1. |
Shut Up
02:25
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Shut up
Shut up
But don’t shut
down
Shut up
Shut up
What
a glut
of sound
That floods the market
Floods the square
Floods the basement
Floods the air
It floods my head
And fills me whole
I hear it’s drowning out my soul
And shut up
Shut up
Chorus in my brain
In every key
You raise the strain
You raise the kids
You raise the dead
You raise a million ways to dread
the haze of trying to make choices
Which is mine in all these voices?
I’m here
I’m here
I’m here
I’m here
I can hear
I can hear
I can hear
I can hear
I’m a satellite dish
I'm an empty cup
I’m a wide receiver
With both hands up
I’m a bow and a quiver
and a bud in the spring
a long hollow tube
and an unplayed string
From my heart to my hands
From my lungs to my limbs
From my nerves to my knees
From my tonsils to my toenails
From my bald head to my bunions
I’m all ears
I’m all ears
I’m all ears
We’re all ears
So
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Hit it!
Then shut up!
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2. |
Super Fish
03:30
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Overwhelmed and lost,
exhausted,
frosted,
tossed about
gave in, sold out,
slave to the weather
within and without;
No intent or purpose -
on the surface, just surviving -
Don't think! Don't sink!
Sing a song and float along,
is it so wrong to not look down?
I'm not alone, I'll say the word:
a name you've heard,
not plane or bird, it’s…
Super Fish, Super Fish
Flying through the shallow waters
Super Fish, Super Fish
Save us from the deep
I'm concerned you've learned
to turn your yearning off
and not feel
Wake up, just deal -
Shake off complacency,
take on what's real
Underneath is wonder,
teach the fundamental stories;
Doorways, vistas;
History, the human race,
why can't you see past your own face?
Elitist maybe
but at least I'm not defeatist,
listen - don't be…
Super Fish, Super Fish
Flying through the shallow waters
Super Fish, Super Fish
Frightened of the deep
Splash of faces,
grace,
a place,
a taste,
sensations of mind;
Flashing,
passing,
washing away
in the ocean of time
Love of life,
the laugh,
the lift,
the light,
the lullaby of color;
Lover, mother;
Borne by water to a world of want
where we would wish that we could
have our fill and never suffer
but instead
we're had for supper…
we all are…
Super Fish, Super Fish
Flying through the shallow waters
Super Fish, Super Fish
Eaten by the deep
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3. |
Tree Cheers
04:08
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Grieving and restless
I leave before breakfast
and recklessly cross
the new eight-lane highway
By way of the old house
unsettled by sold ghosts
I turn where the freight trains
once rattled and rolled
Wild overgrown woods,
my soul leaps for childhood,
and jumps the tracks back
to those warm leafy days
The trees and your face
and the safety and sunlight,
a longing as long
as my arms can embrace
I enter the clearing
and sense I am nearing
the center, the core,
the wound from the first war:
Will you be under the tree, rooting for me?
---
Child of my own
he is far from all grown
with his limbs like the limbs
of this young apple tree
He climbs up it slowly
my worry his gravity
eyes where the jet planes
make trails in the sky
Don't fly yet! Pain's threat
has me fearful and petty,
not ready to join
in your wild cheerful fun
You reach for life's fruit
while I stand stooped and stunted,
and haunted by death
though your life's just begun
You look down at me
from your place in the tree
and ask where I will be
so I tell you what’s true:
I'll be underneath the tree, rooting for you.
---
Their lives were like leaves,
on a branch in the trees,
each with only a season
to dance on the breeze
But they spread out in families,
we’re under their canopy -
from Maine to the Great Plains
they scattered their seed
Their story’s the source
of our brains and our bodies
The course of their lives
courses live in our veins
They speak in our dreams
and peer out from our mirrors
Our features are teachers
that something remains
I kneel by the tree
and in tears I will trust
that the world needs the seed
and the leaf and the dust -
And they’ll be underneath the tree, rooting for us.
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4. |
Tick
05:43
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Take in this summer's day
The hum of life at play
The same sweet wind
Outside and in
And all is easy…
Except me -
I can only see the ground
Because even Eden harbors evil
And there’s a new snake in town:
Tick tick
it's no picnic when you picnic on us
you hide inside our paradise
to all that pleases you bring diseases
Tick tick
I'm too chicken I'll get sick and so
I don't set foot where you reside
I just stay put and sit inside
I'm not wild I've been exiled
from the garden
Tick tick
You can’t pick
When you get sick
The clock
Ticks and tocks
And talks to me
Of aging and infirmity
All nature’s got it in for me!
It’s targeting my skin and brain
I’m wrong inside
I just feel pain
My ache and shame
The mark of Cain
Is a bull’s eye!
Tick tick
We’re more alike than you might think
But you’re more a mite
So you don’t think
And you’d sure like a mighty drink
Of our blood -
But we have a thirst too,
But we’ll do you one worse, we’ll
Suck the whole earth dry
So we can grow and thrive
And spew exhaust and fumes
To show who’s boss of whom
You insects and your germs
We’ll disinfectant and learn to
Cloud the sky with spray so we can wash away this
Silt of guilt and filth and illness until at last we can…
Take in this summer's day
The hum of life at play
The same sweet wind
Outside and in
And all is easy…
Except us -
We can only see the ground
And things don’t look better for after the fall:
It’s the same snake after all.
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5. |
In Between
02:59
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In between the scenes
I sit off screen
Unknown, unseen
Uneasy alone
Caught within
This case of thin skin
Face to face with my
Thoughts, mistakes, and sins
Get me out of this place!
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now,
Get me out of here.
In between the good songs
Are wrong ones:
Flat pancakes of tunes
That can’t be over too soon
Words inert
Like dead birds in dirt
Insightless, flightless dreck
Respect!
I just want to connect...
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now,
I am likable.
In between what’s here
And dreams
I veer
So far, so near…
The story’s unclear
I’d prefer a sure ride to high ground
Not this slide down
To stuck in muck town out of luck but
It’s where I’ll be found
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now,
Here I am.
In between my breaths
I catch the whiff of death
What’s come,
What’s left,
The gift of regret…
This is it!
This bit
This instant
Brightly lit
But sight unseen
Not has been or will be but
Right in between
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now,
Here we are.
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Dan Shaud and Know Orchestra Boston, Massachusetts
Cross-genre songs with quirky texts and a chamber jazz vibe.
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