1. |
Spirit Me Away
02:47
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Spirit Me Away
by RBW
Echo in the sky above you
Flicker when you close your eyes
Blessings from the one who love you
Always coming in disguise
Melody from up the staircase
Tumbles down like summer rain
Leaves are burning round the corner
And it’s 1983 again.
And the sweet dreams were not destinations
They were just fuel for this ribbon of road
And the angels of your salvation
Their secret words are always in code.
Some days everything’s an omen
A maple with a murder of crows
Sunset is a shameless showman
A goodbye beautiful as a rose
And each breath feels like a blessing
Each step a gift from the stingiest god
No need for late night confessing
All is forgiven but nothing’s forgot
And the ghost of a dream
Comes calling in the dark of the day
You are the one
You’re the one to spirit me away
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2. |
Chevynova the Caul Baby
04:00
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In folk tradition, a child born with "a veil" or "a caul," i.e. amniotic membrane over their face, will have "second sight," or the dark gift of prophecy, etc. That fascinates me. So I wrote a song about it and included a fuzz bass solo. I also got to employ cool words like "eventide" and "clove."
CHEVYNOVA THE CAUL BABY
My name is Chevynova and I had a caul when I was born
My name is Chevynova and I had a caul when I was born
So tiny that they put me in a coffeepot and left the lid on.
My name is Chevynova I was cursed with second sight
My name is Chevynova I was cursed with second sight
When you see the eventide I can see the morning light.
CHORUS:
Caul baby with the Southpaw Mama
And the holy roller preacher daddy
Caul baby they left you down the Stony Clove
You were just too special to love
My name is Chevynova I was named for my momma’s ride
My name is Chevynova I was named for my momma’s ride
Conceived in the backseat I was born on the passenger side.
CHORUS
My name is Chevynova it takes more than silver and gold
My name is Chevynova it takes more than silver and gold
If you think you can afford it you can have your future told...
CHORUS 2x
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3. |
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4. |
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WORDS FAIL ME
All this conversation, I just keep on talking
I’m not saying nothing at all
I’m circling around what I really want to say
Looking for the right lines, fumbling for the phrases
But everything’s so tired and cold
Every word upon my lips just gets in the way.
CHORUS:
Let me stay a while now
When words fail me, please hear my call
When words fail me, when I say nothing at all
Trying to explain all the things I’m feeling
Deep down in secret heart
Trying to define all these dreams I dream
All these spinning wheels, they’re all going nowhere
Nowhere fast
I’m filling to the brim and bursting at the seams.
CHORUS
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5. |
A Stranger to You
03:15
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A STRANGER TO YOU
So this is what it takes
To make your will break
And open you up like a rose
So this brings that soul kiss
Dripping like dew
Ripping through your favorite clothes.
When you do not recognize me without my mask
When an act of kindness is too much to ask
When I’m a stranger to you, I love what we do.
So this quickens your heart ’Til it breaks apart
And all the good stuff spills out
So this makes you see red Shakes up our bed
This taste of wonder and doubt.
When you see the traces of another man in me
The road not taken isn’t such a sad mystery
And when I’m a stranger to you
I love what we do.
So this makes your blood flow
Deep down below
Like when we met years ago
You say sweetness and grace A familiar face
But part of you says that’s not so.
Only when the mirror breaks does it show what’s true
When more than one reflection looks back at you
And when I’m a stranger to you, I love what we do.
CHORUS
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6. |
Perfectly Broken
03:11
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PERFECTLY BROKEN
When I bring you back to life in my dark fantasies
I’m sitting there beside you and I’m shouting begging please
And this song ceases to exist
My power is just far too great for you to resist.
CHORUS
And we’re perfectly broken Nothing is too much to bear Perfectly broken
Nothing to repair.
Saturated, soaked with sound
And running in the red
Pumped all full of chemicals
So we sleep like the dead.
The kiss it left a scar that will remain
I close my eyes and I can see what’s left of the stain.
CHORUS
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7. |
Murderer's Lullaby
03:30
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Murderer's Lullaby
by RBW
Echoes, echoes
Keeping those echoes at bay
All through the night won't you please let my lullaby play?
On my hands and feet
Blood and tear stains
I scrape with a stone
"Til it runs down the drain
And the sweetest of songs
Keeps away my dark dreams
Memories and plans
Floorboards swept clean.
With a murderer's lullaby...
The spaces between
Make me afraid
A crack in the wall
A hole in he gate
When silence creeps in'
I just cannot take it
A gay melody
Is perfect to break it.
With a murderer's lullaby...
Echoes, echoes
Keeping those echoes at bay
All through the night won't you please let my lullaby play?
The metronome clicks
Unbroken time
The muzak, the hymns
The nursery rhymes
My lullaby prayers
My soul to keep
I never will wake
'Cause I never sleep.
It's a murderer's lullaby...
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8. |
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9. |
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WHAT THE FUNK IS UP?
I’m lookin’ at the sky I say, what the funk is up?
I’m lookin’ in your eye I say, what the funk is up?
It’s a psychedelic situation, an immaculate
creation, making the entire nation say What the funk is up?
I wake up in my bed I say, what the funk is up?
I’m getting out the lead I say, what the funk is up?
It’s a polyphonic exploration, an automatic
invocation, making the entire nation say What the funk is up?
What the funk is up?
CHORUS:
Everybody thinks they know where we’re goin’
But no one wants to know where we been
You and me we see what they’re showin’ We know what’s coming ’round the bend . . . again
I’m lookin’ at the clouds I say, what the funk is up?
I’m dancin’ out loud I say, what the funk is up?
It’s a tragicomic realization, a quadro- phonic exultation, making the entire nation say
What the funk is up? What the funk is up?
CHORUS 2X
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10. |
On My Way
02:35
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ON MY WAY
by RBW
Spit shine on my travelin’ shoes I’m kicking up the dust
The diesel fumes are sweet perfume to my wanderlust
One foot on the platform, one on the accelerator
Eyes on the horizon hello friends I’ll see you later.
Paper cup fill it up this let it warm my hands
Sing those songs I know by heart that I do not understand
The kindness of a stranger is golden currency
Everybody knows this wild freedom isn’t free.
CHORUS:
Sleeping on the train, waking on the plane
There’s no other place I’d rather be
Than on my way.
Chase the fading sunset spreading like a red wine stain
The smoked glass window of the sky the woolens soaked with rain
On a marble threshold, at a rusty gate
I’d rather travel with my hope than arrive to a certain fate.
CHORUS
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11. |
WDS 8-7-17
02:17
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Robert Burke Warren Phoenicia, New York
RBW's music appears on albums by Rosanne Cash, RuPaul, and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson. He's written for Salon, AARP, Woodstock Times, Vulture, Paste, & the Bitter Southerner. His debut novel, Perfectly Broken, was published in 2016. In the mid 90s, he portrayed Buddy Holly in the West End musical Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story. Prior to that he traveled the world as a rock & roll bass player. ... more
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