1. |
Streetcar to Grace
04:04
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What am I doing here? That’s all I want to know.
Where did I come from, and where should I go?
Then my connection pulls into junction:
A coming streetcar becomes a vision.
Funny feeling: what I’ve been seeking,
The right direction, may be distraction.
I put my ear to the reed to hear what’s true.
I put the question to you to hear what’s true.
I put my feet to the street: here’s what’s true.
I jump the streetcar to grace city.
All roads lead to Rome. That doesn’t mean that
I can’t imagine a million other paths.
Every thought balloon is an escape route
To the blue sky and to the gray truth.
I put my ear to the reed to hear what’s true.
I put the question to you to hear what’s true.
I put my feet to the street: here’s what’s true.
I jump the streetcar to grace city.
Time’s a fearless foe with whom to play a childish chicken game;
Wake yourself up from the dream before the years crush you in their wake.
Aren’t these the things they say to make you live a coward’s way?
Valor grows her hair all white and still goes out to play.
How did I get here? I can’t quite recall,
On this streetcar, within the city walls.
I think I may be lost: the first step to found.
I’m on a streetcar, and grace is all around.
I put my ear to the reed to hear what’s true.
I put the question to you to hear what’s true.
I put my feet to the street: here’s what’s true.
I jump the streetcar to grace.
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2. |
Fireflies
03:57
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When I met you, I resolved I would not like you very much at all.
You seemed like possible trouble that I did not need at all.
How wise was I: so I told myself at the time. How wise.
Not I, the lovesick fool who, chasing fireflies, catches empty hands.
To be sure, you're bright, but no, not I. Oh no, not I.
Thus steeled was I in my reserve; I stole a glance, if only to observe
The scars and sugar on your wings, and shadows subtler than any color.
How blind was I, disliking. Trouble never shimmered half so fine. So fine.
Is it possible that I could be a lovesick fool, chasing fireflies? Oh yes, said I.
Because in those lovely dark designs, I saw a lot I recognized,
And to my greatest surprise I realized: in some endearing lights, we are two of a kind.
Possible trouble, in kind. How wise now, how wise am I?
So, though this lovesick fool knows chasing fireflies catches empty hands
Or, dead upon a pin, a bow of colored dust, still I lust for fireflies.
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3. |
Simple
02:52
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She said, I never said I wanted to marry you, so what? What’s the big deal?
But it’s a very big deal, because I like to make it complicated.
Oh, my love, she said, it can be simple between us.
It’s obvious, she said, you feel at home in my bed. So what’s the big deal?
But it’s a very big deal, because I like to make it complicated.
Oh, my love, she said, it can be simple between us.
I see a shade of a doubt, black on black. Spot get out.
I see a shade of a doubt, white on white. Disappear.
I see a shade of meaning, gray on gray. I’m leaning in
To It can be simple between us.
She said, What if it’s true, I wanted to marry you? So what would be the big deal?
But it’s a very big deal, because I like to make it complicated.
And oh, my love, if it can be simple between us,
Oh, my love, if it can be simple between us...
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4. |
James
04:04
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It was a sunny day; the sky was bluer than
Any blue I’d seen in recent memory.
But my memory was trained on a rainier refrain:
That’s the sound of the train that your love rode away.
It goes, Oh, if you would only look up from your playbook,
You would have seen me, standing at the depot,
Waving you home. I was waving you back home.
In a city park, green with spring, I pass a man who sells
Ice cream novelties from a cart with jingle bells.
He says, Señorita, you look sad; are you all right?
Yes, fine, never mind April showers in my eyes.
Yes, fine, never mind what’s melting in my eyes.
How could love go and leave me all alone,
With only a jingle man to ask me how I am?
His cart of sweets for sale and its song for loan
Reminds me of your heart, and I turn to watch it go.
On a train, thinking just how long your love has been away.
A tall black man asks if I’m OK.
His name is James. He shakes my hand like he won’t let go,
But then he gets off at his stop, and he waves me on alone.
James, you look a little bit like love. You made me look up
From my playbook and see you standing at the depot,
Waving me home. You were waving me back home.
I can still see you standing there: James, a stranger,
Waving me all the way back home.
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5. |
Celia
03:53
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Celia, I haven’t seen you in a long time,
But I remember you saying, You’re the best.
And I was. I was.
Celia, it’s been so long since I wrote anything good.
Possibility is only a plastic bead on a rosary.
I could use some faith these strange days.
Celia, the streetcar’s silent of poetry now.
I can almost hear you saying,
Get it down, and the song will come.
Wish I heard those tracks humming.
Celia, I haven’t seen you in a long time,
But I remember you saying,
You’re the best, as you took your leave.
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6. |
Long Winter
03:34
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7. |
She Knows
03:12
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If I should die by a fatal indecision
And never make my mind up to tell her how it is,
How I loved the way she stopped to savor flowers on the fences,
Make sure she knows.
If I should blow away on a puff of long-windedness
And never take a stand and tell her how it is,
How I loved the way she interrupted my soliloquy
And said, Action is the key,
Make sure she knows.
If I dissolve into the fog after I leave her door
And never solve the mystery of what I went there for,
And how the traffic lights were greener for the love I felt for her,
Make sure she knows.
Till then I fall on the sword of chivalry
And never throw the glove down to win the king’s lady.
Conscience is a fearsome dragon worse than any foe.
The fire’s to my feet; she has to know.
I think she knows. I’m sure she knows.
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8. |
The Ghost Named Virtue
04:20
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When I was a young man I went for a sailor,
On a ship bound for untold lands.
At night the crew would drink below deck,
Boasting of love lines crossing their hands.
I’d cross my chest.
One day the ship sailed past a strange island
In the midst of a becalmed sea.
Out on the reef I saw a strange woman:
She seemed to sing just to me,
Among the crew the only man whose name was Virtue.
She said: Why do you fear the water
When that is most what you are made of?
Why do you fear the breakers,
When you are broken now?
I said: Tie me to the mast, the ocean’s voice will be the death of me.
Tie me to the mast; I’m going underneath the waves.
Tie me to the mast. I’ll be the death of me.
Next day we docked in a new city
Where the wine tasted of tallow and brine.
Out in the street I passed a young woman
With feet rough as reef and eyes green as sea. I took her sleeve.
She said: Where to, sailor? Haven’t I seen you before?
That’s as it may be, but sailor’s always wanting more.
I said: Tie me to the post, tie me to the bed,
Tie me to the post, tie me to the bed. She ran up ahead.
I followed her down to the edge of the town,
I followed her into the waves.
On the seabed was a sunken ship.
She tied me to the mast, and there I was lost.
I do not fear the water, now; that is all that I am made of.
I do not fear the breakers; I am broken now.
She tied me to the mast. I died upon the mast.
She tied me to the mast, the ocean’s voice,
Among the crew the only ghost whose name is Virtue.
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9. |
Coming Home
03:39
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I’m coming home in seven days.
It’s been a long journey, and I’ve learned traveling ways
Like how to pack my bag and fit it all in.
One thing’s always sticking out: that’s you, my friend.
Is it just the days between,
Or is this really what it seems?
I’m coming home in four days.
Your last letter sent a smile to my face.
It’s the way you know me in this strange place
Makes me feel at home with home so far away.
Is it just the miles between,
Or is this just the home it seems?
I’m coming home the day after today.
I called you from the beach; I couldn’t wait
To hear your voice say my name
And listen to I miss you glisten on the waves.
Is it just the sea between,
Or is this just the tide it seems?
I’m coming home today.
I’ll see you at the end of the jetway.
I’ve changed, as have you.
But I know that anywhere I go, I go with you.
If it’s not the hour between,
Then it’s now our hour, it seems.
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10. |
Don't Misunderstand
03:44
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Did the idea of us come out of the blue like some ship of fools?
God knows if your heart were a harbor, then all the slips would be filled up.
Don’t misunderstand: My love is not a ship but the wide ocean.
It’s not my style to write my heart in the sky like some fighter plane trailing smoke behind.
That kind of love looks as big as a house, till the wind comes and blows it all out.
Don’t misunderstand: My love is not a plane but a tailwind.
The science books explain that what goes up comes down.
What keeps me falling for you is a mystery that can’t be pinned down.
My greatest fear is falling flat on my face if I try to explain to you,
But if an awkward tango with truth is the best dance any song can do,
Don’t misunderstand: My love is not a song, but I sing to you.
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11. |
Celia (reprise)
01:11
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Kate Isenberg Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles-based Kate Isenberg’s lyrics recall Joni Mitchell; her alternate-tuning guitar riffs, the dexterity and
accessibility of John Mayer. On stage, Isenberg captivates audiences with an emotionally direct presence akin to Sufjan Stevens or Laura Veirs.
Her albums have received critical recognition and nationwide radio play. She has toured top songwriter venues around the U.S.
... more
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