1. |
Not a Light for Miles
03:23
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On the ashes of a matchstick house
I slept there once or twice
I was living with a woman then
there may have been a child
but the fire burned out years ago
now, there’s not a light for miles
I walk with my hat low
brim covering both my eyes
I air out all my secrets
in the same breath as my lies
so let’s talk a while longer
There’s not a light for miles
Thick trees hung above me
There ain’t a moon tonight
Let me sleep beneath the high grass
under endless starless skies
Lay me down to rest here
where there’s not a light for miles
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2. |
Every Other Door
02:45
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Without the checks your mother sends
you’d never cover this month’s rent
you smoked and drank every dollar landed in your lap
you talk endlessly about yourself
But like the Brautigan on your shelf
I was just another book you never read
You left every other door open
every other door open
every other door open but one
You were never much in the mood
The couple times I got off real good
you were out of the house doing whatever it was you do
When you claimed that you were on the pill
stuck me with three months’ worth of bills
I was just relieved you were finally gone for good
You left every other door open
every other door open
every other door open but one
In the years that disappeared
you joined a circus or a cult or some damned thing
I wrote a couple letters but I ain’t ever heard any news
I wonder every now and then
which drain you circled down and went
but you never saw fit to ease my worried mind
You closed every other door behind you
every other door behind you
every other door behind you but one
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3. |
Oh Creatures
01:58
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lyrics by J. Olivo
Who of all these tortured souls
regrets they’re old real
Who looks back appalled
twisted creatures
look back on shadows passed
beloved and the cursed
the wizened and the crass
the empty people
We are dangerous
all our love sequestered
push and pull and thrust
is all that we can muster… now
Break all of our older toys
and wish them back again
button eyes are blind to twisted creatures
look back on shadows passed
beloved and the cursed
the wizened and the crass
the empty people
We are dangerous
all our love sequestered
push and pull and thrust
is all that we can muster… now
Thin
So thin
oh, you tragic things
So thin
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4. |
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I didn’t apologize/ I must have rolled my eyes during grace/ We both read Hegel and share our disdain at length/ Let’s discuss the possibility/ that precedes all possibility/ just as being (as a word)/ Is a noun before it’s a verb
The void I’m kneeling toward is finite enough
Soren, such is our love/ such is our love
We didn’t exist/ before our first sin/ I sipped from your glass/ sipping where you had last/ Let’s discuss the possibility/ that precedes all possibility/ just as being (as a word)/ Is a noun before it’s a verb
The void I’m kneeling toward is finite enough
Soren, such is our love/ such is our love
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5. |
Vagina Eyes
02:42
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When you get off of work
You drop the kids off at your mom’s
change out of your clothes
and head off to the bar
Oh, where are you tonight
Where are you tonight
my little vagina eyes
When I’m let out of the bar
I stumble to my car
stare up at the starless city skies
and wonder where you are
Oh, where are you tonight
Where are you tonight
my little vagina eyes
Maybe we could get off of work sometime
and grab a bite to eat
And maybe if my mother ain’t at home
We could come back to my place and watch tv
When I call, you aren’t home
but you’re house light’s always on
I peek in every Riverwest bar thinking I’ll find you on your baby daddy’s arm
Oh, where are you tonight
Where are you tonight
my little vagina eyes
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6. |
And How
03:24
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never did a line of coke
never saw a holy ghost
been as far west as Fargo, ND
far east as Ohio
tell me, how am I still alive
how am I still alive
I'm burdened just like you
by my own version of the truth
I drink and get pissed
just shaking my fist at all I'm entitled to
tell me, how am I still alive
how am I still alive
adolescent solipsism
mixed with nascent alcoholism
I'm embattled, embittered and emboldened
by the path that I thought chosen
like a mouth, the road yawns open
but there's nowhere left to drive
tell me, how am I still alive
how am I still alive
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7. |
Jesus Almost Got Me
02:48
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There's a keyhole in my can of beer
There's an eye behind it
Sizing me up and staring me down
and my hangover's coming
the thorny crown of dawn is falling over me
Oh, love is cruel
Love is truly absurd
Jesus almost got me
I don't know how many prayers he overheard
There's a new leaf in the garden
and all the buds bloom open like eyes
And the hand that folds the tide in the sea
is pouring a drink and sliding it over toward me
Oh, love is cruel
Love is truly absurd
Jesus almost got me
I don't know how many prayers he overheard
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8. |
Don't Be Creepin'
02:46
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middle-aged man is online again
stalking all his teenage daughter's friends
when they come by the house
he creeps all of the girls out
I say no... Don't be creepin'
don't be creepin'
out for drinks with a couple friends
Lacey's shift picks up after ten
when she bends down behind the bar
my friend elbows at my arm
I say no... Don't be creepin'
don't be creepin'
what kind of man goes and begs like a dog on his hind legs
what kind of a lonesome troll goes begging every lady baby baby pretty pretty please
every little catcall
is making her skin crawl
thinking your slick
with your tenth grade shtick
attrition-based courtship
from a court-ordered distance
why do you have to sniff every roadside flower
why do you have to sniff every roadside flower
oh, don't be creepin'
don't be creepin'
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9. |
Darlene
02:45
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I’m sleeping on the couch/ At my mother’s house/ I’ve been out of work so very long/ Until my piss is clean/ nobody’s going to hire me/ but don’t give up on me, Darlene
Oh, Darlene/ I’m begging darling, please/ I’m on both my knees/ Can we keep the baby, Darlene
We’ll both stay at your mama’s house/ you’ll go to school; I’ll find a job/ Your mom can watch the baby when we need/ When my probation ends in spring/ we’ll have more ways to make ends meet/ Everything will be alright. You’ll see.
Oh, Darlene/ I’m begging darling, please/ I’m on both my knees/ Can we keep the baby, Darlene
I know sometimes we have our fights/ and I’ve been less than faithful once or twice/ I raise my hand to you/ you raise your voice to me/ but this baby might make right for us, Darlene
Oh, Darlene/ Nobody wants to be/ a mother at fifteen/ But can we keep the baby, Darlene
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10. |
Long
04:27
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Watch them hobble on/ clutching empty chests and wooden hearts/ wounded every place/ like downed lines or cracked concrete/ Strip my limbs/ I’m half the man I thought I’d be/ and through two glass eyes I see/ cancer got the best of me
All I am are parts/ the sum of what’s undone/ half a mind to find/ where the other half has gone/ one thing’s for sure/ people live too goddamn long
My spine and bladder/ are a rusted pail and warped wooden ladder/traded all my silver to craft a perfect tongue/ sharpened it on everyone I touched/ every pair of arms/ that held me once are gone
All I am are parts/ the sum of what’s undone/ half a mind to find/ where the other half has gone/ one thing’s for sure/ people live too goddamn long
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Little Otik Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Little Otik is from Milwaukee. As cities go, it’s a little unsure of itself. Milwaukee and Little Otik have that in common. Their debut Startled By His Own Tail is a failed country album about failure.
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