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. |
I Remember Birdland
03:01
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I had no reason to cry
although I felt as though I might
when a murder-blotted sky
called a million crows to flight
I was thrown from a pitching ship
as an unnatural pillar spoke
of an un-christened landing strip
waiting just beyond the smoke
When I remember birdland
the sky comes crashing in again
When I remember birdland
the clouds come tumbling down again
Shed your feathers and go
Shed your feathers and go
Count your counterweights
stand them up stiff and straight
Come together and go
Come together and go
This thick, cumbersome weight’s
just a trick of the brain
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2. |
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Annie thought her husband was a half-wit
but she loved him
and she’d wring her hands every time he left for work
When the reds came through to form their union
they’d recruit him
Though he never said much he learned to stand his ground
Bow your heads and put your shovels down
The boss’s men have come to smoke the union out
Fly by pistol, fly by dynamite
and put your hands on what’s yours by right
Raise your heads and join the blasting cloud
The boss’s men have come to shut the union down
Fly by pistol, fly by dynamite
or put your hands on what’s yours by right
They shot him down at the edge of town
Oh yeah the boss-men shot your husband down
Although we kept them fat for a thousand years
it’s not enough that we matched the coal train mile for mile
now we’re to point our carts toward the gates to Hell
unless the grand industrial band, can lead us home again
Home again
Home again
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3. |
She Calls
03:51
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First, she calls
the squirrels in her head to serve the pricks and tails
of the dogs, that she kicked
as she crossed herself gladly on her knees at the place where her
groveling, broken-down darlings would dream of their place in her bed
or of the stalls, where they’d all
scratched her name gently into the scum on the walls
She calls…
Oh, let’s make a name for her
Let’s make a name for her…
She slowly and carefully
wraps herself round, then she
crushes the life from us
turning us over
She coddles and condescends
spinning end over end
mouthing unspeakable self-exaltations
Her sobbing was meaningless over the phone
but it had devastating effect in person
Such a startling reflex,
such manicured claws
She raised hell from a holiday
just as she promised she would
Oh, let’s make a name for her
Let’s make a name for her…
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4. |
Every Time It Rains
02:25
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Every time it rains
your skin gets thicker
And when you shut your eyes
the old spit turns
The movement gets you high
and your blood gets thicker
Then you focus on the lights
until the switch gets pulled
Every time it rains
your eyes get redder
While you’re chomping at the bit
the rocks get cold
Every time you need
your head gets lighter
You lick the counter clean
then you hit the bricks
Your eyes are all awash
in a blood-cloud flicker
The clots are catching up
and the coals get hid
Every time it rains
your blood runs colder
You try to find a vein
where the black fog sits
They catch you up again
just to kick you sober
Every time it rains
the clouds cave in
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5. |
Ride the River Blind
04:30
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I fell asleep and dreamed we all died in a fiery crash
and we found that the afterlife was much like the life we’d left
far behind in the smoke,
where the cinders, they spoke
in strange, lashing, crackling tongues at the greatest length
all damn day
All about the dreams they’d have of things they’d never see
and how they’d be satisfied with a drink and a place to sleep
They got quite a kick,
out of taking their licks,
for a song and a pint to keep their guts appeased
just as they pleased
Holiday on a breakaway plank
Let your lips move to match with mine
Don’t I know you?
Then the boys and the voice that led them sang a hundred different songs at once
They tipped a stack of barrels back and howled at the moon for months
When a change in the light
would catch the black in their eyes
they’d kick back, laugh and ride the river blind
All damn night
Now the dream kept folding, spinning and it dropped us off beneath the soil
where the sweat from our brows would bead and collect in a pool to boil
Then they’d stir it all up,
and mix it up in our guts,
and send it spraying, steaming, streaming up the spout
How they flushed it out
Holiday on a breakaway plank
Let your lips move to match with mine
Don’t I know you?
And the steam and the waves shoot up and rain down on the river below
onto the rafts and tankers, getting at the gas-man’s place to grow
Until the fire goes to ground,
‘till the smoke cleans us out,
until we wake up, grin and beg another round
Oh, tear down
I awoke with a start and a feverish twitch about my face
with all my years of living boiled down to a wicked disgrace
Then I got to my knees and I begged and I pleaded for the Lord to put me in
a righteous place
Then I prayed for the Lord to cleanse the trouble from my mind
Then I prayed that the Lord would have me walking at His side
when the trumpeter’s song
carries it’s children along
and leaves the fool to ride the river blind
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6. |
Men With Guns
02:35
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First I’ll fight with my words
First I’ll fight with my words
But if I lose with my words
I’ll come back with my fists
And then I’ll fight with my fists
Yeah, then I’ll fight with my fists
And if I lose with my fists
I’ll come back with my pipe
And then I’ll fight with my pipe
Yeah, then I’ll fight with my pipe
And if I lose with my pipe
I’ll come back with my knife
And then I’ll fight with my knife
Yeah, then I’ll fight with my knife
And if I lose my knife
I’ll come back with my gun
Then I’ll fight with my gun
Yeah, then I’ll fight with my gun
And if I lose with my gun
Oh, if I lose with my gun…
Then he’ll be so safe and sound
six feet underground
because he fought men with guns
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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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