1. |
intro
00:33
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2. |
class mass
05:29
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you aren’t better than anyone else
which came first? yoga or the church?
sure dude, just take up the whole fkn road, you tell me
that “your taxes are worth more on the dollar, don’t ya know?”
but my mom won’t eat, cause she is scared of the mailwoman
piles of bleached paper with numbers on em
and i just thought, “we’re terrified week to week.”
too weak to eat
listening to nurses talk about gourmet margaritas, and patio renovations
while their; company sits in misery, incapacitated
and still no one will listen to us
and all the long while, i’m in the time that’s up above,
and all the long while i’m in the time that’s up above
time, I leave it to the wind
experience without wisdom is a privilege
and lately all of us feel like there’s just not enough here
but i can’t bring myself, to leave
maybe the cemetery roots have got hold of me
and if you crush it down, you can swallow anything
and all the long while i’m in the time that’s up above
and all the long while i’m in the time that’s up above,
and in the end
and in the end if you can’t unclench your fists
and in the end, and in the end
and in the end if you won’t extend your hands,
don’t preach.
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3. |
the way to work
06:28
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i remember where i was when i found out you had just used me
as a vehicle
to get where you wanted, then you wanted me to go
my teeth weren’t put in my head to please you, not to
carry round a smile for you, just to chew,
doesn’t mean i’m in a bad mood
it took me a long time to realize that Summer smells
just like roundup
i’ve always got this sinking feeling, i’ve always got it
like the tales of a wise woman, i dunno which way it'll go next,
i am a grandma, in a young calf’s hide
i see the ants labor by, and they wave at me, cause i’m one of them
and people who should be in nice sheets are livin on streets of disturbia, so
what will you do for them, what will you do for them?
saw some guts, thrown across the intersection
saw a glimpse of the scythe on the way to work, and at the door
i held it open with Grim
it took me a while to rethink, they’re starvin us
down to the quick to round up their, paychecks
i’ve always got this sinking feeling, i’ve always got it
like the tales of a wise woman, i dunno which way it'll go next,
i am a grandma, in a young calf’s hide
i don’t lose sleep at night, i lose sleep in the morning
in the mornin
choose between food and flourishing, it’s between
sense and democratic ends, from boys to men
all tellin me to watch out for myself
and i don’t mean to bring you down, but i am tryin
and i’m so tired, but the wages can’t splint the pain
facedown but never sleepin
old men are taking our liberties
another babe, another buyer, let’s build a pyre
for the seas, and our bodies, those are ours
they aren’t God
and we are grandmas in young calf’s hides
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4. |
the olfactory
01:57
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it’s too late, for me
i already know i’m ugly
but, i know, everyone is beautiful
can we all just agree on that?
you liked me, with mica and talc on my skin
the olfactory stirs up memories of when
sulfurous fumes and singed hair,
i’m crimpin my spirit for what?
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5. |
bourbon shuffle
06:59
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fights of hearts and angry faces
drills holes in our craniums
pour media, over grates of freedom
take our bourbon, and mock our shufflin feet
but barely listen, to the bluegrass screams
our twin is drenched in wild whiskey-colored fields
but we roam the cities
don’t ya see they like to justify us? don’t ya see they like to gentrify us?
but the only ones left won’t have to pay the price
so, thanks for listening, but y’all still don’t care what it’s like to live in the state of
the common lack of wealth
we’re caskets of shame,
runnin away from when we think our moral compass might break
back in the queer USA
dog-ear pages to put me outside of myself,
sittin outside, sittin inside
my momma’s paper house
a product in a product, my shoulders won’t lower
til all the stones roll off, roll off
don’t ya see they like to justify us? don’t ya see they like to gentrify us?
but the only ones left won’t have to pay the price
so, thanks for listening, but y’all still don’t care what it’s like to live in the state of
the common lack of wealth
these days will pass, they will pass, they will pass, yes
these days will pass, they will pass, they will pass, yes
these days will pass, they will pass
these days will pass, they will pass, these days, these days
these days will pass while we’re living
in the common lack of wealth
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6. |
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can you still get famous
off of psalms made of tearing payments from martyred souls
instead of for the low, low price
of all your handmade gold and shame
i'd like to know
i’d like to know if I can trust you, will you trust me the same?
shibboleth, shibboleth, shibboleth
shibboleth, shibboleth, shibboleth
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7. |
saltwater stretcher
08:36
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craved a life that was,
but, that’s not good enough
skin, flesh
did their consciousnesses just escape?
i haven’t got money for the flowers on my
friends or families graves
but i do it anyway
saltwater stretcher
givin my brain a reason to joust
teeth too tall and a swollen heart that’s rotting i just know it
broke the bouquet of eucalyptus,
let it scent my car, let it splint the
poor disease in us
my favorite pastime
sittin at the cemetery and
listening to men on the radio, but why
do i never hear myself?
saltwater stretcher
givin my brain a reason to joust
teeth too tall and a swollen heart that’s rotting i just know it
it’s too easy to discuss my empty well of a mind
with myself, with no one else
and despite my best attempts i
still dunno what’s wrong with me
but i am mostly antimatter, i can feel it
i can just feel it
have to lock my dog inside the same four walls i call my sanctuary
just to feel some freedom for myself
in this starving town, the rhythmic path of God syncopates
and i’m tired of asking these questions, shoutin to Hell
cause i’ve thought about the letter i would leave,
cause i see prophets fall all the time now,
i see citadels of desperate bodies and cells
so don’t look at me in my own car like that,
i can talk to myself if i wanna
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
it helps me to feel alive, it helps me to feel alive
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8. |
25
06:25
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some people have to sacrifice way more
than the others do
and the others reach and pull and keep on askin
“Why can’t you save yourself?”
i’m a tiny person, i told em, “Take it easy”
they said, “That’s all I can do,
and, well, I wanna get old”
i said, “You will.”
cause we are tiny persons,
glitterin gold in the far cornea of the universe
badge man, had to ring him again
bad man, threatened to take me to the bin
it’s the fall of our Western eyes,
but I ain’t got no line to walk
do you solemnly swear that you care about us all?
and who will you protect?
gotta thank em, for cuttin our hours
gotta beg ourselves not to break down
don’t make enough green paper to care for ourselves
or the rest, at best
i’m a tiny person
screamin fire to a jury of mediocre men
but the stairs all burn while our
heads are drenched in pixelated sand
badge man, had to ring him again
bad man, threatened to take me to the bin
It’s the fall of our Western eyes,
but I ain’t got no line to walk
do you solemnly swear that you care about us all?
and who will you protect?
it’s okay to be 25 and not fine,
it’s okay to live with some family if you need time
it’s okay to be 25 and not fine,
it’s okay to know you’re out of money, but not time
you are mighty, yeah you Almighty, yeah
you are mighty, yeah you almighty, yeah
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9. |
next 2
03:02
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if it’s here, they’re landlords,
L.A., big actors, but
everywhere it’s money
i ain’t keen on regimes, cause it’s a bottle of shine
in a cloak of divine lust, it is
who can keep warm at night
you could be the next to strike gold
and build yourself a new home,
but the poor always live next to the train tracks,
the poor always live next to the train tracks
hmm, hmm
if you don’t like me, at least critique me
creep up my winded spirit, and unleash the wrath you hold close
keep it, on time, my world,
cause it’s my ride to a prison i call
my old Kentucky desert boat
and i ain’t got no money to starve
you could be the next to strike gold
and build yourself a new home
but the poor always live next to the train tracks,
the poor always live next to the train tracks
hmm, hmm
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10. |
pre-existing divisions
04:57
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only time i ever get depressed is when i realize
i can’t afford another arresting moment of pennilessness
can’t afford a ride to the cornfields,
can’t afford to watch my friends
squeal, under an umbrella of usually preventable things
that they can’t afford or they won’t eat at all
and i’m tired of frackin my brain
and i’m tired of shiftin my ruins, but it’s movin day
spin me down the halls of the ward,
wait for my cries to emit from my frozen fathoms of
dread
25 cent candies waitin patiently in a machine
one day the kids won’t have to worry if they are worthy
i’m a cadaver dream, a potted head
lattice propagates dreams, my vine ain’t dead yet
and I grew up toein the state line,
time is a clone that you haven’t yet met
and i’m tired of frackin my brain
and i’m tired of shiftin my ruins, but it’s movin day
spin me down the halls of the ward,
wait for my cries to emit from my frozen fathoms of
dread
and the neighbors sigh once again
at every one of my saviory sins
26, it is the poor people’s death sentence, and
i’ll stop screamin when it stops hurting
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Zys Bowling Green, Kentucky
rockabye folk solo project from Kentucky
Zys recommends:
this album made me think more critically about my voice as a queer woman in the south
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