1. |
Mother Of Invention
03:15
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Mother Of Invention
1. Oh, what a pretty thing it is
I’ve been looking for it all my life
All my life I’ve been looking for this thing that I see
And here it now is, and I don’t know what to do with it.
And I…feel like I’m gonna break it
Or put it away and forget about it
Oh what a tragedy that would be
I feel like I am supposed to be
The mother of a new invention
I never built no bicycle
I never got no horse
I never got no locomotive
But I do have YOU of course
I’ve got you of course
2. Train pulls into the station
Train conductor tells me that it’s my stop
The place I longed to be all those years but was not
And here I now am, I don’t know what to do.
I feel I wanna run away
Or get back on that train - take me away!
Oh what a tragedy that would be
I feel like I am supposed to be
The mother of a new invention
Never gonna say that it hurts
Never gonna cry…
Never gonna say how it hurts cuz…Here am I here am I
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2. |
Bellow
04:32
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BELLOW
CHORUS:
Sometime, anytime you wanna bellow at the sky - Call on me, call on me
We’ll unzip the hori-i-i-i-zo-o-o-on with our voices.
Chant: Unzip the hori-i-izon with our voices
VERSE 1
Question: You ask me why I sing softer now, and did the world beat me down?
Cuz back then I sang hard, I sang proud, but where are the edges now?
STORY: Ukrainian summer before the revolution. I sat at the knees of the grandmother
Her daughter told me we could lift the veil between the worlds by singing.
We were sat outside in the dawn light of the midsummer feast and the short night.
Singing to the dead so they’d bless the crop, bless the young, bless the year
CHORUS
We’ll unzip the hori-i-i-i-zo-o-o-on with our voices.
Sometime, anytime you wanna bellow at the sky - Call on me, call on me
We’ll unzip the hori-i-i-i-zo-o-o-on with our voices.
VERSE 2
Answer: This is the way we call the unknown, and lift the veil to the other side
We’re singing to break the walls down the walls down. Throwing the gate open wide
BRIDGE 1:
Every breath I take has been taken before
Every note’s been sung………
Who can I sing them all again for? Baba, Baba Baba….
BRIDGE 2:
Please don’t give up - please don’t lose that sound
So many people fought to gain that ground
Please don’t give up – please don’t hide your voice
So many people did not have that choice.
VERSE 3
She told me the power of song was in the unison. She gathered her friends all around her
And they pierced the sky with a call - one melody from many voices
And from then til now, I remember, when the year is fat, and full of shadows.
I’m singing to the dead so they’ll bless the crop, bless the young, bless the year.
Chant: Unzip the hori-i-izon with our voices
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3. |
Refugee
03:07
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Refugee
In your world I’m a refugee
In your world danger all around me, all around me, all around me
In your world I’m not free, I must flee, I must flee
Bring me shelter, I will not harm you
Bring me shelter, please
Bring me shelter, I will not harm you
I would shelter you
I am only what you are.
Imagine your unbreakable world was broken, No more rules to protect you
2. Who was I?
In my world I was standing strong
In my world my heart did belong
And now it’s gone – there is only longing, only longing, only longing
Bring me shelter, I will not harm you
Bring me shelter, please
Bring me shelter, I will not harm you
I would shelter you
I am only what you are.
Imagine your unbreakable world was broken, No more rules to protect you
Refugee
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4. |
Rotary Phone
03:38
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Starting a new phrase.
Making a new plan
Making some new sound
Tho’ I may be burning it down
I can’t care, I can’t care, it’s on fire
Daily it burns me down
One more ring around the old oak tree, go where you’re gotta go.
And it’s one more ring around the old oak tree, oh, will you watch it grow with me?
Will I settle down one day? I really can’t say
I’ve got a mind like a rotary phone – slow it goes up, it’s slow coming down
Listen for some polyphonic dial-tone when you call on me.
But I’ll listen when you call me, call me, call me
I’m seeing your sweet face.
You give me your brightest smile
You give me my reason to be
Tho’ I may be gone awhile
You & me, you & me, we’re on fire
You & me, you & me, we’re on fire
Daily you burn me down.
Will you settle down one day – you really can’t say
Cuz you’ve got a mind like a rodeo – one more time round with your lasso
Listen to those wild horses when they’re calling you, calling you.
Listen for those wild horses cuz they’re calling you, calling, calling
Calling, calling, they’re calling you
Calling, calling, they’re calling me
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5. |
Wiseman
03:38
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WISEMAN
God gave the wisemen a long gray beard, and told him to walk on the land.
Wise man, he comes with a golden tongue, and a question in each hand.
Why must I wear a long gray beard? And why must I walk on the land?
When all my life I've been penniless and poor, such troubles I could barely stand.
Was it my youth that kept away the peace that I have today?
Or was it my love for wife and child who now in the Earth do lay?
My love, my love kept me through storms, and nothing in the world did I fear.
And though she is gone, her spirit lingers on, and is with me as I travel here/far and near.
I'll walk my way… with my long gray beard, up to the high gates above.
And tell every friend and stranger that I meet that I found heaven in love.
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6. |
One Step Dance
03:06
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I just had a stranger give me everything in a single glance.
We did a one step dance, and stumbled on.
Between two blinks a lifetime shouted out its name
in a single blast - first breath to the last, and we were gone.
And I walk on because he asked me to
And I kneel down where the flickering lights of the city
rise up on the water
And I look up because I feel too much.
Am I heavy or am I weightless? Am I burdened, am I blessed
with that moment burning heavy in my chest?
In the air between us there’s a trembling
It’s an honesty - it’s an injury we’ve known too long.
Stranger, could you hold me in your tenderness?
We can travel light in some gentle night where we belong.
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7. |
Sing About It
04:00
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SING ABOUT IT
It’s so sad
We don’t understand each other yet
How can this be when we’ve been living together so long?
So close to each other’s beauty?
It’s so sad. It makes me feel so bad.
I’m not gonna stand for it anymore.
Gonna sing about it
Gonna sing it when it makes me cry – when I’m uncomfortable & don’t know why
When I am guilty of the laissez-faire – my ignorance of you laid bare
I’ll talk to you before I raise my hand, so/and you can call on me to make a stand
Am I responsible? Are you responsible? What are we responsible for?
I wanna look up from my own concerns, reach across the chasm of what I never learned
So wide, so full of burning – your eyes are turning to me now…saying it’s time
– it’s way past time - to step outside the echo echo echo echo… chamber
Stop pretending it’s alright, stop pretending this is not my fight.
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8. |
World Will Not Pause
03:42
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WORLD WILL NOT PAUSE
The world will not pause, will not pause
Keep up, little one. Don’t fall down
Once, in the house of the little one there was a daydream
That kept no time. Time was suspended, and gentle in the night.
But twice, twice came the alarm sound, the alarm sound!
And it cried out fear, so the little one ran, so the little one ran
Til she could not hear.
Run, how we run, how we run, how we cry
How we pour down rain under the clear blue sky
Sure, the world is broken – it will never get better
It will never get better. It will never get better than this.
We gotta daydream like a child, a little one runnin’ wild
We gotta trust the world.
We’re gonna let it all go by. Throw our arms into the sky
And trust that they will tell us when it’s time to say goodbye.
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9. |
Dressed In Yellow
03:10
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1.I met my father all dressed in yellow
Take heed take warning, daughter
And the light was soft and strange around him
There are many things to know.
2.Hello father, how can you be here?
Take heed take warning, daughter
You have been gone for these 3 years
There are many things to know.
3.And such sweetness in your smile
Take heed take warning, daughter
Do you bring good news from the dead?
There are many things to know
4.Oh father oh father, I could not trust you
I had no warning, father
You anger closed the door of my young heart
There are many things to know
5.But as I dream you in sunny yellow
Take heed take warning, daughter
I know my heart can open wider
There are many things to know
I look across at my young father, unsure of what to do or say
My fear tells me I must ignore him. My loves & labors take me away.
But as I close my cloak of labor, I catch his eye once more in case
And there is laughter coming through me. And there is laughter on his face.
6.Oh he looked up, yes, he laughed with me
I need no warning, father
And in that laughter, sweet forgiveness
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10. |
Our Time
03:48
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OUR TIME
Our time is near, but not to die.
For we must rise, for we must rise.
1. Our time is near, but not to die
And not to give up when we have no will to try
Though we are low, thrown to the ground
It’s on the ground, the seeds of us are found
Here, on this ground the seeds of us are found
Our time is near but not to die
For we must rise, for we must rise
Though we are low, thrown to the ground
Here on the ground the seeds of us are found
My time is glad, though I do weep
For all the secrets that we keep.
Though we may fear, and we may doubt,
We must remember joy, and sing it out
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11. |
Dissatisfaction
03:26
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DISSATISFACTION
D-I-S-S-A-T-I-S-F-A-C-T-I-O-N
Dissatisfaction, you’re a strange drug.
You don’t give me pleasure - you don’t give me love
Dissatisfaction, why you gotta rule me, why you gotta rule my mind?
P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N
Perfection, you’re a cruel lover
You won’t even kiss me, but you hover
Oh, perfection, why gotta use me, why you gotta use my heart?
But I’m not going down your road to ruin
Your road to ruin is not mine.
D-I-S-S-A-T-I-S-F-A-C-T-I-O-N. P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N
I know you’re trying to protect me
You know the world is a hard place, and you’re here to redeem me.
Oh, my sweet uneasy, no matter how you love
You’re only gonna pull me down.
But I’m not going down your road to ruin
Your road to ruin is not mine.
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12. |
Worried Now
03:37
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13. |
I'm So Glad
03:05
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I’M SO GLAD
I’m so glad, I’m so glad
You let me take you away from your troubles for a little while.
And I know we’re walking on the wire right now
But we’ve gotta build the fire in the belly
We’ve gotta feed the fire in our bellies
We’ve gotta feed the fire in the belly sometime(s)
Cuz your fire might change my mind
Your fire might make it better
Your fire might soften my heart
Your fire might make it better
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14. |
Leather Britches
02:54
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Hey, little boy! Who made your leather britches?
Mama cut 'em out, and Daddy sewed the stiches.
I keep 'em by the bed, cuz I've got no other britches.
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Moira Smiley Bristol, Vermont
Moira Smiley is a Singer / Composer. Touring & writing with the finest in various worlds of music, she brings clarity and visceral emotion to any song she sings. She accompanies herself on banjo, accordion, piano, and hand & body percussion. She's toured with Tune-Yards and Solas among many others. Moira recently sang with Tune-Yards on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. ... more
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