1. |
I Wish a Train
04:43
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Wipe the dust off the stereo
See what magic I might could find
Grab a record that's now 10 years old
Try to capture a bit from that time
Who would you call?
Who would you call?
Is there a voice might turn it around?
Pickled Ginger or the Chronic
I wish a train would catch me now
Every sound is a tonic
Who would you call this late at night?
When the hum of the house is all?
Who would you call given the time?
I wish a train would come now
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2. |
Smiling
05:40
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Human beings can get so confused
Pacing back and forth
Washing in their doubt
I'd rather be a dog out in the sun
Panting in my fur, dirty
Nothing on my mind
I'd lick the breeze and bark at every car
Glance up towards the sun
And think that even it was mine
Smiling as if it would never burn out
The liquor I could drink in my youth
My liver had nine lives
And it was reborn every Thursday
As if there were nothing left to do
But drink those dark bitters
And laugh the fears away
I wish I had a better attitude
Towards life and death and time and grief
But what else can I say
I was smiling as if I would never go grey
I thank a quote unquote gracious god
For everything I have
Even though I can't beat sadness
That guy who shot the concert-going crowd
How can we be grateful
For a life with so much madness
But still I get to play my own guitar
And I sleep every night next to a sweet and loving person
Smiling as if there weren't any other way
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3. |
Saying Baby
04:48
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It's the love in your mouth when she finally home
Why couldn't you speak to your friends?
Is it that you don't trust them?
Or is it the look that she gives at the door
As she jumps in your arms
Right off the floor
I used to talk in sleep to girls who stayed in my bed
Just stupid little dreams
That segue from nothing
Now they nest at her breast
With the easy breath she lets out
It's what I think they wanted all along
Keep telling lies she said
See how far they get you with me
And it's not very far
I know it's not very far
I don't care if you cry she said
You can lean on my shoulder baby
Never thought I'd say baby
Here we are saying baby
Any church in the middle of any midwestern town
Couldn't ring truer than this
Even if you boiled out the nonsense
That's a vision of truth
That you reach with a crutch
From a book
But I've got the real thing
Keep telling lies she said
See how far they get you with me
And it's not very far
I know it's not very far
I don't care if you cry she said
You can lean on my shoulder baby
Never thought I'd say baby
Here we are saying baby
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4. |
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I thank god for my near-sighted eyes
I thank god for my bad memory
I thank god for a narrow-visioned life
I know I would call that free
No you're nothing in my mind but some dream
A fuzzy vision I once had and wouldn't keep
I'll never see your face again no
Not even when I fall asleep
Here's to times I lost in all my isolation
Here's to things I'll never miss
I feel better now without reconciliation
I feel better without working through your shit
No you're nothing in my mind but some dream
A fuzzy vision I once had and wouldn't keep
I'll never see your face again no
Not even when I fall asleep
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5. |
Is That Heaven
03:52
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I made you a cake your birthday darling
Do you remember that?
How I measured it to the tenths of grams
Everything was perfect in bowls
What do they call it when it's just right?
When everything is measured precisely?
Is that heaven?
It was a difficult month, we don't know why
Was our chemistry off
Or was it just a grey sky
But we pushed through again
What do they call it when you're all right?
When everything's chaotic but fine?
Is that heaven?
(Wouldn't you only want to see that?)
Hell knows why you call me up
But in a little while
I'm sure I'll be enough
And we can dance again
What do they call it when you're alive?
When everything is broken and bright?
Is that heaven?
(Wouldn't you only want to see that?)
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6. |
Rachel is Laughing
04:42
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The dishes stack
They almost stack themselves
They never clean themselves do they?
They'll never put themselves away
We bow our heads
The two of us together
The shower washing us again
To be so clean - to smell so sweet at the end
Scary and fitful and loving and full
Rachel is laughing
She's making me laugh too
And biting and scratching
The dog looks concerned
Nothing to fear here
We'll let the cooking burn
For a while
All that we've said
What's left unsaid between us
I want to hear it all so bad
We've got to get it while we can
Bright and strong
A sprawling green forever
The houseplants in the living room
They grew so big - you grew them big didn't you
Scary and fitful and loving and full
Rachel is laughing
She's making me laugh too
And biting and scratching
The dog looks concerned
Nothing to fear here
We'll let the cooking burn
For a while
Cause we don't care
Cause we feel good
Like our childhoods
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7. |
Hummer
04:12
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Sometimes when you sing alone
You feel a presence in teary eyes
Heartache's echo in your chest
Calling out for some grand design
Or just some purpose
You turn an eye to the LP on your desk
And the flow of music
The heart is bursting
For the noise of life
And humans reaching up
Towards the holy wonder
Of a truer melody
To ease your hard times
Simply sung all by yourself
Thinking back to the first song
You first learned harmonies on
You thought well hey
I got something right for once
You slide in so perfectly
With a chorus blasting at a show
And you feel your place
In a larger group in love
With the flow of music
The hearts a-bursting
For the noise of life
And humans reaching up
Towards the holy wonder
Of a truer melody
To ease your hard times
Simply sung with friends you love
You take a chance and you fall in love
With a holy siren
With the sweetest voice
She even likes the way you sing
You harmonize on your favorite songs
And you both start crying
How good it is
Just to lay there sweetly listening
To the flow of music
Two hearts are bursting
For the noise of life
And humans reaching up
Towards the holy wonder
Of the truest melody
To make your life
A song hummed by the one you love
Now your life's a song hummed
By the one you love
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8. |
It Just Happens
04:23
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The waves will bow to the moon again
I have never had to beg for it
It just happens as a law of sciences
And I get to watch it again
When I wake in the morning
And the coffee is done
I take one sip and place it back on wood
Sit and watch the steam rise up
And I see you in the garden with your gardening gloves
It just happens
I can't count on it
So when it happens
It kinda feels like a magic trick
Ice will melt on the carpet when the dog walks off
Her sharp teeth sleep quiet where the fur is soft
So I missed our turn, I'll take the long way up
And see the high-pitched roof we're always dreaming of
You feel good enough lying where you lie
Beneath the time of year, beneath the local clime
Let the water lap your legs some more
I can come and find you like I did before
Before the big one hit and markets crashed
Before LA burned and Seattle splashed
I've never seen the West look as bright
As I did this morning on the morning flight
It just will happen
You can't count on it
When it happens
It kinda feels like a magic trick
It just happens
I can count on you
Whatever happens
We'll always do what we're gonna do
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9. |
Super House Gate
03:36
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Prickly little pear you
Thought nothing ever scared me
Well I can shake and I shiver too
I get to rest so rarely
And we knew that it might bend
Any day we could watch it break
Well prickly little pear
What would you call the new age?
Cats are catching the blue birds
And bodies crowd the culverts
Ask any hungry white herd
Everything's all over
You thought that you knew fear
You thought that you knew hate
Prickly little pear
Clap your hands: it's too late
When we tamed the buzzing field
You think it learned our names?
Brace your aching heel
Hide your aging face
Snatch anything that you might want
And who would stop us anyway?
We tamed the buzzing field
Get to call it Super House Gate
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10. |
Leonard Cohen
03:51
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Singing "Hallelujah" high
I'm tipped over
Just leaning over
Okay half bent over
And too far gone
Every chorus we hum and we cry
In the winds that shiver like the Cliffs of Dover
There's someone there spinning there
Lost in the song
Singing "Hallelujah" high
It's Leonard Cohen every time
When every night is the last night
Every night is the last night
To play red rover
Hey send Julie over
Yelling red rover and her running along
Five years passed in the blink of an eye
Your grey hairs are growing there
Three at a time
Some fun contest
You're catching up to mine
Singing "Hallelujah" high
It's Leonard Cohen every time
When every night is the last night
Looking older every time
Singing "Hallelujah" high
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11. |
Nothing
03:41
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Half empty until I
Saw the garden was a pigsty
I gave up all my
Moral schemes
The brittle frame we
Made the world of
This hidden meaning
What's the point love?
Say goodbye then
You're life's a scream
The last song I'll get to sing you
Is the only vision I still cling to
But hidden meaning is just a feeling
There's nothing behind it all
Nothing at all
A fat Buddha or skinny Jesus
They're charming pastors
Who cheat the business
You hang them up
And then you're free
The last song I'll get to sing you
Is the only vision I still cling to
But hidden meaning
Is a made up feeling
There's nothing behind it all
Nothing at all
You love the lightening
And the thunder
But no more searching
Nothing under
Light and sound
And you and me
We're light and sound
That's you and me
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Joseph Mooradian Nashville, Tennessee
Joseph writes all the time and records some of the time.
His recent collection, Hummer, is
about shootings, smiling, the plummeting bird population, laughing, and even (unfortunately/briefly) politics.
When he’s not writing/recording, he keeps busy in Nashville, TN, with domestic life: reading, walking, working on his house, cooking/eating, and watching plenty of stuff.
... more
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