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 Song Info: |
(05:52) A tribute to the pagan-based Scandinavian traditions of Midsummer, this song, like the bonfire it depicts, slowly builds into a blazing inferno. |
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| Lyrics: |
MIDSUMMER FIRES
Midnight midsummer. Sun won't leave the sky.
Here's a fire for the burning,
A light to lead the turning.
The turning of the sun down the season's slide
The burning of the sun that keeps us all alive
The turning of the sun down the season's slide
Toward the harvesting of grain and the long white time
Midsummer fires burn in my heart
Midsummer fires burn
Midsummer fires burn in my heart
Midsummer fires burn
Midnight midsummer. Flames scrape through the sky.
Watch them catch on the horizon,
Watch them rise higher and wilder.
In the shadows of the flickering folds
The embers fill the dusk with their rust and gold
In the shadows of the flickering folds
Forge a purified world out of the old
Midsummer fires burn in my heart
Midsummer fires burn
Midsummer fires burn in my heart
Midsummer fires burn
Midnight midsummer. Sun won't leave the sky.
Here's a fire for the burning,
A light to lead the turning…
Stakes and twigs
And garlands green
Midsummer fires burn
Birch and blossoms
Moss and leaves
Midsummer fires burn
Copper coins
Old boats and barrels
Midsummer fires burn
Climb right up the
Witch's ladder
Midsummer fires burn
Midsummer fires
Midsummer fires
Midsummer fires burn
Build it up
With bricks and beams
Midsummer fires burn
Douse it all
With gasoline
Midsummer fires burn
Midsummer fires
Midsummer fires
Midsummer fires burn
Keep feeding me
Keep feeding me
Till all I can see
It's all I can see |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad, Margaret Browning |
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| Filesize: |
5.4MB |
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| Song Info: |
(03:46) A richly atmospheric tribute to the transcendence of memory over matter. |
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| Lyrics: |
REMAINS OF THE DAY
Ghost at the gate, why don't we go
Over the lay of the land?
Memories fade, but I can feel them
Wade through the sun and the shade.
Who owns the hills and lakes
When they're just a thought,
Remains of the day?
See how the landscape changed
Till it's gone, it's lost;
Surely you know the way.
Glossy and glazed, summer's sweet hold
Carries us far and away.
Lost in a haze, green and golden
Out in the fields where we played.
Who owns the hills and lakes
When they're just a thought,
Remains of the day?
See how the landscape changed
Till it's gone, it's lost;
Surely you know the way.
Can't go home again; I close my eyes and
Follow the path to the place.
Keeping it safe, I can be there
Lost in a world time erased.
Who owns the hills and lakes
When they're just a thought,
Remains of the day?
See how the landscape changed
Till it's gone, it's lost;
Surely you know the way.
Lyrics © 2003 Cynthia Conrad |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Blood Ruby |
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| Filesize: |
3.5MB |
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| Song Info: |
(05:26) An undercurrent of spookiness and tension runs beneath this song about living life to its fullest. |
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| Lyrics: |
SLEEPWALK
He works, he sleeps
He knows his history
He reads, he dreams
So much ability
He drives Northwest
Up the Interstate
The snow falls slow
Hypnotic and opaque
Bright with life, he leaves behind
Endless days and longer nights
His eyes are wide, his ears are numb
Filled with pulsating engine hum
Don't rush by unseeing
Through the places and the pleasures of the ride
(Take it all in)
Don't skim through the pages
Of the ponderous volume that describes your life
(Don't miss a word)
Some seek distraction
Just to pass the time, not entertain
We sometimes sleepwalk
Sacrificing joy to numb the pain
I saw the scene
I didn't want to see
Steel, glass, debris
Stranger, rest in peace
How could he know when he awoke
That this was the day his book would close?
Have you thrived or just survived
If this were the day you said goodbye?
Don't rush by unseeing
Through the places and the pleasures of the ride
(Take it all in)
Don't skim through the pages
Of the ponderous volume that describes your life
(Don't miss a word)
Some seek distraction
Just to pass the time, not entertain
We sometimes sleepwalk
Sacrificing joy to numb the pain
We sometimes sleepwalk
Lyrics (c) 2004 Margaret Browning and Cynthia Conrad |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Margaret Browning |
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| Composer: |
Blood Ruby |
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| Filesize: |
5.0MB |
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| Song Info: |
(04:27) A song exploring the emotional paradox of codependency. |
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| Lyrics: |
HE'S LOST
Sleeps in your bed,
Eats from your bread;
God only knows what
The neighbors say.
He empties the bottle,
Says never again;
Wanna believe
That it's gonna change
But all of this time
You've been lying
So no one ever knows.
And all of this time
You've been trying
To save unwilling souls.
Hurry home through the night;
He's lost without you,
Lost without you.
Hurry home to his side;
He's lost.
Begs your forgiveness.
His only friend
Starting all over
Closer to the end.
With or without him
Facing a void.
Somehow it feels like
You have no choice
But all of this time
You've been lying
So no one ever knows.
And all of this time
You've been trying
To save unwilling souls.
Hurry home through the night;
He's lost without you,
Lost without you.
Hurry home to his side;
He's lost.
Do you really think your love
Is gonna save him alone?
Well, take my advice,
Unless you're Christ,
It won't, no it won't.
Sleeps in your bed,
Eats from your bread;
God only knows what
The neighbors say.
He empties the bottle,
Says never again;
Wanna believe
That it's gonna change
Hurry home through the night;
He's lost without you,
Lost without you.
Hurry home to his side;
He's lost. |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad, Margaret Browning |
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| Filesize: |
4.1MB |
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| Song Info: |
(05:11) A complex, layered song that keeps getting higher and deeper until the delightfully trippy "spaced-out" ending. |
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| Lyrics: |
BABEL BABEL
Shuttled through narrow gaps
All these walls line our trap
Brick and steel glass concrete
No more field, and no more tree
Babel Babel rising cleaves the air
Babel Babel winding climbs the stair
Baby baby listen can't you hear?
Babble babble is the language here
Windows stack ladder lines
In between the gutters climb
Edges cut, corners meet
Angles tear at the angel's wings
High above checkered streets
Pitch the roof at the peak
Pigeon coo, patch of blue
Pinhole sun in a penthouse room
Babel Babel rising cleaves the air
Babel Babel winding climbs the stair
Baby baby listen can't you hear?
Babble babble braying in my ears
Higher still, raise the cranes
Lift us up beyond our fate
Kiss the mouth of heaven's bell
From the pinnacles of hell
One more floor, two more feet
Always just out of reach
One more brick, almost there
Vanish in the thinning air
Babel Babel rising cleaves the air
Babel Babel winding climbs the stair
Baby baby listen can't you hear?
Babble babble fills the atmosphere
Babel Babel rising cleaves the air
Babel Babel winding climbs the stair
Baby baby listen can't you hear?
Babble babble echoes everywhere |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad, Margaret Browning |
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| Filesize: |
4.8MB |
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| Song Info: |
(03:21) The aquatic instrumentation and lyrics were inspired by an early childhood experience with swimming (or lack thereof). |
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| Lyrics: |
UNDERWATER PLACE
I'd made my mind up;
I'd had quite enough.
I was too small but
I just wanted it all.
You had the fins and
My feet were dangling;
Could only wade in
While I watched you swimming.
Diamonds on the waves,
I'm sinking through this space
In the soft embrace
Of an underwater place.
I pushed against
A floor made of sand
And left the land.
How could I know
My weight on the float
Wouldn't hold?
I'd made my mind up;
I'd had quite enough.
I put my foot down
But there was nothing, no ground.
You had the fins and
My float was caving in.
I started slipping
Until the water caught me.
Diamonds on the waves,
I'm sinking through this space
In the soft embrace
Of an underwater place.
I'd found my dream-sleep;
My thoughts were sinking deep.
There was nearly no sound
And it went dusk all around.
You had the fins and
You started reeling me in.
No fear of leaving,
No longer need for breathing.
No, no, no, let me go.
No, no, no, let me float.
Diamonds on the waves,
I'm sinking through this space
In the soft embrace
Of an underwater place.
No, no, no, let me go.
No, no, no, let me float.
Diamonds blur and haze,
I'm falling through this space.
Oh, I want to stay
In this underwater place. |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad, Margaret Browning |
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| Filesize: |
3.1MB |
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| Song Info: |
(04:37) Inspired by Chinese landscape scrolls and sung partly in Mandarin Chinese (or, more accurately, an approximation of it!). |
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| Lyrics: |
SHAN SHUI
By the wandering pines
Where the sun goes hiding
Swims a little green trout
With its shadow wallowing low
Through the wandering stream
With the stones' slick sliding
And my little fin feet seem to know
Where the water must flow.
wo deng, wo deng, wo deng shan shui
At the foot of the falls,
Yellow footbridge leaping
To a narrow footpath
Where my footsteps following go,
Past the little red roofs
With their corners sweeping
Into bristling pines
With their twisted branches of cones.
The scroll unrolls under my feet.
Where will this painted path of paper
Finally lead?
Everything pulses;
Everything is poised.
This wildness wrestles with its back
Against the void.
The scroll unrolls under my feet.
Where will this painted path of paper
Finally lead?
On a bluff clings the brush,
Tiny tiptoes hanging
To the fissured-fist rocks
All upended and overthrown.
And the pillars pile up
To the clouds' soft longing;
Though the ladder grows steep,
My feet keep climbing the stone.
wo deng, wo deng, wo deng shan shui
wo wang le zi ji
gen wo lai han shang leng qi
The scroll unrolls under my feet.
Where will this painted path of paper
Finally lead?
Everything pulses;
Everything is poised.
This wildness wrestles with its back
Against the void.
The scroll unrolls under my feet.
Where will this painted path of paper
Finally lead?
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad, Margaret Browning |
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| Filesize: |
4.2MB |
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| Song Info: |
(04:31) Organically structured and impressionistic song about traveling by rail. |
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| Lyrics: |
CENTRO
Was water-white
Sung winter glass
Plaque-platinum cold
Stun Stockholm sun
Tram traveler
Electric hum
Pilgrims on the Centro
Floating, drifting,
Eddy-spinning.
Leav ing, breathing,
Headlong swimming.
West precipice
Hung hanging swing
Flit-flying pines
One swanlong dive
Tent tangle-dense
Met meadowood
Sky parted by the Centro
I don't know
Where it is I've been.
I've come so far,
But I don't know
Where you are.
I don't know
Where it is I'll go.
Just take me home,
Somewhere
I'm not alone.
Sleepwalker,
Dream passenger.
We're strangers,
Lone travelers.
Floating, drifting,
Eddy-spinning.
Leav ing, breathing,
Headlong swimming.
I don't know
Where it is I've been.
I've come so far,
But I don't know
Where you are.
I don't know
Where it is I'll go.
Just take me home,
Somewhere
I'm not alone.
Cut countryless
No nowhere map
With windowless
Past passage back
Born borderless
Cull cornerstone
West precipice
Hung hanging swing
Left limbo on the Centro
Lyrics © 2001 Cynthia Conrad and Thomas Wall |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad, Thomas Wall |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad |
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| Filesize: |
4.1MB |
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| Song Info: |
(06:11) Sweet and soothing, then explosive. |
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| Lyrics: |
THE NIGHT TIDE
She makes her home, she lives alone by the seaside.
Her fingers comb; she folds the foam by the seaside.
She sits and sways; she makes her way to your insides.
What losses her choices.
The years pass; her longing ebbs and flows.
Her whole life a slow slide
Caught in the undertow of the night tide.
Her ear's soft cone, rosettes of folds like a seashell.
Her timid hands smooth out the sand where the sea swells.
Her tiny sighs cut through the night like a buoy bell.
What losses her choices.
The years pass; her longing ebbs and flows.
Her whole life a slow slide
Caught in the undertow of the night tide.
Lyrics © 2001 Cynthia Conrad |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad |
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| Filesize: |
5.7MB |
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| Song Info: |
(05:06) Minimalistic and introspective song about emotional survival. |
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| Lyrics: |
SOME WINTERS
The thaw comes gnawing up the hillside.
Trees cling like vines to the morning light.
Me in my window, a glassy gray sky.
It creeps inside to where the sleeping lie.
Some winters, they linger.
They heave their frost till summer.
Some winters, they keep us locked under ice.
Some winters, they haunt us.
They fill our lives with shadows.
Some winters, they leave us barely alive.
Some winters, they crush us.
They tear us Bare and broken.
Some winters, we need them,
This bitter fight that only the soul survives.
The crows are calling across the long miles.
Lend me your flight; be my lonely guides.
We'll rise like letters, ink across the light,
Always a sign of the stubborness of life.
Some winters, they linger.
They heave their frost till summer.
Some winters, they keep us locked under ice.
Some winters, they haunt us.
They fill our lives with shadows.
Some winters, they leave us barely alive.
Some winters, they crush us
They tear us bare and broken.
Some winters, we need them,
This bitter fight that only the soul survives.
Lyrics © 2001 Cynthia Conrad |
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| Lyrics Author: |
Cynthia Conrad |
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| Composer: |
Thomas Wall, Cynthia Conrad |
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| Filesize: |
4.7MB |
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