LIVE IN COPENHAGEN
Burnt Toast Vinyl
Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence
Say "Goodbye" And "No”
仔猫カレンダ (Moools Cover)
Climb Over
Great Ghosts
See Me
A Show Of Hands
Who?
O Little Heart
It's Not The Hunting
Moon Sequel
Cold Mountain
I Will Be Good (Amalgamated Sons Of Rest Cover)
We Know There Are
I Cut My Hands Off
Solar System
Silent Night
I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
I'll Not Contain You
Log In The Waves
We Squirm
Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano
Headless Horseman Pt. 2
Moon, I Already Know
I Felt Your Shape
After N. Young
The Dead Of Night
Thanksgiving
Lanterns
You'll Be In The Air
Voice In Headphones
The Blow Pt. 2
I'll Shut Up
I Say "No"
The Boom
Woolly Mammoth's Mighty Absence
Quickly forgetting was the way I lived my life
Try telling me your name, try telling me "don't worry"
Everything I knew would quickly wither and die
All echoes would be buried in the sound of living,
The sound of feet slapping sidewalk
That was me--treasure hunting, I would bury what I found
That was me--gold digger, underground
Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life
When I left home, when I lived as if I'd died
Sitting on a rock and doing nothing, alone for so long
In the dark I found my sight
There your name was, written large in letters bright
There my faith was
"Worry not," declared the night
In the great void of my life, I could feel the shape of what was missing
Like the way the woolly mammoth stands so tall and bold in our minds
I was shaken at the size of my cry and the true love it described
I know day is dawning now, so ends my holy night
It's back to the world I go, back to little girls and the shows,
And all their worldly woes, and unfurling clothes
And will I carry myself slowly enough to remember?
I sit on a dark rock doing nothing still, but just crowded in
And there's the love in flesh and bones
Say "Goodbye" and "No"
Hello my air, goodbye hope
Goodbye, also, to your ambushes
I say "goodbye ghost"
And watch it turn to wide air
Where I shine and float
Hello darkest fear, goodbye eyes-closed
In the lonely, lonely, lonely night,
In the long shadows,
I fell to my knees in tears
And said "Sweetheart, hello"
Hello my heart and yes, goodbye hope
You know we will go steady
Say "Goodbye" and "No" and find me
Fanning out my warm unfolding hands
Blindly let me go
Japanese (Moools Cover)
(This song is sung in butchered Japanese. If anyone can translate, please get in touch.)
Climb Over
Come over, climb over, get over, get on
Climb over the hill to where you hope to find nothing,
Find it teeming with gold in the light
Be disappointed and glum, beat yourself like a drum
Yell out "Who stole my silent night?"
Call in sorrow, your friend
Ask her where has she been and where does she head? Left or right?
Call compassion in, ask him "How are you kids and where are you guys crawling tonight?"
And call hope along, have her sing you a song, have her sing of her travels and flights
Go ahead and call all travelers,
Keep trying in vain to gather which direction things are headed and why
Oh, they won't tell you where they go, ‘cause they know you
They know that you stupidly hope to evade them
They say "You can try, and you’ll keep trying,
And you'll be right on the verge, until you die
And then you'll find there is nowhere to hide"
Great Ghosts
I had my hopes of how I would be after living in exile,
After closing your eyes to me
I even scenes where I reemerged boldly,
Bearded, alive, with eskimo eyes
New baby on my back
But I didn’t count the fact that I have ghosts in my mind
Stowaways, great ghosts of my life
Great ghosts of old wives
And they're howling
So I spent my wilderness time rolling on the ground, Pulling my hair and wrestling them off
Yelling at no one, punching snow
I gathered ghosts and I gave them my lecture
I bid them away, I pleaded and cried,
“There's no room in my life for you, or you,
Or your howling
So let me undo these ropes and go on living without you
And not just change where I live
Go on get,” I said
I had my hopes of how I would be after sending them off,
After getting set free
There's no such thing as life without their prowling
As you can see, having descended the hill,
I still look like me, I still wallow like Phil
And forever will
And now I’m teeming with ghosts and I'm still whining for wives,
Knitting my brow
But now I've surrendered,
In fact, I’ve joined in
Listen close, you can hear us howling
See Me
I was a log in the waves last time you saw me
End over end I was thrown, I endlessly groaned:
"Hold my hand! Won't someone come surf me?"
And of course no one came
You stood and watched the wash of water wedge me
Hopelessly into the sea wall
And there I stayed, and quickly decayed
And then we all swapped molecules
Now with a wave of my hand,
I command you to see me
I'm more like a mountain this time,
I’m unmoving alpine, decked in fog
I'm concealed in snow clouds
You're the farmer below
And if you've seen my face once,
Then through twelve cloudy months,
You will know that I'm there behind curtains
You'll know mountain light through thickness of light
See me
A Show of Hands
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I love it so much!
"What do you love so much?"
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I love it so much, it takes withholding
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I'm not telling
"What do you hide?"
Just look at my face and know that I won't tell
"What do you hide?"
Know that I can't say it,
‘Cause there's too much to explain
And I won't try to display it or even start to explain
"What do you want?"
Just hold out your hands
"What do you want with them?"
Just a show of hands
"What will you do?"
I love it so much, that it takes withholding
Who?
Oh, what do I want with my life now you're gone?
I want your ghost gone
And what do I want with this wood now that it's sawn?
I want the stump gone and the land that it grew on
Oh black lagoon, you have my shoe so I go shoeless
I go muddy, crawling through
Oh, what do I want with my home now that I'm gone?
I want the shades drawn, the overgrown lawn
I would gladly abandon a limb in the trap's jaw,
Just as long as I crawl on with no trapper to call on
Thorough and true, by stem and root,
I know no one now
Now I say "who?"
O Little Heart
Oh what's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart
O, there you are
I'd stopped hunting
O, little mouse in my hand,
I’d stopped hunting
I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, my harpoons armed
I had my ship sailed
And there you are,
O, my heart
Mouse nest in my hair
I'd stopped hunting
O, my heart,
What do you say,
Should we keep babumpbabumpba-bumping?
"Yes I'm ready!"
It's Not the Hunting
I'll go gather wood
And what I do, I'll do good
And when I have it in my fingers
I hope I know
It wasn’t my hunting that led me there
It was the ice in my hair,
It was the way I saw sunrise
It was the way I cracked open my eyes and saw
I'll crack open streams
I'll heat the water to clean
And when I have it in my fingers,
I hope I know
It wasn’t my hunting that led me there
It was the new baby’s stare
It was the way I saw wolves' tracks
Walk past the lair and I walked back
It was the way I threw the spears into snow banks
It was the winter’s long lying
Moon Sequel
And when I talk to my friends
And find out that you're having fun,
That you're swallowing life,
That you're in the sun,
That you're fucking around,
You're a growing a new one
I bellow out my voice, I yell out loud
I have my shirt off in front of a crowd,
I tell them about you and how you're gone,
But am I lying?
Don't I have you in my mind the entire time?
Yeah, I can leave all the places we went,
But I can't leave without my bones you bent,
So I hobble along and now it's me who's gone,
And now it's me who has your fear of opening hearts
And all the false starts
We could tear hope apart with this deep gouging
And biting back, with this way that you get all my friends in the sack
"What's left?" I scream, as I look up at night,
Where the novelty has worn off of moonlight
"What Gives?"
And I roll on the ground
"Who Cares?" I yell
And there's no answering sound
And there's nobody around
And there my answer was found
Cold Mountain
Open handed, I tried to live among all people, ideas aloft
Open handed, I read the books, I learned the histories, I sang the songs
Until mountains bellowed that your friends are flawed
And do not forget sorrow and all the other gods,
That my mouth is dirty, my ears are clogged,
Of course, I’m flawed, also
And then it stopped
Open handedness had me in its grasp,
Running around frantically, trying to show off my open hands
Until, “Hope, unhand me," I finally yelped
"Let me dwell on bad news, let me wallow in it"
So came long nights and hunkering down
And there stood Cold Mountain with its trickling sound
When I reached the summit, I made no camp
But I unrolled my sleeping bag in the stream
And let the cold water run in my ears
I Will Be Good (Amalgamated Sons of Rest Cover)
I will be good in a stranger's room
I will be good
I will wash with a mop, I'll sweep with a broom
I will be good
I can be nasty or I can be nice, depending on my mood
But I will be good
When I was young, I rode tall in the saddle
I will be good
Oh, but now I'm getting older, it's a whole different battle
I will be good
I've got a heart that's made of metal
And I need one made of wood,
So I will be good
Though I have been crossed in the wrongest way,
I will be good
I'll not fight back or even show my face,
I will be good
No matter where I am, I'll still treat it kind
And have faith that I should
Oh, I will be good
We Know There Are
There are lots of people in this room
(We know there are)
There are lots of things to do with your life
There are stars above those stars
There are shows after this show
There are bands after this band
There are nights after this night
There are seas beyond those seas
There are hills beyond those hills
There are skins beneath your shirts
There are hearts beneath your skins
There are hearts beneath those hearts
There are black nights after this nighty night
Black night
I Cut My Hands Off
Open hands and open paws,
(I send them off)
And hooves, and open claws,
And all arms and my goosey down,
And branches reaching broad,
To end my reaching out,
To end wanting what walks through town,
So I'll not hear that enticing sound of approaching voices,
I turn me off, I turn my ears off, I close my eyes off, I shut my hands off,
I close me all up, I hibernate up, I close the gate up,
I block the door up, I pack my pack up
But there's no lack of attack up here in the mountains,
Where I'm sent off to
I, myself, am sent off,
Bound and gagged with my eyes closed and hands bound,
Having sent them all off, I, myself, slid right off
I sent me off
Solar System
(I know you’re out there)
Oh no, I am lacking
I want what I see
You, fireball, have rolled away and shaded valleys
So here I am in the creek bed,
So here I feel my way in the dark
What wonder?
What treasure map?
What breaking of day?
What stream used to flow here and now what dusty decay?
Let the flash flood begin
Blow on me, solar wind
Wash me down the canyon
Quicksand, pull me in
Blow over me, solar wind
I know you’re out there
You’re vultures in trees
I know you're out there,
You're soccer balls on knees
Through your skirt I see
I know you're out there,
You're swaying and pleased
I know you're out there,
In mountainous peaks
I know you’re out there
You're like lanterns on lakes
I know you’re out there
Silent Night
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Tiny voices egg on the fight
Whispering choices like mercy or might
Well outside, the wind through the trees
Roars that my war’s a disease
I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
Should there be songs?
Should my hair be long?
Should be stare be strong?
Do nightmares belong in the prairie dawn?
Should there be songs?
Do I dare to fawn over fair-faced blondes?
Are affairs so wrong?
Should my prayers be bronzed?
Do I dare to fawn?
Should there be bonds?
I have been told that my skin is exceptionally smooth
But what good is that, when to get to my heart,
You have to crawl through long tunnels of sharp rock?
I'll Not Contain You
I'll not contain you
I won't look for you in my room
Through lengthy talks I'll not contain you
Through climbing arms, I'll reach my loft
Through calloused work, I’ll leave my working
Through rotting skin, I will grow soft
My eyes narrow towards a light,
A blurry place where we hotly radiate
And things are gooey there
And we swiftly glide over the bay,
Over our days,
In a washy white haze,
Swift, to loaded(*?) plates
Log in the Waves
Broken hearted and sad, I walk upright
A dumb ape in a world of dumb apes,
A log in the waves
Knowing sorrow is beside, I walk upright
"Oh, crown of light" I sometimes say,
"I know you're grand but I must not forget my wife,
So I hold her hand"
And with the wide eyes sorrow brings, we see it all
Log in the waves, effortless through ocean squalls,
And oh, storms are relentless
So?
So are we
We will not leave
Sadness, my wife, and I are honest with each other
And in mornings,
I reach my hand under the quilt where she hides,
To tickle her feet
And at my touch, she always cracks a smile
We Squirm
Do you seriously believe that you will not be a prisoner?
Do you insistently try over and over to seem free in your life,
In the ways that you treat your loves and delights,
And your troubles and fights, and me?
Well let me say:
"Yeah, go ahead and try”
But I say you will be captive along with me
We're stuck in the muck of our hearts,
In the fear that we'll find that these feelings of ours
Start to feel like bars,
So we squirm and sink deeper
Yes, we wriggle into jail cells
But I say "Let feelings hold you!"
I say "Embrace your captor"
I say "Get to know them deep"
Have no news you won't hear,
Have no truths you won't tear,
No hope you'll ever find freedom from your tyrant heart
Get The Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano
"Get out of my way!"
The hill's erupting now
"Get me out of my way!"
See my lava pouring out
And I watched you watch me watch you weep,
I watched your eyes get wet and wild
And, like a mountain, I had icy slopes
I was a glacier, high and far
And you watched me catch the dawn each day
You watched the pink light bathe my hills
And I watched you go and come, and go
And go and come and go away
"Get out of my way!"
The evening's coming now
"Get me out of my way!"
See my mountain's furrowed brow
In my shadow's shelter, she shed tears
She fell asleep in mossy caves
She thought:
"Now here's a place where I can be alone,
Here I can blossom by myself"
No, 'cause I'm a mountain
Girl, you're in my cave
I've got old love, red and raw
I'm a mountain, I'm an ancient way,
And I've got lava in my jaw
"Get out of my way!"
There's no way that you'll get out
"Get me out of my way!"
See my lava pouring out
"Get out of my way"
There's no guts on your nightgown,
"Get out of my way!"
Have me surround you
Let me Pompeii the town
You, you lay and I will drown you
Headless Horseman pt. 2
Like the headless horsemen returns to town to get his head,
I've come back to town to get mine
But, unlike his way of neighing loud and beheading boastfully,
I snuck in, unknown, to get mine
"Oh what a loss"
I used to say
"Oh what a loss"
It's true today
It was a precious thing we lost
And I've come back to town to get my head
I've come over hills,
I've dug up graves to show my bed
Moon, I Already Know
Moon, I already know,
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
I feel menacing mountains above me
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
All towering terrors are mine and I cower below
I know, I know, I know
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
Deep, deep sorrows of mine,
I know, I know, I know
I’m small on the ground, I have no idea
I know, I know
Don't look at me like that and then duck behind clouds
I know, I know
I'm small and I have no idea
I know
Let me be dumb again,
Let food drip off my chin,
Let me think you're a light,
Let me please, please, please, please
Just sleep through the night unknowing
I know, I know
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground,
Let me please, please close eyes
I Felt Your Shape
I thought I felt your shape but I was wrong,
Really all I felt was falsely strong
I held on tight and closed my eyes,
It was dumb
I had no sense of your size
It was dumb I held so tight
But last night on your birthday in the kitchen,
My grip was loose, my eyes were open
I felt your shape, I heard you breathing,
I felt the rise and fall of your chest
I felt your fall,
And your winter snows,
And your gusty blows,
Your lava flow
I felt it all:
Your starry night,
And your lack of light
With limp arms, I can feel most of you
I hung around your neck independently
And my loss was overwhelmed
By this new depth I don't think I ever felt
But I don't know
My nights are cold, still
And I remember warmth
I could have sworn
I wasn't alone
There's no more hugging in the kitchen,
No more pats on the back in the hall,
No more chest on breasty chest behind the curtain,
No more lip on nape of neck in shower stall,
No more rosy gardens or craving curving hips on my belly
I'm giving up so I can be free from you
I'm paying fees so I can sever ties from you
Let craving call and beg and bawl and face it, tall
Let my soft skin have more sweet soft air on me
Let boulders drown
After N. Young
I'd like to shake your hand, disappointment
Looks like you win again, but this time will be the last
And I'll not hold your hand, and I'll not shake it again,
Disappointment, looks like it has sunk in
You're not mine, I'm free at last,
Or so I say
The Dead of Night
I woke up in the dead of night
Oh, I died
No light, no shape, no sound, but I,
Kneeling down, feeling around,
I felt the fur of something
From tail to claws and neck to fangs,
In total dark I felt the sleeping thing up,
It was the black wolf they call "Nothing"
And by its side I curled and laid,
And I died to sleeping soundlessly
When I woke there was nothing beside me, of course,
And the world was lit and growing but I said:
"I know you're there! I feel your stare,
I feel your breathing blowing!
I feel your gnashing teeth in falling leaves,
Your beady eyes, in apples glowing!
Oh dead of night, hidden from sight,
I know you are no dream,
And I'm not dozing!"
Thanksgiving
I give thanks again that long nights, though they're lonely,
Are lit by stars and end with suns that climb
And the moon will back me up on this, just look up
"Yeah, but the moon won't take you out to wine and dine!"
Yeah, I know, but there her hand is always on my shoulder
"Yeah, but every evening we still hear you whine and whine!"
Oh, I know but, like a sibling, I neglect her
And we have no choice, I’m hers and she is mine,
And I’m hers and she is yours, and we're each other’s
"Oh give up Phil, you're just shouting empty rhymes!”
I know, I know the world's alone
And this light's on loan
‘Till we have grown old enough to pay it back with our gruesome rotting
And our lives are just long saggings of the spine,
So here I sit hunched over a candle in the black night
Thanksgiving, here I hug my sorrow tight
Lanterns
Don't go out, don't blow out, don't smother me, lanterns
Don't reach out Phil, don't extend, don't try to touch nothing
Don't steal my show, let lantern light not linger nowhere,
Not on your life
Leave alone, don't try to take nothing
Don't answer the phone,
Leave alone, be a darkened figure
Sink in slow, have your fort glow, have your lit-up lantern
"How did you know to come over tonight?"
‘Cause these blazing lamps were pinking up the sky
"What's that you hold and why, oh why is it so bright?"
My heart of snow must leave alone, must blizzard white
"What's that you hold and why is it so bright?"
When I walk away I'll leave a shade on your glowing doorway
"What's this I hold and why is it so bright?"
You look good in my light but my own flame flickers
Oh, leave alone, let cold lakes lie, let me and my light leave
Let me hang it high on antlers wide, let it loom like sunrise
Let go of everything
Like green does the leaf
Like the day does lose tonight
Like young good looks
Yes, light green leaves, alright
Don’t be big-headed
Don’t be had
Don’t bee-hive the honey
Don’t get ingrained to grinding grains to gain money
You'll Be in the Air
I and you, we will be in the air
In some hours, we'll be over the sea,
We will be in the air
You’ll be in the air
In some hours, we'll be over the sea,
Lost in the other passengers on the plane
But if you just moved your arms then you could tell
That you are in the air
You'd feel the yawning gulf grow wider,
You'd feel the dwindling fuel for your lungs,
And your breaths would slow
I'll look pinkly out your window in the light,
And with a cat on my chest, I'll be mourning
I will wave my hand in the dawn and I'll yell out your name
You'll be in the air
You'll bear fruit in Mexico
You'll bare feet wherever you go
Your bare arms on the street
You'll buy papayas
Voice in the Headphones
I'll no longer hide it
Yes, you move me to tears over and over
Every time I get it settled, you excite it
Every time I get my face dry, you sing
“It's not meant to be a strife
It's not meant to be a struggle uphill”
Now I know, so now I’ll no longer fight it
I say:
“Come on in little floating head at the door
Who are you? Who are you, who has come to fill my room?
Well come on, welcome in”
I'll no longer hide it
Yes, the way you say it stirs me to the core
Every time, no matter what, no matter who I think you are
Every time I hear you say “undo,” I do
And the tears fall
And the universe is shown
But who are you, voice in headphones?
The Blow pt. 2
Oh Mikhaela, you have burned me
You have taken me and turned me into
A cloud of smoke lost on a humming wind
Were we wrestling or were we hugging?
And these backpacks that we were lugging
What deep damage you have done,
You were my friend
And, though the last three years were sunny,
Thunderclouds shaded my tummy
And now let the breeze be felt,
Here goes my pale skin
Oh the blow!
Oh the blow, you have my hunger,
You have my quake, you have my thunder,
And when I turned to go, then you took my best friend
You omnivore, devouring blindly
I could hear your slurping sounds behind me
As I ran, you took the joy of giving in
I give up on your dark looming,
I see you, I say “Goodbye human
And now let me go, give him back,
I want my own wind to blow!”
I'll Shut Up
I know I have been preachy, I've boasted and I've bragged
I've gone on, and on, and on, waving my tongue like a flag,
About how brave it is to face the shadows like I've done
Condescendingly, I said:
"Do this, do that, my son"
But I'll no longer try in vain to share what cannot be said
I won't spoil it, I'll no longer describe the thing to death
Just look at my face and know me
Feel my hand on your shoulder and know me
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 there
I say find life where you foolishly saw graves
Some people say to "Try, and try, and try to 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
Give up
Some people say "The sky! the sky! The sky! Have you noticed it?"
I say night
I say nothing now
There's a ringing in my ears that's faint and high,
And when I listen close to it, it says:
"You will live
You will keep living
You will live
You are still living"
The Boom (With Kloster)
I used to live among some people
Who sang out with booming feelings and open hands
And throwing my body across the grass,
I listened in with booming feelings,
I became a fan
I made my own thunderclouds
I clapped my hands together
And made a booming sound
That filled up and got me fans
I sang songs, I wrote books of songs,
I grew my hair and I walked like I was an ancient man
I found a voice and coughed out songs
And in this way I made people think I was of the land
I made a boom, displayed my rooms,
Among my peers, I sang gloriously
I married the moon
And with my hands held out in her grace
In the cold blue light, around me loomed
The possibility that if I stopped clapping my hands
I would notice that I can’t hold onto things
And the possibility that if I stopped bellowing my voice,
I would notice songs that, all about me, sing
Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence
Say "Goodbye" And "No”
仔猫カレンダ (Moools Cover)
Climb Over
Great Ghosts
See Me
A Show Of Hands
Who?
O Little Heart
It's Not The Hunting
Moon Sequel
Cold Mountain
I Will Be Good (Amalgamated Sons Of Rest Cover)
We Know There Are
I Cut My Hands Off
Solar System
Silent Night
I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
I'll Not Contain You
Log In The Waves
We Squirm
Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano
Headless Horseman Pt. 2
Moon, I Already Know
I Felt Your Shape
After N. Young
The Dead Of Night
Thanksgiving
Lanterns
You'll Be In The Air
Voice In Headphones
The Blow Pt. 2
I'll Shut Up
I Say "No"
The Boom
Woolly Mammoth's Mighty Absence
Quickly forgetting was the way I lived my life
Try telling me your name, try telling me "don't worry"
Everything I knew would quickly wither and die
All echoes would be buried in the sound of living,
The sound of feet slapping sidewalk
That was me--treasure hunting, I would bury what I found
That was me--gold digger, underground
Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life
When I left home, when I lived as if I'd died
Sitting on a rock and doing nothing, alone for so long
In the dark I found my sight
There your name was, written large in letters bright
There my faith was
"Worry not," declared the night
In the great void of my life, I could feel the shape of what was missing
Like the way the woolly mammoth stands so tall and bold in our minds
I was shaken at the size of my cry and the true love it described
I know day is dawning now, so ends my holy night
It's back to the world I go, back to little girls and the shows,
And all their worldly woes, and unfurling clothes
And will I carry myself slowly enough to remember?
I sit on a dark rock doing nothing still, but just crowded in
And there's the love in flesh and bones
Say "Goodbye" and "No"
Hello my air, goodbye hope
Goodbye, also, to your ambushes
I say "goodbye ghost"
And watch it turn to wide air
Where I shine and float
Hello darkest fear, goodbye eyes-closed
In the lonely, lonely, lonely night,
In the long shadows,
I fell to my knees in tears
And said "Sweetheart, hello"
Hello my heart and yes, goodbye hope
You know we will go steady
Say "Goodbye" and "No" and find me
Fanning out my warm unfolding hands
Blindly let me go
Japanese (Moools Cover)
(This song is sung in butchered Japanese. If anyone can translate, please get in touch.)
Climb Over
Come over, climb over, get over, get on
Climb over the hill to where you hope to find nothing,
Find it teeming with gold in the light
Be disappointed and glum, beat yourself like a drum
Yell out "Who stole my silent night?"
Call in sorrow, your friend
Ask her where has she been and where does she head? Left or right?
Call compassion in, ask him "How are you kids and where are you guys crawling tonight?"
And call hope along, have her sing you a song, have her sing of her travels and flights
Go ahead and call all travelers,
Keep trying in vain to gather which direction things are headed and why
Oh, they won't tell you where they go, ‘cause they know you
They know that you stupidly hope to evade them
They say "You can try, and you’ll keep trying,
And you'll be right on the verge, until you die
And then you'll find there is nowhere to hide"
Great Ghosts
I had my hopes of how I would be after living in exile,
After closing your eyes to me
I even scenes where I reemerged boldly,
Bearded, alive, with eskimo eyes
New baby on my back
But I didn’t count the fact that I have ghosts in my mind
Stowaways, great ghosts of my life
Great ghosts of old wives
And they're howling
So I spent my wilderness time rolling on the ground, Pulling my hair and wrestling them off
Yelling at no one, punching snow
I gathered ghosts and I gave them my lecture
I bid them away, I pleaded and cried,
“There's no room in my life for you, or you,
Or your howling
So let me undo these ropes and go on living without you
And not just change where I live
Go on get,” I said
I had my hopes of how I would be after sending them off,
After getting set free
There's no such thing as life without their prowling
As you can see, having descended the hill,
I still look like me, I still wallow like Phil
And forever will
And now I’m teeming with ghosts and I'm still whining for wives,
Knitting my brow
But now I've surrendered,
In fact, I’ve joined in
Listen close, you can hear us howling
See Me
I was a log in the waves last time you saw me
End over end I was thrown, I endlessly groaned:
"Hold my hand! Won't someone come surf me?"
And of course no one came
You stood and watched the wash of water wedge me
Hopelessly into the sea wall
And there I stayed, and quickly decayed
And then we all swapped molecules
Now with a wave of my hand,
I command you to see me
I'm more like a mountain this time,
I’m unmoving alpine, decked in fog
I'm concealed in snow clouds
You're the farmer below
And if you've seen my face once,
Then through twelve cloudy months,
You will know that I'm there behind curtains
You'll know mountain light through thickness of light
See me
A Show of Hands
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I love it so much!
"What do you love so much?"
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I love it so much, it takes withholding
I love it so much!
"What do you love?"
I'm not telling
"What do you hide?"
Just look at my face and know that I won't tell
"What do you hide?"
Know that I can't say it,
‘Cause there's too much to explain
And I won't try to display it or even start to explain
"What do you want?"
Just hold out your hands
"What do you want with them?"
Just a show of hands
"What will you do?"
I love it so much, that it takes withholding
Who?
Oh, what do I want with my life now you're gone?
I want your ghost gone
And what do I want with this wood now that it's sawn?
I want the stump gone and the land that it grew on
Oh black lagoon, you have my shoe so I go shoeless
I go muddy, crawling through
Oh, what do I want with my home now that I'm gone?
I want the shades drawn, the overgrown lawn
I would gladly abandon a limb in the trap's jaw,
Just as long as I crawl on with no trapper to call on
Thorough and true, by stem and root,
I know no one now
Now I say "who?"
O Little Heart
Oh what's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart
O, there you are
I'd stopped hunting
O, little mouse in my hand,
I’d stopped hunting
I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, my harpoons armed
I had my ship sailed
And there you are,
O, my heart
Mouse nest in my hair
I'd stopped hunting
O, my heart,
What do you say,
Should we keep babumpbabumpba-bumping?
"Yes I'm ready!"
It's Not the Hunting
I'll go gather wood
And what I do, I'll do good
And when I have it in my fingers
I hope I know
It wasn’t my hunting that led me there
It was the ice in my hair,
It was the way I saw sunrise
It was the way I cracked open my eyes and saw
I'll crack open streams
I'll heat the water to clean
And when I have it in my fingers,
I hope I know
It wasn’t my hunting that led me there
It was the new baby’s stare
It was the way I saw wolves' tracks
Walk past the lair and I walked back
It was the way I threw the spears into snow banks
It was the winter’s long lying
Moon Sequel
And when I talk to my friends
And find out that you're having fun,
That you're swallowing life,
That you're in the sun,
That you're fucking around,
You're a growing a new one
I bellow out my voice, I yell out loud
I have my shirt off in front of a crowd,
I tell them about you and how you're gone,
But am I lying?
Don't I have you in my mind the entire time?
Yeah, I can leave all the places we went,
But I can't leave without my bones you bent,
So I hobble along and now it's me who's gone,
And now it's me who has your fear of opening hearts
And all the false starts
We could tear hope apart with this deep gouging
And biting back, with this way that you get all my friends in the sack
"What's left?" I scream, as I look up at night,
Where the novelty has worn off of moonlight
"What Gives?"
And I roll on the ground
"Who Cares?" I yell
And there's no answering sound
And there's nobody around
And there my answer was found
Cold Mountain
Open handed, I tried to live among all people, ideas aloft
Open handed, I read the books, I learned the histories, I sang the songs
Until mountains bellowed that your friends are flawed
And do not forget sorrow and all the other gods,
That my mouth is dirty, my ears are clogged,
Of course, I’m flawed, also
And then it stopped
Open handedness had me in its grasp,
Running around frantically, trying to show off my open hands
Until, “Hope, unhand me," I finally yelped
"Let me dwell on bad news, let me wallow in it"
So came long nights and hunkering down
And there stood Cold Mountain with its trickling sound
When I reached the summit, I made no camp
But I unrolled my sleeping bag in the stream
And let the cold water run in my ears
I Will Be Good (Amalgamated Sons of Rest Cover)
I will be good in a stranger's room
I will be good
I will wash with a mop, I'll sweep with a broom
I will be good
I can be nasty or I can be nice, depending on my mood
But I will be good
When I was young, I rode tall in the saddle
I will be good
Oh, but now I'm getting older, it's a whole different battle
I will be good
I've got a heart that's made of metal
And I need one made of wood,
So I will be good
Though I have been crossed in the wrongest way,
I will be good
I'll not fight back or even show my face,
I will be good
No matter where I am, I'll still treat it kind
And have faith that I should
Oh, I will be good
We Know There Are
There are lots of people in this room
(We know there are)
There are lots of things to do with your life
There are stars above those stars
There are shows after this show
There are bands after this band
There are nights after this night
There are seas beyond those seas
There are hills beyond those hills
There are skins beneath your shirts
There are hearts beneath your skins
There are hearts beneath those hearts
There are black nights after this nighty night
Black night
I Cut My Hands Off
Open hands and open paws,
(I send them off)
And hooves, and open claws,
And all arms and my goosey down,
And branches reaching broad,
To end my reaching out,
To end wanting what walks through town,
So I'll not hear that enticing sound of approaching voices,
I turn me off, I turn my ears off, I close my eyes off, I shut my hands off,
I close me all up, I hibernate up, I close the gate up,
I block the door up, I pack my pack up
But there's no lack of attack up here in the mountains,
Where I'm sent off to
I, myself, am sent off,
Bound and gagged with my eyes closed and hands bound,
Having sent them all off, I, myself, slid right off
I sent me off
Solar System
(I know you’re out there)
Oh no, I am lacking
I want what I see
You, fireball, have rolled away and shaded valleys
So here I am in the creek bed,
So here I feel my way in the dark
What wonder?
What treasure map?
What breaking of day?
What stream used to flow here and now what dusty decay?
Let the flash flood begin
Blow on me, solar wind
Wash me down the canyon
Quicksand, pull me in
Blow over me, solar wind
I know you’re out there
You’re vultures in trees
I know you're out there,
You're soccer balls on knees
Through your skirt I see
I know you're out there,
You're swaying and pleased
I know you're out there,
In mountainous peaks
I know you’re out there
You're like lanterns on lakes
I know you’re out there
Silent Night
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Tiny voices egg on the fight
Whispering choices like mercy or might
Well outside, the wind through the trees
Roars that my war’s a disease
I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
Should there be songs?
Should my hair be long?
Should be stare be strong?
Do nightmares belong in the prairie dawn?
Should there be songs?
Do I dare to fawn over fair-faced blondes?
Are affairs so wrong?
Should my prayers be bronzed?
Do I dare to fawn?
Should there be bonds?
I have been told that my skin is exceptionally smooth
But what good is that, when to get to my heart,
You have to crawl through long tunnels of sharp rock?
I'll Not Contain You
I'll not contain you
I won't look for you in my room
Through lengthy talks I'll not contain you
Through climbing arms, I'll reach my loft
Through calloused work, I’ll leave my working
Through rotting skin, I will grow soft
My eyes narrow towards a light,
A blurry place where we hotly radiate
And things are gooey there
And we swiftly glide over the bay,
Over our days,
In a washy white haze,
Swift, to loaded(*?) plates
Log in the Waves
Broken hearted and sad, I walk upright
A dumb ape in a world of dumb apes,
A log in the waves
Knowing sorrow is beside, I walk upright
"Oh, crown of light" I sometimes say,
"I know you're grand but I must not forget my wife,
So I hold her hand"
And with the wide eyes sorrow brings, we see it all
Log in the waves, effortless through ocean squalls,
And oh, storms are relentless
So?
So are we
We will not leave
Sadness, my wife, and I are honest with each other
And in mornings,
I reach my hand under the quilt where she hides,
To tickle her feet
And at my touch, she always cracks a smile
We Squirm
Do you seriously believe that you will not be a prisoner?
Do you insistently try over and over to seem free in your life,
In the ways that you treat your loves and delights,
And your troubles and fights, and me?
Well let me say:
"Yeah, go ahead and try”
But I say you will be captive along with me
We're stuck in the muck of our hearts,
In the fear that we'll find that these feelings of ours
Start to feel like bars,
So we squirm and sink deeper
Yes, we wriggle into jail cells
But I say "Let feelings hold you!"
I say "Embrace your captor"
I say "Get to know them deep"
Have no news you won't hear,
Have no truths you won't tear,
No hope you'll ever find freedom from your tyrant heart
Get The Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano
"Get out of my way!"
The hill's erupting now
"Get me out of my way!"
See my lava pouring out
And I watched you watch me watch you weep,
I watched your eyes get wet and wild
And, like a mountain, I had icy slopes
I was a glacier, high and far
And you watched me catch the dawn each day
You watched the pink light bathe my hills
And I watched you go and come, and go
And go and come and go away
"Get out of my way!"
The evening's coming now
"Get me out of my way!"
See my mountain's furrowed brow
In my shadow's shelter, she shed tears
She fell asleep in mossy caves
She thought:
"Now here's a place where I can be alone,
Here I can blossom by myself"
No, 'cause I'm a mountain
Girl, you're in my cave
I've got old love, red and raw
I'm a mountain, I'm an ancient way,
And I've got lava in my jaw
"Get out of my way!"
There's no way that you'll get out
"Get me out of my way!"
See my lava pouring out
"Get out of my way"
There's no guts on your nightgown,
"Get out of my way!"
Have me surround you
Let me Pompeii the town
You, you lay and I will drown you
Headless Horseman pt. 2
Like the headless horsemen returns to town to get his head,
I've come back to town to get mine
But, unlike his way of neighing loud and beheading boastfully,
I snuck in, unknown, to get mine
"Oh what a loss"
I used to say
"Oh what a loss"
It's true today
It was a precious thing we lost
And I've come back to town to get my head
I've come over hills,
I've dug up graves to show my bed
Moon, I Already Know
Moon, I already know,
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
I feel menacing mountains above me
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
All towering terrors are mine and I cower below
I know, I know, I know
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground, I roll around
Deep, deep sorrows of mine,
I know, I know, I know
I’m small on the ground, I have no idea
I know, I know
Don't look at me like that and then duck behind clouds
I know, I know
I'm small and I have no idea
I know
Let me be dumb again,
Let food drip off my chin,
Let me think you're a light,
Let me please, please, please, please
Just sleep through the night unknowing
I know, I know
Oh moon, I already know
I'm small on the ground,
Let me please, please close eyes
I Felt Your Shape
I thought I felt your shape but I was wrong,
Really all I felt was falsely strong
I held on tight and closed my eyes,
It was dumb
I had no sense of your size
It was dumb I held so tight
But last night on your birthday in the kitchen,
My grip was loose, my eyes were open
I felt your shape, I heard you breathing,
I felt the rise and fall of your chest
I felt your fall,
And your winter snows,
And your gusty blows,
Your lava flow
I felt it all:
Your starry night,
And your lack of light
With limp arms, I can feel most of you
I hung around your neck independently
And my loss was overwhelmed
By this new depth I don't think I ever felt
But I don't know
My nights are cold, still
And I remember warmth
I could have sworn
I wasn't alone
There's no more hugging in the kitchen,
No more pats on the back in the hall,
No more chest on breasty chest behind the curtain,
No more lip on nape of neck in shower stall,
No more rosy gardens or craving curving hips on my belly
I'm giving up so I can be free from you
I'm paying fees so I can sever ties from you
Let craving call and beg and bawl and face it, tall
Let my soft skin have more sweet soft air on me
Let boulders drown
After N. Young
I'd like to shake your hand, disappointment
Looks like you win again, but this time will be the last
And I'll not hold your hand, and I'll not shake it again,
Disappointment, looks like it has sunk in
You're not mine, I'm free at last,
Or so I say
The Dead of Night
I woke up in the dead of night
Oh, I died
No light, no shape, no sound, but I,
Kneeling down, feeling around,
I felt the fur of something
From tail to claws and neck to fangs,
In total dark I felt the sleeping thing up,
It was the black wolf they call "Nothing"
And by its side I curled and laid,
And I died to sleeping soundlessly
When I woke there was nothing beside me, of course,
And the world was lit and growing but I said:
"I know you're there! I feel your stare,
I feel your breathing blowing!
I feel your gnashing teeth in falling leaves,
Your beady eyes, in apples glowing!
Oh dead of night, hidden from sight,
I know you are no dream,
And I'm not dozing!"
Thanksgiving
I give thanks again that long nights, though they're lonely,
Are lit by stars and end with suns that climb
And the moon will back me up on this, just look up
"Yeah, but the moon won't take you out to wine and dine!"
Yeah, I know, but there her hand is always on my shoulder
"Yeah, but every evening we still hear you whine and whine!"
Oh, I know but, like a sibling, I neglect her
And we have no choice, I’m hers and she is mine,
And I’m hers and she is yours, and we're each other’s
"Oh give up Phil, you're just shouting empty rhymes!”
I know, I know the world's alone
And this light's on loan
‘Till we have grown old enough to pay it back with our gruesome rotting
And our lives are just long saggings of the spine,
So here I sit hunched over a candle in the black night
Thanksgiving, here I hug my sorrow tight
Lanterns
Don't go out, don't blow out, don't smother me, lanterns
Don't reach out Phil, don't extend, don't try to touch nothing
Don't steal my show, let lantern light not linger nowhere,
Not on your life
Leave alone, don't try to take nothing
Don't answer the phone,
Leave alone, be a darkened figure
Sink in slow, have your fort glow, have your lit-up lantern
"How did you know to come over tonight?"
‘Cause these blazing lamps were pinking up the sky
"What's that you hold and why, oh why is it so bright?"
My heart of snow must leave alone, must blizzard white
"What's that you hold and why is it so bright?"
When I walk away I'll leave a shade on your glowing doorway
"What's this I hold and why is it so bright?"
You look good in my light but my own flame flickers
Oh, leave alone, let cold lakes lie, let me and my light leave
Let me hang it high on antlers wide, let it loom like sunrise
Let go of everything
Like green does the leaf
Like the day does lose tonight
Like young good looks
Yes, light green leaves, alright
Don’t be big-headed
Don’t be had
Don’t bee-hive the honey
Don’t get ingrained to grinding grains to gain money
You'll Be in the Air
I and you, we will be in the air
In some hours, we'll be over the sea,
We will be in the air
You’ll be in the air
In some hours, we'll be over the sea,
Lost in the other passengers on the plane
But if you just moved your arms then you could tell
That you are in the air
You'd feel the yawning gulf grow wider,
You'd feel the dwindling fuel for your lungs,
And your breaths would slow
I'll look pinkly out your window in the light,
And with a cat on my chest, I'll be mourning
I will wave my hand in the dawn and I'll yell out your name
You'll be in the air
You'll bear fruit in Mexico
You'll bare feet wherever you go
Your bare arms on the street
You'll buy papayas
Voice in the Headphones
I'll no longer hide it
Yes, you move me to tears over and over
Every time I get it settled, you excite it
Every time I get my face dry, you sing
“It's not meant to be a strife
It's not meant to be a struggle uphill”
Now I know, so now I’ll no longer fight it
I say:
“Come on in little floating head at the door
Who are you? Who are you, who has come to fill my room?
Well come on, welcome in”
I'll no longer hide it
Yes, the way you say it stirs me to the core
Every time, no matter what, no matter who I think you are
Every time I hear you say “undo,” I do
And the tears fall
And the universe is shown
But who are you, voice in headphones?
The Blow pt. 2
Oh Mikhaela, you have burned me
You have taken me and turned me into
A cloud of smoke lost on a humming wind
Were we wrestling or were we hugging?
And these backpacks that we were lugging
What deep damage you have done,
You were my friend
And, though the last three years were sunny,
Thunderclouds shaded my tummy
And now let the breeze be felt,
Here goes my pale skin
Oh the blow!
Oh the blow, you have my hunger,
You have my quake, you have my thunder,
And when I turned to go, then you took my best friend
You omnivore, devouring blindly
I could hear your slurping sounds behind me
As I ran, you took the joy of giving in
I give up on your dark looming,
I see you, I say “Goodbye human
And now let me go, give him back,
I want my own wind to blow!”
I'll Shut Up
I know I have been preachy, I've boasted and I've bragged
I've gone on, and on, and on, waving my tongue like a flag,
About how brave it is to face the shadows like I've done
Condescendingly, I said:
"Do this, do that, my son"
But I'll no longer try in vain to share what cannot be said
I won't spoil it, I'll no longer describe the thing to death
Just look at my face and know me
Feel my hand on your shoulder and know me
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 there
I say find life where you foolishly saw graves
Some people say to "Try, and try, and try to 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
Give up
Some people say "The sky! the sky! The sky! Have you noticed it?"
I say night
I say nothing now
There's a ringing in my ears that's faint and high,
And when I listen close to it, it says:
"You will live
You will keep living
You will live
You are still living"
The Boom (With Kloster)
I used to live among some people
Who sang out with booming feelings and open hands
And throwing my body across the grass,
I listened in with booming feelings,
I became a fan
I made my own thunderclouds
I clapped my hands together
And made a booming sound
That filled up and got me fans
I sang songs, I wrote books of songs,
I grew my hair and I walked like I was an ancient man
I found a voice and coughed out songs
And in this way I made people think I was of the land
I made a boom, displayed my rooms,
Among my peers, I sang gloriously
I married the moon
And with my hands held out in her grace
In the cold blue light, around me loomed
The possibility that if I stopped clapping my hands
I would notice that I can’t hold onto things
And the possibility that if I stopped bellowing my voice,
I would notice songs that, all about me, sing