1. |
Tough
03:24
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Tough
Up in smoke, says Sugar
And don’t you think we shoulda
pulled an act together
well by now
Took the lumps, hit all our bumps
Stained the walls with thick thumps
Pound for pound all that the law will allow
But you’re so good at being the someone
every one loves
so tell me baby
why you gotta be so tough
Cigarettes standin’ in for prayers
A few beers ease an evening’s fears
But I save the finest wine for a day’s more time
Inside your eyes
Got this boat, it’s jammed in my throat
Stuck there, won’t float
If I choke up this whale of tears
Maybe that baby would set sail
Chorus
And I’m sorry to take up your time
Move along, baby, move along, never mind
Nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong
Everything’s fine
Everything's fine
Chorus
Your letter arrived today
Read it through
What to say?
Thought you were where you want to be
Your fortuneteller told you to leave
I’m fine
Doin’ my time
Grab some moments as they wander by
Wasting wages on creature comforts
As day bleeds into night
Chorus
© 2010, rafflemyheart music
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2. |
Rodin's Hands
03:15
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Rodin’s Hands
So, it all went down just like Mama planned
The clouds split apart and Jesus came back
Separated –
The goats and the lambs
The sheep from the rams
The bottles from cans
Stop the press
Grab a rest
Meet the ex
Run the kids over to the zoo
Take the test
Do your best
Make a guess
Baby what did you hope to do?
I would have to confess
It’s a beautiful mess
And though I’m kind of impressed
I think I’d settle for less
Big Brother’s belly’s hangin’ over his pants
But he can’t keep from envying the dervish his dance
Still he’d like to pretend
That a network of friends
Is a means to the end
Chorus
Isaac just sucker-punched Abraham
That’s some poetic justice on the day of the damned
Daddy don’t understand
There’s a salvation plan
Written on Rodin’s hands
Chorus
…I would have to confess
It’s a beautiful mess
And though I’m kind of impressed
I think I’d settle for less
©2011, rafflemyheart music
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3. |
Cargo City
03:33
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Cargo City
He has a Jersey Jones
He visits each weekend
Hops in the Olds
And crosses Walt Whitman
He don’t dig on the Old City women
With their shiny boys and painted on pants
She’s a flushed waitress
A high-haired Twinkie
Her feet are flamed
Until he walks through the door
Jukebox plays their favorite hair-band ballads
He’s a fistful of quarters hitting the floor
And late nights down in Cargo City
Just off of South I-95
They watch the airplanes leaving and landing
Laying out on the hood of his car
She saves her tips for a shack in Wyoming
A woodstove under a blanket of stars
He’s easy to please when he’s not in the city
They spilled their dreams on the hood of his car
Late nights down in Cargo City
Just off South I-95
They watch the airplanes leaving and landing
Late last night that junker’s battery died
Soon they’ll flee the hazy summers
Clouds of paste the city hides behind
The hamster wheel, the cobweb of highways
Any day now, they’re gonna fly
They’re gonna fly
She’s his Jersey Jones
His high haired Twinkie
He’s a fistful of dollars
Won’t get far
Waving goodbye to the sideways city
Driving into the Western sun
The Western sun...
©2002, rafflemyheart music
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4. |
The Victim Well
04:00
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The Victim Well
She really loves me
After I’ve had enough
And I cry “Baby –
Why’re you so tough?”
She laughs, says, “You no angel,
Speak for yourself
Quit playin’ the victim
But you do it so well.”
The fruits hang heavy
On her secret tree
But her guard dog’s burned my name
Into his shiny blue teeth
She leaves me strawberry tops
And rose hip seeds
Fireweed cotton
And gold birch leaves
The sky goes blue to blood
To black and waves of green
The full moon’s nowhere, mama
And her hound dog’s in my dreams
Her fruits hang heavy
On a secret tree
But the dog’s breakin’ down
And he’s too tight on his chain
Chorus
Our Christian says “Hell,”
The hipster sighs, “Well,”
And my baby says, “Boy,
You play victim so well.”
© 2011, rafflemyheart music
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5. |
The Book of Failures
03:40
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Book of Failures
I got soft
I got soft
And then every signal crossed
But still was not lost
Only very tossed
So jilted
But we stayed open
God baby how’d we get so broken
And how’s Love take in an ocean
Without choking?
An epic book of failures
Where the heroes become villains
(Last: Where the children slay the villains)
Tragic, but so beautifully
Avoiding signs and portents
Played hero, went zero
And clutched you as I went down
Set that village on fire
As I raced from town
Now I spend my nights
Under starlight
But baby at what vain price
Love dead on the vine –
Your child’s father’s crime
Chorus
You called this an escape
But I said it’s just a landscape
A well enough wide space
To contain a heartbreak
I got soft
I got soft
And then every signal crossed
But still was not lost
Only very tossed
Chorus
Chorus
...where the children slay the villains...
...tragic but so beautiful...
© 2011, rafflemyheart music
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6. |
Still
04:02
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Still
Raven dances on the wind
A murmur passes through the leaves
There’s an acid-washed landscape
And still no sign of rain
And in the clamor of our voices
Rests a silent in between
Where I find I still believe in you
Though the word from on high
Comes down all scribbles, Greek, and graphs
And I’ve tried to ignore it
You insist until I laugh
Until I cry and beg for mercy
The likes of which I never knew
And find I still believe in you
Yeah, there’s your wearisome perfection
And your crude expectations
And words all jagged glass
And then your timeworn creations
And all the ways I get it wrong
Before you offer me a clue
And find I still believe in you
And there’s no way of telling why I do
And there’s no way of telling how I do
I’ve kept your dirty secrets
And scorn the chosen few
And scandalize the silence in all truth
You already have the rivers
And they’ll always trump my songs
As I fumble for the words to frame
The way I’ve always longed
For you to receive me
Like the lover I never knew
Saying “Boy, I still believe in you”
I hear you’ll receive me
Like the lover I never knew
Saying, “Boy, I still believe in you”
© 2010 rafflemyheart music
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Jonathan J. Bower Anchorage, Alaska
On the release of his 2012 EP, But So Beautiful, The Anchorage Press wrote, “[This is] masterful storytelling. These songs weave beautiful, forlorn tales in a matter of minutes, but with a defiant note of hope.” The songs on 2018's Light Years album play like postcards & snapshots written during an endless road trip around Alaska - or along every other dreamy, scenic stretch of highway anywhere... ... more
Jonathan J. Bower recommends:
Ghost Hands members James Glaves, Greg Geddes, and Andy Tholberg all found time to play on my album while also producing one of the hands down best albums of 2013. Check it out.
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Easily one of AK's finest, rockingest bands. Was a great highlight of my 2013 to take a break from recording my album & to write a profile on frontman Chad Reynvaan. An enviably talented trio.
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