1. |
Small Victories
03:51
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He jumps across the puddle with a spry leap
like a cowboy on the wrong set
in a film about the gold rush
He holds his transfer to a gloved hand
the leather makes a tough man
with a new found vertigo
he glances at the ad for birth control
He puts the thin paper back
into his corduroy arsenal
it's a library for the small sins
and the small victories
The police car flies by
with a combined speed of a hundred and forty
Probably just tired of the suburbs
looking for a way to recover
The haze of mud
coats the window like a wedding vail
in the marriage of the long nights
and the solstice afterglow
He wonders why it takes a long bus ride
to trace the line from the edge of his sweater
to a place he once called home
and the landscape lined with a lot of bad weather
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2. |
Tent City
03:06
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Today I pulled all the furniture in
like a bulwark of missing teeth
Tied the sheets like a quilt of all the things that I could be
The mop stick towered proudly
taped to the back of the chair
that your grandpa got when they came here after the war
I lay the cushions down one by one to the sound
of a crow outside singing everything will work out right
With some faith and the sense to know the difference
between forgetting and moving on
but all of my straight lines are bending to ellipses
I counted up the distance
from the top of the chesterfield
to the broom we bought when we left our adolescence
I held all the corners
of my linen parachute
and closed my eyes and spun as I let it go
I lay the cushions down one by one to the sound
of a crow outside singing everything will work out right
I know it's not real
but I wish that I could build
a palace made of sheets so that I could fall
so that I could fall…
Into a sleep so deep
I'd never need to clench my teeth again
or scan the starlit skyline
for why your still my Lois Lane
As I scale the edge of a cut so deep
I buried all the markers
with the boy I used to be
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3. |
Grinner
03:52
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The years have worn a crooked grin in the paper-mâché mask
that used to hide the ugly parts he groomed and held too long
The sweat and sideways stare seem so distant now,
they're crumpled plaster pain pressing at my aching temples
With callousness he smiles, his eyes are icy glass
They defy the twisted covenant that he pushed with one hand at his side
Two fingers crossed, uncrossing with serpentine regard
while the good lord watches on
I take a grain of salt with the root of my untangling
And discover that I'm stronger than I think
The bright sun burns my skin as I relish the occasion
A weary traveler standing on the brink
If you reach out in pain
You cut down the guilt and shame
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4. |
Darker Than
02:52
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Lately, I lie awake at night
I count the rhythms in my veins
I am sure that I will fail
And I am sure that I will fall
Convinced that the joke is on me
My weakest minutes unfold my strongest andvance
This province of agency is darker than the absence of the light
I make long lists of things to wage
Against the weightlessness and my age
I make short lists of all the adages that just weigh me down
Yeah they weigh me down
Convinced that the joke is on me
My weakest minutes unfold my strongest andvance
This province of agency is darker than the absence of the light
Convinced that the joke is on me
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5. |
Walker
04:43
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The fences on our street are old and leaning
like they were never meant to stand so tall
The alley cats take hostages and ransom
The neighbours stole some firewood last night
Oh the garbage cans are rolling like the river
I wonder if I've finally given up
On the chance that all the good is hidden under
a clever guise of privacy and blame
Or maybe just a momentary falter
from this temporary vantage point
We built this house out of scraps of wood
so we wouldn't feel quite so broke
We'll plant a seed where you looked at me and said
"The things that set you free are grace and hope"
We built these walls out of scraps of wood
and some plaster to cover our mistakes
Take a chance with me and linger 'til the days are bent and withered
Be my bones, honey, take my heart
Listen to the rumble of the trains in the yard
Listen for the sound of the way we are
Take slow breath as we move around
It's a hard time living this hand to mouth
Sometimes we get it just we fall apart
Sometimes we fake it just to get a jump start
Let your feet fall hard
Let it fall apart
If you give me an hour I'll take the doors off all the hinges,
melt down all the knobs, and rusted locks
forge a thousand shiny nails and rebuild all the fissures so they
bend a little more than we can break
(chorus)
We built these walls from scraps of wood
So we wouldn’t feel quite so broke
Take a chance with me and linger ‘til the days are bent and withered
Be my bones, honey, take my heart
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6. |
Ghost
05:14
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No matter which way you go, my ghost will go with you
Cause my lines makes more sense with yours to coincide
The etchings on my grave will read from left to right
"He left a world not right for only half of paradise"
The sun is so light on your face
and the ending is still light-years away
When the edges are all rounded and frayed, I hope that I
can be the one to lay you down
Our Rose will know that seasons come and seasons go,
that what matters is what you do not what you know
When the river comes floods these banks, this blood is holy
When the river comes floods these banks, this blood is all we know
When our house is caving in
and the diggers pull it nail from tin
They'll watch as dust is slowly exhaled
and memories rise above it all, and home again
No matter which way you go my ghost will go with you
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7. |
Morpheus Rising
05:21
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Blinking at the dark,
the walls pulse in and out of focus
A slow rise while the second hand waits for the light to break in
He's like steam from the asphalt
with the smell of sleep in the air
But if he does not lay down his burdens, oh how they could break him down
He turns to face the window
His feet fall to the dust and grit
He's trying not to wake her in these seconds before the dawn
It's like he can taste it
His fingers hard to the mattress
Never quite can tell where the memories fade in
Like his therapist told him
We can't chose all the things that make us
But we can chose to count the scars or betray them
Holding on to the pause, he's poised and waiting
with hands like talons limp in the arms of Morpheus
As the sun ray rips across the sky, he sets his flesh to wind
swallow-tailed and arched against the glare
A vacant stare to the north north east pushes blood to the edge
Chasing affidavits sworn in the afterburn
But reverie or real, feathers fall like autumn leaves
last remains of plumage guide him safely to his bed
The dust it swirls in the rays of light that pin down all the sheets
she turns to cradle all the softest parts as a feather falls to the floor
As an epilogue to the wonderment that courses through his veins
he wouldn't trade these seconds for the best laid plans of men
You might think a metaphor for avoiding the hard parts,
but just ask the child inside to count the seconds before dawn
A vacant stare to the north north east pushes blood to the edge
Chasing affidavits sworn in the after-burn
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8. |
Lighthouse
04:15
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In a vague sense it's a call to arms
Listing hard to the north, a break-neck revelry
It's a paltry deal for the wind and the whistle
and the fallowed fields from here to Red Deer
I watch you watching me trading fear for the gallantry
Specters haunt the outskirts of every small town broken dream
As a chorus of blurry lines egg us on from peripheries,
the atlas flutters frantically in wait
for a fingerprint to challenge the straight lines
Imperfect preconceptions of spatial harmony
I watch you watching me trade fear for the gallantry
Specters haunt the outskirts of every small town broken dream
We are Heartbeat City
Laid down limbs like freeways
Eyes trained on the jet streams
On our backs with fingertips
stretched out like power lines
We transmit signals in source code
We dream in parklands and tall grass
We wake to taillights and urban sprawl
All our words like turbines in prairie winds
Could you shine your light on the best parts of all of us?
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9. |
Brophy
06:37
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The faults and failures all bore witness
to the echoes just beyond the distant city lines
Redemption hailed like fireworks in a chorus
of ragged beaten drums
That thunder for ones
who went living in the margins
of a system cracked and worn,
you'll find callouses and scars in the din
From barricades to basement shows,
picket lines and marches
“Carry us over the walls
that stand too tall to conquer”
The window frames the frozen monologue
for missing mitts, and writer's block and a polaroid
of a face, the shadows fill the empty space
A shouldered glance for holding back
Take a call, list the exits
Hold your face to the glass and exhale twice for the letting go
Write a note in reverse
The beginning marks the end
And watch the water beads blend and fall
From barricades to basement shows,
picket lines and marches
"Carry us over the walls
that stand too tall to conquer"
From barricades to basement shows
picket lines and marches
you took it all, before we all had time to notice
Sometimes life seems so much better through
the stitches in my eyes and the ringing in my ears
His life doesn't solely sanctify the loss
but he stood for what was right and he fought the good fight
There's a ghost white bike downtown
When I see it I stop
and I'm strong again
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10. |
Organ Failure
06:54
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For every count down
there's an equal reaction
complete with a glance and
A way to avoid it
She lifts it to her lips mechanical memory
Just long enough to relapse
I think you have all that it takes
It's just the god damned games we play
She moves around to the sound of her own heart changing slowly
She moves around in the braided short cuts
She looks around at the weights and measures that hold her
She never noticed all the wars she's waging
The magazine eyes
and their glare-free permanence
they bolster the ways you
calmly amalgamate
Your needs with your wants and the expectations
Like it does not hurt to not be what you see
I think you have all that it takes
It's just all the god damned games we play
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Heartbeat City Winnipeg, Manitoba
Standing amid a cozy mess of instruments, Heartbeat City weaves a patch-work quilt of honest, stripped-down, city ballads that seem strangely comforting. From Ian's voice soaring above delicate chimes of guitar, to the subtle soothing strength of the tactful blend of rhythm and melody, they move listeners. ... more
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