1. |
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We were talking just the other day
down by my favorite cafe
and soon enough the conversation naturally
turned to God again.
Well, I abandoned him quite a time ago.
“There’s nothing new in that,” you say,
“You’ve got to lose to win.”
Oh, girl, you always liked them cheap cliches.
Who will you love when you’re gone?
Who will you love when the savior you were promised never comes?
So we went back to apartment 4H
and put our heads upon the bed
and all at once I had a vision of my own death
and I said:
Who will you love when you’re gone?
Who will you love when the God they told you about gives you the gun?
Someday soon you will be wandering
tied to the shackles of your old age
and thinking back to those New York City nights
when we were wild and free of faith.
Who will you love when you’re gone?
Who will you love when the savior you were promised never comes?
When the God they told you about gives you the gun?
When the devil’s imposition finally comes?
When you find yourself in hell and you belong?
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2. |
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There’s a record playing down my hall,
a new gothic blues that almost was,
but I can’t hear all the chords.
Now the record’s playing a perfect song,
and what we would have done for just one,
so I pick up my guitar.
I won’t crawl out ever again.
I won’t wait for it to begin,
or cry for something that might have been.
The record ends.
It’s so dead and used up it won’t mend.
So I won’t try anymore.
We won’t sway ever again,
we won’t let you fuck with our heads,
or fight for something to never end.
It’s not anger I’m feeling
so please don’t misunderstand me
when I say I don’t miss you no more.
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3. |
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I’ve known you for many years but truly for just one
and there’s a way a low moon hangs before the sun does come
that’s the way I often feel when you come stumbling home
to break my heart and let me down again.
There’s a boy down south somewhere who’s working on his dream
and climbing round the crags of youth just looking for a seam
I guess a man must lose himself to know where he has been
this one’s going to come away clean.
There is yet another who is drifting towards his end
who thinks he lost the best years of his life to someone else’s whim
but lovers come and go just like a sultry summer wind
and grieving for your past is no way to live.
My friend and I are prisoners of our own grand designs
and grasp for some salvation that will pardon both our minds
but beauty is much easier to seek than it is to find
I think that we’ll be looking a long, long time.
Girl you’ve done so many things that still remain unseen
and even Love must sometimes bow at the altar of her queen
for you have mastered both the art of love and loving me
and it’s about time I opened my eyes to see.
Now that I’ve used up my words I hope I used them well
I saved the last verse for myself in case you couldn’t tell
and in the best traditions of those bards who’ve come and gone
I offer you the music of my song.
I give you the mercy of my song.
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4. |
New York City Heat
02:55
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Now that we got that summer sweat all coursing through our bones
now that we got that city smut all pressing in like stones
now that there’s a heat wave on, now that there’s a heat wave on,
there ain’t nothing in this wide eyed world to let me down
until you come around.
Why give up my woe is me if its easier to be sad
why forgive my home and kin if its easier to be mad
ma and pa you fucked up grand, ma and pa you fucked up grand,
you got me searching in a stranger’s land for something new
but the city’s going to let me down like it must do.
You said I’m a liar’s liar who’s whoring all his wares
you said that I idealize but baby that’s nowhere
yeah man I’m fucked up inside, yeah man I’m fucked up inside,
stumbling home from a love affair with my wine
wondering how she used up my time.
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5. |
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There is a distance between who we are and how we live
and though it’s an easy road to discern, it’s seldom bridged.
We’re going to try, oh how we’ll try,
but will we be wise enough to know just why?
Someday our time will come like a cool clarion call
then it’s a choice we’ll make either well or not at all.
What will it be, what will it be,
and will we be young enough to yearn and believe?
There’ll come a time when we’ll be brave and self assured
and all of those doubters will take back every word.
But when will that be, when will that be,
and will we be old enough to know what it means?
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6. |
Wish It Well
03:18
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Last thing I remember I was running for the door
to go and be an artist in that city by the shore
instead I hung my bohemian dreams from a Washington Square Park tree bough
and wished it well.
If you keep some love inside your heart you never will grow old
at least those were the last words by my mother I was told
so I plucked my loving heart out whole, sent it to my mother wrapped in bows
and wished it well.
When I was five I told myself I’d never wind up here
then I saw my days dry up for thirty two odd years
I take the pale arms of my youth, stab them through the wrist with nails
and wish them well.
Poetry’s the poor man’s way of pouring out his heart
and paying up’s how the rich man thinks he suffers for his art
well I am neither rich or poor just counting up the spare change
to wish it well.
You can climb a height so high you can barely breath the air
or sink so low in the gutter you could end up dying there
well I climb neither high nor low just stuck here going nowhere
and wish it well.
Some men live their futures like they never had a past
and others live their moments like that moment was their last
but I just sit here waste my time watching taxis drive by
and wish them well.
New York ain’t no different than the town where I grew up
just a little bit big and a little bit mean and the people don’t shut up
and the fags down at the corner store are getting louder by the hour
and I wish them well.
Someday I will quit this life and kneel where I once stood
and you will gather up my bones just like you said you would
and I will do the best I can to love you like I should
and wish you well.
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7. |
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Listen well, my dear,
the words you long to hear,
I wrote them down quietly
last night alone
I’ll sing them for you here.
I have loved you more
than this voice could share
and when I am cast
to the maddening crowd
I always feel you near.
And before I’m through
there is one more truth
there’re still many things
that I fear to show
but they’re all meant for you.
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8. |
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Now I’m up I say
and I can conquer anything
at least for these few hours
I can hold your hand and smile
so let us brave the rain
and walk our city hand in hand
in this our golden age.
It’s nothing that the drugs won’t cure.
It’s nothing that the drink won’t swallow.
It’s nothing that your love won’t kill for good.
Oh no, I’m down again
and I don’t know when it will end
it’s like running in the sand
followed by those hanging men
but on their gallows pole
I do not wish to stand
so we will both pretend.
It’s nothing that the drugs won’t cure.
It’s nothing that the drink won’t swallow.
It’s nothing that your love won’t kill for good.
Now I’m up for good
at least that’s what I’m telling you
so you can smile again
and live life like I know you should
but woman don’t you cry
if I should steal away awhile
for I’ll come back to you
when I’m through.
It’s nothing that the drugs won’t cure.
It’s nothing that the drink won’t swallow.
It’s nothing that your love won’t kill for good.
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Dead Heart Bloom New York, New York
Dead Heart Bloom is the band formed by Boris Skalsky following the dissolution of his previous group, the Washington, DC- based Phaser quickly joined by guitarist Paul Wood. Since then, the Dead Heart Bloom live lineup has continued to evolve and includes former Longwave drummer Jason Molina. ... more
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