No Surprises (Cover)

By Overcoats (The Fight, 2020), for Grunt. These birds-eye speedwells and my wee banjo send love from the mountains.

New Shoes (Cover)

I've loved Lankum's version of this old tune, and then I heard Peggy Seeger do it, which makes me think that this song comes from much deeper in time than I initially gave it credit for. I'm sure there's plenty of ways to read the lyrics, but I'm leaning towards a cautionary bog witch tale.

***

When I first came to town
They called me the roving jewel
Now they've changed their tune
Call me Katie Cruel

When I first came to town
They gave me drinks a plenty
Now they've changed their tune
Hand me the bottles empty

And if I was where I would be
Then I'd be where I am not
Here I am where I must be
Where I would be I cannot

Through the woods I am going
Down through the boggy mire
Straightways down the road
Till I come to my heart's desire

And if I was where I would be
Then I'd be where I am not
Here I am where I must be
Where I would be I cannot

When I first came to town
They called me the roving jewel
Now they've changed their tune
Call me Katie Cruel

Image from the National Library of Ireland (1892)

Katie Cruel (Cover)

An anti-dissociation anthem!

***

Heartbeat against the bone
Breathe deep, you're already home

I don't want to live alone and underground
Where water doesn't have a taste and my steps
Never make a sound
I know a place between the roots
On the edge of a darker blue
I'm everywhere I've ever been
And I'm far from done

Chorus: 
And I get the feeling
That this ain't all that there is

I'm not looking for a paved road to the end
When every fall is mine to make and every
Day is mine to spend
I'm young and I'm a great big fool!
They ask me how I dance so good
I might be getting all this wrong
But I know this for sure

Contours

All That There Is

My head doesn't hurt anymore
I'm sleeping longer than I did before
I don't feel the need to feel like I'm not enough
I don't wait for the answers to come

I've got three windows on the long side
when I wake up, they barely hold the light
and I watch it make its way across the wall
and I forget about the dark

*Chorus 1*
The plans I made never quite turned out
so I'm trading a solid roof for solid ground
I'll be like these mountains - there's more to find
than a set of contours and lines

I miss the scars on my hands
that come from feeding all my friends
and I wish I could tell you what I know now
that time was never yours to figure out

*Bridge*
I never thought that peace of mind could
come from letting go of what I thought was mine
I never thought that being okay was
calling you without much to say

Do you remember how hard I tried
to burn a way out of my mind? 
Now I spend someone's money on guitars
and I play until the daylight's gone

*Chorus 2*
She said that I'm the same, but I'm much more calm
the sky was in the sea, and our legs were so strong
I can climb these mountains, but all that's mine
is a set of contours and lines

Contours (Demo)

Yet another attempt to get sponsored by Amtrak

***
Never expected the day to go like this
I'm the last alive of eleven children
Robin was a pain in the ass
Thank you, baby

No one's rushed on a train this late
Can't seem to close my eyes, stay awake
My coat's not clean, but it covers me
My breathing's close, lulls asleep

Train 94

s/o to the Garmisch Child Development Center

***

There's all this light
we can see from the floor
it softens the edges,
eases in through the door

We sleep in a pile
with our toes uncovered
we know how our hands fit
to anchor each other

We know of big things
but not what they mean
we point towards the mountains
we don't trust what we see

We're told about the world
it's made of lines and shapes
we can pass it in a circle
put it in our mouths to taste

But when we're left alone
the light meets us at home
we never learned its name
we just sit on the stair to watch it go

Theory of Light (Demo)

Song by Bruce Springsteen, from Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

Q: Why did Bruce have such a hard time starting campfires?
A: He kept getting blinded by the light.

I'm On Fire (Cover)

From Bonnie Raitt's Streetlights (1974). Turns out that it's originally a John Prine song, but I've been listening to Bonnie's version my whole life.

Angel from Montgomery (Cover)

Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay (Cover)

I called this lovely young lady Mallow, who's about a week old in this picture.

All I need is an empty seat 
And an empty stretch of mind
Cause if you ask me, I think luxury
Is gently feeling time

I don’t believe in omnipotent things 
But even I can see
That there’s something holy in an 8 o’clock breeze 
And someone who makes you tea

There’s dirt under my nails and plum stuck in my teeth
Another nice soft day goes dragging its feet

Chorus:
It’s hard to take it easy
When the sky spins the other way
But I’m finding where the light is
And I’m growing every day

My skin is hard, my jeans dry in the yard
And my boots remember my feet
Look and see these traces of me
And call it my legacy 

I’m not so scared of spiders cause I know that their webs stop blood
And that stinging nettles signal treasure in the ground

Chorus

Alex Tone

Popular tracks