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Stranger

by The Waxwings

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1.
1/ About to Break [AL/KW] It’s a feeling of chasing the wind Or it’s a moment to begin A moment to shed yet another skin Sometimes it’s easier to imagine death Than the life that you end up with All the give that you take and the take that you give Hey, turn it up as you turn it on Cuz you can’t forget your favorite song With the burning and the ache Coming up as you’re coming down Cuz your feet are marching to the sound Of a silence about to break Well they call it a shot in the dark But there’s a throughline to the arc And a strangeness that becomes the way And the green things growing through the wall Of the graveyard of our mistakes All the years ago once called today Hey, turn it up as you turn it on Cuz you can’t forget your favorite song With the burning and the ache Coming up as you’re coming down Cuz your feet are marching to the sound Of a silence about to break Hey, and I wait for the midnight train Got a ticket to go back again To the burning and the ache And the moon glowing down the track And I know that there’s no holding back Just a levee about to break
2.
2/ I Know Who Won the War [KW] I come from out of town But, baby, I’ve been around You say there’s love to show me Honey, you will never know me I know who won I know who won the war I know who won the war Make way for a real charmer Try and strip my suit of armor Wide eyes of infatuation In heart and soul there is no relation I know who won I know who won the war I know who won the war Tied to a stake or on the wheel I think you know exactly how I feel They all do their best to win me A pale fire’s burning deep within me What seems like deep affection Is secretly only misdirection I know who won I know who won the war I know who won the war
3.
3/ Keep it Together [ES] I don’t know how I’m gonna make it through the day And if I make it through today, will tomorrow be ok? I got these bad dreams following me every day and night I’m losing the battle, never asked for a fight If you’re bringing me bad news, don’t come a-knocking at my door Don’t you bring me no bad news no more The moon’s out of orbit, and the sun is untethered Down here on the ground, everything’s sliding around I pray gravity’s holdin’ me down I’m just trying to keep it together I got half a mind to stand up and walk right out of here The other half is paralyzed with avarice and fear I got the world trying to boil my soul down to zeros and ones Caught between the bottom line and the barrel of a gun Don’t come selling me another way to sleepwalk through another day No more no more no more no more no more I’m going to the other side where I cannot be quantified No more no more no more no more no more And I know it could be worse, but it could be a hell of a lot better Maybe this is what I deserve, for falling behind the curve, hanging onto my last nerve I’m just trying to keep it together A mountain of sand a million miles high Every million years that little bird comes by Some things baby we’re not meant to understand There’s nothing more that i can say, just listen what the man say, he say: Ooh la la la la la la la la Dance dance dance the night away Everybody everybody everybody everybody’s waitin’ for a change in the weather Like a ship out in the rain, tugging at my anchor chains, nothing lost and nothing gained I’m just trying to keep it together If I had my way, If I had my way, If I had my way, I would tear this old building down
4.
1986 03:02
4/ 1986 [TJ] Jesus walked on water My love she followed him When I tried that righteous side I took one step and I fell in Come on now you young rounders Bastard kids of poetry Drive out of town You watch those lights going down Thought if you’d leave, you’d be free Have a drink, son Everybody drinks some To lose what’s in your mind In this hot sun, this California hot sun There ain’t damn treasures to find There’s just meanness in this bottle of apple wine Come on now friends and lovers Children of Reagan’s morning blues Grab that crown and a selfish frown Ain’t no redemption in these shoes Have a drink, son Everybody drinks some To lose what’s in your mind In this hot sun, this California hot sun There ain’t damn treasures to find There’s just meanness in this bottle of apple wine They say Jesus walked on water My love, she walked there too When I tried that righteous side Lord, man, there ain’t no use Have a drink, son Everybody drinks some To lose what’s in your mind In this hot sun, this California hot sun There ain’t damn treasures to find There’s just meanness in this bottle of apple wine
5.
Gravity 03:13
5/ Gravity [AL] Take me to the place that I love Hit the wide open and fly past the county line And let me see the face of your love Burn through the dark ancient clouds and just lay me down Tomorrow come to me We’ll drink the flowers of yes(terday) Show me all the marks of your love Point out the ones I can’t see with my naked eye And tell me all the names to call love How to turn wine into water, to catch the light Tomorrow come to me We’ll drink the flowers of yes(terday) And the sound of my breath as it comes to me And the shape of my heart as it beats for you And my mind letting go I am shivering All I ever I wanted from love To steal the sensation of flight back from gravity Tomorrow come to me
6.
Stranger 03:56
6/ Stranger [ES] I feel so out of place Feel just like I’m driftin’ in space It’s written all over my face I feel so out of place What makes most people feel happy don’t make no sense to me What makes most people feel happy don’t make no sense Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight This is no place I can stay Won’t you help me find my way Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight Feel like a stranger Stranger in a strange land Feel like a stranger When I walk out my front door Now there is no question We’ve been going in the wrong direction Let poetry be our protection Cause I don’t feel no connection To this pack of wild dogs This swarm of angry bees This mean old world gonna bring you to your knees Feel like a stranger Stranger in a strange land Feel like a stranger When I walk out my front door Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight Back to someplace I belong Won’t have to sing no lonesome song Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight Won’t you take these idle hands and put me in the angel band There’s not much around here I would miss Won’t you take this strange desire and let me stand up with the choir I know I was meant to be more than this Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight Won’t you open up the door I can’t stay out here no more Oh I wanna go home Wanna go back home tonight
7.
Homesick Man 05:21
7/ Homesick Man [KW] Homesick man won’t you tell us your heart How the lights flicker out in the settling dark Won’t you show us how empty you be All the longing you feel and the hills that you see Oh -- Oh -- Oh -- Oh Hear it echo your name Oh -- Oh -- Oh -- Oh We all feel the same Heart-sick girl go and gather your dimes All your nickels are dull and your copper don’t shine Won’t you carry us off to a place Caresses come free in a wicked embrace Oh -- Oh -- Oh -- Oh Hear it echo your name Oh -- Oh -- Oh -- Oh We all feel the same
8.
8/ “Hope” is the thing with feathers [Emily Dickinson, arr. ES] “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.
9.
Time for Me 05:35
9/ Time for Me [ES] I could cool off your days I could heat up your nights Light up your minutes and darken the hours I got nothing but time, so many nights I’m here, I’m alone and I’m free All I want you to do Is be wanting me too And clear a little time for me I could walk through your weeks We could stretch out for months Burn through the seconds and sing through the years I’m thinking of you and all the sweet sweet moments that could be If you just open up and empty your cup And clear a little time for me It’s a long time comin’, it’s a long time gone We don’t even have time for it all to go wrong The last grain of sand, the last ray of sun Slips through the glass, fall behind the horizon Inside every second we could surely find infinity The future is now, I’ll show you how If you just clear a little time, clear a little time But I’m waitin still, guess I’ll wait until You clear a little time, clear a little time All this time apart is breaking my heart
10.
10/ Shooting Star [Bob Dylan] Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of you You were trying to break into another world A world I never knew I always kind of wondered If you ever made it through Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of you Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of me If I was still the same If I ever became what you wanted me to be Did I miss the mark or over-step the line That only you could see? Seen a shooting star tonight And I thought of me Listen to the engine, listen to the bell As the last fire truck from hell Goes rolling by, all good people are praying It’s the last temptation The last account The last time you might hear the sermon on the mount The last radio is playing Seen a shooting star tonight Slip away Tomorrow will be another day Guess it’s too late to say the things to you That you needed to hear me say Seen a shooting star tonight Slip away

credits

released January 1, 2020

The Waxwings are:

Eric Schopmeyer [vocals, guitars, harmonica]
Adrienne Leverette [vocals, ukulele]
Kurt Weist [vocals, guitar]
Mark Schopmeyer [banjo]
Matt Marchyok [fiddle, drums, vocals]
Tony Jamesbarry [bass, vocals]

Recorded and mixed by
Jordan Leff at Secret Society, May-July 2019.
Additonal recording and mastering by
Eric Schopmeyer at The Aerie.
Pedal steel on track 9 by Paul Brainard.

Design by Adrienne Leverette. Stereographs: “Fallen Leaf Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, U.S.A.” (1905), and “View of two couples in a boat.” (1850-1930) from the New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Thanks, thanks and thanks some more to: Jordan (for everything), Quinn, Chris, Saskia, Ella, the Leverettes, the Goldings, Molly, Annette, Weist Family, Kathy, Jamesville, Rachel, Greta, Clifford, Terry, Leo, Hen, Grammie Gail, ESSR, Sarah, Finn and Enzo.

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The Waxwings Portland, Oregon

The Waxwings is a band of friends from Portland, OR. We take our diverse musical influences (classical, rock, folk, what have you) and channel them through acoustic instruments to unearth themes of love, loss and the pursuit of soul-searching redemption. ... more

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