Get all 60 Larry Hirshberg releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Trumpet Time, Easy Waters, You're On Your Own, But Stay, When The Barking Stops, And The Night Takes Your Hand, Straight Up Midnight, Intro, No Word Answer, Hit Differently, and 52 more.
1. |
Before You Knew
04:18
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Before You Knew
You knew what you had to go through
You knew, before you knew
Hidden under your skin
Waiting to speak from within
Grandma's blood could explain
Why you carry this pain
When we touched at the top
We knew it wouldn't stop
We'll go right through that door
Just like we've done it before.
When they told you the truth
You knew before they knew
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2. |
Bad Apple
04:08
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Bad Apple
Rotten fruit gives you rotten juice
Rotten land gives you rotten man
If you start with a poison heart
You will end with a poison friend
Go to bed with a stormy head and
You will dream of a stormy scene
Something's flying across the sun
And you're wondering why you didn't run...
What's the deal is the devil real
Or just rotten fruit in a red suit?
You lie down with a dirty soul
You'll wake up in a dirty hole
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3. |
Pony or a Hearse
02:26
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Pony or a Hearse
Before you were a child you were living in the dark
Terrifying beauty on display – you had no part
The war was being fought and the love was being made
You were just floating there in your mother's shade...
Chorus
You can hear the birds and they're singing like dessert
Your ear's against the door and you listen 'til it hurts.
Rolling down the road, several years and several jobs
Lovers were convenience stores you'd pull up and rob
Looking out the window every night the light was gone
Loading up the car you were always moving on
Chorus
Then you were attracted by surprise to you know who
Everything blew open like a freight train passing through
Breathing on a sunny afternoon was effortless
Until you suffocated and you lost your consciousness
Chorus
Now it's up to you to sing your own next verse
Are you gonna ride a pony or a hearse?
You can hear the birds and they're singing like dessert
Your ear's against the door and you listen 'til it hurts...
Chorus
Subtlety and cleverness don't always get you in
But as long as you are nice you might get to try again...
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4. |
Time, Keep Away
04:09
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TIme, Keep Away
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you,
don’t waste your blessings on me.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
You’re making me squirm can’t you see.
Run out to the highway and into a car,
where some driver’s enjoying his drive.
Stand still in the throat of the singer of rock,
a place where nobody can hide.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
Me and my TV are strong.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
Save yourself – don’t be here long.
Wind down to a bedroom,
wind up in a bed,
embracing two lovers asleep.
Pass into the forest –
or is that where you’re from:
the source of the silent and deep?
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you,
don’t waste your blessings on me.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
You’re making me squirm can’t you see.
If I was a house and you were the wind,
I’d do you a favor and not let you in.
If I was a flag, I would be red.
I’m trying to warn you; stop here and you’re dead…
I held you one summer when I was a boy.
The sun took forever to set.
The song of a thrush was unending, descending,
it may still be twirling down yet…
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
Me and my TV are strong.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
Save yourself – don’t be here long.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you,
don’t waste your blessings on me.
Time, keep away or I’ll kill you.
You’re making me squirm can’t you see.
Time, keep away.
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5. |
The Hit Single
03:52
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6. |
What's New
02:20
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What's New
What’s new is how hard I’ve been working
And the fact that the work is so good.
What’s new are these leaves and this softness
And this dry spot today in the woods.
I’m tired, that’s old, but my anger is gone
I’m broken, that’s old, but my patience is long.
What’s new is the peace that’s wrinkled my face
And the warmth of the laughter that’s filling my space.
What’s new is the way that I’m here - I’m not dreaming, and how I can stay and not run away screaming.
What’s new is who died in the meantime
And the hole in the sky that she left.
What’s new is the lazuli bunting
Who flew down like the jewel of the west.
I’m blue, that’s so old, but I’m strangely awake
I cry all the time, that’s old, but now great.
What’s new is the girl who ticks like a bomb
And there’s so much about her that’s just like her mom.
What’s new is this way that my fear is diminished,
and the work it’s so good, and it’s never finished.
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7. |
Driver On
04:28
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Driver On
Charlie never learned to swim
The water whispered “don’t come in”
She never could ride a bike
Two wheels less than she would like…
Through the years there was one thing
That horned her honk and belled her ring
Behind the wheel she’d feel so strong
Gassing up her driver on
Driver on…
Charlie is now 89
Hard to say what’s in her mind
She’s still sure there’s nothing wrong
When she gets her driver on…
Childhood then childbirth
Cigarettes and groceries
Turn the key, the engine roars
Opening her one good door.
Smiling in a parking lot
All the other cars are gone
Son and mother sitting there
Slowly get their driver on…
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8. |
When I Could Still See
04:40
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When I Could Still See
When I could still see, the world was lovely
When I could still hear, that song was so dear
When I could still breathe, the air was so sweet
When I could still sleep, my dream was so deep
When I could still stand, I was a big man
When I could still speak, my words were all meat
When I could still write, my story took flight
When I could still drive, the stars would fly by
Chorus:
There’s always been a lot of time
But just a blink of it was mine
Two hands a face NOW hard to find
I could see but now I’m blind
When there was still light, the dark was just night
When colors still grew, you knew what I knew
I was so high when I was alive
Your eyes amazed me when I could still see.
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9. |
In Every Kitchen
04:13
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In Every Kitchen
DAN SILVER’S PICTURE’S ON MY REFRIGERATOR
HELD THERE BY A MAGNET THAT ADVERTISES POWER
IN THE PICTURE SILVER ALMOST SMILES ON THE
SNOWY STREET WHERE WE WERE PARTING WAYS
DAN SILVER ALMOST SMILED WHEN WE SAT WITH COFFEE
ARPEGGIATING ON OUR NEW ACOUSTICS
HIS FADED T-SHIRT STATED “NEIL YOUNG SUCKS” AND SO WE’D
BEND LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS OR LITTLE FEAT
THERE WERE A COUPLE MORE DAN SILVER EPISODES
SITTING IN AT LUKE’S OR IN THE WOODS NEAR EUGENE
HE PLAYED HIS STRAT WITH POWER, SUBLIMATING SADNESS,
HE POSED FOR ONE MORE PICTURE, ALMOST SMILING
Chorus:
IN EVERY KITCHEN WE REMEMBER.
REFRIGERATOR MEMORIALS.
WE REACH FOR ICE CREAM, THEY’RE ALMOST SMILING.
SOMETIMES A PICTURE OF SOME OLD DOG…
MY GIRLFRIEND’S UNCLE MIKE SMOKES A CIGARETTE
STANDING ON THE MOON OR SOME DRY RIVER
CANCER TOOK HIM AND MY FRIEND DAN SILVER
A BOWL OF CHEERIOS CRIES OUT FOR MILK…
credits
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10. |
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11. |
Friend of The Dead
04:25
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Friend of the Dead
All systems go
All systems gone
The day turns off
TV turns on
Full moon glow
Is lost with the dawn
The fields are weak
Hunger is strong
Chorus:
He's a friend of the dead
Neither wrong nor right
Holding warm and cold hands
He's on both sides
He's a friend of the dead
And he blurs all the lines...
They say no means no
When a body is done
The story is through
Rolled into one
But who comes to an end
Gets into his head
Straight answers can bend
And he's a friend of the dead
Drop of blood on a leaf
DNA in a dream
It's here but not here
It doesn't mean what it means
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12. |
Right From The Start
03:40
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Right From The Start
Right from the start
I knew what I was doing
Right from the start
It was wrong
Right from the start
It wasn’t there and I knew it
Right from the start
I was gone
Yellow rose on a lilac
Blue apple in a tree
An acorn falls from an old white pine
Because you say it doesn’t mean it will be
Right from the start
I knew what I was doing
Right from the start
It was wrong
Right from the start
It wasn’t there and I knew it
Right from the start
I was gone
An offer tendered for the future
A chance for that emptiness to fill
Replace that space with a solid rhythm
Because it might doesn’t mean that it will
The obvious is broken
What was clear is now obscure
I took a step in the wrong direction
This time the outcome was assured
Right from the start
I knew what I was doing
Right from the start
It was wrong
Right from the start
It wasn’t there and I knew it
Right from the start
I was gone
Yellow rose on a lilac
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13. |
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(THOSE) OLD START-AGAIN FEELINGS
SAY YOU WALKED AWAY, OR SAY YOU RAN
MAYBE YOUR TURNED YOUR FACE OR YOU MADE A STAND
NO ONE NEEDS A REASON TO DISAPPEAR
THE ONLY THINGS YOU CARRIED THE DAY THAT YOU GOT HERE
(WERE THOSE)
OLD START-AGAIN FEELINGS (2X)
EVERY RIVER FALLS SOME DISTANCE FROM IT’S SOURCE
AND EVERY GAMBLER’S LOST ON A FAVORITE HORSE
RUN OR STUMBLE, YOU MIGHT TRICKLE, YOU MIGHT CRAWL
YOU DON’T REALLY HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE AT ALL
(TO FIND THOSE)
OLD START-AGAIN FEELINGS (4X)
YOU WAKE ONE NIGHT REMEMBERING GENTLE RAIN
A TREE IN A FIELD, MAYBE IT’S SILVER OR GREY
THE ONE YOU LOVE IS REACHING OUT FOR YOU IN A DREAM
YOU HOLD OUT YOUR HAND BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN IT SEEMS
(YOU’VE GOT THOSE)
THOSE OLD START-AGAIN FEELINGS...
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14. |
Starting Small
04:34
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Starting Small
It's so not-rock
Really just a seed
Too early to be sure
It's not a beautiful weed
Lookin' at you last night
In the dark
The miles that we've travelled
Didn't seem very far
CHORUS:
Starting small
Building windows in the walls
Winter wakes when the first leaf gets brown and falls
Starting small
You're so un-punk
A little sparrow in the dawn
Opening one eye
Stretching and you're gone
Talking to you tonight
On the phone
Add another feather
To The Wing of Not-Alone
Chorus
Little boombox speakers
One eye and the moon
Just a kind of feeling
In the middle of our room
Sleeping with you last night
Silver beams
And now another morning
A garden and some seeds
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15. |
Sunny Corner
06:55
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16. |
Disappearance
03:51
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Disappearance
SOMETHING TOOK THE TRAVEL OUT OF ME
HOW I USED TO RAMBLE
SOMETHING TOOK THE RAMBLE OUT OF ME
MAN I USED TO ROAM
SOMETHING TOOK THE ROAMING OUT OF ME
BOY I USED TO WANDER
SOMETHING TOOK THE WANDER OUT OF ME
NOW I’M HAPPY AT HOME
Chorus:
SOME THINGS ARE LOST OR MISSING
THEY’VE ALREADY BEEN REPLACED
EMPTINESS AND DISAPPEARANCE
ALSO COME AND GO THAT WAY
SOMETHING TOOK THE GUITAR OUT OF ME
HOW I USED TO HIGH NOTE
SOMETHING TOOK THE HIGH NOTE OUT OF ME
MAN I USED TO SPACE
SOMETHING TOOK THE SPACY OUT OF ME
HOW I USED TO FREE FORM
SOMETHING TOOK THE FREE FORM OUT OF ME
NOW I MOSTLY PLAY THE BASS
CHORUS
Bridge:
ALWAYS DISAPPEARING
NEVER GET COMFORTABLE
OPEN HAND WILL EMPTY
OPEN HEART GETS FULL
SOMETHING TOOK THE RUMBLE OUT OF ME
HOW I USED TO THUNDER
SOMETHING TOOK THE THUNDER OUT OF ME
MAN I USED TO BOOM
SOMETHING TOOK THE BOOMING OUT OF ME
GIRL I USED TO RAIN DOWN
SOMETHING TOOK THE RAIN DOWN OUT OF ME
I SIT QUIET IN MY ROOM
credits
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17. |
209.1 FM
04:13
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209.1 FM
209.1 FM
Way at the top of the dial
DJ oh DJ what are you playing?
Could you play something slow for a while?
The night is half gone but the day hasn’t left
Those hours at work were like trash
Blown up against some playground fence
‘Til the wind changes they’ll never pass
Out at the airport a plane comes in low
My antenna shakes from the roar
The lights of the city vibrate like crazy
And then I can hear you once more
When ducks fill the air and the rain is your jacket
It’s easy to breathe and to sleep
But tonight is a season I’ve not seen before
All wide-awake disjointed beats
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Larry Hirshberg Missoula, montana
The years reveal what the moments are made to conceal.
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