Get all 62 Larry Hirshberg releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of the noise knows., Not a Mind Reader, 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, and 54 more.
1. |
Get Across
07:57
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The words were invisible
His face on the move
The rain on the window ran
Bent the scene into the blue.
Later on, stars emerge
Way up, past the fence,
Probably, a coyote then,
Makes a list, talks some sense.
Chorus
When you're sure everything's lost
When you get that call from the boss
You're paralyzed by the cost
There's always another way to get across
In a closet, in the dark
Six strings, wood and dust
In the driveway, tires roll
Into the trash then, goes her trust.
Later on, a bus goes by.
It's 1986.
How did I get here from there?
Diesel fumes, art house flicks.
Chorus
Stories are like a trail
Memories, a rush of blood.
Look ahead, find the bridge,
Sing your song up above the flood.
Chorus
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2. |
Dandelion Desert
07:50
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THERE OUGHT TO BE A BUZZARD
FRAGRANT ROLLING PLAINS OF SAGE
A SHADOW BUTTE, DISTORTING IN THE DISTANCE
THE BURNING SUN’S FIERY RAGE
Chorus:
BUT IT’S JUST THIS DANDELION DESERT
SURROUNDED BY THE BACKYARD FENCE
RAIN FILLS UP THE SKY, STILL MY MOUTH IS DRY
THIS DUSTY EMPTY FEELING MAKES NO SENSE
THERE OUGHT TO BE A RATTLER
SNAKING ‘CROSS THE ALKALI
SAGUARO CRUCIFIX, BITTER SCORPION
A DESPERATE COWBOY SHOULD CRAWL BY
CHORUS
THE SUN FOR THE BALL OF FIRE THAT IS MY BABY
THE SAGE FOR THE POWER WE CAN’T SEE
THE RATTLESNAKE – IT’S FOR THE POISON
THE CRAWLING COWBOY – OUGHT TO BE ME
CHORUS
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3. |
Just A Kiss
06:10
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SOMETIMES A KISS IS JUST A KISS
ARE WORDS THAT CAN’T DESCRIBE
A KISS LIKE THIS
SOMETIMES A TOUCH
WON’T MEAN THAT MUCH
AND SOMETIMES A KISS IS JUST A KISS
SOMETIMES THE RAIN IS JUST THE RAIN
THESE CLOUDS DO NOT REVEAL
WHAT THEY CONTAIN
SOMETIMES THE WIND
WON’T DO YOU IN
AND SOMETIMES THE RAIN IS JUST THE RAIN
SOMETIMES THE RAIN THAT’S JUST THE RAIN
RINGS THE BELL THAT ENDS THE FIGHT
SOMETIMES THE RIVER MAKES IT RIGHT
BUT THIS WATER’S RISING TO
AN AWFUL HEIGHT
SOMETIMES THE TREES
DON’T BRING YOU TO YOUR KNEES
AND SOMETIMES THE RIVER MAKES IT RIGHT
SOMETIMES A YEAR IS JUST A YEAR
BUT TIME HAS TWISTED EVERYTHING
TO BRING US HERE
SOMETIMES THE DAYS
PASS IN DIFFERENT WAYS
AND SOMETIMES A YEAR IS JUST A YEAR
WITHOUT YOUR LIPS
THERE’D BE NONE OF THIS
AND SOMETIMES A KISS IS JUST A KISS
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4. |
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none.
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5. |
The Whole Shake
07:12
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I don’t want a corner
Of your starry sky
I want the whole night
I want the whole night
And I don’t want a drop
Of your milky way
I want the whole shake
I want the whole shake
Chorus:
So when it’s cold and late
Please remember this:
That distance is all ours
to fill up with our biggest kiss.
When the darkness arches
Over us like ice
We’ll skate the whole night
We’ll skate the whole night
And if the blanket’s blackness
Finds us naked as the day
We’ll shine our own way
We’ll shine our own way
Chorus
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6. |
When You Kissed Him
07:04
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Did you think about the stars
When you closed your eyes, and went that far
When you kissed him?
Did you listen to the clock,
Did you hear its hands begin to talk
When you kissed him?
Did you feel the numbers add up
All those zeroes good and bad
When you kissed him?
Did you have anything in mind,
Did you think you'd mess up space and time
When you kissed him?
Did your Disney wedding ring
Glow a bit and start to sting
When you kissed him?
Did your cellphone ever ring -
Your lover's wife ask what to bring
While you kissed him?
Gravity, it pulls so strong
Did you picture what would soon be gone
When you kissed him?
Did you have anything in mind,
Did you think you'd mess up space and time
When you kissed him?
Down and dirty really doesn't say
What goes on when Earthlings run and play
Like a planet, you turned anyway
Like a star, you still give light today
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7. |
With The Horses
04:22
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Chorus:
A nod to the fences
A wink to the field where there is no fence
A wave to the horses
Follow through the grass where the horses went
Verse:
The honeybees ‘round her capris in the clover there.
The water’s sweet, down by the creek in the shaded air.
The narrow days, what goes away – forgotten here
You could almost say, I could almost pray – It’s almost clear
Chorus
The olive trees in the gentle breeze some kinda greenish grey
The bending knees, what the magpie sees in the dappled day
The crumbled spine, the what is mine – gone for now
You might kinda feel, like it’s gonna heal – maybe this is how
The narrow days, what goes away – forgotten here
You could almost say, I could almost pray – It’s almost clear
Choruses
Last time:
Put my feet in the grass where the horses went
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8. |
See For Yourself
08:28
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Your little nose to the window of a plane as it comes in low
On the ground there's a town with a name that you don't know
I've got my hand on your shoulder and there's so much I want to explain
But I don't say a thing as the runway welcomes the plane
When the clock on the tower on the courthouse rings five times
But instead of an hour each bell's ten years gone by
And the hill that we walk has lines just like the sky
I have an idea, but for you it might not apply....
Chorus
When the road is revealed
It's like an automobile
You don't need any help
Just grab ahold of the wheel
You've got that look in your eye
No words can shed any light
Now you can see for yourself
Now make the move that is right
There's a bishop and a castle and a pawn and they're all in a row
Sixty four squares and you're not sure where to go
A king is in the sun and a queen stands tall at night
I see it all from above but I wait for you to decide
Chorus
Your little nose to the window of a plane as it comes in low
On the ground there's a town with a name that you don't know
I've got my hand on your shoulder and there's so much I want to explain...
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9. |
Watching Combat
03:48
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Most of you will not remember
The rest you never knew
Sergeant Saunders’ character
And what that man could do
In ’44 and ’45
On TV, colors bright
He showed a boy, who’s now a man
The hero’s way to love and fight
And now I’m watching combat
Of a different timeless kind
No Germans with their Lugers
It's D-Day in my mind
The invasion of my mind
From the beach-head of my teens
Where parts of me were killed
Into the France of starting out
With my brothers in the hills
And now I’m watching combat
Who made me dig this hole?
Not Germans with their mortars
Was the Stukas of my soul
Dive-bombers of my soul
Chorus:
I need to be like Sergeant Saunders
But with a Tommy gun of peace
Unwavering cartoon solution
But in my head, not on TV
Because now I’m watching combat
This episode’s the one
No creepy SS psychopaths
Just my mother’s son
I am my mother’s son
Chorus and repeats:
Just her memory and me
Fighting inland from the sea
Berlin will soon be free
I’m a sniper shooting healing bullets from the family tree.
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10. |
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Larry Hirshberg Missoula, montana
The years reveal what the moments are made to conceal.
Larry Hirshberg recommends:
This is a beautifully recorded collection of unique and smartly written songs, performed to perfection. Not like anything else - that's why I love it.
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