1. |
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Hollow bones and empty nests
With just a song inside our chests
Just like 2 blackbirds there waiting for the sun
Just like 2 black birds waiting for the sun
And to think we reckoned
We’d be warm in summer clothes
A wind from the highways tangled up out twisted souls
A wind from the highways tangled up our twisted souls
Asked myself, “are you afraid to die?”
See my skin through holey jeans
Time’s been pulling at my seams
The nighttime & evenings no slumber have I found
Till When I am lying 6 feet underground
But there’s a special medicine
Made for people wandering
A melody you could sing until your days are done
just like 2 blackbirds waiting for the sun
I’m not afraid to die
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2. |
Gather
01:40
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3. |
Gin and Cheap Cigarettes
01:24
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I’ll sleep on your streets
Faceless and nameless
When the sea meets the sky
You’ll know where I landed
Somewhere out there
Smoking and drinking out back
Smoking and drinking out back
Gin and cheap cigarettes
Gin and cheap cigarettes
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4. |
Grimonium
01:20
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5. |
Arrows
03:45
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The hours that belong to you
Are buried in the backyard
And I’ve been trying to kill that little bluebird
But she keeps singing mercy into my ears
Love will make you weak,
Cuts & it’s pearly & I hold it close to me
But don’t go telling God,
his sinners are songbirds blue eyed & bipolar, they live where his garden was
sun spoke and we all believed the lie
that it was bad blood, sorry July
but I want to keep you
you know you’re the only one that I ever told
about the great flood, the regret that it carved out
& as for the heathen s and the whores
well I’ve got the same disease,
you’ll never long for my shadow to darken your door
but Love will make you weak,
Cuts & it’s pearly & I hold it close to me
& don’t go telling God,
his sinners are songbirds blue eyed & bipolar, we live where his garden was
In a casket at dusk sits a parliament of birds
The flapping of wings, a fluttering of souls
& I may die like a dog but I’ll not fear the night
I’ll crawl with arrows in my hands & my heart
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6. |
Vagabond
02:30
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Nomad you’ve forgotten your own name
You howl at the moon and laugh at the stars
You say, “you don’t know anything at all about us” x2
You made your home out of the road
You live beneath the trees among the leaves
Along the streets where no one goes
“they don’t know anything at all about us”
you’re carved into the canyon,
swallowed up the river,
you grew beneath the redwoods,
called a highway rambler
don’t look back
look back
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7. |
Bombs
02:16
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8. |
Josephine
03:22
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Josephine don’t you think you’ve had enough?
They mistook your innocence for charm
But now the sick moon’s on the rise
I see the horizon’s got it in his jaws
Theres ghosts who live inside these walls
I wonder if you walk these halls anymore
I miss you but I’m glad that you’re gone
I wrote your words upon my walls
But the man died before the name
And all that’s left is a crippled little bird
I see the city skyline’s crooked teeth
I watch the evening turn to dust
And wonder bout what could have been
Josephine don’t you think you went to far?
Time will catch you in it’s teeth
Rotten flesh and holey jeans
Will be all that remains
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9. |
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They want to live inside some wooden house
Where Junebugs fly and they
could wash their golden hair
And sleep through Saturdays
There’s something bout the time when night is young
You share and age
Reminding them of dreams
On sleepy Saturdays
Would they find beyond the doors
The life that they asked for
Or would they see that it’ s just me?
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10. |
Move On
01:57
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Yellow jagged beak that freed you from my cage bruised and broken wing whistled as you slipped away from me
Oh my grace as if time could replace
the love that I should’ve given you
And all those lines on your face I wish I could erase
And give you back the years that I stole
Time put a gun in my hands
Tell my fathers ghost, “you just wouldn’t understand
That a man these days can’t have things to hold,
Best take what you can and move on.”
Take what you can and move on
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11. |
Mockingbird
02:54
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Broken hearted little beast
I see you howling at the moon
Hopped a freight car bound for sundown
But the city’s just the same
Cathedral of fools
So with a pocket full of stars you slept beside the road
And called it home for a while
They thought that you were bound for more
Don’t call it by a name
Just count it our upon your fingers
Mockingbird, your sounding like
Death arguing with the devil
You’re out there,
a drunkard in the garden
The fool who drank the moon’s reflection
You say,
“you left me for dead, you left me for dead
on the side of the road,
you left me for dead, you left me for dead
on the side of the road”
but at least little bird, you will die free
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12. |
Thatch
01:51
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13. |
Large Regardless
04:19
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14. |
Redwood Highway
00:53
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15. |
Greenline
02:55
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I used to carry all the world upon my shoulders
Just to bring it to your feet
But now there’s a ghost who rides the greenline every morning who looks a lot like me
It’s been years since you left home
Faded pictures on my walls are all that’s left
But you still haunt me
Now who’s to say what lies beneath
This flesh? Hollow bones & and aching heart?
The nest we built by hand, twig by twig
Just cracked and fell apart
Wove your words into my songs
Try to hide all the scars beneath the lines
And the lies that you told
Never understood your smile as you said,
“I miss you but I’m glad that you’re gone”
was it the way good-bye tasted on your lips?
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16. |
Skincolor
05:23
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17. |
Idea #9
01:00
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18. |
Sidewalk Freaks
05:38
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Kicking with the sidewalk freaks
We haven’t slept since late last week
If I’m not careful she ends up in my dreams
So all I get’s an empty head
To fill it full with scenes instead
And have a go beneath your pocket seams
We all thought the Mary cast
Was made of stone through bathroom glass
But then we found she’s made of wood like us
So we carried her across the yard
By her arms from her old guard
To the house white paint chips and gold dust
Same old stars
The only ones I’ve seen up there so far
Mirrors all the same
Tired of my face looking so plain
As long as I can sleep I can’t complain
Today I found no other sound than breathing
I though to think of you
But it seems the clock has swallowed up your face
If this is it then count me out
I’ll go down clean no blood no shout
And from the city streets I’ll dig my grave
Same old stars
The only ones I’ve seen up there so far
Songbirds, come to stay
Beside me on the back porch where I lay
Beside me as the sunshine drifts away
How the birds do sing
Above the leaves and
We must be insane
Not to remember
Simulacrum
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19. |
Collect the Dust
02:59
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Sunday died alone
The pigeons scattered from the rooftops
As the stars fell upon the rocky shores
The ocean opened wide
to catch the lost & lonely souls
but nothing should surprise me in the night
little bird upon the shelf asked me,
“could I be someone that you could learn to love?
“the truth is, you’re far too lovely
for a heart like mine, I’ll leave you here
to collect the dust and I will look at you
from time to time.”
Cut that caused regret
Flies aligned along the bathroom floor
Clothes left on the line
She doesn’t live here anymore
Nothing should surprise me when the sun
Goes down
Little bird when the hours are still…
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Holly McGarry Boston, Massachusetts
Imagine a young folk artist with the depth of Nina Simone. Transport the storytelling talent of Dylan to a North Idaho town. Holly presents the dichotomy of a calm exterior with unbounded passion for music, a newly-minted adult with a lifetime of experiences able to lace her lyrics with profound insights, sharing her love, loss, and life through a simple six strings. ... more
Holly McGarry recommends:
Chris is an incredible songwriter, on my last tour my band mates in Cedar & Boyer and I fell in love with Badlands and the song One Became Two in particular.
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Harold's is an old grocery store, a three legged dog, the death of a small town in the west. Olson is one of my favorite songwriters and crafts enduring, honest songs.
go to albumIf you like Feathers, you may also like:
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Nora Brown continues to bring nuance and resonance to her modern interpretation of Appalachian folk and bluegrass on her latest LP.
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This album speaks to the continuum of African diasporic culture that is central to the vibrant canon of Americana folk music.
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