1. |
Ephemeroptera
06:27
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Hold still I'm trying to draw you
don't look until it's done
you've changed even in the few
minutes since we began
I've decided to go with it
cause I've been putting it off when it just needs to get done
but even in your pose so still you've
changed since we began
Take a guess at the number of candies
contained in this blurry glass jar if you guess it you will
win the entire contents and the contest is
the same with me here I am
tell me that you know how many years
remain in this glass jar if you tell me that you
know
you win
every year within
Someone said or wrote that by the time you're 24 you put your foot
down for the rest of you life on the side that you just happened upon
like a point of no return
but if I change my clothes and change my
mind on where I go who knows I might be
changed in what I know
Til the sleeping bag of stars is rolled up
Once I turned in all my papers
and got my grades online
now that I've singled myself out
by getting in line
now that I've proved I'm pretty good
at keeping myself alive
it's time to speak up when they ask me how I
plan to survive
Whatchya gonna do you ask let me tell
you what my plans are I'm gonna work a full
workday, then eat sleep and play and
use my major to get through the day and when the
heavy words and pictures from here and there
crawl into my backpack when I am unaware
would you listen to me so that I can get to sleep
Why did the other guys in the foxhole die
and I'm the only one the shrapnel left alive
what did I do to stay alive I did nothing but sit stunned
and hear my pounding heart go on
booster shots don't deflect and hot lead flies on the road ahead
but only foolish people live like they're never gonna die
On a dusky drive close to the river the streetlight gave away
a swarm of mayflies eating, drinking, being merry in mid-air
that was just last week and now, I'm in the exact same place and found that
each and every one of them has dropped dead to the ground
Ephemeroptera
light a path for my feet
Mayfly, one-day fly
show me how I ought to be
When he cut himself, on his sharp, sharp wit
I stared at the open wound, no blood came out of it
the changeless man
his veins are filled with scabs
last bus on the route just left so
it's a long time to wait or a long way to go
keep walking and keep waiting it will come
I've not walked long enough
I've not waited long enough
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2. |
Water
07:28
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water goes down to the lowest place
water goes down to the lowest place
and I want the water to come to me
yeah I want the water to come to me
As the carving so the carver
as the hunger so the starver
as the craved one so the luster
as the forgiver so the sinner
I search for an empty quiet place
I search for an empty quiet place
but the desert will never come to me
no the desert will never come to me
As the remembered one so the recaller
as the deserted one so the forsaker
as the blood and body so the partaker
as the cause of injury, so is the healer
the sugar you accepted, the medicine you fought
but it was medicine that brought you what the sugar forgot
and in the wind and rain I can recall what in the cool summer days I forgot
a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down but when you're
only taking sugar then your fever won't go down
unless you drink it all up
unless you drink it down down down
He strips away the pretty part
he finds the seed and dries it out
he puts in near the fire for a while and it really hurts
he lets it sit, he grinds it up
he pours scalding water over it
but even this is not enough unless he pours it in a cup
oh even this is not enough unless he drinks it down and up
Blood is flowing through my body
don't run me over
just don't run me over
it's not too much to ask
Breath is flowing through my body
oh can't you see it
oh can't you see it when
it's cold out
when it's cold out
How am I to live in weakness?
How am I to live in loneliness?
Oh these overwhelming deaths I die
and yet
I live
Water goes down to the lowest place
And I want the water to come to me
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3. |
With Nothing
06:14
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You had seen me when the water burst
you will see me down below the earth
and having seen me at my very worst
are you ready to love me?
You have seen me at my most perverse
you have heard my every whispered curse
so having seen and heard my very worst
are you ready to love me?
You have seen me at my very worst
at my very very very worst
so having seen me at my very worst
are you ready to love me?
Are you really gonna take me as I am
with nothing
with nothing
X2
Are you really gonna take me as I am?
X4
Do you think that you could really love me
after all of this adultery
I never thought to ask before
and now I am afraid
My trembling beyond control
nothing between your eyes and my soul
but if it is as I fear
should I not already be dead
If I ever wanted to be loved
If I ever wanted to be loved
If I ever wanted to be loved
If I ever wanted to be loved
If I ever wanted to be loved
If I ever wanted to be loved
it's right now
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4. |
Regret
07:23
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The clothes you use to show your favorite side of you
are meant to get you to a place where you have to throw them out
and start over
then you are as you really are in a bad way
and in need
You are at the show
you know who will be there
and you are wearing clothes
for those who will be there
the glow upon your face
now that you are here shows its
not about the music anymore and you
are in need
when you please me I am happy when you
wound me I get angry and confused
but I am yours and I am hurtable to you
if you please me I will rest
and if you hurt me I will drink it like the medicine it is
as I wait
Just push play
the mental break I needed all day
this time I know
I'll absorb every single note but
halfway through
the maze my brain's been going through I
missed it all again
and I am in need
If you don't stop
wearing your clothes in the shower
you're never gonna get clean
and if you don't stop
saying sorry knife in hand you're
never gonna come clean
Now my heart it is a farmer it makes
one thing out of two so
please me as you please
and wound me as you wound
but I will always be yours so
loveable so hurtable to you
and for you I wait
Rifles reversed
map upside down
we go back the
way we came
rifles reversed
map upside down
we go back the
way we came
rifles pointing back at me
Whether you want me
or send me away
I'll be there right by your side
like a good friend always stays
I'll help you when you're hurt
but when you're fine I'll mess you up
I am
I am
And when you're in a nasty mood well I can
play that game with you but I'll
always do what helps you, yeah, I know it hurts me too
and I'll help you when you're hurt
but when you're fine I'll mess you up
I am
I am
I am your regret
oh have we formally met
I guarantee you'll get to know me better
even if you hadn't planned on it
When you're hurt I'll keep you safe
but when you're fine I'll hold a knife up to your
very very bad little neck
For you to make a way for me I wait, I wait
for you to make a way for me I wait, I wait
X2
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5. |
Plans
06:46
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You make your plans you make your plans
I highly doubt there's ever been
one brand new mother who looked at her brand new son and
thought
one day he will have no place to call his own he'll
sing for pity money on the street
the public concrete propery will always contain his feet
A life he swears off every day
but nighttime comes and it's as if he doesn't have much say-ay-ay
Oh no job no home
no money nowhere to go
and I'd be happy to go to work for the man
if he'll hire someone with a past
and overlook my scarlet history
and hire me as who I'm supposed to be
Well I earned my paycheck honestly
and this man and his wife came up to me
the two of them were about to be three
but they were on the street he said to me
"can you help us get on the train"
so I gave them a part of a previous day
and I started heading for the train
I looked behind me and I thought it was in faith
but too late
and saw them walking off the other way-ay-ay
How much more
money can I give to the poor
when it only ends up in the hands
of those who have them in
a stranglehold
Love, you fool
if I told you gullible
was written on the ceiling
you would look wouldn't you
and you'd look at me and I would be the fool
you'd look at me and I would be the fool
Why are you giving me water
when I live inside the sea oh
why are you giving me fire
when I live up in a tree
X2
Don't look down on the homeless
one day you may be homeless too
Jesus callin' on the main line
you better tell him what you want
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6. |
Understand Everything
07:33
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I shuffled through this past year's Christmas cards
I found a picture of a man I used to know
in a very short time he went from sixty to zero
his legs turned to wheels
and his body to a shell
and I've scolded myself cause I could not feel
my way through the dark of a funeral home
tears only fall on a bottomless floor
while I grieve dry-eyed by the tomb
oh oh oh
And I'm an old beggar
who smells like two weeks
no one gets close so mostly I sleep
I'm just now waking up and I need something to eat
if I move closer to you will you
promise to move closer to me
oh oh oh
Last week I used your money on the cheapest quickest ride
down that old river I know so well
just one more time to forget my murders and my lies
drag me out, wait, no don't drag me out
Watch me get right on that bus and go back where I'm from
See this gash on the side of my face, going back to where they know what it's from
And you wouldn't want to guess
the places I've been thrown
now I know you are young
and you've got problems of your own
but just look at me and tell me could I sink to
any lower place
I know I don't deserve it but could you please put me on the train
oh oh oh
And when he has finished with everyone he will say unto them
you too come forth
come forth my drunk ones
my weak ones
my shameless ones
my pacific garden mission ones
my thanksgiving soup kitchen
my took five bucks and instead of buying food you bought cheap whiskey
ones
and we will all come forth
X4
Without being ashamed and stand there and he will say
swine you are
of the image of the beast and of his seal but
come you too
and the wise and the reasonable will say unto him
Lord, why do you accept such as these
and he will say I receive my wise and reasonable ones
forasmuch as not one of them considered himself worthy of this thing
And he will stretch out his arms to us
and we will fall at his feet
and we will understand everything
And he will stretch out his arms to us
and we will fall and we will weep
and we will understand everything
Blessed are the poor for they shall see God
X2
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7. |
Technology
05:32
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Once there was a redbud tree
who wanted to grow up to be an oak tree
but his mom and dad gently
told him redbud trees do not grow to be oak trees
you have to be a redbud tree
Then he thought he would be willing to be cut down
in order to be chopped up and made something to write on
to hold some printed words
the ones that turn the world
but the mill thought it not practical
they left him all alone to grow
I could earn my PHD
or I could pack up and join the marines
I could backpack overseas
I could even do nothing at all
I could climb Mount Everest
okay maybe not, maybe not
but it still seems like there are lots of
things I could do
I just don't know what to do
And if you were like the economy
then you could not admire me
for in me is no practicality
my arms just go out to you
my life is your technology
and I know what I must do
Where I go and what I do
you can do, and undo
after I'm undone by you
I will be all new
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lewis knudsen Rock Island, Illinois
Lewis Knudsen is a mixed-genre, multi-instrumentalist songwriter based in Rock Island, IL (Quad
Cities).
In 2018 Lewis wrote and released a new song each week, while touring regionally in the midwest, and is currently working on plans for a new album in 2020
... more
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