1. |
Persimmon
03:09
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Walking the ridge line, cold in the shade
Laurel and spruce pine scatter the grade
Looking for the orange suns
The late october ones left beyond the leaves
Are you bursting at the seams?
Frost on the trees
Looking for winter
Holding them softly
Looking for the winter in persimmon seeds
Ginseng and greenbrier, down on my knees
Sensitive to shadows as they fall down the mountain and
Drop ten degrees
Shiver in the howling wind, sleeping rough again
The orange and the green just hanging patiently
Frost on the trees
Looking for the winter
Holding them softly
Looking for the winter
Looking for the winter in persimmon seeds
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2. |
Cast Iron Kettle
03:18
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I was a cast iron kettle in the pouring rain
Hurting for a scrubbing and a deep clean
Old brown petals on a daffodil
I was a repeat back seat sleeping pill
Black and red and cast away
I don’t know how I got along
Balanced on a razorblade
Oh, to be home
I was a red eye morning on a winter night
Staring at the mirror, looking for a fight
Oh what a devil I was up against
I was out the door, cross the yard, and up a fence
Cold, alone one yesterday
I don’t know how I got along
The smell of asphalt after a summer rain
Oh, to be home
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3. |
Howl
03:13
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The howl of a dog doesn’t call in the language of moonlight
A lighthouse mostly angles over the open sea
A satellite reflecting off the dark side can bounce to me
I get quiet when the sun goes down
If nothing’s bright out I might be good for nothing
The radio doesn’t have to notice the snowing
And never have I criticized a train out of tune
How come I was whistling but stopped as soon as you walked in the room?
I get quiet when the sun goes down
When nothing’s bright out I might be good for nothing
I notice the notes the oaks softly scream in the breeze
And find myself out crawling up to a waving rose
She’s warning me, whispering, if you can hear me now you’ve come too close
I get quiet when the sun goes down
When nothing’s bright out, I might be good for nothing
Breaking a promise never seemed too loud
If they don’t understand me when I howl
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4. |
Crooked Tooth
02:22
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We’ve been lost since Mardi Gras
Woke to find the streets were empty
Glistening with early spring
Months of bottles in the yard
Capturing the rain, we lid and labeled each
By the copper beech
I would like to stay a little longer
So much time for paying our debts
Searching for the fisher king, listening
Nina told me, turn around
Look how nothing moves but time and temperature
I needed her
We went deeper only when
We found a door beyond the oaks and chinquapins
That let us in
I would like to stay a little longer
So much time for hedging our bets
Turning toward the little things, listening
Look at you, crooked tooth
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5. |
Whisper
03:39
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What secrets do I whisper in a palm?
What songbirds have I convinced to sing the lights on?
Though something may be broken,
I’d still like to rosin up my bow
What luck can be gained from weeping?
What scratchings will be left to show when we’re sleeping?
Matches fall to ashes
And dust fills an oven unused
What money can be made when the day’s too hot?
When the day she blows away, money made or not
There’s sun in California
If you want me to, I’m not
Something silver from the market if I ring this bell
If the world feels like a blanket, am I sitting well?
Is there something that can teach me how to hear
The answer
A better exit opens where the wishing ends
Take the honey in the kitchen and begin
All the ordinary silence is a radio if you listen
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6. |
Wondering
02:41
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I could sell you a picture to fill your eyes,
But what would you want it for?
Those eyes found a rabbit asleep in the grass
And tracked a lone hawk through the sky
I could sell you a story to still your tongue
But what would you want it for?
That tongue spun a vision all cunning and wild
And tasted the salt on my mouth
I could sell you a song to sweeten your ears
But what would you want it for?
Those ears heard summer in the call of an owl
And offered a home to my
Wondering, wondering, wondering
I could sell you a promise to settle your heart
But what would you want it for?
That heart freed a melody stuck in my brow
And offered a home to my
Wondering, wondering, wondering
So I’ll give you my love
cause it pleases you
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7. |
Tallest House of Cards
03:40
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We were Clyde and Bonnie
We gambled what was green
We lived to fill the papers and empty magazines
We took our chances
We ran in style
We built the tallest house of cards that didn’t fall for a while
We were Dixon and Mason
We charted by the stars
Closing in our wilderness at the corner bar
Over the Alleghenies
We were only kids
We built a straight and narrow trail that didn’t turn until it did
If you’re gonna fall, fall in style
We were Fred and Ginger
We were twirling in a trance
Levitating slowly just by happenstance
High above the buildings
We took a bow
When gravity presents itself you have to land somehow
If ever there’s a reckoning
I’ll take it on the chin
If somewhere there’s a ledger book of our love and our sins
Let them say we doubled down
We slid the whole pile
We built the tallest house of cards that didn’t fall for a while
If you’re gonna fall,
If you’re gonna fall, fall in style
Leave it on the ground a while
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8. |
Goldenrod
03:09
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You call, you call me up
Like goldenrod leaning against the wind
We talk, we fall again
We wait to see the shapes of the shadows
I want a goldenrod
I want a goldenrod to lean against
Late fall, a road to a farm
The apples all are long picked over
Who knows what’s gone anymore?
It’s seasonal, something beneath the skin
I want a goldenrod
I want a goldenrod to lean against me
The harvest in, you can phone a friend
But dust will only leave you wanting
Nothing proves you move if you’re the wind
You’ll need a goldenrod to lean against
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9. |
Fire on the Crowd
04:56
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You turn me on, you set me right
Keep me sleeping through another night
I cracked a glass and the smoke rolled in
You picked a flower for the kitchen
Fire on the crowd
I hear sirens when I close my eyes
I smell money when the music dies
I hit the party like a hypocrite
The lonely sound of crickets
Fire on the crowd
Kill ‘em if they don’t
Do it
I reach and arm between the bars and take my ticket
Licking honey dripping right from the spigot
Hollow houses cry out for more
It’s only home if you miss it
Fire on the crowd
Fire, Fire, Fire on the crowd
Kill ‘em if they don’t
Round and round we go
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Joseph Terrell Durham, North Carolina
Joseph grew up in a big Quaker family in the North Carolina Piedmont. He’s spent the last ten years writing and singing with folk band Mipso.
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