1. |
Something Green
04:23
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Something Green
When we have the time we take the long way back
Up the north ridge, through the trees
And the day I asked about the smoke and ash
That’s when I learned what controlled burn means
Sometimes they burn it down
So the rest don’t go
Sometimes they burn it down
So something new can grow
I know it’s hurting now
But underneath the smoke I see something green
How’d they figure out which things you break to fix?
What got broke along the way?
All that matters now is what we make of this
And that the edges are contained
Sometimes they burn it down
So the rest don’t go
Sometimes they burn it down
So something new can grow
I know it’s hurting now
But underneath the smoke I see something green
Sometimes the smoke gets so thick here it has me holding my breath
Sometimes the stakes seems so big here that it scares me to death
After the fires have died down and we find out what is left
Let there be, let there be something green
Chorus
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2. |
Songbird
05:03
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Springtime was easy, everything’s green and bright
Gathered the branches, built you a nest
Summer was blooming, everything bends towards the light
And little by little turned golden and red
I’m never ready when the cold comes around
To close all the windows, button things down
But your heart was skyward, your place was southbound
Hey little songbird, you flew away little songbird
I always knew that you would come back when the cold cleared
Oh little starling, I didn’t know, didn’t hardly
How I would miss you in the mornings, it’s so quiet here…
Beginnings are simple, none of the cracks have shown
Everything’s possible, everything’s fair
You get to the middle, that’s when your cover’s blown
Some days you make it on a wing and a prayer
Hey little songbird, you flew away little songbird
I always knew that you would come back to me somehow
And oh little starling, I didn’t know, didn’t hardly
How I would miss you on the dark days but it's bright now
It's alight now
Isn’t it always the way, that after a few weeks of gray
You feel like the sun is gone for good
Oh it was never the time, or it was never the place
To do all the things I thought I would
But I had your song in my head
It wasn’t gone, it wasn’t dead
It just had to make it’s way back north
Hey little songbird you flew away little songbird
I always knew that you would come back to me somehow
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3. |
Almost Know Anyone
04:04
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I wonder every time you run
Do you go so fast because it’s fun
Or just to show yourself you’re able
All these years I still don’t know
Which words will hit you like a stone
Which ones will bounce off like a pebble
So when you tell me I don’t really know you
I say "how well do we really know anyone?"
I wanna ask you a hundred questions everyday
Wanna see you in the light of the sun
Cause If I’m gonna almost know anyone
I wanna almost know you, wanna almost know you
I’ve got parts you don’t know well
I’ve got secrets I don’t tell
They’re not dark, they’re just embarrassing
We’ve got so much left to learn
How to listen, wait our turn
Why some things just make us burn like kerosene
I guess maybe, you don’t really know me
But then how well do we really know anyone
I’ll let you look inside my wiring when I’m brave
Show you parts of who I am and what I’ve done
‘Cause if I’m gonna almost show anyone
I wanna almost show you, wanna almost show you…
There are places in the ocean human eyes will never see
Though we could dive there everyday until we die
When we’re speaking the same language and you don’t know what I mean
I think that it still counts for something that you try, that you try
I guess maybe I don’t really know you
But then how well do we really know anyone
I wanna wade a little deeper everyday
Wanna drive around the streets of where you’re from
Cause If I’m gonna almost know anyone
I wanna almost know you…
Wanna almost know you…
Wanna almost know you…
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4. |
Nobody Told You
03:25
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They sent you off to the jungle, the pacific
You said goodbye to your mom and you left
You thought you fought for the good guys, we always think that we’re the good guys
Your only order was to never give in
Nobody told you when the war was over, the war was over, no one told you for years
When all you know of who you are is a soldier, well if you’re not a soldier
Why are you here?
Why are you here?
For 30 years you kept up all your defenses
Lived every day like you were under attack
And you were mean, you scared the villagers senseless,
And you shot and you burned and when they fought back…
They tried to tell you that the war was over, the war was over but you would not believe
When all you know of who you are is a soldier, well if you’re not a soldier
What will you be?
What will you be?
They tried to tell you someone showed you the headlines
You took one look and you decided they were fake
They dropped you letters from the sky from your family
And when that didn’t work, they wondered what would it take
Somebody tracked down your former commander
He was the owner of a bookstore - he’d retired in ’58
They flew him down, you said “you promised to come get me”
He said “I’m getting you know, I’m just 30 years late”
Nobody told you but the war is over, the war is over, it’s over and done, done, done
Nobody told you but the war is over, the war is over, the war is over
The war is over and the other guys won.
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5. |
Take the Driving
05:24
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You think that you know where you’re going looking at lines on a map
Everything’s small, here’s where you’re at, here’s where you’ve been
We never thought it’d be easy, yeah we’re both smarter than that
When you start to fade a couple of days and a thousand miles in...
Close your eyes and I’ll take the driving
And oh for the next hour, you just have to dream
And I know sometimes it all gets so heavy
These things that you carry, you can give some to me
Oh it was all such a whirlwind, especially the first couple weeks
House was a mess, nobody slept, it was some kind of magic
And both us were us were made helpless
By just the touch of his cheek
And on the nights I was drowning you took the night shift
You said close your eyes and I’ll take the driving
And oh for the next hour, you just have to dream
And I know sometimes it all gets so heavy
These things that you carry, you can give some to me
And there times we lost direction
And there were times we crashed the car
We didn’t wind up where we expected
But here we are, here we are
Close your eyes and I’ll take the driving
And oh for the next hour you just have to dream
And I know sometimes it all gets so heavy
These things that you carry, you can give some to me
You can give some to me
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6. |
God and Magic
05:05
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Sometimes when you look at me
Your eyes still flash the way they did the first time
Sometimes when I look at you
I think how it’s more good than bad
It’s a special kind of tragedy
That you should say you’ll never love me the way I’m wanting
And ask if I can live with that
Sometimes the setting of the sun feels like God and magic
Sometimes I tell myself it’s nothing but the motion of the earth
Sometimes the thing that we’ve become it’s all so grand and tragic
Then there are days it’s just two human beings making something work
I look up at the sky again, I think of you and I again
We’re just a little flicker in the universe
So why’s it feel so big? Why’s it feel so big?
When you look at what we thought we’d be
It was catching stars and building empires
Had visions of the two of us with dirt in our hair and tools in our hands
Oh but dreams turned into strategy
And ours was to divide and conquer
So now I watch your buildings rise
While I stay home and I tend the land
Sometimes the setting of the sun feels like God and magic
Sometimes I tell myself it’s nothing but the motion of the earth
Sometimes the thing that we’ve become it’s all so grand and tragic
Then there are days it’s just two human beings making something work
Making something work
And when you ask me if I’m happy, I’m mostly happy but alone
And when I ask you if you’re happy you say just look how high my buildings have grown
And I wonder when you’re sleeping, once you've made your way back home
Is it even the same dream now
Are we dreaming the same dream?
Sometimes the setting of the sun feels like God and magic
Sometimes I tell myself it’s nothing but the motion of the earth
Sometimes the thing that we’ve become it’s all so grand and tragic
Then there are days it’s just two human beings making something work
So I look up at the sky again, I think of you and I again
We’re just a little flicker in the universe
So why’s this feel so big, why’s it feel so big, why’s it feel so big, so big, so big
Why’s it feel so big, why's it feel so big?
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7. |
Lines
04:01
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I have this recurring dream where I’m back at 17
It’s the night of the high school play and I’m the lead
The curtain is almost up, and me I am all dressed up
Frantically Looking for a script to read
I don’t remember my lines, I don’t remember my lines
I don’t remember my lines and I don’t recognize the song
I used to know just where to stand, I used to step into the light
I used to feel like I belong, used to feel like I belonged here
I used to feel like I belong
Last night an angry sky caught us all by surprise
With leveled houses and with broken glass
Piles of what used to be, the thing about storms like these
Is you’re still feeling them for years after they’ve passed
We used to go there everyday, got the same thing every time
Used to go there everyday, we used to go but now it’s gone
I don’t recognize the streets, it all looks weird without the trees
I used to feel like I belong, used to feel like I belong here
Ooh…
I don’t remember my lines, I don’t remember my lines
I don’t remember my lines and I don’t recognize the song
I used to think I had a plan, I used to think we had it made
Thought I knew the way it went, thought I knew but I was wrong
I try to bat away the rain, I try to kick against the tide
Try to push against the change, I try and try but it’s too strong
I don’t recognize my life, no I don’t recognize my life
I used to feel like I belong, used to feel like I belong here
I used to feel like I belong
Ooh...
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8. |
But You Can't
03:11
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Today I held a funeral for a frog on my front porch
I gave a pretty decent speech, how life is dazzling and short
Then we put it in a shoebox and I snuck it in the trash when we were done
Who am I to tell my kids they shouldn’t care 'bout things like that
All they know is something’s gone and that it isn’t coming back
And everything is precious, at least it feels that way when you’re that young
You wanna keep it but you can’t…
You wanna keep it but you can’t…
You wanna keep it but you can’t so you scream and you shout
I have a Tupperware container with a thousand popped balloons
Cried a tear for every one, they were unbearable to lose
I don't know why I keep on buying them, they just get so damn happy when I do
You wanna keep it but you can’t…
You wanna keep it but you can’t…
You wanna keep it but you can’t so you scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
You scream and you shout
All our books have torn up pages, all our pants have torn up knees
Doesn’t matter you’ll outgrow them in another couple weeks
It’s like we’re racing down a hillside and we’re only gaining speed and then we’re done
You wanna keep it but you can’t…
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9. |
Head to Toe
04:07
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I think of the river like a tough love kind of teacher
Floats you up when you need her, when she’s mad she’ll let you know
They can tell us we never should have bought in flood plain
But the bones were so good, and the chances seemed so low
Then the rain came, when it came it just kept coming
Watched it climb up, clim up closer to our door
When the waters rising, when the waters rising do you head for the rooftop, do you build yourself a boat?
I don’t know what’s wiser, or what ends up better
Oh to wait out the weather or to grab my things and go
Neither way is what I wanted, either way I'm getting soaked head to toe
Tried to conquer the river, tried to redraw her shorelines
Tried to route her past the cities, dam her into lakes
I guess we were foolish for thinking we could change ourselves that much
Now we’ll pay for our mistakes
When the waters rising, when the waters rising do you head for the rooftop, do you build yourself a boat?
I don’t know what’s wiser, or what ends up better
Oh to wait out the weather or to grab my things and go
Neither way is what I wanted, either way I'm getting soaked head to toe
Then the rain came, when it came it just kept coming
Then the rain came, when it came it just kept coming
Then the rain came, then the rain came
When the waters rising, when the waters rising do you head for the rooftop, do you build yourself a boat?
I don’t know what’s wiser, or what ends up better
Oh to wait out the weather or to grab my things and go
Neither way is what I wanted, either way I'm getting soaked head to toe
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10. |
Highland Park
04:56
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In Highland Park, our place was small
Our yard was good, we planted flowers
We went for walks, I can’t recall
What we discussed, we went for hours
In Highland Park
When you proposed we’d gotten lost
Out of a hike up by the parkway
“It never goes the way you thought”
That’s what you said when you asked
It was the best day
In Highland Park
And now that feels so far from where we are
From where we are now
Three states and a million miles away
We moved back east to start a new gig
Our dreams were real big, had our first kid, missed the city
So we went west, the dreams had grown
The river shone, said we’d never live another place that pretty
In River South
And now that feels just like another life, another lifetime
Two states and a million miles away
So here were are, the house we bought
I guess you’ll get your own apartment
It never goes the way you thought
And so it ends the way it started
In Highland Park
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