1. |
Small Joys
03:32
|
|||
Small joys gliding to me
When I thought they were far away
I'll set out on foot with you tonight
And we'll be so far away
If you know the truth
That all we have is time and luck
I'll have to ask you to keep it to yourself
That's a secret that's still out of bounds
And our wheels
They will be turning back and forth
And we'll let our heavy burdens weigh their worth
And our burning, burning torches will run out
And we'll go to sleep safe and sound
As I watch you go my dear
I hear you whisper in my ear
There’s still time to live for more
And I can't let you down
From this place that I've found
In my heart
It's all for you
It's all for you
No I can't let you down
From this place that I've found
In my heart
It's all for you
|
||||
2. |
Leaf Left
04:04
|
|||
I was once invincible
Coiled and ready to spring into the future
I pushed myself on
Fading past the landscapes of a thousand different moments
I wanted to hold every one
'Til they shined right through my finger tips
Both saved and not yet begun, until they're gone
I am dry like a leaf left in the summer time
Frail, but not alone
Waving high, with a view that's given when you die
Surrounded and going home
I will lay myself down
Once I've carried the wreckage out of this valley
Your face is the last thing I'll see
Cloudy-eyed alongside this breathless showering spring
Oh, pour down on me
Your drops will burn my memory
Oh please, let me see who you are
I am dry like a leaf left in the summer time
Frail, but not alone
Waving high, with a view that's given when you die
Surrounded and going home
Pour down on me, oh pour down on me
Oh pour, down on me and let me see
I am dry like a leaf left in the summer time
Frail, but not alone
Waving high, with a view that's given when you die
Surrounded and going home
Pour down on me, oh pour down on me
Oh pour, down on me a let me see
Oh pour down on me, pour down on me
Pour down on me, and let me see
Pour down on me, on pour down on me
Pour down on me and let me see
Who you are
|
||||
3. |
Jericho Land
05:54
|
|||
A storm came in from the West and blew me to the East
And I hear that boxcar movin’ to the sound of that train track beat
The sky, it wasn’t pretty, the tall grass burnt and bland
Sometimes when you go farther you see great things turned to sand
I’m going down to Jericho land
I’ve got my partner, we’ve got no plan
We’re eight days in and babe if we can stand it
We’ll break our backs to see home again
Last month Stevie ended his life alone in the woods
I guess he was tired of not doing things he thought he would
There was no one there to hear he did not cry
And now the rest of can’t sleep
We just sit around and wonder why
I’m going down to Jericho land
I’ve got my partner, we’ve got no plan
We’re eight days in and babe if we can stand it
We’ll break our backs to see home again
I’m building Stevie a new home to see that he stays
He might not want, but I think he’ll like it anyway
It’s a place in the hills where no one will find him
Where he’ll do what he wills, with this silly old world behind him
[But we’re still beside him]
I’m going down to Jericho land
I’ve got my partner, we’ve got no plan
We’re eight days in and babe if we can stand it
We’re gonna break our backs to see home again
Now I hate to say it, but Stevie’s really gone
And I’ve had a hard time keepin’ on
But if he was here there’s one thing I’d know for sure
Is that it feels so good, to know you’re strong,
To keep the faith, to carry on!
And I’m going down
Again….
Again….
|
||||
4. |
These Hands
06:35
|
|||
My family came here on a ship full or soldiers and sails
Bargained hard for a spot to keep, while keeping their souls elsewhere
And two hundred years ago these hands were worked so hard
But these valleys are still unknown even though we have come so far
These hands, they are not yours, they are not yours, to keep
These hands, they are not yours, they are not yours to keep
Keep
I knew a man who was covered in dust and had taken a few years onto his face
Outside he was brittle, he was torn a little, but inside he knew his only place
I took him by the hand and said come on, take a stand, under the hot white sun to raise our arms
He did the best he could and it was better than good because he flew off, I won't see him again
These hands, they are not yours, they are not yours to keep
These hands, they are not yours, they are not yours to keep
Keep
My hands have held a book or two and they've played and they've waved and they've made
Now they hold something dearer than that, it's another hand holding right back
And even though we will be covered in dust, they will first be nurtured in out trust
In the valley that we then will know; after searching so long we will let go
But these hands, they are not yours, they are not yours to keep
These hands, they are not yours, they are not yours to keep
Keep
Keep
|
||||
5. |
Stronger Than a Sound
05:54
|
|||
Patterns in the stories that I’ve read
Make me call to a savior, I’ve only listened but never said
You were naked in my mind and left a hunger unsatisfied
I swear you wanted nothing more but to see
If we could last
Through it all
There’s something in the way that you say it will be all right
That plants roots into the ground
It’s not another image made to bleed out in the rain
It’s stronger than a sound
But will we last
Through it all
In the process of sanitation I’d forgotten which way my feet had walked
I swear I only heard but never talked
I danced into the fire of the night
Laughter burning just in spite
No one dared to come down
To fast
From it all
There’s something in the way that you say it will be all right
That plants roots into the ground
It’s not another image made to bleed out in the rain
It’s stronger than a sound
But will we last
Through it all
It’s only working if we dare
And I’m scared of this bullshit, but I won’t just lay down anywhere
My loneliness creeps in with every perfect time
Reminding me that you’re not here, to which I’m very blind
Very blind, very blind
There’s something in the way that you say it will be all right
That plants roots into the ground
It’s not another image made to bleed out in the rain
It’s stronger than a sound
There’s something in the way that you say it will be all right
That plants roots into the ground
It’s not another image made to bleed out in the rain
It’s stronger than a sound
Stronger than a sound….
Stronger than a sound….
|
||||
6. |
Stories Untold
06:04
|
|||
It was a biting winter but a hot and loose July
And she took the love that saved her; it was all that she could try
Painting a decent picture both of blue and endless nights
She knew would soon be mounted on that great December sky
And oh the luscious valley that bloomed in spring
Where she had settled and where she would sing
Offered her the comforts she had yearned for so long
A country told in whisper and a place to call home
'Cause 16 miles out of town
And 6-feet underground lay a lover she knew so well
His lips they were still cold
Left from the stories still untold
He saved for her to take and tell
Honey, we will never understand this land
We were not made to in our lives
We are the wildlife in big demand
The rising souls who must survive
I heard from paradise that it has an empty nest
All its children have grown up and there's no more struggle left
They had quite the invitation to move over seas
Live their lives backwards and rewrite history
'Cause now kids count their follies one by one
On the fingers they've been given by the great and holy sun
And she counts the wings on the crows over head
Wishing everyone was a day he wasn't dead
'Cause 16 miles out of town
And 6-feet underground lay a lover she knew so well
His lips they were still cold
Left from the stories still untold he wished he’d had the time to tell
Honey we will never understand this land
We were not made to in our lives
We are the wildlife in big demand
The rising souls who must survive
'Cause 16 miles out of town
And 6-feet underground lay a lover she knew so well
His lips they were still cold
Left from the stories still untold he wished he had cared to tell
'Cause honey we will never understand this land
We were not made to in our lives
We are the wildlife in big demand
The rising souls who must survive
And honey we will never understand this land
We were not made to in our lives
We are the wildlife in big demand
The rising souls who must survive
The rising souls who must survive
The rising souls who must survive...
|
||||
7. |
Ventriloquist
04:21
|
|||
Never thought I’d see the day
The look in her eyes; the words she would say
Armed to the teeth with her tongue just to prove that the
Sticks and stones weren’t half as bad.
It isn’t that hard to forget what it means
To do unto others, forgive us those things
That muddle the thoughts in our heads when our hearts
Have broken with the beat of what was
Meant to maintain the love and goodwill
Between mothers and brothers and thaw through the chill of the
Hunch that this crutch of a God might have gone and
Broken both the legs we used to
Walk through the deserts and wade through the streams
To the fields and homes in the back of our dreams
That our children to lose as they run on ahead
To make our mistakes their own.
I’d like to throw a voice
To all the ears that refuse to hear the
Cries of years gone-by
Asking why goodwill became a running joke to the
Kids brought up to move and groove
To the rhythm of the fleeting, seething urge to
Doubt the best and break the rest, and
Blame the ocean when their boats are left adrift at sea.
Never seems that hard at first
One or two drinks at the most and the thirst will
Dry up like rain in the face of the sun
But wait, you can hear it…
Back through the cracks and the lines in a face
That your friends used to trust and your lovers would embrace,
Broken by woe and the risk that was run in
Standing in contempt of how your
Father was a teacher and mother was a bride.
Your life was always grounded in the privilege you’d hide from the
Critics, naysayers and unquestionable foes
Who’d dare to call you out on all the
Bullshit you’d use to bury your shame
Your life and love can't be played like some game you can
Bend and then twist to produce the results
That will quiet that little drone.
I’d like to throw a voice
To all the ears that refuse to hear the
Cries of years gone-by
Asking why goodwill became a running joke to the
Kids brought up to move and groove
To the rhythm of the fleeting, seething urge to
Doubt the best and break the rest, just
Aching to prolong the thrill.
I’d like to throw a voice
To all the ears that refuse to fear the
Cries of years gone-by
Asking why goodwill became a running joke to the
Kids brought up to move and groove
To the rhythm of the fleeting, seething urge to
Doubt the best and break the rest, and
Blame the ocean when their boats are left adrift at sea.
|
||||
8. |
Toy Boats
04:00
|
|||
I looked out of the window of the train
Past Sara’s face onto the plain
And watched the steeple change its shapes
As we swiftly pulled away
From a weekend nearly over
That had started on the wrong foot
With temples tensed into knots
And a broken down train
We stood like wallflowers in a town
And we did not know its name
With directions skewed and home far from sight
Sara said, “Everything’s gonna be alright.”
We saw toy boats floating down the stream
And children laughed until they screamed
We looked at each other as if in a dream
Said “this might be paradise”
We pulled an old bike from the city creek
And made it new again
We were carried away by blind luck
‘Cause this might be the only time this ever happens
And I guess life is made by rusted tracks and forgotten ways
But we never hear that anyway
We are focused, we are pointed
We are centered, we are sheltered
From the very moments that we need
Like little toy boats and abandoned old bikes
Towns that we don’t know and trains that we can’t ride
And promises to save, directions that need losing
All of this it takes to push the wrong things from the right
|
||||
9. |
Small Joys Portland, Oregon
Don’t be fooled: at a collective height of 22’9” Small Joys has a sound as big as your mother is sweet. Bringing a contemporary and assertive twist to the age-old musings of life and song, lyricist Olivia Awbrey combines the intimacy of Frank Turner's storytelling with Springsteen-like theatrics. A mix of acoustic heart and electric soul will carry you through tales of love, loss, history and home ... more
Streaming and Download help
Small Joys recommends:
If you like Small Joys, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp