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Grenades 4:280:00/4:28
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New Colossus 4:260:00/4:26
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Paradise Fell 4:370:00/4:37
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Rising Down 4:460:00/4:46
Parallels - lyrics
We live parallel lives
Our eyes on the signs
That move us from left to right but
For any binding to sever
There’s a wreck and a wrecker
Which one am I?
If the fixer is fake
And the glass doesn’t shatter
Does the banner yet wave?
There’s no justice
It’s just us baby
We’re conductors for one another
Copper in the gravy
Spit it out, cottonmouth
All the venom you’ve been saving
For me
There’s a masked man
With a stone in each hand
Weighing my favours and faults
Marking them down in a ledger
If I gave you the count
With my grievances all laid out
Would you own the sum
Or come undone
The payments hit late
The glass never shatters
The ladders, only snakes
There’s no justice
It’s just us baby
We’re conductors for one another
Copper in the gravy
All your lily livered years
Spent in quiet while bias
Nursed you into fear
There’s no justice
It’s just us baby
We’re conductors for one another
Copper in the gravy
There’s no justice
It’s just us baby
No delays, no denials
All my friends are aching
I’m sick with distrust
And I wish you would just
Care for me
Care, care for me
Nine Pin - Lyrics
Paradise Fell
Kaia Kater
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/Swept my soul across the avenue
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
I’m a real live wire/I keep my suffering slow
You’re a child of fire/And the Holy Ghost
But we keep our hand close/And we play on out
We let it play on out
In the mother’s breast and the father’s bone
In that city of gold with revelations unknown
Parts in temperance grey
You could live that way, you could live that way
That needle rides high on the bruised up tracks
Like a bitter train along the saviour’s back
We repented in quiet
Silence in the Psalm, Silence in the Psalm
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/Swept my soul across the avenue
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
I’ll dip you low and far into the depths of time
And scan the waves along the west coastline
‘Til you come up for air
Glory everywhere,glory everywhere
So who’s your maker now? Who’s your maker now?
The sultan King or the velvet sow?
Just keep on driving that wheel
And count your steps out loud, count your steps out loud
Weight of the withering vine in this concrete boat
Close your eyes and get your coat
Get you an honest job
At Peter’s gates, or a cigarette shop
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/Swept my soul across the avenue
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
Paradise fell and the tenements grew/The tenements grew
Nine Pin
Kaia Kater
These clothes you gave me don't fit right
The belt is loose and the noose is tight
I'm drunk out looking for a fight
I'm soft and heavy as the night
I'm soft and heavy as the night
I've drowned the leagues of thirty men
And I've borne the wrath of each of them
O Sugarcane and Sugarplum
And the evils of a setting sun
The evils of a setting sun
I'll be your nine pin, eight ball, seventh day, six pound, diamond quarter girl
Well the holy water caught my dress
And I fell down into a holy mess
O Lazarus here and Lazarus gone
Oh Lazarus won't you take me home
Oh Lazarus won't you take me home
It poured down from the mouths of babes
Locusts in a land of grey
I am wild-eyed and gone astray
Brother dear, bear me away
Brother dear, bear me away
I'll be your nine pin, eight ball, seventh day, six pound, diamond quarter girl
I'll be your nine pin, eight ball, seventh day, six pound, diamond quarter girl
Rising Down
Kaia Kater
Arise, Arise
To fight these dogs biting at my heels, arise
Awake, Awake
My God is heavy-handed, awake
Your cross, your cross
Is a symbol of my lynching, your cross
Fill me up, fill me up, fill me up,
I’m rising down
In this town, in this town
I am meat for the taking, in this town
But in my home, in my home
There are kings and queens and blessings, in my home
Fill me up, fill me up, fill me up,
I’m rising down
Your gun, your gun
Is a symbol of my lynching, your gun
But I won’t run, I won’t run
I will stand with my people, as one
As one
Harvest and the Plough
Kaia Kater
Baby O baby, I’ve been seeing you lately.
In carriage and in chariot, swingin’ low.
You were born out loud, harvest and the plough,
Did hold you hand in hand in this land.
Cut this thread in time, and dance with me and mine.
The waters come and go, and it’s slow, it’s slow.
We lived dawn ‘til dawn, raisins in the sun.
Hark, the angels sing, and we hum.
Flooded by the red, woken up and led,
‘twixt the banks and up the River Styx.
Leaf o’ the poisoned vine, take body or take mind.
Lullabies in soft and swelling night…
Cut this thread in time and dance with me and mine.
The waters come and go, and it’s slow, it’s slow.
I stay strong and heavy, ancient as the levee,
I think in waves and settle on the shore.
Cause baby O baby, I’ve been seeing you lately,
In carriage and in chariot, swingin’ low.
White
Traditional
This is a shape-note song that I first came to know through Emily Miller. She and I adapted the tune for banjo and choir with the Davis & Elkins College Appalachian Ensemble in Fall 2015.
These fleeting charms of earth
Farewell, your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down
Farewell kind friends whose tender care
Has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down...
I'm a long time traveling here below,
I'm a long time traveling away from home.
I'm a long time traveling here below
To lay this body down,
To lay this body down,
Saint Elizabeth
Kaia Kater
Rise up and fall, Saint Elizabeth
I am king to your call in the mist
I am slave to your land and I will die by your hand, Elizabeth
The Church it did call me, Elizabeth
To sing in salvation and joy
But the carriage is stained- I am broken and plain, Elizabeth
Take me up to your glory, Elizabeth
On white and screeching wheels
For the serpent has died and I remain by your side, Elizabeth
CHORUS
Can’t you hear me calling from beneath?
With black and rotten teeth
White roses all around
And covered on the-
Can’t you hear me calling from beneath?
With black and frozen feet
White roses all around
And covered on the ground
I’m the devil’s disciple, Elizabeth
Down down in depths of below
Tie me up on your cross, take me into your thoughts, Elizabeth
Let the earth fall around us Elizabeth
And let it sink into the valley below
Let them come and tear us free
We are bound eternally, Elizabeth
So stand with me now, Saint Elizabeth
Away from this mountain town
Take me into your breast
I am broken and blessed, Elizabeth
White
Ye fleeting charms of earth
Farewell, your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
I'm a long time traveling here below
I'm a long time traveling away from home
I'm a long time traveling here below
To lay this body down
Farewell kind friends whose tender care
Has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down...
Grenades Lyrics
1. New Colossus
Kaia Kater, acoustic guitar, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel; Andrew Ryan, upright bass; Brad Kilpatrick, drums; Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini, Jill Harris, backing vocals
New Colossus teaches us the sacred math
Stalks the limits of my living room and cuts me clean in half
O time, time, the minute hand spins you round the plane
Spins the big machine as it descends again
Every tortured day a praying mantis green
Every hiss from you a glimpse into the creep
My limbs would split the wind to fractions of its shape
Split the big machine and leave you there to wait
Chorus
Speculator in the New Age town
Spoils the milk and boils the poppy down
Speculator do you crave a sign
When New Colossus comes for you
When New Colossus comes for you
Out the window trees bend down to kiss my thigh
I multiply and now the earth divides
You spurn me like a dog but now I double back
Dragging big machines and steady for attack
When I strike you, I’ll hit goddamn everyone
Like a queen with every hound and every son
Like girls who hike their skirts up high for greedy eyes
I’m the big machine that runs your acreage dry
Give it to me good
Backwards for me good
I’ll make a way from no way, good
Speculator in the New Age town
Spoils the milk and boils the poppy down
Speculator do you long to see
When New Colossus comes for you, when New Colossus comes for me
When New Colossus comes for you, when New Colossus comes for me
When New Colossus comes for you, when New Colossus comes for me
When New Colossus comes for you, when New Colossus comes for me
2. Heavenly Track
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel; Andrew Ryan, upright bass; Erin Costelo, organ; Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini, Jill Harris, backing vocals
You got saved at the hair parlor
Washed in suds and lye
Broke bread at the halfway house
Laid out to the side
I know ya, I know ya, ain’t I seen you before?
I’ve felt you on the ceiling and I’ve felt you on the floor
Chorus
Ooh on the heavenly track (2X)
Ooh on the heavenly track
To the sun, the sun, the sun
This land is bare as
the palm of your hand
Its fingers at the collars
And the coattails of the damned
You know me, You know me, ain’t you seen me before?
I’m the comfort of the stranger
In the writings on the stall, on the stall
Chorus
You shake the trees and feel the bodies tumble down
You paint your clothes and hang them on the line
They beat the city red with bloody siren sounds
And you’re on the ground, you’re on the ground.
Chorus
3. Canyonland
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel; Brad Kilpatrick, drums; Andrew Ryan, upright bass; Lydia Persaud, backing vocals
In a freeway trailer the horses flash golden manes, you puff the vapor and blow it off the window pane
My heavy braids fall like ropes pulling softly at you, urging you to look in my direction
The dark-haired dusk flaunts her coral lips at sunset
you are fussing with the tape deck
I am teetering, pacing at the edge of you,
mining for a breach in your inflection
Chorus
In the Canyonland of rock
where the twitching jackal hides
and the woman takes her time
takes her time
In the Canyonland of stone
you can size me up and run
Come on, cleave me from your rib
I’ll be gone
There was a time when all I knew was all I wanted
When every crop was set ablaze.
Like the bird I have turned and pulled you into me, whistling all the themes to your resentment
Steady baby, steady on the hazard lights
The lizard crosses on the road
My broken oath is hanging from the dashboard face
and you are waiting to reload
Chorus
I see you breaking.
Baby what for?
Baby what for?
Maybe for me
I see you breaking.
Baby what for?
Baby what for?
Maybe for me
Chorus
4. (Power! Power! Power!)
Deno Hurst, spoken interlude
5. La Misère
Kaia Kater, lead vocals; Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini, Jill Harris, backing vocals
Comment joue le violon (la misère)
Avec la voix émue (la misère)
I know I know you (la misère)
And I know you know me (la misère)
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Avec le pied cassé (la misère)
Avec la main levée (la misère)
I know I know you (la misère)
And I know you know me (la misère)
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Comment joue le violon (la misère)
Avec la voix émue (la misère)
I know I know you (la misère)
And I know you know me (la misère)
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
Je dis pauvre-moi ca y’est!
Oh comme elle est grave la misère
6. Meridian Ground
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel; Brad Kilpatrick, drums; Anna Ruddick, electric bass; Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini, Jill Harris, backing vocals
Away to the east of the isle where the
median swells and they gut the fish
The wharfmen sing, and beat the water beat the water so
We watch them shift from the timeworn
dance to the heated clash
Our sisters pray to raise us for better men
Chorus
On meridian ground
The half-breeds and the kids in bloom
Drain the water from the room
Fill it up again
On meridian ground
The half-breeds and the kids in bloom
My auntie died in a one-room house on the top road
With the candles cold, and a smile upon her face
We run inside and place our kites by her bedframe
She surges higher, the hills and the gullies fall
We swim out under the ships and flirt with pain like a mistress
Like the hemlock blade that bathes in the boiling tea
What a fool, what a fool can I be
Chorus
Midway through the hour
We send our blighted tongues to rest
Twin babies sick and dispossessed
Chorus
On meridian ground
The half-breeds and the kids in bloom
Drain the water from the room
Fill it up again
On meridian ground
The half-breeds and the kids in bloom
Drain the water from the room
7. Starry Day
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel; Anna Ruddick, electric bass; Brad Kilpatrick, drums; Erin Costelo, organ, percussion; Lydia Persaud, backing vocals
And now the final curtain
Turn your eyes up to the light
She with venom tongue, moves oceans
Pulls you out into the fight
And here you lie with belly open
With the lions round the flame
Who, with tender jaw unbroken
Drag you out into the plains
Chorus
On that Starry Day
On that Starry Day
Iron melted into ivy
Take your body to the land
Pile the small upon the mighty
Bring the moon down where you stand
Backwards now you dance to freedom
Lift your gutted lungs and sing
Break you now into the season
Lift your gutted lungs and sing
Chorus
You kiss ground and hear it rumble
You find beauty in the nerve
See the proud bow to the humble
And sink their feet into the earth
Backwards now with blade and beacon
Lift your gutted lungs and sing
Break you now into the season
Lift your gutted lungs and sing
Chorus
8. (Death of a Dream)
Deno Hurst, narrative interlude
9. Grenades
Kaia Kater, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel; Anna Ruddick, electric bass; Erin Costelo, organ, percussion; Brad Kilpatrick, drums; Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini, Jill harris, backing vocals
Surf the wave now, taste the metal on your tongue
March the dogs of war into the sun
Heave and cry out! Lo! The planes, they duck and punch
Melt the candy clouds and parchment lungs
Chorus
Two seasons invade
Tremor and sway
With hands on grenades
Drive the light from the shade
Like an orange blockade—
we always seem to get played
See the men on parade, see the men on parade
She splits the atom in the night, feel her as she churns
Sing to her trumpet trees and watch them burn
Heave and cry out! Call the priestess to the sound
Pluck the tyrant from the brim and watch him drown
Chorus
Rain heavy like carpet bombs, sweetgrass and lemonade
Fold the memory into your arms and whisper it away
Chorus
You can shout at the mountain but they’ve already crowned him
With his crowds of ten thousand, yeah they’ve already crowned him
You can shout and surround him but they’ve already crowned him
With his crowds of ten thousand, yeah they’ve already crowned him
You can shout at the mountain but they’ve already crowned him
With his crowds of ten thousand
10. Hydrants
Kaia Kater, vocals
Between the hydrant and the house fire
Above the gardens and cement
We cede the fight, we call a draw
And lean ourselves against the fence
Loving is easy, loving is easy
In a car to the coast
But tremors come quickly
To level the streets
And us, with the end of the world at our feet.
We lie in a twin bed, like two small sardines
And I whisper all of my feverish thoughts
Then you double over and kiss me with ease
And we float on like cosmonauts
Loving is easy, loving is easy
On your way to the earth
Comets come softly
To fracture the vale
And us, with the end of the world at our tail.
Six months together, and three months apart
Our cell phones, like two cups, a string and two hearts
Our voices are shaking, and we muddle the words
I listen outside for the birds.
Loving is easy, loving is easy
On the porches in June
But winter comes quickly
To cover the green
And us, with the end of the world at our feet
In the fortresses of solitude
I call to you from depths unmined
You hold me and we get in line
To drink another day like wine
You hold me and we get in line
To drink another day like wine.
11. Everly
Kaia Kater, guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, lap steel;
Andrew Ryan, upright bass; Lydia Persaud, Erin Costelo, backing vocals
Everly don’t you mock what you feed on
Take the wings of the morning and fly
Everly I’m a tiny bough broken
and drowning up in the sky
Lately I seem to roll on these boulevards
Sinking into the night
Rolling on through the iron and ivy
ʼTil time out of mind
Chorus
Everly bear me neon fruit
Let it shine and shine and shine
The kingdom is flooding and I am too
Keep me close on the vine
I did dream we were pharaoh and bride
With the bounty laid at our feet
Everly dream the mango in summer
And the nightingale down in the deep
Salt mines bleed into fault lines and sting
Straighten up, uncurl your spine
Everly mine as I am to you
ʼTil time out of mind
When he comes, when he comes for me
I’ll be ripe as the lemon upon the tree
When he comes when he comes for me
I’ll be free, free
Chorus
12. The Right One
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Andrew Ryan, upright bass, vocals
Come to me like you come to the sea
With bated breath on bended knee
On that bayou I’ll rise above you
And see the world as you do
Chorus
Let the right one in, Let the right one in
Take a step back home and breathe in
Take me out with gilded crown
Tell them all I’m sainted now
Look me up, look me down
Run your mouth about me now
Chorus
You’re sweet to me, You’re sweet and empty
Oh the quickening feet of mercy
Come and tell of the violent swell
And the little ones who raise hell
Chorus
In the bright and sunny east
I will be released
I will be released
I will be released
I will be released
I will be released
I will be released
Released
13. (Off the Plane)
Deno Hurst, narrative interlude
14. Poets Be Buried
Kaia Kater, banjo, lead vocals; Christine Bougie, electric guitar, baritone electric guitar;
Andrew Ryan, upright bass; Andrew Jackson, trombone; David Parker, French horn
Chorus
Poets be buried in tender marching feet
Buried as seeds and watered in the street
Chained to the fates of strangers facing all defeat
Poets be buried in tender marching feet
I had a daughter and I taught her all I knew
Fight in the gutter and love the work you do
How for to warn her of hatred hiding in the blue
I had a daughter and I taught her all I knew
I asked my father if this is all there is
A home that won’t claim you, a country that rescinds
You are your own saint, a center to hold, a life to live
I asked my father if this is all there is
They built my city on funerary ground
Raised a parade and marched it through the town
What is the mind but the sickness of time, it goes round and round
They built my city on funerary ground
These nights alone can grate on a wintry soul
Sunless migrations that settle every wall
But I am my own saint, a center to hold, a cannonball
These nights alone can grate on a wintry soul
Chorus