Song Lyrics with Annotations
Cormack And Ross:
Song Lyrics with Annotations
| 1 | Horse of Stone | 5:12 |
| 2 | Tear Thief | 4:30 |
| 3 | Nets of Heaven | 3:52 |
| 4 | Child of the Sky | 4:27 |
| 5 | Footprints | 7:03 |
| 6 | Marigold/Woman | 6:30 |
| 7 | Shade Swallowing | 3:38 |
| 8 | Seeds of Singing | 3:18 |
| 9 | Where Did You Sleep | 2:46 |
| 10 | Heaven Is in Your Ears | 4:38 |
| 11 | The (Your Name Here) Waltz | 5:37 |
| 12 | If You Could See Me Now | 3:32 |
| 13 | Tender As Water | 4:04 |
| 14 | Vitamin C# | 5:45 |
| 15 | Snowflake | 3:21 |
This was borne out of a recurrent dream of Tom's:
"I was lost in the mountains and rounded a bend in the trail to see a frieze of horses, turned to stone and trapped in the rock. When the dream returned, I was again lost in the mountains, but in the winter. I rounded the same bend to see the horses, this time real but frozen.
When I thought of a way to get down, the first of the horses moved, and came out of the rock a whole, live horse. All of the horses came out after him, and we went down the mountain single-file. The last horse to get out of the rock kept losing his coat as we descended, so that by the time we reached the plain he had turned into a man."
The song "Horse of Stone" comments on the dream, and is in 3 beats. Talea patterns arch chords over grooves. Each verse fits with its predecessor. Solo vocal sections have Miles Davis in mind. The choruses take after the Old People's Music of the Shona of Zimbabwe.
Only when you love the stone can you call the horse your own Chorus: A horse of stone in a hill horse of stone, stone in a hill It's hard to show someone to love or shove him there scare him or let him try it's hard to show, it's hard to know if you're shy like me On a hill I found a horse in stone caught in his ripest age but I saw him stir and climb right out of his mountain cage His eyes said to look to find our way home again but when I rounded the rock I stopped and he was stone again (Chorus) Gone like a dream, many sleeps later I was there I took him for granite but he was a jade, but he was a jade he was alive too I led him down with all of his brothers walking behind him and the last one shed his coat because he was really a man When I could love him he gave way to feeling and he could move (Chorus)
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2. Tear Thief
"Tear Thief" springs from W S Merwin's translations of Asian proverbs, one of which reads "the needle thief dreams of spears." In triple-7 time (21 beats). More harmonic talea spices the chords.
Chorus: The tear thief dreams he cries the less you sleep, the less you dream steal with your eyes awake, stay with your feeling unable to weep the grief that you keep turns to fear We are your tears you're feeling kind but we still see how you rob us blind you are the one who can find what makes you blue For our house is your house too we all hear what you say in your sleep . . . "Who will keep me when they know that I love them?" (Chorus) We are your tears . . . For our house is your house too we all hear what you say in your sleep . . . "Who will keep me when they know that I love them?" (Chorus) He dreams he cries he's the tear thief
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3. Nets of Heaven
"Nets of Heaven" is affectionately known as Newts of Heaven. Some of the words were inspired by the high-desert California community Val Verde (millenia ago, an ocean bed) where Tom, Jody, and Kim lived.
If one dog barks at nothing o my life they all shout up the moon in me she called my home the bottom of the sea Who will you take in your boat (repeat) you come along, you come along unless you stay Chorus: We will pass through the nets of heaven if we forget our lovers pray Who will you take in your boat you come along, you come along unless you stay (Chorus) If one dog barks at nothing. . .
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4. Child of the Sky
"Child of the Sky", in 5/8 time, is for the audiophiles: it sounds exactly as we do when we play guitars in the shower.
Chorus: Child of the sky he whose eyes are wild have you heard him sing behind your dream? have you called him lord of sun and steam? He was so big that you couldn't even see him he was so small that everyone felt him there we held each other in the palms of our hands His cries make the sun rise like a bird in the morning when he laughs with you words shine like a dance of fireflies his cries make the sun rise like a bird in the morning Everything's whirling and you forget the time nothing is right unless you do it in rhyme (Chorus)
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5. Footprints
"Footprints" gets words from several Old-timey songs Tom and Jody sang while they were driving cross-country. It's in a series of triple rhythms, bound together in a tonality called "Bagley" (named after a street in Seattle).
The end accents big cycles like some of the instruments in a Javanese gamelan orchestra.
I rolled up her little ball of footprints God knows the true dog in the snow the sound of her sweet smile unbroken but taken to mountains she flew The long night may cease to be your ceiling the fun may be used to shine the strings of mockblue morning may lose their singbird meaning for your love unfolds into mine Sweetly taken, I know her true the dogsmile may have broken mountains but will she fly the feet of God? Sweetly taken, I rolled the night her morning may have broken mountains but will she shine her bird for God? Sweetly broken, unfold the blue her footprints may have taken morning but will she sing her smile to God? Mocking bird, smile in the night fly the snow of morning sing what you used to lose green as the mountain What you lose may be used to shine the long night may never be your ceiling before your love unfolds mine Mocking bird, shine in the night string the fun to meaning sing what you used to lose greener than the morning I rolled up her little ball of footprints God knows the true dog in the snow the sound of her sweet smile unbroken but taken to mountains she flew
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6. Marigold / Woman
"Marigold/Woman",,in triple 5 or 15 beats, mirrors the South Indian kriti songform. Viswanathan, his drummer-brother Ranganathan, and the violinist L. Subramaniam have played dauntingly on this song on other occasions. For this recording, most of the daunts are Kim's - - but then that's true for most of the tunes.
Marigold rise like the sun bright and cold up to noon Marigold rise like the moon pale and old with no one Marigold, promise me you'll never tell to her what I told She'll make you a good woman, good woman she'll make you a good man, good old man But while your dreaming is only seeming then she'll take you and she'll wake you and she'll make you a good man but only if she'll make you a good woman, good woman She must be for you but only if she'll make you a good woman Colors in her eyes are not hard to understand, understand the stars in her skys are from a yet untroubled land, troubled land but she said time flies like an arrow if you can, if you can Her time is come for you But while your dreaming is only seeming that she'll take you and she'll wake you and she'll make you a good man Midnight on the sundial slower than a mile You can dream it, but while you're dreaming is only seeming then she'll take you and she'll wake you and she'll make you a good man You think that her time is come you think that her ways have won and her time is come you think that her deed is done and her race is run and her time is Midnight on the sundial . . . Her time is come for you But only if she'll make you a good woman, good woman but only if she'll make you a good man, good old man
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7. Shade Swallowing
"Shade Swallowing," a blues, again springs from Merwin proverb translations. One section borrows chords from the pop song "Hey Joe."
Chorus: I got shade swallowing sickness shade swallowing sickness I'm afraid to lose it, I'm afraid to get it again drank a shadow and I can't reach where it itches Drank a shadow, thought it was a snake and then I jumped right out and slid behind myself It's easy when the sun is high to shine on what you have done but for the grief inside you you'd better hide 'cause your heart gives no relief (Chorus) Drank a shadow, thought it was a bird then I jumped right out and flew behind myself If I could trap the night, I would drink it 'til I was full but the soul I let you steal has left such a hole to be filled (Chorus)
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8. Seeds of Singing
A Papua New Guinea tribe refers to the soul as the 'seeds of singing.' The 'devil' passage is from an Austrian round. The sultry mood is thanks to the kechapi-suling music of West Java.
Hard to count the seeds of singing but there's nothing from your hole to your head besides them Hard to keep the seeds from singing when your soul's inside them you stack yourself from inside your backbone head is high on a string held by huge hands It's so easy, your throat is open it feels just like you're yawning and you're smiling Hard to keep the seeds of singing when your belly gets afraid The devil wants your seeds all your life sell them and you lose your song the devil knows your needs knows your strength and your speed he knows what you're about, he knows you inside out but he doesn't know how you sing Hard to count the seeds of singing: I'm learning to now
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9. Where Did You Sleep
"Where Did You Sleep" is in 9 beats, and some of the words come from the folk song "Black Girl." Ashish plays beautifully here.
Where did you sleep last night? Was it a pleasure to be there, and did the moon admire your hair or did she care? Where did you sleep last night lighter than air she sang my dreams were slowly deeper than midnight Was it a pleasure to be there, and did the moon admire your hair or did she care Where did you sleep last night?
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10. Heaven Is In Your Ears
This is in a nest of 5-rhythms, from the biggest to the small. It's in the South Indian tala Jhampa (10 beats). Too much can be said about this tune. In short: influence from J S Bach (crab canon), South Indian cycles and crossrhythms, and Balinese kotekan interlocking.
Heaven is in your ears, and you hear when you want to but you only close your eyes to stop the cries, the cries of the world a bell will tell your tongue to sing what you saw Tell your tongue to sing, the ring will tell your tongue to sing, the ring will tell your tongue to sing, the ring will tell singing in the ringing of a bell Close your eyes to stop the cries, you close your eyes to stop the cries, you close your eyes to stop the cries you heard cries are only eyes, only the world Heaven when you hear is in your heaven when you hear is in your heaven when you hear is in your ears heaven is whenever you can hear I will ring a bell so you will hear cries of heaven tell your tongue to sing what is in your ear and in your eye . . . The sound of your life will enter you like sunlight the wounds of your loving will listen their toll will teach you to sound like sunlight Telling will touch, the telling will touch, the telling will touch the telling will touch the life listen to your life Toll will teach you, the toll will teach you, the toll will teach you to sound sunlight into your wound Loving enter, the loving enter, the loving enter the loving enter the light love the wound in your life Light enter the wound wound will teach the toll of life telling the love of sound I can only open your eyes, you must do all the seeing I can only open your ears, you must do the hearing A bell will tell your tongue to sing what you saw but you only close your eyes to stop the cries, the cries of the world heaven is in your ears and you hear when you want to
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11. The (Your Name Here) Waltz
This instrumental is a cousin of blues. The melody is AABB, but the chords are ABBA. There is no prettier soprano saxophone playing than this.
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12. If You Could See Me Now
This also has a debt to the South Indian kriti songform. It's in a nested 3-rhythm. The melody takes Balinese pelog as its scale, with two different notes as home.
If you could see me now you would know how I could grow so thin everyone you meet looks right in If you could feel me now you would know how I could drift from you everything you leave knows before you're through It's not me, it's those I love it's not me, I am too much for them to take care of Makes me want to leave my tears behind me now love's cold, bright stream pains me now land wherever you can find me now I can see your face at night I can see so clear I think that you are here too Near enough that you could see me now you would know how I could grow so thin everyone you meet looks right in If you could feel me now
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13. Tender As Water
"Tender As Water" is also in triple-7 time, but unlike "Tear Thief" has a bigger 7 that the chords fit into. The words derive from A.K. Ramanujan's translations of medieval Tamil love poems.
Tender as water she loosens me although my lips are dry In an early frost my forehead has yellowed with love and there is no cure but to fold in her breast Between the thunder listen to me although my lips are dry In an early frost . . . Broken under, but the ground still cries for her favor but mountains have a wind to find her Between the thunder listen to me although my lips are dry
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14. Vitamin C#
"Vitamin C#" is in what rock'n'roll guitar players call 'the fear scale.' The impression of a thousand chimps before the monolith is only 32 Toms riffing on this scale. Kim, besides playing even more brilliantly than usual, does his Ventures imitation at one point. Some of the words and melody come from a Ledbelly tune.
My friends are waiting at the gate I'm landing there the helicopter's almost stopped time in midair Home wanna go home My friends are waiting at the gate. . . Wanna go home wanna go home and I wanna go home and I wanna go home Ooo . . . My friends are waiting at the gate I'm landing there the helicopter's almost stopped time in midair