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Now, Now

by Know Orchestra

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1.
Shut Up 02:25
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!
2.
Super Fish 03:30
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
3.
Tree Cheers 04:08
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.
4.
Tick 05:43
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.
5.
In Between 02:59
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.

about

These are happy songs inspired by exhaustion, overwhelm, and living with the reality of death. The lyrics are webs of rhymes, puns, and word play in the spirit of rap, mid-career Paul Simon, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Dr. Seuss.

The music blends the colors and nuances of chamber music with the energy and spontaneity of experimental jazz and free improv.

Know Orchestra is a quintet of violin, cello, clarinet, piano, percussion, and voice. We first formed as a trio in 2001 and since then have done projects ranging from in-the-moment settings of Kerouac texts to microtonal music to interactive children’s concerts.

Personnel:

Todd Brunel, Bb and bass clarinet
Gary Fieldman, percussion
Ima Jonsdottir, violin and voice
Valerie Thompson, cello and voice
Dan Shaud, piano and voice

credits

released March 11, 2022

Album art by Christopher Love
Recorded at Wellspring Sound Studio, Acton MA
Recording and mixing by Matt Hayes
Mastering by Eric Kilburn
All songs and arrangements by Dan Shaud

Funded in part by a generous grant from The Rivers School, Weston MA

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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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