1. |
Borderline
05:12
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there’s a bird somewhere above my driveway
in a spruce that escaped my saw
and he sings in key when I play in E
but I haven’t played too much so far
cause I’m building my house this summer
from the ground up to the peak
with a radiant floor and a glass French door
facing Bald Mountain to the east
each day I work in the shade of the maples
where the air smells like a childhood lost
and I’m gonna get it built without a leak, without a tilt
and we’ll move in by the frost
this morning I woke up above the clouds
till the sun roused them from their beds
in the chilly valleys, where the rivers breathe into the air
as they churn the jagged rocks to death
I see my friends less as I age
and I feel that middle-age loneliness lurk
one’s in Vietnam, one’s in Kentucky, one’s in Colorado, and I’m
up in Vermont, trying to make it work
I guess we’re all trying to make it work
why couldn’t I, why couldn’t I
have moved above the 45 instead of wishing that I could
why couldn’t I, why couldn’t I
be happy in the sunshine? I crave the snow, I crave the woods
I crave the rocks, I crave the streams
and the cedar bridge that crosses from the street
each day outside with nail guns and compressors
with drills and miter saws that scream an awful tune
and my back has started pinching, and my hands hurt when I clench them
and holy shit, it’s only June
but when I ache, I think of Keith Richards
I think of Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Elvis
and if their bodies got them through the sixties
then my body can get me through this
it’s twenty miles to the borderline
then Montreal, Quebec, and hinterland
then the wild north frontier, where I long to disappear
for reasons I’ll never understand
but there I go, being dramatic
talking death when I’m 31 this spring
I guess I’m at my best when I’ve got someone to impress
but oh man, that gets so tiring
oh man, it gets so tiring
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2. |
Onism
03:52
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someday it won’t pain me to say
that I will never be an actor
and I won’t cry at the thought of being tied
to just one life, and nothing after
someday I won’t dream my days away
that I might preside over my country
your love has calmed me, but it’s not defused the bomb
that nagging ticking that still haunts me
this is where I am
not to terrify you
but you are in this with me
and nothing’s gonna happen
if we don’t do something quickly
let’s road-trip to Labrador
hop a boat to Greenland
get married on the icecap
then ferry to the mainland
someday when my lust has burned away
I’ll look back fondly on this chapter
did I grow or did I stagnate? I don’t know
I guess you never know till after
I know, I know
this is where I am
this is where I am
and you know, when I go
I’ll always be your man
I’ll always be your man
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3. |
Sweet Louisa
03:21
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hold me now, my sweet Louisa
put my heart on your loom
weave me into your web of sweetness
summer’s leaving too soon
some folks smile right straight through the autumn
without a change in their mood
lovely traits if by chance you’ve got them
but I need sun, I need you
I still cry when the lakes are frozen
I still fret when they’re blue
highest clouds to the deepest ocean
sweet Louisa
love of mine
that’s how I lost you
I can’t promise you light unfading
I can’t promise unbroken joy
like you, I can be complicated
like you, I can destroy
and I can’t say what I’ll feel tomorrow
I can’t say what I’ll do
the only wager on which I’d borrow
Sweet Louisa, is you
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4. |
Kyla
03:44
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talk to me pretty baby
with your language I could never learn
see, we humans never settle for “maybe”
we’d rather be wrong than unsure
if you don’t come home this evening
it doesn’t mean that this is not your home
and if you weren’t okay with leaving
tell me, would you have told me so
so talk to me, please just talk to me
with all the language surely you must know
just one word and we don’t have to do this
just one word and we can go back home
and tomorrow we could wake up slowly
and watch the sunlight slide across our room
and though I wouldn’t feel quite so lonely
you wouldn’t feel quite like you
I miss you more when I’m sleepy
and I miss you more when it snows
no matter how traumatic, I’ll put you in the attic
but it feels so wrong to let you go
Kyla
Kyla
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5. |
The Wide Sargasso Sea
05:44
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when the sailing boats came to shore
couldn’t hear a thing through the roar
a sunburned man yelled the names of the racers
we cheered them on as they took their starting places
my fingers fidgeted in spite of it all
rolled my lunch receipt into a ball
everyone shouted into the rapture
as I toyed with a dream of something faster
but a voice said “boy, you’d better obey your master”
I asked her to cast her prediction of what I’d be giving the masses
she spat that the world had no trophies for dreamers who sat on their asses
but I’m putting effort and time and long careful thought in
to rejecting the hard-earned advice that I’ve gotten
I fought it, I thought I was above the curve
all the basic bitches, sending wishes, faking smiles, taking pictures
vicious is the truth that I’ve wasted my youth on delusions
and try as I may, and try as I might, all I’ve caused is confusion
the illusion I’m choosing to run with
is the one with the cards stacked against me
so I’ll get defensive, I don’t need you, I’ll make ends meet
I’ll build it myself, I’ll set off like a sailor
and leave in my wake a small fortune of failures
oh, may the winds take me, shake me to the core
but the Wide Sargasso Sea is as still as a corpse
and try as I may, and try as I might
my clever ideas may never see light
because I talk too much and I don’t want to listen
for fear what I hear makes it clear what I’m missing
I’m pissing myself to receive some hard-earned affection
so I’ll have credentials to lecture my friends but ignore their suggestions
if only the world had a place for idea men
who could send off their boats and let someone else steer them
I fear them the most, those who don’t need to boast to get rated
so hand me a trophy for the race and I’ll go to my grave validated
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Glorious Leader Glover, Vermont
Glorious Leader is the solo project of American musician, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Woolard. Written and recorded in his home in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, the music is an attempt at uncompromising honesty. It is a quest for simplicity. It is a celebration of humanity, of the far north, of the infinite shades between joy and sorrow, of wood stoves and whiteouts. ... more
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