SONG ISLANDS VOLUME 2
P.W. Elverum & Sun
Where?
Calf In Pasture
The Intimacy
I Whale
O My Heart
Instrumental
Where Is My Tarp?
Don't Smoke
Get Off The Internet
Cooking
Give Totally Up
Do Not Be Afraid
Voice In Headphones (singers version)
Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain's Song no. 286
Heart Lake At Night
You Turn Me On (Beat Happening Cover)
A Sentimental Song
Mystery Language (Old Time Relijun Cover)
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
This Is The Same Ocean
In The Rain
In Moonlight
Thanksgiving
Instrumental
Uncertainty
Limp Climbing
Grave Robbers
Lost Wisdom
(wind lyrics)
Small House
Where?
Q: "Where is Mount Eerie and how do I get there
And how long's the walk and what should I bring?"
A: Mount Eerie is nowhere
Mount Eerie is playing tonight
Q: "Where is the concert and will it be all ages?
And what time are doors?
And how much does it cost?"
A: The concert is nowhere
There is only one sky
Q:"I accept the invitation
I would like to 'fulfill the pregnant night'
Where should I set my stuff up?”
A: Those things are not yours
And tonight you will be taken in dark arms
Calf In Pasture
Every time my knees shake when I stand I think,
“Let me stay in this uncertainty”
I would like to not stop asking
I would like to stop pretending I know anything
So if you see me acting strong at the show,
Remind me about the calf shaking in the pasture, in the bright spring
There under the roofs, I will have nothing
But the wind that’s blowing through my ears
Only for a minute we could give up
And know nothing in the morning light
Because knowing nothing again is the only way
I can’t forget the weight I’ve been tricked under
And see it doesn’t exist, because nothing exists
For a glass of water in the lake
The Intimacy
The only reason I am 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”
I Whale
So I set out on the sea
With a little food for me
And a sharp harpoon for the whale that I'm hunting
The fine women on the shore
They called out, "Give us more!"
But I have nothing to give, as if I did before
Before my house burned down last night
And I killed my friends in a fight
So like I said, I paddled out in mourning light
To see if I could see a shape come from the deep
Or if I could hear it's song of love, at night, taunt me
And though I know I'm getting some
My fingers are getting numb
I sit and toss, and the cold waves wash over me
And I've been out here for sixty days
There's no sign of spout or spray
And the cold dark night falls down on the flat black sea
In the calm I close my eyes
I lean back, rock from side to side
I am placid
I have slowly gone starry skies with half-closed eyes
But with a 'thump' 'thump' beneath my boat
Watch the water rise
And storms rage and my skiff crumbles,
And the whale beneath assails and humbles
It says: "Knock knock from beneath
You know it's me
I'm your heart
I'm a whale on the bottom of the deep black sea
My mouth is wide and toothy"
O My Heart
What I find will be found easily and only when I'm not looking for it,
Without looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live hides implied in my heart beating,
Without looking for fulfillment but accepting it
What's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
I had stopped hunting
I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, my harpoons armed, my hunting ship sailed
O, my heart! There you are, mouse nest in my hair
O, little heart!
O sleepy heart, what do you say?
Should we keep loving?
“Yes”
Instrumental
(Instrumental)
Where Is My Tarp?
I cannot sink into your bed tonight
I have to go, my arms must row
Your bed is soft, your face is sweet,
Your gaze is true, your eyes are blue,
But mine see through
Where oh where, where lies my tarp tonight?
Where lies my moonlight?
Where lies my sunrise?
Where lies my heart?
There is a ball of fire above your house
You squirm and coo, I’m petting you
But there is a ball of fire inside my chest
I’m a mirror moon, you’re a black lagoon
I’m a birch canoe, I’m a wind that blew
I’m a migrating moose on the prairie, loose
Don't Smoke
Is it because there’s a little part of you that wants to be dead?
Or is it because your life feels empty without some ritual?
Or is it because the rebellion against the adults hasn’t ended yet?
Well, the adults sell cigarettes
And you are young and rich, for now
And you have the ritual of waking up each day, and it will fill you
There’s no excuse to start smoking
Where is the rebellion in acting like a fuck-up?
Why not embrace simple health?
It is obvious there is work to do, strong and deliberately
We are the ones, we have to do it
No more parents or gods
Taking responsibility, living in the world on our own
There’s no punishment—only knowing what to do
No excuses
The time is now
Do not wait
Go
Improve yourself right now
Get Off The Internet
Listen to me:
Get off the internet
We are the ones who are alive right now, so let’s start living
We're obsessed with “freedom” and living easy lives
But what use is an easy life, hungry and blind?
The hallow core, the crawling hunting,
Indulging your weakest parts and still you're hungry
Why not wake the fuck up and smell the air outside
And do a little real work and come back to life?
Clean out the fridge, take out the garbage,
Sweep the floor, open the doors and windows
Read the news, shut up about music
Ask a stupid question, stop feeling too ignorant
This is the one world where we live, curious and busy
As the world is ending, can I survive this cold dawn?
At least I can sit here in the street, exhaling and strong
Clean up the mess
Get off the internet
We are the ones who are alive right now, so let’s start living
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
When you walk into the night alone,
Unbury the hunger you were born with
It will show you where dinner is hiding
In the branches, the pools, in the breasts, in the world,
In the corners of the dark foundation
When you’re hungry beneath the full moon,
In the dark belly of the modern mega-state
Try to imagine that you were just born there
Try to imagine that you could be in the world,
And the world could be in you,
And cooking food will be easy
Give Totally Up
If you can manage to give totally up,
To go limp, to go tender,
(Surrender)
Your body will hold together
I know it seems like you’d be torn apart,
Be ripped up and rendered
But don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!
Don’t believe them when they say
That you have to fight for what it right
Or what you think is right
Because if you manage to give totally up,
You’re sprawled out in splendor
Just try to fight that, raise your arms,
Feel your muscles slosh around your whirlpool center
If you can manage to give totally up,
To be known as “Great Befriender” or “Sender”
Your loss, your endless loss, will treat you to treasure
Do Not Be Afraid
Left side:
Do not be afraid
Your arms are wrapped around
In claps, your hands resound
Your feet, they map the ground
You have night vision
You’re whole body, when it’s jostled
Will spend time rolling over
Right side:
You can not get away
There’s nothing to do
The fear will be blinding
It’s not meant to be this uphill way
Empty windows
Empty doors
Around corners
A feast in the dark!
Voice In Headphones (singers version)
"It’s not meant to be a strife
It’s not meant to be a struggle uphill"
Cold Mountain
Open handed, I tried to live among all people with ideas aloft
Open handed, I read the books, I learned the histories, I sang the songs
Until the mountain bellowed that my friends are flawed
To not forget sorrow and all the other gods,
That my mouth is dirty and my ears are clogged,
Of course, I’m flawed, also
And then it stopped
Open handedness had me in its grasp,
Running around frantically, anxiously showing off
“Hope, unhand me," I finally yelped
"Let me dwell on bad news, let me wallow in it"
And 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 I let the cold water there pour in my ears
Cold Mountain's Song no. 286
I see people singing their songs, relying on the words
Their mouths at work without their minds,
Singing with mouths and minds at odds
Our minds contain no tangles, honestly
Our minds create no wall or chain
Just examine your own self,
Don't look for stand-ins, do your work
Become the master of your own mouth
Know there's no inside and no out
Heart Lake At Night
I see the light from your flashlight
Light the bags in the back of your car, at the edge of the lake
I hear the sound of your voice
Saying words to itself in the dark, across the water
I feel wet rock on my palm
And there’s a thorn near my ankle, and there is wind
You Turn Me On (Beat Happening Cover)
Back of the woods with the fire blowing
Behind the barn, burning slowly
Set the fire, set the timber
Burn it down to ash and cinder
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Back of the house, down the steps
Under the cellar door we crept
Prop the doors, prop the windows
Set a match to scarecrow tinder
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Out of my head, out of my tree
Out of my skull-trip, out of me
Burn down the house, burn down the barn
Burning down the entire farm
Cross the fields’ fallow garden
Watch the scarecrow, forever autumn
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Will be done, we'll keep our bargain
You and I, forever autumn
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
A Sentimental Song
When was the last time you drew a picture?
When was the last time you touched a leaf?
When was the last time you tasted raindrops
On your tongue, on your big long tongue?
When was the last time you bought a hotdog?
When was the last time you swam in a pond?
When was the last time you climbed a lamppost
Like a monkey with a prehensile tail?
When was the last time you wrote a limerick?
When was the last time you told a lie?
Why is there a picture of a penis on your fridge door?
It makes me feel awkward whenever I’m in your kitchen
When was the last time you ate a doughnut?
When was the last time you whistled a tune?
When was the last time you tortured a spider
And pulled off its legs and ate it to impress your friends?
Mystery Language (Old Time Relijun Cover)
I can take off my head and so can my dad
In the grocery store, it falls onto the floor
We laugh about it sometimes
Just take it up to the counter,
Pay for it by the pound
I got the money in my pocket
I found the money on the ground
Bdellium, onyx, gold is there
Pick it up and put it down, just like a head
‘Cause I don’t need it
I am filled by your mystery language
I open my throat and my ears clear
I can hear the blood and the ocean
Take off your shirt
Lift up your skirt
Take off my head
Put it in your bed
Speak to me in your tongues of fire
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
This Is The Same Ocean
This is the same ocean where blue whales dive
This is the same ocean that fell on white mountains
In The Rain
With the rain comes the roar of machinery (kissing)
With the rain comes the look out from my eye (human)
That I am standing in it and each drop on my skin
The way it touches me awake, into the night
The rain, in the night, acts like a midwife
The rain, in the night, lets out a cry
It says, “Good morning, human
With each drop on your skin, unexpectedly,
The flood and you are tied”
The water pouring through the world,
Revealing sogginess, and mold, and mountain ice,
Bad traffic in grey rain,
My wild mansion brain,
All being kissed awake,
Allowed no place to hide from the roaring flood,
The surge of food and beverage (through me)
Trying to lie down in the ditch and spend the night
The feeling on your face
Just before the dawn, the rain
And then the dawn, and then going into life
In Moonlight
Walking down the road in the middle of the night
Singing this song to myself:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
The wind goes through my clothing, saying:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
Not even knowing what I’m looking for, by walking in the dark,
My life is saying one thing:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
Then all of a sudden there was a light
I saw my shadow on the ground
I thought a car was coming
I turned around, there was no car
It was me revealed in moonlight
What I find will be found easily
Only when I’m not looking for it
Without looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live
Hides implied in my heart beating
Without looking for fulfillment but just accepting it
Thanksgiving
I give thanks again that long nights, though they're lonely,
They’re lit by stars, they end with suns that climb
And the moon will back me up on this, just look up
"But the moon won't take you out to wine and dine"
Oh I know, but there her hand is on my shoulder
"But every evening, we still hear you whine and whine!"
I know, I know but, like a sibling, I neglect her
But we have no choice, I'm hers and she is mine,
And she is yours, and you are hers, and we're each other’s
"Oh shut up Phil, you're just shouting empty rhymes!”
I know
The world's alone
This light's on loan until we have grown
Old enough to pay it back with our gruesome rotting
And our lives, they’re just long saggings of the spine,
So here I sit, hunched over my candle in the black night
Thanksgiving, here I hug my sorrow tight
Instrumental
(Instrumental)
Uncertainty
Go out of your house before you go to the bedroom
Go out the door and into the night
Walk past the parked car, walk past the neighbors’
Walk past the darkened corner where, seeing nothing
The wild air says “Goodnight”
Alone and never showing, at the edge of streetlight light
With one foot in the cold air,
The death and delight of not knowing
Where your certainty comes from
Half of your body is hidden from sight
Your eyes have finished adjusting
And still you’re surrounded by an ocean of black
There are sounds now from all sides
Go back to your house and go into the bedroom
Go to bed having smelled the night
This is how uncertainty holds us
On the street in the wind, in a blanket in the snow,
Saying “Don’t get used to it”
Limp Climbing
I say “cling to rocks”
And I mean “hold my hand”
Be climbing
I say “fall asleep”
And I mean “sun come up”
Sun climbing
I say “find a way”
And I mean “fall asleep”
Be gliding
I say “trip and fall”
And I mean “limp and grand”
Do not be afraid of a pillow of snow
I know it’s not as warm out there
But your skin will get warm
Grave Robbers
Change your way of limping around the world
‘Cause you know what will come soon: a real broken leg
And you know this will come true, you can’t get away
Daylight, dawn and evening, around the world
And you know what we’ll come to
Do I have to say?
Everybody will eat you, everybody robs graves
And our ghosts stay forever confined in wherever we haunt
And hopelessly want to but can’t get away
And our bones do blow away, in pink light
Lost Wisdom
I got close enough to the river that I couldn't hear the trucks
But not close enough to stop the roaring of my mind
These rocks don't care if I live or die
Everyone I know will finally turn away
I will confuse and disinterest all posterity
Lost wisdom is a quiet echo
Lost wisdom by the edge of the stream at dusk,
Is a quiet echo on loud wind
With one hand in the water, running cold and clear,
Fog obliterates the morning and Ii don't know where I am
The heart is pounding and you are always on my mind
Lost wisdom is a quiet echo
Lost wisdom: a boulder under the house
I used to know you
Now I don't
The screaming wind said my name, I think
Significant and dark, my lost face in the mirror at the gas station
Who are you, above my face that I wake up with alone
Lost wisdom: approaching shape in the low light
You thought you knew me, you thought our house was home
I thought I knew myself, I thought my heart was calm
Thunder, lightning, tidal wave, the wind blew down the door
Lost wisdom: the river goes through the room
I saw your picture out of nowhere and forgot what I was doing
Everything vanished in your eclipse, broad and lost
A constellation of moments comes to life in the void
Lost wisdom: face down under the moss
Enraptured by the beautiful face in the billowing flames
I open the front and back door and let the wind blow through
And I stood in the house and tried to hold the breeze
Lost wisdom: waking up in a pile of ash
Secret knowledge comes to me in the dusk
You showed me the river
I saw me
(Wind Lyrics)
(Instrumental)
Small House
Ever since I have been so involved
In loving the feeling of keeping a small house warm and clean,
I’m not always aware that there are stars above stars
Just above that ceiling,
Or that the rain gushing throws the trash into the street,
Or that the wind in the dark parking lots, at this moment,
Holds a leaf to the fence
I sort of remember the world but my small house is glowing
A car playing music drives past the window
While I’m washing dishes in the vast night
Where?
Calf In Pasture
The Intimacy
I Whale
O My Heart
Instrumental
Where Is My Tarp?
Don't Smoke
Get Off The Internet
Cooking
Give Totally Up
Do Not Be Afraid
Voice In Headphones (singers version)
Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain's Song no. 286
Heart Lake At Night
You Turn Me On (Beat Happening Cover)
A Sentimental Song
Mystery Language (Old Time Relijun Cover)
Waterfalls (Thanksgiving Cover)
This Is The Same Ocean
In The Rain
In Moonlight
Thanksgiving
Instrumental
Uncertainty
Limp Climbing
Grave Robbers
Lost Wisdom
(wind lyrics)
Small House
Where?
Q: "Where is Mount Eerie and how do I get there
And how long's the walk and what should I bring?"
A: Mount Eerie is nowhere
Mount Eerie is playing tonight
Q: "Where is the concert and will it be all ages?
And what time are doors?
And how much does it cost?"
A: The concert is nowhere
There is only one sky
Q:"I accept the invitation
I would like to 'fulfill the pregnant night'
Where should I set my stuff up?”
A: Those things are not yours
And tonight you will be taken in dark arms
Calf In Pasture
Every time my knees shake when I stand I think,
“Let me stay in this uncertainty”
I would like to not stop asking
I would like to stop pretending I know anything
So if you see me acting strong at the show,
Remind me about the calf shaking in the pasture, in the bright spring
There under the roofs, I will have nothing
But the wind that’s blowing through my ears
Only for a minute we could give up
And know nothing in the morning light
Because knowing nothing again is the only way
I can’t forget the weight I’ve been tricked under
And see it doesn’t exist, because nothing exists
For a glass of water in the lake
The Intimacy
The only reason I am 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”
I Whale
So I set out on the sea
With a little food for me
And a sharp harpoon for the whale that I'm hunting
The fine women on the shore
They called out, "Give us more!"
But I have nothing to give, as if I did before
Before my house burned down last night
And I killed my friends in a fight
So like I said, I paddled out in mourning light
To see if I could see a shape come from the deep
Or if I could hear it's song of love, at night, taunt me
And though I know I'm getting some
My fingers are getting numb
I sit and toss, and the cold waves wash over me
And I've been out here for sixty days
There's no sign of spout or spray
And the cold dark night falls down on the flat black sea
In the calm I close my eyes
I lean back, rock from side to side
I am placid
I have slowly gone starry skies with half-closed eyes
But with a 'thump' 'thump' beneath my boat
Watch the water rise
And storms rage and my skiff crumbles,
And the whale beneath assails and humbles
It says: "Knock knock from beneath
You know it's me
I'm your heart
I'm a whale on the bottom of the deep black sea
My mouth is wide and toothy"
O My Heart
What I find will be found easily and only when I'm not looking for it,
Without looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live hides implied in my heart beating,
Without looking for fulfillment but accepting it
What's this?
Are you my heart and are you thumping?
O, my heart! Oh, there you are
I had stopped hunting
I thought you would be as big as a whale
My nets were knit, my harpoons armed, my hunting ship sailed
O, my heart! There you are, mouse nest in my hair
O, little heart!
O sleepy heart, what do you say?
Should we keep loving?
“Yes”
Instrumental
(Instrumental)
Where Is My Tarp?
I cannot sink into your bed tonight
I have to go, my arms must row
Your bed is soft, your face is sweet,
Your gaze is true, your eyes are blue,
But mine see through
Where oh where, where lies my tarp tonight?
Where lies my moonlight?
Where lies my sunrise?
Where lies my heart?
There is a ball of fire above your house
You squirm and coo, I’m petting you
But there is a ball of fire inside my chest
I’m a mirror moon, you’re a black lagoon
I’m a birch canoe, I’m a wind that blew
I’m a migrating moose on the prairie, loose
Don't Smoke
Is it because there’s a little part of you that wants to be dead?
Or is it because your life feels empty without some ritual?
Or is it because the rebellion against the adults hasn’t ended yet?
Well, the adults sell cigarettes
And you are young and rich, for now
And you have the ritual of waking up each day, and it will fill you
There’s no excuse to start smoking
Where is the rebellion in acting like a fuck-up?
Why not embrace simple health?
It is obvious there is work to do, strong and deliberately
We are the ones, we have to do it
No more parents or gods
Taking responsibility, living in the world on our own
There’s no punishment—only knowing what to do
No excuses
The time is now
Do not wait
Go
Improve yourself right now
Get Off The Internet
Listen to me:
Get off the internet
We are the ones who are alive right now, so let’s start living
We're obsessed with “freedom” and living easy lives
But what use is an easy life, hungry and blind?
The hallow core, the crawling hunting,
Indulging your weakest parts and still you're hungry
Why not wake the fuck up and smell the air outside
And do a little real work and come back to life?
Clean out the fridge, take out the garbage,
Sweep the floor, open the doors and windows
Read the news, shut up about music
Ask a stupid question, stop feeling too ignorant
This is the one world where we live, curious and busy
As the world is ending, can I survive this cold dawn?
At least I can sit here in the street, exhaling and strong
Clean up the mess
Get off the internet
We are the ones who are alive right now, so let’s start living
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
When you walk into the night alone,
Unbury the hunger you were born with
It will show you where dinner is hiding
In the branches, the pools, in the breasts, in the world,
In the corners of the dark foundation
When you’re hungry beneath the full moon,
In the dark belly of the modern mega-state
Try to imagine that you were just born there
Try to imagine that you could be in the world,
And the world could be in you,
And cooking food will be easy
Give Totally Up
If you can manage to give totally up,
To go limp, to go tender,
(Surrender)
Your body will hold together
I know it seems like you’d be torn apart,
Be ripped up and rendered
But don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!
Don’t believe them when they say
That you have to fight for what it right
Or what you think is right
Because if you manage to give totally up,
You’re sprawled out in splendor
Just try to fight that, raise your arms,
Feel your muscles slosh around your whirlpool center
If you can manage to give totally up,
To be known as “Great Befriender” or “Sender”
Your loss, your endless loss, will treat you to treasure
Do Not Be Afraid
Left side:
Do not be afraid
Your arms are wrapped around
In claps, your hands resound
Your feet, they map the ground
You have night vision
You’re whole body, when it’s jostled
Will spend time rolling over
Right side:
You can not get away
There’s nothing to do
The fear will be blinding
It’s not meant to be this uphill way
Empty windows
Empty doors
Around corners
A feast in the dark!
Voice In Headphones (singers version)
"It’s not meant to be a strife
It’s not meant to be a struggle uphill"
Cold Mountain
Open handed, I tried to live among all people with ideas aloft
Open handed, I read the books, I learned the histories, I sang the songs
Until the mountain bellowed that my friends are flawed
To not forget sorrow and all the other gods,
That my mouth is dirty and my ears are clogged,
Of course, I’m flawed, also
And then it stopped
Open handedness had me in its grasp,
Running around frantically, anxiously showing off
“Hope, unhand me," I finally yelped
"Let me dwell on bad news, let me wallow in it"
And 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 I let the cold water there pour in my ears
Cold Mountain's Song no. 286
I see people singing their songs, relying on the words
Their mouths at work without their minds,
Singing with mouths and minds at odds
Our minds contain no tangles, honestly
Our minds create no wall or chain
Just examine your own self,
Don't look for stand-ins, do your work
Become the master of your own mouth
Know there's no inside and no out
Heart Lake At Night
I see the light from your flashlight
Light the bags in the back of your car, at the edge of the lake
I hear the sound of your voice
Saying words to itself in the dark, across the water
I feel wet rock on my palm
And there’s a thorn near my ankle, and there is wind
You Turn Me On (Beat Happening Cover)
Back of the woods with the fire blowing
Behind the barn, burning slowly
Set the fire, set the timber
Burn it down to ash and cinder
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Back of the house, down the steps
Under the cellar door we crept
Prop the doors, prop the windows
Set a match to scarecrow tinder
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Out of my head, out of my tree
Out of my skull-trip, out of me
Burn down the house, burn down the barn
Burning down the entire farm
Cross the fields’ fallow garden
Watch the scarecrow, forever autumn
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
Will be done, we'll keep our bargain
You and I, forever autumn
Turn me on dead man
You turn me on
A Sentimental Song
When was the last time you drew a picture?
When was the last time you touched a leaf?
When was the last time you tasted raindrops
On your tongue, on your big long tongue?
When was the last time you bought a hotdog?
When was the last time you swam in a pond?
When was the last time you climbed a lamppost
Like a monkey with a prehensile tail?
When was the last time you wrote a limerick?
When was the last time you told a lie?
Why is there a picture of a penis on your fridge door?
It makes me feel awkward whenever I’m in your kitchen
When was the last time you ate a doughnut?
When was the last time you whistled a tune?
When was the last time you tortured a spider
And pulled off its legs and ate it to impress your friends?
Mystery Language (Old Time Relijun Cover)
I can take off my head and so can my dad
In the grocery store, it falls onto the floor
We laugh about it sometimes
Just take it up to the counter,
Pay for it by the pound
I got the money in my pocket
I found the money on the ground
Bdellium, onyx, gold is there
Pick it up and put it down, just like a head
‘Cause I don’t need it
I am filled by your mystery language
I open my throat and my ears clear
I can hear the blood and the ocean
Take off your shirt
Lift up your skirt
Take off my head
Put it in your bed
Speak to me in your tongues of fire
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
This Is The Same Ocean
This is the same ocean where blue whales dive
This is the same ocean that fell on white mountains
In The Rain
With the rain comes the roar of machinery (kissing)
With the rain comes the look out from my eye (human)
That I am standing in it and each drop on my skin
The way it touches me awake, into the night
The rain, in the night, acts like a midwife
The rain, in the night, lets out a cry
It says, “Good morning, human
With each drop on your skin, unexpectedly,
The flood and you are tied”
The water pouring through the world,
Revealing sogginess, and mold, and mountain ice,
Bad traffic in grey rain,
My wild mansion brain,
All being kissed awake,
Allowed no place to hide from the roaring flood,
The surge of food and beverage (through me)
Trying to lie down in the ditch and spend the night
The feeling on your face
Just before the dawn, the rain
And then the dawn, and then going into life
In Moonlight
Walking down the road in the middle of the night
Singing this song to myself:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
The wind goes through my clothing, saying:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
Not even knowing what I’m looking for, by walking in the dark,
My life is saying one thing:
“I will find you, I will find you, I will find you, I will find you”
Then all of a sudden there was a light
I saw my shadow on the ground
I thought a car was coming
I turned around, there was no car
It was me revealed in moonlight
What I find will be found easily
Only when I’m not looking for it
Without looking for the morning in the sunset
And like this, my will to live
Hides implied in my heart beating
Without looking for fulfillment but just accepting it
Thanksgiving
I give thanks again that long nights, though they're lonely,
They’re lit by stars, they end with suns that climb
And the moon will back me up on this, just look up
"But the moon won't take you out to wine and dine"
Oh I know, but there her hand is on my shoulder
"But every evening, we still hear you whine and whine!"
I know, I know but, like a sibling, I neglect her
But we have no choice, I'm hers and she is mine,
And she is yours, and you are hers, and we're each other’s
"Oh shut up Phil, you're just shouting empty rhymes!”
I know
The world's alone
This light's on loan until we have grown
Old enough to pay it back with our gruesome rotting
And our lives, they’re just long saggings of the spine,
So here I sit, hunched over my candle in the black night
Thanksgiving, here I hug my sorrow tight
Instrumental
(Instrumental)
Uncertainty
Go out of your house before you go to the bedroom
Go out the door and into the night
Walk past the parked car, walk past the neighbors’
Walk past the darkened corner where, seeing nothing
The wild air says “Goodnight”
Alone and never showing, at the edge of streetlight light
With one foot in the cold air,
The death and delight of not knowing
Where your certainty comes from
Half of your body is hidden from sight
Your eyes have finished adjusting
And still you’re surrounded by an ocean of black
There are sounds now from all sides
Go back to your house and go into the bedroom
Go to bed having smelled the night
This is how uncertainty holds us
On the street in the wind, in a blanket in the snow,
Saying “Don’t get used to it”
Limp Climbing
I say “cling to rocks”
And I mean “hold my hand”
Be climbing
I say “fall asleep”
And I mean “sun come up”
Sun climbing
I say “find a way”
And I mean “fall asleep”
Be gliding
I say “trip and fall”
And I mean “limp and grand”
Do not be afraid of a pillow of snow
I know it’s not as warm out there
But your skin will get warm
Grave Robbers
Change your way of limping around the world
‘Cause you know what will come soon: a real broken leg
And you know this will come true, you can’t get away
Daylight, dawn and evening, around the world
And you know what we’ll come to
Do I have to say?
Everybody will eat you, everybody robs graves
And our ghosts stay forever confined in wherever we haunt
And hopelessly want to but can’t get away
And our bones do blow away, in pink light
Lost Wisdom
I got close enough to the river that I couldn't hear the trucks
But not close enough to stop the roaring of my mind
These rocks don't care if I live or die
Everyone I know will finally turn away
I will confuse and disinterest all posterity
Lost wisdom is a quiet echo
Lost wisdom by the edge of the stream at dusk,
Is a quiet echo on loud wind
With one hand in the water, running cold and clear,
Fog obliterates the morning and Ii don't know where I am
The heart is pounding and you are always on my mind
Lost wisdom is a quiet echo
Lost wisdom: a boulder under the house
I used to know you
Now I don't
The screaming wind said my name, I think
Significant and dark, my lost face in the mirror at the gas station
Who are you, above my face that I wake up with alone
Lost wisdom: approaching shape in the low light
You thought you knew me, you thought our house was home
I thought I knew myself, I thought my heart was calm
Thunder, lightning, tidal wave, the wind blew down the door
Lost wisdom: the river goes through the room
I saw your picture out of nowhere and forgot what I was doing
Everything vanished in your eclipse, broad and lost
A constellation of moments comes to life in the void
Lost wisdom: face down under the moss
Enraptured by the beautiful face in the billowing flames
I open the front and back door and let the wind blow through
And I stood in the house and tried to hold the breeze
Lost wisdom: waking up in a pile of ash
Secret knowledge comes to me in the dusk
You showed me the river
I saw me
(Wind Lyrics)
(Instrumental)
Small House
Ever since I have been so involved
In loving the feeling of keeping a small house warm and clean,
I’m not always aware that there are stars above stars
Just above that ceiling,
Or that the rain gushing throws the trash into the street,
Or that the wind in the dark parking lots, at this moment,
Holds a leaf to the fence
I sort of remember the world but my small house is glowing
A car playing music drives past the window
While I’m washing dishes in the vast night