1. |
Something in the Water
01:46
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The veil thins, the days grow long, and in the warming sea, something stirs.
The humpback whales make their way up to Stellwagen, their Caribbean-born calves in tow. Each extends one long fin to protect them from something they do not see and do not hear but which they perceive nonetheless; there is something in the water.
Arctic terns wing northward, ever northward, they pass under the watchful eyes of the lighthouses on the rocky coast but they do not stop until they reach a latitude with no nightfall, fleeing from one midnight sun to another, knowing only that they cannot spend a single moment in darkness; there is something in the water.
Even at a depth no light touches, impossibly, a shadow moves. It glides over the long dead volcano of Bear Seamount, over the scoured seafloor of George’s Bank, it is coming.
Into the Gulf of Maine now, flying past the all seeing eye of Graves Light, into Boston Harbor, through the estuaries up into the Charles and the Neponset and the Mystic Rivers. Into the reservoirs and springs and vernal pools and into the pipes in your home and the ice in the drink in your hand, it is here. Now. There is something in the water.”
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2. |
Water's Fine
04:03
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red sky at dawn a warning sign
pay it no mind come on in the water’s fine
take my hand and put your heart in mine
pay it no mind come on in the water’s fine
don’t you stop to say goodbye
you know they’d never understand
they want to leave your dreams to die
all gasping high and dry on land
you’ll get used to the pressure
and you’ll learn to breathe the brine
and we’ll drift away together
come in the water’s fine
the water’s fine, I swear it’s fine
and I swear that I’ll be different this time
and I had my reasons to be cruel and kind
pay it no mind why would I lie this is fine the water’s fine you’re fine
it's fine. I swear that it’s fine
there's no need to heed that shiver down your spine
and I promise you my tastes are quite refined
pay it no mind quit your cryin’ this is fine the water’s fine
it’s fine I promise you’re fine
give me a sign, prove that you’re mine
this is fine the water's fine and I
swear it isn’t cold down here I
swear it isn’t dark and I
swear you’ll never have to fear and
I’ll never eat your heart with your
eyes sealed up with barnacles your
ears stopped up with salt
and you should have seen this coming
but you know that’s your own fault and
there won’t be much to save of you
or even much to find, but
no one lives for ever
come in the water’s fine
it's fine! you’re FINE.
you taste divine, like blood and wine
this is fine, the water’s fine, you’re fine
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3. |
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here we are again
floating in the midnight zone
you are close at hand
with you I’ll never be alone
even if I want to be
no matter how deep I dive to
I know you see me
you see me even when I can’t see you
not one scientist
has ever seen you with their eyes
but I know you exist
from the scars you leave behind
from where you’d hold me
trying to keep me safe from harm
you always told me
I have so many arms to hold you down
to hold you down, to hold you down
I have so many arms to hold you down
you have no lips or lungs
still you spoke your words inside
you put them on my tongue
when they’d cut me up then I'd
seal them in amber
to blunt the edges of your rhymes
there’s no love grander
than to hold your story in me all the time
what big eyes you have
to see me in the gloom
You cannot hear my song
to you it’s silent as the tomb
but still I hear you
the siren songs of your alarm
say not to fear you
I have so many arms to hold you down
to hold you down, to hold you down
I have so many arms to hold you down
I hold my breath another measure
the weight of water bends my bones
you could say that I’m a kraken from the pressure
but I swear one day I’ll make my mind my own
I swear one day I’ll make my mind my own
10 for the arms that you wind round about you
9 for The Hermit I hide from all the doubts who
8 me alive like the sharks swimming around
7 for the seas and I’m going
6 for the spiraling maelstrom in my heart
5 for the things I could see but it’s too dark
4 for the things I could hear but there's no sound
3 I could touch but I’m going
2 me and you in our arms as we both drown
1 I’m undone and I’m going down
I’m going down
I’m going down, I’m going down
I'm going
when I go down, you are coming with me
if I go down, I swear to god I’ll take you with me
and when I go down to where the water bends my bones
then I won’t need you anymore
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4. |
No God at Sea
03:39
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Deane wrecked them for the money off the freezing coast of Maine
they needed meat, the carpenter was too dead to complain
and it happens that the captain had been trained in butchery
there’s no atheists in foxholes, and there’s no God at sea
Franklin sailed the Terror proudly into Baffin Bay
but his hand still reaches for the Beaufort Sea until this day
was it lead or ice or pride? None can know but all agree
there’s no atheists in foxholes, and there’s no God at sea
But you were always different from them darling
they didn’t have the knowledge or the nerve
and you were meant for this, you know heard it calling
if you want it more, you’ll get what you deserve
why shouldn’t you just get what you deserve
Pollard went back to Nantucket having drunk his kinsman's blood
he sailed again, shipwrecked again, a Jonah he was judged
at night he’d close his eyes and see the whale, nowhere to flee
there’s no atheists in foxholes, and there’s no God at sea
But you were always different from them darling
they didn’t have the knowledge or the nerve
and you were meant for this, you know heard it calling
if you want it more, you’ll get what you deserve
why shouldn’t you just get what you deserve
you asked for this, you get what you deserve
"it is finished, it is finished" Crowhurst scribbled in his log
and he stepped right off the transom into history and fog
his madness was the method, it is the mercy whispered he
there’s no atheists in foxholes -
and there’s no God at sea
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5. |
Crooked Timber
04:18
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a moonless night upon the deck the sails and rigging moan
there’s no one here to hear us and at last we are, at last we are alone
so I can speak my peace and if you think I’ve been unfair
you can leave me on some island with a pistol for all I care
not for the mission and I care not for the sea and I
think it’s time, it’s high time that we had ourselves a little mutiny
we have knives and we have will and we have something of a plan
but it’s mostly just to take the wheel and do the best, do the best we can
and if we run aground and drown at least we tried
but I promise you the owners never gave a damn if we lived or died
as masters of our fate and captains of our soul, well I
think it’s more, it’s much more than some folks willxx whole
and the captain's drunk, his mates are worse, the owners can go hang
there’s nothing but our work make that makes this vessel thing
they can say we're kin, but if it were the last ship in the world I’d set this ship on fire fore I’d ever be their girl
you say that other ships are just as crooked I’m afraid
and of that crooked timber nothing straight was ever made
but I’d rather take my chances with the sharks for all their flaws
at least the sharks are honest when they open up their jaws
and the captain's drunk, his mates are worse, the owners can go hang
there’s nothing but our work make that makes this vessel thing
they can say we're kin, but if it were the last ship in the world I’d set this ship on fire fore I’d ever be their girl
be their girl, I’d burn alive before I’d be their girl
yes I’d set this ship on fire, and I won’t apologize
turn in the widening gyre as the smoke and flames all rise
they can say we’re kin but if it were the last ship in the world I’d set it all on fire before I’d ever be, I’d ever be their girl
be their girl, I’d burn alive before I’d be their girl, oh
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6. |
Elver's Lullaby
01:31
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come to the shore now children mine
past the surf and the sand
come to the waters cold and fine
far from the fettering land
no land shall hem thee in my child
if you return to me
but only the winding waters wild
here in the unbounded sea
where the mothering ocean folds you in
in arms of trailing weed
til time and tide claim all we’ve been
here in the unbounded sea
here in the unbounded sea
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Thou Merciless Graves Boston, Massachusetts
Spooky, synth-y sea songs out of Boston. Sometimes with storytelling, video projections, burlesque, and performance art. Always with reverb.
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