1. |
9
02:48
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don't you remember the words of encouragement
you wrote me when I was younger, and feeling bent.
please just never forget you were the strongest one,
way back when I was younger and feeling bent.
thank you for thinking of me
you reached down and grabbed me off my knees.
I had a blue note written front and back, taped to my wall from you.
sometimes I wish I could give it back, because now, I'm stronger than you.
thank you for thinking of me
you reached down and grabbed me off my knees.
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2. |
Bluejay
02:38
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see there's this bluejay up in a tree
making a nest, feeding his whole family.
he wakes up daily, and flies to work
he brings home dinner, and doubts what he does every step of the way.
now, on an island in the middle of Philly,
there sits an old man on the side of a building.
he wakes up daily, and plays the blues for people in their suits
he eats no dinner, and doubts what he does every step of the way.
what
are
you
missing?
with no fate
and no destiny
everything left up to chance
and only the lucky are fulfilled.
see there's this bluejay his nest is falling through
and there's that old man winter's coming soon.
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3. |
Life: Now
03:46
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all these blank spaces cry lonely
they want to be thought of, they want to be cared for
yes, they have an interesting shell
but if they don't realize someone loves their insides
then what are they worth?
all these spaces disappear
and fade to dotted lines, then left behind.
i could once remember the features of my fallen friends
but life, i mean, society keeps us so busy, we forget
the sun will shine
from time to time, and all together we'll sing this song.
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4. |
Stones
02:25
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there's no need to worry this is how life goes
parents drop us in to this world just like stones
into a pond the ripples are our actions
and they reach further than we can see
and in the end they flatten out
as we hit the bottom.
there's no need to worry this is how life goes
parents drop us in to this world just like stones.
i'm somewhere in between the surface and the end
i watch all the other stones falling down and look up
to feel pain when our waves collide.
feel pain when our waves collide.
we are just like stones
we'll collide
(this is how life goes.)
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5. |
Benjamin
02:49
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here we go again right in the same situation
I thought I'd never be in again
I feel for you Benjamin
I read what you wrote, and feel the same way.
you're not so dissonant and alone
you're just not planted in the right soil
your heart beats and pulls apart over things
that are too much to handle.
misunderstood and lonely, but don't feel alone.
don't feel alone, sing a song no matter how much
you just want to lie in darkness
you're ok, you're just fine, anyone would struggle
through these times.
cry if you have to but don't be alone
your mother she loves, your father he cares
more than you'll ever know.
misunderstood and lonely, but don't feel alone.
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6. |
1979
02:10
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a crop duster flies passed a sunset in 1979
it looks like fall in the photograph
and while holding that frame,
Drew longs for the old days.
don't surrender your happiness
for the cost of comparison.
a ticket stub on his desk for every adventure attended
memories fall in the photograph
and while sitting alone
he thinks of how 10 years from now will become yesterday.
don't surrender your happiness
for the cost of comparison.
every day brings new tides,
and every season brings new life.
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7. |
84
03:34
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he wakes up and falls asleep again
dreams dreamy dreams and then up again
to the heavens pouring down those saints
are bawling their eyes out.
oh, they miss their lost friends and families.
off the tiles in the shower he sings a song
that cries it's hard to try when you don't see what it's worth
but out the door he goes anyway
to embrace those heavenly tears
that still haven't got what they're crying for after all those times.
the day is running away, and my friend is only slowly walking after it.
when days lap us in the race of life, we can never catch up.
slowly, walking with his eyes closed he dreams
mid-day of where he'd like to be
it's almost as good, but not really
it's just better than right here.
there's a crowd in front, singing the song he wrote
back on the 12th of April, 2007
it feels good to be in this imaginary land.
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8. |
Hope
02:46
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hope turned thinner than the air in inhale
and flowed out of the faucets, vents and windows
but it would have to kill me to permanently escape
cause on it's side rests peace and i would fight to be at ease.
this is my fight, I will win and win alone.
hope belongs in my chest
I want to be bigger than this
escape from the inside.
the more I say I shouldn't the less I actually don't
I'm burning a hole in my pocket
two nickels, two dimes and minus the 0
and I would fight to be at ease.
this is my fight, I will win and win alone.
hope belongs in my chest
I want to be bigger than this
escape from the inside.
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9. |
Fog
02:43
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laying in bed on these cold, lonely mornings
the sun never reaches my dark eyes
I'll lie here for hours, in bed like a flower
but I'd rather be up in the sky looking down at those people.
I'd rise above this fog that tries to kill me
when I'm driving at night.
rabbits dodge tires like squirrels on phone wires
the moon never reaches my wide eyes
I'd like to watch the oldest rivalry
but the cloud in my face always prohibits me
from seeing anything at all.
I'll rise above this fog that tries to kill me
when I'm driving at night.
when we get there I will I will lavish my love on
you are the only
one more
time is burning me
I can't see
what's in front of me.
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10. |
God
03:36
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if God's my father, then I'm his bastard
I never met him, though he knew me
he just made me and left me.
I miss God my father when I was just dirt
he put breath into me and left me
like he never knew me.
but at least we're not alone
we're all bastards in this world
my father never taught me wrong from right
even I had to write his word
even I had to build his church.
Jesus tried to make up for his Father's absence
but how can I ever learn to trust again?
then he died, came back to life, flew up in to the sky
said there'd be a holy ghost in his place
well, I've never seen that ghost.
the apple fell right next to the tree
cause like his Father he left me
and now we're left here trying to survive
trying to make sense of life
who wrote the scriptures?
who built the cross?
who organized religion?
who's telling us we're all wrong?
who's laughing up there with all the answer?
who made the God we serve?
guess it was just us.
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Ben Hughes New Jersey
"...channels musicians like Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes, and Sufjan Stevens, as on Hughes’ previous releases. But this record
immediately calls to mind Pedro the Lion’s Control, with its deep-voiced chords and melodies, lyrical themes of corporate hell, and Hughes’ slurring voice. It could stand as a complimentary album to Control just as well as it stands on its own."
-Nick Tate, WXPN
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