1. |
Lisa's Knife
04:02
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sweet as meat
lithe as worms
round her blade
the whole house turns
and I...love Lisa's Knife
a passion for her friends
love for her lovers but a
passion for her friends
and I...love Lisa's Knife
ooooooooooo
ooooooooooo
ooooooooooo
be it animal or mineral
or ever so humble
there's no place like home
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2. |
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In the place where you grew up
the houses all burn down
In that town. In the town
Where your father dressed the dead
girl you hated all his words, now they're
in your head
So you buy your gin at the five and dime
then you all stand around in a parking lot
for a good time
N*E*B*R*A*S*K*A
And it's not that I was raised
to look down on folks like you
just maybe not to look you in the eye
you know, sex has a way of seeping through
Nebraska I was awfully
in love with you.
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3. |
Bar-fly, Turtledove
03:56
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Bar-fly turtledove
my long lost love
I pushed your skull open
with my thumb
to try and read the thoughts inside
but I can't read you anymore
Bar-fly turtledove
my long lost love
I used to feel you wake up across town
my third eye opened with your two
now I can't read you
because
You drink the wine and I crash the car
you drink the wine and I crash the car
you drink the wine and I crash the car
Bar-fly Turtledove
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4. |
In the Past
02:45
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In the past
I sang to you
only to you
(only to you)
and I liked it
(and I liked it)
In the past
I looked to you
only to you
(only to you)
and I liked it
(and I liked it)
Truth be told
I looooooooooooooooved it
In the past I sang to you,
only to you
(only to you)
and I liked it.
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5. |
Evanly Hevangelical
05:40
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Did they raise you in a barn?
No, they raised you in a church.
How much fire hurts?
How much fire hurts?
Is that how much dispassion hurts?
There on fresh cut grass
lies my husband's beating virgin heart
calling to me across the miles
dead old men have stolen all your fire
Only twelve white buttons
stand between me and your shivery flesh
and the words of men who died so long ago
dead old men have stolen all your fire
I would love to steal it back for you;
fight that knight, and find I've cut
your soul in two.
Later I cried unexpectedly on the train,
and across my thirsty lips
breathed your H-less name.
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6. |
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Burn me right
all through the night
and may eye whites
set my soul to rights
All hearts are true
I'll put my faith in you
oh cause my heart's gone dark
I need your spark
When I came to the city
I had money on my mind
I had money on my mind
I had money on my mind
And I think what I wanted
was to learn to be unkind
was to learn to be unkind
was to learn to be less kind, but
Singing in the subway
some hearts were in my hands
But, singing in the subway
some hearts were in my hands and
An old man from China thought
he saw me, singing there
you know, sad lady laments, there,
in 1952. and we've
come so far from
where our hearts are
(and we've come so far from
where our hearts are)
When I came to the city
I had money on my mind
I had money on my mind
tiny pennies on my eyes
So burn me right.
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7. |
Love's Loss
05:58
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If Love
Ties me to the bed, again
If Love
Muddies up my head, again:
Then love's loss, love's loss
is not my loss
If Love
keeps me from dreaming
If Love
keeps me from singing
Then love's loss, love's loss
is not my loss
If Love
keeps me from writing
If Love
keeps me from fighting for
my real needs
Then love's loss, love's loss
is not my loss
I'll tell you a secret
lean in close:
I WANT MY WHOLE SOUL
WHOLE SOUL TO MYSELF
and love's loss, love's loss is
not
my
loss.
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8. |
Hooligan House 2012
06:35
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Rosa wanted stars in her milkshake
Thadeaus said that he would try
he dusted off a dumpstered bottle
of ten year old rosewater
poured it on the creamy chocolate shake
It tasted like soap, like stars, and like soap
no stars above us. Only grimy Brooklyn sky.
I walked to Union Square with ten thousand good people
and a thousand assholes were marching too
like a herd of frightened sheep
shepherded by a wolf pack
I saw them pick a delicate girl from the crowd
But then I saw it
two thousand hands
a speaking circle
like a sea anemone
Joe Crow says young people
come to new york for the the darkness
I didn't ask him what it was
he meant
by that.
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9. |
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Historian tell the tale of
Andrew Jackson, dead and grinning
in his circle of ignorant men
ruling from the barrel of a gun
I built a time machine to go and fight him
found him waiting
on a windy hillside
with pistols ready
in western Tennessee
I could not kill my foe
I put a bullet in him though
his left shoulder aches
in the rain, awful
you know, fire hates the rain
He haunts me in revenge
I see his boots walking this
platform and his grey woven eyes
stare up from the papers
I need to survive
Conqueror John may bind him
feel them wrestling in the dark
I smell sulphur, see sparks,
they're fighting over
America's heart/
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10. |
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On the road alone for two long
months in the fall
everyday
broke cold and new
On a clumsy quest to scrounge
some art
for myself
scared of what I had to do
But then when night fell they
would take me in
to the house
And they would show me
where the bathroom is
and the couch
And they would feed me
something green
to eat
And before long I would
fall asleep in
strangers sheets
Amber and Moriah
were
roommates at Cleveland Arts
Karaoke, Kundera and
Cat Piss Rugs
They let me stay with them for
three days longer than we'd planned
when my next host turned out to be
an unreliable man
they were considerate and
I was shy
And I missed them, later,
when we said goodbye
Oberlin was once
an underground
railroad stop
And that is how it felt to me
I bought a musty book on
Eleanor Roosevelt
And the years that she spent free
The girls at Kunsthalle gave me
a warm corner to read
They listened to my songs
critiqued my feminine rhyme scheme
They were deliberate
and I was shy
and I missed them, later
when we said goodbye
I lived in a pro-art fortress
with ten thousand rooms
If I'm brave and wage some music
can I go back soon?
On the road again for two more months
in the spring
Everyday broke cold and new
On a clumsy quest to scrounge some art
for myself.
and to run away from you!
I know when night falls they will take me in
to the house
and they will show me where the bathroom is
and the couch
and they will feed me something green to eat
and before long
before long
and before long
before long....*
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11. |
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Come inside
Come inside
I've been waiting
come inside
Bright and broken, breaking open
Bright and broken, breaking open
Bright and broken, breaking open
How dare you choose numbness over me?
How dare you choose numbness over me?
Bright and broken, breaking open
Bright and broken, breaking open
Bright and broken, breaking open
Come inside
come inside
I've been waiting,
come inside.
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12. |
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Your heartbeat's mine
so I'm bleeding all the time
then you stop on a dime
you say everything's just fine
but your heartbreak's mine
so I'm bleeding all the time
then you stop on a dime
you say everything's just fine
arguing in a car outside the grocery store
arguing near a sculpture in a field
arguing in a car outside the grocery store
til you've almost convinced me that what I'm seeing
isn't real
your heartbeat's mine
so I'm bleeding all the time
when you stop on a dime
you say everything's just fine
but your heart breaks mine
so I'm bleeding all the time
when you stop on a dime
you say everything's just fine
(oh, I think, this beautiful boy wants to break me
sees my bright face wants to hold me and shake me
then when I'm broken he'll gently forsake me
oh say what you will, but I can't let him take me)
All my brightness, all my sightness
all my rightness, all my fightness
all my brightness all my sightness
all my rightness, all my fightness
Your heart beats mine
so I'm bleeding all the time
then you stop on a dime
and you say everything's just fine.
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Meaner Pencil New York
Meaner Pencil is a singing cellist whose style is influenced by blues, post-punk, and romantic opera. She uses her songs to glorify everyday experiences and acts of kindness, but is also willing to face the darkness. She is often heard singing in the New York subway system late at night. Her newest album Senza Amanti, was named WFMU's new album of the day on March 23rd 2014 ... more
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