1. |
Bethlehem Is Burning
06:29
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I dreamed of fire, every night...
I dreamed of fire
every night, I've been dreaming of fire,
all-consuming, choking me,
choking all of you.
(I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY)
Black clouds, blotting out the sun,
no future, no hope,
this is the way the world ends,
electronic fire
and you are the cause of it all
(<---you are the cause of it all)
(you are the cause of it all--->)
Bethlehem is gone,
the manger is ablaze,
no star to be seen,
no hope.
We've set fire to
humility, civility
We've set fire to empathy,
to reason
We've set fire to amity,
to peace,
and the Prince cannot breathe in his cradle,
while we stare through our screens
in white hot fury.
The worst are full of passionate intensity
while the best lack all conviction.
My dream of fire, seeming all too real
I don't know what is real.
Did we lose our country?
(Was our country real?)
It was never real.
We cannot put out this fire.
I don't want to dream again.
Wake me up, I don't want to dream.
Bethlehem's not coming back,
Republic's not coming back,
Bethlehem's not coming back,
I am not coming back.
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2. |
Diesel Fumes
03:55
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West on Route 5 by foot--
piles of gray snow, sludge, soot
would be normal,
but smells of burning building, burning plastic,
asbestos, formaldehyde,
clastic rock and brick destroyed, to reform,
no.
Thank God for diesel fumes.
Diesel fumes remind me of airports,
of travel, of returning,
rising again, deliverance,
home.
FedEx:
Deliver Us From Evil™
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3. |
Uncle in the Red Cap
03:48
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Think of what we've lost--
laughter in the summer,
an unquestioned sense that we were one,
intuitive bonds,
little fragile jokes.
I can't talk to you now.
You can't talk to me.
Think of what we've lost.
We are not alone,
but we are--
We are speaking in tongues,
understanding nothing.
Tell me do you think that I am evil?
Tell me do you think that I'm naive?
I need you to know that I act out of love,
and I believe in compassion,
but I get so angry,
these days I'm always feeling angry.
Maybe I need space from where we're going,
and I need time to grieve for what we've lost,
but I believe you're wrong
and this is just too big to be quiet.
I can try to bite my tongue, but it's on fire.
(We are speaking in tongues,
understanding nothing)
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4. |
Gasoline and Cigarettes
02:36
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I've been sleeping in sheds,
or abandoned churches.
Made it to the Rez,
this land disperses
gasoline, slot machines,
empty dreams, tobacco stains,
broken treaties, broken picture frames,
tepee kitsch, novelties,
empty WNYers wanting
Gasoline and cigarettes
I've been trying to decide what makes a country.
Is it freedom? Liberty?
Identity? A common cause?
Common values? Ideals?
A self-evident truth, here or there?
Or is it fucking land?
And you can tell me now,
you can tell me I have no goddamn idea
that I have no goddamn idea what it means to lose my country.
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5. |
A Valley Among the Hills
03:28
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Nihilism
in a valley among the hills.
The internal combustion is here.
You say this country needs a blaze,
it needs a flood,
like the one that took the hospital--
it's not coming back;
The leather, the glue
are not coming back
so burn it all down,
flood it all out,
cause it's not getting any worse.
Things aren't getting any worse.
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6. |
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7. |
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Because we never die,
we should feel more responsible
and I should feel more at peace,
but we're in the Burned Over District
where everything is beautiful,
but everything hurts,
and it seems so easy to say
that we go on and go on and go on and go on and go on
and we are one with the beautiful.
Tell me again your pillowcase wisdom.
Tell me again your fridge magnet Psalm.
Just tell me it's going to be all right,
just tell me it's not my fault.
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13. |
Prey for Unity
06:45
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I am not the Messiah.
I cannot heal the sick
or make the lame to stand.
And I would not want to wear that crown.
(Pray for unity)
How would I choose who to save,
when every one of us is broken?
I cannot tell you you are not,
but that does not mean
there are not debts to pay.
(Prey for unity)
This falcon never had a falconer to hear
or not to hear.
Should I try to protect the mouse below--
the killing is in the system.
We need meat.
And if water is life and death is real
then we cannot put out the fire
(are we more than beast)
and I cannot do anything
but if I'm silent I am complicit
And we will never be as one
because to be as one
we need an enemy.
We are the enemy.
The self is the enemy.
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The Hathaway Family Plot Buffalo, New York
A pianist / hermit living in Buffalo, NY with a penchant for noise and weirdness. This is his attempt to put something into the world that doesn't sound like anything else. For better or worse. It's all CC BY-NC-SA, so use away for your non-commercial projects, though the musician appreciates when you let him know. ... more
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