1. |
The Sky Is Made of Ice
03:47
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The sky is made of ice and it is falling
the ground is frozen cold, it's out of view.
It's not holding me up like it used to,
it's not holding me.
Kids can cook with weed on TV now
making meals that cost more than my car
I doubt they get that channel at the jails
where the old city dealers are
And I want there to be sense
It just gets hard to see
The sky is made of ice and it is falling falling falling
on me.
You've got one side saying "We matter. Stop shooting us in the street."
but the other side is sure that they're superior,
and that any problems that arise must be from both sides equally
and I want there to be sense
those torches make it hard to discuss
the sky is made of ice and it is falling falling falling
on all of us.
then you've got that man in the office
some people call him #45
but he sounds just like that dude
who'd punch the wall instead of you
and say "If you tell anybody, I'll just say you lied."
and I want there to be sense
but big men don't listen to girls.
the sky is made of ice and it is falling falling falling
on the whole world.
You've got some white people saying, "I'm not privileged!
I've worked hard for nothing all my life!"
but I bet you twenty bucks
they aren't afraid of death by cops
just for driving around
with a broken tail light.
And I want there to be sense
I want to watch their last argument fall apart.
The sky is made of ice and it is falling falling falling
on our broken hearts.
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2. |
Empty Apartment
03:42
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Sitting in the dark
in your empty apartment
the power is off, you're at work, it's almost spring
I'm leaving in the morning
I'll leave one thing or another
So you know I'm coming back,
you're the only one I'd ever run to
in this town, in this town, in this town
In this town, in this place
that just surrounds the hair falling across your face
when you wake up in the morning
and put the coffee on
and you float into the kitchen
like some kind of ghost, some apparition
that just slid through the pages
of a Truman Capote book
You used to call me "love"
but you stopped when you learned of
my desire to carry more than one in my heart
so leave the lights off, if you wish
the water still runs, the beer still sits
sweating on the desk next to those stacks of poetry
those words that hit me like smoke
starting in my chest
and hanging around on all of my clothes
On my clothes, in my hair
in my memories of you standing there
looking at me like I could fix something inside of you so deep
and make your smile run like water run like rain run like snow
run like the train
I would if I could and I can't stop, I can't stop
trying.
So if you pay the electric bill
I'll get some two dollar wine
we'll put the record player on
and tonight will be fine
you can use the typewriter
I'll use the spare
you can lean over my shoulder,
say "Did you get anything good over there?"
anything good, anything good, anything good..
anything good, anything great
we'll play Leonard Cohen, we'll play Tom Waits,
and the music will leak out
into the humid summer night
and I'll wonder if I'll ever settle
if I could ever find anything better
than the sound of your fingers on the keys
when I'm leaving in the morning.
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3. |
Wrong Lifetime
02:41
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How did you do it,
How did you make my world so small?
Once upon a time you told me
that you grow on people.
But I think it's more that you grow straight in,
you lay down roots and you lay down tracks.
Before someone knows it, their skyline is different,
and there's no going back.
It just took one summer night,
and a little too much to drink
now you're all I can think about.
Every road in town
is another river to your door,
I fight the current every time my boots hit the floor.
I've been trying to get better about some things
like saying what I mean
instead of digging a bunch of holes
out of which I gotta climb.
But it was never hard with you,
I was always so good at telling the truth.
I would say just the right thing
just in the wrong lifetime.
Now there you are
on the other side of a traffic light
but it's way too late to tell you everything
burning me up inside
so I'll just look away
at the sunset or a tree
and you won't even know
that I didn't see you
not even looking at me.
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4. |
From Your Bones
03:08
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They say prolonging a craving just makes it sweeter
when you get your fix
the poison solves a problem
that didn't even used to exist
they say if you wait
for the hunger to die
you'll be purging the poison from your bones
in time.
but I've been evading
relating the the feeling of being alone
so I reach for a cigarette and your voice on the phone.
I know in time that everything dies.
So let me hide for just one night.
He said "the light is on the outside
and the door doesn't shut all the way"
his bathroom's like my heart I guess,
you don't get perfect privacy
and you gotta think ahead
if you wanna see clear,
would it be okay with you if I stay here?
but I've been evading
relating the the feeling of being alone
so I reach for a cigarette and your voice on the phone.
I know in time that everything dies.
So let me hide for just one night.
Cuz I can't seem to get over or move on
from any little poison I can get my hands on.
the wine and cigarettes, oh I felt this high before
but the whiskey of your words leaves me
stuck to the floor
I'm a sucker for a poem
I'm an addict of the story
I like being alone
just not so much in the early morning
I keep meaning to crawl
Out of this hole
but you keep making me forget
where it was
I was trying to go.
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5. |
Another You
02:46
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I lay in my bed backwards
after you've been around
the memories then they don't cut so deep
but sleep still won't take me down.
take me down.
There'll always be another night
to sleep if that's what I want to do
There's always gonna be another you.
Last night I watched the river run
I watched the moon rise above the pines
I put my heart back in my chest
and the straight back in my spine
and the truth rang out so clear
it was like every firefly knew
there's always gonna be another you.
Sometimes I let the freezing water
run right over my feet
I pretend it can wash
the mistakes I made right out of me.
But the laws of the land change with state lines,
laws of the heart don't care.
Hands like yours will always find their way into my hair
So give me the skyline of Austin
or Boulder, or Duluth
they're always gonna read the same
and there's always gonna be anther you.
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6. |
Shitshow
02:47
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I don't like watching TV
but I like watching your shitshow unfold.
Every layer, another cliffhanger
the deeper I go, the more I wanna know
I wanna know it all.
So I can put blankets in all the right places
when your storylines fall
And I'm not gonna stay here long
But if I did, you might be the one that I would call.
It starts to look something like vultures,
with their eyes and the barstools and the smoke
It starts to look something like vultures and then,
it starts to look more like a joke.
And I'm not afraid anymore
of them seeing me wounded on the road
All it takes to scare 'em all off these days
is to say you're not afraid
of being alone.
I'm not gonna stay here long, but if I did
you might be the one I would call.
I feel like I'd never have to hurt you
in this light, in this cave
I feel like I could build a whole world
right around your name.
But I know better than that,
so I'm not gonna make a sound,
anymore than the Rockies do
when they're scratching the sky
and swallowing ground
And I'm not gonna stay here long,
but if I did, you might be the one that I would call.
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7. |
Fragile Things
03:07
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I can't tell if I fall for big old hearts
or if it's the walls around them
some people want a love that envelops
I need something I can lean against
I like the walls you hold so tall and true
because I break fragile things without meaning to.
I can't tell if I fall for manipulative types
Or if it's the games they play
some people want a love that is easy
I need puzzles to solve all along the way
I like the things you do even if I don't like why you do them for
because I break fragile things when I'm just feeling bored.
I can't tell if I fall for creative types
or if it's the art they make instead
Some people want a love they can stand on
I want to drown in the shit that comes out of your head
I like the writing that you tape to the wall
because I break fragile things for no reason at all.
I can't tell if I love you more
when you're coming in or going out of my door
Some people want a love that will stay at home
I need a love that lets me be alone
I love how you make me feel so held and so free
because I break fragile things when they're all that I see.
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8. |
Bucket of Proof
01:58
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If I could fit you in a song
then I could get some sleep tonight
If I could squash out the thought
that you were gonna make me alright
If I could just uncover the truth
dump out my bucket of proof
and examine each piece on my bedroom floor
I wouldn't have to wonder
which way is up
anymore
If I could learn from my mistakes then maybe
I'd get somewhere new
Instead of coming to the same conclusions
from a different point of view
But maybe that's the whole idea
maybe someday it'll be clear
or maybe I'm just doomed
Either way, it's all okay
I'm happy enough that I can say
I haven't given up this whole way through
If I wanted to call this love I guess it'd be just as well
but in my heart I know it's not, it's just another spell.
It's nothing but a recipe
you knew how to get someone like me
am I really that predictable?
but in the end it'll all make sense
you'll be an experience
that I look back on when the moon is full.
If I could fit you in a song,
then I could get some sleep tonight
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9. |
Hold Water
02:52
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Hold Water
Can't tell you how many times I've seen it
the person we pay most attention to is ourself
it seems easy to fix when it's someone else out there
but my advice won't hold water until you can hold yourself.
It starts off as one thing, and then it grows
First I want to pay some bills, then I want a castle with orange groves
Rationalization grows in me like a virus
Incubating and warm, while I feel so cold.
My intentions are good, but they get out of control
I want to help and heal, and I don't want to grow old
I wouldn't accept it at all, truth be told
but the clock is holding the whip and he ain't letting go
Can't tell you how many times I've seen it
the person we pay most attention to is ourself
it seems easy to fix when it's someone else out there
but my advice won't hold water until you can hold yourself.
I've always been a sucker for a voice, it's always been true
but now I know right where I am and exactly what I've gotta do
and being sure is something I've never found, except for now
And I could give it all up just as easily.
Throw it all away in the name of being free
I could jump in a car, drive so far.
But you know what? I've done it before
and I'd rather be right where you are.
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Jennifer Stuart Williamsburg, Massachusetts
When the big stuff gets put into small lines, it feels more manageable, to me at least.
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