Unsure of how I’ve lived here
I always see what’s wrong
I leave the dance too early
And stumble back alone
Regretful, scorned, and pissy
I fire off the qualms
And hold a safer distance
From all the friends that might call me

And all the drowned, nothing bones of the sea
That fate could never call on me
It could never be

I’ve held an empty feeling 
Of how it could’ve been
Now I’ll leave my sorrows wanting
And move towards better things
How could I have sat there
Steeping in my grief
How could I have not seen
Bound in disbelief of change

All the drowned, nothing bones of the sea
That fate could never call on me
It could never be

All the drowned nothing bones of the sea
That fate could never have a hold on me
It could never be

Leave the Dance Too Early

i try to fake some charm
try to smile and be real warm
at parties i say i’m fine
but you know i’m already done

i’m drawn to some higher calling
some dream told to romantic hearts
even when it’s there without burden
i turn around and fuck it all up

i can’t feign an effortless love
i can’t feign an effortless love
still i smile with teeth shown wide
i can’t feign an effortless love

hold back all that you’ve thrown out here
i’d say love would earn it’s own rite
you think that we’ve got something special
but i’ll tell you girl it ain't night

just another drink of bourbon
and another pull of wine
they say that we’re supposed to get to it
but i know that you’re not really mine

I can’t feign an effortless love
i can’t feign an effortless love
still i drink just to act all right
but i can’t feign an effortless love
I can't feign an effortless

You know I can’t act right
You’ll thank me tomorrow
You think we could take it all back
I’d say that you don’t really know

I can’t feign an effortless love
I can’t feign an effortless love
You’re pretty, but i’ve had enough
And I can’t feign an effortless love
I can’t feign an effortless love
I can't feign an effortless love
I can't feign an effortless love

Effortless Love (Done)

Pulls my heart strings chokes me up
Honey kisses, buttercup 
Pulling off your clothes in rain
Just to push you down again

And when we touch
When we touch oh my
It's your eyes in love

You turn me inside out 
And spread my heart around
Heaven comes in clouds
Like honey raining down
Every eye on us
Kissing quietly in the crowd

Dreamy-eyed girl waking up
Through the blinds, sunlight touch
Pull the bedframe off the wall
Thunder crashing that's our call

When we move
When we move so slow
It's your eyes in love

You turn me inside out 
And spread my heart around
Heaven comes in clouds
Like honey raining down
Every eye on us
Kissing quietly in the crowd

Spread My Heart Around

You know what you laugh about when no one is around to witness:
waterfalls and boulders crashing, mind dissolving into nothing.
Better find the humor in it than let it crush your life. The richness
to butterfly away the sickness: mint julep, cold tonic sweetness.

Hardcore summer swing band dancer; she barely has to think, she flutters,
loves the brass and sideways glancers, never fought the death blind shudders.
Better dance before she goes home and leaves you here to mope about it.
Butterfly away the sickness: mint julep, cold tonic sweetness.

Mountain rivers every springtime; bitter freezing but there's sunshine.
Dive to feel the rocks and mud, the texture of your childhood, here.
Better not stay too hidden; your baby and your wife are calling.
Butterfly away the sickness: mint julep, cold tonic sweetness.

Mint julep, cold tonic sweetness.

Butterfly, Mint Julep

Isabelle is there any part of this town worth keeping around
Lived here all your nineteen years; you’d lose your mind if you weren’t looking down

Got your garden full of promise
Apples bowing each trees
You work the job where you smile at strangers
You never smile at me
You don’t smile at me

Isabelle is there anyone in this town you think you might miss
Heartbreak sweeping around the square but it never could visit your lips

Man I saw what I thought was an angel
It was just her skirt in the wind
Her eyes could flash like two solar flares breaking
That’s some trouble I’m in
That’s some trouble I’m in

Thought I saw the light shining down on me
She was just flashing her brights driving down the street
Did you have to leave tonight
You didn’t have to leave tonight

Saw your garden littered with apples
Couldn’t fall too far from the tree
Thought you’d wait around til after the harvest
They always tasted so sweet
They always tasted so sweet

Isabelle

If I could just untangle this goddamn bedsheet
I’d be free to readjust and get back to sleep
If I could just undo this knot in my stomach
I’d be free to walk around flirt my ass off all week

I can’t 
I can’t
I can’t pretend to understand

If I could just forgive the pain I caused you
I’d be free to be with your heart any time I pleased
I think you trust me based some prior judgement
But I really don’t have a clue bout what you really think

I can’t
Understand a goddamn thing
I can’t understand anything

I think i might go out to the grand canyon
And scream my head right off you know what that sounds like
I hear its nice there especially in the late summer
When the heat’s up above 99 and I can sweat this out 

I can’t 
And i won’t understand
I can’t
And i don’t understand
I can’t 
And i won’t understand
I can’t

Grand Canyon

Party in the Back

That love is all
And life means nothing
Dancing in a room
While planets keep turning
 
Who was that guy 
Shuffling and head hung down
I haven’t slept in three days
But i can’t stop skipping now
Tied my laces in a double knot
Jumped the river in an easy bound
 
I don’t wanna lie down 
I don’t wanna lie down
 
I lost your jacket
With the tokens in the pocket
Their weight was a nice reminder
But I just didn’t want it
 
How do you laugh at how big the sun is
How particles rearrange at every second
Every second
 
And I don’t wanna lie down
I don’t wanna lie down
 
I lost your jacket
With the tokens in the pocket
Their weight was a nice reminder
But I just didn’t want it

Lost Your Jacket

It’s the love in your mouth when she finally gets home
Why couldn’t you speak to your friends
Is it that you don’t trust them?
Or is it a look that she gives at the door 
As she jumps in your arms
Right off the floor
 
I used to talk in my sleep to girls who stayed in my bed
Just stupid little dreams that segued from nothing
But now they nest at her breast
With the easy breath she let’s out
It’s what I think they'd wanted 
All along
 
Keep telling lies she said
See how far they get you with me
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
 
Any  church in the middle of some midwestern town
Couldn’t be 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
In just one look

Keep telling lies she said
See how far they get you with me
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

Saying Baby

Started out that I thought I had a trick or two in my back pocket
Turned out to be just a stack of ones, school ID, and stick of gum
I'm optimistic I guess at best, pessimistic if you really test me
And I don’t like that thing that wavers between 
The one and the other
The one and the other 
Switchboard, bulbs on dimmers
Light switch and a rearview mirror
  
Could I be what I wanted
Can I be what I’ve foreseen
If you press down through my soft right arm 
Would I bleed 
 
Aren’t we supposed to build from each mistake and failed connection
Someone said “your life as seasons” and all I feel is slight temperature difference
Not to say that it’s just one way; not to say that I can’t discern progress
I just mostly feel the same; I putz around, spend too much money
Desktop, simple dinner
Some new itch, an okay swimmer
 
Could I be what I wanted
Can I be what I’ve foreseen
If you press down through my soft right arm 
Would I bleed

Would I Bleed

The pale yellow light from the radio
Shake rattle rack on the window
As we cower in the closet
We couldn’t make it to the basement
Eyes shut tight and the children hugging
Wool coats hang but that’s not comforting
Think of the warmth that they once gave us
Doesn’t matter they can’t save us

Cause it’s all over now
What’s love done? Amount to memories fading
I love you even now
As everything is ending
As everything is ending

When we were first found out that we were pregnant
The future was bright and fear irrelevant
I cried and prayed to Jesus
Just look where he’s left us
Seven years of a happy marriage
Two sweet kids I can hardly bare it  
The world without them in it
The world without them in it

Cause it’s all over now
What’s love done? Amount to happiness fading
I still love you even now
As everything is ending
As everything is ending

Crowded here now is a quiet presence
Arms wrapped tight it’s clearly evident
The end was always coming
But that could never stop the loving
The end was always coming 
That could never stop the loving

Though it’s all over now
What’s love done? Amount to happiness, giving
I love you especially now
As everything is ending
As everything is ending

Apocalypse

Dash My Dreams

We All Work Too Much

I tasted black bile the night that he died
When my stomach turned out whatever was left inside
It wasn't that much

Salt and scrap paper left by the bed
They seemed almost arranged to draw out these thoughts from my head

He used that cane in the corner instead of my hand
It was the pain in the riddle of that kind of man
Like we'd ever think less of him

Bile & Salt

Joseph writes all the time, seldom records, and never plays live. 

His recent songs are about disappearing in Europe, bottle rockets, shootings, smiling, the plummeting bird population, maps, laughter, and arguing.

When he’s not songwriting, he keeps busy in Nashville, TN making kombucha; working on his house; and watching movies, standup specials, and hours of sitcoms.

Popular tracks by Joseph Mooradian