1. |
Good as Bad
03:20
|
|||
|
There’s a swirl in the middle of a black topped lake
Where the ships sink slow in their own low wake
Where every pilgrim is a pirate of another man’s sea
With a love that’s as good as bad can be
Between the here and now he’d almost given up the search
He found a fast food savior in a supermarket church
He said, “I’ll hold you close, then set you free.”
With a love that’s as good as bad can be
On a red hot stove in a flash of pain
In a torrent of sleet and salt water rain
I meant half as little but at least as much
As an east-bound train to the morning sun
The tires say a prayer for the road in the night
But we all keep racing toward red lights
Running out of water ‘til we’re living off of steam
With a love that’s as good as bad can be
Between the good and the bad we found nothing at all
But we kept on going ‘til the going got gone
And pretend we forgot how we lost our dreams
With a love that’s as good as bad can be
Disappeared like bandits on abandoned street
While the moon went wane for the winter’s sleep
But tonight poor Sisyphus sleeps alone
Without a dream, without a stone
|
||||
2. |
Devil's Due
03:49
|
|||
|
I’m due to wake up soon to sunrise and get inside my head
maybe finally crack a smile before I even leave my bed
I’m gonna make all my amends, and get myself together
Before I get real down and finally blame it on the weather
I’m gonna pull it all in closer so that I might re-arrange
I’ll only rock to stay steady and roll toward change
Re-write all the stories, I only thought I knew
But beofre I hope to ever make it through
I’ve gotta take my time, and give my devils their due
I wanna cut loose of this notion that there ain’t no row to hoe
That in the end it’s all some pointless small affair to undergo
If we were doomed from the beginning, then I guess that we’re still winning
That beginning was a long time ago
I’m gonna tighten up my reins, and let in all the slack
Push my good foot forward while I pull my strong arm back
Re-write all the stories, I only thought I knew
But beofre I hope to ever make it through
I’ve gotta take my time, and give my devils their due
I want a love above conclusion like my love was just a dream
Like the moon once loved the sun,‘til the Earth fell in between
I’m gonna tear my heart to verses, and write it out in rhyme
With inconsequential strung together happy points in time
Come to pull that ship to shore and sail that steady course
And hang on like a cowboy riding dead upon his hore
Re-write all the stories, I only thought I knew
But beofre I hope to ever make it through
I’ve gotta take my time, and give my devils their due
|
||||
3. |
A Hard Light
03:05
|
|||
|
We were sleeping through the heat, living through the night
Wandering down the street turning cheeks and picking fights
Every time you touch me, every tiny curse
Wearing every dress like the last one left on Earth
And I’m half-drunk with hindsight waiting for my day to come
It’s love in a hard light, living with the things I’ve done
It’s not kissing like you mean it, or doing what you meant
It’s not falling in love, it’s just the angle of descent
You’ve got to seize the day, then live to regret it
And if love don’t exist then we’ll just have to invent it
And I’m half-drunk with hindsight waiting for my day to come
It’s love in a hard light, living with the things I’ve done
You said, “The moon cannot hide, it’s tugging at the tide.”
You drink of the poison, swallow your pride
The mystics and the martyrs, a thousand secret wars
The poems and the pawns and the tide of rising swords
And I’m half-drunk with hindsight waiting for my day to come
It’s love in a hard light, living with the things I’ve done
|
||||
4. |
Vessels
03:12
|
|||
|
Every star has a sign, every ghost does die in time
And so it goes with romance and the hearts we leave behind
Haunted by your rapture, and what it could portend
While I warm my bed with wine and worry
Waiting for the end
Let me be your season when the sun has gone to ground
Let me be your shelter when the sky comes tumbling down
I’ll love you now in old ways new words cannot describe
And I will be your vessel when the sea levels rise
On hyphenated highways hiding hills that make me sink
Ten over longer than you know and shorter than you think
The clouds are clinging closely to the corners and the seams
Together with those top shelf fears that rally in my dreams
Let me be your season when the sun has gone to ground
Let me be your shelter when the sky comes tumbling down
I’ll love you now in old ways new words cannot describe
And I will be your vessel when the sea levels rise
In the sordid still of silence you left me Hobson’s choice
And I can tell you’re gonna cut and run by the timbre of your voice
With manifold emotions for to hang my head and pray
And the poems turned to profits as the steeples blew away
|
||||
5. |
Abide
03:07
|
|||
|
Poor constitution with a rusted heart
Silver spoon and a world apart
Frozen wind that same nightmare
From the line of your shadow to the curl of your hair
Come on pretty baby and abide with me
And we’ll shake the sky ‘til the stars fall free
I’ll love you blindly ‘til you see
That you should come along and abide with me
Took your time making time to spare
Days rolling forward ‘til they disappear
With your scent and the sun hanging in the air
Your love starts feeling like a long cold stare
Come on pretty baby and abide with me
And we’ll shake the sky ‘til the stars fall free
I’ll love you blindly ‘til you see
That you should come along and abide with me
Humming that tune as you stroll along
But you can’t save a soul with a broken song
With a long deep sigh and a hard stiff drink
You’re wilder than the moon and braver than you think
Come on pretty baby and abide with me
And we’ll shake the sky ‘til the stars fall free
I’ll love you blindly ‘til you see
That you should come along and abide with me
|
||||
6. |
Swing the Lead
02:52
|
|||
|
Calling on your carpet pushing dust into the light
Two Palominos on the yoke and a bullet left to bite
Your old man bought the farm and foal
Scratching at the land
With a back hunched by the harvest
And a prize fighter’s hands
And I’ll do what I need. I’ll go where I please
You’ll hold the line, and I’ll swing the lead
There’s a picker at the crossroads,
But you’ve heard it all before
And the snake oil salesman’s up the road
Headed for the door
Old preacher gives directions to the shortest path to hell
Between the lies we tell each other
And the lies we tell ourselves
And I’ll do what I need. I’ll go where I please
You’ll hold the line, and I’ll swing the lead
You will be the criminal, I will be the crime
Meet me at the junction of Pacific Railway line
I will build a clipper ship from four and forty trees
And we’ll be two forlorn privateers
On five of seven seas
And I’ll do what I need. I’ll go where I please
You’ll hold the line, and I’ll swing the lead
|
||||
7. |
Bottom of the Sea
02:47
|
|||
|
I’ll tell it all straight, it doesn’t matter anyway.
It’s like searching the sun to find a new day
I’t’s all hard to say, but I found out the hard way.
You can lead a fool to Texas but you can’t make him stay
Even when you’re pushing on back through the years,It always takes less to lose more
When you’re too young to die and you’re too old for war
And love’s just a way of keeping the score
But I’ll tell you all how I found it all now, Every lost love and loose memory
It’s all there together. It’s waiting on me. It’s all deep in a hole in the bottom of the sea
All my friends who have died, they’re all waiting on me
Along with the bulk of my close family
There’s lots of cold beer, every movie I’ve seen
And my friends who aren’t dead, but might as well be
Between pleasure and passion, and poison and cure
I’ve lost more friends to Jesus than drugs that’s for sure
But I found them all there. They’re all waiting on me.
They’re all deep in a hole in the bottom of the sea
I’ve found every feeling, I’ve found every fear
And my Volvo 240 that died just last year
Every dollar I’ve made that has slipped through my hands
And that season of Twin Peaks I can’t understand
Every dollar I’ve made, every line I have wrote
And at worst a small fraction of the dope that I’ve smoked
Every love I have had, and lost since I’ve made
And that Boba Fett figure I lost in third grade
It’s all there together. It’s all waiting on me
It’s all deep in a hole in the bottom of the sea
|
||||
8. |
The Light Inside
03:58
|
|||
|
It’s hard trying to live just for today,
when the world stretches out and the past fades away
It’s hard keeping up at a steady pace,
when you lose the love but you keep the chase
It’s hard making sense of the things that you do.
It’s hard being me. It’s hard being you.
It’s hard looking some people right in the eye
It’s hard living high. It’s hard staying dry
But it’s easy to find the light inside.
It’s hard when you know what you've gotta do
It’s hard losing love when its all that you’ve got
It’s hard losing fights that you’ve already fought
It’s hard to shed all of the skin that you’ve got
It’s hard when you’re low, so below, ‘til you’re naught
It’s hard when you think that all hope is lost
It’s hard hanging all of your sins to the cross
It’s hard going up, going out, ‘til you’re through
It’s a hard proposition making dreams come true
But it’s easy to find the light inside.
It’s hard when you know what you've gotta do
|
||||
Marc Brenton Austin, Texas
Born in the month of November. On a Friday morning, if that means anything. He enjoys fine wine, writing songs, and playing songs for people who care to listen, though not necessarily in that order. He has been reportedly sighted in Montana and Oregon. He currently spends time living, forgetting, and searching for perfect songs in temporary places in and around the southern parts of Austin, Texas. ... more
If you like Marc Brenton, you may also like:
Postcards From the Country
by Trae Sheehan
West Virginia country-folk singer-songwriter Trae Sheehan aims to find a balance between the traditional and the modern on his new LP.
go to album
The latest from the UK’s Chris Brain is a gorgeously wrought album of tender acoustic folk music.
go to album
Ruth's sophomore release explores sacred signs against a backdrop of folk melodies and acoustic guitar.
go to album
I Need to Start a Garden
by Haley Heynderickx
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 10, 2018
go to album
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
Thumbs Up Angel
by Mink's Miracle Medicine
The first single from Mink's Miracle Medicine forthcoming LP is a shimmery work of melancholy modern country.
go to album
Pittsburgh artist Merce Lemon makes tender and open-hearted indie pop with echoes of Frankie Cosmos.
go to album
