1. |
Sister Starling
04:38
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sister starling’s on the move she’s going down
watch the iridescence fading from her crown
she looks up when she hits the ground
broken wing, feathers all around
pick the starling up and bring the bird inside
fashion her a bed of needles and rawhide
she sleeps with unblinking eyes
i watch - another morning dies
apples and oranges don’t make lemonade
but i press and i squeeze anyway
when life gives you gin, you make something
i will do anything you say
try to find her in the elements at night
took out my diving mask and underwater light
i can go deep looking for a fight
she stays out of mind out of sight
makeshift magazines now blowing in the wind
i remembered all my dreams way back when
i’d wake up reach for a pen
can’t catch her now couldn’t catch her then
apples and oranges don’t make lemonade
but you press and you squeeze anyway
when life gives you gin, you make something
i will do anything you say
and if you told me to jump i’d climb to the top of the CN tower today
watch me fly away
took half of my life to get here
it’ll take half to get back to the bed i was born in
it’s where i want to die
where do you want to die?
made a lot of money
only to lose it while trying to fake it
makes me want to cry
what makes you want to cry?
found a letter in an old festival tote
smoothed the paper out to read the crumpled note
i’m sorry...
that’s all she wrote
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2. |
B61
03:41
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he had time on his hand s
he carried the world on his shoulders
he said meet me at the hudson’s edge
help me roll my boulder
so i went down, running down
took the B61 across town
to where he was waiting at the ice house
wish it was my house
he took me out back for a drink
showed me the heart on his sleeve
love is a daily good thing
i see it in your smolder
but i can’t feel it in my hands
and I’m wringing them more now i’m older
remember when i went down running down
took the B61 across town
to where you were waiting at the ice house
wish it was my house
you took me out back for a drink
showed me the heart on your sleeve
like ships in the night
we go down without light
we burn up all our anthracite
and try to make a spark
find a crack, let it in
it’ll come, it might be dim
adjust your eyes i know you can
you’ll find me in the dark
how will i know if i’m the last one alive?
for forty one days and as many nights
i’ll be standing where we stood
under an indigo sky
watching flames jump from firewood
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3. |
Phoenix
03:30
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time’s not the villain
coming up behind you is a marigold sun
love if you’re willing take a little more time
i smell fire
it’s coming from the flames that are dancing on my wings
i’m a bird on a wire
killing time
fever’s got me shaking
it rises up like a road to meet me
fever’s got me quaking
like san andreas fault
just put a cloth to my brow
i’ll soar like a phoenix from the ashes
put a pretty blanket down
i’m ready now
looking for forgiveness
looking in every cupboard in every room
i’m bearing witness
to the passing time
but the clock is ticking
like an old man singing at the top of his lungs
and the light is flickering
we’re running out
fever’s got me shaking
it rises up like a road to meet me
fever’s got me quaking
like san andreas fault
just put a cloth to my brow
i’ll soar like a phoenix from the ashes
put a pretty blanket down
i’m ready now
everybody’s looking for somebody to blame
the stages of sadness how many can you name
i stopped at anger, never felt the same
they say it’ll fade my scars
my tears will dry and i’ll lie under
the stars again, not wondering where you are
fever’s got me shaking
it rises up like a road to meet me
fever’s got me quaking
like san andreas fault
just put a cloth to my brow
i’ll soar like a phoenix from the ashes
put a pretty blanket down
i’m ready now
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4. |
Age of Apathy
03:58
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let’s take a ride
i know you love the taconic at twilight
go east on 23
past the farms and the festival memories
listening to the hudson valley breeze
oh to be born in the age of apathy
when nothing’s got a hold on you
if you need someone to hold you can hold me
under the shade of a quaking aspen tree
we came for new england’s party
but the colors haven’t started so it’s just you and me
when did you start to change?
was it somewhere up along the coast of maine?
or when we drove back down 95
we got stopped at the border but we made it out alive
radio played “yellow moon on the rise”
oh to be born in the age of apathy
when nothing’s got a hold on you
if you need someone to hold you can hold me
under the shade of a quaking aspen tree
we came for new england’s party
but the colors haven’t started so it’s just you and me
hold me like you held me on the day the towers fell
when we stumbled over to the christian science center pool
was it the end or the beginning?
all i remember is the singing and the music trying to drive away the fear
i’m still here
somewhere down the line
i let go around 2009
lost the feeling in my hands
guess it’s one that no one understands
radio plays “my old man...........”
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5. |
Elevators
03:35
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looking out the window
feels like I’ve been here before
the shady patch of green behind the big box store
‘round another corner past the swinging light
in the back of a cutlass ciera one night
in America
America
i’m just pulling out my hair trying to remember where i was
in America
i swear i saw you
running for the back door
i followed you like breadcrumbs out on the county roads
where the only thing that mattered was lightening my load
at an exxon station i stopped for a drink
and i washed the memories down the dirty bathroom sink
in America
America
i’m just pulling out my hair trying to remember where i was
in America
i swear i saw you
running for the back door
Elevators
old songs
empty bottles
so long
after midnight
when i was young
the ice melted on my tongue
elevators
broken glass
nothing lasts
i finally figured out that everything was lost
so i climbed in my wagon and started across
the wide open prairie, headed up to the lake
where is what’s good here? and what are we going to make
of America?
America
i’m just pulling out my hair trying to remember where I was
in America
i swear i saw you
running for the back door
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6. |
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oh now rosie
you come home in the morning
got a child on your knee and your mother she looks on
says “i don’t know that baby - don’t know you why’d you fail me
you left home seven years ago and i wore black for days”
prodigal daughter returns like a lamb to the slaughter
i know forgiveness won’t come easy, not for you
look at the child upon my knee she
has eyes of blue
she resembles me resembling you
mama, listen
come into the kitchen
pour me some tea, let me sit at your feet and let me cry
i need a little money
i need love, and i need sunday
suppers here at home, don’t want to be alone
let me stay
prodigal daughter returns like a lamb to the slaughter
she yearns for the things that you taught her
i know forgiveness won’t come easy, not for me
but i’ll try to shut the past behind us, throw out the key
give me one more chance to make you see
prodigal daughter returns like a lamb to the slaughter
looking for something in the water
to wash away the the pain
she’s drowning in the pain
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7. |
Galahad
03:33
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you’re a white knigh t
i’m a dark horse
oh galahad, i want to be yours
i’ll meet you out behind the oxen’s shed
and recite thirteen poems running through my head
somebody told me you were pure of blood and oxygen
that your good knife can cut through anything
but i’m alive, I’m alive, i’m alive, i’m alive
you got a gold heart
i got a black one
baby i sting like a scorpion
so if you hear a rustle in the old oak trees
an ancient voice hymn humming, hmmm it’s me.
rumor has it you are stronger than 100 men
but it’s my word against tennyson’s.
and I’m alive
you muse on joy that will not cease
pure spaces clothed in living dreams
and lilies of eternal peace
i’ll get over it
when the morning comes
by then you’ll be slouching towards avalon
ride on, the prize is near
it’s sitting right behind you
singing in your ear
and still you’re looking out into a cerulean sea
where up above the gulls like grails are free
and i’m alive
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8. |
Town of Mercy
02:41
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i walked away from Mercy
out to the deepest woods
entered by the river
at the only place i could
fed a fire and watched the smoke
like something climbing free
leaning like a ladder
and calling after me
that i could rise from what may shine
keep your place surrender mine
as if your name as old as time
waited like a song upon the tongue
of all the mercy begging to be sung
i’ve made my peace with Mercy
as quick as it may be
to betray my confidence
in how I choose to see
that what had come together
now are pieces in my hand
fraying at the knees that buckled long before we stand
so i might rise from what may shine
keep your place surrender mine
as if your name as old as time
waited like a song upon the tongue
of all the mercy begging to be sung
the snow flies its confetti
like the end of a parade
leaves a vacant silence
knee-deep in the charade
that here’s the end of hunger
this feasting of the soul
when all the while it’s waited
for the light to swallow whole...
so i might rise...
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9. |
Lucky Star
03:02
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oh, oh
in california the summer’s always cold
feels more like the poconos in june
i ran away too soon
i’ll come back
pick me up, be waiting on the tarmac
why do they pack the airplanes like sardines
and millennial queens
if i had a little money i would go somewhere
just a couple coin in the bottom of a mug
would make me feel like i’m almost there
August
it came and went and left us in the dust
i know it feels like love but baby it's lust
august.
now september
all that we got now is wet hot american summer
throw it on me like an afghan from your mother
stay under it
if i had a little money i would go somewhere
just a couple coin in the bottom of a mug
would make me feel like i’m almost there
got my bus fare
go to the corner
take the lucky star
up the northeast corridor
back to boston
you’ll be waiting there
meet me at the lizard
get a drink and stumble home
i,
i’ll die if you tell the world about my third eye
i wanna keep it a secret til july
my funny third eye...
if i had a little money i would go somewhere
just a couple coin in the bottom of a mug
would make me feel like i’m almost where
i thought i would be
by now
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10. |
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happy go lucky in the afternoon
i can do anything i want when i’m with you
it’s how i spent my 37 years around the sun
in 33 more i’ll be an old woman
sitting out the back with a beer in my hand
i like the cold of the can...
what do you want from yourself?
what do i want? i want to be what i wanted to be in 1993
when it would snow a dozen times in january
and we’d grab our sleds go to albemarle
and we would fly down
when do you learn your skin’s not as thick as you thought?
when all you thought you had you lost?
the mornings start to slip away
sooner or later you’re gonna catch yourself in the glass
looking hard lived and middle class
s mile at the cracks in the pane
what do you want from yourself?
what do i want? i want to be what i wanted to be in 1993
when it would snow a dozen times in january
and we’d grab our sleds go to albemarle
and we would fly down
it all comes down to who got a head start
and who’s running with a bum leg
the coffee’s hot now
how you like your eggs, sir?
do you like eggs
if nobody asks you - do you have a choice?
your word’s your will’s your way’s your voice
i’m tryin’ to hear you
through the noise
what do you want from yourself?
what do i want? i want to be what i wanted to be in 1993
when it would snow a dozen times in january
and we’d grab our sleds go to albemarle
and we would fly down
happy go lucky in the afternoon
i can be anything i want when i’m with you
it’s where i’ll spend my days until they’re done
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11. |
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we are passengers traveling through the afterworld
we can’t know where we come from
and pasiphae’s just another moon
jupiter he’s by my side and we watch galaxies collide
my apathy is losing ground
open my mouth and make a sound
someone’s in the rear view mirror i see them pulling up beside me
humming like a throated sparrow i wipe an old tear from my eye
just take the wheel and drive
you’re listening to the songs of celestial kings
coming down you look for me
here i am, reaching perigee
someone’s in the rear view mirror i see them pulling up beside me
humming like a throated sparrow i wipe an old tear from my eye
someone’s in the rear view mirror stay in your lane you’ll be fine
mercury is stuck in scorpio and the little dipper’s dripping dry
take it in, open your heart, they’re smiling
hold on
take it in, open your ears, they’re laughing
hold on
take it in, open your mouth, they’re singing
hold on
we’re passengers and the road is long
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Aoife O'Donovan New York
Aoife O'Donovan is a singer-songwriter living in Brooklyn.
“Age of Apathy” her third full-length studio album produced by Joe Henry, is out now
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