the crane wives - scarecrow bones (live)

Shipwreck

A Surprising Conclusion

Fright, Sheer Fright

Blue-, blue-, blue-eyed 
Scruffy fella— 
Helicopters buzzed against 
Our cheeks and ears and necks and 
Turned us all around 
In terms of color: 
Blushing, queasy, spinning 
And irrevocably endearing 
Drinking fountains, puppies, penguins, 
Little lambs… 

Don’t you dare go 
Making me like you more; 
I hate you more and more 
Every second I’m with you; 
Every second you’re making me like you 
More and more, 
I hate you more 
I hate you more. 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 
But it’s still good. 

True, true, true, I would 
Be your boyfriend 
If you’d be mine, 
But this whole situation is 
Becoming so ridiculous— 
Mr. Potato Heart— 
Indeed, it seems 
You lack a few essential pieces; 
Would it be taboo for me 
To skip-bo right past go, 
Play operation and connect for good 
The clues to cure this sorry state of 
Constant aggravation? 

Don’t you dare go 
Pushing my love away 
If you’re gonna just 
Pick up the slack and 
Pull it right back 
In a stupid kind of tug-of-war game 
That I don’t wanna play— 
Unless I’m on your side, 
In which case 
I’ll be with you all the way. 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 

I could go a day without you 
I could go a hundred days 
But I’d spread those hundred days 
Out over a century 
If that’s okay with you 
Sometimes I get the feeling 
I’m just on display— 
Like some little punk’s been 
Pressing against me, 
Setting me off for a 
Pyrotechnicolorful 

Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Setting me off and 
Running away 
When I’ve got something 
I still want to say… 
Again! 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 
And no matter what— 
It’s never long enough— 
But it’s still so 
oh oh oh-oh-oh 
good!

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Merlin Showalter, drums 
Tim McLaughlin, bass/guitar

Stephan Nance — Firecracker

Trouble is, 
Nowadays, 
We go walking in the rain 
Protected by our plastic parasols. 

From the mists 
To the waves, 
We don't think we ever will implode again, 
The mighty leaden rollers rushing in to kill us all. 

But the ships are swiftly sinking, 
And the submarine in which I am 
Sequestering myself 
Is failing to produce a proper answer. 
I'm thinking to myself, 
I'm telling me that deftly I'll be 
Giving my advice to all the world, that 
The cells we're in are splitting 
So it's looking like 
It's likely that it's cancer. 

You looked sweet 
Standing there, 
Smiling at me sleepily 
Suspiciously like someone who is dead. 

Shake the sheets, 
Let 'em air, 
We'll go down in history 
Conspicuously grinning like the cat who's in the story life we've led. 

And the ships are softly sighing 
As the sedimental seafloor says 
A prayer to bring them home 
And sings a sullen cradle song of death. 
I'm thinking to myself, 
I'm telling me that certainly we 
Haven't got the heart to tell the world that 
The tumors are malignant, 
So the time is coming 
When we'll breathe our last breath. 

From the start, 
Where was I? 
I was not the kind of guy 
To look a fading flower in the eye. 

Cross your heart, 
Hope to die, 
Hope to soon be sailing smoothly heaven-high, 
Surrounded by the seabirds as they skim the starless sky.

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Angelica Sather Hodgetts, cello/melodica 
Tim McLaughlin, trumpet

Stephan Nance — Immunodeficiency

I can’t wrap my head around 
The notion that the present is a gift. 
You know me well enough by now 
To know I know that your devotion 
Has a tendency to shift. 

I can wait for you forever 
If that’s what you want. 
I can be a fountain for you 
Always filling, always spilling. 

I burnish every surface in the house 
But still I’m haunted by the dust. 
How much of it is your skin? 
How could I begin again? 

You know the words to all my songs 
And you prove it to me every night. 
But could you guess the lyrics 
To the song I didn’t write?

credits

from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals

Stephan Nance — The Song I Didn't Write

I’m a pretty good guy— 
I scrub behind my ears each morning, 
And I floss every night. 

I care about the environment— 
Nowadays people seem to admire that— 
And yet, 
It’s so hard to find a friend… 

If you don’t drink, 
If you don’t smoke, 
If you don’t wanna poke 
Everything with a pulse, 
You’re a loser, 
A disaster, 
They’re perpetually telling you to grow up faster. 
Well, if that’s what it takes to be cool, 
Someone needs to change the rules. 

I’m impossibly kind— 
I’ll never ever forget your birthday, 
And I’ll always care what’s on your mind. 

I’ll go with you to the fair— 
And maybe if we’re lucky I can win you a bear— 
So where 
Is someone when I need someone there? 

If you don’t drink, 
If you don’t smoke, 
If you don’t wanna poke 
Everything with a pulse, 
You’re a loser, 
A disaster, 
They’re perpetually telling you to grow up faster. 
Well, if that’s what it takes to be cool, 
Someone needs to change the rules. 

I am a vegan, 
And I ride my bicycle whenever I can. 
I’ve got a feeling I could save the world— 
If I had someone to help me… 

Outside on every street 
I pass a multitude of people 
That I’d never wanna meet— 
As they stagger to a place where they’ll carouse all night, 
I just wanna cry and yell at them with all my might, 
I just wanna stop and tell them that it’s not okay 
For them to fritter every second of their life away like that! 
I wanna say, hey! Why can’t you see? 
You don’t know what a party is 
Till you’ve hung out with me… 
We can dance through the puddles in the empty streets 
We can warm up and cuddle in between the sheets 
We can make popcorn on the stove 
We can watch X-men 
Parts one, two, and/or three… 

If you don’t drink, 
If you don’t smoke, 
If you don’t wanna poke 
Everything with a pulse, 
You’re a loser, 
A disaster, 
They’re perpetually telling you to grow up faster. 
Well, if that’s what it takes to be cool, 
Someone needs to change the rules, 
Send me back to elementary school 
So I can play all day in my kiddy pool, 
Never have to worry about how buff I’m not, 
Never have to worry about how tough I’m not, and 
Maybe I won’t even notice whether I am loved or not— 
I dunno. 
I dunno, 
I dunno… 

I don’t know what to do. 
I’m in a quandary 
It’s clear I need somebody 
But I cannot seem to find out who… 

And if they’re anything like me, 
It’s likely that this person would be tricky to see, 
So if you do, 
Would you please refer them to me? 

‘Cause I don’t drink… 
And I don’t smoke… 
But I could brighten up 
Your day with a joke— 
If you let me… 
Once you’ve met me, 
Maybe I can make it so you never want to forget me… 

Maybe we could change the rules.

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Merlin Showalter, drums 
Tim McLaughlin, guitar 
Milo Fultz, bass

Stephan Nance — Song For Losers

ハシブト and ハシボソ
ガラス* caught colds
And シジュウカラ*
Got a yellow throat
And I feel
Like I don’t belong;
When I open my window
I hear all calls
No song

And in the forest
The lianas
Traded gold for evergreen
Threw shade
On the fauna
So ムササビさん*
Hides their head away
Can’t peek out
To catch some rays

Ooh ooh
家の家はどこですか
Ooh ooh
もう家の家はどこですか*

I spent
One month
In paradise
It ruined me
For other surroundings
I spent
Two months
In paradise
They stripped me clean
Of any lingering grounding

Reverse nature shock
An itinerant Song Sparrow* returns to the flock
With the distant stare of a Rough-legged Hawk*
With the deep despair of the last Great Auk*
Sticking a key in an electric lock

Ooh ooh
家の家はどこですか
Ooh ooh
もう家の家はどこですか

*ハシブトガラス — Large-billed Crow
*ハシボソガラス — Carrion Crow
*シジュウカラ — Japanese Tit
*ムササビさん — Musasabi-san (musasabi = Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel)
*家の家はどこですか... — Where's my home / Where's my home again?, or Where's my *home* home / Where's my *home* home again?
*Song Sparrow — ウタスズメ
*Rough-legged Hawk — ケアシノスリ
*Great Auk — オオウミガラス

Stephan Nance - vocals, piano, synth
Adam Caswell - programming
Milo Fultz - bass
Merlin Showalter - drums
Arrangement - Adam Caswell, Stephan Nance, & Merlin Showalter

Stephan Nance — The Song I Didn't Write

Sparkbird