1. |
The Pursuit
05:33
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Lyrics:
If I pursued you, what would you do?
Would you expect me to become your muse?
Or would you reject me the nicest you could?
And lie to my face and tell me I’m good.
A good friend, a nice kid.
Why do I leave it all to you?
You tell me your secrets when you feel alone
I pretend I like all those records you own
That trip to the river I thought was my turn
But you said you needed some space to learn
To be on, your own
Why do I leave it all to you?
I should have been your teacher
Cause what did you do?
You sought another
Who played games with you
I wanted to tell you
That you’re missing out
But you made me wallow
In self-pity and doubt
And if you had asked me
I would have kneeled
Guess I didn’t have
That kind of appeal
You made me become what
I once despised
But I will be strong now
And leave your kind lies
I know I’m different
And proud that I’ve changed
I know how to leave you…
But what if I stayed?
I can’t regret this so I’ll play your game
I'll take the reigns and arch a straight dart
To hunt down the answer In the hollow of your heart.
So I guess my question isn’t that new:
When I pursue you, what will you do?
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2. |
Hesitation
05:23
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Lyrics:
Will you get up and go outside
Stop the world spinning in your mind
Will you step forward on this path
Or are you paralyzed by the past
There’s a sadness in this place
I trace the wrinkles on her sheets
She pulls the shades over her eyes
But I’m not sure if I should leave
She might need me when the light crests east
Rest her head upon my breast
I’d love to stay beside her always
Fix this hole in her sleeve
But am I just a temporary comfort
In this stranger’s time of need
Hesitation in my mind
It's that word between yes and no
It's that move between stay and go
It’s that space between what you want and what you know
Hesitation in my mind
If I reach to her, will she pull away
If I wait to touch, will it be too late
All my life waiting for the right time
But she’s not giving me a sign
I want to touch her lips with mine
Feel electric down my spine
My switch is open, I'm on fire
But she is broken at the wire
It’s going to be night for a long time
It’s going to be night for awhile
Hesitation in my mind
It's that word between yes and no
It's that move between stay and go
It’s that space between what you want and what you know
Hesitation in my mind
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3. |
Sunset Strip
05:30
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Lyrics:
Baby baby baby baby please don’t leave
Don’t you see what they’d make me be
Don’t you see what they’d make me believe
They want me to be an object
They want me to be a pawn
In their game
They ask: Do I play?
No no no I’m not a mannequin
Or a mandolin
I got these pawn shop blues
I’ve got nothing to lose
I’ve got my knees all rouged
For you
But they’re hidden
In this old shag
I’ve got the rug burns to prove
My love is true
To you
But you know you know you know you know who I am
And you got you got you got you got a good plan
Won’t you let me in
Let me be your heroine
Won’t you let me sin
This life’s too real just to pretend
I see the Sunset Strip
And it’s all green-lit
From down on Skid Row
To Chateau Marmont
We’ll get the penthouse suite
And we’ll dress real neat
Glide through the gate
To that shining fate
One day
But for now we eat our ramen and whiskey
Sell keys on our knees
And we get real frisky
If we need
Oh baby baby baby baby’s not just a child
And daddy daddy daddy ain’t a pedophile
Won’t you let me in
Let me be your heroine
Won’t you let me sin?
Let’s stop the bullshit and begin
And we bleed. And we teeth. And we feed. And we dream.
And we bleed again.
Hemophilia baby it don’t stop
Hemophilia baby it don’t stop
That’s why I’m kneeling at your door
On the floor
Asking if there’s more
More than anything you dull my pain
We know our loves not real
But at least it makes us feel
Something
Won’t you let me in
Let me be your heroine
Won’t you let me sin
Come on let’s do it all again
Cause we know we know we know we know to atone
So we aren’t we aren’t we aren’t ever alone
Out on that Sunset Strip
Out on that green-lit upset subset Sunset Strip
Out on that Sunset Strip
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4. |
Ghosts on Pedestals
07:49
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Lyrics:
Never knew
Never knew
Never knew
You
Never knew
Never knew
Never knew
You were so afraid
Every love
Every face
Faded fast
For you
Every kiss
Every miss
Was a last
For you
So you thought that love was the same as leaving
An open, empty door
You closed yourself inside these haunted walls
Instead of letting the wind blow through
You couldn’t love me the way I wanted you to
You couldn’t give yourself away
You kept yourself locked to the pain of the past
Instead of letting it all pass free
And we didn’t know it would stop you from believing in me
And we didn’t know it would stop me from believing in you
Ooooohs
It was there
It was there
It was there
But I am here
Let it go
Let it go
Let it go
It no longer exists
Everything is okay
Everything is okay
But
I can’t compete with ghosts
I can’t compete with ghosts
I can’t compete with ghosts
I can’t compete with ghosts
I can’t compete with ghosts
I can’t compete with ghosts on pedestals
Cause I don’t believe your ghosts
I don’t believe in ghosts on pedestals
So I won't compete with ghosts
I won't compete with ghosts on pedestals
Ooooohs
I couldn’t love you the way you needed me to
Within this haunted house
I just wanted us to be together
through every space and time
through present time and space
So will you let me give you
Will you let me give you
Will you let me give you
Love?
Will you let me give you
Will you let me give you
Will you let me give you
Pain?
And will you give me
And will you give me
And will you give me
What will you give me
When you give me
You
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5. |
Winter Evening
06:36
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Lyrics:
Frozen lake and looking glass, I need you to be clever
Reflect the things I cannot see and only learned to weather
Great lake and windowpane, I need you more than ever
Alter trees and change my mind ideas about forever
Walking in the solemn streets, all the people that I meet, they are going to go home
When they ask me where I’ll be, I can tell them happily, I don’t even know
All your solid families and your warm priorities, they are not for me
I will expand my residence, develop omnipresence, encompass all of you
So if you see them, will you tell them, I have gone away
So if you see them, will you tell them, I have gone away
In the heat of summertime, anger feels so sublime, but it’s unjustified
Sadness hate and last regrets, anxiety like cigarettes, they will burn us down
I’m going where the opaque air turns into rivers crystal clear and we will all progress
Untangled from the hijacked hum of systems made to keep us dumb, I shine with the night
So if you see them, will you tell them, I have gone away
So if you see them, will you tell them, I have gone away
So if you see them, will you tell them, I am looking good
So if you see them, will you tell them, I am looking good
Frozen lake and looking glass, I need you to be clever
Reflect the things I cannot see and only learned to weather
Great lake and windowpane, I need you more than ever
Alter trees and change my mind ideas about forever
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6. |
The Poet
06:30
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Lyrics:
Good-bye Nostalgia
Good-bye Nostalgia
Fun for awhile
It was fun for awhile
Then I was sad...
The first I ever heard of you was in a land out west
My mind was filled with a storybook artist
As California mountain tops run to the sea
Tales of your wildness hit hyperbole
I never thought I’d impress you in the least
Your intelligence roared, an unleashed beast
But gentle kitten ‘hind the curtain recognized
How the spark of poetry echoed in my eyes
I’d put you on a pedestal that took a hit
The statue fell into my arms, and you weren’t it
I found you swimming in the dirt; climbed a tree
You were in the world with me -- I just had to see
Bright Trio of Aeschylus
You and I; We, He, It
Pronouns bind the liminals
Of our bodies’ filaments
But every song about love is Gone
And every song about now is Wrong
Let’s ban this tradition
Peel back conditions
Let us…
Listen to the present tense
I’m in love with you and it all makes sense
Let us listen to the present tense
I’m in love with you and it all makes sense
Memories can glow like coals if we keep stoking them
But they will never be that fire in your eyes tonight
So I’m happy to douse them, let all things flow
As we blaze the trail East on our way to Buffalo
So past hurts ran from our bodies like blood from a wound
And we licked each other’s skin like it was medicine
And we weren’t surprised to see our scars turn into freckled arms
which keep glowing in the sun
Sunlight found me in our bed where my chest is a pill-
ow for your head
And we float on our backs in the stream
in a permanence of ambiguity
We looked into each other found another stronger writer
Who was no stranger but a self in a mirror
Turned around upside down; Every flip and turn,
word and rhyme in perfect synchronicity.
But every song about love is gone
And every song about now is wrong
So good-bye Nostalgia
Good-bye Nostalgia
Let us…
Listen to the present tense
I’m in love with you and it all makes sense
Let us listen to the present tense
I’m in love with you and it all makes sense
Bright Trio of Sophocles
You and I; We, She, It
Pronouns bind the liminals
Of our bodies’ filaments
Bright Trio of Euripedes
You and I; We, She, It
Pronouns bind the liminals
Of our bodies’ filaments
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7. |
The Waves
04:34
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Lyrics:
The waves keep crashing in
The water swallows us whole
Without clothes I am exposed
But you already knew me
All the secrets I keep
Are revealed with each drip
Of the sandcastle sand from your strong hand
As we build a temporal home
Despite the flaws of our gendered parts
The roles we play in the dark
We are the same at the heart
We are the same at the heart
The heart is the body
The body the mind
And ours combine
And ours combine
The heart is the body
The body the mind
And ours combine
And ours combine
It grows larger, this love
We sink deeper from the world above
My throat is full and I need you to breathe
I am drowning but you speak to me
We must carry on into the light
(into the light…)
Breaking the surface
I am born anew
Tell me, world
What I can do
Despite the flaws of our gendered parts
The roles we play in the dark
We are the same at the heart
We are the same at the heart
The heart is the body
The body the mind
And ours combine
And ours combine
The heart is the body
The body the mind
And ours combine
And ours combine
Strip me down
Expose me now
I am nobody
My mind is my body
Strip me down
Expose me now
I am nobody
My mind is my body
Strip me down
Expose me now
I am nobody
My mind is my body
You are me and I am you
it’s paradox and it’s the truth
You are with me when I’m alone
I am shining with the love you have shone
My sun, my sun
What have we done?
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8. |
Unconditional
09:23
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Lyrics:
Here we are
Standing
Where the light goes
Standing
Where the light goes
Wake up / the day is new / let’s get to school / learn what we can do
On the road / we slice the country / spilling guts / to suture our wounds
We recognize / each false step / but to forgive / we must accept
Blood on our hands / complicities / can we wash it clean / can we make amends?
But to each other / we are the truth / what we’ve discovered / is unconditional /
it’s unconditional
People can change / but nations will not / when a past of shame / can be bought
And at what cost / do we deny the truth / if we build walls / we’ll split in two
Why do you cry
In the morning
When the sun comes up
In the morning
When the sun comes up
As if you
Are in darkness
When you’re waking up
Are in darkness
When you’re waking up
Hey, don’t you worry
No one can be you
No sun has your spark
And I need you now
In the day and dark
Let me show you how
All this time and space
In your bright glow
can become embraced
I am free / exposed to you / touch me now / I am born anew
As the sun goes down / we watch and learn / we accept our crimes / will you watch us burn?
As the sun goes down
As the sun goes down
Here we are
Standing
Where the light goes
Standing
Where the light goes
And to each other / we are the truth / what we’ve discovered / is unconditional /
it’s unconditional love
it’s unconditional love
we are standing where the light goes
we are standing where the light goes
it’s unconditional love
it’s unconditional love
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Courtlin Byrd New York, New York
linktr.ee/courtlin
independent artist making indie folk bedroom rock
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