Get all 6 Henry Crook Bird releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Shovel Wielding Mortal, Beyond The Gate, Home For The Winter, Patches To Mend, Beneath The Veneer, and Forgotten Fishbowl.
1. |
Race The Sun
03:29
|
|||
|
You’d never catch her dead disheveled
She wore her buttons brassed and beveled
Air host, Continental, Houston bound
And this land that cradles yours and mine
Is home to hers just part of the time
Close the gate, by god, she’s leaving the ground
Up there time’s a foregone end
They can race the sun and nearly win
Every touchdown’s another one, amen, born again
The doctor slumps down on the lawyer man’s chest
One village meets another and they’re all headed west
Ninety bolts of lightning striking this sliver of time
Stuffed in the corner of your every beck and command
Call her the shepherd of limbo with a seltzer in her hand
Lie down tender ones, you’re all bound to see it through
Tucked back in and settled
Hardly ten grand to the level
Front end locked and sterile, final circle in
But like a wave the fleet descended
Left the gates on ground congested
They’ll be stuck up above and waiting, holding again
So out the porthole barely blinking
She watches Houston slowly sinking
As the city churns on unthinking, paying no mind
And as the Earth calls out demanding
That inevitable act of landing
Upon further reflection, it suits her just fine
Up there time’s a foregone end
They can race the sun and nearly win
Every touchdown’s another one, amen, born again
|
||||
2. |
Tracks Of Silver
03:37
|
|||
|
We’re a speck on the highway, motel’s empty
A springboard to journey forth
My young ones both took a tank of Bill’s gas
And burned it on their way up north
This town still sits on the mainline
Central Union Pacific Time
Steady as she goes by, keeping speed
Nothing here for the freight line, nothing for me
Tracks of silver, rivers of gold
Blood down below
Dirty levee road
When my mother was young she used to dance on tables
In the clubs in the desert out west
She’s got a wit light a straight razor held to your throat
And eyes that never rest
And at the top of the year when the sky’s clear
I’ll pull her up a chair outside
As our minds both wander to the young ones far and wide
A picture of longing, wooden frame of pride
Tracks of silver, rivers of gold
Blood down below
Dirty levee road
In the alley street there’s a walnut tree
That time could not keep still
Roots splitting the sidewalk like the long Sierra hills
And they’d run their feet through the oil slick creek
Keeping rhythm with the rain
Lost in the elements, blissful, gritty and plain
They’re back on my mind with every shift in the winter wind
Tracks of silver, rivers of gold
Blood down below
Dirty levee road
|
||||
3. |
Magnus
02:52
|
|||
|
It’s time again to hit the town, I’m buttoned up
I’m hanging out with cherry-picked perceptions of my friends
Who are we, what are we now
I can only seem to figure out a fraction through this foggy fish-eyed lens
And a voice within my head it seems
To chatter on, he never leaves
A mole upon a mountain, he’s a fault line all his own
A thoughtful man of many words
I took to calling him Magnus Bird
Through it all I’m never quite alone
You’ve got my back (steadfast)
Through the ages thick and thin
And though I spoke with you last night I find you on my mind again
I’m in your grasp (no slack)
At your side right to the end
So let’s take a breath and ponder death
And all the things that could break down
Until we reach that final round my friend
Are we proper is it safe, all stacked up and in its place
Every rule is golden, we can’t stand to drop the ball
Every standard on the books, I’m dangling by their every hook
Sink them ever deeper lest we fall
From the comfort of this bed, I’ve built up kingdoms in my head
I’m always seeing monsters ‘round the curve
You’re the granny apple of my eye
But you can’t eat what’s on your mind
Soak it in and savor what is served
You’ve got my back (steadfast)
Through the ages thick and thin
And though I spoke with you last night I find you on my mind again
I’m in your grasp (no slack)
At your side right to the end
So let’s take a breath and ponder death
And all the things that could break down
And strangers judging me downtown
And what horrid things’ll come out my mouth
And will I ever live that down
And could I ever crawl back out and show my face in broad daylight again
|
||||
4. |
Hollow Eyes
04:01
|
|||
|
I’m a picture in the back of your mind
I’m on the altar, circled by the pagan stones
You reach out to touch me guided by the thunder
Resonating through your bones
You say take me away from here, idol of mine
I’ve been drifting alone in the wind
We can cast off together in a world of our own
And we’d never have to look back again
Don’t try me as a hero in the court of love
Don’t put your idols on the witness stand
I’ve been sentenced in absentia many a time
It never runs clean in the end
You can build it up to what you want
Wrap it in a bow
The jury is yours to command
But beneath the fable is a man already captive
For reasons he don’t understand
And desperation coats the tip of your tongue
But you never tasted none
Staring down my hollow eyes
Truth be told, I’m as blind as the rest
I couldn’t set the record straight if I tried
I’ve wasted the time of countless before you
Watched them all lose their minds
I’m gonna head back to town
And tear the altar down
I’m gonna burn down the effigy and use the light around me
To find the real book and crown
And desperation coats the tip of your tongue
But you never tasted none
Staring down my hollow eyes
|
||||
5. |
I Could Make Any Excuse
03:21
|
|||
|
There’s a perch on the cliff side, Pacific north line
And it’s a four hour cruiser to any other town beside
On the dark roads ever crooked
Through the forest they wind
And I ain’t taken none of them in a painful long time
Oh, I could make any excuse
And God knows I’ve tried
But here I am meeting you again for the very first time
This time spent apart brings questions to bear
Am I now ready, and do you still care
Can we pluck out the pieces from the dusty thin air
Assemble a history from the fragments still there
Oh, I could make any excuse
And God knows I’ve tried
But here I am meeting you again for the very first time
I failed to give space for you to speak out your pain
I filled in its place all my anger and shame
For sins I’ve forgotten and some nebulous blame
I’ve been barking at a night sky that never knew my name
|
||||
6. |
Green Meadow
02:45
|
|||
|
As she rolls onto her belly
The city rumbles, how she groans
In tandem with me, she ain’t rollin’ over alone
And I keep the windows closed to keep the noise out of my room
And deep down within me is a green meadow in bloom
As Eve sat by the snake and quietly pondered her shame
She said, I think it’s quite exciting to give this tension a proper name
So she found her fate beyond the gate
Beneath the gentle moon singing
Deep down within me is a green meadow in bloom
As I rise to clean and shave my face of waves of gray and brown
I wash my feet in the growing heat of the sunlight bearing down
And though today I must collect my clothes scattered ‘round the room
Deep down within me is a green meadow in bloom
My head’s ablaze in the summer waves
My chest an impetuous storm
My arms give way to a soft embrace of the weight of days before
And I’m rollin’ down that valley river patiently to you
Cause deep down within me is a green meadow in bloom
Not a second too early
I’ll stand before you soon
Deep down within me is a green meadow in bloom
|
||||
If you like Henry Crook Bird, you may also like:
The Toronto-based sextet make moody, cinematic sounding music that blends psych-folk and post-rock.
go to album
Ship To Shore
by Richard Thompson
The legendary Richard Thompson's new solo album exemplifies his many musical paths, from pop and cabaret to jazz to traditional folk.
go to album
Sparkling and knotty indie rock from this Australian group with interlocking guitars and shifting rhythms.
go to album
Darkness begins to creep into the corners on the latest from Itasca.
go to album
Little Green
by Cara Beth Satalino
Cara Beth Satalino's delicately melodic yet resilient indie folk songs sparkle with lyrical wit and hard-won wisdom.
go to album
Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980
by Time Capsule
The experimental spirit permeating this collection of Japanese acid folk foreshadowed the arrivals of city pop, the psych revival, and folktronica.
go to album
Will I Still Bloom?
by Half Dream
Heartland indie rock that’s like Angel Olsen at her fuzziest fronting a gnarlier Mazzy Star.
go to album
