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a long time

by dark river

supported by
Susan Spring
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Susan Spring This album is so great! I love that all the songs are written by the artist. They have such meaning and feeling. I highly recommend it!! Favorite track: vagary.
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1.
shape 03:31
I saw a shape just ahead. It’s black and red And made of cloud. Made of rock Made of water. I heard my daughter. The only sound Showed me a cave up the hillside. It takes a long time to dig the hole. I can’t remember what I missed. It’s on my wrist. It’s paid in full
2.
empty tigers 02:19
There are many miles to cover. I come home alone. A long time passed. I remember the side of the road. I used to have the face of a clock. Heart of a storm. Devour everything. But things fall apart when they want to. Finally they stop and you go on And afterwards back in the parking lot Empty tigers crossing the road The cat in the grass. It’s a mystery. Now the hunt is a thing of the past. If you can bring nothing to this place But your dead shell, keep out. A long time passes in a minute.
3.
Tell me about the waterfall. Listen to it roar Kick a new hole in the wall. Build yourself a door. When you showed me the lightning scar, I couldn’t look away It’s going to take much more than this. I might sit here all day. Thought you heard a sound but nothing could be found. There’s got to be a portal somewhere to the west. [fell asleep feeling real mad Woke up in a strange land A frozen lake. Colored sand You do what you can] Mary looked around the room. Barely saw a thing Finally on the windowsill: a cold, discarded wing A song was playing in her head: you fool, you cannot know Because the dusk is gathering, you fool, you cannot go I drink to my annihilation, but the cup is filling up I hear you breathing in the room. The love will punch you in the gut
4.
machines 04:12
He lived somehow with lowered eyes With the machines inside the machines I went outside to try to find a rock to climb Like I used to all the time The days are numbered What’s the point of picking up spiders from the snow? What’s your secret? Knowing what’s impossible to know? The honeybee stung you on your tongue The moon just hung there like a lung Cut the signal Short circuit This place is dangerous Machetes out Pretending to survive The fall might catch you I see the yellow ribbon on the water in the night Still and sad. A terrible shape that drifted by
5.
animal 03:29
At the end of the day, driving away, Couldn’t find the words for all the things that I’d say If I ever grew up, if I’d step off the bus But I can barely see through all the trees and the fog. It’s weird Noise down the hall. Walk through the wall. Go out in the dark. Do you feel brave at all? But you keep your eyes down and you can’t make a sound. These are different kinds of clouds. It’s nothing at all. It’s almost too bright. Does it shine like this at night? I guess we’ll have to stay and see. She’s probably right. Look where I began and how my mind ran. A herd ahead of wolves running in the pale blue moonlight I saw you lying on the trampoline The leaves look like toys when you’re in a dream I saw the entrails from the drive through line Shining through bullet holes in the stop sign. I was spacing out, looking at the dark. A pair of eyes hooked up to a heart Way up in the trees on the bloody horizon Her heartbeat lullaby, an animal crying
6.
deep lake 03:32
You’ll find yourself bleeding in the waves Collapsed at the edge of the lake Crashed out. You’ve still got a long way Ride with the rattles in the weeds. Gutted by the first dry freeze. Be mutation of the seed Stand your ground. Put up a fight Cower in the shadows out of the light Talking in code to the night
7.
Why are you standing there with such a look of dismay? Your eyes are filled with the dream and primordial clay. The battlefield’s burning. Ain’t that just the way. It’s a real drag. There’s gaps in the walls and there’s blood on the floor And somebody is screaming from behind the door Undiscovered worlds are washing up on the shore Dead language and a dead flag I can tell when I stand in my front yard at night That I am terribly weak from the dizzying light I want to walk down to the bar and start up a good fight Hold my head with a bloody rag They saw the future I think that’s a lie I watched her shout and Come down the big slide Trust me. I’ve been there I know every road I know every inch of That dark twisted road’ Would you like another drink? I could be your baby I am sleeping at your feet. Don’t you need to save me? Try to go that way alone. Who will carry your lantern? I couldn’t hear you on the phone, so I told an Ugly secret to the empty line. I felt no sorrow.
8.
vagary 02:15
Red dripping from the side of his head Laughing like he’s already dead. Befalls you. We had it coming to us for these Are just the dying throes of a sea. It calls you. Heat heavy on the side of the street. Curious to see if it bleeds, and will it. Walk. Everything is made out of rock. Skeleton key for the lock. Go get it Feel. Swimming with the wheel It’s a wasteland without she Show me how to see Even when she falls asleep In the backseat Sweating in the heat Are you dreaming vividly? Learning how to read From the distant vagary
9.
lucy 04:09
After the show on the long drive home I’m awake now Where did you go? Out back in the smoke? I cannot find you As I age I mostly stay the same Walk a few blocks deliberately out of the way Never I’m sure, though it’s always worth the fantasy You’re an ordinary god. I’d rather be lost in the orchard I feel afraid, though you said, no way. It’s coming down Watching you play in the middle of the day. I cannot find you Draw lines to keep track of the time I’m disillusioned You are holding your guitar like a temple, a siren song My dream is somewhere in between. I’m at the ragged edge of it. Cities brought down to their knees. I’m with you at the precipice.
10.
dumb, slow 03:36
The wasp has stung. The damage is done. And I know that I’ll miss you. And I’m sorry if I dissed you. It was warm in the house. Now I’m standing in a downpour Terrified for tomorrow like a fugitive. Dumb, slow then buried in snow. Hypnotist on the radio. Dumb, slow then buried in snow. Where did everybody go? How am I supposed to keep it real? Where will you ride Your bike? I can’t explain it. It just feels different. Where are you now? Are you crazy? Baby, it’s a train dodge. I can see you hopping over fences and running through the cornfields Flashing your teeth. This is a world for them. It’s not a world for us.
11.
Walk across the bridge alone. Trace the wall, the telephone. Underneath a single stone. I put it there. What is it I need to know Whose bones are those below Underneath a single stone. I put it there. Couldn’t wish the world away. Maybe I’d better not. Maybe it’s a robbery. We looked inside the train. Went and got my cover blown Trusting in a catacomb. Underneath a single stone. I put it there.
12.
flood 04:46
Folded at the base of the hill Taking all of my will to be out by first light The night time at the back of the mind With the shadows and pines is a place that I like Lay down in reverie Tracing the veins in my only hands and drive alone Worried for the flood that comes next Laid it out in a bet. Laid it down in a bed Day breaks and the oncoming train In the trembling rain Has the moon in its jaws [They know what they are They never stray far The whole mess, the crime scene, the movie star She’s riding through the empty lot. She is a jar. The flood came and drowned her inside of the car I sat at the drums while she played the guitar]
13.
(dream song) 02:52
I must have crossed a threshold when I fell asleep Some kind of tundra. Giant boulders Weakening gravity As I took a look around, the strangest thing happened I couldn’t hear it, but I knew it was singing for me Calling me on Then from out of nowhere, a familiar place But a different cross street. It was totally wrong But I felt alright. She shot straight up at midnight. It was just a nightmare I’ll hold you tight by the lurid firelight Whistling your dream song Red of tooth and claw in the wasteland. Sun just stares like a jackal And shakes and shakes Pick through the ruins down by a deafening sky Haven’t felt it since I don’t know when Red of tooth and claw in the wasteland. Sun just stares like a jackal I search and search Pick through the ruins down by a deafening sky Haven’t felt it since I don’t know when

about

written & recorded by dark river 2019

credits

released December 24, 2019

all songs by j. beatty
s. munson sings on tracks 2 and 11

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dark river California

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