1. |
Old Man of the Mountain
03:34
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I was fifteen in May of 03
When the old man came crumblin' down
From up on Cannon Mountain where he spent his whole life
Every piece of him fell to the ground
With a chin that was chiseled of stone
And a mouth frozen taking a breath
Of that fresh, elevated, Franconia air
Two-thousand feet high 'til his death
And they wrote him in poetry
Hailed him in imagery
Even carved him in currency
Late in his life
But they couldn't protect
That Old Man of the Mountain
From the Nor'easter winds and the New England ice
For millennia lending an ear to the forest
Surrounded by choruses rising in praise
In my short simple life on that sorry small day
I outlived him to say even men made of stone do not stay
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2. |
Until We Get Out
04:21
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We don’t have to wonder
We have all the questions we can take
A list longer than our shadows
At the tail end of the day
There’s not too much that shakes us
With these waves of chaos on the rise
But we read a phrase in sidewalk chalk
So sincere it made you cry
If you want to fall apart
Or if you want to hold yourself together for now
While we’re waiting in the dark
I can be whatever you need until we get out
This toxic positivity
Is like staring into artificial light
Pollution of the optimist
Is so bright it hurts my eyes
I don’t want to be happy now
I want to know the truth and nothing more
Even though it breaks me down
Though it knocks me to the floor
So if you want to fall apart
Or if you want to hold yourself together for now
While we’re waiting in the dark
I can be whatever you need until we get out
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3. |
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He so casually explains
How the world will be destroyed by fire not rain
As if he does not call it home
And I guess he doesn't
You know, the meek will inherit the earth
Only if the proud don't destroy it first
I was told we leave it all behind
I guess that's how we've learned to justify our crimes
As if it's just burnin' anyway
It's self-fulfilling
It's a slow burn
It's a fever
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4. |
September For
05:13
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What is September for
But to walk hand in hand
Down the darkening way
We’re in like a fire by night
And we’re out like a cloud
By the shortening day
We shot Roman candles in the dark
One misfired by my ear
And I nearly went deaf
Those days are a memory now
With the brightness of sun
In a split second breath
Who, who
Who will you hold when the night falls?
Who, who
Who will you hold when the night falls?
What is September for
But to cross the Red Sea
And the river Jordan
Out of the desert we fled
’Til we hungered to be captives
In a bed they made for us
September is promised land
That everyone knows
Will lead us to diaspora
Head full of thoughts with empty hands
What should have flown by now
In branches caught like Absalom
In the morning you’ll awake
To a world of white and gray
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5. |
Nothing To Do But Wait
04:08
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It’s never a good time to hit the brakes
In a world that’s built for speed, that runs on haste
They can’t say when
It will be over
They can’t tell us
How long it’ll take to heal
With predictions like
Carnival mirrors
It’s all contorted
There’s nothing that looks quite real
When there’s nowhere to go but here
Every day is a story yet to break
And when all that you have is time
Well there’s nothing to do but
Wait
Wait
Wait
Wait
We pressed the pedal but got nothing back
What should have been a correction ended up as a crash
Every failure to
Stop the transmission
Is a moment
That serves as a metaphor
For the way that
A lie can travel
Around the world
Before the truth can get out the door
When there’s nowhere to go but here
Every day is a story yet to break
And when all that you have is time
Well there’s nothing to do but
Wait
Wait
Wait
Wait
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6. |
Buried Underneath
03:36
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Several feet of snow
Pure white in the field
Often will it grow
Rarely will it yield
But something’s in the dirt
Something’s breaking free
The waking of the seeds
Buried underneath
Buried underneath
The waking of the seeds
Resistance in the act
Of every single breach
That snow is melting now
And as it does we’ll see
A field of rising seeds
That was buried underneath
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7. |
Rutabaga
04:45
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8. |
Nervous Tick
06:04
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You can dig in your heels as you scream at the clock
Throw a wrench in the gears but the hands will not stop
You can drink to forget but the time’s not forgot
And you beg for a little but it takes a lot
You've got a nervous
Tick and I can understand
You’ve got a nervous
Tickin' of the second hand
You’re encaged in the grid of a calendar’s page
Every x in the square is a note that you played
It’s been writing a melody, you’re center stage
And you pray you’re in key as your voice starts to shake
Tear it all down, what do they know?
Isn't time an illusion? Oh, I heard that before
But how our ears ring as the pendulum falls!
It's the clapper that swings in the bell that will toll for us all
You can dig in your heels
Throw a wrench in the gears
You're encaged in the grid
Every x in the square
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9. |
Don't Grow Weary
03:14
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When you look to the stars do you see it
’Tween the dots is the dark, something secret
Fill the space with a line, something needed
Constellation of mine, did you hear that?
Always seeking, ever moving
Don’t grow weary in well-doing
Always seeking, ever moving
Don’t grow weary
When I follow the curve of the zenith
Far beyond the horizon I feel it
We are cells in an organic being
Might as well be it well’s what I’m thinking
When you look to the stars
Can you feel it?
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10. |
Do It For the Ratings
04:43
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The labor in our stillness
The rattle in our bones
The tyranny of privilege
Banging on the glass windows
A sight that the world has seen
Many times before
Maybe not so obvious
But now it's at the door
We’re just trying to live here
Bottled up and waiting
While they spread it like a virus
Burning down the world
And they do it for the ratings
(All eyes on me, all lies on me)
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11. |
All is Not Lost
05:07
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I believe wholeheartedly that life is what you make it
You can build a wonder but you gotta be creative
Isn’t the point of living something bigger than a moment
Hard to understand until you’ve had the chance to hold it
Well hope is not gone, you just misplaced it
(In the back of your mind)
That word is alive, you can’t erase it
(It’s out there to find)
If you need reminding
What you seek is what you find
Then I will show you why this life is still worth chasing
‘Cause all is not lost
It’s just the dark before the dawn
All is not lost
We’ll find a way to carry on
All is not lost
I’ll wait with you ’til morning brings the sun
Oh, believe it or not, all is not lost
There’s an opportunity to change if you will take it
Push against the mold for long enough and you can break it
Somewhere beyond the now the who you’ll be is softly callin'
Begging to just be found, the door is waiting to be open
Well hope is not gone, you just misplaced it
(In the back of your mind)
That word is alive, you can’t erase it
(It’s out there to find)
If you need reminding
What you seek is what you find
Then I will show you why this life is still worth chasing
‘Cause all is not lost
It’s just the dark before the dawn
All is not lost
We’ll find a way to carry on
All is not lost
I’ll wait with you ’til morning brings the sun
Oh, believe it or not, all is not lost
If you need a shoulder I’m already heading over
All you need to do is make it to the morning
It’s just the dark before the dawn
We’ll find a way to carry on
I’ll wait with you ’til morning brings the sun
Oh, believe it or not, all is not lost
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12. |
On Her Way
05:54
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