This is not my work, I am re-uploading it here, in unaltered form (discounting formatting changes made to allow for proper display on this site), for the sake of preservation, which is allowed by the creative commons liscense this work is licensed under. Any mistakes are [sic] if thats even a grammatically correct thing to say. Sorry about the crappy formatting, that's just how it's written on the actual website. If you're familiar with the songs, they won't be too hard to figure out. Also included here are the chords and lyrics to Lights in the Quarry -stonecrowbar Source: http://folkroutes.org/creative/writing/15/ ------ Strange Homes - I. the house you were raised in The house you were raised in verse pattern is like this: G Em G go away from my western window Em G it's not the writing on the wall part 2 Em D it's still the ocean even if it's frozen G why not ending is Em-D-C go away from my western window it's not the writing on the wall, we built the house that you were raised and we're tearing it down this fall, your fathers face is turning gray and the ashes are still cooling off, but thats okay i also live in a dream and im hoping to see you there. (sofia) we spend our whole lives just trying to build up our towers to heaven, from what i have learned its hard to discern which way is the right direction, the higher you build the higher it will be to escape from, but me i quite toiling a long time ago continue at your own discretion. it's still the ocean even if it's frozen why not. we're alive and the water's fine and my mind's a beehive why not. so far out west, i don't need to be, found a strange place where you used to sleep, it's been raining i never got dry (**these three lines one by one and then repeated over each other until the end**) found a strange home II. god's work intro Am verse Am-C-Bm part 2 (pseudo bossa nova feel part) "a boy said please don't panic" Am-G part 3 "and your father died last spring" C-G-F part 4 "i was not afraid of being alone" C-G-Am-F (return to verse) part 5 "dark as the ocean" Am-C-Bm "gave up years ago" Am God's Work (niko's part) in the valley where we found a body lost it's eyes were loud and with the withering loose order my face in electric cords displayed so proudly with a flag but did they know oh did they know this is god's work we do my metal angel rusted through at the well where we said we grew i did not pray for a lying daughter down beneath the tv station static wave we knew where we came from God's Work (andre's part) there was a moment months ago when i'd forgotten all the lies that my teachers forgot they were bleeding. And nobody knows what i'm saying they think that we're all joking but they forget that love's not a novelty. seems like we all remember boots on in a dark december, and that fire is all too real. a boy said please don't panic while a girl slept in an abandoned attic and if we're chaotic then there are lives that are fucking starving. and your father died last spring, and these vulgar symbols don't say anything. and if we are all then that's left, then there's no need for this. my love i have a secret-- we are all that's left. i was no afraid of us being alone, i was just afraid of us being all we know. 2,3,4. there was a moment days ago when a friend told me they were dying. but growing up is giving up, and death is adulthood. loved a healthy hatred reserved solely for The Species; we are a sole ingredient that gave up years ago. we were dark as the ocean... this is god's work we do... we gave up years ago. III. dissident Capo 3 D-E (almost positive this is correct, i only ever played roots and fifths (on the 8th and tenth fret of the a-string during this song and that seemed to work ) i was the humpback camel you were the needles eye how did i get inside a miracle of modern science contemporary progress and they say that im just a caveman painting a wall im seeing only shadows and thinking they are they're all mine a train whistles dissonant and im some no count dissident just getting lost in the mist of a time when we were both missing it. ive spent have my life just listening for a word that rhymes with permanent i keep thinking that i heard it i keep thinking that i heard it but its just the train whistlin its just the train whistlin its just the train whistlin in the wind and we screamed up the punks and imagined our sunset would rise inside our eyes and always set behind us i've had days in which my face dont fit and nights defined by amphetamines and oh my god im a hypocrite with tattoos and two skinny wrists im almost twenty but im still just a little kid who sometimes tends to throw stupid fits but i wont grow up i wont grow up no, no not even a little bit. We'll all keep on whistlin we'll all keep on whistlin and maybe you'll keep whistlin too yeah we'll all keep on whistlin' (repeat forever and scream) IV. these bones on loan verses/middle section D-A-G "these aren't my bones..." Bm-G-D-G wishing that i was a masochist that i was a sadomasochist not taking chances, holding my head above water dosen't mean i'm in love. she was a writer and i was a fighter, i guess that we couldn't own up to either- i was a coward and she was my crutch. sometimes i find myself wondering, wandering, smoldering with all these fears of my father, when i would rather be here sleeping you. so i'll sit on porches and busstops and stoops, trying to let my thoughts regroup, but this noisy street makes me hurt. (justin's part) we fell like timber with fingertips out of reach like childrens dreams, the morning light filtered through the cracked frames of fathers bifocals, we danced early and we got and embarassed and dizzy that morning. and these aren't my bones, cause these bones are on loan. V. someone else's eden intro palm muted slide into E/palm muted Em Verse Em-G-C "i saw father staring in the mirror and children building castles in the yard" Em-G-C-B7 pre-chorus Em-G-B7-Em chorus Am-B7-F#m-Em (repeat all of the above) i woke up in someone else's eden, mother mary on the telephone, i saw father staring in the mirror and children building castles in the yard. a disenchanted mistress holds her necklace, her bare feet burned from walking on the red earth, the heat stroked city walks sleepless, hear the pulpit father speaks of the way love looks to him. i woke up in someone else's dream of concrete streets and wind-up men, in tailored suits, shaking hands, under the sunset of an eroded landscape, the church and mosque are praying for the sinners walking hand and hand in the yard. VII. The Tide Intro/Verses C-Am-C-G "i hope the fire doesn't die in you..." A-G-C so the first part of these lyrics are by a folk artist named mogli, a friend of ours, who lives in Halifax (myspace.com/moglidavid) the only way i get around is riding my black bicycle, and someday i will ride it back to you. there's many miles between us, right now i see the icicles, and when they melt i'll ride it back to you. (andre's verse) i tried not to read yr diary, tried not to invade yr privacy. there's not much i can say but i'm not as idealistic as i used to be, and i'm not sure anymore how i feel about anarchy. but i don't feel lost and i havn't been found and i'm not sure if i'm not even sure if i want to be. but there's someone out there who loves me, and who knows, someday we just might get married. but this is not my home. this is not my home. (chorus) and i hope the fire doesn't die in you--if i feel nothing then nothing feels new. we've broken some promises and cast of some ties. we were praying for rain and in came the tide. (niko's verse) remember when my heart-strings slid to dissonance you offered me some tune you'd found in the ground then you tossed that dress you'd worn for one day when your hands first felt dirty this is how we found out how we were alive (chorus) VIII. are you asking to be a sail? Verse G-Bm-C "i might have fell too low" Am-G "i might have tried to hide" Am-D "we'll walk the dotted line of inattention what stepped in while i was gone..." Am-Bm-G-D IX. all paths lead verse D-Bm-G-A chorus Bm-A-G all paths lead to different bedrooms, these hosts lie in their tattered dresses, addressing the new boy of the evening his head is in his hand. we weren't meant for this, we weren't meant for this, we're all uprooted flowers transplanted to strange homes, caught a bird with delicate wings, a little paperbird trembled in my palm, escaped into the garden behind these white white walls, i'll float into your room on the scent of juniper and ale, we'll dance until we fall, and fall until we wake. XI. stranger at the door 3/4 intro Em-G-D-C (when the song gets to "there are others in the city **burning buildings**" the song goes into double time) part 2 4/4 "a liar in the table" Em-G-D-C x 3 on the fourth time it goes Em G A liar at the table a fire in the barn D D C a breath, my ribs, in sorrow "there's nobody coming" Em-F (until) Em Em god fearing back fucking breaking F fucking breaking F there's a stranger at the door repeat part 2 "shut the lights..." Em maybe i was waiting on the wonders of a patient when i wished the stars on you. but patience breeds no virtue, it will only turn green to blue. there are others in the cities BURNING BUILDINGS by the droughted lake that year who asked the prophet so lazily just what they could do for their fear a liar at the table a fire in the barn a breath my ribs in sorrow there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming there's nobody coming shut the lights shut the window shut the door shut the lights theres nobody coming THERES A STRANGER AT THE DOOR A STRANGER AT THE DOOR we'll market this fear, all this solace of years, i'm a god-fearing, back fucking breaking fucking breaking THERES A STRANGER AT THE DOOR shut the lights shutthewindowshutthedoor XII. green river sometimes Don't exactly know how to play this. i do know that the only chords niko uses in it are Em, D,C,G in some order, and that the song is in 7/4. Posted on 12-17-2010 at 11:48 email us: [email protected] // submit random backgrounds // facebook FolkRoutes.org is powered by Django// Except where otherwise noted, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. ------ ""Lights In the Quarry" chords/lyrics" by mallory - we have been getting a bunch of e-mails about chords and lyrics to songs--so to make it easy-- here are (almost) all of the lyrics and chords to all of the songs we’ve written over the past two years (memory has partially failed me). good luck with the banjo and accordion parts, you will probably need to track down niko or noel or have some patience to figure them out. (strange homes to come soon!) -justin .. .. lights in the quarry.... .. .. I. one hand extended to you, the other to traffic... .. .. (in 3/4 time) .. .. verses and chorus C-Am-G .. .. "our bodies are tangled..." Am "you can't help me tonight…" G C-Am-G until end .. .. so we packed our bags, said "sure we got a long way to drive--" doesn't seem so far tonight. And the firetrucks and ambulances interrupt our peaceful naps that we take in the backs of truckstops in the grass. And we read the signs in the truckstops and the halls of our old high schools/they don't mean much-- but i guess that they mean enough for us to pay attention. and i wanted you like a deer caught in high beams/like broken down (broken down) rhyme schemes. I counted time in highway lines and cigarettes and quarters spent on phone calls that go direct to answering machines. (chorus). And i'm trying to find home, but where is that? is it the place where i can rest my bones, or the place where you first caressed my bones or where there's no telephone. And you ran your fingers down my spine like electric powerlines, your profile stared at the stars, silhouetted by passing cars. And i said let's hitch a ride, but you said no, let us stay a while. it's nice out tonight...and our bodies are tangled my mind is mangled and you can't help me tonight. (chorus) .. .. II. swingin' against fascism.... .. .. Capo 1 G-C .. .. that’s it .. .. i put on my muddiest of shoes, i'm gonna swing dance in your living room. waltz into yr kitchen, eat all of your supposed refuse, howl at the moon, never do what you want me to. you may call me rude-- but i won't let you politely dig my grave, or tell me where to name my final resting place. where's the demarcation line from my fist to a giant's might. hold fast, do not fear the sea. hold out, you're stronger than the riot police. don't be startled, darlin'--it's just me. so we go shirtless in the rain, make a home nearly any place, camp out on fire escapes stare deep into our lover's face say "i won't swear to god, but i'll swear to some holy mistake). i find god in the smallest of things--we left the car idling (goes on and on, on and on) cuz it's just time and gravity, grinding us we're soft machines, we're warm machines, we're worn machines. (it goes on and on, on and on). (garbled yelling that changes every performance) .. .. III. ghost people.... capo 6 .. .. verse C-Am-C(strum the low E string too)-G .. .. chorus F-C-Am-F-C-Am-F-C-Am-G-C-G-C .. .. The things we’ve carried, well they really don’t matter, but the things we’ve dropped will follow us, a dashing ghost came in the post, he told me that I mean the most horrible things, when I said she spread her wings, and after that it rained for three weeks straight, so we layered our free sweaters overnight, wishing only the best wishes, kissing only the best dreams, let it seem, like the splitting seams, didn’t expose them, so we set sail on the great flood that is the world, but silly me, look at me, I forgot my common dignity, and didn’t pack the sense to keep up on my rent. And my memories might seem cliché, and I wish I always had the right things to say, that my body was perfect in its own damn way. I’ve got fourteen letters in a wrapped envelope, they spoke of love in thinly veiled changed handwriting, and burned so nicely into smoke, so believe me when I say that youre not just a cobblestone in my path, cuz if you were you’d make me crash, and forget where I was going, and where I was, but I would know, I was home at last. I always try to concentrate when I’m running late but the fog of these ghost people hide the way to our nice steeple, let’s get us a flashlight, and the light just might, help our failing sight. (chorus) what’s up with those kids from the other side of town, cant they see the ghosts around, me cant they see the ghosts surround, no they don’t, but the tide washes us away, its alright I didn’t want to stay. .. .. IV. fine wine and ladies.... mandolin intro Em-D-C .. .. verse Em-D-C-Em-D-C-Em guitar build up thing G “and the rain came down” G-C-D-C “sticks and stones” G-C-G-C-D .. .. A homeless man told me, that I was god sent, in exchange for a cheap plastic flute, where are my wings my dying wisdom, I left them at the wayside by the drain, im young but im aging my body is changing like a moth dying slowly towards flight, and I rent these rooms with nails in the walls and birds that live in bathroom vents, a halfway house veteran took all my cigarettes in exchange for an hour of chat, I didn’t mind that I lost my nicotine, at least I wasn’t solo in the rain. And the rain came down from all his little beardhairs like an angel singing poverty’s a virtue everyone wants to be just like us one day without promises or reasons, and the wisest man I saw was on the corner in his new wool coat in the dead of july and he told me with a perfect little smile, im down on the ground with the hipsters and I don’t wanna get up to grow up a fuck up. Sticks and stoners break my bones but late paychecks wont kill me they say that words are powerful but really they mean nothing, everyone likes beer and chicks but I want wine and ladies, im down on the ground with the beggars, I don’t wanna get up to grow up a fuck up, awake at five in the morning and I work hard every day to find a way to play. V. devil in the moonlight .. .. capo 2 .. .. G-C .. .. it's evening time. i'd trust anyone in morning light i'd put my arm around the devil in the moonlight. they say home is where the heart is, i say home is were we parted for the last time. and it changes with the seasons and like the leaves i'm leaving, just one more time. we make our own mythologies pass em off as autobiographies, but how vain can two people be to think that their legacy will live longer than the trees that he planted, when he was just fourteen. with his father in the backyard, his father with his strong arms, working the ground. now lips are moving, there's barely any sound or maybe i'm just not caught up in what's around me. and it changes with the seasons it's a tired restless feeling-- darlin' don't go this time. because i fit in you so perfect it burns, but i don't mind the hurtin cuz it comes from you. and it feels good to cry sometimes but as an ending it doesn't satisfy. .. .. VI. this song kills cops .... .. based around G and C major chords.. .. .. VII. red, white, and blues .. .. intro/between verses G verses G-Em-C-G “hey what do you know…” G-Em-C “this time when the levee breaks” G-Em-C-G .. .. VIII. god in the details (the rhythm of these chord changes is somewhat tricky but here is a solid skeleton) .. .. the opening riff is played on the b-string .. .. b- 3^0 5^0 3^0 1^0 .. .. the underlying chords of the song are Verse riff G-riff C .. .. “you moved your hand” C-G .. .. “and the future is a suture” D-C-G-D-C-Em .. .. “I won’t be true to you” riffG-riffC .. .. banjo/bass/drum break Em and G Bass part d 0^2 2 2 22 5 7 9 ending G-C .. .. i like the grass stains on yr knees, but can we go home soon please? it's been the bluest monday since the last blue sunday, drenched in november rain. and i'll sleep the day away won't hear the sounds of...someone listening. and you might find it might be time to sing. you moved your head an inch to the right and i swore that god was in the details that night. but i am an athiest, so what does that make us, two people in love, or just two people with broken compasses. .... it's the sound of someone listening, and the future is a suture but i believe in believing in something, maybe i'm not that cracked up at all. and i promised you i'd love ya till the birds stop singing. now i'm in the woods...with a shotgun. i won't be true to you. i won't be true to anybody, anybody new. like the songs i knew. all the songs i wish i knew. like the songs i wrote. all the songs i wrote for you. strange faces strange places, strange people (strange folk). it's the sounds of someone listening. .. .. VIII. fuck this I’m leaving .. .. E-A .. .. He looked her, he looked her right in the eye, said there aint no glory in staying alive, martyrdoms easy, martyrdoms easy when you know youre right, is there a cause is there a cause for which you’d die, when justice, justice is a pill weve been prescribed, fuck this, fuck this im leaving .. .. X. boxcar joe.... .. .. ask noel or niko, i have been annoyed with song for two years now, so in interest of not getting a headache... skip XI. the quarry.... .. .. verse Bm-Am-D-Bm-Am-G .. .. “we left footprints” Bm-Am-G .. .. ‘the red clamps on the left ventricle” Bm-A-D .. .. “the light of idea” Bm-D-Am .. .. “we’ll make love in all the rubble” G-D-G-D .. .. bass/drum break D-Bm .. .. i've got a fetish for dishonesty, and usually fulfill that tendency. a murderer sleeps in a burning field. all your drawings were industrial. with jumper cables on my heart's ventricles. we talked more than we travelled, but it was always on our minds. (i found boxes of beautiful women/i found some doors that i could not get in/ i found myself in that tired city/i found myself in that tired city) barcode tattoos on an odessa of gravity/time, and we are left with woodcuts of silence. (chorus)--and we left footprints in the quarry that night. and we cast shadows in our feeble human light (x2) and the red clamp's on the left ventricle, the black clamp's on the right. and the light of ideas was in the needle, in the night. we cried out when we got left behind in the back of the riot, clutching broken signs that were proclaiming our authenticity. borne out of lack of sleep or something more real (i found boxes...), and i look for god in the smallest of things. with tattoos of arrows and tattoos of slings, with david defeated by goliath's misgivings. and i knew there'd be a day when you would wake up and say we've gotta get those bastards, those sons of capital. a brick through every world trade window! and we'll make love in all the rubble. (chorus) .. .. XII. teeth in the dark not sure if anyone knows how to place this anymore. it’s played on soprano ukulele in standard tuning (GCEA) .. .. I refuse to keep this inside my thoughts aren’t simple but at least their mine and I’ll try to convey my anxiety its just that I’ve not been feeling like me lately, im trying to live alone and not pay rent I want a home and not someone elses apartment, trapped beneath these iron sheets and these walls of concrete you can hardly breathe or sleep at all you try to eat but teeth come out of the dark alone at night with a flashing screen I wanna live life but I feel like its living me I stole a pants from a travelin man we found them outside and I shot you a glance and you knew. You slept here for the first time last night, I looked at your light and said that’s what love is boy, wires intertwined. .. .. XIII. we lit a fire.... .. .. verse Bm-A-G-D-A-G-A “and we’ll never be quite the same” Bm-D-G-Bm-A .. .. And we’ll saddle up the mountaintops be free to take every route to unwind we lit a fire, and drank til two, it got a little late aint it great when weve got nothing to hate, I caught a bug in the confines of my own mind and I wont be faded when im all outdated aint it great, and id like to say im confident and leave all these things behind I’d be spontaneous and still run errands all the time. And we’ll never be quite the same, cuz all this changing. So ill leave where im living I wont stop giving my self reasons to quit those songs of the USA we’ll all be rich, we’ll all be rich, we’ll all be rich, and the daughter is a martyr or at least that’s what she said she’s pulling on that angel that just wont leave my head and every one will point and call us giants them hands that have never touched the sky. .. .. XIV. song for sylvan.... (ask niko) .. .. Don’t pity me as I leave for Worcester city, im just a little irritated and a little bit late but the distance can wait tonight and all the things we promised we’d say will find us in some distant future cemetery of the things we’d be and our parents will go out searching for us and they’ll always find us here with no careers. Love is just another miscommunication ive had with the world I’d say, we’re all a little hollow we’re all a little hollow anyway, because Love is just another miscommunication ive had with the world I’d say we’re all a little hollow we’re all a little hollow anyway, Posted on 12-17-2010 at 11:51 email us: [email protected] // submit random backgrounds // facebook FolkRoutes.org is powered by Django// Except where otherwise noted, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
