1. |
Old Hickory
04:23
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You were an oak and I was an old hickory. A river roared between us as the winds from the north stole our leaves.
You were an open road and I was a suitcase ready to go. Something tells me someday that that suitcase is going to need a home. You were a rose and I was a raindrop at most. I'll still soak the ground down to your roots just so we can be close.
Oh mighty ghost save my soul,
Oh mighty ghost save my soul,
I'm not afraid of dying but I'm sure afraid of dying alone.
You were a pine and I was an alder tree. We'll sit up in the Star lit night and wonder how this world can be.
You were the time and I was a memory, that I'd pack up in the suitcase that I planned to take on the road with me.
You were an oak and I was an old hickory. The river roared between us as the winds from the north stole our leaves.
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2. |
Juniper
03:54
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Branches were the spines and ghosts and stories. Junipers stood motionless in time. Bristlecones and pines and alders dancing. Before this shadowed ocean and in my mind.
Can I have the courage to do what I want to do? Will the junipers remember who I am? Sat down by a river, it gave me everything I need. Can I dance with the white pines in the white light?
Winters a lonely saint
Can you watch with me the red oak swaying? Disregard the fact we can't stay true, to all those thoughts we've been set on believing. For years the junipers been the only truth.
The dusty road is calling out a stalemate. I've traveled but I've never really gone to the place where the sycamores are breathing, the alders and the evergreens are worn.
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3. |
Under The River
03:18
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May bones show you love
A liquid encasement
To walk through a meadow
Break and embrace it
And your daily bread
Can feed all those faces
Balloons full of lead
Can't sink faster than they did
So breathe while you can
Dreams can be fated
A history book end
Did no one escape it
Transcendence of pain
To clear out some spaces
Regressive and vain
This worlds hiding aces
I knew that they came before me
I straight path but we took the long way
There's never a better day to remember
Than the minute you first fell in love
The tracks grew
The train was so lovely
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4. |
Books
04:16
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I ain't ever been
Down the mighty Mississip
No I ain't ever been
Down that lonesome river
No I ain't ever been
A spirit in a closet
No I ain't ever been
Haunted
I ain't ever been
A light on in an attic
No I ain't ever been
A worn out bulb
I ain't ever been
A stone skipped down a river
No i ain't ever been
To the mighty Mississip
I ain't ever been
A meadowlark in the morning
I ain't ever been
A sweet sweet song
I ain't ever been
A fence post in the summer
I aint ever felt
So damn strong
I ain't ever been
The crackling of a wood stove
I ain't ever been
Inside a flame
I ain't ever been
The bent spine of a bible
I aint ever been
A book at all
I ain't ever been
A fortune drawn at random
But I sure have been
A lucky man
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5. |
April & May
05:17
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I lost myself to the late august breeze. Soaking my skin in the waves. Pretending that stones were flying machines to sail away.
I was a wondering man. Rolling down old 17. This was all part of the plan to set my soul free.
Northern air has blown through my bones. Frozen beaten and cold. But there is a fire disguised as a beacon of hope. Here i am trapped up seventy feet alone.
We are free in our minds
We are free
You are free in your mind
You are free
I miss the days I would sit by the lake. Resting my hand and just holding the place of others who have been, sat down, wondered, and prayed.
It won't be long until the moss has overgrown. Covered my sitting place. That rock holds a fortune of memories destined to fade. But why, oh why, is that the case?
We are free in our minds
We are free
You are free in your mind
You are free
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6. |
Down the Barrel
06:38
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Pick me up battlefield
It's a long way down
And I'm afraid
Salute the water
Salute the air
It's a long way down
And it's cold down there
Count 'em one
Count 'em three
With muddy boots
And shaky sleeves
A field of loss
From a field of dreams
A brother bent upon his knees
Ghosts posed as company
It's a long way down
And I'm afraid
A fallen rope
From a lazy tree
It's a long way down
And it's cold you see
The command proved
What it meant to be
A law of stone
In a land of free
Brothers stared down tubes of gray
As fingers told
What mouths can't say
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7. |
South Road Farm
04:18
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Missing words just to heal the sores, while the ghost in the hallways returned. Pressing steel on a rosewood board. One slip and you've gone from dark to warm. Headed north with leather and pen, ink told a record of sorts. Worn out rooms formed the skin of the hallways and the ghost that walked the floors.
Rusted eyes hold together the oak and caving boards. Turning time into nothing more than fear for the uninformed. Face the door, face the door, there's a whole life beyond this sunken porch.
A broken staircase. A banner that has seen longer days than all of our eyes combined. Darkened corners, deep eyes wander, how could light ever survive? Silken traces of unknown places that once occupied a mind. Crooked hallways with crooked picture frames while ghosts stood gently by my side.
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8. |
A Coastal Reminder
04:09
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Dawn had broken
Leaves were stricken of their colors
Its time for heading out
The night was stolen
The cars drove aimless lovers
All around the town
The evening moved me
Clouds were baking in an oven
Of pink and red
All those endless rolls of film
Were finally going to my head
Set a course for
The Pacific ocean
Don't stop until you're there
Taste the moist
Salty breath of heaven
The fresh mountain air
I was reading
What felt like an empty cover
No spine no words no joy
I wrote my words
And sealed them in a bottle
Now they sail the world
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9. |
North Lot Blues
05:01
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I've got four hours
And 40,000 miles to go
There's a lonely road
Stretching far beyond my bodies hold
Packed my bags
Packed my mind
Set my feet on down the line
Leave that sun behind
Im going where that cold wind blows
There will always be
One more hour left to pray
I hear that morning whistle
Taking all my troubles away
So start out with those shackles
That bind both your wrist
And burn your legs
There are mirrors in the background
Reflecting how our bodies were made
I've gone 10,000 miles
But I feel like I Haven't moved a bone
Always planning on returning
Never thought that the road
Could be my home
There are drifters in the shadows
Vagabonds loosening their loads
Whose wandering thoughts
Are bouncing from
Coast to coast
There will always be
One more hour left to pray
I hear that morning whistle
Taking all my troubles away
So start out with those shackles
That bind both your wrist
And burn your legs
There are mirrors in the background
Reflecting how our bodies were made
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10. |
Of Grass and Soil
02:41
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Momma can't you take us home tonight
Father won't you save their souls tonight
We don't want to waste your time
We don't want to waste your time
Feel it in your worn out legs
Feel it on your worn out skin
Hold fast unto the orange dims
Feel it in your worn out bones
Feel it on your soaking clothes
Feel it as it warms it all
Momma can't you take us home tonight
Father won't you save their souls tonight
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Matthew Henry Denver, Colorado
Raised in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, Matthew Henry now lives in Denver, CO. His multi-instrumental folk sound draws inspiration from childhood migraines, fix-it-all family friends, and long drives on endlessly flat highways.
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