1. |
Black and Gold
04:13
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It’s in my blood, it’s in my bone—black and gold. It’s in my soul, it’s in my bowl—black and gold. I can’t get down, I’m getting too old—black and gold. And Hero Brown, he always skips town for black and gold. You’re gonna have to find another man. I can’t believe that you did he! If you’d half a mind a single plan, I’d sell you on condition of that awful pedigree. It’s in my blood, it’s in my bone—black and gold. It’s in my soul, it’s in my bowl—black and gold. I can’t get down, I hate this town of black and gold. And Hero Brown, he always skips town for black and gold. Well, I’m not dead, but I am barely breathing. O, I'm not dead, and I will rise again. O, I'm not dead, though you can't see or hear me. O, I'm not dead, not dead.
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2. |
Get Behind Me
03:28
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Wrote a nasty note when last we spoke and laid my saintly skin on a blanket of snow. So carefully grown, so carefully smoked, the river was high the last time I was home. When you talk, when you scream, when you’re screaming about me, your eyes are wide, but they won’t see. You’ll incline your ear, but you won’t hear. O God, get behind me! When last we spoke, the chain got caught in the spokes, and now I’m sitting in the back yard calling you out. The corpus fell to the floor, you held the cross as a sword, and now you’re deaf to history’s irrelevant howl.
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3. |
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In your lovely bed or in the street, my body will speak to you. In between the lines, in between the sheets, my body will speak to you. My body will speak to you despite what my words will do. The tangible traces the true. My body will speak to you. My body will speak to you what thoughts would not dare pursue. The tangible touches the true. My body will speak to you. In the lofty pulpit or sacristy, my body will speak to you. And whether tender or nastily, my body will speak to you. This is my body. This is my blood.
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4. |
Come and Die
02:36
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There are jobs that are hard not to get and jobs that hard to withstand and jobs that are hard to withdraw from and jobs where you’re working for the man. Dog and horse have gone and sealed my fate, but you are with me in that awful grave. And we shall sup within my empty tomb, for the water is both death and mother for you. My vegetables came early round this year. T’was the presence of that not-so-holy ghost. So fix yourself a plate of what you like before the bile of death spurts up from my throat. A little less than God is what we are. That’s something that the animals can’t cry. And as your hands break open through the soil, you’re calling out to men to come and die.
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5. |
God O God
02:58
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Maybe the fire will rain down tonight. The flocks would all run and take cover, breathing and panting, their lungs full of stones they picked up and hurled at each other. Then the things that we’re chasing will appear to our eyes as emptiness dressed up in grandeur. And the longer we’re empty, the drama we thrive on will wash away as clean as the sand. And that’s why the papers are spotless, and that’s why there’s little to see. We don’t need a drink to forget all our worries. We’re doing just fine with TV. Maybe the fire will rain down tonight. The flocks would all run and take cover. And maybe the fire is making us scared for Maria our virginite mother. God, O God, won’t you make me an athlete, and make yourself manifest daily? And give me the courage to make up in song for what I know in my heart that I’m lacking.
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6. |
Holy Poly Child
03:57
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Miriam, you made my bed shake from your energy and weight. And in that time, that time so wild, we didst conceive a holy poly child. But last night I had a frightening dream of a bypass, surpassing human seed. What, then, will this child be, that the angel of the Lord should come to me? And all God wants of us is a bloody bite of time. You will raise the kids when I’m gone in my house, in my yard and home. And when our youngest one is thirty years old, he’ll be making bread, bread out of his bones. They’ll pin him up on beams of steel and remember him within the wine and meal. He’ll reveal to us, reveal and show, that because of us the masses will come and go. On a little blue cloth a little white girl brings a savior into this world.
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7. |
Horse Birth
05:09
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For bathing my baby, head to toe, in a bucket of glass. For making me take it, as you know, in my past. Perfect I know I am not, but my freedom is now worth a shot. Horses are free, and horses are gold, but when the horse is a man, his face is a hole. And I’ll have you suffer like the man you knew nothing about and find my redemption hanging there on that tree of life. No need to disrupt the decay with parts of his corpse in the cane. Remind, remind this clouded mind why baby and I would not leave you behind. This sound rebounds all through these hills, that icy white scream of this beast that I’ve killed. I once was told to forgive is divine, but my god has died seven times seventy times. Besides, I know it’s nature’s law, for our lives are red both in tooth and in claw.
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8. |
No Home
03:38
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When she turned one, we were free of deceit. When she turned two, you shook the dust from your feet. I need an advocate, a worldly paraclete. See, you take from my hands when you call, call, call. When half is gone, the other’s all alone. It’s a daily taste of what you steal, but only say the word and I shall be healed. Well, I made a break at your request, and now every day is a day of rest. But I can’t decide which I like best. When night falls, I wait for the call, but it don’t make no home. What you steal, what you stole is home.
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9. |
A Fall Headlong
06:06
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Heaven’s light, but the waste is coming. So talk softly, but talk openly. The wait is right, but it will come soon. Master, will you need me completely? Master, will you need me completely to talk freely and talk frequently? The time has come, but our heads are down. We brushed them all with little songs. A delicate fall, a fall headlong. We brushed them all with pretty songs. A delicate fall, a fall headlong. Heaven’s light, but the waste is coming. So talk softly but talk frequently. The time has come. Will our heads remain down? Our brains opened!
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Modesty Songs Marietta, Ohio
Modesty Songs is a little, tiny, modest record label based in Marietta, Ohio. We focus primarily on limited edition 7" singles on lathe cut vinyl plus extremely unlimited digital editions of said singles. Other formats and project lengths as necessary.
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