1. |
In Now and Then
03:31
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Say, on the street or on the bus.
In a moment when it’s not a struggle to trust how
you swing in provenance unknown.
And the most that you can offer is
“I’ll be in now and then.”
Rebecca draped across the trees.
Rebecca, Rebecca, in every charming thing now.
So if you’re looking for the beast,
If you ever want to suffer--
she’ll be in now and then.
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2. |
Gilded Oldies
02:52
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Something inside of you says “don’t make a sound.”
So you lay quiet until a darkness falls
and you get the feeling there is no one around.
You slip your hand inside your shirt to feel
a heart that’s wondering.
What awaits you and who’ll wait up to meet you now
that you have polished off the drinking story?
what awaits you and who’ll wait up to meet you now
that you are jacked up on the gilded oldies?
I thought I’d let you know that I have eloped
with new ideas on how the ending works.
And I’m a big boy so I had to let them go.
But all God’s creatures have their bridge to burn:
this is mine smoldering.
What awaits you and who’ll wait up to meet you now
that you are terrifying morning glory?
what awaits you and who’ll wait up to meet you now
That you are jacked up on the gilded oldies?
I ask the room if it can hang tough
but the room won’t confirm or deny
if it is cool to play this off the cuff.
So I will sit on my hands, a lack of action is one way to decide.
What a way to, a way to wait out that black night.
Yes, it’s a long walk with your map still folded.
I squint my eyes, it’s true, to see things written in the sky
Cuz we’re both jacked up on the gilded oldies.
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3. |
Slow the Time
04:29
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Time could be the wing
that breezelessly carries you
over this ridiculous scene,
the bric-a-brac: opulent,
chintzy, figurines
that make me crazy when they sing.
Of which I will be king!
And how bad would that be just to pour another drink?
It’s just one thing to slow the time.
You give the notebook a squeeze, try to spill a little ink?
It’s just one thing to slow the time.
I am the beast.
The beast I handle him
when starting up has to cease.
You blink. The moon’s in the sky again.
Still no good reason to leave.
It’s like you’ve stumbled on a sphinx
who’s got no riddles to speak.
Except how bad would that be just to pour another drink?
It’s just one thing to slow the time.
You give the notebook a squeeze, try to spill a little ink.
It’s just one thing to slow the time?
It’d be a lie to give this bell an atavistic sound.
Between my roots and wheels I don’t know which should hit the ground
But in either case I am unholy and I am bound
Why do I feel weightless? Tell me please why do I feel no weight?
Like only spider webs are tethering me to this place.
The answer is to ask a better question than “How bad would be the cage?”
Don’t be scared of this scene; you might never find your home.
It’s just one way to spend your life.
But tell the jackals to kindly leave and you can take of your own.
It’s just one way to spend your life.
Time
It’s just one way to spend your life.
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4. |
Sinkhole
04:24
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I’ve always felt that life’s a sinkhole
swallowing each day I get to give.
But the older I get the more it feels like the American west.
Something empty and clean, new as an egg.
Now filled with great mountainous things
that I’ve made.
Like friends I’ve let hang in the wind.
I hear them rattle on each other, I wish I had an older brother to intone.
Some night music that gets in my bo-bo-bo-bones
To remove every trace of the places I’ve kno-kno-kno-known
Some days I feel like a well-received tourist.
Some days a guest that just won’t leave.
One day an acre of trees.
Then a little wicker wreath.
If you strobe in between you see no change.
But in an elemental way they’re not the same.
One could argue there’s some growth in decay.
But that’s a cruel way to be kind, a lever for the weak of mind to tip big stones
into the vacuum of being a-lo-lo-lo-lone.
To warm up the hearth of a place that’s no ho-ho-ho-home
Oh what a load what heavy lifting.
That light through cracks from ground that’s shifting.
You find yourself beneath a bridge, the rafters above about to give.
Someone whistling above you and you know the next pi-pi-pi-pitch
Think you better start bracing from when you’re not some new ki-ki-ki-kid.
I’ve always felt that life’s a sinkhole
swallowing each day I get to give.
But the older I get the more it feels like the American west.
Something that’s always clean, no matter the age.
Now filled with great mountainous things
that I’ve yet to make.
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5. |
Black Lamb
05:33
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If this age is going to change me then let it change me by degree.
If I become something disgusting I’ll just retrace my steps and leave.
But what a cowardly thing: to know the notes but not sing.
So let the tall grass creep up into my wheel-wells.
And let the grey paint-speckled husk betray the way I lived while
I was being born in travel. Every breath was summer air.
Not a black lamb reading Vanity Fair.
And when you look into the mirror and see a shivering actress.
And you half forget the difference between the blond girl and the black dress.
Well don’t dwell too much on that. You know the steps so just dance.
And let the tall grass creep up into my wheel-wells
And let the grey paint-speckled husk betray the way I lived while
I was being born in travel. Every breath was summer air.
Not a black lamb reading Vanity Fair.
Not the town drunk screaming that my shot wasn’t fair.
Not a dry eye blinking and trying hard not to stare.
Not a black lamb reading Vanity Fair.
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6. |
The Beast
03:49
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Whoso list to hunt
I know where is a hind.
Please wake the wicked creature in this heart of mind.
Whoso list to hunt
you don’t get to drink from my cup.
The things that touch my lips are going to shred you up.
Noli me tangere motherfucker
for the beast’s I am.
Oh yes the beast I am.
And cuz I know the weight it carries when I touch you
I’m not going to just hold your hand
Who me? Well the beast I am.
Whoso list to hunt
all I need is bass and drums
to catch the Januses the Geminis wide-eyed, thunderstruck.
Yes, whoso list to hunt
I don’t really have the time
to play the Marco Polo game of who the slack-jawed wine-drunk crowd likes.
Noli me tangere motherfucker
for the beast’s I am.
Oh yes the beast I am.
And cuz I know the weight it carries when I touch you
I’m not going to just hold your hand
Who me? Well the beast I am.
You ain’t even gotta worry
You’re just a shiny little worm
Nothing you say could ever hurt me
Feasting on dead things in the woods
This makes me brave. You cannot hurt me, you cannot hurt me, you’ll never hurt me.
Noli me tangere motherfucker
for the beast’s I am.
Oh yes the beast I am.
And cuz I know the weight it carries when I touch you
I’m not going to just hold your hand
Who me? Well the beast I am.
Ooooh, the beast I am.
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7. |
Reprieve, Reprieve
02:35
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I saw you cross the restaurant.
I was with some friends who come here a lot.
I should have turned my chair or just up and leave.
But I said you’ll have to excuse me.
You showed me pictures of your kid
and said he’s strong and smart as shit.
The specter dwells until you blink
and say you’ll have to excuse me.
I see the buildings from a steely jet
and feel a misguided benevolence.
But down here it’s all reprieve, reprieve.
I ask if you can excuse me.
Ooh ooh, reprieve, reprieve.
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8. |
Good Religion
04:01
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9. |
Other Side
03:18
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There are years I can’t escape my mind.
My body quits, I get the blues
and fucking angry when love follows suit.
And can’t see they’ve left me behind.
But someday in a moment unacknowledged by the sprawl
my heart will beat so hard that it can break the terra cotta shell the beast has made
that keeps me lonesome and acting smart.
So oh my my. I’ll meet you on the other side.
And let’s suppose that someday happens pretty soon
and I can quiet every soft internal sotto voce monolog
that’s pulling me away from you
It still would not be wise to let you in.
This peace is just a borrowed book that I have read but never understood
and it makes staying or leaving a sin.
So oh my my, I’ll keep you on the other side.
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Cataldo Seattle, Washington
Cataldo has been hailed as “the rare kind of artist who’s able to absorb the chaotic world around him and distill it into crystalline song” by American Songwriter. Keepers has been welcomed as “nostalgic, and effortlessly, poetically profound,” by Nylon and “wistful and hopeful and beautiful, a brightly emotive yet understated slow-build." by Stereogum. ... more
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