1. |
Yarrow
03:38
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These cemetery grounds
I wander through them aimlessly
The wild Yarrow grows
among the solemn stones
A hieroglyph of names
Faded by centuries of wind
I rock the bones to sleep
Singing softly to the graves
Oh, wild Yarrow
The grass beneath the trees
Is scattered with the first autumn leaves
I feel a great release
I am part of all I see
Shadows fall and cover me
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2. |
By The River
04:22
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Do you remember when we were children
We made companions of our shadows
And we were queens of gasoline-drenched waters
And all the city was our castle
We used to walk along the Hudson River
Paint Hieroglyphics on the pavement
We grew like weeds among the rocks and pigeons
Arms outstretched, reaching for the day’s end
Dust in our hair, summer wind at our feet
In this place we turned from girls to women
The streets like fingers reached out after us
The car alarms screeched with some crazy rhythm
A song we felt we were the guardians of
Dust in our hair, summer wind at our feet
The troubadours and crazy folk are imprisoned
In a pristine maze of galleries
They’re pressed like butterflies between glass panels
To document the genius of the street
I remember our place by the river
I went back, but they’d paved over it
An unfamiliar skyline stood behind me
But I stayed to watch the sunset
(They haven’t changed that yet)
Dust in our hair, summer wind at our feet
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3. |
Emily
03:07
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Emily, where are we going
You drive the car, you don’t make conversation
Every day, we do the same thing
The parking lot, the diner, the gas station
Looking for the answers to your questions
Gazing out along the open road
At scenes of plenty and of desperation
Trying to satisfy your restless soul
Maybe the town ahead holds your salvation
And if it doesn’t, drive on to the next one
You disappear a little each day
‘Til you are dust along the highway
On the ground beneath my feet is where I’ll stay
But nothing makes a sound as the world around you falls away, Emily
Watch the houses go by row after row
It’s funny how one place looks like another
Traveling can turn a man to a ghost
A stranger to the stars he’s sleeping under
Do we even recognize each other?
You disappear a little each day
‘Til you are dust along the highway
On the ground beneath my feet is where I’ll stay
But nothing makes a sound as the world around you falls away, Emily
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4. |
Easy
03:15
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Turn on the radio
The station plays a song we used to know
When things were easy
Outside, the field’s full of snow
You watch the winter birds, they’re flying low
And they look so carefree
When things were easy, when things were easy
The station plays a song we used to know
When things were easy
Hours turn to days that pass
You learn the things you love are bound to change,
And it isn’t easy
Tracing your face in the glass
The features seem to brighten and to fade
Hard to see it clearly
It isn’t easy, no it isn’t easy
You learn the things you love are bound to change,
And it isn’t easy
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5. |
The Fig Tree
01:48
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What do I do,
Do I clear the room of traces of you
Tell me how exactly to proceed
To purge my memory
Because all my indifference melts away from me
Each time I hear you speak
We go fruit picking,
Climb a tree and then we get to talking
And it seems I can’t escape this thing
Though I’m trying
We fall in love with everything
And I forget I meant to leave
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6. |
White Water
04:41
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Skin and bones
Lit up like electric ghosts
Exit sign
Hangs above us like a joke
Hide in the light, hide in the light
Burning and bright, burning and bright
Farther ahead, just out of sight
Sirens singing through the night
Watch the clock
Can’t sit still, I’ll take a walk
Scattered thoughts
Like empty space between the rocks
Hide in the light, hide in the light
Burning and bright, burning and bright
Farther ahead, just out of sight
Sirens singing through the night
(White water pulls me under
I hear a voice like thunder
White water pulls me under
The light is getting closer)
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7. |
Letter
04:32
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October fifth,
I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and good health
Three weeks and a day
Have passed since we reached the border of the territory
My dear sister,
You cannot imagine this place, with its canyons so wide
And a stillness so great
Settles over the landscape
Neighbors we have few,
Most days we settle for our own unvaried company
But we must make do,
We live quite simply, in truth, we live much like the Indians
You’d smile to see
How the country has changed me,
My hands rough and strong like a sailor’s,
My skin’s gone all brown
After hours in the sun
There have been days
When evening fell and I felt so tired, Lord, and overwhelmed
And strange inhuman cries
Resounded far across the dark and howling forest
But when I feel such fears taking hold in my chest, I need only look up
At the star-studded sky,
And I feel I could fly
Sometimes I miss
The lively city from which we long ago departed
This here’s a wilderness
That’s suited for none but the brave and brokenhearted
But do not think
To worry and fret after me,
For I’m getting on fairly—I hope you are well,
And I yearn for the day
When your sweet voice will call to me again
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8. |
Meteorites
04:41
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Some things in life are hard to master,
Others come more easily
It isn’t difficult to love you
But it’s hard to let you be
Hard to set you free
You talk as though we’re strangers,
You act like nothing’s changed
I can’t afford to play those games
You pile your careful words so high, precarious around you
Let me be the bull that shakes the ground
And sends the whole thing crashing down
Though I know
My words seem so out of place
And too sincere,
Shot into empty space
Still here’s one thing
That time cannot erase:
Nights grow clear, and meteorites light the atmosphere
My head spins, the world that I know’s at a standstill
Because of you
Lately I feel so unsettled
I almost broke down crying today
We struggle against the floodwaters of the paths our lives have taken
And watch each other float away
We cannot find a clever thing to say
Though I know
That our chance came and went
And you are just an unfinished sentence
In the margins of a letter I’ll never send—
Still, nights grow clear, and meteorites light the atmosphere
My head spins, the world that I know’s at a standstill
Tongue-tied, everything seems so remarkable
Because of you
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9. |
The Arriving
05:16
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I am a lonely witch
On an uninhabited island
I walk and gather stones
And I wait for a ship to pass me by
It’s not the waiting that I fear
No, it’s the arriving
Free now that I’m forsaken,
Unafraid when the sky shakes my island with lightning
I let the light in
It doesn’t matter if I scream,
Or sing out loud—
Hear my echo resounding,
My loneliness surrounds me
No, it’s not the waiting that I fear the worst,
It’s the arriving
I am a lonely witch
On an uninhabited island
Maybe the place I came from
Wasn’t anything more than an illusion
It’s not the waiting that I fear
No, it’s the arriving
Free now that I’m forsaken,
Unafraid when the sky shakes my island with lightning
I let the light in
It doesn’t matter if I scream,
Or sing out loud—
Hear my echo resounding,
My loneliness surrounds me
No, it’s not the waiting that I fear the worst,
It’s the arriving
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10. |
Praying at Night
02:06
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Crawling out
Out of the darkness
Not the light
And the thick clouds breaking
Too many to have meaning
Like prayers, repeating—
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Kim Anderson New York, New York
Her music walks the line between many genres, incorporating the lyrical intimacy of folk songs with the delicate, detailed instrumental arrangements of chamber music. Raised by jazz musician parents in New York City, she grew up absorbing a diverse blend of musical genres, continuing on to study composition more formally at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA ... more
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