PRE-HUMAN IDEAS
P.W. Elverum & Sun
Organs
No Inside, No Out
I Say “No”
The Hidden Stone
The Place Lives
The Place I Live
Lone Bell
House Shape
Clear Moon
Yawning Sky
Ocean Roar
Organs
Organs
(Instrumental From Pale Lights)
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
So, a cave in the night is overflowing
In song
I Say “No”
Some people say, "Arise! Arise! Arise! Live friend live!"
I say die
I say shade yourself
I say shine what precious light you have into caves,
And when it dies out, stay in caves
I say find life where you foolishly saw graves
Some people say "Try and try and try, fight and save yourself!"
I say give
I say send them off
I say shed whatever husk if you are ripe,
And if you're not, be fragrant then
I say give
No matter how it hurts, give in
Some people say "The sky! The sky! The sky! Have you noticed it?"
I close my eyes, I say nothing
There's a ringing in my ears that's deep and wide,
I listen close to it, it says:
" "
(Background 1)
If the cave you crawl into seems familiar,
Sit and watch the emptiness return
No one bought a flower and no one saw the fruit tree
At the mouth of the river
Holding back nothing,
The sky at night revealing void
Sitting on a rock and doing nothing
An ocean of waves roaring in me
(Background 2)
The void returns
Night falls in wasted generosity
A bucket of water, the mirror moon
The Hidden Stone
The stone inside the mountain revealed
A human heart shown
The core unfolding
Song on wind
Tumultuous in the soft world
Bone protruding
The heart blossoms for a moment amid stone
And then crawls back inside the cave
Mountain heaving
I can’t see or hear from where I’m standing
And I go through my days like this
With a force that tears and erodes at all shapes in dissatisfaction
Where was the source of wind I thought I found?
On the ridge
Or am I holding this sighing that tears at the house in my cavern?
The stone on top of my heart is shaking
The wind at the door
Is blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
(Background 1)
A song on wind bears me gently across the sky
There’s a stone beneath the mountain
Walking out beyond the reach of lights
And looking deeper for the source of wind on the ridge
At the door, bright horns announcing dawn, blowing loud
The Place Lives
Watching the light change, I see the place lives
I’ve stayed here long enough
Moss has started to grow
But still, wind sweeping clear
The brief collection assembled,
The silt I clutch
Looking east in the spring, through ashes and fog
White, permanent snow shines
(Background 1)
Sitting still for so long, a pile of gathered sand, clutching it in the wind
The Place I Live
If I look or if I don’t look,
Clouds are always passing over the place I live
The place I live passing under my feet
While my mind wanders in a sea of fog
On a ridge, seeing through a hole in the fog,
I say to myself
“Behold”
But I see nothing
Rocks, and water, and wood
Not speaking to me
Slow, and uneasy, and alive
I mean the place lives
And clouds pass over
The landscape a blanket on stone
Land waves are rolling
Momentarily, I come out from under
(Background 1)
A thought out of nowhere comes passing through
Like a voice on the wind
“Behold”
Left alone to wonder above the sea of fog
Sitting on a ridge and watching clouds pass over the landscape
And seeing that it’s a blanket on stone
A life as brief as the morning fog
(Background 2)
I say to myself like a voice on the wind, “Behold”
But I see nothing
Wanderer above the sea of fog
Where an ocean of glaciers rolled
Short and cold, this is a brief life
Lone Bell
I imagined a clear bell echoing in the hills,
Behind curtains of rain, in the hills behind the high school
So I opened the door and went there
Walking slowly in a white wall of fog,
A silent, more cautious awareness arises
Deeper in, the ground at my feet falls away
On a peak or in a swamp,
All debris erased
Lone bell
Clear moon
Sky home
Distorted cymbals rise
What is left of the dissipating dream world I made?
Midday, in the light, quiet echoes of a freezing moon
A distant bell, cold and clear
(Background 1)
Pulled back in through a wall of fog,
The ground at my feet falls away
Mind like a flower falling
The sky opens
Obliterated and broad,
Standing in a sea of impenetrable fog
A sound occurs to me
Distant bell echoes
Did I hear it?
The sound dissolves
(Background 2)
In the hills, echoes
House Shape
I stayed inside all morning,
Watching waves of rain pass over cold and dry by the window
I didn’t turn a light on
The fireplace dead since last night
Emptiness inside, cold morning
Low grey sky immense
Living belly of a silver fur thing
In waves of weather, the house lies
Piled up wood with me inside
I’m piled up dust, alive, dreaming
Or walking whirlpool of water
Awake and indifferent
Looking at cars go by and then get forgotten
Only a sound of a waterfall, breathing out in one long exhale
Rings in my ears for a moment, then another wave of rain blows over,
Greying out the light
The lawn through window seems undiscovered
A separate way of seeing
A separate way of breathing it in
A lost world separate from the usual
Barely meaningful waking and dreaming
Lost in an unfolding
Thinking about what to do with a day
Sitting while the light dies, until finally it’s over
In blue dusk, I finally step outside,
Breathing in the cloud that has settled,
Noticing a black looming house shape
And at last my eyes crack open
(Background 1)
In one long exhale the sky is speaking
Sprawling out in a yawning sigh
In the sound of traffic through the rain, assuming nothing,
I make waterfalls and lay them across my mind
Beneath a low grey sky, immense and rolling,
Sitting watching moving waves,
Cold in dying light,
And all thoughts fade
Disconnected thoughts from disconnected breaths
In a moment born, and the moment’s passed
Lost and becoming
(Background 2)
Low grey northern sky forever rolling
Lost and becoming un-lost
Clear Moon
Lost in a fog, groaning an ode to a clear moon
An empty song, a flash of light in the storming
Dawn, remembered as a blade
A stream cutting the world awake
The only light: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
A distant bell: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
Through a wall of fog: Clear moon remembered
I breathe in: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
Yawning Sky
Drifting sideways
Waves roar
Lifted high enough up to see the shore and my friend
Then the trough and impenetrable sky
Yawning sky
Asking questions while night grows
With an ancient unknown that I carry around, lost,
Then thunder replies
Storming mind
Insignificant and billowing
A new storm
A new kind of roaring to tear through days,
Through the trees, through an opening light
Yawning sky
Tossed on the waves
Missing
From moment to moment, being carried wherever
Face pressed against and impenetrable sky
Yawning sky
(Background 1)
Feeling around in the dark for something, dusk dropped down
The silent expanse of blue
No echo comes
Ocean roar and the sky that holds it
Cold and young, and finally a spark tears through open ceiling
Floating wide out past the waves breaking,
The edge of night
Seeing inside it now
Yawning sky
Ocean Roar
One voice heard low across the water through ocean roar
Lost in thought
The mind wandering again
Drifting west over the hills
Sitting in the car after the music stopped abrupt
We arrived in the dark, lost and disoriented
As the car cooled down, the sound of the waves rose and blanketed
Our minds grew into a vast night air
We made beds in the ditch
The loud breath of surf
Exhaling and constant
Sleeping on the wet ground
In a dream I swim
Out past waves rolling
Broad deep sky
(Background 1)
One chance out between two worlds, walk with me
Pulled out to sea
Through a dark stretch of trees, the roar of the beach calling
I thought I heard some voice returning a call past waves rolling
Yawning sky
(Background 2)
Over the water
Organs
(Instrumental From The Place Lives)
Organs
No Inside, No Out
I Say “No”
The Hidden Stone
The Place Lives
The Place I Live
Lone Bell
House Shape
Clear Moon
Yawning Sky
Ocean Roar
Organs
Organs
(Instrumental From Pale Lights)
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
So, a cave in the night is overflowing
In song
I Say “No”
Some people say, "Arise! Arise! Arise! Live friend live!"
I say die
I say shade yourself
I say shine what precious light you have into caves,
And when it dies out, stay in caves
I say find life where you foolishly saw graves
Some people say "Try and try and try, fight and save yourself!"
I say give
I say send them off
I say shed whatever husk if you are ripe,
And if you're not, be fragrant then
I say give
No matter how it hurts, give in
Some people say "The sky! The sky! The sky! Have you noticed it?"
I close my eyes, I say nothing
There's a ringing in my ears that's deep and wide,
I listen close to it, it says:
" "
(Background 1)
If the cave you crawl into seems familiar,
Sit and watch the emptiness return
No one bought a flower and no one saw the fruit tree
At the mouth of the river
Holding back nothing,
The sky at night revealing void
Sitting on a rock and doing nothing
An ocean of waves roaring in me
(Background 2)
The void returns
Night falls in wasted generosity
A bucket of water, the mirror moon
The Hidden Stone
The stone inside the mountain revealed
A human heart shown
The core unfolding
Song on wind
Tumultuous in the soft world
Bone protruding
The heart blossoms for a moment amid stone
And then crawls back inside the cave
Mountain heaving
I can’t see or hear from where I’m standing
And I go through my days like this
With a force that tears and erodes at all shapes in dissatisfaction
Where was the source of wind I thought I found?
On the ridge
Or am I holding this sighing that tears at the house in my cavern?
The stone on top of my heart is shaking
The wind at the door
Is blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
Blowing loud
(Background 1)
A song on wind bears me gently across the sky
There’s a stone beneath the mountain
Walking out beyond the reach of lights
And looking deeper for the source of wind on the ridge
At the door, bright horns announcing dawn, blowing loud
The Place Lives
Watching the light change, I see the place lives
I’ve stayed here long enough
Moss has started to grow
But still, wind sweeping clear
The brief collection assembled,
The silt I clutch
Looking east in the spring, through ashes and fog
White, permanent snow shines
(Background 1)
Sitting still for so long, a pile of gathered sand, clutching it in the wind
The Place I Live
If I look or if I don’t look,
Clouds are always passing over the place I live
The place I live passing under my feet
While my mind wanders in a sea of fog
On a ridge, seeing through a hole in the fog,
I say to myself
“Behold”
But I see nothing
Rocks, and water, and wood
Not speaking to me
Slow, and uneasy, and alive
I mean the place lives
And clouds pass over
The landscape a blanket on stone
Land waves are rolling
Momentarily, I come out from under
(Background 1)
A thought out of nowhere comes passing through
Like a voice on the wind
“Behold”
Left alone to wonder above the sea of fog
Sitting on a ridge and watching clouds pass over the landscape
And seeing that it’s a blanket on stone
A life as brief as the morning fog
(Background 2)
I say to myself like a voice on the wind, “Behold”
But I see nothing
Wanderer above the sea of fog
Where an ocean of glaciers rolled
Short and cold, this is a brief life
Lone Bell
I imagined a clear bell echoing in the hills,
Behind curtains of rain, in the hills behind the high school
So I opened the door and went there
Walking slowly in a white wall of fog,
A silent, more cautious awareness arises
Deeper in, the ground at my feet falls away
On a peak or in a swamp,
All debris erased
Lone bell
Clear moon
Sky home
Distorted cymbals rise
What is left of the dissipating dream world I made?
Midday, in the light, quiet echoes of a freezing moon
A distant bell, cold and clear
(Background 1)
Pulled back in through a wall of fog,
The ground at my feet falls away
Mind like a flower falling
The sky opens
Obliterated and broad,
Standing in a sea of impenetrable fog
A sound occurs to me
Distant bell echoes
Did I hear it?
The sound dissolves
(Background 2)
In the hills, echoes
House Shape
I stayed inside all morning,
Watching waves of rain pass over cold and dry by the window
I didn’t turn a light on
The fireplace dead since last night
Emptiness inside, cold morning
Low grey sky immense
Living belly of a silver fur thing
In waves of weather, the house lies
Piled up wood with me inside
I’m piled up dust, alive, dreaming
Or walking whirlpool of water
Awake and indifferent
Looking at cars go by and then get forgotten
Only a sound of a waterfall, breathing out in one long exhale
Rings in my ears for a moment, then another wave of rain blows over,
Greying out the light
The lawn through window seems undiscovered
A separate way of seeing
A separate way of breathing it in
A lost world separate from the usual
Barely meaningful waking and dreaming
Lost in an unfolding
Thinking about what to do with a day
Sitting while the light dies, until finally it’s over
In blue dusk, I finally step outside,
Breathing in the cloud that has settled,
Noticing a black looming house shape
And at last my eyes crack open
(Background 1)
In one long exhale the sky is speaking
Sprawling out in a yawning sigh
In the sound of traffic through the rain, assuming nothing,
I make waterfalls and lay them across my mind
Beneath a low grey sky, immense and rolling,
Sitting watching moving waves,
Cold in dying light,
And all thoughts fade
Disconnected thoughts from disconnected breaths
In a moment born, and the moment’s passed
Lost and becoming
(Background 2)
Low grey northern sky forever rolling
Lost and becoming un-lost
Clear Moon
Lost in a fog, groaning an ode to a clear moon
An empty song, a flash of light in the storming
Dawn, remembered as a blade
A stream cutting the world awake
The only light: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
A distant bell: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
Through a wall of fog: Clear moon remembered
I breathe in: Imagined clear moon in a black sky
Yawning Sky
Drifting sideways
Waves roar
Lifted high enough up to see the shore and my friend
Then the trough and impenetrable sky
Yawning sky
Asking questions while night grows
With an ancient unknown that I carry around, lost,
Then thunder replies
Storming mind
Insignificant and billowing
A new storm
A new kind of roaring to tear through days,
Through the trees, through an opening light
Yawning sky
Tossed on the waves
Missing
From moment to moment, being carried wherever
Face pressed against and impenetrable sky
Yawning sky
(Background 1)
Feeling around in the dark for something, dusk dropped down
The silent expanse of blue
No echo comes
Ocean roar and the sky that holds it
Cold and young, and finally a spark tears through open ceiling
Floating wide out past the waves breaking,
The edge of night
Seeing inside it now
Yawning sky
Ocean Roar
One voice heard low across the water through ocean roar
Lost in thought
The mind wandering again
Drifting west over the hills
Sitting in the car after the music stopped abrupt
We arrived in the dark, lost and disoriented
As the car cooled down, the sound of the waves rose and blanketed
Our minds grew into a vast night air
We made beds in the ditch
The loud breath of surf
Exhaling and constant
Sleeping on the wet ground
In a dream I swim
Out past waves rolling
Broad deep sky
(Background 1)
One chance out between two worlds, walk with me
Pulled out to sea
Through a dark stretch of trees, the roar of the beach calling
I thought I heard some voice returning a call past waves rolling
Yawning sky
(Background 2)
Over the water
Organs
(Instrumental From The Place Lives)