Empty Page (Live) - The Crane Wives

Hush! hush!
Listen to the Varied Thrush
The freezing rain has
Pushed them down into the valley
With the rest of us
Flushed
From the comfortably lush
Forest floor
They draw their bows across
Serrated edges of
Musical saws and crush
The frigid, sharply pointed hearts
Of icicles like us

Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush,
Crush, crush, crush...

Swish! swish!
The Osprey hovers seeking fish
The glassy pond
Displays the menu but won't serve the dish
To birds who wish
To linger when
The air turns cold
Defying pressure
To defer to Cackling Geese
And Western

Gulls, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish,
Wish, wish, wish...

Who doesn't wish they could
Begin
To leave?
Who doesn't wish they could
Believe
In letting something end?
We have these wishes
But we're hung up
On a superstitious
Focus on the family
We see in Collared Doves
With love much stronger
Than we probably
Should ever hope
For ours to be.

Are we a "we are" today?
Will we be a "we will be" tomorrow?
Were we a "we were" already
Long ago?
We don't know
What price makes sense to pay,
So we settle for indebted sorrow,
Never knowing we could dine and
Dash into that nullifying snow.

Thrash! thrash!
The so-called trash birds
Taking baths
Betray their cuteness
In the recklessness with which
They lash
Their lustrous feathers
Petroleum with flecks of ash
In an unseasonable
Puddle
Glaciating fast

Splash, splash, splash,
Splash, splash, splash,
Splash, splash, freeze,
Splash, splash, splash,
Freeze, splash, splash,
Splash, splash, splash,
Splash, splash, freeze,
Splash, splash, splash...

Hush! hush!
Listen to the Varied Thrush
Hush! hush!
Hush! hush!
Listen to the Varied Thrush,
Hush! hush!
Hush! hush!
Hush! hush!
Hush! hush!

Varied Thrush

team best, last life
credits to cherrifire for the cover

the crane w̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ lives - can't have it all

all credit for the song goes to the crane wives

bonebreaker - the crane wives (unreleased)

from Incredible Distance [EP], released February 9, 2018 
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Stephan Nance - vocals, piano, programming 
Adam Caswell - programming 
Shigeki Okubo - drums 
Arrangement - Adam Caswell

Lyrics:

Talk about site fidelity... 
Talk about natal philopatry... 

Talk about synchronicity! 
Talk about London meeting Eugene! 

Other people's flight patterns lack the hallmarks of mine 
Pictures of ten-year reunions with pictures 
Of altitudinal migrations 
With breathless emergency landing vacations 

Talk about asthma! 
Narrows for airways 
Peak flow a puff from a pipe dream— 
Fifty percent of an infidel's personal best 
A Forest Park duck falls fifty feet leaving the nest! 

From the cavity edge to the edge of the briar 
A baptism of flier without proper plumage! 
In the purgatory of a spacer 
Passing from chamber through chamber 
To chamber... 

What is incendiary to me? 
Incredible distance confined 
In my body. 

Talk about imagined geography... 
Talk about plant intentionality. 

Talk about sessility, precinctivity... 
Talk about cosmopolitan pantropicality! 

Jump! Stop tilting at windmills! 
Wilting at failures to skirt the frame of the swing 
set! Jump! Stop placing bets 
On peregrination, on a fair roundabout 
gain! Spin! Shrink! Skidoo! into a postcard, 
into the gum on the 
stamp! Glue! Paste! Tamp! Affix! 
A Phoenix Garden wren in a sudden igloo sticks to sticks! 

From a nettle-mound to the pear-petaled crisps on the bower 
A universe swirls in that souvenir snowglobe! 
Half-eight till the vesperal pealing 
The architect shake-sings with skyscraper feeling 

What is irradiative to me? 
Incredible distance; 
unforgettable limits. 

Wouldn't you like to know where I want to go?

Limits

All my antics and my gibberish 
Put a damper on my sentences; 
I'm a [cuddlefish/cuttlefish] 
Trying to cover up my incompetence. 
Maybe your fancy just isn't ticklish— 
Maybe your heart belongs to another fish— 
But on your part that'd be foolish. 
Baby, I think you ought to think through this. 

The sea is big, big, big, 
And it's full of scary things! 
Like great white sharks, 
And colossal squid! 
And I'm worried about you... 
I don't want you to get hurt. 
I don’t want you to get hurt... 
I don’t want you to get hurt. 

If you love something 
(So they say) 
You should set it free. 
But I disagree— 
'Cause I can safely say that 
Catching and releasing 
Isn't what I'd want for me. 

I know I know better than you do 
What is best for you to do— 
Can't you see the logic there? 
It's superlogical. 
My perspective is an outside one, 
And that's really saying something 
'Cause we don't have mirrors 
And since we're under the water, 
There isn't a surface 
For you to see your reflection in... 
Not that you don't look nice! 
(In fact, how wonderful you look 
Is exactly what the problem is....) 

The sea is big, big, big, 
And it's full of scary things! 
Like great white sharks, 
And colossal squid! 
And I'm worried about you... 
I don't want you to get hurt. 
I don’t want you to get hurt... 
I don’t want you to get hurt. 

It guts me every time 
I hear you're frequenting 
Such sketchy dives. 
It's not like it's a crime, 
But what if you get caught by a scuba diver 
Just like Nemo and I can't find you? 

Still I'd never cease my quest for you— 
What else would there be for me to do? 
Sure, there are plenty of fishes in the ocean, 
But not one of them could ever get a hook in my devotion. 
So my love for you supports recent scholarly publications 
Reporting that fish have a greater capacity for memory 
Than was previously believed, 
And I will miss you for the rest of my life.


from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals

Stephan Nance — Cuddlefish

I saw you again 
For the first time in ages 
You looked just the same 
But you sounded so different 
Your manner of speaking and 
The tone of your voice 
Were so changed. 

If I were a bird 
I’d have fluttered away 
But as I don’t have wings 
I was required to stay 
In my place at the register 
Ringing you up 
In the most awkward way 
In that stupid café... 

I saw you again 
For the first time in ages 
You looked just the same 
But you sounded so different 
Your manner of speaking and 
The tone of your voice 
Were so changed. 

And I’d never seen that shirt before 
And I’d never seen that bag before 
And I shouldn’t want to see you more 
Often, but I do... 

And I’d never seen that scarf before 
And I’d never seen that hat before 
And I shouldn’t want to see you more 
Often, but I do, I do, I do... 

It’s been a whole year. 
It’s been twelve whole months. 
The innumerable minutes— 
I counted each one. 
In a manner of speaking 
I still really love you 
And I can’t get you, can’t get you 
Out of my head. 

I’ve spent all this time 
In extensive reflection 
And in my recollection 
The things that I said 
Were gratuitous 
In their emotional content 
And I’m sorry 
If saying them scared you away. 

I shouldn’t have acted the way that I acted 
I shouldn’t have called you 
I should have retracted 
The things that I said 
At the moment I said them 
Or better yet 
I should’ve never been born. 

I should have retracted 
The things that I said 
At the moment I said them 
I shouldn’t have called you 
I shouldn’t have acted the way that I acted 
I need to be punished 
I need to be punished 
I need to be punished 
I need to be punished... 

Every thought inside my head 
Is suddenly exploding; 
Every object in my room 
Is suddenly too dull; 

Everything I feel inside my heart 
Is fully inappropriate; 
Every object in my room 
Is suddenly too dull... 

There’s only a window there 
Only a window there 
Only a window, only a window 
(You can do it you can do it you can do it you can do it) 
There’s only a window, only a window, only a window, only a window there… 

There’s only a window there 
Only a window there 
Only a window, only a window 
(You can do it you can do it you can do it you can do it) 
There’s only a window, only a window, only a window, only a window there… 

... 

There’s only a window there 
Only a window there 
Only a window, only a window 
(You can do it you can do it you can do it you can do it) 
There’s only a window, only a window, only a window, only a window there… 

There’s only a window there 
Only a window there 
Only a window, only a window 
(You can do it you can do it you can do it you can do it) 
There’s only a window, only a window, only a window, only a window there… 

There’s only a window there 
Only a window there 
Only a window, only a window 
(You can do it you can do it you can do it you can do it) 
There’s only a window, only a window, only a window, only a window there… 

I close my eyes and 
In my memories, 
I’m drowning in your coat; 
I’m gathering the leaves that fall... 

In my memories, 
I’m drowning in your coat... 
I’m just jumping in the leaves 
that 
fall....

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Tim McLaughlin, bass/guitar

Stephan Nance — Fall

Land in my mind 
Crawling through the sound 
I found it 
Now I recognize it 
Everywhere 
Everywhere it's aground

Swimming up a concrete river 
Paddling through pine and pavement 
I melted 
Blent in and then 
Recemented

Inside an unprotected 
Hostel suite 
Astride a bicycle 
Defrosting wheat 
Atop a tower with an 
Unrevolving view 
Of illuminated sails

Grey and green 
Grey and green 
The brightest blue could 
Never come between 
Grey and green and 
Amber

Rowing toward a lowered drawbridge 
Clambering onto the Seawall 
Confecting cloud-covered cinnamon rolls 
Wowed by crowds of 
Glaucous-winged Gulls

See? 
No sea. 
Look at the harlequins! 
—I wish you'd said to me. 
Over a decade I discerned 
A path 
My passport went defunct 
Now that junket's out of reach

Grey and green 
Grey and green 
The reddest flags 
Forever come between 
Grey and green and 
Amber

Everybody's body sways 
In unfamiliar funny ways 
Traveling on rainbow 
Wheels of color down below 
The crows pecking suet-surfaced streets 
The subway sounds resounding beats 
Beckoning me to retreat 
On the heels of mighty feet!

But where there's a will 
There's a way 
And I will 
Every day 
Until I dry 
Every day until I dry—

Wait 
Wait 
Don't tell me 
Blare the Heritage Horns 
But I won't leave

I haven't heard firstear 
The 9 o'clock gun 
Or the steam chimes

I've yet to feel firstfoot 
The boom of the Sooty Grouse 
In the mountain woods

I have more notes to take 
On the colors of the 
Land in my mind

I have a wish 
To blow through the mist 
Of the dandelion fountain

I have a truth 
To seek in the xeriscape 
Of the hill on the hill

I have 
a past, a present, and a future 
In this city

Maybe no more than moments 
But there's still a possibility.

Stephan Nance - vocals, piano
Jon Caponetto - trombone
Amy Kappeler - flute
Tim McLaughlin - trumpet
Nehemiah Nance - trumpet
Additional vocals - Adam Caswell, Amy Kappeler, Lyle Nance, Rebecca Waterman
Arrangement - Adam Caswell & Stephan Nance

Stephan Nance — Fall

Sparkbird

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