1. |
Forgive The Birds
03:10
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Forgive The Birds
Far from the Ferris wheels, hidden from the pearl of summer
There’s a place the lonesome steal away to lay their weary heads
I pardon the fish who swim, I forgive the birds that fly
It’s the people who walk around like me I can’t seem to let go
But who am I? but a stone-thrower like you
We could knock it all down
But I’d rather make something new
If a hawk was perched above the morning we said goodbye
I’d choose to take it as a sign, some things you must decide
Cause who am I? but a naysayer like you
We could shoot it all down
But that’s just one point of view
The brick that build this house
It is made of clay and shale
Two common kinds of dirt and stone
Provide us rooms to fill
I fill them with my love, i fill them with my sorrow
With books and beds and coffee cups
Come lay your weary head
Cause who are you? But a traveler like me
We could burn the place down
But I’d rather wait and see
Who are you? But a wayfarer like me
We could burn it all down
But I’d rather let it be
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2. |
Turn Around
03:45
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Turn Around
Inspire me, wind from the east, turn the grey under from below
I’m wearier than the tired song repeating on the radio
Let me down you frosty piles of snow, I want to know the ground
With barefoot feet, unpack the life locked up under the frozen mounds
The springtime lark is tardy this year
Winter’s grip is strong and cavalier
New England, you are like a slowly spinning girl with many masks
Each quarter turn you take we see one face is different from the last
But oh, is your turn to turn around
It’s your turn to let me down
Hammering right through the brick of walls erected in good faith
Careful hands, unneeded wounds set each rock into its place
But oh, it’s my turn to turn around
It’s my turn to let you down
Abandoning the land I love for the wonder of the great unknown
The quarter turning lovely one forsaken for an unlit road
But apparently I need the cold to stay awake
It must be time to turn around
Oh, it must be time to turn around
It must be time to let you down
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3. |
Put You At Ease
03:04
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Put You at Ease
Learned shyness from my mother
Eccentricity from dad
They weathered many winters
Looking to find the promise land
Me, I’m flexible as cotton
As polite as I am vague
When it comes to conversation
I always know just what to say
To put you at ease, let me put you at ease
There is history you inherit by breathing
Learned to speak by watching giants
Make explanations for the small
Words fell like dying petals
As we tried harder to grow tall
Now I’m caught in Sinai's fire
And that can’t be solved by speed
In the still of unknown shadows
I’m unfit to take the lead
But I can put you at ease, let me put you at ease
There is history you inherit by hearing
I learned grace by watching birds fly
Sat beside a wingless dove
She was poetry in stillness
Improvisation it is love
But I’m afraid of what is dear to me
That’s why I’m pushing you away
Can’t help but keep to what’s familiar
I hope to learn to love someday
Till then I’ll put you at ease, let me put you at ease
There is history you inherit by leaving
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4. |
Cape Cod
02:34
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Cape Cod
You blow my mind in a Cape Cod kinda way
With a sandbar spine and a rose hip bush
And cigarettes a pack a day
I turned around at seventeen
Learned to drive, I went the other way
Said “anywhere, but east from here is where I wanna to be”
With a backpack full of principles
And how things ought to be
All figured out and folded neat
Like my mother’s laundered sheets
Self-righteous as a pastor’s kid
Before he learned what his father did
I said “anywhere, but east from here is where I’m gonna be”
Kindness used to come so easy
How’d I learn to be so mean?
Not to your face, but in my head
I tossed you out like some book I read
With which I disagreed, that tried to hard
To hide the ugly that’s in you, and in me
I’d lose my mind in a Cape Cod kinda way
Getting mischievous when the summer-folk go
With your pal since the third grade
There’s two dozen of you at twenty two
And then thirty-four, and then fifty-eight
Still hangin ‘round downtown
Slurping oysters in October
How I learn to be so mean?
Thinkin “anywhere but east from here is where I wanna be”
Or where I ought to be
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5. |
Father's Clothes
03:32
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Father’s Clothes
Hey child, where you running to?
It’s safer here with me, safer here with me
Your skin is cold from the holes
You’ve worn in your clothes, worn in your father’s clothes
But warm your skin, c’mon in your running all the time
Warm your skin, c’mon in your running all the time
If you’ll be patient with me,
I’ll read from a book we learned to read when we were kids
I’m sorry friend if I begin to look a bit confused, or unsure with my words
Won’t you say to me?
Drop your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re trying all the time
Drop your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re trying all the time
My brother, you’re brave before the world
They see you looking bold, we all know you’re so bold
You’re young and greedy, I see you looking old
From ripening too quick and trying all the time
But rest your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re tired all the time
Rest your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re tired all the time
Rest your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re tired all the time
Rest your skin, c’mon in, I know you’re tired all the time
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6. |
Roman Ocean
03:29
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Roman Ocean
We can’t avoid a collision can we
Can’t steer away your blazing gaze
Call it a delusion shall we
Can’t see stars fall in the blaze of day
Go sail your Roman ocean
I cannot be your conquest
Old and warlike as a Trojan
To tempt a thirsty empress
We delight ‘cause our hands are harsh now
Blistered, cracked and weather-worn
Walk along the cliff indifferent
Growing golden past the dawn
Go sail your Roman ocean
I cannot be your conquest, no
Old and warlike as a Trojan
To tempt a thirsty empress
We can’t avoid a collision can we
Can’t steer away your blazing gaze
Call it a decision shall we
Can’t see stars fall in the blaze of day
Can’t see you fall, in the blaze of day
Go sail your Roman ocean
I cannot be your conquest
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7. |
Maria
03:32
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Maria
I run a tire shop in Barcelona
Since I was twenty-four
I’d be running out the door
Back to my home in Almeria
See, I come from the south
That’s where I learned to run my mouth
And these northern folk
Can be so damn polite
Good manners keep you in the dark
And I keep turning on the light
Can I call you Maria?
It’s your smile it’s your face
It’s your fire it’s your grace
Can I call you Maria?
It’s a compliment, I can promise you that
I wouldn’t quite say that I’m retired
But my kids now run the store,
Became too much of a chore
Ever since the day I got a phone call
Said she wouldn’t be at work
Today or any other day
And it’s been three years
Her desk still looks the same
There’s a picture of her mom
On an elephant in the rain
Chorus
Bridge
You are on a holiday, not looking for work
Could I persuade you to stay, you’d have a job here in Spain
Oh I called her Maria
Couldn’t answer the phone
She went out off on her own
So can I call you Maria
It’s a compliment, I can promise you that
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8. |
Proud
03:57
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Proud
Love it’ll slay you
Make you smaller, and smaller every time
Its currents are mighty
Lift you up, and carry you over the line
But if all you have is excuses
Nothing solid to hold you when you reach the other side
Blame it all on your bruises
These arms know how to hold you
But you were never mine
Are you braver now?
Are you weak enough to be strong?
Are you feeling proud?
Cause I’ve tried to love a proud man
A proud man won’t take my love
We had our moments
Chasing after the same dream
And that isn’t worthless
But we saw things we were never meant to see
And if all we had was our dreaming
Nothing fertile to plant in
To make it come alive
I don’t blame you for what you were feeling
Lord knows it was pretty,
And sure I felt it too
But are we braver now
Are we weak enough to be strong
Are you still feeling proud
Cause I’ve tried to love a proud man
A proud man won’t take my love
Are you braver now, are you weak enough to be strong
Are you feeling proud
Am I braver now
Am I weak enough to be strong
Cause I’m feeling proud
And I tried to love a proud man,
a proud man won’t take my love
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9. |
If I Reach
03:50
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If I reach
If I reach for a hand
You say a hand will reach for mine
That I’m ready to bloom but like most cowards
I’m too shy
You know I fall in love just about everyday
But a single pair of eyes has never watched me stay
Diagnose me
You think I’m troubled do ya?
Ain’t the first fellow who seems to think so
Medicate me
Shrink my heart down to size
Give me all the reasons to change my mind
Some people have it down like the steps of a dance
Sure footed as a mountain goat trackin’ down their romance
As the story seems to go
I prepared for the dream
Brought my dancing shield along
To what was
a picture show
Diagnose me
You think I’m troubled do ya?
Ain’t the first fellow who seems to think so
Medicate me
Shrink my heart down to size
Give me all the reasons to change my mind
Diagnose me
You think I’m troubled do ya?
Ain’t the first fellow who seems to think so
Medicate me
Shrink my heart down to size
Give me all the reasons to change my mind
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10. |
Love Is a Chisel
02:42
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Love is a Chisel
Love is a chisel, we are all its stone
You can hear each knock and whistle
As were whittled down to bone
And I’m making a collection with my favorite broken pieces
Built up into castles, watch the water
Rush right in and wash it away
Bow your head and start again
We are blood, we are bread, we are glass, we are wine
I remember your name, do you remember mine
Took a trip to Jersey City, slept too little drank too much
Threw myself into the ocean to sober myself up
And it’s not that I’m unhappy, I just need a place to go
When I get pressed against the edges of all I want
And what I know gets washed away
I fold my hands and start again
We are blood, we are bread, we are glass, we are wine
I remember your name, do you remember mine
Oh my wayfaring friend with your feet hot from the walk
There’s a creek with cool water up around the block
These lines that we carry will cripple us with their weight
But they also keep us healthy, singing all the way
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Hayley Sabella Plymouth, Massachusetts
Hayley Sabella is a singer-songwriter / local farmer / earnest truth-seeker / independent woman / dork, who originally did her thing in her hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts and is now doing her thing in other places, too.
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