1. |
Bleached Bones
06:07
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Bleached Bones
Bleached bones on the peaks & valleys.
Bleached bones, hair stuck to the hide.
Listen close, you’ll hear the wind shuffle.
Listen close, you’ll hear the wind subside.
Clay magnets, the bodies of mothers & fathers.
Clay magnets, the bodies of us all.
Rolled accents, the verses of your siblings.
Rolled accents, reason gathered small.
Health & hope to the romance languages.
Health & hope to the invisible crown.
We’re smoke on the lens of an ancient eyepiece.
We’re fog on the rise of a daylight mound.
The bricks you found steady, the memories you hold dear
empty ashes of departure in a lake wide & clear.
Time is a round tablet, a tin drum & a magnet. [Chorus]
Time is a bone mallet & an active ear.
Watch how you approach it, bend it & use it.
Be careful, use caution & always take care.
Bleached bones on the peaks & valleys.
Earthen tones on young planet skin.
Old songs build & settle in easy.
A lattice of limbs raises us all.
Curl about me, it’s Winter we are bound for.
Tie this knot, but open the lair.
Let’s wrap up our bones in an Easter apron.
Let’s draw Spring through a straw w/wire.
[Chorus]
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2. |
Home for the Holidays
05:25
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Home for the Holidays
26 degrees, a kid hits me up for a ride at a gas station.
A common scene of in-between--jobs, family & addiction.
The shelter is nowhere to stay, but that’s where I leave him as
Winter’s sting comes through my shoes like venom.
The starter’s out in my car, but I’m in a loaner.
Somehow I feel a little bit older, if not wiser
watching designer kids with bags of pricey December as
Winter’s sting comes through my shoes like venom.
The shelter’s called The Road Home, but he’s from here.
Says he’s looking for a bus ticket to California.
Says the shelter’s warm, but it’s hard to sleep &
you’re out at 6 in the morning as
Winter’s sting comes through my shoes like venom.
Tell T-Rex I found the Teenage Dream
turned out on the street & burned out for Christmas.
It’s a skewed Nativity that bears this song & witness. [Chorus]
Every mother’s prodigal son is still with us.
Every mother’s prodigal son is still with us.
The Body Politic glides by indivisible & active.
The vice train seems to gain & wane, who froze the compass?
Have those in high places played the game of Accomplice as
Winter’s sting comes through my shoes like venom?
26 degrees & a Beatles tune hums through my wipers.
December begins this year with a tear & a shiver.
Marley’s ghost rattles old chains On the Road this evening as
Winter’s sting comes through my shoes like venom.
[Chorus]
Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays
Every mother’s prodigal son is still w/us.
Every mother’s prodigal son is still w/us.
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3. |
Mountains of Molehills
03:06
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Mountains of Molehills
Armchair quarterbacks on the lawn.
Mountains of molehills stuck in my head
& I’m talking about nothing at all.
What was the name of your hometown?
Where did your sister grow?
How has your head been weathered &
what have you come to know?
There’s been a change of season.
Birds now are chiming out. [Chorus]
Outside the window, blossoms
are all around you now.
It’s okay, grab a bike.
Around the corner & eat a bite.
Tell someone you know "Hello"
& make sure to let it go.
[Chorus]
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4. |
Corduroy
07:29
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Corduroy
Today’s a birthday party for a forgotten king
dethroned by crones with tarnished skull rings.
But, hope remains in every, in every living thing,
in every song, in every human being.
Shuffle the limbs of forgotten books.
Dormant anthems drain barbs from hooks.
& now the hurricanes have danced.
& now the envelopes have chanced upon
dead letter offices future & past
where flying fish rise on ocean in gasps.
Olde eyes & alibis.
Raised on rain & borrowed lives.
& now this hand is hidden.
& now this tale is written on
cabbage leaves with angel spit.
Carry the Moon & split the cost of it.
Spook the spokes & span the gaps.
Oval wheels wheeze & gasp
in a nautilus heart, in a nautilus heart.
Get to the end, return to the start, in a nautilus heart.
Bone & skin, where to begin?
Bone & skin, where to begin?
Oh, frog future.
Oh, lullaby tree.
Angels carry humor under their wings as
catalog crows hold their own noses,
days at the diary roll out the ghosts.
For holiday eyes & circumspect smiles,
tear out pages of uneasy miles.
Old maid, cold trade.
Portable prophets leave beds unmade like
virtue & veils sent through the mail to
Gordian maps built by elegant snails.
& all along we are wide wale woven.
Dough rise, loomed fresh from the oven.
Bone & skin, where to begin?
Bone & skin, where to begin?
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5. |
Caledonia
05:50
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Caledonia
There’s a land we should know
where the children learn to grow.
From the crib and the cradle
they grow straight and true.
It’s a land of the blessed
& an open treasure chest.
I have been there once or twice--red, white and blue.
Down the corner, ‘round the block,
near the stream by the bus stop,
there’s a chance and an option or two.
From a kiss to a blush to an open royal flush,
it’s a hand and a band of living proof.
It’s a garden summer squash beneath the hanging wash
near the tired treasured moments we watched and grew.
Four-fold, have & hold.
These days you better not catch cold,
‘cause the devil’s on the wing (in the wings), [Chorus]
eating human beings &
leaving hollow shells.
You better watch yourself.
Life may find & grind you down,
pick you up and spin you ‘round.
It will raise your hand and call you too.
The house will still remain
though you are bound to change,
an island adrift on bone and tooth.
[Chorus]
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6. |
Rapunzel's Doorbell
07:24
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Rapunzel’s Doorbell
Held one hammer, laid one down.
Picked one up, struck the ground.
Every seeker’s mining, mining the golden braid.
Helga and Wyeth, Weston and Charis
watched muse beauty cut baby teeth.
The beginner is master & The Master is always away.
The Nightwatchman buried skeleton keys
under new lawns, while old snail’s sleep.
Daylight, daylight still dawns.
Daylight, daylight still dawns.
Bedrock days in steep recline.
Lives now founded tilt nature’s lines.
The fat man may be laughing, but what can, what can he say?
Old & young, grape & plum.
Hanging fast to the all & none.
Tomorrow’s forgotten seasons come ‘round again to play.
Masks & measures stretch & pull.
The pot’s been polished with old steel wool.
Correct & cure, well-spring water’s The Way.
Correct & cure, well-spring water’s The Way.
Light on the porch, carry it on.
Knock at the door, carry it on. [Chorus]
Moth to the torch, carry it on.
Feather & grouse, carry it on.
Woman of this world,
let your hair down.
Let me climb in.
The Ivory Tower
is nowhere to win.
Let me climb in.
Woman of this world
let your hair down.
Let me climb in.
[Chorus]
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7. |
Honorable Mention
09:12
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Honorable Mention
The Sandman tells you, "Patience is virtue,"
but there’s no reason to this rhyme.
The fog has lifted & it is lazy
that is walking through her eyes.
A finger snap, another label.
What’s been laid on this table?
Pick it up, drink it down.
Turn your smile back around.
What’s been laid on this table?
Is it old? Is it fable?
See wisdom, wisdom walking.
See wisdom, wisdom walk.
What is left for the children?
What will they get to hate?
What is left for the children?
Can this ship turn around?
What is left for the children?
Can this ship turn around?
Frozen peas & peanut butter knees.
Old hoboes lying in the street.
It’s just the same invitation
to a different coronation.
Just the same invitation
to a different kind of coronation.
What is left at the table?
We can turn.
We can turn
like Autumn leaves in a lake.
Summer breeze.
We can turn.
We can turn.
We can turn this ship around.
I can hear you, everyone.
We have power.
We have power.
I can hear you, everyone.
Old regard.
Old regard.
Call yourself
back into question.
Forget about, forget about 1st place
or even Honorable Mention.
Pick out a piece of the Golden Fleece.
This is myth & this is fable.
You can lay them at the human table.
Allah Akbar, "God is great."
Teach this to the human state.
Noah’s ark. Solomon’s ark.
Noah’s ark. Solomon’s ark.
We can change this.
We can turn this.
We can change this.
We can turn this.
We can change this.
We can turn this ship around.
We can turn this ship around.
We can turn this ship around.
We can turn this.
We can change this.
We don’t have to push the button.
Food, clothing & shelter
for your sisters & your brothers
Food, clothing & shelter.
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8. |
Out of Two Hands
06:02
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Out of Two Hands
Desert Sun, we have Summer knees.
Autumn’s fruit lies at our feet.
Changing leaves signal the coming snow.
Come December, we’ll rattle cold teeth.
For now, raise up the window blinds.
Take a walk, make something to eat.
Waste no time, mountains are calling us
to follow streams & carry our feet.
Before we let it go, chime bold & green.
The hours lift our limbs down uneven streets.
A heart’s an antedote for scars unseen.
My head & yours are one, one & the same.
Children learn hymns for light, for limbs.
We grind days, trade lives for hints.
Warm is the House, House of the Sun.
Let its rays rest on charmed lives of the young.
Slow is the pulse of Eden’s lush tongue.
It’s a noon kiss the plants have held forth & now sung.
What this world forgot now returns to greet us.
Veins in the rock carry history’s carcass.
Levers & their luck lift this human opus.
Eyelids on Earth, blink & gain focus.
Out on the wheel this life is spinning.
What has shook loose cuts worries noose & floats away.
An old potter stuck at the wheel
sits down to center.
Clay without words, grows out of two hands.
Out of two hands.
Out of two hands.
Warm is the House, House of the Sun.
Warm is the House, House of the Sun.
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9. |
Golden
07:14
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Golden
Call a fast & frozen memory back to mind
from a land of infamy & orange rind.
What’s been gambled is sometimes hard to find,
especially the second or the third time.
Call a fast & frozen memory back to mind.
Salvage yards & copper mines expire on a spiral vine.
Pitch the fork & wander ‘round the tines.
A belly full of oceanside helps the shore to brine.
Call a fast & frozen memory back to mind.
What’s become of devotion?
What’s become of dividing lines?
Our timely thought & chorus pours a slanted fireside.
Where’s the laughing limber summer bride?
Hidden on an open mountainside?
What’s become of devotion?
What’s become of dividing lines?
Oh, Golden is her name.
Who’s to praise & who’s to blame.
Oh, Golden is her name. [Chorus]
A steady light & a shimmering refrain.
Oh, Golden is her name.
I thought I knew her the first time.
The second time she flew by.
Thought her name might be America,
then she heaved a heavy sigh.
[Chorus]
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10. |
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American Frost, Robert Frost
Halloween’s come near &
shaken loose masks & guises.
Colors bleeding clear,
rattle off old surprises.
& the fuse now tucks itself in
& the fuse now tucks itself into the frozen Earth.
Left behind for dead &
tossed aside for lead & labor.
Now Winter’s falling fast &
fat upon downed leaves &
fat upon downed leaves &
heavy on the trees &
Frost is in the air &
settled on grass & houses.
Children warm their hearts,
buoyed by kitchen circumstances.
Charmed by innocent romances &
warmed by fire dancing hearths &
the feel of woolen feet.
Bury my heart cradle & crib.
Bury my head ladle & rib. [Chorus]
Bury me hope in open sky.
Holy laughter ‘til the day I die.
Keep your future health in amber frozen.
Keep your hired hands worn clean.
Keep your tired eyes on the future-present.
Keep the curried locks picked free.
[Chorus]
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Isle of Skye Salt Lake City, Utah
Follow the Galapagos Rabbit to the Enchanted Isle.
Isle of Skye recommends:
Yonder Shines the Infant Light 2005/12 Advent & Christmas songs
by Bill Mallonee
Straight-forward, sincere songcraft.
go to album
How To Leave Town
by Car Seat Headrest
Not many indie musicians like this around anymore. Original songs in the key of suburbia.
go to albumIf you like Isle of Skye, you may also like:
Downey to Lubbock
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Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
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Echo Dancing
by Alejandro Escovedo
The legendary Alejandro Escovedo returns with another country-rock scorcher.
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Passion Fruit Boys
by Passion Fruit Boys
Nashville’s Passion Fruit Boys nail the effervescent janglepop of ’80s college radio with bright guitars and immediate hooks.
go to album
Play It On The Tannoys
by Stranger The Horse
Rich and carefully-sculpted songs that cross-wire country and roots music with jazz, samba, and more.
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