1. |
Outsiders (Acoustic)
04:30
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Imagine the very first man on the moon, watching the earth rising up
Out of the darkness cerulean blue, water and thunder and dust
Floating like magic alive in the air, his body a weightless machine
Farther away than a plane or a bird or a dreamer had ever been
Outsiders, look up
It turns out we are not so different
Gray and deserted, the landscape is strange, holes on a desolate road
Holding the camera, he pauses to say, “Would you look at our beautiful home”
All of the angry and all of the lost, painting a circle of blue
Only a moment to lean back and watch the silvery rise of the moon
Outsiders, look up
The night is dark but brilliant and it turns out we are not so different
Imagine the very first man on the moon, watching the earth rising up
Out of the darkness cerulean blue, water and thunder and dust
Hundreds of thousands of miles away, the endless expanse of a dream
Pausing the burning of cities to say we are beautiful when we believe
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2. |
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Under a black umbrella, you were keeping to yourself
And the rain came down like diamonds on the sidewalk where you stood
Another lonely town across the endless bible belt
Nothing big enough for headlines ever happened here until today
Looking like a stranger in your older brother’s coat
You were watching from the corner, as the day slowly unfolded
A ringing bell against the door of Frank’s Savings and Loan
And you saw it all, the teller ducking down, the gun exploding
Like an old bronze statue, you were frozen there in place
One man slumped on the counter while the other filled a pillowcase
And suddenly your feet were running, rain all in your face
Across the street, the ringing bell, the door, the engine roaring
Blood was on the floor, the teller reaching out his hand
You felt his pulse, you called for help, you tried to stop the bleeding
Sirens on the boulevard, a rush of blue motion
Like a wave came on, their weapons drawn, the teller’s soul just leaving
Hands over your head they said, and you tried to tell the truth
The pillowcase, the getaway, the car, the blood and you
In your older brother’s coat, your stocking hat and worn out shoes
But to them, you were just some punk kid cracked out and skipping school
Anger like a freighter pulling punches in your head
And you tried to push your way past all the uniforms and the dead man
But they pulled you to the ground your face pressed on the wet cement
Like an animal, spreadeagle, the umbrella in your waistband
Gun, somebody cried, and you kicked your legs and broke the window
In a chaos of confusion, raining glass like diamonds loosed and you were
On your feet again and then a bullet danced right through you
And the ground came up like some great flood and then you were not moving
Under a black umbrella, you were keeping to yourself
And the rain came down like diamonds on the sidewalk where you fell
And nothing in the headlines even mentioned you at all
Just a corner note about a cracked-out kid who broke the law
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3. |
Astrovan (Acoustic)
03:29
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I love you, I’m nervous, my heart beats imperfectly, sometimes I act like a clown
In bright colored makeup, to hide my mistakes and the fear that you’ll figure me out
The deep purple sadness that washes my eyelids
I lift them up trying to look at you now
With love on my fingers, I move to deliver, the powerful thing that I felt
I love you, don’t worry, it’s just temporary, my back turned against you at night
A magnetic heat, it released all my demons, I dream that my dreams are on fire
The cool of your breath pulling in pulls me back, I uncurl like a flower in the yellowing light
Your eyes slowly open, two bluebirds arriving to land on the branch of my mind
I love you, forgive me, my suitcase is empty, I lost all the things that I am
Like kissing you tenderly, right off the highway, the back of a gold Astrovan
The best that I have are all things that you gave me, I’ll find a way baby to give them all back
The sky up above and the kindness of love and the truth even when it hurts bad
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4. |
Heroes (Acoustic)
03:10
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In the back of a downtown dive bar, on a wooden stage in the corner
You stand with your beat-up guitar, already halfway gone
The din of the drunken dreamers who staggered in from the real world
They lift their glasses skyward, and turn the TV on
You’re singing about a bar fight, a shot and a can of High Life
The tears of a girl you just might leave before too long
A lonesome crying coyote, a sweaty held out high note
A cowboy riding backroads away from everyone
But who are you gonna become if all of your heroes died young
You wake in a stranger’s bedroom, awash in last night’s cheap booze
And she don’t pretend to know you, she just pulls her work clothes on
You stumble through the weekend, til you finally call your girlfriend
I guess it’s just not working, I guess I’m just a dog
You sit at the kitchen table, a six-pack and a capo
An artist and an asshole, you write all of your wrongs
And your heroes grow unruly, they overdose or just leave
Their lives are fucked up movies and you’ve studied every one
But who are you gonna become if all of your heroes are gone
Who are you gonna become if all of your heroes died young
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5. |
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Two dark horses just appearing, early morning fog
Breath like engines overheating, rising up and gone
Holy light across the pasture, barbed wire fences built to trap them
Two dark horses running faster than they’ve ever run
Two dark horses, sweating, leaning, thunderous and wild
Flanked in low mist slowly leaving, red sun on the rise
Scars where darker forces whipped them, filled their mouths with blood and bit them
Two dark horses flying, lifting, weightless just this once
Two dark horses, hallelujah, watch them disappear
Powerful as dancers moving, low against the air
Thunder on the black horizon, rolling wild electric skyline
Two dark horses, storm behind them, freedom finally come
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6. |
Royal Blue (Acoustic)
04:57
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Emily, I finally found the edge
No one could’ve told me but I knew it when I saw it so I leapt
The air was cool across my chest
Falling was so beautiful, I brushed my spirit off and fell again
Emily, I think I am in love
Everything I ever knew is woven through the fabric of a touch
I lie awake and wait for god
A weary unbeliever finally feeling something greater taking off
But what if flying doesn’t take, will I always feel this way
Emily, I cannot be alone
Something deep inside of me is full of straining wire and bullet holes
I lay down on that sinking boat
Land on the horizon but the doves are blind and flying way too low
Emily, it’s everything at once
Bad news in the morning and an orchid blooming by the wall out front
It’s looking down, it’s looking up
A mattress by the highway or a mansion, marble lions line the walk
And what if flying doesn’t take, will I always feel this way
Emily, the rain is on the roof
The corrugated metal and the rattle of each drop it tells a truth
A Morse code, a royal blue
A letter to a lover lost somewhere between together and just you
Emily, I’m scared of getting old
Losing every battle with a body slowly growing still and cold
I want to free my fearful soul
Climb above the buildings til I’m filled up with a heaven I can hold
But what if flying doesn’t take, and we’re alive only to ache
Running wild and tempting fate
A brilliant fire, a silver blade
Will I always feel this way, will I always feel this way, will I always feel this way
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7. |
Ruins (Acoustic)
04:55
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The old house is vacant, the tall grass has taken the last of the garden away
Holes in the windows where kids throw in stones just to hear something shudder and break
It’s hard to say sorry, it’s humbling and scary, a gust of wind tearing your mask away
Leaving you lonely inside of your body, a ghost in a hollow embrace
A crumbling table, a broken cup handle, an animal running the walls
It’s hard to believe we were dreaming and graceful, or that we were lovers at all
A burn on the counter where, moving in anger, you danced like a stranger all strange and small
Then covered in blankets and holding me later, you said it was nobody’s fault
Oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room
Walking on eggshells and dust on the bookshelf, and catching your face in the glass
An angry destroyer, a hurt little boy, a man in an iron mask
Forgiveness is easy, you just have to kneel, and then promise to take it all back
But beautiful words are not real without something to heal where the glass is cracked
Oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room
A vase with no flowers that burn on the counter, the curtains all dirty and worn
A crack in the staircase and birds in the fireplace and paint peeling off of the door
All out of chances, a sorry ghost dancing a pattern of dust on the floor
Forever a memory, a lonely house empty, where nobody lives anymore
Oh, the whole thing down in ruins, alone, a ghost in an empty room
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8. |
The Dial (Acoustic)
02:56
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Sometimes I get to thinking there’s a hand upon the dial
Every time I move forward something turns me back around
A warpath worn into a soft white cloud
A dream catcher lying on the roadside shoulder
And state line comes again, I pass through flying
Got to keep on top of it, it’s almost night
The gas station hopping and the motel light
Flicking on and off again, a flare before me
And it just keeps turning around
Feedback burning in a dark blue sky
The theater curtains and the bar crowd forming
Sweat on the microphone, I lean back blind
In a state of unraveling a stolen story
Oh my god I go around again
There’s a heavy wind and the rain keeps coming
Sing it soft so they all lean in, give them everything, give them all you got
It just keeps turning around
Sometimes I get to thinking there’s a hand upon the dial
Turn it down, let the truth come crashing
If I don’t believe it then no one will
So I brace myself, til the next town passes
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9. |
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Margaret doesn't leave the house, she's almost at the end
Of an American novella, an exhausted heroine
She watches TV in a tracksuit on a metal rolling bed
Waits for someone to come back with orange juice and medicine
She doesn't fall asleep and when she does she has a dream
An endless stretch of beach and something rotting at the end
She walks forever just to lay beside that seal in the sand
Drags her feet and makes a pattern, lets the ocean draw it in
Just across the fence, we're planting flowers, making love
Our naked bodies full of breath and big ideas and pumping blood
We watch the ambulance come over to get Margaret once a month
From the floor where she has fallen on the white linoleum
Hours stretching out across the yard and down the street
I want a baby but I'm scared to let it grow inside of me
Where there's been only emptiness and truths I struggle to believe
Oh but emptiness is easy, I know there is more to be
Margaret in the halflight, all the kids around the bed
The walls all full of photos, faded corners, fingerprints
Breathing slow and even slower, telling jokes and holding hands
While a thousand words unspoken break like waves over their heads
Margaret, listen, don't be frightened, don't be sad to finally go
I see your wild eyes and your white hair, and I'm hoping that you hold
All that magic I imagine weaving through an older soul
Silver strands of silver memory, all that struggle, all that love
I hope it finds you when you're sleeping, something easy, something warm
Walking down that stretch of beach to find the seal finally gone
Swimming out toward the horizon, with the barnacles and foam
Leaving you beside the water, feeling free and beautiful
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10. |
Invisible Man (Acoustic)
03:37
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Invisible man, you’re an asphalt dancer
Cinematic, backward talking fool
Don’t reach for my hand with your madman laughter
I am scared to become like you
I awoke, in the early morning, in my own apartment, up above
Where you stood, in a bed of flowers, telling no one real to shut up
Get out, get out, I don’t want you in my brain
A seed, of doubt, it gets planted anyway
Invisible man, you’re a radiator
Burning up the pavement in the dark
Don’t reach for my hand, I am not your neighbor
I am scared to be like you are
I got up, made a cup of coffee, got my shoes and car keys and I left
To my job, down the elevator, out the door where you were yelling
Get out, get out, you’re not welcome in my brain
A seed, of doubt, well it haunts me like a plague
Invisible man, you’re a tightrope walker
An obscene applauder in the street
Don’t reach for my hand, I am not your brother
You are not a thing like me
Invisible man, your electric laughter
Running addled circles on the loose
And the truth is that I’m just another madman
And I see myself in you
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11. |
The Basement (Acoustic)
03:17
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I’m alright, just working, what a trip, to see you again
That night, in the basement, I’ve been trying to forget
How’s life, or whatever, I’m not sure what to say
Are you still in that apartment, by the freeway
Sweet disbeliever, you’ll never change, and I guess that it’s not you I blame
I’m just trying to get through the day
It’s fine, it happens, and we both had too much
You know, I’m not mad, I just have to run
You laughed about it after, said you always get what you want
And I left, while you were sleeping, and that’s the last we talked
Sweet disbeliever, you’ll never change, and I guess that it’s not you I blame
I’m just tired of feeling this way
Please believe that it’s not a game, and you got all of the cards anyway, and I hate you for making me hate
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12. |
The Bell (Acoustic)
03:09
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You came in like a roll of thunder, trying to change the shape of love
Looking for somebody to believe in you for once
How’d the world get so confusing, how’d the ache inside your chest
Go from something beautiful to something dangerous
But now I guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell
But nothing ever changes til you ring the bell
Lit up like a firecracker, you’ve been burning out for years
Nothing left but ruined plastic shells and helpless tears
But once you were a brilliant flash, a crash of silver light
Don’t forget the way you felt, all hungry and alive
But now I guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell
But nothing ever changes til you ring the bell
I know you’re a crazy dreamer, I know that you still believe
Something good is just beyond the darkness of this dream
And time will tell a softer story, how you climbed above the wire
Held that hammer high above and made the damn thing chime
But now I guess the rain is coming, and it’ll rain like hell
But nothing ever changes til you ring the bell
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Anna Tivel Portland, Oregon
Anna Tivel's 6th studio album, "Living Thing" will be released May 31 on Fluff and Gravy Records
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