Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Persephone


She sat in her garden in an old pair of jeans
and she smiled at the sun and the pale olive trees.
She wiped the dirt from her hands as she stood up to leave
and the earth opened up and she was taken from me.

Oh, and I'll think of you when the rain fills my shoes,
when I'm lost in the wind, when I'm wet with the blues,
when my head's in the clouds, when my toes touch the sand,
when the sun stains the skin where you once held my hand...

She fell through the earth that she cared for so well
and she smiled at the flowers and they wept as she fell
and with a groan and a sigh, the earth closed up again
and she was gone where she'd gone; she was gone from me then.

Oh, and I'll think of you when the songbirds fly south
(of your ghostly-white arms and your apple-red mouth),
when the branches bend down, when the leaves breathe their last,
when the moon sheathes the sun in the shadow she cast...

They closed off her garden with bright yellow tape
and they kept out the press and they padlocked the gate
and they drew a chalk outline where her last seed was sown
and the seed took its root and the earth grew a stone.

Oh, and I'll think of you when the fire won't start,
when the frost owns the night like you once owned my heart,
when the day drinks the dew, when the sun settles in,
when the dewdrops dry up, when the frost comes again...

Down below, the dust settled and they gave her a crown
and a garden of gravel and a grey wedding gown
and she smiled at the cypress, so cold and so fair
and she tilled the scorched earth and they worshipped her there.

Oh, and I'll think of you when the red rooster cries,
when the dawn greets the dark; when the last sunset dies,
will I see you again where the sky meets the sea
when the earth turns at last, when the earth swallows me...?


Thursday, January 15, 2009

bubblegum

Full version

I'm moving, which means packing, which means cleaning, which means I finally found this. Hooray, pack-rat tendencies.

baby blue brand new peek a boo what a view whos who oh phew what to do not a clue ey bee sees one two threes climbin trees dirty knees birds n bees hes n shes honey please oh jeez pretty bird self assured what you seen aint what you heard speech is slurred every word vision blurred so absurd side by side kiss the bride hitch a ride far n wide foolish pride risin tide cut n dried run n hide lean n mean primp n preen king n queen aint it keen cook n clean grass is green quite pristine what a scene virgin whore either or wanted more slam the door off to war such a chore blood n gore hear em roar git back new jack git the knack what you lack fill yer pack bodies stack if yer lucky git a heart attack bullet fly clear blue sky bleed em dry walk on by mothers die children cry why oh why my oh my back home flesh n bone on the phone bird has flown so alone mind is blown heart a lead face a stone thick skin deep sin crooked grin loony bin bourbon gin no spin out or in lose or win day is done song is sung no longer young sure was fun blind n numb deaf n dumb here it come--

Monday, January 5, 2009

Top twenty-five records from twenty-aught-eight!


As usual, this list is in no particular order... I couldn't possibly rate Willie Nelson over Richie Havens or vice-versa. It might also be fairly predictable, for those who know me, which leads me to wonder if I'm getting old and set in my ways. "I'M LOSING MY EDGE TO THE ART-SCHOOL BROOKLYNITES IN LITTLE JACKETS AND BORROWED NOSTALGIA FOR THE UNREMEMBERED EIGHTIES." Anyway...


  1. Hotel Lights - Firecracker People
  2. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
  3. Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at the Canterbury House, 1968
  4. She & Him - Volume One
  5. Loudon Wainwright III - Recovery
  6. The Punch Brothers - Punch
  7. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
  8. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
  9. Crooked Fingers - Forfeit / Fortune
  10. Todd Snider - Peace Queer
  11. Randy Newman - Harps & Angels
  12. Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues
  13. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
  14. Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - A Larum
  15. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazurus Dig!!!
  16. Richie Havens - Nobody Left to Crown
  17. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
  18. Ry Cooder - I, Flathead
  19. The Wood Brothers - Loaded
  20. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
  21. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8
  22. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
  23. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
  24. Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
  25. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology