personal folk song list.

Fish in a Birdcage

Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage

Waterfall

Rule #18 - Lion

I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble trouble
I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble

But I do believe
There's beauty within
That's why I can't stop
Picking my skin
Digging for a buried treasure
Digging for a way for me to

Say goodbye
To the stranger on the other side
Say hello
To the bliss of a
Disembodied mind

I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble trouble
I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble

But I do believe
There's a reason to live
That is why I'm gonna go
To sea in a sieve
Get me soaked and squeeze me through
Till there's nothing left to do but

Say goodbye
To the stranger on the other side
Say hello
To the bliss of a
Disembodied mind

I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble trouble
I am
In trouble with myself again
I am
In trouble trouble trouble

And I don’t believe
We could ever agree
That’s why I’ll do anything
To keep myself away from me
Maybe when I’m out of sight
I’ll see me in a better light

Eyes shut tight
Better get this right
Every word of the spell
To rip the soul from its shell

Say goodbye
To the stranger on the other side
Say hello
To the bliss of a
Disembodied mind

I am
in trouble with myself again
I am
in trouble trouble trouble trouble
I am
in trouble with myself again
I am
in trouble

Credits:

Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Produced by Stephan Nance
Co-produced by Mathias Kunzli
Arrangement by Stephan Nance & Mathias Kunzli
Strings arrangement by Anna Fritz & Stephan Nance
Percussion arrangement by Mathias Kunzli
Thanks to Gabriel Kahane and Nevada Jones

Piano/synths/lead vocals/backing vocals - Stephan Nance
Percussion - Mathias Kunzli
Strings - Bizarre Star Strings (Anna Fritz - cello, Kyleen King - viola, Mirabai Peart - violin)
Bass - Jeni Magana
Backing vocals - Mathias Kunzli

Disembodied Mind

A fox’s scream can eerily sound like a woman’s scream… why are there some who enjoy hunting them, then?
“Foxcry” explores the scary but real scenario that many feminine presenting folks face: others taking advantage of them, and finding pleasure in their pain. This song acts as a visceral callout to the “hunters” that revel in feminine suffering in a masturbatory way.

LYRICS:
He was a hunter boy-boy
Born with hunter arm-arms
Wringing geese necks
On his Papa’s farm-farm
He was a Mama’s boy-boy
He meant the woman no harm
Slinging pelts over his shoulder
But then he couldn’t shoot straight-straight
Something went wrong
He’d kill critters left and right but never pick ‘em up-up 
Hunter boy-boy to a hungry man-man 
Leaving Momma’s love leftover

You just love to see a woman suffer
When she cries you cup her face and say it’s to comfort
Come
As you slip your hands under your beltline
And use her tears to lubricate a good time
I can feel those eyes sinking into me
You hate it when I sing but you love it when I scream
I know why you shoot with your right hand free
Shoo, hunter boy, go skip your stones in a tree

And we foxes have a common phrase
If he can aim, he will shoot so scurry far away
But what about hunter boys, 
boys who play our game
Makin’ tiny cuts at fur until we’re not the same?

Well
We fair foxes learned to grit our teeth
If it’s screaming but not bleeding, then go back to sleep
In these woods, food is scarce, take what you keep
Be wary but don’t heed a hand that’s willing to feed 

You just love to see a woman suffer
When she cries you cup her face and say it’s to comfort
Come
As you slip your hands under your beltline
And use her tears to lubricate a good time
I can feel those eyes sinking into me
You hate it when I sing but you love it when I scream
I know why you shoot with your right hand free
Shoo, hunter boy, go skip your stones in a tree

There once was a hunter boy-boy
Taking part in hunter thing-things
Getting off to killing foxes ‘cause he liked their femme screams
And he’d say: it wasn’t my fault, fault, fault, was an archer’s paradox
Please still love me momma, momma, please still love me, momma
I didn’t mean to kill that fox

FOXCRY

FOXCRY (Dorm Demo)

Played by The Crane Wives...
Kate Pillsbury - Emilee Petersmark - Ben Zito - Dan Rickabus

featuring their friends…
Steven Leaf - Seth Bernard - Rachel Gorman
Savannah Buist - Katie Larson

Produced by The Crane Wives & Ian Gorman
Mixed by Ian Gorman
Engineered by Ian Gorman & Ben Zito
Recorded at La Luna Recording & Sound in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Mastered by Glenn Brown at GBP Studios in Lansing Michigan

Artwork by Rebecca Green
Album Design and Layout by Bill Chesney

Thank you to our loving families and dear friends, Ian & Rachel Gorman, Glenn Brown, Rebecca Green, The Accidentals, Seth Bernard & May Erlewine Bernard, Steve Leaf & the Ex Pats, Joey Schultz of Chickenbach, John Campos, Kris Kessel, Sean, Sarah & Arlo Lamborne, Tyler Rehm, 88.1 WYCE, Matt Jarrells, John Sinkevics at Local Spins, Emily Fox & Michigan Radio, Kevin Romeo & Rhino Media, Joey Basch, Josiah Barber, Amber Buist, Josh Gibson, Bill Chesney, Leah Pillsbury, Mark Sturr, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys, The Appleseed Collective, Joy & Tim Lago, Marianne & Jim Fischer, Carmen & Javier Vargas of Mi Pueblo in Kalamazoo and Edith the Kitty. Thank you to all of the people who have welcomed us into their homes, fed us a warm meal, or shared with us their stories. 

Special thanks to our PledgeMusic contributors. This album would not exist without the help of our fans! We are grateful for your support and humbled by your loyalty.

Curses

Lyrics:

I’m burning wick to fingertip with sage
from my shaky-shakin hands
Millie, what have you done to me,
my friend?

I’m tossin’ turnin’ in an open grave
coined-tongued with whatever I can save,
carrying hauntings of a brand-new age—
Millie, can’t you see I slide
planchettes with my wake?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

I’m coughing up elderberry on the stage
like your sacrificial lamb
Millie, hypnotize pain away, I beg

I’m whisper-hissing notes on every slate
that I scribe and toss into the hungry waves
carrying itchings for a familiar ache
Millie, can’t you see I made a walking stick out of my stake?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

Three redwing blackbirds outside my window
two fish heads at my door
What be this omen, I’ll never know
Millie, warm the kettle once more

Three redwing blackbirds outside my window
Two fish heads at my door
One kettle bubbling atop rusted stove but
Millie, warm the kettle once
Millie, warm the kettle once
Milly could you so please be 
a kind old dearie just for me
and warm the kettle’s tea once more?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

Millie, Warm the Kettle

Lyrics:

One small sound
One small word 
In tongues all over the world
I said it
I said it 
One small word
I said it
I didn't
I said it
I didn't
Tongues all over

Can't pick them out
Can't press them in 
I'll never hide my scars
Can't pick them out
Can't press them in
I'll never hide my scars 
I'll never hide my scars 

One small sound
One small sight 
One unsheathed knife must glint 
In an alternate timeline's light
One rust-ridden blade juts out 
Of a friendly moonstruck shape
To tear, tear terribly, terribly
Tear, tear terribly 
The delicate crepe of night

Familiarity breeds
Indifference
Familiarity breeds discontent
Familiarity breeds
Indifference
Familiarity breeds discontent

My other time machine
A pungent, putrid brownish-green 
November smile 
Blandishing my two-timing door

One small sound
One small bite
One tomial tooth
One Loggerhead Shrike must skewer 
My invertebrate doppelgänger 
On barbed wire in a parallel universe 

My tongue parallelly bleeds 
One small drop 
In a monthful of blood 
In tongues all over the world
I said it, I didn't
It doesn't matter
What I said or didn't
Admit it
You were never going to get it
I was always gonna get it

Can't pick them out
Can't press them in 
I'll never hide my scars
Can't pick them out
Can't press them in
I'll never hide my
Familiarity breeds
Familiarity breeds

Not only is it thicker
Blood is stickier than water
Maybe that's relevant somehow
Can I explode now?

Credits:
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Produced by Josh Frigo
Co-produced by Stephan Nance
Keyboard, vocals, backing vocals - Stephan Nance
Drums & percussion - Mathias Kunzli
Bass - Jeni Magana
Strings arrangement - Stephan Nance and Michelle Packman
Strings - Bizarre Star Strings:
• Patti King - violin
• Kyleen King - viola
• Anna Fritz -  cello
Guitar, additional backing vocals - Josh Frigo
Vocal coaching - Nevada Jones and Adam Sweeney
Vocals recorded at The Map Room
Vocal session engineer - Adam Sweeney
Mixed by Josh Frigo
Mastered by Alex Dobbert
Artwork - Rebecca DeMoss
Graphic design - Chad Lowe

November

Envy

Rule #34

Lyrics:

If the double-row eighteen-cylinder
Air-cooled radial engine
Is not enough to tip you off
Before he slips you off the needle
Drops you into unstitched space
The wasteland which henceforth
Shall be referred to as “your place”

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
When the captain dies by the sword
He'll leave you trapped in the cockpit
Crying out "Mayday!"

When a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher aerial courtship
Nosedives in a blitzkrieg from that Whiskey Delta
You can tell the backyard bomber
Never helmed a cargo crate
He croaks out undoing and doom
To the wishful safety net
You jeopardized your life to loom

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
Once you elope with the captain
You'll leave on a sordid honeymoon
Trapped in the cockpit
Crying out "Mayday!"

Always the last and never the least
Always the fast and never the feast
Always the cult of domesticity
Always the jolts of electricity
Always surpassed and never decreased
Always amassed and never released
Always the past controls your mind
Never the peace you hoped to God you'd finally find

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
And when he dies by the sword
He’ll reward you for your obedience
For your countenance has woven in at every turn

Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand
Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand still burns
Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand still burns
From the last airstrike

Credits:
Music and lyrics - Stephan Nance
Piano/vocals/backing vocals - Stephan Nance
Programming/bass guitar/guitars/banjo/organ/keys - Josh Frigo
Violin/viola/cello - Yoed Nir
Double bass - Jeni Magana
Trumpet - John Lake
Trombone/bass trombone - Becca Patterson
French horn - Meredith Moore
Piccolo/flute/oboe/clarinet/bassoon - Josh Plotner
Percussion - Mathias Kunzli
Drums - Aksel Coe
Orchestral arrangement - Josh Plotner
Vocal recording engineer - Adam Sweeney
Mixing - Josh Frigo
Mastering - Alex Dobbert
Artwork - Rebecca DeMoss
Graphic design - Chad Lowe

Mayday!

I Am Not a Stranger Here

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1 is out now!
Download/Stream: https://madilynmei.lnk.to/AThousandSongsAboutItAll
Album Merch + Vinyl & CD: https://shop.madilynmei.com/ 
 
Written and Performed by Madilyn Mei 
Produced and Mixed by Scrawny 
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson 
Video Animation by Scrawny 
Intro/Outro Animation by Madilyn Mei & Scrawny 
 
Lyrics:
I am an alien
My rocket ship is human bone and skin
I’m something smaller staring out the skull
With a panel of wire and
Buttons I don't understand
Spamming every one of them
So, does being human mean pretending to know
What’s going on?!
(Hello?)
What's going on?!
(Hellooo? Fine!)

Take me to your leader
I would like to have a couple words
Get your shit together
How do humans keep on getting worse?
I’d go back to space but they've invaded out there too

We’re doomed
(Will anyone tell me what's going on? No? I'm gonna scream!)
(AHHHHHH! Tell me!)

You mock the way I talk
And I might be a little bit behind
Trends and slang and other ways to fit the box
To not be not liked

Once it gets underneath my skin
It's hard to let anyone in
Again my walls go up
I’m on defense, my solitude is
Safer than having friends
Why do I feel alien?!

I am an alien
My rocket ship is human bone and skin
I’m something smaller staring out the skull
Through two big eye sockets
And I just don't understand
How to become one of them
Does being human mean
Pretending to be something you're not?
What's going on?!

Take me to your leader 
I would like to have a couple words
Get your shit together
How do humans keep on getting worse?
I’d go back to space but they've invaded out there too

We’re doomed!

I don't wanna be here
Don't want a body or brain or thoughts of my own
I don't know who’s there in the mirror
Wanna go home
Where is home though?

I don't wanna be her
Dissociate through another day
I don't know who that is standing in the mirror
Everywhere I look I’m alone

I am an alien
My rocket ship is human skin and bone
I’m over trying to fit in
Guess I’ll always be alone
Cause I just don't understand
How to become one of them

How do I be one of
How do I be one of you?

(Is anyone out there? Over.)
(Anyone!? Over.)
(I’m talking to myself, aren't I? AHAHAH. Over!)

How do I be one of
How do I be one of you?

5. Quarters

(1, 2, 3, 4)
Wish I could stick my memories
Under my pillow for a quarter each
Losin’ em like baby teeth anyway
So give me a quarter please

I just want a gumball at the mall

Here I am in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old
My best friend is a cat who is buried in the yard
Across the country safe at home
Wouldn’t you believe the things we do to breathe?
The things we gotta just let go?
Endin’ up again in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

And I’m excited for Colorado
But not for the altitude
Got real sick last time I went
So I’m giving Mother Earth some attitude
All alone, watchin’ a movie
In some motel in New Jersey
Nobody here can hurt me
They don't know me well enough to

Here I am in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old
Learnin’ different words for the clouds up over head
But the stars are still the same as home
Wouldn't you believe the things we do to breathe?
The things we gotta just let go?
Endin’ up again in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

I wanna move and never settle down
But I also want a chicken coop and a thousand hounds
Mind if I keep you in my collection?
I gotta build new friendships, new connections

Here I am in some place I’ve never been
All alone, it don't get old
Learnin’ how to cope with the fact it has to end
When I’m out of quarters in my coat
Didn't wanna leave Willy on the scene
Fig will have to learn to float
Startin’ over again in some place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

What’s Going On?!

Stream/Buy

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1 is out now!
Download/Stream: https://madilynmei.lnk.to/AThousandSongsAboutItAll
Album Merch + Vinyl & CD: https://shop.madilynmei.com/ 
 
Written and Performed by Madilyn Mei 
Produced and Mixed by Scrawny 
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson 
Video Animation by Scrawny 
Intro/Outro Animation by Madilyn Mei & Scrawny 
 
Lyrics:
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate you
 
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate
 
I don't know the things I wanna say until I say it
I hate it till I play it
Up on stage and see your faces
Let go of the reins
Now my whole brain’s a one man circus
This has to be my fate
It’s my only sense of purpose
 
Make it a character
You're her but you're not her

No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame, woah!
 
I don't know which way to go
So I continue forward

The pure and utter horror
Realizing I left me behind
I'm lonelier than ever
But I guess that's for the better
Time to kill and bills to pay
And plenty things to write

I’m just a little not myself lately
Too late to contemplate
You chose your fate
Maybe I should
 
Make it a character
You're her but you're not her

No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame

I’m done, I’ve just begun (la la la)
Why am I burning out?
Did I fly too close to the sun? (la la la)
Why am I burning out?
It was just starting to get fun (la la la)
Why am I slowing down?
Why am I burning out? (la la la)
Why am I burning?
It’s burning
 
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
I know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace me
Replicate
AI generate me
 
Gotta keep up
I’m eating my own dust
Don’t know what to do or to trust
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace me
Replicate
AI generate

No time to waste (I don’t know if I can go on)
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate you
 
No time to waste (but I know the show must go on)
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate
 
I don't know which way to go
So I continue forward
The pure and utter horror
Realizing I left me behind
 
I could write
A thousand songs about it all
I've just begun, now I can't stop
Lose your mind
Stay who you’re not
But the brightest of flames
Burn half as long

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1

My Only Sense Of Purpose

Neither in the street nor in death nor if you go some place where nobody can see you….

Rubio’s Lament

Beneath the Brine was recorded by The Family Crest, mixed by Jay Pellicci at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, and mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Services.  These tracks are unreleased. Please refrain from sharing outside your team. 

Howl

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

I Am Not a Stranger Here

Sparkbird

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