1. |
Song to the Earth
03:09
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My love has barely awoken
and the sky is turning red.
Night comes only once a day.
I am far away from bed.
We talk through this planet.
We live in different days
i promise to light up the winter night
when it perforates
Where are these friends I've heard about
that know no kinds of weather?
If you can't walk with your words
how can we live together?
No we won't live together.
Some assholes think they run this world,
taught me to hate my brother.
But one kind thought created us
to learn from one another.
We're made to love each other!
I have barely awoken
On this sunless winter morn.
Day comes only once a night.
I am grateful for this life.
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2. |
a Skin for a Skin
03:25
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Maybe my love will come back to me
and maybe we'll sit 'neath the hollow tree
counting the shit we found on the ground
and lying around so aimlessly.
She was born in the last century.
Gold brought them up to the north country.
She never left the land of the lakes.
Now she's off making her own mistakes.
I met her by the side of the tracks.
(Patience is kind when courage lacks.)
Skin like the snows! Lips like the rose!
Dozens of patches sewn on her clothes!
She took me down a creek that we crossed
to a big rock where our clothes were tossed.
We never felt whatever we lost
melting our way through the permafrost.
Millions of leaves are breathing for trees!
Where is the one who once breathed for me?
Maybe with time she'll come to see
she runs with heartbreaking company.
Maybe my love will come back to me and
Maybe we'll sing in harmony
Since she has left I seem to get
I haven't learned how to say it yet
Maybe my love will come back to me and
Maybe we'll sit 'neath the hollow tree
I can't go on stuck in the past
Living for nothing when nothing lasts!
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3. |
Scene by a Lake
04:11
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The tree leans over the edge and
He sits there smoking into the breeze.
It pleases me to no end
to see my friends at ease.
The girls are off getting their feet burned
gathering berries out on the sand.
Until they both returned
with their hands full of the blood of the land.
I'm wading out with my shirt off
while my birthmarks grow in the sun.
The inland sea is receiving me
As I breathe with everyone.
There are saints among the lampreys.
There are panthers in the deep.
But lying on the beach in summer
Is good enough for me
The light collects reflections
In another tiny vein.
This moment dies until I sing of it again.
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4. |
1812
05:17
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All the years I spent in song
Smoking by the riverside.
I longed for the rapids. I longed for the hills
And a beaver robe and a bride.
We left Quebec when the ice could crack
and the paddles cut through the deep.
We rolled down the river as nature awoke
From endless months of sleep.
My heart cannot live 'til my body goes
Where they're selling off land
Where the Red River flows
Touch with these hands what has never known
The smell of machines or the white man's dreams.
My heart cannot live 'til my body goes
Past the Greatest of Lakes
And the portaging road.
Touch with these hands something for my own
All of the wasteland to sow....
I watched her emerge through the reeds
In a boat made of birch
Her face like a mirror.
I pushed back the door to her home
And we lay there alone
With a blanket beneath us.
"In some months when the season comes
and our seeds are growing tall
It's time I was gone but it won't be long
until I'm back from Montreal!'
"All these years I've sat by the lake
watching our children grow on the beach
You and me made a family.
That's a treaty no man can breech!"
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5. |
Goulais River
05:13
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down is the only way to go
down the river as she flows
all the way down to the bay
down is the only way to be
as the river passes me
in her way
Goulais River
the light the shone upon the beach
made me think of an old german painting
when the deer came out to get away from the flies
and in the distance another one dies
Goulias River
The most fun that i ever had
was canoeing down you with my dad.
maybe one day it will be time
to travel you with a son of mine.
Goulais River
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6. |
The Tower (XVI)
05:41
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cold tonight on your back lot
our suffering remembers us
the ones before us gave it all away
he's still paying off his dues
counting everything we use
from the flour to the leather of our boots
cold tonight beneath the moon
morning always comes too soon
and the hour never adds up any day
wind is howling through the wall
they aren't sealed at all
we grow poorer while your tower grows tall
the path turns left tonight
the path turns left tonight
dusting off the powder keg
the guns he made would never stick
in the mountains/forests where the oldest things are hid
this long road he rebuilt
the old path is out there still
though i start to wonder if we ever will
the path turns left tonight
the path turns left tonight
cold tonight on your front step
you haven't got the message yet
and we won't leave till you see the reason why
even burning out our eyes
won't divert them from the sky
and if you can't see what's up you must be blind
the path turns left tonight
the path turns left tonight
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7. |
Winter
04:35
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I held out for you all winter.
I stood outside myself.
My thoughts were always with you
While you slept with someone else.
Oh, lonely one!
Why won't you stay?
You know I'd put you up for ever
but everyone must pay.
I know that time will heal all wounds but what of mine?
We'll meet again when the weather is fine.
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8. |
Sudbury
03:38
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Oh dearest friend, pick up your flowered bow.
My ears are nearer now than ever before.
Who are these men? They want to know us.
And before us only snow and the stores are closed.
Let's bum our smokes on Bay street like old times
Cold blooded killers.
I'm in a mood to yell at bystanders.
And focus the blame for other people's crimes.
The murders we never witnessed seem to linger.
For years ago they roamed these same hillsides.
While gathering garbage with my latest teacher
We recovered the cost of all we lost that same day.
Oh! Sudbury was mythic. The sun was in pieces.
I wish you were there to watch them turn away.
Couch hopping joyriders.
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9. |
Sea of Japan
04:53
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oh brother i hardly know you
i want to see through you
i just want to know you
and i know this is no happy ending
so i practice my sending
sitting on the floor
it's the last time we wear this clothing
it's time we unloaded
we're finally unloading
they say the first things was the explosion
but maybe he sews it
maybe we're all dead
sea of japan give up your anger!
God's in our favour
Keep the odds in our favour!
Cities from the deep where old ones sleep
Sadness keeps the stars aligning
Oh brother I know it's sounding
It sounds like the mountains
We move like the mountains
And I know this is no great disaster
Think of it after
It's all ever after
It's all ever after
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10. |
Steel City Lullaby
03:55
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Steel City, rest your children. All will be well soon.
The moon is in your neighbourhood.
This misery is food.
The captain has departed mountains will be home.
The scene he left behind could mean a seachange for us both
All alone he read inside the burning tower tall
And through the night so still the mill breathes cancer on us all.
Forgive your errant lovers noone can be tamed
Everywhere's a prison If you carry 'round the cage
Carrharts and soapy water step out of my dreams.
"Everything's okay." you say.
I know what that means.
I wrote this song to slumber thoughts before I leave
Though the self I see is clear it's so hard to retrieve.
Steel City, rest your children everywhere they lay!
This river knows directions. We'll all be home some day.
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Mister Ontario
Mister Tahti is my name.
I am a Finnish man of the Fox clan.
I am an unsettled settler born & raised in the hill country of North Ontario fertilized by the open road.
Mister recommends:
Winston Arms
by Sunk'n City Gypsys
another record I appear on w/ my good friends Sunkn City Gypsys who I was honoured to be a part of for a while.
go to album
This is a favourite record recorded by some friends of mine out in Victoria. Impeccable songwriting, groovy end of the world feel and pure folk fury of the highest calibre. Much love here.
go to albumIf you like Fur Trade, you may also like:
All New
by Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
The sound of classic country music abounds on the latest from Grammy-winners Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer.
go to album
"Dustups" continues Body Surfer’s exploration of intimacy and personal history, rich acoustic folk deep in meaning.
go to album
Old Habits
by Kat Wallace and David Sasso
This New Haven duo write bright and emotionally resonant folk music where sweeping strings elevate gorgeous melodies.
go to album
Not A Party At All
by Lambs & Wolves
Charming German indie pop with the keen melodic sensibilities and melancholic undercurrent of some of the style's best practitioners.
go to album
