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1. |
The Harbor
01:56
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Shanty town babes all fast asleep
Lasses in lace on painted sheets
Fishers of men I’ll make of thee
The tide rises and I fall
Down with the wood-worn water’s sigh
Sacred it keeps us deaf and blind
Save for a light and a pale outline
That echoes through the salt
Weathered old skipper man bides his time
Cast all away - a prayer, a line
Wanting for our poor sacrifice
The sea narrows and I rise
How like the voyager’s shipwrecked keep
Stolen too soon from the safe of the deep
Oh, but the bait was sweet, boys
Oh, but the bait was sweet
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2. |
Where I Left You
05:57
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Miller's daughter's daughter's fate
Please excuse me, my excuses come too late
To shed the past of all of its pretending
See, my mother always changed the fable endings
But now she's long gone
And her words are fading
And so I left you there, eyes bright, legs dangling
And the road is long
This is no fairytale for the mild
I was born a widow and you'll die a bastard child
I'm southbound, babe
To spin you lace
From a growing web of lies
Through its veil
A needle pricks the haystack from inside
Would I could find you
Would I you only knew
What I could stand to gain
Where nobody knows me
Knows my name
Nobody knows my name
Missionaries
Parched and proud
Sister Patience jumps the gun
For the trickle down
Sir your words are working
But your gods are failing
The water's fine
And the cross is light
And the end is waiting
And the road is long
And the wanting plagues the miles
I was born a widow and you'll die a bastard child
I'm southbound, babe
To spin you lace
From a growing web of lies
Through its veil
A needle pricks the haystack from inside
Would I could find you
Would I you only knew
The gospel of my pain
But nobody knows me
Knows my name
Nobody knows my name
It’s a cold wind
That bids me go
And it’s enough to shatter feathers and ruffle bones
And when it finally wears you thin
Milk and honey find the cracks and cave you in
I'm southbound, babe
To spin you lace
From a growing web of lies
Through its veil
A needle pricks the haystack from inside
Would I could find you
Would I you only knew
What I could stand to gain
But nobody wins this twisted game
Nobody knows my name
Nobody knows me
Knows my name
Nobody knows my name
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3. |
Tin Armor
03:50
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Sally girl, those sacred shells
Have you nothing left to sell?
If I had a dime for all my wishes in a well
I'd watch them drown
Settle down
Little ripples' dying sounds
Pleading with breathing in, bleeding out
And in my hollow
You left me here to beg and steal on borrowed time
Hesitation
The wicked muse who painted our tin armor white
Broken bells on hallowed ground
Are you no more wont to sound?
Pining for the tune
But I never wrote it down
The echoes amplify the space between
The answer and the ground
Pleading with breathing in, screaming out
And in my hollow
You left me here to beg and steal on borrowed time
Hesitation
The wicked muse who painted our tin armor white
Sally girl, those sacred shells
Have you nothing left to sell?
If I had a dime for all my wishes in a well
I'd watch them drown
Settle down
Little ripples' dying sounds
Pleading with breathing in, bleeding out
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4. |
Stranger
02:42
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My fine fair creature
What were you before
Your wage
Your trade
Your age set in?
Carved and graveled your speeches
Made the scent of the beechwood dim?
Were you the taste of all you could take in?
Shrill laughter hollowed
And swallowed by wind?
Flicker of kerosene light?
I am who is
Then her hard face turned soft
For we were young
And now we’re lost
In long agone days forgot
For that, I forgive you
Broken vows
On golden rings
We were made
For finer things
Dissonant, innocent strings
Play on, play on
Broken vows
On golden rings
We were made
For finer things
Dissonant, innocent strings
Play on, play on
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5. |
Bricklayer
04:36
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Father, he left us a ransom note
Estranged to believe in the things that he wrote
I once was a cloud
Mourned the frozen sea
And I never tire of her elegy
Sing to me
Corner store pavement is littered with thieves
The man there sells nickels a bottle a piece
I once played for keeps, but it's too late for that
I turn bottles to nickels and I turn them back
Singing spare me the weight of your beatitudes
I am a carpenter too.
Where are they all?
Smoke, ashes, fable
They move beyond the grave
We work for the dawn
From casket to cradle
And we are a long way
Boys turn to men and the men become bones
We work for the dawn though we won't see the morn
Only grey eyes know the bricklayers trade
Love's labored long for the end of the days
The wages dont pay and the hours pass long
Bold grows the crypt for my granddaughter’s son
They carve his inscription for embalmed eyes to read
In love letters, permanent, cast to the seas
Singing spare me the weight of your beatitudes
I am a carpenter too.
Where are they all?
Smoke, ashes, fable
They move beyond the grave
We work for the dawn
From casket to cradle
And we are a long way
These ships sail on
The safe of the stable
They move beyond the grave
We build an arc
Toward the turn of the table
And we are a long way
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6. |
Witness
05:29
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I saw a bird
No beautiful thing
It may as well have been
Raked through the coals
Steel and the stone
Whatever makes up
The stuff of a soul in pain
The Red Sea don't part in blue mercy like it used to
Do you feel free
In those restless machines?
Immune? Immaculate?
Brave to the cold
The scavengers' kiss
The victim
His jury
And I as his witness
The Red Sea don't part in blue mercy like it used to
Why don't you fly?
Or lay down the fire?
Tell the army of embers the sign of surrender is white?
Why don't you fly?
Or make me a liar?
Oh, you mockingbird
Give up the ghost
For it pains me to see you fight
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7. |
Asylum
03:53
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Ain't there any place for
An asylum seekers son
Weary of the world and
Of the wretched things he’s done
So I plead with the landlocked buoy
Take me in or out to sea
Where these dogs, their guns, my god won’t trouble me
Snow globe lovers, shed your ugly skin
Let the dark of outside
Meet the weather within
Let the gnashing of teeth meet the double-edged swords
How you hemorrhage like blood
Clustered close to the hurt
Ain't there any place for
An asylum seekers son
Weary of the world and
The wretched things he’s done
So I plead with the landlocked buoy
Take me in or out to sea
Where these dogs, their guns, my god won’t trouble me
Water, promise, daylight breaks
And there’s death in the creche where the good Lord lay
What hope have we sinners against an army of saints?
Blocking borders with bone
Keen to cast the first stone where it aches
Ain't there any place for
An asylum seekers son
Weary of the world and
Of the wretched things he’s done
And so I plead with the landlocked buoy
Take me in or out to sea
Where these dogs, their guns, my god won’t trouble me
Say halt, blue-collared broken man
See here, we ain't so different
Death in the creche where the good lord lay
Death in the creche where the good lord lay
Death in the creche where the good lord lay
Maybe someday he’ll wake
Maybe someday he’ll wake
Ain't there any place for
An asylum seekers son
Weary of the world and
Of the wretched things he’s done
And so I plead with the landlocked buoy
Take me in or out to sea
Where these dogs, their guns, my god won’t trouble me
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8. |
Fragile Thing
06:35
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Apparitions of the leaves' path
Skeletons of trees collapse
With nothing more to say
Darling, denim coated, wondering
How could I compare thee to the summer
In the evening of the autumn apple’s sway?
How I sought
When September hits your skin like holy water
And August sins forgot
Oh, August sins forgot
Love is patient, love is kind even when I am not
Look at the sky
And don’t ask why it lingers on
Lesser men have suffered greater, stronger-armed
Listen to the calm
Absolution is her pawn
Carry on the night song
Carry on the night song
The night song
From this cliffside
In the open ocean meantime
You vapid vacance soft and wide
Swallowed in its grave
As the crest caves
Overpaint a thinly veiled face
On naked lips a question
All for one or all for naught or all for vanity in vain?
How I fought
For a fortress in the sand
For love forever lost
But turn with the tide
Behold the helplessness inside
A hollow force that's swallowed mountains more than you could climb
Listen to the calm
Absolution is her pawn
Carry on the night song
Carry on the night song
The night song
Open arms tick
The rising toll of hours swift
These shining souls of ours sift fast
Attrition from decay
Darling
Won’t you set the meter running
Won’t you tell me tales of beauty
In my dying hours
Separate the black and white from grey
How I want
For a host of second chances
Wrapped in second thoughts
Look at the sky
And don’t ask why it lingers on
Lesser men have suffered greater, stronger-armed
Listen to the calm
Absolution is her pawn
Carry on the night song
Carry on the night song
The night song
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9. |
Salutations
04:30
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And you signed your letter “love,” because every other word fit ridiculously
Saying you’ll make someone so very lucky someday, just not me
And I choked out the same
With fumbling eloquence
I‘d do it all again to spend this slice of time by your side
That night - will always be our time
Where the staircase ends and the rushes steep
Where the wayward ships tore starboard seams
And we were luffing landlocked in the eye of the song
It will always be our calm
There’s the one you stitched
And the one you starved
There's the one you soothed
And the one you left and hollow tore apart
You cannot quell what you cannot reach
And you cannot love what you cannot mean
Though enraptured in veil and circumstance
Drunk with love and a knowing ignorance
When the notes hum long through someone else’s arms
No, it will always be our song
When my children cry and they don’t call for you
And I don’t see your eyes in the reflection for so long I thought I knew
The plans we dreamed and the names we gave
And the memory leak and the notions fade
When they plant my grave and you rest miles away
With your missing piece, without memory
Still some sallow comfort lingers in the pressing of the dawn
For unto no one it belongs
Oh the ink is running
Regrets and salutations, black and blue
Oh the engine humming
White noise between strangers and I do
There’s the one you stitched
And the one you starved
There's the one you soothed
And the one you left and hollow tore apart
You cannot quell what you cannot reach
And you cannot love what you cannot mean
Still, you signed your letter “love,”
And you signed your letter, love.
And you signed your letter
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10. |
Come Spring
05:50
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Sing me a song
You bright branches fold
Oh the winter's been long
In the summer of growing old
Persephone, love
Let the world die outside
I'd linger in Hades' warm embrace
For the spring in your eyes
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Noble Dust Boston, Massachusetts
"Sweeping instrumentals and profound lyrics" - WBUR / NPR
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 2023
Emerging Arist
Noble Dust creates dynamic, lyrically-driven progressive folk pop, blending ethereal vocal harmonies with intricate horn and string melodies.
... more
Noble Dust recommends:
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