1. |
Holding on to Summer
01:33
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I’m always holding onto Summer
like a child to mother’s hand
afraid to take the steps all on my own
I’ve been dead, alone, and dreaming
and detached from the detail
that I might someday reap what I have sown
but there’s a world beyond the comfort
and a cool wind in the air
and time, it does not discriminate
and I am curious to conjure
something else beyond the breeze
to see just what the Autumn orchestrates
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2. |
Cicada Year, Pt. 1
02:58
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we awoke with the sun upon our faces
our shadows, never taller than our souls
we spent the long days just staring at the sunlight
never conscious of the ever-coming cold
we believed that we were crickets in a cicada year
singling like the Summer never ends
with a dream that we were meant to live forever
breathing in the life as we began
now we’re running from the twilight and tomorrow
November always nipping at our heels
the light, now fading on a grim horizon
trampled under time’s revolving wheels
so bury me with solace in my song
that we will sing the day the sun comes out again
but this revelry cannot be eternal
the light will fade as fast as it began
everybody wants to go to heaven
but no one wants to die
and I don’t want to live forever
but I could use a little more time
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3. |
Our Finest Hour
03:22
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I’m committed, but conflicted
contradicted, but confirmed
in knowing that I know that I have so much left to learn
a purveyor of the problem, out here trying to solve myself
feeling discrepancy between what I have seen and what I’ve felt
we’re all searching for our own versions of Heaven over Hell
but nothing really changes until we decide to change ourselves
and I won’t settle to watch the world burn from up here in the cheap seats
but right now I know that I still need to listen before I speak
I was born a microphone, and all I want to do is sing
but does this world even need another song from one like me
if all the world’s indeed a stage, then we are merely overplayed
I want to sing the song that helps the unsung singers have their say
peel the Summer off my shoulders, let the cold cover my skin
and cast away my comfort, let the change begin
and in our finest hour, let me stand up by your side
I want to do what’s right while I still have the time
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4. |
Six One Way
02:43
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we never knew
about the ghosts along the roadside
that we stumbled right passed years ago
not looking up as we walked by
and they followed us home
in our steps, they fell behind
and all the things that we try to ignore
haunt us in our later lives
always searching for an answer
but finding bad news
always looking for the rhythm
but settling for the blues
tell me something
are you happy in your skin?
do you believe the things you sing about
when the light begins to dim?
because I’ve been stumbling in this darkness
I can barely get to sleep
and when I can, the things I dream about
ain’t what they used to be
we always knew
about the wolves outside the door
watching through the windows
and waiting quietly in the snow
and the walls aren’t closing in
but this room is getting full
perhaps the noble thing to do
is to fight the beast all on my own
I’m not giving up
on the things that I wanted to be
back when I was 18
I’ve just changed
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5. |
The Price of Postcards
04:21
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tonight, I can see you in the moon above the dashboard
and I can hear your voice in hotel lobby Beach Boys records
and I may be in Ohio, or I may be in Vancouver
and it feels just like forever, and I wish I was home sooner
the price of postcards change from state to state
but black coffee tastes the same everywhere
and we feel the weight of phone calls that can’t be face to face
sitting outside the hotel by the stairs
I haven’t seen the sun in days, but tonight we have the moon
don’t worry about me, baby, I love you and I’m coming home real soon
it’s cold in November and you’re a thousand miles from me
and it’s cold in California, like it’s cold in Tennessee
and I could say, “I miss you” but it doesn’t do the trick
like those Carolina Winters, where it snows but doesn’t stick
when I get home we can go back to Sylvan Park and make out in your car
or drive out to Dickson County and look out at the stars
and maybe feel a little smaller, while our burdens feel so big
and I will hold you close forever, or as long as this world exists
and I don’t know where I’m going, but I know where I want to be
and that’s back home beside you, and our new family
I’ve never seen anything so beautiful, and I’ve never been more afraid
but fear can’t hold a candle to the beauty that we’ve made
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6. |
Wolves Outside the Door
04:46
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we never knew
about the ghosts along the roadside
that we stumbled right passed years ago
not looking up as we walked by
and they followed us home
in our steps, they fell behind
and all the things that we try to ignore
haunt us in our later lives
always searching for an answer
but finding bad news
always looking for the rhythm
but settling for the blues
tell me something
are you happy in your skin?
do you believe the things you sing about
when the light begins to dim?
because I’ve been stumbling in this darkness
I can barely get to sleep
and when I can, the things I dream about
ain’t what they used to be
we always knew
about the wolves outside the door
watching through the windows
and waiting quietly in the snow
and the walls aren’t closing in
but this room is getting full
perhaps the noble thing to do
is to fight the beast all on my own
I’m not giving up
on the things that I wanted to be
back when I was 18
I’ve just changed
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7. |
Technicolor
04:15
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I was writing a novel, I was painting a portrait
I was singing a song about another great big forfeit
watching the progress slip through the cracks
the culmination of a year long panic attack
already got me a heart, already got me a brain
just trying to keep the first from breaking, trying to keep the other sane
I’ve got all the courage I need to keep on the road
but for the first time in my life I’ve found someplace that feels like home
it used to be so much easier when the world was black and white
and I could fall into my sadness, click my heels three times and hide
but now the world’s in technicolor, and I’m walking through the door
tell my friends that I’m just fine, and I won’t go back to Kansas anymore
I want to shut down the system, I want to hold my calls
I want to see the world through my own eyes, without a faux social withdrawl
because all these clouds on my canvas, like the choke in my song
like I’m staying out all night without seeing a single star
because there’s a storm a-brewing, there’s a witch on the wind
telling lies and treason, and watching us give in
still we look over the rainbow, but there’s no end in sight
always dreaming in color, but living life in black and white
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8. |
The Good Fight
04:01
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I pledge allegiance to the screen
the conduit of my innermost beliefs
seeking solidarity
to validate these things I’ve never seen
look at me, so contentious
I’m the poet of my time
writing my convenient
sermons to the choir
and is it all for the greater good
or do we just toe the party line
fighting the so-called good fight
just so I can get what’s mine?
I pledge allegiance to the stage
the means of all my self-appointed guts
bleeding out my policies
fully knowing I’ll survive the cut
look at me, so controversial
I’m the martyr of my time
preaching my convenient
sermons to the choir
and just who are we helping?
and what are we fighting for?
fighting the so-called good fight
I’m living in an echo chamber, and I can’t get out
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9. |
Leave the Light On
04:29
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load in’s at 7, doors at 9
downbeat at 5 after 10
try to find some food around 8, then try to call home
leave a message when I try, and try again
I’m running out of reasons to keep getting back in the van
it’s funny how seasons change in spite of all our plans
so leave the light on for me
I’ve been thinking a lot about the darkness lately
because I don’t really know how to feel
are the curtains drawn on a dim, dark stage
where I bow my head and turn heel
and I’m not saying that I’m looking for treason
I feel guilty enough as it is
I just got to get out there on my own
but I don’t want to leave my friends
I’m running away before I run myself to death
please forgive me, and let me keep what I have left
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10. |
The Reap
02:54
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and so, the going of the year
I’m tending fires prepared from Autumn leaves
and wistful souvenirs
and so the last September moon
smoldering to ashes
the Summer’s gone, the winds are coming soon
and so, the coming of the reap
I’m counting fires that maybe should have been
left out of the reckoning
how has it already been a year
plans and dreams we’ve made, just embers now
the smoke, it disappears
they say the song remains the same
everything else around has changed
only shades and empty shells
shadows of their former selves
yet, lest we turn the sun away
gather ye rosebuds while ye may
another dream decays, so long
another month and I’ll be gone
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11. |
Magnolia
03:59
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now I drag this racing river
towards a sea that’s never full
baptized by a belief that I might be satisfied
at once, a vision comes to me
outside the forest and the trees
a magnolia set apart from the pines
what if this race towards the horizon
where I’m trying to catch the sun
is really just a hope to outrun it behind me
and this perception in my mind
that I have anything to prove
is as fleeting as the falling of the leaves
and the leaves they fall
and I keep running
what if I choose to hitch the horses?
pull my name and cash my chips?
would you still regard me in your favor?
because I’ve been living in the lie
that I could be so satisfied
by singing not for love, but for labor
I haven’t slept on a Sunday night
since I was 16 years old
and now I crave the silence of a willing surrender
and let go this narcissistic notion
“to live fast and die young”
when life has become a much more thrilling adventure
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12. |
Cicada Year, Pt. 2
02:00
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let the cicadas sing their song until there’s nothing left to sing
let the magnolias bloom, and let them fall
let me learn how to let go of the solace in the sun
and learn to face the wolves when they should call
because time is relentless, and the winds have surely changed
and slowly, Summer into Autumn slips
let me embrace this transformation, and embrace the life I own
and cherish all these songs upon my lips
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Benchmarks Nashville, Tennessee
Lots of guitars.
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