1. |
The Wheel
02:52
|
|||
|
Break ’em on the wheel.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Minute hand
in the butcher shop –
Tick tick tick.
Chop chop chop.
Turn.
Turn by turn.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Rich man, poor man,
beggarman, thief –
don’t need sense
when you’ve got belief.
Turn by turn.
Pull from the left,
pull from the right.
Middle will only
get so tight.
Turn.
Turn by turn.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie.
Speech for a tooth,
Sight for an eye.
Turn.
Turn by turn.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Break ’em on the wheel.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
Turn by turn.
|
||||
2. |
In the Silver Mines
04:32
|
|||
|
Coins turn the world over
redeemed of heavy lead
We’re orebound like
mountain copper
picking the silver mines instead
A statue stands,
arm outstretched
pointing towards some tomorrow
and some tomorrow after that.
The sun shifts
across sheen and dint,
reflecting in shadow
metallic buttons on his vest.
Picture the silver heart hidden there in his chest –
Coins turn the world over
redeemed of heavy lead
We’re orebound like
mountain copper
picking the silver mines instead
Breeze sweeps across pines and birches
a blanket of nettles and leaves covers
the spoil tip, the earthen pits
men versus metal under
None have declared victory yet –
Hidden heart – Boys, that’s us in his chest.
Coins turn the world over
redeemed of heavy lead
We’re orebound like
mountain copper
picking the silver mines instead
Coins turn the world over
redeemed of heavy lead
We’re orebound – just
mountain copper
picking the silver mines instead
picking the silver mines instead
picking the silver mines instead
|
||||
3. |
Bad Badge
02:58
|
|||
|
He wears that bad badge
to hide the hole in his chest –
can’t tell how black it is,
because no light escapes it.
He’s got a stranglehold
on the lawman’s code:
To Protect (his friends)
and Serve (himself).
He’s got a big belt,
a bigger head –
needs every atom of oxygen.
Should you seek to breathe
without him seeing,
prepare to drown on dry land.
A big need, bigger debt
and we’re all obligated to it.
But ain’t nothin’ returns less
than a Bad Badge.
He flashes that bad badge
and a smile as he ransacks
and – badda-boom –
the property room
is his retirement plan.
His crooked rookery
of broken wings won’t believe
it’s his strings around their feet.
Such pretty birds!
Jail’s full again, it’s true,
but he’ll bring the cell to you.
And you’ll be doing four to six,
sentenced here to his bull-
shift your eyes to the ground
or he’ll post your name
around town.
It’s how he grinds
the good men down
with that bad badge.
He rests his bad badge
in an ashtray on his desk.
He keeps his enemies close
and family downstairs.
The homefront’s under threat –
could get hit any minute.
His first wife left with his first son,
still she prays these second ones
will grow despite his shade
which engulfs and enslaves.
They’ll pay and pay and pay.
You’ll pay and pay and pay.
We’ll pay and pay and pay and pay
and pay and pay and pay
until we find we gave
the whole damn town away
to that Bad Badge.
|
||||
4. |
Circular Proposition
03:57
|
|||
|
Equidistant
at every point,
gravity
maintains the void.
The hard magic
of perpendicular attraction –
an agent of collapse
inside this wild
nest of senses,
brambles in the
whirlwind.
Only route known –
a tangled thread
wound about
the branches,
again and again.
Within this
circular proposition
the days are fading.
The days are fading
within this
circular proposition.
Within this
circular proposition
the days are fading.
The days are fading
within this
circular proposition.
The scheme begins
where the line ends –
Manifest cause
and consequence.
It’s the long play,
degrading each rotation.
Irrational constant
resumes formation
inside this wild
nest of senses,
brambles in the
whirlwind.
Only route known –
a tangled thread
wound about
the branches
again and again.
Within this
circular proposition
the days are fading.
The days are fading
within this
circular proposition.
Fading within
this circular proposition.
Within this
circular proposition —
|
||||
5. |
Something New
03:09
|
|||
|
I’ve been waiting forever
at the gate of confusion,
and I knock and knock and knock.
This map of shadows
with a legend of illusions.
Circle on circle on circle I’ve walked
The road runs wild right ahead of you
Is it time for something new?
Waking underwater
with rain on the surface.
You question every breath.
A gray horizon
drifting without purpose
between sky and sea, clouds and land.
The road runs wild right ahead of you
Is it time for something new?
If you don’t want to be this,
why do you feel need to see it through?
When it’s time for something new.
Time for something new.
Time for all those words unspoken
and thoughts at rest
The doorway stands wide open
just like you never left
Time it’s Time again
It’s time for something new.
If you don’t want to be this,
why do you feel need to see it through?
When it’s time for something new.
It’s time –
exquisitely timed –
Time for something new.
|
||||
6. |
Mockingbird Scene
03:04
|
|||
|
Hush little baby don’t you cry,
I’m gonna sing a lullaby.
And when you wake, we’re gonna fly
far from this mockingbird scene.
I’ll buy a thousand diamond rings,
and we’ll say all the things
they say on all the shows
we always joke about.
Mockingbird scene
Mockingbird scene
The world’s about to turn us on.
The world’s about to turn around.
Mockingbird seat
will be the death of me.
The world’s about to turn us on.
The world’s about to turn around.
Mockingbird scene
Mockingbird scene
The world’s about to turn us on.
The world’s about to turn around.
Mockingbird scene
will be the death of me.
The world’s about to turn us on.
The world’s about to turn around.
|
||||
7. |
Sockdologer
03:27
|
|||
|
You struck me blind.
Now you’re all I want to know.
Meet me wild
in these open fields
and spread me through
the ground below.
Converging light
burned a course through me,
remaking who I’d been
and who I’d be.
You struck me blind.
Now you’re all I want to know.
Find me wild
in these open fields
and spread me through
the ground below.
Wandering marked
until you descend again.
Melting away in
this empty rain.
Shredded in
this hollow wind.
Currents return and
the arc defines the poles.
This circuit broken
and open –
conducting nothing
until closed.
You struck me blind.
Now you’re all I want to know.
divine me wild
in this open field
and spread me through
spread me through
spread me through
spread me through
the ground below.
|
||||
8. |
Who Are You
03:10
|
|||
|
Do you tell me how much it costs
to make it worth the price?
That empty heart isn’t much of a prize.
It seems you’ve spent all of your time
on a monster in disguise.
Who are you
Who are you to change your mind?
It’s easy to say there’s a better way
and usually it’s a lie,
but everyone knows you’ve
worn through these clothes
and they were never
quite your style.
Tomorrow morning when you wake up,
how’d it feel to open your eyes?
Who are you
Who are you to even try?
How do you feel when you meet someone
too weak to raise a smile?
And who are you tonight?
You don’t have forever, babe.
You’d better make up your mind.
Who are you?
Who are you tonight?
Who are you?
Who are you?
Who are you?
|
||||
9. |
Red-handed
02:53
|
|||
10. |
Poisoned
04:02
|
|||
|
Was it something in that drink?
It contacted the skin?
Through the meal or the breathing?
Now edacious within.
The muscles swell to expel
this dormant pathogen.
You know it’s poison.
You’re poisoned again.
Remember the taste of silver?
Remember the suit of pins?
The skin of thin glass
that you tremble against?
How did this begin?
When will it end?
Whose name will you call?
Which cells will you defend?
Remember the poison?
Yes, you’re poisoned.
Windows are melting.
Smoke carries the walls away.
The portrait’s been torn
by broken glass in the frame.
And you’ve taken the pages
out of all your friends.
Taken the poison.
You’re poisoned.
Your fingers recall the notes
to a lost, crooked tune.
You can’t lift your eyes above
the dress on the bed,
the bed in this room.
You despise her for coming,
but would have prayed
until she came —
Race through me, poison,
erase me again.
Drowning in an ocean
of deaf adrenaline.
Race through me, poison,
erase me again.
Race through me poison –
Again and again,
again, again and again.
And again.
Again.
and again
again
again
|
||||
11. |
The Double
04:23
|
|||
|
Half the strength bears twice the load.
You’re seeking light in the heart of shadow.
Lost in a mirror thought a window.
As above, so below.
Facing away, still you know
your Double.
Twin bells called you to rise.
Again that feeling
of leaving
something behind.
A stray coin shines on the ground.
Reach after fortune
to find it face down.
Each penny spent is spent twice.
Once on the purchase and
once on everything it didn’t buy.
At the split, each step defines.
Pace oneself and
leave one self behind.
Half the strength bears twice the load.
Seeking light in the heart of shadow.
Lost in a mirror thought a window.
As above, so below.
Facing away, still you know
your Double.
“Where is the world
when you sleep?”,
he whispers to you
in your dreams.
His left : Your right
Always (never) watching,
never (always) meeting eyes.
Half the strength bears twice the load.
Seeking light in the heart of shadow.
Lost in a mirror thought a window.
As above, so below.
Facing away, still you know
still he knows
Facing away, still you know
your Double.
|
||||
12. |
One-eyed Dog
03:26
|
|||
|
My dish looks full,
but I’m starvin’.
It’s this hunger
unrequited.
I guard the door,
but sleep on the floor.
And I feel this
collar tightening.
You’re leadin’ me on like a one-eyed dog –
slip round the corner,
leavin’ me in this fog.
You think I only have half the sight,
but I catch twice the scent and
leave twice the bite.
Now I’m off the leash
and on the prowl –
and I howl
and howl
and howl
and howl.
You’re leadin’ me on like a one-eyed dog –
slip round the corner,
leavin’ me in this fog.
You think I only have half the sight,
but I catch twice the scent and
leave twice the bite.
Leadin’ me on like a one-eyed dog
slip round the corner,
leavin’ me in this fog.
Lie to me just a one-eyed dog,
but I still see and see it’s wrong.
But keep gettin’ dragged along –
Woof.
You’re leadin’ me on like a one-eyed dog –
slip round the corner,
leavin’ me in this fog.
You think I only have half the sight,
but I catch twice the scent and
leave twice the bite.
Leadin’ me on like a one-eyed dog
slip round the corner,
leavin’ me in this fog.
Lie to me just a one-eyed dog,
but I still see and see it’s wrong.
But keep gettin’ dragged along
gettin’ dragged along
keep gettin’ dragged along
Just keep gettin’
dragged along.
Gettin' dragged along
Gettin' dragged along
Gettin' dragged along
|
||||
John Siqveland Minnesota
Americana-on-Nylon.
Saint Paul, MN
If you like John Siqveland, you may also like:
Michelle Stodart’s folk music captures hope in melancholy, addressing the transformational aspects of the most challenging times.
go to album
Stunningly beautiful songs wrought with pedal steel and nylon-string guitar that cast mesmerizing melodic shapes.
go to album
The Flowers That Bloom in Spring
by Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert
Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert offer up a stunning minimalist country record, conjuring huge emotions with little more than vocals & guitar.
go to album
Hell on Church Street
by punchbrothers
A re-envisioning of Tony Rice's classic album "Church Street Blues" from Brooklyn progressive bluegrass quartet Punch Brothers.
go to album
The St Buryan Sessions
by Sarah McQuaid
Recorded live at St Buryan Church, the latest from Sarah McQuaid is a showcase for the simple power of voice & guitar.
go to album
All The Good Times
by Starlings, TN
Members of punk act reassemble to make atmospheric and gutsy bluegrass songs about barbeque and whiskey.
go to album
Sorry I'm So Sensitive
by Bea Stewart
The second EP from Northern Irish singer-songwriter Bea Stewart runs from gentle folk to pillowy pop ballads, all perfectly executed.
go to album
