Get all 14 Mark Lenover releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of A Small White Flag, All Dressed In Rags, Wandering Stars, Every Time It Rains, We're In Motion Pictures, Obliterate, Signs of Violence, The Arsonists, and 6 more.
1. |
Fall Baby
03:57
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Let’s make a home in autumn
Let’s make a house from sticks
Let’s build a house of straw
and let’s build a house of brick
If wild dogs come ‘round
to blow these houses down,
we’ll throw our nets around them
and then we’ll make a house of pelts and bone
Rows of tidy beds under leaves
Save a quiet place for me
Fall baby
Let’s make our home in autumn
away from winter’s tricks
Let’s make ourselves an oven
Let’s build a house for pigs
Don’t let the wolves have any
Don’t spare them any strength
at least not ‘till January
if there are any left by then
Rows of tidy beds under leaves
Save a quiet place for me
Fall baby
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2. |
Wagon Red
03:11
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Wagon red, with the wheel in my broken hands
I search through spider webs, until I find my legs
and a black river running under me
and a blanket of gasoline
My circling arms are there
cutting through empty air
clutching at the atmosphere
and a delicate hope
Then I bow my head, as a chorus of long lost friends
floats past, cussing me out, and I sink safe and sound
into a fiery wreck,
naked, past the pillars of smoke and spots
I can see them now
salty and tuckered out
so I’ll keep my eyes closed
‘till I wake up at home
safe and sound
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3. |
Safe As Houses
04:28
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There are weights on my wrists and they cling limb to lock
in a delicate, yet devastatingly carnal pile-up
as a comforting light spins and sketches in place
and a strangely brutal silence sets to pulling me away
You’re as safe as houses
It’s alright now
You’re as safe as houses
so don’t trouble yourself
The neighbourhood turns up and they grieve for a while
but only as it suits them, from a comfortable distance
for the denigrating, barrel-chested terror at my back
survived only by its failures, and the son it never had
The trigger pulled me gently by the finger tip
I shot a rat with an elephant gun
Don’t be surprised if there isn’t much left of it
But you’ll be happy again, once the transparency lifts
when the spectres wilt before the fists of the neighbourhood kids
When you sleep they won’t remember what I did
You’ll be as safe as houses
for a good, long while
You’ll be as safe as houses
so don’t trouble yourself
Tusks and teeth are made of old piano keys
Fatty hands are made of candle wax
Ghosts are no more than two holes in scrappy sheets
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4. |
The Critic
04:33
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You’ve got a lead weight stuck in your head
You’ve got a way about you that puts everyone on edge
You like to pick at things
You love to pick at things
until there’s nothing left
You’ve got a vacuum caught in your ears
You’ve got the look, and wisdom beyond your years
You like to pick at things
You love to pick at things
until they come undone
But then the sea change
can wear you down
until you find your way
back to the underground
You’ve got a zeppelin tied to your neck
You’ve got a thin mustache and a book full of tricks
You’ve read it several times
You’ve got the paper cuts
to prove you’ve paid what’s due
You’ve got a clean slate tacked on your face
and your hair’s always perfectly out of place
You’ve got the best of us
so you can pick on us
as much as you please
But then the sea change
can wear you down
until you find your way
back to the underground
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5. |
Needle Jump
03:36
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Explain the Xs there on your temples
What kind of sore leaves scarring like that?
I don’t think rubbing’s making it better
Keep it up and you won’t have anything left to scratch
Sit still and stir your hints into pudding
Knock off, and bury your squalor in bed
Save face, then stretch it, long as a fiddle
just as long as you keep your apprehension fed
Let it go
Let it go
It will sort itself out
It will all collapse into itself
Come down here a minute
Get a hold of yourself
Stretch out for a second
then spin until you’re sick
Just hold your breath
until you sink into your bed
Count up each and every penny
you save for every time you complain
Split hairs and relieve each one of its colour
Scrub off and leave the difference in the drain
Shout out! Your ears are glad for the ringing
Shape up, and run a mile in place
Cool down and knit your eyelids together
until your bad dreams cut themselves a brand new face
Let it go
It’ll sort itself out
Or else we can never let you out
Calm down for a minute
Get a hold of yourself
Come down for a minute
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6. |
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You can dig a narrow house in the dirt
You can build yourself a bridge across the bar
You can shut your parish out, but you’ll forget
to wake up when the knackers twist at your arms
We can split ourselves in half
We can teach each piece to dance
We can dress the shambles up but they’ll still stink like death
Oh no, you can’t keep us out of your head
There isn’t room enough inside your skin
to keep you safe when the lights catch hell
from the little trick that plays itself
You can sleep here if you want, huddled up
in a pulsating, arterial knot
but you might wake up alone, all tied up
with a chest full of imaginary clots
You can wrap each hitching breath
up in winding, claret shreds
and I’ll dress each day in a cyprus suit and a liar’s pelt
Oh no, you can’t keep us out of your head
There isn’t room enough inside your skin
to keep you safe when the lights catch hell
from the little trick that plays itself
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7. |
Something They Can Love
02:41
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Step off of the school bus
Light a cigarette up
and try to look your toughest as
the bullies make their rounds
Pull your ratty hood up
and tell a dirty story
Go ahead and stretch the truth
if lying gets a laugh
A little bit can make a lot of difference
if you don’t forget
It doesn’t really matter what you’ve got
it’s what you do with it
Maybe if you find it in your heart to join them in their fun
they might turn you into something they can love
Sneak out of class early,
park out by the highway
and drain a quart of lord-knows-what
and walk back into town
Try to keep your balance
Try to keep your insides in
then stagger home to your horrified
imaginary friends
A little bit can make a lot of difference
if you don’t forget
It doesn’t really matter what you’ve got
it’s what you do with it
Maybe if you find it in your heart to join them in their fun
they might turn you into something they can love
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8. |
I Got Found
03:09
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When I was a very young boy
I took the blood and I was washed
but as I grew up I grew crooked
and I got lost
Then I was ruled by clouds of flies
and they obeyed an evil sound
but Jesus cut through that awful noise
and I got found…
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9. |
Patience
03:05
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Bring me my breakfast in bed
I’ve got frogs in my throat
I’ve got aches in my head
I’ve got tumours propagating like rabbits
in warrens burrowed in my brain
But they aren’t nearly as cute as they pretend to be
The little one’s chew and the bigger one’s scream
at each other all night, when I’m trying to sleep
so I don’t catch a wink
I’ve got trouble with humours and rats at my spine
I’ve got bats in my belfry and crusts on my eyes
If I dropped dead this minute I wouldn’t be surprised
and you’d see things my way
You caught me at a bad time
but if you pay some attention
I think I’ll survive
I’ll need several expensive operations
to get me through the night
Alright, you caught me
No, really, I’m fine
I can handle the cramps,
it’s not your cross, it’s mine
I can manage, so go back to your party
I’ll be alright…
though I’ve got nails in my shoes and pins under my nails
My teeth chatter too, I’m incredibly pale
I guess I’ll trundle on, until my kidneys fail
I can’t have much time
It’s easy to see that I’m grinding my gears
I’ve got smoke in my lungs, I’ve got bells in my ears
and I can’t help but wonder, will you miss me my dear?
Will you see things my way?
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10. |
Harbinger
02:33
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I’ll catch you up
when the salt hits your windows
and your wings will fold
over the dark
When the vultures trace little halos over your head
I’ll have ghosts on my breath
You’ll rest in me
You’ll make your nests in my mouth
You’ll sleep where I eat
little bird
Make a home in my blood
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Mark Lenover
Through a distinctive fusion of folk, rock, theatre and electronica, Mark Lenover critically examines pop culture’s ubiquitous influence, its moral philosophy and the potentially devastating effects of drug abuse and mental illness. His recent work frequently challenges an increasingly pervasive culture of celebrity, self-indulgence, distraction and desire. ... more
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