NO FLASHLIGHT
P.W. Elverum & Sun
I Know No One
I Hold Nothing
The Moan
In The Bat's Mouth
No Inside, No Out
(2 Lakes)
Stop Singing
No Flashlight 1
(2 Mountains)
The Air In The Morning
The Universe Is Shown
What?
How?
No Flashlight 2
(2 Moons)
Bonus Tracks
The Intimacy of the World With the World
This Is The Same Ocean
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
Where?
I Know No One
Knowing no one will understand these songs, I try to sing them clearer
And even though no one has ever asked, "What does Mount Eerie mean?"
I have tried to repeatedly explain in complicated songs
But tonight, we will find out
I know no one,
And no one knows me
I Hold Nothing
Your love swells and pounds me
And I know nothing now that I know you
My face goes blank, my eyes go open gates
And the world can go in, the world can stay
And make us wealthy, and take away
I hold nothing now that I hold nothing
Now that I hold you, there's no place to use our money
Where we live, the generous world suggests generous living,
So we lay under low wide branches of the oldest tree on the dune, in the hay
Where we will stay for so long that the careful birds will relax and make
Black nests in your black hair and walk around beneath my still feet,
And we will only notice the play of the world for a moment
And then let it roll on, the way the world rolls on
We will only notice the world for a moment
And let it roll on, the way the world rolls on
The world, for a moment, and let it roll on
The way the world rolls on through open gates
In a generous way, I give long walks to the dogs
In a generous way, I…
The Moan
In the night, after the bats come out,
I hear you howling
I know no one
And I hold nothing, now that I know you
This is how we howl
In the dark night on the unlit trail, there's no way through but to crawl,
Perplexed by the world around me,
There's no way through but to surrender my body completely to you,
To be eaten, to be gnawed, to fulfill the pregnant night,
And to be born in mornings, to be quiet
The Bat’s Mouth
As the black bird above you (the bat)
Disappears into the night, (and the song of the bat)
The cave beyond the foothills, (the bat)
In the night, is overflowing (and in the bat's mouth)
In song
No Inside, No Out
Because the pupil of my eye is a hole,
There's no inside and there's no out
The world is in me and I am in the world
Because my teeth are the visible bones
In my mouth of invisible songs,
A cave in the night is overflowing
There's no inside, there's no suffocation
Being "in the world" is having scattered ashes
A cave in the night is overflowing
In song
(2 Lakes)
There are 2 lakes:
The one where everyone goes
Was found on maps and was covered in boats, was so shallow,
So in it, things grow
And at one of its edges, two black cliffs rose
And down the rock, the lake's new water did pour
The second lake, just beyond the cliff,
Was fed by a bottomless spring
And still has never been seen
Stop Singing
The possibility that if I stopped clapping my hands in the void,
I would notice that I can't hold on to things
And the possibility that if I stopped using my voice
I would notice songs that, all around me, sing
It looms in weather, lives buried in my days,
With all my songs and rhythms going
Like the darkness surrounding a flame
It's what I don't say with my mouth
It's my mouth open to breathe in
It's open windows
Still, I go on and on describing the shape around the thing I want to,
But can not name, in song
And, though my long life feels busy and full of usefulness and drive,
I will sleep through every single dawn
And those I see, I will not really understand, though I try
I will sing through every single song
About the spaces left when we stop singing
And I will sing this with longing
No Flashlight 1
I can only love those dark hills because I live in the day
I can only see the mountain because I live in town
I only love night because I have only smelled it
Actually living in the night means no talking
I can only say "no flashlight" because once I forgot it
Actually living in the night means,
Actually walking in the dark means
To find caves in song
2 Mountains
There are 2 mountains:
One that everyone knows,
Our eyes pass by it, it is so well known
I know its shape, while I travel, it waits
In photos and songs of picturesque living, it waits
But Bright Mountain, all day, trails a growing shadow
And the second peak appears only at night
In the dark, this mountain towers and roars
Dark Mountain trails nothing, and grows
Where there were skies there are oceans of shadows
And we will be inside
The Air in the Morning
The air in the morning and the way that Halloween is always approaching
Will enter the room, it will find my cheek and will wake me up roaring
With the rains come Halloween and with the night comes the air in the morning
My costume will be myself with the night on my face
So I stand in the rain, in the dark with the world unfolding
The air in the morning comes in song
The Universe is Shown
There is no way you will get out of it
And, in this way, the universe is shown
"But I wasn't even looking for it!"
It doesn't matter, the universe is shown
"But I had some other plans for tonight"
You are done, the universe is shown
"But my life is long and good"
And from now on you must fulfill the pregnant night
The universe is shown in song
What?
When I was sturdier I'd talk about how certainly we all will die
We will eat shadows, we will bury candles…die, die, die
When I was sturdier I thought, "So what? I am forever mountainous!"
I bravely said, "No death of any kind could matter to my mountain mind
Come years, come surging, I am tall!"
When I was sturdier I was secretly scared, and the fear was blinding
As you can see, I am no rock
As you can see, through mountain wind,
What I actually am is thinning clouds
How?
Having washed my face in a frozen stream,
And having lived in guest rooms for the last seven years,
And having just doubled in size, admitting animal loving,
I still must find a way how
How do I live with the romance of the world?
How do I live with the romance: the lure of scenery?
How do I live with the romance of comfort and closed eyes?
How do I live with the romance and admit
That this might be the world where I belong?
How?
I'll sing my song in the parking lot
No Flashlight 2
“No flashlight” means that there's another world
And it's inside this one
The moon is in the lake
And “no flashlight” means the lake at night
At the cold bottom, there's no pool of light,
No moon, no sky, no world
And “no flashlight” means at the bottom of the lake
With opened eyes
In the mountains with no flashlight and no friends
Knowing the world is in song and being able to hush
Turning off the light is being welcomed home
Crawling in the dark, saying "No flashlight"
Is saying "yes" everything else
(2 Moons)
There are 2 moons:
The one that everyone knows
is a reflection in a bucket, wearing clothes
‘Cause we see reflections
The second moon is actually the moon
Bonus Tracks
The Intimacy of the World With the World
The only reason I'm moved seeing clouds and hills mingle
Is because the intimacy of the world otherwise stays hidden
Even though I know it's there in animals calling,
In the cave overflowing, in the food I've built on,
In the song of the bat, and in rotting bodies unfolding,
I am touched each time I can see hand-holding
Mist married to branches, married to me, with my eyes,
Stopping my work for a moment to say,
"What a generous place is unveiling here!"
And "We have enough"
The Same Ocean
This is the same ocean where blue whales dive
This is the same ocean that fell on white mountains
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
In my most hopeless days,
Lost in pitch black caves,
There's waterfalls
And dripping stone walls
It's so perfect and amazing
So you may only naively believe
There's waterfalls and all perspectives
And when you see the light
Or go for walks at night
There's waterfalls, but you can stay dry
In the Universe,
Or in the death and birth,
I always wonder at each, “My mother?”
And right before I die,
Or start to tell a lie,
There is a spark drowned out
In my heart's hiding place,
There is a moonlit lake,
And there are waterfalls on the way down there
Where?
"Where is Mount Eerie and how do I get there?
And how long's the walk and what should I bring?"
Mount Eerie is nowhere
Mount Eerie is playing tonight
"Where is the concert and will it be all ages?
And what time are doors? And how much does it cost?"
The concert is nowhere
There is only one sky
"I accept the invitation,
I would like to 'fulfill the pregnant night'
Where should I set my stuff up?"
Those things are not yours
And tonight you will be taken in dark arms
I Know No One
I Hold Nothing
The Moan
In The Bat's Mouth
No Inside, No Out
(2 Lakes)
Stop Singing
No Flashlight 1
(2 Mountains)
The Air In The Morning
The Universe Is Shown
What?
How?
No Flashlight 2
(2 Moons)
Bonus Tracks
The Intimacy of the World With the World
This Is The Same Ocean
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
Where?
I Know No One
Knowing no one will understand these songs, I try to sing them clearer
And even though no one has ever asked, "What does Mount Eerie mean?"
I have tried to repeatedly explain in complicated songs
But tonight, we will find out
I know no one,
And no one knows me
I Hold Nothing
Your love swells and pounds me
And I know nothing now that I know you
My face goes blank, my eyes go open gates
And the world can go in, the world can stay
And make us wealthy, and take away
I hold nothing now that I hold nothing
Now that I hold you, there's no place to use our money
Where we live, the generous world suggests generous living,
So we lay under low wide branches of the oldest tree on the dune, in the hay
Where we will stay for so long that the careful birds will relax and make
Black nests in your black hair and walk around beneath my still feet,
And we will only notice the play of the world for a moment
And then let it roll on, the way the world rolls on
We will only notice the world for a moment
And let it roll on, the way the world rolls on
The world, for a moment, and let it roll on
The way the world rolls on through open gates
In a generous way, I give long walks to the dogs
In a generous way, I…
The Moan
In the night, after the bats come out,
I hear you howling
I know no one
And I hold nothing, now that I know you
This is how we howl
In the dark night on the unlit trail, there's no way through but to crawl,
Perplexed by the world around me,
There's no way through but to surrender my body completely to you,
To be eaten, to be gnawed, to fulfill the pregnant night,
And to be born in mornings, to be quiet
The Bat’s Mouth
As the black bird above you (the bat)
Disappears into the night, (and the song of the bat)
The cave beyond the foothills, (the bat)
In the night, is overflowing (and in the bat's mouth)
In song
No Inside, No Out
Because the pupil of my eye is a hole,
There's no inside and there's no out
The world is in me and I am in the world
Because my teeth are the visible bones
In my mouth of invisible songs,
A cave in the night is overflowing
There's no inside, there's no suffocation
Being "in the world" is having scattered ashes
A cave in the night is overflowing
In song
(2 Lakes)
There are 2 lakes:
The one where everyone goes
Was found on maps and was covered in boats, was so shallow,
So in it, things grow
And at one of its edges, two black cliffs rose
And down the rock, the lake's new water did pour
The second lake, just beyond the cliff,
Was fed by a bottomless spring
And still has never been seen
Stop Singing
The possibility that if I stopped clapping my hands in the void,
I would notice that I can't hold on to things
And the possibility that if I stopped using my voice
I would notice songs that, all around me, sing
It looms in weather, lives buried in my days,
With all my songs and rhythms going
Like the darkness surrounding a flame
It's what I don't say with my mouth
It's my mouth open to breathe in
It's open windows
Still, I go on and on describing the shape around the thing I want to,
But can not name, in song
And, though my long life feels busy and full of usefulness and drive,
I will sleep through every single dawn
And those I see, I will not really understand, though I try
I will sing through every single song
About the spaces left when we stop singing
And I will sing this with longing
No Flashlight 1
I can only love those dark hills because I live in the day
I can only see the mountain because I live in town
I only love night because I have only smelled it
Actually living in the night means no talking
I can only say "no flashlight" because once I forgot it
Actually living in the night means,
Actually walking in the dark means
To find caves in song
2 Mountains
There are 2 mountains:
One that everyone knows,
Our eyes pass by it, it is so well known
I know its shape, while I travel, it waits
In photos and songs of picturesque living, it waits
But Bright Mountain, all day, trails a growing shadow
And the second peak appears only at night
In the dark, this mountain towers and roars
Dark Mountain trails nothing, and grows
Where there were skies there are oceans of shadows
And we will be inside
The Air in the Morning
The air in the morning and the way that Halloween is always approaching
Will enter the room, it will find my cheek and will wake me up roaring
With the rains come Halloween and with the night comes the air in the morning
My costume will be myself with the night on my face
So I stand in the rain, in the dark with the world unfolding
The air in the morning comes in song
The Universe is Shown
There is no way you will get out of it
And, in this way, the universe is shown
"But I wasn't even looking for it!"
It doesn't matter, the universe is shown
"But I had some other plans for tonight"
You are done, the universe is shown
"But my life is long and good"
And from now on you must fulfill the pregnant night
The universe is shown in song
What?
When I was sturdier I'd talk about how certainly we all will die
We will eat shadows, we will bury candles…die, die, die
When I was sturdier I thought, "So what? I am forever mountainous!"
I bravely said, "No death of any kind could matter to my mountain mind
Come years, come surging, I am tall!"
When I was sturdier I was secretly scared, and the fear was blinding
As you can see, I am no rock
As you can see, through mountain wind,
What I actually am is thinning clouds
How?
Having washed my face in a frozen stream,
And having lived in guest rooms for the last seven years,
And having just doubled in size, admitting animal loving,
I still must find a way how
How do I live with the romance of the world?
How do I live with the romance: the lure of scenery?
How do I live with the romance of comfort and closed eyes?
How do I live with the romance and admit
That this might be the world where I belong?
How?
I'll sing my song in the parking lot
No Flashlight 2
“No flashlight” means that there's another world
And it's inside this one
The moon is in the lake
And “no flashlight” means the lake at night
At the cold bottom, there's no pool of light,
No moon, no sky, no world
And “no flashlight” means at the bottom of the lake
With opened eyes
In the mountains with no flashlight and no friends
Knowing the world is in song and being able to hush
Turning off the light is being welcomed home
Crawling in the dark, saying "No flashlight"
Is saying "yes" everything else
(2 Moons)
There are 2 moons:
The one that everyone knows
is a reflection in a bucket, wearing clothes
‘Cause we see reflections
The second moon is actually the moon
Bonus Tracks
The Intimacy of the World With the World
The only reason I'm moved seeing clouds and hills mingle
Is because the intimacy of the world otherwise stays hidden
Even though I know it's there in animals calling,
In the cave overflowing, in the food I've built on,
In the song of the bat, and in rotting bodies unfolding,
I am touched each time I can see hand-holding
Mist married to branches, married to me, with my eyes,
Stopping my work for a moment to say,
"What a generous place is unveiling here!"
And "We have enough"
The Same Ocean
This is the same ocean where blue whales dive
This is the same ocean that fell on white mountains
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
In my most hopeless days,
Lost in pitch black caves,
There's waterfalls
And dripping stone walls
It's so perfect and amazing
So you may only naively believe
There's waterfalls and all perspectives
And when you see the light
Or go for walks at night
There's waterfalls, but you can stay dry
In the Universe,
Or in the death and birth,
I always wonder at each, “My mother?”
And right before I die,
Or start to tell a lie,
There is a spark drowned out
In my heart's hiding place,
There is a moonlit lake,
And there are waterfalls on the way down there
Where?
"Where is Mount Eerie and how do I get there?
And how long's the walk and what should I bring?"
Mount Eerie is nowhere
Mount Eerie is playing tonight
"Where is the concert and will it be all ages?
And what time are doors? And how much does it cost?"
The concert is nowhere
There is only one sky
"I accept the invitation,
I would like to 'fulfill the pregnant night'
Where should I set my stuff up?"
Those things are not yours
And tonight you will be taken in dark arms