engines and the sirens are no longer my debt
And I can finally hear my conscience, listen close to what it said:
“If you don’t make your bed, you don’t have to lie in it.”
If you don’t make your bed, you don’t have to lie in it.
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10. |
Entropy
03:36
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This cigarette is doing nothing for me,
I still feel the tension in my veins
and all my borrowed habits haven’t left me less erratic
the lines keep growing deeper on my face
All that I had lost suddenly hit me,
like a brick wall, in Memphis, Tennessee
A stranger lent their kindness in the form of an air mattress
and love and sorrow led me to my sleep
Does everything fall apart like the rain tears from the clouds?
And will it all go back again when the sun,
when the sun comes back out?
All my friends migrated to the west coast
like a goldrush, like an earthquake mountain-range
But as soon as I arrived, they were the angels at my side
I almost forgot how much here had changed
Does everything fall apart like the winter tears the leaves?
And will they all grow back again when the world,
when the world finally sleeps?
I no longer think of my mistakes as a shovel by a grave
‘cause each one whittled down a part of me I wasn’t proud of
I think I can afford myself some grace
The future is a void we cannot look into,
but the emptied cup is free to get filled up
The same spirit still dwells within the thin walls of my shell
I am amazed at all the ways to fall in love
Does everything fall apart like the shore torn by the sea?
'Cause each time I come back again,
I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready to leave
I’m ready to leave
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The Collection
Indie-pop from Saxapahaw, NC. New single, "Won't Stop Yet" is out now
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