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Where Blue Meets Blue

by Andrew Calhoun

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Marty Rosen
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1.
The King 02:56
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A dusty attic room, stillness of a tomb, Where someone else's memory gathers in the gloom, While out on the quay, rough water slapped at me, And roared as if to say, "We wash it all away;" This is where my king calls me home. Struggle was the lock, and honor the key, Your sorrows all a basket for the gift you bring to me, And everywhere you've been, we'll visit once again, With careless caroling, and never want a thing; This is where my king calls me home. A weed that never bloomed, in the shadow of the eave, Stood up all afternoon, and hung its head to grieve, As one newborn to violence, who couldn't beat the odds, Has paid the price of cruel choice for all we little gods; This is where my king calls me home. I leave you where the spring, in urgent trickling, Like magic through the wood, sings anybody good, Where every move away, leads towards another day, Where at your journey's end, I find you whole again; This is where my king calls me home.
2.
Buffalo 03:16
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Mama was a wizard Her howls shouted down by snow She bore me walking naked through a blizzard And hitch-hiked home on a buffalo Daddy was a gunman Shot the armadillo in the neck Took my brother and sister with him Through the shadow of a valley of a car-wreck Have no shame Teardrops wash away in rain Keep your silence like the snow Falling on a buffalo Grand-dad carved a hill in wood In the shadow of the mountain Stayed out longer than he should With a quill to sketch the morning Grandma made a casserole Of rice and corn and bits of bacon Shook our sheets out in the morning That blew the way her heart was taken Have no shame Teardrops wash away in rain Keep your silence like the snow Falling on a buffalo Broken down upon my path I surrender, I surrender I never saw the grass grow tall Enough to hide my worn suspenders I'll be naked in the morning I'll be crying out for you From the sunlit side of lookout mountain Nipping through the shadows too And I'll walk like mother on my path Seek my sister from the clay Come to call my father brother Show my son the same old way Oh Grandfather, hear me howling From a hill you carved in tree Here's your purpose, long forgotten Where your name's a memory Here's my shadow on that mountain Full of Grandma's recipe Rice and corn and bits of bacon Hungry hearts, come sup with me Have no shame Teardrops wash away in rain Keep your silence like the snow Falling on a buffalo
3.
Roads in Disrepair 04:39
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Spring has come again And the men are upholding their manhood And the dogs are going to the dogs We haven't spoken in a month The neighborhood is changing a little Some roads are in disrepair Spring has come again Marcia goes on saying she can't go on Tyler's tending bar Hugh and Cindy are getting a divorce and another car We haven't spoken in seven weeks We haven't gotten that little dinner thing going Summer's comin' in Tulips gone already Hey, pretty Betty Kiss me like you done before Pick that bean Bang that door with the broken screen Bang that door with the broken screen Summer's hot and summer's hummin' Look out now, your new friend's comin' Tan and sandy man and woman There's time to break, and make amends And make it while the summer ends Autumn is a friendly time Sweaters, almonds, apple wine Old people praying in the park Children playing after dark Teacher goin' back to work Some roads are in disrepair First snow is something new To the baby Donald who Sits in a stroller, warm and young While Mommy smiles and points and talks "See the snowflake on my tongue" Weary days and winter walks Winter brings the solemn fear Merciless, glorious and real I lost my job on the subway line, Finished up the apple wine We haven't talked in a half a yea Winter sets the blade in me I cannot fight its currency I caught myself the Asian flu Lost myself a day or two Caught myself still loving you Spring is comin' soon First buds popping in the trees Green shoots pokin' through dead leaves Damnation, and the smell of ham Come find me, I am where I am Come find me, I am where I am And when I called her, she was home And she was fine, but not alone And I said, "I am glad for you" I was proud and lonesome too And Spring has come again And the men are upholding their manhood And the dogs are going to the dogs We haven't spoken in a month The neighborhood is changing a little Some roads are in disrepair
4.
Peach Song 02:05
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Hey you, it's all come true; I'm a last hope dangling, I'm a ripe peach hanging, And I don't want to die on the ground. I don't want to die on the ground. Was I bud, or was I fairy? Didn't I bring Spring in early? Didn't I dance, in the morning air? This tree, the supplicant, and me the prayer? Hey you... Pluck this body, for your use, Plump and soft and full of juice; A summer's glory, the harvest's pride, Just toss my heart of stone aside. Hey you...
5.
Portrait of a Girl and Her Parents 03:09
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They are here every day, And they walk in my dreams. Dull eyes and sharp tongues In a house full of screams. And they're here at the door, Maybe watching for clues; Where I'm never caught lying I am ever accused. But there is always the world, Where the sun meets the grain, And the whole rolling ocean In the salt of my pain. There is nothing important, And nothing unknown. He's so busy, She's so high-tone. And I, their bright jewel, So rare and so pale; Like a fine china jar, Where the cookies go stale. There is always the world, I keep it hid up my sleeve, And I take it out dancing, When the company leaves. There is little joy taken, When your enemy's dead; And the wounds you were given, Are all in your head. Go tell the explainers, And tell 'em in time; They might have their answers, But they'll never have mine. There is always the world— I was never to blame, Where you can't be a loser If life's not a game.
6.
Where Blue Meets Blue 02:23
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Where blue meets blue, You find the gate, That dreams pass through, And still they wait; Where it is true That worlds revolve Through time and space That wars resolve. Where blue meets blue, You find the place, Where I and you Have gone to waste; All drifting, woven in the air, A sacrosanct, forgotten prayer. A prayer awaits, Long cast aside From lying hates And jealous pride; Our prayer returns Unbroken through The open gate Where blue meets blue.
7.
Vancouver 03:24
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Chorus: When the boats come in to Vancouver I'll be going down to meet them When the boats come in to Vancouver I'll be going down to meet them Beautiful Laurie, first love of my youth I can't say you didn't tell me the truth If you come in on the boats, I'll win And you'll see me coming down to meet you Chorus Don't hurt yourself with the tweezers Don't cut your will with the scissors I hope it doesn't rain on the party I hope it doesn't snow on the prisoners Chorus I'm nine years old and I'm happy Got free money in my hand Faggot driving steel on the chain gang Feeling like a beautiful man Garden State Parkway With the lights on either side That old car brought my family through the night And oh, what a beautiful ride Chorus When my woman hates her body I'm gonna let her know I need her When she swims in to Vancouver I'll be swimmin' out to meet her My woman's all warm in the morning My woman gets hot in the fall When she swims in to Vancouver That's when I love her best of all
8.
River Song 03:36
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As I went walking, at close of autumn On a chilly evening, in the fading day There came a whisper, from off the river From racing water, I heard it say "I have loved you for so long And I have heard your morning song And known your arms to spread as wide As meadows on my riverside Oh, where's your footstep been of late? Your mirthful pounds of wading weight, And where's your echo's portrait gone? Like time's own healing murder song You skip me and then run along You know I cannot wait And where's the ghost, and where's the grace Upon your ever changing face Your steady, strong tattoo of joy My sweet romantic river boy I'd take you for a hopeless one Counting seconds, sun to sun Well catch me if you can." The whisper went the way it came A ripple twisting off like flame A tear of joy, and one for shame And I will wander on This well-worn path, this travelled trail This monument to flight and failure Taking care to note the weather Bald-faced moon and stars Adrift in some lost galaxy To hear a river speak to me Or even to a memory I walk on meadow's arms
9.
Cows on the Highway 03:01
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Cows on the highway, sniffing and mooing, Cows on the highway, move 'em along; Another day, another life, Another death, another wife. If you run into trouble, On your way down; Don't be afraid to call my name On your way down. It'll be all right, You can spend the night, I'll still be around. "Look at the seals,"— it'll make your day. Pigeons on the sidewalk, out of the way; Daytime sleeper, nightman's watch, Half an idea, half a bottle of scotch. If you run in to me On your way down; You can use my cup, you can wrap me up On your way down. It'll be allright, You can spend the night, I'll still be around. Looseleaf notebook, looseleaf tree, All of your children, looking at me; Waxen candles, wind-up clocks, You know who the mocking-bird mocks. If you fix on a star On your way to the bar, If you get stuck, Or you run out of luck On your way down; It'll be all right, You can spend the night, I'll still be around.
10.
Wild Birds 03:14
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This old house has been around a long time, Been around a long time, long as I can remember; This old road, it used to be a cowpath, Then it was a dirt road, then they paved it over. Sometimes the past, it haunts me, How the years, they escape me; But how I love to walk the streets and see the wild birds Where you can be a wild bird still. Old man Richard's been around a long time, Now he rocks a front porch, smokes another Tiparillo; Watches the children climbing on the diesels, Someday he'll have to move them, put 'em in a museum. Sometimes the past, it haunts me, How the years, they escape me; But how I love to walk the streets and see the wild birds Where you can be a wild bird still. This old town has been around a long time, Seen the river rising, lost a corporation; Drive across it in no time, cup of coffee at the cafe, Gain a reputation. Sometimes the past, it haunts me, How the years, they escape me; But how I love to walk the streets and see the wild birds Where you can be a wild bird still.
11.
Baby-O 02:50
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Chorus: Baby-o, baby-o, When will I see my baby-o She's railroad bound for a Southern town Be there when the sun goes down She wouldn't say why, wouldn't say what Case was closed when the door was shut Steel wheels spinning 'round the bend Who knows where the trouble ends Love's a temporary thing Pawn it with a wedding ring Trust was gone with the time we spent Out the door like last month's rent Gone's the child I adore In the arms of a woman that I don't no more I hope she will keep a little warm glow From a no good man that her mama used to know
12.
Garage 02:32
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That old garage sure is dirty Didn't I clean it out last year? There's useless piles of stuff, there's old tires I can't recall whose car's they were John came by when you were downtown We moved the piano to the backroom It's out of the way, nobody plays Come on, you know that's true. When I was a young man I dreamed a blue streak And I sold the man's groceries Now that I'm older I live a grey silence And buy the man's groceries And if I didn't love you, maybe you wonder Maybe you wonder sometimes Where would you go, who would you go to What if there's nothing besides There's a hobo's bag by the can in the alley That's where the secret's kept What falls in the dark may rise up holy It depends on how you slept Let the kids go running, forget the laundry It never gets done anyway I'll help you unpack your bags, I'll listen, If you want to talk about your day
13.
Hello in There 04:39
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14.
The Golden Gate Bridge 03:07
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I wish I could dance like a hillbilly Cause if I could dance like a hillbilly I wouldn't mind what nobody thought of me Or my dancing feet, or my dancing feet, or my dancing My mother tells me that my teeth are too expensive First it's the cavities, now it's the braces She says my teeth are gonna cost us a mortgage But what are my teeth to the golden gate bridge? The golden gate bridge is long, strong and mighty I'd break my teeth off if I tried to bite it But I can ride all the way across it And I can leave it behind me The golden gate bridge is a kiss in a shadow The golden gate bridge is a dream in a meadow Sky up above it, and water below it You can pass over, or you can jump off it My teeth will still be in my jaw when I'm ninety When I'm buried low at a hundred and twenty Jewels in the crown of the horn of plenty My teeth will shine like a wishing well penny There ain't no body like the body I am The silver screw, the doorjamb The highlit sun, the daughter's hand The eternal moving bed of sand There's no soul like my solo soul There's no two like me and you There's no honey in an empty hive I never leave, I never arrive I am the one who is always here I am the one who cannot steer I never meet myself on the street I cannot mark my passing feet I cannot mark my passing
15.
Politics 03:10
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I'm gonna take a little bit of knowledge, I'm gonna turn it all into honey, Gonna take 4 years of college, gonna turn 'em all into money. My father is a big-shot company man, my mother was a Playboy Bunny, Son of a bitch, when I get rich, I'm gonna live where the weather is sunny, Live where the weather is sunny. While out hunting skunk in the gooseberry bog, we came upon an Indian ruin, Full of buffalo hides and a drum made of logs, and a pot to make Indian stew in. Just Missy and me in our little tepee, who knows what we were doin', Till the bulldozer came and they flattened our game, just to put another house or two in. I am never goin' back to school, please don't ask me mister, My teacher told the principal, all about the time that I kissed her. Dean Brown called me down to the office and he said "You better keep your dirty hands off my sister!" He rapped my knuckles and he boxed my ears, gave me a bloody nose and a blister. I'm goin' down to the opera house, gonna listen to a real fine singer, Her throat is gold and her heart is gold, and she's got a gold ring on her finger. Her voice so ripe and round and clear, that it heals my heart just to hear her sing, She'll catch my eye with a wink so sly, singing, "I'll marry you in the winter," "I'll marry you in the winter." If I blow a little smoke sometimes, I hope that won't upset ya, Like the truth might sound like a joke sometimes, I promise that I'll never forget ya. I've got to run, goodbye so long, with the best of luck and you betcha, I'll meet you back in the laundry room, if God nor the devil don't getcha, If God nor the devil don't getcha.
16.
Reflections 03:36
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You show nothing in your eyes I'm sure you even think in lies Your brain is set in wax You're bloody from your axe And you stabbed us in the backs Acid melts the sunshine There's hatred on the moon The shielded eyes and twisted minds The games they play come true Children sleeping on the dawn Their nightlights muffled by the sun Are not disturbed by sounds of guns Their parents on the run Admit they are not strong And wonder what is wrong Acid melts the sunshine There's hatred on the moon The shielded eyes and twisted minds The games they play come true Those who walk on city streets And those who sit in schoolroom seats Never see the thing that creeps It's lapping at our feet And over the whispering lake | Six million voices shriek Acid melts the sunshine There's hatred on the moon The shielded eyes and twisted minds The games they play come true
17.
Sea of Snow 07:10
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There's a sea of snow outside A sea of snow outside That troubles those who live And covers those who die It's blown up to your doorstep, from beyond the Northern Sea It's turned the morning savage, and it's turned the moonlight grey. And oh, my love Wanda is pretty and brave And she never asks me for what I don't have Sometimes she's white, and sometimes she's black And sometimes I fear that she'll never come back I saw a college boy skating on polluted lake ice He had thin earmuffs on, and no look in his eyes The snow shook with the wind, as it twisted and flew On the surface of terror, where the boy twisted too In a weathered old house, I sat in a room painted white, where the cracks shone grey, And I sang what I sang, and I sang what I must And a teardrop rang out in a roomful of dust And the floorboards sang, "Glory to loneliness, Glory to pride, to shoes and to blues and to places to hide" The incinerator's filled with wet, rotten rusty cans The streetlight shone out through the fog to no end In the eye of the pressure, people go different ways Some run in crazy patterns, others smile all day And some will worship on murderer's hill Where a dead body glows in the luminous haze The snow and the hail fell into the well And hung for a spell In the hands of black water In a prayer that wavered and swelled. There's a sea of snow outside A sea of snow outside
18.
Flowers on the Weekend 05:26
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The voices of the dead flew back and forth across the face of the wind The castle door flew open, we could see a fire burning within Into the courtyard sprang a maniac, he said "I've waited long enough, God knows" But he was no pagan sinner, by the time he burned to ashes he was froze Face up, face down, across the street and through the town Gone to get the goods, to get laid open in the woods I'm going up the mountain to rub faces with the sky Sunshine slashed across the lawn, I'll be going I'll be gone Before we have the sense to say goodbye And I'm sorry, I'm sorry, for all of my sins I'm sorry for standing in the way of the wind Oh, help me, oh help me, in no special way I've got nothing to show, I've got nothing to say "What a beautiful wound," said the woman in green, I was on edge, she was in between She was trying to kill me, with the heel of her shoe But I'm a competent driver, with oysters to chew Cockles and mussles, down by the seashore Naked faced liars and bottled up whores And peacocks for dinner, and lice for dessert Don't try and save time or you'll only get hurt Like a priest in a mask, like a monster jerking off I feel like a diamond, like Raskolnikov He was a hero and I was a louse The crooks left the jewelry but ripped off the house I'm close to genius, close to a storm Closer to God than I am to a worm With his hand in my food, his feet in my hair I'm diving for pearls and I'm begging for air I'm begging for love, and for quiet and rest With my face in my wallet and my fist in your chest The magnets are moving from Asia to Greece I'm begging for love and I'm fighting for peace They're putting on a play in the castle today The hero is a villain and the villain is clay Have a sprig of parsley, throw the heroin away Have a sprig of parsley, throw the heroin away Market on cabbage, market on stocks Market on tourist traps, market on clocks Stabbed to death on Halloween, Jesus was a Jew The cross is spitting poison, getting closer to you Flowers on the weekend, bluegrass in between Sharpen up your axes, make 'em cry, make 'em scream We'll chop down the castle walls and leave 'em in the moat With a song of heaven just a-rippin' out our throats And you don't have to say nothing, I know you by heart I been pushed, I been pulled, like a loose shopping cart Ha ha and ho ho, the freeloader's called time Come and confess, let us laugh at your crime And I'm sorry, I'm sorry, for all of my sins I'm sorry for standing in the way of the wind Oh, help me, oh help me, in no special way I've got nothing to show, I've got nothing to say
19.
You Will Know God 03:51
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The coming will fade, And the even, and the odd; And the silence will speak, And you will know God. Sunrise will arrive, With the child, and its name; And the stars will appear, As we all come the same. I wrote you a gift, And I folded it in fours; That gift is mine, This gift is yours. From a hundred strong angles Come light beams and seasons; From three still triangles Shine thousands of reasons. From free-spoken tongues, To the swelling of the steeple; I live with my hopes, But I die with my people. From the peace in the field, To the heartbreaking violence; We will hear we are here, When we keep our silence. The coming will come, And the even and the odd; And the silence will break, And you will know God.

credits

released April 18, 1999

Recorded and mastered by Steve Rashid at Woodside Avenue Productions, Evanston, Illinois, except for "Baby-O," recorded by Victor Sanders at Lakeside Media in Chicago. Photography by Bill Mahin. Degign by Danielgraphics.

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Andrew Calhoun Chicago, Illinois

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