NOBODY'S PERFECT (live)
P.W. Elverum & Sun
Ownership
Cooking
Nations
Dinner
O My Heart
Ownership
Should I sign my songs
Or do songs show signatures in the ways that they are sung?
Did my parents sign me?
The answer is “no”
My name is mine
An island in the middle of the ocean
Molecules temporarily propped up on good lungs and strong bones
All materials borrowed,
All songs immediately lost forever
Singing in a generous way, that will be my signature
A cool album with no name, by no one, called “Nobody’s Perfect”
Nobody
Cooking
Maybe it’s not fair to expect so much from you,
Young people of the modern mega-state
The adults have always brought you food,
So you won’t know who to ask how to cook
When it’s time to walk into the night alone
If you’re hungry beneath the full moon,
In the dark belly of the modern mega-state
Try to imagine a baby vulture
Try to imagine that you could be in the world,
And the world could be in you,
And cooking food will be easy
Nations
We have to stop thinking nationally
It’s a big country, with no name
In all directions, there might be food to eat
It’s a big country with no name
We must stop thinking nationally
It has no name, so it has no body
It has no shape, so it has no border
It has no body and having no body is perfect
Nobody’s perfect
This is the place
Dinner
The feeling of walking with no bag and, like, one thing in my hand
I could keep walking forever in that way
So, having walked until dark like this, with nothing
How does the world look now?
It looks different
Seeing the world on a walk with nothing,
I ask myself:
“Where is dinner hiding and why wasn’t it hiding before,
When I had all my stuff with me?”
It’s because I didn’t care
And having walked with nothing until dark, I say:
“What can’t I do with my bare limbs?”
O My Heart
What I find, it will be found easily and only when I'm not looking for it,
Only when I’m not looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live, it hides implied in my heart beating,
Without looking for fulfillment but accepting it
O, what's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
I had stopped hunting
Because I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, I had my harpoons armed, I had my ship sailed
O, my heart! Oh, there you are, mouse nest in my hair
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
O, sleepy heart
O little heart, what do you say?
Should we keep trying?
“Yes”
Ownership
Cooking
Nations
Dinner
O My Heart
Ownership
Should I sign my songs
Or do songs show signatures in the ways that they are sung?
Did my parents sign me?
The answer is “no”
My name is mine
An island in the middle of the ocean
Molecules temporarily propped up on good lungs and strong bones
All materials borrowed,
All songs immediately lost forever
Singing in a generous way, that will be my signature
A cool album with no name, by no one, called “Nobody’s Perfect”
Nobody
Cooking
Maybe it’s not fair to expect so much from you,
Young people of the modern mega-state
The adults have always brought you food,
So you won’t know who to ask how to cook
When it’s time to walk into the night alone
If you’re hungry beneath the full moon,
In the dark belly of the modern mega-state
Try to imagine a baby vulture
Try to imagine that you could be in the world,
And the world could be in you,
And cooking food will be easy
Nations
We have to stop thinking nationally
It’s a big country, with no name
In all directions, there might be food to eat
It’s a big country with no name
We must stop thinking nationally
It has no name, so it has no body
It has no shape, so it has no border
It has no body and having no body is perfect
Nobody’s perfect
This is the place
Dinner
The feeling of walking with no bag and, like, one thing in my hand
I could keep walking forever in that way
So, having walked until dark like this, with nothing
How does the world look now?
It looks different
Seeing the world on a walk with nothing,
I ask myself:
“Where is dinner hiding and why wasn’t it hiding before,
When I had all my stuff with me?”
It’s because I didn’t care
And having walked with nothing until dark, I say:
“What can’t I do with my bare limbs?”
O My Heart
What I find, it will be found easily and only when I'm not looking for it,
Only when I’m not looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live, it hides implied in my heart beating,
Without looking for fulfillment but accepting it
O, what's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
I had stopped hunting
Because I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, I had my harpoons armed, I had my ship sailed
O, my heart! Oh, there you are, mouse nest in my hair
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
O, sleepy heart
O little heart, what do you say?
Should we keep trying?
“Yes”