1. |
The Pharmacist
03:35
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1
Wake up,
Its 3am
The kitchen light is on again.
Need my whites
laundered clean
Open up the pharmacy.
Never judge,
never preach,
never read the handwriting.
Lean in close
next to me
the waiting room is humming.
Have you seen this before?
Do you know what to do?
It’ll be alright,
I believe in you.
2
Head home,
busy streets
the rearview mirror is vibrating.
Tell your mom
i’ll be right in
when i can stop from shaking.
Calm my hands,
Calm my teeth,
Calm the storm inside of me,
Hold on close,
Tightly
This life is overwhelming.
Hold on close
Tightly
Your love is overwhelming!
Hold me close, hold me close, hold me close, hold me close
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2. |
Bread and Bones
02:20
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The bread and the bones:
broken for you.
I don’t know who you are
but I know that when that healing comes
It falls down true
in the grass and the fields
and the streets and the lakes and the places
where your people lie.
But we couldn’t be
the angels that we wanted to be
Our hearts and our homes
we work to keep whole.
But the cracks that appear
when we practice our fear of brokenness.
And I want to know joy
like the letter-writer said
and the peace that
surpasses all my understanding
Still we try to be
the people that we ought to be
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3. |
Spittoons
02:55
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Find yourself in some new place
some rusty colored day
you’ve got your hair dyed blue
you threw your favorite band t-shirt away
and after all is said and over
don’t we still have more to say?
I thought I knew you well
I knew you better than your first grade teacher
knew the constellations she got half way through
before she started
making up new stories like we had to do to keep ourselves
from blaming both our parents
for the way we lost our wedding rings
and we named our kids too soon
and we should have left the room
to rip away the bandages
and empty the spittoons.
Lean against the window
on some summer-scented road
I saw the rain clouds tremble
like a shadow just outside the door
didn’t have too many choices
but to stand outside and
wait for it to pour…
I thought I knew you well
I knew you better than that sidewalk preacher
understood forgiveness singing hymns outside the coffee shop
that threatened us with separation from the one who loves us
but we did it to ourselves
over the sound of the espresso foam
we fell apart too soon
and we should have left the room
to rip away the bandages
and empty the spittoons.
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4. |
Irises
04:17
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Gertrude Stein fell in love with you
when you were the queen of France.
On your back in the sitting room
among the Cubist canvases.
And everybody wanted to be blind
and everybody wanted you to make up your mind
And I thought you were brave
And I heard you were kind
But you don’t owe me anything
She cleaned the blood deftly from your shoe
It was the perfect alibi.
Plucked the stone weeping from the wound
like a vase of wild irises.
They didn’t think the flowers were fair
how else did they expect for you to decorate your hair?
But your joy was your own
and you just didn’t care
Cause you didn’t owe them anything.
Now that you are gone
you look just like you wanted to:
in the kiss your lover promised you.
On the garden floor,
where the seeds you carried fell and grew
in the shadow of the evening news.
The tales they told about you were lies,
but the poetry still slipped from your dreaming eyes!
Though it means I am wrong,
I know you are right.
Though it means I am wrong,
I know you are right.
If I have to be wrong, to know you are right...
You still don't owe me anything.
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5. |
No Sin
04:29
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1
Is it sunrise
or has it just set?
I feel like I just closed my eyes and yet
I can tell by the rise and fall of your chest
I lean into your shoulders
I lean into your breath
And the walls disappear
and it all becomes clear
Here in your arms
I’ve found a place
There is no judgment
There is no hate
I fall every evening
In the morning begin
A place with no fear
no sorrow
no sin
(no sorrow, no sin)
2
Time was I thought
I was doing my best
my hands on the wheel
and standing the test
I was worthy of love
and some great faithfulness
But I find myself daily dreaming of death
with the joy that I seek
always just out of reach
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6. |
Get Clean
03:40
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1
I spent my childhood reading
of a proud and angry god
whose boundaries lay in how we understood
shepherds up on flannelgraph
shivering in fear
and the gulf between the sinners and the good
This I believe:
We will all get clean.
In the end love overwhelms us
and our joy will be complete
we will drop the weight
that burdens us
and finally be free
we will be free
2
From the cursed economics
of our parents
to the national theology
of “sacrifice the weak”
down to each and every spirit here
who’s trying to be heard
and the stories when we
listen to them speak
3
From a cold midwestern pulpit
in 1965
A preacher stands before
his congregation
He’s looking over all he’s built
and what he’ll leave behind
Then he takes a breath and
makes this declaration:
"This I believe:
We will all get clean.
In the end love overwhelms us
and our joy will be complete
we will drop the weight
that burdens us
and finally be free
we will be free"
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Steev baker Madison, Wisconsin
Steev baker is a lo-fi singer-songwriter from rural Wisconsin. He has spent time in the music scenes of Oshkosh, West Bend, Milwaukee, and Madison over the past 20 years playing songs about faith, doubt, anxiety, love, and the places we call home.
Steev baker recommends:
The songs of Erik G. Neave sound more urgent than ever and his lyrics are given the perfect amount of guitar noise and unexpected rhythmic shifts in this beautiful album by the longtime Sheboygan act.
go to album
VISITATIONS IV
by Marielle Allschwang & The Visitations
Ghosts rise out of the songs of the Milwaukee-based artist on this complex, moody album. Lyrics are clearly sung, but hard to grasp. The music clatters and rages with layers of emotion.
go to album
9 Songs About Love
by J.E. Sunde
The greatest songwriter in the midwest continues his streak of songs about love--spiritual, physical, self-directed, other-directed. His music gives me joy and hope in the midst of sadness.
go to albumIf you like Steev baker, you may also like:
Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet
by Disq
Madison, Wisconsin's Disq describes their 90s-era vintage sound as midwestern emo, Scottish power-pop, and all-American indie.
go to album
Under The Surface
by Nameless Ghost
The wrenching songs on the latest from Nameless Ghost tackle loss and grief amidst toothy indie rock.
go to album
Live In... New York City
by Tex Crick
Australian artist Tex Crick takes a low-key, 70s singer-songwriter approach to his latest collection of songs.
go to album
