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. |
Happy Smoke
04:08
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Paisley words from 40 years ago
Speak from happy smoke today
We can go there, maybe we can stay
Spend some hours on some pillows on some floor
That’s not workin’ anymore.
Burying the bodies of the birds
When their feathers start to fade
We spoke of flying but in the end we walked
Fists and yelling as she slammed the door
Mad’s not workin’ anymore.
In his slippers on the snowy walk
Mailbox run for magazines
In the house, he's back on the couch
Now it’s mommy’s turn to fight the war
‘Cause Dad’s not working anymore.
The good news never enough
The bad news piling up
Feel like I’ve tried
Still want to fly.
I try to smile when it all goes wrong
When the fan is spinning brown
But that won’t pay to fix what’s breaking now
Attitude is everything for sure
But that’s not workin’ anymore
That’s not working
That’s not working and my soul is poor
That’s not workin’ anymore.
That's not workin' and my heart is sore...
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2. |
Internet, I Forget
04:29
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Monitor’s tempting me
All that fingertip poetry
I’m sitting so comfortably
And don’t forget the pornography
I’m caught in the Web so deep
Falling down a hill so steep
Internet, I forget how to breathe…
Downloading all the shows
Knowing all that there is to know
I’m ordering meals to go
And I’m cleverly crafting posts
Took my guitar away
Didn’t take my walk today
Internet, I forget how to play
W W W Dot ...
Turned it off for a week one time
Stood up and I went outside
Made love to my patient wife
Lit my brain with some natural light
But on the 7th day
I had logged back on to stay
Internet, since we met, I forget…
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3. |
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If I was July, I would ripple with light.
Eat ice cream all day, while riding a bike
Roll down a hill through a field of blue flowers
Read a book on a porch while the afternoon showers.
If I was July, I would ripple with light.
Eat ice cream all day, while riding a bike
If I were July I would wait until night
Then hang up a sky like a heart full of lights
Shimmering stars, so far and so mellow
The world’s warmest moon, not silver but yellow.
If I were July I would wait ‘til the night
Then hang up a sky like a heart full of lights
And the grass that you lie in
No sign of Orion
No need for a blanket
Just lie there and thank it
If I were tomorrow I’d sleep until ten
Have coffee, fresh berries on a pancake and then
Go sit by the river, no make that sit in it
And dream about snow, but just for a minute
If I were tomorrow I’d sleep until ten
Have coffee, fresh berries on a pancake and then…
If I was tonight, in July, in the pines
I might get sleepy and drift somewhere fine.
Like the moon in the sky, the way that it shines
So full of this summer, so full of this life.
If I was tonight, in July, in the pines
I might get sleepy and drift somewhere fine.
If I were July I would wait until night
Then hang up a sky like a heart full of lights
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4. |
Skeeter Johnson's Girls
03:56
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Sit still. Stop moving.
I wanna put my hand on you.
I’ve only known you for a second
But nothing less than a touch will do.
Listen to the river sliding
Carrying the weight of summer.
Listen to the red bird whistle
Melodies behind the leaves.
With his back against a red tree
Drinking in the lazy world
Everything would be so perfect
Without Skeeter Johnson’s girls.
Sit still. Stop moving.
I wanna put my hand on you.
I’ve only known you for a second
But nothing less than a touch will do.
She sticks her nose in everywhere,
Sampling the blood of summer.
Listen to her endless whining.
There was peace now there’s a bummer.
With his back against a red tree
Drinking in the lazy world
Everything would be so perfect
Without Skeeter Johnson’s girls.
When she flies out of the dusk
And nibbles on my neck just so
Her life means everything to me
I want to take it don’t you know…
Sit still. Stop moving.
I wanna put my hand on you.
I’ve only known you for a second
But nothing less than a touch will do.
I wanna put my hand on you….
Nothing less than a touch will do.
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5. |
When I Could Still See
04:40
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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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6. |
Packing For Nowhere
03:16
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I’m packin’ for nowhere
I got a suitcase filled with air
I’m dyin’ to move out there
So I’m packin’ for nowhere
On my bed I’ve got it all laid out
What I’ll need to get by there
Straight face logical positive doubt
Whatever it is I’ve left it out
I’m packin’ for nowhere
I got a suitcase filled with air
I’m dyin’ to move out there
So I’m packin’ for nowhere
Takin’ a left at boredom and plain
Sticking my thumb out waiting for no one
Walking to the corner of broken and stained
Checking out of somewhere again.
By the back door the summer takes shape
Someone’s pruning roses
But this time I’m gonna make my escape
40 Years in the yard like Moses
I’m packin’ for nowhere
I got a suitcase filled with air
I’m dyin’ to move out there
So I’m packin’ for nowhere
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7. |
Picture A Porch
06:04
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One.
Picture a porch, a porch with a couch
A place to be out without leaving the house
A tree right beside, a box for some mail
Three wooden steps and your feet on the rail.
Two.
A Polaroid sits on the rail in the snow
Taken one summer some years ago.
A shot from the porch, of the tree in its leaves
An afternoon maple, gives voice to a breeze.
Three.
There’s night in the sky, now, and ice on the land
You step through the door with your camera in hand
You point at the Polaroid, the sidewalk behind
And capture it all and head back inside.
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8. |
Red Light Talkin'
03:30
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When you are a child
Your Daddy might say no
Well that’s the red light talkin’
He doesn’t want you to go
Then you’re a little big girl
And there’s a boy and his nice hands
He wants to keep moving
He’s the green light man
You’re climbing up a stairway
Not sure what’s up top
You got your hand on a doorknob
That you don't really wanna open up
Comin’ in from a distance
Could go either way
You’re squinting past the wipers
Speeding down the rain
Someone whispers something
Right next to your ear
It’s the yellow light talkin’
And you’re trying not to hear,
you don’t wanna hear…
But before you start to stopping
Or even slowing down
Baby take a look at the rainbow
There’s a lot of other colors around
When you are a child
Your Daddy might say no
Well that’s the red light talkin’
He doesn’t want you to go
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9. |
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10. |
The Last Day
04:02
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Smaller and smaller, everything's almost gone again
Smaller and smaller, everything's almost gone again
Loneliness and trouble, they are my old best friends.
Disappointed and heartbroken, I sit with my guitar and I watch it all go
Disappointed and heartbroken, I sit with my guitar and I watch it all go
My engine of joy's still runnin', but it's running kind of slow.
They say it's just a cycle - it's a big old wheel going round and round
They say it's just a cycle - it's a big old wheel going round and round
One day the wheel rolls up, the next day it rolls back down.
I still have love, so maybe it'll be alright
I still have love, so maybe it'll be alright
(but I don't really think so)
The last day of my trouble will be the day that I die.
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11. |
What's New
02:20
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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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Larry Hirshberg Missoula, montana
The years reveal what the moments are made to conceal.
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